2 Witch and Famous (7 page)

The last time I’d gone to see Siobhan up near Arthur’s Seat in the middle of Holyrood Park, her goblin boyfriend had tried to attack me. I wasn’t physically afraid of Dougie now, but it was still a fact that had me looking around cautiously as I waited for her, wanting to make sure that she showed up alone.

If she showed up at all. After all, it had taken long enough over the phone to convince her to come. She’d been sure I was planning trouble for her over the theft earlier. Apparently, despite her certainty about me not involving the coven, she didn’t completely get that insurance investigators had better things to do than bring in goblins for stealing from tourists. Maybe she thought I was still angry about the petty cash. Maybe she was even right.

So, I stood there waiting for her, looking out over the city from the vantage point of the monument. It was a clear day, so the Scottish Parliament Building was kind of hard to miss, all sweeping curves reflecting the sunlight as it tried to emphasize the importance of the politicians within.

I tried calling Niall while I waited for Siobhan, but I didn’t get through. That was unusual. Normally, he picked up pretty quickly for me, regardless of what else he was doing. Although I guessed I hadn’t been with Niall long enough to really know what was normal with him when it came to anything.

I didn’t have the time to think about it more though, because Siobhan chose that moment to arrive. She sloped up the path from the monument, just one of the ways into the goblins’ world of tunnels and darkness. I could feel a kind of sullen unhappiness coming off her, along with a hint of something close to fear. Not a promising mood to begin a meeting with. Still, at least Dougie wasn’t with her. This time, we were going to have some one-on-one time. That was good. Without Dougie around, I liked Siobhan.

“Siobhan, hi.” I tried to project a little more friendliness and relaxation. Something to tone down the mood a little. “Thanks for coming.”

Siobhan fiddled with the hood of her top. The sunlight was still obviously a little strong for her. That was a pity. I knew how much she liked being out from Underneath.

“Are you doing all right?” I asked. “Are you hungry? Do you want to go get a cup of coffee with me or something?”

“Thanks, but food isn’t too appealing right now.” She put her weight on one foot and then the other, obviously impatient to cut things short. “You said you needed information. And…I didn’t get my pay from the other day. Because of everything that happened.”

Information meant money. I held out a small roll of cash. Siobhan took it, making it disappear into a pocket with the kind of speed that said more about her as a thief and pickpocket than about any particular goblin abilities. Even that wasn’t enough to make her cloud of unhappiness dissipate completely, though.

Whatever it was, it would have to wait. I had my own problems right then. “Siobhan, I need to know about vampires.”

“So, shouldn’t you be asking that rich boyfriend of yours?” the goblin girl shot back.

I would, if he ever got around to answering his phone. “I don’t have a lot of patience today, Siobhan,” I warned her. “I didn’t have to let you go earlier. I could have held you there and called for the police.”

“No…I…” I could feel the little flicker of guilt there, and embarrassment.

“I need to know if you’ve heard about any vampires in Edinburgh.”

“Besides you and Niall?” Siobhan asked, half-turning away.

I reached out, pulling her back toward me. Maybe a little faster than I should have, because her hood slipped slightly, leaving her blinking against the light. It also gave me a pretty clear view of the bruises covering one side of her face.

“Siobhan!” I said. I couldn’t keep the shock out of my voice.

“It’s nothing,” she said, dragging her hood up again hastily.

I could feel that lie for what it was. “Did Dougie do that?”

“It’s not his fault.”

“Of course it’s his fault! If he did it, it’s his fault.” I reached out to put my hand on her arm. “You should walk away, Siobhan. Just leave him. He’s not good enough for you. He is dragging you down with every decision he makes about his own life, and you are letting him decide for you too by staying with him.”

“I love him, Elle. And it’s complicated.”

She was the second person today to tell me that her relationship was complicated. I shook my head. “Not from where I’m standing. You’re still young. You don’t know how things are.”

“You’re the one standing in the sun,” Siobhan snapped back. “What am I meant to do? Leave the tunnels? Come up here and slowly fry? I love the up-world. I love it as much as any goblin can, but I still can’t live up here. I’m sorry about the petty cash from your office and breaking into it to…sleep together. I know that was wrong. We just wanted a place to go and be alone. I love him, Elle.”

I sighed. “Oh, Siobhan. You can’t be with him. He’s destroying you.”

“Leave it, Elle. Please, just leave it.”

Again, I was all too aware that I could have made her come with me. I could have pushed emotions into Siobhan to make her get away from Dougie. Even made her stop loving him, given time. I could have done all those things, and every one of them would have been evil. Even when I thought they were the right things for Siobhan. Maybe especially then. Regardless of what I was, I didn’t get to make those kinds of decisions for other people. There had to be a stopping point, or what was I?

I asked what I’d come up there for again, instead. “Vampires, Siobhan. Enchanters. Whatever they want to call themselves. Are there any in Edinburgh besides me and Niall?”

Siobhan shook her head. “Not any that I know about.”

“You’re sure?”

“I just said it, didn’t I?” There was an edge to her voice that was clearly designed to shut the conversation down. Well, of course she was going to be angry with me, after I’d just told her to dump her boyfriend.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t leave it like that. “It’s important, Siobhan. I need to be certain. It is a matter of life and death. Are there any other enchanters in Edinburgh?”

Siobhan shrugged. “I don’t know about any. If I hear anything…”

Which was the other reason I couldn’t push Siobhan into coming with me. Down in the dark of the goblins’ world, she could find out things that I couldn’t. She could maybe hear something that would point me in the direction of the killer. Up here, she might be safer, but she couldn’t help me. Not everything that was dark and evil hid down in the depths where Siobhan lived, but enough things did that I needed to know about them.

“All right, thank you,” I said, heading off down the hill, past some of the trees that lined the way. I took out my phone again, trying Niall once more. This time, I got through.

“Elle?”

“Niall, is everything okay, you sound—”

“It’s fine,” he assured me. He paused for a second. “I’m sorry about this morning.”

“So am I. I need to talk to you. It’s about the case I’m working on.”

Another pause. Face to face, I might have had some sense of the reason for it, but over the phone, there was nothing.

“Can it wait?” Niall asked. “I’m in the middle of something.”

“This is a murder, Niall,” I said.

“And I will help all I can, but this is…business.”

“What kind of business?” I asked. He seemed to have so much business, so many deals going on at once. It was another area of his life where it felt like Niall hadn’t let me in completely yet.

“A meeting. One I cannot put off. I will call you as soon as it is done, I promise. And Elle?”

“Yes?” I couldn’t keep some of the exasperation out of my voice.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” I said, although I accompanied it with a sigh as I hung up.

Which was exactly when someone started shooting at me.

I didn’t hear the first shot, but I felt something whisper past my cheek, and I saw the mess that was all that was left of the bark on the tree behind me. It probably said a lot about both my life and the country in which I live that my first thought wasn’t “gun.” Instead, what got me scrambling for cover behind the tree was the memory of a couple of magical attacks in my recent past; there had been ones that had sent me flying back into objects and smashed through walls. I didn’t want a repeat performance.

I ducked back behind the tree, and as I did so, another bullet slammed into it. This time, there was no mistaking what it was. Someone was actually
shooting
at me. I hadn’t seen anyone else around. I hadn’t heard anything, either. A sniper with a suppressed rifle. Who would have something like that in Scotland? Actually, the answer to that probably covered a whole host of people, from ghillies up on the big estates in the Highlands down.

Thankfully, so far, neither the gun nor the shooter had proven to be very accurate. Probably not a ghillie, then, or a professional sniper. Either of those would have hit me the first time. Certainly, the second time. I almost laughed at how calmly my brain could supply me with that thought, although I stopped laughing soon enough when another bullet flew by the tree and thunked into the tree behind me.

What were my options? Call the police and hunker down behind cover until they came? Make a run for it? Try to take the offensive? I couldn’t take the first option, partly because I might be dead before they arrived, but mostly because the only reasons I could think of for someone shooting at me had far too much to do with the supernatural to risk involving the human police. Of course, the shooter probably wouldn’t want to risk them either, so they would probably be repositioning even as I thought about it, looking for a line of sight…

I stretched out my senses, and I felt something on me. The soft weight of someone’s attention. The tiny certainty that I was being looked at. Specifically, I sensed the cold, clear emotion of someone staring right at the center of my chest. I threw myself flat just in time, hearing the shot go overhead. I scrambled behind the tree again, knowing that it wouldn’t help me for long.

I tried to get a grip on the attention I had felt, reaching out with my talents, and found it after a second or two of searching. It was a thin beam of concentration, almost laser-like in its intensity, the focus of someone looking down a telescopic sight at one spot, waiting for me to so much as glance out from behind my hiding place.

At least, if I went out to my right. Instead, I went left, making it to the next tree before my would-be assassin could shift his aim. I felt for the beam of concentration as it flicked back and forth, trying to time the movements. This time, I skidded into the next patch of cover only an instant before a bullet went past. I heard it sing by and shuddered. That was too close. I needed to change tactics.