Angel Falls (Cassandra Bick Chronicles Book 3) (22 page)

‘That’s a pretty risky play, though. What if they’d just killed him?’ Would you have fought for him, I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t.

‘Laclos is a thousand years old,’ Cain said. ‘Kill him and he crumbles, and whose word do you have that you’ve ended the threat? He figured they would want whatever punishment they dole out to be in front of witnesses.’ He ran a hand across his skull, tiredness blooming on his face. ‘Do you have any idea how many people think Mallen and the Counsel are still alive? That they are off somewhere, biding their time? Josephine and the others won’t want that kind of gossip. So, yeah, it wasn’t a play without risk, but look at this place, Cass.’ He waved a hand at our surroundings. ‘Any real fight would have brought the building down around us.’

As if to prove his point, a chunk of ceiling fell even as he gestured to it. I pulled a face, annoyed at his tricks.

‘That wasn’t me,’ he said, hastily, reading my thoughts. ‘But it’s proof we already caused some damage. I thought you were done demolishing buildings.’ He aimed for playfulness, but I was in no mood to be charmed. And on top of everything else our raiding party had damaged a London landmark. This evening was just getting better.

‘And the rest of you just agreed this in the car?’

Cain nodded, looking uncomfortable.

‘Laclos and I have been talking contingency plans since this kicked off. This seemed the best way to minimise casualties. I thought you’d be pleased.’

‘So why not tell us?’ I demanded, including Medea in this so I didn’t sound as whiny as I felt.

‘Because Jonesy and my wife don’t care,’ he said, and both of them looked up in placid agreement. ‘They won’t argue and they’re happy to lie.’

‘Frankly my only problem with this is that we didn’t turn the vampire over for real,’ Jonesy said, equably. Leon and Mariko stirred at that, eyes narrowed in anger, but in his own way, Jonesy was as fearless as Cain, so looked unbothered. ‘Hey. It’s not like he didn’t start it.’

‘I thought we should slay them all,’ Val added, cheerfully, and Mariko looked about ready to impale her. Trying to avoid a confrontation with my usual well-applied levity, I forced a smile at Cain.

‘You sure this wasn’t just an elaborate plan by Laclos to get you to kiss him?’

‘Oh, he didn’t know about that. I just thought of it as he was leaving – figured he could do with a boost, and it wouldn’t be enough to unbalance him.’ He ran a finger along the inside of his mouth, frowning, either at where he’d bitten through his own skin or where the fangs had cut him. ‘That actually hurt.’

‘Good,’ I said, unsympathetically. ‘Did Laclos know what you were doing?’

Was he that good an actor? Could both of these men I was so close to lie so convincingly to my face?

Cain pulled a face.

‘I’m guessing he figured it out when the blood started flowing. He can see into my soul, after all.’

I didn’t rise to that, but I didn’t have to, because Medea was angry enough for both of us.

‘OK, I’m about as thrilled as Cassandra that you dragged us here under false pretences – a lot less so, actually, since I’m significantly less swayed by your charms than she is. But even if we agree what you did was necessary – and I think the jury is still out on that…’ she made a gesture that included the vampires, who looked like they agreed. ‘But how has this helped? Haven’t we just delayed the inevitable confrontation? And, if anything, we’ve weakened our hand and strengthened theirs?’ Cain looked like he was going to answer but she was nowhere near done, and even an angel was no match for Medea in full flight. I was tempted to cheer. ‘And if Laclos’ punishment has to be done publicly, haven’t we now opened ourselves to the possibility that we have to save him from an even stronger force, potentially in front of a whole load of witnesses? With minimum casualties, attracting minimum attention and with even less time to spare before your… family come calling and expecting you home for your tea? Did your super-Secret-Squirrel plan take any of that into account?’ she demanded, and Cain actually looked sheepish.

‘… In fairness, there are a few bugs to work out.’

She turned to me, in exasperated disbelief.

‘Wonderful. Just wonderful.’

***

‘So, a rational starting place would be figuring out where they took him, right?’ I suggested. ‘Did you make any plans for that?’

Cain looked slightly more confident at this, and dug his phone out of his pocket.

‘We put a tracker on him…’ he looked at the screen, and his face fell. ‘Which they seem to have found and disabled. This is why I hate technology.’

He looked hopefully at Medea, but she baulked.

‘No, I can’t… I can’t do that anymore.’

‘The alternative is we tear the town apart looking for him. Surely the potential harm in that outweighs any Wiccan quibbles about being willing to off a bunch of homicidal witches?’ he asked.

‘Wow, your life really is never boring, is it?’ muttered Jonesy. I was suspecting he was very much regretting taking this job.

‘It’s not a conscious decision, Cain,’ Medea protested. ‘My magic has just… gone.’

‘Look,’ he knelt in front of her, and took her hands gently in his. ‘Laclos has my blood in him. We’re connected.’ He saw me open my mouth and scowled. ‘Not that kind of connected. But it’s like…’

‘A barium swallow,’ Jonesy supplied, which Cain didn’t look happy about – it sounded either rude or like a weird animal, and I doubted an angel had much truck with any medicine that went beyond stitching bullet holes, but it was the right analogy to make to the fiancée of a nurse. Cain’s blood would, hopefully, stand out to her tracking spell like radiation on a scan. But just because she understood it, didn’t mean she could do it.

‘So why can’t you track him, then? If you’re bonded in some way. The ang… your family seem always able to find you, isn’t it the same thing?’ I asked.

‘It doesn’t work like that, unfortunately. It makes us… hyperaware of the other, when we’re in close proximity. And it probably does create a connection – at least on his side – in ways I’m not thrilled at. But I don’t have that kind of ability any more. The… my comrades are drawn to our blood, but only in reasonable concentrations.’

‘So every time you… donate to him, he risks their attention? That seems a pretty big chance you took in there, then,’ I pointed out.

‘I thought you would want me to help him stay alive,’ he frowned.

‘I don’t think any of this is about what I want, is it?’

‘Look,’ interrupted Jonesy, impatient. ‘You two can row over who gets to pet the hot vampire later, but if we’re going to do this, we should do it now and get out of here.’ He turned to Medea. ‘Maybe you can give it a try? If we find their day camp, that puts us at a hell of an advantage.’

Medea looked unhappy at being put on the spot – I couldn’t say I blamed her – but nodded, reluctantly.

‘I can try.’

‘You can do it, I’m sure,’ Cain said warmly, with such conviction I almost believed him. But then again, he’d only just proven what a great liar he could be.

***

After several frustrating attempts, however, even Cain had to concede defeat. Medea simply couldn’t conjure up the magic, and was weakened by every attempt. Since Mariko and Leon were by now recovered, we decided to call it a night and they drove Medea home in one of the cars abandoned by Laclos’ vampires, taking Val with them, since clearly that odd little house share was happening for the duration. Medea seemed outwardly calm, but I could tell she was seething at Cain’s deception – and she was the one who liked him. I worried when she told Katie, her fiancée would turn into a lion and bite his head off. Though right at that moment, I felt like he deserved it, and the looks he was getting from Leon and Mariko – who’d been right on the frontline in this plan – confirmed they wouldn’t be rushing to his aid anytime soon.

Jonesy headed off to wherever he was staying – however much he seemed to trust Cain, he clearly wasn’t sharing that info with the rest of us – which left Cain and I to head back to my place in sullen silence. I could tell from the stubborn set of his jaw he was annoyed that I was questioning his actions, and this was made worse by the fact he had his own little set of helper monkeys who were on his side now, rather than having to depend on my friends. Val I thought I could read – biding her time for the big fight with the patience of an immortal – but Jonesy was a mystery to me. He seemed to know an awful lot about Cain considering they’d only done one job together (he knew he was married, for a start, which it had taken me years to find out) yet clearly there were some very big gaps in his knowledge. He seemed to think he owed Cain for something, but at the same time, he was still a hunter. I didn’t believe for one second that he wouldn’t sacrifice Laclos if it came to that.

***

We got back to my place, fed the cat and undressed in the huffy silence of two people spoiling for a fight but both knowing that we needed to hold on to some fragile détente until we saw this play out. I took a long time over my ablutions, hoping I’d come out of the bathroom and he’d be asleep, but no such luck: when I came back, he was sitting on the bed, looking serious, but also with the slight impatience of someone who knows something is inevitable and wants to get it over with.

‘OK, look, so that you don’t think I’m trying to kill the vampire at every opportunity, I think you should know that…’ He paused, scowling. ‘Laclos and I have a little more history than you’re party to.’

‘What kind of history?’ I demanded, shocked. What else was Cain going to tell me? The thought flared, inevitably. ‘Like…
naked
history?’

He shot me an exasperated look.

‘Of course not…’ he trailed off. ‘Well, in fairness, it’s Laclos, so yeah, bits of it were naked, but it’s not like you can blame me for that.’ He pulled a face, and I supposed I couldn’t argue with that. Laclos and clothes had a volatile relationship. ‘It’s just… when I left, last time… we ran into one another, a couple of times. Worked a couple of gigs together.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’

‘Honestly? Because I planned to come back and sweep you off your feet and I hoped he’d be out of the picture. Then things went kind of nuts, so I didn’t get the chance, and then with this whole ‘blood bond’ thing… I was worried you’d read too much into it.’

I stared at him, open mouthed.

‘So… does this mean, what? You’re friends now? Partners?’

He looked pained.

‘It means… we aren’t enemies. That’s probably as much as I can offer you. It means that although the guy gets on every last nerve, I won’t deliberately harm him and I will do my best, with certain caveats and exceptions, not to see him come to harm. Come to
much
harm.’

‘Jesus, Cain, is there anything else you’re not telling me?’

He let out another sigh.

‘Cass, both Laclos and I have been alive longer than you can imagine. We’ve lived lives and done things that no human could even process. There are lots of things we aren’t telling you, and there always will be.’

‘That’s consoling,’ I muttered, but in a way, it actually was. I had picked up several odd vibes between them even before this blood bond business: at least knowing what was behind it, I realised I wasn’t just being irrationally jealous. But I was still pretty pissed off about tonight, and he could clearly see that in my face.

‘Cass… look, I’m sorry. I made a decision on the fly and I should have told you about it. I fucked up. But this was Laclos’ call. It was his people, and I figured he had the right to try and fix his own mess. And… you’re human, Cass, and you care about him, which means we walk into there with you knowing the plan and your body gives you away a thousand different ways before you open your mouth.’

‘I’ve lied to vampires before,’ I reminded him, a touch petulantly.

‘It just seemed a pointless risk. And…’ he hesitated, knowing I wouldn’t like what he was about to say. ‘It doesn’t hurt if we convince people you’re left in the dark about things. I know you hate it, but the more we convince people that you’re just a human pawn in this, the safer you’ll be.’ Another pause. ‘If it’s any consolation at all, I thought it was a stupid plan as well. I half think Laclos figures he can charm his way out of it.’

I sat down beside him, disarmed by his honesty, and put my arms around his shoulders, resting my forehead against the back of his neck. He’s stripped to a t-shirt and his underwear, and as I leaned in against him I felt the wounds on his back pulse against my skin. I couldn’t tell whether this was his body reacting or mine, my Sense picking up on his pain, but for the first time, I realised how hard this was for him. He was a man trying to keep his feet in an earthquake, terrified of what would happen if he fell. He sagged back against me in exhaustion, and I held him, and the two of us sat there a long while, too weary even for sleep, neither of us wanting to think about what the morning would bring.

***

We arrived in work just before lunchtime the next day in a more reconciliatory mood, our truce having been sealed with a bout of mid-morning shower sex that left me glowing but a bit knackered. It’s hard to stay mad at a man who washes your hair, and if our physical relationship – the one area where we were never incompatible – was tinged with a sense of desperation, the fire sale 'everything must go' before he was hauled off to angel Guantanamo to undergo god knows what, both of us were making a sterling effort to ignore it.

Unfortunately, thinking about that rather took the shine off my morning. I dropped my half-eaten Pret croissant in the bin as we came in, appetite gone. Both Medea and Cain noticed and frowned – Medea because she knew I wasn’t a woman easily put off her food, Cain more, I suspect, because he thought he would be a better receptacle than the bin for anything I was done with (his noticeably increased appetite was leading me to believe whatever else it was, angel prison wasn’t catered). But Medea didn’t look thrilled to see us, either, and I couldn’t blame her. She and Cain exchanged curt greetings as he helped himself to coffee then leaned against the wall with the stance of a man who wouldn’t be moving any time soon, leaving Medea and me to make awkward smalltalk about the business, neither of us willing to tackle the bigger issues, particularly under his scrutiny.