Influential Magic (7 page)

I nodded. “He’s been in a couple of times before. Both were months ago. You’re right, though. If he’s aligned with the vamps, he just fucked up royally. But there’s a bigger game being played here, and I have a feeling the Orange Influence is only part of it.”

Phoebe nodded. “I agree. Let’s form a game plan for your meeting with the Cryrique tonight. There’s no way I’m letting you go to the fang den without backup.”

“I’ll have David.”

Phoebe rolled her eyes. “Right, ’cause that’s comforting.”

“You think they’ll let you in uninvited?”

“Hell yes, I’ll get in.” Her face scrunched up in righteous indignation. She placed a hand over her heart and leaned back. “Your lack of confidence pains me.”

***

The Arcane building cast long shadows as the sun set on the city. I didn’t even see David until Phoebe stopped the car and he appeared in front of us. His unnatural vampire energy settled on my skin. Ugh. How long would it take to get used to the heavy sensation always coating my aura? A few days, weeks? Never?

He stared at us, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips.

“You know you can’t smoke that around me,” I reminded him, trying but failing to keep the judgment from my tone. He’d never smoked before. Aside from smelling like a rank fire pit, cigarettes had zero consequences now that he was immortal. But they did affect me. My lungs constricted in protest at the mere thought of breathing the foul pollutant.

Rolling the tobacco stick between two fingers, he sent me a self-satisfied smile. “Even unlit, I knew you couldn’t resist chastising me.”

I bit my tongue to keep from engaging him again. Smug bastard.

“We have places to be. Get in,” Phoebe ordered.

He didn’t move from his spot against the brick building. “Which one of you is going to contain the wolf?”

“How did he know?” I asked Phoebe. No one outside of the Void was supposed to know about Link’s true nature. He’d never shifted in front of David before. There’d been no reason to. David had been mortal. The Shih Tzu snarled silently, pressing his little body against the privacy-tinted window.

“Smell, most likely.” Phoebe reached back, grabbed Link, and handed him to me. He flailed, trying to break free.

“Calm down, Link,” I soothed, running my hand down his back until he lay in my lap. “Good boy.” I sent David a calculating look. “I’ve got him. Get in and start talking.”

David strode around to Phoebe’s side and slid in behind her.

Link growled and pressed forward. I barely caught him, my arms weak from David’s vampire energy weighing against them. Link lay on the center console, his face sandwiched between the seats, teeth bared.

“He doesn’t like you very much,” I said.

“He’s not the only one,” Phoebe said.

I ignored her. “Answers, David. Now, or I’ll let Link change.”

He shot me an amused look of disbelief. Under any other circumstances his skepticism would be spot on, but today had been a very bad day, and my body was still sore from the night before. It wouldn’t take much for me to turn Link loose.

“I mean it, Laveaux. If we’re going to be partners, I want to know everything. Who’s after me, and when and where did you hear about it?”

“I didn’t plan to keep anything from you, Willow.” A faint crease of worry touched his brow. If I hadn’t been studying him, I might have missed it.

Did he really care what happened to me?
That’s stupid. Of course he cares. We dated for over a year. He turned into a vampire, not a monster. But just because he doesn’t want to see you dead doesn’t mean he wants you.

The thought brought on a rush of painful memories. I pushed them aside, resolve hardening my heart.

He sighed, the human gesture looking very out of place on his now-chiseled features. Vampires didn’t sigh. They didn’t even need to breathe. “I don’t know who. One of my boss’s contacts informed him of a plan to abduct you. I overheard the conversation and wanted to warn you.”

I leaned back against the window, my brows furrowed in confusion. “But you were surprised to see me last night. What were you doing there?”

“Looking for Phoebe. I was going to tell her.”

“And you just happened to know where I was going to be?” Phoebe asked “Yeah, right. Sounds suspicious, Laveaux.”

David’s intense gaze bored into mine, and for a moment I wondered if he’d even heard Phoebe. “I didn’t know where she would be,” he said to me. “I was on my way to your house when I saw her car. Then I saw you sitting against the oak with your suitcase like you were checking into the cemetery. I was going to meet you at your house, but then you went tearing off onto a rooftop. I couldn’t leave you there by yourself. Don’t you understand?” He paused and leaned forward. “Your life’s in danger.”

The concern in his voice brought fresh tears to my eyes. I blinked them back. When had I turned into such a blubbering idiot? “I’m an agent of the Void. I can take care of myself.”

“Sure, after you let the cemetery drain your energy. And then were almost taken out by a master vampire. Yeah, you looked like you were doing fine.”

Smart-ass. Who was he to judge? Suddenly a question I’d been holding back came rushing out. “Why did you volunteer to be a double agent against the Cryrique? That’s a good way to get dead…I mean really dead.”

“I can handle it.”

“The same way you handled not getting turned?” I said it to piss him off, anger bubbling in my chest at the way he dismissed my concerns. He’d left, and now he wanted to protect me—and worse, spend twenty-four hours a day together for however long I was stuck with him. And he couldn’t even do me the courtesy of acknowledging the danger he’d put himself in on my behalf.

Sadness clouded his midnight-blue eyes. “It was my choice, Wil. I asked to be turned.”

His words silenced me. He’d
asked
to be turned. How? Why? He couldn’t have. Not my David. Sweet, gentle, always-there-for-me David. My mouth worked as I tried to form words. Finally I spit out, “When?”

He turned, staring out the window.

“David?” I whispered.

Phoebe glanced at me, her eyes wide with curiosity. I clutched Link and waited. When it became clear he wasn’t going to answer, I switched gears. “Do you think someone at Cryrique is after me? Is that why you turned double agent?”

Slowly, he turned toward me and shook his head. “I don’t think so. But they’re interested in you, otherwise why would they care? Vampires don’t usually involve themselves in other races’ business. The only way I could make sure you were safe was to get the Void to let me be your partner, and the only way to do that was to turn double agent.”

“And to save yourself from a murder rap,” Phoebe added.

“What?” I cried.

“I didn’t kill anybody, Phoebe, and you know it. The Void would never let me in if they thought I did.”

She didn’t look convinced. We both knew Maude was known to not only push boundaries, but to erase them altogether to get what she wanted. When I’d accidentally discovered the Influence formula—one I didn’t want to pursue—Maude learned of it and forced me into producing the stuff. She’d threatened to take the formula to a competitor, where I’d have no control over who used the dangerous concoction. I hated her for it. All my instincts said this situation had Maude’s greed written all over it.

David couldn’t be a killer, could he? My stomach rolled. I snuck a glance at him. Impossible. The muscle pulsing in his jaw radiated with righteous indignation like it always did when Phoebe suggested something outrageous. Relief swept through me. Part of my David still remained inside his new persona.

“Have you eaten?” I asked, trying to appear normal. As if asking my ex if he needed blood was any kind of normal.

David flinched.

“What? You have to eat, and we have somewhere to be in an hour. We need to know if we’ll have to stop for you to feed.”

Phoebe parked the car in front of our house and twisted. “Well, do you?”

“No. I’m fine.”

“Good,” she said. “We don’t have time anyway.”

“Where’s he going to sleep?” I asked Phoebe as we all filed out of the car.

“Somewhere with no windows.” She unlocked the front door and deposited her bag on a distressed side table in the entryway.

“We don’t have any rooms without windows. You’ll have to charm one of them.” I eyed David, who stared warily at Link. He’d started snarling again as soon as the vampire entered the house.

“Link, that’s enough! Go.” I pointed toward the stairs leading to the second floor.

The Shih Tzu shot me a look of disgust and quit growling, but didn’t move. I sighed. It was progress.

“Sure we do,” Phoebe called from the hallway.

“Huh?”

“We have a windowless room. It’s upstairs.”

“No we…Crap! You mean my walk-in closet?”

“That’s the one,” she quipped.

“Oh, no. David isn’t staying in my room. What would I do with all my clothes?”

“Your closet isn’t exactly your room,” Phoebe reasoned as she walked back into the living room carrying a handful of defense charms.

“But he has to walk through my room to get to it.” I folded my arms over my chest. “It isn’t practical.”

Phoebe opened her mouth to reply, but David interrupted by clearing his throat.

“What?” we said at the same time.

“Since I sleep during the day, it shouldn’t be a problem if I occupy your closet. If you don’t mind, of course. I would feel much more comfortable there than in a room that has windows…even if they are charmed to block light.”

Phoebe grinned. “Don’t trust me, huh? Smart vampire.”

“Trust isn’t the issue. Spells and wards can be broken. I’d prefer to not be caught unaware, especially since I’m now in a volatile situation.” He caught my eye and waited.

I threw my hands up. “Fine. But you’re going to buy me one of those freestanding closets in the meantime.”

David nodded his assent.

Phoebe laughed, then sobered as she checked her watch. “We’ve got a meeting to plan for.”

***

“This way,” David said, leading me past a line of patrons waiting to get inside The Red Door—the most famous vampire jazz club on Frenchmen Street.

I followed, keeping my distance. It was one thing to go to the meeting together; it was entirely another to act friendly about it. He was a vampire, after all.

Vampires.
What was I doing here? Unease ran through my limbs, making me fidget with the glass bracelet I wore on my wrist. Through my worry, I barely noticed David’s vampire energy. I paused. Why didn’t I feel as though I were underwater? David was right in front of me, and the club had to contain at least one other vampire—the one we were meeting. Was David’s proximity dulling my senses? God. What else was going to go wrong?

David nodded to the bouncer and we walked in unchecked.

“Huh,” I mused, trying to put everything else out of my mind. “The door isn’t red, after all.”

“You’ve never been here?”

I shook my head. Vampires never caused trouble on Frenchmen Street. The profits from tourists ensured humans were kept safe. Phoebe and I’d never had a reason to work in the area.

“The club is named for a state of being, not the color of the door.”

“Good thing, since it’s blue.” I wanted to ask what he meant by “a state of being,” but the band kicked in, and I didn’t want to yell. Instead, David led the way to a secluded table in the back.

“Now what?” I shouted.

“We wait.”

I sat, scanning the smoke-filled room for Phoebe, but I didn’t see her anywhere. Of course, she had to be disguised. She could be a middle-aged chain-smoker with blue eye shadow downing scotch. Unless I looked carefully, I’d never know.

Besides, I had Phoebe’s new magically enhanced bug—a sterling silver brooch in the shape of a beetle—in my pocket. Somehow it transmitted everything it heard to another beetle, and Phoebe assured me whatever happened, she’d know about it. It was the same one she’d planted on David when she’d taken him in for questioning. Since he was knocked out, they hadn’t forced him through the security radar. They’d let Phoebe search him. That was how she’d known about his deal.

Please let her be close by
. Tension pulsed through my core in time with the bass. I longed for a couple of shots of my magically enhanced spiced rum. The mundane stuff wasn’t nearly strong enough to combat the massive waves of anxiety making my wings tremble.

Two songs later, the sax player of Unstrung Blues launched into a slow, sad melody. David stood, holding a hand out. “That’s our cue.”

Great, a death march.

I rose, walking past his outstretched hand. I’d made the mistake of letting him touch me once. It wouldn’t happen again.

He dropped his hand, confusion flickering over his features. We stood uncomfortably for a moment, then he nodded toward a poorly lit hallway. “That way.”

I took the lead, peering through the dark, smoky lounge, still fruitlessly searching for Phoebe. As I turned to enter the narrow hallway, a cold, dull ache riveted through the small of my back. I flinched and took several steps, putting plenty of space between me and David.