Last Breath (30 page)

Mansi raged, spittle flying until the inner edge of the circle smoked and dimmed. There was no more time to rest. The mages were weakening, and so was the barrier under Mansi’s onslaught. The other three demons joined in and the second row of symbols flickered and died.

“Mansi, Dalgas, Gi’nar, and Pinen,” Raven shouted, her hands raised. “I banish you to hell, never to return unless summoned again.”

One by one, the mages around the circle repeated the banishment in hoarse, strained voices, the screams of the demons nearly drowning out their words. For a second I worried what the neighbors must be thinking. That woman below me who was always banging the handle of her broom on the ceiling was probably calling the police, or the landlord, right now.

Then I turned my sword around so the tip hovered an inch above the floor. Holding it aloft, I rested my forehead against the plain hilt, envisioning the holy responsibility of my birthright and holding that in my mind as well as in my heart.

“
T’voghnel anmiapes
.” My voice rang out louder than the screams of four demons. And then there was silence. I opened my eyes, staring into the empty circle with disbelief. I’d once had faith in this banishment, but after it had failed me twice… well, I was shocked it had worked this time.

They were gone. The outer boundaries of the circle still held, so they hadn’t escaped. Besides, as furious as they were, they wouldn’t have just run off if they’d managed to break through the circle, they would have attacked us. They wouldn’t have left until every one of us lay dead in a pool of blood and torn entrails, paying with our lives for trapping and humiliating four demons.

Raven dismissed the circle and the seven mages slumped, their cloaks stained damp with perspiration. My whole apartment reeked—of incense and sweat, of candle wax and sulfur, of burned parchment and blood. If I wasn’t evicted by the end of tomorrow I’d count myself blessed.

I wanted to turn and see Dario’s reaction to all this. I wanted to eat a cannoli and possibly indulge in my Emergency Beer. I wanted to take a nap. But my work here wasn’t anywhere near finished.

Seven mages got to their feet. I wasn’t imagining the sudden tension in the air. With the demons gone, all bets were off. Former promises were made to be broken, and I knew better than to trust that these mages would turn themselves over to the Baltimore City police.

As two of the mages moved toward the door, Dario blocked them, baring fangs in a toothy smile.

Gryla glared at him. “We’ve got no problem with the
Balaj
. And we’re of more value to you
outside
of jail.”

“Well, we’ve got a problem with you,” Dario replied. “One of your sacrificial rites brought an angel down on the city. If that’s the sort of careless disregard you have for our interests, then you’re of no value to us at all. Be grateful you’re facing jail and not an unmarked grave.”

I was suddenly glad of Dario’s presence. Without him this might have turned into a seven-against-two magical fight.

The mages backed slowly away from the door, eyes narrowing as they realized Dario was standing in front of the only exit to the apartment. Well, the only exit unless they wanted to throw themselves out my window and down three stories onto the pavement below. Even then, vampires were fast—fast enough for Dario to grab any mages foolishly trying to jump out my window.

“I suggest you all keep your hands out of your pockets and held quietly in front of you where we can see them,” I told them, holding my sword. Dario stood his ground by the door and Raven flanked the mages on the other side, a knife in one hand and an amulet in the other.

I sent a quick text from my phone, and jumped as almost immediately there was a knock on my door.

“That was fast.” Dario scooted over so I could open the door for the detective. “I have seven of them, all Fiore Noir members although I’m sure they all claim to not have any part of the murders. They’ll cooperate.” I glanced over at Dario. The vampire was watching the mages intently. They all stared back at him with their wide gazelle eyes. It was like a nature documentary.
Vampire hunts down prey in a Fells Point apartment
. The only difference was that these mages were going to walk out of here alive. For now.

Tremelay moved aside and other police moved into my apartment past me to cuff the mages and pat them down for weapons. I wasn’t surprised at the number of magical items that were going into labeled plastic baggies. I shot Dario a grateful glance that he didn’t see. Without him here tonight, this would have probably gone very badly.

The mages filed out past us and I walked Tremelay out my door into the hallway. He glared into my apartment at Dario and then down at me with a scowl. “Who the heck is that guy? Is he your personal bouncer or something?”

I was too tired to go into all this with Tremelay, and I wasn’t sure he’d believe me anyway. Demons, angel, killer mages, and now vampires? That conversation would have to wait for later. “I’ll tell you later. I think you’ll need a bottle of whisky for this one.”

The detective shook his head. “I get the feeling you’re not going to tell me he’s an accountant who watched one too many episodes of The Wire. Voodoo? Please tell me it’s not voodoo because that stuff needs to stay down south.”

I patted his shoulder. “Not voodoo. Worse. I’ll tell you later. I promise.”

Tremelay walked down the stairs and out the door, where the flash of red and blue lights was beginning to become a regular nightly thing. I turned to go back into my apartment where Raven was giving Dario a high-five.

It was odd seeing my best friend so casual and comfortable with the vampire that was my… whatever. Friend? Near-miss boyfriend? The vampire in question turned to me without a fang in sight, grinning his fool head off.

“I’m glad I stayed. Intimidating a group of mages was immensely satisfying, but that banishing… I think I might actually be turned on.”

Who was this, and what had he done with my somber vampire friend? Raven grinned back and chuffed him on the shoulder. “Well, you’re not getting any from me unless I play dentist first and yank those fangs of yours. No venom addiction for me, thank you very much. I’ve got enough problems with my mage lover. I know my limits.”

Dario didn’t even look at me, knowing my answer. The levity evaporated like it hadn’t been there and in its place an odd tension filled the air.

“Thanks for your help.” My gratitude was real, no matter how forced my words sounded at the moment.

He nodded his eyes warm as they turned to meet mine. “Any time. It was my pleasure. Honestly.” He sighed. “But now I need to go. There are some things I need to accomplish before sunup, and I’ll need to hurry.”

Giselle. In an instant I saw her beautiful face, adoring eyes watching him, hand reaching up to touch the marks on her neck. My stomach twisted at the thought, but I forced it down and tried to school my features into something resembling friendly interest. “Of course. I’ll walk you out.”

It wasn’t that Dario needed an escort, but that there were a few quick things I wanted to say to him away from Raven. Best friends didn’t need to know every single detail of each other’s lives, especially when it concerned vampires.

I shut the door behind us and tried to be mindful of the late hour as I tip-toed down the stairs. The neighbors most likely hated me already. Dead people in my parking space. Regular demon summonings and banishings. What had amounted to a stinglike operation that wound up with seven mages doing the perp walk out of my apartment. No sense in angering them any further than they already were.

“Tomorrow night, one hour past sunset at Sesario’s,” Dario reminded me. I nodded.

“How…how is Sarge?” Part of me still didn’t want to know, but I felt I owed it to him, to our somewhat new friendship to at least check in about his status.

Dario halted halfway past the landing and faced me. “It’s none of my business, Aria. It’s not my place to stick my nose into another vampire’s love life.”

My heart sank at his words. “So you haven’t seen him around? You used to see him at Leonora’s or out with Geraldo. You haven’t seen him? Have you seen Geraldo at all?”

“Yes, I’ve seen Gerlado. No I haven’t seen Sarge. And I haven’t asked. It’s not my business.” Dario hesitated, then sighed. “If it makes you feel any better, Geraldo does not appear to be grieving.”

I did make me feel better, but it still didn’t alleviate my worry for Sarge. He was a man in love, a man addicted. He was a man marching toward his death. But I couldn’t save Sarge any more than I could save a friend who was deep into heroin.

“If you see him, or if you see Geraldo again, can you let me know? I’m not asking you to pump your vampire brother for information, just let me know.”

A look of frustration flitted across the vampire’s face, then he nodded. I continued following him to the building door, feeling the blast of humidity even in the cool night air. Dario halted so quickly that I plowed into his back, steading myself against him with one hand while holding the door with the other.

“Aria?” His voice sounded strained. “There’s a dead man in your parking space. He looks like someone reached into his chest and yanked everything out, cracking his ribcage wide open.”

No. Not after the conversation we’d had in the coffee shop. Not after he’d promised me. I peered around Dario and saw that he was right. The dead man’s ribs glistened white in the moonlight, his chest cavity hollow black.

If you couldn’t trust an angel to keep his word, who could you trust?

I
T WAS TREMELAY
that showed up. Poor guy had just left. I doubt he’d had time to set his parking brake at the station before driving back over here.

“When do you sleep?” I asked with a sympathetic smile. I’d at least gotten my nap in this evening. I doubted the detective had even had that.

“At this rate I’ll be able to schedule some sleep next month. Right now I’m running on energy drinks and coffee.” He saluted me with a Styrofoam cup.

“Those mages still at the station?” I was hoping this death would remain hush-hush for as long as it took to rein Araziel in. The mages weren’t likely to cooperate if they thought the angel was still delivering his own sort of justice.

“Yeah.” Tremelay rubbed his face and blinked tired eyes. “They’re not being the most cooperative bunch. They’re scared. Seems there’s one particularly ruthless guy among them who they call the Stranger. Supposedly he isn’t shy about choosing those with loose lips as his victims. Or those who piss him off. Everyone is worried they’ll wind up dead if he even gets wind that they were at the station for questioning.”

I took out my little list. There were still three mages unaccounted for—four counting the Stranger. Had Gryla found time to determine his identity? Was there any way to find out who had brought in the soul trap and bargained for the death of three Haul Du mages?

Araziel had to have some way of determining which of the mages were involved. The angel might have killed those two junkies in a twisted act of pre-emptive assisted suicide, but I got the feeling he was very careful about his victims. There was a plan when it came to this angel, a method to his murders. Angels didn’t need to bother about such things as search warrants or probable cause or Miranda rights. What if I were to ask, or beg, Araziel for the location of the three remaining mages as well as the identity of the elusive Stranger? Then I could point Tremelay in the right direction to gather appropriate evidence. I glanced over at the corpse in my parking space. If things moved along at a faster pace as far as human justice went, perhaps Araziel would be willing to hold off on his killing spree.

The door of the apartment building opened and Raven walked out, casting a quick glance at the dead body. I’d called it in, then gone upstairs to let her know what had happened. Practical mage that she was, Raven had volunteered to stay and continue to clean up post-ritual while I dealt with the police.

“You’re never getting your parking space back,” she commented.

Not that it mattered. I probably would be searching for a new apartment by the end of the week anyway. “You heading home?” I asked. She nodded.

“Don’t call me before noon. Actually don’t call me before sunset. I’m going to make like a vampire and sleep the day away. When I wake up…” her eyes strayed to my waist. I touched the demon mark in reflex, wincing. For a few seconds I’d actually forgotten about Balsur. There seemed to be more urgent things to deal with than the potential loss of my soul, but at Raven’s reminder fear spiked through me. How long did I have before Balsur started putting pressure on me? What could a demon do that might drive me to the edge of desperation, to do things I never thought I would do? To barter my soul? I thought of Athena and the adopted daughter she was about to welcome home, of my father and mother, my brother and my two nephews, of Essie. I thought of Dario. And I looked up at Raven, my best friend. What would I do if their lives were in jeopardy?

This mark needed to go, and quick.

“Get some sleep. I’m going to speak with a certain angel once we’re done here. This weekend we’ll get started on my mark.”

She smiled and patted me reassuringly on the shoulder. No sooner had her car pulled away from the curb than another took its place. A tall woman with long legs climbed out of the sedan, trotting her way over toward us on sensible shoes. Janice. Tremelay was going to kill me, even though I wasn’t the one who called her.

“Crime scene, ma’am,” one of the cops told her as she waved her press credentials in his face. “Stay this side of the tape, please.”

I shot Tremelay an apologetic look and walked over to the reporter. “I don’t know how you’re going to spin this one. Telling the public an angel is killing murderers is only going to get you a psych eval.”

She grinned. “Vigilante angel. Too bad. It would make a great front page.”

I waved behind me toward the corpse. “The police are questioning some persons of interest in the ‘occult gang murders.’ Maybe you can reassure everyone that they’re making progress and that there will soon be arrests?”