Make Me (23 page)

“What do you want?” he asked tightly.

“Oh, not much,” she said, giving him a seductive look. “You know, in my previous life, I was a real grind. For what? It got me nowhere. This time around, I plan to have fun. Lots and lots of fun.” She shook her head. “Asmodeus is a drag. But I bet you know how to have a good time.”

“I’m not in the mood.”

“And after I left you that aspirin so you’d feel all better?” she cooed.

He wanted to choke her. He made an abortive move in that direction.

Lilith backed away and shook her finger at him playfully. “No, no, no. You wouldn’t want to hurt your friend’s body, would you?”

“Why not?” he snapped. “You said you weren’t going to give it back.”

She pouted. “You wouldn’t hurt me, would you?” She pretended to think. “I know. I’ll make sure you can’t.” Her smile turned hard and brittle. She moved toward the doorway and cast a glance over her shoulder. “Guess. What’s fast, heals quickly, and is immortal?”

“You wouldn’t,” Micah said, desperately hoping she was joking.

“Oh, I would,” Lilith said. “In fact, I’m leaving now to find myself a willing sire.”

“No.” Micah rushed toward her.

But Lilith had anticipated him and ran just out of his reach. “So sorry,” she said and blew him a kiss. “The next time you see me, I’ll be good and undead.”

With that, she slammed the door in his face.

Micah sagged to the floor, desperately hoping she was lying. She wouldn’t do that to herself. Would she?

“I don’t know, but he hasn’t hurt us yet.”

Yet? That sounded ominous, but at least it meant Micah and Princess were okay, too. Gwen sounded a little odd, like she wasn’t sure how much she could say. “Is he standing next to you?” I asked her.

“Yes.”

“Do you remember anything about where you are now, how you got there? Give me a hint.”

“I don’t know,” she said, sounding impatient. “Why didn’t you show up to the meeting?”

Gwen sounded angry, and she had a right to be. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t get the message until the meeting time had come and gone. I called back and left a message. Didn’t he get it?”

“I guess not.”

“Why did he kidnap you?”

“He thought I was you, and that I had the books. The other two were just there, so he took them, too. Val, he wants to trade us for the books. Can you do that?”

“Don’t worry. I’ll do everything in my power to free you,” I promised her.

“
No
,” she ordered, then added, “Don’t attempt a rescue. Please, just bring the encyclopedia.”

She had to say that, with him standing next to her. “Just tell me this. Is he a mage demon?” Mage demon and encyclopedia… an explosive combination.

“No. Please, come soon. I’m afraid he’ll burn us if you don’t.”

Smart girl, she was able to tell us he was a fire demon like Andrew. Probably some idiot who’d heard how strong the books had made Andrew, but thought he could remain free of the books’ control. “Okay, but tell him it’ll take me some time to get the books.”

“Is that true?”

Just in case he was listening, I lied. “Yes. When and where does he want to exchange them?”

“Just a minute. I’ll ask.”
A
ll I could hear were muffled voices until she came back on the line a couple of minutes later. “He’ll call you later with the details. How long will it take you to get them?”

It was at least an hour to San Antonio, and I wanted him to assume I’d left them somewhere near there. Give me more time to think and plan. “About three hours.”

“All right, I’ll tell him. Don’t turn off the phone this time, okay?”

“Okay. I—”

But she had hung up. Or, more likely, the fire demon had hung up for her. “He’ll call back later to arrange the time and place,” I told Fang and Austin.

WE’RE NOT JUST GONNA SIT ON OUR BUTTS AND WAIT, ARE WE? Fang asked belligerently.

“What do you want me to do?”

FIND THEM. TAKE THEM AWAY FROM THAT DEMON BEFORE HE CAN HURT THEM OR GET HIS HANDS ON THE BOOKS.

Exasperated and frustrated, I shot back, “How? You got any bright ideas on how to find them? ’Cause I’m fresh out.”

Austin settled back in his chair, one booted leg resting on top of his knee. “Think, Val. What did you hear in the background on the call? Was it silent like they were inside a house, or did it sound like they were on a road in a car?”

Good question. I thought for a moment. Neither one. “I heard voices in the background,” I said. “And music.” I thought harder. “Christmas music. I know—it was
Feliz Navidad.
”

“Maybe it’s a Mexican restaurant,” Austin said, musing.

THAT NARROWS IT DOWN TO ABOUT A THOUSAND BETWEEN HERE AND SAN ANTONIO, Fang said, sounding disgusted. OR NOT. IT’S PLAYED EVERYWHERE THIS TIME OF YEAR.

“What’s your phone show?” Austin asked. “Does it say who it’s from?”

“No. It just gave the number—the area code is five-one-two, in Austin.”

“Maybe we can do a reverse lookup,” Austin said, rising to head toward the computer. “What’s the rest of the number?”

I glanced at my phone. “Wait. While I was talking to Gwen, her brother called and left a voice mail.”

I listened to the voice mail. Short and sweet. “Call me immediately,” Dan growled and hung up.

Dang. I’d hoped we could rescue Gwen and get her home safe and sound before Dan realized she was missing. But his cop skills could come in handy right now.

I called him and he didn’t even say hello. He just bulldozed right over me. “Do you know where Gwen is? She didn’t show up for work, she’s not home, there’s a scorched spot on her rug and she doesn’t answer her cell. Is she with you?”

“No. Dan, I’m sorry, but Gwen’s been kidnapped.”

“What?” he bellowed, nearly bursting my eardrum. “By who?”

“Some fire demon we don’t know. He has Micah and Princess, too.”

“Lay it out for me. Where are they? What does he want with them? Is there a ransom demand? What are you doing about it?” The questions came rapid-fire.

When he finally paused for a moment, I said, “Yes, we have a ransom demand. He wants the books.”

“You’re going to give them up, aren’t you?”

“As soon as he gives us the time and place. Unless we can find Gwen and Micah before then. Can you help?” San Antonio wasn’t that far away.

“I’ll do my damnedest.” Dan paused, then asked more hesitantly, “Did he—Did he give you proof of life?”

Such a cop thing to say. “Yes, he made Gwen call me. I just hung up from talking to her.”

He sighed, and I heard a lot of relief in that sound. “What’s the number?”

I gave him the number, told him what I knew, and explained he’d used Micah’s phone to call me earlier. “I bought us three hours—he thinks it’ll take me that long to get the books.”

“Good. I’ll track the numbers down. Get with the Underground,” Dan ordered. “Find out who the fire demons are in San Antonio and Austin. And send me the picture he took of Gwen and Micah, too.”

“Of course.” I wanted to find them just as much as he did.

“Let me know immediately what you find out.”

“I will, but you have to do the same.”

“You got it.”

He hung up on me, but I didn’t mind. He was good at his job and now I had a little sliver of hope that we’d be able to find Micah and Gwen without having to give up the books.

“Dan’s on it,” I told the other two. “And he wants me to find out what fire demons live near here.” I should have thought of that, but I was too emotionally involved. It clouded my thinking. So did Lola. She hadn’t fed in a while and was getting a little edgy and a lot hungry.

GOOD, CALL TESSA, Fang said. SHE’LL KNOW.

Austin typed something on the computer. “What if it isn’t a local fire demon? What if it’s someone from out of state?”

“Don’t think that way,” I said, annoyed, then shook my head at my own foolishness. What did I think? That he’d jinx it? “This is the first lead we’ve had. It has to help.” I wouldn’t accept anything else.

I paused for a moment. Something in what he said niggled at me, but I couldn’t get a grip on it. Something important. No time for that now. I called Tessa, and told her what I needed to know.

“Andrew and his mother are the only fire demons recorded in San Antonio,” she said.

“I know Andrew’s voice, and that definitely wasn’t him.”

“Okay,” she said. “Let me check the Austin files, as well as the rest of Texas, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”

“Thanks. Oh, and David’s on his way there. Can you send Ludwig back with him?” The water demon ought to come in handy.

Tessa agreed, so I hung up and checked the voice mail and the charge level. No calls had come in while I was on the phone this time, but I was using it more than normal and the charge was going down fast. I pulled the charger off the table from where it had been dumped from the backpack and plugged it in.

“Have you heard from Alejandro?” I asked Austin. “Are they any closer to finding the missing vamp?”

Austin shook his head. “Not yet. But they have found more evidence of  . . .” He paused, then added, “More ash.”

More dead vamps. What the heck? Was there a whole vein of wild vamps hiding out in the park somewhere?

I nodded, and while we waited, I asked, “How’s your—” What should I call the vampire Austin had sired? His child? That didn’t sound right, so I changed my wording. “How’s Wes doing? And the other guy—Ronald.”

“Their minds aren’t whole yet, but Alejandro is confident they’ll regain their sanity. It just takes time.”

“What is he doing to treat them?” I didn’t really care, but the conversation helped pass the time and I listened with half an ear until Tessa called back.

“What did you find out?” I asked her.

“There are two fire demons in Austin, three in Houston, and several more in West Texas.”

“Give me the names of the Austin ones.”

“Beth and Blaine Williamson—a brother and sister. You want the address? Apparently, they live together.”

“Hold on, let me get something to write on.” Austin handed me a notepad and a pen so I took down the address. “Thanks, Tessa. You may have just helped us find Micah and Gwen.” I hung up.