Smoke and Ashes (38 page)

“Yeah, and getting more interesting by the day.”

The weak spot they were searching for wasn't in the lobby.

Or by the pool.

Or in the Business Center.

It was in the ballroom. Although there were round tables draped in peach tablecloths set up for later in the day, at the moment, the ballroom was empty.

“And we catch a break. Go us.”

“Maybe.” Frowning, Leah trailed her hand along one of the long walls until she came to a narrow wallpaper-covered door. Opening it exposed a dark, empty cubbyhole.

“It's where those folding walls go,” Tony said, peering over her shoulder and squinting a little to see the familiar shimmer. “You know, the kind that divides the room into smaller rooms.”

“I guess this one's missing.” Motioning him forward, Leah stepped back out of his way.

“Excuse me? What are you doing?”

They turned to see a man in a navy blue suit staring at them suspiciously from just inside one set of double doors. He was wearing a Four Points Sheridan name tag and the slight bulge at the waist of his jacket was either a radio or the hotel business in Vancouver was excessively competitive.

“I've got it,” Leah murmured and started across the room.

For the first couple of steps, she was just a good-looking woman walking, then even Tony could see the difference as she cranked up the metaphysical attraction. Checking on the hotel employee's reaction, Tony noticed the gleam of a gold band against a dark finger.

The guy was married.

Just fucking great.

He sketched out the first rune at full speed, shoved it through the shimmer, and glanced over his shoulder.

Leah was almost at the door, the translucent image of her Arjh Lord flickering around her. “You're the manager?” he heard her purr. “Just who I wanted.”

Second rune.

She had her hand against the manager's chest and he was smiling.

Third rune. At little slower because this was the one that gave him trouble.

Tony turned in time to see the door close.

Crap.

Fourth rune and he was sprinting across the ballroom before the shimmer had entirely disappeared. Fighting off a wave of dizziness, he crashed through the door, stumbled, apologized as he bounced off a passing luggage rack, and caught sight of Leah and the manager going into a conference room.

If the door closed, he wouldn't be able to stop her.

As it swung shut, he called.

The door jerked out of Leah's grip. Brass hinges creaked but held.

The look she shot him through Ryne Cyratane's torso promised a thousand years of torment and an immediate butt kicking. Tony let his arm drop back to his side and croaked, “Come on. We're on a tight schedule.”

“There's time…”

“No.” He sounded definite. Go him. He had no idea of what he'd do if she refused to listen.

Fortunately, he didn't have to find out. Leaving the manager standing confused and unfulfilled in the conference room, Leah stomped down the corridor, right past him and out into the lobby, heading for the exit. Half expecting to see smoking footprints in the carpet, Tony followed.

Disoriented by the unexpected sunshine, he had to dance around a shuttle bus and a pair of taxis vying for the same spot. By the time he was in the clear, she was already at the car. “That manager,” he said before she got a chance to speak, “he was married.”

“So?”

“So he was married.”

Leah settled back against the trunk and crossed her arms. “Are you telling me you never got into a car or went into an alley with a married man? Most hustlers can't afford those kinds of scruples.”

He didn't remember telling her in so many words that he used to hustle. Still, took one to know one. “That was different.”

“How?”

“This guy, the manager, he didn't make that choice. You didn't
give
him a choice.”

Her eyes widened incredulously. “So you were saving his marriage?”

“Maybe.”

“You know nothing about him. He could be putting it to half the cleaning staff.”

“That has nothing to do with me. This did. If he decides to betray his wife, that's his business, but we don't get to make that choice for him.” Suddenly, the pavement was a lot closer than it had been. “Ow.” Why was he on his knees?

“Tony?”

He blinked up at her.

“You didn't take the time to focus properly, did you? You used your own internal power for those runes, didn't you?”

“Could have.” He honestly didn't remember. “I was in a bit of a hurry,” he reminded her as she helped him back onto his feet. “You don't generally demand a lot of foreplay.”

He expected more argument, but she was quiet as she opened the car door and eased him down onto the seat. He couldn't read her expression and he didn't trust the silence, so just before she slid the key into the ignition, he grabbed her arm. “What?”

To his surprise, she leaned over and kissed him gently on the cheek. “You're a good man, Tony Foster. A good man with power. I'm not sure if I find that terrifyingly hopeful or just terrifying.”

As she effortlessly shook free of his grip, Tony sagged back against the seat and frowned. “Yeah, well, that and five ninety-nine will get you a meal deal,” he said after a moment, unable to decide if he should be flattered or insulted. “Which reminds me; you'll need to…”

“Hit a drive-through on the way to number twenty-five. Yeah, I figured.”

 

“Tony, wake up!”

There was a certain,
this is the last time I'm going to say this
tone to Leah's voice that dragged his eyes open. He could see trees silhouetted against a sapphire sky. “It's almost dark.”

“I know. You ate and then you fell asleep, and I couldn't wake you.”

“Why am I wet?”

“I said I couldn't wake you,” she snapped, tossing the empty cup into the back seat and starting the car.

Now he thought about it, it was a pretty stupid question. Although she'd reclined his seat as far as it would go, sleeping in the car had left him stiff. And not in a good way. “Oh, man, I have really got to take a piss.”

“There's a gas station on the corner.”

“Where are we?”

“Just down the road from number twenty-five,” she told him, pulling up to the pumps. “It's on a private house. Give me your credit card. For gas!” she added when he stared at her blankly.

“What's wrong with your cards?”

“The gas is going into your car.”

“Right. Fine. Whatever.” It wasn't until he was getting back into the car having visited both the bathroom and the convenience store, holding a bag of beef jerky and a giant sport drink and feeling much better that he realized what she'd said. “On a private house? Not in?”

“There's a piece of soffit missing. Do you know what that is?”

“Sure. I'm a wizard. We know things.”

“It's the piece that fills in the angle between the roof to the house.”

“Ah.” He chewed a piece of jerky as she pulled out into traffic. “Bungalow?”

“Two stories.”

Two stories with a porch and a flagstone walk and some bushes clipped into tight little spheres. Dark curtains were drawn over lace sheers in the front window, but a thin line of light seemed to indicate someone was home.

Standing on the sidewalk and craning his head, he could just barely make out the shimmer. “I can get it from here.”

The first rune slammed up against the eaves trough and rained down in a shower of blue sparks. Tony threw the remains of his sport drink on a smoldering spherical bush.
Good thing neighbor in the city means minding your own business.
“Son of a bitch. I can't get the right angle on it, the porch is in the way. I'm going to have to lean out that second-story window.”

“And how,” Leah snorted, peering up at the house, “are you going to get to that second-story window?”

“I guess we're hunting for another location,” he said as he headed back to the car.

She caught his wrist as he was opening the trunk. “Tony, people with that kind of repressed shrubbery are not likely to be fans of
Darkest Night.
”

“So we expand our demographic.” Shaking free, he pulled out his show jacket and shrugged into it, dropping his jean jacket into the trunk. It was the ubiquitous black satin with a blood red logo across the back, and he didn't wear it often—there were only so many Donnas a guy could face in a day—but it made him look more official and at past seven on a Saturday evening, that could only help. “We'll get whoever's in there to take me to that room because we want to use the view out of it on the show.”

“They won't care.”

“And we'll offer them a great deal of money.”

Leah glanced at the shrubs as they walked up the front path. “That might work. Except,” she added, “I get the impression CB's not going to sanction that.”

“We're not actually going to use the view,” he reminded her, heading up the porch stairs.

“Fair enough. But once you're in the room, they're not just going to let you lean out the window.”

“No, you're going to distract them. Or him. Or her. Or the Brady Bunch. Without forcing he, she, or them to break any vows.”

“Okay, Mr. I've-got-an-answer-for-everything: if it's not a him, how?”

“We'll be on the second floor.”

“So?”

Tony sighed and pressed the doorbell. “You're a stuntwoman, right? Fall down the stairs.”

 

“I don't understand.” Mrs. Chin clutched at the front of her pale blue sweater with one hand and peered anxiously from Tony's card to Tony. “There'll be a television show on our front lawn?”

“No, ma'am. We just want to shoot…film,” he corrected when she looked startled. “We want to film the scene out the window just like it is.”

“But why?”

“For the television show.”

“Yes, you said that, but why?”

“It'll be what one of the characters sees when they look out
their
window, Mrs. Chin.”

“Except they won't ever be in your room,” Leah added quickly. “We'll put the pieces of film together back at the studio.”

“I see.” Either she didn't, or she was confused about something else. “And you'll pay me money for this?”

That was almost a statement and definitely not what she might be confused about.

“Yes, ma'am.”

“Because you always hear about how much money there is in television.” She glanced at the card again. “How much money?”

“I can't say exactly, ma'am. I need to take a look and see if it's suitable and then…” He pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “…send a couple of pictures to the boss.”

Her eyes narrowed. “You're not taking pictures of the inside of my house.”

“No ma'am. Just the view out the window.”

“And you want to do this now?”

“The sooner the boss makes a decision, the sooner we can cut you a check.”

“But it's dark out,” she protested, leaning just enough to see past them and get confirmation.

“That's okay. It's a television show about a vampire. But a good vampire,” he qualified as her eyes began to narrow again. “It's about a vampire detective who solves crimes and protects people.”

Mrs. Chin nodded, slowly. “That sounds familiar. What's it called again?”

“Darkest Night.”
He half turned so she could see the logo on his back. “We shoot right here in Burnaby.”

“I've never heard of you,” she declared, but she stepped back and let them into the house.

 

“Oh, good heavens! Miss? Are you all right?”

Tony hadn't seen the fall, but it had certainly sounded impressive; lots of bumping, lots of crashing, and finally some very believable moaning. As Mrs. Chin ran out of the room, he leaned out of the window—fortunately, one of the old-fashioned kinds that lifted up and had no screen—twisted around, and, using the frame, pulled himself up to sit on the ledge. He had to lean away from the building, left arm stretched right out to get the runes through the weak spot, and although all four slid through, he wasn't entirely positive that it had closed. He leaned a little farther. Squinted…

The world tilted in an interesting way, but there was definitely no shimmer.