Split at the Seams (25 page)

I cleared my throat. “Did she call you again?”

“No, otherwise why would I be talking to you?” He kicked the toe of his boot against the side of the building.

“Shit,” I whispered. I grabbed my mobile phone and quickly checked for messages. I had none from Ebony.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I hope.” I stepped inside, surprised when Conrad followed me in. “Where are you going?”

“I’m coming up to your office, to wait for Ebony.”

“You know where she lives.”

“Yeah, and I’ve been waiting there for hours. So if it’s okay with you, Mistress of the Ghosts, I’d like to see if maybe she left you a message or something.” His blue eyes were shiny and didn’t share the hard edge of his words. He looked genuinely concerned about her, and it only made me feel worse.

“Fine,” I said, locking the door behind him. I pocketed my phone and didn’t wait for him, instead raced ahead, taking two stairs at a time now that my ankle was no longer bothering me. I didn’t want to linger near Benita’s office with the blue-and-white police barrier tape covering the door to mark it as a crime scene. The broken stairwell window had been boarded up with a big piece of plywood.

I unlocked the office door and rushed inside. “Close the door behind you.” I didn’t want any more surprises tonight.

Conrad surprisingly followed my instructions without a smart-ass comment. He’d never been here before, probably because he wanted to stay away from me, or maybe because he seemed to live like the creatures he hunted—after sunset.

I dumped my duffel bag and files on the desk and headed for the answering machine. There were thirty messages and I wanted to screen them, hoping Ebony had called to say she was okay. Anything, but what I dreaded the most. The last place she’d visited was the Council. As much as I hated to think about it, I had a bad feeling. Why did she have to be such a pigheaded idiot? She should have listened to me.

“What the fuck’s going on? Do you know where Eb is or not?” Conrad stood in front of the closed door, watching me very closely.

I shook my head and opened my mouth to respond, but nothing came out.

“Sierra! You’re starting to creep me the fuck out, you know that?” He shook his head.

“Just give me a sec,” I said, raising a hand to stop him from carrying on any more than he already was.

I pressed the button to playback all the messages. Skipping ahead through the first twenty because they were all regarding potential clients, I nearly passed the one I’d been searching for but hoped wouldn’t come.

The familiar voice roused a shiver down my spine. He always had this effect on me. The resonance in his voice made my skin crawl.

“Hey, darling, sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you. I know you’ve probably been by the phone, waiting for my call.” Mace Clamber’s syrupy voice echoed around the office, bouncing off the walls and filling all the shadows with ominous weight. “Too bad I missed you the other day when you dropped in to visit Roe, but I’m sure you’ll stop in now that I’ve got something you care about.” His laughter filled the noise for a while, causing goose bumps to sprout along my skin. “Ebony, sweetheart, say something to Sierra. I know she’d love to hear from you.” The sound was distorted before Ebony’s voice replaced Mace’s. “Don’t listen to this asshole. I’d rather die than let them have you for this!”

“What the fuck? That’s Ebony!” Conrad stepped closer, a frown darkening his face.

“Shh.”

“Seriously, Sierra, stay away,” Ebony said, rushing her words. “I guess I should’ve listened to you, huh?” She groaned and again the sound was distorted as I imagined the bastard forcibly taking the phone from her.

“You really shouldn’t have kept this lovely specimen away from us,” Mace said returning to the phone. “She’s quite the firecracker. Too bad I’ll have to take some of the fizzle out of her soon. Ebony’s alive and well for now but her condition depends entirely on you. If you do as I say, we’ll all be happy and survive another day. If you don’t, then only I’ll be happy. Do you get me?”

“You sick son of a bitch!” I hissed, balling my hands into fists. He might not be able to hear me, but I had no doubt he would know how I felt about the situation he was putting me in.

“Who is this prick?” Conrad asked. He looked as pissed off as I was.

“He’s an asshole, and I’m going to make him pay.” Another bout of laughter from the machine reminded me the message wasn’t over yet. He’d just given me enough time to digest the situation.

“I tried doing this the nice way, but you rejected my offer and then tried to kill me.” Mace paused, sighing into the phone. “So now you’ve got no choice. You have until midnight to hand yourself over to the Council. If you’re not here by then, you’ll never see Ebony again.
No one
will ever see her again.” Another pause. “I know you’d never let a friend down, so I look forward to seeing you very soon.”

I shut the machine off before the next message had a chance to start. Giving me
any
time at all sounded too generous for the callous bastard. What was he playing at? My stomach dropped because I had a feeling I’d never see Ebony again, either way.

The place I’d considered my solace for so long was suddenly filling with bad memories.

“Sierra, what the fuck are we going to do?”

I turned to look at Conrad. “What do you mean,
we
?” I’d almost forgotten he was still there. My mind felt as if it were a hundred miles away from this office, and already on its way to get my friend back. “I’m going to get her, right now!”

“Whoa, hold up for a minute.” He stepped in front of me.

“I’m not going to let Ebony get hurt, so get out of my way.”

“You can’t just rush over there without a plan. We need to—”

“Stop saying
we;
this doesn’t involve you!”

“Are you fucking kidding? You don’t think I’m going to let some asshole I don’t even know threaten my girl and not do anything about it, right? I’m not going to sit back and wait, just like I
know
you’re not going to hand yourself over to this prick.” His mouth was set in a grim line, and I knew he wouldn’t back down. “So, calm the fuck down for just a minute and tell me what the plan is.”

“I don’t have a plan.”

He looked at his watch and frowned. “We’ve got just over four hours to come up with one.”

Staring at him in the darkness of the office, I realized for the first time that this skirt chaser really did care about Ebony. And he wasn’t going to let me storm out of here without him.

As much as I hated including anyone else in this, he was right. I’d need all the help I could get to deal with the Council and beat them at their own game. I might not know how I was going to do this, but it was the only answer. Mace might be threatening me, but I knew this went deeper. I’d always been a thorn in the Council’s side. Ever since I walked away and set up shop to oppose theirs and provided competition they didn’t want, they’d been out for blood.

They wanted to eliminate me and didn’t care who went down with me.

Mace had somehow taken my grandmother, and I was pretty sure he was responsible for my grandfather as well. I wasn’t about to let him take anyone else away from me. If it was me this bastard wanted, I was going to give him just that. But I wasn’t about to surrender. I would go in with metaphorical guns blazing, ready to fight.

“Well?” Conrad cocked an eyebrow, waiting for my response.

I sighed and nodded. “You’re both right and wrong. I’m going to get Ebony out of there, if it’s the last thing I do…but I’ve got no choice about handing myself over.”

A shadow crossed over his face. “Look, we might not like each other very much and will probably never be friends, but you mean a lot to Eb and she wouldn’t want you to sacrifice yourself.” His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “You heard what she said. You must have taught her well, or passed on your unreasonable insanity. Either way, I’m going with you.”

Who would’ve thought I’d ever accept help from this man, or that he’d offer it?

“Fine, it’s your life on the line.”

“And yours,” Conrad said with a wink. “If we come up with some sort of plan, we stand a better chance.”

He was right on both counts—we were both about to put a lot on the line, and we needed some sort of plan.

I turned my back on him and headed for my desk, my mind churning over how best to handle this without giving in to the impulse of just driving to the city to face Mace. I secured the spook-filled canisters inside the safe and pulled out the witch’s toolkit Oren had given me earlier, but didn’t bother moving the files.

Tonight, I might finally be heading for the bright light at the end of the tunnel.

Chapter Twelve

With the rumble of Conrad’s motorcycle behind me all the way home, I felt a sense of ease I’d never thought possible where Vamp Boy was concerned. But with a common enemy and purpose—we both wanted to get Ebony away from Mace ASAP—I was glad to have him with me right now.

What the hell was happening to my life that everything seemed to be turning upside down and nothing made any sense? No point in puzzling something I couldn’t control. I was glad for any ally I could get.

I parked the car in my driveway and jumped out. The leather case was heavy in my hand, but it felt good to know I now had several weapons at my disposal. Conrad stopped his motorcycle right behind me, and at least I had someone else to back me up on this while Papan wasn’t home.

As soon as I stepped away from the car, something felt wrong. It wasn’t just that the front door lay open with light spilling out and Papan wasn’t supposed to be here. It wasn’t even the fact the side gate was hanging off its hinges. No, it went beyond everything I could see, and attacked my senses in a preternatural way.

Why
was
the front door open? Had something happened to Papan? No. He was supposed be somewhere else, running to the closest national park.

A warm breeze picked up around me and the first drops of rain hit the concrete path. The thunder and lightning I’d been hearing in the distance on the drive over now sounded like it had reached us, illuminating the dark and heavy clouds above.

I shivered. My body tensed, and it felt as if tiny ants were slowly crawling over me. I somehow knew every bit of added protection Oren had constructed both inside and outside the house was now gone.

The sound of gunfire made me jump.

Conrad appeared at my side. “What the fuck was that?” He looked around, but neither of us could see anything because the commotion was coming from my backyard.

There were no strange cars haphazardly parked on the curb, or any monsters lying in wait. Whatever was happening was going on right now.

Standing in the front yard with the rain falling and thunder booming around us wasn’t going to provide any answers. We would just attract unwanted attention from the neighbors.

Ducking back into the car, I was about to shove the leather case into the glove compartment when I decided this was probably a good time to take the silver dagger with me. I pulled it out and slammed the glove compartment shut before sliding back out and locking the door behind me.

I snagged the edge of Conrad’s leather jacket, motioning for him to follow me before releasing my grip. “Come on, it’s coming from the back.” I quickly slid the dagger, still in its scabbard, into my pocket. Never had I felt such a sense of apprehension on my own property.

Stepping past the broken metal gate and onto the concrete stairs leading down the side of the house, I watched my every step. The sharp decline from the front yard to the back of the house was wide enough for both of us to walk side by side, but hard to maneuver in total darkness and in the rain. The motion-sensor lights crunched beneath my sneakers—so someone didn’t want to be seen. It didn’t make a difference to me, I could see well enough in the dark.

Conrad slipped beside me, but I caught his arm before he hit the ground.

“Be careful, it’s littered with glass.”

“I can’t see a fucking thing,” he said, swearing some more.

“Just be careful. We’re almost there.” It didn’t take long to pass by the laundry door, which at least was still locked. When we finally strolled into the backyard, my heart sped up. The kitchen might be one floor up, but it faced the back of the house and this door was also wide open, spilling enough light from inside the house to illuminate some of the backyard.

What’s going on now?
Why couldn’t I catch a fucking break?

Papan wasn’t even supposed to be here, yet he was lying on the far side of the yard, clutching his left thigh. His face contorted in pain as blood ran down his right leg and the hand applying pressure.

“I’ve got you now,” said a familiar voice as Vixen stepped into sight.

“Oh shit.” She’d found him. And worse, she’d actually shot him! “What the hell are you doing?” I ran out of the shadows with the intention of smacking my shoulder against Vixen’s side, hoping to knock the gun out of her hands and send her sprawling to the grass. But she was too quick and turned on me a second before I reached her.

She had the barrel of the gun pointed at my head before I could do anything to stop her.

“Stay back or I’ll shoot you too.” Her eyes were wide and more than a little crazed. The immaculate high ponytail she’d sported earlier was now a mess of frizzy curls framing her face. “I mean it.”