The mage looked so relieved to be excused that he rushed off without an argument. As I led Pussy toward the front of the store, Adam made quick work of wrapping the body in a tarp. Making sure her back was to the crime scene, I rubbed her arms. “Listen, no one blames you for what just happened. I’ve killed people for far lesser offenses.”
She sniffed. “Really?”
I nodded. “I used to be an assassin for the Dominae. I can’t even count how many people I’ve killed.” I was lying. I knew the exact figure, but that wasn’t what she needed to hear.
Her eyes widened. “Does it get any easier?”
This time I told the truth. “Yes. But there’s a cost. In order to cope, you end up shutting down a part of yourself that makes you capable of empathy and connection to other people. I hope that never happens to you.”
She tilted her head. “I’m not buying that.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Sabina, I just killed someone you needed for information, but instead of yelling at me, you’re going out of your way to make me feel better about it.”
My cheeks heated at the truth of her words. I was saved from having to respond by the clank of a bucket hitting the ground, followed by a masculine curse. “Anyway, I think I need to go help the mancy before he bleaches his clothes. Are you going to be okay?”
She took a deep, shuddering breath. “Yeah.”
I patted her arm and went to help Adam hunt down blood splatter. The scent of bleach assaulted my nose. Grabbing a sponge from Adam, I began to scrub away bits of Alodius. As I worked, I decided Pussy Willow’s assessment wasn’t exactly accurate. After all, if I was so able to connect with people, why did bonding with her make me so uncomfortable I preferred to clean up a crime scene instead?
23
After dumping Alodius’s body in the back of his walk-in freezer, we flashed back to Zen’s courtyard. We trudged up the stairs silently, each lost in our own thoughts. At the top, Pussy Willow quietly excused herself, claiming she needed to go fix her face. I suspected she really just needed some time alone to process everything. Probably, she also couldn’t face the idea of telling Zen and the others what she’d done.
When her door closed with a click, Adam turned to me. “What should we tell them?”
I thought over it for a moment, weighing the options. “We’ll tell them I did it.” When he opened his mouth to protest, I shook my head. “It’ll be easier. They won’t be surprised if I claim responsibility, and it’ll avoid the additional drama being thrown at PW.”
He smirked. “PW?”
I shrugged. “I’m cool switching to ‘she’ and all, but that name is a mouthful. Besides, every one needs a nickname. Right, mancy?”
He blew out a breath. “Okay, let’s get this over with so we can focus on coming up with a plan.”
I nodded and led the way toward the sound of voices coming from Zen’s workroom. As we got closer, Giguhl’s animated voice drifted through the door. “….. then the Incubus said, ‘Rectum? I damned near killed him!’ ”
I paused just outside the door, turning to Adam. “What if we don’t find her in time?” The idea of facing everyone down and admitting we failed to get Maisie’s location again made my stomach cramp. At least now we knew when. We just needed to figure out where.
Adam grabbed my hand. “Hey,” he said quietly. I looked up into his familiar warm eyes. “We’re close. Don’t lose your nerve now.”
I squared my shoulders. “You’re right. Let’s go.”
Opening the door, I pasted a smile on my face. “Hey, guys.”
Zen, Rhea, and Giguhl looked up. From the looks of things, they’d been busy trying to clean up. Zen looked up from lighting a candle on her restored altar, which featured a few new items, including 151-proof rum, iron nails, and a machete.
“How did your errand go?” Zen blew out the match.
I sighed. “Not so good, actually.”
Giguhl narrowed his eyes. “What happened?”
I ran a hand over my face. “Unfortunately, we were right. Alodius was involved in the attack. He wasn’t here, but he was the one feeding intel to the attackers.”
“Where is he?” Zen asked, but her eyes told me she already knew the truth.
“Dead.”
She crossed herself and closed her eyes.
Rhea stepped up. “Did you get any information out of him first?”
Adam filled them in on everything we knew. When he finished, Zen dropped into a chair, looking a little shell-shocked. “I still can’t believe he was wrapped up in this, this Brotherhood. I’ve known him for years. He always seemed so friendly.”
Part of me envied her ability to have faith in people. On the other hand, I couldn’t believe she wasn’t cursing the man’s name. Because of him, her business was ruined and her friend was experiencing some major emotional trauma in the aftermath of a brutal beating.
“Regardless, we have some information to go on now. It’s not much, but it’s more than we had three hours ago,” Rhea said.
“We should pay Erron Zorn another visit,” Adam said. “Now that we know Lavinia and the Brotherhood are planning on summoning Master Mahan, any info he can give us about the Caste might help.”
I sighed deeply. Once again, time was working against us.
Zen looked up. “We didn’t find any other clues while we were cleaning. That must mean the picture of Maisie is the key to finding the location.”
I reached into my jacket and held up the photo. Zen took it from me and we all gathered around her. “Okay, here’s the plan,” she said. “You and Adam pay the recreant a visit and find out what you can about the Caste. Rhea and I will scan the photo into my computer and analyze it for clues.”
I felt torn, wanting to be both places at once. “You’ll call the minute you find something?”
Zen and Rhea nodded. “Absolutely.”
“What about Pussy Willow?” I asked. “She’s pretty shaken up after everything.”
Giguhl stepped forward. “I’ll go check on her before I do my rounds.”
I smiled at the demon. “Thanks, G.” I turned to Adam. “Let’s go.”
The demon sun was high in the sky by the time we finally found Erron. The delay in locating him was due to a brief detour to his house. A surly little person, who it turns out wasn’t a hooker at all but Erron’s hairdresser, greeted us at the front door and informed us— after five minutes of arguing— that we’d find him at City Park doing his sound check. With everything else going on, I’d almost forgotten it was already Halloween and that Erron was playing Voodoo Fest.