Influential_Magic

chapter 5



I closed my eyes, fighting for control. So that’s what David meant when he’d said I was in danger. Damn Maude for letting me read the news in a freaking assignment report. The rasp of paper crumbling filled the room as I clenched my fingers around the directive.

“Rough day?” Phoebe asked.

I spun to find my roommate leaning against the doorframe. She’d morphed into Reese Witherspoon, à la Legally Blonde: long, slightly curled blond hair, a pink business suit, and perfectly manicured nails. I scowled. “You look ridiculous.”

“It got the job done. I now have a new informant with close ties to the mayor.” When I didn’t answer, she strode into the room and lounged in the chair on the other side of my desk. “You’re not still mad, are you?”

Her nonchalant attitude made my blood pressure rise. “Did you get my email?” My words came out clipped. Of course I was still mad. My best friend had insulted me and taken Maude’s side.

Phoebe nodded, ignoring the tension in the room. “I’ve got someone working on it. You really think the vamps are after Influence?”

Rolling my shoulders, I stifled a sigh and slumped back into my chair. “I’m not sure, but better safe than sorry at this point. Any chance we can speed up the background check?”

She shrugged. “It isn’t considered a priority, but I can call in a favor if you’re that worried about it.”

I sat up straight. “Not a priority? To who? Vampires may be using Influence. Influence I created. It’s a pretty damn big priority to me and any potential victims.”

Phoebe studied me for a moment, then tapped a message on her phone. “I know you’re upset, and I’m still at the top of your shit list, but something else is bothering you. What’s going on?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with being forced to spend all my days and nights with a vampire for God knows how long.” And being at the top of some vampire’s most-wanted list.

“Not all vampires are criminals, Wil.”

“Look at you, being all politically correct. When’s the last time you befriended one?”

She shrugged. “I have vampire friends.”

I snorted in disbelief. “You have vampire contacts. And you haven’t slept with any of them.”

“That’s true.” Her phone beeped. She scanned the message and then typed a short response. “We won’t have info on your messenger until tomorrow morning. The tech working the case said the Influence registrar didn’t get back to him and now the office is closed for the day.”

“Perfect,” I said, my voice flat.

“Wil,” Phoebe said carefully, softening her voice. “I’m sorry about this morning and for letting Maude blindside you. I was worried you’d go in full steam and rail against her. Which I’m not denying I’d love to see, but today I needed you levelheaded. Or at least as levelheaded as you can be around your aunt.”

Her tone, more than the words, got my attention. I exhaled as the pent-up tension faded away. “I’m sorry, too. You were only doing your job. I wasn’t even mad anymore by the time Link and I got here. But after I got that phone call and read about my new assignment, the anger came rushing back.”

One dark eyebrow rose. “Phone call?”

“F’ing vamps.” I hadn’t filled Phoebe in on the details. “I got a letter and then a phone call.”

After I recounted the day’s events, Phoebe sat back, looking thoughtful. “If the messenger does work for the vamps, then picking up the Influence was pretty damn sloppy if they intend to keep buying it from you. Did you check the buyer’s history?”

I nodded. “He’s been in a couple of times before. Both were months ago. You’re right, though. If he’s aligned with the vamps, he just f*cked up royally. But there’s a bigger game being played here, and I have a feeling the Orange Influence is only part of it.”

Phoebe nodded. “I agree. Let’s form a game plan for your meeting with the Cryrique tonight. There’s no way I’m letting you go to the fang den without backup.”

“I’ll have David.”

Phoebe rolled her eyes. “Right, ’cause that’s comforting.”

“You think they’ll let you in uninvited?”

“Hell yes, I’ll get in.” Her face scrunched up in righteous indignation. She placed a hand over her heart and leaned back. “Your lack of confidence pains me.”

***

The Arcane building cast long shadows as the sun set on the city. I didn’t even see David until Phoebe stopped the car and he appeared in front of us. His unnatural vampire energy settled on my skin. Ugh. How long would it take to get used to the heavy sensation always coating my aura? A few days, weeks? Never?

He stared at us, an unlit cigarette dangling from his lips.

“You know you can’t smoke that around me,” I reminded him, trying but failing to keep the judgment from my tone. He’d never smoked before. Aside from smelling like a rank fire pit, cigarettes had zero consequences now that he was immortal. But they did affect me. My lungs constricted in protest at the mere thought of breathing the foul pollutant.

Rolling the tobacco stick between two fingers, he sent me a self-satisfied smile. “Even unlit, I knew you couldn’t resist chastising me.”

I bit my tongue to keep from engaging him again. Smug bastard.

“We have places to be. Get in,” Phoebe ordered.

He didn’t move from his spot against the brick building. “Which one of you is going to contain the wolf?”

“How did he know?” I asked Phoebe. No one outside of the Void was supposed to know about Link’s true nature. He’d never shifted in front of David before. There’d been no reason to. David had been mortal. The Shih Tzu snarled silently, pressing his little body against the privacy-tinted window.

“Smell, most likely.” Phoebe reached back, grabbed Link, and handed him to me. He flailed, trying to break free.

“Calm down, Link,” I soothed, running my hand down his back until he lay in my lap. “Good boy.” I sent David a calculating look. “I’ve got him. Get in and start talking.”

David strode around to Phoebe’s side and slid in behind her.

Link growled and pressed forward. I barely caught him, my arms weak from David’s vampire energy weighing against them. Link lay on the center console, his face sandwiched between the seats, teeth bared.

“He doesn’t like you very much,” I said.

“He’s not the only one,” Phoebe said.

I ignored her. “Answers, David. Now, or I’ll let Link change.”

He shot me an amused look of disbelief. Under any other circumstances his skepticism would be spot on, but today had been a very bad day, and my body was still sore from the night before. It wouldn’t take much for me to turn Link loose.

“I mean it, Laveaux. If we’re going to be partners, I want to know everything. Who’s after me, and when and where did you hear about it?”

“I didn’t plan to keep anything from you, Willow.” A faint crease of worry touched his brow. If I hadn’t been studying him, I might have missed it.

Did he really care what happened to me? That’s stupid. Of course he cares. We dated for over a year. He turned into a vampire, not a monster. But just because he doesn’t want to see you dead doesn’t mean he wants you.

The thought brought on a rush of painful memories. I pushed them aside, resolve hardening my heart.

He sighed, the human gesture looking very out of place on his now-chiseled features. Vampires didn’t sigh. They didn’t even need to breathe. “I don’t know who. One of my boss’s contacts informed him of a plan to abduct you. I overheard the conversation and wanted to warn you.”

I leaned back against the window, my brows furrowed in confusion. “But you were surprised to see me last night. What were you doing there?”

“Looking for Phoebe. I was going to tell her.”

“And you just happened to know where I was going to be?” Phoebe asked “Yeah, right. Sounds suspicious, Laveaux.”

David’s intense gaze bored into mine, and for a moment I wondered if he’d even heard Phoebe. “I didn’t know where she would be,” he said to me. “I was on my way to your house when I saw her car. Then I saw you sitting against the oak with your suitcase like you were checking into the cemetery. I was going to meet you at your house, but then you went tearing off onto a rooftop. I couldn’t leave you there by yourself. Don’t you understand?” He paused and leaned forward. “Your life’s in danger.”

The concern in his voice brought fresh tears to my eyes. I blinked them back. When had I turned into such a blubbering idiot? “I’m an agent of the Void. I can take care of myself.”

“Sure, after you let the cemetery drain your energy. And then were almost taken out by a master vampire. Yeah, you looked like you were doing fine.”

Smart-ass. Who was he to judge? Suddenly a question I’d been holding back came rushing out. “Why did you volunteer to be a double agent against the Cryrique? That’s a good way to get dead…I mean really dead.”

“I can handle it.”

“The same way you handled not getting turned?” I said it to piss him off, anger bubbling in my chest at the way he dismissed my concerns. He’d left, and now he wanted to protect me—and worse, spend twenty-four hours a day together for however long I was stuck with him. And he couldn’t even do me the courtesy of acknowledging the danger he’d put himself in on my behalf.

Sadness clouded his midnight-blue eyes. “It was my choice, Wil. I asked to be turned.”

His words silenced me. He’d asked to be turned. How? Why? He couldn’t have. Not my David. Sweet, gentle, always-there-for-me David. My mouth worked as I tried to form words. Finally I spit out, “When?”

He turned, staring out the window.

“David?” I whispered.

Phoebe glanced at me, her eyes wide with curiosity. I clutched Link and waited. When it became clear he wasn’t going to answer, I switched gears. “Do you think someone at Cryrique is after me? Is that why you turned double agent?”

Slowly, he turned toward me and shook his head. “I don’t think so. But they’re interested in you, otherwise why would they care? Vampires don’t usually involve themselves in other races’ business. The only way I could make sure you were safe was to get the Void to let me be your partner, and the only way to do that was to turn double agent.”

“And to save yourself from a murder rap,” Phoebe added.

“What?” I cried.

“I didn’t kill anybody, Phoebe, and you know it. The Void would never let me in if they thought I did.”

She didn’t look convinced. We both knew Maude was known to not only push boundaries, but to erase them altogether to get what she wanted. When I’d accidentally discovered the Influence formula—one I didn’t want to pursue—Maude learned of it and forced me into producing the stuff. She’d threatened to take the formula to a competitor, where I’d have no control over who used the dangerous concoction. I hated her for it. All my instincts said this situation had Maude’s greed written all over it.

David couldn’t be a killer, could he? My stomach rolled. I snuck a glance at him. Impossible. The muscle pulsing in his jaw radiated with righteous indignation like it always did when Phoebe suggested something outrageous. Relief swept through me. Part of my David still remained inside his new persona.

“Have you eaten?” I asked, trying to appear normal. As if asking my ex if he needed blood was any kind of normal.

David flinched.

“What? You have to eat, and we have somewhere to be in an hour. We need to know if we’ll have to stop for you to feed.”

Phoebe parked the car in front of our house and twisted. “Well, do you?”

“No. I’m fine.”

“Good,” she said. “We don’t have time anyway.”

“Where’s he going to sleep?” I asked Phoebe as we all filed out of the car.

“Somewhere with no windows.” She unlocked the front door and deposited her bag on a distressed side table in the entryway.

“We don’t have any rooms without windows. You’ll have to charm one of them.” I eyed David, who stared warily at Link. He’d started snarling again as soon as the vampire entered the house.

“Link, that’s enough! Go.” I pointed toward the stairs leading to the second floor.

The Shih Tzu shot me a look of disgust and quit growling, but didn’t move. I sighed. It was progress.

“Sure we do,” Phoebe called from the hallway.

“Huh?”

“We have a windowless room. It’s upstairs.”

“No we…Crap! You mean my walk-in closet?”

“That’s the one,” she quipped.

“Oh, no. David isn’t staying in my room. What would I do with all my clothes?”

“Your closet isn’t exactly your room,” Phoebe reasoned as she walked back into the living room carrying a handful of defense charms.

“But he has to walk through my room to get to it.” I folded my arms over my chest. “It isn’t practical.”

Phoebe opened her mouth to reply, but David interrupted by clearing his throat.

“What?” we said at the same time.

“Since I sleep during the day, it shouldn’t be a problem if I occupy your closet. If you don’t mind, of course. I would feel much more comfortable there than in a room that has windows…even if they are charmed to block light.”

Phoebe grinned. “Don’t trust me, huh? Smart vampire.”

“Trust isn’t the issue. Spells and wards can be broken. I’d prefer to not be caught unaware, especially since I’m now in a volatile situation.” He caught my eye and waited.

I threw my hands up. “Fine. But you’re going to buy me one of those freestanding closets in the meantime.”

David nodded his assent.

Phoebe laughed, then sobered as she checked her watch. “We’ve got a meeting to plan for.”

***

“This way,” David said, leading me past a line of patrons waiting to get inside The Red Door—the most famous vampire jazz club on Frenchmen Street.

I followed, keeping my distance. It was one thing to go to the meeting together; it was entirely another to act friendly about it. He was a vampire, after all.

Vampires. What was I doing here? Unease ran through my limbs, making me fidget with the glass bracelet I wore on my wrist. Through my worry, I barely noticed David’s vampire energy. I paused. Why didn’t I feel as though I were underwater? David was right in front of me, and the club had to contain at least one other vampire—the one we were meeting. Was David’s proximity dulling my senses? God. What else was going to go wrong?

David nodded to the bouncer and we walked in unchecked.

“Huh,” I mused, trying to put everything else out of my mind. “The door isn’t red, after all.”

“You’ve never been here?”

I shook my head. Vampires never caused trouble on Frenchmen Street. The profits from tourists ensured humans were kept safe. Phoebe and I’d never had a reason to work in the area.

“The club is named for a state of being, not the color of the door.”

“Good thing, since it’s blue.” I wanted to ask what he meant by “a state of being,” but the band kicked in, and I didn’t want to yell. Instead, David led the way to a secluded table in the back.

“Now what?” I shouted.

“We wait.”

I sat, scanning the smoke-filled room for Phoebe, but I didn’t see her anywhere. Of course, she had to be disguised. She could be a middle-aged chain-smoker with blue eye shadow downing scotch. Unless I looked carefully, I’d never know.

Besides, I had Phoebe’s new magically enhanced bug—a sterling silver brooch in the shape of a beetle—in my pocket. Somehow it transmitted everything it heard to another beetle, and Phoebe assured me whatever happened, she’d know about it. It was the same one she’d planted on David when she’d taken him in for questioning. Since he was knocked out, they hadn’t forced him through the security radar. They’d let Phoebe search him. That was how she’d known about his deal.

Please let her be close by. Tension pulsed through my core in time with the bass. I longed for a couple of shots of my magically enhanced spiced rum. The mundane stuff wasn’t nearly strong enough to combat the massive waves of anxiety making my wings tremble.

Two songs later, the sax player of Unstrung Blues launched into a slow, sad melody. David stood, holding a hand out. “That’s our cue.”

Great, a death march.

I rose, walking past his outstretched hand. I’d made the mistake of letting him touch me once. It wouldn’t happen again.

He dropped his hand, confusion flickering over his features. We stood uncomfortably for a moment, then he nodded toward a poorly lit hallway. “That way.”

I took the lead, peering through the dark, smoky lounge, still fruitlessly searching for Phoebe. As I turned to enter the narrow hallway, a cold, dull ache riveted through the small of my back. I flinched and took several steps, putting plenty of space between me and David.

Son of a…How many times before had he reached out to guide me? Before, when he hadn’t been a vampire. When the gesture seemed natural. I forced myself to meet his eyes and immediately regretted it. Something very close to pain flickered through them before they turned cold with that uncaring expression vampires were known for. I swallowed. Why did that upset me so much?

“Sorry. It won’t happen again.” He clasped his hands behind his back.

“It’s not…” What could I say? It’s not you, it’s me? It was him and the fact that he’d turned vampire. I couldn’t bear his touch, no matter how gentle. Memories of what used to be filled my mind, making my heart break again.

“Let’s go,” he said, his tone matching his expressionless features.

“David.” I held out a hand, intending to catch his arm, but snatched it back at the last moment.

He stared at my hand, then met my eyes in an unflinching gaze.

“I’m sorry. It’s not you. I mean not you, personally. It’s…” Gods, can I ever finish a sentence?

“Forget it. Follow me.” He opened a door I hadn’t noticed, revealing a steep set of stairs, and started to climb.