I do what I want. And I am a lovely swimmer. He twitched his tail.
This room had a rectangular pool, and most bathers were standing in the middle. On the left side of the room, a band was stationed. It was made up of all women, and they played a variety of instruments, many of which I didn’t recognize. The music was unfamiliar, too, but it sounded old. Roman, probably, led by the two ghostly members who had probably played this same music two thousand years ago. The floor was warm underfoot, like they had some kind of heating mechanism down there. I wiggled my toes, starting to enjoy this.
Man, the Romans knew how to party.
It was easier to ditch my towel this time, and the water turned out to be slightly warmer. Tepid.
Unfortunately, my hunt didn’t reveal any women with silver circle tattoos who were talking about dangerous business. At one point, I thought I caught sight of a pair of gleaming green eyes in the darkened shadows underneath a marble bench. Muffin was stalking around, hopefully hunting silver circles like I was.
He was helpful, but I prayed Bojangles wasn’t here.
I could just imagine him taking a flying leap into the bath.
As I climbed out of the water, I wondered if Lachlan was having any luck on his side. If our criminals were men, I’d never find them.
Unless they were in the joined section.
I pushed that thought away and picked up my towel. Muffin trotted out to join me. “I can’t believe no one minds you being here.”
I’m very charming.
I wasn’t sure I’d go that far, but I agreed. It wasn’t smart to insult a creature who could rub his butt over all of your belongings.
The next room had a round bath. The air and floor were much warmer, and there were nooks cut into the stone walls where one could sit and chat. There were at least one hundred people, and all of the nooks were full.
This looked promising.
I hung up my towel and got in, used to the drill by now. This water was much hotter—like a Jacuzzi. I swam aimlessly, which was kind of weird in the hot water. Almost no one else was swimming, but I had to make the rounds.
As I swam, my hearing charm picked up snippets of conversation, but it was all boring stuff. Love lives, jobs, crappy bosses, a few business transactions.
Then it wasn’t so boring at all. I stiffened.
“Where is the drop-off point?” a voice said.
Drop-off point?
Now that was interesting.
Slowly, I spun in the water, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from.
In one of the nooks, two women sat. One with dark hair, one with light. Both were leanly muscular, with hard eyes and stern mouths. They looked like they knew how to commit some crimes. One had a bruise all along her jaw, and the other had one on her shoulder.
From fighting?
They were both covered with faded knife scars, many of which looked like my own scars.
Yeah, these ladies knew their way around a demon fight.
Unfortunately, both had long hair that covered the backs of their necks.
But the demons in the Paris sewers had been talking about delivering the spell to a woman.
As subtly as possible, I tried to swim closer. I needed to get a peek at their necks.
“The sorcerer is nearly finished, and he wants the spell soon, so I’ve scheduled the drop,” the blonde one said. “It’s been hard to evade Lachlan and his goons.”
Jackpot!
But goons?
I was no one’s goon.
I tried to suppress the scowl and spun in the warm water, trying to act like I was just chilling.
But this water was damned hot. Sweat poured down my temples. I swam toward the side wall of the large pool and climbed up to sit on the submerged bench.
I’d found a lead.
Could I fight them? Should I fight them?
No. Though I had weapons in the ether, it’d be better if I didn’t alert Lachlan’s enemy that we were onto them. They didn’t have the spell with them, at least not now, so there was nothing to be gained.
I listened intently.
“My mages are ready to meet at the port tomorrow night,” the blonde woman said. “Is your side ready for the drop?”
“They are,” the dark-haired one said. “We’ll meet at the assigned spot. But he really wants to pick up the spell here?”
“The port is one of the only places where the portal can appear. We have no other choice.”
The port.
I stifled a smile. I was onto something here.
Surreptitiously, I peeked at the women, waiting to see if they would say anything else.
The dark-haired woman was staring right at me, eyes curious. When her gaze landed on my ear and narrowed, my heart rate spiked.
Shit.
Time to go.
As casually as I could, I climbed out of the pool, not bothering to go to the official stairs.
“You!” the woman shouted.
“Me?” I tried to look confused. “I sorry—no English.”
I prayed she bought my broken accent.
“What the hell is on your ear?”
“I no—” I shook my head, my mind racing.
She climbed out of the water, looking angry as a bull.
“You crazy!” I spun around and walked quickly toward my towel. A shout and a splash sounded, and I glanced behind. The other one had climbed out of the water. A third woman had gotten in their way, it looked like, and they’d shoved her right into the pool.
Holy fates.
I started running. I didn’t want to blow my cover and have the drop-off not take place. But how the heck would I do that? Would they even believe that I was just a frightened woman running from them because they were crazy threatening?
How the hell did I preserve the drop-off and not die at the same time?
I sprinted around the pool, naked as a jaybird and way too close to getting hit in the face with my own boobs. I dodged another woman, darting around a group of naked grandmothers, then leapt over a bench.
Muffin was nowhere to be seen.
Could I get them alone and capture them? Force them to do my bidding?
I glanced back. They neared me. There was a green glow around the dark-haired one’s hand. That looked bad.
It smelled like death, and probably would go a long way toward delivering it.
Ah, shit.
Add running for my life, naked to my list of problems. I darted behind a column, panting.
To the left, a blast of green light plowed into the tiled wall. Shards exploded outward. I ducked, covered my face. The tiny ceramic slivers sliced my arms and legs, but I barely felt it. When the worst was over, I peeked. A hole had appeared in the wall, about three feet deep.
Shit.
That woman had some serious magic.
Could my weakened shield stand up to that?
No.
And I definitely couldn’t capture them. I was way overpowered.
A shriek rent the air, sounding like the depths of hell had made a baby with a cat.
I peered around the column.
The place had exploded in chaos. All three of the Cats of Catastrophe had arrived. Bojangles was rampaging, his crossed eyes wild as he stirred the patrons into a frantic race. Princess Snowflake III had leapt on the dark-haired woman and was going for the throat.
Don’t kill her!
I didn’t dare scream it—I didn’t want them associating me with these insane beasts, though that may have been a vain hope.
Princess pulled back, her fangs glinting.
It was as if she heard me.
Thank fates.
Muffin hurtled along the ground, then leapt into the air and plowed into the other woman’s belly. She crashed backward, arms flailing.
I had an advantage now. Should I try to capture them?
Oh fates, I had no idea.
A dozen burly women rushed into the room, each one wearing a uniform that looked like an ancient Roman version of the police. Their hard eyes swept the room.
My dark-haired nemesis spotted them, her eyes flaring wide. She looked at her friend, who was fighting off Princess Snowflake III, red scratches covering most of her upper body. “Chloe! We have to split!”
They didn’t want to get caught by the police.
Which meant I probably didn’t want to either.
Chloe threw off Princess Snowflake III and ran for it, darting toward the far exit. The other woman followed.
If I went after them, I’d have to run right by the guards.