Zombies Sold Separately

NINETEEN



Tuesday, December 27


“Where are you, girl?” I said on Olivia’s voicemail Tuesday morning. “Thought you were going to be back today.” I glanced at the time on the computer monitor. Eleven-thirty and Olivia was usually in no later than nine. “I have some big leads on the Zombie case that we need to follow up on right away. Call me.”

I wanted to tell her about the stone which still gave me the creeps even though the Magi had wrapped it in a protective cloth. I had it tucked away in my purse, which I figured was considered close enough to protect it. Then I remembered that for some reason I wasn’t supposed to share anything about the stone with her.

Apparently Olivia was spending an extra day with her large family although I would have bet money that she’d be home early like I was. Sometimes a little family time can go a long, long way.

Olivia had more than earned the time away. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d taken a vacation. If she missed the Tracker meeting tonight I’d fill her in tomorrow. I smiled at the thought of Olivia and her sisters and wondered what it would have been like to grow up with sisters myself.

The moment after I punched the OFF button, the phone started to ring and Adam’s name and number came up.

Warmth flowed through me and I answered, “Hey there.”

“Hey, Nyx.” Adam’s voice sounded so good. I wanted to kiss him so badly I could have crawled right through the phone to get to him.

“Did you make it back all right?” I asked, already picturing us making dinner tonight before I went tracking.

Adam said, “I’m still at my parents’ home and not sure when I’ll make it back.”

Disappointment flowed through me. “I miss you.”

“Why don’t we plan on a late lunch tomorrow?” I was taken back for a moment because he hadn’t said he missed me. I hadn’t realized I was so needy for attention like that.

“Okay.” I picked up a pen and started doodling on a sticky note with “Her Royal Highness” written on it to remind me to get Kali a supply of Fancy Feast and to get myself some bottles of green tea as well as a few groceries. Maybe some crackers, cheese, dried salami, and a bottle of Ghost Block cabernet sauvignon for the next time Adam came over. The pantry and fridge were looking bare.

“Let’s go to Little Italy,” he said.

“Il Cortile on Mulberry Street?” I loved their special capellini dish. “How’s one o’clock sound?” We had always preferred to avoid as much of the lunch crowd as we could.

“Sure,” he said. “See you tomorrow.”

And then he was gone. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.

Thoughts of the Zombies we had fought remained at the forefront of my mind despite all that I was doing. Actually fighting them, along with all of the odd coincidences that were happening … I hoped that this Sorcerer Desmond could help and that we could fix whatever it was that was going so terribly wrong.

Kali startled me when she jumped up onto my desk as I set my phone aside and turned back to my monitor. She walked across the keyboard and letters started randomly appearing in my open case-notes document before another Internet browser window popped up.

“Kali!” I picked her up and she gave an indignant meow as she twitched her tail in my face. I set her back on the floor and. “Stay off my keyboard.”

She jumped back onto my desk, only this time across my sticky notes all over its surface. She plopped her big furry butt in the middle of them and looked at me with an expression of disdain.

Kali continued to stare at me with her freaky golden eyes. I glared at her in return.

She won the staring contest. No one could beat Kali in a staring contest.

Under my breath I muttered something about finding a foster home for a cat who shredded new lingerie and walked across computer keyboards.

Thoughts of Adam kept pinging at me but I turned back to my monitor and reviewed the lists of galleries in both SoHo and Chelsea.

I wasn’t sure why, but my gut had told me from the beginning that we’d find the Sorcerer in the former but the latter was a possibility, too. I’d already skimmed the names of galleries in both areas. No Desmond anything as far as a business name. Likely a gallery simply showed his work.

Thinking of a Sorcerer as an artist who showed his work in galleries in an artistic community was an adjustment. Didn’t they stay in dark caves of rooms with bottles of potions, casting spells?

What else had the Magi said?

“You will find him in the sun.”

“Sun … sun…” I looked at both lists again.

And shook my head when I came to Sun Lee Gallery in SoHo. “I guess maybe Kerri did tell me exactly where to find him,” I said to Kali who decided to jump onto a stack of file folders before pouncing back onto my desk and landing on a fluttering bright pink sticky note.

I decided to ignore Kali and called the gallery. A recorded message by a woman with an Asian accent said they were on winter hours and opened daily at noon. Might as well head there and see if I could at least track down the location of the Sorcerer. If I happened to see him, I just wouldn’t make contact.

The Magi had said that Olivia had to go with me when I talked with the Sorcerer. When a Magi tells someone to do something, if at all possible that someone does it. Kerri had her reasons and I had the strong sense I needed to go with what she instructed me to do.

From my purse in the cubbyhole in my desk, I drew out my wallet that had my undercover ID and some cash. I pocketed it and also slid daggers into my Elvin boots and holstered my Kahr 9mm in a sheathe that I attached to the belt I threaded through the loops on my jeans. The weapon wouldn’t show beneath the jacket I’d be wearing.

Lastly I took the stone wrapped in cloth out of my purse and put it into an inside zippered pocket of my jacket. Despite the cloth, my arm still tingled when I touched the wrapped stone.

I prefer to drive when the weather is good, not when there’s snow on the ground. Snowflakes drifted from fair clouds as I headed out of the office. I decided to walk the four and a half miles to the gallery as opposed to catching a cab. Most norms would think it unusual to walk that far. For me it was like walking around the block.

By the time I reached the gallery on Wooster Street, my cheeks felt flush, my nose cold, and my mood vastly improved. I stood on the sidewalk and studied the two framed paintings and art glass pieces in the large windows to either side of the door. Did the Sorcerer do either one of the paintings?

One was an oil painting of a waterfall spilling into a glittering pool of water beside a patch of wildflowers. Shadows of leaves from surrounding trees reflected in the pond. It had a magical look to it, almost as if it wasn’t of this world.

The other was beautiful too. It was a painting of a geisha sitting beneath a tree, her small hand holding a delicate painted wood fan that covered the smile I knew was on her lips. Cherry blossoms swirled around her like confetti in Times Square on New Year’s Day.

I couldn’t read either artist’s signature—the one with the pond was just squiggles, starting with what could have been a “D.”

The signature on the Japanese piece of art was done in Kanji script.

I was betting on the waterfall and the squiggles for Desmond. It really wasn’t much of a stretch.

Bells tinkled as I pushed open the door and immediately by scent, sound, and senses, I knew I was in a shop at least inhabited by one of the Fae.

The Fae wardings were exceptionally strong. The wardings wouldn’t notice the Drow daggers in each boot because the boots were Elvin-made, but the Kahr sheathed at my belt was another story.

My thoughts strayed to the stone in my pocket and I hoped that the wardings couldn’t detect it through the cloth the Magi had wrapped it in.

A petite, elegant woman swept into the room, wearing a frown. I wasn’t surprised by her expression. I was disheveled from walking in the wind, hadn’t dressed like a potential client, and I was carrying a gun.

“What business have you here?” The woman was Asian and had delicate yet hard features. She wore her hair cropped close to her head in a fashionable style, and she was dressed in an Armani suit that was to die for.

And she was Fae. Definitely Fae. I just had no idea what—I couldn’t gauge her by scent or appearance. The fact that I failed to recognize what she was made my muscles tense. I wondered if perhaps she was an Undine or Siren because of the numerous paintings of lakes, waterfalls, rivers, and the ocean lining the gallery walls.

I hoped for the business’s sake, though, that she didn’t treat every customer like this.

“I’m Nicole.” I gave her my undercover name that wouldn’t make it easy for her to follow up on me. “Are you the owner?”

“Yes.” She continued to eye me with suspicion. “I am Sun Lee.”

“I noticed you have a piece by Desmond in the window.” I made sure my smile was pleasant and natural. I was very much hoping the oil in the window was by Desmond.

The woman continued to look wary of me. “If you are familiar with his work then I am sure you will have no problem locating the pieces he has on show at this time.”

I took that as a yes.

Sun Lee walked away from me, looking beautiful in her perfectly tailored suit and three-hundred-dollar heels.

The only thing I had to go on was gut instinct, so I went for the grouping of paintings done in the same style as the waterfall painting in the window. I walked up to a whole series clearly painted by the same artist.

The largest was gorgeous and grabbed my attention immediately. It was love at first sight. The painting was of a fair, dark-haired human woman staring at her reflection in the surface of a shimmering pond. Looking back at her from the water was an Elvin female with delicate pointed ears. The water was dark enough that the female in the reflection could have been Drow. It couldn’t have been more perfect for me.

The brass plate under the painting had:



WORLDS INTERTWINE

Artist: DESMOND


Gotcha.

I smiled but then frowned. How was I going to get Sun Lee to give me the Sorcerer’s address? I glanced at the warding bells, then sent out my air elemental magic to explore.

The entire gallery was protected. I couldn’t just slip into glamour and start searching the place. First, the wardings wouldn’t allow me to cloak myself in a glamour if I wanted to. And second, the woman was Fae so she would be able to see straight through my glamour anyway.

I was either going to have to coerce the information out of her or try to break in tonight. Considering the strength of her wardings, I didn’t think I had a prayer at being able to break in.

With the power of the protection, I also didn’t think any of my friends could get in easily. Joshua was a Shadow Shifter who could slip into any crack or opening, but could he get past the wardings? Could Ice find his way inside as a mouse? No, they’d be detected the moment they took human form. I was on my own.

Coercion wasn’t likely an option, so I’d try another tactic.

I walked up to the elegant desk Sun Lee was sitting behind. She raised her head the moment she realized I was coming toward her. Tension radiated off her along with a good dose of irritation. Guess she didn’t like the fact that I was armed and right then I probably didn’t look like someone who could afford anything in the gallery.

“I’d like to purchase that large painting by Desmond,” I said as I approached her. “Worlds Intertwine.”

“Oh, really.” Her tone was one of amusement, as if she found something about my request for that painting funny. She looked over my appearance then met my gaze again. “It’s ten thousand dollars. Will you be paying by cash or credit?”

A Sorcerer who commanded that kind of price—amazing as well as surprising. Although in the paranorm world, I shouldn’t have been surprised at all.

“If you can arrange a meeting with the artist, I’ll pay you now and use a card.” I dug the wallet out of my pocket, opened it, and chose my American Express. “I’m a huge fan of Desmond’s work and I would love the opportunity to see the man behind the art.”

She stared at me in total surprise and I smiled in return.

I’m a Drow princess. There isn’t much that I can’t afford considering the size of diamonds and other precious gemstones that Dark Elves mine, not to mention all of the different metals. I was also paid very well as a Tracker and as a PI.

“I can bring you cash in the morning if you prefer.” She was Fae—you never knew what the Fae would like. I held out my card to her. “I just don’t happen to carry that many hundred-dollar bills in my pocket.”

“No, of course not.” Sun Lee had regained her composure and reached for my AmEx. “I’ll put it on your card now.”

“As long as I get to meet the artist,” I said, holding her gaze.

“This is a favored painting of his, so I believe I can arrange it.” Sun Lee looked at the card, which was under the name Nicole Carter. I handed her my ID with my picture and the same name as well.

The moment the charge went through, she asked if I would like it delivered. I told her I would schedule my own pickup tomorrow. I wasn’t about to give out my real address. I’d call my friend James. He and Derek would be glad to help me out. They were awesome that way.

“Did you drive or may I call you a cab?” she asked as I signed her copy of the receipt that her credit card machine had spit out. She certainly was anxious to please now.

I gave my most sincere smile. “That would be so kind of you.” Not a hint of sarcasm in my voice. Really.

She picked up a cell phone from on top of her desk and hit a speed dial number. I’d bet that Desmond’s number was on her phone. If anything happened to interfere with her arranging a meeting with him, I’d track her down and take her phone one way or another.

“It’s so lovely.” I looked up at the painting. It truly was and it had a way of making me feel at peace. Every time I studied it, I swore it looked a little different. Like a new ripple in the pond, a strand of her dark hair let loose in the wind, eyes blinking slowly.

“Desmond’s work is quite incredible,” Sun Lee said.

“I’m very excited to bring it into my home,” I said as she walked me to the gallery’s entrance. “I know exactly where I’ll put it.”

“I thought perhaps because of the gun you carry that you are a police officer,” she said as we stopped at the door. “I am … uncomfortable with weapons.”

“How did you know?” I feigned ignorance. She was testing me and likely knew I wasn’t human and she had just as much of an idea of what I am as I did her. Which meant she probably didn’t have a clue that I’m Drow. “I carry one for protection. One never knows in this city.”

“So true,” she said with a bow of her head as she let me out the door. A cab had already pulled up. “Thank you, Ms. Carter. I will be calling you.”

“I appreciate it, Sun Lee.” I walked down the front steps and to the waiting taxi.

My belly twisted a little at the thought of meeting the Sorcerer.

I drew my phone out of my pocket and called my friend James to ask him to pick up the painting for me tomorrow. I had a feeling I was going to be too busy to worry about it for a while.