Trio still hadn’t materialized. Maybe she’d been summoned from another realm and had managed to find her way back. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn there was a portal straight to the underworld that opened in my flat.
My bones ached. It had been a long day and the bathtub called to me. A quick dip and then I’d search again for Trio. I’d perform a locator spell if I had to, although those were unreliable and risky. If I got caught, I’d have to show I was searching on behalf of a client. If only Davina wasn’t a vampire, then I could try a locator spell for her. Then again, if it were that easy, the family wouldn’t have hired a knight. They probably had a witch on retainer for spells of that nature. You couldn’t always smite your enemies with a vampire army.
Except they didn’t want anyone to know Davina was missing, which was interesting given the queen’s lack of concern. Either way House Lewis didn’t want word to get out that they’d lost control of their daughter. Davina had either left of her own free will or was taken and both options showed the House in a bad light. And House Lewis was very concerned with appearances. The moment your enemies sensed weakness, they’d begin to move against you.
Maybe in the case of House Lewis they already had.
Stripping off my shirt, I walked into the bathroom and stopped short. Three heads stared back at me from the bathtub. Trio sat in the water, bubbles clinging to her fur.
I heaved a sigh. “I guess you need it more than I do.”
I put the shirt on again and kneeled beside the tub. “At least you’ll smell amazing when I take you back to the Circus tomorrow.”
And what kind of monster would object to a three-headed dog with a rosewater scent?
8
I decided to start my investigation for House Lewis at the smithy. If anyone could identify the strange metal, it was Lann. I’d known the dwarf since I was a teenager and I trusted his judgment as well as his forging skills. Half the blades I owned were Lann’s handiwork.
Before I left my flat, I performed the spell to transport the members of the menagerie to the small realm I’d dubbed ‘the holiday home’ to make it sound more hospitable. It wasn’t a realm like this one. It was outside of time and space as we knew it and the animals didn’t exist in quite the same way while they were there. It was more of a short period of stasis, but at least they wouldn’t need food or water while they were stuck there. I opted not to send Trio. There was no telling how she would react to her first visit at the holiday home. Instead I gave her detailed instructions to return to the Pavilion and sent a message to the knights to look out for the dog’s return.
Once the animals were sorted, I headed toward Camden where the smithy was located. Camden hadn’t fared well during the Eternal Night. There didn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason as to which sections of the city were hit the hardest. Some academics claimed it was the location of this area in relation to the shifting tectonic plates. Most of the streets were reduced to rubble long ago and no trains ran due north from Euston, St. Pancras, or King’s Cross. If you wanted to travel north of the city, you had to find a way around Camden—usually by traveling from Marylebone to the west or Highbury & Islington to the east. As a result, Camden was written off as unsalvageable, until eventually a few brave souls decided to take their chances. The changed state of the world led to a decrease in guns, which proved ineffective against vampires and monsters, and a rise in more traditional weapons like swords and daggers, and who better to provide those than a skilled blacksmith? Lann learned the trade from his father and grandfather and soon he’d have his own son join the smithy as an apprentice. As far as I was concerned, there wasn’t a more talented blacksmith in the city.
I walked past a row of shops and paused to admire a display of necklaces, each piece set on its own pedestal and illuminated by a soft white light. Magic users could earn a nice living in the retail sector through their lighting expertise alone. I wasn’t a jewelry person, mainly because I didn’t have disposable income and my job wasn’t exactly conducive to ornamentation—the last thing you wanted was an opponent choking you with your own pretty trinket—but a girl could dream.
The jewelry in a Camden shop wouldn’t be expensive. The area didn’t draw a wealthy clientele. Maybe if I finished the job for House Lewis, I could…
No. It was pointless for me to own a piece of jewelry, however inexpensive. In another lifetime, when I was someone else with more money and fewer problems.
As I stood with my face toward the glass, the back of my neck pricked. I shifted my focus from the necklaces to the reflection. Nothing but empty space around me.
I had company.
I resumed walking and was careful to maintain a casual speed.
Not in a hurry at all. Come out and introduce yourself. I’d love for you to meet my friends, Bert and Ernie. The matching set of daggers was easily accessible, but I didn’t want to provoke the vampire unnecessarily.
My internal alarm was set off by any number of threats, but I was especially sensitive to vampires. If I was being hunted, I didn’t want to give the predator a heads up that I was aware. Better to let them underestimate me and use it to my advantage.
I picked up the pace slightly to see if the sense of danger persisted.
Yep. Still with me.
As I inched my fingers toward the left dagger strapped to my thigh, a familiar figure materialized beside me.
The Highland Reckoning. I should’ve known.
I maintained a neutral expression. “Would it kill you to wear a bell around your neck?”
“Do you always walk at such an erratic pace?”
I motioned to the pavement behind me. “How was that erratic? I was moseying.”
“Most people would not consider that moseying. At a minimum, it was hustling.”
My jaw hardened. “Well, I’m not most people. I don’t do anything at a leisurely pace.”
His eyebrows lifted. “More’s the pity.”
Did he have to go there? I was doing my best to keep him strictly in the threatening box where he belonged.