“I can’t see a damn thing, Calamity,” he hissed back, squinting into the darkness of the building.
“I can,” Nina confirmed, stroking Calamity’s ears. “Vampire sight and all. That fuck’s in there, and I smell Poppy. She’s fucking petrified, dude. So now what? If we can’t rush the motherfucker and take him out because of this magic shit, what’s our next move?”
“I got this! Everyone stay put!” Calamity whisper-yelled, leaping from Rick’s arms and scampering to the entryway door.
January came up behind him, putting her hand on his arm. “Who is that, Rick? And do you smell what I smell?”
Fuck, he sure did. Death. He smelled the summoning of death.
The pit of despair in his stomach grew. “That’s my partner, Avis.”
“A warlock?” January hissed her surprise. “He not only put a spell on this place to keep us out but to keep Poppy inside. How the hell did a warlock get this much power? Where is he getting it from?”
January’s question was valid. Where was Avis getting the kind of power it took to cast all these spells and summon death?
Then something hit him, something that reminded him of the spell he’d done for his father when he hadn’t known any better.
Avis must have some kind of item, a talisman, a crystal, something correlating with the blood moon.
“He has to have something—something that brings all the forces together tonight.”
And then something else hit him—hit him like a punch to his kidneys. “I couldn’t figure out why we wouldn’t schedule the demo after Samhain, but Avis said it was a great way to begin again—it was symbolic. It would bring us good fortune.”
January groaned with a soft emission of air. “Goddess, we need to get Darnell here fast! He’s going to summon spirits from the other side in return for something, using the thinning of the veil—and I can almost guarantee you, Poppy is his sacrifice.”
The shudder of her breathing was almost impossible to hide, the pain writhing through her so ungodly, she wasn’t even sure she could move, let alone rush the bastard and knock him down in an effort to get away.
“You might as well come out, Poppy. Why not learn some of your rich history by letting me explain what I’m preparing to do before you die.”
“I can hear you just fine from here.” She all but screamed the words, driving her forehead into the wall to give her something other than the screech of her stomach to focus on.
“Suit yourself,” he offered amicably then patted the stone on the pillar. “See these stones, Poppy? Simply put, when placed together at exactly the right moment, they summon those pesky little spirits wanting into our world, and I’ve made a deal with them.”
“I hope you got free Wi-Fi,” she quipped, letting her head fall back on her shoulders as sweat poured from her face.
“Hah!” he barked. “You’re truly brilliant. I wish we could have been friends. Anyway, here’s the deal. I came across these stones quite by chance. When we were scouting buildings, and I ran smack into your Littleton, I almost shat myself. I don’t know how these stones got here, as out of place as they are with the gauche decor, but here they were. I was intrigued! So I took pictures. I Googled. Lo and behold, I discovered these stones, or cornerstones, are ancient, mystical to my people, and here they were, left to rot with scads of wrinkled tenants. I couldn’t let that happen. Especially after I realized what they could do!”
Because Avis appeared to enjoy sharing his coup, likely due to the fact that he had no one else who liked him long enough to have a cocktail with him, let alone spend enough time with him to tell a story, Poppy bit the bait while she stalled.
“What can the stones do?”
He popped his lips in disappointment. “But don’t you want to know how I pulled all this off? How I got here tonight? I feel like you’re in such a rush, and I have a bit of time to spare until the moon is in full cycle. It’s not like you have anywhere to go either.”
Woe is the long-winded storyteller. But maybe, if she kept him talking, someone would show up. Surely by now, the girls and Calamity had made the connection? She prayed someone made the connection. Please, God, let someone make the connection.
Until then… “Okay, Avis. I’m all ears. Tell me the story,” she encouraged, wincing as another stab at her gut stole her breath.
He paced back and forth, pinching his temples. “Where was I? Oh, yes. The stones. Anyway, this presented a problem. The stones being here. I couldn’t remove them without arousing suspicion in the spirit world. They’re touchy little buggers. So I contacted Mr. Rush and made him an offer I thought he couldn’t refuse…”
The hair on the back of her neck rose, knowing he wanted her to ask why Mr. Rush had refused. “So he refused?”
“Did he ever. But that was okay because I had a plan B.”