It was Halloween, though no one trick-or-treated. Trisk and Daniel had been looking for Kal all day to no avail, joined by Piscary after the sun had set. Trisk sensed a quiet restlessness in the master vampire, now sitting in the front seat of the large luxury sedan. A tiny Asian woman was driving, all in black silk and smelling of cherry blossoms. Leo and Daniel were with Trisk in the back. Another car full of Piscary’s men was behind them, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d fallen in with a mob boss as they cruised through not only Cincinnati, but also the small city of Newport across the river, where Piscary actually lived.
After several hours, the tension in the car had become palpable, and she clenched her jaw as Leo cracked his knuckles, starting with his pinkie and working his way down until he reached the end and started over. Daniel seemed oblivious, slouched into the car door as he yawned.
“Keeping you awake?” Leo said, flushing in embarrassment when Piscary frowned in disapproval.
“Sorry.” Daniel stretched where he sat, only to immediately slump back against the door to stare out at the dark city. “Long day.”
Which was true. On Trisk’s advice, they’d gone to the airport, using the finding charm they’d gotten in Chicago to see if Kal was trying to flee with the refugees. There’d been no ping of magic on their slow drive-by.
From there they had crossed the river to cover every inch of Cincinnati in a half-mile grid pattern. Their afternoon had been spent at the outskirts, physically checking in at the vampire-manned roadblocks. Sunset had them back to Newport to get Piscary. The need to produce results had become unbearable, and Trisk was starting to think Ulbrine and Kal had vanished into the ever-after.
“Dr. Cambri, is there any indication from your charm?” Piscary asked, his eyes on one of his watches. He wore two of them, in case one failed. Getting belowground before sunrise wasn’t simply prudent, but the difference between life and death. Or undeath, perhaps.
Her gaze dropped to the tiny disk in her hand. If not for the tickle of energy running through it, she’d say it was just a hunk of metal. “No.”
“You think it’s even working?” Daniel asked, his voice as tired.
“No,” Trisk said again, nervous when Piscary’s eyes dilated at her sudden surge of fear. Exhaling, she calmed herself, not liking the uneasy glance Leo and the Asian woman shared through the rearview mirror.
“Be easy, Dr. Cambri,” Piscary said, clearly having noticed her angst. “There is more than witch magic to find the missing.” He looked at his watch again. “Ellen, Fordges probably has something by now,” he said, and without a word, the woman took the next right, wheeling the car off the sporadically lit main street and into a more certain dark.
“Fordges?” Daniel asked, but Trisk thought it was more to wake up than out of true interest.
“My informant.” With a confident grace, Piscary flipped open the glove box and took out an envelope. He turned in his seat, handing it to Leo as the car smoothly parked at a nondescript corner store. The nearby streetlight had been broken, and only the light spilling out the windows lit the cracked, weed-choked parking strip in the depressed area.
Immediately Leo got out, his smile wide and showing sharp but small canines. “Be right back,” he said as the chill night slipped in with the scent of garbage and chili. The door shut, and he sauntered into the store.
Trisk watched as he stood at the register and talked to a bearded man, a Were by the look of it, who gestured wildly, then clung to Leo when the vampire began to leave. Her pulse quickened when Leo glanced at the car, then turned back to the rough-looking man to listen.
Good or bad? she wondered, settling back into the plush leather. There was a plethora of ley lines in the area, most of them on the Ohio side of things. It would be a nice place to work—even with the large vampire community. At least the stores would be open all night. She didn’t mind that the streets were darker here than across the river in Cincinnati—darker and somehow more dangerous, though the buildings were lower and wider spaced.
She’d been seeing darting shadows at the edges of the light all night, as if people were out tasting the wind to see what was changing. Piscary had said nothing would be announced until Kal agreed to manufacture the metabolism booster, but clearly the city knew that those in power were considering breaking the silence.
“Here he comes,” Daniel said, but her hope faltered as she took in Leo’s hunched shoulders. “We’ll find him,” Daniel whispered, seeing it as well.
“We’ve been at it all day. Every hour we wait, more people die,” she said, and he gave her hand a squeeze.