Born in Fire (Page 46)

“I bet the guild is constantly trying to enlist the ones who aren’t.”

“Oh yes. One of the naturals constantly disappears, I’ve heard. He goes off-grid. Wild, that one, not that I blame him. Really handsome, too. If only the fountain of youth were real…” She shook her head and sighed. “You should dump the vampire and seek out that mage. You two would be good together.”

“I’m good. Single is a good choice.”

“Who said anything about marriage? Good Lord, no. Do yourself a favor: don’t move in with him. Then he’ll be expecting you to cook and clean—no. Just take him for a spin and return him if he breaks. That’s the best bet.”

I stifled a laugh.

“Ah. Here comes the light of my life now,” Callie said dryly as Dizzy stepped over the hedge right beside the walkway.

“Don’t believe a word she says,” Dizzy said, shifting his satchel. “She’s mad about me.”

“You’ve got the mad part right.” She grinned.

“I took some pictures. Let’s get out of here.” Dizzy headed toward the driver’s side. “This is a crime scene.”

“I doubt the cops are going to believe we pulled a house down on top of people.” Callie pulled the passenger door open.

“I’d rather not be questioned at all.” I slid into the back seat.

The roar of the car cut out the sound of the insects. “To the next house, or home?” Dizzy asked as he pulled away from the ruined house.

“That depends.” I watched the houses drift by. “Do you think he’ll use those circles multiple times?”

“He won’t reuse the one we’ve just seen.” Dizzy rested his hands on his legs and steered with a knee. “That workroom was in disarray. Anyone planning to use a circle as a permanent fixture generally treats the area as sacred. Or at least with respect. It’s your protection. It’s your container, holding a powerful and purposeful item. You treat it and the area around it like a piece of expensive furniture. He treated it like a necessary, though temporary, area. There’s no way he would have left that corpse to rot if he’d planned on coming back. It was a one-off. He’s used it and now he’s moving on.”

“You know a lot about circles…” I let the sentence linger.

“I did a little demon calling in college. Now, that was fun.” Dizzy tapped a drumbeat on the steering wheel, though continued to steer with his knee. “Killing animals wasn’t as taboo then. We ate it afterward, too, which also wasn’t as taboo.”

“Yes it was,” Callie said.

“Oh. Well, we did it anyway. It was a different time.”

“He was a bachelor, is what he really means.” Callie adjusted her seatbelt. “He did things without thinking about them.”

“That’s true enough.” Dizzy continued to tap out a beat.

“What about that crime scene you two mentioned the other day?” I asked.

“What about it?” Callie said.

“We didn’t find any casings at the house, but I’m positive this is the mage I’m looking for. So this is my guy, but he’s doing circles and sacrifices like the mage who skinned that human. Could it be the same mage?” Thinking out loud, I added, “But if he has the gumption to go big, why settle for sacrificing a calf? It doesn’t seem to fit with his power hungriness.”

“No, it doesn’t fit at all,” Callie said. “I think we’re looking at two different people with the same idea.”

“While the circles did have strong similarities, which we should’ve mentioned before now, I suppose, I agree,” Dizzy said. “I would be very surprised if the person who did this circle was the same one who skinned someone to collect their power.” He shook his head. “Very surprised. The mage who murdered that person was very controlled. Very diligent. Even the crime scene was well organized.”

“This is our problem,” Callie said. “That other thing is not. Rule of thumb with mages, Reagan. Don’t stick your magical nose where it doesn’t belong.”

I frowned out the window. Her words were true enough. I had plenty on my plate, and seeing that poor calf had been bad enough.

“So about the other houses,” I said, watching homes drift by. They were closer together now. “Let’s not bother. The throwaway circle confirms what I heard about his moving habits. He doesn’t stay in one place very long—”

“With you and a bunch of vampires after him, do you blame him?” Callie huffed.

“So you’re still going to bust in on his gang tomorrow?” Dizzy asked. “Even though a bunch of mages will be there, and the head mage will be carrying around a demon inside his body, you’re going to stalk in there, alone, and try to take them all down?”

“When you say it like that, it sounds a little foolish. Besides, Darius might come back to help.”

Neither of them commented.

“Not going to sway me either way, huh?” I asked, running my finger along my holster. “Yes, I am. Because if I’m right, their defenses will largely be left to the mages at that meeting, led by Mr. All Powerful. Most of the mages will be scrambling, trying to remember which spell is which, what does what—they’ll screw the pooch.”

“And Mr. All Powerful?” Callie asked.

“He’ll be battling a demon.”

“He’s used to battling a demon,” she said. “He seems to have it under control.”

“He’s never tried to battle a demon who senses its true master…”

Chapter Twenty

I had Dizzy drop me off down the street from my house. The street looked abandoned other than a large figure that was sitting on the front steps of a house. I waved to the dual mages instead of voicing a goodbye, and stood on the cracked sidewalk as they drove away. I looked over at the wall of the graveyard across the street, breathing in the thick air of my neighborhood, relishing the comforting feeling of the humidity coating my skin. Home.

“Any news?” I asked, not looking at the figure.

“I’ve never seen someone leave a house so clean, and come back so filthy. It’s a talent.”

I glanced down at my leather pants, covered in dirt and grime. Each arm had smears of brown, and I’d ripped a hole in my shirt. I shrugged. “It is what it is.”

“It certainly is that.” Mikey rested his arm on his knee. “There are a couple knuckleheads running around the graveyard, but other than that, nothing is going on.”

“What kind of knuckleheads?”

“Poor kids with grass and leaves ’n’ shit. Not worth robbing, if that’s what you were thinking.” He dug a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket. “Not worth chasing out, neither. Just some dumb kids who probably got a book on calling the corners or whatever and decided to give it a try.”

“What do you know about calling the corners?”

“I know people gather in there and yell at the sky about watchtowers and gods ’n’ shit. They wake me up. I’m a light sleeper.”

I chuckled. “Okay, then. So you didn’t see anyone trying to sneak into my house?”

“Nope. They know better by now.”

“No one walking by? That guy Smokey didn’t see any vampires or whatever?”

“Smokey said you got two mail deliveries. It was earlier this evening. He said one didn’t look right, but the guy didn’t go inside. Used the mail slot.”

“He used the mail slot in the broken door propped up against the house…”

“Yeah. Where else are they supposed to put your mail?”

I braced my hands on my hips. “That’s true, I guess. I’m still surprised the cops haven’t shown up yet.”

“In this neighborhood?” Mikey heaved himself to his feet. He scratched his stomach then stretched. “Cops don’t care about us. Not unless they need a suspect for something gone wrong.”

“Half the time I should be a suspect.”

“Then you’re doing it wrong.”

We walked down the street slowly, taking our time. I wasn’t sure why, just that when I sped up a little, he fell behind. He was a strolling kind of guy, I guessed.

“You dating that guy Smokey thinks is a vampire?” Mikey asked. “Not that it’s any of my business.”

“No. Working with him. He was supposed to meet me tonight to do a job tomorrow. Hasn’t shown.”

Mikey looked behind him before rolling a shoulder. “A partner you can’t trust is bad news.”

“I know.”

He held up his hands. “You don’t gotta start with the tone. You ain’t no fool. I get it. Just sayin’.”

“I’ve been hearing that warning a lot. I need him to get a payoff, though. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to force the issue.”

“Trust me, force that bitch. Force it right down his throat. Go hard.”

“I plan to.”

He dropped his hands and nodded, stopping when we got in front of my house. “I know you do. You’re crazy, that’s why. You can always count on crazy.”

“I don’t think that’s how the saying goes.”