Make Me (24 page)

WHERE? Fang demanded.

“I have an address here in Austin, but I’m not familiar with the town.” I checked the time. Good, it was nearing midnight, but this time of year, lots of people were still celebrating. It wasn’t too late to knock on someone’s door, was it?

“Here,” Austin said, “let me look it up.”

He brought up some map app on his phone and typed in the address. It was somewhere in the southwest part of town.

LET’S GO, Fang said, standing at the door.

“Wait. I need to tell Dan first.”

I called him and put him on speaker, but Dan started talking first. “We found where they were held in San Antonio, but they’re not here anymore.”

Surprised, I asked, “How’d you do it that fast?”

“The photo you sent was geotagged with the location where the picture was taken. We checked it out. It’s an empty house, but Gwen’s badge and Micah’s phone, wallet and keys were inside. No sign of where they were going, though. The second number was a public phone outside a Mexican restaurant on the west side of Austin. I doubt they’re still there, but I’m headed your way to check it out. You have anything?”

“Maybe. We have the address of the only two fire demons in Austin. I was just going out to talk to them.”

“What’s the address?” I gave it to him, and he added, “I’m on my way. Don’t go in without me.”

That would take too long. “Not sure I can do that,” I said. If there was any way to save my friends, I was gonna do it with or without him.

“Wait, Val. Just wait.”

“See you there,” I said without promising anything, then hung up.

A knock came at the door. I whirled, startled. “Are you expecting someone?” I asked Austin.

“Relax. I asked Lisette to get something for you.” He opened the door, accepting a couple of bags from a female vamp, then closed it and handed them to me. “I think you can use these.”

Surprised, I opened the bigger bag and found a new backpack. But the color… “Pink?” I asked incredulously. “Not exactly subtle.” And it wasn’t even a hot pink. More like a baby color.

He shrugged. “Sorry. I told you I’d get you another one, but I didn’t tell her what color. Look at it this way. Who would suspect such destruction potential would be hiding in that?”

He had a point, but pink? So not me.

“There should be some other things in there.” He peered inside the bag, then handed me a couple of wooden garden stakes, presumably to replace the ones he’d used, and some kind of electronic gizmo bound up in that hard plastic clamshell retail packaging. I hated these things. They were so difficult to open, they put Fort Knox to shame.

“Got a sharp knife?” I asked. Then, “What is this anyway?”

Austin ripped it open like it was tissue paper. Maybe Fort Knox should hire vampires. “It’s a car phone charger,” he said. “So you won’t lose touch while we’re driving. And the other bag should hold some food. I figured you and Fang were getting hungry.”

“Good thinking.”

YEAH, YEAH, Fang complained. DUMP THE MUTUAL ADMIRATION SOCIETY AND LET’S GET GOING. I HAVE A PRINCESS TO SAVE.

“Okay, let’s go. Are you coming, too?” I asked Austin.

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

Good. I could use his help, and his car. I stuffed everything into the pink backpack, grabbed the food and headed out the door.

I navigated while Austin drove. Fang and I also chowed down on chicken sandwiches and fries. Now, if only I could feed Lola as easily…

CAN’T HE GO ANY FASTER? Fang snapped.

I rubbed his ears.
Sorry. This has to be difficult for you.

He licked my hand. I’M SORRY, TOO. JUST EDGY. I WANNA TAKE A BITE OUT OF SOMETHING.

Well, don’t look at me.

He gave me the equivalent of a mental chuckle. But now we were going through a residential neighborhood and I needed to give Austin directions. We pulled up outside a small house and parked across the street from it. Austin cut the lights.

“What do we do now?” I asked softly. The house looked dark, with no lights on inside. Either they were asleep or no one was home.

Fang put his front paws against the door and peered at the house. PRINCESS AND THE OTHERS MIGHT STILL BE INSIDE, EVEN IF IT’S DARK. LET’S CHECK IT OUT.

“Let’s do some recon,” Austin said at the same time.

“If they’re in there, Fang should be able to hear Micah and Princess’s thoughts from here,” I said and glanced at the hellhound.

NADA, he said, sounding worried. BUT THEY MIGHT BE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF PERDO.

I relayed it to Austin, feeling just as worried and imagining all sorts of horrible things.

He shrugged and voiced the one thing I feared most. “Even if it’s not Perdo, it doesn’t mean they’re dead. It just means they’re not here right now. Maybe they’re on their way back or they’re unconscious. We won’t know for sure until we look.”

I was glad someone was thinking straight here. “What do you suggest?”

“You knock on the door and I’ll hide in the shadows in case someone answers.” He glanced at Fang. “You said he has a good nose. Maybe he can smell some sign of them on or around the property.”

It sounded good to me, so I left everything in the car. I had the two secret weapons I needed to subdue the kidnapper—Lola and the spell.

I strolled casually up to the door and rang the doorbell as Austin and Fang faded into the shadows on the sides of the house. No answer, so I tried again, banging on the door. Still, no one came to the door. “I don’t think anyone’s at home,” I whispered, knowing both Austin and Fang would be able to hear me. I tried the doorknob. Locked. I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy.

Austin got my attention, then signaled he was going around back. Good. Maybe he’d find a window or door open back there.

Smell anything familiar?
I asked Fang.

NOT YET. BUT I MIGHT NOT IF THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF TRAFFIC. OR THEY WERE CARRIED IN. I’LL CHECK IN BACK.

Dang. I was hoping for some solid evidence that they were here. I didn’t want to do any breaking and entering without some assurance I was in the right. Noting some windows in the front, I went to check if they were unlocked. Maybe I wouldn’t have to break, just enter.

I was tugging upward on a window when I heard a voice behind me.

“What the hell are you doing?”

I assumed the vamp was nearby, and sure enough, he emerged from the shadows and tipped his hat to Beth.

“Can we talk?” I repeated.

She invited us into the small house which seemed to have been decorated years ago and never updated. Avocado and gold, shag carpet, old people furniture—they must have inherited the house and all its furnishings. Fairly recently, too, since her brother’s license had a different address. She’d done her best to decorate it for the season, though, with an enormous, glittery tree in one corner. She waved us to a worn couch, and in the light, I could see she was in her early twenties with the red hair I’d come to expect in fire demons.

I’LL CHECK AROUND, JUST IN CASE, Fang said, and wandered off as if following a scent.

Good. Let me know what you find.

“You say your brother is missing?” I asked. “When did you last see him?”

“He went missing around Thanksgiving. Do you know something? Do you know where he is?” she asked, clearly worried.

“I’m afraid not,” Austin said.

His easy drawl and good looks seemed to put her at ease, so I nodded at him, encouraging him to keep on talking. “We believe he may be connected to a crime committed in San Antonio,” Austin explained.

Beth looked taken aback. “Arson?”

“No. Kidnapping.”

“You have got to be kidding me,” Beth said, her mouth dropping open. “He’d never do anything like that. Blaine’s friends call him a wuss. He played in the band in high school, for heaven’s sake.”

SHE’S TELLING THE TRUTH, Fang told me privately from somewhere else in the house. DOESN’T SEEM TO BE OUR KIDNAPPER.

That still didn’t rule him out. “Did he ever say anything about books?” I asked. “A magick encyclopedia?”

“No. Except maybe in role-playing games.”

YEAH. HIS ROOM IS A REAL BASTION OF GEEKDOM, Fang said.

I had to agree with Fang. Probably not our kidnapper.

“What do you think happened to him?” Austin asked.

Her eyes narrowed. “I think that damned succubus happened to him.”

Austin slanted an amused glance at me but I didn’t take it personally. “I assume you’re talking about Dina Bellama?” I asked.

“Yes. She enthralls every guy she comes in contact with, like a reflex or something. Blaine fell for her, hard. I think she likes the power she holds over them.”

“Power enough to do anything she asks?” Austin asked.

Beth looked at him, startled. “Yes, but if he did kidnap someone, it’s because she forced him to.”

“Probably,” I agreed. The men under my control would do anything I told them to. One vamp had even killed himself at a careless word from me. Luckily, he was one of the bad guys. “But Blaine should have come to his senses when he was out of her range.”

“That’s what I thought,” Beth confirmed. “But he didn’t. Her range must be really wide. Or he was so infatuated with her that he kept going back.”

Is that what had happened to Shade? Was Dina some sort of super succubus that she didn’t have to control them in person?

“If she has that much control, she could be very dangerous,” Austin said, glancing at me with a frown. “And, worse, would have a pool of men with demonic powers to call upon.”

Yeah. Scary.

“Other guys are missing, too,” Beth confided. “Do you think she’s building a male harem or something?”

Very possible. This was one person we needed to stop even if she wasn’t behind all our current problems. “Do you know of any other fire demons in Austin besides you and your brother?” I asked

She shook her head. “Just us.”

Too bad. I’d hoped her brother wasn’t our kidnapper.

Fang came trotting back in, saying, I WAS ABLE TO CHECK THE WHOLE HOUSE. NO SIGN OF MICAH, GWEN OR PRINCESS.

I thanked Beth and asked her to call me if she heard from her brother. We exchanged phone numbers and as I walked out the door, Dan drove up.

“I told you to wait for me,” Dan said, and gave Austin a dirty look. He still didn’t believe the bloodsuckers in the New Blood Movement were on the side of good and right.

I sometimes wondered, myself. “Yeah, well I don’t always do as I’m told.”

MAKE THAT NEVER.