Of Blood and Passion (27 page)

The ancient male struggled and huffed, finally managing to stand, though he held onto the maple as if it were a lifeline.

I’m going to lead you home, but you must listen to what I say and follow my directions. We need to return the way we came. Do you remember?

He said nothing, but released the tree and began to shuffle through the grass, toward the sidewalk, with an air of purpose that had her wondering if they might actually accomplish this. But he didn’t stop at the sidewalk.

Grandfather, turn right.

He did, but not until he was in the middle of the freaking street. Fortunately, this one was purely residential and there were no cars on it, at the moment. A situation that could change in a heartbeat.

If she’d had a head, it would be pounding.

When they reached 16th Street this time, it was busy with traffic, though the speed limit was low through here and the cars weren’t going fast. When she realized the wizard was raising his hand as if to slay more dragons, she stopped him.

Put your arm down! There are people in every one of them. Moms and dads with their children. They won’t hurt you, if you do what I say.
And she hoped to hell that was true. Getting him into the middle of 16th Street without getting hit wasn’t going to be easy.

Do you see that dark column about twenty yards to your left?
she asked. In V.C., the sunbeams broke through as light in the darkness. In D.C., it was the reverse, a column of dark in the light, but one only she could apparently see. She hoped the wizard, too, had that ability.

“Is that home?” he asked.

Excellent. He could see it.
Yes, it’s the way home.

Picking up his stride, the old man marched right into the middle of 16th, right into oncoming traffic. Quinn wanted to squeeze her eyes closed, and could only pray no one would intentionally run down an old man. Thankfully, the cars stopped and the Black Wizard walked between them with concentrated focus.

One woman got out. “Sir? Let me help you.”

The wizard lifted his hand.

Grandfather, put your arm down! Don’t you dare hurt her or I won’t help you get home.

To her relief, he did, and continued forward, straight toward the break between the worlds. Now, if the sunbeams would only last this time. If she’d had any control of her lungs, she’d have been holding her breath.

Another ten steps and they’d be there. Eight. Six. Four. Two.

A firm male hand gripped the wizard’s arm. “Sir, you’re going to have to come with me.”

The wizard jerked around to stare into the face of a cop.

Quinn nearly screamed her frustration.
Push him away. Only about six feet. Don’t hurt him.

“You told me if I hurt anyone, you wouldn’t send me home.”

“Excuse me?” the young cop said.

These are extenuating circumstances. Do it! Now!

He did.

Quinn watched with a mix of regret and relief as the young cop landed on his butt half a dozen feet away, his eyes suddenly too big for his head. And, dammit, if he wasn’t pulling his taser.

Into the shadows, grandfather, quickly!

The wizard turned to the front and pushed himself forward the two remaining steps. Reaching out, he touched the dark shadows. And then it was the Black Wizard falling to his knees within a sunbeam in Sakamoto’s garden.

Quinn gave a huge mental sigh of relief.

“They’re back!” Dera shouted.

As the wizard looked up, Quinn saw that the werecat twins were the only ones waiting for them, but then again, the vampires couldn’t be outside with the sunbeams shining through.

Ask them to help you inside, grandfather. Tassard, the vampire, is the one who will send you home, and he cannot be in the light.

“A vampire,” he grumbled.

He’s the one who brought you here. He’s the one who will send you home. Be nice.

“Show me to Tassard,” he commanded. “You may assist me to my feet. My daughter has ordered me not to harm you.”

His daughter. Quinn gave a mental laugh, relief surging through her mind that the curse was broken at last, and that they’d made it back in one piece.

Dera took the old man’s arm and helped him to his feet, then led him up the stairs and into the castle. When they reached the room with the hearth where Quinn had been before, she saw Sakamoto, Kassius, Lukas, and Tassard staring at her…or staring at the wizard…with varying degrees of relief and wariness. Arturo and Micah weren’t back, yet, clearly. She just hoped they were somewhere in V.C.

“Where is Tassard?” the Black Wizard demanded. When Tassard lifted his glass of brandy, the wizard said, “Send me home! My daughter says you are the one who brought me here and you are the one who will return me. Immediately!”

The vampires exchanged glances.

“Your daughter?” Sakamoto asked carefully.

“The one in my head!” he lifted his hand and tapped his skull with his knuckles. “She speaks to me incessantly, harangues an old man into doing things he’d prefer not to do. But I did as she commanded and you will send me home.”

Sakamoto looked to Dera. “Can you tell?”

She shook her head. “I don’t sense Quinn, only him.”

Tassard turned to Sakamoto. “It’s your call.”

“Now!” the Black Wizard ordered, lifting both hands. “Or I will tear down this palace around you!”

Without waiting for more discussion, Tassard shoved his brandy snifter into Dera’s hands and stepped forward cautiously. “I am Tassard. I must touch your face to send you home. Will you allow it?”

“Yes.”

With a nod, Tassard closed the distance between them and lifted his hands in front of the Black Wizard’s face. Locked inside the head of the ancient male, Quinn began to scream.

Chapter 29

Q
uinn felt firm hands grip her arms, felt herself being lifted, carried, and lowered again to a soft cushion.

The pain that had split her head in two was beginning to fade, her mind starting to clear of the thoughts, the dark memories, that were not hers.

Blinking, she opened her eyes slowly to find faces staring at her from every direction—Kassius, Sakamoto, Lukas, Davu, Dera. Tassard stood to one side, lighting a cigar.

“Welcome back, sorceress,” Kassius said gently.

Quinn pushed herself up and swung her feet over the edge of the chase, immensely relieved to have a body again. “The wizard’s gone.”

“Yes,” Sakamoto replied.

She looked down at herself, at her hands. “So is Micah’s glamour.” She looked at Kassius. “Where are they?”

“Looking for you in the real world,” Kassius replied, giving her the answer she’d already suspected.

“Will you allow me to read your magic?” Davu asked. “We would know if he lifted the curse as he says he did.”

“He’d better have,” she muttered darkly. “Go ahead, Davu.”

The werecat stepped forward, then squatted in front of her, his dark eyes smiling. “It’s a pleasure to see your true face. A beautiful face.”

“I travel with glamour, as I’m sure you’ve guessed. It keeps me alive.”

“Very wise.” He placed his fingertips across the top of her skull, as he had before, his thumbs on her temples. “We’re glad to have you back. That wizard of yours was one bad-tempered elder.”

“You have no idea.”

Davu began to frown.

Quinn stared at him, her body going cold. “Don’t you dare tell me he lied.”

The werecat began to smile. “It’s all right. He didn’t lift the curse, not precisely, but he’s fully freed your Blackstone magic of it.” His smile turned to a grin. “Your magic glows brilliantly, Quinn. I believe you’ll have no longer have any difficulty renewing the magic of Vamp City.”

Sakamoto grinned. Lukas hooted and Tassard let out a victorious shout, utterly surprising her. She hadn’t thought the ancient vamp really cared one way or the other. Dera hugged her brother.

Quinn turned and walked to the hearth, staring into the fire as crushing disappointment tore through her chest. If the curse had been broken, Zack would already be healing. But that wasn’t the case. That son of a bitch wizard had figured out a way to strengthen her magic without helping the Levenach heirs. Without helping Zack.

“Sorceress?” Kassius asked, his hand cupping her shoulder.

Quinn took a deep breath, and turned to face him. “I have the magic to save you, now. To save you all. We need to get to the Focus.”

Kassius nodded, his eyes sparkling with relief and thanksgiving.

“How quickly do you think Arturo will be here?”

“It depends how far into D.C. he got before he had to turn back. Clearly he didn’t find you.”

“No. The Black Wizard hid under a tree behind a house.”

“He expected to be able to sense you. The tracker…”

“He hasn’t said a word to me since I merged with the Black Wizard. I don’t think he could connect to me.”

“If he searched for you until the last minute and still made it back to Vamp City before sunrise, he should be here soon, as long as he doesn’t run into any trouble. Fifteen minutes, I would think, at most.”

“Good. Let’s get ready to go, then.”

Sakamoto lifted a hand to one of his guards. “Prepare a score to accompany the sorceress and her companions to the Focus where she will save our world.” He turned to her. “You will not go unprotected.”

“Thank you, Sakamoto, but the sun’s out. I’m worried about putting your vampires in danger.”

“They are in far more danger if you fail to reach your destination and fulfill your mission. The magic must be renewed.”

Quinn nodded. “True. Thank you.” She glanced down at her clothes. “I need to change.”

“Your own were washed and laid out,” Dera said. “But they will not have dried. I’ll pack them up so you can take them with you. And I’ll find you something more suitable for riding. Are jeans, okay?”

“Perfect.” As she watched Dera stride out of the room, a wonderfully familiar voice floated through her head.

You are back,
tesoro
. I am glad.

Quinn smiled, then jerked, startled by the funny flutter of joy that tickled her mind with his words. A joy that felt like his.

She looked at Kassius with surprise. “Arturo just spoke to me, just to say he’s glad I’m back. But I think…I’m pretty sure…I just felt his joy.” She began to smile with bemusement. “I’ve never felt his emotions before, though he often feels mine.”

“The two of you share a soul cord,” Davu said. “Perhaps you couldn’t feel it before.”

Quinn looked at him curiously. “What’s a soul cord?”

“A deep connection between two souls, as the name implies. Shallow cords are fairly common among humans with strong emotional bonds, but a cord strong enough to sense one another’s emotions is quite rare. Then again, this is a soul cord with a sorceress. I suspect they might have interesting possibilities.”

“Like what?” Quinn asked.

“Soon after you and the wizard became joined,” Davu said, “the wizard tried to strangle Arturo.”

Quinn nodded. “I made him stop.”

Davu’s mouth spread into a grin. “Arturo’s hand lifted. The power came from him. Through him. I saw your vampire’s expression and he was shocked.”

Quinn nodded slowly, her eyes widening as they swung to Tassard. “Earlier, when you were hurting me… Arturo was holding me from behind, but all of a sudden, you fell down. What exactly happened?”

The youthful-looking vampire scowled. “The bastard touched my head and stole my strength.”

Quinn’s eyes widened. If they were right, she’d begun to steal his life with her death touch. Through Arturo. She remembered badly wanting to hurt him as he was hurting her. Good grief, she was going to have to talk to Turo about this.

Dera returned with a bundle in one hand, Quinn’s boots in the other, and a pair of jeans and leather jacket. “I tucked dry socks in the boots. The jacket is my favorite, but you need it tonight and I want you to have it.”

“Thank you, Dera. I’ll get these back to you when I can.” Quinn slipped out of the ballet slippers and the silk pants, and pulled on the jeans, unconcerned that the males watched her. The Henley was long enough to cover everything important.

Dressed, she took the bundle of wet clothes, making a mental note to hang them up when she got back to Neo’s, and the jacket. But before she could reach for the boots, Dera dropped them on the floor beside her.

Quinn looked at her in surprise, then froze as she saw the strange look on the woman’s face, almost as if she was no longer there. Like an automaton, Dera turned toward her brother, who looked very much the same. Closing the distance between them, they grabbed one another’s hands, then turned rigid as boards, their eyes rolling back up in their heads until all that was visible were the milky whites.

“They are seeing the future,” Sakamoto said calmly.

Quinn’s pulse began to pound as she prayed they were glimpsing the city saved.

One interminable minute passed, then another until, finally, the twins’ eyes rolled back down and they blinked and dropped hands. Dera turned to look at Quinn worriedly, but it was Davu who spoke.