Pomegranates full and fine (38 page)

Tango stepped forward. “Tolly said not to go outside.”

DeWinter paced around the room like a big, dark bird. “He should have said not to go outside this room. The idiot.” He stopped by the window and pulled the shutters closed.

Miranda pushed past him to throw the shutters wide again. She leaned out as far as she could, searching for some landmark. “We’re in the Box?” she gasped.

“Get back inside.” DeWinter hauled her in again, then pulled the shutters closed with such force that the rusty nails sank back into the dry wood. “People think this building only has three floors. You’ll destroy everything if anyone sees you.”

“We’re in the Box,” Miranda muttered again, half-afraid. “Who knows we’re here?”

DeWinter shook his head. “Myself and Tolly. Possibly the hot-dog vendors — you can never tell how much they know. None of the others.”

“What’s the Box?” Tango asked.

“The last remnants of the Camarilla in Toronto, milady.” DeWinter swept himself in a graceful, flourishing, mocking bow. “Sabbat are forbidden to enter, just as we are forbidden to Leave.”

Miranda ground her teeth. “If the other Camarilla catch me here, they’ll destroy me.”

“There’s not much chance that they’ll find you,” DeWinter said confidently. “If I can conceal you from Solomon, I can conceal you from Swan and the others.” Tango looked from one vampire to the other. “If Sabbat can’t enter the Box and Camarilla can’t leave it — and if the Camarilla and the Sabbat are enemies

— how do you know Tolly?”

“There is no ‘can’t,’ just ‘forbidden.’ There are ways through and across every boundary. Tolly is my student. I tutor him in the arts of concealment. In a way, he is also my colleague. Along with Riley.” He nodded at the sleeping changeling.

Surprise crossed Miranda and Tango’s faces at the same moment. “What do you mean?” Miranda demanded.

“‘O brave new world that has such creatures in’t.’” He patted Miranda’s cheek. “Some of us try to see through the petty squabbles that separate the shadows, Miranda. All of the dark beings of our world share some common enemies — like the Nephandi. It may not be easy for us to work together, but it can be done.”

“What do you know about the Bandog and Solomon, then?”

“Very little.” DeWinter shrugged. “Tolly and Riley were operating on their own. Ours is a very loose alliance. Tolly contacted me for help early yesterday evening. His powers aren’t capable of concealing a group of people while he’s somewhere else.”

“Do you know where Tolly is now, then?” asked Tango eagerly. “Do you know when he’ll be back?” “No,” DeWinter admitted. “And I can’t change you back to your own shape, so don’t ask. Only Tolly can do that.” He squatted down beside Riley. “What’s wrong with him?”

“Solomon has him under some kind of human magick,” Miranda explained. “It’s keeping him asleep.” “Hmm. Can’t be affecting his mind — Riley’s too slippery for that.” DeWinter lifted one of the changeling’s hands to his mouth.

Tango grabbed the gaunt vampire’s arm. “No!”

He grinned. “Easy. Kithain blood can’t do anything to me that I’m not already halfway to myself.” He slipped one of Riley’s fingers between his lips and nipped gently. A tiny dribble of blood escaped from the corner of his mouth. For a moment, he looked like a human connoisseur judging a fine wine; then he spat the blood out and laid Riley’s hand back down. “Just as I thought. There’s something in his blood. Like what you’d find in a sleeping human, but a thousand times as strong. Solomon’s magick has probably jumped up his body’s production of the hormones and chemicals associated with sleep. How long has he been this way?” “Maybe four or five days.”

DeWinter made a face. “It’s going to take a long time for him to wake up on his own, then.”

“How long?” Tango asked worriedly.

“Weeks, probably.”

“Maybe a hospital?” suggested Miranda.

“No,” Tango said. “A doctor would probably just explain this as a coma and hook Riley up to monitors and ventilators.” Miranda watched her bite her lip. “I

think 1 might have a way to wake him up, but it won’t be easy, and it will put us in danger from the Kithain

court.”

DeWinter raised an eyebrow. “What are you thinking of? You could just wait, you know. I’m sure he’ll come out of it sooner or later.”

“We need him sooner, I think,” Miranda replied. “Solomon’s going to summon a demon’s voice.”

DeWinter’s other eyebrow went up. “I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Well, he’s going to try it.” Tango looked at DeWinter. “He’s going to manipulate the city into riots as part of the rite. The penny murders are his sacrifices to the demon. There are going to be three more tonight, then another four tomorrow along with the riots. Is there anything you can do to help us?”

“No.”    '

“What?” spat Miranda.

“No,” DeWinter repeated firmly. “The group that Riley, Tolly and I belong to is secret. We’re a network of contacts more than allies. We can help in small ways, but nothing major. There are other, bigger, badder groups out there that would break us up as soon as they knew anything about our existence. Tolly and Riley are on their own.”

Miranda glared at him angrily. “You have to—” “No. I don’t have to do anything.” He met her gaze fearlessly. “And don’t try anything. I can still let the Camarilla have you. I’m only hiding you because of Tolly and Riley.”

“Fine.” She turned back to Tango. “What’s your plan?”

“The same cantrip I used to burn off the effects of

Atlanta’s pepper spray.” The changeling hesitated, thinking. “I might be able to use it on Riley. Maybe. I’m not very good at working my magic on other Kithain.”

“It can’t hurt to try, can it?”

“No. Except that I can’t do it here. I need Glamour, and the only place I know where there’s free Glamour that I can access is at the Kithain court in Yorkville.” Tango wrinkled her nose. “And unfortunately, neither I nor Riley are especially popular there right now.” Miranda licked her lips. “Is there any way you can do what Sin did? Create an epiphany? In a human, I mean,” she added hastily as Tango’s lips pressed together in anger. “Not by... the other way.”

“No. Creating a Reverie takes time. And we don’t have time.” Tango held out Tanner’s long, masculine arm. “I’d rather we didn’t even have to wait for Tolly to change me back, but we’re not going to have any chance at getting into the court if I look like this.” “You wouldn’t be able to get in anyway,” DeWinter reminded her. “Without Tolly to hide you, Solomon’s magick will locate you almost as soon as you leave my protection.”

Tango nodded. “At least the court will hide us while we’re there. I doubt if Solomon’s magick could pinpoint it.” She ground her teeth. “Where is Tolly?”

As if in answer to her question, the door at the bottom of the stairs slammed shut and, a heartbeat later, the trapdoor flew open. Tolly thrust his body through the hole. He looked like a nightmare.

His teeth were as long as his fangs were normally, his fangs as long as his fingers. His face was pinched and thin. His hair was wild. His eyes were bleeding — not crying the bloody tears of vampires, but actually bleeding. Painful bony spurs stuck through his skin at all of his joints. His body looked emaciated under his clothes. His arms were like long, thin tree branches caught in a high wind. His hands were broken and covered in blood. He slapped them against the walls as he spun around the room, leaving gory streaks and distorted handprints behind. Occasionally, he would slam his head against the walls as well.

“Tolly!” DeWinter yelled.

“No!” screamed the mad vampire. “No! No! No!” He punched at the wall. Miranda could hear the bones in his already shattered hand pop some more. “I don’t want to do this anymore! I hate it!” He flung himself at DeWinter. “They made me do it!” His head wobbled back and forth, deforming as if battered by unseen blows. “And
they
begged me not to!” He dropped hard to his knees, crawling between Miranda and Tango to reach Riley. Both his hands and knees made smears of blood on the floor. “Let me go, Riley!” he begged the sleeping changeling. “Let me go and we can stop this. You don’t know how bad it is now. It’s worse than we imagined!” He grabbed at Riley.

DeWinter caught him instead and dragged him to his feet. “Tolly!” he commanded, “Look at me!” He caught the other vampire’s head, forcing his face around. “Look at me!” He might as well have been trying to turn a squid. Tolly’s body kept squirming and his head kept changing shape. Miranda reached out to help, grabbing the mad vampire’s chest. DeWinter managed to catch Tolly’s gaze. “Calm down,” he said soothingly. “You have to calm down. Everything is all right.”

Slowly, Tolly’s spastic movements eased and his body began take on its normal shape. Miranda glanced at Tango. The changeling was watching the spectacle with a mingled expression of shock, disgust and awe. DeWinter let Tolly’s head go. Miranda released his chest. Tolly dropped down to lie on the floor. “Are you all right?” DeWinter asked him.

“Now, yes,” Tolly said tightly. He glanced at Riley, then Miranda, then Tango. “You got him out,” he said to her. “You got both of them out. Thank you.”

“I got Riley away from Solomon.” The changeling was watching Tolly carefully, as though she were expecting the name to prompt a reaction in him. It didn’t. “You have to put me back the way I was. Then we can try and wake him up.”

Tolly just gestured with his hands. They were still gnarled and misshapen. With a hiss, Tango dropped down beside him. “This is going to hurt,” she said, a little ironically.

“Fine by me,” Tolly gasped between gritted teeth. Still, he yelped when she grasped his hand and sharply, forcefully straightened out a broken finger. “I deserve it.” Miranda squatted down. “What did you do tonight, Tolly? Who did you kill?”

A red tear came to Tolly’s eye. The scratches across his face that had poured blood before were healed now. “Children. Three children. Then we fed from their babysitter in the garden.
Al fresco
.” A mad little giggle bubbled between his lips.

Tango caught her breath. Miranda glanced up at her, but the changeling had all of her attention fixed on Tolly’s hands, straightening his bones as quickly as she could.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Never mind my bruises,

Hug me, kiss me, suck my juices Squeezed from goblin fruits for you

Tango led them through the gray darkness of early-morning Yorkville, Tolly following her closely, Miranda behind him. Miranda cradled Riley in her arms. Tango had been reluctant to trust him to her, but Miranda had pointed out that it would be easiest for her to carry his sleeping body. Riley’s tall form would be awkward for the changeling, now returned to her normal shape, to carry. Tolly would need all of his concentration to conceal them from Solomon’s questing magick. Miranda was the obvious choice to act as porter. Tango had finally agreed.

And all of that conversation had, of course, followed hard on Tango’s misgivings about Miranda accompanying them at all.

The vampire shifted Riley’s body around. Tango’s distrust hurt her. She had tried her best to explain why she had done what she had. She regretted it all now, but she couldn’t take any of it back, could she? She could only apologize and try to atone. But Tango refused to listen to anything she said.

Fine. If Miranda had to prove all over again that

she could be trusted, she would do it.

Something scuttled through the shadows. Miranda snapped her head around to stare after it.
Just a raccoon.
All the same, she wished they had DeWinter with them. Tolly had taken the gaunt Camarilla vampire aside before they had left the hidden attic and asked him to help them. DeWinter had flatly refused. None of Tolly’s subsequent pleading and tantrums had moved him at all. The best he could promise was to keep watch on Solomon’s activities if they failed to stop the Nephandus.

Tango turned into a little alley lined with shops, then, halfway up, turned again, so sharply that the vampires behind her stumbled. The changeling paused in the entrance to a little sushi shop, peering down into the darkness of a steep, narrow stairwell. “Ruby?” she hissed. “Are you here?”

“I never leave.” Miranda, watching the shadows intently, saw an old woman, even smaller than Tango, step out of the brick wall. It was almost like seeing Tolly step out of one of his hiding places, but, at the same time, even more strangely unnerving. Ruby actually seemed to draw her substance from the bricks. The other changeling had her eyes on the vampires from the moment she emerged, as if she had been watching them even before she had eyes with which to watch. Her gaze was openly suspicious, though it lightened briefly when she recognized Riley. “What do you want, Tango?”

“I need to get into the court. 1 need Glamour to wake Riley.”

“There’s no one here right now. Everyone’s gone home except for me and Marshall the night watchman.” “I don’t need anyone else. Please, Ruby? It’s important. Really important.” Tango took a step down.

Miranda didn’t quite catch what happened, but it was as if Tango had stepped onto an escalator going the wrong way. Abruptly, she was back at the top of the steps. “I’m still Gatekeeper, Tango,” Ruby said. “I have a duty.” She nodded at Riley. “What’s wrong with him?” “He’s caught in a mage’s magick.”

Ruby sucked in her breath. “One of the ones he visited in San Francisco?”

“No. One right here in Toronto.”

“Duke Michael won’t like that at all. If he knew, he’d probably forbid you even to try waking Riley up.” Her old eyes sparkled. “I’m glad I’m not Duke Michael.” A broad grin split Tango’s face. “Thanks, Ruby.” “Not so fast.” She pointed toward the vampires. “What about them? The duke might not have any particular quarrel with the leeches, but I don’t think he’d want them in the court.”

“They’re my....” She paused. M;y
friends?
Miranda thought hopefully. “My allies,” Tango finished. Ruby considered them for a moment longer, then stepped aside.

“All right. You’re on your own with Marshall, though. I don’t have any pull with him. But be careful

— he’s a redcap.”

“Thanks. I have a plan.”