my skull. Trixie stayed on her feet, but was leaning heavily on the counter behind her. Her face was pale and sweat was streaking down from her temple.
“Are you okay?” My voice was like brittle autumn leaves, cracking and breaking at the slightest touch.
She nodded, slowly easing back onto her stool. “You?”
“Getting there.” I still didn’t feel up for standing, but I needed to get up and move.
“What was that?”
Fear rippled through me. There was no mistaking it. “Death Magic.”
“What? What’s that?” she asked and I was surprised. The elves were a long-lived race. I was sure that she would have heard of it. Of course, the Summer Court was the least likely to use something like that since they so highly valued life. Maybe she didn’t know about it because it was something that had never touched their lives.
“A dark kind of magic.” Reaching up, I grabbed the edge of the counter and pulled myself back to my feet. I stood still, swaying a bit as the last of the dizziness and nausea started to fade. “I’ve been tracking this killer for the Towers the past couple of weeks with Gideon. It’s why I’ve been away so much. We’re trying to catch this bastard before he destroys more people.”
“Is this the same person who killed Kyle?”
I shook my head, a part of me wishing they were the same person just so I didn’t have to find a way to catch two lunatics. “No.”
“You need to go?” Trixie said it as a question, but it didn’t feel that way. We needed to talk more. To work out this issue she was having with my use of magic, but it had become obvious that we were just going around in circles. Maybe it would be best if we just walked away right now so that we could both cool off and think clearly. Truth be told, I was beginning to wonder if I could think clearly being so close to one of Zyrus’s doorways. I hadn’t thought the demon could influence me, but the creature’s emotions were starting to tangle with mine and that couldn’t be a good thing.
“I need to catch this asshole before he hurts more people,” I said, careful not to add that this killer was now in Low Town and things were on the cusp of getting nasty if he found the other killer stalking innocent women.
“It’s okay. Go. I’ll keep an eye on things here.”
I hesitated, staring down at the wide-eyed elf who was still too pale. For a moment, I thought about loosening the bonds on Zyrus so that it could protect the first floor of the tattoo parlor and watch over Trixie, but it was far too dangerous. I couldn’t trust the demon to properly guard her and I doubted the elf would welcome the protection of a demon.
Trixie’s safety had become a tenuous thing. A demon was an easy answer as nothing could stop the creature but me. Yet, there was a tiny voice in the back of my head that was slowly getting louder. It was saying that Trixie and the baby would be safest with her own people. But I shoved that voice back down into the darkness.
Trixie couldn’t leave me. There would be nothing left of me without her.
CHAPTER 5
The street was silent as the sun sank toward the horizon, casting long shadows across the snow-crusted lawns. A crisp, bitter wind swept through the neighborhood, rattling the bare tree branches and reminding me that I was an idiot for not pausing long enough to grab my coat, though I was beginning to think that I had left it in the Towers rather than the parlor. Damn, my mind was anywhere but where I needed it to be.
Prior to leaving Asylum, I slapped on a cloaking spell to hide my sudden appearance from the normal residents of Low Town, but it wouldn’t have hidden me from the person working the Death Magic. I didn’t have anything in my bag of tricks that would help me on that front. Gideon and I had been two steps behind this asshole for too long. Now that he was in Low Town we had to act fast, which meant there wasn’t time for fancy Towers suits or better cloaking spells. I was just grateful that I had started carrying my wand with me at all times.
My heart stopped upon arrival. The neighborhood reminded me too much of where my parents lived. I knew the tracking