hands clasped to his gut, his muscles tense and jaw tight. It had been six months. Finally he would learn where Certainly Jones was hiding.
Over the decades they had matched each other in magics, always trying to one-up the other. They had never been allies or even friends. Always enemies, but not quite, for they employed a gentleman’s conduct for all duels and magical showdowns. They were always generally aware of the other’s location and doings, and if something struck one as interesting then the challenge was issued.
Dasha tended to put up with his macho grandstanding. He loved her for her quiet acceptance.
He hadn’t realized Jones had a clue what he was up to until the man had returned from Daemonia and Ian had sensed what his nemesis had returned with. Something he’d wanted to lay his hands on for decades.
“You haven’t won yet,” Grim muttered as he tracked the slowly moving bead that veered toward the fifth arrondissement and then scattered in a powder across the map, as if blown away by explosives.
“No!”
The dark witch must have been on to him and blocked his approach with protective magic. To be expected. If Grim were able to easily sneak up on Jones, he’d be disappointed. But he was closer than ever now.
“The fifth.” Only one of the largest quarters in Paris. “I will find you, Jones.”
Chapter 8
This cleanup was weird.
Pulling on her gloves, Vika looked over the piles of ash. Normally, she was rarely called in for a vampire cleanup. The vamp was staked; he ashed, leaving behind just bits of clothing and personal items. Usually. This time, one particular pile of ash was only half-formed, sitting before the legs and hips of what had yet to ash.
“A young one,” Libby said, joining her side with dustpan and broom in hand. Clear goggles, that covered her nose as well, wrapped her head because the fine dust tended to fly up one’s nostrils. “That’s too sad.”
The young vampires didn’t ash as easily as those who had perhaps a few decades of vampirism to their arsenal. And the heat generated during an ash didn’t get hot enough to destroy clothing. Hence, the cleanup call.
“You grab the feet,” Vika said. “I’ll get what’s left of the hips. This shouldn’t take long.”
Libby handed her the black body bag, and Vika zipped it open as her sister inspected the shoes on the feet. “These are Louboutins.”
“Don’t think about it,” Vika warned.
“I know. Really bad karma to steal the dead’s belongings. But do you know how much those things cost? And they’re purple. I think they’re my size, too.”
“Libby.”
“All right, all right! Lift.”
They succeeded in getting the legs into the body bag without having to remove the shoes to lessen the weight. Libby tossed the bag into the back of the hearse.
“So he liked the cookies, eh?” Vika asked. She began to sweep the ash, Libby holding the dustpan and dumping it frequently in a hazardous waste disposal bag.
“He took two this time. Said he’d never had anything like them before.”
“Soul bringers don’t usually eat, do they?”
“Not sure. They’re from angel stock so they don’t have to eat, but they can. And he did.”
“That’s remarkable. That Reichardt had a sort of conversation with you. Well, two sentences, but still.”
“I know! Remind me to always have a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies available.”
“Something tells me I won’t need to remind you. But seriously, Libby, you are dating other guys, right?”
“Oh, no. What if Reichardt finally gets it into his head to ask me out and I’ve got a date with someone else? That would so not be smart.”
Vika pushed a small mountain of ash toward the dustpan. “I suppose not.” He wasn’t going to ask, because the guy could have no concept of what a date even was. “Maybe you should come out with me and Becky next weekend. Friday girls’ night out? Just for kicks.”
“You’ve never invited me along before. Would Becky mind?”
“Not at all. I think I should ask her about those shoes. She runs with the glamorous crowd.”
Vika suddenly couldn’t erase the feeling something more than a routine vampire slaying had gone on here. “I know most vamps are pretty well-off, but, I don’t know. Are they all females? Does this feel odd to you? I’m sensing some latent witchcraft in the air.”
Libby paused from brushing up the ash and closed her eyes, studying the air about her by opening her instincts to the electrical energies in the ether. She nodded. “I do,