why hadn't he contacted the agency to let us know he was going to be present for the initial inspection?
"Who is your master?"
"Alphonse de Marco."
"I do not know this name. Where are my tools?"
"I do not have them, my lord," Ulfur said, spreading his hands wide. He had a bit of an accent, too, something Scandinavian. Slowly I got to my feet, still clutching my purse and its spilled contents, watching the men warily, my gaze lingering for a minute on the larger of the two. He had short brown hair and a worried-looking face that was more interesting than handsome, and wore a pair of jeans and a dark brown leather jacket. From beneath the back of his jacket, I got a glimpse of something shiny, something bulky.
Clearly Ulfur was lying and up to no good. He'd no doubt taken something from the basement. I glanced down to my hands where the gold-chased stone was clutched with the coins, and amended that to he'd taken something valuable from the basement. It behooved me to tell the owner what Ulfur had done, but I couldn't bring myself to speak. The English peer was just too . . . wrong. His presence felt bad, like he shouldn't be there. Almost like he foreshadowed disaster.
"Where are they?"
The volume of his voice dropped, but I felt physical pain at Bael's words, just as if they were etched with acid.
"I do not know, my lord," Ulfur said again, his head bowed now. "I know only that my master sent me to find them before the lichmaster Ailwin did so."
"Ailwin," Bael snarled, and I heard the rain of glass, as if his very words had smashed the windows nearest us. "That name I do know. Jecha!"
My eyeballs just about popped out of my head when, as if by magic, a large, muscular woman suddenly appeared before the peer. "My lord Bael?" she said, bowing low. "What is your pleasure?"
"Ailwin," Bael said, the word flaying me like a whip. I backed up down the hall, toward what I knew was the kitchen. I didn't know what was going on, but it brought up all sorts of unpleasant memories from a trip to visit my sister earlier this year, and I'd be damned if I got caught up in something weird again.
I bumped into something that moved, and almost shrieked, wheeling around to see Diamond making shooing gestures toward me. "I did both floors upstairs. Are you done here?"
"Am I . . . no!"
"No?" She frowned. "Oh, for pity's sake . . . don't tell me you saw a mouse!"
"No. I saw them."
"Them who?"
"The people out front. The two men who came up from the basement."
"What people? Cora, are you teasing me? I told you that this house was empty."
"Yeah, well, tell that to the basement people."
"Tch ," she said, pulling open the basement door. "Let me go down and see for myself."
"They're up here now," I called after her disappearing figure, but she evidently decided to ignore me.
I tiptoed down the hallway until I could see the front doors. Bael was grinding out some horrible instructions about locating and torturing the person named Ailwin, going into sickening detail about what he'd like done.
"Go," Bael said, waving his hand toward the woman, and just like that, she was gone. "As for you . . ."
Ulfur had half turned toward me, angling himself so his back was to the wall, no doubt to keep anyone from seeing that he had an object stuffed into the back of his jacket.
I bit my lip, unsure if I should say something, or just let it go. I didn't condone stealing at all, but . . . my little devil urged me to turn around and walk out of the house, to leave the two men alone, but my conscience wouldn't let me. It was obvious the strange stone I held must belong to the Englishman, and that meant I had to return it.
I started toward him with the intention of doing just that when Bael threw wide his arms and, with a voice filled with fury, screamed, "Abi in malam crucem, confer te in exsilium, appropinquabit enim judicium Bael! "
"Go to torment, go into banishment, for the judgment of Bael is at hand," I whispered in translation, and just like that, I was slammed by a wall of power as the floor fell out from beneath my feet.
A scream was literally ripped from my throat as I plummeted into blackness, but