Blood Craft: The Shadow Sorceress Book Two Read online

  “So, where do you hit first?” she asked, keeping her tone as neutral as possible.

  I contemplated heading over to Sanctuary to find out if Madeline had heard anything, but that would only be inviting trouble. If Madeline let slip what I was, then it was game over.

  “There’s a place downtown. I was going to swing by after the gym but I was called in to meet you instead.” Swallowing back my anger, I fought to keep my voice pleasant. “The guy who runs it knows some stuff about the preternatural occult.”

  “You think it’s occult?” Victoria asked, cocking an eyebrow in my direction.

  “Don’t you?”

  She smiled then, a hint of the true Victoria peeking out through the curl in her lips. “Sorry, I’m just so used to questioning everything. It’s been a while since I worked with someone.”

  Her words intrigued me, and I contemplated asking her what she meant, but it didn’t seem like the right time. She was probably the type that, if I jumped on everything she said, would just clam up and I’d never get anything from her.

  “Right, I’ll get cleaned up and then we can head on over there…” I said, hopping up from my position at the desk.

  “Can I look over the file?” she asked, and I nodded, letting her take over my seat behind the desk as I headed for the locker rooms once more.

  Chapter 16

  Standing outside the Elite offices, I waited for Victoria to bring her car round from the parking garage. If I’d been going on my own I’d have walked downtown; Enzo’s wasn’t that far, and the fresh air would have given me the chance to clear my head, but when I’d suggested it to Victoria, her reaction had been less than enthusiastic.

  A shiny black SUV pulled up the curb. The tinted passenger window hummed softly as it slid down and Victoria peered out at me from behind the steering wheel.

  “Are you going to stand there all day, or are you getting in?” she asked.

  I didn’t answer her and climbed in. It was a world away from Graham’s trash can on wheels. I’d never been able to get into his car without first clearing the seats and digging out some foot room for myself in the debris on the floor.

  Settling in, I buckled up as Victoria fed the address into the GPS and pulled out from the curb. The air conditioning blew cold air up into my face, causing my still-damp hair to stick to my neck and send a shiver down my spine.

  “You cold?” she asked, casting a curious glance in my direction as she manoeuvred in and out of the morning traffic.

  “Nah, just didn’t have the time to dry my hair,” I said, gesturing to my high ponytail.

  She nodded thoughtfully and returned her attention to the road ahead, but there was a tension in the car that told me she had questions she wanted to ask me. Questions to which I would either not have the answers she wanted, or have answers I didn’t want to share.

  “Look, I’m not trying to take the place of your old partner,” she said, shooting another glance in my direction as she zipped through a particularly tight corner.

  Sucking in a deep breath, I dug my fingers into the edge of the seat. If there was one thing I hated, it was close encounters in cars. It was the whole out-of-control thing that really got to me.

  “How long were you two working together?”

  “Only a couple of months—well, weeks, really. I spent time in the office being the general dogsbody before I got out into the field.”

  Laughing, she spun the wheel, taking us down a small side street. “I know what that’s like; there’s something about this job that makes all the guys think the women should stay in the office.”

  “You get that too?” I asked, unable to keep my surprise to myself.

  It was probably naïve, but I’d always imagined New York to be far more sophisticated and void of the same issues we suffered from here.

  “God, yes, maybe even more. All the guys in the New York office are really macho, constantly showing off to each other and always getting into fights. It’s part of the facade they have, and every single one of the women in the office, as far as they’re concerned, are fair game.”

  “I can’t see that going down to well with you,” I said with a small smile.

  “I gave them fair warning; if they refused to take notice, then I did what needed to be done. I’m no man’s plaything, and I’m certainly not going to put up with any sexist bullshit….”

  I hid my smile. She was an outsider and there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in Hell that I could trust her—yet, anyway—but I couldn’t fault her attitude. The Elite seemed to attract more of the jerks than any other profession, and the women had to work ten times harder just to get by. It wasn’t fair, but it was the way of the world. To meet another woman with the same attitude that I had, well, it was certainly a breath of fresh air.

  And part of me wanted to know what would happen if Jon attempted any of his usual bullshit tactics with her. I had a feeling it would end with him sobbing, and I really wanted to be around to see that.

  “It’s just in there on the left,” I said, pointing out the small spice shop on the corner.

  She nodded and jerked the wheel, cramming the car into a space that I would have thought was way too small. She inched us in and I cringed inwardly. Any second now, there was going to be the screaming sound of metal and the telltale crunch as it….

  “Done,” she said, killing the engine and sliding the keys from the ignition.

  Opening my eyes properly, I stared at her in surprise. She had no magic and yet, as far as I was concerned, she’d just performed some sort of weird black magic to get the SUV into the tiny space right outside Enzo’s.

  Climbing from the car, I slammed the door after me and started for the front door. Before I even hit the sidewalk, Victoria caught my arm and tugged me back next to her.

  “You need to tell me what we’re walking into here. I don’t want any surprises,” she said, her voice hushed as though there might be someone other than me listening.

  “Well, we’re walking into that shop over there and we’re going ask him if he has any information on what might be in King City. I thought that was pretty clear?” I said, deliberately emphasising my words.

  “What is he?” she asked, her bluntness catching me by surprise.

  “Enzo?” I said, raising my eyebrows in her direction.

  “Whatever his name is.” Her dismissive tone rubbed me the wrong way and set a nervous curl of concern winding its way up through my stomach.

  “He’s a psychic, or at least that’s what he says he is. I’ve yet to get the lotto numbers from him, but if anyone is going to know where to start in King City, it’s him.” I deliberately left Madeline’s name out of it; the less Victoria knew about my contacts, the better. At least until I was more sure of her intentions.

  “Not dangerous, then,” she said, more to herself than to me.

  “Don’t be fooled by him. Enzo is plenty dangerous if he needs to be.”

  Victoria grinned at me and shook her head. “Sure he is,” she said, leaving me to stare after her as she stalked towards the shop.

  If she was going to walk into Enzo’s shop with that attitude, then she was in for a rather nasty surprise. But none of that was my problem and I wasn’t going to get in the way of her finding out the truth, not for love nor money.

  * * *

  I caught up to her as she pushed open the door to the small spice shop. It wasn’t really a spice shop, more a place where someone looking for any kind of remedy or ingredient might come to find it. Most of the Elite used the store for tips on the preternatural community, and then there was, of course, the supplies. The gloop the rest of the Elite needed to use in order to walk a scene didn’t come cheap and Enzo was the only one in the city with the connections needed to get to the ingredients.

  I knew Enzo for a completely different reason. He’d been the one to look out for me when I’d gotten to King City originally; his bond with my mother made him the perfect candidate. And even though I’d always s
uspected he knew more than he was telling me, he still hadn’t shared his secrets.

  The bell over the door chimed once and then again as I stepped into the gloomy shop, the smell of polished wood and the pungent scent of ginger and cayenne pepper instantly overwhelming my senses. I could taste it on the back of my tongue and it instantly transported me back to the crime scene. The smells themselves weren’t actually the same, but they certainly provided the same obliteration of my senses.

  “Ladies, how can I be of … Amber?” Enzo’s familiar tone welcomed me, and I couldn’t help but smile as he appeared out from behind the counter.

  His small stature forced me to bend at the waist to accept the bear hug he insisted on wrapping me in. It had always been like this. Enzo liked contact—obviously connected to his power, but I’d never questioned him on it too closely. There was something unnerving about knowing the future, and I didn’t want to know what mine held … or, at least, I’d always believed I didn’t.

  Now, I wasn’t so sure.

  “Child, how long has it been?” I opened my mouth to speak but he cut across me: “Too long, that’s how long. Come in and take a seat….”

  He started to drag me towards the back of the shop when I dug my heels in, causing him to come up short. The look he shot me was one filled with knowing and fear, my stomach churning in response.

  “Actually, we don’t have time for that,” Victoria cut in. “We’re here on a case, and—”

  “You want to ask me some questions?” Enzo said, his expression growing blank.

  “If you have a few minutes, yes, we—”

  “I know nothing,” he said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

  “Don’t be like that, you haven’t even given me the chance to ask you anything yet,” Victoria said, the edge of her voice betraying the beginnings of her anger.

  “I don’t need you to; I’m a psychic, I already know what you will ask me before you ask it. It’s one of the perks of the job. Amber, how is your mother?” Enzo’s change in conversation topic surprised me and I jerked slightly in his grip but it remained unchanged.

  “Listen, this is not how you want to start this conversation,” Victoria said. “Unless you want a trip back to the Elite you better start spilling what it is that you know. Or are you telling me that your psychic gifts aren’t to be trusted?”

  Enzo drew himself upright, releasing the hold he had on my hand as he moved. Despite the fact that he was at least half a foot shorter than Victoria, he still managed to look far more intimidating than she ever could.

  “You come into my shop and threaten me? You really have no idea who you’re dealing with….” Enzo’s pupils dilated before the iris slid up into the back of his head, the white of his eyeball and the zigzag of blood vessels the only thing left visible.

  His hand whipped out lightning fast and he caught Victoria’s arm in his considerable grip, holding her in place. Her aggressive mask slipped, revealing the fear she felt as he shared his vision of her future with her.

  “Your ways will not lead you to the happiness you seek. Betraying those close to you will be your end,” he said; his voice had taken on a strange hollow ring and I covered my ears, but it was no use. It seemed to seep into my bones, spreading an impending sense of dread in every corner of my body it touched.

  Victoria fought against him, but he didn’t release her. I’d seen it happen before; once he latched on, it was as though he fused with their bodies and I’d watched creatures attempt to hack off their own limb in an attempt to escape what he was doing to them.

  Blood dripped from Victoria’s nose, her eyes growing bloodshot, and still Enzo shared the truth with her. She cried out, a strangled sob that spoke of pain and desperation.

  “Enzo, enough, let her go!” I said, grabbing his shoulder.

  It was a stupid move and one I instantly regretted. He released the hold he had on Victoria, his power switching seamlessly from her to me, and I tried to shake him free, but it was an empty gesture.

  Images flashed through my head faster than I could follow them, but I was left with the overall impression of violence and despair, hurt and anger, pain and death. The demon mark on my shoulder pulsed and I dug my nails into Enzo’s arm. The part of me that was still lucid half expected my nails to extend into claws but they didn’t.

  It pulsed again, power surging upwards through my body, pouring into my veins and pushing back against the onslaught of emotion that Enzo was unloading into my head. I didn’t want to know my future; it wasn’t written in stone, and no matter what happened, I would always make my own choices in this life.

  I felt the warm trickle of blood from my nose, but the pain from Enzo’s visions was starting to subside. I could feel him scrambling for purchase inside my mind, his hold on me slipping out from underneath him, and still I pushed back harder with my own power, taking back my mind from the grip he’d sunk into it.

  “So much pain,” he whispered, his voice hoarse as though he’d been screaming—but if he had, I hadn’t heard him.

  “Enough,” I gritted out from between my teeth, giving one last surge that sent him tumbling back away from me.

  I wavered on my feet as my heartbeat roared in my ears.

  “What in the name of God was that!” Victoria said, jerking me back to reality.

  “That,” I said, “was Enzo’s gift.” I could still practically feel his power rifling through my brain, but he wasn’t there anymore.

  Instead, he sat on the floor next to his counter, looking up at me with a too-wide-eyed stare.

  “Are you all right?” I asked, crouching down next to him, but he cringed away from me as though I’d burned him.

  “Amber, I had no idea….” He started to speak and then caught himself, his gaze automatically darting up to Victoria.

  I could feel her standing behind me, her presence like ice against my back. Did she feel like that because of what Enzo had done to her, or because of what he’d done to me?

  “I should arrest you for that,” she spluttered, and I glanced over my shoulder and watched her sag against the wall. Her face was pale, too pale, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was going to pass out on me.

  “But you won’t—you came into my business seeking news on something I couldn’t tell you about.”

  “You attacked me with magic,” she said, the strength returning to her voice.

  “No, I showed you the future,” Enzo said matter-of-factly. “But there is something I can give you, something I gleaned from Amber….” He cut off when I gave him a warning look.

  “What is it?” Victoria asked, suddenly eager.

  Enzo pushed unsteadily to his feet and gripped the counter in a white-knuckled grip.

  “The one you’re seeking has done this before. He’s using a combination of magics and he will strike again.”

  “What do you mean by a combination?” I asked, searching Enzo’s face for answers.

  “He has a blade. I can’t tell you where it comes from, but he’s using it to focus what he’s doing. Before this, he was a student of many dark arts … not particularly proficient, but now….”

  “But now he has the blade and proficiency suddenly doesn’t matter,” I said, finishing his thought for him.

  “Exactly. I’m not sure what he’s trying to do, but these spirits come in pairs and this pair was a failure.”

  “But they are spirits,” I asked.

  “Unlike anything I’ve ever seen; they are not evil, but they also do not care for human life and their time in the place between has warped them beyond recognition…” Enzo said, leaning a little more heavily against the counter. “Amber, you must be careful; he’s drawn to you.”

  I shook my head and nervously scrubbed my hand against the leg of my jeans. “I don’t think so.”

  “Why would he be drawn to Amber?” Victoria blurted out, asking the question plaguing my own mind—but it was one I didn’t have the guts to ask.

  “Perhaps because she
is beautiful,” Enzo said with a wide smile, but it was his theatrical, fake smile. The one he wore when he was done giving answers.

  There were bags beneath his eyes that hadn’t been there when we’d first arrived. I’d only ever seen him like that when he’d done a particularly large party, but I’d never asked him just how much using his gift took out of him. It had never seemed important before.

  His shoulders drooped and I reached out to steady him, but he took a stumbling step away.

  “Don’t, I’ll be fine; go and speak to Heddou, he practices in the church on Mackson corner.”

  “Who is he?” I asked, searching Enzo’s face for answers.

  “Well, you’d know him as King City’s most powerful Voodoo Priest. Tell him I sent you or he won’t speak to you,” Enzo said, a small smile playing around his lips. “He owes me a favour.”

  “A Voodoo Priest, are you for real?” Victoria asked, grabbing my arm and spinning me around to face her. “I thought you said this guy was good. If I’d known he was going to point us in the direction of that kind of crap, I wouldn’t have bothered coming.”

  “It’s not, as you put it, crap, but if that helps you sleep at night, Victoria…” Enzo said, cutting across her words.

  “Yeah, it is; everyone knows there aren’t any more practitioners, at least not in the true sense. The Elite outlawed the use of that kind of power, along with Shadow Sorcerers.”

  Her words sent a shiver down my spine and I fought to control my expression. I couldn’t allow her casual announcements to betray me now. Not when I’d come so far.

  Enzo laughed and shook his head. “But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t understand your case better than you do. As long as you’re a good little girl, he won’t have any need to invoke the Loa to deal with you,” Enzo said with a smirk.

  Victoria grumbled and spun on her heel, stalking out of the small shop and allowing the door to slam behind her.