Magic Bleeds

CHAPTER 10

“YOU DON’T HAVE MUCH,” TED SAID AFTER I HAD laid out my case.

“I’ve had the case for thirty-six hours.”

“Thirty-eight.” Ted leaned forward and glared at me with his lead eyes.

Ted had a fondness for Western clothing. Today he wore jeans, cowhide boots, and a turquoise shirt with black patches on the shoulders, each patch embroidered with a white Texas star. Ted Moynohan, channeling a cattle rustler at the prom.

Trouble was, the knight-protector ran about forty pounds too heavy for the outfit. Not exactly fat, but thick across the chest and carrying the beginnings of a gut, Ted had the build of an aging heavyweight boxer. He wouldn’t run up a staircase for fun, but if you slammed a door in his face, he would punch through it and knock you out with the same blow.

Despite the outfit, being on the receiving end of that stare was like peering into the mouth of a loaded .45 with the safety off. I wondered what he would do if I screamed and fainted.

His voice was low, almost lazy. “What is the Order’s primary directive?”

“To ensure the survival of the human race.”

He nodded. “We keep the order. We force monsters to coexist. We ensure peace. Forty-eight hours ago, this city functioned. As we sit here, the People are paranoid that someone has better undead than they do and is coming after their slice of the pie. The shapeshifters are pondering their own mortality and imagining their children dying of epidemics. The mercs are flailing because the Guild’s head has been chopped off. Biohazard wants to declare a citywide quarantine and PAD is shaking down every homeless person in a dirty cloak. The city is headed to hell in a hand basket. Do you know what happens when monsters, thugs, and cops get scared?”

I knew. “They stop playing nice.”

“We must restore order. We have to simmer Atlanta down at any cost, or it will boil over with panic and chaos. If I had a female knight more competent than you with better experience and a longer track record, I’d pull you off this petition and give it to her.”

What is Andrea, chopped liver? “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“Assigning this petition to a man is out of the question. I have to rely on an Academy dropout with a discipline problem and a big mouth.”

I wanted to jump on the table and kick him in the mouth. “My heart bleeds in sympathy.”

Ted ignored me. “You have the full power of the Atlanta Chapter behind you. Fix this mess. What do you need to make it happen?”

The urge to pull off my ID and hand it to him was so strong, I had to fight not to touch the cord around my neck. Here, you deal with it. You try to run around with the weight of a possible pandemic riding you, you carry the responsibility for people dying, and I’ll sit back and tell you where you fall short. A year ago I might have done it. The memory of Ori’s crumpled body flashed before me. But then again, maybe not.

I squished my pride into a ball, sat on it, and plucked the lead case from the evidence box. “This is the parchment that stopped him before. I need to know what was written on it. I need to know what hurts him and who he is.”

“You need an expert.”

I nodded. “I want to take it to Saiman.”

“The polyform. He refuses to work with the Order.”

“He’s the best”—narcissistic pervert, sexual deviant, greedy hedonist—“expert in the city. We don’t have time to import anyone else and Savannah PAD has exhausted all the standard test possibilities. Given the proper financial incentive, I’m confident Saiman would work with me.”

“How confident?”

“Very confident.” He wants to get into my pants and I’ve been throwing his flowers away. He would be overjoyed if I called. “But he doesn’t come cheap.”

Ted wrote down something and put it in front of me: $100,000. It was an exorbitant sum, even for Saiman. “This is your limit. Call him. Now.”

He showed no signs of moving from my chair, making it crystal clear: he didn’t believe me.

I reached for the phone. Saiman answered on the second ring.

“Kate,” a familiar male voice breathed into the receiver. “I thought I was forgotten.”

Ugh. “No, only avoided.” I put him on speaker.

“You’re as blunt as ever. Shall I save us some time? You’re calling because Solomon Red’s insides erupted from his body and attempted to infect the city’s water supply.”

“Yes.” That was expected. Saiman dealt in information, he paid well for it, and mercs were always short on cash.

His voice could’ve melted butter. “Do you require my expertise?”

“The Order requires your expertise.”

“Oh, but I won’t work for the Order.” He laughed. “They’re too lawful for my taste.”

“My apologies for disturbing you, then. I thought you might be interested. I was wrong.”

“But I’ll work for you. On my terms.”

Here we go.

“In fact, I would be excited to work with you. Your call couldn’t have come at a better time.”

He sounded happy all over. This would cost me.

“Let’s get the simplest things out of the way,” Saiman stated. “For the ease of accounting, yours and my own, I will require a flat fee of fifty thousand dollars for my services.”

“That’s a rather large number.”

“I’m a rather expensive consultant.”

“Thirty grand.”

“Oh please, Kate, don’t haggle. Ted Moynohan likely authorized double this amount. I know this because he called me this morning and offered me fifty thousand to consult on the case. Which I refused, of course, given that I dislike him personally and find the Order’s fanaticism constricting.”

Ted’s face was granite-hard.

He went behind my back. My memory served up Mauro, bringing me the box of evidence. Why would Mauro have it? All packages came to Maxine’s desk and he never once carried them down to me. Unless the package was in Ted’s office and Ted told him to do it.

Ted had gone through my evidence and then sat there with a straight face as I recapped my findings.

“Kate?” Saiman’s voice prompted.

I picked up my coffee cup and stirred the coffee with a spoon. I’d read somewhere that doing small repetitive movements like stirring or doodling helped reduce stress and I needed to reduce my stress or it would erupt and smash into Ted Moynohan like a ton of bricks. “I’m thinking.”

“Have you noticed that your criminal doesn’t target women? Either they possess a natural immunity to his power or he simply doesn’t feel they’re a threat.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“Then you must realize that Moynohan’s options consist of you and Andrea Nash. Moynohan despises Nash—I’m not sure why, but I’m sure I’ll eventually find out—so you are the only viable solution. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s sitting in your office right now listening in on the conversation just so he can be certain you’ve ensured my cooperation. Your back is against the wall, Kate. Under these circumstances, a fee of fifty thousand is a gift. Accept it graciously.”

The spoon bent under the pressure of my fingers. I pulled it out and began bending it with both hands, back and forth, back and forth.

“Very well,” I said. “You will be paid the sum of fifty thousand dollars when we have conclusive proof that the Mary is dead or apprehended.”

“Or left beyond your jurisdiction. I don’t cherish the prospect of chasing him all over the country.”

I bent the spoon some more. “Agreed. What’s the real price, Saiman?”

“You will accompany me to an event, Kate. It will be a public function, you will wear an evening gown, and you will be on display on my arm. Think of it as a date.”

The spoon snapped in my hands. I threw it into the trash can. “The last time we tried that, I ended up covered in demonic blood.”

“I assure you, you will be perfectly safe. In fact, the function in question takes place at one of the safest locations in Atlanta.”

“It’s not my safety that concerns me. It’s your company. You seem very gleeful at the prospect of displaying me. Is there an ulterior motive?”

“There’s always an ulterior motive,” Saiman assured me. “But aside from that, I find your presence delightful.”

I found his presence irritating.

He gave an exaggerated sigh. “I don’t wish to force you into a sexual relationship. I want to seduce you. That takes far more skill. I’m afraid I do require an answer. Yes or no?”

“Yes.” The word tasted slimy, as if I’d bitten into a rotten orange.

“You say it with such distaste. I count myself lucky to be out of your striking range at the moment. Do we have an agreement?”

“We do.”

“Marvelous. I’ll pick you up tomorrow at nine p.m. I shall send the gown to your house. It will be there by eight tonight with a matching pair of shoes. Do you require anything else, stockings, intimates . . .”

Chaperoning sexual deviants to parties wasn’t on my agenda in the near future. “That’s rather short notice. I’m a little busy with an epidemic-spraying maniac trying to break down the city. Can this be postponed?”

“Absolutely not. It has to be tomorrow night or our arrangement is off.”

What the hell was so important? “Fine, but I’m wearing my own clothes.” There was no telling what crazy outfit he’d come up with.

“I assure you, the dress I’ve chosen is exquisite.”

“Perhaps you should wear it instead. I’m sure you’ll be the belle of the ball.”

Saiman sighed. “Do you question my taste?”

“The last time you dressed me up as a Vietnamese princess. I’m wearing my own dress.”

“Having you wear the right dress is infinitely important to me. I’m taking a huge risk.”

“My heart bleeds for you. If you wanted me to wear your gown, you should’ve covered it in our agreement.”

“I propose an exchange.” Saiman’s voice was smooth as melted chocolate. “You answer my question, and I’ll drop the issue of the gown.”

“Shoot.”

“How do you always recognize me no matter what shape I wear?”

“The eyes,” I told him. “They give you away every time.”

He was silent for a long minute. “I see. Very well. I should be free in about three hours. I would like to begin my evaluation with the scene of the Steel Mary’s last appearance. I’ll require the presence of at least five witnesses.”

“It will be arranged,” I told him. “I’ll see you at the Guild in three hours.”

“I’m changing my face as we speak. Good-bye.” He managed to infuse the word with so much innuendo, I needed a rag to wipe it off my phone.

I hung up and turned to Ted. “You went through my evidence behind my back.”

He treated me to his best impersonation of a statue from Easter Island.

“You don’t trust me.”

The attack poodle snarled, punctuating my words. I glared at him and he lay down.

Ted leaned back. “I don’t trust you not to fuck up. You aren’t a fast learner and I don’t have time to teach you, so I put you on a short leash.”

The steady anger inside me flared into a full-blown rage. I worked hard. I pulled my own weight. I’d earned some fucking trust. “I can’t work if you stand over my shoulder.”

“And that’s your problem, Daniels. You have an ego. Every day you walk into this office as if you own it. As if you’ve earned it. The truth is, you couldn’t go the distance in the Academy. You don’t have the education and discipline necessary for the job. You aren’t a knight and you never will be. You have yet to prove to me that you’re worth something.”

“I’ve proved it.”

“You fought in the Midnight Games and you led Nash into it.”

I stared at him.

“Did the two of you really think that you could fight in front of hundreds of witnesses and it wouldn’t get back to me?”

“It was necessary.”

Ted rose. His voice dropped low. “The world is full of monsters. They’re stronger than us. They have better magic. The only reason why we, humans, remain on top is because of our numbers and because the monsters fear us. That’s the order of things. That’s the way it has always been and that’s the way it must remain. Do you know what the Midnight Games really are? They’re a way for the monsters to make humans into prey. They keep seeing us die on that sand, and pretty soon they’ll get an idea that we’re food and we’re easy to take down. They’ll stop fearing us and throw this world into chaos. And you went into that ring and fought on the side of monsters. You’ve betrayed everything the Order stands for. You fucked up.”

“I fought on the side of shapeshifters.”

“The shapeshifters are cans of dynamite, ready to go loup any moment. They aren’t human. It’s convenient for us to let them think they’re human for the time being, but in the end, there is no place for them in our society. They must be kept apart.”

The world slid into crystal clarity. I was a hair away from sliding my sword out and carving a new mouth across Ted’s throat. “So you would exile them. Shall it be reservations or labor camps?”

“I would remove them from the picture entirely. They are a threat to us. They can kill us and infect us. To survive, we must retain our dominance.”

He would exterminate the shapeshifters. He would kill the lot of them. I could see it in his eyes.

Ted straightened. “I gave you an opportunity to add meaning to your life. You think you got in because you’re good. No. I gave it to you, because I respected Greg Feldman. He was one of my best, and to honor his memory, I made sure that you wouldn’t embarrass his name. And anytime you forget yourself, or forget our mission, and start thinking that you’re hot shit and you know better, come see me and I’ll set you straight.”

He turned.

I exhaled rage slowly. “Ted?”

He stopped, presenting me with his wide back.

“When you walk a dog on a short leash, she’s close enough to bite you. Keep it in mind.”

He stepped out. I spun to the window, trying to contain the urge to break something. At the Midnight Games, when I circled the sand with Hugh, he’d asked me why I took orders from people weaker than me. Back then I had an answer. It escaped me now and I grappled with my memory trying to wrench it free, because I needed it badly.

I had to kill the Steel Mary. It was personal now, and I would finish it. But I could track Mary on my own, without the Order’s help. I had to get Saiman to analyze my parchment and then I could leave the Order. It would feel good.

If I left, the case would go to Andrea. Ted didn’t have anybody else. If the Steel Mary released his magic, Andrea’s secret half could panic and run. Best-case scenario, the city would burn up in an epidemic, and she would be exposed and booted from the Order. Worst case, she would be mistaken for a loup shapeshifter, hunted, and killed.

My mind painted a gory picture of Andrea’s beastkin body riddled with bullets, with PAD standing over her. “She’d gone loup. Never seen anything like it. Had to put her down.”

No.

My mess. I’d handle my own shit.

The phone rang. It was probably Christy. I picked it up. “Kate Daniels.”

“I’m in lockup in Milton County Jail,” Andrea said. “Come get me.”