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SMELLS ASSAILED ME from the cauldrons that bubbled on several wooden desks. They sat on electric hotplates and were brewing a variety of potions. Jars of ingredients were crammed onto shelves. Herbs, flowers and other plants grew in pots near the windows. Spell books lined a bookcase, filling the shelves. A desk was on the far side of the room. A wizard was hunched over a book, lost in the pages.
“Ahem,” Ruen said impatiently, closing the door behind him.
The wizard glanced over his shoulder and his eyebrows rose at the sight of his visitors. “Well, well,” he said with a grin, spinning his chair around to face us. In his late twenties, he was cute, with messy red hair and freckles. “I didn’t expect to see the infamous Saige Sterling darken my doorstep.” He stood up and extended his hand. “I’m Nelson Osmond.”
I shook his hand, being careful not to squeeze too hard, since he was a fragile human. “It’s nice to meet you,” I said. Average height, he was scrawny beneath his baggy t-shirt and jeans.
“What do you need my help with, Ruen?” he asked, correctly guessing my partner had a request.
“I need you to cast a tracking spell on someone,” Ruen said and took the hairbrush out of his pocket.
Nelson took it from him and frowned. “I can see three different hair colors here. Are these from someone who dyes their hair frequently?”
“They’re from three different people,” I said. “We need to find them all. We assume they’re all in the same location, but we don’t know that for sure.”
The wizard nodded and didn’t ask any further questions. He crossed to a table that sat beneath a map of Nexus that hung on the wall. “This will only take a couple of minutes,” he said confidently. He took a wooden bowl down from a shelf and mixed a few ingredients into it, then added a couple of strands of hair from each of the missing vampires. “I’ll cast the spell now,” he murmured.
I watched in fascination as he placed his fingertip on the map and mumbled his spell. He was speaking in a foreign language, so I couldn’t understand what he was saying. His finger jerked to the west, then slid down to come to a stop on the outskirts of the city. It had been like watching someone use a Ouija board, but using his finger rather than a planchette.
“They’re definitely in the same place,” Nelson said.
“How can you tell?” I asked.
“My finger would have moved to different locations if they’d been separated.”
I leaned forward to peer at the map when he removed his finger. Ruen didn’t need to move closer. He could see it with startling detail from where he was. “Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Osmond,” my partner said.
“I’m always happy to help Lord Gilden’s bounty hunters,” Nelson said. “It was great to finally meet you, Saige,” he added.
“You, too,” I said, pretending I’d heard of his existence before now.
We let ourselves out and Ruen strode back to the elevator. I matched his stride so he wouldn’t leave me behind in his rush to get this job done.
“Did you see the address where the victims are being held?” I asked as the elevator descended.
“The map isn’t that detailed,” he said. “I noted their general location. I’m sure you’ll be able to sense them when we get close enough to them.”
I waited until we’d left the parking garage before I turned to face him. “What’s going on?” I asked.
He shot me a look, driving at his usual maddeningly slow speed at just under the limit. “You’ll have to be more specific.”
“This job is hinky and we both know it,” I said flatly. “If one of Lady Galantine’s rivals stole her fledglings from her, she should be making a way bigger deal out of this. She should be demanding Drake send in an army to take them back.” His shoulders hunched, which meant I was on the right track. “What were the minions whispering about in the mansion?” I demanded. “Do they know who took the girls?”
Ruen grimaced, following his mental map to the southwest of the city. “I’m not at liberty to discuss certain information. Suffice it to say this wouldn’t be the first time fledglings have been poached from their masters.”
“Surely, stealing newly made vampires from their masters is a crime,” I said in exasperation. “Drake wouldn’t let them get away with that, would he?”
“You know nothing about vampire politics,” he said without answering my question. “You know very little about the supernatural world as a whole. Not everything is always black and white.”
His tone was bleak and hinted that something nefarious was going on that I had no idea about. I was beginning to realize why Lady Galantine had asked for us specifically. Ruen was Drake’s righthand man and he would never tattle on his employer’s allies. I was so new to all this that I was ignorant of what went on behind the scenes. I was starting to get a bad feeling that this job was far more complicated than it seemed on the surface.
It took almost an hour to reach the area Nelson had indicated on the map at Ruen’s slow and steady pace. Houses were few and far between out here. We were verging on entering farmland when he pulled over.
“This is a weird place for a master to have their lair,” I said, peering around and seeing only a few ordinary looking houses in the large lots.
“The fledglings must be around here somewhere,” Ruen said as we climbed out. “What can you sense?”
I pulled my kill-bag over my shoulder, closed the door, then sent out my senses. “I can’t sense anything anywhere nearby,” I reported. “Can you smell their scents?” He would have memorized their scents from their bedroom.
Ruen shook his head, then turned when a breeze blew a scent to him. “I can smell rot,” he murmured.
“It could be roadkill,” I figured. We were practically in the country and there would be a lot of animals out here.
“I don’t think so,” he refuted. “You’d better take your twins out of the trunk.”
Taking his word for it, I rounded to the back of his sedan. He popped the trunk and I picked up my beloved black pistols. My instincts were telling me a fight was imminent, so I made sure I had weapons that would kill shifters, vamps and demons. The guns, knives, stakes and other items should be able to take down anything we encountered.
I checked that my flashlight was working, then closed the trunk. “I’m ready,” I said. “Lead the way.” I didn’t need the light right now, but it always paid to take one with me.
Ruen followed his nose and I kept my senses on full alert as we crossed a field. We could have driven closer, but it was far quieter to walk. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled when I sensed something familiar. “I don’t think a rival master stole Lady Galantine’s fledglings from her,” I whispered.
My partner stopped and turned to face me. “Who do you think is responsible?” he asked just as quietly.
“I can sense a necromancer.”
He frowned and shook his head. “Necromancers can’t usurp a master vampire’s control over their vampires.”
“I think this one can,” I said, unease growing by the second.
“Why?” he demanded.
“He’s more powerful than any necromancer I’ve felt before. I can sense a bunch of fledglings and about a hundred zombies. I think we’re going to need to call for backup.”
Ruen shook his head, expression turning bleak. “We can’t do that. We have to keep this mission between us.”
“Why?” I asked in annoyance.
“I can’t say,” he said stubbornly.
I threw my hands up in frustration. “This guy has an army protecting him! How am I supposed to fight my way through them on my own?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be a badass bounty hunter?” he said sardonically. “Now’s your chance to prove it and earn the reputation you crave so badly.”
The only flaw with his plan was that we apparently couldn’t tell anyone about the mission. Still, I would know what I’d accomplished, even if my colleagues wouldn’t find out about it. “Fine,” I muttered. “I’ll take down the crazy necromancer and his horde of undead all by myself.” I didn’t know what the necromancer’s gender was yet, but there seemed to be a lot more men than women who could raise the dead.
“That’s the spirit!” my unholy companion said with a smirk. I gave him a withering look, then took the lead.
