Bewitched, Blooded and Bewildered (25 page)

“Right then. How many missing summoners are we talking?”

“Only a few hundred. Most of the summoners in the states are concentrated in New York, Vegas and L.A. They haven’t been hit yet, but whoever took out the locals did it fast. I’d say it took less than a month.”

A few hundred.
We’d thought it was a few dozen missing magicians, not including the shifters. Nausea swamped me, and I sat down hard in my folding chair. How could that many people vanish without anyone noticing until now? The information seemed to startle Councilwoman Trent too, and her bony ass finally found a chair.

“We’ve lost more than that,” Jeremiah said. “They’ve been hunting us longer.”

“Why are we just learning these numbers now?” I asked, glaring at Harrison. He was supposed to be handling this stuff. I knew the shifter losses were bad, but they’d never given us actual numbers. They didn’t trust us that far.

“Because shapeshifters and summoners have very little communication within their communities,” Simon St. Jerome spoke up. “Historically they’re the most prone to in-fighting. If their council was taken first, the remaining summoners wouldn’t know who to call for aid.”

Except for the faerie-blooded ones, who had hesitated before calling me and Lex. Damn it…but there wasn’t anything we could have done for them, not with so many going missing so quickly.

“Okay. I assume everyone here has lost people. Are anyone else’s numbers that high?” I asked. Most answered no, which relieved some of the worry squeezing my chest. The situation was bad, but not as terrible as it could be. We still had people left to fight.

“The Order hasn’t lost any chroniclers,” Simon said. “We are curious if that is true of the master necromancers?”

Councilman Vargas scowled as he answered. “A few apprentices have gone missing, but no master necromancer has been taken.”

“Have there been any unsuccessful attempts?” I asked. Both Vargas and Simon said no, and I frowned, the gears ticking in my brain. The hunters couldn’t take a vampire—tranq darts don’t affect them, and bullets just make them mad. “Is a demon strong enough to take out a master necro or a chronicler?”

Simon cocked his head to the side. “It would depend on the type of demon attacking. Why do you ask?”

“Because demon involvement is where the hunter situation gets weird. So here’s the problem—” I began, and was interrupted by Lynne Trent.

“Who put you in charge? You’re not fit to lead.”

My temper snapped, crackled and popped. “Bitch, if you interrupt me again, I will cut out your fucking tongue,” I warned. “I’m willing to bet more than half the people in this room are faerie-blooded, and that means me and my Oberon are in charge. By the way, we defended our jobs, and there aren’t going to be any other challenges. Your spiteful little plan to oust us failed, so I don’t want to hear any more self-righteous whining from you.”

Her face flushed with anger, and she drew herself up. “How dare you!”

I drew my dagger and pointed it in her direction. “Did I stutter? Shut the fuck up.”

Patience snickered. “Do you want help? I’m sure I can find a good use for a witch tongue.”

I shuddered, grossed out by that statement. Lex rose and strode to the middle of the circle, and the blood drained from Lynne’s face as she shrank back in her chair. I guess he’s scarier than I am. “Enough. Cat’s right. You’re here to listen to us, so pay attention. I’ve worked with everyone here, and trust me, no one knows how fractured magician society is better than a guardian. That ends today. From now on we’re goin’ to be one big, happy, cooperative family. We can’t afford any more fighting amongst ourselves. Is that clear?” He paused, waiting for an answer, and received only sullen silence. “I said,
is that clear?”

This time he got a response. Across the circle from me, I saw Faust pop into the room behind Harrison, and the faerie conjured himself a chair and sat behind his vampire nephew. I wondered if Portia and Riley and Jeremiah’s faerie relatives would appear as well when they figured out wherever we’d been sent to.

Lex returned to his chair. “I’m going to recap what we know in case some of y’all haven’t heard it yet,” he began. “The hunters are part of a group called Task Force Prometheus. We think they’re associated with the government, but there’s no concrete evidence of that. They started abducting shapeshifters over a year ago. The shifters were experimented on before they were killed, and guessing from the name
Prometheus
, we assumed they were lookin’ for a biological source of magic. Something they could adapt and use for themselves. Then their methods changed. They branched out to other magicians, including a librarian who gave them all her records. Thousands of names.”

“How did one librarian have that many names?” a woman asked. I guessed she was a fire sorceress, judging by her slinky, red evening gown.

“She worked at Three Oaks University,” I explained. “She had access to a few generations of records of magician students. Which is bad enough, but there’s more. We know that demons are working with the hunters. They attacked us in Oak Glen, and one was with the group who attacked our house.”

“When I was taken, one of the hunters who interrogated me was a demon,” Riley spoke up.

I blinked at her in surprise. I didn’t know that, but then again, I hadn’t spoken to her after that fight. She’d been pissy at me, thanks to Lynne Trent’s bad influence, and I had other shit to deal with at the time.

“And a demon aided in subduing a librarian family that was abducted,” Michael Black added. Oh yeah, I’d forgotten about that.

“What kind of demons?” Patience asked. She reached into her messenger bag and withdrew a cigarette, and Faust appeared behind her and offered her a light. It was suave, but it startled me—you’d think I’d be used to faeries popping in and out, but sometimes it still makes me jump.

“Umm…the kind that turn into black ooze when you banish them?” I said. “And that can disguise themselves as humans?”

“A lot of demons do that,” she replied.

“Sorry, that’s all I’ve got. But that’s not the point right now. The problem is they’re working with the Prometheans, and we couldn’t figure out why. No offense, but at first we kinda thought that the hunters flipped some summoners and were using the demons as additional troops,” I said.

“Doesn’t work that way.” Patience shook her head. “For starters, any demon strong enough to control or kill a magician is tough to summon. You’d need a skilled summoner to do it, because your average Joe can’t. Then once you summoned it, you’d have to keep it in sight. Strong demons get creative with your orders if you don’t keep them under constant supervision.”

“Do they need to be summoned? Can’t demons enter this world on their own, like faeries do?” I asked.

“Yeah, but there are wards to prevent that. We maintain them to make sure…” Patience trailed off. She took a long drag on her cigarette and exhaled a cloud of smoke. “Fuck me. They’re going to punch right through the wards.”

“Guardians maintain similar wards,” Lex said, “but they’re meant to supplement the summoner wards.”

“I can manage to cover Chicago, some of the suburbs, but that’s it,” Patience said. “I can call in some favors and get backup, but they’ll be in danger from the hunters when they get here.”

“We can set up protection for them.”

Patience nodded, and then she ground out the butt of her cigarette under her boot. She pulled off her mirrored glasses and let her yellow gaze travel around the circle. It caused a few startled gasps from the witches and librarians. “Since I’m the only one here with extensive demon experience, I want to make crystal clear just how bad this shit is. Summoners banish as often as we summon. Banishing is easily half of my business, because even with the wards that are normally in place, demons get in through holes and gaps. It was a trickle, now it’ll be a flood. Especially with Samhain coming up. Normally we’d punch up the protection because the barriers between the worlds are thinner this time of year. Now there’s no one to do that. With the wards weakened, more demons will get through. With more demons, the Prometheans can kill more magicians, and when the magicians are gone, there’ll be no one left to keep the demons out.”

“What happens then?” I asked.

“It’ll be hell on earth. There are legends that demons have conquered other worlds before. That’s why there are so many hells,” Patience said.

“They’re not legends,” Faust said.

Shock numbed me from head to foot. I thought of the faeries’ test and the burning city, of our group of lost ducklings who’d thrown in the towel and were waiting for death when we found them. How fast could it get that bad? Weeks? Months?

Lex took my hand and squeezed it. His touch was warm and comforting, and I squeezed back. “Okay. So now that we know what we’re up against, we can figure out how to fight back. We know the Prometheans are gearing up to hit a big magician gathering. We need to figure out who they’re hitting,” I said.

“There are several sizable gatherings planned among the necromancers,” Councilman Vargas said. “I’m sure we are not alone in that.”

I looked across the circle at Michael Black. “You know this is the kind of thing we could use a seer’s help with.”

“There are no seers in the United States,” Vargas said, and I rolled my eyes.

“Why does everyone say that?” I asked. “I’ve seen Emily work. She’s good.” I heard a distinct growl come from Harrison’s direction. Guess he was still mad about being hit in the head.

“Emily Black is not a seer. She is an abomination,” Vargas said. Simon and Michael leapt to their feet, followed by me and Lex.

“Whoa, hey, time out!” I shouted. “Now is not the time for undead throwdown. Happy family, remember? Councilman Vargas, apologize to Mr. Black.”

Vargas scowled. “I will do no such thing.”

“Yes, you will.” I stared him down, and he did not look intimidated by me. Maybe it was my lack of top hat… More likely it was the fact that he was several centuries older than me. “Aside from the fact that Emily’s my friend, we can’t afford old grudges in the new spirit of cooperation. So apologize and we’ll move on.”

“No.”

“Portia!” I shouted.

“Yes?” My cousin appeared at my side in a puff of frosty faerie dust.

I pointed my dagger at Councilman Vargas. “That vampire has ten seconds to apologize to Mr. Black. If he doesn’t, you add him to the Silverleaf kill list.” She squealed with delight, and I started counting down. “Ten…nine…eight…”

“Zachary, control your pet,” Vargas snarled.

“Seven…six…”

Harrison held his hands up, appearing innocent. “Catherine is no longer blooded. She broke the bond.”

“Can you repeat that louder, for the rest of the class to hear? Five…four…three…”

“Cat,” Lex said, his tone warning.

“Shh, I’m setting an example,” I replied.

He shook his head at me. “Too much of an example. Killin’ him won’t encourage cooperation…let Portia pull an arm off instead.”

I blinked at the suggestion—clearly I’d been a bad influence on Lex. But he had a point. “Okay, an arm it is.” Portia groaned in disappointment, and Vargas’s eyes widened. “Two… No apology? Bad decision. One.”

Portia zoomed forward in a blur of wings and fishnet stockings. Two other Silverleaf faeries appeared behind Vargas, and he never had a chance. He was hauled back out of his chair, dragged across the concrete floor, and maimed in a matter of heartbeats.

“Can I keep it?” Portia hovered above him, shedding frost on Vargas as she held his severed arm like a trophy.

“No, give it back so he can heal it,” Lex ordered.

My cousin groaned again, but complied.

Simon cleared his throat. “That was a bit extreme, Titania.”

“He’ll live. Unlive. Exist. Anyway, I was making a point.” I sauntered over and stood in front of Lynne Trent. She stared up at me in wide-eyed terror. “The point is we all work together. I don’t want to hear any bullshit about whose feelings got hurt in some argument that happened before this meeting. So if you have more complaining to do about me, get it out of your system now, Trent.”

“You’re a murderer,” she said.

“No, I’m Titania, and this is how shit gets done. But you were right about one thing—I am a bad witch. I intend to do a world of harm to the Prometheans, the demons, and anyone else who gets in my way. I’d rather be bad than dead.”

“Well said, Lady Catherine.” Faust applauded me, and I snorted. The evil faerie was in my corner. Wonderful.

Portia appeared at my side, her punk attire stained dark with blood. “Are you sure we can’t put Harrison on the list too?” she stage-whispered.

“He’s off limits. Leave him alone. Besides, you’d make Faust sad if you killed Zach.”

“That’s very kind of you,” Harrison said dryly.

“You’re welcome.”

I returned to my seat and watched in gruesome amazement as Councilman Vargas returned to his seat and reattached his arm. He was bloodied and pissed as all get out, but other than that he was no worse for the wear. I’d never be one of his favorite people now, but I didn’t like him either. I suspected he was part of the Spanish Inquisition.

“So, where were we?” I asked.

Michael Black winced and tugged at the collar of his starched white shirt. “We were discussing Emily. My wife’s visions are no longer reliable for this sort of situation…but there is someone else who may be able to help.”