somewhere. “What is it? What does it do?”
She shrugged as best she could with her arms up. “Some sort of ancient
artifact. By the name, I guess you can use it to cut peoples’ souls out? I don’t
know. I’m not paid for that.”
I twisted my hand toward her, beginning to really enjoy the theatrics of
the ruse. I even let a little madness slip into my voice. “And why did he want
it?”
“No idea. He said something about needing to be complete. To be whole
again. I didn’t care. I just do the job and collect the money.”
I pressed closer, and I could almost feel my power squeezing the truth out
of her. “Did you discover where it was?”
She squirmed.
“What?” I growled.
The little snake glared at me. “You should really be paying me for this
information. I’m a working girl.”
I laughed. The nerve. “I’ll be paying less attention to you. That seems a
fair price.”
“Okay, yes. I get it. You’ll let me live.” She still ground her teeth in
protest. “The last known reference I could find was a bill of sale to a collector
known as Alessandro il Mago. He lives in Italy, in a place called la città che
muore—or something like that. That’s all I know!”
My pounding heart was practically breaking through my chest. “And
when did you tell him this?”
“Last night.”
Fuck.
That night was ages ago. But we might still be able to stop him if we
hurried.
I began to walk backward toward the walls, drawing the darkness in from
all sides. “Get out of here. Don’t tell him we spoke. And don’t help him
again.”