Spellbound (Otherworld 12)

into Cassandra. She stared up at Bryce, then over at Salas, then at me.

"Everything's fine," I said.

Salas closed the door and their footsteps echoed down the hall.

"Good thing I decided to check up on you," she said. "They didn't come through the parking lot. I believe I suggested that wasn't the best place for me."

"I know. I was wrong."

"Yes, well, if everything's fine, then--" She peered at me. "It's not fine, is it? What happened?"

"It's Bryce," I said. "He took Larsen and the Dahls."

"What? Did you find--?"

"Nothing," I said. "I didn't find anything and he didn't say anything, but I could tell. He was behind the kidnapping, and I can't let him leave or he'll run."

I reached for the door handle, but it was like moving in slow motion, the door a million miles away, the knob refusing to turn.

Cassandra grasped my hand. "They're gone, Savannah. And even if they aren't, you can't stop him. We can't stop him. Not with that brute of a bodyguard. And not when you don't have proof. Call Lucas and tell him what happened. If Bryce is innocent, then he'll head back to the Cabal and this can all be sorted. And if he runs . . . ?" Her hand wrapped around my arm. "Then he runs, and you did the best you could."

But, I hadn't. And we both knew it.

thirty

I told Lucas my suspicions. He didn't ask why I'd let Bryce go, just told me to get out of the apartment and he'd meet up with me later.

"You can hang up now," Cassandra said. "I believe Lucas disconnected at least a minute ago."

"Oh, right. I was just--"

"In need of tea. And fresh air."

"What?"

She put a hand against my back and propelled me to the door. "I noticed a park nearby and I'm sure there's a coffee shop on the corner. There always is out here. A tea. A park bench. A story. That's what you need."

"A story?"

"About this Giles man. You do want to hear about him, don't you?"

"In other words, I look like I need a distraction."

"Desperately."

She opened the apartment door and ushered me out.

I'm a coffee drinker. Tea is much too sedate for me, unless I'm stressed out, and Paige decides "sedate" is exactly what the doctor ordered. I'm sure Cassandra has been around when Paige has made me tea, and as usual, she'd been paying attention. She bought me a chamomile tea and a slice of lemon coffee cake, settled me on a secluded park bench, and gave me a story.

"His real name is Gilles de Rais," she began. Then she studied my face. "You don't recognize the name?"

"Should I?"

"Do you know the legend of Elizabeth Bathory?"

"Sure. She's one of the sources for Dracula. Killed hundreds of peasants and bathed in their blood, thinking it would keep her eternally young. She was tried, convicted, and walled up. That's the human legend. The supernatural one says that she was a vampire. Also an immortality--"

I stopped. "It was rumored that she wasn't satisfied with a vampire's semi-immortality. She was conducting experiments to extend that. In other words, she was an immortality quester. There's a connection, isn't there? To Anita Barrington."