Thirteen (Otherworld 13)
Mom yanked the young woman off her feet as someone came barreling around the corner. It was a nondescript guy a few years older than me. Severin. He skidded to a halt when he saw Mom holding his target.
"This yours?" Mom said.
I'd never seen anything faze Severin--the guy really did seem to have ice water in his veins, but when he saw Mom holding the girl, he blinked. Then he stared.
Her glamour's gone, I thought. Oh, shit. If mine is, too . . .
Sierra rounded the corner. She looked straight at me and my gut clenched, ready to launch a spell. Annoyance flickered over her features, then she turned to Mom.
"That's ours, blondie," she said.
I exhaled in relief.
"I know," Mom said. "I was holding it for you." She looked at Severin. "Where do you want it?"
"We came to see Giles," I said. "We have information for him."
"No one sees Giles," Sierra said.
"Skip that part," Mom said, her gaze still on Severin. "Where do you want your captive? Preferably before she has the sense to scream and draw a crowd."
The girl's eyes widened. Before she could utter a sound, Mom clapped her free hand over her mouth. Severin grinned. Sierra scowled.
"Take her over there," Sierra said, waving toward the van, "with the others."
As we stepped into the lane, we saw two guys helping other captives out of the van. A third man headed our way. I glanced at Mom. Back to plan A.
"So you came to see Giles," Severin said as he followed Mom.
The third guy backed up to the door and helped the other two herd the captives into the building. As we walked, Severin made no effort to help Mom with her charge, just followed along behind her, seeming to enjoy watching her maneuver the struggling young woman as casually as if she were carrying a bag of trash. As they walked, his gaze dropped to her ass.
Sierra's eyes narrowed and she sent ice daggers into Mom's back. I'd suspected her relationship with her brother broke the oldest taboo, and that look pretty much confirmed it.
I cleared my throat. "That's right. We--"
"What's your name?" Severin asked Mom.
"Sami," Mom said. "And my friend there is Bri. We're students at Delgado. Some friends from UCLA told us about you. When we got some information you might find useful, we decided it was time to meet Giles."
"If you have information, you'll tell us," Sierra said. "No one talks to--"
"What's your power?" Severin cut in, still addressing Mom. "Half-demon, I'm guessing. Fire? Ice?"
"Vision."
He laughed. "Right."
"I'm an Aspicio."
Now Sierra laughed. "A daughter of Balaam? Bullshit."
I tensed and looked at Mom.
Mom tossed me the young woman. "Hold this."
She strode to the van, peered through the metal side and described what she saw. Then she walked to the door the others had gone through. She waved aside the guy at the door, looked through the steel and described what she saw.
Then she turned on Severin and Sierra, and waited.