The Darkening (30 page)

"Let me morph and then we can leave," she told him.

"If that's what you want to do," he said. "Of course, I don't mind if you want to stay human."

She gave him a smile. "I don't think New York City's ready for me to walk down the street nude."

He smiled. "Their loss. But just so you know, I still have your clothes from last night-though they're a bit torn."

She felt a burst of joy and irritation. "You mean to tell me you've had clothes for me and you let me stay naked this entire time?"

The smile he gave her was sinful. "Baby, if it were up to me, you'd never wear clothes around me again."

It was late morning by the time they made it back to her apartment. The wards she'd placed were still intact. Nevertheless, Darius insisted on going in first, wanting to make sure Amadja hadn't set any traps for them. He found the apartment clean.

While Darius showered, Lexi called Mai's apartment. There was no answer, and Lexi's heart lurched. She dug out the GPS receiver from her pants pocket and turned it on. In no time, she had a grid of the city, and the blinking dot of light that was Mai's necklace showed that Mai-or at least the necklace-was near Times Square.

Lexi released the breath she was holding. Mai's office was near Times Square. Picking up the phone, Lexi called her there.

"Mai, are you all right?" she asked when she finally heard Mai's voice.

"If you consider getting the lead story of tomorrow's edition fine, then I'm great," she shouted excitedly.

Lexi smiled. Mai certainly sounded fine. "Listen, I want you to be careful."

"I'm always careful," Mai countered.

Lexi debated whether to tell her about what she'd heard Amadja say. "Listen, Mai. This demon we're after. He's dangerous, and now you're involved. He knows about you, so you have to be cautious."

There was silence on the other end, and then Mai spoke, her tone more serious than Lexi had ever heard it before. "It may not seem like I always take your warnings seriously, but when my best friend gives me a protection necklace that turns out to be a tracking device-yeah, I found the chip-then I know there's something serious going on."

"So you're taking precautions?"

"I'm carrying my thornalis."

Lexi frowned. "I've never heard of it. What is it?"

"It was invented by my people centuries ago, back when the wood nymphs were still at war with the trolls. It's about the size of a small squirt gun and shoots out tiny thorns. The thorns travel through the air at such a high velocity, they're like bullets. And the force of the air causes them to elongate until they are about four inches long. They are razor sharp, extremely painful, and if they hit a vital organ, I assure you, they are onehundred-percent deadly."

It was Lexi's turn to fall silent. In all the years she'd known Mai, she'd never witnessed this lethal side of her. "And you know how to shoot it?" she asked hesitantly.

Mai laughed. "I was captain of the girls' thornalis team back in high school. So even though you don't need to worry about me, I know you still will, so tell you what: After I finish here at the office, I'm going straight home. All right?"

"All right." Feeling only slightly better, Lexi hung up the phone and went into the kitchen to make something to eat. She was starving and suspected Darius was hungry too.

As she was putting food on the table, he walked in wearing only his leather pants and shoes. She supposed she should try to buy him more clothes, but, damn, he looked nice in that outfit. Lexi smiled as they sat down at the table together.

They carefully avoided talking about Tain or the demon while they ate. Afterward, Lexi showered while Darius cleared away the dishes. When she returned to the kitchen, she noticed Darius's frown. She didn't have to be a mind reader to know what was bothering him. "I'm sorry about Tain," she said. She knew his brother's sacrifice must hurt. "I guess we all misjudged him."

"I have to go back for him." Darius looked into her face like he needed her to understand.

"I know. I'll go with you."

Darius shook his head. "No, you won't. I almost lost you once-I'm not taking that chance again. I'll go alone."

"Amadja is up to something," she reminded him.

"And while we have a rough idea of what he's up toreleasing those shade demons-we don't know when and we don't know where."

"It's going to happen tonight."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"When I was in jail, Paddy said he had until the full moon to convert all those vampires. That's tonight."

That was so much sooner than she expected, and Lexi had to let the news sink in. "Do we know where?"

"I've got a guess," Darius said, surprising her. He told her about the room he'd found under the Chrysler Building. He described the pool filled with living magic and the funny domed ceiling. "There were a thousand or more pinpricks of light," he said, "but in a line running up the center of the dome to the very top and then down again on the other side was a set of larger circles, with every seventh one larger than the others. Most of the circles leading up one side were lit."

Lexi thought about it. "It sounds like a lunar calendar," she said after a while.

Darius stared at her for the longest moment, and then he smiled and kissed her forehead. "That's exactly what it is. At the stroke of midnight, that light at the very center, representing the full moon, will light up."

"So what do we do now?" Lexi asked. Midnight was less than twelve hours away.

"I think I need to call Adrian. Maybe he'll know of something we can do."

While Darius waited, Lexi dialed the number. She listened to it ring with a growing sense of defeat. When the answering machine came on, she left a message for Adrian to call as soon as he could and hung up. "Now what?"

Darius took her hands. "We wait for him to call back."

"And if he doesn't?" Darius didn't answer her; he didn't have to. "You're going in anyway, aren't you?"

He gave her an apologetic look. "I have to."

"No, you don't." Her sense of dread grew. "Please don't go."

"A lot can happen between now and tonight, Lexi. Let's not get worked up about things too early. Let's just wait for Adrian's call.

She nodded, but couldn't relax enough to sit down. She didn't like sitting around doing nothing, and a quick glance at Darius showed he was having as much trouble as she was.

The situation was surreal, and she couldn't stop her imagination from running through all sorts of worldending scenarios. A week ago, the Crypt had just been another vampire club-not the focal point for the world's destruction.

She tried to convince herself that Mai, feeling protected now that she was carrying a weapon, wouldn't still run off to the club tonight. Tonight, in particular.

Picking up the phone, she called Mai's office. The phone rang and rang. She hung up and tried Mai's apartment. There was no answer there either.

"Lexi," Darius said gently, coming up behind her. "What's the matter?"

"I'm worried about Mai," she admitted. "She won't answer."

She got out the tracking receiver and saw that Mai's signal was coming from her apartment. If she was home, why wouldn't she answer the phone? Unless she
couldn't
answer it. Once the thought was formed, Lexi couldn't let it go. "I need to go check on her."

She started walking toward the door, but stopped when she noticed Darius walking with her. "Where are you going?"

"With you, of course. You don't think I'm going to let you run all over town with Amadja out there trying to kill us."

Lexi laid her hand against his cheek, thinking how much she'd come to care for this man. "You have to stay here in case Adrian calls. Don't worry. I'm a bounty hunter. I'll be okay."

Darius clearly didn't like her leaving without him, but he slowly nodded. "When you find Mai, bring her back here." He kissed her forehead. "Because I won't rest easy until I know you're safe."

Lexi nodded. "All right. Do you need anything before I go?"

"Yes," he said with a smile. "But there's no time. I guess I'll have to settle for getting Ricco's phone number from you-if you have it

She gave him a sharp look. "I didn't realize you and Ricco were friends."

"We have an understanding," he said. "But I'm fairly certain he's not the kind of death-magic creature who wants to see the world destroyed."

Lexi happened to agree with him there, so she wrote down Ricco's phone number, gave Darius quick instructions on how to operate the phone and then left.

Lexi felt like it took forever for the cab to get to Mai's apartment. As soon as she paid the driver, she dashed upstairs and knocked on the door. She was on pins and needles waiting for Mai to answer and had started to reach for her key when the door opened. Mai stood there looking perfectly fine. In fact, she looked better

than fine. With her hair messed up, her eyes still dilated and her clothes askew, she looked like she'd just had sex.

"Mother Goddess," Lexi swore. "Do you have company?"

Mai looked embarrassed as she straightened her clothes. "As a matter of fact, I do." She giggled. "I'm so glad you told me about the Immortals," she said. "Isn't it exciting?"

"Isn't what exciting? Mai, what are you talking about?"

"You remember you told me that after the Calling spell, one of the Immortals appeared before you? But that they were still looking for the other two? Well, I found one."

Lexi was having a hard time keeping up with the conversation. It wasn't making sense. "You found one of the Immortals? Are you sure?"

Mai gave her a look. "Of course I'm sure. You told me about the tattoo, so I made sure I found it-though it wasn't difficult to find-right there on his cheek."

Warning bells in Lexi's head started ringing. "We should leave," she said, reaching for Mai's hand, but Mai eluded her grasp.

"Don't be silly. I can't leave. Besides, I want you to meet Kalen " She pulled Lexi into the living room, shutting the door behind them.

"Kalen?" Lexi repeated dumbly. Hadn't Darius told her that Kalen was in Scotland?

The door to Mai's bedroom opened, and Lexi watched as a tall, good-looking man stepped out. She recognized him instantly.

"That's not Kalen," she said, desperately trying to think of a way to get Mai out of there safely.

Before she could do a thing, he waved his hand and a bolt of black lightning shot out and hit Mai. Her body tensed in reaction and then toppled, unconscious, to the floor.

Lexi sprang into action, but just as she reached him, he slammed her with a bolt of the same black lightning.

Every fiber in her body screamed in pain. The intensity built until it became too difficult to stay conscious, and she welcomed the black void that swallowed her.

CHAPTER
TWENTY

It was after dark, and Darius still hadn't heard from Adrian. Worse yet, Lexi wasn't back and he was starting to move past worried into seriously concerned. When he heard a knock on the door, he rushed to open it, hoping to find Lexi on the other side.

"Heather," he said, surprised, when he opened the door and saw her standing there. She was wearing the same type of flowing dress she'd worn the day he and Lexi had gone to see her.

"Hello, Darius." She smiled. "I didn't realize you were still here. Is Lexi about?"

"No, she's not," he said, standing back so she could enter.

He closed the door behind her and stood awkwardly in the living room, too distracted to play the polite host.

Heather, apparently sensing his unease, smiled. "I hadn't heard from Lexi and wondered if your memory ever returned."

"Yes, it did. Thank you." His gaze shot to the clock on Lexi's wall-it was five minutes later than the last time he looked. Where the hell was she?

"I've been working on a new spell for you," Heather said, unaware that he wasn't paying much attention. "I thought it might prove more helpful-at least until we can find out what caused the loss in the first place."

She held out a pouch and he took it from her. "Oh, thanks. I'll ... be sure to use it

"Is something wrong?" she finally asked, looking around. "You seem distracted. Has something happened to Lexi?"

Darius gave up trying to put on a front and sighed. "I don't know where Lexi is. She was supposed to be back hours ago, and I'm really worried about her."

Heather came up to him and put a comforting hand on his arm. "I can't help you if I don't know what's going on." In as few words as he could, he told Heather everything, half hoping she'd tell him he was worried for nothing. But, of course, that didn't happen.

"Would you know how to get in touch with Mai?" he asked her, wishing he'd thought to keep the tracking receiver with him.

"No," Heather said with the sound of an apology. "I've never met Mai. But if you know her last name, I could look her up," she said hopefully.