Greywalker - Kat Richardson [135]
I murmured to him, “How’d you manage all of that?”
“I don’t want you to know.”
“Thanks. Will you come inside?”
“Only as far as the kitchen, where the electrical box is. I want to stay near the switches, in case anyone starts prowling around.”
“OK. Have you seen anyone else yet?”
“Vampires and ghosts? Not yet, but I might not see them at all. They’re sneaky bastards. Besides, it’s barely dark yet.”
“ ‘Sneaky.’ Charming description.” We all turned and faced Edward.
He stood in the shadows under the covered driveway. “I hope I didn’t miss much. Eavesdropping is one of my best techniques.”
None of us blushed.
“Who else are we to expect?” I asked.
“Only Carlos and Cameron. With your friend here, it should prove sufficient.”
“No one rallied to the flag?”
“There were volunteers, but I didn’t get to be the lead dog without having some teeth. Occasionally, it’s necessary to prove I still have them. It wouldn’t behoove me to ask my people to do what I wouldn’t. Besides which, they will be busy creating the illusion that all of us were busy elsewhere tonight.”
Quinton muttered under his breath, “Teeth and balls. Nice combo—for a pit bull.”
Edward turned his gaze on Quinton and skewered him with it. Quinton squirmed a bit, but didn’t look down.
“And for lone wolves,” Edward added. “Just be careful whose pack you run across this time.”
I looked at them both. “You guys know each other?”
Edward gazed at Quinton. “By reputation.”
Quinton gave a slight nod and we all chose to look toward the side door.
Edward pointed to it. “Shall we go?”
We went as stealthily as wet gravel would allow—a train of phantom follow-the-leader—and let ourselves in. Quinton stood aside and waited for us to pass.
“I’ll stay here until I see another vampire,” he whispered.
“And Cameron.”
“OK. Stay quiet, all right? Neighbors like to walk their dogs around here, even in the rain.”
Carlos and Cameron j oined us as we started up the stairs. We all hesitated at the top, glancing about. I don’t know what made the vampires scope the area like that, but in my case, it was fear. Mara looked nervous and overwound. She cast a look at me and sketched a sign in the air between us. It sparked a moment and shed warmth on me, then faded.
We went to the parlor. The door was sheathed in a blanket of ugliness that oozed and seeped around the edges, flowing onto the floor, creeping like a spreading puddle of blood. Carlos brushed past the rest of us and touched the door, whispering. The darkness squirmed aside. We followed him in. He closed the door behind us.
The room was swathed in the rolling, icy blackness that had retreated from the door. Carlos pushed it back with his hands, clearing space. We moved furniture to his direction, shuffling in aching silence. Mara and I were sweating before we were done, and I moved at an old woman’s pace. I had to give the organ a wide berth. Every time I came near, it sent a tentacle of darkness toward me. Carlos pinched them off with a smell of burnt flesh.
With all the furniture pushed up to the farthest walls, we rolled up the rug. We stood back as Carlos began to chalk symbols on the floor. Mara held one of my hands and chanted something that kept the Grey back from us. The Grey web inside me buzzed with exhausting activity, crackling and arcing over my nerves and joints as the energy from the nexus hummed through me. I watched the darkness lap at the arc of chalked sigils. After a while, Carlos motioned to Edward and they began to push and pull on the organ. Judging from their grunts and stifled noises, it was terrible work.
Cameron started forward to help. Carlos waved him off.
“Better for us to do it.” He gave a rictus grin. “We are old in our own evil.”
Once the organ was a few feet from the wall, Edward fell back, looking as ill as I felt. His face and neck bore thin, white weals that had not been there the night before. Carlos crept around the floor, singing in a low voice, drawing a careful circle of runes and symbols