‘Fine,’ I huffed, slightly pacified. ‘Only next time, try asking first, it might make me feel a bit friendlier towards you.’
‘You wish us to be friends?’ An odd inflection sounded in his voice.
‘I’m just saying’—I rubbed the back of my hand, still feeling the gentleness of his touch—‘ask before you pull any more of your tricks on me.’
For a moment I thought I saw disappointment in his eyes, then his mouth curled in a mocking smile. ‘My apologies, Genevieve. I will try and remember.’
He turned away to look out of the taxi window. Unsettled, and not entirely sure why, I looked ahead, seeing the Ferris-wheel of the London Eye loom bright against the night and recognised the road we were on. We’d be at Old Scotland Yard in another few minutes.
Curiosity edged out the last of the languor in my mind. ‘So, what did you find out about the invitations with your little trick?’ I asked.
‘It is as I suspected,’ he said. ‘Those vampires who are not yet masters of their own existence might look to Rosa if they are in search for a new master, while those who have reached their autonomy are eager to offer her challenge in an attempt to annexe you as their prize. As they have not been able to discover her whereabouts, they have resorted to asking you directly, in the hope that you will accept their invitation to their blood. If you were to change your allegiance this way, then Rosa would become the challenger if she wished to regain you—her property ... or not, of course, as she wished.’
‘It all sounds so-o-o-ocivilised—well, if you ignore the fact we’re talking about annexing meas their blood-pet prize,’ I said sarcastically.
‘The custom of sending invitations is a little-used caveat among our laws. We may not appropriate another’s property, but we can lay down a challenge, or we can offer enticements to the willing, as it were.’
‘Right, so that’s why no one’s clubbed me over the head and carried me off, and of course, they can’t find Rosa to challenge her because I haven’t used the spell.’
‘The situation is one that can be easily resolved,’ he said decisively. ‘All you need do is tell me where to find Rosa’s body and how to release her from whatever magic holds her, then once we have finished establishing your alibi at the police station, I will deal with the matter and it will no longer need concern you.’
I grimaced. ‘Sorry, Malik, but that’s not going to be possible.’
Pinpricks of anger sparked in the black of his eyes. ‘I will not allow—’ He stopped. ‘Genevieve, you cannot continue to walk in Rosa’s skin as you have been doing,’ he continued, his voice soft with threat. ‘You must see that it has become too dangerous for all concerned.’
Sweat prickled down my spine; he’d once promised to kill Rosa, when he’d first discovered she was no longer her, but I’d really thought we’d got past that stage. Maybe not,whispered a small voice at the back of my mind .
‘It’s not that I don’t wantto tell you,’ I said, my voice firm, ‘it’s that I really don’t know where Rosa is. I bought what I thought was an expensive Disguise spell, nothing more. All I do is activate it, and then, well, I’m Rosa.’
‘From whom did you purchase the spell?’ he demanded.
‘The Ancient One. She’s a black witch or a sorcerer, or maybe both. I guess she must know where Rosa is. She’s got a stall in Covent Garden, or at least she used to.’ I smoothed my damp hands down my jean-clad thighs. ‘I’ve been trying to find her myself for the last month, but apparently she’s been AWOL for a while now.’
‘I know of the Ancient One.’ His face lost all expression. ‘The reason you cannot locate her is because she is dead. The Earl killed her nearly a year ago, over some trifle she refused to give him.’
Damn! And I’ve been paying her every month for the spell too! Briefly I wondered to whom the money was going, and whether Rosa could be traced that way, but Data Protection and red tape made me dismiss that as the long-winded solution. As Malik had pointed out, with Moth-girl’s appearance my problems had indeed multiplied. And with all the rest, like finding Tomas’ murderer, the quicker the vamp ones were sorted the better. I gazed at the beautiful vampire now staring out of the taxi window. He was centuries old, he had to have considered all the possible ramifications—like what would have to happen if he couldn’t find the real Rosa ...
I sat back, giving him a quizzical look. ‘So that’s Plan A out the window.’
He turned to look at me with an enquiring expression.
‘C’mon, Malik.’ I drummed my fingers lightly on the seat between us. ‘Whatever it is you want to happen, you had it all worked out, and all you needed was Rosa. I bet that’s why you’ve been keeping tabs on me, hoping I’d lead you to her, wasn’t it? Then things got complicated by this murder thing.’ And wasn’t that an understatement! ‘And your little memory trick or whatever it was just now didn’t get you anywhere. Shit, you even thought about bargaining for the info back there at HOPE—but then you decided to do the psychological bit and gamble on me being obligated instead.’
Something unreadable flickered in the depths of his eyes. ‘And are you feeling obligated?’
Obligated? Yes, but also relieved, now I knew Rosa was the reason he’d been doing the stalker bit, and eager to get on with whatever his plan was if it meant finally ridding myself of all the vamps and their schemes—other than him, of course—which was my aim even before Tomas’ murderer had thrown us back together.
‘I can make “Rosa” put in an appearance,’ I said, the calm words belying the sudden apprehensive thud of my heart.
He regarded me in silence, then finally said, ‘This is not how I wished to resolve this matter.’
‘It’s not really my idea of fun either, but to be honest, not much to do with this business is.’
‘One point, Genevieve—’ He paused. ‘It might be better to settle this issue first, then deal with your alibi later ...’
‘Just in case the police don’t believe you and decide to lock me up,’ I finished drily.
‘It is an unlikely scenario, but it is always a possibility.’
Knowing DI Crane’s less-than-positive attitude towards me, it was more like a probability, I thought glumly. Then there was the other reason why a trip to the police right now wasn’t as appealing as it might be: my morning meeting with Grianne, the phouka and whatever info she might come up with. An alibi was good, but an alibi and evidence, maybe even a name, was way better.
‘So what’s going to happen next?’ I asked.
He leaned forward and knocked on the glass partition. ‘The Blue Heart, Leicester Square,’ he called to the goblin, who nodded.
Then Malik sat back and gave me a considering look. ‘We will need to put on a performance for the others. Are you sure you wish to do this?’
My heart thudded again and I wondered if I should ask what sort of show he meant, then decided maybe it was better not to know until the time came.
‘If it will stop that happening again to some other poor human,’ I said firmly, ‘and get rid of my vampire problems, then yes, of course.’
‘It will be dangerous,’ he warned.
I laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. ‘So what isn’t around vampires?’
Chapter Seventeen
Leicester Square was an assault on the ears and eyes: voices high-pitched with excitement, the slap of shoes on the pavement, the background rumble of late-night traffic and bursts of music from the bars, bright lights reflecting myriad colours in the wind-ripped puddles, damp air chill against my skin. The evening tourists and party-going crowds parted around us as water flows around a boulder in a rushing stream, not even registering we were there—Malik’s mind-tricks at work. He closed his eyes, lifted his chin and sniffed the air, checking for vamps.