I shot Hugh a look. Nice though the support was, maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to antagonise his new boss.

She glared at Hugh, then turned suddenly, ignoring him, and strode up to Finn.

Smacking her hand on his chest she cried, ‘How dareyou do this? How dareyou give her an alibi? After everything I’ve done!’ The magic misted round her with anger. ‘You disgust me—lying to protect her, trying to persuademe—and for what? A psychotic sucker whore. A sidhe!You know what they’re like, all of them—they’re just out for themselves!’

Okaaay, so I really wasn’t her favourite person—but psychotic?

‘I haven’t lied to you, Helen,’ Finn said. The angry mist seemed to cling to him. ‘Gen didn’t do it.’

‘Of course you’d know that, wouldn’t you?’ she scoffed. ‘But you’re thinking with your dick instead of your brain—for the Goddess’ sake, you were withme when the call came in, Finn—you told me yourself it sounded like sidhe vengeance.’

‘ Sounded, Helen, it soundedlike sidhe vengeance, that’swhat I said—’

I blinked. And he’d made me think he’d heard about it on the news.

‘She’s the only sidhe in London,’ she snapped.

‘You don’t know that, Helen.’ Finn tried to take her hand, but she batted him away. ‘Hugh?’ he asked, looking at the troll.

I turned to Hugh, expectant. Werethere other sidhe around?

‘Finn has a point,’ Hugh rumbled quietly, ‘although it is unlikely.’

Inwardly, I slumped. So it was just a misdirection.

‘She was there.’ Inspector Crane swung back to Finn. ‘You’ve just admitted you saw her there yourself.’

‘You said the bodies were found at Hammersmith Pier and that’s miles away from Hungerford Bridge.’

Hugh started reading from his notebook, ‘A man walking his dog early this morning called in to say he’d found a pool of blood. His dog tried to roll in it. Initial blood typing matches with the bodies found.’

Whose side are you on here, Hugh?I asked silently.

‘Ask her, Helen.’ Finn pointed at me. ‘Ask thrice and she has to tell the truth.’

What the—? Shit, Finn, this is so not a good idea.I clamped my mouth shut to stop myself shouting at him.

‘Gen.’ He turned to me, emerald flecks sparking in his eyes. ‘Did you at anytime last night have anything to do with the deaths and mutilation of two humans?’

I breathed an inward sigh of relief.

‘No.’

He asked me again, the exact same words.

‘No,’ I said my answer firmer.

Hugh looked from Finn to me, a considering look on his face. My pulse sped up. Had he worked it out?

‘Gen, did you at—’

‘Stop it, Finn, now,’ Inspector Crane shouted. ‘I’ll ask her myself.’

‘It has to be the same question, Helen, or the geas won’t hold.’

‘I know that.’ She glared at him. ‘Remember?’

She stalked over to me, rage etched in her face. ‘Did you at anytime last night have anything to do with the deaths and mutilations of two humans?’

‘No,’ I yelled. Fuck, that hurt.It felt like something had physically ripped the word from my heart. I shuddered and rubbed under my breast. I’d only had that happen twice before, but it didn’t get any better.

For a moment I thought she was going to hit me, or cry, or maybe both. Then she turned away and snatched up a newspaper and a brown envelope from the window sill. She strode back to Finn and he caught the envelope as she slapped it at him. ‘See this? This is what your precious sidhe’s been up to.’

He opened the envelope and flipped through its contents.

She turned to face me, straightened her shoulders. ‘As a senior representative of the Witches’ Council, Ms Taylor, I am to inform you that in light of your involvement with the local vampire community, the Council has taken the decision to sever any association with you.’

The sick feeling roiled back in my stomach. I wanted to tell her she couldn’t do that, but of course she could.

She threw down the newspaper.

The headline read LOVE AT FIRST BITE?Underneath it was a picture of the Earl and me. Both of us were smiling.

She carried on, ‘Your employment contract with Spellcrackers.com has been terminated with immediate effect.’ She swung back to Finn. ‘I also have to inform you, Mr Panos, that should you decide to employ Ms Taylor after you have taken over the franchise, the franchise will revert and all monies paid will be retained in lieu of damages.’

I stared at her, stunned.

Finn jumped down from the counter. ‘They can’t do that, Helen—you can’t let them—’

‘Copies of those were sent to every council member.’ She pointed at the envelope.

‘So what? Doesn’t Gen get a hearing, a chance to defend herself?’ He pointed the envelope at her. ‘Can’t they see it’s a set-up?’

Inspector Crane half-raised her hand, then let it drop. ‘There’s nothing I can do about it, Finn,’ she said quietly. ‘Not now.’ She turned, pulled open the door and left.

I listened to the sound of her shoes clicking down the stairs, getting fainter and fainter.

Finn stood for a moment, staring after her as if he couldn’t believe what she’d said. He wasn’t the only one. I’d always known it was a possibility, but to have it actually happen—

Finn turned to me, his face determined. ‘Gen, I’ll talk to her. She’s got a lot of influence. We’ll get it sorted.’ He glanced at Hugh as he left to follow her. ‘Don’t let Gen do anything stupid.’

Chapter Thirty-Four

Ihugged my arms around myself and gave Hugh a shaky smile. ‘Looks like I’m out of a job then.’ And out of my home, I added silently, looking around with regret. No way could I afford the rent without the witch subsidy working at Spellcrackers gave me.

Hugh picked up his notepad, tapped his pen on the front. ‘The two bodies were not human?’ His voice was raised in question.

‘What—? No, they were revenants. I thought you’d picked up on that.’

‘They are a type of vampire.’ He made a note in his pad. ‘Someone wants you out of the way.’

I laughed, a short sharp burst that I cut off before I couldn’t stop. ‘You could say that.’

Hugh’s forehead creased into concerned cracks. ‘The revenants attacked you?’

‘I’m okay, Hugh, really.’ I gave his shoulder a reassuring pat then held my arms out. ‘See, all in one piece.’

‘Well, you don’t look quite as skinny as you usually do.’ He got slowly to his feet, knocking his head against my amber pendant.

I smiled at his diplomatic compliment.

‘What I meant, Genny’—he brushed a hand carefully over his black hair and shifted away from the tinkling crystals—‘they wanted you to be out of the way physically. The bodies were left where they could be found quickly and easily. The dog-walker, the one who found the blood, said that wasn’t his usual route.’

‘Mind-locked,’ I said.

He nodded as if I’d confirmed something. ‘Inspector Crane wanted to take you in for questioning, and that would have meant you off the street for at least forty-eight hours. Now, thanks to Finn’s intervention ...’ He paused. ‘This vampire—the one who mind-locked the dog walker—is he the one who killed the revenants?’

I hesitated, realising I’d just confirmed to Hugh I’d been hanging around with a vampire. Still, after the Earl’s front page news—

‘Yes, it’s the same one,’ I said, ‘but why try and frame me up like that? He couldn’t have known what was going to happen, unless—I know he didn’t want me involved with this, so maybe this is his way of keeping me out of it.’ I frowned as something else odd hit me. ‘But then he also sent me an invitation to the Blue Heart.’

Hugh nodded thoughtfully. ‘You were under the witches’ protection, so sending you an invitation was the correct way to contact you. It’s standard practice between the witches and the vampires; that way they meet under the old rules of hospitality.’