Page 73 of Demon's Bluff
“A night away from this,” she said, rubbing her fingers together to sift dead magic from her like pixy dust. “You summon me to reality, and I will tell you what you want to know.”
“What about my stasis charm?” Elyse said, panicking.
“Okay,” I said, and Newt batted her black on black eyes at me. “But I don’t need to summon you. You can take us there right now.”
Newt stiffened, her entire demeanor shifting. “How do you know that?” she said, almost frightened. “I hardly know that.”
“I told you. I am the future.”
She went still, so still I wasn’t sure she was breathing. “I won’t deal with those who don’t trust me. Drop your circle,” she said, and I followed her gaze to Elyse standing under the utterly useless protection of a ley line circle charm.
And yet Elyse shrank in on herself, clearly frightened. “No.”
“Humm.” Newt adjusted her sleeves as if preparing to leave. “You are not serious.” Glancing at the book in my arm, she sauntered down the stairs. “Maybe youarenothing.”
“Wait!” Elyse was pale and shaking.Damn it to the Turn and back…“I told you not to come,” I said, cross. “Take it down, or I will embarrass you and take it down for you.”
“Oh, I’d like to see that,” Newt said, hesitating at the bottom of the stairs.
Elyse shook her head, and I glared at her. “Vivian trusted me,” I offered.
“And it killed her,” Elyse shot back.
I exhaled slowly, marveling at Newt’s craftiness. She was getting a lot from this conversation. “That’s not what killed her. What killed her was me not trusting her. Don’t make the same mistake I did. Please. Let it go.”
Chin high, Elyse gathered her courage and stepped forward. The charm broke as her aura hit it, shimmers of energy flaring before they disappeared.
Newt chuckled, and the young woman went pale. “Nicely done,” she said, voice sly. “You took her circle without magic. Are you sure you’re not one of my sisters?”
“No.” Newt had killed all her sisters. It was a sorority I did not want to be included in. Worried, I dragged my bag sitting on the top step closer and put my book into it. That I hadn’t brought that glamour stone had probably been a good choice, even if Elyse and I looked like ourselves again.
“You both need a change of clothes,” the insane demon said, and then I gasped as I felt all three of us wink out of existence.
Chapter
17
Panic twisted my thoughts asI felt myself yanked into a ley line. Quick from practice, I snapped a protection circle around not just me but Elyse as well. There was a whiff of erratic, confused thought…and then Newt’s mind was gone, walled off. She hadn’t expected that, and I felt her heavy presence hesitate as we hung in the high-energy haze of a ley line.
Until she shoved us out and the slow rise-and-fall thrum of the universe’s energy shifted to a bland, suggestive, rhythmic thumping.
My breath hissed in as I caught my balance. Elyse swung her arms wildly, almost going down. She was terrified, and I tugged at her until she looked at me. “You’re okay!” I exclaimed, almost embarrassed by the woman’s fear. But then again, she had probably thought we were dropping into Newt’s oubliette to be forgotten—or not. And from the scent of cheap alcohol and rude catcalls, I doubted that’s where we were.
“Where are we?” Elyse whispered, her eyes wide and scanning.
I let go of her arm. It was a bar, mostly men at small tables all facing the stage. Women and men wearing almost nothing moved between them as servers. Newt stood out amid the black wood and scratched floor in her robe and flat-topped hat, but then again, we all did.
“Dalliance?” I blurted, recognizing the living vampire on the stage, gyrating and playing with the crowd.
Newt’s attention flicked from the hidden speakers to me. “Dalliance?”she said, her black eyes blinking in an unusual surprise. “You’ve given yourself away. If you know Dalliance, you are an escaped familiar.”
“Familiars aren’t allowed in Dalliance,” I said as I figured it out. We weren’t in Dalliance. We were in reality. And not just any reality but the strip bar that would eventually become a memory in Dali’s jukebox. “Besides, this one isn’t in Dali’s jukebox yet.” I smiled at her, trying to be mysterious and esoteric. “Is it.”
I had only the one card. I wasn’t sure how many times she’d let me play it. As soon as she thought she had me figured out, the game would be over. If I didn’t have what I needed by then, both Elyse and I would be up the proverbial creek without a boat, much less a paddle, and I stood in the strip bar’s foyer and tugged the hat off my head, trying to look as if I belonged there.
At least we’re back in reality,I thought as we began to get noticed. Chin high, I took off my robe and snapped it out. Dust flew, and I stuffed it into my hat along with my sash. The scent of burnt amber became obvious, and more heads began to turn. Elyse followed suit, though admittedly not as flamboyantly, and I held my bag open for her to drop her robe in as well.Not my slave, my friend,I thought, hoping Newt saw the distinction. The robes had done a great job in keeping the red dust off us, but my boots were caked with it, and Elyse’s white tennies were even worse.
“The scent of despair tends to linger, does it not?” Newt eyed my sequins and rhinestones. Sighing, she turned to the patrons, studying them a moment before dissolving into a mist to re-form wearing an upscale black dress suit. Hair grew as she ran a hand over her head, the red curls flowing to match my own unspelled locks. The scent of burnt amber began to ease. “You know of Dalliance, yet claim you’re not a familiar. Who are you?” she said as she flicked a pair of sunglasses out and perched them on her nose to hide her black eyes.