Steal the Night (Thieves #5)(28)

Daniel continued his argument, spitting out a litany of Italian. It was one of the things that surprised me about Daniel’s Council training. He could now speak Italian, French, and Spanish. Vampires caught on to languages very quickly.

An elderly lady entered the store from the back room. She was small and withered, with steel gray hair that surrounded her head like a football helmet. She was far past the age of a flirty girl, but her eyes still lit up when she caught a look at Dev. “Hello. How may I help you this fine evening, my Fae friend?”

Dev bowed slightly to acknowledge that the lady knew what she was talking about. “You have a keen eye, ma’am.”

“I know a sidhe when I see one,” she said, looking me over. She took the glasses she had hanging around her neck and slipped them over her nose. She moved closer and touched the gold medallion I wore. It was the piece of jewelry that marked me as Dev’s wife. “And a High Priest? Seelie or Unseelie?”

“I am Unseelie,” Dev replied without hesitating.

“Good, those Seelies tend to be full of themselves,” the witch, because that was all she could possibly be, said. “Your goddess is human.”

“Mostly,” Dev replied enigmatically.

Daniel’s Italian curses reached a crescendo and the small witch peeked around Dev. Her eyes widened. “No. Is that a vampire?”

“He’s not here to cause trouble.” I had to force the words out of my mouth because I really was mostly human and those wards were making me nauseous.

“You’ll have to take your friend elsewhere,” she said, firmly shaking her head. “I don’t allow unattached vampires in my store. They’re always looking for a free meal.”

Dev laughed at the thought of Daniel prowling dusty bookshops in search of blood. Danny was very particular about his food. “Then feel safe, madam. That particular vampire is very attached. My goddess and I feed him. He has no need to steal a meal.”

Her gray eyes narrowed as she looked between the two of us.

“I’m his companion.” I held up my left hand showing the gold wedding ring I wore. I then flexed my right hand a couple of times. It had started to shake a little. “We promise we’re only here for business.”

“What do you need from my humble shop?” She still seemed unsure, but she sighed and nodded. Dev pulled out the list Nim had given him as the shopkeeper spoke. “You’ll have to forgive me. I had trouble with some vampires last night.”

I frowned and exchanged a look with Dev. Our vampires had stayed in all last night, so she could only be talking about Marini.

“What kind of trouble?” Dev asked, his voice tense.

The old woman took the list out of Dev’s hand. “The typical kind when it comes to vampires. I didn’t recognize these. They seemed to be from out of town. The big one was speaking a foreign language like yours is, though it sounded more like French.”

I wondered if they had come in before or after Marini had played his games with me. “What did they want?”

Her eyes rose from perusing the list. “Pretty much the same as you. They were calling a demon, too. It seems to be the popular thing to do this week.”

“Why would Marini be calling a demon?” Dev asked me when the woman turned to fill our order.

“I don’t know but I need some fresh air,” I said as Daniel made his way toward us. I had started to sweat and I needed to get out of that shop.

“Parlategli voi,” Daniel barked into the phone. Irritation flavored his every word as he passed the phone to me. “He wants to talk to you, baby. I warn you. He’s in a pissy mood. He better be glad his ass isn’t here or I might have to kick it.”

I nodded and took the phone. “I’ll be just outside. The wards are making me sick. Marini was in here last night. Dev can catch you up.”

I made my way back out into the cool night. I heard Dev and Danny start to talk as the door shut, and I felt a hundred percent better. I took a deep breath and then put the phone to my ear. I noticed a young man staring at me, a lit cigarette in his hand. He stood in the doorway of the Granada, and he turned away when he noticed I was watching. I dismissed him as a curious bystander and got to the apparently annoyed vampire on a transatlantic call. “What’s up, Marcus?”

“What’s up? What is up?” The Italian parroted my greeting. Yup, he was angry. “I will tell you what is up, Zoey. Someone has screwed up a plan I set in motion hundreds of years ago. Someone has managed to take a carefully orchestrated strategy to maintain the balance of power on this plane and blow it all to hell.”

“That’s awful, Marcus.” I sincerely hoped he wasn’t talking about what I thought he was probably talking about. I started doing what I always did when I was on the phone. I had a hard time just standing and talking. I paced. And then I stopped again because I’d promised not to go too far. I stared into the window of the sex shop with its neon condom signs.

“Yes, Zoey, it’s very serious,” he intoned forbiddingly. “Someone has given Marini an object of great power, an object I risked my very life to smuggle off this plane so he couldn’t use it.”

I grimaced. I didn’t point out that he had also risked his virtue since he had an affair with Dev’s mother to smuggle the Blood Stone off the plane. Dev was still very disturbed at the thought. “I’m sure someone had a very good reason for doing it. I’m sure whoever did it didn’t really have a choice in the matter.”