Blood Ties Book Three: Ashes To Ashes. Jennifer Armintrout
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I fear…”
“That she might be looking for the Soul Eater?” The question slipped automatically from my mouth.
She nodded, her expression hard, and continued. “I have pored over the meager library Max keeps—”
I glanced his way, sure his head would blow off his neck at that. The “meager” library had belonged to Marcus, and Max took all slights against him, intentional or not, very seriously. His face remained impassive, and he leaned back in his chair, arms folded over his chest.
Bella, ignorant of her affront, continued speaking. “It appears there was a breakdown in Movement communication in France during the Nazi occupation. A handful of assassins found themselves unable to contact headquarters or track their quarry. They turned to divination to reestablish communication and monitor the whereabouts of their mark.
“Though in this case it would be unrealistic to try and open a line of communication with the Movement, we could certainly use those same means to glean information about the Oracle and what she intends to do now that she is free.”
“Or Nathan could do it.” Max’s voice seemed overloud, and we all turned to stare at him in varying degrees of horror as he continued. “He has a blood tie with the Soul Eater. If he’s working with the Oracle, Nathan would know it.”
At the thought of Nathan making contact with his terrifying sire, the one who’d possessed and tormented him, the blood in my veins turned to ice. “No!”
My denial was echoed by Bella. “He was possessed once by the power of his sire. My spell freed him, but I cannot guarantee I could do so again.”
“She’s right,” I agreed vehemently. “Nathan, you can’t even consider doing something like that. He would find you in a minute.”
Beside me, Nathan drummed his fingertips on the table. “I think you’re right. We try Bella’s way, first.”
Max snorted. “Listen, I’m not trying to shoot down the one solution anyone has come up with, but I’m not sure this is exactly the most efficient way to go about finding the Oracle and figuring out what her plans are.”
“What would be more efficient?” Bella demanded. “Traveling the world door-to-door, knocking and asking if the Oracle is inside?”
Rolling his eyes, Max turned to Nathan and me. “Listen, you guys can’t really believe this is our best bet? Random patterns of cards and gazing into a crystal ball?”
Though I felt as though I was betraying him, we didn’t have much else to go on. I spread my hands helplessly. “Well, it couldn’t hurt to try. If the Movement has fallen apart, it’s just a matter of time until every non-Movement vampire figures it out and we end up with a crisis on our hands.”
“So, we’re going to prevent this from happening with our super New Age mind rays?” He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I just think we’re barking up the wrong tree.”
Nathan grimaced as though he hated being cast in the peacekeeper role. “Listen, Bella hasn’t been able to contact anyone. I’ve been out of the Movement for two years, so I don’t know anyone’s number or location anymore. You might be able to track somebody down, but even if you do, how are we going to find the Oracle? We’ve got documented evidence that this approach works. Why not try it before we declare ourselves royally screwed?”
“Max, you were still in the Movement. You have to have the company directory or something, right?” I hoped he did. I didn’t like the looks of those chicken bones any more than he did.
Max shook his head. “It was Movement policy never to reveal the identities of their assassins, even to other assassins.”
“Any assassins who knew each other, like Max and me, chose to contact one another outside of the Movement.” Nathan glanced briefly at Max. “Sometimes I wonder why I chose to contact him.”
“It was a policy that applied only to vampires,” Bella added. “The werewolves involved in the Movement were all from the same pack. You would consider that family, or extended family. We have a code of honor, and our own consequences if we should break it. But the vampires … imagine if one vampire knew how to find all of the assassins? And then they found themselves in the company of a creature like the Soul Eater?”
“So, they kept your locations, and to some extent, your identities, secret so the information couldn’t be tortured out of you?” I looked to Nathan for confirmation.
“Or sold to the highest bidder.” He gestured to Max. “Max and I became acquainted when we were given an assignment together. But if we hadn’t both agreed that it would be handy to know another assassin nearby—or relatively nearby—we might not have exchanged contact information and stayed in touch.”
“But what about the meeting? You had a dozen Movement assassins in your bookshop.” I shuddered at the thought of some of them coming after us as we’d been living peacefully in the apartment upstairs.
“That was a strike team Rachel personally assembled. They already knew who I was and where I could be found. And I trusted them all for a reason.” Nathan put a reassuring hand on my knee.
“Nathan was never quite as secretive as some of us.” The way Max spoke the words implied he thought Nathan was an idiot for trusting anyone. “I do have a blood donor who’s pretty active in the city. I might be able to get some contacts out of him.”
“We may still be, in Nathan’s words, royally screwed,” Bella pointed out. “Of the four of us, I have the most experience with the occult, but divination has always escaped me. I may be able to pick up a few clues, but I will not know if they apply to our situation or not. Have any of you ever done anything like this?”
“I own an occult book and supply store,” Nathan reminded her, not a little sarcastically. “I’ve used tarot cards before.”
“Ah, good.” Bella’s face lit up. She reached for a box of cards and slid them across the table to him. “That can be your job. Since he has expressed disinterest in helping us, Max can try to reach other assassins through his donor.”
“What about me?” I eyed the pile of bones. I wanted to be included, but maybe not that included. “I’m a quick study. Give me something to do.”
She considered the array of objects before her and pushed a jewelry box toward me. I opened it to find a slender crystal dangling from a delicate chain.
“A pendulum,” Bella informed me. “Nathan, can you instruct her? I thought perhaps it could be used to try and pinpoint the Oracle’s location on an atlas.”
“I’m sure she’ll get the hang of it.” He winked at me.
“Good. We should all keep track of our results.” She sounded like one of my old professors explaining the etiquette of laboratory experiments. “Until we know specifics about our situation, everything is important.”
She reached for a bottle of what looked like ink and poured it into the glass bowl, which she lifted from its stand to swirl it a few times. Then, taking a lighter from her pocket, she lit the charcoal in the small, tabletop cauldron at her left.
“So, are we dismissed then?” Max asked, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
Caught up in sprinkling foul-smelling powder onto the burning block, Bella didn’t look at him. “Yes, of course. We need to get to work immediately.”
Max waited until we were in the foyer, at least, before he exploded. “You’ve got to be kidding me! She comes into my house, assigns us jobs, declares herself Dwight fucking Eisenhower of the occult, and stinks up my dining room with…whatever that was?”
“Honeysuckle and camphor,” Nathan supplied. “They’re powerful divination aids, but they smell better fresh than burning.”
“No shit.” Max’s face had turned a queer shade of red. “Listen, she’s got to go.