Keeper of the Dawn

Chapter 6

The Snake Pit was hopping. By the time Mark and Alessande returned, the others had taken a booth upstairs in the elegant room where snowy-white linen dressed the tables, the food was superbly prepared and the drinks were served in crystal.

Rhiannon was already on stage, singing a soft ballad. She acknowledged them with a nod as they entered.

Mark had his hand on Alessande’s back as they neared the booth. It was the kind of polite gesture any man might offer, and she seemed to take it as such. Her calm amazed him. He still felt as if he were twitching inside. Apparently their kiss—which he had initiated just to see how far she was willing to go to play their dangerous game—had disturbed him far more than it had her.

Far more than he had ever expected.

The woman’s an Elven, he told himself. What did you think you would feel?

Not this.

He’d known Elven all his life. They were exceptionally charismatic, the men handsome, the women beautiful. And Alessande was the epitome of Elven beauty: slender and fit, yet somehow voluptuous, as well. The feel of her in his arms was like a siren call.

That was it, nothing more. He’d thought to throw her off balance. Well, tables turned. He should have known!

His hostility toward her came from the moment when they had first met. She’d been angry, convinced she had had everything under control and that he’d ruined her grand plan.

On top of it all, he couldn’t shake the strange daydream he’d experienced right before he had met her. If he closed his eyes now, he could still hear the music, see the beauty of the church arrayed for a wedding...see the river of blood that ran down the aisle.

He could still see the crystalline beauty of her eyes, could still feel her body pressed to his, as if she had left an indelible impression on his flesh.

“Well?” Brodie asked, breaking into Mark’s thoughts.

“Success,” Mark said, sliding into the rich velvet-upholstered booth next to Alessande. “Any news here?”

“Declan is working the crowd—easy for him to do, since he owns the place,” Mick told him. Like Barrie, Mick was a reporter. He was great at ferreting out whatever was going on beneath the surface in a city that offered magic along with the normal underhanded deals, scandal—and murder.

Mark noticed that Barrie wasn’t with them, but before he could ask about her absence, Alessande spoke up.

“Where’s Barrie?”

“Interviewing Katrina Manville,” Mick said.

“Why was she so interested in interviewing a costume designer tonight?” Alessande asked.

“Because she’s doing costumes for Death in the Bowery,” Mick said.

“Oh!” Alessande said. “I didn’t know.”

“We didn’t, either—until Declan said something just a moment ago,” Sailor told them.

Alessande suddenly turned to him. She was close enough that her shoulder brushed his. “Let’s dance,” she said.

Mark looked at her with surprise. He felt a slight smile curve his lips. “You’re asking me to dance?”

“I want to hear what Barrie’s saying,” she said. “And they’re sitting right beside the dance floor.”

Barrie would report anything she learned, he knew, but he couldn’t resist the opportunity to hold Alessande in his arms.

Fool, he told himself.

He led her out to the dance floor. Rhiannon had been joined by a couple backup musicians, and they were playing something that he was pretty sure was a rumba. Luckily he had learned the steps years ago on a trip to Miami.

He danced Alessande over toward the two women. Thankfully, like most Others, his hearing was acute—and so was Alessande’s. They didn’t have to be right on top of Barrie to hear her conversation.

As they swept by, he noticed that Katrina was tall. Just not quite as tall as Alessande. Her hair was blond...though not quite the spun blond of Alessande’s. And her eyes were blue, too. Though not quite the same clear blue-green of Alessande’s, a color that could make a man think of endless days spent floating between the heavens and the seas....

Stop! he commanded himself. Honestly, he was going to make himself vomit if he didn’t curtail his ridiculous mooning over her. He forced himself to listen to what Katrina was saying.

“They’re re-creating 1880s New York and the Five Points district. The costuming will be late Victorian, and range from extremely elegant to the rags worn by those who were just scratching to stay alive. In those days... Well, you really couldn’t blame a young woman coming from the gutters if she was willing to sleep her way up in society.”

“How did you become involved in this particular project? Did you already know the screenwriter?”

“No, I only met Greg Swayze recently. I was hooked up by a friend.”

“Who?”

Katrina sipped from a crystal champagne glass. “Brigitte Hildegard. Her brother’s production company had considered bidding on it, but it was too pricey for them. She loved the screenplay, though, and thought it needed the best.”

As they whirled away, Alessande looked at Mark with her eyes sizzling. “See?” she said.

“Barrie would have shared that information with us.”

She ignored that and said, “I knew it. There’s something going on with the movie!”

“Alessande,” he murmured.

She looked at him with a question in her eyes.

He smiled. “I don’t want you getting hurt,” he said.

She actually smiled back at him. “I don’t really want a role in it, you know.”

“I didn’t mean it that way.”

He was startled when she rose up slightly on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Please, don’t worry about me. I am Elven. And I’m destined to be a Keeper of shapeshifters—somewhere, sometime. Mick and Declan have both told me that my progress in dealing with my powers is amazing. I’m begging you, have some faith in me.”

The music ended. For a moment they stood on the dance floor, just looking at one another. Then Declan came by and tapped him on the shoulder. “We’re going to call it a night. The Hildegards don’t seem to be coming out tonight and Barrie says she’s gotten some interesting information about—”

“We know. We heard,” Mark said.

“And tomorrow—” Declan began.

“There’s a lot to do,” Mark finished.

It still took them a few minutes to leave. Declan had to say his goodbyes to the staff and leave the place in the capable hands of his manager, a werewolf named Gregor.

But soon enough they were on their way out the door. And even then, Mark discovered, he couldn’t keep his hands off Alessande. He touched her arm to guide her, the small of her back just to let her know he was there.

It was all right, he told himself. He was simply behaving the way any polite escort would.

Except, of course, any escort wouldn’t be imagining the perfection of the woman as she lay naked, eyes alight, on a bed of silk, waiting for him....

He gave himself a shake.

And when they reached the House of the Rising Sun, he told himself that he was grateful when she went to Castle House, while he was a guest at Pandora’s Box.

He told himself—but he didn’t believe it.

* * *

She was dreaming again.

Except this time, the dream was erotic. So erotic that she could feel herself blush in her sleep.

And if a dream could have such a thing, it had foreplay.

She wasn’t sure where she was. The room had a massive bed with blood red silk sheets. There were open doors that led to a balcony, and a breeze drifted in. Sheer white curtains fluttered in that breeze, and she felt the cooling air against the fire of her skin.

She lay there feeling the luxury of the silk. She was tense and aroused by simple anticipation. Because he would be with her any second.

And a second later...he was.

He came toward her out of the shadows. In the moonlight that bathed the room in a soft glow, he seemed as sleek and agile as a jungle cat. His chest was muscled steel. He was bronzed and beautiful.

He moved up on the foot of the bed and over her until the heat of his body blanketed her with vivid and electric force. She was achingly aware of the gold sizzle in his eyes, the contours of his face, the hard and masculine feel of him. Then his lips touched hers....

And she knew that kiss....

Except that this time it went deeper, then deeper still. His hands moved along her naked flesh and, wherever he touched her, it felt as if a star exploded. With every brush of his fingers becoming more intimate, she burned and writhed beneath him, and touched him in turn....

“Alessande?”

She started and snapped up to a sitting position, completely confused.

It was morning, she realized quickly, reluctantly letting go of the dream.

She was at Castle House, with light pouring in through the guest room window, and Sailor had just tapped at the door, poked her head in and called Alessande’s name.

Alessande found herself praying that her arousal hadn’t been obvious—and that she wasn’t naked, as she’d been in the dream.

She was breathing heavily, and she felt a sheen of sweat on her body, but, thank God, she was clothed.

“I’m sorry—we have to be up and out. Auditions today.”

“Of course,” Alessande said. She made a pretense of yawning, and smiled. “I’ll hop in the shower and be right down.”

Sailor smiled and left her.

Alessande got up and headed for the bathroom.

Her shower was very, very cold.

* * *

Chelsea Rose was still in the hospital and quite possibly dying.

The doctors reported that she had not regained consciousness, and they feared that whatever she’d been given might prove to be fatal.

Meanwhile, Terry Steiner remained in jail, awaiting arraignment. And Mark and Brodie were sitting in front of Bryce Edwards’s desk and listened while he spoke with the district attorney’s office. They were discussing what charges to file against Steiner. If the girl died, he might find himself facing murder charges, with manslaughter as the minimum.

Edwards hung up and looked at them. “Where are you two on this?”

Mark reported the events of the previous night.

“Why didn’t you go after the source?” Edwards demanded.

“I needed to get Digger to trust me. Then he can lead me to the core of this thing,” Mark explained.

“Bring him in—he’ll crack,” Edwards said harshly.

“On the plus side, I got the pills. The lab has them now. As soon as they come up with an analysis, Alessande can get started on an antidote.”

“And where were you during all this?” Edwards asked Brodie.

“In the Snake Pit—chatting with every Other I could find,” Brodie said.

“Did you discover anything?”

“I did find out that the Hildegard family comes in several nights a week,” Brodie said.

“Great. An excuse for you two to spend your nights hanging at the Snake Pit,” Edwards said.

“Barrie interviewed Katrina Manville,” Brodie said.

Edwards arched a brow. “The costume designer? Because...?”

“She’s associated with the screenplay we found at the old Hildegard Studio,” Mark explained. “She’s doing costumes for the show. She said Hildegard wanted to do the movie but passed due to budget concerns.”

“So Hildegard isn’t making the movie. That doesn’t seem to get us anywhere,” Edwards said.

“But it does,” Brodie told him. “It means that Hildegard was very aware of the screenplay—he might even have started giving actresses copies of it before he decided to opt out of the bidding.”

“We’re going back to the Snake Pit tonight,” Mark chimed in. “There’s a connection here that passes right through the community of Others. The dead women followed a path that brought them to the House of Illusion and then right past—maybe into—the Hildegard Studio. The ceremony we broke up took place at the Hildegard tomb—in an old cemetery that was wholly owned by the Hildegard family at one time. Meanwhile, we’ve got an old Other-related drug suddenly being sold on the streets to anyone with the money to buy it,” he went on. “So Brodie and Rhiannon are going over to the old studio again this afternoon to see if there’s anything we’ve missed. Alessande and Sailor are reading for a role in Death in the Bowery right now, and Mick and Barrie are digging into the public records to find out who else is associated with the production.”

“This could get dangerous,” Edwards said, frowning. “And you’re involving a number of civilians.”

“Keepers,” Brodie reminded him.

Edwards was silent for a minute, pursing his lips. Then he looked at them sternly. “Why are you in my office? Get out there and get this stopped!”

“He’s in a great mood,” Brodie noted as they left.

“Yeah—it’s probably a good thing neither of us thought to remind him that he’s the one who asked us to sit down and give him a report.”

“He knows. He’s just stressed,” Brodie said.

“Yep. First, he’s got a major problem on the streets, because that drug is deadly for humans. And then he’s got two murdered women and knows we’re in a race against time to save a third—and that somehow the Other community is involved.” He paused, then went on. “Here’s the thing. We’ve got a cult that believes they can bring back a dead shapeshifter magician via human sacrifice. And to keep their sacrificial victims silent, they’re drugging them until they’re ready for the kill. And because the dead women both had Transymil in their systems and it started showing up on the street at the same time the cult surfaced, I think there’s got to be a connection. I’m inclined to change my earlier theory and my guess now is the cultists are manufacturing the drug and selling it on the side to make money. The timing is just too perfect for it to be a coincidence.” He paused. “And I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the Hildegards themselves are involved. Maybe we should be checking into the family finances.”

“Let’s start with the lab, see if they’ve got that analysis so Alessande will have something to work with,” Brodie said. “And then we can stop by Forensic Accounting—see what they can find out without our having to get a warrant.”

“What did you think of Alan Hildegard?” Mark asked.

“I think I’d like to know more about him. And his sister. And the cousin we have yet to meet.”

“Let’s hope they’re at the Snake Pit tonight.”

“I wonder how those auditions are going,” Brodie said.

Mark was aching to know, as well. He was more worried than ever about Alessande’s safety.

They had picked up the lab results and were on their way to Forensic Accounting when Mark’s phone rang.

To his surprise, it was Alan Hildegard.

“Detective, my cousin is here. She’s interested in meeting with you and answering whatever questions she’s able to. When can you stop by?”

He glanced at his watch. Alessande and Sailor wouldn’t be free for another two hours. Of course, in L.A., the drive to pick them up could take two hours.

He decided to trust in the great overlords of traffic and glanced at Brodie as he spoke into the phone. “Now, if that’s good for you. Say...twenty minutes?”

“Perfect.”

As he ended the call, Mark reflected that it sounded as if Hildegard had almost purred the word.

* * *

All Alessande had done before, when it came to acting, was arrive on set, where she was handed her costume and sometimes sent to makeup and hair, after which she followed the herd of extras to wherever they were told to go, followed by wait, wait and wait some more, punctuated by occasional bouts of doing some specified action, until the scene was shot to the director’s liking. She had never been bitten by the acting bug and was always glad to get back home to the country, where she could take long walks in the woods, listening to the birds and the gurgling stream that crossed her property. Maybe she had been living a little on the antisocial side, but she’d been around a long time, and it was good to find peace at last.

The movie business, to her, was anything but.

Today’s routine was at least different, though, because a real role was up for grabs. She waited in an outer office while Sailor went in to read. A few minutes later Sailor came out and gave her a thumbs-up, and Alessande took a deep breath and went in.

The room held a long table and, on the far side, four chairs, one of which was taken by Greg Swayze. He didn’t speak to her, though he smiled. A man seated near the center of the row stood.

“Hello, I’m Taylor Haywood. I’m directing the film. This is Milly Caulfield to my right, casting director, and to her right, Tilda Lyons, associate producer. And Miss Gryffald told me you had a chance to meet our screenwriter, Mr. Swayze, last night.” He nodded toward Greg, sitting to his left.

She smiled and said hello to the tribunal that would decide her fate. The director was young—she was afraid to think about how young—but she had heard his name before, which was a good sign. Milly Caulfield seemed to be old Hollywood; she was skinny as a beanpole, dressed in stereotypical business attire, and her glasses were attached to a delicate chain to keep her from losing them. The associate producer, Tilda Lyons, was no spring chicken, and she’d clearly had work done on her face, but her plastic surgeon had been skillful.

“Excellent look—just right for the part.” Alessande, grateful for her enhanced hearing, heard Tilda whisper.

“Yes, but can she act?” Milly whispered back. She was apparently not fond of the beautiful-but-dim bombshell types who so often did so well.

Alessande didn’t really care about the movie, of course. She only wanted to find out why actresses who had been reading the script had been disappearing. But she couldn’t help it; Milly’s implied insult offended her.

Then it was time for her to read. Haywood handed her the script, and they went straight to the pages she’d read the day before, only this time he read the villain’s lines.

When she was done, he thanked her. She was expecting that to be followed by “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.” But she didn’t hear those words. Instead he said, “Miss Salisbrooke, let me ask you, would you be interested in any of the smaller parts in the film? There are a number, most with only a few lines but some with fairly meaty dialogue.”

“Of course, thank you. I’m interested in working on the film in any capacity. I love the screenplay,” she said, and smiled at Greg Swayze, who smiled back.

“That’s wonderful. We’ll be in touch. I’m sure you realize we’re seeing many actors before we make our final decisions, so you may be asked for a callback.”

“That will be fine, thank you.”

She felt awkward. They weren’t mean; they weren’t cold. Still, she felt as if she were standing before a Roman tribunal or something equally daunting.

She thanked them again, then turned to the door.

Sailor was waiting for her in the outer office. “How did it go?” she asked.

“They asked me if I was interested in other parts,” Alessande said. “Is that good?”

“Me, too. And it’s certainly better than a flat turndown. Come on. Declan is waiting for us.”

“I thought Mark and Brodie were going to pick us up?”

Sailor shook her head. “Mark called and said they were held up, so he wants us to go straight to your place. He said they’ll meet us there. He has the analysis for the pills you two bought last night, and he wants you to start working on an antidote as soon as they get there with the information.”

“How do they intend to manage this? Assuming I can even create an antidote, how are they going to get it into the hospital and administer it to that girl?”

As she spoke, Alessande became aware that someone was coming up behind them, and she turned to see that it was Greg Swayze. And he was still smiling.

“You both read very well. Excellent job.”

“Thank you,” Sailor said.

“It was the material,” Alessande said. “It was excellent, too.”

She turned on the Elven charm, planning to bedazzle, and so did Sailor, to the point that Alessande wasn’t sure which one of them he was talking to when he starting speaking again.

“I was hoping that maybe I could see you for coffee or a drink,” he said, smiling awkwardly. “Not that I’m the power when it comes to making casting decisions—I wouldn’t want you to think I was holding that over you—but just...because.”

“I suspect you have more power than you think,” Alessande said. “But I’m saying yes because I think you’re a nice guy, as well as talented.”

Just then she saw that Declan was coming their way. Swayze noticed him, too.

“That’s Declan Wainwright, isn’t it? Owner of the Snake Pit? Is he here for one of you?”

“Declan is an old friend,” Sailor said. “A very old friend.”

“He’s just picking us up—you know what parking in L.A. is like,” Alessande added.

Declan offered a hand to Swayze and introduced himself.

Swayze smiled and reciprocated.

“Nice to meet you,” Declan said. “Ladies, shall we?”

“Coffee tomorrow?” Swayze asked, looking at Alessande.

“How about noon. Do you know the Mystic Café?” she asked him.

“I do. I’ll see you there.”

He turned and went back to the audition room.

“A friend?” Declan asked, looking at Sailor. “A very old friend?”

She shrugged. “I didn’t tell him how old.”

“Not the point,” Declan warned.

Slipping her arm through his and leaning against his shoulder, Sailor giggled. “Don’t be jealous. I won’t be meeting him, Alessande will. I think she’ll be able to figure out what’s going on with our screenwriter—if anything even is. Don’t you?”

Declan only grunted. Behind them, Alessande felt a twinge of resentment; Declan should know that she was very adept at what she did.

“And besides,” Sailor said, “I really would like a part in that movie, and I think Alessande can make that happen for me.”

As they walked out of the building, Alessande had the curious feeling of being watched. She turned around to look, but she didn’t see anyone.

And yet she was certain that someone was observing them closely.