Page 37 of Rune Assassin

Miles was only too eager to bow out of the room. He even left the doors open in his hurry to vanish from sight.

Lusio shuffled around the desk and collapsed into his chair. He cupped half his head in one hand and closed his eyes. “Why have the gods sought to curse me with this ill luck?”

“I doubt the gods have anything to do with the cause and consequence of this ‘ill luck,’” Tegan mused.

Lusio’s eyes flew open and he gave Tegan a sharp look. “What do you mean?”

“Your vampire employees could answer that question better than I, but if you’ll excuse us, we have a trial location to inspect.”

Tegan took my hand and led me out of the room. I was glad to be away from the testy Lusio and his oppressive paranoia.

“That guy can’t have too many friends,” I commented as we strode down the hall.

“And many enemies,” Tegan added as he pursed his lips. “That won’t make our job any easier.”

“Do you think it could be one of the-” My suggestion was interrupted by the appearance of Morrigan and company as they walked down the winding stairs.

The trio stopped at the bottom and she inclined her head to me. “I see you’re going out. Would you care for some company?”

I snorted. “From you? Hell no.”

Tegan grinned and bowed his head to her. “I second that motion, now if you’ll excuse us we have some grass to trod.”

CHAPTERTWENTY

We zoomedpast them and through the front doors to the sunny morning. I took a deep breath of the clear, non-Key air and sighed. “Those guys don’t let up, do they?”

“Not when their prey is so close at hand,” Tegan reminded me. “We’ll have to keep one eye on them and another on the shadows.”

“And a third eye on wherever we’re going right now,” I quipped as we strolled down the driveway. “There are dozens of fields around here and I didn’t get a good look at the one he pointed out.”

We reached the main road and Tegan looked up and down the thoroughfare. “I think I can find us the way but do you prefer the skies or the road?”

I tapped the toes of one of my feet against the road. “I think road. The dust isn’t so bad that I’ll end up choking every other step. Besides, I left my broom behind and I don’t think we want to catch even more attention with your dragon wings.”

Summon it.

I shot straight up and blinked. “Come again?”

Tegan cocked his head to one side and lifted an eyebrow at me. “I didn’t say anything.”

I massaged the side of my forehead with one hand. “I swear I heard a voice telling me to summon it, whatever ‘it’ that was.”

“We were just mentioning your broom,” Tegan pointed out as he studied me. “But did you recognize the voice?”

I stared at the ground and wrinkled my brow. “It did sound familiar, but I can’t quite place it. Maybe it’s some trick of Domini’s with that blood contract?”

“Perhaps,” Tegan mused as he turned to face the house. “But you could give it a try. Think of it as Key practice.”

“But my powers are blinding people and giving them a bad hair day,” I reminded him as I, too, turned back to the villa.

“Youaremore than a Clasp,” he reminded me. “You’re also a Twilight Witch.”

“Whatever that is. . .” I muttered. I froze and my eyes widened. “That’s it!”

“You know how to summon the broom?” he guessed.

I shook my head. “That voice! I recognize it! It was that Zahn vampire! The one we were looking for!”

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