Even Vampires Get The Blues

"He's not here?" I asked the housekeeper as Paen and I stood in the hallway of the big old house. "Is he going to be back soon? We had an appointment to meet him this morning."

"He said nothing to me about that," the housekeeper said, plainly wishing we'd go and leave her to her work. "The last I heard from the professor he was in Barcelona, and wasn't expected to be back for several days."

I looked at Paen as the door closed behind us while we stood on the front steps. The sky was black and sodden, rain falling in an endless misery. "He's gone?"

"Evidently," Paen said, turning up the collar of his coat. "I think we should—"

He stopped abruptly, grabbing my arm in a grip that was almost painful.

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" I asked, a sudden chill brushing me.

He hauled me forward to the car, jerked the door open, and shoved me inside.

"Hey!" I said as he slammed the door and raced around to the driver's side. "What gives?"

He started the car and jammed his foot onto the accelerator. "It's Finn."

"Oh? Are they interviewing the poltergeist?"

"They were," he answered, his voice deep with anger.

What's wrong? What's happened? Why are you so mad?

Paen spun the car around an intersection, blithely disregarding both traffic safety and all applicable laws. It's Clare. She's been kidnapped. By a small, dark man with a monkey on his shoulder.

Chapter 18

"Where is she?"

Paen pulled up in front of a small, comfortable-looking bed-and-breakfast. Finn dashed from the protective shadowed doorway to the car, climbing into the backseat as I asked my question.

"I don't know," Finn answered, his face bloodied and black with anger. "The bastard grabbed her as we were talking with Reuben. I don't know what the hell he is, but he has some serious power at his control. He slammed me up against the side of the building before I even knew what was happening. I think I was knocked out for a few minutes, because when I came to he was shoving Clare back into her car. I tried to go after them, but didn't make it far on foot. I can promise you this, though—when I find the slimy wanker, I'm going to beat the living shit out of him."

"Sam?" Paen asked, waiting for me to tell him which direction to go.

"I'll try, but no promises." I closed my eyes and cleared my mind of everything until it was as blank as a clean sheet of paper. My thoughts went to Clare, visualizing her, drawing from within all the emotions that represented her. I saw Clare as a child at a birthday party, happy and laughing; Clare as a teenager on a double date, gorgeous and poised next to my gawky, awkward self; Clare as she was last week, helping me move furniture around the dusty, dank office, happy and excited and talking non-stop. I held all of those memories and emotions tight inside me, and used them to find where she was.

"To the east," I said, looking in that direction. "She's to the east of the city."

Paen pulled out a map from a pocket on the door, spreading it out on the steering wheel. "Can you pinpoint where?"

One possibility jumped out at me. I didn't hesitate as I tapped my finger on a large beige shape. "Dunstan Moor. I just bet you he's taken her there."

"Why?" Paen asked. "Why would he want to kidnap her in order to take her to a movie set?"

"It's not the movie set that's the attraction," I said, making shooing motions until Paen pulled out onto one of the major arterials leading to the east. "It's the lodestone."

"The what?" Finn had used a couple of tissues from my purse and wiped up most of the blood that had streaked down from a cut above his eyebrow, but he still looked pretty grisly, especially in the gloomy afternoon light. Like Paen, he had shadows under his eyes, making me wonder how much sleep the two had during the past few nights.

"Lodestone." I fell silent, wondering if it really was just four days ago when Paen had walked into my office. We're running out of time.

I know. The pain and regret was in his voice, seeping through despite his attempts not to worry me.

I don't want your mother to have to experience this, I said, rubbing a hand on my chest, as if that would ease the constant agony of howling wind that seemed to tear me apart from the inside out.

I know you don't, love. I don't want you to have to live this way, either. We'll find the statue and the manuscript. Don't worry.

"Lodestone like the magnetic stone?" Finn asked.

"That's one meaning of the word, but in the Fae world, it also refers to a location that is strong with the magic of the beyond, a place that draws elves and faeries. It's like a doorway between realities."

"Something like the place your office is located?" Paen asked.