Cin Craven - Wages of Sin Part 20

"I think it's best if you don't know," he replied.

"I have to know, otherwise how will I know how much to use in the spell?"

He lifted a red fabric bag. "One pinch," he said and lifted a blue bag. "Two pinches of this. The rest is listed in the spell book."

I didn't argue with him. I probably really didn't want to know what was in those bags. I walked over and weighed the individual pouches, looking over the contents of Mr. Pendergra.s.s's worktable as I did so. Jars of all colors and sizes were filled with colored stones, various feathers, dried herbs. When I was a child I'd loved to help my mother hang and dry the herbs for her potions.

When I was a child...

"Ha! I know where the book is!" I crossed the room and pulled open my valise, rummaging through it until I found my black beaded reticule. I checked to make sure the money I had put in it was still there and then added the small pouches containing the herbs and the talisman.

"Justine," I said, "we need to catch a hack to Mayfair."

She frowned. "We should wait for the men."

"It's a waste of time; they can't come with us anyway," I said. "I'm in mourning. Even if I wasn't, I can't possibly show up on my cousin's doorstep in the middle of the night in the company of two strange men I'm not related to. No one will raise an eyebrow if my companion is another woman. Mrs. Mackenzie, what did you tell Thomas?"

"That we'd come to move your personal things out of the house. They offered for you to stay there, in your old room, but I said that we were staying at Grillion's Hotel and that you'd come down with a cold and would visit as soon as you were feeling better."

"Grillion's?"

"Well," she said, "that's where Devlin and Justine and Michael have rooms and it's quite the nicest hotel in Mayfair."

"Yes, I know, but it's rather close to the townhouse. I hope they didn't stop by to call on me. At any rate, it doesn't matter right now. You and Fiona and Mr. Pendergra.s.s wait here. Tell Michael and Devlin where we've gone when they return. We'll be back shortly with everything we need!"

I reached up and kissed Archie on the cheek and whispered, "Thank you, my friend, for everything. Now, go home and make love to your wife."

He blushed and I winked at him. Grabbing Justine's hand, I led her down the stairs.

Chapter Thirty

It took longer than I'd thought to find a hack. We walked for several blocks and still there were none in sight.

"Justine," I said. "Would you sing for me?"

"Now?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Why not?"

She looked at me as if I were insane and then smiled. She hummed a few bars and then her voice rang out, clear and lovely in the still night. I walked along, swinging my reticule from my wrist, and listened to her sing Donna Anna's aria Or sai chi l'onore from Don Giovanni. As we pa.s.sed The Union Arms on Panton Street, several of the pub's patrons came to the door to listen. By the time we reached Haymarket at the end of the block and Justine broke into Zerlina's Vedrai, carino, nearly the whole population of the pub had moved into the street to listen to her. We had just rounded the corner when a small, wiry man stumbled into me as he rushed past. Annoyed more than anything, I scowled at the man's retreating figure until I realized with a start that the heavy weight attached to my wrist was suddenly gone.

"Justine!" I shouted, as if she weren't standing right next to me. "He's cut my purse!"

She never missed a beat of the aria, simply swept aside her cloak, pulled one of the sapphire-tipped daggers from inside her boot and threw it at the man. It hit him in the back of the leg and he fell to the sidewalk. I ran up and s.n.a.t.c.hed my reticule from his grasp and then pulled the knife free. He stumbled to his feet, one hand reaching back and coming away with blood.

"You'll be sorry you did that," he snarled.

"Really?" I said. "And why is that?"

"Because," came a voice from the shadowed alley, "I can't have you stealin' from me brother."

Three large men came out of the alley, stepping into the circle of light cast by the street lamp. One of them stepped forward. "Now hand over the purse."

I threw my hands in the air. "Good G.o.ds, not twice in one night! Do you people have nothing better to do than skulk in alleyways and attack lone females? And what do you mean, 'steal from him'? He cut my purse!"

He shrugged. "Man's got to eat."

"Get a job," I snapped.

"But this is so much easier," he replied with a smile.

The cutpurse stumbled over to the group, hiding behind the bulk of his brother. I looked over at Justine. Her eyes were fixed on the man in front of her, her body vibrating with excitement.

Seeing that look on Justine's face I said, "Do yourself a favor and walk away."

"Not without the purse," he said, cracking his knuckles. "And I'll be havin' the shiny dagger as well."

Justine reached out and I handed her the purse instead of the dagger. I felt much more comfortable armed with a weapon and I knew that the sapphire-tipped blade wasn't the only weapon she had on her. She didn't argue; she simply swept her cloak aside and tied my purse to the thick leather belt she wore.

One of the men nudged the other. "Lookee there, mate! She's wearin' breeches!"

His black-haired companion grunted and laughed. "Maybe we'll be takin' more than the purse, eh?"

Justine raised her arms away from her sides. "If you want my purse or my dagger, mes amies, come and get them."

"Ooh and a Frenchie too," the black-haired man said.

He started forward and quicker than my eyes could follow the movement Justine reached behind her head and drew her sword from her spine sheath. The black-haired man stopped, eyes widening, and glanced back at his companions. The cutpurse's brother shifted uneasily.

"Naw, miss," he said. "You ladies be on your way. No trouble here."

The black-haired man glanced over his shoulder. "They're just two women," he whined.

Justine smiled. "Want to bet your life on that?"

The villain paled and stepped back. "What are you?" he whispered.

Justine sheathed the sword and reached for the b.l.o.o.d.y dagger. I handed it to her without question. She took it and held it under her nose, her eyes closing briefly as she inhaled, and then she very slowly opened her eyes, looked at the man, and licked the blood from the dagger.

"I am the Devil's justice," she said, and even I shivered.

The men paled and stumbled over each other in their haste to flee into the dark depths of the alley. Justine's laughter chased after them as she tucked the dagger back into her boot. Seconds later the clatter of hooves echoed through the night and I looked down the street to see, finally, a hack approaching. I hailed the driver and gave him the address to the townhouse as I climbed into the carriage. Justine glanced back, looking down the shadowed alley almost wistfully, and then climbed in after me.

She laughed. "That was fun."

I shook my head in wonder.

"You didn't think that was fun?" she asked.

I shrugged. "Earlier tonight, when I was alone, there was a man who came up to me outside that tavern-"

"The unconscious man in the alley? The one you fed from?"

"Yes. When I led him into that alley and bit him, I enjoyed his fear, Justine."

"And that scared you. Cin, if you had been merely a defenseless human woman he would have raped you, you know that."

"I guess so."

"There is no harm in feeling joy in victory, Cin."

"It wasn't just joy in victory, Justine. It was something much darker than that." "There is darkness in all of us. Men find it in the rush of battle, the thrill of a well-fought brawl, but women rarely get the chance to feel it for themselves. It was power you felt tonight, the power of your own strength, and it is nothing to be ashamed of."

I frowned and settled deeper into my cloak, wrapping my arms around me as if that small gesture would give me some comfort.

"Then what makes us any different than the monsters?" I asked softly, thinking of the vampires in that warehouse, the floor littered with bodies. Had they felt "joy" in their victories?

"You could have kept that man, fed from his blood and his fear until he was nothing but a dead, empty sh.e.l.l. You didn't though, did you?"

I shook my head.

"You took only what you needed and left him with his life, even though he might have gravely harmed you, might even have killed you, if you hadn't had the power to stop him. That is the difference."

She leaned forward and looked me in the eye, "The ability to temper power with mercy, Cin, is what separates us from the monsters."

Chapter Thirty-One

The hack pulled up in front of the South Audley Street townhouse in Mayfair and Justine and I disembarked. As I paid the driver I noticed the figure of a tall, black-haired woman standing under the streetlamp across the street. She was well-dressed with sharp, angular features... and she appeared to be just standing there watching us.

"Justine?" I said, turning to catch her eye.

When I looked back, though, the woman was gone. I scanned the street in both directions but I found no sign of her.

"What is it?" Justine asked, moving to stand behind me.

"Nothing," I said, shaking my head. "I guess it was nothing."

We turned and climbed the steps to the front door. This had been my family's London residence since before I was born and it was as dear and familiar to me as Ravenworth Hall. Justine looked up at the three-story structure appreciatively.

"It is very nice," she said.

"Thank you. Now, don't forget to keep your cloak closed at all times. I don't think Masterson's old heart could handle the sight of a woman dressed in breeches," I chuckled.

"And how is it that you think you can find this book that Madame Mackenzie and pet.i.te Fiona cannot seem to find?"

I smiled, "Because they were looking in the wrong places. I think one of the girls has pinched it. Magic is fascinating to a child, you know. My money's on Sarah Katherine."

I raised my hand to clasp the big bra.s.s knocker on the door and paused. Laying my hand on the door I stood very still and reached out with my senses, feeling what was beyond.

"What is it?" Justine asked, glancing around.

"Do you feel that?" I whispered.

"Feel what?"

"Evil," I said, simply. Whether it was part of my magic or possibly some of the intuition that my father had had, I knew something was terribly wrong inside that house. "Come, let's slip around the back."

We were headed for the servant's entrance when I spotted a light on in one of the second-story bedrooms. I knew that room well; it had once been mine. I studied it for a moment and tugged at the ivy that climbed the trellis below.

"Justine, can you climb that?" I knew I'd never make it in my dress.

Justine crouched low and then sprang into the air, vaulting onto the balcony with barely a whisper. The movement reminded me of the chained man in the warehouse. Had he really been one of us? Justine leaned over and reached out a hand. I attempted to jump as she had but I didn't make it quite as far. She grabbed my wrist and hauled me over the bal.u.s.trade in a very unladylike manner.

I crept to the balcony door and laid my hand on it, listening. I sensed nothing out of the ordinary here. Knocking lightly, I waited for one of the girls to open the door.

It was fifteen-year-old Sarah Katherine who pulled back the thin draperies an inch or two and stared out at me, her face streaked with tears. Recognition dawned and she jerked open the door, launching herself at me.

"Aunt Dulcie! I'm ever so glad you've come. Something's wrong downstairs. Mama and Papa are in the salon with a man and a woman and I heard Mama scream. I'm a terrible coward, Aunt Dulcie. I should have gone down but I was hiding the little ones."

I looked over her shoulder to see thirteen-year-old Claire and ten-year-old Will huddled together on my four-poster bed. Sarah Katherine stepped back into the room, expecting us to follow. I started forward but was stopped at the doorway by an invisible shield, unable to walk any further into the room.

"Oh, you've got to be joking!" I muttered, reaching up one hand to test the barrier. "This is my bedroom!"

But of course it wasn't, not anymore. The minute my father had died the townhouse and Ravenworth Abbey had become Thomas's. I gritted my teeth.

"Sarah Katherine, you'll have to invite us in, love."

She looked at me in confusion and then blushed. She thought I was reprimanding her manners and I suppose that was just as well.

If she'd truly known what she was inviting into her home she might have left us standing there on the balcony. Squaring her shoulders she said in her best debutante voice, "Forgive me. Ladies, would you please come in?"

Justine and I crossed the threshold.