vampires mage 02 - witch hunter Read Free

palm. “The mage told me humans have been going missing from all over Cambridge and Boston.”
    Orcus grunted, completely uninterested.
    “Did you know your client was from Maremount?” she asked.
    “Is that so?” Crunch.
    “He said that in my homeland, demons and humans are kept separate. He said something went wrong in the early days of Maremount. The demons got out of control, and the city’s philosophers had to put protections in place.”
    Orcus’s looked up from his breakfast. “Seems awfully one-sided.”
    She cocked her head. “I’m totally confused. How did Caine end up with my parents as a little boy if the city was protected from demons?”
    “Never mind that.” His eyes darted back to his breakfast. “I have some dried bloodroot I need you to make into a paste.”
    “Bloodroot. Right.” She dropped her empty coffee cup on the table, crossing her arms. “Do you know anything about my family?”
    “I know you shouldn’t be interrogating my clients.” Orcus snatched the bowl of sugar from the center of the wooden table and poured out a mountain of granules. His long, pointed tongue darted out to lick his finger, which he dabbed in the sugar before sucking it clean.
    Rosalind grimaced, her stomach turning.Nausea welled in her gut, and Orcus’s eating habits weren’t helping the situation. “What are you afraid I might learn if I speak to your clients?”
    “A bunch of horseshit to nourish the soil of your nightmares. You should be sleeping soundly. And you should eat. You’re getting too thin.” He licked his finger again, jabbing it into his sugar pile. “I’m going to make you a soporific potion. You’ve become unhinged.”
    She’d been getting sick of Orcus telling her she looked tired, so she’d slapped on extra makeup from Tammi’s stash today—a dewy blush, deep raspberry lipstick, concealer under her eyes. But apparently reapers couldn’t be fooled with makeup. “I haven’t been feeling well.” Her leg bounced up and down. “And I feel out of the loop. It’s strange to me that Caine took Tammi.”
    “I’m sure he has his reasons.”
    “You’re sure Tammi is in a safe place? I just find the whole thing odd—Caine taking her while we slept, with no explanation.”
    “I told you. He put up the wards, and took her to a safe house. It’s in the letter he wrote for me, marked with his seal.”
    She shook her head. “I thought this was a safe house.”
    Orcus’s large, dark eyes surveyed her, and he leaned forward. “Listen, girl. I’ve been a warrior far longer than you have. But my orders are to keep you here. I don’t like it any better than you do. I should be out there, collecting souls for Nyxobas, slaughtering hellhounds in the night. It delights me to hear their death cries, and I’m denied this simple pleasure by your stifling presence. And yet I do it, because it’s my duty. I serve the god of night in whichever ways he requires.”
    Time for another tactic. She didn’t give a flying fuck about Nyxobas, but maybe duty was the best way to appeal to Orcus. “What if I can serve the god of night by helping Caine? What if he needs me?”
    Another lick off his finger. “For what?”
    “I can help get him out of danger.”
    Orcus paused, mid-lick. “He can kill people with his mind. I don’t think he needs the help of a human girl.”
    She crossed her arms. “When we were together, he needed my mage powers to transport us from one place to another during emergencies.”
    The reaper’s pale face broke into an unnerving, toothy smile, lending him the appearance of a death’s head. “Did he now? And how do you suppose he survived such a long time without you?”
    “What do you mean, ‘such a long time’?”
    His eyes bulged and he stood, picking up his bowl. “I’m not here to engage in idle gossip. Get the bloodroot. It needs crushing.”
    Rosalind wasn’t letting it go that easily. “I don’t get it,” she pressed. “If he didn’t need me to