Kissed by Smoke (6 page)

“I don’t know. All I know is you were right.
Vega was murdered by a supernatural.”

***

The first thing I did after we left the
funeral home was call Jack. I might be pissed at him, but I still
needed his help.

“Listen, Jack, is there something I should
know about the amulet?”

He hesitated. Telling, if you ask me.

“I need the truth, Jack.”

He sighed. “What is it doing?”

“Glowing. The damn thing’s been lighting up
like a Christmas tree.”

A pause. “How many times has it
happened?”

“Three times. Dammit, Jack … ”

“And what were you doing when it started
glowing?” he interrupted.

“The first time was at my birthday party.
Kabita was doing some kind of ceremony. Cleansing my aura or
something.”

“There was sage involved?”

I frowned, forgetting he couldn’t see me.
“Uh, yeah. How’d you know?”

He ignored my question. “And the second and
third times?”

I glanced over at Inigo. I’d let him drive
the Mustang. I was still a little shaky after the weirdness. “I
don’t know, exactly.”

“What do you mean by that? Exactly.”

I sighed and shoved a lock of violet red
hair out of my face. I really needed a haircut. “I was trying to
figure out how someone died.”

Jack was silent.

I sighed again. “He died under mysterious
circumstances, okay? And the cops are saying it was suicide, so I
thought I’d check it out.”

“You just thought you’d check out some
random stranger’s body? Come on, Morgan. Be straight with me.”

“Fine. The person in question was possibly
connected to the supernatural, so I thought I’d see if there was
more to his death than, you know, normal dying.”

“And was there?”

“Oh, yeah.”

I could almost see Jack frowning on the
other end of the line. “So, the amulet started glowing around the
dead body?”

“Well, yeah. Once I started channelling
wind.”

A heartbeat. “Excuse me?”

“Um, yeah. It’s my new thing. Apparently I
can channel wind, though it looks kind of weird and smoky, or
misty, or something.”

“I assume you discovered this by
accident.”

“Yeah. You could definitely say that.”
Discovering a new superpower had so not been on my agenda.

I told Jack how the wind had swirled out of
me. How the amulet had started glowing, and then seeing the red
man-thing sucking the life out of Daniel Vega.

“Crap.”

“I know, right? Please, Jack, what the hell
is going on?”

“With the wind channelling, I have no idea.
That’s Eddie’s department. The amulet … ”

“Yeah?” Damn, it was like pulling teeth.

“The amulet has been known to glow when it
senses a certain type of magic nearby.”

I was getting a really bad feeling about
this. “What type of magic, Jack?” I all but snapped.

“Sidhe magic.”

Well, damn.

“Wait. Jack said it glows when sidhe magic
is near, right?” Inigo’s forehead creased in a frown as he stared
at the road twisting into the darkness in front of him.

“Yeah, that’s what he said.”

“There wasn’t any sidhe magic at your
birthday party. Not until Fringe anyway.”

I rolled my eyes. “Don’t remind me.
Apparently the amulet does sometimes respond to Earth Magic, as
well.”

“Which is what Kabita does.”

“Yep. That’s why Jack asked about the sage.”
I noticed it had started snowing again. A few little flakes glowing
white against the darkness as they drifted slowly on the wind.

“I still don’t get why it lit up like a
Christmas tree in the mortuary. I think we’d have noticed if there
were any sidhe around.”

He wasn’t wrong about that. The sidhe didn’t
exactly blend. At least not to Hunter eyes. And Inigo’s dragon
senses certainly would have picked one up.

“I don’t get it either.” I frowned. “There’s
something we’re not getting. I need to give Eddie a call
tonight.”

“After dinner at your mother’s.”

“Yeah. After that.” Oh, the joy. It wasn’t
that I didn’t love my mother, but she did like to get rather over
involved in my life. Exibit A: That godsawful accountant she’d sent
me on a blind date with. Ugh.

A deer darted in front of my car, nearly
sending my heart thumping out of my chest.

Calm down, love. My reflexes are faster than that.
Inigo’s mind caressed mine. His energy was so soothing I wanted to
melt. Sometimes there were benefits to having a boyfriend who was
half dragon.

“Either stop that or pull this car over.” I
was practically squirming in my seat as he continued sending
tendrils of warmth through my body.

“Why’s that?” His voice was oh, so innocent,
but his blue eyes sparkled with wickedness behind the lenses of his
glasses. Gods, I loved him in those nerdy classes. Talk about
sexy.

“Pull over. Now.”

“If I pull over we’ll be late to your
mother’s for dinner,” he said, his tone oh so logical. But his mind
never stopped playing with mine. In a really good way.

“I don’t fucking care.”

A smile tugged at the corners of his lips.
He pulled over.

***

“You’re late. Dinner is practically ice
cubes.” My mother was the picture of genteel outrage.

“And hello to you, mother.” I kissed her on
the cheek, breathing in the scent of her. She always smelled like
cookies for some reason.

“Is everything okay, sweetie?” I heard the
worry in her tone and felt a stab of guilt. She worried too
much.

“Everything is fine, mom. Just, you know,
snow on the mountain passes. Inigo was being careful.”

“Such a good boy.” She wrapped him in a hug.
“I always know my Morgan is safe with you.”

I had no idea what he’d done to charm her,
but my mother had adored Inigo from the get go. Not something I can
say about most of my past boyfriends. I can’t even imagine what
she’d have had to say about Jack. The very thought gave me brain
freeze.

While Inigo continued his charm offensive, I
snuck off to the bathroom to ring Eddie. He picked up on the third
ring.

“Majicks and Potions, Eddie speaking.” His
voice was filled with warmth and good humor.

“Hey, Eddie.”

“Morgan,” his voice took on an edge of
concern. “How are you? We haven’t been able to speak since that
ghastly incident at the club. Cordelia told me all about it.
Shocking.”

“I’m fine, Eddie. I just need to have a chat
with you about this new case I’m on. Will you be around later
tonight?”

“Oh, dear, I’m so sorry. Usually I would,
but I was invited to attend a Steampunk convention
after-party.”

“A what?”

He chortled. “Steampunk. Surely you’re not
that
out of
the loop, Morgan. You practically dress the part, after all.”

I had no idea what he was talking about. He
might as well have been speaking Chinese. Or sports. “I know what
Steampunk is.” Of course I did. Victorian era sci-fi, more or less.
Someone once described it as Hot Topic meets a BBC Costume drama. I
just didn’t know what the heck a Steampunk party was. “Eddie, this
is important. Please.”

“Very well. Why don’t you come by the party
later? It’ll go into the small hours. I’m sure we can find a place
to chat. I’ll leave your name with the bouncer.”

Eddie was going to a party that needed a
bouncer? “Sounds great.”

He quickly gave me the address. Before he
hung up he said, “Oh, and Morgan. Wear your hunting boots. And a
corset.”

I stared at the phone with my mouth hanging
open.

***

The party turned out to be in one of the
huge multi-million dollar houses in the West Hills. The kind that
was supposed to look like it came straight out of a fairytale, with
diamond paned windows and fake turrets. Usually they just looked
tacky, but someone had made sure they got the specs on this one
right. I’d have been hard put to distinguish it from a real Tudor
back in England.

There was an honest-to-gods bouncer on the
door. Just like it was a freaking nightclub or something. Except
the bouncer’s muscular frame had been crammed into black leather
trousers and a sleeveless leather vest that were both way too
tight. Over it he wore what looked like an antique military jacket
of some kind. I had to admit it was kind of sexy.

“Invitations.” His voice was low and growly
and just as sexy as his outfit. It was also not entirely human.

“We’re here to meet Eddie Mulligan.”

“Name.”

Not a talkative kind of guy then. “Morgan
Bailey. This is … ” I started to give him Inigo’s name, but the
bouncer cut me off.

“Go on in.” He stepped back and let us
through the door.

Inside a girl waited to take our coats. She
was pretty and petite and wearing a crimson hoopskirt and matching
bustier. I decided to just go with it.

Inigo gave me a wolf whistle as I shrugged
my coat off. I’d taken Eddie’s advice and donned a corset with my
jeans and steampunk-style hunting boots. I don’t wear a corset
often, but I have to admit I love them. They sort of nipped a girl
in and pushed her out in all the right places. And frankly, they
made my boobs look awesome. Something Inigo had clearly
noticed.

“Thanks. You’re not so bad yourself.”

And he wasn’t. Oh, boy, he wasn’t. I’d half
a mind to drag his ass out the door and back home. Screw the
case.

He was wearing an ordinary pair of jeans and
a white shirt, but over the top he’d thrown a gorgeous black
embroidered waistcoat that would have made Beau Brummel drool. He’d
topped that off with a long, black duster a la Wyatt Earp. The
whole outfit on his well-toned physique was seriously
scrumptious.

His eyes twinkled golden. His dragon half
was close to the surface and it liked that it was turning me on. I
stepped closer, my lips inches away from his, and trailed my
fingers along his right hip. The hip that bore such a uniquely
beautiful birthmark. A birthmark he’d been surprisingly
self-conscious about until I’d shown him just how beautiful I
thought it was.

“Come on, sexy beast,” I whispered. “Let’s
do what we came to do and get the hell out of Dodge.”

Blue flashed back through his eyes. “You got
it, baby.” He nodded toward the room down the hall where the party
was obviously taking place. I could hear what sounded like a twangy
version of Evanescence. “Let’s go see what Eddie’s up to.”

What Eddie was up to was flirting with a
group of women wearing brass goggles and not much else. I’d no idea
he was such a lady-killer. Go Eddie.

“Morgan! Inigo! Come! Ladies, I would like
you to meet my lovely friends, Morgan Bailey and Inigo Jones.”

He rattled off the women’s names, but I
hardly noticed. I was too busy watching what was going on around
me. It was like the Mad Hatter’s tea party got thrown in a blender
with a BBC costume drama and the cast of Blade. Holy crap, some guy
in a bowler hat was riding a velocipede around the living room.

The women around Eddie were giving Inigo the
eyeball. Couldn’t say I blamed them. He was pretty tasty.
Fortunately for them, I wasn’t really the jealous type. I knew
damned well he was going home with me. They could flirt to their
hearts’ content for all the good it would do them.

I made to follow Eddie out of the room, but
just before I did, I turned around and winked at the group of
women. I couldn’t help myself. I’m pretty sure the devil made me do
it. In any case, they all looked just a little bit nervous. Points
to me.

Eddie wended his way through a group of
people dressed like they were ready to board a pirate ship. One of
them saluted us rather drunkenly with his sword and babbled about
an airship raid later, and did we want to join? I politely
declined.

We ended up in the pantry off the kitchen.
Fortunately it was a big pantry. How on earth in a house the size
of Texas was the pantry the only quiet place?

“What do you think of the party? Isn’t it
wonderful?”

“It’s … quite a party.” I still wasn’t sure
whether the party-goers were insane, or genius. In any case, their
outfits were to die for. “Listen, Eddie. I really need your help.
Something weird is going on.”

His eyebrows raised at that, disappearing
under the brim of his top hat. He looked rather fetching in his
turn-of-the-century penguin suit. “As opposed to the usual
non-weird stuff that goes on?”

I laughed. “Fair point.”

“Tell me.”

So, I told him about the amulet glowing and
channelling wind. I described the creature I’d seen kill Agent
Vega.

“Wait, stop there. How did the creature
actually kill Vega?”

I shrugged. “I’m not really sure, but it
looked like it sucked his soul right out of his body. That’s crazy,
right?”

Eddie yanked off his glasses, polished them,
and popped them back on. He looked worried. I didn’t like that my
usually cheerful go-to-guy looked worried. It so wasn’t a good
sign.

“I’m afraid it’s not crazy at all, my dear
Morgan. I’m afraid what you’re dealing with is a djinni.”

“What, do you mean, djinni? Like a genie?
Like Aladdin or something?” I couldn’t help the incredulity. The
image of a giant blue Robin Williams sucking the life out of
somebody was just way over the edge.

Eddie’s usually cherubic face was grim. “Oh,
no. Nothing so Disney as all that. Yes, that’s where the story came
from, but the djinn are nothing so fluffy.”

“Okay, so what are they?”

He leaned back against the wall and pondered
for a moment. “Well, first off it’s unusual, to say the least, to
find one in the Oregon high desert. They tend to stick to their
home turf.”

“Which is?”

“The Middle East. Parts of Africa. That’s
not to say they don’t exist elsewhere, it’s just not common. Though
the Oregon high desert could be dry enough for them, and they like
remote places.”