Page 91 of Love Lives
"Looks like they're thieves too," the woman observed.
"Takes one to know one," Florence quipped. "Don't think I didn't notice you reach into the shelves."
"They won't miss a few spoons when they're dead," Miko gave back.
"Stay on topic," Heartscales commanded. He handed the marble over to Miko. "Are you familiar with the spell cast on this?"
"Oh, please. It's rookie level protection. They probably got it from some cheap store." She took the marble and waved her free hand along its sides while muttering something under her breath that sounded like a foreign language. "There we go." As she said it, the marble lit up, the blackness receding until it shone red.
Did that mean it was functional again? I almost didn't believe my eyes as Miko lifted the marble to her forehead, clearly seeing the memories trapped within. "Well, that's interesting."
My jaw clenched. I knew what she’d seen in that marble. The same things I saw in my dreams, most probably. I’d given up on the idea of making Vlad remember, but if we could… If Atlus was right and their love had endured to this day… he would stop acting against us.
He could take care of the Keepers for us.
"I know who really killed your friend," I spoke up, heart pounding. Sweat gathered in my palms. Was I really going to do this? It was a gamble, but I couldn’tnotintervene either.
Miko shot me a sharp look. "Shut up. We'll deal with you later."
"It was the vampire you saw in that marble," I pressed on. My siblings were eyeing me critically now, but I wasn't about to be deterred. They hadn't seen what I'd seen. If we didn't do anything...
In front of my mind's eye, the man with the scales snapped my little brother's neck between his hands.
I swallowed hard, suppressing the images.
"I can get that vampire to come here," I said. "He wants us dead just as much as you do."
"You think he's going to kill us," Heartscales said. "That's why you're offering to call him in. Do you really think we're stupid enough to let you call in back-up?"
"He must be on your hit list too," Aldrich spoke up, surprising me. "He's killed several witches over the last few days. We're the perfect bait."
I glanced at Aldrich from the corner of my eyes. He looked perfectly calm as he spoke, but there was a quiet determination underlining his features. As if he had a plan too, even if I didn't know what it was.
The Keepers turned away from us, debating among themselves in a tone too quiet for me to hear. Even the few words I did pick up sounded garbled, like a foreign language translated back into English via web-search.
Aldrich inched closer to me. "You can fix these, right?" His gaze darted down to our handcuffs.
I got what he was trying to say. He meant for me to unlock these with my magic. I wasn't sure that it was possible, though. I'd never tried to open magical locks.
"Principle should be the same," he said.
"But even if..." I trailed off, not sure how to put what I wanted to say in words that wouldn't be understood by the Keepers. Even if my hands were free, what would I do with them?
"How would you contact your ally?" That was the feathered man's voice. It very nearly made me jump, as if I'd been caught doing something wrong.
"He's not our ally," I responded. "But I have his number on my phone." The phone they'd taken off me.
The Keeper gestured to the pile of devices on the table. "Which one?"
"The blue one," I responded. "He's saved as Vlad."
It didn't surprise me that Miko managed to unlock my phone without any trouble. Idly, I wondered if she was going to be browsing through my messages and emails, but she didn't seem to be doing that. "We'll text him," she said. "After we've disposed of you. So thanks for the hint."
I cursed under my breath. Things really weren't going my way tonight, were they?
Luke prodded my leg with his foot. Then he gestured at the couch behind me. I had no idea what he wanted me to see, though.
Until I spotted it, half-hidden under one of the throw pillows on the couch lay his phone. He must have left it there when he fell asleep earlier.
