Page 17 of Kissed the Mark
“Well, I don’t either, but people have aright to know—”
“I don’t have time to parse through yourstory for the truth,” the vampire queen said. “All I can say is,Leandra has been here very recently, and you’re our best bet forbringing her back to us.”
“I’m only the fourth-best tracker in town.You should talk to Allie Godden. She’s really—”
“Allie Godden,” Patricia snapped,enunciating every syllable, “is of no use to me right now. You’rehiding her and we know it.” My heart nearly stopped as the henchmanpaused in front of the folding washer and dryer doors, his hands onthe knobs. “You have three days to cough her up and notify me. Evenif you have to lure her in to do it with whatever possessed her toinvite you into her lair.”
“Patricia, I honestly don’t think I can dothat. She ghosted me!” I clutched my shirt to my chest. “Whathappens if she doesn’t show up?”
The henchman pried the doors open. He tookone glance at the nook and quickly closed the closet.What?
“If you don’t turn Leandra over by midnightthree days from now,” Patricia said with finality, “I will have youterminated from the Bounty Hunters’ Guild.”
Chapter Nine
Duck, Duck, Vampire
AFTER THE VAMPIRE QUEEN LEFT, and I had extractedLeandra from the exposed rafters she clung to in some odd moment ofclarity to escape the vampire trio’s notice, the weight of thesituation really dawned on me. I made a decision to take action nowinstead of thinking it through—and that meant going to the farmer’smarket.
The farmer’s market in Mayfair was heldevery three days at dawn, which is to say, about an hour before thesun rises to an hour after it has risen. This was so thatnocturnal, diurnal, and crepuscular beings could congregate in oneplace at our preferred times without anyone turning into a pile ofdust. Most of us were nocturnal, which made the prospect of dawn abit exciting—staying up late! The actual market took place in anempty field that somehow was given the name Stygian Park. Sellerswould set up their tents and stands and refreshments were passedaround galore.
Humans who happened to attend thought it wasone of our weird cult conventions, of course. I thought it was likethe magic market scene inStardustbut a lot lessromantic.
“Give your ex genital boils!” a witchshouted at me from her stall, waving a stoppered jar full of anghastly green liquid with herbs floating in it. Yuki, leashed butattracted to all the wrong things, surged toward the seller withthe strength of a being that knows it cannot die. She yowled as Iextracted her claws from the witch’s tablecloth.
“Sorry, no one I’d wish that on, thanks,” Imuttered to the seller, who huffed at the new rips in herdisplay.
Yuki was no longer getting along withLeandra. She urinated in the bed when Leandra slept there—and, likeeating, urination was a voluntary function for her, having no realpurpose since she was dead. I’d paid Jian, the server from The JadeSpirit, $40 to give me a call if he saw anyone leaving myapartment. He raised his eyebrows at me but said nothing—I figuredworking for the e gui he’d been asked to do worse.
The stalls glowed shades of red, purple, andorange against the hazy, lightening hue of the sky. I was here fora very specific purpose but didn’t want to be obvious about it incase the wrong person was watching. I stopped at a stall where ahobgoblin sold fart cushions that would follow the victim aroundall day, another where a demon sold a moisturizer that it swore hadgotten rid of its eyebags, and finally one where a jinn sold wishesbehind a plain beaten table. Ah, to wish Leandra’s memories back.It sounded too easy.
“What do you take for currency?” I asked.Most sellers had signs that said they were cash only, could takecard, would barter, etc. His stand was so spare it was hard totell.
The jinn cleared his throat. He was quitehandsome, with curling dark hair and smoky black eyes, dressed insome band T-shirt I didn’t recognize and a wrinkled pair of cargopants. “Feet pics,” he said.
Still, I hesitated. Feet pics to keep myjob? There were worse things. “Uh, I’m going to keep looking to seeif someone else has what I need. Thanks, though.” I pretended notto notice his eyes burning holes into my shoes.
What I was really interested in, though,were the witches selling spells and potions. “I keep forgetting mymom’s address—do you have anything to help me remember?” I asked atone stall, and, “Do you have anything for remembering the firsttime I tried ice cream?” and then, “I was the only witness to abank robbery—but I can’t remember what the robber looked like!”
At the last stall, where I made up somestory about a long-lost twin sister to a witch named Martha who hadonce sold me an excellent cold-busting soup, she said: “I don’t buythat ridiculous story, but I might have something for you.”
It was not one of the potions on display.She pulled out her personal bag and rifled through it, finallyextracting a vial with a small amount of completely clear liquid.“This was supposed to clear sinuses,” she said, “but it completelyjogged the memory of one of my clients, and he remembered the exactmoment someone had sneezed on him and passed him the flu. May thatgnome rest in peace.”
“I’ll take it,” I said. She accepted mycredit card while Yuki sniffed at the bottle and sneered with hermouth open as she processed the smell.
The sky was really lightening now. When thesun rose, The Jade Spirit closed for a handful of hours untildaytime lunch, and Jian would most certainly have gone home to dowhatever humans who work for ghosts do during the day.
To my dismay, when I turned the corner tothe block I lived on, Leandra was right outside the doors of TheJade Spirit, eating a cooked piece of chicken against the buildingwithJian.
“Excuse me? Jian, what did I even pay youfor?” I asked, huffing. Behind me, Yuki also huffed.
“I went to call you, but she came right into the restaurant and asked for meat. So you paid for—”
“…More kung pao chicken. Got it,” I said,sighing. “Leandra, the sun is almost completely up. You have to getinside.”
“In a minute,” she said with her mouth full.I had never known a vampire who liked cooked meat. “This is reallywell-seasoned.”
“Thank you,” Jian said, beaming. “It’s ourbestseller.”
