The Isis Collar

Eventually.



But I also can’t deny that John and I—yes, in my head, I did think of him as John—had an intense chemistry. I have to struggle not to throw myself at him whenever we’re together. And he’s impressed me, both as a mage and as a bodyguard. I trust him with my back, which I couldn’t say about many people. He’s intelligent, powerful, and magnetic. Trust and attraction—a heady combination.



Was it more than business? Yes. How much more? Thus far I hadn’t been willing to find out. Relationships are complicated and I’m not very good at them. Why get involved just to discover it won’t work?



“Can we keep it business for a little longer if I promise to call you John? I need to find out what’s wrong with me before I think about anything serious.”



He stared at me for a long moment and then dipped his head once. “I told you once that winning you would be a marathon, not a sprint. Today just proves that. Deal. You stock up on any charm you can find to stave off the demonic and I’ll find out what this spell is. Tell Isaac I’ll have to do the fitting another time. I’ve got a few minutes before a meeting this afternoon, and then I have to go out of town for a day or so. But I’ll get back to you on this tomorrow at the latest. You find anything on the wall to stave off the demonic and use them.”



That made me frown. “You just said it wasn’t demonic.”



“That’s true. But the spell could have opened you to a random event. I’d recommend as many aura protection items you can afford and maybe a Clear Mind charm or two.”



Oh. Yeah, that made sense. And hey, if I was lucky they might stave off the sleepwalking. Maybe. But it made me nervous, too. I don’t like being vulnerable and he’d just told me I was. “You think you can figure out how to fix the spell, right? So it shouldn’t be a big deal.”



His face became the poster child for intensity. “I will fix the spell. I’ll go to my workshop and start a casting to break down the elements of the spell. That can work by itself even while I’m out of town. I’ll have to move around a few appointments, but I can manage it. Expect a counterspell done by dinnertime. Keep your cell handy. You might have to come to me for the working when I figure it out.”



He sounded suddenly so much like Bruno it made me smile. They were very competitive and talented enough that they felt that nothing should be beyond fixing. And they’d never admit that they couldn’t unwind any sort of casting.



I stood up, put a hand on his arm, and met his flame-kissed eyes. “Thank you, John. Really. I don’t want you to worry about me. Still, I think it’s sweet. And I know this screws up your day. But you’re making me feel a lot less scared about something I’ve been trying not to think about.”



He let out a slow sigh and pulled back his hand just enough to interlace his fingers with mine. “I don’t want to worry about you, either, Celia. But you live a life that makes it almost impossible not to. Now shoo. I’m going back to the office to clear my calendar and then to start to work on this. Get your charms and get somewhere safe until I call.”



Sounded like a plan to me.



10



Safe is a relative term.



Dawna tossed me the keys on the way out to the car. “I know how much you hate being a passenger. Besides, I’m tired.”



“Maybe you should take the rest of the day off.”



“I would, but I have this important research project I need to work on.” She gave me a tired smile as she climbed into the passenger seat. “I’ll be fine. Really.”



There was no point in arguing with her. Besides, I wasn’t in the mood. The snow had all melted away, leaving behind rich green sprouts and flowers only a little the worse for wear. I had a bag full of new goodies in the backseat, including lots of protection charms and the pretty garnet cross for Gran. I even bought a shiny new agate pinkie ring that promised aura protection. I’d already broken one Clear Mind charm and felt my thinking sharpen. I felt ready for anything—for at least the next twelve to twenty-four hours, or so promised the packaging.



Dawna was wearing several new bracelets with delicately braided runes in pretty patterns, plus her jacket, specially adapted by Isaac to hold several wooden stakes and a few holy-water squirt guns. I convinced her to splurge on the One Shot brand because they’re reliable in a crisis. There’s no beating that, even though they’re twice the cost of most of the alternatives.



I guess I hadn’t realized how much she was still struggling with the fact that she’d been attacked by a vampire. Lilith had been an ancient bat, so powerful she qualified as a full-fledged demon. She wanted me and had used Dawna to get information.



I was amazed she was still sane.



It’s significant and worrying that she’s never talked to me directly about any of this. Her therapist talks to my therapist who talks to me. It’s hard to get much information that way because it’s constantly filtered under the guise of “the best interests of the patient.” But I knew that Lilith had made Dawna a human servant and when the vampire died, she’d felt it to her very core. Maybe it was finally time to break the ice about that night.



“Gorgeous jacket. Isaac does good work.” The cherry red blazer was one Dawna’d had for a year or so, a designer original we’d picked up at an outlet store for a song. It still looked the same to the casual eye. But my eye wasn’t casual. “Just at a glance, I’d say he gave you some room under the arms for extra stakes or knives and flared the back so you could draw the guns. Anything else?”



She smiled and flipped up the collar to reveal a rosary attached to the fabric with Velcro. Cute. “Added backup in case there are two.”



I nodded and watched the traffic while I tried to figure out how to ask my next question. “Have there been occasions lately that would call for added backup?”



There was silence in the seat next to me for so long that I finally looked over at her when I could spare a glance. Her lips were tight together and her eyes stared at nothing while tears rolled down her cheeks.



“Dawna?”



I could smell her pain, could hear it in her voice. “Last week I decided I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich for supper from that new little restaurant down the street. They use three different cheeses and you can pick your bread. You know the one?”



I did, so I nodded.



“It was dark by the time I left because I got caught up in a magazine article. I didn’t think much about it. I’ve been doing better about being alone at night. I was almost back to my car when I heard a voice whisper from a doorway. It said, You should have died with her. It took a minute to sink in, y’know? But then I heard it again, from way up high when there was nothing high around to perch on. It scared me, Celia. It felt like I was being stalked. It … made me remember … and—” She couldn’t go on. I couldn’t pull over on the freeway to give her a hug. So I reached across the car and put a comforting hand on the back of her neck.



I took a deep breath and let it out slow. Stalking and scary. I knew all about both. “Will the blazer make you feel safe?”



She nodded. “It does already.”



“So Isaac taught you how to use the stakes?” It was a loaded question and maybe it was evident in my voice. Because Isaac doesn’t do classes.



She shrugged and sounded confused. “They’re stakes. What’s to learn?”



I winced internally but only let her see my nod. “Do me a favor. Hit my arm. Really punch it.”



She frowned but obeyed. I barely felt the tap. I put on the blinker to turn into the office parking lot. “Again. Really put your shoulder into it.”



Dawna shrugged and punched again. She hit me with what I think she believed was force, because she wound up grimacing and shaking her hand like it hurt. “Damn, girlfriend. Your bicep is like a rock. There isn’t enough room in here to budge it.”



I parked the car and turned in my seat so I could watch her face. “And that’s just plain muscle. Not bone. Now imagine trying to push those two-inch-wide stakes under your arm through to the other side of my arm with a single blow, with the same amount of working space. Trust me. You would barely have made it through the skin.”



What I was trying to tell her finally sank in and the fear returned in a wash that paled her skin. “But I thought—”



I touched her arm. “Everybody does. It’s okay. Really. People buy the stakes but have no idea what to do with them. You might get lucky and wound a bat and make it run just from the smell of the wood, but if you really want to protect yourself, you have to learn how to actually use them.” It was obvious this was really important to her. It might have been a suggestion from her therapist that she get some protection to ease her mind. “If you want to learn how, I’d be happy to teach you.”



Her face brightened. “Would you? Really? That would be … well, amazing!”



She meant it, which sort of surprised me. It could mean that she really didn’t have a grasp of what I was offering. Still, she was my best friend. I’d do everything in my power to make sure she felt confident to handle bats. If she was right and some vampire had targeted her because they thought she’d betrayed Lilith … well, that was a whole new ball game. “Come by my house tonight around eight and bring whatever you want to learn more about, including those charm disks. You need to see what they do in controlled circumstances.”



“Tonight? Couldn’t we do it now?”



It made me laugh as I was unbuckling my seat belt. “Well, you need to get back to the office and I need to get over to the college. I need to talk to Dr. Sloan about the entity at the FBI office. I’d hoped to sound like I’d at least read his book, but I’ll just have to own up to not having done my ‘homework.’” I gave a rueful grin. “But oh hell, it’s Friday afternoon.”



“No classes?”



“No classes. And I don’t have my car. Crap.”