Zombies Sold Separately Read online

  For a moment I didn’t say anything. I was the one who could impact the future in this situation because I had knowledge and free will according to the Magi. I had never thought a future to be set to begin with. I had always believed we each made choices which would affect the outcome. Always.

  “How do I find the Sorcerer?” I asked.

  “He is an artist.” Kerri met my gaze. “Like your brother.”

  Shock jolted me. “How do you know about my brother?” I realized it was a dumb question once I said it.

  “Look for Desmond where many workers of the arts reside,” Kerri said. “His art is displayed in a small gallery.” She tilted her head as if listening to something. “You will find him in the sun.”

  “I will find him where?” I asked, puzzled.

  “Simply do as I instructed,” Kerri said.

  I didn’t understand why she didn’t just come out and say it, then remembered that Magi are not all-knowing even though it might seem like it.

  “What do I do once I find the Sorcerer?” I asked. “How do I convince him to help?”

  The Magi gave a slight nod toward the stone on the coffee table. “Show him the keystone.”

  I looked at the stone. I could only see the backside of it, and right now I was grateful for that.

  “Handle the stone as little as possible.” The Magi glanced at it before returning her gaze to me. “Every time you touch the stone it becomes a beacon and will draw the enemy.”

  Heat burned beneath the skin along my arms. What had I done by bringing the stone to this Earth Otherworld? It had seemed so benign. But now … what was it? What was happening?

  Kerri drew two silky white handkerchiefs from a pocket in her robe. She set the handkerchiefs on the coffee table. “Wrap the keystone in one of these. The material is warded. It will protect you when you must hold it. Take the other. You will need it.”

  “Thank you.” I leaned forward and picked up the cloud-soft handkerchiefs. I put one in my bag and laid the other across the stone. Making sure to not let the stone brush my fingers, I wrapped it in the cloth before tucking the stone back into the zippered pocket of my bag.

  I’d stuff it someplace safe in my apartment—

  “Keep the stone with you at all times,” the Magi said, negating my thought. “You must protect it.”

  “Okay,” I said, even though I abhorred the idea of keeping it with me.

  “Show it only to those you trust and only as absolutely necessary to accomplish what you need to do.” Kerri seemed to grow suddenly weary before my eyes. “I suggest you not even show it to your partner unless you have to.”

  “Why not?” I asked. “Not even Olivia?” Kerri seemed not to hear.

  “You must do whatever the Sorcerer Desmond asks of you,” Kerri said, her voice a monotone now. “It is vital.”

  “What—” I started to say but stopped when she continued talking.

  “Zombies you can eliminate, but do not kill the Sentients or the Hosts.” The Magi’s eyelids drooped and her features slackened a little. “Friends will die.”

  “What do you mean ‘Friends will die’?” My stomach grew queasy at the thought of any of my friends dying. “What are Sentients? And Hosts?”

  “Do not let a stone-bearing Sentient touch you with his hands,” Kerri whispered. “Lock … away.”

  “That is enough.” Mrs. Andersen’s voice cut across my desire to ask the Magi more questions. Many more questions. “Kerri must rest now.”

  “The New Year will bring destruction and ruin if they are not stopped.” The Magi’s voice rose, but she sounded sleepy and almost as if she wasn’t actually there, with us. More like a Seraphim ready to fade and vanish. “Stop them…”

  I jumped to my feet. “What—”

  “I said that’s enough.” Mrs. Andersen stood beside the Magi’s couch now and grasped her hands to help her stand. “Quiet your mind, Kerri.”

  The Magi turned her head to face Angel. “I am sorry. So very sorry.” Kerri said it simply, as if she was offering up her sorrow for something that had happened or would be happening in Angel’s life.

  Angel’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to speak, but the Magi walked away, allowing Mrs. Andersen to lead her.

  Then Kerri drew the Magi-Keeper to a halt and turned just enough to see me and Angel. The Magi looked deathly pale now. “A storm is brewing,” she said. “You must stop it, Nyx of the Dark Elves and Night Trackers. Only you can do it.”

  I wanted to run after Kerri and ask more questions. But Mrs. Andersen took Kerri’s arm and led her through the archway before disappearing down a dark hall.

  “By all of the worlds and Sorcerers, what did she mean?” Angel looked both concerned and puzzled. “She spoke in bits and pieces and none of it sounded good at all.”

  “No, it didn’t.” I slung the pack onto my shoulder as I did my best to ignore the creepy feeling I got just from the stone being in my bag. “For now what we need to worry about is finding a Sorcerer in SoHo.”

  NINETEEN

  Tuesday, December 27

  “Where are you, girl?” I said on Olivia’s voicemail Tuesday morning. “Thought you were going to be back today.” I glanced at the time on the computer monitor. Eleven-thirty and Olivia was usually in no later than nine. “I have some big leads on the Zombie case that we need to follow up on right away. Call me.”

  I wanted to tell her about the stone which still gave me the creeps even though the Magi had wrapped it in a protective cloth. I had it tucked away in my purse, which I figured was considered close enough to protect it. Then I remembered that for some reason I wasn’t supposed to share anything about the stone with her.

  Apparently Olivia was spending an extra day with her large family although I would have bet money that she’d be home early like I was. Sometimes a little family time can go a long, long way.

  Olivia had more than earned the time away. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d taken a vacation. If she missed the Tracker meeting tonight I’d fill her in tomorrow. I smiled at the thought of Olivia and her sisters and wondered what it would have been like to grow up with sisters myself.

  The moment after I punched the OFF button, the phone started to ring and Adam’s name and number came up.

  Warmth flowed through me and I answered, “Hey there.”

  “Hey, Nyx.” Adam’s voice sounded so good. I wanted to kiss him so badly I could have crawled right through the phone to get to him.

  “Did you make it back all right?” I asked, already picturing us making dinner tonight before I went tracking.

  Adam said, “I’m still at my parents’ home and not sure when I’ll make it back.”

  Disappointment flowed through me. “I miss you.”

  “Why don’t we plan on a late lunch tomorrow?” I was taken back for a moment because he hadn’t said he missed me. I hadn’t realized I was so needy for attention like that.

  “Okay.” I picked up a pen and started doodling on a sticky note with “Her Royal Highness” written on it to remind me to get Kali a supply of Fancy Feast and to get myself some bottles of green tea as well as a few groceries. Maybe some crackers, cheese, dried salami, and a bottle of Ghost Block cabernet sauvignon for the next time Adam came over. The pantry and fridge were looking bare.

  “Let’s go to Little Italy,” he said.

  “Il Cortile on Mulberry Street?” I loved their special capellini dish. “How’s one o’clock sound?” We had always preferred to avoid as much of the lunch crowd as we could.

  “Sure,” he said. “See you tomorrow.”

  And then he was gone. I didn’t even get a chance to say goodbye.

  Thoughts of the Zombies we had fought remained at the forefront of my mind despite all that I was doing. Actually fighting them, along with all of the odd coincidences that were happening … I hoped that this Sorcerer Desmond could help and that we could fix whatever it was that was going so terribly wrong.

  Kali startled m
e when she jumped up onto my desk as I set my phone aside and turned back to my monitor. She walked across the keyboard and letters started randomly appearing in my open case-notes document before another Internet browser window popped up.

  “Kali!” I picked her up and she gave an indignant meow as she twitched her tail in my face. I set her back on the floor and. “Stay off my keyboard.”

  She jumped back onto my desk, only this time across my sticky notes all over its surface. She plopped her big furry butt in the middle of them and looked at me with an expression of disdain.

  Kali continued to stare at me with her freaky golden eyes. I glared at her in return.

  She won the staring contest. No one could beat Kali in a staring contest.

  Under my breath I muttered something about finding a foster home for a cat who shredded new lingerie and walked across computer keyboards.

  Thoughts of Adam kept pinging at me but I turned back to my monitor and reviewed the lists of galleries in both SoHo and Chelsea.

  I wasn’t sure why, but my gut had told me from the beginning that we’d find the Sorcerer in the former but the latter was a possibility, too. I’d already skimmed the names of galleries in both areas. No Desmond anything as far as a business name. Likely a gallery simply showed his work.

  Thinking of a Sorcerer as an artist who showed his work in galleries in an artistic community was an adjustment. Didn’t they stay in dark caves of rooms with bottles of potions, casting spells?

  What else had the Magi said?

  “You will find him in the sun.”

  “Sun … sun…” I looked at both lists again.

  And shook my head when I came to Sun Lee Gallery in SoHo. “I guess maybe Kerri did tell me exactly where to find him,” I said to Kali who decided to jump onto a stack of file folders before pouncing back onto my desk and landing on a fluttering bright pink sticky note.

  I decided to ignore Kali and called the gallery. A recorded message by a woman with an Asian accent said they were on winter hours and opened daily at noon. Might as well head there and see if I could at least track down the location of the Sorcerer. If I happened to see him, I just wouldn’t make contact.

  The Magi had said that Olivia had to go with me when I talked with the Sorcerer. When a Magi tells someone to do something, if at all possible that someone does it. Kerri had her reasons and I had the strong sense I needed to go with what she instructed me to do.

  From my purse in the cubbyhole in my desk, I drew out my wallet that had my undercover ID and some cash. I pocketed it and also slid daggers into my Elvin boots and holstered my Kahr 9mm in a sheathe that I attached to the belt I threaded through the loops on my jeans. The weapon wouldn’t show beneath the jacket I’d be wearing.

  Lastly I took the stone wrapped in cloth out of my purse and put it into an inside zippered pocket of my jacket. Despite the cloth, my arm still tingled when I touched the wrapped stone.

  I prefer to drive when the weather is good, not when there’s snow on the ground. Snowflakes drifted from fair clouds as I headed out of the office. I decided to walk the four and a half miles to the gallery as opposed to catching a cab. Most norms would think it unusual to walk that far. For me it was like walking around the block.

  By the time I reached the gallery on Wooster Street, my cheeks felt flush, my nose cold, and my mood vastly improved. I stood on the sidewalk and studied the two framed paintings and art glass pieces in the large windows to either side of the door. Did the Sorcerer do either one of the paintings?

  One was an oil painting of a waterfall spilling into a glittering pool of water beside a patch of wildflowers. Shadows of leaves from surrounding trees reflected in the pond. It had a magical look to it, almost as if it wasn’t of this world.

  The other was beautiful too. It was a painting of a geisha sitting beneath a tree, her small hand holding a delicate painted wood fan that covered the smile I knew was on her lips. Cherry blossoms swirled around her like confetti in Times Square on New Year’s Day.

  I couldn’t read either artist’s signature—the one with the pond was just squiggles, starting with what could have been a “D.”

  The signature on the Japanese piece of art was done in Kanji script.

  I was betting on the waterfall and the squiggles for Desmond. It really wasn’t much of a stretch.

  Bells tinkled as I pushed open the door and immediately by scent, sound, and senses, I knew I was in a shop at least inhabited by one of the Fae.

  The Fae wardings were exceptionally strong. The wardings wouldn’t notice the Drow daggers in each boot because the boots were Elvin-made, but the Kahr sheathed at my belt was another story.

  My thoughts strayed to the stone in my pocket and I hoped that the wardings couldn’t detect it through the cloth the Magi had wrapped it in.

  A petite, elegant woman swept into the room, wearing a frown. I wasn’t surprised by her expression. I was disheveled from walking in the wind, hadn’t dressed like a potential client, and I was carrying a gun.

  “What business have you here?” The woman was Asian and had delicate yet hard features. She wore her hair cropped close to her head in a fashionable style, and she was dressed in an Armani suit that was to die for.

  And she was Fae. Definitely Fae. I just had no idea what—I couldn’t gauge her by scent or appearance. The fact that I failed to recognize what she was made my muscles tense. I wondered if perhaps she was an Undine or Siren because of the numerous paintings of lakes, waterfalls, rivers, and the ocean lining the gallery walls.

  I hoped for the business’s sake, though, that she didn’t treat every customer like this.

  “I’m Nicole.” I gave her my undercover name that wouldn’t make it easy for her to follow up on me. “Are you the owner?”

  “Yes.” She continued to eye me with suspicion. “I am Sun Lee.”

  “I noticed you have a piece by Desmond in the window.” I made sure my smile was pleasant and natural. I was very much hoping the oil in the window was by Desmond.

  The woman continued to look wary of me. “If you are familiar with his work then I am sure you will have no problem locating the pieces he has on show at this time.”

  I took that as a yes.

  Sun Lee walked away from me, looking beautiful in her perfectly tailored suit and three-hundred-dollar heels.

  The only thing I had to go on was gut instinct, so I went for the grouping of paintings done in the same style as the waterfall painting in the window. I walked up to a whole series clearly painted by the same artist.

  The largest was gorgeous and grabbed my attention immediately. It was love at first sight. The painting was of a fair, dark-haired human woman staring at her reflection in the surface of a shimmering pond. Looking back at her from the water was an Elvin female with delicate pointed ears. The water was dark enough that the female in the reflection could have been Drow. It couldn’t have been more perfect for me.

  The brass plate under the painting had:

  WORLDS INTERTWINE

  Artist: DESMOND

  Gotcha.

  I smiled but then frowned. How was I going to get Sun Lee to give me the Sorcerer’s address? I glanced at the warding bells, then sent out my air elemental magic to explore.

  The entire gallery was protected. I couldn’t just slip into glamour and start searching the place. First, the wardings wouldn’t allow me to cloak myself in a glamour if I wanted to. And second, the woman was Fae so she would be able to see straight through my glamour anyway.

  I was either going to have to coerce the information out of her or try to break in tonight. Considering the strength of her wardings, I didn’t think I had a prayer at being able to break in.

  With the power of the protection, I also didn’t think any of my friends could get in easily. Joshua was a Shadow Shifter who could slip into any crack or opening, but could he get past the wardings? Could Ice find his way inside as a mouse? No, they’d be detected the moment they took human form. I was on my
own.

  Coercion wasn’t likely an option, so I’d try another tactic.

  I walked up to the elegant desk Sun Lee was sitting behind. She raised her head the moment she realized I was coming toward her. Tension radiated off her along with a good dose of irritation. Guess she didn’t like the fact that I was armed and right then I probably didn’t look like someone who could afford anything in the gallery.

  “I’d like to purchase that large painting by Desmond,” I said as I approached her. “Worlds Intertwine.”

  “Oh, really.” Her tone was one of amusement, as if she found something about my request for that painting funny. She looked over my appearance then met my gaze again. “It’s ten thousand dollars. Will you be paying by cash or credit?”

  A Sorcerer who commanded that kind of price—amazing as well as surprising. Although in the paranorm world, I shouldn’t have been surprised at all.

  “If you can arrange a meeting with the artist, I’ll pay you now and use a card.” I dug the wallet out of my pocket, opened it, and chose my American Express. “I’m a huge fan of Desmond’s work and I would love the opportunity to see the man behind the art.”

  She stared at me in total surprise and I smiled in return.

  I’m a Drow princess. There isn’t much that I can’t afford considering the size of diamonds and other precious gemstones that Dark Elves mine, not to mention all of the different metals. I was also paid very well as a Tracker and as a PI.

  “I can bring you cash in the morning if you prefer.” She was Fae—you never knew what the Fae would like. I held out my card to her. “I just don’t happen to carry that many hundred-dollar bills in my pocket.”

  “No, of course not.” Sun Lee had regained her composure and reached for my AmEx. “I’ll put it on your card now.”

  “As long as I get to meet the artist,” I said, holding her gaze.

  “This is a favored painting of his, so I believe I can arrange it.” Sun Lee looked at the card, which was under the name Nicole Carter. I handed her my ID with my picture and the same name as well.