I hesitated. “That’s impossible.”
“You’re impossible. What we are is impossible.”
“But you were made a Vampire, which means you were born a Shifter. And Shifters are whatever animal their parents are.”
“Well then. That settles it. You must be right.” He turned away and stared at the door.
Houdini could be difficult when he knew I needed something. He liked it when I showed interest in him. Maybe if I played my cards right, I could get him to free me.
I approached the bars and gripped them. “Tell me.”
He clasped his hands behind his back. “I wasn’t born a Shifter. I was human, or so I thought. Do you know what a Potential is?”
“Yes,” I said, remembering those two kids from a previous job who were marked. Born human but had the ability to become an immortal later in life, if they so chose. We’d handed them over to an underground facility that would protect them until they were adults.
“Well, I had the mark.” He tapped a spot on his head. “I didn’t know what it meant—you just assume such things are birthmarks. I was eager to make my way in the world. My parents were wealthy, but they wanted me to work for my father in trade and marry. I escaped their clutches before they locked me into that prison.” He turned on his heel and took a few steps toward me. “Paris was no place for a man without money or means in those days.”
“I didn’t know you were French. I always assumed you were an American. You don’t sound it.”
“That was a long time ago. I’ve acquired many accents over the years with the many places I’ve lived. I do what is required to blend in. Some of us are able to acclimate better than… your Vampire, for instance.”
“I like his accent. Is that why you wear those things in your ears and dye your hair? You’re trying to blend in?”
“Maybe I like my look. Ever thought of that?” Houdini’s eyebrows quirked as he paced to the right. “François was a wealthy scholar seeking an assistant. I told him I’d work for free—anything to get my foot in the door of that rich apartment home. The streets were lined with beautiful trees, and they’d just opened the first theater. We had streetlights with candles in them, and I saw the first ballet performance at the French court. François had more connections than my family, and he wasn’t even a nobleman. I realized how far I could go in this world. But I’d been living on the streets for a few months, so François didn’t know I was educated. He treated me no differently than the others who were interested in filling the position. We were required to shave our heads and burn our clothes before he would even consider us.”
“Why?”
Houdini comically scratched his head. “Lice. Kids today don’t understand how prevalent rodent infestations or bedbugs were. We couldn’t exactly call an exterminator or buy medicated shampoo. Some of the remedies were toxic. This was a time when horseshit filled the streets. There were sporadic waves of the plague. The butchers left a mess of blood while preparing their meat, and orphans stole what they could to put bread in their mouths. It was a metropolis of every extreme, from the obscene wealth of aristocrats to the prostitutes they hired who spread their venereal diseases.”
I smiled. “Sounds like a romantic time.”
“People romanticize what they fail to remember correctly. It was the early modern period, and mankind was finally evolving.” Houdini leaned his shoulder against the bars, showing me his profile. “I still don’t know why François wanted to hire someone off the streets instead of by referral, but maybe he thought a peasant would work harder for less. He didn’t require an assiduous man or even an educated one. Just someone who would do his bidding. Deliver documents, gather supplies, relay messages—that type of work. Four of us lined up outside his door, heads shaved, and he selected me.”
“Because of the mark.”
Houdini rested his head against the bars. “Being a scholar, he’d heard about Potentials and the spade-shaped mark. But like everyone else, he thought we were as plausible as fairies. François was a serious employer, and I was a young man with a weakness for sex. I used my position to bed women while he was away. He gave me tailored clothes, and sometimes I would pretend to be him. We didn’t have planes back then, so trips often lasted weeks or longer. My amorous ways infuriated him, but we got along so well that he overlooked my flaws.” Houdini snorted and peeked through the bars at me. “He was afraid I’d besmirch his good name if his home was treated like a brothel. He threatened to toss me out, but he never did. It wasn’t until he revealed his secret to me about being a Vampire that I changed my ways. For someone his age to have that much wealth? The idea captivated me. He promised me that one day, when I had learned enough, he would turn me. That I could become his apprentice and learn a useful trade. And that motivated me.”
“Until?” I chuckled quietly and turned to gaze at the moon through the open window. “Something tells me you screwed things up. Or were you playing one of your chaos games?”
“I didn’t know the magic behind being a Potential. I still don’t fully understand it. Had I known what I was and how quickly I could have made myself an immortal, I might have left him to seek out another.”
“Or you could have had sex with him.”
“That too. But up until then, I’d only had sex with humans. Obviously. One afternoon, a beautiful lady showed up at the door. She said she was an old acquaintance of the master and insisted on waiting. She teased me, and I couldn’t resist. There was something so different about her—so catlike.”
“A Shifter.”
“Yes,” he said, his footfalls moving behind me. “She undressed me and seduced me in a way I’d never experienced. François walked in during the act—right as I was climaxing. He was enraged at the woman, and I thought in that moment he would kill me. His fangs pierced my neck; I weakened as the blood drained from my body to the brink of death. When I thought my heart would stop, he fed me his own blood. Making another Vampire isn’t just about blood exchange—you have to will it to happen. He didn’t want me to be another Breed. He didn’t know how fast the Potential magic would work, so he wanted to beat it to the punch. It was smart when you think about it. Had I become a Shifter, I would have left him. But I think François craved companionship, and the only way to ensure that was to make me his youngling. It would create a bond between us, and I would be dependent on him to teach me how to control my bloodlust. I still wonder if he would have ever made me a Vampire. I think he would have subjected me to a few tests and experiments first. Anyhow, after the blood exchange, the pain began. A Potential turning after sex isn’t a pleasant experience.”
I faced him. “That still doesn’t make sense. Why aren’t you just a panther then?”
Houdini shrugged. “My maker acted in haste while the Potential magic was still activating. At first Iwasjust a panther. But turning me during the process did something unexpected. I didn’t feel this other animal spirit inside me. Iammy animal, and my animal is me. Over time, I realized I was sensitive to Shifters. Each time I slept with a new type, I acquired the ability to shift into that animal. An owl, a wolf, a rabbit. But the magic never worked with other Breeds. Shame. I thought it might be quite remarkable to have Chitah in me.”
Laughter bubbled in my throat, and I put my hands on my hips. “Holy shit. You must have slept with half of Paris. How many animals exist among Shifters? Wait, I don’t want to know.”
He peered at me through the bars. “That’s when I became interested in chaos. Cause and effect. Patterns and randomness. Why can you sometimes repeat the same actions but have different results? I always thought the magic inside me could make another crossbreed. Why not? I have the blood of a Vampire and Shifter. Interrupting the process made me what I am, and that was where the chaos lived. And then there’s you, Butterfly. Something drew me to you the first time we met. Kismet. It appears the most important ingredient in magic is timing.” Houdini turned around, his back to me as he took a few steps away. “I’ve never told anyone the truth about myself. You’re the first.”
“Want to help me kill Sparrow?”
