Anton shook his head.“It’s been quiet, so far.”
I subtly watched the gathering through my othersight, noting the thin streams of magic that drifted through the air. They seemed aimless, harmless as they ducked and swooped near the ceiling.
“What is it you think will happen?” I asked.
“If I knew, I wouldn’t be stuck waiting,” Liam said.“I’d already have taken care of the problem.”
There was frustration in his face and voice. I could tell he didn’t like sitting back and waiting for his enemies to strike. No one did.
Waiting was the worse feeling in the world. Knowing there were people out there who wanted to kill you or at least fuck up your world, but not being able to do a damn thing about it because you didn’t know how or when they would strike.
A server circled our way. I shook my head when the tray of wine was offered to me, noting Liam and Anton did the same.
As they resumed their hushed conversation, I watched the magic, fascinated. It was rare to see so much of the stuff in an ambient form, just swimming through the room as if it was a giant aquarium. I idly wondered whether the ribbons of magic had been created or if they were a natural phenomenon.
Columbus was supposedly on several ley lines, one of the reasons it had such a strong supernatural population. Ley lines were great wells of magic that could be tapped to amplify a person’s strengths. Not to mention, their presence was capable of sustaining those spooks whose very lives were dependent on its presence.
I was so consumed with the hypnotic beauty above that I momentarily forgot about watching the people around me.
A server drifted past, jostling me and distracting me from my thoughts. I stared at her, not knowing why a sense of danger and impending doom skated along my nerves, wondering why the woman had snagged my attention in the first place.
It was the one from earlier, the one who had interrupted me and Anton.
I couldn’t quite put my finger on what exactly it was about her that struck me as“off”. Soldiers understood instinct and gut urges. Sometimes a soldier could look at someone and know they had an IED or weapon on them. Later they wouldn’t be able to explain how or why they knew, they just did. It had something to do with experience and intuition converging to warn them. Of course, sometimes they got it wrong.
For that reason, I remained in place, watching for a clue that would tell me how to act. I didn’t want to start something without knowing for a fact I wasn’t simply being jumpy.
She seemed normal enough, the tray in her hands oddly full despite the crowd she moved through. I saw why, as she ignored a vampire who tried to signal for a glass of wine.
She was moving too fast through the crowd, not using that slow meandering walk most of the servers used while enticing people to take another glass. Her path was too direct, her mission pre-determined.
Then I realized what had bothered me all along. It was her expression, eyes vacant, face blank, as if she was a doll someone else had wound up and sent on her way.
I moved before I could think, cutting through the crowd at an angle from her.
“Aileen,” Liam snapped.
I barely paid attention, conscious of the server as she momentarily moved out of view when a red cap lumbered past.
Liam’s hand caught my arm and pulled me to a stop.“What are you doing?”
“Something is wrong,” I said, already twisting to locate the woman.
“What?” he asked.
I grimaced.“Not sure.”
“Try to explain,” he said with forced patience.
I considered. It couldn’t hurt.
I nodded to the woman.“You see her.”
He frowned and nodded.
“She’s not in her area,” I said, finally articulating one of the things that had been bothering me.
It wasn’t obvious at first glance, but the servers had cut the room into quadrants and tended to stick to their space unless summoned. This woman, however, was ignoring all that, moving in a way counter to the rest of the servers.
