Fire Me Up
Page 75

We ran Nora to earth a little while later, as she came out of a workshop on subterranean imps, evidently a new breed that was starting to become bothersome. I was glad to see she bore no further signs of the attack, either physically or emotionally, her eyes as warm and serene as ever behind her bright red glasses.
"Got a moment?" I asked as she separated from a group of friends to walk over to where I was sitting.
She glanced at her watch. "Certainly. There is a seminar on ancient Moldavian curses in ten minutes that I would like to attend, but if you need my help, I will be happy to miss it."
"No, this shouldn't take too long. Basically I wanted to ask you about Marvabelle."
Her eyes widened. "Why?"
"You said the first night of the conference that you knew her years ago, that you and she studied together under the same mentor."
"Yes, we did. It was almost twenty years ago."
"Where exactly did your mentor live?"
A slight frown wrinkled her brow. "As a matter of fact, it was here, in Pest. We both studied with Monette Tomas. She was a Guardian married to a Hungarian Mage. They divorced after a few years, and Monette returned to London. I went with her."
"But Marvabelle didn't?"
Her gaze slid from me to her hands. "No, she didn't. She went home to the States shortly before Monette divorced."
That piece of information slid into place, leaving a space next to it that I needed to fill. "I know you're going to think this is really brash of me for asking, but why did Marvabelle decide to quit being a Guardian and go home?"
Her fingers plucked at her linen skirt for a moment, then suddenly her eyes widened as she looked up in horror. "Oh! That could be it. Aisling, how did you know?"
My scalp pricked at the look on her face as another piece of information slid into its waiting spot. "She was the woman you were telling me about the other night, wasn't she? She was the woman who was smitten with an incubus but found out before she'd given her soul to him, right? That was Marvabelle."
She nodded, her face frozen. "You think she's the target."
Cold swept through me. "I think she could be. It makes sense—you were both here, in Budapest. So that means only a local incubus could be the one she was dallying with. And if she rejected him, spurned him—"
"He would want revenge," she said, her voice faint. "But would he go so far as to kill innocent Guardians?"
I made a face. "Is there anything that says an incubus can't be a homicidal maniac?"
"No. In fact, there is much evidence to prove that they often do kill their victims, although usually it is by sucking the life from them over a period of years."
"If I'm right, then all I need to do is use my handy-dandy Venus amulet and summon up every incubus in town until we have the one who was Marvabelle's lover. I don't suppose you know his name?"
She shook his head. "Marvabetle never told me."
"Rats. Well, we'll just have to do this the hard way. You find Marvabelle and ask her to meet us in the executive conference room in ... oh, say an hour. It shouldn't be in use because everyone will be getting ready for the big dinner tonight. No, better make that two hours. I have to run into town and pick up the things you said I'd need for the binding spell, and given the afternoon traffic, I'll need the extra time. Ask Monish and Paolo to come, too. We'll want them once Marvabelle identifies the incubus."
"Aisling—" Nora frowned. Obviously she wasn't entirely sold on the plan. "Do you really think Marvabelle is the target? What if she isn't?"
I shrugged. "It's the only thing I can think of that fits. We'll just have to hope that I'm right."
We parted a few minutes later, with Nora promising to find Marvabelle and Monish. Jim and I went to a shop recommended by Nora and bought the items she'd listed as being necessary for a binding spell. By the time we returned, I had only half an hour before I was due to summon up a posse of incubi.
Drake's limo was in the driveway as the taxi driver (there hadn't been time to call Rene) dropped Jim and me off. I paid him and peered into one of the limo's open doors. It was empty. "Huh. I wonder if the dragons are leav—hey!"
Drake, Istvan, and Pal marched out of the hotel, all three grim-faced. Drake didn't stop to greet me, he just wrapped an arm around my waist and more or less tossed me into the car.
"What do you think you're doing?" I yelled, jumping out of the car. Drake stood next to the door, giving an instruction to Pill, who took Jim's leash. "That's my demon! Drake, what's going on?"
"I have managed, by means that I will not go into now, to get Gabriel's agreement to participate in one last negotiation session. Gabriel spoke with Chuan Ren. She also grudgingly agreed to meet again, before she leaves. That meeting is tonight, now, at a neutral spot. You will come with me."
"Wait a minute," I said, holding up my hands to stop him before he could throw me into the car again, "Didn't they tell you? I resigned as your mate. I'm no longer officially important to your negotiations."
For the first time since I'd met him, Drake looked at me utterly exasperated. "Aisling, I have told you repeatedly that you were born to be my mate. In addition to that, you swore an oath to me, fealty to the sept. You cannot simply resign. There are only two ways your fealty can be dissolved, neither of which is you simply resigning. I have spoken to all three wyverns, at great cost to me, and they have agreed to drop the protest regarding your challenge. They have accepted you as my mate. Therefore, you will come with me now."
"I can't," I said, my hands on his. "I wish I could, I really do, and I'm delighted that everyone is giving you another chance at hashing out a peace accord, but Drake, you don't need me. I'll just mess it up again. And even if I wanted to, I can't. Remember that little thing about me being handed over to the committee if I don't find the murderer? Well, I have"—I looked at my watch—"exactly five and a half hours to find him, and I can't do that and attend your peace meeting."
Drake made an annoyed gesture, pushing me into the car. Jim was unceremoniously shoved into the front seat, between Pal and Istvan. "That does not matter. Dragons live beyond the rule of the committee. You are under my protection now. No one will harm you."