No Humans Involved
Page 99

Did that make sense?
Damn it! In my gut, I didn't believe Hope would turn on me. Even seeing that flare of anger in her eyes hadn't changed that.
But I couldn't ignore the possibility. I needed to get out of this room.
I WENT downstairs with every intention of hanging out with the guards. But then I started to wonder whether that was safe. We knew these people had magic, including something like a binding spell.
Would human security guards, ignorant of the supernatural, be able to protect me? Could they get killed trying?
Even if sticking close to big men with guns convinced the group to keep its distance, it wouldn't resolve the question of Hope's allegiance. If she was on May's side, she'd just try again, another way, and maybe that time I wouldn't see through the ploy.
The only way to know was to follow her.
AS I slipped out the side door, I eased the gun out and wrapped my hand around the grip, finger on the trigger. It would help if I knew how to fire it. I told myself it didn't matter. As Eve would say, bluffing is enough. Act as if you can shoot it-and more important, will shoot it-and that should give any would-be attacker pause.
I slid through the shadows along the side of the house, heading for the rear. Ahead, a yellow ribbon of crime scene tape waved in the breeze, broken from its moorings, as if someone had walked right through it. Hope? Breaking the tape hardly seemed wise but, if not her, then who? Last time I'd looked, the officers guarding the gardens had retreated to their cruiser.
I darted behind a hedge, then stood on tiptoes to see over it. There, about a dozen feet ahead, Hope walked into the garden with the slow, deliberate pace of a sleepwalker.
"What the hell are you doing?"
I almost fell backward. Eve's glare was murderous.
"I don't know what you think you're doing, Jaime, but you get your ass back in-"
I cut her short with a whispered explanation as I snuck around the hedge, following Hope.
"I don't care what your reason is. Get back in that goddamned house right now."
"It's not a setup. Look at her." I waved toward Hope as she banged her shin against a garden wall and kept walking, oblivious. "She's in some kind of trance."
"She's luring you in. Making you curious. Making you think it's safe to follow."
I kept moving. "I've seen her when she gets a vision and that's just what she looks like."
"And she can't fake that? Don't be-" Eve bit off the rest with a click of her teeth. Then she strode in front of me. "Stop and look around, Jaime. Notice anything about where you are? And where you're being led?"
I glanced over my shoulder at the hedge, which wrapped around the garden, cutting me off from the view of anyone stepping out the side or rear doors. Then I turnedto see Hope heading toward the most secluded corner of the yard.
"She's not following any 'chaos trail,' " Eve said. "She's leading you to a spot where no one's going to see what happens next."
Damn. She had a point.
I glanced back at the house.
"Finally," Eve breathed.
"Jaime?"
Hope was walking back through the garden.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked, blinking like a wakened sleepwalker.
"Damn it, Jaime, ignore her-"
"I was worried about you." I lifted the gun. "You left this behind."
She frowned and looked down at her waistband, as if trying to figure out how the gun got from there to my hand. Eve shoved me toward the door, but her hands passed through.
"What happened?" I said.
"I'm not sure. Someone" Hope shivered. "I think someone was killed back there. Just now. I can still feel it."
She wrapped her arms around herself, shuddering, but her expression wasn't one of fear or concern. She looked almost rapturous. The hairs on my neck rose.
"Don't listen to her bullshit," Eve said. "She'll say anything to get you-"
I tuned her out. Hope glanced over her shoulder, toward that far corner.
"I think we should check it out." Her voice was high with barely contained excitement.
"Do you?"
Her gaze stayed riveted to that deepest, most remote, shadow-enshrouded corner of the garden. My fingers tightened around the gun. Eve had gone silent now, tense, as if waiting to jump in, as if she could jump in.
Hope motioned for me to follow, took a couple of steps then, seeing I hadn't moved, wheeled back. Her fingers grazed my arm. Eve started a cast. A spell? But it wouldn't work in my dimension.
Hope's fingers wrapped around my arm. I raised the gun. Eve lifted her hands over her head, something materializing between them.
I swung the gun. A crack as it connected with Hope's temple. Her eyes went wide. She stood there, staring at me in disbelief. Then her knees gave way and she crumpled to the flagstone path.
I dropped beside her, my hands going to the side of her neck.
"Forget her," Eve said. "Get your ass back in that house before they realize you didn't fall for the bait."
Hope's pulse was strong. I pushed to my feet.
"Good," Eve said. "Now grab the gun and, next time, try firing it, presuming it still works."
"It probably didn't work even before that. Why would Hope hand me a working firearm?"
"Good point. You did the right thing then, braining her with it."
"Don't sound so shocked."