CHAPTER ONE
“Monty, are you certain this is necessary?” I looked up from the pile of reports on my desk.
He finished polishing his swords, the Sorrows, and resheathed them. A soft cry escaped the blades as they disappeared into the back cross-sheaths and vanished from sight.
“It’s either this, or we risk angering the entire family. This is the best solution, Simon.”
“You know we need to address this Rott situation before he does something that gets him killed and takes us along for the ride.”
I remembered the last time I’d spoken to George Rott, Cassandra’s father:
“You owe me, and you owe her.”
“Listen, George, I don’t know what you found, but why don’t we meet to discuss this?”
“I found them,” he whispered. “I found the dragons.”
“We need to address this first.” Monty pulled on one of his sleeves, reached for a cup of tea sitting on the desk, and headed to the back room. “They should be here shortly.”
“Is Dex coming?”
“He’ll meet us there. We have guests to escort.”
Between London and the Sanctuary, we hadn’t been in the city for a week or so. Ramirez had been leaving me messages about strange activity downtown near the South Street Seaport. These events seemed to coincide with the increase in runic activity occurring near the Hellfire Club. I didn’t like the timing, especially with George out hunting dragons.
If it had been just a grieving father, that would be one thing, but George ‘Rottweiler’ Rott had also led NYTF’s Shadow Company—the company I served in a lifetime ago.
His skills made him dangerous and resourceful. He wasn’t a man to be taken lightly in the best of circumstances. Now, he was blinded by revenge for his daughter. This was going to get ugly fast. I was about to pick up the phone to call Ramirez, when a knock interrupted me.
“That them?” I holstered Grim Whisper and sheathed Ebonsoul. Peaches rolled over, nearly crushing my legs. I tried shoving him over, but he didn’t budge.
<You could lie down anywhere else in the office, you know.>
<I know. But your feet are warm.>
The knock sounded again.
“Unless you’re expecting your vampire, I would imagine so,” Monty called out. “I have one more item to secure before we leave. Can you let them in?”
I stood up and approached the door, when I saw the ice creep along the floor and enter the office.
“Monty? I think you need to get this one…unless we have a blowtorch handy?”
The temperature in the office dropped by about twenty degrees, and we entered a mini ice age as frost started to form on the door and creep around the frame.
“Are you ready?” he asked, walking up to the door.
“For what, frostbite?”
He glared at me, reminding me that our guests weren’t exactly friendly. He gestured and formed an orb of flame around his hand as he opened the door.
Three of the most beautiful women I’d seen in my entire life stood at our door. Three sets of sky-blue eyes blazed at us with thinly-veiled violence behind them.
Each of their faces was framed by white-blond hair. The fact that I could see combat armor under their long white leather coats did little to put me at ease.
Their energy signatures were strong enough to give me pause. Ice mages made me nervous after our brief but homicidal encounter with the not-so-stable Steigh Cea.
I hoped her sisters weren’t as prone to spontaneous violence. The center woman, who was the tallest of the three, stepped into our office. The remaining two turned their backs on us and stayed outside the door.
“Well met, Hekla,” Monty said with a nod. “Are you ready?”
Hekla nodded and took in our office remaining silent for a few seconds. Her eyes lingered on Peaches and she sniffed with a hint of disgust. Maybe it was an ice-mage thing, but she had the condescending look down to an artform. I almost wanted to run to my room and straighten it up.
“I’m here to secure the runic neutralizer, mage,” she said, her husky voice filling the office. “If I deem your location of choice to be inadequate, I will relocate it to our home, as per our agreement. My sisters will remain here until I return.”
“Understood.” Monty gestured and formed a large circle on the floor. “We will be traveling to Fordey Boutique. I have chosen them to keep the neutralizer safe, and I have some matters to attend to there.”
“Proceed.” She waved her hand as if we were boring her just by existing. “Do you need assistance with your circle?”
“Thank you for the offer, but I believe I can manage.”
She looked down when Peaches stepped into the circle with us. “This infernal thing will be traveling with us?”
“He has a habit of following me around,” I said, barely containing my anger. I rubbed Peaches’ head, and he rumbled extra loudly. “It’s better if Peaches joins us.”
She stepped to the other side of the circle and nodded to Monty. “Carry on, mage.”
Monty gestured as white runes floated around us. With a last sweep of his arm, the office disappeared.
