“No,” I lied, earning myself an uneasy smile. “Hey, aren’t you the one who told me no gossip or naysayers were going to keep you from love? That’s all superstition is. Gossip, but on a global scale.”
After a long moment her expression cleared. “Darned tootin’.” She nodded once, took a long, shaky breath, and slumped. “Then again…there’s the whole death thing to consider.”
“Ah, but you also said true love never dies.” She’d also once said the reporter who uncovered the identity of Demi Moore’s plastic surgeon should receive a Pulitzer, but I didn’t bring that up. “Remember?”
“Even when love’s gone, its memory keeps you safe.” She closed her gold-dusted eyes, and after a moment opened them again and smiled. “Thank you for the reminder.”
“You mean thank you for the toilet paper!” Cher declared, holding two rolls aloft. “Boy, they don’t skimp on the quality here at Valhalla, do they? Open your shirt, Momma. This shit’s four-ply!”
I watched them through the mirror, these two mortals who had ended up in my life by default, and knew this was why I’d brought the weapons today. I didn’t expect to survive, not really. Mackie would attack me no matter where I was, and the only chance of surviving was to gain the aureole by killing the Tulpa. And since I believed Arun was somehow abetting the Shadows in his quest to marry Suzanne-or at least advancing some sort of personal, paranormal agenda-compromising this ceremony was my best chance to stop them all.
Yet I also believed the agents of Light would show up and do the right thing-help me battle Mackie and protect these mortals. I might die at someone’s hands today, be it Mackie or the Tulpa, but at some point on the trip here I’d become resigned to that.
But Suzanne and Cher would live. These women had done nothing more wicked in their lives than dream of love, and I swore-as toilet paper and giggles streamed across the room-that Suzanne’s worries over bad luck weren’t going to touch her. It might hit me with the force of a natural disaster, but it wouldn’t strike her.
The whispered promise calmed me somewhat. I even laughed, watching Cher stuff the wedding gown of a woman with hopes of being an honest-to-goodness princess within the hour. I frowned when they tried to do the same to me.
And then it was time.
“The candles,” I whispered to the nearest attendant. “You forgot to light the candles.”
He hissed and rushed off, and I bit my lip as I canvassed the pool deck. It was full noon and a gorgeous winter day, the slim bite in the air negated by the heaters and bodies now packed around the giant pool. There were stanchions to keep guests from falling in, and as I scanned the pool area one last time, mentally marking all the places I’d planted the weapons, safety was definitely my greatest concern. How was I going to keep all these people safe?
The fact was, I couldn’t. But the agents of Light could, if they chose. And so could the rogues…though I didn’t see Carlos or any of the other grays anywhere. I wondered if they’d yet to leave the compound or had trouble entering Valhalla, but it was too late for me to check on either of those things. The sitar player was already in place, and I heard from the walkie-talkies that the groom was on his way out. Showtime.
Glancing up, I frowned at the looming hotel. Its size made the pool area resemble a lion’s pit, and Shadow agents and Mackie could easily jump from the rooftop, yet there was nothing I could do about that. I only hoped the Zodiac’s paranoia about avoiding human attention would keep them from trying. Unless Mackie showed his face. Then it would turn into a free-for-all. Meanwhile, I was the only armed person in the room.
“It’s good to be queen,” I muttered, with a small, private smile.
As the head of Archer Enterprises, Valhalla’s COO, and an esteemed member of this wedding party, I’d ordered a metal detector and a small phalanx of security guards to check every bag and body entering the enclosed pool area. It was a precaution easily explained away by the august guest list, along with the groom’s wealth and world prominence. Any agent wishing to enter would have to disarm, and most would not. The Shadows weren’t even on guard because the Tulpa had no idea what was to happen here. And while there could have been some turnover in that troop in the weeks since I’d been expelled, only one agent I knew was patrolling the hotel’s halls, and it was his usual post.
As for the Light? Well, that was answered once Warren sidled up behind me.
“It’s official,” he whispered in my ear. “Someone is going to die this afternoon.”
I whirled, but he grabbed my arm before we could speak, forcing me into an alcove normally used to stock towels.
We faced off and his top lip lifted in a snarl. “Perhaps we can share a dance after the festivities, dear.”
I pulled away, rubbing at my wrist. “So last night you were a homeless man living off buffet scraps, and today you’re a South Asian livery boy.” I looked at his uniform, liveried for the occasion, stolen for the same. He was in white, distinguishing him from the guests, and his hair had been shorn overnight, shorter and cleaner than I’d ever seen it.
“Last night you were carrying a weapon you shouldn’t even be allowed to touch, and today you’re dressed like a South Asian Barbie. Also a dichotomy.”
Like my entire life wasn’t? “Well, you know. It’s important to keep up appearances.”
He crossed his arms and leaned against the wall, slouching as he stared at me. Most unliverylike. “You’re making life very difficult on me.”
“God forbid,” I said, echoing his flat tone. What did he want, an apology? Nothing I said could make me any more of an outcast than I already was-or less.
He turned his head, squinting out over the crowd, eyes lingering on the sitar player as the first song began. I’d have to go soon. “The rogue agents can’t be trusted. They’re using you, and as soon as they get what they want from you, they’ll either kill you or abandon you. Most likely the first.”
“They took me in when I had nothing and no one. You introduced me to a world that wanted me dead, then practically ensured the fate by turning your back on me. They saved me from Mackie. Where the fuck were you?”
His nostrils flared, but all he said was, “They’re using you for your knowledge of the troop, and the tools you can provide in combating us.”
“I don’t have any tools.”
“What about the defensive compound protecting them last night?” he said, expression dead and tight. “The one you’re probably wearing now?”
Oh, yeah. That. “I have a right to protect myself, Warren. Besides, maybe I had some protectant in reserve.”
“I went to the warehouse, Joanna. It was unarmed, and your scent was all over it. Yours and Tripp’s.”
He spat the man’s name out like it’d gone bad in his mouth, and I lifted my chin. I wasn’t going to talk to Warren about Tripp…a man he thought of as an enemy, but one who’d died saving me. The urge to pull out the quirley and blow venomous smoke in this man’s face was almost overwhelming. I refrained, but only because I was expecting a far greater threat than Warren. “The defensive protectant is not an offensive weapon. Again, I have a right to my own defense.”
He shook his head in disgust, and I realized he was right; this was futile. Despite my ejection from the troop, Warren believed I’d betrayed him, and nothing was going to sway him from the belief.
I turned to walk away.
He raised his voice. “What I’m most concerned with is the other weapon you’ve so generously handed them. You.”
I turned slowly, disbelief oozing from every pore. “How do you figure?”
“You can still touch the conduits, Joanna. You shouldn’t be able to, not as a mortal. And not as a rogue.”
“So how?”
Another look overtook his features, one both softer…and harder. “Come back into the troop, and we’ll figure it out together.”