Blood Thief Box Set(18)

The woman was about thirty-five with long brown hair and pale skin. A black cloak was thrown over her shoulders, but her sneakers peeked out from beneath the cloth. Her hands were clasped together and her eyes were closed. She sat on a towel and before her was a shallow wide-mouthed bowl filled with plants.

I looked around for the source of the voice. It had been a man who spoke. I saw no one but the woman.

The woman opened her brown eyes and looked up at the face of the statue. "By the powers granted to me by Hecuba, I beseech thee to call upon a spirit to assist me in this task."

"Still not the right way," the male voice insisted. I whipped my head to and fro, but still couldn't find the source of the voice.

The woman stared ahead of her and frowned. "What do you know?"

"I know that you forgot to light the plants," he pointed out.

She picked up a long match and struck it against the thick square base of the statue. "I was getting there! Don't rush me!"

I felt a cold breeze sweep past me and the voice was suddenly behind me. "Oh, and by the way, there's somebody watching you."

The woman straightened and turned to face me. I ducked behind the gravestone and pressed my face close to the engraved words.

That's when the head popped out of the stone just inches from my face.





CHAPTER 9





I screamed and fell backward onto my hands. The face was that of a man of thirty with sandy blond hair, but it wasn't the features that so startled me. It was the fact that I could see through those features to the stone from where his head protruded. The rest of his body floated out of the solid stone and hovered over me. My mouth flapped open and shut as he leaned down so our faces nearly touched.

"Boo."

I screamed again and scrambled backwards until my back hit another gravestone. The phantom sat back and laughed while the woman joined him by his side. She folded her arms over he chest and rolled her eyes.

"I don't see what's so funny. She's not supposed to be here," the woman pointed out.

The ghost gathered himself and waved his hand at her. "Live a little, will you? It's not like we can't take care of her. She's halfway to a heart attack already."

The woman turned her attention to me and frowned. "Who the hell are you?"

"She's with me," a voice spoke up. I whipped my head over my shoulder and watched Simon step from the shadows of a large statue.

A smile spread across my face. I scrambled to my feet and rushed over to him. He opened his arm and wrapped me against his side while I half-turned to the woman and spirit.

The woman raised an eyebrow, but a sly smile slid across her lips. "Hello, tall, dark and handsome. What are you doing out here this time of day?"

The spirit floated to her side. The sunlight flowed through him and made him difficult to see his form, but I noticed he wore a plain t-shirt and jeans that ended in sneakers. "Digging up some company, probably." He laughed and slapped his knee.

The woman curled her lips at the spirit. "Cool it, Specter, and let him talk."

Specter raised his head and glared back at her. "Stop with the googly eyes, Annabella. He's not that into you."

The woman's eyes widened in anger and she curled her hands into fists at her sides. She swung around to face him and stomped her foot on the tall grass. "Don't call me that! It's Maeve! Maeve!"

My heart sank. These two fools were the partners Simon was searching for.

Simon cleared his throat and the pair turned their attention to him. "If you wouldn't mind, I have a proposition for you both."

Specter folded his arms and crossed his legs, but his head remained level with ours. "What kind of proposition?"

"I wish to employ you for a job to steal the Comstock bracelet," Simon revealed.

A smile spread over Maeve's face. She swept over to Simon and latched herself onto his unoccupied arm. "Do you really want to work together, my love?"

Specter rolled his eyes. "He's joking. He already stole that thing a week ago."

Simon glanced at him. "It's to be returned today, so there will be ample opportunity to steal it again."

Specter scoffed and waved his arm at Simon. "Like hell we could do that. It's going to be guarded better than Fort Knox when it was used."

Maeve turned to the ghost and glared at him. "If you're too scared to take the job then that's fine! We'll do the job just fine without you!" She looked back to Simon and her eyes fell on me. They narrowed and she pursed her lips. "Who's she?"

Simon chuckled. "Miss Faith Luvena, this is Maeve, a practicing witch."

"And the best one in the city," Maeve added. She sized me up with her eyes and turned up her nose. "What are you here for? Moral support?"

Specter swept up to me and sniffed me. I cringed and scowled at him. "Actually, she's an aspiring undead. I can smell the grave dirt on her already."

Maeve's mouth dropped open and she whipped her head to Simon. "You. . .you didn't, did you?"

Simon smiled and clasped Maeve's chin in his fingers. He leaned down so their lips nearly touched. I felt a touch, but it was of jealousy as Simon used his whispering voice on this other woman. "That changes nothing between us. Will you still come with me?"

Maeve's eyes sparkled and she opened her mouth in a wide smile. Her head bobbed up and down like a doll. "Yes! Yes, of course, my darling!"

Specter floated away from us and leaned back so he reclined with his hands behind his head. "What's in it for us?"

Simon released Maeve's chin. She stumbled forward, but caught herself. "Wealth means little to you, I suppose."

Specter nodded. "Yep. Kind of hard to buy stuff that I can't eat or wear."

"What about the challenge?" Simon suggested.

Specter shook his head. "Not interested." He glanced at me and grinned. "It's more fun to scare people than to steal from them."

Simon sighed and shrugged. "Then I'm afraid we must call off the arrangement. The job could hardly be done without you."

Maeve swung around and marched over to the floating Specter. She stuck her face literally into his and glared at him. "Just do it!"

He started back and glared at her. "Why should I?"

"Because I want to do it, so you're going to do it! Got it?" she growled.

Specter rolled his eyes, but shrugged. "Fine, fine. When's this heist, anyway?"

"Certus will give you the details when I have them prepared," Simon told him.

Maeve swung around and clasped her hands together. I could imagine her in a schoolgirl outfit with bouncing curls and a high-pitched squeal. "This is going to be so wonderful! I can't wait!"

Simon smiled and bowed his head to her. "Nor can I. Until then, au revoir."

I didn't have to imagine Maeve's squeal. She gave a pretty good one that made Specter roll his eyes.

Maeve caught his movement and spun around to glare at him. "Don't you have somewhere else to go?"

"This is my graveyard," he reminded her. He pointed off in the distance. "I died here, remember?"

"That doesn't mean you have to stick around here!" she argued.

"You go somewhere else," he growled.

She crossed her arms and scowled. "You should know there's no stronger magic than in this graveyard. It brought your worthless soul back to the land of the living."

Simon slipped his arm over my shoulders and turned us away from the squabbling pair. "There was never a more perfect chance to leave," he whispered.

We left our two newest partners to their bickering and strode back up the path. Simon took the partial lead and I followed.

My narrowed eyes flickered to Simon. "You two have a thing going?" I asked him.

He smiled and ducked beneath a branch. "I don't know what you mean."

I jerked my head over my shoulder. "You and that Maeve woman. Are you two an item?"

Simon chuckled. "On the contrary, we are only close acquaintances."

I frowned. "But you said nothing's changed between you."

"And nothing has. There was never anything between us but professional work. She just fails to realize that," he told me.

My face drooped. "Right. So when is this professional work supposed to get started? You haven't given any details."

"If all goes well, we'll-we'll move forward in a day or-" Simon stumbled over both his words and the path. He leaned to the left and his shoulder fell against the trunk of a tree.

"Simon!" I yelled. I ran up to him and grasped his shoulders. His face was paler than usual and he clutched his chest in one hand. "What's wrong?"

Simon grimaced and bowed his head. "The. . .the sunlight. I've been. . .awake. . .far too long."

I slipped under his right arm and slung it over my shoulders. "Come on. The car isn't that far."

I pulled him off the tree and he leaned his great weight against me. It was my turn to grimace, but I bore his burden and we shuffled down the path.

"I'm sorry. . .to be your burden," he murmured.

I frowned at him. "It's fine, I guess, but if you knew you couldn't stay out here then why'd you do it?"

He chuckled. "Mere foolishness. I wished to remain in the sunlight as you do, but even the blood supplied by our foes isn't enough to keep the sunlight from draining my energy."

I cringed. "Speaking of foes, did you-well, you-know to the other guys following us?"