House of Cards

CHAPTER 33

"Alban!" Margrit ran across the courtyard to him, aware as she crashed against him that his embrace was gentle, whereas hers used all the fragile strength she had to command. He coiled his arms around her and buried his nose in her hair, murmuring a sound of reassurance. After a few trembling seconds she loosened her grip enough to look up at him. "What’re you doing here?"

"Indeed," Janx said, far more dryly. "What are you doing here, Korund? I set you a task."

"Malik is settled," Alban replied without rancor. "What did you give him, Janx, to give to Kaimana?"

The dragonlord’s eyebrows drew into a dark line and he sent Margrit a glance that hovered between knowing and accusing. "Nothing. There’s no profit to me in sending a lackey to negotiate."

"Then what," Alban asked, "has Malik delivered to him that you would not want Kaimana, in turn, to give to Tony Pulcella?"

Margrit drew in a sharp, quiet breath. "Tony? Oh God." She turned toward Janx in time to catch a snarl ripple over his face. "They took Al Capone down for tax evasion, Janx."

"Don’t be concerned, glassmaker." The djinn spat. "By the time the police arrive there’ll be nothing of yours left to claim. The selkies will have helped us take it all."

"The selkies?" The astonishment in her own voice would have embarrassed Margrit had it not been echoed so wholeheartedly by the other three who stood outside the bloody circle. Then she found herself speaking, putting pieces together aloud.

"There are more of you than anybody else. More djinn, more selkies. But you’re enemies. Kaimana didn’t risk it all on the quorum, did he. He came to you first. He offered you something you wanted in exchange for your support. He offered you…" Her gaze flickered to Daisani and Janx, then back again, as she guessed, "Economic power, outside of your deserts? He told you there was strength in numbers and offered you-oh, the smooth son of a bitch." She turned away from the djinn, from all the Old Races, and pressed the heels of her hands against her forehead as she paced and spoke.

"He offered you a chance to get back at us, didn’t he. Us. Humans. For destroying your habitats, your peoples, for not knowing you were there. God, has he got Biali on his side, too?" She swung back around to face the djinn, suddenly moving with a predator’s confidence. A churchyard was nothing, and everything, like a courtroom, and she was fearless there, even as she turned guesswork into statements.

"And the best way to get back at us, in a really violent way, is through Janx’s organization. He’s already the underbelly. Daisani’s up there at the top, and besides, Kaimana’s already got money. If he wants to he can take Daisani on in the boardrooms. But somebody’s got to run the seedy underside, and I bet he sleeps better if it’s not him. So he offered it to you, didn’t he. Because nobody’d expect it, and your people have the greatest numbers after his. God, it’s a great idea. He’d hand Janx’s world over to you if you’d support his people within the Old Races."

"And Malik’s place is this?" Janx hissed the question, sending hair-raised alarm over Margrit’s arms.

The djinn smiled, sharp and vicious, the kind of expression Margrit expected from Daisani, but rarely saw. "Remains to be seen. He declared rite of passage to stand at the quorum, claimed a challenge that has not yet been fulfilled."

"Against Janx," Margrit whispered.

The djinn folded his hands together, index fingers extended, to point first at Janx, then Daisani. "Blood-taker to glassmaker, old rivals, ready to fight. So easy to manipulate, so easy to sow dissent. A few of the glassmaker’s men, a few of the algul’s people, destabilizing and setting you at odds. Should one be defeated the other always moves along soon after. Yes." His gaze, brown with irritation, landed on Margrit again. "Against the glassmaker. Should Malik win, his place in this is an investigator, a visionary. Should he lose, he will walk alone amongst the sands for a lifetime. It is, as you say, all or nothing."

"Everything is with you." Margrit’s voice stayed low. "But someone went after him yesterday morning. Who?"

The djinn shrugged, fluid and airy despite his prison. "It was necessary. Including him as a target removed any hint of his complicity with our plans, and had he not survived, we would have known he was unworthy to be one of our leaders. As it is, he refused in the matter of your mother. Feared the algul who haunted her steps too much to make the attempt."

"That," Daisani murmured, "was wise."

Coldness rose in Margrit like a tide. "So you thought you’d cap off the week by murdering her yourself? In front of us all?"

Anger flashed through his eyes as he glanced down. "We didn’t know an algul’s blood made cages."

Margrit laughed, a crack of anger. "Wouldn’t have risked it if you’d known, would you?"

The djinn snarled again, but Daisani brushed off his anger with a gesture. "The blood is drying."

Margrit’s gaze, like everyone’s, went to the smeared circle around the djinn’s feet. Daisani continued, his voice soft and deliberate. "If you’re still within the circle when the last drop has dried, you’ll be trapped. A djinn in a bottle, bound to my desire. Does it constrict? Do you feel the blood eating up the air, binding you bit by bit to human form? Jailing you in that shape, freed only at my command?"

The djinn exploded into a storm of sand, of air, all caught within the confines of the blood circle. An instant later he coalesced, panting with rage, amber gaze locked on Daisani.

"Let him go." Margrit’s voice scraped. "Let him go, Eliseo."

"I made you a promise, Margrit." A light, unnerving note came into Daisani’s voice, a hint of dangerous intent. "I promised your mother’s safety. And now I hold it in the palm of my hand."

"You don’t." Margrit wet her lips. "You’ve got one djinn, and there are hundreds. Thousands. Putting one in chains doesn’t alleviate the risk, and it’s morally repugnant. I’m not going to have the cost of Mom’s life be someone else’s freedom."

"So sentimental of you. Would you have said the same thing if he still stood with his hand wrapped around Rebecca’s heart?"

"I don’t know." Her answer was charged with uncertainty. "It doesn’t matter. We’re not talking about Mom now. We’re talking about slavery. I’ll deal with the consequences later, but I won’t have anybody turned into a belonging on my watch. Let him go, or every deal we’ve made is void."

The vampire locked eyes with her for a long, drawn-out silence. "You’re very bold, Miss Knight."

"You’ve gone to one hell of a lot of trouble to keep me on your team, Mr. Daisani. Be a shame to blow it all now, wouldn’t it?" To her own surprise, she felt no fear. Whether she’d moved beyond it or whether she trusted Daisani more than she liked to think, Margrit found herself able to meet his eyes without flinching, without her heartbeat racing. "Your choice."

Daisani’s lip curled, and then a handful of dirt broke the blood circle, absorbing liquid, smearing it across flagstones. Margrit drew in a sharp breath, searching for Daisani, but nothing was left of him but a fading breeze. The djinn remained frozen within the broken ring for a few long seconds, his expression blank with disbelief before he said, "You’re a fool."

"Leave my family alone and I can live with that."

"You should have made that bargain before you set me free."

"It wouldn’t have meant anything if I’d coerced you."

"It might have meant your mother’s life." Then, like Daisani, the djinn was gone in a gust of wind, leaving Margrit to sag against Alban and stare at the ruined circle at her feet.

"I thought you said the gargoyles were the only Old Race to have ever been enslaved." Her voice came from a far distance, as if disbelief or weariness had made an unbreachable wall around her.

"I didn’t know." Alban slipped his arms about her, offering strength and support. Margrit groaned and turned against him, feeling distance melt away into comfort. "Perhaps it’s somewhere in the memories, buried in mountain roots. I’ve never studied the djinn histories that closely."

"Maybe you should. Maybe it’s all a lot more complex than we think." Margrit let the slow steady beat of Alban’s heart drown out the world for a moment. Then she lifted her head, a sense of unease sliding through her. "Alban…"

"Yes?"

"Where’s Janx?"

As if her question triggered it, her phone rang, the William Tell Overture out of place in the churchyard. Margrit swore and dug it out of her pocket, muttering, "I can’t believe I didn’t turn that off before the service. God. Yeah, hello?"

"Margrit, why didn’t you tell me you were going after Janx?"

Margrit stepped away from Alban, trying to control the surprise that popped through her. "Tony?"

"All of this makes more sense now," Tony went on. "Even the job for Daisani. Is that real, or are you looking for a connection between the two of them? They obviously know each other. I saw them at the ice rink. Why couldn’t you tell me? I might’ve been able to help, Grit."

"You-what? Tony?" Margrit pressed fingertips to her hairline, as if doing so would help her order her thoughts.

"Kaaiai gave me the documents half an hour ago, Grit. You could’ve told me."

Margrit let out a slow breath. "I couldn’t have. It’s…" She’d done so well earlier, putting together Kaimana’s association with the djinn. Following Tony’s logic shouldn’t befuddle her now. "I couldn’t have," she repeated. "How do you-why do you think it’s me?"

"Oh, come on. The way you’ve been acting, and the way you’ve been working those two? Why else would somebody like Kaaiai get Janx’s tax records? You really think you can get Daisani, too?"

Margrit laughed unhappily. For a moment, as she grasped Tony’s interpretation of events, she wished he was right, that the twists and turns of her life over the last months had been part of a sting intended to bring down one of New York’s crimelords, and maybe even one of its business moguls. He was right twice: in that light, her behavior had a certain logic to it. It looked like a pursuit of justice above all else.

Agreeing to the fallacy made her stomach churn with distress, but the truth was even more difficult to explain. Dizziness wrapped her as she pushed herself to lies of omission. "Probably not. Daisani’s too big a target, unless Janx comes in willing to talk, which doesn’t seem likely. I didn’t mean to be in a position where I knew both of them, Tony. It just happened."

"Because of me." He made the accusation she refused to.

"Maybe, yeah. Because I met Janx because of you, maybe. Everything’s happened fast, and I had no idea where it would end up." She laughed again, this time out of frustration at the magnitude of her understatement. "I didn’t talk to you about it because…" Because there’d been no plan in place, but admitting that left her with nothing more than honesty, both unpalatable and improbable.

"Because we were having problems anyway." Tony filled in the silence again. Margrit knotted her hand in her coat pocket as the cop sighed. "I wish you’d told me, Grit. I might not’ve said some of the things I did."

"There’s a lot of regret under the bridge. It’s okay."

"I hated seeing you at that ball with him," Tony admitted.

Margrit turned to look at Alban, a little of the tension running out of her. He met her eyes without challenge or concern, nothing but trust and support in his gaze.

"I know," she said quietly. "But I’m seeing him now. Right now nothing you and I said or did that we would change. The best I can do is be sorry that I’ve hurt you, but I’ve got to try this."

"And if it doesn’t work?" Tony’s voice was low.

"I can’t think about that right now, either. You broke up with me. Not that you were wrong to, but don’t stay up nights waiting for me, not after that. You earned the Janx sting. That’s not about me, or you and me. It’s you."

"First a black-tie job with Kaimana, now a takedown that any cop in the city would envy. What are you, Grit? My good luck charm with a catch?"

"He giveth and He taketh away." Margrit gave a lopsided smile, looking from Alban again. "I’m glad to talk to you, Tony. I-"

"Don’t. I’m not ready for that yet."

Margrit swallowed. "Ready for what?"

"I know you pretty well, Grit. That was about to turn into an ‘I hope we can still be friends’ speech, and I’m not up for that. Breaking up and then finding out you’ve been acting so weird because of this sting is bad enough, and knowing you’re dating that guy is worse. So don’t do the wouldn’t-it-be-great thing. Not now and maybe not ever. Sorry." He said the word without meaning it; Margrit was all but able to hear the stiff shrug accompanying the apology. "I’m not that big a guy."

"I think you probably are." She took a deep breath, unable to hide the shakiness in it. "But okay. I won’t. Just-well, I was going to say let me know how it goes, but I guess I’ll read about it in the papers sometime in the next couple months."

"No." Tony’s voice roughened. "With any luck you’ll read about it in the papers tomorrow. We’re going in tonight."

Alban caught Margrit in his arms, propelling her toward the shadows and then leaping skyward before she had time to protest. None of the usual sensuality filled the movement of his body against hers as he pumped his wings, climbing higher. Urgency, yes; she’d known that in his body before, but not with this sort of purpose, words and thought for once left behind in the name of action. The "What?" that burst from her lips was as much directed at the gargoyle as Tony.

"No choice, Grit. I know Janx owns people on the force. We gotta move in before he’s tipped off. If we’re lucky we’ll nab him coming home from that service with no fuss. Look, I have to go. We’re moving out."

"Okay. Be-be careful, Tony."

"Always." Rough amusement filled the word, and then he was gone, leaving Margrit clutching the phone and staring from it to Alban.

"I’m sorry," he rumbled as she hung up. "I could overhear your conversation."

"I figured. But where-no. Why?"

Alban didn’t answer until the sharpness of his upward climb leveled off, his concentration solely on reaching the heights above the skyline. "Not for Janx. Not even for you," he admitted in his deep voice. "He’ll destroy them, Margrit. He’ll kill your friend Tony and anyone with him."

Margrit made an abortive move to dial her phone again. Calling would be useless; it wasn’t as though Tony didn’t know raiding a criminal’s lair was dangerous work. He hadn’t gone into policing for the safety or the extravagant benefits. Margrit put her face against Alban’s shoulder, trying to will away fear.

For once, Tony’s Italian good looks stood out clearly in her mind, dark hair and ruddy cheeks and easy white smile. He still seemed overblown and lush compared to Alban’s stark paleness and chiseled features, but remembering his good humor and simple humanity, suddenly so fragile, made Margrit’s heart hurt. Fear for his life made overlooking his flaws easier, though it abruptly seemed unfair to consider his worry for her a flaw. If she could have made him understand that she needed the nightly run in the park as much as he needed the excitement of his job…

Margrit tried to push regret away. The choices had been made on both their parts. Still, the what-if loomed large in the face of never again.

"Are you all right?" Alban’s voice, quiet with concern, cut through the rush of the wind. Margrit nodded against his shoulder, aware it was the first time she’d ever consciously lied to him.

"I’m fine. Just scared."

A hitch came into Alban’s wingbeats. He drew her closer, gentleness and hesitation in the action. "Margrit, I don’t know what I was thinking. I shouldn’t have brought you."

She stiffened, glowering at his jaw. "Like hell you shouldn’t have. I would’ve just taken myself if you hadn’t."

"It’s going to be dangerous. Your people are so fragile."

"You’ll protect me." She spoke with simple confidence, glad to shuffle off even the smallest deception. "Look at it this way. At least you’ll know where I am if I’m with you."

Alban chuckled, a sound without humor. "Given that I’m likely to be the only thing capable of standing between Janx and the utter destruction of your friends, I’m not sure that’s the reassurance you intended it to be." He tucked her closer, though, and drove forward through the sky, threats to abandon her left behind in the wind.