"Someone tried to shoot me," I said.

"So I gathered." The words sounded irritated, but the smile he flashed me was warm. "You look frazzled. Are you all right? Did anyone get hurt?"

"Not unless you count a window and a plaster wall." I crawled out from behind the couch.

"Did they scream?"

"No."

"Then it's fine," he smiled.

It was nice of him to try to make a joke, but I couldn't quite shake the feeling that danger lurked just outside. I shifted so I could rest my back against the seat of the couch, because, though I wanted to seem casual, I couldn't quite bring myself to stand up.

"Do you think it was the Order?" Sebastian asked more seriously, perhaps noticing his inability to shake my mood.

"Undoubtedly," I said.

"You don't think there's any way it could have been random? A drive-by shooting or something?"

"From the alley?"

"Oh," Sebastian said. "Well, less likely then."

Although the fact that no one had, so far, followed up to do me in, did make me wonder a bit. I mean, the "real estate" agent had led me to believe she was after Sebastian, not me. If the shooter had been anywhere nearby, they must have seen Sebastian pull up. This would be the perfect opportunity to kill us both. Maybe they were biding their time, waiting for us to let down our guard, to leave together. "You have to stay here," I said. "We can never leave."

"So, the answer is no, I take it?"

"To what?"

"To the idea that this could all be a coincidence." When my only reply was a hot, angry glare, Sebastian switched gears. "You know more about these people than I do, but do you really think they'd just shoot you from a distance? That doesn't seem very moral high ground, does it?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I don't know, but isn't killing someone at such a great distance a bit of a cheat? You'd think the Church would expect its enforcers to get in close, try to save the souls of the sinners, or at the very least look into the eyes of the accused."

"They don't give people a chance to repent, Sebastian. You're already tried and sentenced if the Orderis after you."

"That's not very sporting," he said with a frown.

"Well, no s.h.i.t."

I glared at him for a while, waiting for the seriousness of the situation to finally sink in. Instead, he took in the various blankets Parrish had tacked to the windows and said, "Nice place."

"Get used to it. I was serious when I said I'm never leaving."

"Well," he said. Standing up, he smoothed out his jeans. "If the Order does have a sniper outside, they can't see us in here. We could at least sit together on the couch and watch a movie or something. Maybe order a pizza. My treat."

"Why aren't you more afraid of them?"

"From what you've told me, they sound like cowards."

My anger flared again. "These cowards slaughtered my friends."

Sebastian's face softened with compa.s.sion. "Yes. And I a.s.sume your friends were mortals, not even soldiers. Did your friends even have any weapons of their own?"

"Ritual knives," I said, but Sebastian was right, the coven had been defenseless, unaware.

"And the Order carries guns."

I nodded. They did; I'd found guns, even rifles, on their bodies. They also had a whole a.r.s.enal of edged weapons from swords to stilettos.

"Cowards," he repeated, as he plunked himself down on my couch. He took in the living room in all of its cinderblock-and-board-bookshelf glory. "Where's your TV?"

"Don't have one," I said, feeling oddly sheepish about it. It was less of a political decision on my part than an economic one, but I tended to let most people think no TV went part and parcel with my alternative lifestyle as a vegetarian Witch.

"Right. That cancels the movie option, then. Still up for a pizza?"

"I can't eat while someone could still be out there."

Sebastian looked into my eyes for a long moment. Then, very slowly, very seriously, he said, "Of course you can, Garnet. You're stronger than the entire Order, and you know it. Or if you don't, you should.

Lilith is a G.o.ddess."

"She can't stop bullets."

"I watched her stop Benjamin's knife. Are you sure?"

I gave a grim laugh. "Well, not enough to bet my life on it, no. Anyway," I added as an afterthought,"Lilith and I don't always share the same agenda."

Sebastian leaned an elbow on the arm of the sofa in order to shoot me a long, appraising look. With his designer leather coat and perfectly combed hair, he made my couch look extraordinarily ugly. "So whose idea was it to steal my grimoire?"

The question had the air of being casual, but I felt coldness behind his eyes that made me wish I hadn't been so quick to invite him into my apartment.

Using my elbows, I leveraged myself up onto the couch to sit beside him. I didn't want to have this fight while sitting at Sebastian's feet. I also got the sense that it didn't much matter what the answer to his question was. The result was the same. He'd been betrayed, and I'd taken part in it.

"Lilith," I said, even though I wasn't sure it mattered.

A knock on the door startled both of us, as did the voice from the other side, which proclaimed in an authoritative male voice, "This is the police. Is everyone all right in there? We got a call about a shot fired."

Sebastian and I looked at each other. I could tell we shared the same concern: could it be the Vatican shooter trying to gain entrance? Neither of us moved toward the door. I wanted to play dumb, but, unfortunately, I'd been unable to contain a squeak of surprise, so whoever it was out there knew someone was home. Anyway, we'd both been talking just before the knock came.

"Sir? Ma'am?" came the voice again. "It would be really helpful if we could talk to you for just a minute.

I'd really like to know that everyone is okay in there."

At times like this I'd kill to be telepathic. What was Sebastian thinking? Did he also think the guy sounded fairly convincing as a cop? Or did he think that was part of what made this whole thing suspicious? I had no idea what to do. I was actually relieved when Sebastian got up and gestured for me to get out of the line of sight of the door. I scurried back behind the couch. Okay, it was not the most heroic of spots, but I still preferred to have steel between any ricocheting bullets and my fragile flesh and blood.

Then a thought occurred to me. If these were real cops, there'd be cop car parked out front. So I lifted the edge of Parrish's makeshift curtain to peer out. Oh, s.h.i.t. No car. "Uh, Sebastian," I started.

He turned. He'd been about to put his foot in front of the door when it opened. I ducked.

I heard a strange tw.a.n.g, like someone releasing a high-tension wire, followed by a strangled cry and a very heavy sounding thud. My fingernails dug into the upholstery of the couch.

Oh, my G.o.d, I've just killed my boyfriend.

"That should hold him for a while," the authoritative male voice said. "Search the apartment. The source said it would be here."

Boots scuffed to do the leader's bidding. I heard a voice say, "I thought an arrow through the heart would kill a vampire. He's looking pretty p.i.s.sed off."

The good news was that Sebastian was apparently still alive; the bad news seemed to be that he wa.s.staked through the heart by some method involving an arrow.

"The source told us that a stake of ash keeps the vampire transfixed, doesn't kill him."

"Ah, that's right," Sebastian said, sounding a little pleased. "You're not vampire hunters at all, are you?

Aren't you a bit out of your league? Don't you usually kill unarmed tree-huggers?"

Hey, I wanted to say,that's not fair ! But I realized Sebastian was just goading them.

When they didn't rise to it, he continued. "I hope you trust this source of yours. A longbow-very inventive, though awfully risky. What would you have done if it hadn't worked?" Sebastian hissed. He sounded as though he spoke through teeth clenched in pain. "You do know that if you want to finish me off you have to decapitate me with a single blow? Which one of you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds thinks he has the b.a.l.l.s to come close enough to attempt that?"

"Ignore him," leader said. "Go help the others find the journal."

Holy Mother, they were searching for the grimoire. How long would it take them to look under the couch?

Barney decided to be brave. She streaked out from under the couch with a yowl. Someone, most likely Leader Guy, cursed loudly, and then came a feline yipe followed by the quick retreat of padded paws. I imagined Barney must have scored a hit and lived to fight another day.

"Why are there always cats?" Leader Guy muttered between curses. "Why don't these people ever have goldfish familiars?"

My breathing sounded so loud in my own ears, I wondered why no one had found me yet. And, though I desperately needed to shift my weight, I didn't dare. I was afraid the creaky hardwood would betray me.

Sebastian groaned. At least, I thought it must be Sebastian, especially since the authoritative man suddenly demanded, "Where is it, Von Traum? Where's the grimoire?"

"It was stolen. Lilith has it."

"Who's Lilith?"

"A good religious man like yourself has never heard of Adam's first wife? Shame on you, Padre."

The rapid discharge of a machine gun tore through the air. I sprawled flatter, hugging hardwood, trying to slide farther under the protective shield of the couch. My ears rang, and suddenly all sound receded inside my head. Great. Now I was deaf as well as blind.

The echo of voices tried to reach my eardrums. Far, far away and underwater people were shouting. I prayed that one of them was Sebastian. I refused to even contemplate what a machine gun could do at close range to a body, and, luckily, I had no real-life previous experience to give seed to my imagination.

I told myself that shredded Sebastian meat wouldn't do the Vatican any good if they wanted information out of him. They wouldn't have cut him in half-not if they wanted him talking. No vampire could take that kind of damage lightly, not even with their supernatural regenerative abilities. So I chose to believethat Leader Guy had shot up my lathe and plaster as a demonstration, a show of power, a shot across the bow, and Sebastian remained unharmed, other than, apparently, being impaled on a longbow arrow.

If I thought otherwise, I'd cry, and this was no time for sobbing histrionics. Especially since any noise would give away my location.

I wished I could see. Or hear. At least previously I'd had some sense of the action. Now my world had shrunk to the harsh sound of my own breathing and the disgusting view of the enormous dust bunnies that populated the underside of my couch.

I might be able to visualize the action from the astral plane, but I didn't want to risk using magic. I'd heard that the Vatican employed sensitives, psychics who could sniff out spell work in progress. Of course, that would be just the kind of rumor the Vatican might plant in our community to keep someone like me from using my magic to kick their a.s.ses.

Lilith chose that moment to remind me that I was not without a weapon. A spasm jittered across my abdomen, as though to say,Let me at 'em . I winced from the pain, but also because at that same moment, artificial light streamed in under the couch. Fingers had lifted the ruffle and, mere inches from my own face, eyes widened in surprise at seeing me looking back. There were a couple of seconds of shallow breathing and mutual staring, then a return to darkness.

I waited, not breathing, for what seemed like an eternity. I even entertained the idea that the soldier boy who'd spotted me might have had some kind of crisis of conscience and had told his fearless leader that there was nothing to see here, move along. Then, quite suddenly, the couch was heaved up and over. I lay exposed on the floor surrounded by a perfect rectangle of dust, a set of keys, and sixty-two cents in change.

Sixth House

KEYWORDS:.

Stress, Cleanliness, Weakness

I looked up to see three priests in black suits and collars with heavy weaponry, all of which was pointed at me. Including, I realized, a redheaded guy holding a bow so slender and long I had to a.s.sume it was the longbow Sebastian had talked about earlier. The redhead regarded me warily over the fletching of his arrow. I thought I recognized his gray-green eyes as those that had spotted mine under the couch.

Just as I pictured in my mind's eye, I found Sebastian pinned to the oak window frame by a huge arrow sticking out of his chest.

Something about the way he hung there, unmoving, made Sebastian seem more than just skewered. The slackness in his body reminded me of Parrish's earlier behavior. I wondered if the "transfixing" Leader Guy mentioned was a kind of magic keeping Sebastian immobilized, but he was able to flash me a weak smile when he saw me.

The machine gun had ripped up a s.p.a.ce next to his feet and there was plaster dust and wood splinterseverywhere, not to mention a ragged hole in the wall.

I was so never getting my security deposit back.

Especially considering all the bloodshed about to come.

Wary of the guns trained on me, I sat upright very slowly. Leader Guy stepped forward. Or, at least, I a.s.sumed it was him from the machine gun he toted in his beefy hand. Plus he looked the part: silver hair chopped into a flattop, perpetual grimace, steely gray eyes. All he was really missing was the stub of a cigar sticking out of the corner of his mouth; otherwise he fit the whole sergeant-of-a-secret-armed-religious-force to aT . I was happy to notice the rake of Barney's claws across his cheek.

"Where's the book?" He growled at me, or, at least I think he did.

I put a finger in my ear and wiggled it, trying to kick-start my eardrum. My hearing was returning, but there was still a nasty roaring sound that overlaid everything.

"If you're talking, I can't hear you," I said, or, I imagine, shouted, since I could hardly make out the sound of my own words.

He brought the barrel of the machine gun level with my nose. "Listen carefully, miss. I'll ask you once again. Where is the grimoire?"

Lilith uncoiled in my guts, searing me with a whiplike sting. I clutched at my stomach, fighting not to double over. One of the other priests, a black guy with a gorgeous knot of short dreads, had the sense to take a step back and sight his weapon. I wondered if he was their sensitive. The fear I saw growing in his eyes made me fairly certain he was. It'd be such a shame to bury him; I hoped he was smart enough to run.

"Safe-deposit box," Sebastian volunteered quite suddenly. "I have the key with me."

"You've decided to talk?" Leader Guy sounded as incredulous as I felt.

"I hate seeing a damsel in distress," Sebastian said. He tried to shrug, but the arrow's spell, or whatever magic kept him pinned, made the motion more of an awkward jerk.