Gremlin Night, Dale Smith [easy books to read in english .txt] 📗

like the proverbial cat with the proverbial mouse. My eyes narrowed. “What?”

“You, in a manner of speaking.”

I laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

Dara glanced at her watch. “We have fifty-three minutes until dawn. We need to leave in ten. My people tell me that Gott will cast his spell within thirty minutes of dawn. It’s likely the final component of the ritual he’s been casting all night. I never joke when time is this short.”

I couldn’t imagine her ever joking, but she had a point about time running out.

“I’m not giving you me. That’s final.”

She shrugged. “Fine, then you sit this one out.”

“The hell I won’t,” I growled.

Her eyebrow shot up. “So, you can swear.”

“Listen, you need me.”

She laughed. “We agree. I’m not asking for your soul. I’m asking for access to you.”

I crossed my arms. “I’m not going to be an informant.”

She laughed again. “You wouldn’t have much value as one.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“I’m serious,” she said. “We have other means of gathering intelligence on R.U.N.E. No, I need access to your person.”

It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. “For someone who finally appreciates how short we are on time, you are certainly beating around the bush.”

“I need to implant a manifestation in you.”

My skin went cold at this. “What? No way. I refuse.”

“Then I’ll take our chances without you at the hotel. You can sit this one out.” She paused. “Oh, and I’ll also notify your superiors at R.U.N.E. about your use of blood magic.”

That would finish things right there.

“I should add that the mana snake will give you advantages.”

A mana snake? “Never heard of such a thing.”

“You wouldn’t have. It’s fresh from one of our workshops.”

My eyes narrowed. That sounded ominous. “Why give it to me?”

“An experiment. We haven’t tried it in an independent volunteer yet.”

“Gee, thanks, but no thanks.” My skin crawled at the thought.

“You already have one manifestation riding you, what’s one more?”

Of all the times for Dara to show she actually did have a sense of humor, it had to be now. I closed my eyes. Took a deep breath. Thought about my future with R.U.N.E.

“Fine. I’ll do it. We’d better get to whatever facility you have to get this snake thing into me.” I shuddered.

Dara reached into a pocket, brought out what looked like a solid gold compact, opened it, and lifted out an oval-shaped purple-blue pill. “Swallow this.”

She handed me the pill. It trembled when I touched it. My stomach clenched. That wasn’t a pill. It was a tiny pod.

“It won’t hurt,” she said.

“That’s supposed to make me feel better?” I already had a shadow slug attached to me, and now I was expected to swallow something that would live inside of me? I batted her hand away. “Forget it.”

“Then you stay here. And I reveal to your partner and your organization that you’ve been practicing blood magic.”

If a look could have killed, she’d be on the floor in bloody pieces after the glare I gave her. But, I didn’t have a choice. I had to focus on now.

“This will actually aid you,” she added.

I sighed. “How about some water to wash this down with?”

She shook her head. “Just put it in your mouth. It will do the rest.”

That was the last thing I wanted to do. “This might give me more mana, but what about restoring my spells?”

“It will do that, after a fashion. Enough to make you of considerable use in a few minutes.” She glanced at her watch. “We need to move, now.”

Now Dara was in a hurry. I hesitated, then put the pill on my tongue.

The pill expanded in my mouth, and began wriggling, slithering down my throat. I gagged, but it pushed its way into my stomach. Nausea rolled through me in a sweaty wave.

My stomach heaved as the snake-worm manifestation swelled. Then the nausea subsided.

Dara watched me closely the entire time. She nodded to herself. “Good. You won’t be rejecting it.”

I wanted to vomit, then the feeling passed, and suddenly I no longer sensed the mana snake inside me. “This had better be worth it,” I gasped.

She gave me a thin smile. “It will be.” The smile disappeared. She handed me my blood amulet. “This is yours. We won’t be informing your superiors about your use of blood magic. Oh, and the mana snake is a part of you now, so much so that a standard body sweep for magic will not reveal it. So that secret is safe with us, as well.”

For now, I suspected. I had managed to get myself into a very tight spot.

I’d worry about getting out of that later. We had to move.

“Now that that unpleasantness is over, we need to get to your garage or wherever it is we’ll catch our ride, right?”

“After a fashion, yes,” Dara said, amused.

I didn’t like the sound of that, but after the mana snake, I’d roll with whatever it was.

16

Tully and Riley, followed by ten men and women in black suits, waited for us in an empty and windowless room. The suits wore wrap-around sunglasses that glowed faintly with golden light--obviously arcane artifacts.

There were seven doors, counting the one Dara and I walked in through. All were made of some sort of industrial looking alloy. Riley handed me a wand, and my binding knife.

“Thank you,” I said. I adjusted my jacket, putting the wand in the holder inside the jacket, and the binding knife in its sheath. I closed my eyes, and considered my spells. I could see them waiting in my mind. Somehow, they’d been restored. My new snaky pal must have made that possible. I shuddered. I’d have to do my best to set aside my loathing until after this was over.

The A.S.A. team all carried wands and, from the look of their suits, were packing pistols. Riley carried that silver rod of his, and Dara pulled on elbow-length white gloves that must be artifacts of some kind.

“Which door to the garage?” I asked.

Snickering broke out all around me.

“What’s so funny?”