Persephone Alcmedi 00 - Wicked Circle

and Zvonul liaison.”
    Her voice was warm and friendly. Too friendly. She assessed him up and down, and Johnny became more aware of his nakedness.
    “You had a rough night.” Her gaze fell to something in the cage behind him.
    The remnants of a side of beef lay on the floor. The hay that was supposed to be in this kennel was piled up at the edges, pushed into the adjacent kennels.
    He remembered agony, a pain like he was being eaten alive from the inside out. He recalled thrashing about and howling. What the hell?
    Red!
    Mind racing, he recalled all that he’d done and her reaction. I’ve fucked everything up. God damn it. I knew I shouldn’t trust myself. . . . I’ve failed. I failed me, but worse, I failed her.
    “Let’s acquaint ourselves in your office,” the woman said. “After you’re dressed.”
    Ten minutes later, Johnny had collected himself, mostly, and entered his office, dressed in black jeans and an Ozzy Osbourne concert tee. A tray rested on his desk, a plate with an insulated cover not restricting the aroma of the bacon and eggs underneath. There was also coffee, milk and orange juice.
    He ignored it all, sitting and picking up the phone in one motion. He was punching in Persephone’s number when his new assistant walked in. “Aurelia—”
    “You may call me Aury, if you like.”
    “I have a few things to take care of first. Then I’ll see you.”
    She sat across from him. “I can wait.”
    “Do it somewhere else.”
    Aurelia crossed her long legs unhurriedly. “You want to make sure that I understand I am not your top priority. I get it, Mr. Newman. But please try to remember I work for the Zvonul and am here to aid you.”
    He tore his eyes from her thighs and said, “Aurelia, I don’t play games. If I say I have other things to do, I do. It’s not a show meant to put you in your place.”
    “Then you need me more than you think you do.”
    Johnny shoved the receiver onto the cradle. “You will wait somewhere else.”
    “Pout, pout.” She strutted out.
    Kirk appeared in the doorway but directed a whistle after the leggy blonde who’d just passed. “Dude. It’s good to be the king.”
    Johnny couldn’t stifle the single laugh at the movie reference. “What do you need?”
    “It’s William. He’s awake, but he’s not responding. Beau’s calling an ambulance.”
    “Send someone with him.”
    “Renaldo is still here.”
    “He’ll do.”
    Kirk left, calling out, “Hector wants you to call him.”
    Johnny picked up the phone again and punched in the number for Seph’s satellite phone.
    She didn’t answer. When the voice mail picked up, he couldn’t bear to leave a lame recorded apology. He hung up and dialed the house number.
    No one answered that either.
    Jaw clamped, he dug out his cell phone and found the number for Menessos. He couldn’t call that—the sun was up and the vamp was tucked in with his dirt bag—but a secondary listing was that of the haven. He called that number.
    It rang and rang without going to any kind of message service. Pissed and worried, Johnny let it ring. There had to be some Offerlings or Beholders around somewhere.
    Finally, someone picked up. “Hello?”
    “Ivanka?”
    “Da.”
    “This is Johnny. Where’s Persephone?”
    “Who?”
    “The Erus Veneficus.”
    The heavy sigh that answered him made his stomach ice over. “I know the shabbubitum were there last night. What happened, and where is Seph now?”
    “No idea.”
    Great. I need to know what’s happening and I get the one person in the haven who can barely speak the language and isn’t big on details. “What do you mean you don’t know? What happened?”
    “She mark our boss two times. She Make him like Offerling to her.”
    An awful thought occurred to him. “Did the shabbubitum take her?”
    “They try.”
    “Ivanka. Tell me what happened!”
    “She fly away on broom. Creature pursue her. Neither come back.”
    He stood. Damn this den for its concrete walls that block cell phones! I could be on my way to my car— “Who’s out searching for her?”
    “All Beholders. All Offerlings.”
    “Did they check her house?”
    “Mountain already there.”
    Right. Duh. “Write down these numbers . . . ready?”
    “Wait . . .”
    Johnny groaned impatiently.
    “My arm broken. Be patient or I no write number.”
    Be nice to the Offerling you want to call you if they find anything out. “What happened to your arm?”
    “Strange man at E.V.’s house. Bastard