Mosaic Moon Read online

  John opened the door on the second knock, the dim porch light casting shadows over his wan face. The only color came from his fleshy lips and the purple bags under his eyes. Jesse's surprise was evident on his face, but only for the briefest moment before he collected himself.

  "John," Jess greeted. "Are you...okay?"

  The corner of his mouth lifted. "As well as can be expected for being wakened in the middle of the night," he said. "Is there something I can do for you?"

  Jesse straightened. "Yes. You can tell me what's going on. And you can tell me the truth so we can stop wasting time."

  John's gaze flickered to Gideon lurking in the shadows behind Jess. "What, no empath to tell if I'm lying? What a shame. She was a lovely girl." His attention shifted back to Jess. "Though, perhaps, not as effective as you might have wished."

  "No, perhaps not. Can we come in?"

  Gideon was ready for an argument. Hell, he wanted one. He wanted an excuse to be able to grab John and shake him until his brains leaked out his ears and the only sounds he could make were wet and blubbery. It was disappointing, then, for John to stand back from the entrance and nod at both of them. He didn't even bother with another sarcastic comment about Gideon's presence.

  "I've just put some tea on," John said. "So come in. It might as well be put to good use."

  "We just missed the person you're looking for tonight. We were so close that there were still herbs on the ground from the ritual he performed," Jesse said, conversationally. "I thought you might be interested in knowing we're gaining ground on him. I'd be interested in knowing why you didn't just tell me about the enneagram, so I didn't have to waste valuable time working it out and tracking him down."

  He could've sworn he saw John wince. Following him into the front parlor, Gideon hung back, eyes narrowed as he kept his gaze steady on the mage. Something wasn't right about him. He smelled different. Like he was sick. And he sure as hell didn't look very good either.

  John waved them toward the couch, not even bothering to wait until they'd seated themselves before settling into the chair he'd obviously been resting in prior to their arrival.

  "You didn't see him, then?" he asked. He deliberately avoided addressing Jesse's concerns. "How unfortunate."

  "It is most unfortunate." Jesse settled on the couch, resting his elbows on his knees. "But I think we'll probably keep missing him. You know how specific enneagrams are. No room for error."

  Some of John's good humor--if you could call it that--faded. "We had an agreement, Mr. Madding."

  "John, I want to fulfill my end of the bargain," Jesse said in a soft help me help you tone. "Trust me, there are things I'd rather do than wander through cemeteries in the middle of the night, but that's exactly where I was tonight. But just a quarter of inch off on the map and we can end up miles from the correct location."

  "But you won't be. You know about the enneagram, and I trust you won't make the same mistake when he strikes again in three days." His smile was wan. "This was one time I'd hoped Gideon's propensity for swinging first would work to my benefit. Oh well. I suppose it's my own fault for allowing this to reach this point in the first place."

  Gideon couldn't bite his tongue any longer. "Are you going to tell us what this point even is?" he demanded. "Because black magic requiring human fat candles makes me a little itchy."

  "As it should," John replied. He rubbed a thin hand over his brow, and Gideon spotted the mottling marring the normally perfect skin. "My apologies. I'm not exactly well these days."

  "You don't look well," Jesse observed. "Is your illness related to what's going on?"

  John made a sound that was obviously supposed to be a laugh, but came out as more of a distended wheeze. "I'm surprised Gideon hasn't already picked up on it. Though it's heartening to think that perhaps my power hasn't flagged that drastically yet."

  His words made Gideon frown. Now that John mentioned it and Gideon wasn't distracted by his anger, there was something off about his scent, something more than just having the flu. He smelled...weak. For the first time since meeting the man, Black John smelled like prey.

  "These rituals are draining your powers," he said, almost a little surprised.

  John smiled. "And the vampire gets the gold star. Kudos to you, Gideon."

  "Why didn't you just tell me that's what was going on?" Jesse demanded with more than an edge of anger.

  "Ask the vampire who loathes and reviles me to stop the man who's weakening everything I am? If Gideon had known the truth from the beginning, there is no way he would have agreed to do this, no matter how persuasive your tongue might be, Mr. Madding."

  At Jesse's glance, Gideon nodded. "He's right."

  "When you called me, how many rituals had been performed? You didn't look...well, you didn't look like this."

  "Eight. Whoever this is hadn't finished the first enneagram yet. I hadn't expected it would take you this long to determine the patterns. Again. My error in judgment."

  Gideon could see the tension in Jesse's neck and jaw, like he was grinding his teeth. "I suppose it would be pointless to ask for names of people who might want to weaken you, wouldn't it?" He rubbed his hands over his knees. "What happens if he completes the second enneagram?"

  If it was possible for John to pale further, he did. "You'll be left to contend with someone who has no qualms about thievery, about honor, about blasphemy. Someone with all of my power at his disposal as well as that with which he began. He'll be an adulteration of unknown morals, and I sincerely doubt he'll be satisfied coloring within Chicago lines for long. After all, he wasn't satisfied with his own abilities. He needed mine to play with as well."

  "And what'll happen to you?"

  The casual lift of John's shoulders made beads of sweat pop out on his brow. "I'm nothing without my powers, Mr. Madding. I have no definitive answer for you, but considering how ill I've become with this last theft, it's probably safe to surmise I won't survive the completion of his task."

  Any other time, and Gideon would have considered this an acceptable consequence. He didn't like magic, even if it was necessary to get certain jobs done, and he especially didn't like Black John. But at least John was a known quantity, and while his motives were rarely good, Gideon knew how to deal with him. This new player would take time to learn. Time, apparently, John didn't think they had.

  Jesse stood. "Is there anything else you've neglected to tell us that we should know? Now is not the time to play coy."

  All good humor fled John's features. "Don't underestimate him when you finally find him," he said. "He's going to be powerful, and if I were in his shoes, I'd be willing to do just about anything to finish what I had started. Don't give him an unnecessary advantage by not taking him seriously at this point." His mouth tightened into a grim line. "I've already made that mistake."

  "We won't," Jesse promised. "Do you know exactly which ritual he's performing?"

  "Now if I had known that, I would have been able to counter it, now wouldn't I?" John waved a weak hand toward the door. "I hope you don't mind seeing yourselves out. I'm not feeling...very well."

  Jesse sighed. He looked like he wanted to add something else, but he turned to the door without speaking. Gideon followed him out, John nothing more than a shadow behind them in his oversized chair. When they reached the car, Jesse muttered, "Maybe I should have shown him the herbs. He might have been able to figure out the spell if he knew the ingredients."

  "The shape he's in right now, you're more likely to find what we need." Gideon slid behind the wheel. He was eager to get home and put this night behind them, for a few hours at least. "And we've got three days until the next strike, he said. That's more than enough time."

  "Yeah. Yeah, more than enough time." Jesse hit the palm of his hand with his fist. "Except, it shouldn't come down to three days to stop him. We had two weeks."

  "We didn't know about the enneagrams until yesterday. That's not our fault. That's John's."

  "I could
have figured it out before yesterday, Gideon. John said there was only eight when he contacted me. Eight would have been enough to see the pattern, and we might have been able to stop him from completing the first one."

  "And I'm telling you, the fact that John's in the position he is, is his fault, not ours. Or yours. Did he give you the sites of the first eight graves to get hit? No. You had to go to Derek. Did he mention anything about the enneagrams? No. He didn't even bring up the possibility of magic being involved, which if we'd known of ahead of time, maybe we could have had other feelers out about. Magic leaves a trail, and it's John's fault that we didn't even know to sniff that one out." As he turned a corner, he reached across and rested a hand on Jesse's thigh, though it remained tense beneath his fingers. "Beating yourself up about this now isn't going to do anybody any good. Let it go."

  "I know. I understand why he thought he needed to keep all of this from us, but I would have helped him. I would have done something a lot sooner if I knew it was something more than some pissing contest."

  "The important thing is, we're doing something now." He bit back the editorial about how unworthy John was of Jesse's guilt, though. Gideon had a sneaking suspicion that anything he said would only add fuel to the fire. "Let's get home and get a good night's rest. Let this simmer. Things will look better in the morning."

  They had to. They couldn't look much worse.

  Chapter 14

  * * *

  Jesse didn't have much to be thankful for when it came to John's case, but there was one thing at least. Once he analyzed the ingredients gathered at the cemetery, it was fairly easy to narrow the possibilities down to a short list. And each ritual on that list had one thing in common--the process of reversing it. Even if he couldn't find enough to narrow it further, they still had enough to make a plan.

  They had a location, a date, and the seeds of a strategy. Jesse stood and stretched his back, grinning with satisfaction. That wasn't bad for a day's work. Well, he thought, a night and a day's work. He knew he should take a shower, eat dinner, and go to sleep. The night was young, but he had been awake for the past thirty-six hours. He could save Gideon the trouble of lecturing him about the importance of taking care of himself. Which included not pushing himself to the brink of exhaustion.

  But he wasn't tired. And after sequestering himself with his books for nearly twenty-hours, Jesse was more than a little lonely. He put his books and notes away and hurried upstairs. Gideon was shut in his office, all the blinds pulled against any stray sunlight, but Jesse could tell with a glance outside that the evening was going to be beautiful. Far too beautiful to be caught indoors.

  Jesse pushed Gideon's door open enough to peek inside. The vampire was hunched over his desk, his brow furrowed in concentration, his hand balled into a tight fist. Jesse slipped inside and shut the door behind him.

  "You look like you could use a break," Jesse said, approaching his desk.

  "I could use a good accountant," Gideon muttered. He barely glanced up from the ledger in front of him. "What's up?"

  Jesse walked behind Gideon and rested his hands on his shoulders. "The sun is going to set in a few minutes, it's going to be a beautiful night, and I want to take you out."

  The light massage of the taut muscles had the exact effect Jesse was looking for. Gideon tossed aside the pen he'd been holding and leaned back, his eyes closing as he wallowed in the attention.

  "We haven't had a night out, just the two of us, that wasn't about work in too long," he agreed.

  Jesse brushed his lips across Gideon's temple. "I didn't have anything too fancy in mind. Maybe drive over to Jackson Park. It's been awhile since we've been to the Osaka Garden."

  The sigh that escaped Gideon was a sound of pure bliss. It was a favorite retreat for both of them, serenity in the shape of foliage, and Jesse knew it reminded Gideon of days long before he'd chained himself to Chicago. Japan was another of those someday places they both talked about in the wee hours of the morning. Osaka Garden was the closest substitute.

  Jesse clasped Gideon's hand and helped him to his feet. As they walked to the garage, Jesse caught him up on his process. Gideon seemed pleased by the news, but Jesse hoped he wouldn't take it as an invitation to start talking strategy. There would be time enough for that later. But Gideon dropped the subject by the time he slid behind the wheel of the Ferrari, clearly as eager as Jesse to leave their work at the office.

  "I spoke to Emma earlier today," Jesse said, as they emerged from the parking structure. "She's swamped at work. They're putting a new installation in, apparently, which means a lot of extra hours."

  Gideon eased into traffic. It was light, even for a Sunday night, but he kept a temperate speed as he headed toward Jackson Park. "Probably better she's not around anyway," he said. "I'm not sure how much work we'd get done if she was." His mouth slanted into a soft, reminiscent smile. "She can be a tad distracting."

  Jesse snorted. "Yeah, considering the fact she's been driving me to distraction for the past six months. I think I'll sneak out tomorrow and take her to lunch."

  Gideon glanced at him out of the corner of his eye. "You don't think of going to see Emma as sneaking out, do you?"

  "No. Well, yes. But only when I'm supposed to be working on something."

  "You've spent the past day and a half killing yourself. I think you can spare a couple hours to get some food into you."

  Jesse nodded. "No, you're right."

  He knew Gideon didn't understand his guilt over letting John's case languish for over a week just because he didn't feel like dealing with it. Gideon thought it was John's problem for not providing even a tenth of the required information, and he was probably right. But Jesse knew he could have done more.

  They lapsed into silence as Gideon drove, but it was the sort of quiet that wrapped in warmth as opposed to isolated in ice. By the time Gideon pulled into the Columbia Drive lot south of the museum, Jesse was already convinced this had been the best idea ever, especially when he caught Gideon humming under his breath as he turned off the engine.

  "We should go get something to eat afterward," Gideon suggested as they headed toward the gate. "Make a night of it."

  Jesse smiled, his hand brushing against Gideon's. "Absolutely."

  As soon as they walked under the gate, Jesse took a deep breath. The air was heavy with the scent of blossom and vegetation, and the garden was surprisingly empty. It almost felt like they had the entire place to themselves. They followed the familiar path, winding deeper into the garden. The sound of water falling grew louder with each step.

  "We'll have to bring Emma here soon."

  Gideon nodded, his eyes distant as he looked ahead. They were approaching Moon Bridge, his favorite spot in the entire garden. Once, Jesse had watched Gideon stare into the water for nearly two hours, watching the reflections dance across the crystalline surface. He had always wondered what it was about the place that gave Gideon so much peace, but never dared to question him directly. Perhaps one of these days, he might take the risk. The longer they were together, the more Gideon allowed him into those shadowed recesses of his past. Each opportunity made Jesse love him a little bit more.

  "You should bring her out here in the day," Gideon said out of the blue. "Take some pictures. I've always wondered what this place looks like by sunlight and I bet Emma would have a good eye."

  "Yeah, I'll do that," Jesse said softly, oddly pained by the reminder that Gideon had never had the chance to see the garden in the sun. "She'll probably want to take enough photos for a whole album." Well, he wanted to take enough photos for an entire album, and he and Emma tended to be on the same wavelength. Gideon only grunted in reply.

  Jesse looked out across the water to the flock of herons and watched them hop and flutter around in the moonlight. A sort of tranquility settled over the garden, and Jesse was loath to break it, but his mind wasn't as peaceful. "Did you ever think it might backfire?" he asked, without looking away from the birds. "Going
after Emma, that is."

  A small frown marred the smoothness of Gideon's features. "No, not really." Though he remained leaning against the rail, he turned his head toward Jess. "She loves you, you love her. It seemed pretty simple to me."

  "Love isn't simple," Jesse murmured. "It's never been simple for me, at any rate. Is it for you?"

  The question drove Gideon's gaze back out over the water. "It never used to be," he said. "I've learned to make it so."

  Jesse turned and leaned against the railing, folding his arms over his chest. "Maybe that comes with having a few centuries to get it right."

  "Or a few centuries of getting it wrong."

  "I'm really...I'm really happy. With what you did, with how it turned out. But I...well, I guess I think too much."

  The moonlight reflecting off the water made Gideon's eyes glow as he glanced over at Jess with a half-smile. "Yes, you do. But I'm glad you're happy. That was the whole point of talking to her. I'd give you anything you asked for, and even things you didn't, just to see you like this."

  Jesse had been thinking about how devastated and furious he would have been if things had gone differently, if Gideon had dragged Emma to him, only so she could tell him that she loved Ethan. But now he realized he wouldn't be the only one hurt if things had taken such a turn. Jesse knew Emma was important to Gideon, that he had feelings for her, but even if he didn't, he would have been pained on Jesse's behalf. And he would never consciously make the decision to hurt Jesse like that.

  Jesse covered Gideon's hand with his. "I know you would. You know, I still wish I could have heard what you told Emma. Especially about the playroom and all your...toys. She seemed a bit...shocked."

  "She was, but she needed to know. It would've been worse to offer her to you, and then have her rip your heart out by getting scared in the middle." His tone said that it was more than Jesse's heart that would've been torn up. Gideon didn't let people past his walls easily. It would have hurt him if Emma hadn't cared enough to take that seriously.