Soul Thief-Demon Trappers 2 by Jana Oliver

Author:Jana Oliver
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2011-09-01T22:07:46+00:00

NINETEEN

The summoners didn’t hang with the moneyed elite, but had their own reception room, complete with crustless sandwiches and tuxedoed servers toting silver trays loaded with drinks.

Mortimer made his way through the group, Riley trailing behind. She knew everyone was staring at her. She was easy to spot: Other than the waitstaff, she was the only one not wearing a cloak.

Lenny walked up to them. “Miss Riley,” he said. His usual pimp suit wasn’t in sight, hidden by a light gray cloak. His cheeks were flushed red, probably because of the cocktail glass in his hand and the empty he had in the other. “How goes it?”

Lenny was pretty harmless, so chewing him out wasn’t going to get her anywhere. Besides, he was friends with Beck. “Not going that well, Lenny. It’d be better if I could find my dad.”

“Ah, I heard about that. Sorry, girl. I had three buyers lined up, and you would have got the money. I warned you it could get nasty.”

You did. “Any idea who took him?”

Lenny narrowed his eyes then announced, a bit too loudly, that he needed to get his drink refilled. She watched him head for the bar.

“Better let me do the asking,” Mort counseled.

Riley had come to a few conclusions by herself. “The guy who did this had a lot of power. That’s not Lenny, right?”

“Right. To conjure up that sort of illusion requires something more than an entry-level summoner.”

“So where are you on the scale between newbie and Dark Lord?” she quizzed.

Her escort didn’t reply, suddenly uncomfortable.

“Mortimer is about three-quarters of the way there,” Lady Torin said as she joined them. She held a plate full of cheese wedges and crackers. “Of course, he won’t admit that. He likes to appear harmless.”

Mort gave her a gracious nod and held her eyes a second longer than was needed. Was there something between these two? As if he realized he was showing more than he wanted, Mort headed toward another summoner, one who had made the mistake of getting caught with his hands full of food and drink and no place to run.

Riley turned her attention to the other necromancer. “So how about you? How close are you to being Dark Lord?”

Torin’s mouth twitched in a grin. “I’m about seven-eighths of the way. Except in my case, it would Dark Lady.”

“And Ozymandias?”

Torin’s eyes met hers. “He doesn’t even register on the scale anymore.”

Whoa. “Who do you think took my dad?” Riley asked.

“Someone Mortimer’s level or above,” the lady replied. “That’s his mistake, you see. He’s asking questions of every summoner, rather than focusing on those at Theta level and up.”

“But one of those lower dudes might know something.”

“A lower-level summoner is not going to tattle on someone higher on the food chain.”

“Out of respect?” Riley asked, curious.

“Out of fear.” Torin finished demolishing the cracker.

Riley and the lady talked to five summoners before the lights flickered and it was time to go back into the theater. With absolutely no results. Mort joined them, and she could tell from the expression on his face he’d struck out, too.

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