City of Magic: The Complete Series Helen Harper (fox in socks read aloud TXT) 📖

and took the question seriously. ‘No,’ she said simply. ‘I’ve never felt like that either before or since. Yes, I’m more powerful now. Blood has more of an effect on me than it ever did, and it’s so irksome not to be able to enjoy the sun’s rays like I used to. But the magic isn’t so strong that it affects my inner self. I was … overwhelmed that first time. I was easily swayed by the magic’s pull. But things are more stable now. If I were going to do anything crazy like that again, it would have already happened. The apocalypse was an explosion of magic. Since then, things have settled down. You’re talking about a gradual build-up.’ She shook her head. ‘I just don’t think it’s possible.’

‘Thank you,’ I murmured. ‘I needed that.’

‘Any time, darling.’ She watched me for a moment. ‘He’s scared, you know,’ she said suddenly. ‘He’s terrified by how you make him feel. He’s even more terrified that something will happen to you. But you’re both sensible people when you don’t have other problems to deal with. You’ll work it out.’

I massaged the back of my neck. ‘The trouble is,’ I sighed, ‘there are always other problems to deal with.’

The corner of Julie’s mouth lifted. ‘Then get someone else to deal with them.’

I smiled sadly. Easier said than done.

The next morning I was at a loss. The investigation had all but stalled. I couldn’t think of where to go or what to do next, and the idea of dealing with the usual mundanities of post-apocalyptic life made me feel like I’d swallowed a ten-tonne weight that I’d never get rid of.

I’d have to return to that life sooner or later, even if the others did help me out more. In this new world, life wasn’t about excitement and thrills and seat-of-your-pants, death-defying bids for survival. It was about clean water and enough food to eat and ensuring nobody killed anyone else in a fight about nothing.

Julian seemed to have the post-apocalyptic infrastructure down to a fine art in the north, but he took it all a bit too seriously and things there could do with some serious tweaking. If it weren’t for Monroe’s fear about the magic, I’d suggest that we all moved in to the same neighbourhood rather than staying in separate ones. We could learn a lot from each other if we allowed ourselves to do so. If I hadn’t floated my stupid theory, Monroe might have agreed. Unfortunately I doubted that Julie’s assertion that the magic wouldn’t affect the vampires in any more ways would be enough. Monroe needed proof that they could hold their natural instincts in check; I had no way of getting that proof.

‘Hi-de-hi!’ Lizzy trilled, strolling into the room. ‘How is my lovely enchantress this morning?’

‘Peachy,’ I grunted.

‘That’s what I like to hear.’ She smiled at me and I couldn’t help but smile back. I needed some sunny Australian optimism to brighten up my life. ‘Anna asked me to drop by and fill you in,’ she said. ‘The name of the dead guy you brought back, the one with the tattoo, is Craig Featherstone. I helped her search his house yesterday. There wasn’t much there, unfortunately. Lots of bits of paper but no indication about why he might have done what he did, or who the mysterious woman was that he was with.’

Big surprise. I sighed. ‘Thanks anyway.’

She nodded. ‘How’s Julie?’

‘She’ll be okay. She’s pretty resilient. She said she was thinking about getting some therapy but that might have been a joke. We hardly have psychiatrists hanging round every corner. We can’t even find plumbers.’

‘You’d be surprised. One of the scraps of paper we found at Craig’s place was a leaflet for a counsellor. I mean,’ she shrugged, ‘I doubt it was anyone who’s medically trained but they clearly had experience. They were advertising hypnotherapy.’

I blinked. ‘What? You get hypnotised into … self-affirmation?’

‘Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.’

True. I raised my cup and then I froze. ‘Wait,’ I said slowly. ‘What did the leaflet look like?’

Puzzled, she raised her hands. ‘About this big,’ she said, indicating the size. ‘Handwritten. Why?’

‘Was there any sort of picture or drawing?’ I asked. ‘Some kind of symbol?’

She stared at me. ‘There was, actually.’

I leapt to my feet and darted over to the window, breathing out to create condensation before drawing the outline of a head with a spiral where the brain would be located. ‘Did it look like this?’

Lizzy licked her lips. ‘Exactly like that.’ She was growing nervous; golden fur was starting to sprout across her arms. She patted it down absently and continued to look at me. ‘How did you know?’

‘Philip,’ I ground out. ‘Philip had a bookmark with the same design.’ My stomach flipped. ‘Get Anna,’ I said. ‘Get hold of her and tell her to meet me at the Travotel.’

‘You think this has something to do with it?’ she asked. ‘Hypnotherapy?’

For once I wasn’t going to jump to conclusions. Not yet, anyway. ‘Just tell her to meet me there,’ I said. ‘As soon as she can.’

The alarm on Timmons’ face when I careened at full speed into the Travotel lobby was obvious. ‘No,’ he said. ‘Just no.’

‘I have to see Valerie’s room again,’ I bit out. ‘Now.’

‘I’ve been losing guests left, right and centre!’ he told me, flapping his arms. ‘You can’t come in here and disturb them again! People think it isn’t safe here. I’ve been doing everything I can, but they say they can’t trust my magical alarms. They say they can’t trust me! Having you here again is not going to help!’

‘What if your alarm wasn’t at fault?’ I said.

He blinked. ‘Pardon?’

‘If Valerie invited her killer in and didn’t feel any fear, then the alarm wouldn’t necessarily have gone off, would it?’

He stared at me. ‘I don’t suppose so. But it was a vampire who killed her. She didn’t like vampires. She fought back.’

‘Only in her last moments,’ I