Chapter 6
New York, Earth Realm
Alex sat on the edge of Vane’s desk in their shared office. His was always spotless, with the computer screen and keyboard both positioned perfectly on the polished wood surface.
Vane was clicking away at the keys as he shared, “I’ve added the California apartment building to the notes. I haven’t found any correlations to any of the other victims, so far. She’s not on any coven listing, but I’m betting that she’s another elemental Mageia. That’s the only thing the victims have had in common.”
For centuries, the Guardians had required that each elemental Mageia coven maintain a list of their members and provide it to the Guardians. For the most part they were a peaceful group, but there had been times over the centuries that they’d caused problems when pooling their powers. Usually they created environmental issues.
Since the lists were already compiled, Vane just snuck into the Guardians’ network and took the information they needed. Vane loved hacking a little too much, it was an advantage in their mercenary work, but he especially enjoyed tapping into anything that Conn, the Guardian tech, was working on. Conn caught him every time he broke the firewalls, and they rarely gained much information, but it was a game her brother loved to play. Before Conn barred his access the last time, Vane had managed to send over a virus that would play a creepy children’s song any time Conn opened a new file. Her brother had laughed for days while planning his next virus.
“So far all I’ve got on Samantha Palmer is that she’s an only child, moved to Orange County from Phoenix to attend UCI six years ago and never left. Works IT for a firm in Newport Beach, and according to the lease agreement, she lives alone. Her dad’s an accountant; mom’s a stay-at-home, still in Phoenix. None of them are on the coven listings.”
“Vane and I can take care of this. Why don’t you go recharge?” Erik’s voice was rough and raspy.
She tried to smile. “No, I’m good. I’ll go after.” He looked at her for a second, and she felt him send her some more of his energy. He was smart enough to know that arguing with her was futile.
“A picture of the apartment complex is up on the screen. It should be about eight p.m. there, just getting dark,” Vane pointed out.
She and Erik took a look at the photo and teleported right outside the complex. They were able to produce the illusion they weren’t there before moving up the stairs. They found the apartment on the second floor. It was one with a view of the golf course.
Alex used her powers, touching the walls and door to see if she could get a feel for what happened when Sam was taken.
Nothing. She got flashes of a black hoodie and a syringe. Of Sam dropping the groceries and another picking them up. No faces, no feelings. It was all too fast.
“I’m not getting anything useful,” she declared as Erik opened the lock, and they silently slipped in. Lock verses Immortal with telekinetic ability… Immortal wins. She saw Erik tense a little, but he moved on. She frowned, unsure what that was about.
Vane inhaled as he entered. “Another Mageia, unique, but I’d say earth elemental ability,” he said as they followed Erik. Her brothers were powerful and could scent even the smallest differences in Mageia.
Alex looked around, not bothering to turn on any lights; there was enough illumination from the streetlights outside the open curtains.
It was a cozy apartment, with an open floor-plan, a decent-sized kitchen to the right, and a big snack bar open to the living area straight ahead. Candles were scattered everywhere and she smelled vanilla and pineapple.
She moved into the kitchen. There were pictures of laughing girls at a pool, with drinks featuring fun colored umbrellas. More images of a different group of girls were displayed in magnetized frames all over the fridge. Alex absently wished she had that, pictures of girlfriends out on the town, shopping, dancing… but to get close to a mortal was just asking to be hurt when they died.
Looking around, her chest constricted a little. Had she been missing out on living?
Shaking out of her morose thoughts, she really studied the snapshots. The one constant was a blonde female, taller than the others, with green eyes and a nice tan. There was a framed photo with a younger version of the blonde, this time with longer hair and braces, standing next to an older couple and a golden retriever, which confirmed for Alex that Sam was the blonde.
Alex might have shared the female’s mind, but without a mirror, she’d had no clue what Sam looked like.
She glanced at Erik, who was acting strange, his shoulders painfully tense as he moved around. She looked to Vane, who just shook his head as if he wasn’t sure what was going on either.
“Erik, is everything okay?” When he didn’t respond to her and just moved into the other room, Vane followed.
The hair on the back of her neck tingled and she rubbed the sensation away. She was confident Vane would find out what was wrong, so she moved into the living area.
She noted how it always felt weird being in the personal space of one of the victims, an intrusion. Alex felt Sam there. Just like the other victims, there was something left inside the home, maybe it was the elemental Mageia power signature her brothers scented.
The urgency in her mind told her they didn’t have much time. They needed to find Sam. She couldn’t let her suffer with Cyril and Elizabeth; the thought clenched her stomach.
A roar shook the entire building and sent a rush of panic through her as she rushed to the bedroom.
“Shit, Erik, what the fuck?” Vane yelled before he slammed their brother up against the doorway leading into what had to be the bedroom. Wood and plaster cracked with the move, and some rained from above. She hoped the neighbors weren’t home to hear the commotion, but she doubted they were that lucky.
Erik was vibrating against the hold, panting, his chest rising and falling so hard that if he’d been human, she’d have been concerned he was having a heart attack. Her heart was racing when he spoke one word. “Scent…”
Erik barely growled the one word that was the last semi-coherent thing they’d get from him. His eyes went cat, and she and Vane moved at once, teleporting Erik back to the balcony of their home, where Vane carried him to the couch.
Worriedly glancing at Vane, she asked, “Did you smell anything there? Are you feeling okay?”
“I’m good.”
“What exactly happened?” she demanded.
Vane seemed fine, maybe shaken under his fierce scowl. “I’m not affected by anything. I’ll go back and see if I detect anything. I went in right after him. He looked kind of out of it, headed to the bed, and lifted the pillow to his nose before he started convulsing. I barely restrained him against the damned doorway.” Vane made a move to leave while she sat with a snarling, panting Erik.
“No!” she demanded. “You stay out here with him. Let me go in and see if I can pick anything up. I don’t have either of your sensitivities to scent. I don’t want you exposed.”
“Fuck no!” He ran a hand through his long blonde hair and blew out a breath, obviously realizing how ridiculous he was acting. “Fine, go and check it out. I feel fine, but you’re right about me having the same sensitivities as Erik. Do not smell the pillow! Maybe use your psychometrics on it.” Her ability to gain knowledge from objects was generally only useful if the item she touched was something left behind by a kidnapper or something to that effect. Sam was taken from outside just like the other victims, so her pillow was unlikely to hold clues, but she’d try.
Alex was out the door and reappearing in Sam’s apartment a second later. She heard commotion outside. Shit. She needed to be fast. She didn’t doubt someone had called the cops to report the roar of a wild animal and the sound of crashing walls.
The master bedroom had a four-poster bed in oak, with a dresser and end tables to match. The bed was mostly made, except where Erik had taken the pillow out, crushing it before apparently dropping it to the bed.
Alex grabbed the pillow, feeling with her mind for a reading. Pictures of Sam tossing and turning, sleeping, nothing out of the ordinary for a pillow; there was no sight of anyone other than Sam having used it.
Quickly, she teleported into the kitchen, grabbed a garbage bag and found some duct tape in a junk drawer. Back in the room, she bagged the pillow and teleported it to her private cave in case it was some kind of clue, though for some reason she doubted it. Something about that just didn’t feel right, but better to be safe.
Her heart beat nearly out of her chest as she headed back home.
Something very dangerous was happening. She felt it in her bones.