CHAPTER 20
It took another half hour or so to drag themselves away from Rachel’s house. First she’d had to hug each of them another twenty or thirty times; then Jake had needed to put his own two cents’ worth of congratulations in, along with a teasing comment or two about “spoiled princesses” not seeming so bad once you got to know them better. Which, of course, had meant Walker had to box his nephew’s ears for referring to his mate with that particularly appreciative glint in his eyes.
Rachel had wanted to pop open a bottle of champagne and toast the new couple, a suggestion that Fiona had greeted with a smile that failed to completely conceal the look of panic in her pretty purple eyes. In sympathy with that feeling, Walker had found a polite way to refuse and accompanied it with a promise that he’d bring Fiona back for a real celebration another night.
Even though Rachel’s state of mind had drastically improved since the discovery of the happy news, Walker hadn’t liked the idea of leaving her and Jake all alone in their town house. He’d called and arranged for a couple of her friends to come and stay the night and made Jake promise to call if there was any trouble. Walker would have preferred to stay with them himself, but he and Fiona had work to do. Before tonight, the need to find the demon had been motivated mostly by duty and an innate desire to see justice done for the humans he had never met. Now, his abstract desire for justice had become a very concrete need to avenge himself on the thing that had killed a longstanding friend and threatened the safety of his family.
He waited until they left Rachel’s building before he flipped open his cell phone and dialed Graham’s number for what seemed like the thousandth time in the last week. Graham would fill Rafe in, Walker knew, but his first loyalty was to the pack, and his first instinct was always to alert the alpha. That was how packs operated.
“We’ve got a problem,” Walker barked as soon as the other man answered.
“I know. Is Rachel okay?”
“Yeah. She wasn’t hurt, just shaken up. Maggie and Samantha are on their way over to her place. They’re going to spend the night.”
“Good. I managed to get a pack member on the homicide squad. Shel—I mean, the body is on its way to the morgue and Adam and Annie are right behind it.”
“We can be there in twenty.”
“Walker, we need to find this thing,” Graham said, his voice low and intense. “Not just because of Shelby, though God knows that makes me want to rip it apart with my bare teeth and dance in the leftovers, but…”
“But what?”
“The negotiations. The delegates voted this morning. The Europeans and the Asians will ratify the basic language of the declaration of rights. With them on our side, we think the Africans and the Americans can be persuaded. But if news of these demon attacks gets out before the signatures are on the document, we’ll be in trouble.”
“Yeah, I got that, Cuz. Trust me, I’m giving this everything I’ve got.”
He hung up and headed for the corner to hail a cab.
Fiona hadn’t said much since Rachel’s congratulations, but she followed along behind him, her silly pink sneakers soundless on the pavement. He really hoped she wasn’t gearing up for another argument about their relationship.
If she wanted to brood, that was fine. He sat in the taxi beside her and stared out the window, trying to pretend that he wasn’t acutely aware of every breath she took. It didn’t feel like she was brooding, though. She lacked the requisite pout and the air of wounded dignity. Instead, she just seemed to be lost in thought, her expression pensive but neutral in the light that shone through the taxi’s windows.
The cabbie let them out a block from the hospital’s entrance, and Walker and Fiona made their way inside to the elevators. Even after visiting hours, the hospital buzzed with activity, but no one gave them a second glace as they stepped into the car and pushed the button for the basement. Morgues were always in basements. An irony, considering what store humans put in the idea of heaven as a celestial realm high above them.
Graham had been as good as his word. When Walker and Fiona arrived at the morgue, Adam was waiting outside. He used his key card to open the locked door and ushered them inside.
“Sorry to see you back so soon,” he said, and the bags under his eyes looked even more pronounced than they had the other day. “Annie is inside. She seems to feel a connection to these victims, and she’s a hell of a scientist. She’s been playing forensic investigator. Looking for trace evidence before I do the autopsy.”
Walker nodded and stepped farther into the cool, sterile, windowless room that housed the hospital’s morgue. It seemed odd somehow that the institutional green paint and spotless tile should look familiar to him. If that didn’t mean he’d spent too much time around death lately, he didn’t know what did.
He avoided looking at the autopsy table and the calm, efficient brunette who hovered over it. That was Shelby Lupo on that table, not some strange human, but a pack member and a longtime friend at that. He didn’t want to see her this way, to have to acknowledge that he’d never see her any other way again. Fiona must have read his expression. Her small hand slipped into his and squeezed in reassurance.
His own hand tightened along with his heart. It amazed him that he could need her so much so fast. Already he was coming to rely on her in a way he’d never relied on anyone else. It both unnerved him and exhilarated him.
Adam saw them stop just inside the room and paused beside Walker. “I’m sorry,” he said. He didn’t touch the higher-ranking male, but his voice held the same intent as a sympathetic hand on the shoulder. “The alpha said she was a friend of your family. We’re hoping the princess can pick something up, especially since the… ah, the time of death was so recent. But it isn’t pretty. If you don’t want to get any closer…”
Walker stiffened. “I’m fine. I want to see what happened.”
Nodding, Adam fell silent and led the way to the metal table that held Shelby’s remains. Annie looked up at their approach, her warm brown eyes filling with sympathy.
“Walker, I’m so sorry,” she said, putting down the large metal tweezers she’d been holding and rounding the end of the table with outstretched arms. Her intent to hug him was clear. “I hope Rachel is okay.”
At his side, Fiona stiffened, and Annie caught the subtle movement. She hesitated, sniffing the air and then freezing just an inch away from embracing her friend and packmate. Her eyes widened. She looked from Fiona to Walker and back again several times in rapid succession before she yanked her arms back and clasped her hands together behind her back. She took one large Simon Says step backward.
“Ah, well… um, let me know if there’s anything I can do.”
Beside him, Fiona relaxed, and he could sense her satisfaction. Walker found himself almost amused in spite of the situation. “Thanks, Annie. We appreciate it.”
Exchanging looks of mutual understanding, Annie and Adam retreated to the far side of the examination table from the newly mated couple and made sure to keep their eyes focused on their work.
Walker tried to avoid doing the same. Adam had gotten it right. It wasn’t pretty.
If Walker hadn’t known the body’s identity, he would never have looked at it and thought, Oh, that’s Shelby Lupo. He wasn’t sure if that counted as a blessing or a curse, but he barely recognized her. Someone had taken care to… reassemble her as neatly and naturally as possible on the shiny table surface, but it was still easy to see where her extensive and ugly wounds had cut clear through muscle and bone. The gash on her neck was one, and similar red lines banded both arms and her right leg halfway up her thigh.
Gritting his teeth, Walker forced himself to take stock of each injury. If he avoided looking at her face, he realized, it was easier. The scent of her blood and her death made it impossible to pretend she was just another human, but at least he could stop himself from looking at her and seeing her as she had been, whole and healthy and full of energy.
“I collected whatever trace evidence I found,” Annie began, clearing her throat. “There wasn’t much, and I think most of it is just crime-scene debris—some gravel, organic matter, a few hairs that seem to belong either to her or to another Lupine. I’m guessing your sister.”
Walker nodded. “Yeah. The thing that attacked them wasn’t furry. The hairs have to be either Rachel’s or Shel’s.”
Annie nodded. “Other than that, there’s not much here. I did swab a couple of the wounds that looked more like bites than claw marks. Maybe we can get some information off the saliva. My lab has DNA sequencing equipment, and since I’m the boss I can skip all the red tape Adam would have to deal with here at the hospital. I’ll let you know if I find anything interesting.”
Taking his cue, Adam nodded. “I took a quick look at things before you guys got here, and on the surface I’d say this looks a lot like the human woman who was found in the park earlier this week. The wound patterns are consistent—lots of force, no hesitation, really sharp claws. And, of course, the heart is missing again.”
Walker nodded. He had his teeth clenched too hard to say anything.
“You sound as if there’s something more you need to tell us, Adam.” Fiona spoke quietly, and her eyes were on the physician, not on the body. “What’s the ‘but’?”
Adam shrugged. “It’s nothing I can put my finger on. Like I said, the wounds are consistent with those found on the last woman. But,” he paused, “there are a lot more of them. There’s just a lot more damage overall. It’s like the last girl, the thing was just doing a job. Kill the human, spill a little blood, go home, and order a pizza. This time it looks like it took more time, if not with the killing, then with the rest of it.”
“What does that mean?” Walker managed.
“Well, the decapitation came early on. That jibes with your sister’s recollection, but it also explains why a lot of these wounds on the extremities and the torso showed very little evidence of bleeding.” Adam made a face. “I don’t know if it’s much comfort to anyone, but it looks like Shelby was already dead when the thing ripped her apart.”
“Not much comfort, no.”
Adam nodded. “I didn’t think so.”
Walker felt Fiona’s hand give his another squeeze before she let go and took a step closer to the table. “Is it all right if I look?” she asked. “I’m sure what you’ve told us is accurate, but if Shelby can tell us something more, so much the better.”
“Of course. Be my guest.”
The others watched curiously as Fiona took a deep breath and repeated the spell she’d cast on each of the previous demon attack victims. Walker could see the glow that surrounded Shelby’s corpse, could even make out some more glyphs like the ones that had appeared on the others, but he still had no idea what they said. He did know, however, that when Fiona swore, her concentration wavering and blinking the spell back out of existence, something was very wrong.
“What is it?” he barked. He grabbed her around the waist and yanked her away from the table as if he needed to protect her from what lay on it. “What happened? Did you see something?”
Fiona nodded, and her expression was grim. “Yes. Something bad.”
“What is it?” Annie asked, breathless and wide-eyed.
“The demon. It’s trying to break the hold of its master,” she said. “And if it keeps gaining strength this fast, next time, it’s going to do it.”
Fiona wanted nothing more than to take a hot bath, maybe in a solution of water and disinfectant. The taint of the demon’s foul magic left her feeling contaminated, and that was just from reading the residual magic it had left on its victim.
She felt Walker’s arm slip around her waist and pull her against his side, and she leaned into him gratefully. Being with him made the air seem a little less foul.
“Are you all right?”
She nodded. “I’m fine, but this is really bad news, Walker. We need to talk to Graham and Rafe again. And I need to see if I can find Squick. I really, really hope he’s been able to turn up something useful.”
“I’ll call the club and see if they can meet us,” Walker said, taking her chin in his hand and forcing her to meet his gaze. “Tell me what you saw.”
She shivered a little and wished her denim jacket would turn into something warmer. She felt a soft flannel lining appear inside the material and knew her energy was waning if she couldn’t manage any better than that. She’d done a lot of spells tonight. Small ones, but the drain added up.
“I thought—well, I’d hoped that the attack on Shelby and Rachel had been one of opportunity,” she said. “The selection of the human victims seemed random. I knew a demon should have been able to tell your sister and her friend were something other than human, but I thought maybe it hadn’t realized that. Or maybe it was just so worked up that it didn’t care who it attacked. But it knew, Walker. It chose Shelby and Rachel deliberately.”
“What do you mean?”
She took a deep breath. “You know how I get energy from when we touch? Well, it’s possible for me to get energy from touching other folks, too, as long as there’s some kind of connection between us. It isn’t as good, because the connection isn’t as strong, so for me it’s not really worth it and I don’t bother. Do you follow me?”
He growled. “So long as you follow that if you try touching anyone else for energy, I’ll break every bone in their body.”
She choked back a laugh, knowing it came from tension more than humor. “Yes, well, anyway, demons work on a twisted version of the same principle. You know they feed on the hearts of their victims? That’s because the heart contains the life force of just about every creature you can think of. Humans, Fae, shifters, almost everything.”
Walker nodded, looking impatient.
“The difference between all those different kinds of folks is the quality and the quantity of the life force. Traditionally, demons have fed on human hearts because humans make pretty easy pickings for demons. They’re small, they’re weak, and most of them don’t have any idea of how to use magic to defend themselves. But I imagine it’s kind of like living on a vegetarian diet. It will keep you alive, but if you’re not on it by choice, you’re going to snap up a steak the first time you get a chance at one. Others are the steak.”
Walker swore and Annie made a sound of distress. Adam just looked really uncomfortable.
“The life force of an Other is much… richer than the life force of a human. And the force of a Fae is richer still. That’s why the Fae became demon hunters, and why we fought so long and hard to win the Wars. We were fighting for our lives.” She paused and gathered her strength to move on to the bad news. “So when a demon takes the heart of an Other, like Shelby, it gets a much bigger magical charge than it would have gotten out of the humans it killed. That’s why it attacked her and Rachel. It was looking for more energy, and it knew it wouldn’t be able to get it from a human. It wanted steak.”
“Why the sudden change?”
“Because it’s tired of doing the summoner’s bidding,” Fiona said, her voice betraying the sick feeling of dread that had crept over her. “It’s trying to break the hold of its summoner, and when it does, I’m not sure if anything but a Fae army will be able to stop it.”
They went immediately to Vircolac to inform Graham and Rafe of what Fiona had discovered, but they didn’t stay long. Walker wasn’t in the mood to socialize and Fiona didn’t want to waste time. She needed to try to contact Squick to see if he’d been able to discover anything that might help them track down the demons or the sorcerer who had summoned them.
As they walked out the door, Tess pressed a small cloth pouch into Fiona’s hand and smiled encouragingly. “It’s glass from the explosion,” she explained. “I checked it out, and it’s safe. The spell that made the glass shatter was a one-shot deal. It didn’t leave anything behind for you to worry about. If you’re going to try and contact your friends from Faerie, I thought it might help. It’s a link between the worlds that you can focus on.”
Fiona held the pouch in her hand, worrying it back and forth between her fingers on the trip back home. She’d stopped thinking of it reflexively as “Walker’s apartment” and no longer had any trouble picturing herself there with him. She tried not to think about what that meant, but that pretty much equated to what an ostrich was trying to do when it buried its head in the sand.
She stood in the middle of the living room with the little packet of glass in her hand and a frown on her face while Walker flipped the locks and turned out most of the lights. When he finished, he cupped her face in his hands and leaned down to kiss her briefly.
“Are you okay to do this?” he asked. “I don’t know what kind of a spell you need to do, but are you sure you have the energy for it? You’ve done a lot today, and I could help you recharge if you needed it.”
Fiona laughed. Humor was pretty much the only thing still holding her together. She hadn’t realized how tired she was until they had returned to the calm quiet of the apartment. “Mo fáell, if you want to see me naked, all you have to do is ask.”
He smiled and kissed her again, lingering a little this time. “I’m glad to hear you say it, Princess. But I was being serious. Are you okay to work any more magic?”
“I’m fine. I promise. Anyway, the call isn’t so much a spell as a… well, a little like a phone call, I guess. Wireless, of course. All I have to do is put it out there that I want to talk to Babbage and Squick, and wait for them to answer.” She shrugged. “I just hope they’re not screening their calls.”
Walker nodded and helped her off with her jacket, tossing it on the back of the sofa. His hands chafed up and down her arms, and it felt wonderful. She’d been cold since they’d left his sister’s house.
“Okay, let’s get this over with,” he said. “Do you need to concentrate? Should I go in the other room?”
Smiling, Fiona set the small handful of glass down on the end table and lifted her arms to drape them around his neck. She pressed her head against his shoulder and let herself relax. The night had left her emotionally and physically exhausted, and she relished his strength. “It’s already done. I placed the call. Think of it as a kind of magical answering machine. Now we just wait for Babbage and Squick to check their messages and give us a call back.”
Walker grunted and wrapped his arms around her. For the first time, their embrace felt less like a bonfire and more like a comforting source of warmth. She felt him press a kiss to the top of her head and murmured into his shirt.
“In that case,” he said, his voice a soft rumble, “what do you say we get ourselves to bed and try and get some sleep? Neither of us has had enough of that lately, and I have a feeling we should seize the opportunity while we have it.”
Fiona mustered up the energy to flash him a grin. “You won’t hear me arguing. So long as you don’t try to steal the blankets.”
He chuckled and took her hand to lead her into the bedroom. “You can have the blankets, Princess, but I doubt you’ll need them. I think I can keep you warm.”
Chuckling softly, she followed him into the darkness. “I bet you can.”