Chapter 9
THE NACHOS WERE good, as usual. One thing Angel had inherited from her mother was the ability to work a stove. Mama J. had been an incredible cook, and she had made the best pie in the world. Everybody had come to her diner, first out of hunger, then the food kept them coming back. During dinner, Angel kept looking over at the bag that Herne had brought, and I could see that her thoughts were focused on whatever lay within.
“Are you sure you don’t want to open it now? We can eat afterward.”
I was over my snit about her inviting Herne to stay. It felt comforting to have him there, actually, once I got my hormones under control. I was amazed that Angel didn’t have the same reaction to him that I did. A lot of times we tended to gravitate toward the same type of men. It hadn’t proved an issue, however, given Angel only dated men who were taller than she was. I was short enough that it was never a problem.
“I’m almost afraid to,” she said. “When I think about everything that went up in flames, it breaks my heart. It’s like, there’s this hope that maybe something survived—my photos or DJ’s baby blanket, or something important. If I look, and they aren’t there, then I know they’re gone forever.”
I could understand her fear. Sometimes it was easier to hold onto the hope of what might be, rather than face the reality of what was.
I glanced over at Herne. He had a sober look on his face, as he set down his plate. He had practically licked it clean, and now he wiped his hands on his napkin.
“If you want, I can open it for you, and Ember and I can bring out what survived. It might be easier to watch us unpack it.” He stood up, motioning for me to join him.
Angel nodded, biting her lip. She was holding her stomach as we walked over to the bag. She looked like she might throw up. I nodded for Herne to move out of the way as I sat cross-legged on the floor beside the bag. It would be easier for her to watch me unpack it than a stranger.
“Ready?” I asked.
She nodded.
I slowly opened the large garbage sack. As I peeked inside, the scent of soot and ash blew up in my face. My nose tingled and I coughed. I rolled the plastic down, gingerly reaching in to pull out the first object I could find. As I lifted it out of the bag, a fine layer of ash covered everything, falling to the floor as I shook it off.
“The carpet—” Angel began.
“That’s what vacuums and carpet shampooers are for.” My hands black from the soot, I realized that I was holding a photo album. “Look! Pictures!”
Angel had squeezed her eyes tight and now they flew open. I motioned for Herne to hand me the paper towels, and I wiped the cover of the photo album off, cleaning it as best as I could. I handed it to Angel and she laid it on her lap, opening the cover. She gave a cry of relief.
“They’re intact. Mama J. had three photo albums, and this is the one that has a lot of DJ’s baby pictures in it. Thank you, thank you so much for finding this.” She looked over at Herne, tears in her eyes.
“I just hope I found other things of value as well. I’m so glad that I was able to sift through the rubble. The cops didn’t like it, but I told them to back off.”
“You’re a good man,” I said under my breath. But he caught my words and flashed me a genuine smile.
I dug deeper into the contents of the bag. Another photo album containing pictures of Angel when she was young, and of Mama J. and her relatives, had survived the fire. Two rather ratty stuffed animals—both bears—and a few outfits had also made it through. There were also some pots and pans, and about thirty books that had somehow escaped the flames, along with Angel’s jewelry box, which held her mother’s wedding ring and her grandma’s necklace.
“I wish we could have found more, but everything was pretty much burnt to the ground. The entire house is gone. I talked to the landlord while I was there and he said that he’s just grateful you and your brother weren’t at home. There was a smell of gas in the air, and I think it’s likely the fire marshal will blame a gas leak for the fire. But don’t believe it,” Herne said. “I’m pretty sure the Light Fae were up to no good.”
“What will they do when they realize they didn’t kill her and her brother? It’ll come out that they survived.”
“By then, word will have filtered through that Angel and her brother are under our protection, so it should be all right. But we need to keep DJ safe and out of the way, just in case.”
“If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to take these things into my room. I’ll be back in a few minutes. There’s dessert if you want—I found some more cookies in Ember’s cupboard.”
As she dragged the bag into the guest room, I let out a long breath. Grateful that Herne and Viktor had managed to find enough of her sentimental belongings to make a real difference, I dropped onto the sofa, leaning back against the seat as I closed my eyes. A moment later I felt someone next to me and when I opened my eyes, Herne was sitting there, curled up beside me, staring at me. I slowly blinked, and once again, felt my breath quicken.
“You and Angel are tighter than sisters, aren’t you?” His voice was soft, and he was too close for comfort, but I didn’t want to scoot away.
“Angel and I have been soul mates since we were kids. I think we’ve been around several times on the wheel before.”
“Sometimes, you just know when you’ve lived lifetimes together.” He reached out slowly and pushed my hair back away from my face. “I hope that you enjoy working with us. If you ever need anything, just say so. I’ll do my best to help out. I know this is a difficult transition, but I’m glad that I’m part of it.”
I could barely breathe. The feel of his fingers on my face sent ripples through my body, quickening my pulse. I wanted his hand to drop down, to trace along my breasts, new boss and stranger or not. But it felt like I knew him from somewhere, like our energies meshed together in a way that was familiar and soothing. His lips bowed with a gentle sway, making me want to lean in and press my own lips to them. But I caught myself before I could blunder, and—shaking —straightened.
“I’ll remember that.” I felt like my words were hanging in midair, but then Angel returned and I abruptly pulled away. I pushed myself to my feet, almost tripping. Angel flashed me a knowing grin, but I looked away, not wanting to display my emotions on my face.
“I suppose I’d better go,” Herne said. He stood and put on his leather jacket, zipping it up against the rain. “See you both at eight tomorrow morning.”
As he headed for the door, he caught my gaze and held it for a moment. I stared back at him. There was so much going on unspoken between us, but I didn’t want to assume anything, and so I just showed him to the door, giving him a little wave as he headed toward the elevator. Shutting the door behind me, I leaned against it, letting out a soft groan.
“You like him,” Angel said, a wide grin on her face. “Don’t try to wiggle out of it. There’s something between the two of you. I can feel it from a mile away.”
I wanted to believe her, but the fear was still there. While I doubted that Herne would end up dead like my other boyfriends, there was enough uncertainty that I was afraid to chance it. And there was still the fact that he was my boss, and also the son of a god.
“Don’t even start,” I said. “Did you have a chance to unpack?”
“Yeah, I’ll clean it all off later.” She crossed to the kitchen, holding up the box of cookies. “How about I make you an espresso, and we watch some TV? I need to unwind, and I think you need to cool off.”
I couldn’t argue with her there, so for the next hour we watched a documentary on penguins in the Arctic. But all the while, I could still feel his fingers tracing my face, and the fire that they had left behind.
WHILE ANGEL WENT through her things, I returned to my search. I had jotted down the names of some of the parapsychology groups that I knew our four victims had belonged to. As I began searching through the websites, looking for anything that might stand out to me, I began to notice a common theme. Each of the groups met at least once a month, and had at least three or four field trips per year. Several of them had member lists posted on their sites, and I was able to find the names of our victims included in them. While not every victim belonged to every group, there was some overlap, so at least some of our victims must have known each other.
“Find anything?” Angel asked as she returned from the guestroom. I had a daybed in there, and I had moved some of my weapons and gear out of the way for her.
“I think so,” I said. “There’s something here and I can’t quite seem to put my finger on it. But I know there’s some connection. I think at least a couple of our victims had to know each other. At least a cursory acquaintance. Wait a minute.” I paused. I leaned forward, staring at the screen. And then I realized what looked so familiar. “Here. I’ve seen this on several of the groups I looked up.” I pointed to a picture on one of the field trip pages. “This group, the Faustians, recently took a field trip to look over the Castle Hall area. At UnderLake.” I glanced up at Angel. “I think…”
I rapidly switched between tabs, searching on the various websites.
“What?” Angel sat down beside me, craning her neck to see the screen.
“Four of these groups recently took a field trip to Castle Hall.” I looked at her, my mouth dry. “Besides the fact that DJ overheard the Light Fae there…the fact that several of our victims probably visited the area recently seems like there’s got to be some connection. Either that, or it’s a massive coincidence.”
“I don’t believe in coincidence,” Angel said.
“I know you don’t. I do, but this seems too coincidental to be a fluke. Do you think I should call Herne?”
“I think you just want to hear his voice. Maybe you should wait till tomorrow.” Angel gave me a long look. “You need to walk softly around him, Ember. There’s so much energy between the two of you that it could spontaneously combust. Find out a little more about him first.” She reached out to pat my hand. “I want you to be happy. I want you to find the right guy. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“And you think that I will, if I go for it with him?” It wasn’t a rhetorical question. I trusted Angel’s instincts.
“I don’t get a feeling on that either way. I just know there’s more to him than meets the eye. They brought you into the agency for more reasons than just because of me. I think you need to find out what those reasons are before you jump into anything else.” With a yawn, Angel stood. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a shower and go to sleep. It’s been a long past couple of days.” She paused, and with a sad voice, added, “I miss DJ. I miss that little guy so much.”
“I know you do. And I wish things could be other than what they are. But like you said, there’s so much on the line right now, for both of us. Go take a shower and go to bed. We both need sleep.”
As Angel headed into the bathroom, I crossed to my own room. I was too tired to do anything but fall under the covers and sleep. But my dreams were filled with screaming victims, and dark shadows chasing them, and at one point I turned around and felt Herne’s eyes on me, watching me closely, like a hawk. And then he turned into the silver stag and dashed through the woods, and I found myself alone again with a growing shadow threatening to gobble me up.
COME MORNING, ANGEL had toast and eggs ready. I fed Mr. Rumblebutt, then made my latte, and fixed her a cup of tea. We gobbled down our breakfasts, and carrying our travel mugs, headed for my car.
“I need to buy a new car as soon as I can,” Angel said. “I got a call this morning while you were showering. Sure enough, they’re chalking up the fire to a gas leak. They say that it managed to travel to my car as well, because they said my car was in the garage. But I didn’t leave my car in the garage. I didn’t tell them that, though, given what Herne said would happen.”
“Did you have renter’s insurance?”
She shook her head. “Are you kidding? Who can afford that? But I did have car insurance, and while it won’t pay for a new car, I should be able to get a decent clunker that will last for a while.”
“With your new job and pay rate, you should be able to get a loan for a new one.” I still couldn’t get over the fact that we were both making so much more money than we had ever seen in our lives.
“I suppose so. It seems like we have job security. Maybe I’ll go talk to the bank later today.”
The city streets were slick with rain as it sputtered out of the heavens. It was a gloomy day and I longed for a sun break, just a few days of balmy weather. The wind picked up at that moment, and I shivered as the car rocked. I’d hate to be dealing with buses right now.
“Well, here we are,” I said, pulling into the parking garage. “Are you ready for the day?”
Angel nodded. “We don’t have much choice, so we might as well make the best of it. And it could be worse. I could still be at my old job.”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right about that.”
WE FOUND OUT that every morning at the Wild Hunt Agency, we started the day with a brief meeting to bring everybody up to speed. Talia was there, carrying a box of doughnuts. Yutani had a sheaf of papers in his hand, and he looked like he’d been up all night. Viktor was entirely too bright and perky for eight in the morning, and he gave me a two-fingered salute as we entered the room.
Herne was the last one to straggle in. He was talking on his cell phone. Talia had made coffee, and I thought about refilling my cup, but the fact that I’d already had four shots of espresso made me hesitate.
Angel gave me a sardonic look. “You know you want to. Go ahead. It never seems to affect you, anyway.”
“That’s because I live on the stuff. I think the mix of the Dark and Light Fae scrambled some of my brain cells.” I was joking, kind of. There weren’t enough of us half-breeds between the two Fae courts to do any studies on.
“Excuse me,” Herne said, waving for us to be quiet. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hear you. My staff was joking around.” He flashed us a warning look, then turned away. “I know what you said. There’s not much I can do about it.” He paused, then let out a huff of irritation. “I don’t think you’re going to find it of much use now, but go ahead and knock yourself out. Call me when you have an answer.” He stared at us for a moment, then slipped the phone in his pocket.
“Anything the matter, boss?” Talia put a doughnut on the plate and shoved it his way.
Pulling the plate in front of him, he picked up the cream-filled bun and took a big bite out of it. A moment later, he wiped his mouth on a napkin.
“Yeah, there’s plenty the matter. Just a run-in with Névé’s court. You know how it goes.” He turned a long look to Angel and me. “They’ve got you on the rosters now. They weren’t happy about it, either. Apparently you really did interfere with their plans by killing those two Light Fae. And apparently I interfered with their plans by making sure you were taken on here.”
“So they’re pissed?”
“Mightily. Anyway, they have no choice but to agree to our terms. Morgana made it clear to them. And yes, before you ask, they petitioned her about it. She not only made it clear that they have to abide by rules we already have set up, but that you are under her protection as well.”
My stomach lurched. That they had gone all the way to the goddess to try and get permission to retaliate left me feeling rather weak-kneed. And then to know that a goddess was taking a personal interest in me was almost just as disconcerting.
“I guess they take things seriously.” Thoughts of my parents flashed through my head again. “I had a thought last night. I’m not sure if now is the right time to mention it, but I did a little research on my own.”
“You didn’t go out anywhere by yourself, I hope?”
“Not at all.” I tossed a printout on the table that I had made of several of the ghost hunting sites agendas. “I remember what you said about that. No, it occurred to me that there might be some connection between some of the activities on the various paranormal groups. So I took a look at their recent field trips. At least four of them recently visited the Castle Hall area of UnderLake.”
Herne glanced over at Talia. “Did you notice this connection?”
She shook her head. “No, but I wasn’t finished with my research either. What about you, Yutani?”
Yutani cleared his throat. “I’ve been running algorithms, trying to find connections between the victims and anything that might be part of their lives. I did connect all of the victims that have been identified with paranormal groups. And I also made a printout of the connections I found between the groups. There’s probably something about Castle Hall in some of them, but I haven’t had the time to go through it yet. That’s what I was planning on doing this morning.”
He brought out twelve printouts, and placed them on the table. “Here are spreadsheets of the different victims and the groups they belonged to. We could start combing through them, or I can run a query asking about Castle Hall, now that I’ve got all of this information gathered together. That would probably be a lot quicker.”
“Go ahead. Meanwhile, Talia? What else have you found out?”
Yutani gathered up his papers and left the room. I caved and poured myself a cup of coffee, stirring sugar and cream into it.
Talia polished off a maple bar, licking her fingers. “I did a little digging into bank accounts. As far as I can tell, there doesn’t seem to be much of a connection that way. Some of the victims were middle class, some were poor. None were rich, and none belonged to influential families.”
Herne turned to Angel. “How are you finding your desk? Do you need anything? Are the ergonomics all right?”
“Everything’s fine, although the chair could use replacing. If you don’t mind, I’d like to do some reorganization of the filing cabinets. Whoever had the job before me did an adequate job, but I think there are more efficient ways to organize all of the files.”
Herne slowly nodded. “I don’t have a problem with that, but remember that all the files are confidential, and any that are filed in blue folders need to stay in a locked drawer. As for a chair, find one you like and put in a requisition slip with me. Try to keep it under $400 if you can, but if you need to go above that, just talk to me and we’ll work it out.”
Angel gave him a nod, jotting down notes on her pad. I had at least remembered my notepad and pen today.
Just then, the office phone rang twice. It stopped then rang three more times. Talia glanced at Herne, then walked over to the phone on the counter and answered it.
“I forgot to tell you both, that’s the emergency code. If it rings twice, then stops for a moment, then rings three more times, answer. It will either be my father, Morgana, or one of their representatives,” Herne said.
I blinked. “Cernunnos and Morgana use a phone?” Somehow, I hadn’t counted on the gods being part of the tech generation.
“If you live in this world, you kind of need to. Whether you’re a god or not.” Herne glanced at Talia as she handed him the phone and mouthed “Morgana.”
“Herne here.” He listened for a moment, then let out a long sigh. “Yeah, I’ve got it. Hold on.” He pulled out his cell phone, and glanced at the screen. “Yeah, the text came through. We’ll get right on it.” He paused, then added, “Yes, Mother. I said we’ll get right on it.” As he handed the phone back to Talia, who replaced it back in the cradle, the tension in the room seemed to rise.
“What’s up, boss?” Viktor asked.
“Wait till Yutani comes back, please. Can somebody get me a cup of coffee, three sugars, and about two spoons of cream?” Herne just stared at the screen of his cell phone, shaking his head.
I glanced at Angel, who gave me a little shrug. I picked up a chocolate-covered cake doughnut and bit into it, blinking as I realized they were from Ray’s shop.
Talia must have noticed my surprise. “Good, aren’t they?”
“Yeah,” I murmured. “I know all about these doughnuts, and the guy who makes them.”
Talia looked like she was about to say something, but stopped when Herne shook his head at her. I wondered what was going on, but didn’t feel comfortable asking. At that moment Yutani came back through the door, clutching a whole bunch more printouts. He pulled out a chair and slid into it.
“Well, you’re right. Every single victim—of the ones identified—belonged to a group, different ones, that recently visited the Castle Hall area of UnderLake. And every victim seems to have visited the park the day they disappeared.” He tossed the papers on the table and leaned back.
“How long did we figure we have between victims?”
Viktor consulted his notes. “Another day, at least. It looks like they’re down to one every two days.”
Herne sighed. “The pattern has escalated. There was another murder yesterday afternoon, but they didn’t find the victim until this morning. Same MO. Victim mutilated to pieces. Morgana just let me know.”
“How does she know? I thought the gods weren’t omnipotent?” I wasn’t quite clear on how much the gods actually did know.
“She has spies all throughout the police department. You’d be surprised how thorough Cernunnos and Morgana’s network is. One of her informants notified her as soon as they found the victim this morning.” Herne stared at me. “You don’t think my father and mother would leave this all to chance, do you? They are trying to prevent an all-out war down here, so they’ve got to have people on the inside.”
It made sense when I thought about it. I just hadn’t expected it for some reason. Then the reality of what he had said hit home.
“A thirteenth victim? That’s a lot of dead bodies. What the hell are they doing?”
“I don’t know, but with regards to the rumors that the vampires are behind the killings, what better way to deflect suspicion off yourself by finding a scapegoat?” Herne looked puzzled.
“Do you think one of the Dark Fae is a serial killer? That he’s gone off the deep end and his people are trying to protect them?” Angel asked.
He considered her question for a moment. “Actually, I don’t. If that were the case, they’d take him out. Neither side wants the sort of chaos a serial killer brings into play. No, there’s something else going on. I’m just not sure what.”
I raised my hand.
Talia laughed. “You’re not in school, honey. If you have something to say, just come out and say it. We’re all part of this agency, and even though you’re new, that doesn’t mean that you can’t have an opinion.”
I flashed her a grateful grin. “Thanks. I just wanted to remind you all that the shadow that Angel felt when she was inspecting the pendant seemed to be some sort of a monster. Could the Dark Fae be summoning up some sort of demon?”
Herne gave me a thoughtful look. “That’s not out of the question. Both sides have made deals with not only the sub-Fae, but their underlings. We can definitely investigate that angle.”
“So who’s the new victim?” Yutani asked.
“I sure don’t want to tell you this,” Herne said, giving Angel a sideways glance. “Hang tight. This time, it was a fourteen-year-old boy. Apparently, neither sex nor age are factors when it comes to victims.”
I closed my eyes, trying not to think about the age of the boy. There was nothing I could do for now, except help to find his killer. “Where was he found?”
“Yeah, was it in Seward Park?” Viktor asked. “And was he human or a shifter?”
“Human.” Herne let out a long sigh. He consulted the text on his phone. “And he was actually found on the Eastside.”
“In the UnderLake District?” I began to jot down notes on what he was telling us. I glanced over at Angel. She had a sick look on her face. I wanted to comfort her, to remind her that DJ was safe, but this wasn’t the time or place.
“No, actually he was found on Mercer Island.” Herne held up his hand. “Before you mention it, I know perfectly well that Mercer Island is directly across from Seward Park. We seem to have a trail of bodies leading from the docks to the catacombs, to Seward Park, and now Mercer Island. Heading east.”
“If the murders are now one day apart, that means there’ll be another one today, probably found tomorrow.” I swallowed hard. Whatever we were facing seem to have an insatiable appetite. But what was it feeding on? Oh, there had been bite marks on the victims, and chunks of flesh taken out of a few, but not enough to feed a big hungry monster.
“So what’s next?” Viktor asked, looking as queasy as I felt.
“You, I, and Ember will go examine the murder site. Or rather, the dumpsite. We still don’t know where all the victims were murdered. Talia, get on the phone to those organizations and ask for full member rosters. See if our newest victim was a member. Yutani, run all the names through whatever computations you do, see if there are any connections between any of the other members that might link them to the murder victims we already have. Angel, you help Yutani and Talia however they need.”
“Of course,” she said, still holding her stomach. “What do I do if somebody comes in about a case? Do you even take cases that aren’t related to the war between the Fae? I’m not clear on that.”
Herne stood up, shrugging into his jacket. “Yes, we do, between cases that my father and mother send to us. And if anybody comes in wanting information, take their name and number, and set up an appointment for Wednesday or Friday afternoon. That’s when I offer consultations for other cases. From two until six p.m.” He motioned to Viktor and me. “Get your coats and let’s get a move on. We’ll take my car.”
As we hurried out of the office, I realized that I actually cared about what we were doing. I cared about the murder victims. It’d been a long time since I was this interested in my work, and that was a good feeling, even though it came at the expense of others.