The DarkWorld SoulTracker Series Box Set Vol I

by T. G. Ayer

  Gina may still be alive.

  Chapter 37

  Both Drake and Natasha agreed with me that I had to check the mansion out one more time. Drake agreed to come with me, while Natasha insisted on remaining at home in order to repair all her wards. The dark magic of Yarrsh, the demon witch, had shattered them all to pieces.

  Drake insisted on driving me. The man was persistent and therefore frustrating and annoying.

  Marshall didn’t answer our summons at the front gate, and Drake forced me to ask a very concerned, and a very drained, Santiani for his entry code. He gave it without question when I assured him that Gina was no longer possessed.

  I tried not to think about the lie as we drove up the drive and stopped in front of the house. Again, the butler didn’t answer our knock and I had to use Santiani’s code. The house was silent and my gut told me that it wasn’t going to be good.

  I stopped Drake just as he placed a foot on the bottom riser of the staircase. “Wait. Let me check it out first.”

  “What are you expecting? An army of demons?”

  “You never know. You’re the one all up in my grill about being careful, so let’s be careful.”

  Drake made a face but the fact that he gave up without a fight confirmed his gut was saying the same as mine. Something was wrong.

  We checked the ground floor, clearing one room after the other and found a very dead Marshall sitting hunched over at the kitchen counter. The old man had been eating breakfast from the looks of the ham and cheese croissant and coffee in front of him. There was no need to call the ambulance, not from the copious amounts of blood spraying the walls and pooling on the tiles around him. And especially not from the fact that his head had been separated from his body, and now lay three feet away, resting against the open patio doors.

  Drake and I shared a concerned glance, then headed for the entry hall.

  He cleared his throat. “Maybe try projecting again.”

  I raised an eyebrow, but did as he said.

  Nobody was more surprised than I was, when the thread led me upstairs with unexpected strength.

  I crooked a finger at Drake and ran up the stairs. The mansion was empty except for the deceased Marshall and whatever was emitting the soulthreads that belonged to Gina Santiani.

  I followed the feedback which led straight to Gina’s bedroom. Drake and I came to a barreling halt at the sight of the strange gap in the far wall of the room.

  “A safe room?” murmured Drake.

  “Looks like the demon was taking full advantage of the luxuries of the Santiani’s mansion.”

  “No kidding.” He walked toward it and pushed it open.

  Inside, the luxurious space was lit by fluorescent lamps. Wood-paneled walls, plush carpet, expensive light fittings, and even wall art. Strange.

  Fully stocked shelves lined the walls and a toilet had been installed at the back of the room. A small sink sat beside the door next to a shelf filled with dishes, cutlery. A deep freezer sat along the wall, humming with electricity.

  “A person could last in this room for weeks.”

  “A bit extreme.”

  Drake went to the freezer, popping the lid open. I wasn’t sure what he’d expected to find but the growl of horror he let out was definitely not something I’d anticipated.

  “What is it?” I asked, rushing forward and pushing his hand away. He’d tried to stop me from peering inside but he was too late.

  Wrapped within a layer of plastic, her face was white, covered in frost. Lips and eyes blue, the tiny mole at the side of her left eye telling me I’d finally found my missing girl.

  Or at least I’d found parts of her.

  She’d been dismembered, each individual section of her wrapped in small manageable pieces. Except for a stack of bones leaning up against the corner of the freezer. Cut marks on the bones told me they’d been cleaned of flesh, the sight sending shivers down my spine.

  Prions disease.

  The demon had fed parts of Gia to her father. I had no doubt she’d done the very same thing with Deborah Santiani.

  She’d probably been doing it with all her victims, but because prions took so long to kill, she may have taken things into her own hands in order to keep her thirteen-month timetable. That Santiani had shown symptoms early had been bad luck for the demon.

  My throat closed as I exchanged a shocked look with Drake.

  I wasn’t sure what to say. Instead, I closed the lid and backed away, turning my back on one horror only to be faced with another.

  Drake said something but I didn’t respond, only because of the roaring in my ears as I stared at the center of the floor.

  Gina Santiani lay on the marble tiles.

  The only reason I knew she was alive was the feedback that emanated from her. Other than that, her gray skin, emaciated body, sunken eyes and meager scraps of hair screamed corpse.

  I ran to her side, kneeling beside her to listen to her heart. Drake dropped to his knees opposite me, lifting Gina’s hand to feel for a pulse. We both shook our heads.

  “We need to get her to the hospital,” I said.

  Drake nodded. “She’s still alive, but she’s so drained.” He lifted her wrist to show me.

  Gina’s wrist was ruined, a deep gash bled slowly and I understood now.

  “She was living on her blood.”

  Drake sighed. “She needs a blood transfusion and IV like yesterday.”

  I snorted. “Make that last week.” I studied the girl. “She’s been here a long time. Look at her hair. For that kind of fallout to happen she’d have to have been here for months.”

  Drake grunted then lifted Gina up in his arms. “No point in waiting for the ambulance. Do your thing.”

  Okay then.

  I projected first before taking Drake and Gina to the emergency room, looking for a safe spot to enter. A large laundry closet down the hall from the emergency desk provided sufficient privacy for our paranormal arrival.

  After materializing, I projected again, just outside the door. The hall was empty, allowing us to leave the closet without being seen.

  My head spun and the sticky warmth of blood trickle down my lip. I turned my head away from Drake, grabbed a towel from a nearby cart and swiped viciously at the blood. I was getting so tired of this.

  I tossed the bloody towel into a trashcan as we reached the emergency desk and stayed right behind Drake as he carried Gina to the nurses. The bleak fluorescent light highlighted Gina’s bloodless skin and gaunt frame. She looked dead, which drew attention from all the staff within a few meters.

  They descended on him in a wave of white uniforms and concerned expressions. A gurney sped toward them, doctors and nurses huddled, and alarms went off. A nurse whispered questions to Drake, then paid him no further attention. He wasn’t family. Another nurse yelled at the desk clerk to call the police.

  We left them to the mayhem, preferring not to be caught up with questions we’d rather not answer.

  I tugged at Drake’s jacket. “We need to tell Santiani.”

  Drake’s expression said he’d be happier going home right now, but he knew how important it was to brief the family as soon as possible. We rode the elevator up to Santiani’s floor, and I entered the darkened room leaving Drake outside.

  Santiani looked smaller, more gaunt and far too much like Gina did when we’d handed her over to the doctors. He was wasting away in front of our eyes. He turned listlessly toward me as I shut the door, watching me, eyes wary. My stomach tightened as I sat beside him on the bed. I didn’t touch him though, not sure if I could handle giving him such bad news and still give him comfort.

  “What happened? Did you save her?” he whispered, his voice ragged in his throat.

  I nodded, hiding the sadness welling up inside of me. “Yes. We saved her but the process of removing the mind control took its toll on her body.”

  He nodded. “I’m just glad you were able to get rid of it.” He swallowed then took a wheezing
breath. “Is she going to be okay?”

  “She’s weak. She’ll need time to recover before she can talk about what happened, but I suspect she won’t recall much. If anything at all.”

  Tears welled up in his eyes and he ignored them as he grabbed my wrist. “And Gia? Did you find Gia?”

  “We did.” I shook my head. “I’m so sorry.”

  “Was it Gina?” More tears flooded his eyes and rolled down the side of his face as he thought about one of his daughters killing the other.

  I shrugged. “I can’t be sure. It may have been. Or there may have been someone else involved who hasn’t been around to be apprehended.” I was giving him an out, allowing him to be more comfortable with Gina. It mattered only because he had so little time with her left.

  I couldn’t bring myself to reveal anything about the condition in which Gia had been found. Nor could I tell him how I believed he’d contracted Prions Disease. I took the coward’s way out and left that revelation to Captain Murdoch and the doctors.

  Who knew? They’d probably do the same as I had and allow the man to live his last days out without the burden of such knowledge.

  Santiani had enough to deal with now, especially with Gina’s rehabilitation.

  Not to mention his own.

  Chapter 38

  I sat on the lakeshore, staring at the dark water, trying to absorb as much energy and power as I could to replace what I’d lost during the drama of the last week. So much had happened, that I couldn’t believe I was still standing.

  I’d barely had contact with Saleem although I longed to see him. He’d sent a few vague but meaningful messages, glossing over the real impact for Omega after the whole experimenting-on-Celeste-in-an-Omega-owned-facility thing. From what Kai had told me, both Logan and Saleem were being fully debriefed — translate interrogated — as to their involvement.

  I had to wonder how the djinn queen was doing too. Was she waiting to hear our plan had worked? Did she really believe Saleem would listen to me? I certainly hoped she was right.

  Kai had more or less healed, the poison passing through her system faster because of her panther genetics. She’d sounded like she’d gotten over Illyria’s betrayal, saying she deserved it for trusting a wraith in the first place. Kai was too stubborn for one conversation to get through to her so I planned to have another go.

  Besides, she had her newly discovered, previously-dead serial-killer scientist uncle to deal with. Last I heard he was admitted into a Sentinel facility for a full check, under a round-the-clock guard. His mother, Ivy, had insisted on staying with him, probably more because she was finding it hard to believe he was still alive, and trying to process the reality of having a murderer for a son.

  Tara, my fae friend had officially disappeared, leaving her shop cold and empty. I’d have to find somewhere else to procure our weapons. If we ever needed it. But worse, I was going to miss my friend.

  My worst fears had been realized too, with Captain Murdoch under investigation. Detective Fulbright had been keeping an eye on the captain’s sign-outs and comparing them with cases I’d covered. Discovering a distinct pattern, he’d called the FBI in to investigate. Fulbright had then rung me to gloat that, because of me, a prominent well-respected police officer was about to lose his job.

  Not sure what he’d hoped to get out of that, but what he hadn’t known was that Chloe and the Captain had dropped by for a visit and given us the lowdown on what was going to happen even before it played out. Thankfully, the Captain had friends in higher places than Fulbright could ever dream of, so I was fairly comfortable for what the future may hold for my surrogate family.

  Natasha was calmer now that she’d re-warded her land, gloating over the fact that both her magical taser and her potion had done their jobs. She was also pretty happy to have a certain gargoyle helping to clean out the destruction in the area surrounding the pond. I was wondering how she’d explain the weather abnormalities to her neighbors, but she didn’t say.

  The gargoyle was worse now, far more somber than ever. I’d told him to suck it up and go home. He had to sort things out soon, both for his sake and mine because I needed his head in the game. He’d agreed.

  I didn’t quiz him on anything gargoyle-witch-romance related. That would have been asking for trouble.

  Carlo Santiani was worse than ever. His health had failed significantly over the last day or so and I’d found it heartbreaking that he hadn’t been strong enough yet to see Gina. The doctor’s prognosis for him was no more than a few more weeks. I’d grown fond of him over the course of the case. According to Drake I’d liked the man more because he’d reimbursed everything and paid me triple for the job. Drake was joking, of course. He knew I wasn’t mercenary. We just needed a new roof, and new plumbing.

  I’d figured out why my projections had taken me to hot tubs and fireplaces. Yarrsh had fed parts of Gia to her father at various places in the house. Forensics had discovered ashes in the fireplace in the study which had tested positive for Gia’s DNA. We later discovered that some of Gia’s bones were buried beneath the hot-tub’s wooden stairs. The demon had definitely gotten creative.

  Gina Santiani was recovering slowly. They’d pumped her with fluids, shaved her hair, dosed her with antibiotics, vitamins, electrolytes and more unpronounceable things. She’d looked a little bit better when I’d last checked in on her and I was glad.

  It would be a while yet before she came to and explained what had happened, but as I’d said to her father, I suspected she’d recall nothing of how Yarrsh had subdued her, or of anything afterward. The mind was known to protect its owner, and hopefully that would be the case for Gina. Otherwise I could find a MindMelder to help her out.

  Of her sister Gia, we could only guess as to how the demon had killed her. The mother’s death was also suspect. I finally realized what had been bothering me about her case file. A photograph of the mother’s white shoes, bagged for evidence, revealing bloodied soles.

  Someone had placed Deborah Santiani’s shoes neatly beside the desk after she’d slit her wrists. Impossible for her to have done so without leaving a blood trail. I’d passed that information on to Captain Murdoch but there was nothing we could do about it now. The Captain had warned me against bringing my knowledge of the case to Sentinel’s attention. He wanted me to stay far away from such organizations.

  Little did he know the Supreme High Council, ruling council of all paranormals, had approached me this morning.

  A mysterious text invitation to their new headquarters. I was still trying to figure out if I wanted anything to do with it. But ignoring a summons by the Supreme High Council was like flipping off a queen or a president.

  Just not done.

  As to my silent companion, the only thing I could say had been out of the ordinary, was the vertigo I’d felt at Natasha’s. I hadn’t told her of course. I’d prefer to wait and see if it was just lack of a balanced diet, or really a result of a poltergeist possession. And I’d vowed not to tell a soul about it until I knew where I stood. Too many people in my life that had too much going on to bother them with demonic possessions of all things.

  I rested my chin on my knees staring at the rippling surface of the water. The moon was high, a silver disc soaring across a blue-black sky, its reflection an oblong, misshapen blotch on the lake’s surface.

  I sighed and looked up at the sky again, but this time, dizziness took hold of me. My head spun and when I opened my eyes I let out a gasp of shock. I was in the Ether, staring at the vast nothingness of the astral plane.

  I hadn’t intended to come here. Didn’t even have a feedback thread to follow.

  Before I could wonder what was happening, a voice whispered in my ear. “Where the unicorns dance.”

  Samuel’s voice in my ear, whispering words from when he’d first trained me for astral travel.

  Our secret code for I’m-in-deep-shit-please-help.

  We’d agreed to meet where the unicorns danced and I knew what
he was telling me to do. Without a second’s hesitation, I shifted direction and projected to a spot outside of Reykjavik, to see the Northern Lights.

  The Aurora Borealis.

  As far as astral travel went, the Aurora Borealis was a confluence of energy so filled with power that it was easy to hide a secret within its dancing skeins of light and not have it traced back to you.

  Or rather, easy for the likes of us.

  Samuel had contacted me once already, the attempt to ask for help failing miserably. That he’d used the unicorn code could mean one of two things; there was no other way that he could contact me now, or the information he was sending me was too sensitive.

  My feet touched solid ground on a snow-capped mountaintop outside of Reykjavik and I stared up at the iridescent emerald sky.

  But the view wasn’t what I’d come for. My purpose was to read what Samuel had written within the skeins of dancing energy.

  I gasped as I read the words, my heart twisting inside my chest, shoving all the air out of my lungs.

  “Ari is alive.”

  ~TO BE CONTINUED~

  Thank you for reading. The SOULTRACKER Series continues with Blood Curse.

  Copyright

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  Copyright © 2017 by T.G. Ayer

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  Cover art by Eduardo Priego

  Cover art © T.G. Ayer. All rights reserved.

  Editor J.C. Hart

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