by T. G. Ayer
“When did you come over to the dark side?” Vee asked.
Raj Shankar had seemed resistant from the start, making it difficult for everyone to explain that they’d advanced the mode of paranormal hunting and were now also working with the FBI. Not to mention researching weaponry and magic.
He’d demanded that Vee give up all the nonsense, insisted that she do research instead. Everyone had tiptoed around him, including her mother who had moved into the house to take care of her newly-alive husband. Her other husband had moved out, much to Vee’s disappointment. She’d known Mac would leave eventually and yet she’d hoped he’d change his mind.
Perhaps if her grandmother had been there, things would have been different. She’d have set them all right. But in the end, Mac had moved out, promising Vee that she would always be welcome in his home. And Vee had been left to tend to her oddly subdued mother, and a father who didn’t seem to be all there.
Now, Raj chuckled. “If you can’t beat ‘em…”
Vee scowled as he repeated the process, taking a sample of the blood on her cheek, and finding another splotch caught in the hem of her pants.
Although she wanted to brush him off and race to her bathroom for that much-desired bath, she endured his inspection and remained still until he was done.
“There.” He stood back and lifted the plastic bags toward Vee. “You’ll likely need those.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Vee said, taking the samples. She wasn’t sure if she should say anything and the awkward silence hung over them for a long moment.
She was about to say something—which would have just been small talk—when her dad cleared his throat. “Right. My tea is getting cold. And you stink.” He turned on his heel and skipped down the stairs to retrieve his mug. “Would you like me to make you a cup?”
Vee smiled and shook her head. “Thanks. But I’m going to be a while.”
“I see,” he gave a small smile. “You’ve turned into your mother.”
Vee scowled and must have looked incredibly angry at the thought because her dad lifted a hand. “I meant that she used to take ages in the bathroom too, primping in front of the mirror, making sure her hair was just so.”
Vee raised her eyebrows. “Now that I find hard to believe,” she scoffed.
He shook his head, a fond smile caving his lips. “Oh yes, she did. Not that she needed it though. Your mother was so beautiful when she was younger.”
“Dad. She’s not old. And neither are you.” Vee smiled, studying his face, finding herself memorizing his features again, as if something was telling her she’d better immortalize every plane and curve because he could be taken from her any minute. In the days after they’d brought him home, Vee had woken in cold sweats, finding herself hurrying to his room to confirm that he was actually there, that she hadn’t imagined the whole thing.
Now she smiled at him, wanting to assure him that he had a long time yet to enjoy life with them. Life with Vee, the way it should have always been.
He shrugged. “Sometimes experience makes you age more than you can ever imagine normal life would.”
Vee’s heart tightened. He’d taken the conversation down a path she wasn’t prepared to go. And he seemed to recognize that as he took a sip of his tea and nodded at Vee.
“Off you go now. You’re stinking up the house.” Without another word, he turned and headed off toward the kitchen and out of Vee’s line of sight.
Vee smirked and hurried up the rest of the stairs and along the hall to her room. Inside, she removed her weapons and left them in a pile on the bathroom floor. Then she sat on the chair beside her bed and began to take off her boots. She was unlacing them when she let out a sobbing breath.
The conversation with the ghost in the back of the car had come rushing back to Vee. No matter how much she denied it, she had to admit that the apparition had made sense. But she didn’t want to think about it. She didn’t want to spend another moment ruminating on things that were so difficult to deal with.
What if she hadn’t been imagining it? If all along she’d been ignoring her grandmother’s attempts at contacting her. Vee shook her head. No. That makes no sense.
Keep telling yourself that.
Vee threw her boots across the room, not caring when they hit the bathroom door which swung open on impact, barely even paying attention as they skidded along the tiled bathroom floor and came to a stop beside the toilet.
The shoes seemed to have a mind of their own. They probably knew how filthy they were.
Maybe the boots will start talking to me too. That would totally make sense.
Letting out a soft groan, she forced herself to admit—however much she wished it would not be true—that she just had a bad case of denial.
Vee undressed and bagged the clothing then left it on the chair by the door with the samples sitting on top of it within a cooler. She’d take it to her lab later in the morning. She planned on giving them a thorough once-over and hoped they would survive the inspection.
She found it strange that the biological remains of the peymakilir hadn’t turned into ash as yet. Vee had stared hard at the pieces of brain matter that her dad had extracted from her hair. They were in perfect condition. Nowhere near ash, even though they should be white dust by now.
Vee gave the boots one last glare, then forced herself to clean her weapons. She spent a few minutes wiping them down with disinfectant and then polishing them with a few drops of neem oil which always seemed to keep them clean and tarnish free.
When she was done she headed to the bedroom on bare feet and padded to the far wall. A discrete amount of pressure on a specific spot had a panel pop open, and she placed the weapons onto their designated shelves. The secret cupboard had been Mac’s idea. He’d insisted that it would make no sense for Vee to use the weapons room downstairs when her weapons were best stored within her reach.
In case of an emergency.
They all knew what it felt like to have someone taken from their home, from right under their noses. So, Mac and Vee had taken all the precautions necessary to make the house more secure.
Once the weapons were stored, Vee almost ran into her bathroom, scrubbing both her body and her hair under the hot shower spray. After getting clean, she filled her tub and popped a bath bomb into the clear water. The scent of jasmine and cocoa butter filled the bathroom, and Vee inhaled deeply before sliding inside the welcome embrace of the hot water.
Her muscles ached, from the fighting, from the tension. She’d lost track of the number of reasons her body ached these days. Only when the water had cooled somewhat, did Vee rise from the bath and dry off.
Her bed awaited her.
Chapter 56
The next day, Vee headed out to Central Park. Karan’s text had given her directions to the pond and wooden bench near a coffee vendor called Perk You Up.
Her wings still throbbed, but she’d been surprised on waking up to discover that the hole within the iridescent gauzy membrane had closed. A large discoloration and what looked a lot like a bruise still covered the wing, but it appeared well on its way to near-perfect recovery. The rest of her injuries merely smarted, and she’d had no trouble slinging her messenger bag around her torso. She’d figured she was better off traveling ready for action—whatever that action might be.
On the way, she considered the text from Akil and what it meant.
Syama is okay. Bringing her home asap. Expect trouble.
Akil was cryptic on a normal day. But sending texts like this was downright rude. The kid needed to have a little more training on humans and social interaction. The owl-shifter had literally flown into Vee’s life one day and had never left. He’d saved her life and ended up convincing her that he was here to stay. Add that to the fact that he’d been the courier who had delivered her chakra and her conch to her, and she knew she’d never banish him from her life.
He was family.
The way Syama was family.
Vee inhaled shar
ply and pressed those emotions deeper down inside her as she walked the curving path toward the pond. The wind was brisk and breezy, throwing Vee’s hair around her head. She retrieved a tan beanie from her pocket and slipped it onto her head. She was still a little on the exhausted side after last night’s escapade, and she was feeling a little fragile in the wake of the apparition’s claim of being real.
It was just another day of craziness in the world of Vee Shankar.
She strolled past mothers pushing babies in strollers, and fathers throwing balls to their kids. The pond seemed a little crowded too as a large group of kids huddled at the edges, each eagerly attempting to set their little boats afloat without drowning them. Little waves bounced the multitude of colored boats around, the water churned by the persistent wind.
The wind seemed to be good for something else too.
Up on the hill, dozens of red-cheeked children jostled for position, holding tightly onto their rolled-up strings, tugging at the lines holding their kites aloft. A myriad of colored kites danced high above them, and Vee paused to stare up at the spectacle.
With no snow in the last week, the day was perfect for families—if a little cold. Perfect to remind Vee of her own shattered family, devastated by grief, shocked and in disarray as the dead came back to life and lives were forced to change to adjust.
She blinked away tears of self-pity and focused on the bigger picture. Her life was no longer hers. She had a large role to play, responsible to the gods now, and not just to the mundane works of a mere human being.
Whatever they had seen in her, she had to make every effort to earn it.
Vee headed for the wooden bench beside the coffee cart and settled on it shifting the messenger back around so she wouldn’t get stabbed by a pointy sheath or gun-barrel. She relaxed, content to just watch the children play, the kites battling for space against the blue sky, the little boats bobbing on the surface of the little lake, no doubt many destined for destruction in head-on collisions or tantrums.
A shadow loomed over Vee, and she tilted her head up, the hand tucked inside her pocket holding a Taser ready.
“You will not need protection against me, I assure you,” Karan said softly before settling down beside her.
“Yeah. So said every serial killer in history.”
Karan let out a soft laugh and met Vee’s gaze. His piercingly dark eyes gleaming with amusement.
Today he wore a white suit with the narrow Nehru collar that he seemed to prefer. His hair was long and touching his shoulders, the wind tossing his locks around his face as though he were a model on a photo shoot.
Looking at him now made it so easy for Vee to believe the man was harmless. Yes, she trusted him more now then she had when she’d first begun to work with him, but she still remained wary, watchful, constantly looking for a sign or a tell that would confirm that something was up with him. Her gut was never wrong, and it had been screaming at her since they’d met.
But not for the normal reasons.
Vee didn’t believe that Karan was a danger to her. Their relationship was mutually beneficial. Perhaps what worried her was his persona. Karan was attractive, oozing sex appeal, and she’d often wondered if he turned it on just to tempt her. But she was immune. He was not her type.
The man was intriguing, but dangerous. He was influential and knew things, dangerous things that people would kill for, would kill him for having. And he was passing much of that information onto Vee.
Add that to the fact that the man possessed the power to stop time and you had a ticking bomb ready and waiting to go off.
Vee was intrigued, yes. But she was all too aware that he was dangerous. And ruthless.
When you wrestled with a snake, you had to remember to stay far away from the fangs.
Still, wrestling aside, Vee was not too embarrassed to admit to herself that she felt used by the man. As if she was a puppet and all he had to do was tug on her strings, and she’d dance to his tune.
Karan wriggled on the seat then shifted to look at Vee. “Coffee? I believe Mauro over there makes amazing beignets.” He spoke with a casual smile that would have anyone believe that Vee and he were friends meeting up or a couple on a date.
Vee shook her head. The thought of fried dough covered in sugar made her stomach turn. “Thanks, but I’d rather not. I’ve been a little queasy since my run-in with demon blood and guts a few hours ago.” She gave a small shudder and wrinkled her nose. “I can still smell them on me. And I’m about to get up close and personal with samples of demon blood and guts soon too.” Vee made a strange sound inside her throat and Karan cast her a concerned glance. She swallowed hard, aware that she’d sounded like she was about to throw up.
“Are you not feeling well?”
Vee lifted an eyebrow. “Everything I just said about blood and guts? That didn’t give you any hints?”
Karan’s mouth lifted in a small smile. “I admit I was unsure. You are of course an Apsara warrior. The thought that you would be ill at the sight of blood had not occurred to me.” The look he gave her implied her reputation had fallen a smidge in his estimation.
Vee shook her head, cleared her throat and said, “Apsara warrior for all of five seconds. Without the necessary training, in case you missed that part.” Vee tilted her head to study Karan’s face. “Is that why you picked me. You knew who I was?”
Karan shrugged. “What is it that you agency people say? I’m not at liberty to discuss it?” He smirked.
Vee huffed. She was beginning to lose patience with the man. Or whatever he was. “I have work. I’m assuming you want a rundown of what happened last night?”
Karan sat back and folded his arms. He didn’t respond, but Vee knew him enough to know that she’d better be giving him the details fast before he lost his patience. Karan was not the type of man who appreciated it when things didn’t go his way.
“You were right.” He tapped his head and flourished an invisible hat as he took credit for his information. Vee rolled her eyes and continued, “The murder scene out in Queens turned out not to be murder. Just a case of extreme pain extraction.”
Karan—who had folded his arms again— ran a finger over his lips. “So, it was a bhayakara. I had suspected so.”
Vee turned to face him, folding a knee onto the bend. “So you knew I was going to come up against a bhayakara, and you didn’t bother to give me the heads up? I could have died.” Vee kept her tone even, but her ire had risen at the thought that he could have sent her in armed with a little more information than ‘a demon sucking people dry and leaving them for dead.’
Karan cast her an impatient glance. “I didn’t know. I suspected. I didn’t want you going in prepared for what I may or may not have suspected would be waiting for you. Besides, you went in wary and expecting anything. I wouldn’t have thought you’d have wanted it any other way.”
Vee let out a breath and bit onto her lower lip to stop herself from yelling at the man. After taking a long calming breath, Vee looked up at Karan and continued, “I tracked him to the warehouse, and I killed him. Satisfied?”
Karan smiled and nodded. He leaned forward and slapped his hands onto his thighs. “Just as I expected. You always come through. That’s why you’re my favorite.”
Vee made a rude sound. “Well, just to be clear, things didn’t go as you’d expected.”
Karan paused. “You just said you managed to track him down and eliminate him.”
Eliminate. Such a sanitized word.
Chapter 57
“I eliminated him, yes. But the other two demons who happened upon me? Who almost relieved me of my warrior Apsara head? I was unfortunately only able to eliminate,” Vee fashioned air quotes in the air as she spoke the word eliminate, “one of them.”
“Other two demons?” Karan was now at the edge of the park bench, turning to face Vee, his olive skin darkening.
She nodded, sitting back again with a sigh. She was so tired. Was this what her best years we
re supposed to feel like? Constant, never-ending direness? “Pey demons. A mated pair from what I saw.”
“Were they together?” Karan paused as my eyebrows rose. He gave a short shake of his head and said, “I mean with the bhayakara?”
Vee shrugged. “I didn’t stop to chat. A little in a hurry to prevent the whole-being-ravaged-by-a-pey thing.” Vee let out a long breath and shook her head. “Sorry. Tired.”
Karan nodded in silence, appearing not to have been affected by her shortness. He spent a few seconds staring off at little floating boats as the sound of laughter and yelling from the children around the pond rose and fell on the chilly morning air, a starkly mundane backdrop to the horror of the New York demon underworld.
“Let me try and figure out what that means. I didn’t have any Intel on this particular demon working in a group. Do you think this could have been a coincidence?”
Vee shook her head, frowning as she thought back to the attack of the hellish couple, how they’d moved in utter silence, approached without her even hearing them. “They knew what they were doing. They were coordinated, moved as though each step had been planned. They were either there for the bhayakara or for me.”
Karan was already nodding, his train of thought meeting Vee’s with little effort. “I will look into it and let you know.” He got to his feet and turned, as if to bid Vee goodbye.
Scowling, Vee surged to her feet. “That’s all you have to say? I come within an inch of losing my head for good, three times in ten minutes might I add, and all you have to say is you’ll look into it?”
Karan shifted his gaze to Vee, his eyes now glowing a feline gold. Blood rushed to her head as she registered a sudden silence in the park. She swallowed hard as she turned to scan the area around her. The kids around the pond were frozen in place, hands pointed, mouths open. A little boy, faces scrunched, stared at the scoop of ice cream that was falling from his cone, bound for his feet. Up the hill, a man had thrown a Frisbee, and his cocker spaniel had frozen in mid-jump and was hovering in mid-air, jaw open wide, teeth glinting.