Chaos Burning

by Lauren Dane

  Dominic snorted. “No problem. I saw the video of the last time. I know that kind of magick is very power consuming. She’ll draw from the font if she needs it.”

  If she didn’t, he’d kick her ass.

  Chapter 19

  “SO, John, how are things?” She sailed into the room and sat across from where Deforest had been cuffed to a hook set into the floor. They’d gone over his body from head to toe while he’d been unconscious and found the spell written into his skin. The spell that would have allowed them to essentially use a kill switch on their prisoner remotely.

  Startled, his eyes widened as he realized she knew his name. “I don’t know anything. You can’t hold me.”

  “Your next line is: There are rules! And be sure to whine when you say it. Your friends did. Of course then one of them ended up dead because your master didn’t like that he’d been taken prisoner.”

  Deforest sat farther back, shrinking away from her.

  “Yep. I didn’t kill him. I’d tell you if I did. Mainly because I can’t find it in me to care one way or the other. I’m sure you’d appreciate that your master put that same little failsafe into you too. Only we disabled it.” She sat back and let him hear the rest of the sentence she hadn’t said out loud. If anyone killed him, it would be them.

  “There are rules.”

  She sighed. “So predictable. Didn’t I tell you you’d say that? So here’s the deal. You aren’t human. You’re not a witch either. In fact because you’re a mage you don’t fit in any category of protection. Which sucks for you, but not for me. For me, it’s pretty cool because I can do whatever I want with you and no one will care.”

  “They said you had to respect my rights!”

  “You have no rights. Didn’t I just tell you? Also, John, I hate to break it to you but they’re assholes and junkies. Cripes, did you believe that? You can tell me what I want to know or I’ll take it. I’ll walk right into your head and riffle through your brain. That’s your option. I don’t give a fuck about you. No, wait, I’m lying. I do actually give a fuck about how you’re hunting down and harming my people and my friends. That makes me pretty mad. So I will get what I need. You can tell me or I’ll take it. It makes no difference to me.”

  The fear of whoever he was protecting kept him silent for some long moments.

  “Five. Four. Three.”

  “Okay, okay!” he burst out and began to talk.

  AN hour later she came from the room and put her notebook down on the desk while she stretched a little.

  “You’re a machine.” Gage handed her another cup of tea.

  “He knew more than I thought he would. He’s a drone, no mistake. But he’s an ambitious one so he did a lot of eavesdropping. They have a system of cells. So people would show up at his apartment and they’d go hunting that night. Oftentimes they had a name or an address of the Other to be taken.”

  Gage paled. “Like a grocery list?”

  “Sounds like it. I’m interested in how this list of people got made. Let’s get Quinn and Mike over to his apartment to search. I want it down to the carpet fibers.” She’d go too, but she didn’t want to risk not being able to get there for hours and missing something important. Quinn had been in the FBI for six years. He knew his business and Mike would learn quickly.

  “Good choice.” Gage turned and made the call before giving her his attention again.

  “We ready for Cyrus yet?”

  She checked her phone. “Give me a few minutes. I have several messages I need to get to and then we’ll take him on.”

  Gage tossed her a bag. “Good. You have time to eat.”

  “Oh! Burrito?” She peeked in the bag and saw it was indeed a burrito. “You rock.” Though she was sick at hearing John describe what they’d been doing all around the country to her people, she also knew she had to eat and keep strong.

  He grinned. “Just doing my job, ma’am.”

  He really was adorable.

  She scrolled through a few messages from Meriel, listening to the latest one first and then going backward. She also saw Simon’s number and decided to listen before she called Meriel back and then laughed as she called him back.

  “I’m still working here. I will be for a few more hours at least. Go home. I’ll get a ride when this is over or just sack out at the office.”

  “You’ll do no such thing.”

  “You’re so cute when you’re giving orders like I work for you.”

  “Ha. Don’t make me hunt you down. You know I can track you. I have a very good nose and don’t you forget it.”

  “How can I forget it? You’re big and rawr and grrr. You suck up all the oxygen in a room. Makes a girl dizzy. And also I’ve come to discover all your parts are good, it’s something rather hard to forget once they’re used on a girl. This, in combination with the mmmm-sexy thing you do and the aforementioned oxygen sucking has rendered me quite befuddled by you.”

  He groaned. “You think you can get out of this by flirting?”

  “Is it working? Also, I don’t have to get out of anything. I appreciate your worry and all, but there’s no reason for you to be up all night to wait for me. I don’t know when I’ll be done. It’s already four and you have a business to run.”

  “You’re the reason for me to wait, woman.”

  “Ooh, you’re so hot when you take charge and get gruff.” She wasn’t actually faking the thrill in her voice, though she’d probably deny it if anyone claimed that.

  “How’s your arm?”

  “Damn it, how do you know all this stuff?” Did anyone in the clan know how to keep a damned secret?

  “I know lots of things. It’s a benefit of being as old as I am.”

  “Oh yeah, I keep forgetting what a lecherous old man you are.”

  He grunted a laugh and she knew she’d broken through his grumpy to amuse him.

  “You’re unruly. It must be why I’m so enamored of your young ass. Now, you will call me when you finish and I will come get you. I’ll go home for a while so don’t argue. But I want to come get you. I want to drive you home. You can’t with that arm, which I notice you not filling me in on. You should have called me yourself.”

  “Little busy here defeating evil and all. Teo fixed my arm. It was just dislocated at the shoulder. And all right. I’ll call you when I finish.”

  “See, all you had to do was agree to that and we’d already be to the flirting part again.”

  He was far, far too charming for his own good.

  “I’ll call you later. Drive safely and please check the wards when you get home. Things are getting bad. None of us is safe.”

  “Then you too. Damn it, you’re the one with the injuries.”

  “Yes, I know. It’s my fuck up. I own it.”

  “Own it? Lark.” He sighed. “Please tell me you’re not blaming yourself for that injury.”

  “It’s the price of taking my attention off the entire situation. He got the drop on me because I wasn’t smart enough.”

  “You’re being dumb. You were confronted with three males who all wanted to harm you.”

  “And yet there was a fourth and it happened because I let myself rely on the fact that they’d traveled in threes before. I can accept responsibility here, Simon. I’d be unworthy of this job if I couldn’t.”

  “You’re pretty fabulous, but you’re not perfect. No one can be.” Again he sighed. So dramatic and put upon she had to smile again. What a delicious handful he was.

  “I know that. But I want to keep being alive and I want you all to do the same. If I don’t learn from my mistakes, how can I? I need to stay around so I can pester you forever and ever.”

  His amused snort filled her with a silly sort of tenderness. “Be careful. I’ll see you in a few hours.” He hung up. Still smiling, she dialed Meriel to fill her in.

  SHE’D gone outside to get some air and to center herself after she wolfed her food down. When she returned, she was ready to do what needed to be do
ne.

  “All right. Burrito consumed. Boss consulted. Hydration achieved. Let’s deal with this jackwagon, shall we?”

  Gage stood and grabbed the camera. Ginger had come in after dealing with the scene so Lark addressed her.

  “I need you to shoot anyone without clearance if they arrive. Clear?”

  Ginger nodded. “Got it.”

  “No guns in the room with the prisoner. He’s not nearly as clueless as the other one. This one is a far more canny perp than the others.”

  And they went into the room where Cyrus had made himself as comfortable as possible while chained to the floor.

  He stared her down and Lark realized the only way to get anything from this dude was to break him.

  “Ah, is my scared-straight tour over now?”

  Lark stalked to him and punched him in the face. It was a good thing it was the left arm that was injured, though she could punch with both fists in a pinch.

  “Now, shall we get started?” She sat nearby. Teo was at the door with Gage, who had begun to tape the interrogation.

  “Oh, is one of them the good cop?”

  “Cyrus Pasqual. Forty. Former member of the High Plains Clan. Commonwealth witch. You come from a pretty long line of witches in that area. What an embarrassment you must be. You’re wanted in five states for the kidnapping and murder of fourteen witches. Busy boy, you. And yet, for a guy who’s tasted the magick of fourteen witches in the last seven months or so, you’re still pretty weak.”

  “Not so weak I didn’t break your arm.”

  She held it out and wiggled her fingers. Grateful she didn’t show how much it fucking hurt to do it. “You didn’t break it. You dislocated it though. Thing is, that was your body weight, not magic. Also, if I sucked up the magick from fourteen witches I’d be able to blow up three city blocks. Then again, I’m still a witch and you’re not. Which brings me to the next part of the discussion. How you’re neither human nor witch or Other.”

  “What of it? I know I still have some rights, even as a turned witch.” He shrugged as if she believed his little act. He lowered his voice as if he were giving her a secret. “I’m something even better.”

  “What is that? A shot-out, used-up has-been who has to steal life to get a fix and still is second-rate? Or oh, I know, a being who is not protected by any covenant regarding interrogation techniques.” If he gave her an in, she’d take it.

  Ah, there it was! He paled a little. “You have rules.”

  “I do.” She shook her head and looked at her fingernails. They were all chipped and nasty but she’d just picked up an awesome new purple polish a few days before so that was easy enough to remedy. “Witches and their rules. Gosh. We love our rules, don’t we?” She smiled and then it was gone.

  “So naturally, we obey them because it’s what has kept us safe and powerful all these years. But I’m sort of a rebel. When I don’t have rules, I love it even more. And so here I am, a little sore because I was jumped by three, no, four dudes in the middle of the night when I was out for a walk. Imagine what a threat you’d have been to another witch! Those two you were stalking tonight? So it’s good I came along, I guess. Here I am, Cyrus, and I’m pretty annoyed with you. Now, you could tell me what I need to know about you and your little buddy the Magister. Or I can take it from you. There are no other options so don’t mistake my kindness in not shooting you in the face and think we’re going to negotiate or debate. You have thirty seconds to decide.”

  “Fuck you. You think you can just bust into my head? Go on and try it. I’m stronger than you are. You won’t get what you need from me.”

  Oh, a dare. Fun. Plus he’d invited her in some way so there. She stood, went to him and immersed herself in his head.

  It was a shock to wade into someone’s mind. But this mind was toxic. It chilled her right to her bones.

  She sat in his memory as he hurt people. Maimed them to use their pain to gain more power. Watched as he used Gloria Ochoa and then it all went sideways when the Magister came up.

  He was afraid, she realized. Through him, she experienced his raw, stark terror as a male Cyrus thought of as the helper came to him on behalf of the Magister and told him to begin collecting. Through his senses she got an idea of what this helper looked like. Tall, gaunt and pale. He could have been made up by the Hollywood studios as a horror movie villain.

  But what he did was far more macabre than his appearance.

  The witches and mages collected different kinds of Others to bring to the helper, who then took them away.

  This made Cyrus excited in a nearly pornographic way. But at the same time he resented having to give up all that power to someone else. Cyrus wanted to drain all those witches for himself.

  His greed was borne of envy and it stuck to her as she moved through his head. Trying to get at any more information she could about the Magister or his whereabouts.

  The helper came to what appeared to be a dingy café every three days. He gave Cyrus a list of beings and Cyrus in turn gave those particulars to his people. When they were unable to get those Others the helper got very angry and it hurt Cyrus enough that he’d begun hunting with his people. He’d bring in three witches if they couldn’t get two witches and a Were.

  The last thing, as she was withdrawing, scared her the most. They weren’t only gathering Others in the Seattle area. As of last week they’d begun to get shipments of Others they’d taken elsewhere. A nationwide network of trafficked Others, like cattle to the slaughter.

  Cyrus didn’t seem to know why the Magister wanted them. He hadn’t ever seen the Magister. But what was important was that it needed Others. Which only underlined how stupid Cyrus was. His need for more magick and naked greed for power were his weak spots. Worse, they blinded him to his own eventual destruction.

  Being inside his head, she could see the decay. He’d been a turned witch long enough to have incurred some major internal damage. His brain was all wrong.

  She wished she could wipe her hands off and shower for two hours. But instead she kept looking, kept riffling through his memories to find locations other than the café and the warehouse they already knew existed.

  There was a house but she couldn’t see where. Only that it was a daylight rambler. Too bad there were only about eighty billion ramblers in the Northwest. She got a few license plate numbers, but none of them all seven digits. It was more than she had before though, so she tucked the information away and kept digging.

  SOME hours later she stumbled backward disconnecting from his head and the spell. Teo was there to catch her and help her stand. “We can go now. If he makes a single move to get free or to even menace anyone, shoot him. Do you understand?” she said to Ginger and Quinn as they left the room.

  “Quinn finished the search. He’s got some notes but nothing really damning. I looked it all over to be sure. It can all wait. As for now, what can I do to help?” Gage asked as she sat down at the table in the room next door. “You look like shit.”

  “Flatterer. I need to talk to Meriel.”

  Gage called her and got back to Lark in moments. “She says she’ll meet you at Simon’s. Dominic has called him and he’ll pick you up in front of the Owen building in half an hour.”

  Her exhaustion and the state of dissonance from being inside Cyrus Pasqual’s head made her grumpy. “Cripes. I don’t need all this babysitting.”

  “You’ve expended a lot of magick tonight, Lark. You’ve been injured. You need to rest and there’s no reason you can’t. Simon’s is safe. Warded. It’s a good place to do the debrief.”

  “I want four more hunters here. I want them on rotating shifts. Two hours each. He’s going to try to manipulate them and we can’t take chances. Those not on immediate duty need to be out of the room. They can watch from here in fact. Anything hinky and they have a shoot-to-kill order.”

  “Does he have that much power?”

  “I don’t think so. But his boss does and we don’t know what all it c
an do just yet. So we need to stay on the safe side and guard against anything like that.”

  Chapter 20

  SIMON pulled up and, relieved, saw her there, drinking a smoothie. She had on the ugliest hat he’d ever seen, pulled down low. Her hair was in her face and she wore a big coat over her clothes.

  It was a miserable morning as the people getting to work hurried by to get out of the cold and rain. But none of them mattered to him. Only the small, rumpled woman with her head down counted.

  Of course when he got out and she began to walk over to the car he realized why her head had been down. The left side of her face was a mess of bruises and wounds. She walked carefully, the lines of fatigue clear on her face.

  He didn’t like it. At all. Someone had harmed her and his beast pressed against his skin, eager to tear whomever it had been apart.

  “It’s helpful if you don’t work yourself into passing out,” he said as she allowed him to snap her seat belt before going around to get in. She had lines of fatigue and pain around her eyes and it tore at him. This was something he wasn’t used to at all. It made him vulnerable.

  “Fuck off, Simon. I’m too tired to argue. Thanks for the ride and for letting us use your house.”

  “You’re only half agitated. I don’t like when you stop arguing with me. It usually means you’re hurt. I can smell your pain, Lark. And the blood. Makes me want to really hurt someone.”

  “I’ll shower and change when we get to your place. It looks worse than it really is.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “No, it really does. I took some Advil and had a smoothie. I’m all right.”

  “You’ll eat a big breakfast and then take some real pain relievers so you can sleep. After you debrief Meriel of course.”

  “Will you make me fried potatoes too?”

  He laughed. “If you’re well enough to beg for fried carbs, I guess you’re not as bad as you look after all.”