“My team will send me the information as and when they get it,” he countered in an even voice. The bastard! He was enjoying this. “I’m sure I’ll be able to relay it to you faster if we are together.”
“No.”
“Has anyone ever told you that you’re a stubborn mule?”
“It’s better than being a cheating, lying thug.”
“Careful!” His eyes glinted and the muscle jumped in his cheek. Well, two could play this game. I didn’t care how rich and powerful he was.
Taking a step forward, I jabbed my finger. “Or what?”
Was it a good idea to go head to head against a freakishly powerful mage?
I didn’t do good ideas.
Mostly, I just did.
His eyes narrowed. “This is getting nowhere.”
“From where I stand, this is going well. You’re not coming with us.”
“I am.”
“You’re not,” I insisted.
Augusta tapped me on the shoulder. “We’re wasting our time while you two bicker.”
“He is…”
“She is…”
“Shush!” Jones strode past us. “You’re both coming with us. We’re going to need all the help we can on this one, Cleo. And I don’t want to lose Mark while you two fight each other. But Mr. Fine, we’re not done with you. So no false moves.”
Aaron didn’t look at me as he brushed past. His arm collided with mine and the tingle that coursed through me was surely rage. The pompous, self-satisfied jerk needed someone to show him his place.
“Agreed.”
At the first opportunity, I was going to crush him.
“Can you save the theatrics for later?” said Augusta as she fell into step beside me. “I know that you’re pissed seeing him with that woman…”
How dare she insinuate that my judgment was clouded?
“It’s not personal,” I barked.
Her eyebrow rose. “Really? Well, I could have sworn it was but never mind that now. We’ve to save Mark. I’m sure you won’t begrudge the man’s help if he is successful in getting back our friend.”
No, I wouldn’t.
I really wouldn’t.
“Fine,” I huffed as we strode down the stairs. “I’ll behave myself but only until we found Mark. Aaron is still a suspect.”
“You think he could have killed those people?”
Could he have?
My gut feelings and opinions didn’t matter squat. Cold, hard evidence linked him to the victims and I couldn’t ignore it.
But…
“We need to hurry up.” I walked out of Aaron’s building and halted. Everyone was standing still. Why the hell were we wasting time here? “What’s the problem?”
No one spoke so I moved past the crowd until I reached Jones and Aaron who headed the party. A lean man, with color the skin of coffee bared their path. He wore a black suit, with a cream, checkered tie, with polished, shiny shoes. It looked as if he had just stepped out of a charity dinner or an official bank banquet.
I would have pegged him to be a high-ranking official in some multinational.
Maybe a banker? Or a lawyer?
He looked suave and in control.
“Who are you, sir? We need to go.”
“In a hurry, are we?” He has a bite to his accent, not exactly British, but close. Welsh, maybe? “I believe I’ll join you lot.”
“White Council?” said Jones in a voice that indicated he wanted the man to refute.
No, please.
This trouble we didn’t need.
“Ah! Clever man.” His grin made him look harmless, cute even. But there the power that lurked in his eyes was saturated with violence. I could imagine him as a volcano, silent and quiet one moment, and spewing lava the next moment. “Indeed. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Sebastian Theodore, at your service. I believe we’ve a murderer to catch?”
Indeed, we did.
And it seemed he was going with us after all.
Chapter Sixteen
Sebastian chose to sit with Jones and Augusta. I didn’t envy them the ride. Though I never had the pleasure of interacting with any member of the White Council, they were a feared lot, and for good reasons. It was impossible to explain in the terms non-magic people would understand because the White Council didn’t recognize the artificial boundaries created by humans. Their power wasn’t contained to certain borders and to certain races. Anyone who had a gift or a talent, or contained some magic of the innate nature such as vampire fell within their domain of authority.
They were the absolute law.
They were judge and jury and the executioner all rolled into one.
As far as I knew, White Council always had seven people on the board at any time. They were chosen with utmost care so as to keep a diversity of different types of magical people within the Council – and all of them had be fair, impartial, and ruthless as a knife’s edge.
“Have you met him before?” I asked Dubey as he slid in beside me in Jeremy’s car. Aaron took the passenger seat. The car slid out from its spot and moved. “Or heard about him?”
“White Council is elusive. They don’t advertise. Twenty years ago, I met one of them. Her name was Samantha.” Aaron shifted a little on his seat. Clearly, he was following the conversation. “And about a hundred years ago, I met someone called Farida.”
“All women?”
“Just my luck.” He grinned. “But I wasn’t in trouble then also. But they are…” He shuddered. “They are a bit scary.”
Coming from a vampire, that was quite an admission.
Sebastian gave me the creeps. There was energy within him, coiled and prepped, ready to be let loose at a moment’s notice. “He’s a werewolf.”
“Hmm. Yeah,” Dubey confirmed. “I gotta tell you, vampires are never given a fair chance at the seat on the council. Only one has ever graced the seat, and that was nearly two hundred years ago.”
“Is it that they are never chosen or they choose not to apply for the post?” asked Jeremy. “From what I have read, they shun the post because it comes with a lot of baggage.”
“It’s not easy to hold a post on the White Council. Many people hate you because you have to be fair and unbiased.” Aaron shifted slightly. “It’s usually not easy for people to hold off their personal judgment and look at the facts.”
I ignored the jibe.
Oh yeah, he dared to talk about fairness.
The asshole was caught red-handed so to speak, both in his office and on tape with Sara. He lied to me about the case as well as his personal equations.
But I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of stooping to his level.
“I wonder what he really wants?” said Jeremy.
“He is here to deliver justice,” I said.
Jeremy snorted as he drove. “I wish I could believe that the White Council had such altruistic motives.”
“They do deliver verdicts.”
Aaron sighed, tapping his fingers on his knee in a restless move. “He is right, though. The White Council isn’t supposed to take sides in a matter, but they have got a lot of political connections so that means they have allies and enemies. That means…”
“They maneuver like all normal politicians,” said Jeremy.
Sebastian didn’t the aura of a politician. He looked like a sophisticated, cultured man, one who carried bombs in his pocket which he could blast any moment. Or someone who could slash through a roomful of people and not bat an eyelid. Or someone who could stab a dagger through your heart and smile at you while he did it.
But apart from that cold streak, there was also a certain charm about him.
If he was a man of action, and not just talk, we may get along well.
While I agreed with the discussion in principle, I would stab myself in my heart before giving Aaron Fine the satisfaction of knowing that my thoughts were in sync with his.
And yeah, that didn’t sound juvenile at all.
I didn’t care.
If I never saw Aaron again, it would be all too soon.
“I’m curious to know what he really plans to do,” said Dubey. “Someone should have asked him.”
“No one wants to draw attention to themselves while arguing with a White Council member,” said Aaron. “Everyone has things to hide.”
“We have nothing to hide,” I protested.
He probably believed everyone was as shady as he was.
Aaron snorted. “Are you sure? Surely there must be something in that farmhouse of yours that you don’t want to draw attention to?”
“I’ve no idea what you are talking about. We do everything by the book.”
His laughter echoed in the car. Gazing back, he smiled but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “If there is one thing I am sure of, it’s that you in particular could never be so boring as to do everything by the book.”
I bristled but before I could say something, Jeremy nodded. “He is right, you know Cleo…” Catching my furious expression in the rearview mirror, he coughed. “Ah. Never mind.”
Silence reigned in the car as we all settled into our own thoughts. Aaron annoyed me, yes. But I wasn’t going to deplete my energy by thinking about him. We were going to rescue Mark, and he was my top priority. And once he was found, I would be happy to peel the skin off the body of his kidnapper with my bare hands. He committed two murders, and for that, no punishment was great enough.
It might be fun to think of ways to make him suffer.
I imagined Smith tied up on a wall while I tortured him in many inventive ways. He would scream and plead, but I wouldn’t relent. Perhaps when I had enough I would then hand him over to the FBI so that they could bury him in a cell somewhere and throw away the key. I imagined his face as he cried and screamed, and in my imagination his face was replaced by Aaron’s. He was the one begging me for forgiveness, for salvation.
I would enjoy his screams even more.
If I tortured him for a century, it wouldn’t be enough.
He was the devil. No matter what I did, he crept into my thoughts and played havoc with my sanity. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. The faint smell of cologne that permeated the air had a definite masculine edge to it. It was Aaron’s. Jeremy preferred subtle scents, and Dubey didn’t wear any.
Aaron Fine, millionaire, resourceful, powerful – deceiver, trickster - annoyed me on so many levels.
He was trying to worm his way into our lives for reasons that were known only to him.
He used me.
The only reason why he chose to spent time with me – nay, chose to try and seduce me was that he wanted to make sure he wasn’t embroiled in the murder investigation.
Karma bit him on the ass.
He was now deep into that shit, and I would make sure he stayed in it long enough for him to learn a lesson in humility.
When Jeremy pulled the car to a stop, we all slipped out. Quietly, we assembled. Since Mark was in danger, we couldn’t go blazing in. This was time to do it subtly. “I’ll lead,” I said.
“Certainly not, Ms. Mathews,” said Sebastian from right behind me. I nearly jumped at the sound of his velvety voice. “FBI will take the lead. Mr. Smith is not a known mage, so it’s possible that he might use some technology of today’s time to hurt anyone who might come in through the door.”
“I’ve a protective shield.”
Aaron exchanged glances with Sebastian. “Your shield won’t protect you from a bomb blast if he has rigged the door.”
“Fine. Whatever. Just break down the goddamn door and let’s get Mark out of there.”
“Not so fast,” he said. “Where is the team with the tech?”
“We didn’t bring one,” said Jones. “We don’t have one, actually.”
“Jesus.” Aaron sighed as he dug into his jacket pocket and produced a long, thin, cylinder. “It’s a good thing I’m a bit more prepared than the lot of you.”
“This should be interesting,” said Jones. “Do you know how to use it?”
“I invented it, so yes, I do know.”
Ouch!
We forgot to salute Einstein. Perhaps we should all bow.
And what the hell was in his hand, anyway?
Aaron signaled to the FBI team to take their spots. If he was determined to put his life on the line for whatever goddamned reason, I wasn’t going to stop him. Hunkering down, I found myself next to Sebastian. His amused gaze irritated me for some reason.
“Is there something wrong?” I asked.
Good going. Engage in a hostile manner with a member of the White Council.
“You didn’t know that Aaron Fine is a technological genius. His work in the field of tech-mage is light years ahead of anything anyone has ever done.”
“What is tech-mage?”
“A fusion of human technology with magic, of course. He creates instruments and equipment that use a bit of both and the results are stupendous. For obvious reasons, we are unable to share his gear with the humans. They would freak out.”
Yeah, they certainly would.
There was a reason why our existence was the world’s biggest secret. We were their worst nightmares. Aliens, creatures from another world, that stumbled into the Earth due to universal anomalies that couldn’t be explained by their science or our magic. Maybe there was a God somewhere above who did random things for the sheer fun of it and he put us all together for a purpose no one could identify.
Or maybe shit just happened.
“So what does he do with the things he creates? There is no commercial value to them.”
Sebastian’s eyes were amber. They pinned me with intensity. If he were hungry, there would have been flecks of gold within their depths. Werewolves didn’t hunt, not in open, anyway. But an enraged werewolf was known to slash his victims. Sebastian looked sated and in control. The knowledge gave me little comfort. He was a prime werewolf, powerful, old, and strong; it would be stupid of me to take his presence lightly.
His lips stretched in a smile. The sharp, pearly white teeth gleamed. “Interesting that you believe he is so driven by commerce. He is good at that too, I must admit. No, Aaron Fine creates and builds his gear because he can and he enjoys it, I suppose. He gifts them to us.”
“Gifts them?”
“Oh yes. Many of his inventions have found worthy uses within the White Council and we often share with others of our kind who need them.”
My mind was too crammed with information now. Aaron Fine not only was a secret inventor, he also created alliances with the White Council by sharing his goodies with them. The man really was a genius, economically, financially, and diplomatically.
But I still didn’t like him.
“So you know him well?” I asked.
“Not really. We may have met once when he came to Headquarters to present a new toy of his but I doubt he would remember. It was years ago when he was just building his empire, so to speak. He has come a long way since then, I must add.”
If Aaron met him, he would remember – a fact he clearly neglected to share with us in the car.
Another lie by omission.
Aaron Fine was also a man of no scruples.
The subject of our conversation walked to the door of the building. Curious, we watched from the distance. Lifting the cylinder in his hands, he pressed something and a beam of pale, green light shot out. Shadows played above the cylinder. I gasped. It was like a scanner. He was scanning the interior of the door.
Pure genius indeed.
If there were any trip wires, any buttons, any explosives rigged to the door, they would show up.
Slowly, inch by inch, he beamed the whole door, moving over it in a systematic, unhurried manner. Faster, faster. I wanted to yell. Mark might be dying inside – but we couldn’t risk the lives of the entire team. This was probably a waste of time though. Smith didn’t have the capability to build a bomb.
Aaron stopped. Focusing on one spot, he stood still.
The green beam changed its color to red.
“Bingo,” muttered Sebastian.
No way.
Yes way.
Smith was a mastermind of some caliber. “We should have got a bomb disposal squad,” I said.
Sebastian waved a hand. “Oh. Give the man some credit. I’m sure he is capable of diffusing the nefarious object.”
Object? A bomb more likely, at least judging by the way Aaron was checking things on the virtual screen. If it blew up, it would definitely not spare him. I could imagine the door bursting into a fireball, the thousands of splinters and what not exploding its way into the air and burying themselves in the nearest available target which just happened to be our boy wonder.
I bit my lip.
Worried for him?
Certainly not.
If he died, I wouldn’t care.
Maybe just a little bit.
No.
If he was to move back a few feet, he could still do his voodoo thing with that innocuous looking cylinder and escape unscathed from the blast. My hands itched as I resisted the urge to provide him an extra shield.
No.
He didn’t deserve my protection. He didn’t earn it.
“A penny for your thought?”
I glared back at the werewolf as a smile played on his lips. “If only he would hurry. A man’s life hangs in balance.”
“Mark must be someone special to you.”
“We grew up together on the commune. He is family.”
“Ah. Alas. I never the pleasure of having one. Humans seem to love their families.” He chuckled. “It’s my opinion that our species and those of other magical people like your good self have imbibed these traits from the humans over the centuries.”
“You don’t believe in the concept of family? Of love?”
“Werewolves are primarily tribal. Within our tribe, we share, we remain peaceful.”
He wasn’t quite right in the head. Maybe he was dropped when he was a wee cub. “I’ve known quite a few werewolf families.”
“As I said, traditions imbibed from another race. If we are to emerge as the dominant party on this Earth, we must embrace who we really are and stop trying to mingle with the pathetic human race which is hell bent on destroying itself.”
01 Serial Killer (FBI Paranormal Casefiles) Page 17