‘Detka dak, Shivika?’ Hiffy asked.
‘Fa, shekushka,’ Ceri replied, smiling. Then she switched back to English. ‘You’re not looking too horrified, Chief.’
Barry gave a grunt. ‘Well…’ He glanced at Mei and Gwyn sitting on a loveseat opposite him. ‘There were suspicions that Miss Long might be more than human, but no one could identify anything during the asylum interviews.’
‘Because she was entirely human by then,’ Gwyn told him. ‘We were dragons. We gave that up to continue living here.’
The policeman nodded. ‘Frankly, I don’t see a problem with that, but the sorcery thing…’ His attention returned to Ceri. ‘You realise what’s going to happen when the Ministry hears about all of this?’ His gaze lifted to take in the large, black-walled room.
‘I’ve come up with several scenarios. None of them were improved by you being pissed off that I’d never mentioned it to you.’
There was another grunt. ‘Thank you for thinking of me. All right, officially I don’t know. Officially none of my detectives know either.’ He glared at John and Kate until they nodded at him. Then the big man actually cracked a grin. ‘I can’t believe I’m sitting in a castle in the Demon Realm being served drinks by a blue demon.’
Ceri giggled. ‘Hiffy’s adorable. She and her grandfather helped me get Lily out of Barnes’ clutches, and when I… inherited this place I thought of them to run it. They aren’t like the demons you have to deal with on Earth. Aside from the obvious differences, they’re really pretty much like you or John. No talent for magic. That’s what seems to be the difference between them and the higher demons. Of course, in the magic field of this place even someone without real talent can manage the odd spell, but on Earth Hiffy’d be normal, if blue.’
‘Huh. All right… Miss Long, this thing that’s sucking women dry…’
‘It is, most likely, a man,’ Mei told him. ‘Or it was. Such a strong imbalance might turn it into… Well, the Chinese called them demons, but given our setting that seems inappropriate. An excess of Yang energy will make it impulsive, libidinous, quick to seek pleasure. It will be warm, or even hot, to the touch and dislike hot places. None of this may be useful after it has fed, however.’
Barry raised an eyebrow, but Kate caught on. ‘It’s feeding to balance itself,’ she said.
‘Precisely, Detective. It draws out the Yin, the female energy, from its victims. So soon after feeding it is likely that this creature is indistinguishable from a “normal” vampire.’
‘Normal vampires don’t feed on Yin,’ John pointed out. ‘How would it end up like this?’
‘I am afraid I cannot be of much help there. Overuse of certain elemental magic could result in such instability, but vampires are normally necromancers where they practise anything. Besides, had a Chinese practitioner come here the embassy would have known about it.’
‘Maybe since you left?’ Ceri suggested.
‘The Home Office has been keeping very careful watch for anyone immigrating from the Empire since the fall. I believe they would have noted someone like this. Your murderer remains a puzzle.’
‘We’re further along than we were,’ Barry replied. ‘We’ve got something to work with.’
‘Good,’ Ceri said, ‘because I’m going to Wales tomorrow with Michael and Lily. It’s Michael’s birthday on Wednesday. I missed the last one because of that survival course and we promised to make this one something special. He’s going to be twenty-one.’
Kate flashed her a grin. ‘They grow up so fast.’
Ceri glowered at her. ‘I am not a cradle-snatcher!’
The witch looked entirely too innocent. ‘I never said you were.’
Cardiff, Wales, April 14th.
Carter had insisted on getting them the penthouse suite at the Castle Hotel again. He had said it was a birthday gift to Michael, and also a small present to Ceri for getting Cheryl her life back, and it was only going to be for two nights so they had accepted. Now the place was full of werewolves.
Rhys, Michael’s oldest brother, was looking a lot happier to see them than he had the first time they had met. He was also looking a lot more relaxed, slouched on one of the big sofas in the lounge with a grin on his face.
Kai, the middle brother, was sitting beside him, his arm around Tegan, his mate. Black Moonlight, Kai’s band, was doing studio work for their next album so he was looking a little harassed, though he seemed to get more relaxed the more he sat and chatted with family and friends.
And then there was the reason Rhys was looking happy, perched on the arm of the sofa beside him. Her name was Heather and she had run away from her Scottish pack much as Michael had run from the Brecon one. She had wandered into the Brecon territories, a bit lost and not a little scared, and gone to Rhys asking to stay a while. They had not made their relationship official yet, but the way Lily was grinning at them suggested it was just a matter of time.
‘So what are you planning to do with yourselves?’ Rhys asked once the main pleasantries were out of the way. ‘I assume you’re not planning to spend all your time in bed, though I admit I’d be tempted.’
Heather slapped his shoulder. ‘That’s a terrible thing t’ say!’ She had a soft Scottish accent, quite a soft voice in fact.
‘You don’t know these two young women so well,’ Rhys replied, grinning.
‘It’s true,’ Lily said, smiling brightly. ‘I’m half-succubus…’
‘And I’m wearing fairy-silver, which makes me… inclined to spend more time in bed,’ Ceri added. ‘You see the dark rings under his eyes?’
‘No,’ Heather replied. ‘You’re havin’ me on.’
‘Only about the dark rings,’ Michael told her. ‘We’re here all of tomorrow, then we’re going up to Tal-y-llyn for an afternoon, then on to Bala, and back to London from there.’
‘Not dropping in at Aber?’ Kai asked.
‘If we do that,’ Ceri said, ‘I’ll have to go see Ed Perry, and then we’d lose at least half a day in work. No, this is Michael’s twenty-first and there’s going to be no break from the regimen of carnal and other pleasures.’
The Scottish werewolf blushed and Ceri wondered whether the mores up in the Highlands were different from the ones further south.
‘We’ll get some of the pack together tomorrow night,’ Rhys told them. ‘Some won’t be able to attend since it’s a school night, but enough will for a decent birthday party. We’ll head out of town and run, and see what happens from there.’
Ceri noticed Heather’s brow furrowing slightly, but she was not sure why, so she ignored it as she felt the enthusiasm around her.
‘Sounds great,’ Michael declared, grinning broadly.
~~~
Ceri reached over Michael’s shoulder, picked up her wine glass, and sipped from it, the cold liquid a sharp counterpoint to the bubbling, hot water surrounding her and the hot ache which was grinding its way up her body from where it was joined to her mate. They had not abused the hot tub on their last visit; it had been just after the death of Michael’s father and they had not been in the mood. Now…
The drinking did not interrupt her slow motion up and down his shaft and he gave her an exasperated grin. ‘You… you’re getting far too… good at this,’ he growled.
‘I get a lot of practice,’ she whispered. ‘You’re close.’
‘He’s just about exploding,’ Lily replied from behind her. ‘Don’t tire him out too much, I want him next.’
Ceri put her glass down, tightened her inner muscles, and pushed down hard. Michael’s back arched.
‘Oh Jeez…!’ he barked.
‘We’ve got all night if we want it,’ Ceri said as she rode his orgasm to its finish. ‘All night to make our Michael feel like he’s died and gone to heaven.’
Mile End, London, April 15th.
Andrew Fields was high. Whatever the Hell the stuff was he had burned, breathing in the vapour had been like sucking in the air of Heaven. Now that he was comin
g down from that incredible bliss he was aware enough of the world around him to know that the others in the room were just as blasted as he was. The stuff had been well worth the money.
Something which sounded like a door being kicked in impinged upon his senses, but if it was a raid then he was not going to be going anywhere any time soon, so the cops could have him. Frankly he could have cared less, maybe, if he had tried really hard. Like he was going to try doing anything with any effort…
And then he saw the angel. At least, he imagined it was an angel because she looked really beautiful. Her blonde hair shone in the light from the bare, sixty-watt bulb, her blue eyes flashed like icy fire. She grabbed the front of Andrew’s shirt and lifted him off the ground as though he was no weight at all, and she looked so slight…
She was speaking to him. She was asking him something, demanding it, and he really wanted to answer her, but all he could actually manage to do was giggle. Her hand wrapped around his jaw and he felt the pinpricks of claws digging into his skin, drawing blood. Were angels supposed to have claws?
Whatever, the sharp pain cut through the haze in his brain and he heard her voice clearly this time.
‘Disgusting piece of mortal filth…’
And then she snapped his neck like a twig.
Cardiff, Wales.
Producing music, even the kind of heavy rock Black Moonlight was famous for, seemed something of a boring process, and not really what Ceri had expected. Lily, used to film production, seemed to think it looked kind of normal.
‘It’s kind of artificial,’ the half-succubus said, ‘like filming. I mean, the performance is real, but they lay down all the tracks separately the way the bits of film get made in weird orders.’
‘Most of your filming involved taking your clothes off though,’ Michael countered as they stood at the back of the studio waiting for Kai to break for lunch.
‘Doesn’t make it more interesting.’
‘She told me I’d die of boredom after three days,’ Ceri told him. ‘You’ve been on a porn shoot. Remember how exciting that was?’
Michael’s cheeks reddened. ‘Well, actually…’
‘Visiting isn’t the same,’ Lily put in. ‘It’s all naked thrashing bodies and it looks great, but try that for days on end with some idiot stopping you in the middle because he wants to change the camera angle.’
One of the sound men was looking at them like there was a trio of total weirdos in front of him. Ceri decided he was human; a werewolf would probably have been less bothered.
‘Aside from the last bit,’ Michael said after a moment’s thought, ‘it sounds like a normal week back home.’
The sound man’s eyes threatened to pop out of his skull, but he was saved by the producer announcing that they would wrap for lunch. Ceri let the smirk which had been threatening to show on her face have free rein as she turned and headed out to meet the guitarist.
Tegan joined them when they got to Mermaid Quay, and they went to a restaurant Kai said did excellent steak.
‘Good idea,’ Lily commented as she perused the menu. ‘You should definitely have the steak, Michael. We need to keep your strength up.’
‘Five in the morning,’ Michael stated. ‘That’s when they finally let me sleep. Five. It’s a good job we didn’t have t’ get up early.’
Ceri grinned; his Welsh accent was reasserting itself in proximity to his brothers.
‘You’re complaining?’ Kai asked.
‘No, I’m bragging,’ Michael replied.
‘Bastard,’ Kai said without rancour. ‘I had t’ be in the studio at nine.’
‘I hate studio work,’ Tegan stated flatly. ‘And they’ve got me in there tomorrow.’
‘Oh?’ Lily asked, her eyebrows rising.
‘We’re doing a new arrangement of “Goddess’ Gift,”’ Kai told them, ‘a rock version. And we’re doing a new recording of the original that’ll go out as a “bonus” track. Company wants t’ put it out in America. They said that one of the tribal leaders got wind of what we do. If it sells well, they want us t’ do a tour. The northern States and some of the Tribal Territories.’
‘Katarina,’ Ceri said. ‘I’d put money on that “tribal leader” being the Alpha of the Black Crows.’
‘Alexandra’s sister,’ Lily added.
‘Oh,’ Kai said. ‘Suddenly I feel more inclined to go for it.’
Ceri gave him a grin. ‘Rhys seems to have settled in,’ she said, apparently changing the subject. ‘Has he?’
‘Yeah, I think so. Everyone’s happy with him. He’s got a good handle on running the pack, of course, and Heather’s been good for him. The Elders are a lot more relaxed since he got himself a bitch who’s probably going to end up his mate.’
‘Black-fur?’
‘Aye. Good few blacks in Scotland.’
‘Good. Think we can get him to London in the summer? I think things’ve settled enough for that conference.’
Kai gave a shrug. ‘I think, as long as no one minds Heather going with him, you can persuade him to go to the Moon. Talk to him tonight.’
Mile End, London.
‘Holy crap,’ John muttered as he walked through the scene of carnage which had been a squat and drug den the day before. ‘How many dead?’
‘We’ve got ten bodies,’ one of the SOCOs said. ‘We think…’
‘You think?’
‘Well a couple came disassembled, but we think the total adds up to ten.’
‘Shit. Right.’
Kate appeared from one of the rooms, her pale features a little paler than usual. ‘This place is a disaster area,’ she stated, her voice a little numb. ‘I mean, we’ve been to some bad scenes, but… The ones with broken necks got off easy. We’ve got disembowelling, castration, ripped out throats. All of it done by hand as far as anyone can tell.’
‘Werewolf?’ John suggested, not really believing it.
‘From what Ceri’s said, it’d have to be a black-fur. Ceri’s out of town, Alexandra wouldn’t, and I’m willing to bet Alec was at Carter’s place last night. We can check, but… To be honest, this doesn’t look like a wolf.’
A uniformed officer appeared in the doorway, notebook in hand. ‘We’ve got one possible,’ he said. ‘Guy across the street saw a woman leaving the building. About five-nine, slim, blonde hair. She was dressed in black.’
‘A vampire?’ Now John really sounded like he did not believe what he was saying.
‘Not a vampire,’ Kate replied, ‘the vampire.’
Brecon Beacons, Wales.
Heather’s eyes widened as she watched Ceri transform Lily from a stunningly attractive redhead into the best-looking brown-furred werewolf anyone had ever seen. Lily gave a yip of pleasure and bounced away to where most of the other pack members were already in fur, milling around with gathering excitement.
The wide eyes shifted to the collar around Ceri’s throat. ‘You… You’re that Ceridwyn Brent? The one Tegan wrote the song about?’
So that was what the frown was about in the hotel: she had not known who she was meeting. ‘I thought you knew,’ Ceri said.
‘No… Rhys just said you were Michael’s mate. His human mate. I thought…’ She stopped, biting her lips. ‘That was going to sound all wrong.’
‘What?’
‘Well, taking a human for a mate in the Highlands is… sort of an act of desperation. It’s like marrying beneath you. No offence. I mean, you’re Luperca’s favourite!’
‘None taken,’ Ceri replied. ‘Things are, apparently, a bit different in London. And here. Michael’s mother was human. He’s half-brother to Rhys and Kai.’
‘Rhys didn’t mention that either. He said, “He’s my brother, and a Guard in one of London’s greatest packs.” He sounded really proud.’
Ceri smiled; that was quite a change from their last visit. She touched her collar, feeling her skin tingle as she shifted. Come, she barked. Run!
London, England.
It had taken a
ll day to find someone willing to give up the location of Braun’s hiding hole in the Underground and the tactical officers in charge of going in first were not especially happy with what they were facing. A narrow corridor, little more than an access walkway, led to the door to her rooms. It was going to be single file in with one of the most powerful vampires in the world on the other side.
Under orders from Chief Barry, Kate and John were in body armour and bringing up the rear, and they were carrying pistols loaded with incendiary rounds. Kate was of the opinion that if it got to the point where she needed to shoot something she was dead anyway, but John was holding his Sterling low as if he was waiting for a chance to fire it.
There was a crash from the head of the team, then the thud and flash of a stun grenade, and then a lot of shouting. John pushed forward behind the tactical team, Kate bringing up the rear with her heart in her throat.
She need not have worried.
‘No one here,’ John muttered as his eyes scanned the bed chamber which was the last of the two rooms. It was sparse. There was a four-poster bed with ragged drapes hung around it, a chair, and little else. There was certainly no sign of Hildegard Braun.
‘Yeah,’ Kate said, ‘but… This place looks like it was turned over before we got here.’
John gave a slow nod. There were papers scattered across the floor. Someone had torn open the pillows on the bed and ripped long gashes in the lumpy mattress. ‘Someone came looking for her before we did. So maybe she’s out looking for them.’
‘It makes sense. She doesn’t come up from here without a good reason, something threatening. Something personally threatening.’
John gave a grunt. ‘What threatens a five-hundred-years-dead vampire?’
Kate gave a shrug. ‘A six-hundred-year-old one?’
Brecon Beacons, Wales, April 16th.
They had found a spot where the hills had been cut into a slight bowl, found enough wood to build a fire, and now the wolves of the Brecon pack were celebrating Michael’s birthday in the manner of werewolves gathered together under the stars.
Thaumatology 12: Vengeance Page 12