The Witchkin Murders

by Diana Pharaoh Francis

  He let out a breath. Nothing he said right now would change anything. He needed time and a chance to think.

  He had a kidnapping to solve, and he was wasting time. So Ray did the one thing he knew how to do: his job.

  He left without another word.

  Chapter 5

  Kayla

  KAYLA WATCHED Ray disappear into the fog, her stomach twisting. That had gone about as well as their last meeting four years ago, only with less yelling. And Ray hadn’t broken his hand punching a wall. On second thought, this time had gone a lot better. Well, maybe except for the female detective who clearly didn’t like getting this case dumped on her.

  “I’m going to make that bastard regret this with every molecule of his being.” The detective swore a blue streak, pacing back and forth as she expanded on all the things she planned to do to Ray once she got her hands on him.

  “Is she always this . . . ?” Kayla asked the technomage.

  “Volatile?” Zach supplied helpfully as he put away the mesh blanket.

  “I was going to say unprofessional, but sure. Volatile works.”

  “Wouldn’t know. I only see Detective Dix on the job. Maybe you can ask her cats.”

  Kayla snorted. “Cats?”

  He grinned. “She’s bound to have a dozen or so, don’t you think? She fits the type. Anyhow, her bark isn’t as bad as her bite.”

  “I’m sure Ray will take great comfort in that,” Kayla said dryly.

  “What’s the story with you two, anyhow?” Zach propped his shoulder against the corner of the van, watching her intently.

  “What do you mean?” Kayla asked, feigning innocence.

  He grinned again, laugh lines creasing the corners of his mouth. “I may not be a detective, but I’m not an idiot either. You two have a history. I’ve never seen Ray so—” Zach’s eyes narrowed as he considered his words. “Let’s go with irritated, shall we?”

  “Hell if I know. Maybe he’s just an asshole.”

  “Now see, that’s what I mean. You’ve taken quite a dislike to the man for someone who’s never met him before. What gives?”

  “She’s his old partner,” Detective Dix declared, having ended her tantrum and now presenting a no-nonsense demeanor. “Turned in her shield right after Magicfall.” Her evident disgust echoed Ray’s.

  Zach whistled and eyed Kayla. “So that was you.”

  “Seems like,” she said, since he expected a reply.

  “Word is you were a hotshot detective. You and Ray were the superstars of the department.”

  “I heard you put your tail between your legs and ran like a deer after Magicfall,” Detective Dix said, voice dripping contempt.

  Kayla gave a syrupy smile, refusing to be needled. “Yes, I did. Fast as I could.” She watched with glee as Dix’s face turned red. Nothing like ruining someone’s bitter attack to piss them off.

  “I need to get your statement,” the detective said, taking out a notebook wrapped in tooled leather. Her pen looked expensive, too.

  Kayla wondered how many pens she had to replace in a month. Stupid to carry anything expensive. “Garza already took my statement. Get it from him.”

  “That’s Detective Garza to you. And I want to hear your story for myself.”

  “But first, I want to check her out,” Zach said, straightening up.

  “I’m sure you do,” Dix said with an acid twist of her lips. “How long before the scene is ready for you to sterilize?”

  He turned to look over the fountain square where three techs had spooled wires around the outer edges and set up an array of spidery metal sculptures in various sizes. They now worked on making measurements and adjustments as they spaced everything apart.

  “Looks like five or ten minutes.”

  “Then you’d better hurry up, because when they’re ready, you’re going to work.” Dix glanced at Kayla. “Real work,” she added.

  “Come on then,” Zach said to Kayla. “Show me your injuries.”

  “Are you asking me to strip for you? Because I’m not that kind of girl.”

  He shook his head. “I’m a professional. I just want to check out any wounds you may have.”

  “You may be a professional technomage, but you’re not a doctor or an EMT, so what exactly do you think you’re going to do if I am hurt? Give me a Band-Aid and a couple of aspirin?”

  “I’ll know whether to call an ambulance or the coroner.”

  “I’m not dying, and I don’t need an ambulance. You’re off the hook.”

  Impatience colored his voice. “I was a field medic before Magicfall, and I’ve kept up my training and certification. I’m qualified to check you out, so no more excuses. Let me look at you.”

  “Look all you want.” Kayla took a step back and spread her arms, turning in a circle until she faced Zach again. “Tell me when you’ve seen enough.”

  He just skewered her on his gaze, not speaking.

  Kayla sighed. He wasn’t letting her go until he examined her. She’d have told him he could stick it where the sun didn’t shine and just disappeared into the fog, but as the tech in charge of clearing the site he had the power to drag her back. “Fine.”

  “Did you black out when you hit your head?”

  “No.”

  “Are you feeling dizzy or nauseous?” As he spoke, Zach took out a pen light and shined it in her eyes, tipping her head to get a better look. “Your pupils look all right. Do you have a headache?”

  “Of course I have a headache. I bounced my head off a cement step. Isn’t this pointless? You already said I didn’t have a concussion.” She pulled out of his grip.

  “And a concussion is the only possible head injury you could have,” he said, rolling his eyes. “You should get a scan. Check for swelling and contusions.”

  “I’ll get right on that.” Just as soon as she gave the devil a blowjob.

  These days medical care was mostly free, but she had no intention of exposing herself to tests. Right now, nobody could tell she was a supernatural. Not even other supernaturals who had a radar for knowing when someone wasn’t human. But who knew what hospital machines and technomagic would be able to see?

  “I mean it. You could have a brain bleed or swelling. Either could cause you serious damage or even kill you.”

  “I get it. Are we done?”

  He made an exasperated sound. “Turn around. Let me see your back.”

  “You’re wasting your time.”

  “My time to waste. Turn around.”

  Kayla groaned and turned. He didn’t wait for her permission or warn her before he lifted her pea coat and pushed up her sweatshirt and cami. The damp cold raised goosebumps on her skin. She shivered.

  “You landed hard. Go ahead and take a deep breath.”

  Kayla yelped and jerked away when she felt the press of a cold metal disk on her back. “What the hell?”

  “It’s called a stethoscope.” He held up the round end, the two earpieces inside his ears. “We medical types use them to listen to your heart and lungs. Nothing to be afraid of,” he added, laughing at her.

  “I know what they are. A little warning might have been nice, though. Do you keep that thing in a deep freeze?”

  “Yep. Just to torture my patients. Get over it.”

  Kayla snorted, but allowed him to push her around so her back faced him and raised her clothing out of the way again. He pressed the stethoscope against her again. This time she didn’t move.

  “Deep breath. . . . Let it out. . . . Again. . . . Let it out. . . . Once more. . . . Let it out. . . . Last one. . . .” He straightened, pulling the headset out of his ears. “Doesn’t sound like you’ve punctured anything. Does this hurt?”

  His hands spanned her sides, his thumbs
pressing into her skin along the curve of her ribs from her spine outward.

  “Ow! Christ! You’re hitting my brand-new bruises.” Kayla twisted away, pulling down her clothing as she turned back around to face the technomage. “Do you get off on making people hurt or am I just special?”

  Zach’s brows arched, the corner of his mouth quirking. “Can’t it be both?”

  Now it was her turn to roll her eyes. “It’s efficient anyhow. Can you chew bubblegum at the same time?”

  “And juggle. I’m very accomplished.”

  “And modest.”

  “That too.”

  Kayla couldn’t help the snicker of laughter that escaped her. He smiled. Sweet lord but he was handsome. No doubt about it. No doubt he knew it, too. Part of it was his supreme confidence, as though he knew himself well and liked who he was. No secrets chewing away inside him. No running away from his problems. If he had demons, he had confronted and befriended them. She envied that more than she could possibly say.

  “Ready, boss?”

  One of the techs had approached. She wore a silvery-white containment suit. A hard, clear shield provided a window for her to see through. Her voice came from a speaker on her shoulder and sounded tinny.

  Zach nodded at her. “I’ll be set up in a minute.” His look gathered in Detective Dix and Kayla. “You two stay here by the truck. Wait until I give the all clear.”

  He strode away, striding up the hill to the street and stopping at what looked like a tangled sculpture of scrap metal. He turned so he faced the park. He closed his eyes and spread his arms wide.

  “Man, I love to watch him work,” said one of the four techs who came to stand beside Kayla. “He makes it look so easy.”

  “He’s not too bad on the eyes either,” said one of the female techs. She peeled the hood of her suit off her head. Her short dark hair was plastered to her head with sweat.

  “He’s a tomcat,” said the other female tech as she also pulled off her hood, revealing blond hair fastened up in a bun. “But he doesn’t play where he works, if you know what I mean.”

  “I’m available whenever he wants, though,” said one of the male techs. He was shorter than Zach with pale blond hair and a bit of a baby face. Like the other techs, he’d been sweating heavily inside the suit.

  Both of the women techs looked at him, and then each other, and then giggled and whispered together.

  Kayla bit back a smile at the male tech’s consternation.

  Her attention veered back to Zach as a pulse of magic traveled around the outer edges of the square, following the pattern of wires laid down by the techs. Transparent golden flames rose up until they were as tall as the technomage. Kayla didn’t feel any heat coming from them, but all the hair on her body stood on end like she stood in the middle of a staticky sock. Even her scalp prickled. She shifted in place to try to ease the pin-prick feeling, but it only increased as Zach added power to his spellwork.

  Each of the metal sculptures began to turn colors. First blue, then red, then yellow, then ultra violet. Streamers of magic unfurled from each one, rippling like the aurora borealis, then winding and weaving together into a lattice above the square. Now the entire place was enclosed in a box of power, anchored by the sculptures and wire lines, and fed by Zach.

  Kayla had seen technomages work. After Magicfall, they’d restored or created roads and bridges, then stabilized the hospitals. Next came electrical production using windmills and passive turbines in all the underground pipes. As those turbines spun, magic collected the electricity and channeled it to the electrical stations and then out to the city.

  There hadn’t been many who could master their newfound power at first. The new technomages were pioneers, produced by the marriage of magic and the technology and industry of the city and learning their craft on the fly. They’d saved Portland. They’d saved a lot of cities and a lot of people. With their help, Portland was thriving.

  But watching Zach manipulate magic was very different than any other technomagic working she’d ever witnessed. For one, he was super strong. Sure, the other mages had put on a show, but only because they’d combined their strength. This demonstration was all Zach.

  The ground gave a liquid heave beneath her feet. The magic of the power box surrounding the square brightened, the golden flames turning white, and then silver. As they did, they collapsed, sweeping inward and vanishing as they met in the middle. The lattice above slowly settled, like silk on a hot breeze. When it lay across the ground, fountains, steps, trees, and bushes, the violet mantle started to pulse, sending rippling light across itself. The pulses bounced back from the invisible barrier framing the square, and soon the pulses turned into a hypnotizing dance of light and shadow.

  And then, before Kayla had gotten her fill of the beautiful display, the light faded, leaving behind a hush. A few seconds later, the techs squealed and whistled, then clapped to celebrate Zach’s handiwork.

  He turned from where he’d been standing and shook himself out, as though his muscles were cramped. He rolled his head on his shoulders and scrubbed his hands across his face. The techs continued to cheer. He tossed a little wave at them before starting back down the hill to the van.

  “Can we go down and examine the scene now?” Detective Dix’s voice cut through the happy hijinks of the techs.

  “It’s clear,” one of the men said.

  “Give me some booties and gloves,” she demanded. “And shut off the damned water.”

  He climbed into the van and returned with a pair of light-blue over-the-shoe slipcovers for both Kayla and the detective, as well as two pairs of black nitrile gloves. The two women slipped them on, and Kayla followed the detective down the steps to the cement platforms. The floodlights that the techs had set up with the fog-lifting equipment shone bright on the fountain face with the displayed bodies. As they approached, the water ceased to flow.

  The first body was clearly a shifter killed mid-transformation. It looked like a cat shifter, its face frozen in an agonized snarl, its body rigidly twisted. Sprouts of spotted fur on its face and body suggested it was a leopard shifter, or maybe a cheetah.

  The second body was some kind of nymph or dryad or naiad. Something in that family. Kayla had been working on trying to figure out what sorts of species of creatures lived in Portland, but it wasn’t easy. It wasn’t like you could walk up to someone and ask them what they were. “Pissed off,” was the general answer.

  The nymph girl’s skin was fishbelly white, her long dark hair matted and tangled with leaves and twigs. There were no signs of defensive wounds on her arms or hands, and her feet and legs showed no scrapes or bruises either. She hadn’t tried to run to escape her killer.

  The third body was nothing she recognized. Sort of a fox-looking creature with white fur and five black tails. It’s legs were completely black with claws that looked more catlike than canine.

  The fox creature and the shifter had been hung upside down and pinned in place like dissected frogs, their skin and chests pulled wide, their internal organs nowhere in sight. The nymph in the middle hung from a spike driven through the middle of her forehead and into the stone. Unlike the others, her chest and stomach remained intact, though the latter bulged oddly, almost like she’d swallowed a starfish-shaped soccer ball.

  Kayla’s gaze ran over the writing that seemed to have been burned into the red cement wall of the fountain. It was lovely, more like art than anything else. The writing was paired with pictures and surrounded in a kind of Egyptian cartouche.

  A low whistle made Kayla turn.

  “That is something,” Zach said, coming to stand beside them.

  He radiated energy like a walking bolt of lightning. Kayla rubbed down her arms to flatten the hair that prickled uneasily.

  “Can’t you calm that down?” Dix complained.

>   “‘Fraid not. Hazard of the trade,” Zach said with an easy smile. He looked back at the fountain wall. “What the hell is this about?”

  “Nothing good,” Dix said. “Anyhow snap some pictures, and we’ll send the corpses to the crematorium.”

  Kayla sucked in a sharp breath, barely managing to hold her tongue.

  “We’d better get someone to look over the bodies. See if they can tell what kind of spell was cast,” Zach said.

  “You sterilized the area,” Dix said. “What’s going to be left?”

  “That’s what we have to find out.” He glanced at her. “I can shepherd the tech review if you’d like, send you anything interesting that pops up.”

  She wavered and then gave a slight nod. “Knock yourself out. There’s no crime here unless it’s illegal magic. No point wasting my time unless that’s confirmed.” Her nose wrinkled. “What is that godawful smell?”

  Burned soap was what Kayla had thought when she’d first arrived. A kind of oily, cleansing odor wrapped up in a fireworks stink.

  At the question, Zach just shrugged. “Maybe from the ingredients in the spell.”

  “Where are their intestines?” Kayla asked, leaning to look into the water basin.

  “Good question,” Zach said.

  Dix was already halfway up the fountain steps. She held her cell phone to her ear.

  “Doesn’t look like they struggled, does it?” Kayla asked.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “No ligature marks or bruises or any signs of defensive wounds. The cuts are clean and straight.”

  “Could have been done postmortem.”

  “Could have been,” Kayla echoed, but her gut told her that the victims had been alive when they were killed. Bodies usually meant blood magic, which meant living victims. Couldn’t put the power of death in a spell if you didn’t have the living as fuel for the spell.