by Erin Hayes
“Then speak.”
“Mixt, this is Jessica Sharpe. She’s the officer working on the murders.”
Mixt’s eyes went side. “There was another murder?”
“There was. Another prominent person. With just as much magic on the scene as there was at the first. Even Jessica felt it.”
She thought about saying she hadn’t felt anything, but she knew in her heart she had, that what Euros was telling Mixt about her was true. She had felt something. That, she couldn’t deny.
Mixt turned his dark eyes on her, and for a blinding, disorienting second, she felt something brush against her mind, an utterly invasive sensation that sent her staggering back a step. Her hands came up in a gesture that was both defensive and entreating.
“Mixt, stop. Do not read her mind.”
“I am just…”
“You will not.”
Jessica blinked, and the insidious tendrils vanished from her mind, leaving behind no trace. It wasn’t clear what had just happened, other than Euros and Mixt were glaring at each other.
“You don’t need to read her mind to know she’s telling the truth. She’s perfectly capable of explaining what she sensed, what she felt.”
Mixt sniffed again, and Jessica decided she didn’t care much for him. “Then have her speak. If this has progressed to a second murder, we do not have much time.”
Both men turned to her, and she looked between them. Mixt looked dubious, but Euros smiled. “Tell us again what you felt, the things you think were unusual at each scene.”
She went through it again, telling them how the scenes made her feel. “The hair stood up on my arms, not like I was cold, but like something had touched me. Nothing physical, but like something was in the air, something palpable.”
“Did you have any images, any flashes in your mind? Even if it was just for a moment.”
“No, I don’t think…” But then it was there, the memory complete, and just as vivid as if she were seeing the image on a screen.
“Oh! Wait. The CSI guy was in the backyard, taking photos. I was thinking he was going to have a lot of shots of footprints, human footprints, in shoes, you know?” Her words were slower than her thoughts. “Damn it. I saw the image of an animal print, something small, like a little dog. But then…” The image was still there, but it made no sense. “I’d forgotten about that, it completely slipped my mind.”
“Did you see the photos from the crime scene?”
“I looked through them, but I don’t remember if I saw that particular one. Until now, I’d forgotten all about that…whatever it was that had happened.” The memory of standing by the window, the sudden image so clear in her mind, left her unsettled and confused.
Euros threw a look at Mixt, something passing between the two men that made her shiver. “What? What is it?”
“I don’t know. But I want to see the photos. Can you get them?”
She shook her head. “I’m off the case. I didn’t get a chance to do anything before you whisked me here.”
“Off the case? As of when?” She heard the shock in his voice.
“This morning, right before you showed up. Ross said I’d dropped the ball on the Lansing case, and I was in over my head on this whole thing. He gave the cases to Fisher, one of the senior detectives. Derek’s working second. I’m on desk duty.” She glanced at her watch. “As a matter of fact, I’m late for getting back to the office. If I’m not there…
Mixt laughed and she frowned at him. “You think that’s funny? I’m in enough trouble now, without being late.”
“She’s cute, this mortal. I see why you like her so much. Such an innocent.”
“Cute? Now wait…”
Euros raised his hand, then pointed his finger at Mixt. “Stop. She doesn’t know anything about how this works, or what you mean.” He turned to her, and she saw his expression soften. “There is no time here, at least, not as you know it. When we go back, it will be the same time as when we left. I promise, you won’t be late. No one will know you were even gone.”
“Oh. That must come in handy.”
For first time since they’d arrived in this other place, he gave her a genuine smile. It made her feel close to him, closer than she wanted to at this moment. But that little moment faded as Mixt spoke.
“So, what significance is the footprint, Euros? What are your thoughts?”
Euros shook his head. “I don’t know yet what this could be. Magic at a scene, a dog’s footprint…”
“Fox fur.”
They both turned to look at her with identical expressions of shock. And as if one, their expressions closed, both going opaque.
“Fox? Are you sure?” Euros’s voice went deadly cold.
“Yeah. The forensic guy called, said they had found fox fur at the scene. I thought it was a coat Mrs. Lansing owned, or something. But she’s a member of PETA…so I ruled that out. Then I didn’t follow up, because I didn’t have time.” That sounded lame, like a bad excuse for not doing her job. Maybe Ross was right to take these cases away from her. But then Parnell’s murder had happened, and then Euros… a little over twenty-four hours wasn’t enough for anyone to process all of this.
“What does a fox have to do with magic?”
“Jessica, I need to see the crime scene photos.”
Euros’s voice startled her, and she blinked in the strangely soft light. “I can’t do that. I don’t have access to them anymore. And besides, Ross threatened to have you arrested for trespassing, if you ever showed up at the precinct again. Even if he thinks you were right, that I shouldn’t have gotten promoted, your article really pissed him off.”
Euros scowled. “And I can’t cloak myself and go in unseen, because there are too many people to focus on staying invisible from. Dammit.” He blew out an exasperated breath. She could almost see the wheels turning behind those dark eyes, and for a minute she wondered how hard it was to read minds. I know what you’re going to say, Euros. Would bet my career on it.
“Then I need to see the crime scene. I need to get into Lansing’s house.”
Bingo, one mind read, and without any damn magic.
“That’s putting my whole career on the line, you know. I’m supposed to be making phone calls, tracking down evidence…and I’m supposed to be doing that from my desk, not from the scene. If someone sees me there…especially with you. And what do you mean, cloak yourself?”
“I can make it so I’m not seen. And I can make those that are there believe you’re supposed to be there.” He took a step closer. “Jessica, I need this. We need this. If I can find out what the motive was, I can figure out who was behind Lansing’s murder. And from there, we can figure out if there’s a connection with Parnell. Or if that was just an unhappy coincidence.”
“I’m not holding my breath that it wasn’t.”
Mixt had been quietly watching them, but now he stepped forward. “I do not believe this is a good idea, Euros. There is nothing to be gained by enlisting her help.”
Euros spun around, coming face to face with Mixt. For a moment, she felt what could only be magic crashing against magic, saw the shimmer in the air between them. That little ripple washed against her, and she shivered.
“If there is anyone in either world who can help solve this, and help us prevent anyone from entering the portal that shouldn’t, it is Jessica.”
Mixt’s features froze. Jessica couldn’t tell if it was in fury or embarrassment. Set against the pallor of his skin, his eyes looked like coals. Burning, but coals nonetheless.
“Then do what you need to do, Euros. And I will do what I need to do.”
With that Mixt turned in a swirl of white robes. She watched as he walked away. And then in the blink of an eye, he disappeared. She stared, blinked again, and turned to Euros.
“Where…how…”
“He’s not used to talking with mortals. I’m sorry about that. Normally, he just walks away like anyone else would. I think he was trying to sho
w off.”
“Like instead of leaving in a huff, he just vanishes?”
“Something like that. For all his bluster though, he’s a good guy.”
“So, what does he do here?”
“He’s a Gatekeeper, like I am. He works on this side of the portal. And I work on the mortal side.”
“Gatekeeper?” She knew they didn’t have time for chit-chat, but the last thing she wanted right now was another magical trip through space. Her atoms and cells, or whatever, still felt on edge, still felt disjoined. Then she panicked; what if he had something else planned? What could be worse than what he’d already done to her?
“Sometime, when the fate of our world isn’t hanging in the balance, I’ll tell you. But I need to see the Lansing scene. And I need you there with me.”
Apparently, he wasn’t falling for her delaying tactic.
“You said to Mixt that you need to prevent someone from entering the portal. So, someone is trying to get into this world—your world? Someone you don’t want in here?”
“It appears so. I followed the trail of magic left, to the portal. Whoever it is hasn’t passed through, but it looked as though they want to. I need to figure out what these murders have to do with all of this, and who is behind it all.”
“I see. I’ll help you however I can.”
She let him take her hand, and then let him pull her into a hug. She might have been imagining it, but this embrace seemed to have a little more intimacy to it, something beyond the mere mechanism required to set her hurtling to the Lansing crime scene. In a way, she liked it, but it was also the last thing she wanted to feel from Euros. At least right now.
“Do we really have to do this again?” She lifted her face to his. Against the backdrop of an impossibly blue sky, he smiled down at her.
“There is a portal, right there.” He nodded over her shoulder. “Between the stone pillars. But if we suddenly appear out of nowhere on a busy street, it wouldn’t look good. I need us to arrive unobserved.”
“Oh, right. I guess there are things like that, that you need to think about. Magic seems pretty complicated.”
She felt the rumble of his laugh against her body. “You have no idea, Jess. No idea at all.”
And then she was torn into a thousand pieces. And like last time, through the scattering of her very being, through all that, she could still feel Euros, and the strength of his body against hers.
Chapter Nine
Having Jessica in his arms, even if it was necessary for getting them from one place to another, set off more emotions than he was prepared to deal with. Those emotions distracted him to such an extent, that they materialized not where he’d planned, but in the backyard of the house next door. He was still berating himself and waiting for Jessica to get her bearings, when he noticed a woman on her back porch staring at them. Quickly, he waved his hand and she looked away from them. It was a weak spell, thrown at her more as a reflex than anything, but he didn’t have time for anything else. He hoped she would forget what she saw, but later, if she thought about it at all, she’d laugh at how silly she was for imagining people appearing, as if by magic, in her backyard.
“Come on.” With Jessica’s hand in his, they ran through the tangle of brush at the backyard. Blessedly, there was no wall or fence, and they came out onto the sidewalk. With an effort, he slowed his headlong pace to a normal walk. When he got impatient, he got sloppy, like setting them down in the wrong place.
“There should still be someone at the scene.”
Jessica’s voice brought him back to the here and now. “Who? Police, or the private security?”
“How did you know about…oh, never mind. Police. I told you about the guard, right?”
He shook his head, and she shrugged. “The guy claims he fell asleep in the backyard. No one believed him, but I tend to think there’s some truth to his story. He was crying so hard during most of the interview, the transcriptionist had to mark whole sections as unintelligible. The guy was a total mess. But to get back to your question, the security company pretty much backed out of the contract once they discovered their guard had fallen asleep on the job. It’s kind of poor form to let your client get killed on your watch.”
“And Mrs. Lansing?”
“Last I heard, she was staying with her sister in Moline. Can’t imagine her wanting to stay in a house where her husband was just murdered. Until the scene is released, everything stays the way it is. And then when the cleaners come in, they just rip up the stuff, and take it away. She’ll come back to a house with carpet torn from the floors, and everything else that may have been stained with blood. Sadly, it’s not like families come back to a pristine house afterwards.”
They stopped at the back of Lansing’s property. He knew where the gate was, how he’d gotten through the opening, but he had no intention of sneaking into the scene. He wanted Jessica to walk in, as if she had every right to be there. He knew her well enough that if she felt any more like she was doing something wrong, she’d either refuse to go in, or be so self-conscious that she’d give away the ruse.
They walked around to the front of the building. The trail of magic was still there, faded in some places, but just as evil, and just as dark as it had been the day before.
As she’d predicted, Euros noticed a police car parked in front of the house. The uniformed police officer climbed out as they came around the corner, and met them on the sidewalk. Or rather, the man met Jessica. Euros had cast a spell, correctly this time, and rendered himself invisible.
“Detective.” The man nodded, as Jessica flashed her badge. Euros waited, inexplicably nervous, even though he knew the man couldn’t see him. The dark magic unnerved him, but staying invisible was easy, something he could do—and had done—in his sleep.
But Jessica acted as if she did this every day. Well, he supposed she did, in some regard. He was sure though, that she didn’t disobey orders, and sneak back into crime scenes that she wasn’t allowed to be at. But from the set of her shoulders, and the way she held her chin tilted up, he wasn’t worried about how she’d handle this.
“I’m going back in. Has anyone else been here today?”
“No, ma’am.”
Euros waited, wondering if the man knew she was technically off the case.
“Do you have the key?”
The man nodded. “I’ll have to unlock the door for you.”
Jessica strode up the sidewalk, Euros following behind. The officer unlocked the door, then stepped inside with them. Euros froze. If the man insisted on shadowing them—her—this would require more magic. In fact, that might be what was needed now.
From his invisible state, Euros did a simple mental projection, telling the man he should wait in his car, there was no need for him to be inside.
“I’ll just go wait in my car. There’s no need for me to be in here with you. If you need me, I’ll be just outside.” The man looked momentarily confused, but then turned and walked out, closing the door behind him.
Jessica turned to Euros. “That was you, I take it?”
He took a breath. He was still invisible, but she was looking right at him. “Can you see me?”
“I can see…something. Like looking through wavy glass, or thin ice. You’re right…” She stretched out a hand, and touched his chest. “That’s really strange. I don’t like touching something I can’t see. Can you undo this spell of yours?”
He did, reversing the spell, taking shape in front of her, although to him nothing physically changed, just the minor surge of magic through his body. He watched her face, eyes going wide, as she saw him appear in front of her. For a minute, the joy of casting magic came back to him, what it was like as a boy during his training, discovering his abilities, and testing them. Doing magic, just because he could.
“You okay? Isn’t that hard?”
He realized she was staring at him. “No. Not at all. Some magic is harder than others, but I’ve been doing this for so long, I don�
��t really think about it anymore.”
“Right. Practice makes perfect?”
“Yeah. Something like that.”
They were in a hallway, by stairs rising to the second floor. He could sense the magic here, strong magic, mixed with the scent of death. It had been a long time since he’d been this close to death, but there was no forgetting that smell.
“It’s down here…”
“Wait.” He closed his eyes. “I need to do this my way.”
He blocked out everything, the floor beneath his feet, the warmth of Jessica beside him, her scent, the sound of her breathing. He let go of the reality around him, and went into his mind, letting it move through the house, his body motionless.
Magic swirled around him, dark and thick. It pooled in certain areas downstairs, heavier down the hall, behind one specific door. That was where it had happened, where the murder had taken place. They’d get there in a minute, but now he let the magic around him seep into his bones, letting it into his very pores, tasting it. Learning whatever he could from it.
He knew it was dark, but with a wildness to it that he’d never encountered in his life, not even during his training. It coiled around him, acrid and thick, stronger than he’d ever imagined magic could be. Possibly stronger than his. And that was saying a lot.
“Euros?”
He came back to himself, and to Jessica, with a start. For a minute, the residue of that darkness flowed through him, and he took a step away from her. Something savage and cruel bubbled up inside, making his hand clench, his teeth slam together in a grimace. And for an instant, he knew what it felt like to want to kill someone.
“Euros, are you okay?”
Her voice held fear, and he could see it in her eyes, in the stance of her body. With an effort, more than he would have thought possible, he pushed that last bit of the magic from his system. It drained him, and left him shaky and weak. And for the first time, truly fearful. She can’t know this. Not now, not yet.
“Fine. I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine. You look like you saw a ghost. What was it? Do you know?”