Savage Magic

by Judy Teel

  He took a sample from the deepest of my wounds and wiped the blood on the slide. "I'll ask you the same thing as I did him. How have the Suir aosar crossed into our dimension?" Lifting my arm, he laid it across the wide metal bowl.

  "I think there's a breach somewhere, again."

  Dr. Barrett's brows rose and he glanced at me. "Again?"

  "Last summer Cooper and I stopped a murderer who was using dimension hopping to escape detection."

  "I see," he said, returning to the task at hand.

  I watched him open the bottle of disinfectant, more than a little concerned about what was coming. "My friend, Falcon, used some of the residue she left behind when she did that and created the inter-D scanner."

  He splashed disinfectant over my cuts and I sucked in a breath as the bite of it dug into my arm. Grabbing another cookie, I stuffed the whole thing into my mouth to distract myself from the sting. "If they did get through, wouldn't they be drawn to the energy of the Weres?" I pointed out.

  "You mean perhaps the Were energy would feel most like their normal habitat and what they usually feed on?" Dr. Barrett mused as he applied antibiotic salve to my wounds. Though at this point, I don't know why he bothered. Now that the puncture wounds were clean, they were already starting to heal.

  "If this was a pathogen, it wouldn't have killed Travis when he was collared," I said around the cookie.

  Sitting back, Dr. Barrett studied me. I could practically see the wheels turning behind his pale blue eyes as his thoughts spun through the possibilities of my theory. "He would have felt a relief of symptoms when his Were DNA was suppressed. If the pathogen fed off of Weres, which by all indications it does."

  "But if he were infected by inter-D's that were suddenly deprived of their food, they might have instinctively forced him to shift—"

  "—so they could continue draining his energy," the doctor said in a rush as he leaned forward. "The pain would have been unbearable."

  "He would have been driven crazy by it and ripped the PRC off even though that would engage the laser," I added.

  He studied the scanner. "If your theory is correct, it would also explain why all of the blood samples I've taken show normal." He picked up his cup, stopped halfway to his mouth and put it back down as he stared into space. After a moment, he refocused on me. "Can your friend's device verify your theory?"

  I took the last cookie, satisfied that I'd sparked his scientific curiosity in a direction that didn't involve me. "Want to help me find out?"

  * * *

  After checking his apple pie and covering it carefully with a clean dishtowel, Dr. Barrett led me across the compound and into the bowels of the underground catacombs. From there, we wound our way down into a branch of dungeons that was even deeper and more depressing than the cells where we'd been kept and where Danny still was.

  Unfortunately, it looked like that was as far as our experiment would be allowed to go.

  Drawing himself up to his full height of about an inch over my five-eight, Dr. Barrett pinned his disapproval on the guards outside the infected Weres' cellblock. "I have more testing to do."

  "Except at meal time, no one goes in. No one comes out," Bald Guy said in a flat tone. The other guard, a female Were I didn't know, rocked from foot to foot, and looked like she'd rather be anywhere but facing down the wrath of the compound's doctor.

  "Who feeds them?" I asked.

  "I do," Dr. Barrett said.

  "Unless one of 'em's close to the end," Bald Guy added.

  "Is one of them close?" Dr. Barrett asked.

  "Nope."

  "So let us the hell in," I snapped.

  Dr. Barrett cleared his throat and stepped in front of me. "I believe there has been a breakthrough in the cause of the disease." The guards exchanged surprised looks that turned hopeful at his next words. "I need to complete some final testing to be certain, but if I'm correct, we may be able to stop this."

  I wasn't willing to go that far, but if it got us in, I was fine with backing the good doctor up. "The Aesei Siian ordered us to find out."

  The discomfort of the guards increased, which was lucky because if they hadn't been looking at each other for a hint of what to do, Dr. Barrett's flinch might have inspired them to test the air to see if I was lying.

  Finally Bald Guy turned to take the ring of keys off of a hook next to the door. "If one of them shifts and tears you to pieces, don't come running to us."

  "You got it," I said, unclipping the safety strap across my Browning's grip.

  Bald Guy helped the other guard pull open the door, which looked to be over a foot thick of reinforced steel. I nearly gagged as the damp, rank smell of the holding cells hit us. Part human waste, part unwashed bodies and a whole mess of the sharp, sour smell of fear.

  I glanced at Dr. Barrett, who nodded, his mouth pinched down like he was torn between throwing up and reading someone the riot act. I was with him on both points. And I knew exactly who was going to get an ear full about it once we were done with the testing.

  "Wait, you'll need this." Bald Guy picked up the industrial strength flashlight from the stool behind him and handed it to me.

  The handle of the flashlight felt thick and cold in my hand as I hefted its weight. "They don't even get a torch?"

  "At the end, their eyes are sensitive to light," the female Were said as if that justified everything.

  I flicked on the flashlight as we crossed into the cellblock, more for Dr. Barrett's sake than mine, and swept the beam around the room. Huddled figures, their eyes wide with fear, stared back at us from each cell as the door slammed shut behind us with a solid, echoing clank of finality. The beam of the flashlight hit the eyes of a wolf in the second cell, making them glow like the fires of hell burned in their depths. Its lip curled back exposing long, sharp teeth and it snarled. I jumped back instinctively, bumping into Dr. Barrett.

  "Helen Garcia," he said, his voice heavy with regret. "She showed her first symptom only two days ago."

  The wolf lunged at the bars, snapping at them savagely.

  "Here," I said, handing him the flashlight. "Hold this while I work the scanner."

  He held the flashlight up over our heads, making a pool of light around us. I turned the scanner on and fiddled with the adjustments the way Falcon had showed me not too long ago, the muffled breathing of the lives around us filling the darkness. As I worked, their stares drilled into my back, making the spot between my shoulder blades itch.

  "I have to get close to do the scan," I said quietly, moving back to the first cell and wondering what might spring out at us. "Stay behind me."

  I stopped about a foot from the bars and the edge of the light touched the woman huddled against the stone wall as far from the wolf in the other cell as she could get. Despite her lank brown hair and haggard face, she looked young, though that didn't always mean anything with paranormals. She stared at the floor, not moving, not caring as I aimed the scanner at her.

  The readout screen at the top of the device turned white and then blinked on and off before it paused and then repeated the rhythm. My stomach twisted into a knot. What if the practitioners had messed with the scanner?

  "You better not be broken," I muttered, resisting the temptation to give it a solid whack. The retro scanner Falcon had used had once been mine and that particular move always straightened it out in the past.

  "Perhaps we're still too far away," Dr. Barrett suggested. "Can you come closer to the bars, Marie?" he asked the woman, his voice gentle.

  Her eyes darted to my gun and then to the scanner, before meeting his gaze. I thought she was going to refuse, but then she scooted up to the bars, not even bothering to get up. Or maybe she was too weak. The heat of anger flushed across my skin at the thought of how these people were suffering.

  I aimed the inter-D scanner at her again and this time the readout screen stayed white. After a moment, different colored bars shot up, forming a graph. "See how this blue bar is the highest?" I said to D
r. Barrett. "That proves she's Were. These gray bars would show practitioner DNA if she had it and this one's for vampire."

  "Amazing," he said, admiration clear in his voice. "What does the half yellow bar mean?"

  "All Weres have some human in them. So do vamps. Practitioners show half and half."

  "And where does it indicate if she's infected?"

  I pressed the black button next to the readout with my thumb. The screen shimmered and a new graph appeared, this one showing a line that spiked up and down as it flowed across the screen.

  "Her heart rate?" he asked, leaning in to get a better look.

  "Watch." I aimed the scanner at the female's left side like Falcon had showed me and the pattern of the readout changed. "It's picking up something, but the signal's weak so it's not conclusive. Like a false positive."

  I stepped closer to her, confident now that she wouldn't try to make a grab at me. She craned her neck to get a closer look at the scanner, a flicker of interest in her eyes. I aimed the device slightly up and the display went nuts, the spikes looking like the teeth of an alligator. Triumph swept through me. "Got the bastards."

  I turned to Dr. Barrett. "For this strong a signal, I'd say she has more than one hooked into her."

  Dr. Barrett looked at the scanner, then at Marie and finally at me. "Shall we test the others for comparison?"

  I paced to the next cell. The wolf lay on his side now, panting in quick, shallow breaths. Marie jumped to her feet and pressed her face between the bars. "What does it mean?" she asked, her voice hoarse as if she'd spent too many hours screaming, a thought that sickened me.

  I didn't want to tell her the truth. The news that creatures her people had named "Devourers of Souls" were attached to her wasn't helpful or compassionate news at this point. "It means we can look for a way to help you."

  Her haunted eyes widened. "Please," she whispered. "My mate is dead. Our son..."

  Around us, those that could, gripped the bars of their cells and pressed forward. Whispered pleas rose up around us. "Please help us," Marie said as she slid to the floor of her prison, exhausted from her brief burst of hope.

  "Addison," Dr. Barrett said, pointing at the scanner.

  I looked down at the fluctuating readout and how close together the spikes in data were. "A rough estimate, maybe four of them?"

  "I'm next," the man in the cell beside the wolf said.

  And so we went, on down the line. Every one of the incarcerated Weres showed the same frantic pattern on Falcon's scanner to varying degrees. We turned to test the people in the facing row and I came to a stop. Sympathy and sorrow clogged my throat again. Knox stood at the bars, the red tips in his short brown hair barely discernible in the sweat and filth that plastered it to his head.

  I watched the double spike pattern establish itself on the readout as I waved the scanner from left to right. "Two, I'd say, " Dr. Barrett noted.

  Knox looked away for a moment and when his gaze swung back to me, his eyes shone wet in the circle of light from the flashlight. "Is my cousin okay?" I gave him a questioning look. "Sharon?" he clarified.

  "After she was released, I heard she went home."

  "If you ever see her again, tell her that I'm glad it worked out this way."

  The heaviness of that simple statement crushed down on my heart. "I will."

  Dr. Barrett and I continued down the row, every prisoner showing some level of infection. We reached the last cell, Dr. Barrett's light splashed through the bars, streaking shadows across the Were inside. Leaning against the wall next to the bars like he was lounging in a club waiting for his buddies to show up, he watched us, a wary mockery in his almond-shaped eyes.

  Deg.

  "What happened?" I asked as I ran the scanner over him. I had no love for the guy, but I was sorry to see him in here.

  He shrugged.

  I glanced down at the readout. The line was flat. I reset the scanner and tried again. No change.

  "This man clear of infection," Dr. Barrett said in alarm.

  "Why are you in here?" I asked Deg again.

  "If any of them die, you're the next available host," Dr. Barrett pointed out. "This is unacceptable." He went to the cellblock door and started pounding on it to get the guards' attention.

  Deg's insolent gaze swept over me. "I'm surprised they didn't throw you in here. You were right in front of Jesse when he popped out."

  "Humans aren't at risk," I reminded him.

  "No," Deg drawled. "Only Weres." And something in his tone made my stomach knot.

  I heard the locks clanking and grinding and retreated to stand next to Dr. Barrett while the two guards strained to open the door. I couldn't bring myself to wish Deg had to stay in here. On the other hand, I didn't look forward to what kind of trouble he might stir up once he was out.

  No good ever came of borrowing trouble, I reminded myself. Right now my only obligation was to get him out of quarantine and to see that those who stayed behind received more humane treatment.

  The way I saw it, a certain person's brother owed me.

  * * *

  By the time Dr. Barrett and I reached Ryker's suite, I'd worked myself up into a pretty good lather over the living conditions of the infected Weres. I was all set to bully my way past the guards and was disappointed when they opened the door for us as if we were expected.

  I stomped in and came to a stop, my gaze sweeping around the large open room, surprised to see that it was laid out almost identically to my apartment with the exception of a few upgrades. In one corner, a small fountain made of artfully stacked natural stones with plants around it. In the middle, Mistress Raevinne held court from a large and comfortable looking leather sofa, a homey looking quilt across her lap, her granddaughter sitting on one side of her and Agent Miller on the other. And by the fireplace, Ryker seemed to be having a meeting. In fact, Cooper's brown brindled hair was close enough to the shiny white head of Rosalind to make my trigger finger itch.

  As the door shut behind me, they all looked up. My irritation must have showed because her light green eyes glittered with amusement as she met my gaze. "The miracle human has arrived at last."

  Mistress Raevinne got a bead on Dr. Barrett and lifted her chin in the air. Her gaze blazed at him.

  "I believe I have some research to do," he said to me, though his attention stayed on Mistress Raevinne. "If you'll excuse me." Giving the other practitioner a deep bow, he ducked out into the hall.

  She watched the door close as if she expected him to reappear just to displease her. Finally, she looked at me, gesturing toward the chair next to Miller. "Come, sit."

  Since I had no interest in joining a conversation that included the ridiculously tall and stunningly beautiful Rosalind, I obliged her. Sinking down into the overstuffed matching leather chair, I gave Miller a quick smile and then contemplated the plates of apple pie on the coffee table between us. At least Dr. Barrett's peace offering hadn't been rejected. "What got you an invite to this party?" I asked Miller.

  "This is my sister, Erika." He nodded toward Mistress Raevinne's granddaughter.

  I paused in the middle of snagging the biggest slice of pie. "Your what?"

  "And my grandmother."

  The fork slid off the plate and clattered to the table. "No kidding?"

  "What better reason to make such a long journey?" Mistress Raevinne said as she picked up the fork and handed it to Miller, who put it back on my plate.

  I sat back and let my tension sink into the luxurious cushioning of the chair. "I can think of a lot of reasons," I said, not liking her know-it-all tone.

  "I would enjoy hearing what those might be," the older woman replied, amusement twinkling in her eyes.

  Taking a large bite of the pastry, I focused on the sweet cinnamon goodness of the baked apples instead of how much she inexplicably irritated and intimidated me.

  "I'd like to hear something about the man who spoke to you and then disappeared with the infected Were," Rosalind sa
id from her post by the fireplace.

  "Looks like we all have unanswered questions," I muttered around my mouthful of pie.

  Cooper crossed the room with his usual liquid grace and settled himself on the armrest of my chair. The heat and energy radiating off his body flowed around me, calming my nerves despite my annoyance. "Why is she here?" I asked Cooper in a low voice.

  "Rosalind is my appointed lieutenant."

  I grit my teeth. "What about Stillman." My friend had been almost fanatically loyal to Cooper since the war. I doubted she was going to be too happy about this.

  "She would never put me above the Clan," he said quietly. "Rosalind would."

  "Tell us about the man who took the ill Were," Mistress Raevinne interjected. A beat of silence and then the energy in the room sharpened, the point of it focusing right at me.

  Scraping up the last sugary bite of apple pie from my plate, I attempted to gather my thoughts. I'd come in planning to confront the powers that be about the quarantine. Instead I found myself under the gun over something I wasn't about to disclose to anyone, maybe not even Cooper.

  When you're in a spot, redirect, I always say. Also, the best lies have some truth in them. Especially in a roomful of Weres. "I think I've seen him before. By those ruins about ten miles north of here."

  I felt Cooper's surprise brush along my skin as Ryker got me in his sights. Pale with sweat beading up on his forehead, the authority in his gaze was still sharp enough to make my stomach curl into a shaky ball. "No one is to go within three miles of that area."

  I fought down the urge to duck my head and say, "Yes, sir," and set my plate back on the coffee table. "I'm not a member of your Clan."

  "That has been painfully obvious since the moment you arrived," Rosalind commented.

  "Who is the man that you have seen?" Mistress Raevinne asked as she poured more tea into her cup from the pot in front of her.

  Damn. The lie had backfired. "I don't know," I said, doing my best to sound sincere.