by Sheryl Lee
ZORA’S DAWN
BOOK ONE OF THE DEFENDER SERIES
BY
SHERYL LEE
Text Copyright © 2015 Sheryl Lee
All Rights Reserved
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
To the many people who have stood by me while I wrote and re-wrote this book I thank you all. You know who you are.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
END WORD
CHAPTER ONE
Zora Hayes sighed with pleasure as she sipped her first cup of tea for the morning. Staring out of the window she studied the dry brown grass in her tiny back garden and wondered if it would rain soon. Her flower garden was wilted and sad, even though she was watering diligently. It was crazy weather; in tropical north Queensland in January the grass should be luxuriant and green, not patchy and brown. An unusually dry weather pattern had sucked all the moisture out of the ground, causing water diviners to start advertising in the local paper and the news media to speculate on the strange weather.
She picked up the teapot to pour herself another cup, just as her mobile phone vibrated. Glancing at the caller ID she saw it was a fellow journalist, Powers. While she and Powers were work colleagues, she tried to keep a certain distance from him. He was friendly enough but there was something about him that made her uneasy. Frowning slightly she finished pouring before picking up the phone. Before she could even open her mouth Powers was talking. “Did you hear what happened, did Malcolm get onto you yet?”
Zora’s frown deepened. “Good morning to you too Powers, I hope you are well, I’m fine, thank you for asking. No, why would Malcolm contact me?”
“Pardon me, good morning, enjoy your cup of tea. Be prepared for a call from him.”
Zora paused with the cup in her hand, how did he know what she was doing? One of the reasons she kept him at a distance was this unsettling feeling that he could almost see her even when he obviously could not.
“Zora? Can you focus please?”
Dark auburn eyebrows pulled in tight over golden eyes, Zora counted slowly to 10 before replying. “I’m focused thank you Powers. There has been no contact from Malcolm or anyone else. Why, what has happened?”
“There was a body found in a canefield by some poor guy who had stopped at the side of the road for a call of nature.”
“Someone died in a canefield? Snake bite or something?” There were plenty of venomous snakes in the district and they were often to be found hunting rats and mice in the canefields so it was not an unreasonable thought, but Zora could not remember it ever happening.
“No, much more gruesome. This was a murder like nothing that has happened before, here or anywhere really. Look, Malcolm will call you shortly, I just wanted to give you some warning. You’d better get out of your pyjamas, you’ll need to come into the newsroom.”
Zora glanced down at her purple boxer shorts and singlet, liberally sprinkled with bright pink hearts. She held the phone away from her ear and studied it suspiciously. How did he do that? It was borderline creepy. Realising that Powers was still talking she put the phone back to her ear. “Put on jeans and sneakers, not those stilettos you always like to wear, in case we have to go out to the scene.”
“Me? I’m the social reporter, I won’t need to go view the scene of a murder!” Really, her stomach was churning at the thought of it. Even if the body was removed, and surely it would be, wouldn’t there be blood and maybe a smell? While keen to move up from social reporter, Zora was not sure violent crime was the logical next step. But then who would have thought there would be a murder in this sleepy little area?
“You’re going to have to trust me on this Zora, you really need to be involved. Now hurry up and drink your tea and go get dressed. Malcolm will call you soon.” Without any further explanation Powers ended the call.
Zora shrugged, Powers was a strange man, albeit a handsome one. The combination of deep brown hair and dark chocolate eyes against white skin seemed highly desirable to women, but for her an uncomfortable feeling of familiarity and that way he had of reading her mind meant his good looks left her cold. She had once heard a work colleague call him a Greek statue come to life which at the time had made her snort some tea out of her nose. Shaking her head Zora dismissed Powers from her mind and picked up her cup. If he was right she had better drink fast. She hated having to start the day without her morning ritual of draining the pot.
Sitting in the newsroom later on that morning Zora listened with only part of her mind as Malcolm explained the media ban that had been brought into force on the grisly murder. That being the case there was nothing much for them to do, so she wasn’t sure why they all had to be there. Not that the entire news crew was in the meeting room. For sure there was Malcolm, herself, Powers and Sunny, but the rest of their small team had failed to show. Sunny, a slender blue eyed blonde with an infectious smile winked at her and Zora smiled back. She liked Sunny, she was a friendly happy girl – rather like a human Labrador really, always smiling and ready for fun.
Zora was only too happy to leave once Malcolm had finished explaining that the police had requested the media ban due to similar murders elsewhere in the country. She wholeheartedly agreed that they didn’t want any copycat murders, nor panic in the general population – although in that respect she did feel that the general public should be warned to be careful. She and Sunny left the building together, chatting amiably about meeting up for coffee later on that day.
She was less than pleased to find Powers waiting beside her car, his admittedly awesome body nicely displayed in jeans and a tight black t-shirt. Zora stared at his glowing white skin, wondering if he actually glowed in the dark, and irritated at herself for the image that popped into her head. Seeing the knowing look in his eyes and the smug smile curving his generous lips she averted her eyes and frowned crossly instead.
“What!” she snapped. “I’ve come in and what a waste of my day off that was.”
Powers stayed leaning against the driver side door, preventing her from opening it.
“We need to go look at the murder site.”
Zora blinked up at him in astonishment. “How can we do that, we don’t know where it is, and even if we did, we are supposed to stay well clear of any of this. It’s a police matter and we are to keep out of it.”
“I know where it is, I have a contact in the police department as you know. You do need to see it, so let’s go.”
Zora’s golden eyes widened in surprise. “I need to see it? Why do I need to see it? It’s nothing to do with me!” She grabbed absently at renegade tendrils of her long auburn hair that the breeze was blowing into her face.
Powers reached out and captured a lock of her hair, winding it around his finger and looking at it thoughtfully. “Like fire, your hair and your eyes, they are like fire.” He began sliding the lock around and around his finger and Zora stared, hypnotised by this totally uncharacteristic behaviour. Her hair seemed to glow brighter where it touched his fingers, but she knew that was just her imagination. With a final gentle tug Powers released the lock and it bounced back onto her shoulder. Shoving both hands into his pockets he studied her thoughtfully.
“You do need to see it Zora, we both do. This is something we both have to pursue. I think there is something more to this than the police will ever find out.”
Standing her ground Zora asked, “Like what? Do you know something Powers? If you do you should disclose it to the police.”
Powers just shook his head. “No I don’t really know anything, it’s just a feeling I have. I’ll tell you about it, but first I would really like you to come with me to the site, and just take a look at it. I’ll buy you coffee and a nice sugary donut if you do.”
Zora sighed, everybody know she loved the combination of coffee and donut. “Fine, your car or mine?”
Powers raised an eyebrow and turned to look at her little Nissan Micra. It was baby pink and had eyelashes painted above the headlights and Zora loved the foolishness of it. “I think my car might be a little faster.”
Sighing again, Zora followed him without comment to his much larger 4WD vehicle. She hated these cars, so big and bulky they were almost impossible to see around in car parks and at traffic intersections. She had to admit though that they were a sensible choice in a town with questionable at best road surfaces. Ignoring his helping hand she clambered up into the passenger side, wriggling a bit to get comfortable as he pulled out of the newsroom carpark.
Powers was silent as he negotiated the traffic, and Zora was content to stare out of the passenger window, wondering where they were going. There were canefields all around the district so they could be going almost anywhere. Thinking logically, if this was as gruesome a murder as it seemed they would surely have to be going somewhere pretty remote, otherwise the chances of something being heard or seen by somebody seemed high.
When they turned off the main highway onto a smaller connecting road she gave herself a mental high five. This road was reasonably well travelled during the day but there were few houses, it was mostly canefields and bush. She wondered what time of day the body was found and jumped when Powers answered her unspoken question.
“The man who found the body had stopped for a call of nature on his way home from work. He works night shift and was coming home at about seven this morning. I believe the murder happened before dawn though.”
Zora gazed thoughtfully out the window, hoping Powers believed her to be absorbing what he said, and she was – but she was also trying to remember if she asked her question out loud or only in her head as she thought. And if the latter, was it only a coincidence or had Powers read her mind? Suddenly realising how absurd her thoughts were she shook her head slightly to clear it. She should be focusing on why they were travelling along this road, she should be accessing her reporter instincts. The only problem with that was she was not so sure she had any reporter instincts. She was new to the job, and so far had only travelled the nightclub circuit and covered events at the Entertainment Centre.
Her musings were interrupted as Powers pulled the vehicle off the road and turned off the engine. In the silence Zora gazed around. That they were at the right place was obvious by the police tape cordoning off a section of the canefield. However there was nothing else to show that anything had happened. Zora turned to Powers who was unclipping his seatbelt.
“So all we report is that a dead man was found in a canefield and police are treating it as suspicious? What about the poor man who found him? He’s for sure going to tell his mates what he saw.”
Powers said nothing, just hopped out of the vehicle and came around to her side to open the door. She was a little surprised when he offered a hand to help her out, but gave a mental shrug. It was very difficult to get out of one of these monstrosities with grace when you weren’t used to it and you were wearing heels. Accepting his hand she allowed him to help her down, stumbling a little on the uneven ground. Powers slid a hand under her elbow until she found her balance, a courtesy which was very out of character for him, at least where she was concerned. The feel of his warm hand on her skin was causing an unwelcome case of goose bumps, so she stepped away a little and rubbed her arms briskly.
“I have no doubt that man will tell his friends about what he actually saw, but I think it will be contained locally. I am sure the police would have stressed the possibility of a copycat murder.” Powers moved closer to her as he spoke, and took her arm again. Zora mentally rolled her eyes as his touch caused a fresh batch of goose bumps. Deciding that she was just spooked to be at a murder scene Zora went with Powers to the cordoned off area.
She looked around nervously as they approached, but the area inside the tape looked the same as the ground they were walking on, with nothing to show that a body had been there earlier. The cordoned off area was a lot bigger than Zora had imagined it to be, with room for several bodies. Zora sniffed as unobtrusively as she could and smelt nothing - no blood or more gross things.
Turning to Powers she said, “I don’t see anything. It looks just like the rest of the place. I really don’t know why you wanted me to come here, but I’ve come so now can we go get my coffee and donuts?”
“In a minute, come on, we haven’t seen everything yet.”
Powers lifted the police tape and beckoned to her go under. Zora baulked. Even though there were no police there, she still felt like she was breaking the law and a police car would come by the second she went under with sirens blaring and she would fall to the ground in a panic and be arrested.
Sighing, Powers grabbed her hand and propelled her towards the tape. “Come on, we need to check out the area inside here. Then we will go get your coffee. Move your ass, nothing’s going to happen to you.”
Muttering under her breath Zora allowed herself to be pulled under the tape. Of course nothing happened so she followed Powers further into the area, stumbling on the uneven ground.
“I told you to wear sneakers and not heels.” Powers threw the words back at her as he moved ahead without breaking step. Zora grumbled and pulled faces in his direction. She could walk just fine on any surface in heels, she was just clumsy because he was making her feel self-conscious.
A strange tingling feeling that travelled from her feet up to the top of her head stopped Zora in her tracks. She realised that the hairs on the back of her neck were standing up. She had never experienced that before, and in truth had never believed it really happened the way it was portrayed in books. But it did, and it was. Her heart started beating a panicky tattoo in her chest, and looking down she saw the fine auburn hairs on her arms standing to attention as well. The wind picked up and blew her hair all over her face. Zora felt a jolt of adrenalin and realised fear was crawling over her body. Her golden eyes searched frantically for Powers while her feet felt frozen to the ground.
Powers swung around mid-stride and saw her standing there, eyes wide, hair blowing around her face. She looked like a mediaeval painting, or an avenging angel. He ran to her and took her hands, searching her face intently. Glowing golden eyes stared into deep brown ones.
“Powers? What’s going on? I feel so strange.”
“You’re standing right where the victim was murdered sweetheart. You’re picking up the vibrations.”
Glowing eyes narrowed in sudden suspicion. “Bullshit, how can you know that? What vibrations could there possibly be for me to ‘pick up.’”
Wincing slightly at the sarcastic quotation marks he heard around the last two words, Powers tugged gently on her hands until he had led her a few feet away from the scene. The wind died a little, her hair stopped blowing so vigorously and the hairs on her arms and the back of her neck lay down again. Zora shook her head, did that really just happen? She looked up at Powers who was studying her carefully.
“What just happened? I felt like I was plugged into something.”
“I told you, you were feeling the vibrations. Not from the victim so much, you felt the energy from the being that committed the murder.”
Zora rolled her eyes, feeling suddenly back to normal. “Oh come on Powers, you sound like a bad crime novel. Why would I feel anything and why would there be ‘energy’ from the person who did this just lying around waiting for me to tap into it?”
Powers winced again, apparently when annoyed Zora spoke in
quotation marks and laid the sarcasm on thick. The silence stretched as Powers chose and discarded words, trying to come up with something that Zora would at least listen to. “Zora, the reason you picked up on the vibrations is because this being is not exactly human.” He sighed as she stiffened beside him, but continued anyway. “You are a special kind of person who can sense where they’ve been.”
She pulled her hands away and turned to face him fully. “I’m a ‘special type of person’ who can sense where ‘they’ve’ been. Powers, what exactly did you eat for breakfast this morning? Or what did you drink with it? Or maybe you smoked some funny cigarette?” She leaned closer and sniffed near his nose. He smelt of citrus and man, a heady combination for sure, but nothing suspicious. Realising that she was disturbingly close to his full lips she pulled back and marshalled a stern expression.
Powers studied her unhappily. She wasn’t going to take this well, but she had to know, and with what he suspected she had to know now. “Zora, listen to me, I know this sounds absurd to you, but please try to listen with an open mind. I’ll tell you more when we get back, I’ll even show you proof. But for now, listen to me and don’t say anything.”
Zora stared at him, he was obviously serious. She shrugged, the sooner he said his piece the sooner she got coffee and donuts. “Ok, I’m listening.”
“Zora you come from family with a long line of daughters born with a special ability. Your mother would have told you about it when you were older if she were still able to.” Zora closed her eyes briefly in remembered pain at the loss of a mother she adored. Powers touched her cheek and she opened her eyes and focused on his face. “What you can do is sense the presence of supernatural beings. I believe you are very strong, you come from a family renowned for their abilities. You have not been trained, and do not yet understand what you can do and what you are capable of. There is much more to it, but for now just know that what you did was sense the presence of another being.”