The Shifting Storm (Book 4)

by Jeff Hale

  There was that desire for violence again. I wanted to rip Phil’s head from his shoulders and drop it on the table in front of Henry. My anger boiled over and I lost it. “I said we will allow it! Sit down, Advocate,” I yelled at Phil. “One more disrespectful outburst like that and Henry will be looking for a new advocate!” I looked over to Aerick and took a breath through my nose to calm myself. I could feel little prickles of static electricity crawling up my arm and I knew I needed to regain control. “I am sorry, Aerick, but he did make a valid point. What expertise are you bringing to this?”

  “Expertise as a Sentinel on how our magic works,” he said.

  I gave him a shrewd look. He was right; he was the expert in the field on that one. “Okay. Go ahead.”

  “Those wounds were not made by my weapons,” Aerick stated.

  “Who else could cause those kinds of wounds? Only your elemental weapons do that kind of damage, I’ve seen it first hand,” I pointed out. If they weren’t made by his weapons, then whose?

  Aerick walked up to the whiteboard and pointed to the wounds in one of the pictures. The edges of the wound were ragged. “My weapons do not cause wounds like this one,” he assured us.

  “Your ice weapon does,” Darien said from beside me. He had been on the receiving end of Aerick’s ice blade once, over me.

  “No. It doesn’t. That wound is far too ragged, and the flesh isn’t consistent with a cold producing weapon, there’s too much necrosis. The ice blade leaves a smooth edged wound with bluing skin from frostbite.” Aerick indicated the edges of the wound again. But he was right. I remembered the injury he’d given Darien; it had been a clean cut, slightly frozen at the edges. It still didn’t tell us what else could have done it.

  “Then who else could have caused those kinds of wounds?” I asked him.

  He smiled like I had hit upon something, and nodded. “I’m glad you asked. Malachai’s do. His blades are crystal and lightning. The lightning blade would account for the scorch marks here and here,” he indicated the picture. “This wound,” Aerick pointed to a specific one, “was caused by the crystal blade.” He lifted up the hem of his shirt and showed us a similar scar across his ribs.

  “Who is Malachai?” Darien asked.

  “The psychotic Sentinel that her father hired to assassinate me,” Aerick said, motioning to me.

  “Why would he kill shifters?” Darien wanted to know. “I thought he was hired to kill you?”

  “We have an idea.” Aerick shot a glance towards Lucien, then back towards us and I nodded at him to continue. “I know Malachai is working for Baba Yaga as well, so he probably took Lochlan’s contract because he was going to kill me anyway. Of course, my contention with the pack and my confrontation with them at the Circus Circus worked in their favor. Our guess is that Baba Yaga or Henry was viewing the pack as weak, a failure, and needed some ‘trimming’. So he told Malachai to kill all but a few specific members of his pack, and to do so within sight of the cameras that he obviously had set up, but to find a way to not be seen directly. So Malachai made sure to be moving so fast that the cameras never had a chance of catching him standing still. And then they used the deaths, the tapes, and banked on the belief that you thought I was the only existing Sentinel to frame me.”

  “He’s lying!” Henry exclaimed, standing and pointing to the pictures. There was a slight edge of panic to his voice. “He did this!”

  “Enough!” I yelled at Henry. “Thank you, Aerick. We will make note of this.”

  Aerick sat back down just as the door to the courtroom opened and a fae entered, walking up the side of the room to hand Queen Cynthia a tape.

  “Darien, my people have returned with an enhanced version of the tape you asked for,” she said. She held her hand out and opened her fingers, and the tape floated across the room to come to rest in front of me.

  Darien picked it up and stood. “Thank you, your Majesty.” He moved off the stand and over to the television, where he put the tape in the machine.

  “Wait! I object! If the tapes have been tampered with, then they are not the original evidence we presented!” Phil argued, appalled.

  Of course they wouldn’t be. They would be minus all of their fixes. “Hmmm, probably not,” I said, trying to hold back the derision I felt. “It’ll probably show us what really happened instead.”

  The tape began to play, moving at a slower speed than it had previously. There was now a date and time in the bottom corner, for the evening before Aerick killed the werecoyote. Now that it was running in normal time, we could actually see the man doing the killing, an individual in a black trench coat and a black fedora. His face still couldn’t be made out, and he was still close to Aerick’s height and build, and I knew Aerick owned a trench, but something else was bothering me about it that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Something almost familiar about the man in a way that was not Aerick. I saw Aerick whisper something to Lucien.

  “My client doesn’t own a fedora,” Lucien stated, pointing at the television.

  That’s when it hit me. Lucien was right, I’d never seen a fedora anywhere near Aerick or his person, but I did remember someone else who had one. “No. He doesn’t,” I agreed. “And I’ve seen that guy before. In Henry’s den.” I gave Henry a smug smile. “You just fucked up, Henry. Darien, put in the tape from the warehouse, the first one.”

  “Kat. Impartial,” Alex said softly to me. He was right; I wasn’t exactly unbiased at Henry at the moment. I gave him a nod to let him know I’d heard him.

  Darien put the other tape in and we watched it until it came to the part I was looking for. I gestured for Darien to pause it and the screen froze on a scene with Aerick and Henry going after each other, and a man easily seen in the corner of the room, a man wearing a black trench and black fedora pulled low over his forehead.

  “Fuck!” Henry swore loudly.

  “You do realize that falsifying evidence of this nature to an Adjudicator pack is tantamount to treason?” Darien informed Henry. There was threat in his tone.

  “What? How?” Henry demanded.

  “Because we are the voice of the North American Shifter Council! And when you lie to us, you lie to the Council! You do not dishonor the Council by speaking falsehoods with the intent to trick and deceive! You are not above the Council!” Darien’s voice had risen until he was shouting at Henry and I could feel the rage pouring off of him.

  I put a hand on Darien’s shoulder, hoping it might calm him some. “Defense, your evidence,” I said, trying to put us back on track.

  “We do not have any to present,” Lucien said.

  “Alright. We will call a recess, and afterwards hear from the witnesses,” I told them. I stood as Darien and Alex did, and we went into the conference room again like we had the day before. Just like the day before, there was a tray filled with sandwiches and the soda and water. Queen Cynthia came in behind us and sat in one of the chairs. Darien was pacing, trying to cool down.

  “So, it looks like this other Sentinel, this… Malachai? He was the one doing the killing of the other pack members,” Cynthia said.

  I nodded at her. “That’s exactly what it looks like. Which means Aerick is innocent.”

  Darien stopped his pacing long enough to stare at me a moment. “Of their deaths, yes. But what about the coyote. What is his name? Guy,” he pointed out. “Aerick even admitted to his guilt for that one.”

  I had almost forgotten. I chewed at my lip. “You’re right,” I said softly. “But the rest…. And I’m willing to bet Henry even put Malachai up to it, even if it was at Baba Yaga’s request. I’ve seen that guy there twice now. He was even there when Henry almost killed me. So what do we do about that? We know Henry is responsible for those other fifteen shifters. Do we just let him walk out of here? Do we let Baba Yaga win this one?”

  Darien shook his head. “No, we don’t. But with no one to ask for justice for them, it will be up to us to. First things first, though. Aerick. Then we’l
l deal with Henry.”

  I didn’t say anything more, just sat down and helped myself to a couple of sandwiches and a soda and devoutly hoped that there would be something in the rest of the evidence to exonerate Aerick completely.

  ___________________________

  After the break we got resettled in the courtroom and it was time to call witnesses. Phil went first, calling Henry to the stand. The fae with the truth rune made Henry swear a quick oath to tell no lies and to recount events as he knew them to be true. Henry’s narration of his and Aerick’s first encounter at his warehouse was pretty consistent with what I remembered, but when he told his side of the Circus Circus attack, despite the fact that we had seen tapes, he neglected to mention the innocent bystanders. From what I had gathered, the fae who were there to ascertain the truth could only discern outright deception, which did not include omission of facts, and while we knew Henry was leaving stuff out, he was not lying about what he left in. After Phil was done questioning him, he called up Jill, introducing her as Henry’s mate. I wouldn’t have thought Henry would have a mate, that any woman would be stupid enough, but it looked like I was wrong. She took the oath as well, but her story matched Henry’s perfectly, complete with omissions.

  Lucien called the next witness, alternating again like we had with the tapes. I wasn’t surprised that Aerick was his first choice. He walked up to the witness stand and took the same oath that Henry had, then sat down. Lucien stood and walked up to him.

  “State your name for the courtroom,” Lucien requested.

  “Aerick Kerensky,” Aerick stated.

  “Are you human, Aerick?”

  “I am, but I have abilities that put me well above normal humans.”

  “Like what type of abilities?”

  “In the simplest terms, I can use magic,” Aerick replied.

  “And since you have those sorts of abilities, how do you feel you should use them?”

  “To help and defend people. Especially to defend normal humans from things that they cannot defend themselves against.” Aerick’s tone was deliberate.

  “What would a normal human, with access to all their innovations, technology and weapons, need protection from?” Lucien asked.

  “Aetherics.”

  “Not all Aetherics are malevolent beings, are they?”

  “No. But there are some out there that take pleasure in the suffering of others.”

  “Who do you believe to be the most prevalent danger to humans in this area right now?”

  “Baba Yaga. She means to subjugate the area, probably due to the high intensity ley lines in the region, so that she can bring forth a demon army to turn this world into a reflection of theirs,” Aerick said flatly.

  Bring forth a demon army? I swallowed a gasp, a horrified expression crossing my face, and I knew that Darien and Alex probably had similar expressions. When I looked out to the spectators, they, too, were reacting the same. No one liked the thought of Baba Yaga taking over.

  “What does Baba Yaga have to do with any of this?” Lucien asked pointedly.

  “She controls Henry’s pack,” Aerick said. It was something that we already knew, but unfortunately there hadn’t been anything that Darien could do about it. There were no shifter laws that stated that a pack couldn’t worship or be in cahoots with an evil entity.

  “Thank you, I have no further questions,” Lucien said, returning to his seat.

  Phil stood up, flipped through some notes, then sauntered over to Aerick and leaned forward on the railing in front of him.

  “So. Aerick. Do you hate shifters?” Phil asked him expectantly.

  “I never said that,” Aerick refuted, scowling at him.

  “Then why, on the security tape from the Circus Circus, did you say the word shifter with such… venom?” Phil inquired.

  “I didn’t…” Aerick began.

  The fae of truth leaned over and whispered at me that Aerick wasn’t being entirely truthful.

  “Aerick, remember you swore to tell the truth,” I pointed out to him.

  “Fine. Let’s just say I’ve had it up to here…” Aerick started again, but Phil interrupted him.

  “Yes or no will do. Do you hate shifters?” Phil badgered.

  “Fine! Yes. I do,” Aerick forced out, his jaw tight.

  “Is it true that as a MAGE agent you were taught how to profile a shifter? That you were taught that shifters were nothing but animals just waiting to get into trouble?” Phil pressed.

  Had he? Had Aerick been schooled into a prejudice against particular Aetherics by MAGE? It would explain his unreasonable dislike of Darien.

  “Yes,” Aerick answered.

  “And is it also true that if you ran across a shifter it was your job to bring it in or put it down? That all shifters were deemed automatically a danger?” Phil wanted to know.

  “Yes!”

  “If you could… would you kill me, right here and right now?”

  “Yes!”

  “Objection! Goading the witness!” Lucien cried out.

  “Sustained,” I agreed. Phil was trying to piss Aerick off on purpose, even if what he was saying was the truth.

  “Advocate, do that again, and I’ll kill you myself!” Darien growled out.

  I turned to give Darien a frown. Aerick didn’t need any back up. “You may continue your questions, Advocate, but be careful,” I warned Phil.

  “Very well. Aerick, why exactly was it that MAGE taught you to arrest or kill any shifter that you came across?” Phil asked.

  “Because, if we saw a shifter it meant he or she was in what we were taught to call their Aspect form and causing problems. Unless they shifted in front of us, we had no way at the time to tell if someone was a shifter or not,” Aerick explained.

  “Would you say it’s fair that you’ve been conditioned, then, to have a negative reaction towards shifters?”

  “Sure. Why not? I’m having a negative reaction to one right now, and if…” Aerick started out, but Lucien saved me from having to reprimand him. He stood up and shook his head at Aerick.

  “Aerick! Yes or no. Remember?” Lucien warned him, and I could see Aerick visibly trying to control his emotions.

  “Is it because I’m a shifter?” Phil prodded Aerick verbally.

  “Not really. It’s mainly because you’re a douchenozzle,” Aerick got out before anyone could stop him.

  Douchenozzle? I had to choke back laughter. I couldn’t believe Aerick had just said that, but it summed up how Darien and Alex and I felt about Phil too. “The witness will refrain from insulting the advocate,” I managed to get out.

  “No more questions.” Phil sat back down.

  Aerick stepped down and went back to his own seat, then Phil called Wally up. After he took the oath, Wally recounted events almost exactly as Jill had. He was dismissed from the stand and Lucien called Celeste forward. She was wearing a tight white blouse and short black skirt, and Wally, Jill, and Henry whistled out catcalls and a few rude suggestions as she went by.

  “Silence in the court!” I yelled out, giving the three of them a scathing look. The room immediately went quiet. “I’m sorry, Celeste. You know not all of us are like that,” I apologized to her, motioning for her to take her seat at the witness stand. She took the oath and Lucien began with his questions.

  Lucien began with his questions. “State your full name.”

  “Celeste Ivory Lynn,” she stated.

  It was a pretty name and the fae of truth leaned in toward me and whispered to me that she was lying about it. It surprised me though, because I had known her almost a year and I wasn’t sure how she was lying about her name.

  “Celeste, please, tell us your full name. The truth this time,” I said to her, giving her a confused look.

  She looked confused too, but said again, “Celeste Ivory Lynn.”

  The fae of truth whispered to me again that she was lying, but that he didn’t believe she was doing it on purpose. I indicated that he should a
pproach Celeste and he did, asking her for her identification. The fae handed it to me to look over.

  There was her picture, very obviously her since she hadn’t done anything to change her appearance since it was taken. Her name, Celeste Ivory Lynn, was printed plainly on the card. I looked it over closely to make sure, to the best of my ability, that it wasn’t fake. It seemed real.

  “There must be some misunderstanding,” I said as I returned her identification. “The fae are telling me that you are lying about your name, but obviously, something is going on here.” I wasn’t going to take up precious time trying to sort out what was going on with her name; she wasn’t on trial, Aerick was. “Either way, continue.”

  “Now, do you know the plaintiff?” Lucien asked her, indicating Henry.

  “I don’t. Kat, ya know I don’t!” Celeste turned back to me.

  “Please, Celeste, Adjudicator Katelyn. We’re not friends in here, right now, and you need to answer his question. It doesn’t matter if I know it or not,” I told her softly.

  “Oh. Right. Sorry. Adjudicator Katelyn,” Celeste said sheepishly.

  “In what capacity have you been around the plaintiff?” Lucien inquired.

  “When he threatened me, mah friends, and Aerick.”

  “Do you know Aerick, the defendant in this trial?”

  “I… we have met before, yes,” Celeste said, directing a shy look Aerick’s way.

  “Where did you meet?” Lucien asked.

  “I first met him when he got food at the Sonic I work at,” she told him.

  The fae leaned in towards me again and whispered that once again Celeste was lying, but again he didn’t think it was intentional. I was starting to wonder, that if she was Serena, but thought she was someone else, it might be the reason why, so I just nodded and shrugged.

  “Would you consider him a friend?” Lucien questioned.

  “Yes,” she answered.

  “And would he consider you a friend as well?”

  “I believe so, yes.”

  “Do you believe that Aerick would protect you, no matter what?”

  “I do. Yes.”