Mystery's Choice (Vengeance Of The Fallen Book 1)

by Tanya Simon

  “When did they… when did they die?”

  “Last night around midnight. The neighbors across the street made it out, but the Harrisons and the Barclays died when the fire spread to their houses. The Piersons, were new in the neighborhood, we don’t know them, they moved in the Widow McKay’s house about three months ago.” Ryan cleared his throat again. “The blast was extremely fast moving and hot. They do not know what could have caused such a blast. The Piersons said they were asleep and then there was a loud boom, their house shook, the air got hot and then there was fire everywhere.”

  “They think Mom and Dad were asleep, that they did not suffer, right?” Seth muttered into the phone.

  “That is what the chief said when I spoke with him earlier tonight. I am flying out in the morning to make arrangements and deal with their business… all that stuff. Do you think you will be able to meet me there, little brother?”

  “Ryan.” He started to tell him, that he knew exactly who had killed their parents, but he doubted if his brother, the priest, would believe evil actually still existed in the old world way. He believed men did evil things, but there was no Devil, just the evil within. He would not believe that demons had blown up their parents. So, Seth swallowed. “No Ryan. Mystery is catatonic and I have no one to stay with her while I am away. I am in the middle of drug rehab. The doctor is going to induce in three weeks, but she could go into labor anytime because of her weaken physical state. I can probably manage a day for the funeral, but not before.” Seth fought back tears. “I am sorry for bailing on you, Ryan. I know you need me, but Mystery is defenseless and she needs me too.”

  “It’s okay little brother. I am proud of you for taking your responsibilities seriously. I know you want to be there for me and to find out what happened to Mom and Dad. But your place is with Mystery.” Ryan cleared the tears out of his voice. “How is rehab going?”

  “Good. Dr. Thayer is really good at what she does. She is trying to teach me new ways to deal with stress and pressure. I think with her help, I will beat this.” Seth’s voice broke. “God! Ryan how do we get through this? I do not know how to get through Mom and Dad being gone, just boom, gone!”

  “We remember everything they taught us about how to handle rough situations. We cling to the good memories. We remember that it is a blessing that they went together, because neither would have really been alive without the other. And we do not stop fighting each day, until we wake up and it doesn’t hurt to breathe anymore.” Ryan struggled with tears of his own. “I need to go and prepare to be away from my parish. I love you, little brother. I will call as soon as I know more.”

  “I love you too, Ryan. Be safe.”

  “I always am.” The phone went dead.

  Seth smiled through his tears. Ryan never had learned the proper way to end a phone conversation.

  He stood and went to the bed and looked down on Mystery. He knew it wasn’t her fault; but he fought back resentment anyway. If she were not valuable to some sicko cult, then his parents would be alive.

  She stirred in her sleep, she started making little noises in the back of her throat, and then she began to thrash. Seth grabbed her arms, fighting to hold her still as she began screaming.

  “Mystery, I ‘m here! You’re okay. It’s alright!” As he held her while she thrashed. He wondered why you always lied to the sick and dying.

  Mary Kate just stared open-mouthed at Seth the next day when he told her that his parents had been killed in an extra hot explosion that had taken out their neighbors on both sides and almost got the ones across the street. An explosion the fire department could find no starting point for or incendiary device. She worried when his voice became emotionless when he spoke of Mystery and her nightmare the night before. She went to him and hugged him, trying not to notice when he did not return the hug, then pushed away.

  “You need to stay strong, Seth. They did it, to drive a wedge between you and Mystery. If you leave her, if they break you apart, then she is alone and vulnerable.” Mary Kate squeezed his arm.

  He pushed past her and paced away, then turned around and violently paced back. “Felicity says she is shielded in there, which is why she cannot come out and talk to us. And they can’t harm her physically, they can’t steal her, she has to come to them of her own free will.” He pushed a hand through his messy, blond hair. “I need time away from her. I need to be with my brother, Mary Kate. Or they will succeed in splitting us apart, because a part of me already is blaming her. If I stay here, it won’t be long before all of me is blaming her.”

  “Then go help your brother Seth. Felicity and I can watch over Mystery. We can move in here and make sure one of us is with her at all times. We can make it work for a couple of days. You take those days and go and get your head on straight. Because you know as well as I do, this is in no way Mystery’s fault.” She got in his face. “If you need to blame someone, then blame yourself. Felicity suggested you at least warn your parents and your brother that they might be in danger and you chose not to because it would worry them and there was nothing they could do to help.” Her hazel eyes sparked with anger. “Then you should blame Felicity and me and all the other cops who are working trying to find this cult and stop them. Sometimes, there is no one to blame, shitty things just happen. You deal with them and you go on. You do not blame catatonic young women who would gladly have died in your parents place.” She whirled around before she could give in to the urge to sock him. “So, go, we will take care of her. Your brother doesn’t need to face all of that alone.”

  “I am sorry. I will pack and head for the airport. I will be back in two days.” He pulled a duffel bag out of the closet. Then he went to the dresser and grabbed some boxers and socks and flung them inside. He went to the closet and yanked several t-shirts and jeans off their hanger and tossed them in. He glanced at Mystery as he went into the bathroom and quickly gathered his toiletries. When he came out he was zipping the duffel bag.

  “That was quick.” Mary Kate said, she was calmer and looked less likely to take out her revolver and shoot him in the foot for being stupid.

  “Just a couple of days.” He walked over to Mystery. “Mystery, my parents have died. I know you are fighting in there. You keep fighting. I am going to go help Ryan for a couple of days. Felicity and Mary Kate will make sure you are never alone. I will be back as quick as I can, I promise.” He bent and kissed her forehead and then her hair, drawing in her scent. “I love you.”

  “We won’t let anything happen to her, Seth. I am sorry I yelled, but she is not to blame, you are not to blame. The cult is to blame.” She stood and hugged him, this time he hugged back. “Go take care of your business.”

  Seth pushed away and went to the door. He stopped just inside the room. “I wish… I will be back.” Then he was gone.

  Mary Kate took out her cell and called Felicity so they could plan.

  Sam stared at the papers on his desk, hoping something new would pop out of the pages. It had been six months since the murder of Mrs. Williams. Six months and nothing, it was almost like they had imagined it all. The only thing he had were the new tombstones in the cemetery and the grieving parents calling him to see if he could give them closure, by telling them the people who had taken their children had been caught.

  He had long since given up on getting anything out of Mystery Williams. The girl hadn’t uttered a word since she woke up screaming the night after she found her mother’s body. They had finally sent her home from the hospital and Sam had been to see her several times since. Each time he’d left shaken and empty-handed.

  He and his partner, Naomi, had been doing everything they could to find the bastards who had murdered five young girls. They had talked to their friends, but nobody had seen anything or noticed any of the girls acting strange.

  And worse yet, the press had gotten a hold to how the girls were dying and turned it into a three-ring circus attraction. They were writing headlines like: SATAN’S HENCHMEN CLAIM ANOT
HER VICTIM; YOUR NEIGHBOR’S DAUGHTER IS DEAD, YOURS COULD BE NEXT. The lieutenant had tried to get the press to back off on the headlines but he had only fueled the fire. The town was petrified and everyday saw more parents sending their children to visit with relatives.

  Sam was honestly beginning to think he was battling something other than a human maniac. Never before had he had such trouble getting just one clue, just one something to give him a direction to go in. He didn’t know where to go, what to do, and every day he didn’t solve this one; another child could die. He already saw the faces of those who had, every time he closed his eyes. Five young, beautiful girls had died with a sickening smile on their faces, naked and reeking of blood and urine. A mother had been murdered to get to her child, and the knowledge had stolen the child’s mind, and endangered her unborn baby’s life. Yet there was not one clue as to who they were. No fingerprints, no murder weapon, no witnesses, no nothing.

  Sam buried his face in his hands and prayed for help.

  “Sam.”

  “Yeah.” Sam stood and walked over to the coffee machine. “Look, Calabrese, if you’re going to give me grief about the damn coffee, you can just kiss my grits.” Sam took a sip of coffee and fought to hide a grimace. “Yummy.”

  “Jeffries if the stuff had legs it would run from itself.” Naomi walked to the sink to dump her coffee and made a face as it slugged out of the mug. Felicity and Mary Kate snickered, hiding it behind their hands when Sam glared in their general direction.

  “I learned the first day, to bring my own coffee with me in the morning.” Mary Kate said as she poured coffee out of a thermos.

  “I will pay you cash money for a cup.” Naomi looked at her hopefully.

  “No money needed. Hand me your mug. Felicity you want some? Sam?”

  “Oh bless you!” Naomi held the mug with both hands as if she were afraid it was going to run away.

  “Sure, I’ll take some.” Felicity handed her partner a mug.

  Sam decided to swallow his pride and passed his mug to Mary Kate. She smiled and they all sat down to study their individual notes one more time.

  Naomi looked up at her partner, as she yawned. She rubbed her eyes and stretched.

  “Is the baby sick again?”

  “She’s teething.” She yawned again. “Somehow in the fifteen years between them, Herb and I forgot how rough babies are.”

  “They’re awfully cute though.” Mary Kate commented.

  Sam went around the desk to massage Naomi’s tight shoulders. “I’m sorry I snapped at you.”

  “No problem. This case is getting to me too.”

  They all looked up when the lieutenant came out of his office. His face was red.

  “Okay everybody, listen up.” He sat on Sam’s desk. “First, I just found out the reason Forrest and D’Angelo didn’t report in this morning is because Forrest ate his gun last night. D’Angelo has been with the widow all night.” He looked around the room at the tired faces of his detectives, tears filled some of their eyes, and he felt beat. “The other bad news is after careful consideration, the mayor’s office has urged the chief to disband the task force, since it hasn’t had any success at solving these crimes. And since there have been no new murders, I’m sure the mayor is hoping people will forget between now and election time the police couldn’t solve these murders.”

  “They can’t do that? Don’t they see? Less police investigation is exactly what these bastards want!” Sam pushed some papers off Naomi’s desk onto the floor.

  “They can and they did.” Lt. Kessler took off his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes. “I fought. I lost. Jefferies and Calabrese you will be the remaining team working this. I got him to give us a month. After you’ve produced nothing new or there hasn’t been another murder, you move on to other cases. If there is another murder or you guys break the case, we get the task force back.”

  “He’s crazy!” Sam huffed and started pacing. “The city’s finest have been working this case, we’ve been working 16- hour days. How’s one team supposed to accomplish anything? Why doesn’t he call in the feds if he thinks we are not doing enough?”

  “He’s a politician, he cares about how he looks, not about murdered girls. Feds mean that the police force that he is in essence in charge of cannot protect the city without help from the F.B.I. And if you two do manage to solve the case all on your own, he’ll take credit for having left you on the case and come out smelling like a rose.”

  “He winds up smelling all right.” Sam walked to the door. “I’ll transfer the call, the next time one of the dead girl’s parents calls wanting to know if we have anything.” He stalked out, slamming the door behind him.

  “You guys have been awfully quiet.”

  “Sam said everything I had to say.” Mary Kate said as she gathered her notes.

  “I have nothing to say. My words wouldn’t change anything, so, I will keep them and my thoughts to myself.” Felicity said as she gathered her notes and turned off her computer.

  “I think the brass is wrong, but I don’t think the task force was making any progress either. I think we should admit defeat and turn the whole thing over to the Feds, not narrow the investigative team down to two overworked, stressed detectives.” Naomi stood and went to the door. “But I guess Sam and I are all those girls have got.” She quietly closed the door behind her.

  Kessler went back in his office and watched as the other two detectives cleaned off their space and went out the door. He put his head down on his desk; it was going to be another lovely day.

  Thirty miles away in the aerie, Cain smiled in the half-light of his ritual chamber. He knew they couldn’t solve anything and before the game was through he’d send their souls home to his father. They had pitted themselves against the Master and they would lose, all of them. Cain was cleaning house! He had already pushed one of them to blow his own head off. And he had plans for the others, big plans.

  The only one he could still not claim victory over, was his child. She was an unknown, and Cain hated unknowns. Her devotion to the mortal doctor was strong. Her faith was slowly eroding. Time was running thin; soon the Master would demand her death. And Cain would reluctantly comply. Killing their child would wound Cain, but it might just destroy Raevanne. He would just have to step up the pressure and bring their child home. Cain sighed heavily and the hellhound at his feet sighed with him.

  Blood.

  It ran down the cold, stone walls. Mystery covered her ears to block out the screams, which echoed through the fetid air. She gasped as the heat from the hot earthen floor singed her bare feet. Her own screams pierced the air when she stumbled over still-smoking charred bones. Everywhere around her Cain’s deep, gravelly voice called her name.

  Moving.

  She had to keep moving or the smelly little beasts would drag her back and play with her in their playroom.

  “Just come home and the dreams will stop. I promise.” Cain’s voice soothed its way over her chapped, parched skin.

  “No!” Mystery screamed and continued to run.

  The walls began to close in around her and she could feel the beasts snapping at her heels.

  She woke up with the screams trapped in her throat. She looked around the room in a panic. She was alone in the room with Seth. She looked at his back and wished she could talk to him, let him know how hard she was fighting. She felt if she extended herself even that much, she would lose and if she lost he would lose. Mystery silently rocked herself back to sleep.

  Seth stared at Mystery; she looked like a skeletal statue with a protruding belly. She only ate what he made her eat. She was slowly slipping away. The nightmares continued he knew, because she thrashed about in her sleep, but she hadn’t uttered a word in six months. Felicity and Mary Kate said she did not respond in any way to him being gone for the three days while he and Ryan closed out their parents’ estate or when he went back for the funerals. She had just stared off into space or at something inside only she could se
e.

  Crossing the room, Seth kissed her pale, cold cheek; she continued to stare straight ahead. He grabbed his keys and left. Seth knew time was running out. Whatever was after Mystery would soon go after their child. So, he started his car and drove to the library, he would research cults, find information on these Roodmasi, he would fight for both of them.

  He looked through the microfiche of previous editions of the LA Times, finding articles about the mysterious Roodmasi. They were credited with several violent crimes, of course, no one had been arrested and there had been no witnesses to any of the crimes. Next he browsed through all the books the library had on occult crime. It was there he came across a situation similar to theirs. A woman had been having dreams of people in cloaks doing horrible things; only to find out they were memories of her childhood. She had run away when she was four and the cult had been looking for her the entire time. Apparently when they found her they sent her dreams of her life with them. Eventually they approached her. The woman had found the courage with help from the police to bring the cult down. They had been responsible for over 40 deaths in the area.