The truth was sometimes speed would be enough, if these guys were five hundred they’d be way too fast for even my enhanced senses and training to compensate for. Then I would have to cheat with lightning, but no one here was above two hundred, and they weren’t all that much faster than I was.
Joseph cracked his knuckles and stepped onto the mat with a grin. I used my spirit magic, I could feel every movement and how he held his body. I wasn’t blindfolded, but I also wasn’t focusing my eyes on my opponent. I kept my eyesight as diffuse as possible, watching everything but focused on nothing.
I also felt the other seven people in the room watching, and felt a couple of people on the third floor working despite it being Sunday. I felt Ceara, putting off power like a sun at the end of the third floor, and all the vampires above me, and the humans out in the streets. I was focused on the bout with Joseph, yet still watched all that was around me through the spirit magic.
It wasn’t easy, but it was possible. My soul and spirit magic did most of the work, the soul was infinite, it filtered it all to manageable proportions for my flesh and blood brain. I wondered how overwhelming it would be in a few hundred years, when I could feel things hundreds of miles away like this.
Joseph rushed me, but I’d felt him shift his balance, and was already moving to the side and swung my leg up. He did half the work for me by coming at me so fast, and his legs flew out from under him as my foot took him below the chin. My leg spun back from the impact, and I turned once on the ball of my other foot before putting it back down. I’d been expecting a longer lesson, but Joseph was knocked out cold.
Steven rushed me from behind as well, and tried to punch the back of my head. I twisted and dropped as I snared his wrist, and planted my feet on his stomach and kick pushed hard. Between that, and his own momentum, he went flying across the room upside down. He grunted when his back hit the wall. He jumped up and rushed me with narrowed eyes, but slowed at the last minute.
He came at me like a boxer, so I stepped up against him and stomped his instep, and elbowed his solar plexus. He tried to grab me in a bear hug, and I slid down to the floor and elbowed his inner thigh, grabbed his ankles, and then jumped back up as I lunged forward. It wouldn’t work in a human fight, but his weight was nothing to my vampire strength. He got in a good punch to the side of my head, but then lost his balance and fell backward.
I put my boot heel between his legs and he froze.
I looked over at the others, specifically Cheryl and I smiled, “Well?”
Cheryl snorted, “What? And ruin all that cred you just got by taking your skinny ass down? I’d better sit this one out in the interest of the group.”
I laughed, released Steven and helped him up, and then I said, “Fair enough, anyone else?”
There were no takers, so we got down to the real business, actually teaching them how to fight. I doubted Steven or Joseph would ever be my friends, but after our very short bout they listened to what I had to say, and more importantly they tried to learn it.
Chapter 5
Jerry was good, and wickedly fast. It obviously wasn’t his first time sparring with practice swords. We’d never faced each other’s styles before, so in the beginning as we felt each other out, we both got in several minor touches. I’d never been in a sword fight with anyone but my mother before this, so it was a new experience for me.
I also worried I lost a lot of my edge during my two years of mourning, I’d have to do this with him a few times a week if possible. I was thrilled to find someone to match me.
We were about ten minutes in though, and neither of us had gotten past the other’s guard for the last few minutes. Our swords sounded like one long staccato sound as we moved as fast as we could.
Suddenly we both just stopped, and stepped away from each other. I wasn’t sure what the signal had been, but whatever it was had been mutual.
Jerry said, “You’re good, better than I expected. I’ve been doing this for over a hundred years.”
I raised an eyebrow, “So have I.”
Jerry laughed, “I forget that sometimes, you’re just the baby vamp now.”
“Lunch?”
Jerry nodded, and we turned to our audience, who seemed to agree. That it was lunch time I mean.
Matt said, “Showers first.”
Cheryl asked, “Are you suggesting we stink?”
Matt shook his head, “Nope, saying it straight out.”
The room broke up then. I could have just shifted twice, but I knew the hot water would feel good against my muscles after that workout. I grabbed my sword and ran up to my condo.
Showered and in a pair of pink jean shorts and a black t-shirt I headed down to lunch. Ceara sat at one of the tables with Lisa and Melody. I changed direction from the team’s table to theirs when Ceara waved me over. I smiled as I put down the tray and slid into a seat.
“Hi. What’s up?”
Lisa and Melody chirped a hello back.
Then Ceara replied, “Hi magnet. I hear there was a third body?”
I nodded slowly, not really sure how I felt about being called magnet, but I honestly couldn’t dispute the appellation. She didn’t seem angry though, it had been said in humor… I think. It was hard to tell with her honestly.
“Found it on a morning run, since the pack was close I figured you wouldn’t want to send a team there.”
Ceara waved that away, “You did fine. Point is though, the pack is moving too slowly. This is the third body, and I’m thinking there are probably more. There usually is.”
I replied cautiously, “I was told it was pack business, and to stay out of it.”
Ceara shrugged, completely unconcerned with that, “Werewolves can’t mesmerize people, keeping the secret is our job. It’s our responsibility to keep humans in the dark. They do okay hiding their own shit, but we go after rogues, their territory or not. Would you mind looking into it? I know you can’t actually stop him, but could you find out who and where?”
I could stop him or her of course, but not without violating the tenets.
I thought about it a minute, “I’ll do my best.”
Melody asked curiously, “How are you settling in?”
“Okay, everything’s been good, if a little hectic for my first week.”
“Everything?” Melody asked doubtfully.
I smiled, “Everything related to the coven, yes. I wasn’t including all the rogue drama, or the werewolves.”
I cursed my tongue as her eyes narrowed.
Ceara asked a little sharply, “Is there a problem there?”
Yes, but I didn’t want to share. Luckily there was some other issues I could drop outside of my pining for who I couldn’t have.
I shook my head, “Not a big one, just typical drama. Their beta is an asshole, and I didn’t like getting warned off as thanks for finding another potential problem that would lead the human police in their area. The alpha isn’t too bad, and I actually liked their pack mystic.”
Once I realized she wasn’t with Jared that is.
Lisa shrugged, “Damned mutts.”
I held in a sigh, there was no point defending them. I almost agreed, but that wasn’t fair either, I was the one keeping secrets from Jared, I couldn’t expect him to… To what? I wasn’t really sure anymore.
Melody grinned, “They aren’t that bad, and the men are nice to look at.”
“Says the earth sorceress,” Ceara muttered.
I frowned as it occurred to me an earth sorceress seemed more likely to get along with werewolves than vampires. They had earth magic in common. It didn’t bother me because of my spirit shield, but I was surprised it didn’t affect the other vampires.
Or perhaps it did, and Ceara and Lisa were probably just used to it. I didn’t look around, but I could tell with my spirit power there was a semi-circle of blank tables around us, so apparently it did. I’d just been too busy being oblivious to really notice before.
“I’ll give that a shot
after lunch.”
Melody grinned wider, “One of those yummy werewolf men? They’re total animals in bed you know.”
I choked on a bite of food and then glared, “The investigation.”
Her eyes laughed at me, and I wondered what she knew. She was most likely just teasing the vampires… probably.
Lisa asked, “Do you need help?”
I shook my head, “Thanks, but I’m going to spirit walk and read people. I don’t need to track them down bodily and question them to get answers. It’ll be easier to find a lion shifter that way as well, I can search the whole city and surrounding area very quickly for shifter auras.”
We finished lunch without any more mention of werewolf men, or about their yumminess and virility. I could have spirit walked from anywhere, but since it wasn’t an emergency I didn’t want to leave my body unattended in the lunch room. I went back up to my condo, and laid on my back and tried to relax. Then I pulled in elemental spirit magic and left my body.
At first I wasn’t sure exactly where to start. I didn’t even know the name of the detectives on the case. Then I decided to search for the shifter first. It made more sense that way, why do all that when I could just track the killer directly?
I moved up north at the speed of thought, by the werewolves’ territory. When I stopped, I was staring at Jared. I hadn’t meant to come right to him, but I had. He was in wolf form, which was huge, much larger than Reah’s had been, and his coat was a dark gray. I couldn’t help but stare for a moment, there were a few other wolves there as well, and they were lying together to the point of touching, and soaking in the sun. I recognized Bob’s soul, and would have laughed if I was in my body. Of course his wolf had black hair, and was as big as a bear. The man was more bear than wolf he was so big.
I looked back at Jared and studied him for a moment. Maybe I should tell him the truth? He’d probably think I was crazy.
I sighed and turned away after a few more moments. I had a job to do, and being a creepy spiritual stalker wasn’t a part of it.
I searched quickly. I had a half mile reach with elemental spirit magic in any direction, which made my spirit a mile-wide spotlight of spirit reading magic. I went up and down the streets of northern Seattle, and up into the suburbs, and kept going out into the more rural areas before the forest. Then I kept going inside the forest until I was about twenty miles deep.
It was probably way past overkill, but I didn’t want to miss the killer by not going far enough.
All I’d felt shifter wise was the pack, there were twenty-eight of them, which meant Lisa’s estimate had been almost right on. But they were all werewolves, no lion shifters or any other kind. If the lion shifter was dumping bodies in their territory on purpose, he or she seemed to be avoiding the pack’s territory otherwise.
I found nothing in the middle of Seattle either, it wasn’t until I reached south Seattle that I found other shifters. All of them no doubt staying out of pack territory on purpose. I wondered if they would mind if I joined them on runs, no doubt they used the southern part of the forest. There was a bear shifter, two tiger shifters, one shifter that was either a cougar or lynx, and I did find a lion shifter as well. Just one.
I skimmed her name, which was Carly. She had long golden blonde hair and light brown, almost amber, eyes. She was tall, compared to me anyway, five foot seven, and she was working at a clothes store. She was athletic, and moved like a dancer. I remembered Jared asking about her, so there was probably a good chance she was known to the pack, and wasn’t the one behind it. But I had to be sure.
As soon as I read her soul, I regretted it.
Not only was she not the killer, but she’d had an on again off again relationship with Jared for years. The only good thing was it was off right now, but I really could have done without her memories of her screwing Jared’s brains out in the woods, and a lot of other places.
I’d seen it all before of course when reading others. But it was a lot different when the man I wanted was the guest of honor in the escapades.
It really sucked in a depressing way. I felt betrayed, but obviously I wasn’t, hadn’t been. He didn’t owe me anything, it was just my own mind obsessing over him. I only wanted him to be mine, but he wasn’t, and would probably never would be.
Plus, I was stuck now, and had no idea what to do next. How was the lion shifter responsible for the murders hiding from me? Was he coming from that far away? The werewolves and shifters had magic like vamps, but they were like young vampires in terms of the strength of their earth and fire magic, which meant I had no problems detecting them or soul reading.
I didn’t want to go back to Ceara empty handed, so I went to track down the detectives of the case. Carly wasn’t the killer, but she had spoken to Jared and knew more about the case than I did. Not much more or anything that useful, but she’d known the detectives in charge of the case and what precinct they were in.
Chapter 6
There were more changes when I entered Ceara’s… I wasn’t sure what to call it. I wanted to say audience room, but she wasn’t really a queen. Anyway, it seemed brighter now somehow, not as dark, though I couldn’t put my finger on what had changed, the furniture still looked the same. Then I realized the walls had been painted a brighter color.
I moved and sat down on the couch caddy corner to hers, so we were only a couple of feet apart.
Melody sat next to her and stole the first question, “What did you learn?”
I winked, “Shifters are animals in bed.”
She laughed, and even Ceara’s mouth twitched a little.
Ceara asked, “Does that mean you found him, or her?”
I shook my head, and explained the first part of the search that ended with Carly the lioness shifter.
Then I continued on, “I found the detectives, and read their souls for the information. The cops are clueless, they don’t know what to think. The corpses and the fact that they’re in the forest northeast of Seattle makes them want to believe that some lion escaped from a private illegal owner or something similar to that.”
Melody asked, “Makes them want to?”
I nodded, “The thing that’s throwing them off is that the bodies have actually been moved. They don’t suspect the supernatural, they believe some sick bastard is literally throwing people to the lions, and then using that section of forest as a dumpsite. The problem with that theory is the people are whole. Mauled, but not eaten at all, which is odd, but it’s all they have.
“As to who they think is doing this, they don’t have a clue. All I really did learn was both victims were middle aged and had highly successful white collar jobs. They were money men, and on several different boards, some they shared together.
“I don’t know about the third victim, since the cops didn’t. I could go read one of the wolves if you want, but I didn’t want to take that step on my own. I also have no idea how the lion shifter is hiding from me. I should have found him if he was anywhere near Seattle.”
Ceara frowned, “What about magic, could a witch hide them from you?”
I shook my head, “Not from direct magical observation. Even if they were able to hide the shifter aura and magic behind a powerful enough shield of another magical nature, I’d have felt something like that. Just like I can’t read Melody’s soul, but her magical aura of elemental earth is like… a two-ton boulder dropping on my head. While on fire,” I added in a slight exaggeration, “I literally can’t miss it, and wouldn’t have.”
I frowned, “Although, I don’t know everything, I’m pretty sure it’s impossible. Unless he’s dead,” I added jokingly.
Melody raised an eyebrow.
I shrugged helplessly, “Once someone is dead, they have some control over their soul. They can lessen their aura and almost hide. Just this morning one of them snuck up on me. They can even partially leave this plane of existence. But dead lion shifters don’t kill people. Sorry, I’m wasting your time.”
Ceara shook
her head, “It was something I didn’t know, and I’m not exactly busy. He must be from far away, so if you could do another search or two randomly in the future? Maybe we can catch him in the act.”
I nodded, “I can do that. Maybe he commutes and only works in the city, and I’ll catch him tomorrow.”
Ceara grunted, “It’s possible. Life is often more complicated and surprising however, especially in our world. Thanks for trying, and if you feel overwhelmed with all you’re doing for the coven, let me know and you can drop a job. I don’t want you to get burned out, don’t forget to enjoy life. This life is too long to simply work non-stop.”
With that bit of advice, I thanked her and took my leave.
Took my leave? I reminded myself she wasn’t the queen, but the truth was she might as well have been…
Tammy tilted her head at me cutely and smiled while I took the first bite of my dinner.
“What?” I asked curiously.
Tammy said, “You should work tonight. It’s slow on Sunday nights, and it’ll be the perfect time to learn to bartend.”
I nodded slowly, “I have to be at Legends at eight in the morning, so I suppose I could stay till around one?”
Now that I knew I only needed five hours sleep instead of seven or eight, I was thinking two to seven would be more than enough sleep, and it wasn’t a bad idea. I already had the memories and knowledge how to do it, but I knew actually mixing the drinks would take practice. Better to learn on a slower night.
“So you actually want to train me?”
She smiled, “Sure, it’s all about you Miku. I’ll have to suffer and watch you work, while I sit on a stool and give you pointers. My ass is already tired just thinking about it,” she added with snarky humor.
“Okay, good point, so you want days off?”
She nodded sharply, “Bingo. Eustice is a damned slave driver.”
Eustice grunted in annoyance, “That’s Ice, you know I hate that name.”
Lion's Claw: Spirit Sorceress: Book 2 Page 4