Think, Aqulla, think! What would Grandmother do?
“Banshee’s give nothing for free.” It was the truth. It was why she was considered so dangerous to her own kind. Over the years as generations past, banshee’s stopped being ghosts in the night who wailed of death, and started to charge for the privilege of hearing their cries. Sensitives couldn’t always ignore the death around them. They didn’t read echoes for money. It was an inbred need, just as breathing was.
His smile turned cunning. “Yes, I’ve heard that too. Well then, it looks like you have yourself a job, Miss Dayshon. I, and Ama Seldova, want the Complex to succeed. Death to us all would be rather unproductive to our cause.”
“A job?”
“Yes, banshee often help law enforcement, correct?”
“Well… yes but—”
“Excellent.” Aqulla closed her mouth. The look in his eye told her to stay silent and pretend she could do the job even if she couldn’t. “Miss Dayshon, you’ll work with Intra Rowe, and his team, Intra Elizabeth Jaz, and Intra Melton Hale. Rowe is the lead Intra on these murders.”
She nodded her understanding.
He sat back down and waved his hand at her in dismissal. Aqulla turned on her heel, Jaylon behind her. The two Intra at the door moved to open it, but paused as their superior spoke.
“Oh and, Aqulla?”
Swallowing her unease, she faced him, training her expression to give nothing away.
“Don’t dawdle. I’d hate for Ama Seldova to learn how very unhelpful you were.”
Aqulla left the room in a daze, her mind reeling. She followed Jaylon without consciously being aware. It wasn’t until they were out of the building and on the street that she focused enough to take in Jaylon’s words.
“Have you eaten?”
“No.”
“Me neither. Wait here. I’ll go grab the case notes, and we can go over them while we eat breakfast.”
She managed a slight nod as an answer. Case notes… I’d hate for Ama Seldova to learn how very unhelpful you were….
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”
“What are you fucking at?” Jaylon asked, an amused smile on his face.
Aqulla glanced up at the building behind her. It didn’t look very threatening, its smooth, tan exterior didn’t stand out in any way. There were no harsh corners or features. But it made her skin crawl and her heart pound. “Not here.”
Not looking to see if he followed, Aqulla marched down the street, not paying much attention to her path, her only intention was to walk. The second she stopped her mind would explode.
An arm on her shoulder, his words were spoken for only her to hear. “Aqulla, sweetheart, stop.”
Sweetheart.
She whipped around. “Did you know I was going to be pulled in there?”
“No. If I had, I’d have warned you. You’ve got to know that?”
“I know nothing.”
“You know me.”
“Do I?”
“You’ve been in my head, my bed,” he answered quietly.
“Technically it was my bed,” she hissed back.
“Aqulla, what’s gotten into you? Why are you, so… scared?”
Scared…? He was right. Fear ran through her veins, rampant and consuming. For over two years she had to survive this place, and she’d have to do it with Ama Seldova breathing down her neck. She’d considered her grandmother the greatest threat, but maybe she was wrong.
“You don’t get it. I don’t know the first thing about solving murders. I barely understand my own gifts. I was locked up before I finished training how to control them. I thought I had to prove myself to just my grandmother, but now I’ve got Ama Seldova watching me.”
“Ama Seldova watch everyone, and what does your grandmother have to do with this?”
“I don’t know….” Her words trailed off as she gripped her head. “I don’t know anything.”
“She’s your grandmother. She’s not going to kill you.”
Aqulla laughed, bitter and dark. “Jay, you’re thinking like a human.”
“I am a human.”
“Well, I’m not. Grandmother is head of the coven. Her ties to me aren’t through love. She’s ruthless and cruel. She has to be to stay on top. If I’m a threat, she’ll put me down without blinking.”
“Well, that isn’t going to happen. We’re going to solve these murders together.”
Aqulla searched his face but couldn’t find any doubt hidden within the depths of his features. Only strong, unwavering faith in his words, and she found herself trusting in his belief. She trusted him.
“Let’s go eat and work out our next move.”
“Okay,” Aqulla agreed.
He smiled, then glanced around him. “Come one. There’s a place not far from here.”
“Jay?” she murmured when he turned to walk.
“Yeah.”
“What are we going to do? I mean about us?”
“We’ll figure it out together, just like the murders.”
Taking a breath, Aqulla nodded, resolve flooding her. “Together.”
With a mug of coffee in her hands and food in her belly, Aqulla listened as Jaylon told her everything he knew. He’d sent some of his men to ask questions at the places all the victims had been in. They’d not found much other than the bars they’d been in before their deaths had been unusually rowdy.
“So their only connection is the time of the kills and the housing dome.”
“And that they were killed inside the apparent suicide’s apartments.”
“So they lure them back to their quarters, kill them, and then kill themselves.”
“So it appears. But why have three people decided to do the same thing, and why do they kill themselves when they’ve killed in the past with no remorse?”
“Someone must be making them do it,” Aqulla suggested.
“I have to agree, but the question is how and why.”
“Why does there need to be a why?”
“There has to be a motive. If we figure that out, then we might be able to predict his or her next move.”
“You’re thinking like a human again. Some people just like to kill. Surely you have humans who kill for the sake of killing?”
“Well yes, I suppose. But normally there’s something wrong with their minds, some driving factor.”
“The driving factor is the rush. The thrill that courses through your veins as you watch the life drain from their eyes. The spill of scarlet blood against the earth, the fearful scream as they realize they’re going to die. It’s all a driving factor, but it doesn’t help us.”
Aqulla looked up from the files spread in front of her when Jaylon didn’t speak further. She couldn’t quite read the look on his face; he’d gone pale, and the pulse in his neck throbbed with speed. “What’s wrong?”
“The way you described that….” He shook his head as if trying to dislodge an image. “Is that how you felt when you killed?”
Aqulla swallowed the sudden lump in her throat. She couldn’t answer him. Breathing was suddenly difficult, and her heart sped up to match his. She’d said too much, spoken without thought. Aqulla had thought she could trust Jaylon, but disgust was in the set of his mouth and the shadows of his eyes. Her words disgusted him. She’d forgotten he was human. She’d forgotten he’d not walked with death as a companion.
“Answer the question, Aqulla,’ he ground out.
“I… I don’t remember killing him. Maybe I did. They say I smiled. That I delivered death with glee on my face. That’s why they tried me as an adult instead of a minor because the witnesses said I enjoyed it.” Aqulla took a breath. “But the words I spoke didn’t come from me. They came from the echoes I’ve touched, from the killers who haunt my mind.”
She stood, feeling suddenly empty. She’d trusted him, trusted him so much that she’d spoken without thinking, and now he looked at her like everyone else. She understood why the banshees saw sensitives as a threa
t. They didn’t just sense and read death’s echo; they also took a piece of it with them. And that made them dangerous. It made others fear them, and in turn, fear the entire banshee race.
“Where are you going?”
“To be alone, away from judgmental eyes.”
Walking away, a part of her expected him to stop her. She hesitated at the door, an ache inside of her growing every second he didn’t call her back. Pushing her way outside, Aqulla glanced back at Jaylon. He’d not moved a muscle. Rushing away, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, Aqulla blinked back the tears threatening to fall. He’d not moved, not even an inch, and it hurt more than she cared to admit.
He didn’t stop her. He should have, but it was too late when he’d realized his mistake. He’d never truly thought about the differences between Humans and Metas. It was more than just the immense abilities they possessed. Humans were like tame house cats in comparison to Metas being wild animals. They hunted, killed, but it didn’t necessarily make them evil, just different. Aqulla was a predator, one that had told him secrets and let him close. It was a wonder she hadn’t clawed him for his stupidity.
Jaylon didn’t get a chance to go after her until later that day. Not shortly after she’d left had his men called him with information on the victims. It seemed that on the night of the murders, fights had broken out in several places the victims had visited. Many reported sensing a sinister presence in the air. Yet while the information was new, Jaylon had no idea what to make of it. He hoped Aqulla would, but she wasn’t in her apartment when he’d knocked that afternoon.
He wasn’t sure where else she’d be. She didn’t enjoy crowds, and she didn’t eat out often, choosing instead to buy food and prepare it in her apartment.
Bringing up her data on the com on his wrist, Jaylon swiped it to ring her and waited with bated breath. She didn’t pick up on the first and second tries, but on the third, her frosty voice filled his head.
“I’m not speaking to you.”
She’d switched it to voice only so he couldn’t see her.
“I can’t see you,” he said.
“That’s because I’m not speaking to you,” she growled, switching on the viewing option. The hologram of her angry face appeared on his wrist.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Lots of things.”
“Great, well, now that’s cleared up, I’ll go back to not speaking to you.” Her image flickered then disappeared.
“Wait.”
“What?”
“I’ve some new information.”
Her sigh filled his head. “Fine, I’m in the Desert’s commerce.”
“Wha—” The connection cut out as she disconnected the call. Damn it, she might just claw me yet.
Jumping on his flyer, Jaylon headed from the Forest dome where Aqulla lived and over into Desert. Leaving his flyer, he decided to enter the commerce on foot to draw less attention. It took him a while to find her as she was sat out the way in a corner, so still it was like she was part of the wall.
He sat down beside her, deliberately pressing his thigh against hers. She made no move to separate. Well, that’s a good sign. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“What are you sorry for?” she said in return.
“You want to have this conversation here?”
“No time like the present. Besides, no one is paying us any attention. It’s why I picked the spot.”
“I’m sorry for thinking that of you. I’m sorry for forgetting you are Meta.”
“Does it bother you that I am?”
“No.”
“Are you sure? Because it sure seemed that way.”
“If you weren’t a banshee, you wouldn’t be you.” He lowered his tone further. “And I wouldn’t want you.”
“Banshees your thing? Coz I know plenty back home with less baggage than me.”
“I’m only interested in one.”
“I’m not sorry, you know.”
“For what?”
“For killing him. I might not remember the actual act, but I remember waking from the haze to find his blood coating my claws and his body at my feet, and my first thought was ‘good, let the bastard rot in hell’.”
“Why did you kill him?”
“Does there have to be a why. Maybe I just wanted to kill.”
“I might not have known you long, but I know you enough to know there is a reason.”
“He bumped into me.”
“He bumped into you?” Jaylon laughed uneasily.
“That’s why. If he hadn’t bumped into me, I’d have let him pass. I’d have wanted to kill him with every ounce of my being, but I wouldn’t have.”
“Why?”
“It overwhelmed me. I felt him coming, but the street was too crowded to get away. One second I was struggling to breathe, the next I was drowning in their screams. They were just children, innocents taken from the earth in the most horrible way. They wanted his death, and I was powerless to decline.”
“He’d killed children?”
“So many,” she whispered.
“Then he deserved to die.”
“But should I have enjoyed it?”
“You said you don’t remember the act.”
“I don’t, but I wasn’t sorry. There was no shock, just… peace. The children’s peace.”
“That doesn’t mean you enjoyed it.”
“Doesn’t it?”
“Aqulla, what you see and feel marks you. You don’t enjoy it. You carry it.”
They were silent for some time. Their breathing even, legs pressed together, watching life go by.
“Why are you here?” Jaylon asked her again. “I thought you avoided these areas.”
“The reason I stay away is the reason I came. I wanted to read echoes, see if any had the same feel as the victims.”
“Any luck?”
“No, I got nothing, and they got my soul.”
“What do you—” Jaylon sucked in a breath. “Aqulla, your eyes, they’re so dark. It’s like I can see the life draining from you.”
“Maybe it is,” she murmured. “Maybe if I sit here long enough, I’ll just fall to sleep and never wake up.”
His stomach twisted. Kneeling, he took hold of her shoulders and made her focus on him. “Block them out. Stop this before you kill yourself.”
“I’ve tried, I’m too weak.”
“Why? Why would you do this to yourself?”
“I wanted to be of some use, and I was angry. At myself and you. By the time my rage faded, so had my strength.” She spoke so matter-of-factly that it chilled Jaylon to his core. It was as if she didn’t care that she might die. That she wished to even.
“I’m getting you out of here, back to your room.”
“I can still feel them there. Death is everywhere here. Even the people who volunteered to come are corrupted in some way.”
“Well, I’m not just going to watch you fade away.”
Jaylon stood and pulled her up with him. “Can you walk?”
“Yes. I think so.”
“Good.” Taking her upper arm, Jaylon began to walk, half dragging her along with him. The walk to his flyer felt like forever. He was the only thing keeping her upright by the time they’d reached it.
“Hold on to me,” he instructed as he climbed on. “Can you do that?”
“Yes,” she mumbled.
He drove faster than he should, but even so, it didn’t feel fast enough. Taking her arm, he swiped her wrist over the door panel, too impatient to wait for her to do it. Once inside, he lifted her into his arms and then placed her on the bed, but there was no change in her.
“Aqulla?”
“I told you, it’s everywhere.”
“Find the bright spots,” he pleaded.
“There aren’t any.”
Sliding onto the bed next to her, Jaylon took her face and kissed her. “Yes, there are. This, us, we’re a bright spot.”
He kissed her again, held her tight as if he could block out the darkness with his body alone.
“I’ve never felt more alive than when I’m kissing you. It’s as if I hadn’t lived before I met you. You feel it too, don’t you? Can’t you feel what’s between us?”
Taking her lips again, Jaylon kissed her slowly, taking his time to savor her, caressing her lips with his tongue, breathing life back into her one kiss at a time.
“Tell me you feel that?” he whispered.
“I do. Don’t stop.”
“Never,” he breathed.
“We should get dressed,” Aqulla said, raising her head from his chest.
“Hmm,” he responded, not bothering to open his eyes.
Aqulla traced patterns on his skin, beginning at his chest and ending on his stomach.
“Aqulla?” Jaylon groaned.
“Yeah?”
“Keep doing that and we’ll not be getting dressed for a long time.”
She laughed softly. “You didn’t seem very keen on getting up anyway.”
“I’m not. But we should.”
Aqulla sighed. Then lowering her head, she pressed a kiss to his hard, muscled chest. “The light only ever stays for a short while.”
“Hey.” Jaylon opened his eyes and pushed up with an arm, his other reaching for Aqulla. “I’m still here. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Sorry, I’m normally stronger than this. I feel exposed, as if the echoes have made my defenses raw. It’s not a feeling I like.”
Sitting up fully, he brushed Aqulla’s long hair from her shoulder and placed soft, delicate kisses on her skin. “No. More. Echoes,” he said between kisses.
“If only it were that simple, Jay. I can’t avoid them forever, and I have a feeling these murders are not going to be solved through simple detective work.”
“What makes you say that?”
“A hunch. I want to see the profiles again.”
“Okay. But I think we should go back to Climintra. Our absence will be noticed eventually.”
Back in Climintra North, Aqulla stared at the picture of the Meta she’d had a disagreement with when she’d waited to enter the Complex. She didn’t see his face, pale and dead, but the condescending smirk and the dangerous glint he’d had. He was the second suicide and no matter how many times she stared at him, she couldn’t make what she saw fit.
Death's Echo (The Complex Book 0) Page 6