“Three prophesies, three sides, three outcomes,” Athena muttered. “I need to get someone on this; we have to go through our prophesy with a fine-tooth comb.”
“What about the scroll you and Lex found?” Gabi asked.
Athena grimaced. “Unfortunately, it isn’t the actual Dark Prophesy. I doubt we’d get our hands on that, each prophesy is well protected by strong warding,” she muttered, “but it does speak of other prophesies, and it does reference the two sources of magical energy. That’s as far as we’ve got so far. Hopefully it contains some clue as to the location of the Patrium Nocte. I have a team of staff on constant vigil for any sign of disturbance in the energy field, anything that may indicate some use of the Dark Source. If it’s nearby and someone tries to access its power, we will know about it.”
Kyle didn’t think it prudent to point out that once someone accessed the Dark Source, it might well be too late to do anything about it.
“I didn’t just come to tell you about the Demon Prophesy,” Athena said with a sigh. “I also came to ask for information on Flora and Vodun Magic.” Her gaze found Tabari, who stood quietly in the shadows to one side of the whiteboard. He’d had little to say, though he never was one for verboseness. “I know my kind and yours don’t necessarily see eye to eye,” she said to him. “I know we haven’t always treated you with respect, but I fear we must come to some sort of truce and find some level of trust in order to overcome what awaits us.”
“And how does your High Council feel about this?” Tabari asked in his slow African drawl. “Do they support a truce? Will they trust Flora once we get her back?”
Athena’s face tightened with resolve. “They will,” she vowed. “I will make sure of it.”
“And if they don’t listen to you?”
Kyle thought Tabari had a point. They’d been undermining Athena for years; what would make them stop now?”
“Then I will overthrow them and build a new council.” There wasn’t the tiniest trace of doubt in her growled words, and the steely look on her face was enough to make even Tabari nod with approval. “The murmurs of dissent amongst the younger Magi grow. They are tired of the old ways. If they force my hand, I will lead the revolt against them.”
There was several seconds of complete silence in the room as they all digested her words. Kyle glanced around at the others; Gabi’s mouth was drawn in an enigmatic line, but the twinkle in her eye gave away her respect for the woman’s declaration. Alexander’s face was less unreadable, his pride clear and obvious for all to see. Derek still looked a little dubious, and Butch had one eyebrow raised in grudging respect.
“Ask what you want,” Tabari said, breaking the silence as he came to join them at the table.
Athena pulled her chair closer, and there was genuine interest and a little excitement in her expression. “I know that there is no set time that a priestess will ascend to her powers, but do you have any idea of how close Flora is to her Day of Acquiring?”
“It is impossible to say for sure, even for those who know what to look for,” Tabari said, “and I have not personally witnessed it, but from what I have been able to gather, I think she is close. And by close, I mean days or weeks, not months, but I can’t be more specific than that, and I could be entirely off the mark.”
Athena nodded, as though she had expected his answer. “Is there a chance she would be able to use enough of her base Magic to escape her captors before she ascends to her full Magic?”
“It is unlikely,” he replied. “All base Vodun Magic requires the use of rituals, ingredients and sacrifice—blood or other.” He didn’t elaborate on what ‘other’ sacrifice entailed. “If they keep her tied up and away from anything useful, she is almost as powerless as a normal human.”
“Is it true that it is harder to make Vodun Magic work on one with a powerful bloodline?” Athena asked.
“Only in the sense that the more powerful the person, the stronger their natural defences are,” Tabari answered. “If another Vodun practitioner knew the spell and had the right ingredients and enough experience to break through Magic shields…” He left the rest unsaid, but his grim expression said it all; Flora was vulnerable and in serious danger.
“And if she reaches her Day of Acquiring in the presence of the Patrium Nocte? If she draws on its power to save herself or to do what they want, what does that mean for us?” Athena pressed. “Will she be lost to us? Will it turn her against us?”
Kyle wished he hadn’t heard the question and was glad Trish wasn’t listening in.
Tabari closed his eyes as though in pain. “I don’t know,” he said at last. “I truly don’t.”
The opening bars of ‘Thunderstruck’ cut off anything else Tabari might have said.
Gabi glanced at the screen before answering. “Mac?” she said in terse greeting. “Are you okay?” Whatever he answered had Gabi glancing at Kyle with concern. “Hold on, I’m putting you on speaker,” she said into the phone before placing it on the table so everyone could hear.
“I’m at the laboratory, but I went to the Sanders residence first,” Mac’s gruff voice told them. There was a brief pause, a pause that told them all what was coming. “It’s bad.” His voice was grim. “I found a woman, I assume to be Riley’s aunt, dead at the house. I can’t tell exactly how she died, there are no obvious wounds or bruising, but by the look on her face, she didn’t go peacefully. The place was turned upside down, the car was indeed still in the garage, but even that was wrecked. There is no sign of Chase Sanders other than scent and some blood in the kitchen of the house, which isn’t the woman’s. None of the other scents are familiar, but there are several fresh and distinct ones.”
“What about the lab?” Gabi asked.
The door behind them opened, and Kyle turned to see Riley standing in the doorway. He jumped from his seat, moving to intercept her, but the look on her face said that she’d already heard enough.
“In an even worse state than the house,” Mac’s voice said as Kyle watched pain flicker across the woman’s face. “It’s carnage, every drawer opened and emptied, every file ripped up or strewn around, storage fridges turned over, smashed glass and chemicals everywhere. It looks like they tried to set the place alight, but the sprinkler system came on and dowsed it.”
“Aunt Allison,” Riley whispered, her hands flying to her mouth as the colour drained from her face. Kyle put one hand on her shoulder and felt her body begin to shake.
“All the computer equipment has been smashed,” Mac continued, unaware of Riley’s presence. “Whoever did this didn’t leave anything salvageable.”
At Riley’s faint sob, Gabi picked up the phone and turned off speakerphone, putting it back to her ear, walking as far away as possible, leaving Kyle to deal with the crumbling Riley.
Kyle pushed aside his own emotions, hiding the fact that he’d been sucker-punched by the thought that everything Riley had offered them, the chance for Trish to have their own baby, had just been destroyed. Shoving down the surprising level of dismay, he directed her to a chair as Butch hurried away to the kitchen, probably to find something sugary for her to drink. Derek arrived at his shoulder and held out an ironed and folded cotton handkerchief. Riley took it, but she was dry-eyed, staring into nothing. Kyle needed to snap her out of it, keep her with them.
“Riley, is there anywhere that your uncle may have gone if he somehow escaped? Anywhere else we could check for him?”
She stared straight ahead.
“Riley.” He spoke her name more harshly.
She blinked and focused on him.
“My…my dad’s house, but…” She swallowed, and her eyebrows drew together as she considered the question. “But I don’t think he would put them in danger. He wouldn’t go there if someone was after him.”
“Your father lives in the same city?” Derek asked, his gaze meeting Kyle’s as they had the same thought.
“Yes, a couple of suburbs over,” Riley whispered. “Do you think�
�” She couldn’t continue.
“Mac will go and check on them,” Kyle started to say, but Riley’s look of horror made him add, “Discreetly, of course.” He assured her, “If they are alright, I will put in a formal request for the Pack or the Clan in the area to keep an eye on them until this thing blows over.”
Riley drew in a shaky breath, her large eyes now brimming with unshed tears. She glanced over to where Gabi paced, the phone still to her ear.
“Is Mac still at his lab?” she asked, her eyes tracking Gabi.
“Yes,” Kyle replied. “But if you give us your father’s address—”
“I need to talk to him,” she said.
Kyle tried to keep his expression calm. “I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”
“You don’t understand.” Riley suddenly jumped up out of the chair, forcing him and Derek to back up a couple of steps. “Uncle Chase kept secret copies of everything. He was obsessive about the possibility of losing his research—a fire, a flood, secret government agency. He took extra precautions to safeguard his data. It will be somewhere in or near the lab, somewhere that not even a government sweep would discover it. I can probably give Mac enough of an idea of what to look for, for him to find it.”
Kyle searched her face for a moment, her eyes locked on his.
“We must find it,” she told him. “Even if something terrible has happened to him, he’d want us to have it. It was important to him.”
Kyle nodded and stepped aside, beckoning to Gabi.
As Riley took the phone from Gabi, a discreet buzzing ringtone drew everyone’s attention. Athena reached into the handbag at her feet and pulled out a phone. She checked the screen with a slight frown and then answered. She didn’t say much, but the person on the other end was obviously excited or upset.
Kyle wondered if he dared get close enough to overhear as he watched her expression go from annoyed to exasperated. And then she sprang to her feet.
“I have to go,” she declared. “You may want to follow me.”
“Why, what’s going on?” Alexander beat Kyle to asking.
“One of our Trackers managed to find the place the Vodun have been using to raise the dead,” she said, throwing her bag over her shoulder and striding for the door. “They were stupid enough to try to enter without a senior Magus around. They walked into some kind of magical trap, and two of them are caught in it.”
CHAPTER 17
The humans they drove past probably thought this was some kind of armed-response call-out. Most other vehicles gave way to the convoy of three dark vans following Kyle’s own, like some disconnected speed train, as they wove through dinner-time traffic as fast as they dared. Kyle knew Trish would give them the heads-up for any lurking traffic cops, but most of the City’s finest would be occupied with a series of drunken bar fights, small fires and petty burglaries that had broken out across not only the central city but several of the outlying suburbs as well. Only a small number of Werewolves and Vampires were Hunter-trained, prepared to deal with supernatural threats, but the rest were more than capable of creating distractions when required. They rarely initiated this kind of protocol, wanton destruction wasn’t something they partook in lightly, but tonight’s developments seemed to warrant it.
Derek had unhappily remained at Haven, not that Kyle wanted to leave him out, but they needed someone strong and competent to keep watch there and protect Breanna, Riley and the others. There was the distinct possibility that this newest development was yet another distraction. They couldn’t afford to take the chance and leave Haven vulnerable. Tabari was a silent shadow in the back of the van, while next to him Nex glinted in the passing street lights as Gabi impatiently tapped the short sword across her thighs, and Razor filled the space at her feet. Her car had ended up parked at CenOps in the confusion of the day, and there was no time to retrieve it. The address Athena had given them was just on the outskirts of the City, in an area earmarked for ‘revitalisation’, a zone of cheap, dense housing, some of which had been converted to light industry. The City council was in the process of relocating residents and knocking down unsafe, derelict houses and apartment blocks. While it should technically be devoid of residents, Kyle knew that there would be many still living in the unsavoury conditions. They would have to tread carefully. The only positive for the area was that the people still there would be very hesitant to call in the police.
Kyle saw Athena’s Tesla take the off-ramp ahead of them and began to weave across the traffic to follow suit. The road into Morningside was littered with potholes and punctuated by looming heaps of gravel and dotted with abandoned road cones. As they reached the first buildings, the street lights became more intermittent, and hazard signs began appearing on fencing and cordoned-off areas. At least they didn’t have to worry about surveillance cameras, there were only a handful in operation here, and they would be easy for Trish to redirect.
Only slowing enough to weave between road obstacles, Athena’s car zipped down the street, her brake lights flaring as she veered down a side street, then took another left turn and one more right before coming to a sharp halt.
The vans followed suit, causing a cloud of dust as they all pulled onto a vacant lot that had already been cleared of whatever building had once stood there. Athena hopped out, opened the back of her car and pulled out a bag. As Alexander emerged from the passenger seat, she kicked off her smart shoes and tugged on a pair of sturdy-looking leather boots. She tucked the legs of her suit pants inside and zipped them up, deftly tying up her hair as she approached Kyle’s van.
“The building is two blocks down there.” She nodded behind herself. “Your people should probably fan out and search the area in case they’ve left someone behind.”
Kyle nodded. “Gabi and Tabari should go with you,” he told her. “Gabi can protect your backs, and Tabari may be able to help you with whatever the trap is. Send any other Magi down here where they’re safe. Tell them to run with one hand held up so we know they’re friendlies.”
Athena nodded, her eyes flicking to Gabi, who was rolling her head across her shoulders, loosening up, the familiar predatory air settling around her. Hellcat had arrived; she saluted him with Nex and set off, leading the other three at a brisk jog.
Split into four pairs, the Werewolves covered the surrounding three blocks swiftly. The only people they uncovered were two small groups inhabiting a couple of derelict houses. They noted but bypassed these, as they were well clear of the target building. Kyle whispered their locations to Trish using the commlink just in case things got out of hand later.
Once they were sure no unfriendlies waited nearby, Kyle sent one pair to oversee the safety of the Magi who had converged at the vans and set the rest to patrol a tight cordon while he jogged to ground zero. It had once been the Morningside community hall according to the battered and decaying signboard. Out the front a forlorn swing dangled from one chain, and a seesaw, with both seats missing, creaked ever so slightly in the light evening breeze. A large tractor tyre lay flat on the dusty ground amid drying weeds, and a small collection of hubcaps lay beside it. Urgent hushed voices made Kyle hurry towards the rear of the building, where a door stood open.
The smell of rotting flesh hit him long before he reached the door. It was strong enough to contract the back of his throat, making him gag. He gritted his teeth as he pressed on. Inside the open door was a large kitchen boasting a large hatch into the main hall itself. The kitchen was dark, but light flickered in the very centre of the hall. Razor stood at an internal door looking out into the hall itself; as Kyle joined the cat, he could see a small knot of people kneeling or standing in a loose circle around something on the ground, a couple held flashlights directed towards the floor.
“Just me,” he said in a low voice, exiting the kitchen as Gabi swung in his direction. At his words she gave a single nod and spun back to the group, reversing her grip on Nex so that the blade lay flat against her forearm, tucked where it was less likely to harm a
nyone unintentionally.
“Can you feel the roots, Magus?” Tabari’s deep voice reverberated across the hall. “Feel for the link to the ground.”
Kyle joined the group at Gabi’s side. Athena knelt on the dusty floor with a hand on two prone forms where they lay side by side, curled in foetal positions. One was an older man Kyle thought he recognised, the other a woman little older than Flora; their eyes were open and their faces frozen in an expression of horror. Kyle flinched at the sight. Alexander stood behind Athena. Kyle knew he would catch her if she collapsed. She was an incredibly strong Magus, but undoing powerful spells took its toll, even on someone like her.
“They’re being held in a dream state,” Gabi whispered under her breath. “Well, a nightmare state, to be more exact,” she continued. “Athena is trying to break the spell, but this Magic is quite different to anything she will have come across before. Tabari says there will be a hex bag hidden somewhere nearby, but it will most likely be buried or well concealed. It will take time to find it, and with the smell of those masking everything…” She nodded over to what had once been a wooden stage. A pile of what could only be human corpses lay in the very centre. He could hear the sound of flies from here.
“I’ll get some of the wolves to look for disturbed ground outside while I look around inside,” he told her, happy to have something to do rather than stand watching the expressions on the trapped Magi’s faces.
Orders given to Butch, he returned to the kitchen to look for clues. Following his nose was impossible. The smell from the decomposing bodies was overpowering; nothing else registered over that. He began throwing open cupboards, resisting the urge to jump back every time a cockroach scuttled out. Dust and grime coated every surface, inside and out. The sink was the only thing that looked to have recently been used. Dark patches of something sticky and remnants of dried plants crusted the dull steel surface. He put his face close and sniffed; blood, no smell of rotting meat though, so this was fresher. The dried flakes of plant matter were too tiny and too mixed to discern.
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