* * *
"Here." A cool cloth was placed over my eyes. I'd been sitting in the tub, leaning back, my neck braced by a rolled up towel, my eyes shut tight, worrying over everything. I'd been so caught up in my thoughts, pulling this way and that, I failed to hear Lok when he walked into the bathroom. I thought to cover myself—the water was clear and I didn't like bubbling soap. He'd already seen everything, I suppose, so I didn't bother.
"Thanks." I said. The cloth on my forehead did feel good.
"You need to meditate," Lok said after a while. He'd sat on the floor, right next to the tub. "Clear your mind of all thoughts. It'll be hard at first, but it gets easier. Picture blackness. That's all. If something intrudes, force it out and focus on the blackness again. See only that. Emptiness. Black. Void." His voice had gotten softer on each word. I did struggle at first, just as he said. But then it got easier. And after a while, I fell asleep.
* * *
"Focus on the void," Lok's voice soothed as he lifted Reah from the tub. Wrapping her in huge towels he'd placed on the bed, he covered her up and left her sleeping.
Chapter 8
"Reah? Pretty girl?" Corolan sat on the edge of my bed.
"Cory?" I'd inadvertently shortened his name. He smiled at me, telling me it was all right.
"Wylend sent me to tell you that the soul shifter is a warlock. We've gone to do a tri-scry on all the places that we're sure a soul-shift happened. It takes three strong warlocks to do a tri-scry. Wylend, Erland and Rylend did this, and determined that it's Karathian in origin. Some of the wizard clans hold enough power to do a soul-shift, and if we dig deep enough, we can get a feel off the power signature. All three of them say it's Karathian."
"But they don't know who." I sat up in bed with a little help from Corolan.
"That's right. The power signature was too old to get that—that part of it fades right away. If they could get to a soul-shift triangle immediately, they might be able to get a power scent. But that's not likely to happen." He shook his head and pursed his lips in thought.
"I appreciate the information," I patted his arm.
"Wylend wants to know if we'll get a night next week." He was smiling, now.
"I can try."
"Try for Two-Day," he grinned. "I want to make you breathe hard again. I want to hear that little yelp you make when you come."
"I want you to move faster when it feels right," I wrinkled my nose at him.
"Now, where's the fun in that?" He laughed and folded away.
* * *
Lok was sipping tea when I padded into the kitchen, wrapped in a robe. I'd wakened naked, with towels wrapped around me. I have no idea what Corolan thought of that. He hadn't remarked on it, anyway. Lok didn't say anything, so I put breakfast together for both of us.
"These eggs are good," Lok was enjoying his food.
"Thanks. Where are we going? So I'll know how to dress."
"Edness first, then Dindre."
"Winter to summer?" I lifted an eyebrow at him.
"Easier to take clothes off than put them on."
"You may have a point, sir." I waggled my fork at him. He ate with chopsticks, like all Falchani. Lok has several sets, some of them beautifully carved. He always washed them carefully when he was finished eating. He did use my spoons to eat soup, though.
"You're allowing me some intelligence?"
"I never said you didn't have it. All I've ever said is that you couldn't go a click without getting into trouble. Intelligence didn't figure into that." He lowered his head, but not before I caught the hint of a smile. Too bad, his black eyes sparkle when he smiles.
"You look good in leathers." Lok nodded his approval of my dress—I had black leathers on, with boots, a sleeveless vest and a lined leather jacket over that. I carried a scarf and hat, just in case, with my knife clipped to the back of my waistband and an extra, smaller knife in the top of my left boot. Perhaps I should ask Lendill if he'd consider giving me a Ranos pistol, just in case.
Lok was dressed nearly the same, with a sheepskin jacket over his leathers that fell midthigh. All leather was black, of course. New trainees on Falchan wore white or lightly-tanned leathers or clothing. The better trained wore brown or dark green. Only the masters wore black. Drake and Drew had shown me how to handle a blade long ago, teaching me the proper grip and such, before sparring with me. For exactly one week. I'd found black leathers lying on my bed shortly afterward, along with a note that said if I moved that fast, then I could spar with Lissa from now on.
I'd never asked Lissa to spar. High Demons were notoriously fast—it was inborn, somehow. Something instinctive, since we'd been designed to combat Ra'Ak or any one of the other creatures native to the Dark Realm. That's why we were immune to any sort of magical or wizard power—there were too many of those races inhabiting the Dark Realm from long ago. When the Ra'Ak destroyed nearly everything in their efforts to dominate, most of those races ceased to exist. Except for the High Demons, who, as Gardevik, Tory's father taught me, sat on their hands, watching it all happen and did nothing. If I'd been alive at the time, those Ra'Ak would have gotten a message from me, even if I'd been the only one hunting their hateful hides.
* * *
Edness was bitterly cold. Everything looked gray, too. From the clouds and the stone of the buildings that lined the street to the street itself. All gray. More than glad I'd brought the hat and scarf, I slipped both on and followed Lok, who hunched into his coat and forged his way down the street. Few were out—not only from the cold but because it was Eight-Day on Edness and early, in addition to that.
"This is where they were taken," Lok pulled gloves on before holding his comp-vid out to me—the dot on the electronic map was steady, showing we'd reached our destination.
Edness was the first place that had a witness, and the woman had reported seeing three children instead of the two who'd been taken.
"Was there any description given of the extra child?" My breath frosted out before me as I looked around for any evidence left behind.
"Dressed in a coat and hat—she didn't see the face and since they were bundled up with leggings on, she couldn't determine the sex." Lok's mouth was set, but his lips were full and sensual, below a beautiful, straight nose. I realized then that I hadn't even seen his tattoos—he'd always worn a shirt around me. It didn't matter, he found me inadequate. Shaking myself, I went back to looking for clues.
The stones of this building were set so well and so closely together, there was barely a seam between, leaving no rough places to catch fibers or anything else. The concrete beneath our feet was hard, gray and frozen, but no snow or sleet had fallen to betray footprints. I leaned back and stared up at the walls of the building—there were no windows on our level, but there were windows running in neat rows two stories up and higher. I remembered that two of the girls on Tulgalan had seemed to disappear, as if snatched from the air.
"Can we get into this building?" I asked Lok. "I want to see the rooms overlooking this spot." Lok now was looking upward, frowning. Probably wondering what I hoped to find there. He tapped Lendill's code into the comp-vid and waited for an answer.
"Reah wants to see the rooms inside the building overlooking the kidnapping site," Lok explained.
"I'll clear it with the authorities; give me a tick or two." Lendill terminated the call. Lok and I both huddled against the building in an attempt to block the wind—any exposed skin was freezing. I turned my back to it; that part was better shielded than my front. After what seemed a click, Lendill contacted us.
"The building manager will meet you outside those rooms—units 224 and 225. Don't waste his time and remember to say thank you."
"We will," Lok promised and shut off the call. I was more than thankful to go inside the building and ride the elevator up to the second floor. We waited outside unit 224 as instructed. I wondered what the manager might say if I asked to see 324 and 325.
The building manager showed up half a click
later, key chip in hand. "We rent some units out to businessmen and such who come for short stays," he said, slipping the chip into the reader. "We have three staying in this unit, but they didn't answer when I rang them and the comp-unit inside says that there's no life source there right now. That's the only reason I gave permission to your supervisor." I had no idea how Lendill had identified himself—maybe he didn't want to frighten the man by saying he was Vice-Director Lendill Schaff.
"Oh, my. This was not in our agreement," the man said as we walked inside. The stench nearly knocked me down. Inside one of the bedrooms, we found the source of the smell. Andree Wirth's decomposing body lay face-down on the bed, the coverlet bunched up around her. I wanted to gag. Lok gripped my arm—hard—telling me to breathe through my mouth. The building manager didn't have as much success—he was vomiting in the hallway outside after running through the door to get away from the girl's body.
"Vice-Director, we have a situation here," Lok said the moment Lendill answered the call. He and Norian were there beside us in ticks.
"This is the first girl taken from Tulgalan," I said, my gag reflex still trying to kick in. Norian was on his comp-vid, asking for local agents and a forensics team to come right away. Lendill went to speak with the building manager, who was still heaving at times, although the contents of his stomach had been emptied long ago.
"So, we need to check the rooms above where she was taken," Lok jerked his head toward Andree's body. Andree, the other two on Tulgalan, the three on Edness and one boy from Farrahn were the only ones that we knew of who'd had been taken next to a building.
"Why did they not consume her?" Lendill asked softly. He'd come back to stand beside me. Norian was now talking to the building manager.
"Perhaps they weren't hungry, or she died too soon?" I asked. "Did she have a medical condition, Lok?"
"It says here that she had an eye defect—partially blind in one eye, but it didn't interfere with much as far as her schoolwork went," Lendill beat Lok to the punch.
"So, nothing really to make her a bad candidate for the soul-shift or for the Ra'Ak's dinner," I said. "Norian, will you make sure they do a rape check?" I turned to him when he walked inside the bedroom.
"Reah, we always do that. But you just frightened me, I think."
I was frightening myself with my thoughts. If the soul-shifting warlock had been an adult male once, there was nothing to prevent him from entertaining or acting upon any of his more prurient thoughts. Andree had been a pretty girl, with long, dark hair and blue eyes.
The forensics team came in while we speculated, and we were moved to the sitting room while the ASD operatives did their job. The other agents were busily searching through the building manager's comp-vid, recording information regarding the three men the suite had been rented to. I didn't think they were going to find anything except a dead end on that idea. Ra'Ak were powerful and could construct aliases that looked legitimate just as well as the ASD could. They were power-wielders in their own right, and only the Saa Thalarr and the Larentii might be more adept.
"The probe confirms semen samples," a forensics specialist came out to talk with Norian and Lendill. "The DNA matches that of one of the boys taken from Dindre. There may be more, but it's degenerated."
"I think we have the information we wanted," Norian nodded at the man, who went back to the bedroom.
"Can we get into the rooms over the street in Tulgalan? Not where Andree was taken—the other two." I turned to Norian. Andree had been snatched for sexual purposes, nothing more, and her boyfriend, who'd been there with her, had been bitten, probably because he tried to defend her. They'd fought long enough to leave physical evidence behind, along with Andree's boyfriend. After he'd been left behind, he'd bitten others. Therefore, the standoff with the spawn in the schoolyard had occurred. I'd said all that aloud, without really meaning to.
Lendill was busy calling the authorities in Targis. We had something set up in very little time. "Let's go," Norian sighed. He folded all of us right back to Tulgalan.
"We had two businessmen renting this unit, and their lease hasn't run out. I do not appreciate this invasion of their privacy." The building manager was a woman this time, and quite snippy with the local constable who met us in the lobby. I wondered if Norian was about to pull out his credentials. He didn't. Probably used to this by now. The woman, whose name was Mirita Proth, opened the door for us. At least the bodies—plural—inside this one were bagged conveniently for us in plastic, since they'd been dead longer. Both girls and both pretty. Mirita was still gagging and pale when the constable led her back into the hall. Norian again called for local ASD. I shivered. Our warlock, and possibly the Strands, too, had a sexual appetite that included killing young girls. I had my comp-vid in my hands quickly.
"Teeg, what do you know about the Strands, and that other one—Hendars Klar? Do you know if any of them liked teen girls—you know—for sex and such?"
Teeg was shocked to hear from me—I could see it in his face. He covered it well, though. "Sweetheart, Darsen and Ansen, two of Lersen's three cousins, are twins, and rumor has it that they love young girls—sometimes to death."
"Do we have any of their DNA on file?" I looked up at Lendill.
"We have Lersen's, and yes—we have the cousins as well," Lendill consulted his comp-vid.
"Reah, what's going on?" Teeg asked.
"Honey, we just found three dead girls. All pretty. I get the idea that soul-shifting and Ra'Ak meals aren't the only things they're snatching these kids for," I sighed. My headache from the day before was coming back.
"Baby, what's wrong?" Teeg was sitting at his desk when I called; I recognized the wide window behind him. He was standing now.
"Nothing, I just have a headache. That's all."
"I'm coming," he said, and shut off the comp-vid.
"Did we tell him where we were?" Lok asked. We didn't have to, Teeg was there in a blink.
"Sweetheart, come out of there." Teeg had taken one look at the bodies wrapped in plastic on the bed and hauled me away.
"The one at the first place was worse," I said, rubbing my forehead.
"Here." Teeg placed his fingers against my forehead and the pain disappeared. I don't know how he does it; not many can. "Now, did you have breakfast this morning?"
"Yes. But I wouldn't mind something to drink. Something hot."
"Let's go to your apartment." He folded us; I didn't have to do anything. He put tea together for us, too.
We were still sitting there, drinking tea when Lendill, Norian and Lok folded in.
"They found DNA from another missing boy and from Darsen Strand. And we got additional evidence from forensics on Edness—that girl was asphyxiated. Probably during the attack," Norian muttered angrily. "They'll give us any DNA evidence on that shortly."
"We've put out information that they may disguise themselves as businessmen, and anyone renting for a short-term lease—less than a full-turn, that is—is to quietly turn the rental information over to the ASD for verification. I don't know if this will help, but for now we have to keep this away from the media." Lendill was tapping information into his comp-vid while he talked. When Lok set a cup of tea down on the island, Lendill slid it toward himself.
I buried my head in my arms at the island while Teeg rubbed my back in gentle circles. I'd changed clothes—into a fleece set, and Teeg's hand was warm and comforting. I talked with Farzi and his brothers, Teeg sent mindspeech. They say they want to stay where they are for now, but they'll tell me if they want something different someday. Just so you know.
"All right," I mumbled aloud as Teeg continued to work on my back.
"Sweetheart, you need another massage. Your muscles are way too tight." He attempted to work out some of the tightness in my shoulders with a thumb. He was right; my shoulders ached. The images in my head of those three dead girls didn't help much, either.
"You have to cook tomorrow; you ought to get that massage done today," L
ok suggested. I thought about throwing my teacup at him for reminding me that I had to work the following day, but I didn't.
"Boss, you should warn us the next time you disappear," Astralan and Stellan were there and taking seats at the island. With their presence, I no longer had much in the way of available seating in the kitchen.
"Send mindspeech," Teeg murmured.
"Reah, how hard would it be to get one of those fruit drinks with rum in it?" Astralan reached over and tugged on my sleeve.
"Honey, for you, I'll make it," I said, sliding off my stool. Everybody ended up getting one—some of them two or more. We'd had a tough day.
"Reah, we'll check all the worlds that have had disappearances—we'll see if there's anything else to find," Norian promised. I nodded at him. Even though our findings had been grim, at least we knew more than we did before the day started. And we would be tapped into the rental market, in case anything else came up. But there was something bothering me.
"Lendill, Norian—none of those places had enough room for six Ra'Ak and several of those children, plus the Strands. Those rooms were big enough for the Strands, maybe, and Hendars Klar. He's probably funding the operation right now, since the Strand's assets are frozen. At least I assume they are." I looked at Teeg. He nodded.
"No doubt. I was thinking the same thing. Which leaves us with the problem of where the six Ra'Ak are staying and what they're doing with their victims." Norian agreed. Obviously he and Lendill had some sort of silent conversation going while we'd been drinking and having snacks that I'd put together.
"They were underground on Bardelus, but they might not do that again." I didn't know if there were records of underground facilities, abandoned or otherwise, across the Reth Alliance.
"Understood," Norian nodded. "I have to go. Lendill, are you coming or staying?"
"I'm staying. For a little while, at least." Norian folded away, leaving Lendill behind.
Astralan grinned and nudged Teeg. Now what? Were they all planning to stay? "I'll be back," Astralan said and folded away.
Demon's Quest (High Demon Series #4) Page 12