by T. G. Ayer
Nerina was right, but I wished we had more time for her to recover. She looked tired and strained. Saying so, however, would hurt her feelings—or her pride—so I stepped aside so she could access the redhead.
Logan remained at the threshold, gun in hand, his attention focused on the door and the hole in the wall.
Nerina sank beside the woman’s body and performed her smoke exhalation/inhalation procedure. Despite having just witnessed it I found the process just as fascinating the second time, and just as gross.
When the DeathTalker finally lifted her head, her face was expressionless. And, unlike Daniel, this one wasn’t talking.
“Can you hear me?” I asked.
Nerina’s body stiffened. Then her lips stretched. It wasn’t a nice smile. And she remained silent.
I glanced over at Logan to find he’d moved so he could cover Nerina as well as the other threats. And he was right. Something was definitely wrong with her.
“Can you hear me?” I repeated. “What’s your name?”
“You think you’re so smart,” she sneered. “But we are smarter.”
Nerina began to shiver. The pale whites of her eyes began to go black and a cough ripped through her like a dull scream.
“Let her go, Nerina,” I yelled, hoping she would hear me and pull free from whatever hold this dead girl had on her.
Nerina’s shivers changed to shaking and then to convulsions, as though a terrible fight was taking place within her. I leaped over the redhead’s body and grabbed Nerina’s shoulders, supporting her through the convulsions, praying she wouldn’t break bones, wouldn’t die.
“Nerina,” I shouted. “Logan?”
I looked up at him, terrified now that we wouldn’t get Nerina back. That we’d lose her.
He was looking at the redhead. His face darkened. And I saw it too. The dead woman smiled.
The bitch smiled.
Logan didn’t wait, didn’t flinch. He chambered a bullet and shot her straight in the heart.
The sound of the shot thundered in my ears and Nerina again convulsed in my arms. Once. A second time, weaker. A third time, weaker still. Then she stopped moving, her skin paler, her eyes wide open.
I sucked in a shuddering breath. Nerina’s eyes were slowly returning to normal, her skin beginning to warm to its usual simple paleness instead of a porcelain death-face.
I grabbed my jacket from the pile of rubble beside her and folded it before dropping it on the ground. Then I lowered her to a lying position, her head on the jacket.
Just in time. She gave one last, massive shiver. It lifted her head inches off the jacket and then dropped it back so hard that it bounced.
I winced. How would I explain a DeathTalker with a cracked skull to Kira?
“I’m fine.” Nerina took a deep breath. “I’m feeling better now.”
As she inhaled again, the air beside us shimmered and Jess arrived. “Cassandra Monteith let me know you needed transport back home.”
I blinked and shared a worried look with Logan, wondering what he’d say about his superior officer now knowing he was investigating a case off the books.
But he didn’t miss a beat. “We’d better get moving,” said Logan. “We’ve been here long enough. Their backup will be arriving shortly.” Logan kept his eye on the doorway.
I put an arm around Nerina and Jess helped her to her knees, then to her feet.
“I’m fine,” she said again. “I can manage to walk myself.”
I glared at her, refusing to let go. “You don’t look fine to me. The last thing I’m going to do is to let you kill yourself on my watch. I like my head on my shoulders, thank you very much.”
Logan snorted and Nerina laughed, too.
“So, Lady Kira scares the shit out of me. I admit it.”
Nerina patted my shoulder. “I really am all right. You will be able to get out of here faster without me.” She took a step away. “I can’t take you with me, but I can get myself to your apartment safely enough.”
I nodded. “If you’re sure.”
“She’s sure,” said Logan. “Go now, Nerina.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” she said, and disappeared in a cloud of gray smoke.
Jess didn’t say a word, just held out her hands. Logan and I took a hand and Jess took us home.
Chapter 29
JESS LEFT US ON THE landing outside my apartment and left after a quiet word with Logan that I pretended not to hear.
When we walked into the apartment, Grams and Mom were sitting in the lounge having a heart-to-heart with Nerina. Thankfully, she looked fine, alive and well.
I was safe from Kira.
The women of my family had plied the DeathTalker with tea and cookies, and seemed to have had much success, judging from the satiated smile on Nerina’s face.
I dragged my feet as I stumbled into the room, dropping my bag on the floor as Logan closed the door behind me. My limbs trembled and though Logan attempted to grab my waist for support, I shifted away and sank into the nearest chair, exhausted, both mentally and physically. I leaned forward, and unzipped my boots. Too late, I realized the impending danger of keeling over. I blinked and swallowed hard before flinging the boots at the coat rack behind the door.
One landed at least a foot from its destination and Logan shook his head. He toed the errant boot back to its partner and frowned as his phone began to buzz loudly. He tugged the device from his pocket, but by the time he answered I’d already lost my concentration. I closed my eyes, squeezed them tight, then opened them again.
Everything was blurry.
“Kai, honey. You look awful,” said Grams, rising from the couch. She didn’t even ask, just went into the kitchen and put on a kettle. My grandmother’s answer to everything was a nice hot cup of tea.
And at that point I couldn’t think of anything better.
Wait a goddamned minute. Hadn’t someone taken Grams away? Like arrested her or something?
Nerina got up from the sofa and glided toward me. Funny how she seemed to float on the air, her gray skirt flowing in an invisible breeze.
Get a grip, Kai.
I glanced up at Mom who was close on Nerina’s heels. Before I knew what was happening, my mother knelt beside me and opened the buttons of my blouse to inspect my bared chest.
Not that anyone here hadn’t already seen said chest before, bared or otherwise.
Despite the trickle of gleaming neon-blue liquid that escaped the wound, the single bullet hole beside my sternum had already begun to knit together. The bleeding had stopped a while ago, thankfully. I didn’t need to hear Grams nag about blood on the polished wood floor.
Mom surged to her feet. “Stay right there,” she said, pointing sternly at me as she hurried off to my bedroom. I heard her rummaging inside the secret space behind my closet where we kept our guns and ammunition and an assortment of other weaponry.
“If you insist,” I said, unable to hide the fatigue from my voice. The poison, though not fatal, seemed to be having some sort of effect on me. I never felt this tired.
Mom returned, holding a tube which looked like something she could have stolen from one of Uncle Niko’s chemistry labs. She came to stand beside me and placed the tube against my chest, holding it close to my skin as the liquid dripped slowly into the container.
As she worked, I turned to Logan. “The djinn?”
He gave me a nod. “Sleeping on the couch.” I shifted my gaze over Mom’s shoulder and was satisfied to see his sleeping form draped across our sofa.
At last, when Mom had gathered enough of the neon liquid, she lifted it to the light and stared at it.
Grams clicked her tongue from the kitchen. “Staring at that damn stuff isn’t going to help you figure out what it is. I’ll get that to the lab as soon as possible. You hold down the fort.”
I laughed softly, more a giggle than anything else.
“What’s so funny,” asked Mom, coming to sit beside me. She used the s
ide of my shirt to wipe away the dried blood from my wound.
“You holding down the fort.”
Mom frowned.
“When you’re AWOL it’s hard to hold down any forts.”
Mom grinned. “Very true.” Her eyes glittered. “But, now that I’m back I can, can’t I?”
I gave a nod, finding my head very heavy. Strange.
“Have fun,” I said, with a drunken wave.
Then I began to slide down the chair as my body went totally numb.
The last thing I recalled was Logan grabbing a hold me before I slammed face first into the wood floor.
I woke, sitting bolt upright in the silent bedroom. Sunlight streamed into the room and I could hear the clink of cutlery against plates outside my door. I shoved the blankets aside, ignored the decidedly heavenly feel to my room, with all the golden sunlight and white sheets, and padded to the door.
When I swung the door open, all conversation stopped and I was pleased, surprised and taken aback at the scene at our dining table. Saleem was gone, and my parents, and Grams were eating Sunday lunch with Logan.
Well, knock me down with a feather, why don’t you.
I blinked, opened my mouth, then closed it again.
“Honey?” Dad pushed his chair away and dropped his napkin on the table. Here too, the sunshine streamed into the room, making everything bright and a little unreal. When I felt Dad come to a stop in front of me I had to accept that I wasn’t dreaming the whole scene. “You okay? You up to having lunch?”
I nodded, then rubbed my eyes. “How long have I been out?”
“Just overnight.” He smiled, placing a hand on my back and guiding me to the table. “We let you sleep in.”
“Now you change your mind?” I teased as I sat in the vacant seat beside him.
The tight lines at Logan’s eyes told me that he found the whole meal a strain.
I glanced across at Logan where he sat bracketed by Mom and Grams. Poor guy. I hated to think of what he’d been through in my absence. Iain was one thing, Grams and Mom alone with him was a totally different form of torture.
Dad cleared his throat. “What do you mean?”
I had to force my thoughts back to his question. “All our lives you’ve insisted that sleeping in was a form of inherent laziness, and now you say it’s okay?” I asked as Grams placed a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me. Logan forked a sausage onto my plate and I caught Mom giving him a glance that was on the ‘oh so cute’ side.
“It’s a scientific truth, Kai. The one thing one finds most in common in successful people is that they are early risers.”
“Is that a fact?” asked Mom, a knowing grin on her lips as she focused her attention on him. She propped her elbows on the table and threaded her fingers in front of her. Seeing her fiddle made me more aware than ever that I’d missed out on years of learning her habits and mannerisms.
I chewed eggs and bacon as I watched Dad shift his gaze to his wife and I was struck by the tenderness in his eyes. The man who’d keep himself distant from us, who I’d thought cold and unfeeling, seemed to overflow with love for his wife. Or was it his estranged wife now? Or lover?
My head hurt.
“Yes, that is a fact,” he said firmly.
“Then explain to us how it’s possible for you to be so successful when you aren’t an early riser?” She smiled pleasantly.
Tea appeared at my right hand and a piece of warm toast hovered in front of me. Everyone was taking care of me. I could so get used to this.
Dad grunted, then threw Mom a sharp warning look.
“Mom, we all know Dad never sleeps in.” I frowned as I stabbed a piece of bacon.
“Another secret to successful men,” said Grams with a short laugh. “Secrets.”
“Not you too,” said Dad leaning back against his seat as if that small distance gave him some safety from this onslaught.
“Grams, are you saying Corin Odel is a slacker?” I asked giving Dad a glance.
“I should know. Mothers know these things about their children.” Grams popped a piece of sausage in her mouth and chewed around the grin that remained emblazoned on her face. She was enjoying this way too much.
“Mother,” said Dad, the warning clear in her voice.
That set everyone laughing.
“Dad, just accept it. Your secret is out.” I snorted. “And your scientific facts are BS.”
He laughed ruefully. “I guess it is, then.”
I ate, listening to the banter around me, feeling at home and relaxed for the first time in a while.
At some point Grams’ cellphone buzzed and she picked it up. Seconds later she cleared her throat. “I do hate to destroy the happiness and light at the table but there has been news.”
Everyone looked at her, waiting, dread darkening the bright midday sunbeams that danced around us.
“Sentinel’s just informed us that there’s been another killing. This time a cluster of goblins in the Alaskan forest.”
I’d never met a goblin before. Said a lot about my upbringing though, considering I’d never know my own mother was human until I’d walked headlong into the fact not that long ago.
Mom made a strangled noise in her throat. “Why the hell would they want to attack the goblins? They’ve lived in peace for centuries. And they keep to themselves. Why target them?”
“Target practice,” said Logan quietly.
Nobody argued.
Goblins could be vicious when attacked, but they weren’t fighters. They hated any exercise that didn’t further their own personal goals of a happy carefree life. Hence Alaska and other far-flung countries were usually populated generously with goblins.
Logan shook his head. “What better way to test paranormal weaponry than to use targets who have zero evasion tactics, and even less defensive capabilities. And who like living as far from civilization as possible. Easy targets and nobody will notice. Best of both worlds.”
I shook my head. “All this, everything that’s happened to date, all the murders . . . They all seemed so random, so unconnected. What reason could there be for randomness-”
“Unless the randomness was deliberate.” Logan finished my sentence, nodding to himself. His gaze was focused angrily at his plate as if Grams’ bone china dinner plate was one of the killers. “They’ve been testing whatever ammunition and techniques they have on different paranormals, different parts of the world. But maintaining a distance from civilization.”
“Makes sense,” said Mom, looking angry.
Before I could say anything, a knock sounded at the door. Grams’ eyebrows rose and I knew she already knew the identity of our visitor.
Mom got up to answer and when the visitor proved to be Jess, I wasn’t surprised.
She walked in, her movements graceful, and as should be expected from a Titan. She inclined her head in greeting as she stopped beside the table.
Both Logan and Grams rose, and Grams said, “Would you-”
Jess lifted a hand regally and everything stilled.
I blinked.
Logan and Grams were standing way too still. I stared at them, and blinked again.
A glance back at Jess confirmed that the Titan and I were the only ones still able to move.
My jaw dropped.
She’d frozen them.
Chapter 30
I’D HEARD OF THE TITAN’S ability to freeze time and always thought it was some kind of magical mumbo-jumbo. Apparently it wasn’t.
I stood for a few interminable seconds, almost as frozen as my family. A small part of me wondered, in shock, if they’d come out of that state even aware that they’d been paused in the first place.
Then I was just angry.
“Why did you do that?”
I hadn’t even bothered to greet her, but I didn’t care about being rude. She’d just frozen the people closest to me; I doubted she’d expect me to bow at her feet.
“Because we need to talk.”
; My gaze flickered between Mom and Logan, to Grams, her mouth half-open, lips frozen in mid-speech. To Dad. If I wasn’t so annoyed, the whole scene would be hilarious.
“Do not worry about them. They are all perfectly fine.”
I shoved my chair back, ignoring the angry screech of the legs against the wood floor. I even managed to not glance at Grams to see if she was glaring at me in admonition.
I stepped away from my seat and, walking around Dad, came to stand in front of the Titan. I moved slowly, deliberately. I wanted to convey that I wasn’t afraid of her, or intimidated by her. But something told me she already knew what was in my heart.
That I was more than a little terrified.
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked, tightening my throat muscles so my voice wouldn’t shake.
“We have a problem.”
You don’t say.
“Which one?” Right now, we had a whole bunch of them.
“The killings.”
The most annoying thing about Jess was that she was stingy with information. She only gave me bits and pieces, and only then when things got dangerous.
I folded my arms and waited.
Jess sighed and began to pace. It was uncommon for a Titan to display such human emotion. Interesting.
“I have been with Omega for a long time and nothing like this has ever cropped up on my radar.” She made a disgusted sound. “I am beginning to sound too much like these . . . agents.”
She said ‘agents’ like it was a dirty word. Even more interesting. “So Omega had something to do with the massacres?”
“I cannot be certain. We suspect it may be the case but we have no definitive proof.”
“Who is we?”
“I cannot tell you.” Jess tipped her chin. “I can only tell you what will assist you in your investigation. I do not have the authority to divulge anything beyond that.”
I raised an eyebrow, the action drawing an indulgent smile from her.
“I am sorry, Kailin. I am doing everything possible to help, without stepping over the boundaries placed on me. I have orders, and I am fulfilling them to the best of my ability. But something has gone very, very wrong.”