She relaxed. “I have news. Do you remember the book that was stolen from my store?”
“Yes,” he replied. “Brynneth and I opened that case but we have made little headway with it.”
“I appreciate your effort,” she thought back, not wanting his feelings to be hurt when she told him the book had been found. And by who. “Bleidd brought it back to the store today. He said he found it in a local pawnshop. He knew it was stolen from here so he bought it himself and returned it.”
“Did he?” Jess asked. His emotions were not what she had expected; there was no jealousy or annoyance at the mention of Bleidd’s name. Instead he seemed genuinely interested, his feelings curious. “That was kind of him.”
She had the sudden suspicion, purely intuitive, that something strange was going on. It was unlike Jess to pass up an opportunity to make a snarky remark about the other elf. She realized, once she thought about it that he had actually been reasonably nice about Bleidd since the shooting, he’d even been fine with her kissing him. She almost questioned him about it, but then shook her head slightly deciding it was better not to poke the bear. She was certainly sick and tired of playing referee between the two of them; if they could be civil to each other that was fine by her. Friendship was probably asking for a miracle. “Yes, it was. He was trying to help. And I am just as glad to have the book back. I wanted to let you know though in case you need to talk to him about finding it, you know for the case.”
For some strange reason this pleased Jess. She could feel his happiness through their link and it puzzled her. “Yes my heart I will likely need to speak to him further about the details.”
“Well,” she thought back slowly, “You can probably find time at home later.”
“I will do so,” he thought back and then she felt him turning his thoughts back outward.
Allie pushed off the shelf and headed back out to see if the pizza had been ordered, feeling off balance. That was weird she thought. If I didn’t know better I’d almost think Jess was eager to talk to Bleidd. But unless I just woke up in the Twilight Zone that’s impossible. If I didn’t know better I might worry that Jess was having the same thoughts about Bleidd that I am. Certainly not impossible, given the elves lack of sexual preference, but since they kind of hate each other…or at least strongly dislike each other…oh! Unless he’s picking up on my feelings and I’m influencing him… That was a strange thought too. A tiny part of her tried to fantasize about the three of them together but she couldn’t quite get her very sexually inexperienced mind to go there. Instead she ended up imagining her boyfriend leaving her for her crush. That made her smile as she was walking out from the book shelves. And somehow I think that would serve me right if this really is the result of me influencing Jess somehow…
“Okay guys, what’d you order?” she struggled to keep her tone light as she watched her two friends leaning against the counter waiting for her. And that’s all Bleidd and I will ever be she told herself firmly. Friends.
**********************************
He walked down the street with his hood pulled low, surreptitiously glancing around as he walked. The sun was high and he felt a thrill at being out in town in broad daylight. Everyone wanted him to hide. Everyone wanted him to wait around and do nothing until they needed him again. Screw everyone. He was sick of it all.
The more he thought about the last girl the less satisfied he was with her. The only silver lining there was the paper said her dad was a cop and that idea made him really happy. He hoped that her dad had been told about what he’d done to her in detail. His own dad would’ve told him it was his own fault, if he were any kind of victim, just like he’d always said it was Jerry’s fault when his dad beat him. But he liked to imagine that last girl’s cop-dad being all broken up and crying over his poor baby girl. Served the bastard right for breeding with something not-human. That train of thought though just brought him back to his frustration that he hadn’t killed her. It would’ve been so much better to be able to imagine her dad crying over her dead maimed body…
He shook himself slightly, pushing the thoughts away. He needed to stay sharp and find the next one. He needed another girl, and he needed this one to be perfect. He’d snuck out as soon as he could, as soon as Ken left for work, and he’d been wandering the street aimlessly since then. He’d seen a couple potential girls but they weren’t quite right. He wanted perfect this time and wasn’t going to settle.
Finally he saw her, younger than the others, maybe thirteen or fourteen. Young enough not to fight back or know any magic. Her hair was red, just like his favorite girl that the Elven Guard had taken away. She sparkled with that glow of other-ness that drew and repulsed him. He shifted course to follow her, starting to get excited as he thought of how perfect she’d be.
She was walking with an older woman; after a moment of careful eavesdropping on their conversation he decided it was her mother. His lip curled in a sneer as he thought about the human woman betraying her entire species by screwing some Fairy thing. She was worse than they were because they had no choice about their nature but she chose to spread her legs for something Fey. It made him furious to think of all the hard work he and the group were doing to save the human world when people like her were throwing it away. He gripped the hilt of the knife tightly and waited for his chance. He’d show that blood-traitor what happened to people who betrayed the human race. And then he’d enjoy her daughter, and it would be perfect….
************************
“Is there any pizza left?” Allie asked, drinking the last dregs of tea from her cup.
“Sorry,” Jason said looking sheepish. “I just ate the last piece.”
“It’s okay, I’ve probably had enough anyway,” she said, knowing it was true. It had been really good pizza though and she would have forced another piece down if there had been one, full or not. Allie was leaning against the sales floor side of the sales counter; Jason sat on the stool behind the counter. Sitting in the closest chair in the seating area Bleidd sighed and Allie sensed his contentment. It made her happy, and for a moment she simply relaxed at the general friendly atmosphere.
In the next instant though she felt goose bumps raising on her arms and her head swung to the right as she tried to sort out what was going on. She could feel something, something off, but understanding emotions coming through her new shields was a bit of a learning process.
Seeing her frown and shiver Bleidd sat up straighter. “Allie what is it?”
“I don’t know,” she said, perturbed. “I feel something weird. I’m not sure what it is. Strong emotions, really close I think. I’ve never felt anything like this…”
She took a few slow steps forward, and Jason ran around the counter and grabbed her. “Hey!”
He looked apologetic. “Sorry Allie but I don’t want you zoning out and walking into traffic.”
“Thanks,” she said, hoping she didn’t sound too sarcastic. “But I’m fine. The new shields make a big difference. I think I – ummm, we – need to see what’s going on.”
The two men exchanged an uneasy glance. Bleidd shook his head, reaching up to rub his chest absentmindedly. “If there’s anything bad happening we should alert the police.”
“Right,” Allie said, as the emotions she was sensing sharpened into what she was almost certain was pain. “What am I supposed to tell them? I have a vague sensation with my wacky empathy that someone somewhere might be in trouble?”
His lips flattened into a disapproving line. Jason let her go though and reluctantly agreed. “We can at least go see if it is anything. Then call the police.”
Bleidd closed his eyes for a moment, as if gathering his strength, making Allie worry that he was still in pain. Then he stood up. “Alright let us go.”
“Bleidd maybe you should stay here…”
He quelled her with a look. “You two clearly need adult supervision.”
“Well, alright,” she said, still worried for him but
unable to ignore what she was sensing. She grabbed her keys and then they all headed for the door.
Out on the sidewalk, with the store locked behind her, Allie took a moment to get re-oriented. As soon as she found the emotions again she started moving towards them, walking quickly down the sidewalk away from downtown. At the end of the block she turned towards the residential area. There was a section of empty lots slowly being overtaken by trees and brush between the downtown commercial district and the lower income residential area. Allie slowed, her sneakers scuffing on the cracked concrete; the two men slowed with her. Their tension was distracting her, making it hard to focus on the thread of disturbed feelings. She hesitated, passively waiting for the emotions to come to her more strongly because she had no idea what else to do. After a moment she felt them again, more to her right, but different now. She moved off the sidewalk, into one of the empty lots.
“Allie that’s far enough,” Bleidd said stiffly.
“But Bleidd, what if someone’s hurt?”
“What if we’re walking into an ambush?” he shot back, his eyes scanning the densely packed trees and brush.
“What? Who would…” she started, but her protest was interrupted as a man staggered out of the bushes a dozen feet away.
The man stopped in obvious surprise at seeing anyone on this quiet side road. He stared at them, his hands covered in blood. A bloody knife was held in one hand, almost as if he’d forgotten he was holding it.
“Holy shit,” Jason swore, his voice low. Next to her she heard Bleidd swear in Elvish, the musical tones of the language softening the strength of the words he used. Allie’s eyes met those of Jeremiah Standish for the second time in their lives, and she saw recognition spark in his. The pulse of rage-joy-excitement that always radiated from him reached her at this close range, but it was bearable through her shields. As he stared at her his feelings shifted more solidly into rage and Allie stepped back instinctively.
The knife shifted in his bloody hand, now gripped tightly and ready for use. Allie felt a surge of panic as she realized that this close she might not be able to outrun him, and if she turned she’d be giving him her back which even she knew was a bad idea.
“You fucking bitch!” he snarled, “You ruin everything. Everything! This is a grand plan and the group needs me to complete it. To fix the worlds! I can’t let you stop me!”
His voice rose on each word until he was shrieking, spit flying from his mouth. And then he ran at her, crossing the distance between them in leaps. She froze, seeing only the bloody knife coming at her. Bleidd’s arms were around her even as Standish charged, pulling her back and trying to move her behind him – a futile effort since it would only mean he would be killed first. She could feel Bleidd gathering the energy for a spell but knew he could not cast it in time, and he had no other weapon either on him or that he could magically call. Not after his years being Outcast, when such things had been barred from him, and his current liminal position at the very bottom of elven society also meant he wasn’t allowed any legal weapons. She knew that all he could really do was what she was doing – watch the blade coming at them.
The sound of the gun firing next to her was shockingly loud. Allie screamed and covered her ears, dropping to her knees and dragging Bleidd with her. Standish fell, his own momentum carrying him forward so that he landed on his face a few feet from where Allie knelt, having already crossed most of the distance between them. Everything happened in the space of a few seconds.
Allie huddled in Bleidd’s arms staring at the body on the ground. She knew he was dead, if only because the pulse of his twisted emotions was gone. There was nothing but emotional silence now. From Bleidd she felt a mix of fear and satisfaction. From Jason…
She turned her head slowly towards Jason who had been standing a little bit behind her and Bleidd, closer to the sidewalk. He still held the gun up, gripped in both hands, aimed at the body as if he were ready to shoot again if Standish so much as twitched. Allie knew of course that Jason carried the gun almost all the time. He had a permit to carry concealed and he wore it in a waist holster clipped to his belt in the back. She was so used it being there that she didn’t even think about it most of the time. But knowing he had it and knowing he’d just used it were two different things.
Bleidd hugged her closer for a moment and then released her, getting to his feet with some effort. He walked stiffly over to Standish’s body and checked it, glancing back at Jason and shaking his head slightly. Then he looked in the direction the bloody killer had come from. He turned back to the other two, his face grim. “Stay here.”
He moved into the woods, looking Allie assumed for the source of the blood on the knife.
“Jess,” she thought miserably, not knowing what else to do, but sure he was going to be furious about the situation.
“What is it my heart? You sound upset,” he thought back, his own mental voice distracted. She was interrupting something, she knew it. For an instant she had the completely irrational urge to tell him to forget about it, but her eyes drifted back to the body on the ground, blood pooling around his head in a way that made her swallow hard.
“Jess,” she thought again, “You need to get out to the side street by my store, ummm, Crestmore Ave. A lot, empty lot there. I was…I had sensed some strange emotions I wasn’t sure what was going on but I thought someone might be in trouble so we – Jason, Bleidd and I – were trying to see what was going on.”
“Allie,” he cut in his voice reproachful. “That is not wise. You could walk into any kind of danger blindly that way.”
“Yeah, well,” she thought back, wincing. “That’s pretty much what happened actually.”
His voice and emotions changed immediately from worried and distracted to afraid. “Are you hurt? Are the others injured? What has happened?”
“Umm, well…we… were walking following the emotions I was sensing…” she began, aware that she was stalling, but not wanting to tell him how much trouble she’d gotten into.
“For the love of the Gods Aliaine just tell me!” he thought back.
“We found Standish, covered in blood in a wooded lot about two blocks from my store. He charged at us with a knife and Jason shot him,” Allie blurted out.
She had to stuff her fist in her mouth to stop the nervous laughter that wanted to spill out as she felt his utter shock at her words. She would not let herself sit there and laugh next to Standish’s still warm corpse. She felt all the stress and tension suddenly catching up to her, remembering the knife coming at her. Then she started to cry. Jason was there, on one knee, his hand on her shoulder. “It’s okay Allie.”
“It’s not okay, I almost got us all killed,” she mumbled through her tears.
“No you didn’t. A gun is always going to win over a knife,” Jason replied, his feelings both sad and grim.
“Allie? You are not hurt?” Jess asked again.
“No I’m not hurt. Neither are Bleidd or Jason. But Standish is dead. Bleidd went to see if…if he could find the victim,” she thought, knowing that there had to be a victim back there. Oh my Gods she thought to herself, that’s what I was feeling before. I was sensing him assaulting and killing someone. It was too much for her and she staggered up and away from the scene, managing to reach the pavement before she threw up.
*****************************
Jess pulled the Guard vehicle up to the curb near where he could see Allie sitting on the ground and Jason standing. The second car pulled up behind him. The entire squad was with him, as well as the Guard captain and he had no doubt that the human police would not be far behind. Getting out of the car his nose wrinkled at the smell of vomit and blood that filled the air.
“Allie,” he thought to his lover, “I am here but I must see the body first.”
“Go,” she thought back, sounding exhausted. He knew that she had been under a lot of strain in the past week, and that the emotional trauma was having an effect. She was certainly holding up
better than many had expected her to, given her lack of training and experience, but he worried about how far and hard she pushed herself.
He walked over to the man’s body lying on the grass. Clad in a dark grey hooded sweatshirt and jeans, the clothing was non-descript enough that he had probably been blending in easily. Jess crouched down, aware of the other elves standing around him observing, and lifted the man’s head. The cause of death was obvious: a single gunshot through the right temple. Knowing the police would not like them moving anything before the detectives arrived he hesitated, but then shrugged it off. It wasn’t as if there was any question about who had killed him or that it was self-defense. He rolled the body over carefully and was surprised to find the killer’s own knife embedded in the body’s chest, the man’s hand still clenched tightly around the hilt.
“He must have fallen on the blade after being shot,” Zarethyn mused.
“Better then he deserved,” Mariniessa said quietly. Several others nodded. As they stood around the body there was a slight sound from the wooded area and they all reached reflexively for their swords. Jess relaxed as he saw Bleidd walking towards them.
“You found the body of his victim?” he asked the former Outcast in Elvish.
“Bodies,” Bleidd corrected. “Two of them. A human woman, probably in her early forty’s and a girl, mixed ancestry, very young.”
“How young?” Zarethyn asked.
Bleidd inclined his head in a shrug. “I cannot be certain, but she looks no more than fourteen.”
The Guard captain nodded, his expression giving away some of his anger. “If you would show Mariniessa and Brynneth?”
Bleidd hesitated, his eyes going to Allie, then nodded. “Of course. Follow me.”
The three disappeared back into the brush. Jess felt an unexpected sympathy for the other elf since he would also rather be comforting Allie than focusing on work. It was an odd sensation but he ignored it to focus on the job at hand. “Natarien check the perimeter, be certain we are missing nothing essential.”
Into the Twilight: a Between the Worlds Novel Page 19