by Rain Oxford
It was a standard convenience store, except for the vampire at the counter, who was chowing down on the clerk. The vampire, a tall, muscular African American, stopped and faced me. Blood spilled down his chin and I had the urge to hand him a napkin. Despite what a number of the movies suggested, vampires were not normally messy drinkers. If there was blood splatter, it was because the vampire was desperate or they were putting on a show. It was just a waste of food and made us more likely to be caught.
He bared his bloody fangs at me. I wouldn’t retreat because that showed weakness and would result in him attacking. I also didn’t want to fight him, but as I was in foreign territory, that was often unavoidable. “I’m a rogue,” I said. “I’m not here to fight or spy on anyone.”
“Why are you here?” he asked.
“I’m here to find an explanation to several mysterious deaths. You’re one of Ryker’s vampire’s, right?”
“If you’re a rogue and not here because of my coven, why do you know of the coven master?”
“I was born here. My father and I moved northeast when I was a young girl and he went missing when I was twelve. I came here looking for information on him. He was a scientist who helped paranormals.”
“Are you referring to Ascelin Ares?”
“Yes.”
“You’re the daughter of Ascelin Ares?”
“Yes.”
“He’s a legend, right up there with Andrew Martin and Renuka Byrket.”
Andrew Martin was the scientist who created Sanguatine and Renuka Byrket legalized marriage between vampires and other paranormals. Her daughter went on to legalize marriage between vampires and humans, but only in Renuka’s name.
“Call off the shifter.”
“He’s not a shifter; he’s a wolf-dog. Deimos, wait outside.” Deimos growled. “Don’t backtalk. Outside now.” He did, but he grumbled about it. He was great in preventing fights; no human and few paranormals wanted to face him or his brother. However, against a gun or another vampire, I wouldn’t let him fight. He was fast, but not as fast as a bullet and definitely not fast enough to fight a vampire. Hell, the only reason he obeyed me was because I could shove him around.
When he was outside, I closed the door. The glass wouldn’t slow him down a second if he thought he could protect me.
The vampire licked the unconscious human’s neck, which sealed the wound and would accelerate the healing. “What sort of mysterious deaths are you investigating?”
I didn’t have any reason to lie to him, and he could have smelled it if I did. Although my senses were hyper-aware of the danger, the stranger wasn’t any stronger than me, which was why he hadn’t attacked. He wasn’t weaker than me, either. If I attacked him in his home territory, I would bring the wrath of his coven down on me, even if he struck first and I was defending myself.
“Three people, spread across the country, have been found mummified. We want to learn what links them, and who is doing it.”
“We?”
“My friend, who is in our hotel room. He’s not a vampire.”
“Were the bodies moved?”
“They were both found in their homes, so we don’t think so, but we haven’t been able to examine any of them yet.”
“So you don’t know if they were wizards?”
“The first one, I don’t know. The second one, I doubt it. The third one is the reason we’re here now.”
He visibly relaxed and the tension slowly drained. “I don’t know about mummifications, but a number of wizards in this city have died gruesome deaths or gone missing altogether. With the fall of the wizard council, Ryker has had to cover up the deaths himself.”
“How gruesome?” They obviously didn’t expect a vampire attack or I would have been apprehended and questioned immediately.
“One of them had no skin. Another was missing his internal organs. Several of them were burned beyond recognition. All of them were wizards.”
“That makes it sound like wizards are turning on their own kind now that the council is gone.”
“That is Ryker’s current theory.”
“I wonder if it’s one serial killer or a number. Do you have a problem with hunters here?”
“Humans who hunt paranormals? No.”
“Whether or not the mummified victims are wizards, we could be after the same culprit. It would be stranger if two unrelated killers struck simultaneously. Speaking of which, when did these murders start?”
“A week ago.”
That was when the whispers turned into visions. “That’s not long ago at all.” My phone chirped, informing me that I had a message. “Great,” I said after reading it. “There have been two more mummified bodies found, both in England. It’s spreading.”
“This might not be the only place where wizards are getting attacked, either,” the man said. “Ryker doesn’t like outside contact, so he doesn’t always know what’s going on outside of his territory.”
“Oh, I remember that. I think his exact words to me when I returned here as a girl was, ‘It’s nice to see you again, now go away.’ And I was human then. I’ll give you my number, though. Please ask him to call me if he finds out anything. We exchanged numbers, I grabbed a charger and went outside, where Deimos was pacing. “You’re overprotective,” I said.
He growled in response.
We got back to the hotel to find Logan watching the news and Phobos pissed about it. Phobos had eaten his entire pizza and Deimos’s was sitting on the table. “You’re a brave man to get between Phobos and his cartoons.”
“We made a deal. I wouldn’t tell you what he was watching if I could watch the news report.”
“Did you learn anything?”
“The mummified body was spotted and reported to the police, but the event was later determined to be a hoax. The body hasn’t been found by authorities.”
“What do you know about the death?”
“Only that he died in his home and his wife is distraught. She was the one who reported him until my contact sent a wizard to cover it up.”
“Is the wizard there to talk to?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that it was covered up and the body is still there.”
“And you can detect magic. Good. Let’s go.”
Deimos grumbled and grabbed the pizza box off the table.
“Right. He needs to eat first.”
“Is pizza really okay for them to eat?” Logan asked.
“Wolves are carnivores, but dogs are omnivores. As long as they stay healthy, I’m okay with them eating whatever they want. They know not to eat shit that’s bad for them, like chocolate, onions, and such. As hard as they work, they’re not going to get overweight.” By the time I finished talking, he was done eating.
We left the hotel and on the way, I told him about the vampire I’d met and what I learned.
“We need to find the connection between the mummified people because we’re trying to stop Lilly from becoming an orphan,” Logan said. “There are a lot of reasons to kill wizards. That’s not the case with humans.”
“There are plenty of reasons to kill humans. There’s revenge, information, to keep information from getting out, for food, etcetera. The real question is why someone would mummify a bunch of humans and then rip the skin off or suck the innards out of wizards. Which would be more painful to the victim?”
“It depends on whether the victim is alive when the theatrics begin. I believe we are dealing with at least two killers. If the mummified victims are wizards, then I am betting it’s a competition between two or more killers.”
“Is this like last time, where you know more than you’re letting on?”
“No.”
I wasn’t sure I believed him. Ten minutes later, we parked in front of the brownstone where Tom Miles lived with his wife, Lucinda. The place was in good condition, but it wasn’t a high-rise condo or mansion. “Probably not rich.”
Logan knocked on the door and a woman answered after a few min
utes. She had light brown eyes and shoulder-length brown hair with gold highlights. She had a pretty face, but too “sweet” for my taste.
Logan showed his badge. “I am Logan Wayne. Are you Lucinda Miles?” She nodded. “I need to see the body of Tom Miles.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she lied. “Tom is visiting with his sister.”
“Would you like to take it from here, Ms. Ares?” Logan asked me, stepping aside.
The woman looked me in the eyes without hesitating and as soon as she did, I unleashed my thrall on her mind. Her face fell blank as her thoughts quieted. “We’re the good guys, we’re in charge, and we can help you. You can tell us anything without repercussions to you or your late husband.”
When I released her mind and clarity returned to her eyes, she stepped out of the doorway. “Come inside, please,” she said. We entered and she shut the door behind us. “Can I get you a drink?” she asked.
“No, thank you.”
The house was simplistic and clean, not rich or poor. Deimos and Phobos both sniffed Lucinda and I felt her panic before they split up to search the house. Lucinda took us to the basement workshop. There were two work tables, tools hanging from the walls, and piles of scrap wood and metal. In front of the stairs, though, was a mummified corpse. He was sitting up and his mouth was open like he had been screaming.
“Has the body been touched?” I asked.
“Yes,” Lucinda admitted. “He was found face down, reaching for the stairs. It looked like he had tripped on the way and just…” she choked up.
Phobos pushed Lucinda out of the way and walked around the room, sniffing at the walls and growling. He smelled something.
“Do you sense magic?” I asked Logan.
“Yes. It has faded, but I definitely sense something. Do you hear anything?”
“No, and I don’t have a headache.”
“Did your husband talk to anyone shortly before his death?” Logan asked Lucinda.
She shook her head. “I don’t think so, but I can get you his cell phone so you can check the recent calls.”
“Thank you.” She left the room. Logan put on leather gloves and checked Tom’s pockets. Finding nothing, he felt around for a necklace. “I want to check the skin for marks, but I would prefer not to have Ms. Miles screaming in terror, so please detain her in the other room.”
I had no reason to trust him. Aside from the fact that he hadn’t told me what he was or who Lilly was last time, he also knowingly caused me to be marked by Marluk so that he could use me as bait. Nevertheless, he had a point, so I left the room and found Lucinda in the kitchen, chugging a bottle of water.
“How long have you two been married?” I asked.
She put down her water. “Eight years.”
“No children?”
“I was never able to have any. Tom said it didn’t matter, though. He said I was the woman of his dreams and nothing would get in the way of that. I shouldn’t be a widow. We should’ve had decades of happy years together.”
“You were happy together, then?”
“Our life was perfect. I don’t know what to do with myself now that he’s gone.”
“Did either of you have any enemies or know any strange people?”
“No. We didn’t go out too much. Tom was more of a quiet-night-in type of guy.”
I thought of the short time Don had known his wife before they married, at least from his boyfriend’s perspective. “Just out of curiosity, how long did you date before marrying?”
“Well, we grew up together. We were neighbors and I was his sister’s best friend. At that age, he was just annoying. He followed me everywhere. For as long as I could remember, I knew he liked me. One day, as I was packing my bags to leave the city, I realized what it would be like to not see him every day. That was when I realized I loved him. He was the kind of man who would run to the store at three in the morning because I needed medicine or girl stuff. If I had a flat, he would leave work to fix it. He knows how I’m feeling better than I do. He knows when I want to talk or watch a movie or…” She broke down crying.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“I can’t even tell his family that he’s dead.”
“Do you have some video footage of him?”
“On my phone, yeah.”
“There might be people who can help hide the way he died so that you can get some closure and have a funeral. Would that help you?” She nodded. “I’ll get someone on it as soon as I’m done here.”
“Thank you.” She picked up an iPhone off the counter and handed it to me. “The unlock code is one-one-one-one.”
“Seriously?”
“He was terrible at security.”
I opened it and scrolled through the recent calls. There were no numbers that didn’t have names, and most of them were to Lucinda. “Check these names and see if any of them are strange to you,” I said, handing her the phone.
She scrolled through for a minute before shaking her head. “Friends and family.”
At that point, Logan joined us. “Thank you for your time. Please let us know if you remember anything else,” he said, handing her his business card.
“Deimos, Phobos!” I called. They met us at the door. Once in the car, I asked, “What did you see?”
“His skin is unblemished except for two hand-shaped burns on his ankles.”
“That’s definitely a clue. Does it sound like anything you know?”
“Not particularly.”
“Did you ever go your entire life finding someone annoying and then suddenly realize you loved them?”
“No, but I do remember a lot of girls in high school suddenly deciding that they liked me when I got a car. Why?”
“Lucinda said Tom told her she was the woman of his dreams. She didn’t like him until suddenly she did.”
“So his wish came true. Like Mr. Wolf said about Mr. Jerket.”
“There are a lot of legends of mystical, wish-granting artifacts, and every damn one of them goes wrong. Do you know anything about them?”
“Yes. I have a few such artifacts, but none of them consistently mummifies the recipient.”
“Maybe it’s a darker version.”
“That would not explain the burns.”
“Okay, here’s a silly thought; a genie.”
“Yes, that is a silly thought.”
“Where are we going in such a hurry?”
“In a town near Lilly’s, a woman contacted a priest because her two sisters were mummified and she believes she’s next. I would like to question her before she dies.”
Chapter 5
The flight was even longer than the previous ones and after getting off at a major airport, we had to drive an hour through the mountains to reach the small town. “I think we’re missing a big clue,” I said.
“Are you still suspecting witchcraft?”
“I don’t know witchcraft as well as you do. It sounds more like a creature that’s attacking people now.”
“I agree,” he said. “It’s harder to cover up witchcraft and there have been enough murders that this would be difficult for one person to do. If it’s witchcraft, it’s probably and entire coven doing it. It could also be an artifact, but none of my contacts have gotten word about it and I don’t see how it could get around like this.”
“Right. That would be limited to a small area or leave a trail instead of cropping up all over the place.”
The silence was comfortable as we both considered the options. I knew more about the four main paranormals, while he knew more about magic. We worked well together, even if we were on the wrong track. I started wondering if he could use my help in tracking down magical artifacts. I could learn about magic and Brandy could handle the bar.
“I’m surprised you don’t have any scars, considering how dangerous your work must be,” I said.
“I have been wounded numerous times. I heal without scarring. Speaking of scars…” he said,
running his fingers across my left shoulder. Even though I was fully clothed, I knew he was thinking of the circular scar on my shoulder. It was lighter than the skin around it, but not raised.
“I was climbing on a shelf in my father’s lab when I was two and the shelf fell on me. Something cut or burned me. I don’t remember it and my father was more concerned with my safety than what it was. I sort of remember him being way too protective for a few years after, but I was young, so it’s just an impression.”
“What about your mother? Where was she during your Tarzan days?”
“I don’t have a mother.”
“You mean she died or you never met her?”
“I mean that I went to my dad when I was four and asked him who she was. He asked me if I wanted to meet her and I said I did. Then he opened the drawer and pulled out a test tube. Knowing my father, I didn’t question him. My father probably designed me, because he doesn’t like chance. Didn’t like chance,” I amended.
When the sun rose, I had to get in the back and cover up with a blanket. I didn’t fall asleep until he parked and got out of the truck.
* * *
1986
I was too young to make sense of my surroundings at the time, but I was in a crib in my dad’s laboratory. My dad was there, but he wasn’t working. Instead, he was staring down a teenager who had a gun.
The younger boy was crying. “He seduced my mother. She left because of him.”
“I’m not going to tell you how to kill an incubus,” my father said. “You can file a complaint with the wizard council.”
“They won’t help me!” the boy shouted hysterically. “He destroyed my family!”
“I can’t help you,” my father said, still calm.
“You know how to kill them!”
“I can’t give you that information.”
“Then you’re just as bad as him!” His gun shook until he saw me standing in my crib. Without a word, he turned the gun on me and shot me. I heard my dad shout.