by Ayer, T. G.
He pulled back quickly. "We have Sentinel on guard duty on this side of the sidewalk, and Omega throwing their weight around on the other side of the street."
"Why are both organizations watching the place?" I asked.
"They don't trust each other right now," said Saleem softly, giving Logan's enigmatic face a glance.
"With good reason," I said, my tone dry and little too hard.
Saleem grinned. I wasn't the only person on this sidewalk who didn't feel friendly toward Omega.
"So. You spiriting us inside the building?" I asked him.
Saleem nodded and held out a hand. Then he looked at Logan. "Coming?'
Logan nodded and grasped his arm.
When we rematerialized it was inside a dim hallway that stretched ahead of us into darkness. A door loomed a few feet from us. We'd solidified outside the bar where the kids had been killed, and somehow the murky dark that occupied the threshold to that awful place seemed to be filled with ominous shadows.
I took a step closer and inhaled a sharp breath. Logan placed a supportive palm on the small of my back, leaving it there for a few comforting seconds.
And then we entered the darkness.
CHAPTER 23
MY NOSE TWITCHED, THE PANTHER scenting the coppery tang of blood. Although dried and old, the life essences in the children's blood called to me and I stepped deeper into the room.
Logan held out a hand, barring me from moving forward When I glanced at him he pointed down. A little yellow flag lay beside a dark spot on the grey concrete floor.
Blood.
Stupid. I should have known to be careful at a crime scene. Instead, I'd barreled inside like an idiot oblivious to the evidence I could destroy by carelessness.
Get it together, Odel.
I sank into a crouch and stared at the dark spot as Saleem stepped around me to do his own search. The blood had dried to a red-brown, so much like the ochre sand of the African village that I had to suppress a shudder.
I drew on my senses and focused, giving my panther more access to my human body. My nostrils flared as I huffed in more of the scents around me, and I smelled the blood itself.
My ability to smell blood remains went only so far as to identify it as blood with a particular unique odor. And yet, now, as I stared at the reddish blotch, and inhaled the scent of the DNA, an image floated before me.
I blinked and jerked back slightly, thankfully not too far that I fell over on my butt.
"What is it?" whispered Saleem as he too hunkered down beside me.
I stared blankly at his dark face for a moment, unsure what it was that had just happened to me.
"You okay?" he pressed, his brow furrowed in concern.
I cleared my throat. "I've always been able to smell blood, then identify the owner at a later stage by recognition. Like a bloodhound. But now, for some reason I can see an image of someone when I smell that drop of blood."
Saleem frowned. "Could be a coincidence?"
I shrugged. And looked back at the drop on the floor, seeing again the blurred image of a girl.
"How about we test it?" I glanced back up at Saleem as he spoke. "Keep studying the room, and when you get to the next blood smear, see if that also has the same result for you?"
I nodded and got to my feet, feeling the wobble in my legs match the strange tumble within my gut. What the hell was going on with me?
I scanned the room, my eyes falling on Logan who'd wandered over to the far wall beside a huge pile of debris.
A scent, out of place amongst the odors of the kids who'd been regulars within the room, caught my nose. A stronger, feral, more adult note. My nostrils twitched as I scented the air again, studying the notes. Again I blinked when the image of a man came into view.
His humanity was clear from the odor, but there was something strange about it. Something I couldn't quite fathom. His face brought back the images I'd seen of the silver-eyed killer from Mika's memories. I frowned, unsure if I should trust the instinct that was saying I'd caught the scent of the killer. Or wonder if this was just me projecting my memories of Mika's vision into the scent.
I cleared my throat and decided to try a different tactic.
I headed over to Logan, coming to a halt beside him, I asked, "So can you describe what it looked like when you saw it? I'm assuming they've cleaned up the place a little."
From where I stood, I could see smatterings of dark patches marring the concrete and the bare walls behind Logan. More blood, but I wasn't yet ready to tackle those stains.
Logan nodded and passed me his phone. The screen showed clearly the initial damage, hiding little of the horror of the scene. There were scraps of clothing and pieces of flesh from the victims littering the floor.
I suppressed a shudder at the horror of it all. Inhaling sharply, I looked closer and began to compare the image with what the room looked like now. They'd removed the bodies, and swept the debris, both concrete and wood, all to one side of the room.
I studied the patterns of where the children had ended up and the bloodstains that now remained. Then I gave the tablet back to Logan, hoping that if he saw the tremor in my hand, he would ignore it.
He did.
I inhaled again and walked closer to another streak of blood that marked the rutted concrete floor. The ground too bore the marks of the impact of the explosive force used to kill the kids.
I crouched down and studied the patch of blood, lowering my nose closer to the surface. I felt self-conscious knowing my panther nose took a partial physical form and that my human face would look decidedly feline. Neither Saleem nor Logan would say anything but the fact they'd see me in partial animal form made me uncomfortable.
Again, the scent of the blood penetrated deep into my nasal passages and I inhaled and concentrated.
Then I hissed with shock.
A face hovered in front of me. A face I knew. A girl, all blue hair and metal jewelry. The pool player from my vision.
This was her blood.
I surged to my feet still staring down at the blood. "This belonged to a paranormal girl. Around seventeen. She was dressed punk style, lots of metal, a dog-collar. And she was an air Mage. She played pool with her ability to manipulate air energy."
When I looked up, both Logan and Saleem were staring at me, their eyes wide and white.
"Did you go full-psychic on us all of a sudden?" asked Logan.
I gave a dry laugh. "I wish. Nerina showed me what Mika saw. When I smelled this blood I saw the face of that girl again. She seemed to be the leader because she was the one who called the group together. The killer convinced her to do that. Apparently he wanted to tell them something important--or that's what it sounded like."
Logan's jaw went tight. "Must have been bloody important for such a large group to gather."
I shrugged. "Or the girl commanded the respect of her group. Think about it. All Storm has to do is send out word and dozens gather."
Saleem made a face. "Sometime people obey because they're too scared not to."
"Good point," I said, giving a reluctant nod. "For the record, I didn't get that impression from the behavior of the people in the room before the massacre."
"So they trusted her," said Logan softly as he scanned the devastated room.
I nodded, tempted to lean against the only clean space on the concrete wall.
"And then they died for it." Saleem's words hung in the air as he shifted away from me toward a concrete pillar.
I opened my mouth to respond, but didn't get the chance. A bullet plunged into the wall an inch from my ear, sending small shards of concrete and plaster flying into my face.
I felt the sting as the sharp edges of debris cut into my skin, but I ignored the slight pain and dropped to the ground in a crouch.
Logan grabbed my arm and tugged me closer. "You okay?" His voice was harsh as he ducked below the line of a barrage of gunfire that peppered the back wall.
Something warm and wet s
lid down my left cheek. Logan swiped his hand over my skin, glared at his blood-stained palm, and then gripped my chin hard while he inspected the damage.
I tugged out of his grasp--I hated being babied--and another bullet whizzed past my ear, so close the heat of the metal warmed my skin as it passed me. I grunted and ducked lower, checking on Saleem as I did so.
He was missing a chunk of his shoulder-length hair and his face was set and grim. "Who the hell is shooting?" he snarled. "And why?"
Another round of gunfire. A dull thud high in my chest. I looked down. Red liquid flowed out from a hole in my leather jacket.
I'd been shot.
CHAPTER 24
"YOU'RE HIT." LOGAN STARED AT the gory bloodstain spreading from under the palm of my hand and down the front of my shirt, his expression shocked and angry.
Why did people always get angry at me when I got shot?
"You think?" I snarled, keeping the pressure on the wound. My body's initial shock had worn off. Now the pain was starting and my panther wasn't happy.
Before Logan could respond the air beside me shimmered cloudy and gray and Nerina materialized.
Her eyes went wide as gunfire peppered the wall above her and she dropped beside me with a sharp gasp.
"What is going on?" she squeaked.
"Kai's getting shot," snapped Logan.
I didn't bother to respond. "What took you so long?"
She gave an apologetic shrug. "Lady Kira was listing her requirements. She wants you to--"
Seriously?
"Not now, Nerina. I'm busy."
Nerina's gasp told me she had finally noticed the gaping hole in my chest.
"You've been shot."
"Exactly what I was just saying," said Logan dryly. He popped his head up to peer over the broken wall. Another burst of gunfire had him ducking down fast.
"We need to stop the bleeding," said Saleem. "Walkers heal fast but blood loss is still not good."
To her credit Nerina didn't miss a beat. She gathered her skirts together and tore a wide strip of fabric off the bottom. "It's a good thing we're required to wear such voluminous skirts." A couple of seconds later and she held a solid pad of material. "Let me see it."
I lifted my hand. "You don't need to use that," I said, shaking my head. "The bullet will come on its own out soon. It wasn't very deep. See?"
Nerina just stared at my chest, her expression strained. I sucked in a painful breath and realized that somewhere in the last little while my pain had increased, not dissipated. Now agony blazed within my flesh.
Nerina leaned closer and pulled the shirt fabric away from my broken skin. I blinked and tried to focus on what she was looking at. Along with blood there was a light blue liquid leaking out of the wound.
"Now that's not something you see every day," I said and caught my breath.
"This is nothing to joke about."
I peered over the rubble at him and raised my eyebrows. "Well, if you saw this for yourself you'd know what I mean."
Logan glanced over his shoulder at Saleem. "Cover me."
The djinn gave him a brief nod and he elbowed over toward me, keeping low to the ground.
Rocks fell and dust rose in the air around us as Logan reached my side. Nerina moved to give him space.
"What in God's name is that?" he asked, his voice breaking on a harsh cough as he sucked in dust.
Nerina lifted her hand. Blue liquid gleamed on the tip of her forefinger. She squinted at it. "It looks like some kind of liquid metal."
"Like Mercury?" I felt strangely adrift, as if I was experiencing everything from a distance. Even the agony had grown a dull edge.
"Very much like it. And it glows. So I'd guess it's poisonous too," she said, her face dark with worry. "Kai, you need medical help. This isn't a good. We have no idea what they shot you with."
Logan touched my arm and then my face. "Nerina is right. We have to get you out of here." He raised his voice. "Saleem, take Kai out of here while I hold them off."
But Saleem had an odd look on his face and the moment I saw his greyed, furrowed forehead I knew that something was terribly wrong.
"Saleem?"
He gave me a rueful smile and glanced down at his stomach. His navy shirt was stained dark, and glistening with blood as he leaned back against the rubble. "Don't worry. I'm not dead yet. But . . . I am grounded. Normally, I'd be able to take you with me even if we're both injured, but for some reason I'm too weak."
"It's that liquid. I'm sure it's some kind of poison." Nerina kept her voice low. At least she was thinking straight.
"Something that affects paranormals." I gazed up at the unpainted ceiling. "Now, who would have a weapon that could injure us like this? That can kill paranormals with a single blast of energy?"
"I have no idea, but I'm damn well going to find out." Logan crouched over me. "Saleem, can you leave on your own?"
He thought about it for a second. "I believe I could. I have just enough energy for myself."
"Then do it," I said. "And stay off Omega's radar until you're healed."
Saleem nodded, saluted with a blood-stained finger to his forehead and disappeared into nothing.
I inhaled, the sound harsh and ragged, and I glanced again at my wound. But, I didn't have time to pay attention to myself. Not with Logan a sitting duck behind the rubble and Nerina a target if she stayed. "You need to get out of here, Nerina."
Logan nodded agreement. "Yes, Nerina, Go now. Kai and I can figure out what to do next."
But she was shaking her head. "I'm not going anywhere. I can leave whenever I want. I can move from place to place within seconds. I'm safe here. And I can help."
Logan didn't blink, clearly unimpressed as he studied her face, then returned his attention to the hole in the wall. "How?"
But even as she'd described her ability, I'd had a thought. "Could you get behind the gunmen without them knowing. Maybe shift over there, grab a weapon and come back here?"
Her eyebrows lifted and then she began to smile. "What a brilliant idea." She pushed into a crouch. "I'll be back."
"I hope so," I muttered as she shimmered away.
A shout rose from across the road, followed almost instantly by another yell, and then Nerina was back carrying a short rifle fitted with a scope in each hand.
"Well done."
"It was all I could manage on the first trip." She handed one rifle to Logan, the other to me.
I grinned. "Did you get an idea of where they are?"
She nodded. "Yes. I had one false start. They are further back than I expected. They're hiding behind a vehicle on the other side of the street. A navy Chevrolet."
Logan grunted. "That's the Omega team's car."
"Do you think they're the ones shooting at us?"
"Maybe they think we're intruders?" suggested Nerina, her usually ashen skin now flushed.
"That's a possibility."
"What about the Sentinel vehicle?" I said, frowning and hoping there wouldn't be more bodies for us to find outside.
Logan shook his head. "I can't see anyone inside the car. Maybe they're slumped down out of sight."
"Nerina, could you do another recon?" I asked her softly. "Check the Sentinel car and come straight back."
She nodded, disappeared, materialized again within seconds. Her mouth opened slowly, as if she struggled to say the words.
I saved her the trouble. "They're dead, aren't they?"
CHAPTER 25
NERINA SWALLOWED HARD BEFORE GIVING a jerk of her head, which I interpreted as a nod.
"Did you see anything else the first time you went to take the guns?"
Nerina squinted and studied the ceiling for a few seconds while she thought. "No. Actually I didn't."
I sighed and pushed up into a sitting position. "Then it's probably Omega agents who are shooting at us, which means Omega is part of this whole conspiracy." I glanced over at Logan, who was now watching me, his eyes dark with worry. "But that does
n't explain why they're shooting at you too. You're Omega. They know you."
He shrugged. "Not everyone in Omega knows who I am. Maybe they do think we're intruders."
We were intruders.
"So it's okay if an Omega team takes out a Sentinel team and then shoots with intent to kill at anything else that moves?"
My voice held a note of accusation but it was how I saw it and I couldn't seem to hold back. When Logan turned my way again I was glad to see that he was pissed off. With Omega, I hoped, and not with me for daring to say something against his agency.
I suppressed a sigh and forged on. "So how do we get out of this alive?"
"I can take more of their weapons away," Nerina said.
I shook my head. "Too dangerous. You've hit them twice. They'll now be ready for you now."
Her face fell.
"But there is a way you can help," said Logan, although he clearly didn't like what he was about to suggest.
Nerina's expression brightened.
"Give us a distraction," he said. "Go to the other end of the street, cause some kind of disturbance, get them focused on you. Then we'll try to get out of here."
She nodded. "Good plan."
I thought so too. "Just don't do anything stupid."
She grinned. "I won't. I'll make them come after me--or at least look in my direction."
I nodded and she disappeared. "We've created an adrenaline junkie," I said as Logan hauled me up. "Kira's going to kick my ass."
"Forget Kira. I'm going to kick your ass if you don't get it moving."
It was hard moving in a crouch. The fire burning into my flesh was way worse than the wraith obsidian poison I'd encountered not so long ago.
I gritted my teeth as Logan and I crawled across the ground to the door. The passage outside led directly onto the street, its glass windows shattered by the original incident.
If we stepped into the corridor now we'd be in full view of the shooters. But from where we sat on the threshold we were unable to see outside. Both positions were dangerous. I pulled a compact from my bag and flipped it open.