Your Money's Worth: Seattle Elementals, Book 1
Page 14
"At least we have a fridge," I said and moved toward the built-in behemoth that had come with the property. We wouldn't have beds until they were delivered in two days. Sofas, rugs and other furniture would have to provide sleeping surfaces until that happened.
I set two gallons of milk and three dozen eggs into the fridge while Parke followed Cliff and Rob back to the van to unload more groceries. I wondered about Agent Rivers and where he would stay, if he stayed to investigate.
I wondered, too, whether Daniel and Parke had a plan for digging into what had happened here already, in addition to the new problem cropping up in California.
"We have room, I think there's a large storm shelter in the garage," I heard Parke say as he hefted two bags of groceries onto the counter with one hand. His cell was held between shoulder and ear as he set two more bags beside the first two.
He was talking to the vampire agent—that much was clear. Parke was offering him a place to stay with us. I'd never been that close to a vampire before and wondered what it would be like.
He'll only be awake during night hours, I reminded myself. Vampires never drank from an elemental demon—our blood wouldn't provide sustenance for them. Human blood was best; vampires were once human, after all.
"He'll be here in forty-five," Parke said after ending the call and tucking his cell phone in a pocket.
"Are we still having pizza for dinner?" I asked, unloading a bag filled with spaghetti and jars of sauce.
"Pizza sounds good, actually," Cliff said. "Who's getting it?"
"Lyle," Parke said. "Should be here any time."
* * *
Trey Rivers
The drive from Birmingham to the address the Chancellor gave me wasn't a long one. I had information on the California poisonings, too, that I needed to give him. I realized the Prince of California had probably believed initial evidence, when nothing could be further from the truth.
Yes, a water demon died. That water demon was there at the request of my superior, in an attempt to keep the stubborn humans who remained in Tyree from drowning in the waters of their own hubris.
That water demon died trying to protect them. He was the first to fall; the humans died afterward. Yes, his water joined the other, but it was merely a by-product of the entire, grisly murders, in my estimation.
I had information on a murder in Houston; a vampire colleague had gone in after the fact and smelled ice demon. Likely, the ice demon in question had disguised himself easily enough inside a walk-in freezer and gotten away afterward, when nobody was looking.
A name my division hadn't seen in years had also cropped up; someone said they'd caught a glimpse of Dalton King.
Dalton's name gave everybody the shivers, and for good reason. It wasn't often you heard of an elemental turning into a serial killer. Dalton King was the poster boy for that small cult.
Dalton had been dead for half a century. Now there was a reported sighting. Morton King, Cassandra's father, could be following in his own father's footsteps. I had photographs of Dalton to show Cassie, so she could tell me how much Dalton resembled her father. If someone had mistaken Morton for Dalton, I needed to report that to my boss.
"Records are kept by each race as to how old its members are," Leondras Christopher, my direct supervisor, told me when I first started working in his division. "The other races are generally unaware as to how old the vampires or werewolves are. Sprites, elemental demons and others are most secretive about their ages. While some of those races are immortal like the vampires are, they can be killed or may give up their lives if they choose to do so."
The report on Dalton King's death was particularly nasty; his ice demon was crushed by a rock demon, bent on revenge for one of Dalton's murders. We'd closed his file after that, content to let the crime of that particular demon's annihilation go.
I almost missed the turnoff for the addition where the Chancellor's new quarters were located. I'd have to pay better attention than that, or I could lead an enemy straight to him. At least no vehicles followed me in; I breathed a sigh once I determined that much.
I'd been too caught up in my thoughts. Leondras would be more than disappointed. He'd ask if I were slipping.
"I'm not slipping," I whispered. "I am engaged, as I should be."
* * *
Cassie
"I drove by Claude Ullery's office on the way in," Lyle reported while everyone else searched through half a dozen pizza boxes for their favorite.
"See anything?" Daniel set three pieces of pepperoni and sausage on a paper plate before grabbing a napkin.
"His car was out front, so he was there," Lyle shrugged. "Two more cars besides his—but there are two other attorneys in his office."
"Doesn't sound like business is booming, then," Parke observed.
"We can get into his financials," Daniel suggested.
"Do it. I'd be interested to know whether he's gotten a large infusion of cash, recently."
"I want to know about his partners," I said before I thought. "Who they are, are they half-demons or humans, and how and when they became partners."
"Good idea. Get that information, too." Parke bit into a slice of pizza.
Rob went still and drew in an audible breath. "My King arrives," his eyes were wide as he turned toward me.
"What?" Parke set down his slice of pizza and wiped his hands.
"Come," Rob pulled me toward the back door. "We must greet him when he arrives."
The front doorbell rang as Rob and I reached the back door.
"I have to get that," Parke said behind me. Rob waved him off, flung the back door open and gripping my hand in his, towed me toward the grass behind the house.
At the front door, Parke was likely greeting the vampire FBI agent. At the back door, Rob and I were waiting for the earth sprite King.
The gibbous moon shining overhead lent sufficient light to cast weak shadows as Rob slipped out of his shoes before moving forward again. "Bow," Rob hissed as a rift split the yard.
I bowed as he did, keeping my eyes on the ground splitting before us. Why was the Earth King coming? I imagined that the pyramid Aunt Shelbie stole would be handed off to scholars to examine.
My breath caught when grass and ground fountained upward before us, as if a giant earthworm had erupted from the backyard.
This was no earthworm.
There was light, which I didn't expect. Two sprites, dressed in battle gear much like Rob's at the full moon, stepped out of the abyss first, followed by their King.
* * *
Parke
"Trey Rivers," he held out his hand. I shook with the vampire agent while my mind was occupied elsewhere.
Of all those in the kitchen, Rob had grabbed Cassie's hand and pulled her toward the backyard. He wanted her to meet his sprite King first.
Why was that?
"I'm very interested in what you have to say about Pauline, Fli-Bi-Net and anyone else involved in this mess," I said, inviting the vampire into the house. "At the moment, however, we should go to the backyard, where the earth sprite King is arriving."
"What?"
"It's very seldom that you will ever surprise a vampire," my father always said. This vampire was surprised.
"Follow me," I beckoned. The vampire followed as I headed for the kitchen and the back door there. "We just found out he was arriving two minutes ago," I explained as we walked through the expansive house.
Why had Rob not expected his King's visit? I attempted to puzzle that out in my head.
Light blasted through the open back door the moment we reached the kitchen. Trey, vampire that he was, narrowed his eyes in response. Vampires weren't used to such bright light, and, I admit, I almost lifted an arm to block some of the light myself.
That would be rude.
I kept my hands at my sides, as did Trey. Lance, Cliff and Lyle followed us out of the house in time to see Cassie and Rob bowing to the sprite King, who emerged from a cleft in the backyard.
"Bow," I hissed at the others gathering about me. Yes, I'd learned paranormal etiquette from my father.
I'd never had to use it until now. I dipped my head; the Chancellor wasn't required to bow to a King, only acknowledge him.
"Ah, my dear," the King went straight to Cassie first, breaking protocol by not coming to me instead. I blinked after lifting my head; the King, dressed in rich leather and velvet, lifted Cassie from her bow. "I must thank you," he said, his voice smooth and accented as he spoke in English. "For saving my General."
Chapter 10
Cassie
King Averill of the earth sprites sat at the kitchen table, eating pizza and drinking hard cider as if he were used to doing it every day.
Three scholars he'd brought with him also sat at the table, eating pizza, drinking hard cider and examining the pyramid as if they were used to doing that every day.
The King's guards stood by the back door, watching the King and the scholars carefully while they tended to business.
Who knew that Rob was the King's General? I sure didn't. I was learning that Rob's position was sort of important in the earth sprite realm.
Rob must have guessed what I was thinking—he and I leaned against the kitchen counter, side-by-side, watching the sprite scholars as they mumbled to each other in their own language while looking at the small pyramid.
"See," Rob whispered, bumping his shoulder against mine, "We're not just a soft drink."
I slapped a hand over my mouth in an attempt to mute the laugh; the gesture was mostly unsuccessful. The King turned toward us and offered a brilliant smile. My cheeks heated, but I smiled back at him.
Earlier, after excusing himself, Parke had taken Daniel and the vampire agent to another room to discuss business. A part of me wanted to know what that entailed. Another part wanted to watch the King and the scholars, hoping they'd tell us something eventually regarding the object they held.
"We believe the words are inconsequential to the object itself," one scholar lifted his eyes to King Averill. "We also believe that the names, which are broken off at the point," he tapped the rough, uneven surface where the pyramid was damaged, "may be more important than the rest. As for the language on the bottom, it is no language that has ever been written on Earth."
The scholar's light-blue eyes rested unblinking, on the King's face. Wispy, pale hair surrounded his face and lifted whenever a breeze blew into the kitchen through the still-open back door.
I wondered why Rob insisted that it stay open, but didn't question his judgement. He was General to the King and the expert in these matters. If the King wanted the door open, then the door would remain open.
At least the outside temperature wasn't unbearably chilly.
"We have no idea why Shakkor Agdah would want this," another scholar spoke. "However, it is an ancient object, and may be important in a way we cannot guess. It would be prudent, therefore, to keep it away from them." His hair and eyes were acorn-brown, in contrast to the first scholar's. The third hadn't bothered to speak in English the entire time. His hair was the orange-gold of an evening sunset.
I wondered at the apparent age differences in the three.
The brown-haired scholar was also stating the obvious, in my opinion. Aunt Shelbie died for that thing. I had no plans to hand it to those who may have played a role in her murder.
* * *
Parke
"Pauline is dead."
Trey's news did and didn't shock me. She was human. She knew about paranormals. She'd been questioned by vampire agents to learn what she knew. "How, then?" I couldn't help asking.
"Not like you think, I'll wager," Trey responded. His dark eyes watched me carefully—was he searching for signs of squeamishness?
He won't find it, I reminded myself.
"Compulsion was placed and she was released. The following day, her body was found in a Dumpster outside a restaurant. Her friends were likely satisfied that she was no longer useful to them."
Compulsion. Vampires, even the weakest among them, had it in some measure. It meant nothing to demons and sprites; we weren't affected by it. Humans and half demons almost always were.
They'd gotten what they wanted from Pauline, probably told her to forget that she'd been questioned, in addition to instructing her to forget everything she'd heard while listening to the bug placed in my office, and then sent on her way.
"Efficient," I nodded respectfully to the vampire. "What about the bug in my office?"
"It has been removed. No need to worry," he held up a hand, "It was removed after hours, with none the wiser. We placed one of ours with your cleaning service, for one night."
"Good. Thank you," I sighed. It concerned me that everyone in the office could be alarmed that my office was bugged. I felt foolish that I'd never suspected Pauline of such duplicity.
I was a fucking truth demon. I should have asked hard questions. I'd have bet money that Cassie would have noticed something right away. While she didn't have my resources to get to the root of a problem, she had a talent for knowing when something felt off.
She'd nailed Geoffrey and Annabelle quickly enough. "Do you know whether Pauline was connected to Geoffrey Gruber and Annabelle Taylor?" I had to know.
"Yes. She said as much. She said you were involved in their deaths."
"As the Chancellor, in a war and after they attacked mine first," I said. "They killed my father."
"Yes, we suspected it after we questioned Pauline. Have no fear, Chancellor. Humans will never know what happened that night—not from us."
"Thank you. I greatly appreciate the cooperation of the vampires," I nodded to Trey. "Tell me about Fli-Bi-Net and their involvement."
"We are still attempting to unravel that connection," Trey admitted. "We have moved to protect Frank Hillman, however. We contacted him last week, to discuss terms for his software. As you know, we can't tip our hand with Fli-Bi-Net, as they are still under investigation. It should appear that the legal matter is proceeding as normal. If and when we learn what we want, we will apply pressure for them to settle this lawsuit out of court. They are guilty of piracy; we have proof of it."
"What about Morton King?" I asked. "How is he involved with all this?"
"We know he was fed information by Pauline. She didn't know why he asked for that information; she merely supplied it. As for his connections to Fli-Bi-Net, we only have that information on our end. Pauline wasn't being compensated enough to realize she was involved in industrial espionage."
"What sort of weapon is Fli-Bi-Net building—for their government contract?" I asked. After all, if they were now working with Frank Hillman, he was probably working the same contract from a separate angle.
"Assassin drones," Trey said, as if that were an everyday occurrence. "The proper software produced by Hillman's company would guarantee at least a ninety-eight-point-four percent kill rate."
"Because it will predict a target's movements," I guessed.
"Yes. The software is a work of genius. Too bad Fli-Bi-Net is managing to fuck it up. Their best accuracy rate is fifteen points less and not likely to improve from that. At least from the schematics our experts have seen and analyzed."
"I'm still not sure how Morton King and Fli-Bi-Net could be connected. Shakkor Agdah I could understand; I can imagine they'd love drones that could kill anybody they wanted, without expending power or energy to do it," I said.
"Have you discussed that with any of your colleagues?" Trey asked.
"Not yet. It's a theory I've come up with since we spoke the first time. It concerns me greatly, because werewolves are vulnerable, as are shapeshifters and several other paranormal races. I don't want to get ahead of myself, though, and panic the entire community based on a supposition."
"The Council has already asked their experts to work out the worst-case scenarios if such a theory prov
ed correct," Trey replied.
"So the vamps got there before I did." That troubled me, for some reason.
"We had information you were not privy to, Chancellor. We did not wish to bring this to your attention, for the very reason you have not alarmed the paranormal community. It could prove false, although the likelihood of that is becoming less with the appearance of Black Myth and their assassination of the Prince of Alabama."
"How did you know about that? I haven't made the announcement," I pointed out.
"The Prince has shapeshifters in his employ. They know. That information has traveled beyond the borders of this state, almost from the moment it happened," Trey said. "My kind are always listening."
"That's more than I was doing," I admitted reluctantly. "That has changed in recent days."
"As you say." Trey was an interesting mix; I understood that he was centuries old; upon occasion, his speech became more formal. I imagined he preferred it and only used modern patterns and vernacular when forced to do so.
"You said you had information on the California flood poisonings?" I asked, breaking away from my wandering thoughts.
"Yes. The Prince has only partial information. The murdered water demon worked for my department. He was there to protect lives. He was killed by an ice demon, and poison was added to his water when it melted. Hence the mistaken belief that a water demon was poisoned and consequently caused the deaths of humans."
I cursed. I wasn't quiet when I did it, either. Trey watched with hooded eyes while I had my fit of anger; I imagined he wanted to have a fit, too, but his training as a vampire prevented it.
Unless I missed my guess, the water demon in question had been a friend.
"I'm sorry," I stopped after a while and rubbed my forehead. "I'll update the Prince of California. You have a death to mourn. Anything I can do to make this loss more bearable, let me know."
"I thank you for that," Trey stood and nodded respectfully. "I must speak with your wife, first. Someone reported a sighting of Dalton King, Morton's father. He was reported as deceased half a century ago. I merely need to show her a photograph of Dalton King, to see how well he resembles her father. We suspect that the sighting was of Morton and not Dalton."