Where had the guard seen Morton? Had he made contact in some way?
A thousand questions crowded my brain and my response was to snap at Rob. "Sorry," I held up a hand. "I didn't mean that."
"Those two have to know they're hunted, now, and not just by humans," Rob waved off my apology.
"You're right. What do you suppose they will do about that?"
"It's my guess they're cowards, at their core," Rob said. "They're fine killing humans. We can't attribute any paranormal deaths to them, though, outside of Cassie's mother and perhaps her aunt. Nothing recent, anyway, unless they managed to kill the water demon in California. I have the idea it wasn't them doing that job."
"So, what does this mean?" I asked.
"I think they'll do what Morton did the first time, and head for the border."
"The Chancellor knows where that house is," I began.
"No, Morton found a way the last time. There's nothing to prevent him from acquiring another property—by legal or illegal means."
"You're telling me we could be seeing more deaths on their way to the border?"
"Yes. If we managed to spook them, they may be hightailing it out of the state now."
"Leaving Shakkor Agdah and their plans behind, whatever those are."
"Yes."
"Should we discuss this with Cassie?"
"I'd like to wait, but as Princess, we really ought to tell her what we think."
"Trial by fire," Rob said, "and I'm aware of the pun."
* * *
Cassie
"So we're waiting to hear about more murders on the way to Mexico?" I asked.
"Morton did it before," Cliff pointed out.
"Yeah. Maybe he was worried somebody would turn him in after Mom disappeared."
"Perhaps your aunt?" Rob suggested.
"I don't know. Shelbie never said anything about that, although we both sort of knew."
"My concern is that Ross and his bunch may have had dealings with Shakkor Agdah back then," Cliff said. "And the Prince may have been involved, too, although I suspect he was in it for the money and whatever power he could gain from it."
"You knew him?" I turned to Cliff. Cliff looked grim, Rob snorted.
"I take it you both did," I said, my voice dry.
"We kept away from him as much as we could," Cliff explained. "Relations between the demons and werewolves were rather strained at the time."
"The sprite kingdoms withdrew from contact," Rob said. "I came to support Cliff, should the need arise."
"Are you talking an uprising?" My eyes widened as I gazed from Rob to Cliff and back again.
"In a manner of speaking," Cliff hedged. "Nobody liked Jasper."
"That name gives me the shivers," I said. I worried that Shelbie's access to the Chancellor was through Jasper Bridges, Prince of Alabama and secret ally of Ross Diablo, back when Mom disappeared.
Her concern, if she'd voiced it, would never have reached Parke's father, who was Chancellor at the time.
It's the way things worked—you went through channels. The Chancellor was inundated enough with concerns from the royalty regarding their subjects. Shelbie's voice wouldn't have been heard, in all likelihood.
"Then I hope you relay this information to Daniel," I said, coming to a decision. "I'm concerned about sending all our investigators toward the border, though."
"I'll let him know to split his forces if he has to travel out of state to follow their trail," Rob agreed.
* * *
Parke
"Where do you believe you'll be the most effective?" I asked. Daniel had called, telling me that Dalton and Morton could be headed toward the border, after they learned they'd been associated with the Alabama murders.
"I'd prefer to track them," Daniel said. "Lance and a few others can continue their search here. I'll take the earth sprite tracker, another rock demon and a werewolf with me."
"Do it, then," I gave my permission. "Let me know if you pick up their trail. Tell Lance the same. If I have to get on a plane to come down there myself, I will."
"Will do." Daniel ended the call.
I had no idea what shape Cassie was in, but she'd issued orders through Rob, who'd signed on as her personal assistant. At least she wasn't completely closed off from everything, although the deaths had to be a terrible blow to her.
I understood that she felt responsible.
She hadn't committed the murders and was blameless under the law. They were attempting to attack her any way they could—through emotions and self-blame.
It was despicable and the act of cowards.
Baby, I tapped on my cell phone, stop blaming yourself. They'd attack whoever was in the royal chair in your place, if you'd refused. This is the act of cowards, nothing more. Love you.
I hit send before I could erase the message.
That's when the text from Daniel came through. Suspicious murder reported in Pascagoula, he sent. Motive: robbery of victim carrying cash receipts to bank from business. Thawing body of vic found in marsh water near a bridge.
* * *
Cassie
"It looks like they may have murdered the assistant manager from a Pascagoula grocery and gas station," Cliff said, handing his tablet to me. "The body was pulled from marsh water, north of the I-90 Bridge. It was thawing after being frozen."
"They just can't stop themselves, can they?" I frowned at Cliff.
"Doesn't look like it. Rumor is they got away with around five thousand, cash. That will get them to the border."
"What are they driving?" I asked.
"Good question. Nobody saw anything when the victim was attacked earlier. His car is still where he left it—in the bank parking lot."
"You think they were staking out the bank or the business?"
"Could be either one. Both near the highway."
"Fuck."
"Exactly what I was thinking, Princess."
* * *
Dinner was chicken and dumplings—Gina was a master at making it, because it woke up my appetite. Will nodded his approval and kept eating. Cliff got a text, read it, then handed his phone to me.
There'd been another murder—this one in New Orleans. They really were heading toward the border and killing indiscriminately along the way.
My cell phone dinged; I'd gotten a text. I handed Cliff's phone back and looked at my own.
Daniel has reported sighting; matches descriptions of DK and MK. Louisiana State Police on trail. Trey's department warning them to stay back until Feds can step in. Daniel trying to get there first.
I handed my phone to Cliff, who read the message, let Rob read it, then passed it back to me.
Tell him to be careful, I texted back. They're evil.
Understood, appeared on my phone.
I was still miffed with Daniel for giving Parke rotten advice, but as we were now separated, I suppose it no longer mattered. I released a pent-up breath and pocketed the phone.
Will had continued eating throughout and didn't question anything. I was grateful.
* * *
Ruudann
"Let them go. They will distract the enemy," I responded to Vaalenn's question concerning the fleeing ice demons. "We will collect them later, when their flight is no longer beneficial to our plan. We have others to depend on, should there be need."
Vaalenn's smile was lovely to see. Her skin was flawless, her face free of the poison sacs. She'd said it was her strategy. She'd placed extra sacs on other parts of her body. Vaalenn could release that poison if an enemy touched any part of her torso.
It made me smile that she was so canny. She would appeal to any human and many paranormals with her beauty.
She was the spider; her body was the web they would never leave alive.
* * *
Dalton King
They were on our trail and had been since we'd killed the convenience store manager in the bank parking lot.
We needed more money; I'd expected more cash than
what the fucking human carried. People used too many credit cards these days.
It didn't matter; we had friends in New Orleans. We'd lose our tail there.
* * *
Cassie
"Go to bed; you can't help them—the Chancellor's team will deal with this," Gina said.
"I just want to make sure our guys shoot first and ask questions later, when those two are both dead," I whispered. Was it wrong to say that about members of your family?
"Kent says the trail is cold in Mobile—that guard didn't talk to anybody about the sighting, and it's too late to ask him questions."
"I feel like we're missing something," I said. "Something important. As if we've been looking in the wrong direction all along."
"I know, but what can we do about it? My gran says that sometimes we have to be hit over the head with something before we notice," Gina grinned.
"Yeah, but what if we're hit so hard we don't wake up again?" I was Princess of Alabama, and this was so far out of my league it was frightening.
Had Shakkor Agdah waited for this? For an untried Chancellor? Why hadn't Ross waited to go to war with them? Was he so confident that he could win the Christmas war that he struck first?
I was untried, too. They would see me as an easy target, with my inexperience. That made me more than grateful that Rob and Cliff stood with me.
It did nothing to ease my fears.
"Stop fretting and go to bed," Gina ordered. "You can't function if you don't get some sleep. By the way, I'll take the job as chief cook and bottle washer, but we need to find somebody to clean. I have a couple of suggestions. We can talk about that in the morning."
"All right. We really do need somebody to clean and do laundry," I agreed. "I can't keep up with all of it."
"Great. We can send them to get groceries, too," Gina said.
"Fine. I'm going to bed," I yawned. "See you at breakfast."
"Sounds good, Princess."
"Please don't Princess me," I waved a hand and walked toward the doorway. "I feel enough like a fraud already."
* * *
Ruudann
The tiny cameras worked perfectly. I watched the live feed as the box was opened by a bribed prison guard. He expressed his surprise just before the first of three tiny drones fired at him, their poison darts piercing his eyes and blinding him instantly. His death was assured, once the prisoners escaped their cells.
Trucks driven by my subjects were already on their way, prepared to take the select few we'd chosen. The others—their fate was already sealed.
* * *
Parke
"They're in New Orleans somewhere." Daniel called when he and his crew reached that city.
"Trey said his people are aware," I responded. "We may have to hold back and let them handle this for a while. Unless they kill again."
"They'd be fools to do it," Daniel grumbled. I could tell he was frustrated that he and his team had lost sight of Dalton and Morton. Daniel was focused on taking them down and didn't like to admit defeat, especially when he'd gotten as close as he had.
"What about the car they were driving?" I asked.
"Abandoned at a service station outside town. My guess is somebody picked them up, but the station in question didn't have surveillance cameras on that part of the parking lot. Nobody saw anything."
"So they have friends in the city," I surmised.
"Looks that way."
"What do you want to do now?" I asked. "Go back to Alabama, or stay in New Orleans and keep looking for those two."
"You know I want to stay here."
"Then stay there. See if the sprite tracker can do anything at all to help find them."
"He's working on it. He says they have to stand on open ground for him to get a vibe," Daniel explained.
"Understood. Keep me posted." I ended the call and forced my body to relax. I'd been tense since learning that Dalton and Morton managed to disappear in New Orleans.
* * *
Ruudann
After the sixth bribed guard died at a sixth prison, I considered the effort and careful planning worthwhile. It had taken years to perfect this, and all of it was going smoothly—frighteningly so. This made up my losses and for the ineptitude of two ice demons to bring about the deaths of the werewolf king and his earth sprite follower.
A seventh guard died while I considered those things.
As for this plan, I imagined the panic that would come of it—and the increased panic when the country learned what we had in store for it. It made me laugh with joy.
* * *
Cassie
Cassie, wake. Those words jolted my brain like an electric charge. It wasn't Parke's voice, or Rob's or any other I might expect.
Will.
Will, telling me to wake. I was still groggy enough to consider that I could be dreaming.
Cassie. Wake. Now.
It wasn't a dream. "Huh?" I spoke foolishly aloud.
There are too many of them, Will spoke again. We must do what we can.
Chapter 16
Cliff
He hadn't spoken only to me. I joined a frightened Cassie and a very worried Rob in the kitchen.
All of us had dressed hastily, without concern as to what we'd flung on our backs. Will walked through the back door.
He hadn't bothered to open it. He merely walked through it.
"No need to fear," he held up a hand. "Your ancestors would have called me a wizard. Or a sorcerer. Maybe a dozen other things," he said. "We have no time. Shakkor Agdah has released the prisoners from fifteen prisons inside the state. Other prisons in other states are experiencing the same. Alabama is perhaps hardest hit. We must do what we can, although it will be a pittance, when all is said and done."
"We can call the state police," Cliff pulled his cell from a pocket.
"You will sentence them to death. Every prisoner on the loose is infected with Black Myth's new poison. They will infect other humans, who will not know to protect themselves."
"Fuck me," Rob cursed. "This will require paranormals only," he added.
"Yes. I suspected something on a grand scale, but this surpasses my worst fears," Will said. "Come. We have work to do."
* * *
Parke
The voice that woke me from a deep sleep commanded me to attend to business as the Chancellor.
What the hell? Who is this? I demanded.
Will—the gardener in Alabama, he replied. Every state prison in Alabama has been breached, the prisoners infected by Black Myth's poison and the escapees are heading toward the population centers. We will attempt to stop what we can.
Prisons in other states are facing the same. Oklahoma. Arizona. Colorado. New York. Notify your people. Unprotected humans attempting to apprehend these will also be infected.
Why should I believe you? I snapped. I have no idea whether to believe any of this.
Then I will allow you to see through my eyes and speak with those who are with me.
I blinked.
I'd been transported mentally to a wooded area. Cassie, Rob and Cliff stood before me. "Cassie?" My voice came through the one I inhabited.
"We've only found a few," Cassie said, pointing to the leaf-strewn ground behind her. "They're scattering," panic made her voice higher.
Three men, dressed in prison garb, lay on the ground. "They're already showing signs of the poison," Rob stated flatly.
My host's legs carried me toward the dead men. Red and black veins showed on their faces. It was exactly how Prince Alfred described the humans infected in California—shortly before they died.
They have a short span of time to infect others before they die, Will's voice spoke in my mind again. We are too slow at this; these escapees number in the many thousands.
How long? I asked.
Days, at best. Adverse conditions will hasten their demise. They can still infect after their deaths, however, so humans without protection cannot touch.
That meant check
ing for a pulse would infect anyone thinking to help or looking for signs of life. First responders would be extremely vulnerable.
This had disaster written all over it.
I'll get with Trey's department, I sent, before recalling that Will probably didn't know anything about it.
I do know, he replied. I merely can't be in two places at once.
* * *
"This is Director Logan." I'd finally reached Trey's superior, after raising a near-fit with two other people who'd answered the phone.
"We have a disaster on our hands," I said. "It involves Black Myth and the poison they've developed."
"The same as that in California?"
"Yes. And if you'll check, there have been massive prison escapes in five states. It's my understanding that all the escapees have been infected, and will also infect anyone who touches them."
* * *
Cassie
Daylight found us exhausted at the kitchen table. We'd killed perhaps eight hundred out of thousands of escapees in Alabama alone.
News of massive prison breaks were on every television channel. People were warned to lock themselves inside their homes and stay home from work unless they were first responders or medical personnel. Photographs provided by the CDC from the California poisonings were splashed across screens everywhere, so they'd know what signs of the poison disease to look for.
Parke's last text indicated that vampires could be effective against the escapees, but they could only work at night. It would take time for the Vampire Council to coordinate the search.
As for the rest of us paranormals, he'd already called for those able to travel immediately to go to the affected states and join with the royalty there. Assignments would be handed out upon arrival.
Surrounding states were all on alert; Cliff, looking wearier than the night of the full moon after fighting off Shakkor Agdah, had called for werewolves to pick up the scent of escapees who'd headed for hills, wooded areas and forests.
Will, though, looked weary and grim. Anger still flashed in his eyes, as if he were furious that this had sneaked up on him.
He'd said he hadn't expected Black Myth's attack to be so widespread.
People were already beginning to panic. Grocery stores were running out of supplies in the affected states. They were hunkering down for a storm that could prove deadlier than any that had come before.
Your Money's Worth: Seattle Elementals, Book 1 Page 22