by Holly Rutan
So far, the best language experts and cryptographers we could bring to bear had made no progress decoding the mysterious runic language used for the cult's songs. Penny and her partner were working on analyzing the rifts, which created a strange influx and outflow of power that didn't seem to follow the same rules that we were used to.
The next step would be to determine victims of the terrorists' milking and map those peoples' last known locations, but identifying the bodies and interviewing their families would take time. Somehow I doubted that investigation would be complete in time for whatever was being planned.
"So," I said. "What do you suppose these whack jobs are after?"
"No clue, but whatever it is, it's going to be horrible," Irwin replied, running a finger along Pyggie's back. The little rodent made a chirruping sound and ran in a circle on his desk.
"There's been no statement of purpose, so it could be anything from the annihilation of humankind to demon summoning, who knows?" Penny sighed and closed her eyes, rubbing her fingers over her face. "Paul thinks the rifts actually lead somewhere. Maybe we're in for some kind of invasion? That crazy prophecy suggested something like that. Who the hell is the Master of Death, anyway?"
I opened a desk drawer, revealing my stash of candy, and pulled out a lollipop.. Orange, my favorite. At Irwin's wistful look, I tossed another to him and then removed the wrapper, studying my treat. After a moment, I popped it in my mouth. I always thought better with food.
I continued thinking out loud, tucking the candy in my cheek in a pose reminiscent of Pyggie, who was snacking on hazelnuts on Irwin's desk. "No idea. Investigations hasn’t come up with anything yet, and it doesn’t ring any bells. Whoever it is, he doesn’t appear to actually want anything from us, or the demands would have begun by now."
"I’m not so sure about that," Paul chimed in from the back corner, where he'd been scribbling on paper and speaking to someone Downtown through VVST. "I've just gotten some interesting information from Missing Persons. The official reports have finally come in."
"What?" we all chorused, more or less in unison.
"So the normal population density for Sources—including both snaps and latents—is about one in one hundred," Paul began, then blinked and scribbled down another tidbit.
"Yes, that is well established," Penny answered. "So...?"
"Right now we're looking at more than a thousand dead or missing. The normal assumption in this case would be that, on average, we'd have lost only a few snaps or maybe a full pack or pride of exceptionally unlucky weres, since they live in large family groups." Paul tapped his pen on the desk.
Penny nodded while the rest of us fidgeted impatiently.
"But that is not the case. As of this moment, we are officially missing thirty weres, seventeen mages, and two elementals. That's the official count. There's probably more, especially if a whole group went missing; there wouldn't be any family left to report it. Anyway, almost all of the Shining clan is gone, and the same with the Curved Talon pride, plus several solitaries. They also took a full posse of mages following the current—every single member of the Jenkins family is missing: parents, grandparents, and children. The Pasadena mall had two elemental employees managing the climate control, and they are also gone... No matter how I look at it, there's a theme. Every rift was created at a concentration of snaps, and we haven't found even one of their bodies yet. The bodies we found last night were either not matches at all or reported missing long before the attacks."
I blanched. "And witnesses say they saw people get sucked in. And the rifts were created with blood magic, which requires Source blood. This can’t be a coincidence. Every indication suggested they knew we were coming for them last night. We put pressure on them, and they reacted fast...damn fast. Why do I have the feeling we're running out of time?"
"I'll call the boss," Charles said.
“How did they find them?” Penny asked.
“The mages would have been easy,” Paul answered. “Families follow the current like fish in a river. And the elementals in Pasadena were well known. But I have no idea how they could have found the weres.”
“Who knows? Their magic doesn’t work the same as ours,” Irwin said. “God only knows what they’re capable of.”
I found myself pacing back and forth, growling to myself while Charles talked on the phone. When I realized what I was doing, I forced myself to stop and went over to Paul's desk, where he and Irwin were back at song analysis, trying to put the puzzle pieces of the foreign magic together in a way that made sense. I pulled over a chair and listened. In the mood I was in, I wouldn't be able to read over anyone's shoulder. It was too much mental effort.
"We know we have at least six mages," Paul was saying.
"Seven if you count the necromancer, eight if you count the spirit," I added. "I suspect he's housed in an actual body somewhere. Who would go through the effort of summoning him just to taunt me?"
They both nodded. Irwin cleared his throat and traced a line on one of the papers with a trembling finger.
"I think it's a whole cabal," he commented. "The traditional number is thirteen."
Paul nodded thoughtfully. "There's quite a spike in power at that number, especially if their harmonies are in tune with one another. You're right. The Santa Cruz incident indicated how much strength they have at their disposal, and these rifts here have suggested the manpower. I don't think it's much of a stretch to assume a full thirteen."
"Neither do I," Penny stated. "A full thirteen plus cannon fodder."
"This is absurd," I growled. "You'd think we'd be able to find a group of what, twenty or thirty people with distinctive tattoos? At least some of whom aren't even human?"
"Who create silence around themselves," Paul added. "Except...you can't hear the silence until you're in it, can you? There's no detectable dead spots in the current, at any rate."
"No," I said. "Or I would be able to track them down. I may not have much power, but my hearing is very keen."
We all chewed on that thought for a few minutes.
"Let's backtrack. We have people looking for the cultists already," Penny said, as Charles finished his phone call and pulled his chair into the circle we'd formed. Penny brought him quickly up to speed, and he frowned.
"So if I understand correctly, all of the places they hit had a higher concentration of Sources than usual. What about the current?" Charles suggested.
"Hold on, I have a map." I hopped out of my chair and headed to my computer. I had bookmarked a website charting the current flow in Los Angeles at Moira's suggestion, since it was the easiest way to track the more mobile mage encampments. I brought it up, and everyone crowded around. The map flickered and reloaded every few seconds.
"Huh, that's interesting," Paul remarked. "The La Brea current is drifting..."
The website mapped out Greater Los Angeles much like a weather map, since magical current flowed in very similar patterns. The areas of high concentrations were marked in red and low concentrations in blue. As the concentrations shifted, they drove the currents ahead of them.
I stared at the map with a sinking feeling in my gut. "It's drifting north."
"Straight to the Valerio spring," Charles said. "See that bulge where it's bowing? How fast?"
I checked, squinting at the screen. "Three miles an hour," I replied. "That's way fast."
"Unusually fast," Paul said, and frowned. "When will it connect with the upwelling there?"
Charles did some quick math on a scrap of paper and then held the answer up for us all to see. "Midnight tonight," he said. "Bets on that being the next target?"
"I won't take that bet," Penny answered.
Irwin, who had been silent for most of the time, nestled Pyggie in his big hands and held the little chipmunk to his chest. Sensing something wrong, I turned to him. He sighed after several long, quiet moments.
"I don't think I can handle going down to Valerio with both the current and the spring convergi
ng in the same place," Irwin admitted. "I'm not grounded enough."
"I am concerned about that too," Paul said. "I haven't been to Valerio, but its reputation is formidable."
"It was so loud last time I nearly lost myself," Irwin said. "It thunders like a locomotive."
Grateful that I was more anchored to reality than most other mages, I turned away to check if Voneshi had gotten on VVST yet. He wasn't, so with a grimace, Charles picked up the phone again. We'd have to find out what we were doing before we could count the mages in or out.
After a brief conversation, Charles hung up the phone. "Boss says to get our asses down there immediately. Tac squads are heading in now, and that's a negative on the mages. Irwin, Paul, you'll both have to stay on the perimeter. We need you too much to leave you behind, so you’ll have to come as close as you can handle."
"What about me?" I asked.
"You're fine. There haven't been many hybrid mages, but we do know that not one's been drowned in the current in the last fifty years," he said with a crooked smile. The fluttery mix of anxiety and relief in my gut wasn't entirely my own, and I echoed his expression.
Paul cleared his throat, and we got going.
Chapter Nineteen
I halted at the concrete barrier that defined the line between the city and Valerio Street and caught my breath. On one side, Antonio's thugs were grouped in singles and clusters with weapons drawn. On the other, DMA agents did the same. The weaponry displayed was remarkably similar.
"Oh, for Chrissakes. What the hell did Voneshi do, bring them in by helicopter? I can't believe these dumbasses got here first," I muttered, mostly to myself.
Penny, who'd kept up with me step for step, gasped a chuckle of agreement.
"Trust us not to be subtle," she said.
"Yeah, and piss Antonio off while we're at it. We need him, damn it." I raised my hand to block the glare from the sunset and spun, searching for and finally spotting two incoming figures. "Looks like the guys are almost here."
"Good. And there's the boss," she said, finding a cluster of black-clad figures. My gaze followed hers, and I spotted Tyrant, who always seemed to be wearing a wrinkled lab coat, standing next to Voneshi's distinctive form. The boss's hair was more salt than pepper these days, I noted.
I left Penny to wait for Charles and Paul and trotted over to check in.
"Agent Davis, glad you could make it," Voneshi stated. "You're late."
"I spent fifteen extra minutes to stop and check on Moira," I said. "Just in case something happens, you know?"
"Huh. Your people skills are improving," Tyrant said.
I blinked at him. "I don't follow."
"Never mind," Voneshi said. "You're here now. Go talk those gentlemen into standing down."
"Yes, sir," I said.
I moved over to the waist-high concrete barrier and sat on it casually, looking over the gathered muscle of Valerio Street. Antonio had been branching out; several of the boys wearing yellow and black were some of the more exotic snaps who, much like mages, were attracted to the more or less stable upwelling of current in the area.
"Hey, loba," someone called. I raised my hand in reply, searching for the source.
"Hey, Ricardo," I answered, hopping from the barrier to stroll over to him. I reached out a hand, and he slid palms and gave me a fist bump.
"Your friends are steppin' on my bro's turf, and he don't like it," Ricardo said, sticking his hand in his pocket. "So tell me, loba, what the fuck is going on?"
"Have you heard what's been going on in the city?" I asked, dispensing with the informal attitude.
Ricardo straightened from his slouch with a scowl. "We ain't got nothing to do with it!"
Two of his boys moved closer at his expression of anger, and I smiled, showing my teeth. A direct look at one of them made him flinch almost invisibly. My eyes must have gone yellow again. I could smell no silver on either of them, so I turned my gaze back to Ricardo.
"Believe it or not, we know that. A thousand dead or gone, Ricardo. We're picking up pieces the size of my hand, and I'm not a big girl. You think if we thought that came from here, there would be anything left?" My tone was scornful and arrogant, and I was showing a lot of tooth, more than I meant to.
Ricardo looked past me at the gathered mages, eyes calculating, and then nodded. The amount of military might the Department of Magical Affairs could bring to bear was frightening to the average citizen. To a man like Ricardo, it was enough to make him cautious. His boys boasted a few automatic weapons, but that was nothing compared to a DMA tactical team, and he knew it.
"So why are you here?" he asked again, scanning the gathering force on the other side of the barrier. "You want something, say it or go home. We ain't causing no trouble."
"Can you speak for Antonio?" I asked.
"Enough," he answered with a shrug.
"Probably not," I said. "Let me fill you in. It looks like these freaks are targeting snaps. Valerio Street has mages up the ass. There's more elementals and weird snaps living here than anywhere else in California since Santa Cruz emptied out. Maybe even before that. It hosts a strong upwell in the local current. On top of that, the La Brea current is drifting northward. It will hit here around midnight and form a temporary node. You're living on ground zero, Ricardo."
Ricardo absorbed the information in silence. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of gum, unwrapped it and chewed it slowly. It stank of cinnamon. I fought the urge to pace while he thought. My gaze touched on each of the gang members nearby, gauging their mood.
"Go get your boss. I'll take him to Antonio. No one else," Ricardo finally said.
That was probably the best I could hope for. I nodded and spun on my heel, heading back over to the officers waiting on the other side of the knee-high concrete wall. They were deep in conversation that stopped as I approached.
"I still see weapons," Voneshi said. "Are we doing this the hard way?"
"Ricardo—that's Antonio's second, the one there with the yellow cap—wants to take you to talk to Antonio," I answered. "He specified you and only you."
Voneshi's face brightened, while Tyrant frowned. "Is that a good idea, Renard? I can't think of the last time you were out on the field."
"I haven't become soft in my old age," Voneshi answered. I rolled my eyes in amusement, since I doubted he was halfway through forty.
Seeming irritated by Tyrant's objection, Voneshi checked to make sure his weapon was secure in his belt, motioned to me, and strolled over to Ricardo. The young man was talking on the phone with a casual stance, but the tension across his shoulders gave him away. The two boys who looked like they were his personal guard had ceased pretending to be anything else and watched us with wary expressions.
"Good," Ricardo said. He hung up his phone and slipped it into a pocket. "Loba, you come too. The boss wants to talk to you."
I nodded, unsurprised. Antonio was probably furious right now, and Moira and I were the only agents who visited on a regular basis. I had the feeling I was in a whole heap of trouble, but I'd take whatever he dished out if it meant we'd be successful.
"Fine," I said.
"Jose, Roberto, with me. And the rest of you fools," Ricardo called out, cupping his hands to make a megaphone, "don't touch nothing, don't do nothing. They stay on their side, we stay on ours. I hear anything else, I'll fucking gut you myself. Hear?"
Several shouts of acknowledgment echoed back, and Ricardo nodded, satisfied. "Come on. And don't meet nobody's eyes, huh? You ain't in colors."
I raised both of my eyebrows at that. Things must have gotten more chaotic in the last few days. "Boss, please?" I asked, holding out my hand.
"You're hardly helpless," Voneshi answered, but disabled my bracelet anyway. He then took my hand and frowned, inspecting the overlapping scars around my wrist. Most were faded with age, but the mark left from my frenzy was still a deep, rich purple.
I shrugged and looked away. Ricardo watched impassivel
y. When Voneshi released his hold, Ricardo jerked his head toward the heart of Valerio Street.
I felt the drag of the current no more than fifty feet away from the barrier. The chords of magic, which I'd relegated to background noise, were crashing through my skull with enough volume that it felt physical, as though someone were playing one of those massive old pipe organs and there I was standing right next to it. I trembled with effort to keep my pace normal and measured. My gums tingled, and I opened my mouth, panting.
"It's gotten stronger," I told Voneshi, slurring. My tongue slopped around loosely. With a huff of disgust, I covered my mouth with my hands and concentrated, forcing the incipient shape-shift away.
"Hold it together, Agent Davis." Voneshi's tone was crisp. He was looking around alertly, taking in features of the terrain that I had long since absorbed and disregarded.
"I should be fine," I answered, speaking with emphasis on each syllable. "The excess magic is making my body try to revert. I am still in full control of my mental facilities."
Ricardo walked ahead of us, spine straight. He and his goons all had their weapons out and at the ready. My boss, on the other hand, left his gun in his holster. I was enough of a weapon for both of us.
Voneshi grunted as we rounded the bend and came across the Street proper. I heard a momentary pause in his breathing, the only indication of his surprise. "Go ahead and shift to battle form, agent."
"Good plan," Ricardo agreed, not turning to look at us. His right hand was on his gun. He and his boys were moving cautiously now. I could smell the tension coming off them in waves.
The first house on the street, which had been a drab green building with peeling paint and an overgrown garden, had been completely taken over by plants. It looked like the thorn hedge in Sleeping Beauty, only the bramble sported head-sized red flowers that looked like gaping, screaming mouths. A lump on the ground near the front walk had vines crawling through it and smelled like meat.
I growled, sliding into my shift effortlessly. The fur stood along my spine in a ridge so high that my skin actually hurt. I looked to the left and right, dragging air over my tongue and curled lips as I took in the scents and sights.