“What would be the purpose?” the red haired elf, Aeyliss asked, her voice as calm as if they were discussing the weather rather than the systematic torture of young women.
“Well, it’s all about raising energy. There’s different schools of thought about which methods are more effective–most people stick with the pleasant ones…” At the word pleasant Walters muttered under his breath; Allie was almost certain he said “I bet” but she ignored him. “e dancing, chanting, that sort of thing.”
“And sex magic?” Riordan added.
“Well, yes. That’s not a popular one though because it’s difficult to do”
“Really?” the detective sounded skeptical.
“Yeah. The point isn’t to have sex for fun but to focus during the, um, activity, on channeling the energy,” Allie was sure she was blushing now and she more than half expected Walters to add another snarky comment, but he said nothing. All six investigators waited for her to continue and she floundered. Jessilaen’s hands squeezed her shoulders gently and she felt a wave of gratitude as she shifted her focus back to him.
“I’ve never personally heard of anyone using rape as sex magic, but–it’s theoretically possible. I think. And the mutilation, could, again theoretically, be used to raise magical energy.”
“And that gets ‘em more than just killing the girls?” Riordan asked, his voice serious and no trace of a smile now.
“I don’t know.” Allie answered honestly. “Death magic isn’t exactly something many people talk or write about and most of what is out there is from religious rituals that are hundreds of years or more old. If you have someone who has adapted something or is working on a new theory…” she shrugged.
“But you think you have read of something similar to this?” Jessilaen asked softly
“I don’t know,” Allie repeated. “Like I said there’s something almost familiar about it, but I can’t quite place it.”
The elves were exchanging looks that made Allie think they wished she didn’t speak their language. After a moment Jessilaen stepped back and for an instant Allie had the unsettling desire to follow him. The four elves moved over to stand by the bookshelves and talked quietly among themselves. The two police came over to her, Riordan back to his reassuring smile, Walters stony faced. Riordan held out a business card, “Thanks for your time. If you think of anything else that might help this is my direct number. My email’s on the card too.”
She took the card and nodded, feeling a rush of relief that this bizarre interview seemed to be wrapping up. Both police hesitated a moment and then turned and headed for the door. She expected the elves to follow, but instead they stepped back over to her. She racked her brain trying to remember the correct etiquette for leave taking but the 4 hours of sleep and long stressful day were catching up to her and she felt blank. The Guard Captain nodded politely again and then extended his own business card, a small slip of cardstock filled with magic. Her fingers tingled as she took it and she tried not to think about what spells were woven into it. When he spoke it was in Elvish again, “We appreciate your time in answering our questions. If you think of where you might have seen such a ritual as this before please contact us. If we have any additional questions or need of your assistance we will be back to discuss this further.”
She nodded, unable to think of a single thing to say and hoping that he wasn’t too offended by her silence. As they turned to leave Jessilaen hesitated then turned back. He reached past her to take one of the store’s business cards off the counter and then took her hand, slipping another business card in with the two she already held. “If you have any questions or need anything, call,” he said simply.
The group left the store with Allie still standing there. Finally she shook herself out of the daze they had left her in and looked down at the cards clutched in her hand. Detective Riordan’s card looked plain and terribly official. The Elven Captain’s card was double sided, one side in English the other in Elven runes, both with the same basic information: rank, name, contact number, and the border outpost was listed as his address.
That was interesting. Allie had not known until then that the Guard operated out of there, although she could understand the logic. The Outpost was the mid-point between the border of the Queen’s Fairy Holding and Ashwood and while it primarily acted as a border crossing it would be the most obvious staging point for the Guard to act within both realms. Curious she looked at the third card which turned out to be Jessilaen’s. It listed his rank as commander, gave a different contact number from Zarethyn, but the same address. She had no idea why he had given her the card, unless the elves felt that she might be hesitant to contact the Guard Captain.
Shaking her head slightly she moved to lock the front door before anything else could happen. She was thoroughly done with this entire day.
*********************************
Detective Rick Walters pulled his car into an open space in the gym parking lot and cut the motor, but he didn’t get out. He pocketed his keys and sat behind the wheel, frowning, listening to the old motor tick as it cooled down. Walters was a common sight at the gym so no one looked twice at him sitting in his car.
That mixed blood bitch could ruin everything, He thought to himself, glaring at the dashboard. Why couldn’t Jim listen to me and go to a different expert? Walters had tried hard to convince his partner and the elves to go to someone else, but he couldn’t be too obvious about it without making them suspicious, and since almost everyone they’d spoken to recommended her, in the end he’d had to go along with the consensus. At first it had seemed like it would still work out okay but then she’d almost remembered something; it was maddening, standing there waiting to see what she knew. Maybe nothing after all, but if she really did know about the ritual, if she remembered anything, or–worst of all–if she found a copy of the book before he could get his hands on it, then she could destroy months of work.
He shook his head. No. No, I won’t let it come to that. He picked up his personal cell phone, the one that no one in the department knew he had, and dialed a number from memory. A distracted voice answered on the second ring, low and angry, “Why are you calling?”
“We went to the book store Between The Worlds for the investigation.” He answered, his own tone harsh.
“You did what? Why? I told you…”
He cut the speaker off. “Wasn’t my call. That was where everyone said to go and Jim and the elves decided it was the best option. It was mostly a dead end–we’re going to start talking to some of the ceremonial mages in town next–but I’m worried.”
“Don’t be. We can handle it.” The person said briskly. It was hard to hear with the background noise. He wanted to ask the other person to speak up but he knew it was useless.
“We need to find the book.” He gritted his teeth.
“We don’t need the book. You reconstructed the ritual and it’s working perfectly the way you’re doing it.” His contact sounded annoyed now, and he chaffed at being spoken to like a child.
“There’s more in that book than just the bits I know of. And if that mixed blood bi…”
“Don’t worry about her.” It was the other speaker’s turn to cut him off mid-word, “We need to focus on the bigger threat. You said that elf can track magic. That’s a much bigger problem.”
“Yeah. That’s a bigger problem, but what am I supposed to do about it?”
“Remove the problem.” The speaker sounded bored now.
As if it’s that simple, Walters thought, grimacing. “Are you kidding me? How the hell am I supposed to do that?”
“You’ll think of something. We have time–they said she can’t track the spell until they understand what it is, and without the book that will take time. So work out a solution. Think on your feet.” The speaker’s confidence in his ability to solve the problem made him feel flattered and frustrated in turn. He hadn’t liked killing the girls at first, but he’d understood it was a necessary thing, somet
hing that had to be done for the greater good; however he really wanted to kill the bookshop owner. It seemed unfair after everything he’d done for the cause that he couldn’t do the one thing he wanted to do now.
“I still think that mixed blood girl is trouble. If she knows anything…” he pressed, knowing the odds were slim of being allowed to go after her.
“Leave her alone. She’s a distraction. Keep them focused on the elf as a suspect, work on taking out that tracker, and if we need to we’ll come up with a way to throw them off track. But don’t lose focus now–we’re too close to our goal.” The voice was firm and he felt his own resolve hardening again, “Now I have to go. Remember–stay focused.”
The phone went dead in his hand. He nodded to himself. Yeah, stay focused. Everything’s fine. Everything’s been going perfect up until now. Just keep the momentum. Do what has to be done to succeed. Keep the ultimate goal in mind, and don’t get distracted. Feeling better he got out of the car and went in to the gym to work out, thinking about how one would kill a stronger, faster, better armed enemy… without getting caught.
Chapter 3 - Wednesday ~ Thursday
After getting through a single day that felt like a week, the next few days seemed anti-climactic in their normality. Allie managed to get through 48 hours without any additional crises and to successfully avoid all 4 of her roommates which was no easy task. Usually the 5 friends enjoyed spending time together, often sharing communal meals and watching movies together in the evenings when they were home. Allie knew how lucky she was to have actual friendships with the people she lived with, but she dreaded having to explain her conversation with the task force. She had no doubt that Bleidd would be furious, Syndra would want the entire discussion repeated ad nauseam so that she could analyze it to death, and Liz and Jason would be worried.
As she’d expected business at the store had fallen off to almost nothing. Most of her customer base had a healthy caution around police and the idea that she was being investigated had freaked people right out, although to be fair she wasn’t sure that knowing she was helping with an investigation would have been any better. She found herself hoping that the rumor mill found something new to talk about soon and people forgot whatever story was going around about Between The Worlds. Realistically she could only go so long without sales before it was going to start hurting.
After work Wednesday she decided to visit an old friend so she stopped at the town’s Chinese restaurant on the way home to grab food to share. It was never a bad idea to show up to visit a creature of Fairy bearing a gift, and she knew this one had a weakness for sweet and sour chicken and pork egg rolls. Dynasty Moon was run by a pair of Hulijing, Chinese fox spirits, and it was widely agreed that they made the best take-out in town. They were pricey though, and Allie couldn’t eat there very often, but she felt like splurging a little, despite her worries over her anemic bank account.
After picking up her order she headed home in a better mood. She parked her little car in its usual spot and hiked around the house towards the woods behind the backyard with the bag of takeout in one hand. The wards on the perimeter of the property extended to cover the expanse of yard from the curb to the stone walls that bordered the other three sides of the lawn, but the property itself actually went back almost a dozen acres. It just wasn’t worth the energy and effort to keep wards up on the entire area all the time, so they didn’t bother. Reaching the stone wall that marked the back edge of the yard Allie climbed over easily, feeling the customary tingle as she crossed from the warded to unwarded side. Her shoes crunched in last year’s leaves and she whistled cheerfully, ducking low branches and weaving through the underbrush. There was no path to follow but Allie knew the way.
After several hundred feet she could see the open sky through the trees and the ground beneath her feet was noticeably softer. A dozen feet more and she was standing on the banks of the pond. The water stretched, black and still, as large as a football field, with the occasional clump of trees or half submerged log jutting up from the surface. She carefully sent out a tendril of focused magic to caress the surface nearest where she stood, like knocking on a door, and then waited. Within a few moments the still surface rippled, the dark, dripping head of a large horse emerging. Where the horse’s eyes should have been were dark concave hollows and he turned his head to stare at her from one of these eyeless sockets for a moment before the head disappeared beneath the water again. A moment later the surface heaved and broke as the entire fairy horse emerged, walking onto the shore to her left. The kelpie stood there, water dripping from his mane and tail, and Allie smiled widely, proffering the bag “Good afternoon Ciaran, I thought you might be in the mood for some excellent Chinese take-out.”
The huge form rippled and shifted like the surface of the water a minute before and as she watched the horse’s dark form changed into that of an equally dark haired man. Seemingly oblivious to the late spring chill and totally unabashed by his nudity Ciaran sniffed the air appreciatively.” Is that sweet and sour chicken?”
“And two pork egg rolls.” Allie agreed.
The kelpie smiled widely, “Nice to see you again Allie.”
“And you.” Allie had met the kelpie when she was wandering the woods as a child and although he normally could be quite a dangerous creature he seemed to have developed a rough sympathy for the lonely child over the years that eventually grew into a friendship. He often wandered the woods in the form of a large black dog, but he always hunted in his horse form; she had learned over the years that his humanoid form was a sign of trust with her, although she didn’t doubt he would also use it to seduce the unwary if it served his purposes. Allie had been very clear with the other people living in the house that no one else was to go back into the woods; she doubted their friendship would keep him from eating one of her roommates, and while it was unlikely that he would risk the consequences of such an action, she didn’t want to take the chance. These days the Elven Guard maintained order by ensuring none of the creatures of Fairy were allowed to harm humans. But in the old days Ciaran had fed on murderers and oath-breakers. Even as a child Allie had wondered if he occasionally still took human victims along with his animal prey and was just clever enough not to get caught, but she had never quite dared to ask.
“How have you been doing?”
“Not bad. Winter’s always a slow time though, nothing much to do, no good hunting.” He shrugged as she handed him the bag.
“Well I hope this helps a little, and you know anytime you want to borrow a book or five to read I’ll be happy to lend them.”
“That would be kind. I haven’t read anything new in ages. I’m not picky, anything will do as long as it’s a good story.” He pulled out the package of eggrolls and eagerly began devouring them in a way that she would have found disturbing if she’d let herself think about.
“Sure thing. I’ll try to get out here in the next week or two if I can, with some for you.” Allie made a mental note to go through and pick out a selection of books for him to try. She certainly had more than enough to share.
“Allie, be careful with yourself.” Ciaran said unexpectedly.
She cocked her head to the side “I’m always as careful as I can be Ciar. Unless you know something I don’t?”
He shook his head. “Not really, but there are rumors going around among the lesser Fey. Everyone’s agitated and with the Elven Guard out searching in the Borderland for someone, we should all be extra cautious. There is death in the air, and it would…pain me…to see harm come to you.”
“Well you’d certainly be seeing a lot fewer egg rolls,” Allie quipped, stalling for time.
She was touched that Ciaran cared enough to pass on any warning, since it was certainly not in his nature, and she was not at all surprised that the Guard were upsetting the Fey in the Borderland, many of whom lived in the Bordertown precisely to try to avoid the elves’ control.
“The Elven Guard has already spoken to me about their invest
igation. They want me to help them find out why these murders are being committed.”
The kelpie looked thoughtful as he chewed his chicken, eating it with his bare hands, “If you can help them, you should. That would put the Guard in your debt and that is not an insignificant thing. But be very careful Allie, very careful. It’s a dangerous game to play.”
She nodded “I will certainly take your excellent advice as always. Now, do you have time for a game of chess?”
Later, as she walked back through the woods to the house she found herself hoping that her part in this particular dangerous game was already over.
****************************
When a knock on her door woke her up early Thursday morning she felt an irrational rush of fear, expecting the worst. She rolled out of bed and pulled on her jeans from the day before, fastening them as she crossed to the door, shivering in the unusually chilly room. As a second knock sounded she yanked the door open with more force than she’d intended and caught Jason with his hand raised in mid-knock. His dark eyes widened, and he stammered, “Um, wow, sorry Allie. Hate to wake you but the breakers keep tripping, and, ummm, Bleidd isn’t here.”
He shrugged apologetically, his black hair falling across his eyes, while she felt an equally irrational rush of relief. “It’s okay Jase.”
She glanced over her shoulder and saw that indeed her clock was flashing, indicating a loss of power. One of the set-spells that protected the electrical wiring, or more likely the one on the fuse box, must have failed or been disrupted. Not an emergency but a tedious thing to fix. A quick look out the window at the pale morning light let her guess it was probably still early, maybe around 7 a.m.
Murder Between the Worlds: A Between the Worlds Novel Page 5