by K. J. Emrick
As much as those terms applied to angels.
With a deep inhalation of breath that seemed to pull in all the air in the room and tug the walls in as if they were made of rubber, Philly steadied himself on his feet, and stood up straight again.
He let go of his captured breath, and when he did the room returned to normal with the sound of a plucked guitar string.
Around the light in the ceiling, Addie heard the buzzing of a fly, starting out so soft and low and then faster, faster, until it circled once and flew away. Time was moving again.
“Well,” Philly said, rolling his shoulders, “that took a lot out of me, I’m afraid. It’s pretty tiring to be around you, Addie Kilorian. So, I wish you luck, and I’m off.”
“Luck?”
“Sure,” he said, his voice strained. “I’d wish God’s blessing on you, but… you know… that whole getting kicked out of Heaven thing. So. Good luck.”
He looked paler, and less distinct around the edges, and if Addie didn’t know any better she would swear he was disappearing. “Is this why you didn’t want to help us stop Belladonna? Is she…” Oh, how to put this in a way that wouldn’t be offensive? “Is she more powerful than you?”
In an instant, in less time than it took her to blink, he was across the space between them and standing right in front of her. “Never,” he said, his voice flat and growing faint, “question the powers of an angel.”
That word echoed in her mind as he vanished. Air rushed into the spot where he had been standing with a whoosh.
The bloody shirt fell to the floor at her feet.
It took Addie a moment to regain her composure. It wasn’t every day that you got threatened by a fallen angel, even in the life of the Kilorian sisters.
It wasn’t just her, either. Next to her, Lucian cleared his throat.
“Well, so much for our help from above.”
“He helped us as much as he could,” Addie decided. He actually had, and she was going to have to remember that the next time she wanted to hate him for what he was. Did he say he gave up Heaven for her sister? There was a certain romance to that… what girl wouldn’t want a man who would give up everything he had, just to be with her?
And now they had a son, the product of a witch and an angel. What would that mean for Alan?
What would it mean for all of them?
Well at least he’d wished them good luck. He’d found the bloody shirt, and that wasn’t all he’d done for them. A thought had occurred to Addie as she stood there. “Remember how he said Belladonna pulled the trigger on the latent spell she left within you because we were onto something?”
“Well, yeah.” Lucian grimaced. He did not like being reminded of what he had—almost—just done to her. “But he didn’t know what that something was. Do you?”
“Something to help us solve the case, whatever it was. She wanted to throw us off the track. She’s back to her old games. So… we were talking about the weapon used on Roderick, remember? We were talking about finding the weapon.”
“But we didn’t find it, Addie. We’ve looked everywhere it could be except the bathrooms and with everyone having to relieve themselves from too much champagne and over seasoned fish, somebody would have seen it by now if our killer ditched it in there.”
“Probably,” she agreed. “I still think that’s the key, though. If it worried her enough to make you go all deranged, then it must be important.”
He couldn’t look her in the eye. “Was I that bad? I still don’t remember any of it.”
“Let’s just say, I’m actually glad Philly showed up for a change.”
With a nod, he left it at that. “Well, at least we know your friend Abierta is off our suspect list.”
“We do?” She was glad to hear that but wasn’t sure what he meant. “How do we know that?”
He bent down to carefully pick up the bloody shirt Philly had dropped by the edge of one lapel. “This is a man’s shirt. Your friend is a woman.”
Ah. “Well, that might not exclude her, necessarily. You don’t know her the way I do.”
“What, does she enjoy dressing up in men’s clothing from time to time? That doesn’t make her a bad girl but in this case, I think she’s off our list.”
“Um. She’s not a bad girl, but… Listen, I don’t think Abierta could have done this. At least, I don’t want to think that, but there’s things about her that you need to understand. Can we find her and talk to her now? I’d rather get that over with, so I can stop worrying about whether or not she’s involved, and just focus on finding the real killer.”
“Sure. That sounds like a good next step. I’ll give this to our man at the door,” he said, holding the shirt away from them both as he put his other arm around Addie’s waist. “You know, this really isn’t how I saw tonight going.”
“Me either,” she admitted. What she had expected was going home with him after a nice dinner, with his award, and showing him how much she loved him. Instead, they were looking for a killer. Ah, the glamorous life of a witch and a police detective. “Let’s hope the rest of your guys show up soon. More officers will make this go faster.”
Out in the foyer they found the same officer standing guard at the front doors, and no one else with him. “Where’ve you guys been?” Drake asked them. “I was only gone for a minute and when I got back you left the front doors unattended. That’s not protocol, Detective.”
Of course, Addie thought to herself. For them, Philly’s time spell had given them all the time in the world to look around the museum. For Drake and the others, it had only been a few seconds.
Lucian nodded. “We only stepped around the corner here to talk,” he lied. “We never lost sight of the door. Have you heard if anyone else from our department has arrived yet? Other officers, the chief, anyone?”
Drake looked at him with an odd expression. “Nothing on the radio. Guess we’re on our own. But hey, like I said, it’s only been a minute or two.”
Addie exchanged a look with Lucian. They might have gotten a few steps further ahead with their investigation thanks to Philly, but the help they were expecting would still be a while getting to them. She was starting to get a handle on this whole time-slipping thing.
Lucian shook his head, obviously disappointed to realize it was still just him, Drake, Alex, and Chuck. And Addie, of course. He turned a little smile in her direction. She was the one he really depended on. “All right. In that case. Drake, do you have another evidence bag with you? I dressed for a party, not for work.”
“Sure, but I’ve only got the one left.” From the side pocket of his uniform pants, Drake took out a folded plastic bag which he opened up with a flick of his wrist. He held it for Lucian while they carefully put the shirt into it, and then sealed it again. “Wow, you found that already? You guys are fast.”
“You have no idea,” Lucian told him. “Keep that with you and keep guarding the door. We have someone we need to talk to. If anyone else shows up from the department, send them down to the dining room to either us or to Alex Candor, okay? And for God’s sake keep everyone else out.”
“You got it.”
As they turned back toward the multipurpose room, they actually saw Alex walking up the hallway with two of the guests right behind. “Bathroom break,” he explained. “It’s going really slow in there, Lucian.”
“We’re working on it, I promise you.” Lucian pointed to the doors to the restrooms. “While you’re in there look around for anything suspicious.”
“Like what?”
“Like something that could have been used for a club.”
“You don’t have anything more specific?”
Lucian shook his head. “We’ll know what it is when we find it.”
That seemed to satisfy Alex. “Okay. I’ll let you know if I find anything.”
One piece at a time, they were getting closer to seeing the whole picture. If they could just find a few more pieces, she was sure the picture would become
clear. What the picture might be, she wasn’t sure, but she really hoped it wouldn’t be Abierta’s face she saw when they did put it all together.
They found her when they got to the multipurpose room, still sitting at her table, one leg crossed over the other, her dress draped just perfectly over that body. She looked so beautiful. Addie had always admired her for being able to put herself together like that.
Not far away, Marcelle was standing to the side, nervously plucking at imaginary bits of nothing on his sleeves. He wouldn’t look up at them even though Addie was sure he’d noticed them come in. Officer Chuck Burson was still there, too, going from person to person, writing down names in his notepad and getting a brief description of where everyone was during the night. Even after the trick Philly had done with freezing time she figured he must be almost done. They should know something else soon, hopefully.
Then again, comparing over fifty statements for the truth and the lies in each might take another few hours. She groaned silently, and just accepted that this was going to be a long night.
In the meantime, as much as she didn’t like to admit it, they needed to talk to Abierta Tesoro.
Her friend turned her pretty brown eyes their way as if she could hear someone thinking about her. She stared from across the room, and then she blinked with her second set of eyelids.
The extra eyelids were gummy and filmy as they swept corner to corner across both eyes. They were like the nictitating eye membranes in reptiles and birds, there to keep the eye moist, seen and then gone again. It didn’t bother Addie, because she knew what Abierta really was. She noticed Lucian’s surprise, though, in the way his body went very still. Well. He was going to be in for an even bigger shock than that.
Abierta leaned over to her companion, whispering something in his ear before unfolding herself from her seat and whisking gracefully across the floor. Chuck looked up from where he was, pen still scribbling on his notebook, but Lucian waved to his fellow officer to tell him it was okay. He was supposed to keep everyone in the room, but this was just going to be a private conversation between the three of them for now.
Addie took Abierta’s hands in hers, the two friends smiling at each other, and they walked down the hallway with Lucian. They went in the opposite direction of the foyer, where the hallway dead-ended in a mural of prehistoric times with dinosaurs roaring and stomping about.
“I’m sorry we have to meet again this way,” Addie said when they were alone.
“This is so terrible,” Abierta said, her voice strongly accented with round vowels and sharp consonants. It wasn’t one that most people would recognize. No one who didn’t know what a yakshi was, at any rate.
“It is terrible,” Addie agreed. “Murder always is. We’re trying to find out what happened now. Abierta, this is Lucian, and he’s a detective with the Birch Hollow Police Department.”
“Yes, I saw him earlier with his award. I think he is also—” She stopped and closed her eyes completely to inhale his scent. “—your boyfriend, yes? Mmm. I can smell you on his skin. Very nice.”
“O-o-okay,” Lucian said slowly. “That’s not weird at all. I’m happy to meet one of Addie’s friends, but I need to ask you some questions. You left the dining room this evening, before the murder happened. Where did you go?”
The question caught Abierta off guard. “I went… I went to the restroom. When a woman has to go, well, you know the rest. Why on Earth would you ask me that?”
Addie quickly explained. “You knew the victim. Sheila Davenport.”
Her friend’s face was unreadable. “I did know her, yes. I still don’t see why you are asking me about this.”
“We’re trying to find out who had a reason to kill her. You knew her. We found your name on a list of people who Sheila may have scammed for money.”
The sound Abierta made deep in her throat was something like the hiss of a feral cat. For a moment her face flushed, the dark color of her skin fading to a hideous green shade, but then it cleared, and she was herself again.
Lucian took a step back. “What the…?”
A long, slender pink tongue slid out between Abierta’s parted lips, tipping up, up, up, and then slithering back in again. “I will assume, Addie, that this man knows there are things that go bump in the night, since he is with you? I will not have to kill him for revealing myself, will I?”
“Now hold on,” Lucian protested, “you just wait a minute…”
“It’s all right,” Addie assured them both. “Yes, Abierta, he knows what I am, and he knows there is more to life than just human beings. Lucian, she won’t eat you. Tell him you won’t eat him, Abierta.”
The tall woman shrugged one slender shoulder. “I am hungry, Addie, but I will leave your boyfriend be, as long as he does the same for me.”
With a steady glance, Lucian said, “Deal.”
She smiled, and it seemed like they might actually become friends.
“All right, then,” Addie said. It would have to be good enough for now. “Abierta, what was Sheila Davenport to you?”
“Scum. That is what she was. That woman tried to seduce me, and then she tried to take money from me for a son she did not have. Foolish woman. She didn’t realize I could smell the lack of children on her. The yakshi know these things.”
“Um, excuse me,” Lucian said, torn between getting information on their murder and understanding just exactly who he was dealing with. “What’s a… yak-she?”
Abierta blinked those extra eyelids of hers again. “We are the Ertsprites. We help the Earth to grow. We protect nature from the destruction humans have brought upon it.”
“Oh,” he replied. “Uh, that’s nice.”
Addie knew the rest of the story. “You also feed on blood, let’s not forget, and when there’s no animal source the yakshi will turn to humans.”
Lucian’s body language changed. “That’s not so nice.”
“But it is the truth,” Addie continued. Abierta didn’t try to argue. “I’ve known you for a long time, and I’ve never once seen you take a human life, but we both know that there’s others of your kind who aren’t so… progressive.”
“Wait,” Lucian asked, “so she drinks blood? Human blood? You mean, like a vampire.”
That same hissing sound came from Abierta’s throat again. “Do I look like Count Dracula to you?”
His gaze followed the shape of her legs and then the line of her dress up to her lovely face. “No. You certainly do not.”
This time it was Addie who cleared her throat. “All right, enough, both of you. Abierta, this is important. If Sheila tried to use sex to get money from you, we need to know about it.”
“Right,” Lucian said, coming back to the point. “That is, if you’re into that sort of thing.”
Both women turned the same exact look on him.
“What? I’m as progressive as the next guy. I’m just saying, some women are into sex with women, and some aren’t. I know Abierta’s here with a male friend, so I just assumed…”
Laughter cut him off as Abierta laid a hand across her chest. “Oh, my. You do have some things to learn, Lucian Knight.”
“What, like yak-she swing both ways?”
More laughter, and even Addie had a hard time concealing a snicker this time. Lucian just didn’t know. It wasn’t his fault, but where her friends were concerned he really shouldn’t assume. Ever.
“It’s all right,” Abierta said. “It might be easier if I show you.”
She brought that hand up to her face, holding it against her right cheek. Keeping her gaze locked with Lucians, she wiped her palm across her skin.
Dark makeup smeared, and her features distorted, and what had been the face of a healthy, beautiful woman was now gaunt, and green, and mottled with scales. Her lips were thin and long, wrapping around to her cheek. It was obvious now that her gleaming white teeth were capped in the front. The ones behind were tiny and needle sharp. The part she had revealed, beneath her makeup,
was her true face. Or most of it, anyway. Abierta had definitely perfected the art of her disguise over the years.
Addie knew the bracelet of big gold beads on her friend’s left wrist was actually a carefully designed makeup kit, with different shades of concealer in each bead. The largest of them was a compound made from a natural balm that turned into a malleable gel when mixed with water and any of the colors. It would take some time, but Abierta had exactly what she needed to fix herself up again, right there in her jewelry.
It was weird to hear her musical voice coming from that half-and-half face. “I am not a woman, Detective Knight. I am not a man. Sometimes I dress up as one, and sometimes I dress as the other. Recently I started dating the man I am with tonight. I really like him and so for now, I enjoy life as a woman. When Sheila Davenport met me, I was a man. She thought she was seducing a man when she came to me with her very sad story of her son needing money for treatment. As I said, I could smell the lie on her. I never gave her a dime.”
“So you’re…” Lucian fumbled for the words. “You’re not a man, you’re not a woman. What are you?”
“I,” she said, “am a yakshi. I am a spirit without such boundaries.”
Lucian kept staring at the revealed side of her face. He couldn’t help it. “Is this why you killed Sheila? Did she find out what you are? Did you kill her to keep your secret?”
The hissing sound from Abierta was more of a growl now. “I did not do this!”
“I think you might have,” he pressed. “I can see how someone of your kind would have taken advantage of the situation. You already told us how hungry you are here tonight, and you’ve only been in the museum for a couple of hours.”
“I forgot to eat before I came,” she explained. “That’s all.”
“Sure, but you eat blood. I doubt ordering the steak rare would have helped take the edge off. Now here comes this woman who did you wrong, and there’s no way for her to recognize you in this new disguise, so you pounce on the chance to kill her and feast on her blood.”