“Your greatest rival is Akiyama, and some of the Houses represented here are their allies. Perhaps we should try to find out where Akiyama’s friends were when the demon went off,” Mychal suggested. “If they all took a smoke break at the same time…” He let the sentence hang.
After the meeting, I made my way back to my rooms. Kirsten was asleep, and I gratefully found my own bed.
She had been shaken up, but Mychal had stood like a rock with her, hugging her to him and making soothing noises. I had to admit I was surprised. Compared to the man I thought Whittaker paired me with, the one who took on that demon was almost a different person. I had obviously misjudged him. When the chips were down, Mychal had come through.
When my phone woke me, I was a little confused, and it took me a moment to figure out where I was.
“Hello?”
“Whittaker wants us to find out where everyone was when that demon went off. I can take the Novaks and our allies if you take the Findlays. Sound like a plan?”
“Mychal?”
“Yeah, it’s me.”
“Uh, yeah, sure.”
“How is Kirsten?”
I took a deep breath, then decided to take the easier path. “I’ll have her call you.” I hung up and flopped back into my pillow, staring at the plaster casts decorating the ceiling sixteen feet above me. When I was younger, one of the older servants told me that Maude Findlay, my great-great-grandmother, had toured European palaces gathering ideas for her ideal home. Personally, I thought the place was wildly overdone.
The phone rang again.
“Good morning! I thought I’d let you sleep in a little,” Whittaker said when I answered. It was a little after eight, and I hadn’t gotten to bed until three. He proceeded to tell me the same things Mychal had, then he said, “We have an identification on that demon.”
That woke me up. “That was awfully quick.”
“He was a local. Officially registered as an employee of your buddy.”
“Ashvial?”
“One and the same. Manager of one of Ashvial’s businesses, a strip club down in Silver Spring. About a block from Fredo’s place. I’m sending over the file now.”
Whittaker signed off, and Marjorie stuck her head in the door. “Will you be coming out for breakfast, My Lady, or should I bring it in?”
“Just coffee right now, please. I’ll come out in a few minutes.”
The demon Elmok’s file came over, and I read it while I drank my coffee. A major water demon, he had been in our dimension for at least sixty years. That was when he was registered by Ashvial. While demons lacked the human emotions of love and empathy, that was still a long relationship. Ashvial must have valued him. And while Elmok might have taken a contract without Ashvial’s knowledge or approval, I would rather bet on my ability to fly.
That brought the whole thing back around to Akiyama, one of Ashvial’s major business partners. And I had to check on all the Rudolfs, Moncrieffs, and other Findlay relatives who were Akiyama allies to figure out who might have known about the attack before it happened. I was really looking forward to interviewing Courtney Findlay-Moncrieff and her husband David. Or would he fall under Mychal’s interviews?
More than a thousand people at that ball, and half of them related to me either by blood or marriage. Too damned many relatives.
I got up, took a shower, dressed in my own clothes, and joined Kirsten on the balcony.
“Are you all right?” I asked her as I sat down. “You were pretty shaken up last night.”
“Yeah, I’m okay. That was a little too close, is all. I’m glad Mychal was there.”
“He wants you to call him.”
“He does?” Her whole demeanor perked up, and the grim look on her face turned into a smile. She hopped up and practically trotted back into the suite, pulling her phone out of her pocket.
I watched her go, unsure how I felt about having Mychal Novak as a part-time roommate. He was old enough to take her to his place, though. I wondered if his Family was negotiating his fate now that his twin was scheduled for marriage.
While I ate, I considered how I should approach the cases assigned to me. Sarah Benning, Martin Johansson, the attacks on myself and Grandmother Olivia, the demon drug house massacre, and now the assassinations at Findlay House. If I assumed that Ashvial or the Akiyama Family, or both, were involved in all of them, it left me with nowhere to go. No proof.
There was one thing I might be able to prove. I dressed and went over to the security offices and commandeered a terminal. Then I called up all the video the security cameras had recorded the day before. I started with the barbeque on the lawn, searching for the guardian the demon had possessed.
It took me some time to identify him, and then to follow his movements that afternoon. I fast forwarded through the vids, switching from one camera to another as he moved around the grounds. Nothing he did roused any suspicions. He left with the rest of his party around five o’clock.
When his employers showed up for the evening’s festivities around seven thirty, the guardian wasn’t with them. He showed up fifteen minutes later. Alone. He managed to slip through the front gate with the group from another House, whose colors were similar. I tracked him to the main house, but instead of going inside, he went around to the back and in through one of the loading docks, which had a constant stream of caterers, servants, and delivery personnel going back and forth.
I lost him a couple of times, but caught up with him again when I switched to the cameras in the ballroom.
The attack had taken place at nine o’clock. Switching back and forth between cameras in the ballroom, the surrounding hallways, and the terrace, I attempted to identify those who might want to turn a demon loose on the party.
After two hours studying videos, I determined that Courtney and Karl Rudolf had slipped out to a bedroom in the guest wing and were absent for the killings. Her husband, David Moncrieff, had taken his daughter Beatrice outside on the terrace shortly before the killing started. Karolyn Moncrieff had abruptly excused herself to the ladies’ room as soon as the possessed demon began walking toward its target. Almost everyone else was in the ballroom at the time.
Then I noticed exactly where Veronica Findlay-Rudolf and her daughters were standing in relation to the demon assassin. Only Mychal and Kirsten separated the murder victims and the group that included Karl Rudolf’s family from the demon. My friends had been dancing and just taken a break, walking to the side of the room almost in parallel with the demon.
I called Mychal and told him about David Moncrieff’s actions, as well as Karolyn’s, Courtney’s, and Rudolf’s.
I retrieved my motorcycle and drove down to police headquarters. I took the piece of paper with Courtney’s handwriting to the forensics lab and waited while Kevin processed it for me.
“Okay,” he said, handing me the results. “The handwriting is similar, but not the same. The DNA on this note is from a close relative, possibly an aunt, more likely the mother, of the writer of the note you found in the bar where you shot that demon.
I thanked him, took the analysis, and left. One of Courtney’s daughters paid Gecid to hire someone to kill me? I barely knew Beatrice. If someone told me one of Courtney’s daughters wanted me dead, I’d guess Karolyn in a minute. She and I were about the same age, and she was a lot like her mother. We had never gotten along.
I was fairly sure Ashvial was the one giving Gecid orders, and not David Moncrieff. It was daytime, not the normal visiting hours for most Rifters other than the Fae, which made it a good time to drop by and try to press some answers from Ashvial. That assumed his minions would let me in without prior notice. Deciding it was worth a try, I rode over to my house to prepare for a daylight foray into Lucifer’s Lair.
Chapter 45
Electronic and mechanical devices normally conflicted with magik. That was why demons couldn’t wrap their minds around technology. The Fae weren’t much better, although they did adopt cell phones, c
omputers, and airplanes. But if it could be done with magik, they did it their way. Even human mages were more comfortable with magik, which was why they would pay outrageous sums of money for magitek devices instead of just flipping a light switch.
Magiteks were different. Although I had inherited a weak gift of electrokinesis, my main talent was in working with technology. I could enhance or interfere with anything mechanical or electrical or nuclear, in other words, anything involving physical technology. That last bit is what got my grandfather in trouble. But without devices, my ability to perform magik was pretty scant. Other than my quarter-elven heritage, I was pretty much a normal human.
Usually, I depended on the Raider and my father’s electromagikal box for protection, but if I was going to walk into Lucifer’s Lair alone, I wanted something a little more potent. The laser rifle was a significant upgrade in fire power. Magikally enhanced, at full power it would bore a hole a foot in diameter in anything within two hundred yards. Even though its power dispersed with distance, it could kill a demon at four hundred yards and a human at five hundred. Not something I would normally use in the middle of a city, but at half power it would be a major equalizer in a den full of demons.
I slung the laser onto my back and rode down to the harbor. The nightclub, unsurprisingly, didn’t look open, and the parking lot was almost empty. I parked my bike behind a bush in the back of the building, set a ward on it, took a deep breath, and unslung the laser rifle.
At that moment, a limo I hadn’t noticed started its engine and pulled out from a space at the far end of the lot. It came around and stopped in front of the club’s rear entrance. A guardian in a gray uniform with green and red trim got out and opened the car’s back door. A man came out of the club and ducked into the back of the car. The guardian closed the door and hopped into the front seat, then the limo drove away.
I had done a lot of research on the Akiyama Family over the years, and especially in the past few weeks. At first glance, I thought the Asian man was Akiyama Benjiro, but then I realized it was his uncle, Hiroku, the Family’s head of security.
It was shocking enough that he was in North America—Akiyama’s business headquarters was in China, and the Family estate was in Hokkaido—but it was even more shocking that he visited Ashvial’s nightclub.
My suspicions were immediately triggered, and I changed my plans for confronting Ashvial. Instead, I got back on the bike and followed the limo onto the freeway going north.
We passed beyond Baltimore and into the bayside communities lining the Chesapeake with summer houses, mansions, and fishing docks. I began to wonder where Hiroku was going. I knew that Akiyama had offices at the port in Wilmington, but they leased their facilities there from Findlay. I wouldn’t think that someone from the Akiyama Family would feel comfortable in a place under Findlay control.
But long before we reached Wilmington, the limo and its escort cars slowed and turned onto the Elk Neck Peninsula—a finger of land separating the Chesapeake and Delaware bays. At that point, I suspected that I knew where we were headed, but I continued until their caravan turned into the Elk Neck estate of David Moncrieff.
I turned around and rode back, soon leaving the freeway for the back highways taking me toward Findlay House. When I arrived, I went straight to Osiris’s office and told him what I’d seen.
“And you were going over to Ashvial’s place alone for what reason?” he asked when I finished.
Oops. “I think I might have a lead on who hired those guys to ambush me near my house.”
“Oh? And who might that be?”
“I’d really rather not say until I have better proof.”
“Ah, I see.” Osiris leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of him. “I take it that you suspect someone in Findlay.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. Let me explain where my loyalties lie. There is no conflict between your Granduncle George and your grandmother. They’ve been on the same page as long as I’ve known them, and they pay me quite handsomely for my loyalty. Now, I may not be Tom Whittaker’s favorite hotshot detective, but I’ve been observing Family politics and intrigues for a very long time. Even a bloody idiot can connect the dots between the attack on you and the one on your grandmother, and I’m not an idiot. So, come clean, or I’ll call your grandmother to come down here and apply the thumbscrews.”
Not a whole lot I could say to that. “Okay, but what I have implicates Granduncle George’s children and grandchildren.”
He huffed, then said, “I’m shocked. Next, you’re going to tell me Santa Claus isn’t real and I can’t trust demons. Who the hell else would have a motive for taking out both you and Lady Findlay-James?” Osiris leaned forward and put his elbows on the desk. “I can imagine there are dozens of people who think they have a motive to kill you, simply out of irritation if nothing else, but Akiyama Benjiro is the only outsider I can think of with a motive to kill your grandmother. And even in his wildest delusions, I doubt he considers you a threat. So, people inside the Family are the next logical suspects.”
I told him about finding my address on Gecid’s desk and the subsequent tests the forensics lab had run. Then I told him about the note Courtney wrote and how the tests coincided. Finally, I told him about the video evidence from the betrothal ball.
When I finished, he stood up, went to his sideboard, and poured two glasses of whiskey. Handing me one, he resumed his seat behind his desk.
“Nice work,” Osiris said, holding his glass up to me, and took a sip. Dutifully, I took a sip myself.
“I can clear up which daughter likely wrote the note,” he continued. “Beatrice is left-handed.”
I opened my mouth and then shut it.
“Otherwise, everything you put together makes sense.” He held up a finger. “First, Beatrice is David Moncrieff’s favorite daughter. He can’t stand Karolyn, who is a far worse bitch than her mother.” Another finger went up. “Second, Karl Rudolf is the father of Karolyn’s son.” Another finger. “Third, Karl would love nothing better than being quit of his wife but fears the repercussions of pissing off Findlay. So, Rudolf’s wife Veronica might have been the primary target, and the actual victims could have been a distraction.”
“The only thing I don’t get,” I said, “is Courtney conspiring with both Rudolf and her husband. The three of them working together seems a little too cozy.”
“I don’t think the men know Courtney is involved,” Osiris said. “After all, she’s only a woman.” He grinned. “I think the men are getting their orders from elsewhere.”
I started to say something, but he held up his hand. “I’m not saying Courtney isn’t involved, and she’s definitely the smartest and most cunning of them all.”
He shifted in his seat. “But you’re missing one major piece of the puzzle that fills in the blanks. Courtney is not only sleeping with her husband and Karl Rudolf, she’s also sleeping with Akiyama Benjiro, among others. Not often, mind you, but when they can arrange being in the same place at the same time. Your Aunt Courtney is not what one would call a nice girl. She’s been using seduction as a tool since she was fourteen, and she seduced Benjiro when the two of them weren’t much older than that.”
Osiris winked at me and took another sip of his whiskey. “But I didn’t know Hiroku is in the country. That is highly unusual.”
Kirsten and I stayed out at Findlay House for dinner, and afterward I found myself back in Osiris’s conference room with my grandmother, Tom Whittaker, Mychal, and Frank and Henri Novak. It was the first time I met Frank Novak, other than seeing him a couple times at formal functions. He was a larger version of Henri, taller and heavier. His reputation as an aeromancer was legendary. It was said that he could actually fly.
Osiris presented an overall security briefing, only part of it being the information I had brought him that afternoon. He also skipped Courtney’s and Karolyn’s suspected roles, concentrating instead on what we su
spected of the Moncrieffs and Karl Rudolf.
“What worries me about all this,” Whittaker said when Osiris finished, “is Ashvial’s role. Benjiro may think he’s using Ashvial, but while Benjiro has an abundance of ambition, my agents aren’t impressed by his intelligence and strategic thinking. Ashvial, on the other hand, fought his way through the Rift War and not only survived, but came out of it sitting pretty in our world.”
“Yes,” Grandmother Olivia spoke up, “he’s a sly one. If anyone is playing both sides in this one, it’s him.”
“Assuming there are only two sides,” Henri Novak said. “I’m counting at least four sides. Ours, Akiyama’s, smaller unaligned members of the Hundred and their allies, and the demon lords. Ashvial is the big player here in the Mid-Atlantic, but at last count, there were more than a dozen demon lords on this side of the Rift, with holdings all over the world.”
I waited for a break in the conversation, then said, “The demon society is hierarchical, and having a dozen different lords flies in the face of that. Does anyone know what is over the demon lords? You would think one of them would win out and dominate the others, but we haven’t seen any evidence of that type of conflict in my lifetime. So, who is the big cheese that none of us knows about?”
Osiris curled his lip at me. “That is a question none of us like to think about, although we should.”
Olivia nodded. “My son asked that same question. We always felt there was someone above Ashvial. He just doesn’t bear himself the way a ruler does. And we’ve all heard that the demon lords aren’t the top of the food chain on the other side. Dani’s right. If there wasn’t a top dog, or top demon, they’d be fighting amongst themselves to establish dominance.”
“The way we’re fighting with Akiyama,” Mychal quietly said. “You know, this sort of fragmented feudalism always leads to either war or consolidation.”
Magitek (The Rift Chronicles Book 1) Page 22