by Devin Hanson
A piercing whistle came from the other direction and I looked that way. Eric waved from a loading dock and beckoned me his way. Wondering if I was making a mistake after all, I goosed my scooter forward and pulled up next to a cluster of still-intact cars, Elaida’s white BMW among them, now sporting a layer of grimy dust.
The noise from the shredder was too loud to talk over, and Eric didn’t try. He just jerked his head at me to follow and went inside. I followed, and the grinding shriek from outside muffled to background noise after the door shut behind me.
“Hello, Alexandra,” Eric greeted me with a smile. “It’s good to see you again.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re still a creep. Where’s Elaida?”
“In the main office.” If my dismissal bothered him, he didn’t show it.
“So what kind of place is this?”
“It’s a safehouse,” Eric said over his shoulder. “We own the wrecker yard. The workers won’t bother us.”
“We?”
He shook his head. “Later.”
I resisted the urge to turn around and leave. The vampires took priority over my feelings though, so I gritted my teeth and followed in silence. Eric led me past a hallway lined with offices, then pushed through a set of double doors into an open two-story space. At one point it had been a garage. Service trenches ran across the room, the central ones spanned by sheets of plywood. Heavy car lifts had been pushed to the back, leaving an open space some forty feet square in the middle of the room.
Elaida stood at a large table in the middle of the open area, her back to us while she leaned over the table, inspecting something. Marcel looked up as we walked in and jostled Elaida’s elbow. Frederick sat at a laptop, focused on something and ignored us.
“There you are,” Elaida called when she saw me. “I was beginning to wonder if you were going to come at all.”
“I had something I had to take care of first,” I replied.
“Did you bring the skull?” Frederick asked, finally looking up from his laptop.
I folded my arms and Elaida held up a hand, forestalling Frederick’s next question. “It is as we agreed,” she said firmly. “Until the incubus is dealt with, we cannot attract his attention with greed.”
I nodded and turned in a circle, looking about the space. “This is quite a safehouse,” I said. “I’m beginning to get the impression you aren’t a small organization.”
Elaida gave a small, self-satisfied smile. “You are correct. The Priors of Sion have been around since before the founding of England. There is over four thousand years of struggle against the vampires in our histories.”
“Damn.” I blinked, adjusting my opinion of Elaida and her group. “Well, then you’re probably already aware that the vampires are in Los Angeles and killing people.”
“That isn’t possible,” Elaida said with a saccharine smile. “The pact forbids them from crossing the ocean to the New World. There are no vampires anywhere in North or South America.”
“Then why have they been killing people? I just got out of a discussion with a detective who says people have been being slaughtered all over LA.”
“There are plenty of things that can kill people,” Elaida shrugged dismissively. “It isn’t that hard to kill a human.”
“Except they only die after the threshold on their homes have been destroyed.” I caught Elaida’s eyes and held her gaze. “There have been fifteen homes broken into, and those are only the ones the cops know of.”
Her face grew troubled. “It cannot be, though. How were the murders committed?”
“Well, I didn’t see crime scene photos, if that’s what you’re asking, but by the amount of blood I saw on the walls, and the way the cop described it, I’d say they were torn apart.”
“Could be a vampire,” Eric said doubtfully.
“No. Impossible. They wouldn’t dare,” Elaida shook her head.
“Oh, come on,” I threw my hands up. “The vampires don’t give a shit about your precious pact. Is it so hard to imagine they could make a pre-emptive strike, knowing Caradoc is trying to pass the debt?”
“Vampires aren’t the only things kept out by a threshold,” Elaida said dismissively. “Whatever is killing people could be any number of creatures. You know nothing of the forces at play, Alexandra. Vampires are not in America.”
“Wasn’t your apartment one of the ones destroyed?” Frederick asked. “Why would the vampires target you? You’re a nobody.”
“Gee, thanks,” I huffed.
“Be glad they don’t know who you are,” Elaida said darkly. “Once the vampires see you as a threat, you are no longer safe anywhere.”
“So, that’s it, then? You’re not even going to investigate it? ‘Vampires aren’t in America’ is as good a eulogy as any, I suppose.”
“Investigate what?” Frederick shook his head. “We are already in the middle of an operation, Alexandra. We don’t have the identities of the people who were killed. The police are already looking into it. If there is a common denominator among the victims, they will find it.”
“Yeah, what if they’re all like me? People in the know who would recognize what was going on?”
“How would they get those names?” Frederick asked patiently. “They have no foothold in America. They have no way of knowing who to target.”
“You’re telling me the vampires have no human servants?”
“If they had servants here, they wouldn’t need the thresholds destroyed,” Elaida pointed out. “The communities of people who, as you put it, are in the know, are usually very secretive and tightly knit. How many people know you’re not just a vanilla human?”
“Quite a few,” I admitted. “Not humans,” I clarified, “but others in the know, and some djinn. I, ah, have a website. It helps me find jobs.” The four of them stared at me, as if they couldn’t believe how stupid I was. “Oh, come on! You can’t blame this on me.”
Frederick shook his head and sighed. “You’re American. You have no concept of what proper security even is.”
“As much as we sympathize with your situation,” Elaida said without sympathy, “we have more pressing matters to attend to. A few people getting killed is without consequence. This is Los Angeles. Ten million people live here; a dozen people dying doesn’t even make the news.”
I shut my mouth and tried not to glare. David’s description of the Priory being results-focused seemed to be accurate. “Fine. I think you’re making a mistake, but you’re the experts.”
“That’s right,” Eric said, “we are the experts.”
I didn’t dignify that with a response. Eric was younger than I was, and judging by his accent, he was as American as I was. Prior or not, I doubted he had any significant experience with vampires.
“To business, then,” Frederick nodded. “Now that you’re here, Alexandra, we can start putting the final details to the plan.”
“I’ll admit to curiosity,” I said. “I’m not sure how you plan on breaking into Caradoc’s room, but he lives on a restricted access floor of a hotel with pretty good security. There are like four police stations within a one-mile radius of the hotel. If you trigger an alarm, you’ll have SWAT kicking in the door ten minutes later.”
“What makes you think we’re going to take the elevator?” Elaida smirked.
I tried to picture Elaida doing a Mission Impossible-style entrance through the skyscraper window, but couldn’t get past imagining her complaining about her manicure.
“There is a ritual we have used several times before that will provide our transportation needs,” Frederick said.
“We?”
He gestured at Elaida. “We have completed many operations together.”
“You’re houri?” I asked.
Frederick nodded and made a hint of a seated bow toward me. “Elaida has more skill with the quick and dirty use of her power, so she will go with the strike team.”
“Yeah, I’ve experienced some of that,” I said wi
th a shudder. Elaida gave me a vicious smile.
“The ritual requires two focal objects to act as gateways. All we need to do is to get our focus into Caradoc’s rooms. That is where you come in.”
I laughed. “You think he’s going to let me carry a focus into his apartment? Are you stupid or something? I don’t know the first thing about magic, but I can guarantee you he’ll sense it somehow.”
Elaida held up a cellphone with an irritated sigh. “Yes, we thought of that. We have his old device. It will work admirably for a focus, and Caradoc’s previous attachment to the phone will obscure the focal signature. Now, if the gifted amateur would let the professionals do their work…?”
“Before you joined our group,” Frederick said quickly, “we planned on mailing the phone to him, or arranging for him to find it on his own.” Frederick was trying hard to act as a peacemaker between Elaida and myself. “It will be much more direct if you bring it to his suite yourself.”
“And how do you expect me to do that? He doesn’t trust me enough to give me a code to his room.”
“You’re a succubus. He’s a man. Do the math,” Eric said with a suggestive leer.
“You’re embarrassing yourself, Eric,” I said flatly. The little shit was getting on my nerves even worse than Elaida was. “Also,” I said turning back to Frederick, “I’m pretty sure Caradoc is not a man.”
“You’re right about that,” Frederick nodded. “How you get the device into Caradoc’s rooms is up to you. If you think seduction is your best chance then do so, but I believe you to be resourceful enough to find your own route in.”
Frederick’s plain words soothed my rising temper. Between Eric’s braggadocio and Elaida’s vainglorious superiority, I was close to just walking away. “Okay, I can do my best to get into Caradoc’s rooms. If I don’t succeed, do you have a backup plan?”
“If necessary, Elaida and I can work together to open a gateway without a focus, but it would be a one-way trip, and neither of us could come with you. It would be down to Eric, Dimitri and you to break into Caradoc’s lair and retrieve the Shroud.”
Dimitri’s hands tightened on the back of the chair he was leaning against and I heard the steel groan. Eric lost some of his swagger and his face turned a shade whiter.
“Obviously that wouldn’t be ideal,” Elaida said sarcastically. “As capable as Dimitri is in a fight, there are bound to be threats within the lair that brawn and bravery are unsuitable to resolve by themselves.”
“And let’s not forget the guardian,” Frederick said with a wry smile. “Without the skull, all of this is pointless. It is secure?”
I nodded. As if I could forget the goddamn archangel guarding David’s inner room. “I will have the skull with me, don’t worry.”
“Once you have the Shroud, the focus will serve as your gateway back. The gateway will be triggered by saying the word reveni.”
“What language is that, anyway?” I asked.
“Romanian,” Frederick shrugged. “It is Elaida’s and my own native tongue. Language has deep roots that influence magic; I could no more cast spells in English than I could flap my arms and fly.”
Well, that was one mystery solved, at least.
“Do you have any questions?” Elaida asked.
I shrugged. I couldn’t think of anything, really. “How long will the ritual take to perform?”
“An hour or so,” Frederick rolled his shoulders. “Once you send word that the focus is in position, we will begin. I shouldn’t have to say this, but do not give us the all-clear while Caradoc is in residence. That is not a confrontation we will come out on top of.”
“You managed last time,” I pointed out.
Frederick shrugged uneasily. “Yes. But that was in public, and he allowed it.”
“He let you taser him and stab his sybil?”
“He had the opportunity and the strength to resist. He did not.”
“That’s… strange.” I shook my head. The more I learned about David, the less I knew. “Well, whatever. How long do you need to set up the ritual?”
“A few hours, plus some time to prepare mentally immediately before we begin.” Frederick looked around the large open room and nodded toward the far side. “I will have Dimitri clear some space over there. There will be plenty of room to arrange the necessary components.”
“Okay.” I thought about David’s words. Knowing the plans, motivations and actions of your enemy gave you control over them. I had full control of Elaida’s operation. She might think herself in charge, but in reality, it was me who was running things now. “I will try and have the focus in place by tomorrow night. Will that be enough time?”
Frederick nodded. “Yes.”
“You see, Alexandra?” Elaida asked me, a look on her face not far from lust, but it was far from sexual. “Action toward a resolution is always the best course. Don’t you feel it? Soon we will have the Shroud in the hands of the Catholics.”
The only thing I felt was apprehension, but I nodded, playing my part. “It does feel good to do something.”
Frederick nodded. “We had best start our preparations. Alexandra, thank you for joining us. You are not of the Priory, but your actions today and tomorrow will save the New World from the vampires. Remember that, if things become difficult. Hundreds of thousands of lives will depend on our actions. Do not lose sight of that.”
I forced a smile. “It’s why I’m doing it, Frederick.”
I felt my phone vibrating in my back pocket and I pulled it out to check the number. It wasn’t anyone I had on my contact list, so I let it go to voicemail and tucked my phone away again. “Is the focus ready?”
Frederick handed David’s cellphone to Eric, and Eric brought it over. He stepped a little too close to me and I could smell his heavily applied deodorant, and the rank hint of his body odor beneath. Some men didn’t understand that scents weren’t supposed to hide your lack of hygiene, only make yourself more appealing. “If you need help practicing your seduction technique, I’m willing to give you pointers.”
I took the phone from Eric. “Really? You’d do that for me?” I ladled on the false charm and Eric smiled like a frat boy being asked to join a sorority house sleepover. Then I brought my knee up into his groin. The sloppy grin on his face froze and he wobbled before toppling over onto the floor with a whimper.
Frederick was looking at me, trying to hide a smile. I tucked the phone away and tugged my jacket straight. “I’ve got to run. I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Elaida nodded and I saw a hint of grudging respect in her eyes. “Stay safe, Alexandra.”
The missed call was from Sam Friday. His message was brief.
“Alex, we’ve got a fresh one. A uniform happened to be nearby when a neighbor called in a complaint of vandalism. We have the perp in custody. Another weightlifter, if you could believe that. I told my partner I was calling you in as a consultant. I saw your website. We’ll pay your rates, no problem. Hit me back.”
I cradled my phone in my hands as I sat hunched over my scooter in the wrecker lot. The shredder crew had taken a break for lunch or something and the loudest noise was a heavily laden train rumbling slowly by on the far side of the lot.
Despite myself, I felt responsible for Friday. The detective was his own man, as he had so vigorously pointed out. He didn’t need me riding in to save him. On the other hand, he was offering to pay me for the investigation work I was already doing. Elaida and her crew had zero interest in following up on the mystery of the destroyed thresholds and I wasn’t going to get backup from anywhere else.
Acting as a consultant for Friday would give me access to the resources the police had and I might find a corollary between the victims that the police had overlooked. I called Friday back and he picked up on the second ring.
“Alex! I was afraid you wouldn’t return my call.”
“I just got finished with following up on my hunch. It was a dead end.”
“Sorry to hear that.�
�� I could hear the genuine disappointment in his voice. “Listen, if you are going to work as a consultant for me, you can’t be holding things back. I’d be paying you for your insight and connections. Your people are yours, I won’t infringe on that, but while you’re working for the city, the city gets to hear what you come up with.”
I hesitated. When he put it that way, it was hard to argue. “It’s possible what I have to offer won’t be widely accepted,” I said dubiously.
“Like a medium? You talk to ghosts or something?”
I sighed. “Nothing like that. Well. Okay, it could be something like that.”
“You wouldn’t be the first tea-reader, or whatever, the force has used for consultancy. We have standard procedures for dealing with evidence not acceptable in a court room. To be perfectly honest, if a little gray man from Mars gave us a lead on this case, my captain would shit himself with happiness. You help us crack this thing and nobody will blink twice, I promise.”
I highly doubted that, but I laughed despite myself. “Okay, I’m in.”
Friday gave me the address and I pulled out of the wrecker lot. Part of me wanted to go back to the hotel and see if Ilyena had woken up yet, but it had only been a few hours since she had fallen asleep. She wouldn’t be awake and functional for another couple hours at least.
I felt the familiar tingle between my legs and smiled. I had learned a lot from Ilyena last night, and I had my own ideas that I wanted to try out. Maybe she would be up for an encore.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Friday’s directions led me to a fairly decent townhouse complex in the hills of Silverlake. I parked my scooter down the hill half a block and hiked up to where Friday was leaning against a salmon-colored retaining wall.
He gave me a casual wave when I got within hailing distance. “Alex! You made good time.”
