The Belial Search

by R. D. Brady

  Cleo put her head down again and gave a little sigh. Lou ran her hand through the cat’s coat. Lou knew that Cleo was lonely these days. With Laney away, she’d had to spend most of her days in the cage, unless she went back to headquarters and stayed at Dom’s. But Laney wanted her at the school while they were out of town. Lou, Rolly, Danny, and Zach all tried to spend as much time with her as possible. But between classes and everything else, Lou didn’t think it was enough. Besides, Cleo needed someone who understood her. She needed another leopard. The problem was, she wasn’t like any other leopard out there.

  Lou hugged Cleo around the neck and whispered, “You’re one of a kind, girl. And I’m really sorry about that.”

  CHAPTER 13

  Henry stood up, towering over Jake. “Are you actually trying to make this harder for her?”

  Jake sat back, his mouth falling open. “What are you talking about?”

  Henry gestured to the door. “You, Laney. You’re acting like an ass.”

  Jake clamped his mouth shut. “Gee, thanks, Henry.”

  “Look, you got hurt. I know. But you have got to stop treating her like this. It’s not her fault you got hurt.”

  “Stay out of it, Henry.”

  Henry threw up his hands. “I would love to. Except it’s in my face every day. And I care about both of you. And I’ve never seen you act this way with anyone. You are so damn polite, it’s sickening.”

  “Henry—”

  “Jake, she’s grieving. She lost her mother. She nearly lost the two of us. You are destroying your relationship. You—”

  “I know!” Jake yelled, running through his hair. “I know,” he said more quietly. “I don’t know what it is. She’s the last person in the world I want to hurt and yet, I hear myself when I talk to her. I hate how I’m talking to her, but I can’t seem to get myself to shut up.”

  Henry watched his best friend and saw the struggle on his face. “It’s not her fault you were hurt,” he said again.

  Jake ran a hand through his hair. He looked like he wanted to tear it out. “I know. But I think I blame her anyway. I mean, she goes through hell, and comes out without a scratch. We face Cain and come out almost dead.”

  Henry watched his best friend. He knew how hard these last few months were for him. But Jake needed to snap out of it. “You know she’s not uninjured. Each time she goes into one of these things, she comes out changed. She loses something. And we might be the triad, but the biggest burden is on her. She needs us to help her, not make it harder.”

  “Do you think I don’t know that?” Jake shook his head. “I’m just so angry. I hate that I can’t help her fight. That I can’t—” Jake went quiet.

  “That you can’t keep her safe.”

  Jake nodded abruptly but didn’t speak.

  “You need to trust her to protect herself. She’s smart. She’s tough. She doesn’t need us to keep her safe all the time. But she does need us to have her back.”

  “I have her back. I always have her back.”

  Henry paused. “Do you really? Because I don’t think she believes that. I mean, have you even talked to her about what she went through last night?”

  Jake met his gaze and then looked away. “No.”

  “Jake, she put everything on hold when you got hurt. But she had to get back to her mission. No one can do what she does. But she needs you too—because no one else can fill your role in her life. And each time you act like a polite stranger to her, it hurts her.”

  Jake let out a breath, and Henry could sense the helplessness in him. “I know. But I don’t know what to do. It kills me each time she goes on a mission without me. Because, you know her, she will lay down her life for someone else without a thought. And I can’t lose her.”

  Henry nodded, feeling his gut clench because Jake was right. Laney would lay down her life without a thought, just like their mother did. Apparently it was encoded in their DNA. He studied the proud man in front of him. “Would you do any different? Wasn’t that exactly what you did when you shot Cain? You and I both knew there was every chance we would not survive that.”

  Jake looked at him for a long moment before turning away. “I don’t know.”

  “Jake, you need to stop pushing her away. Death isn’t the only thing that can take her away from you. And if you keep this up, you really are going to lose her.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Laney took a seat on the back veranda of the main house. She pictured Jake this morning. Perfectly polite—and perfectly unlike Jake.

  She flipped through the stack of papers Jake had handed her, trying to focus.

  My secret talent—being able to sneak up on pretty girls.

  The memory slipped into her mind. It was her first day at Chandler. And it was the first time, even with all the craziness surrounding them, that she knew there was something between her and Jake.

  And now what is there? She still loved him. She would always love him. It was just so hard to be around him right now. It seemed like she had to weigh every word. How did we get here?

  But she knew the answer to that question. Too much death, too much hurt, and her damn destiny always snapping at their heels.

  She shook her head. Enough. She had turned her and Jake’s relationship over in her mind time and time again. And it never made a difference. Until Jake let her in, it never would.

  Laney glanced at the SIA report in the stack. Steeling herself, she read through it. Lots of blood—she knew that. The SIA criminalists had confirmed that the burned item Mustafa had mentioned was indeed Sheila’s heart.

  Laney shuddered. It was like some horrible B movie.

  She scanned through the rest of the form, stopping at the cause of death: drowning. How the hell does someone drown on land? That must be a mistake.

  Her phone rang. Laney checked the screen before answering. “Hey, Matt. How’s it going?”

  “Good. Just calling with an update.”

  Laney grimaced. A few months back, Matt had started calling her with weekly updates. Although she liked to know what was happening, there were times, like today, when she would rather not know. “Okay, hit me,” she said.

  “Well, we’ve had seventeen more Fallen-related incidents, including the one in DC.”

  “Seventeen? In a week?”

  “Yes. Most were easily explained and we managed to get control of the scenes that were more public. The Niagara Falls incident was the most challenging.”

  “Anything we should be especially concerned about?”

  “I’m not sure. There’s something unusual about these cases. It’s not the troublemakers. Take for example the case two days ago in Minneapolis. There were reports of an extremely fast man who was the target of an attempted murder. The man managed to escape. We don’t know who the perpetrators were—the whole report was kind of sketchy.”

  “Are you sure it was even a Fallen or nephilim who was the target?”

  “That we are sure of. He was one of the ones we keep an eye on. But he’s never caused any trouble. Just lives his life quietly.”

  Laney frowned. “So why go after him? Was it other Fallen?”

  “I don’t know that either. I have some agents interviewing him today. We should know more soon, but I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”

  “Thanks.” Laney went silent.

  “Everything all right?”

  Laney sighed. “It’s been a rough night.”

  “I heard. Want to talk about it?”

  Laney hesitated. But then she thought, maybe Matt knew of some expert somewhere who might be able to help. “We lost the mom of one of the Grand Canyon kids last night.” She told him about the phone call and about tracking Sheila down too late. “I just read over the crime scene report, and they burned her heart. But that’s not even the weirdest part. The weirdest part is—”

  “—is that she drowned,” Matt finished for her.

  Shock took Laney’s voice for a moment. “How do you know that?”


  “I know that because she’s not the first victim of that killer.”

  “Not the first? How many have there been?”

  Matt was silent.

  Laney’s alarm grew. “Matt? How many?”

  “Thirty-four.”

  CHAPTER 15

  Laney couldn’t process it. “Thirty-four murders?” All she could picture was the scene of Sheila’s death. Someone had done that almost three dozen times? “Wait, why do you know about this?”

  “We keep track of unusual murders. It’s part of our record-keeping.”

  Right, because keeping a list of ritualistic killings is all in a day’s work. Laney knew, though, that that was possible. After all, VICAP kept track of all violent crimes, allowing law enforcement to determine connections between different offenses across states. Interpol allowed for the same to be done on a global level.

  “Okay. But I can’t imagine why you personally would know about this one, unless there was—” Laney paused. “There’s a link to the Fallen, isn’t there?”

  “Yes.”

  That one word had the force of a shotgun blast. Damn it. “What’s the connection?”

  “All the people killed, are closely tied, either by blood or friendship, to a Fallen. We’re calling them the companion murders.”

  Laney’s mouth dropped open. Closely tied. Like Sheila—the mother of a nephilim. “Are you saying you knew someone was going after the people related to the Fallen and you didn’t tell me?”

  “There’s so much going on, I didn’t want to bother—”

  “Bother me? Sheila Lachowski is dead. Her children have lost their mother. I could have warned her!” Laney forced herself to calm down even as she wanted to reach through the phone and strangle Matt. Sheila was gone, but others might still be at risk. She needed to help them first, kill Matt later. “Tell me what you know.”

  “Hold on, let me pull up the files.” Matt was quiet for a few moments. “Okay. There’s been a murder every two weeks or so for the last eighteen months. The murders always occur at sunset. About half of them correspond to the full moon.”

  “The full moon?”

  “Yes. My people think there’s some group, a cult even, that may be responsible.”

  Laney closed her eyes. A cult. As if this isn’t all horrible enough. “And the murders? They’re always the same?”

  “Yes. The victim is drowned, then their blood is drained, and finally their heart is removed.”

  Matt said it all so coolly, so clinically. But Sheila’s death was too fresh for Laney, and each description made her shudder.

  “How long before the murder are they grabbed?”

  “Not long. Usually only a few hours.”

  “Which means whoever is doing this is organized and prepared.”

  “Yes. And the victims—they stretch across the globe. We didn’t even make the link until last month.”

  Laney’s voice was cool. “You should have told me.”

  “I’m sorry, Laney. I thought with everything else, that you had enough on your plate.”

  “That was not your call to make. I need you to send me everything you have on these cases.”

  “Consider it done.”

  Laney disconnected the call without another word. Gathering her papers, she turned and strode toward the main house, her mind already churning through the list of what she needed to do. She needed to get security in place for the families of all the kids they knew of and warnings out to the police departments in the areas where they lived. Her mind flitted from one detail to the next. All the people killed are closely tied, either by blood or friendship, to a Fallen—the number of those who could fit that description was overwhelming.

  She needed to improve security at the school. And Cleo would need to stay there longer to serve as a little extra protection. Hell, maybe I’ll move there for a little while. It’ll be more peaceful than staying with Jake.

  More and more of the people she needed to warn raced through her mind. There were literally hundreds of them. And fear sliced through her as one more truth hit home.

  I can’t protect them all.

  CHAPTER 16

  Henry pushed back from his desk, staring at all the files Matt had emailed over. He’d had copies made immediately. He had a team going over them with a fine-toothed comb. But he still couldn’t believe the number.

  Thirty-four murders? How the hell hadn’t they known about this? Laney was down in the communications room, arranging to warn everyone she could think of who might need to be protected. Henry knew how angry she was that the SIA agent had kept this from her. What the hell was Matt thinking? And what else is he hiding?

  Henry looked up from his desk as Jen stepped in. Henry smiled, his spirits lifting at the sight of her in spite of the worry now weighing him down. Unlike Jake and Laney, Henry had found that his injuries had only brought him and Jen closer. And despite everything, he couldn’t remember a time when he was happier.

  Jen leaned over the desk and kissed him softly on the lips. “Hi.”

  “Hi,” Henry said, looking into her deep brown eyes. He would never get tired of that particular view. “How’s everything at the school?”

  “Not good. All the kids really liked Sheila. Patrick’s putting together a candlelight vigil tonight, and they’re arranging a formal memorial service for her tomorrow. Mikio’s going to bring Jimmy and Jillian down.”

  “I didn’t think you’d be able to get here today.”

  “I didn’t either, but Lou wanted to make sure Danny was okay. And she and Rolly wanted to talk to Tiffany about the memorial.”

  Henry nodded. Tiffany was Tiffany Richards, the event planner for the Chandler Group. “She’ll take care of them.”

  “I know. I just hate that they have to deal with another loss. They’ve all lost so much already.”

  All the kids at the school came from tough backgrounds. Most of them were orphans, although a few had parents who had kicked them out as soon as their powers developed. As a result, everyone associated with the school had gone out of their way to create an environment where the kids felt accepted and supported. And protected. Sheila’s death was going to shake that feeling of security.

  “Well, I’m afraid it gets worse,” Henry said.

  Jen’s eyes narrowed. “How can it get worse?”

  “Sheila’s wasn’t the first murder. She wasn’t even one of the first dozen.”

  “What?”

  Henry explained about the series of murders and what the SIA knew. He gestured to his desk. “These are all the case files they have so far. I’m starting to go through them while Laney and Jake arrange for extra security for just about everyone we can think of.”

  “The kids at school—they’ll have to be on lockdown.”

  Henry nodded. “I’m sorry, but yes. I’ve already arranged for extra guards, and Laney said Cleo will stay there for the duration.”

  Jen closed her eyes. “These kids just can’t catch a break.”

  “I know. But we’ll figure out a way to make it bearable. Maybe they can take small trips off campus a few at a time with guards.”

  “Yeah. We’ll have to do something.” Jen looked down at the crime scene photos. “May I?”

  Henry nodded. “Help yourself. But be warned, they’re pretty graphic.”

  Jen studied a few of the photos and then looked back at him. “Do you have more of these?”

  “Too many.” Henry handed her another dozen.

  She quickly flipped through them, her frown deepening with each one. And Henry had the distinct impression it wasn’t just the subject that was causing it. “What is it?” he asked.

  “Where are the rest?”

  Henry pulled out the remaining pictures and handed them over. “What do you see?”

  Jen shook her head and walked over to the whiteboard that had been set up. Henry followed. Jen walked along the board, stopping at a series of dates. She pointed to it. “These are the dates of the murders
.”

  Henry nodded.

  “About half have been killed on the full moon,” she said softly.

  “Yeah. How did you know that?”

  “When I was a kid, my mom always kept track of the phases of the moon. I do the same thing. It’s just a habit.”

  Surprised filtered through him. She rarely mentioned her mother. Her mom had disappeared when Jen was seven, and Jen had been thrown into the foster care system after that—which had not been easy. And although she said very little about her time with her mom, Henry had the distinct impression that it hadn’t been easy either.

  “It’s a ritual,” Jen whispered. She walked back to the desk and laid the pictures out, one next to the other, until the desk was covered. “Look.” She pointed to the spot underneath the body on one of the pictures, and then went through the rest of them, pointing at the same spot in each photo.

  “It’s an altar,” Henry said with surprise. He hadn’t picked up on it.

  Jen nodded. “But it’s more than that. They’re taking the heart, the life force of the body. Their using water—a purifier—as is fire. These weren’t just killings. These were offerings.”

  “But to who? Why?”

  “I don’t know. But the next full moon is in two weeks.”

  “Then so is the next murder.”

  CHAPTER 17

  Laney sat on the grass flipping through the crime scene photos and the accompanying documents. Phone calls were going out to warn everyone they could think of about the danger. But Laney had needed to get away from that for a little while and get some fresh air. And she needed to spend some time with Cleo before she sent her back to the school. Jen had brought Cleo with her as extra protection when she’d brought Rolly and Lou over.

  Cleo was sprawled out on the ground. Laney reached down and rubbed her belly. “I hate sending you back there, girl, but I need the kids to be safe.”

  Cleo stretched and let one of her paws fall over Laney’s arm. Laney smiled, not for the first time wondering exactly what had been done to create Cleo. It was more than just growth hormone. Laney had planned on looking into Cleo’s background when she got back from DC, but now with these murders, she knew that research was going to have to take a back seat. Maybe I can get one of the analysts to do some preliminary work.