The scroll of the victims’ photos played again. They were all so young. If they didn’t have a type, The Brothers definitely had an age range in mind.
“Except they’re not ‘monsters’,” Satina said. She had been gone the entire morning. Now that afternoon had fully blossomed around us, it seemed she had something else to add. “At least one of the murderers was out of play last night.”
Her gaze moved over to Charlie.
“We had you bound,” she said. “And those binds weren’t broken last night, which means there’s no way that your body—regardless of who was in the driver’s seat—committed those crimes.”
We’d already been through this: Abram thought he had somehow gotten out and then chained himself up again—and we’d certainly seen magic do stranger things—but after a little magical inspection of her own, Satina concluded his binds had never been broken. Which left us…here.
“So who killed those women then?” Charlie asked. “Your father?”
“The bastard you brought the building down around?” Cindy’s eyes narrowed as she looked over at me. “There’s no way he could have survived that, let alone be recovered enough to…to…”
Satina huffed. “You would be surprised what he’s capable of.”
I waved my hand dismissively. “It’s not his capabilities that concern me,” I said. “It’s his motives. He already knows that it’s me The Brothers are after. So why is he killing innocent women all over the city?”
“For show,” Abram said, turning away from the still-scrolling pictures of victims. “The Brothers don’t give favors easily. Whatever he’s after must be big. The more trouble he goes through, the greater the chance of striking supernatural gold when it’s time for The Brothers to pay up. My guess is he’ll continue this rampage until Mr. Mandrake—his only competition in terms of getting to you—is either dead or such a failure that he can bring you to The Brothers like the greatest human sacrifice since Abram offered his son up to God in the desert.”
I arched my brows. “That wasn’t—”
“Different Abram,” he said immediately.
“Hmph. I didn’t know you were such a Bible thumper.”
“I’m not,” he said. “But I’ve been around a long time. I’ve read everything at least once.”
“So what are we going to do?” Charlie asked, flipping off the television. “If even killing me won’t stop this garbage, what will?”
“We don’t know,” Satina confessed. “And giving up isn’t an option.” Her eyes shot over to me. “It isn’t, right?”
I shook my head.
“Then we have to get all the information we can. We have to know what we’re dealing with. We know what Mr. Mandrake is and what he’s after, but what about my father? What does that son of Satan want under his tree this year? And what sort of blasphemous abilities did those devilish demagogues give him?”
“You know,” I said, worrying at my lip, “not to sound completely useless here, but we sort of look to you to answer that kind of thing.”
“Then it’s a good thing I haven’t taken my leave quite yet,” Satina said. “Though I’m proving less than helpful in this particular predicament.”
A knock came at the door, and my body stiffened.
Satina rolled her eyes. “Don’t look like a deer in headlights,” she said, looking much less concerned than I probably did. “That is what they call them, right? Headlights?”
“Get behind me,” Abram said, grabbing my arm and pulling me toward him.
“Oh, that’ll be rich,” Satina said, heading for the door as another knock sounded. “The least powerful person in the room protecting the most. It’s akin to surrounding an impenetrable fortress with a block of brie cheese.” She chuckled. “Besides, this visitor means you no harm.”
Satina pulled at the handle, opening the door.
I flinched, but as the door opened, I saw a familiar, and very welcome, face. “Ramsey,” I exclaimed, a smile breaking out across my face. “What on earth are you doing here?”
I hadn’t seen Ramsey since he helped save all our lives back in Grimoult. Okay, so technically, I saved his life, but he sort of helped in the set up for it. Besides, he was willing to die for the good of the world, and that made him a stand-up guy in my book.
It also didn’t hurt that he was a Mage—the sort of person who knew all there was to know about this ridiculously magical world I had found myself in.
Ramsey grinned. “Satina here called in the cavalry.”
Cindy’s hands fell to her sides. “He’s the cavalry?”
“Oh ye of little faith,” Ramsey said, shaking his finger at her. Then he scooped me up into a hug.
To be fair, Ramsey wasn’t all that intimidating to look at. In a room full of Abrams, Charlies, and even Timmons, Ramsey stood out—in part—because he didn’t. He wasn’t tall or muscular. He didn’t have broad shoulders or knowing glares. There was nothing about him that betrayed the sort of help he might be able to give us. But it was help that we desperately needed.
“Where’s Briar?” I asked, for once not gagging at the idea of seeing her.
“Come on, Char,” he said. “You just made her a queen. Do you really think she’s the type to come for a visit now that she has subjects to fawn over her?”
“Good point.”
“She sends her love,” he assured before looking at Charlie. “To most of you, anyway.”
Charlie shuffled where he stood. “I’m guessing there’s like no chance that the Briar we’re talking about isn’t the same one that I slept with and never called again.”
Cindy shot daggers at him. “You did what?”
“While he was involved with this one,” Ramsey said, pointing to me.
“Okay,” Charlie stammered. “The whole world is coming to an end or whatever. There’s really no need to waste the time we have left playing the ‘Charlie Prince is a douchebag’ game.”
“I don’t think there’d be enough time for that even if the world wasn’t ending,” Ramsey said, setting a backpack down on the foyer counter and pulling a pretty sizeable laptop out of it. “Which it isn’t. Not if we can help it.”
I shook my head as reality crashed into me. Charlie had been with Briar. “Is Briar going to be okay?” I asked. “Shouldn’t someone be with her? Would Mandrake go after her?”
Ramsey lifted his hand. “Stop there. Take a deep breath. She came on their radar during the events and Grimoult, but is now back off. It’s time to worry about yourself. And this one here,” he added, motioning toward Cindy.
I let out a slow breath. Right. Briar would be in the clear from that whole Sleeping Beauty thing. Besides, she probably had an armed guard protecting her day and night.
Abram came up beside Ramsey as the man was booting his computer. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Ramsey, because I’m very happy to see you. I’m just at a bit of a loss as to what you can do for us exactly.”
“That’s a fair question. Of course you would wonder how I could help where you have failed.” His fingers starting furiously working on the keyboard. “But I think because it’s you’re looking at things from a purely magical standpoint.”
“Maybe that’s because we’re dealing with magical demigods and their unkillable hired guns,” I suggested.
“True.” Ramsey shrugged. “But that’s not all you’re dealing with. When Satina brought this to my attention, I started looking at the entire case. This started, plain and simple, as a series of unsolved murders. So I began looking at it like that, as a detective might. Albeit, I’m a detective who knows a lot more about the mystical world than a regular one might.” His typing grew even faster. “When I coupled that detective work with my otherworldly knowledge, I hit something a little interesting.”
Satina grinned cockily behind him.
“What?” I asked.
“The NYPD database has been tampered with. There are magical markers all over it.”
“Magical markers?” I a
sked.
“Think of them as those black bars you always see on redacted FBI papers.” He tilted his head. “For those of you who look through old FBI papers anyway. The point is, they hide information—information that the police department would otherwise know.”
“No wonder the police are so inept,” I mused. “They’re being screwed with.”
Abram leaned forward, peering over Ramsey’s shoulder with a perplexed expression. “But what can we do?” he asked. “If there are magical barriers—”
“Even magic has to be digitized when it’s put online. It took me most of the plane ride over here, but I came up with a bit of coding that should work.” His fingers continued to work. After a few more minutes, he stopped typing, straightened, and smiled down at his keyboard. “And it does.”
“You got through?” I asked, my eyes widening.
“Don’t sound so surprised. I’m good at what I do, Char. You should know that better than most.”
I circled as he read, but it was hard to see past Abram’s hulking frame.
“Well, this is interesting,” Ramsey finally said.
“What?” Abram asked,
“In every death, the same piece of information has been redacted. It’s like there’s a magical force that doesn’t want anyone looking in this particular direction.”
“Two guesses as to who’s responsible for that,” I muttered.
“The weapon for the dozen deaths last night hasn’t been found or identified yet, but all the victims died in the same unique way.”
“Don’t tease us with it, Ramsey,” Satina said. “I brought you here so you could lay it all out for us.”
“They all died from electrocution,” he said, pointing at his screen as though it might mean something to us. But Abram didn’t seem any less confused, and I still couldn’t see what was going on. “Massive amounts of electricity nearly fried them to death, and the entry point was always the heel of the left foot. The police have no idea what’s causing it.”
“Isn’t that great!” I slammed my hands against the desk. “It might as well have said, ‘They died just because’ for all the help that gives us. I am so damn sick of these dead ends!”
“Char,” Ramsey said, standing and putting a hand on my shoulder. “You’re not listening. I said that the police are lost.” He raised his eyebrows. “I, on the other hand, know exactly what we’re dealing with.”
Chapter 22
Ramsey settled in the center of the room, and I readied myself for one of his patented explanations—the kind that saved us more than once back in Grimoult.
Of course, we weren’t in Grimoult anymore. As fearsome as the Conduit on that island had been, we were now dealing with something much more menacing.
“It’s called the Glass Slipper,” he said, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “It’s an ancient relic dating back to at least Egypt in the time of the pyramids. It could be older than that. It’s very likely almost as aged as the world itself, but we have no way of dating it further back than the written word.”
“My God,” I murmured. As old as the world itself? What on earth were we dealing with here?
“What is it?” Abram asked. “Even I’ve never heard of something called the Glass Slipper.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Ramsey said, pursing his lips. “For all its age, it’s notoriously slippery in terms of historical relevance.”
“Well, that’s good,” I said, sinking back into my seat and wrapping my fingers around the chair’s scrolled arms. “That means that it flies under the radar, right? Maybe it’s small or insignificant.”
“The exact opposite, I’m afraid,” Ramsey said, unblinking. “It’s a weapon—and a pretty potent one at that. Though the Mages only have one or two verified sightings of it in all the scrolls, we suspect it’s been used in places like Roanoke, the Mayan empire, and even Atlantis.”
I furrowed my brows. “Atlantis?”
“You see, when the Glass Slipper is used, it’s a sign of The Brothers’ determination on a specific plan of action,” Ramsey explained. “It’s part of the big guns, so to speak. And when The Brothers pull out the big guns, they don’t lose.”
“So you don’t have any proof that the Glass Slipper was used in these places because—”
“Because when The Brothers are done with them, nothing exists,” he finished.
“Jesus,” I muttered. I tipped my head back and closed my eyes. “He’s going to tear apart the greatest city on the face of the earth just to get to me. Does shit even get any deeper than this?”
Abram’s hand found its way to my neck and started making soothing motions around the base of my skull. “We can’t give up. Stay focused.” To Ramsey, he added, “What does the Glass Slipper do? What makes you thinks it’s at play?”
“The slipper emits a huge amount of energy into the body of any person it comes into contact with. The ancient Egyptians called it magic. We know it today as electricity.”
“It’s frying people to death?” I asked from my seat.
“Not exactly.” Ramsey paced from one side of the room to the other, his hands clasped behind his back. “The electricity is somewhat unique. It targets vital organs and puts them in a sort of stasis.” He paused, and then spun toward us. “It basically freezes someone’s insides. So much so that even the force of breathing is enough to cause breakage. When their body is found, every one of their internal organs is shattered. That’s what the police are dealing with now, and that’s what they’ll continue to deal with until someone puts a stop to this.”
“Someone?” I asked, looking over at him. “We both know whose lap this falls in.” I peered up at Abram. “We have to end this, once and for all, and by any means necessary.”
He came around to the front of my chair and held out his hand to help me up. “I agree.” Cindy wormed her way between us, standing with her hands on her hips. “Excuse me, but what the hell do you expect to do? This Magistrate—”
“Mage,” Ramsey corrected.
“Whatever,” Cindy said. “This guy says that someone who survived having a building dropped on their head has a weapon that single-handedly eviscerated Atlantis…and your plan is to…what? Fuck in public until you draw him out?”
Uh-oh. Charlie must have been telling her stories.
Warmth prickled in my cheeks. “I’m going to go find Satina’s father,” I said. “If I can’t convince him to stop hurting innocent people, then I’m going to make him to stop. Either way, I’m going to turn the Glass Slipper into shards.”
“Or get yourself killed trying,” Cindy said, rolling her eyes. “I might be a bit of a novice to all of this, but I’m also a pretty quick study. Unless I’m mistaken, Abram is completely powerless.”
Damn. She was right. I was going to need some muscle.
As I pulled out my phone, Abram tilted his head. “What are you doing?” he asked.
“I’m calling Huntsman.” I shifted my body to the side so it wouldn’t feel like my phone call was being performed to an audience. “I’m going to see how long it’ll take him to get here. He stopped Mr. Mandrake before. Maybe he can help with Satina’s father.”
“I’m afraid that won’t do you any good,” Ramsey said. “Huntsman is a bit out of reach at the moment.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, slowly lowering the phone.
“It’s quite complicated, but suffice it to say, the world hasn’t stopped moving since you left Grimoult, mystical or otherwise.” He set his jaw. “I’m afraid we’re on our own.”
“That’s fine,” Abram answered. “He isn’t needed.”
I ended the call and turned toward him. “Abram…”
“Don’t, Char,” he said, grabbing my arms and pinning me with his gaze as much as his hands. “You have to trust me.”
“I do trust you.”
“Then prove it,” he said. “Trust that I can take care of myself.”
“I just don’t want you to get hurt.”
> “And I don’t want you to get hurt, either, but we can’t live in a bubble.”
Apparently, we’d come a long way from when he did try to keep me in a bubble. But would that be enough?
“The world is dangerous, Char, and I may be without my powers. But I’m still a man. And I won’t be treated as anything less.”
“Fair enough,” I mumbled as he let me go.
He took my hand in his and turned to the others. “We’ll be back as soon as we can,” he said. “And all of this will be another step closer to finished.”
* * *
When we left, I took a lock of Satina’s hair with me. The genetic connection would hopefully be enough to give me at least a clue as to where we could find her father. So far, though, all it was doing was giving me a short attention span and a killer of a sweet tooth.
“Any luck?” Abram asked as we moved through the streets, dangerously close to the strip that held last night’s murders.
“All I’m getting are Satina’s personality traits,” I admitted, my mouth watering as we passed a bakery. “To be honest, I don’t think I’m very good at this.”
“There’s a learning curve to everything, Charisse,” Abram said, giving my hand a gentle squeeze. “It’s not as though you’ve had time to perfect your craft. Perhaps when all of this settles down, we can find someone who can help you tap into that part of yourself. I’d suggest Satina, but she’s made it clear she doesn’t do anything on anyone’s terms but her own.”
“Don’t you mean if this settles down?” I asked in a low voice. “If we survive it, anyway.”
Abram squeezed my hand again, but this time, he did it harder. A warning. “Don’t speak that way.”
“Why not?” I asked. “This isn’t a rosy situation, Abram. You heard Satina. You heard Ramsey. There’s no way out of this. Even stopping Satina’s father is just putting a bandage on a bullet wound. The Brothers aren’t going to stop until I’m dead. And, from everything I’ve heard, stopping them is impossible.”
Charmed by the Beast: an Adult Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Conduit Series Book 3) Page 14
