Smoke, Mirrors and Demons (The Carnival Society Book 1)

by Kat Cotton

  “Nothing major. Just some scratches,” he said.

  “Your shirt?” I asked, noticing the blood stains spread over the white fabric.

  He’d been hurt. Cut by those razor claws.

  “That’s yours not mine.”

  “Sorry,” I whispered. I’d ruined his shirt. It looked expensive too.

  He shrugged then knelt down beside me, fiddling with the waistband of my tights.

  “Huh? What?” I tried to push his hands away.

  “We have to get these off you. You don’t want the fabric sticking to the wound.”

  “I think you’ll have to cut them off,” said Lilly. She ran upstairs.

  “I’m fine. I really am,” I said.

  Did he realize I wasn’t wearing underwear under these tights? This fabric had wicking properties and those properties became useless if I had undies on. Either he didn’t know or he knew and didn’t care, but I wasn’t about to expose myself.

  Lilly returned with scissors. She also handed me a scarf. “Put that over you to preserve your modesty,” she said.

  I nodded and held the scarf up to block the view.

  I thought Lilly would cut through the fabric but Duke took the scissors from her. He raised my leg slightly and began cutting the fabric at the hem near my ankle, the metal of the scissors nudging against my skin.

  It was so damn cold in this studio. I wished Lilly had brought me something warmer than that flimsy scarf. I wanted to ask someone to get the hoodie from my bag but effort of talking suddenly became too much for me.

  As Duke turned my leg to snip across my thigh, I let out a yelp.

  “Sorry,” he whispered in a voice so low and tender I hardly believed it was his.

  He cut across the thigh so that only one leg of the thighs was removed.

  “You’re shivering,” Lilly said.

  I nodded, still finding it difficult to speak.

  She got a blanket and wrapped it over my upper body. While she did that, Nuno got me something to drink. Hot, sweet tea. He held the cup while I sipped at it. As I drank it, the cold, shivery feeling lessened.

  Duke returned with a first aid kit. “This might hurt a little.”

  I nodded to let him know I was fine. He tried moving my thigh again and I bit into my lip to stop myself from crying out. I didn’t want a fuss made over me. His grip on my leg was firm but gentle. The movement didn’t hurt as much as expected. Then he began cleaning the wound. Again, he moved so gently, it surprised me.

  When he was done, I looked down at my leg but regretted it. That was no clean wound. Most of my thigh looked like minced meat.

  I gagged a little.

  “It’s a nasty wound,” Duke said. “Can you move your leg?”

  I tried extending my leg but cried out again as pain shot through me.

  “It’s okay,” Duke said, helping me to put my leg into a comfortable position.

  He could say that but it wasn’t okay. I wanted to throw up. I really wanted to throw up. From the pain and the shock and the sight of my thigh.

  “I think he’s severed a tendon,” Duke said.

  He looked at Lilly and Nuno. The three of them did that thing where they talked without using words. I tried to interpret what their glances meant but it made no sense to me.

  Then the three of them all nodded.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  They didn’t answer but Nuno knelt down beside the sofa.

  He put his hands over the cut on my thigh. I tried to sit up to see what he was doing but Duke held me down.

  “Don’t move,” he told me. “It’s going to be fine.”

  He could say that but I’d seen the mess on my leg. There was no way that was going to be fine. I would not be performing in this show. I probably wouldn’t even walk properly for a long time.

  The air in the warehouse seemed to change somehow. A faint buzzing teased at my ears. Probably part of the aftershock. The buzzing moved around but seemed to settle in my thigh muscles. Not exactly painful but a tickling, itching feeling. I wasn’t sure I liked it.

  I inhaled, not wanting to pass out.

  The throbbing feeling intensified. For a moment, I wanted to claw at my leg to get rid of it. The itching became so strong, it was like some kind of gross insect burrowed into my skin.

  I gasped, clutching tight to Duke’s arm.

  “It’s fine, just hold on a bit longer.”

  I nodded and bit my lip again. What the hell were they doing to me? The weird sensation got almost too much for me to handle. I tried pushing Duke away but he held me too firm.

  Then nothing. The sensation stopped. The nausea that had settled like a rock in my belly disappeared with it.

  “Wiggle your toes,” Duke said.

  I shook my head. I didn’t want to. It’d hurt. Why did he want me to cause myself more pain?

  “Try it,” he added.

  I sucked in my breath then slowly moved my toes.

  No pain.

  I wiggled them a bit stronger. Still no pain.

  Then I tried moving my leg, just a little. It seemed fine. But barely seconds ago that same movement had been more than I could handle. Had they used some kind of super painkiller on me? If they had, it worked miracles.

  I braced myself and looked down at my leg. The wound had gone! There was no blood, no broken skin even.

  “Huh?”

  I blinked then looked again. I looked up at Nuno then at Duke. Neither of them said a thing.

  What had Nuno done?

  Nuno laid out flat on the floor in a beam of sunlight. He’d gone extremely pale and faded like an old photo.

  “What did you do?” I asked him.

  “Leave him,” Lilly said. “He needs to regain his strength.”

  I looked back down at my leg. Had I been imagining things? There wasn’t even a scar or a mark. Maybe the wound had looked worse than it was, but it seemed to have completely disappeared. I sat up and glared at Duke.

  “This show has to be perfect,” he said. “That’s not going to happen if you’re injured.”

  He could say that but I’d been attacked by demons twice. This show wouldn’t be perfect if that happened again. I could use all the protection I could gather but that wouldn’t be enough.

  I’d denied it up until now but there was a master demon behind all this and he wasn’t going to stop.

  I had to face facts. I could no longer hide from what I was. I had to fight this bastard and I had to win but there was no way I could do that until I learned to control my powers.

  Chapter 21

  NO MATTER HOW MANY questions I asked, I got no answers. The troupe acted like none of it happened. The demon attack and the healing. I’m pretty sure that if he could, Duke would’ve wiped the whole thing from my memory.

  That helped me none with my investigation, though. I couldn’t exactly tell Larry that Duke and Nuno, maybe Lilly as well, had magic juju powers. All I’d get for the information would be major scoffing.

  I had told him my theory that Duke could’ve convinced someone else to do the killing but it didn’t pan out in my mind. Duke wanted to find the killer as much as I did. He could’ve let that demon destroy me too instead of putting his life at risk.

  That afternoon Duke wanted me to work with Lilly. There was no sitting around being all shocked about the demon attack. Not this close to performance time.

  “You need to loosen up a whole lot more,” he said. “Watch Lilly. Copy how she moves.”

  I scoffed. I could watch Lilly until the end of never and I’d never have the moves she had. Lilly was a seductress, through and through. The core of her being was pure sensuality. I’d never have that in a million years.

  “I’ll try,” I said. “But don’t bank on it.”

  Duke shrugged. “Nuno and I have to head off to meet with the festival manager. We’ll be gone all afternoon so it’s the perfect opportunity for you to work with her.”

  I wanted to ask what use Nuno
would be in a meeting since he couldn’t speak but figured there was no way to say that without it coming across as rude. Maybe some time alone with Lilly would get me answers.

  After they’d gone, Lilly put on some music.

  “Copy me, huh?” she said. “I’m not even sure why Duke is so hung up on this. You move fine, just acrobatic fine not burlesque fine, if you get me.”

  I nodded.

  We both danced the number. I had no problem with the actual dance steps, it was the attitude I didn’t have. Lilly moved like a slinky cat. I moved like a stray cat pouncing on a bird.

  “Duke might be a jerk about these things but really, how long has it been since you got laid?”

  I shrugged. I didn’t want to go into that.

  “Look, I don’t want to tell you to go out and have a quickie to improve your dance or anything but maybe you need to get in touch with something inside you.” She winked. “Not in that way, but even if you’re not doing it, you must think about it sometimes. It don’t matter if your dream guy is the barista at your local coffee shop or Justin Bieber, just think of someone. Think of how you wanna move your body against his.”

  I nodded.

  “Don’t just nod,” she said. “Shut your eyes and think about him.”

  I shut my eyes. The sad fact was there was no one like that for me. A few times I’d thought that Akira would be ideal boyfriend material apart from the workmates thing but he wasn’t the kind of guy you had those kinds of thoughts about. I dug down deep. The last guy I’d had sex with had been good looking but it’d been so long ago, the details of his face had grown hazy. Not only was I not sexual on the outside, I had nothing deep inside me either.

  Duke.

  His face appeared in my mind. I tried to push it out. Even Justin Bieber would be better. But I couldn’t forget the way he’d caressed my thigh when I’d been injured and that gentle voice he’d used. The strength of his arms. The glint in his eyes. The way my body heated when he stood close to me.

  No. I had to push that away.

  “Rightio,” Lilly said. “All juiced up now?”

  I blushed. Did she have to say it like that?

  “You were thinking about Duke, right?” she asked.

  “Was not.”

  “Was so too. There’s no need to be embarrassed about it.”

  She turned the music on then sat on the sofa to watch me dance.

  I tried to think less, feel more but then I just kept thinking about thinking less.

  “That’s a huge improvement,” she said as the song finished. “We’ll make a dancer out of you yet. Say, can you keep practicing that routine on your own? I’ve gotta pop out for a while.” She grinned at me. “We don’t need to mention me popping out to Duke, right?”

  She tapped the side of her nose to emphasis the secret.

  I nodded. “No problem. I’m fine and Duke doesn’t need to know.”

  She grinned wider. “I owe you one.”

  There I was, breaking the rules again. I’d become a total rebel since working with these guys. Well, breaking their rules meant keeping Larry’s so not too much of a rebel.

  Lilly grabbed her jacket and rushed off.

  It was almost like they wanted me to search the place. I wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth. As soon as she was gone, I grabbed my phone, headed upstairs and switched on the laptop. While it started up, I took another look through the drawers. Along with the flier designs for the show, I found a drawing of a mark. That mark looked a lot like the sigils I had in my house.

  I took a photo of the drawing with my phone and put the paper back in the drawer. Then I connected my phone to the laptop and ran the password cracking program I had on it. Not standard police issue but it was standard Larry issue. He wanted me to find evidence, no matter what. When I’d told him it’d be evidence we couldn’t use, he shook his head. Even if we couldn’t use it, it’d give us a place to start looking.

  It didn’t take me long to get into the laptop. I opened the documents folder and began searching. I had no idea what I was looking for but I found a bunch of files, each with the murder victims names. I quickly downloaded them to my phone. No time to waste reading through them here but, one way or another, those files proved there was a connection between the troupe and the murders. A clear link.

  My heart thudded.

  It didn’t mean a thing. It didn’t make them guilty.

  While I waited, I kept an eye on downstairs. The last thing I wanted was Duke catching me snooping around again.

  I checked the computer. That percentage bar seemed to barely move. I glared at it, willing it to move faster. Then I clicked on their email program and gave the emails a quick peruse. Most of them were business related, booking dates for the troupe, ordering props and that kind of thing. I scanned through them. There were some newsletters from a mustache wax company. That made me grin.

  I guess most people don’t send details of their killing sprees over email.

  The files still hadn’t finished copying so I poked around the room. Serial killers liked to keep souvenirs of their kills, although I’d started thinking that, no matter how strong the link with the murders, Duke and the others weren’t the ones doing the actual killing. They couldn’t be.

  There was nothing in the rest of the office that looked out of place. By the time I’d finished snooping, the file download had finished. I unplugged my phone and headed downstairs in case Nuno and Duke returned. Then I sent those files to the server back at base.

  Curiosity burned at me so I opened one of the files - Annie Connor. She’d been the first victim connected to the troupe.

  It mostly contained scanned newspaper clippings on the murder. Standard stuff anyone could have. It didn’t prove a connection, and could even be written off as a morbid interest.

  I scanned down the document further. Notes had been added after the clipping had been pasted into the document. The victim’s personal details. Then particulars of the case. Right at the bottom, the injuries had been detailed like they were on the medical report.

  Those details had never been released to the public. There was no way the troupe would know that information unless they had access to the police reports, or they’d been involved.

  Still didn’t make them killers but that was more than just a casual interest.

  After I left rehearsals, I met with Larry at a coffee shop in the city.

  “Good work getting those files,” he said. “I knew you’d be an asset in there. The guys are going through them now. Just collecting information about the killings doesn’t mean much though. Could all be circumstantial.”

  I reached for the sugar bowl. “Sure. Lots of people have a macabre interest in local murders. Especially murders in small towns. Did you notice the medical details?”

  “Hey, how much sugar are you putting in that coffee?” Larry asked.

  I looked down at the cup then picked it up and tasted it. It was a bit sweet but tasted good to me.

  “I need energy,” I told him. “I’m rehearsing this stuff for hours every day.”

  Larry grabbed my hand, looking at the callouses.

  “You aren’t joking about that training,” he said. “Your hands are a mess.”

  “Yeah well I was never going to win a beautiful hands contest,” I said, looking at my ragged nails. That manicure had been a waste of money. “You should see the bruises on my legs. I’m basically rolling my body over a bit of hard metal. That isn’t exactly painless. Hey, did you find out how they pay for that space?”

  Larry grimaced. “We’re following up but getting information from the Tax Department is always a pain. You’d think they’d want to help us. We’re on the same side and we’re fighting the good fight. We did find out that they’re renting the space and paying well below market rates for it. Maybe one of them has a rich parent.”

  “Seems the most likely explanation.” Although it seemed to me like none of them had parents.

  Larry sat dow
n his coffee and looked me in the eye. “Tell me, flat out, sweetie. Do you think they’re killers?”

  I couldn’t let emotion cloud my judgment. I knew the troupe weren’t what they seemed and I knew they had secrets but I shook my head.

  “I really don’t think so.”

  Chapter 22

  THAT NIGHT, I WENT to see Buzz. I showed him the mark I’d found. I suspected it was a sigil and it’d been used to summon a demon. I also wanted to talk to him about unblocking my powers but that could wait. It wasn’t something you could just blurt out.

  Buzz took hold of my phone and stared at the photo.

  “I need to find out what this means,” I told him.

  “Something to do with your case?” he asked.

  “Yep.” I didn’t say any more. I didn’t need to. Buzz knew if I didn’t give him details, I had reasons for it.

  We got out the old, dusty books and began our search.

  “How’s the case going?” he asked.

  I shrugged. I didn’t have much to tell him. Everything I’d found so far just led me in circles.

  “What do your instincts say about this troupe?” Buzz asked.

  “My instincts say they are clean but I’m not sure I can trust my instincts on this case.” I told him about Duke’s persuasive powers.

  “You think he’s used them on you?”

  “I can remember him trying to use them, which makes me think they don’t work on me. Otherwise, I wouldn’t know about it. But I can’t be sure. Maybe they do work but just to a lesser extent.”

  I wanted to trust Duke. I wanted to trust all of them but that wasn’t an option I had.

  “Never ignore your instincts, even if you think they’re flawed. But never ignore logic either.”

  I kept leafing through the book. “Jeez, it’d be nice if this stuff was in database form. How did people survive in the olden days with their paper books?”

  Buzz laughed. “We survived just fine.”

  “I dunno about that. All that risk of paper cuts and dust inhalation.”

  Buzz grabbed my phone and looked at the mark again.