“Things seem to be quieting down. No more dead animals, nothing at all since the tires getting cut. Maybe whoever was doing it has gotten bored with me and moved on to someone else…”
“Or perhaps they are planning something worse,” he thought, his fear making her stomach hurt.
“What did Zarethyn say?” Allie thought to him, hoping his brother had been able to calm him down.
“That it is very disturbing that someone in possession of the blade – the iron blade – that killed Aeyliss is apparently targeting you for some reason. You have convinced him that there may be more at work here than a single killer imitating the last, and this makes him worry that Walters, like his ancestor, was part of a coven…”
“Jess…” Allie thought, suddenly stopping in the middle of the sidewalk within sight of the pizza place’s cheerful exterior.
“I am serious Allie, and if he is right you could be in great danger.“
“Jess!” she thought anxiously, even as Jason realized that she’d stopped walking and turned around.
“Allie! What’s wrong?” Jason’s eyebrows drew together as he frowned.
Echoing him in her mind was Jess’s voice “What is it?”
She concentrated hard and spoke and thought at the same time, “Something’s not right. I can feel….I can feel the same thing here that was in the woods.”
Jason’s eyes searched the shadows anxiously, his hand twitching towards the empty spot on his belt where his gun wasn’t. His friend had stopped too, curious, and Jason turned to tell him to go in without them.
Jess’s voice in her mind was tense, “You have found another location where a girl was taken?”
“No…” Allie thought slowly. “This is different. It’s the same person, the same trace, but something’s different here. It feels…I can’t think of how to describe it….I think…I think I found where he spends a lot of time…maybe…maybe his home?”
Without thinking she took several steps away from the road, towards an apartment building, moving towards where the emotions felt stronger. The blend of lust, anger, joy, and frustration made her skin crawl. Jason’s voice sounded far away, “Where are you going?”
“Allie? Allie? Answer me!” Jess’s voice was insistent in her head but the lure of the emotional trace was like a siren song, pulling her.
She took several more steps, gaining speed, until Jason grabbed her from behind and physically stopped her. Distantly she heard his voice calling her name too, and then her cell phone ringing. Jason reached into her pocket and pulled it out as she struggled to get loose and find the source of the feelings she was following. “Hello?....Yeah Jessilaen this is Jason….I don’t know – ow! Shit Allie that hurt! – we were just walking and all of a sudden she zoned out and started walking off in a different direction….yeah? ...Okay, hold on and I’ll try.”
Jason wrestled her around in his arms, her cell clutched in one hand, holding her against his chest and pressing his cheek against hers. The direct contact snapped her out of it and she blinked, feeling the emotional miasma swirling around them but no longer overcome by it. “Well that sucked.”
Jason let out a nervous laugh, “Jessilaen said skin-to-skin contact would help.”
Jessilaen, Allie thought and then to the elf himself “Jess I’m okay now, it was just too much at first. Jason is helping me,” she was embarrassed to admit that last, to admit that she needed help, but the truth was without Jason she’d probably have walked right up to the killer in a trance and that would have ended very badly. She shuddered.
Jason had put the phone back to his ear, awkward as that was with his face still up against Allie’s. “Hey, she seems better now….oh, right, of course….Okay…I’ll try.”
He hung up the phone and started to put it into his own pocket, “Hey Jase can I have my phone back, and if you’ll just hold my hand that’ll work. Not that this cheek to cheek thing isn’t fun.”
Flustered he fumbled her phone back out and gave it to her, pulling his face away but grabbing her hand tightly with his. He looked afraid and his fear, oddly enough, gave Allie something solid to hold onto. She focused on taking deep breathes and thought to Jess “I think I have it under control now.”
“Allie, my love, please, please, I am begging you. I know that you want to follow where the trail leads, but if you love me stay where you are until we get there. We are coming with all speed,” his voice was tight, and she could feel his fear mixing with Jason’s. It was a heady thing.
She didn’t know how to explain to him that it wasn’t a choice to follow or not, “I will try my hardest not to follow. I think with Jason here I can control it.” And then remorsefully, “I’m sorry about all of this.”
“Sorry? Wherefore sorry? You have found his trail – only let us get there before you rush headlong into danger!” he thought back and she had a disorienting impression of hallways rushing past and the other Guards in the squad running alongside. She swallowed hard at the vertigo that came with the image, reminding herself that she was not moving.
“Allie?” Jason said, his voice hesitant, his hand still tight in hers.
“We need to stay here. The Guard is on their way,” she said.
“Fine by me,” he agreed, still searching the darkness nervously as if he expected the killer to jump out at any moment.
“Jason I am so sorry about this,” she said closing her eyes.
“Don’t apologize Allie, really. I just promised Bleidd I’d watch out for you and it’d be great if we could not get killed in the next ten minutes, you know?” he said.
She snorted, feeling that nervous urge to laugh bubbling up. “But I am sorry. I keep dragging you into this stuff. I mean it’s bad enough that I keep landing in it, but you keep getting pulled along and…and I’m just sorry. It’s not on purpose I swear.”
He laughed at that, a tense bark of sound, “I never thought it was on purpose. You just seem to be drawn to this stuff or draw it to you.”
“The elves call it synchronicity,” she said, taking a deep breath and trying to ignore the flow of energy around them. “I seem to have this weird synchronous connection to all of this, but damned if I understand why.”
“Maybe because of your grandmother?” Jason guessed after thinking for a minute. “She stopped the original group, her book was the key to stopping detective Walters…”
“I don’t know maybe, but then what about Liz? Shouldn’t she be connected to it to? And she isn’t, she can’t keep far enough away,” Allie said unhappily. In fact since visiting the store the day Allie’s tires were cut Liz had been so scarce around the house Allie had barely been sure she was still there. She’d told her about the finding the bodies, and Liz had tried to get her to leave town, but the more intense things had gotten with the investigation the less her cousin had been around.
Jason took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, “I don’t know. But what else could connect you to all of this?”
“I don’t know either,” Allie said. Then, after a long slightly more comfortable silence, “What do you think all the guys in the pizza place think we’re doing out here?”
Jason laughed, the sound shaky but genuine, “Probably that you’re trying to convince me to give girls a try.”
Allie blushed, “No. You don’t think…no. They think I’m out here trying to…?”
“Wow you blush easy,” Jason said, smirking. “And since most of them probably dream about some cute blond jumping them in the dark, yeah I bet they are.”
“Jason!” she said, whacking him with her free hand. They were both still laughing when the two Guard vehicles pulled up.
His hand clenched in hers, and she felt his fear spike again, She squeezed her hand on his, trying to offer reassurance, “It’s okay Jason, as soon as they’re out of the cars and over here you go into Mike’s.”
“Allie…”
“Don’t argue. Just get out of here, okay?”
He looked at her, stricken, but now t
hat she knew his secret she also knew that he couldn’t risk staying, not for long, not when the Guard were on such high alert. The last thing she wanted was for Jason to be exposed because of her.
The four Elven Guard in the squad she was working with had arrived in a pair of vehicles and Allie was not surprised to see captain Zarethyn with them. She felt a surge of panic, an odd sensation that was clearly her own but yet somehow felt outside of herself. After a moment she realized that she was on the edge of a panic attack but the healing Brynneth had done was acting as a layer of protection, holding it off. She took a deep breath, trying to steady her nerves.
The elves were all wearing full armor, clearly taking whatever Jess had told them very seriously. They fanned out as they moved towards her, their eyes glittering in the darkness, reflecting green when they caught any light. Jess reached her side, taking her hand smoothly from Jason, who stumbled back and then fled without a word towards the lights of the restaurant.
Allie took another deep breath, adjusting to the shift in energy from Jason to Jess. She had never noticed before but Jason did have a certain intensity to him that no one else seemed to have, as if his emotions were somehow more than other peoples. Not in the same way that the elves felt things, that was a matter of deeper rather than more, like the difference between a saturated color and bright color. She’d have to think more about that later, but it did make her wonder if that was why she had so much trouble blocking Jason’s feelings.
Jess reached up stroking her cheek, bringing her back to herself. She realized that she was having a hard time focusing and squeezed his hand. His voice was soft, even though speaking Elvish it was unlikely anyone who might overhear them would understand, “Allie, tell us what is happening.”
She braced herself, then responded in the same tone and language, “I was walking with Jason when I stumbled across an emotional trace. The same person that was at the place Jenny disappeared, and in the woods were we found the dead girls. But this one is different, this feels….well worn, like a path. I think…that this is someplace he comes and goes often.”
“His home?” Zarethyn asked.
“Or his workplace, but since it seems to lead towards an apartment, more likely his home,” she agreed.
Zarethyn nodded once, a sharp movement. He glanced at her waist, “Do you have your badge with you?”
“Yes,” Allie said, hastily reaching into her pocket and digging out the badge, which she had kept on her constantly since getting it. She had felt foolish keeping it in her pocket all the time, but the heavy weight of the badge had become like a talisman. Pulling it out she clipped it clumsily to her waistband, a difficult task with only one hand. Her other hand held to Jess like a lifeline. It had occurred to her when he asked about her badge that they meant for her to lead them wherever the trail led and the idea terrified her. It was one thing to be caught up in the pull of the emotions when she found them, but to coldly rationally choose to walk into certain danger…
Jess’s hand tightened on hers, and she felt his love and worry, his voice in her mind impossible to block out with the physical contact, “Have faith in yourself my heart, you can do this.”
Allie was not so sure. “I can follow the emotional trail. But that’s about all I’m good for. I’m afraid I’ll get in your way,” she felt a surge of silent reassurance as he focused outward on the job at hand.
Zarethyn was quickly assessing the area, “It leads towards that building?” he asked, making a subtle gesture towards the apartments Allie had been going to before Jason intervened.
“Yes,” she said, not sure if she should elaborate.
He drew his sword in a quiet shushing of metal on wood, the blade pulling free of the scabbard in a smooth motion. The other four, including Jessilaen, followed suit. It was the Elven guard equivalent of pulling their guns to get ready to go into a dangerous scene, but somehow she felt that the swords were more intimidating. He gestured with his chin for her to proceed.
This wasn’t the woods or an empty field, this was a busy street downtown. She licked her lips, “Don’t we need a warrant or something?”
Mariniessa hissed in annoyance, “Human nonsense. The Elven Guard goes wherever it needs to go.”
“Be silent,” Zarethyn snapped at the younger mage, who, to Allie’s surprise, blushed and looked down. “Allie do not worry about the legalities, we will handle whatever must be handled. Follow the trail to its source and we will follow you.”
Wishing more than anything that she could let go of Jess’s hand and at least pretend that she had some control over what she was doing, Allie moved forward into the stream of emotions. The tug was immediate, pulling her towards the building but Jess anchored her better than anyone else; she felt the trail as strongly as ever but following it was a choice not a compulsion.
She walked around the side of the building, down a narrow driveway that opened up into a parking lot. There she hesitated.
“Allie?” Jess’s voice was soft. She could feel the impatience of the others just behind and to each side.
“It divides here. A weaker, um, branch I guess you could call it goes to the left and the stronger branch goes to the right,” she said, frowning. It was hard to quantify this thing.
“Follow the stronger one,” Zarethyn instructed, so she began moving again following the emotional trail on the right which led into the building. Another slight hesitation and she pushed through a small side door, no doubt a regular entrance for the people who lived in the building. The hallway was drab and industrial, gray carpeting and white walls that stretched down the length of the building. She could sense the Guards’ displeasure with the cramped quarters, and it made her shoulders tighten.
As they began to move down the hall a door opened and a young woman came out, head down, purse over her shoulder. She glanced up and froze at the sight of the Elven Guard in armor, swords drawn. Her mouth opened, preparing to scream, and Allie felt a wave of magic from Mariniessa rush past her. It struck the woman who crumpled silently to the floor, half in and half out of her apartment. Allie’s eyes went wide and her hand clamped down hard on Jess’s.
“Is she okay?” she asked him silently.
“It was a sleep spell. She won’t remember anything when she wakes,” he replied, his mental voice cold and focused.
Allie swallowed convulsively, watching wide eyed as Natarien quickly dragged the unconscious woman back into her apartment. Dear Gods, it’s no wonder the Guard scare people so badly she thought to herself. At least she meant it to be a private thought, but a moment later she felt Jess’s focus shifting slightly, regret suddenly coloring his emotions.
“Are you frightened of us, Allie?” he asked her.
She knew that she could not safely answer that question, not even if she only thought about him when answering. Not right in that moment when she was so scared of the entire situation that only Brynneth’s healing was holding her psyche together. Instead she thought back to him, “Please let’s get this over with before I lose my nerve altogether.”
Praying now that no one else found a late night reason to go anywhere, Allie kept moving. The emotional trace was even and consistent, unlike the other ones. It never grew stronger or weaker, until they stood before a door about a third of the way down the hallway. There it pooled briefly before passing through. Whatever was behind that door Allie knew was very, very bad, knew it on an instinctual, visceral level.
“Here,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
Zarethyn moved up next to her, standing so close that his chest pressed against her back. She had a sudden impression of his feelings, completely unexpected: anxiety, triumph, enjoyment, and a righteous anger. She struggled to block them. He spoke almost directly into her ear, “Is he here now?”
She was overwhelmed by her own anxiety – what if she guessed wrong? Tentatively she tried to read the emotional currents but she just couldn’t tell. He came and went so frequently it was like looking into muddy water. “
I can’t be sure.”
He accepted her answer without question and gently moved her forward out of his way. She relaxed slightly realizing that she had done her part, and she eased back against the wall, as far out of the way as she could get held by the tether of Jess’s hand. Zarethyn stepped up and ran his hand slowly about an inch above the door testing it for magic. “It is warded,” he said, his voice barely audible, “If he is not here now he will surely know once we enter.”
“Should we wait and seek to ambush him?” Brynneth asked, his voice just as quiet.
“No,” Zarethyn shook his head slightly, “This place is poor grounds for that. The chance of him seeing or sensing us before we could identify him are too great and it would put Allie at unacceptable risk to keep her exposed enough to recognize him before he could go to ground.”
Jess pulled her further back as the others moved in preparing to enter the apartment. Allie bit her lip to keep from either laughing or being sick – her body couldn’t decide which and she figured if she opened her mouth it was even odds. With a nod from Zarethyn Mariniessa stepped up and brought down the wards and then immediately hit the door with another spell, one Allie didn’t recognize. The door clicked and trembled and then swung open. An instant later the four elves poured through into the darkness beyond.
“Go,” Allie thought to Jess, “I’m okay now.”
“I am not leaving your side,” he thought back firmly.
“Jess, you should be in there with them.”
“Someone needs to stay with you and ensure your safety. It makes as much sense that I do it as anyone else. And I will not forget that the last time I left you in a time of danger, thinking you were safe, you almost died,” he thought back his resolve strong.
She was prepared to argue but a moment later Natarien emerged, his face painfully blank, his emotions hitting Allie in the gut as hard as a punch. She struggled hard to push back his disgust, rage, and horror, realizing that her shields were still far too low. Her own frustration at being unable to do something as basic as shield out other people’s feelings, something she’d been doing successfully since childhood, perversely helped her strengthen her shields. After a moment to calm himself – surely not a good sign – he turned to them and spoke in that ultra-controlled voice that Allie was learning to dread, “The person we seek is not here. But we have found the missing girl.”
Lost in Mist and Shadow: A Between the Worlds Novel Page 28
