by Rain Oxford
Chapter 4
For the third time, I was having a vision in a dream and seeing through someone else’s eyes. This time, however, the person was facing Hunt.
“I have been a trusted staff member here since you opened this school.” It was a man’s voice.
“That is why you are the deputy headmaster,” Hunt said.
“So you trust me with the school?”
“To a point.”
“Why not make me the headmaster? It’s difficult to run everything by you when you rarely visit the school. You have enough responsibilities.”
“You are not ready to run a school,” Hunt argued.
“I am! I will show you that I am.”
* * *
Thursday, August 25
I reached the club at noon and was greeted by Mellow. He was a five-hundred-year-old Russian vampire, trapped in a seventeen-year-old body. Vampires who were born vampires aged until their body was mature. If a vampire was born human, their body became stuck at the age they were when they were turned.
Mellow was the day guard because he wasn’t a regular vampire; he was a throwback. His mother was a wizard and his father was a vampire. His wizard genes were in control throughout his childhood until he reached seventeen, when his vampire genes kicked in. He retained the ability to do very basic magic, didn’t need to drink blood, and he had vampire abilities, including strength, speed, and thralling. Unfortunately, although Mellow could learn things, he never matured past the mindset of a teenager.
“I thought you were gone,” he said.
“Drake told me Pitch, Jorge, and Blue disappeared.”
“Drake thinks they were taken by hunters. Do you know who took them?”
“I don’t, but that’s what I’m here to find out. Did they go missing here or just not show up?”
“They didn’t show up. Drake said he searched their houses.”
Jorge lived in the Gardens, but I didn’t know where Blue and Pitch lived.
“Thank you for coming,” Drake said from the bar. As usual, Kevin was beside him.
“No problem. Do you have any suspects?”
“If I did, I would have sent Kevin after them and been done with it.”
“Have you pissed anyone off recently?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Right. You can’t go a day without pissing someone off. That makes my job a lot harder. Has anyone threatened you?”
“Not since you’ve been gone.”
“Actually, there was that fae who said the club was contaminating the land,” Kevin said. “I kicked her out. There was also a wolf who kept coming every night, threatening Maseré’s land. I called Maseré and he sent a wolf to take care of him.”
Kevin hated politics, especially the paranormal kind. I wondered why a rare and powerful Komodo dragon shifter would work for a human until I started working at the club. Kevin was going to do whatever he wanted, which was to beat people, eat, or nothing at all. He didn’t have hobbies or goals. He didn’t like to be bothered. If he had someone to beat up, he’d happily do it. If he didn’t, he would eat or just sit there, doing and thinking nothing. Drake never ordered him around unless it was to break someone’s face, so Kevin was perfectly happy to follow him around and destroy anyone who wanted to hurt Drake.
They were the perfect pair, because Drake could deal with things Kevin didn’t want to, like paying bills, shopping, and talking to people. Kevin wasn’t stupid, but anyone would think so if they couldn’t see into his head like I could. Kevin chose not to use his brain. He never questioned Drake’s ability to take care of him and he would absolutely never fail to protect Drake. If a plane was falling out of the sky and about to crash into Drake, Kevin would put himself in danger without hesitation or fear.
This was the most I had ever heard him speak at once.
“If it’s possible, make a list of everyone you’ve pissed off in the last month who isn’t human. Even if you think they’re not powerful enough to take members of your staff, they could hire someone who is.”
“That’s a lot of work,” Drake complained. “I thought you did the work. That’s why I’m paying you.”
“I have to talk to all the people you’ve pissed off. You only have to tell me who and why.”
“Now there’s a why? That’s even more work!”
“How about I go back to the school and you take care of this yourself?”
“No, I’ll make the list,” Drake agreed reluctantly.
I couldn’t rely on the list, because I suspected by the time he got around to making it, it would be too late. Truthfully, it was just to make him leave me alone. “First, though, I need your employee files on them.” He grimaced. “What?”
“I don’t have any.”
“You have to have something. Where do you send their tax forms?”
“I pay them all under the table.”
“Wait, you pay them?” Mellow asked, teasing. “Why am I the last one hearing about this?”
At least, I hoped he was teasing.
Drake ignored him.
“Do you at least have an address?”
“Most of the guys live at the Gardens.”
“I thought you searched their houses.”
“Well, search might have been the wrong word. I called their phones.”
“Jorge lives at the Gardens,” Mellow said. “I know where Pitch and Blue live.” I handed her my notepad and he wrote the addresses down.
“Thank you,” I said.
“No problem.”
I left without giving Drake a chance to ask me to stay and read the customers as they came in. I drove to the Gardens first because I knew what to expect. I wasn’t actually sure which unit was Jorge’s, though, so I knocked on Jamal’s door, since he had the night off. Jamal didn’t answer.
He’s probably out eating kittens. Nevertheless, I scanned the apartment with my power and found no person or hawk inside. I did, however, sense a cat. “Damn it.” I unlocked the door with my magic and opened it. Before I could even see inside, a tabby cat burst out. I shut the door and made my way to another door. When I knocked, Jezebel answered. She was a vampire and the accountant of Drake’s club.
She didn’t look happy to see me. “You realize I sleep during the day, right?”
“Sorry. I’m looking for Jorge.”
“You’ve got the wrong room.”
“He’s missing. I need to check out his room. Do you know which one is his?”
“Yeah. Number 23.”
“Tell him to go away!” Jamal yelled from inside Jezebel’s apartment.
“Thanks for the info,” I said, grabbing her doorknob and shutting the door myself. I went to the room she told me was his and knocked. There was no answer, and when I pushed my magic out, I sensed no one inside. I unlocked the door and went inside. The room was laid out like mine, but the furniture was nicer.
The only thing out of place was a cell phone on the floor. I picked it up. It was a cheap phone, but that was normal for paranormals. Vampires and shifters often broke their phones, while wizards and fae often fried them on accidents. Cheap disposable phones were usually tougher.
That didn’t mean we normally left them on the floor when we went somewhere.
I picked up the phone and checked it. It was on the home screen and I didn’t find anything to suggest he was calling someone, writing a message, or taking a picture. The only recent numbers he’d received or called were from people at the club. I knew my magic would fry the phone if I used it to induce a vision, but it was the only thing I suspected he was touching when he went missing.
I sat at the table, pulled out my ring, and slipped it on. Instantly, I was seeing through Jorge’s eyes. His thoughts were in Spanish, so I couldn’t understand them, but that wasn’t a big deal. He had his phone in his left hand and was reaching for the remote on the table with his right. When he heard a sound behind him, he started to turn, only to be struck with the same disorienting curse I had been atta
cked with. He saw a blurred image and a flash of light. I tried to push my power into their minds, which I could normally do.
Instead, I was expelled from the vision and distracted by my chain, which was stinging. It had stopped me from getting the job done. I slipped off my ring and set the phone down, not knowing if it still worked or not.
Whoever attacked Jorge were the same people who attacked me. I should have killed them. I locked the door on my way out and headed to the second address.
* * *
It was only a ten minute drive to Pitch’s house. The house was in a low-end neighborhood with buildings that were rundown and abandoned. My phone told me I reached my destination, so I parked on the street and got out of my car.
A six-foot-tall privacy fence covered half of the front yard, only to end abruptly. The grass was overgrown and there was a sleeping Rottweiler on the porch. The dog didn’t even stir, but he was breathing, so I wasn’t concerned. I knocked on the door and was surprised when I heard someone move inside. A moment later, a woman answered the door. She was a petite woman with a classy black dress.
“Can I help you?” she asked.
“I hope so. I’m looking for Pitch.”
She crossed her arms and leaned against the door frame. Her expression was conflicted and concerned. “Is he in trouble?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Are you a cop?”
“I’m a private investigator. He hasn’t shown up for work and Drake hired me because he’s worried.”
“Drake doesn’t care about his people. I can’t help you.” She started to shut the door, but I stopped it. “If you don’t have a warrant, you can’t come in,” she said, fear edging her tone.
“Two of his coworkers were attacked and are missing. If you know where he is, you need to tell me so that I’m not wasting my time looking for someone who’s not missing. If you don’t know where he is, you might know something that can help me find all of them.”
She hesitated for another moment before opening the door wide. “He disappeared two nights ago. I figured something must have happened at work and he ran, but he wouldn’t leave without telling me.”
“Are you his girlfriend?”
“I’m his sister, Tanja.”
I went inside. It wasn’t fancy, but it was clean. “Do you know when or where he was when he disappeared? Was he with anyone? Did he have a phone on him?”
“He was here. I went out with my boyfriend. Pitch hates Ben, but I’m his sister, so I guess he’d hate anyone I dated. When I got home, Pitch was gone. He didn’t pack anything.”
“Did he take his phone?” A lot of phones could be tracked by GPS.
“No. He left it on the charger. There wasn’t any sign of a fight or anything, though.”
I searched the house and didn’t find anything that suggested there was trouble. I tried my ring, but no vision came to me. “I’m going to talk to the neighbors. Are any of them good friends with him?” I asked, checking his phone. There were only a few recent calls, three being work and four being from Tanja. He also had a few texts from Tanja.
“Not really. He keeps different hours from them, so they’re suspicious of him. You know people. He sleeps during the day so he must be a drug dealer and gang member. It doesn’t help his rep that he’s a huge bouncer. People think they’re better than him because they work in a factory or office.”
Bouncers were part of the security business as far as I was concerned, so I didn’t see what the neighbors had a problem with. Nevertheless, I went to all the neighbors on the block. Only a few answered the doors, and those who did had no idea that he was missing, let alone what happened to him. Using just a little bit of my magic, I knew none of them were lying. Although it was part of the job to talk to people who might be involved, I felt like I wasted a lot of time.
* * *
I went to Blue’s address next and arrived at the five-story apartment as the sun was starting to set. It was only a couple of blocks from the club. The front door opened into a cozy lobby with mailboxes to the right, stairs and an elevator to the left, and an office straight ahead. I walked up the steps to the third floor, since the room number Mellow gave me was 312.
The hallways were clean and maintained. When I reached the room, I knocked on the door. There was no answer. I used my power to sense minds and, to my surprise, I felt Mariah’s mind. She wasn’t in the unit, but she was nearby. I unlocked the door with my power and went inside.
Blue’s room was Asian-themed. It was sparsely furnished and decorated with plants. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary until I checked the bathroom, where I found a razor underneath the toilet. Normally, that wouldn’t arouse suspicion, but the blade had blood on it. I pulled a clear plastic sack out of my pocket and put the razor in it. There were a number of tracking spells I could use with blood. I just needed my supplies, which were at the school.
“What are you doing here?” a voice asked, startling me. I was used to my instincts warning me when someone was around. The middle-aged woman had short blond hair and wore a business suit. Her blue eyes were narrowed with suspicion.
“I am a private investigator, here to---”
“Then you would have gone through the office, and since I’m the manager here, I know you didn’t. I’m calling the police.” She was already pulling out her cell phone.
I reached out automatically to stop her and instead got a sharp sting in my arm. Damn it. “Her boss hired me to find Blue.”
“Tell it to a cop.”
I should have talked to her through the office, but I was used to paranormals and mind control. I was losing my touch because magic made it too easy for me.
The woman did call the cops and I wasn’t about to make the situation worse by physically trying to stop her. Then she jumped when we heard a shout of pain and glass break. The fact that I heard the shout first, then the glass breaking suggested to me that someone had been struck and then fell against glass.
I took off before the manager could say anything. The commotion had come from the unit to the right of Blue’s, so I used my magic automatically to unlock the door. The room was laid out the same as Blue’s, but it was full of rustic, antique, and Gothic furniture and art. A woman emerged from the bedroom.
She was petite, in her late twenties with golden blond hair, lavender eyes, and a strappy, knee-length, peach-colored dress. She ran towards me. Whether it was my instincts or something else that told me she had to be stopped, I drew my gun and shot her. When she shouted, I recognized her voice; she was one of the two people who attacked me at the club. Movement drew my eye to the bedroom door, where a man was making a motion with his hand. He was a slender man in his late twenties with dark brown hair and amber eyes.
The room filled with lightning. I focused my mind and power on protection. Unlike mind control, I had to want it, and I did. I visualized a dome of magic energy around us. Creating a ward was a difficult skill. It was like an invisible shield that could deflect magic. It did deflect the attack, but it also gave our opponents the chance to escape.
As soon as the lightning faded, I dropped my ward and went to the bedroom, where I found Mariah kneeling by her bed, covered in blood. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah. It’s not my blood; it’s the man’s.”
“Hold still and let me gather some of it. I can use a spell to track him with it.”
“What the hell is going on?” the manager asked.
“I’m current on my rent and I don’t smoke, Ronda, so you don’t need to be here.”
“Excuse me?” Rhonda shrieked.
“You’re excused,” Mariah said. Rhonda’s face turned red with fury. “Get her out of here before I drink her blood because I really need it right now.”
“Leave,” I said to the manager. Of course, my magic tried to make her and I received a sharp pain from the chain for my efforts. Fortunately, despite my lack of control over her, she left. “You should probably start looking for ano
ther apartment.”
Mariah grabbed a hand towel, wiped the blood off herself, and put it in a plastic sack. After handing it to me, she left her room and went to a second room. Inside were ten pet crates, full of scared dogs and cats, as well as a German Shepard, a Golden Retriever, a Great Pyrenees, and a playpen with five puppies. The free dogs rushed to her, their tails wagging madly.
“My poor babies. I’m so glad I put them in their room. I usually let them sleep in the bed with me, but they seemed irritable last night. If I had them out, they could have been killed.” She carefully checked the caged animals. “I was doing my normal all-day ritual of pretending to sleep in order to trick my body into actually sleeping.”
“Has that ever worked for you?”
“Does it look like I’ve ever gotten a day of sleep?”
She looked like her usual self, except for the blood, but that wasn’t what she wanted to hear. “So they attacked you, thinking you were asleep, and you bit the guy.”
“Yeah. I guess, for once in my life, it’s a good thing I’m an insomniac.”
“And now we have some blood to track down the wizards who’ve been---”
“Not wizards,” she interrupted. “The man, at least, is fae. There’s a very subtle difference between wizards and fae, and most of us can’t tell, but I have an extremely well-developed palate. It’s fae blood.”
“That makes things more complicated.”
She nodded. “Their tribe is going to fight for them.”
At that point, I sensed Darwin pushing open a mental link. I allowed it, although a cell phone would have been a lot easier. Darwin was able to talk to me mentally because he was so brilliant in magic that he learned to use my power. “Remington needs you back,” he said.
“Why?”
“Either she’s crushing on you hard, or because she’s concerned that two kids have dropped into comas.”
* * *
As I drove to the school, I considered the possibilities. I couldn’t help but to wonder if it had to do with the shadow walkers. After the battle with Krechea, most of the shadow walkers went their own way. Hunt had warned them that if they hurt anyone, they would be killed. From what I saw of them, they only wanted their freedom, so I wasn’t expecting them to screw it up.
