Hemlock (The Manhunters Book 2)

by Jesse Teller

  “I need to find that woman, Trysliana. I need to know where she is and what kind of condition she is in. It is Tristan’s constant plan to ensnare the powerful first and take the weak after. I would bet you anything she was taken and is with him somewhere,” Rayph said. “Can you find her for me?”

  “What does Sisalyyon have to say about it?” Trysliana said.

  Sisa’s voice came over the fetish, but it was stilted and thick. Rayph knew she was half in her tree form and half out. “Carriage came out of the city. It was a nice one. It rolled around for a while and parked in the forest. The driver went inside the carriage and sat for a day. Never once came out to relieve himself or anything else. Next day, he went back into the city.”

  “What did you do about this?” Rayph said.

  “I sent a little friend in the carriage to check things out. Said the guy was in there alone. No sign of anyone else. I thought the behavior strange, but I’ve been busy looking through every tree and weed, looking for any sign of a vampire. I didn’t find it pertinent enough to stop my search, and at the time, I had heard nothing of a carriage or noble lady.”

  “She is in town somewhere, and I need to find out where,” Rayph said. “They could be using her against Yoah. If that is the case, then Tristan has a good hold and it will be difficult to shake the lord loose.”

  “I’ll look into it,” Trysliana said.

  “Good, thanks. I got another thing for you, too. This time, I am putting you together with Smear. Do you think you two can stay with me and not duck into the dark somewhere for time alone?”

  Smear frowned and shook his head. “Not something you have to worry about. We are both working, boss. You have our attention.”

  “With every swarm of vampires, there are a group of drones that keep them safe. These men and women do it for a number of reasons: wealth, power, or protection. As long as they are faithful, they are not turned and can live a somewhat normal life. They protect the vampire during the daylight hours and serve them at night. The only drones I am sure of are in the merchant class. Right now, a great number of them have a vampire mistress or master. I saw it in their eyes at the assembly. So I need you two to infiltrate that swarm and snatch a drone.”

  Silence. Smear looked across the table at Rayph as if checking to see if he was serious.

  “Sounds like fun, hey, honey?” Trysliana said.

  Rayph could feel the tension through the fetish. He looked Smear in the eye.

  “It’s dangerous for sure, but I know it can be done,” Rayph said.

  Smear took off his fetish and set it on the table. Rayph did the same.

  “I can’t take her to do that,” Smear said. “Send me alone. I’ll get one for you, but not with her.”

  “You have been working with her for five years. Why is this time any different? Is it because you are married now? You see a life with her and a future?”

  “It’s not that. It’s...” Smear growled and shook his head. “I don’t know why. It is just different now.”

  “You can’t protect her, Smear, and you know it. She is the best I have ever seen, unless compared to you. You have to let her work or we are doomed. I can’t let you turn her into a weak link.”

  “I’m not saying she’s a weak link. What I am saying is she is going to distract me. I’ll be worried about her and—”

  “You gotta let it go, brother. She is a powerful, capable woman who can handle herself better than almost everyone I have ever met.”

  Rayph saw a shadow slowly moving up behind Smear. Rayph opened his third eye, saw a smile beneath a dark hood, and knew it was her. “She is here,” Rayph said, and Smear shut his mouth with a snap.

  Trysliana slid into Smear’s lap and pulled her hood back. “Didn’t sneak up on you, did I?” she said.

  “No, I had you from the door.”

  Rayph looked over Smear’s shoulder at the door across the room, which Smear had his back to.

  Trysliana smiled and kissed him. “I’ll get you one day.” She kissed him again. He squirmed a bit under her, and she slipped out of his lap, sat in the chair next to him, and grasped his hand. “You know I’m not a little girl, right?” Her face was serious but not mad.

  “Rayph said you’re one of the best ever.”

  “But you’re nervous ’cause you don’t want to live without me,” she said.

  Smear shook his head and frowned. “That’s not it.”

  Rayph let him lie and picked up his drink. He drained it. “I will leave you two to talk this out.”

  “No, Rayph,” she said, “You’re in this, too. You gave us a job and we are going to do it. It will take at least two of us. It can’t be done by either of us alone, and no one else in the group could get it done.” She kissed Smear’s hand and set it down. “I’m going. So are you. If I die, if we die, then we die, but you are too much of a man to live in fear of something you have no control of. Honey, this is what we do. It’s all we know how to do. The whole time I was out of touch, you were distracted. Tell me why the Venture was able to sneak up on the most talented spy this nation has ever seen. You know what? You don’t have to. I will tell you myself. Because you were thinking about me. Horsehair took you in because you were weakened by me. It’s time to get over that, or you’re going to get us both killed.

  “We are going to do this because we were ordered to and because we are the best. Now get up, and we will go do our job.” Trysliana stood and grabbed his chin, turning his face to hers. She kissed him once slowly and deeply, and turned. Smear watched her walk away, and then followed.

  Hours later Rayph sat the warehouse in the dark, waiting for any sign of Smear or Trysliana. Their message told him to come here. Dissonance sat the corner, her spear in her lap, a prayer on her lips. As she prayed, Rayph wondered when he had given up on prayer. He closed his eyes and tried to think of when he’d spoken his last prayer. He opened his eyes, shaking his head. He closed them again and fought for the words.

  Vanyel Eteral, god of all trimerians, you lost me when they told me to leave. I had found him, fought him, and after two years of constant combat, we both collapsed exhausted. Rayph picked his dagger out of his belt and looked down at it. They told me to put the weapon down, to get back to my training and take my final test. I told them about my promise to Fannalis, and they told me it could all wait. When I told them it couldn’t, they showed me the door. And you did nothing. You let them oust me from my home, and my school, and make an exile out of me. You let it all happen. What was I supposed to do? How could I trust you after that?

  Rayph shoved the thoughts from his head and looked at the center of the room, where a beam of sunlight lit the floor in strange patterns. The light rioted, and Rayph suddenly knew they had made it. Before sound reached him, before he saw them enter the light, Rayph knew his newlyweds had taken a drone. He leapt from his place, drifted to the floor, landing with a sharp pinch of pain to his knee and limped to the light.

  Smear stepped out of the gloom with a man in tow. The man was obviously wealthy, and as he entered the light, he took a ring off his finger and placed it on the ground.

  “It is worth more money than you have ever seen. I will let you take it, and there will be no consequence. But I warn you, if you try to ransom me, I will be sought after. I have many rich and powerful friends who will hunt—”

  “Shut up,” Rayph said. “Just please, shut your mouth. If I wanted your ring, I would not have brought you here. In fact, I know this ring type.” Rayph opened his third eye and saw the magic strands that tied the ring tight and the slight fading red line that led from the ring out the warehouse door and into the street. “This is a Clutcher’s ring. It is worn by people like you and activated by taking it off. Someone is alerted, and you can easily be traced. It is used to snag kidnappers and thieves. But this one.” Rayph held his hand over the ring and murmured a word. The ring collapsed on itself, snapping and hissing until it was naught but a hunk of twisted metal. The jewel shattered and the
ring went black. “See, this one is useless because I have severed its magic. No one is coming to save you, sir. No one knows where you are. In fact, no one knows you are even gone.”

  The man turned as if to run. Trysliana stepped in front of him. “Nope, you’re with us now, sugar. Get comfortable.”

  He turned back to Rayph and held his hands up. He chanted nonsense words that contained no magic. The man opened his eyes and stared wide at Rayph. The drone’s enchanted clothes let off a slight glow, a false aura radiating through the room.

  “The aura of wizards contain their magic and is the source of their power,” Rayph said. “In fact, I can tell by the swell of an aura if the wizard is powerful. Were this thing you just whipped out a real aura, you would be a considerable power but, sir, you are no wizard. You know no spells, and the words you speak are nonsense. This little trick may work at parties, or even when facing thieves and minor thugs, but we are not those,” Rayph said. “I have a seat here. I think you should sit in it. It’s going to be a long day for you.”

  “Tonight I will be found, and I will—”

  “Your vampire master cannot help you now.” Rayph paused and shook his head. “Forgive me, I don’t know your name.”

  “Which is a sign of your poor breeding. Any cultured man the world over knows my name.”

  Rayph turned to Smear, then Trysliana. “Anyone? This person strike a familiar chord with anyone?” They shook their heads. Rayph sighed.

  “Well, you know, soon I will know all your secrets, name included, so I will not bother you with it now.” Rayph reached into the gloom and pulled out a dented, splintered, and disused chair. The purple cushion and padded arms had been torn and maybe burned a little. The man scoffed at the chair and shook his head.

  “I will not sit in that.”

  Rayph looked him in the eyes and gently said, “You could sit down in it, darling, or I could make you.”

  “So it’s to be torture then?” he asked.

  “Rayph, I cannot let you torture this man. I have vowed to protect—” Dissonance began.

  Rayph touched his fetish and walked away. “I have never tortured anyone in my life. I will not start now. There are other ways to deal with a questioning than resorting to pain and degradation.”

  He turned back to the drone. “No, love, there will be no torture. Just a little of this,” Rayph said. He spoke a word, and the man nodded and sat. He glanced up at Rayph in horror and made to get up. Rayph put his boot in the man’s lap and bent over to look the man in the eye. “I don’t ask questions, dear. I get answers. I have no time for your nonsense. We have only a few hours before I plan on being in your master’s hive and driving this dagger,” Rayph pulled an Ironwood dagger from his belt, “into his heart. So get comfortable,” Rayph said. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

  The man looked up with horror in his eyes.

  “Okay then, honey, let’s get started.” Rayph reached into the dark and grabbed another chair. He sat across from the man and looked him in the eyes. With a string of words and a bit of a mental shove, Rayph found himself in the man’s mind. He had to hurry. In hours, it would be sunset and the man would be missed.

  The Mistress

  “You know you’re the smartest dumb man I have ever known? You know that right?” Smear said.

  “If his arrogance is so set on getting him killed, then let it,” Dreark said. “How many times do we need to have this same conversation, Rayph?”

  “Jacond, remember him?” Drelis replied. “He went after Jacond the Viper, into a place we couldn’t follow, and fought Jacond and his entire assassin’s cult a year ago.”

  “Chalice, remember her? You told us no one else could have snuck into her group and saved that little girl from being sacrificed, even though my husband and I asked you to let us stand in for you.” The woman’s sass was deafening. “What was that, two years ago? When you did that, you said it would be your last attempt at something so ridiculous. I think we all remember that, right?”

  “Then there was the whole Fir-Lak incident,” Dreark said.

  “Fir-Lak was different,” Rayph said. “I needed to see that robbery with my own eyes so I could cast the exit properly.”

  “And we told you to put a portal in the area and look through it,” Drelis said.

  “Well, they might have sensed the portal and nixed the whole plan. I needed to be there.”

  “What about Song?” Dreark said. “You almost made me kill you myself on that one.”

  “I remember telling him that was poor planning,” Smear said. “Told him it would put you in a horrible position.”

  “Trysliana said it was a good idea.”

  “I didn’t know the plan. I simply said—”

  “Enough,” Dissonance said. “Is anyone really surprised by this? Rayph is going in and nothing we can do will stop him. I personally do not worry about his safety. Cor-lyn-ber goes with him when he does this sort of thing. And what would a manhunt be without a little bit of Rayph’s insanity?”

  “Thank you, Dissonance.”

  “Shut up, I’m not done,” Dissonance said, and Dreark laughed. “Can any of the rest of us do it? Can you, Smear, go into that place and navigate the halls and rooms? Can you hold a conversation with these devils with the knowledge you have of the drone we captured? Were you in his head, Trysliana? Can you answer the questions his master will ask, and stand and make a fight of it if their wizards catch wind of you?

  “The answer to all these questions is no. No one can do this but Rayph himself. He has been in the man’s mind, so we will trust him to get the job done. We will do what we always do. We will wait and go in after him if he gets caught. And Smear is ready to take over as our commander if indeed this one is too much for him,” Dissonance said. “Ivoryfist is our leader. We follow his plans, no matter how absurd they are. Hurry and go, Rayph. We will cover your escape.”

  Rayph felt uncomfortable in the clothes. The merchant drone was a portly man. The spell made a bumbling mess of Rayph. The added weight to his form made him slow and plodding. The clothes fit too tightly. Rayph was used to a loose fitting outfit under a wizard’s robe. He was used to his clothes flowing around him. The tight, unyielding pants and shirt cramped him and made him sweat. And that was part of it, the sweat and the stink of the cologne were a part of the disguise, and he hated it all.

  He stepped into the backdoor, and a dog met him there. Rayph silently cursed and reached a hand out to the dog. It licked him fiercely. A servant walked into the small, lavishly decorated room.

  “I’m sorry, master, he got loose again. I will take him. I know how much you hate him. Please be merciful.” The servant grabbed the hound by the collar and jerked it away. Rayph shook his head and turned away.

  That’s one mess right there. Already I have one cut against me. The rule is three. A person can usually do three things out of character before suspicion begins. Rayph had already done one. He ran a chubby hand along his sweating forehead.

  He found the stairs exactly where they were supposed to be. He headed downstairs, smiling. The mind-melding spell he used on the drone was only as accurate as the drone wanted it to be. He was capable of struggling, of changing names and directions if he was strong enough in mind to resist. Rayph had felt none of that strength, but he was unsure how much information was truly accurate.

  He moved into a sitting room where a maid worked at rearranging a shelf of books. She froze in her progress, and Rayph looked her over closely before he gritted his teeth and cursed the man’s perversion. Rayph knew better than to walk on. He knew he must do as the drone would, so he sneaked up behind her, even though, by her body language, he could tell she knew he was there. He grabbed her by the waist and rubbed her ass against his crotch. She yelped. Rayph played over in his mind the relationship the drone shared with this woman, and he felt filthy in his disguise. He grabbed her and jerked her over to a table. He pressed her into the wood and grabbed her ass.

  Rayph thoug
ht of his wife, and he felt disgusted. He heard the woman under him whimper. He thought he would be sick. Rayph bent over her and whispered in her ear. “In the morning, after the lady of the house goes to bed, you will meet me in my study, whore, or you and your worthless family will be shoved out on the streets.”

  Rayph turned away from her as she wept, knowing she would never have to make that trip to the study, but hating every moment of what he was doing. She cried as he left the room, and Rayph hated the drone even more than he had before.

  Rayph found himself alone and headed for the basement. He touched his shirt where his fetish should have been, just then remembering he had been unable to wear it. If Tristan entered this man’s path today, he would be able to sense the fetish and it would all fall apart. Rayph scowled as he entered the dark room at the bottom of the stairs.

  His leg screamed. Ever since Rayph had stepped out of the warehouse, where he had assumed the drone’s persona, he had been unable to limp properly. If anyone saw his limp, they would ask him what had happened. Rayph needed to walk straight without any sign of pain whatsoever. But Giggles’ gift of scars and maiming made normal walking a torture. Rayph stopped in the dark and massaged his throbbing leg. It screamed as his fingers fought to work out the knots, but there was no making it better. He was crippled for life. He grimaced and forced himself back into character.

  He fumbled with a key left in a pocket in his vest and found his pudgy hands did not possess much dexterity. He unlocked the door and slipped into the candlelit room, where a decorative coffin sat on a gilded bier in the center of the room. Rayph walked to the coffin. He laid a hand upon the lid. He longed to open it and slam his dagger into the creature’s heart, but he knew one vampire was not the goal here. One at a time and the job would never get done. There were hundreds of vampires in the city now, hundreds that would feed tonight and turn hundreds more. This was not about killing this vampire. This was about finding more.