by S. L. Gavyn
Tristan didn’t say anything as we left the facility. When I got into the car I felt magic but didn’t acknowledge it. Instead, I started down the long drive out of the facility.
“We definitely need to find out who owns this place. Head back to HQ and we can do some digging,” Tristan said.
“We have to go to Lucian first.”
“Why? Do you think he knows what’s going on?”
We passed the guard and he motioned for me to stop. I flipped him the bird and kept going. He just managed to lift the bar in time for my car not to break it off.
“No. I think he’ll be able to help Brennan. What do you think?”
“Me?”
“I think she was talking to me.” Brennan sat up in the back seat. “I’m cool with meeting the head of the council. He’s your dad right?”
“Yeah but don’t hold that against him.”
“Are you kidding? You’re by far the coolest person I’ve met in the past three years.”
“Wait. You just broke out a convicted insane person from a mental hospital?!” Tristan said unbelieving.
“Technically she hitched a ride. I had nothing to do with it.”
“You knew she was in here.”
“You can’t prove that.”
He just stared at me.
“I’m taking her to Lucian so she’ll be in council custody. At least he’ll be able to help her instead of pumping her full of drugs then stealing her magic.”
Tristan turned to look at Brennan. “Is that what they’ve been doing?”
She bit her lip and nodded. He reached back and put his hand on her knee. “Don’t worry. My mom will make sure no one ever hurts you again.”
I sighed and shot him a hard look.
“It’s okay, Sunny. I already knew and your secret is safe with me.”
“Thank you for your discretion, Brennan.”
“You’re welcome. Thank you too.”
I nodded.
We pulled into Lucian’s drive a half hour later. I turned to Brennan in the back seat.
“If you lie to him, he’ll know. Regardless of the truth, it’s always better.”
She nodded and looked nervous suddenly. It was apparent she thought she would be judged for what she did in her past but I saw the images and they came straight from within. She couldn’t control her power when she came into it and had no idea what to do. Why her parents didn’t teach her how to wield magic from childhood I don’t know but after the fire she was stuffed away in that asylum. She needs to learn her magic and how to control it or it will control her. Mrs. Headmistress was right when she said Brennan was dangerous but I don’t think she would do anything intentionally.
I rang the bell and Lucian answered the door before the chime had stopped.
“Hello daughter.” He pulled me to him and kissed my forehead. “I hope you haven’t been too hard on that Vampere.” He turned to Tristan. “Or you.”
“She hasn’t been too hard, grandfather.”
“I was referring to your mistreatment of the Vampere.”
Tristan’s mouth was open and he put his hand to his chest. “Me?”
“Yes you. Don’t try to act innocent. You would do best to worry about your own affairs instead of meddling in your mother’s. Now move aside and let me see my new apprentice.”
Tristan was gaping like a fish but he did as he was told and stepped aside.
“Father, this is Brennan. Brennan, I would introduce my father, Lucian Dubois, leader of the Fabled council. The oldest and most powerful Wizard in the world.”
“Sunny, you don’t have to be so formal. We’re among family now.”
I looked at Brennan and she looked both awed and pleased.
“Come in and be welcomed, Brennan.” Lucian stepped back with his arms wide.
I allowed Brennan to enter first before following into the house. Lucian led us into a sitting room where a servant had already set out tea for everyone. I took my cup, added cream and sugar and went to sit at the window seat. Lucian came to sit beside me while Tristan wooed Brennan with his skills. Judging by the doe eyes, whatever he was doing was working.
“So tell me how you came upon the fire child.”
I told him in detail everything that had happened since seeing him last night.
“My, that is interesting. You say the illusion on the wall was very strong? It was likely there was a password that when said would allow one to either enter the portal or travel the road to the asylum.”
“The headmistress, there was something about her. Other than the way she treated the patients there was something dark.”
“Dark magic. It will darken a person’s very soul. Of course someone prone to reading and absorbing magic would be able to sense that immediately.”
“So you think it was the headmistress who created the illusion and portal. But why would she be helping to kidnap Vamps?”
“That I do not know.”
I looked at Brennan. “I think I need to know everything about this asylum.”
Brennan shrugged. “I don’t know much other than day to day stuff. I was given meds in the morning and at night. They made things fuzzy. I wasn’t able to read things as easily. Sometimes I would cheat and pretend to take my pills but headmistress always knew. She would watch me take them after that. It was while I didn’t have them that I saw you, Sunny.”
“That’s how you knew who I was and why you hopped a ride.”
“I knew you were my only chance.”
“I will help you however I can. I think for now the best thing would be for you to be taught how to control your magic. It’s imperative that you learn this because once those pills stop working your magic is going to come back with a vengeance. Will you stay here with Lucian and learn what you need? Once you have better control you can come stay with me.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Lucian is the best possible teacher.”
“I mean about me staying with you.”
“Oh, absolutely. I’m not the best roommate and I work a lot but if you don’t mind that, I’d love the company.”
Her smile split her face and she ran to me and hugged me. I hugged her back. There were so many people that knew who I was that were afraid of me. It was nice to have someone who wasn’t. I would leave her here with Lucian for now but I would come back for her. After all she has been through she needs someone to just care for her. Not because they’re using her but because they want her.
She looked up at me. “Thank you, Sunny.”
“Thank you, Brennan.”
She hugged me again.
Chapter Eleven
“Sometimes I feel like somebody’s watching me”
We left a few hours later. It was getting late and we still needed to do some digging.
“Do you think it’s a good idea to let Brennan stay with you?”
I could tell Tristan had been thinking about it since leaving Lucian’s.
“Once she can control her magic, yes. It isn’t really hard to control magic in the sense of not letting it run rampant. It’s fine tuning that control that will take a while. Once she has a basic hold I will allow her to stay with me but she will continue training with Lucian for many years to come. I just hope we can finish this case before she’s ready to move in. I have a feeling I won’t be home much until we do.”
“I guess it’ll be good for you to have someone there with you. How long do Witches usually live anyway?”
“It all depends on their magic. The strong ones like Brennan, indefinitely. It’s essentially a spell that keeps them alive which is why they have to have strong magic to keep the spell going. Some of the weaker Witches only live slightly longer than Humans while some have to use all of their magic just to maintain their health spell leaving them without magic at all but able to live forever. As long as no one kills them or they don’t get into a major accident.”
“Wow. It must be nice to have magic. I would be fine with just extending
my life without being able to actually wield magic too.”
“Son, you were born Human and you’re a damned fine one, if I do say so myself. Don’t want for what you don’t have. Enjoy what you do have.”
“I know. It’s just hard sometimes.”
“I know. You see everyone around you and know they will still be here when you’re gone but that is the way it is supposed to be with Humans and there is something to be said about knowing you won’t live forever. A sense of now or never makes life worth living. Perhaps if I hadn’t taken you in, you would be happier with your life.”
“Or perhaps I would have died of starvation alone in a hotel room with a dead woman.”
“That wouldn’t have happened.”
“Do you really think my life would have been better without you?”
“No. I guess we will never know what could have been.”
“I don’t want to know what could have been. I couldn’t imagine my life different than it is. I have to give Alexander credit. He did the right thing in choosing to save you. If I fault him for everything else, it won’t be for that.”
“I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Let’s discuss the case.”
“Suit yourself just don’t think I would have been better off without you because that’s ludicrous.”
I ignored him and moved the conversation on.
“So the two cases are connected.”
“I figured that when I heard it was a black van the Vamp chased.”
“Yep, plus one of the Humans had the symbol of Caduceus on the back of his neck.”
“So we’ve got Humans and Witches working together?”
“Possibly. Or the portal was there and the Humans somehow learned about it. That seems unlikely since, as Lucian said, they would have to know a password to use the portal. I want to know who owns that asylum and how long the headmistress has been there. I also want to know who any other contributors are. There has to be more than just the headmistress involved. They were taking magic from Brennan. Who knows how many other patients are being syphoned off.”
We arrived back at our temporary HQ in Dallas and began looking for anything we could find on the Witches Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Yes, their acronym was WACI. We found out almost immediately that the company who owned the asylum was an international business named LabTech that primarily sold medical supplies to several countries including the US. There was a list of board members but nothing else.
“Generally if there is only a board listed then the company is owned by a larger conglomerate. I’ll follow the paper trail and see where it takes me,” Tristan said.
Truth be told he was better at this part of the job than I will ever be. I was better at reading people and forcing them to give me the information I want. This sort of thing took some kind of finesse. A kind that I don’t possess.
“Okay, I’ll try to find a connection with Roman. If that doesn’t work I’ll try to find out who his enemies are. I’m going to call for some extra agents to watch the perimeter around the club. There have been several days between disappearances so I think we’ll be alright for tonight but tomorrow we’re going to need to be on patrol. We can take turns if you want.”
He shook his head. “We need to be inside. Keep the patrols running while we check out the clientele. Someone has been watching these Vamps and the most likely place is the club itself.”
“Do you really think you can manage to spend your nights in Roman’s club? You two can’t even get along for five minutes.”
“You were right. I need to act more professional and I will do my utmost to do so. I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a killer go free because I can’t stand some Vamp.”
I had pretty much came to the same conclusion about the club but I really don’t want to spend time with Roman and his Djinn. But, like Tristan, I’ll be damned if I’m going to let a killer go because of my personal issues.
I sighed. “I’ll call Roman and make arrangements.”
“I want to be bartender.”
“Bartender? Do you know how to tend bar?”
“I can make every drink in the book. Plus, bartenders learn the most info about the customers than anyone else in a bar.”
“And what am I supposed to be?”
He shrugged.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m sure I’ll think of something.”
“And I’m sure Roman will have his own ideas.”
“Oh, I’m sure he will.”
Tristan smiled. He was probably imagining my constructive way of telling Roman what he could do with his ideas.
I continued to dig for information on Roman and any possible enemies he might have. Of course it would be easier just to ask him but I would rather avoid that. Plus, it was likely he would lie if there was someone he suspected. Unfortunately, there was nothing obvious as far as business affairs went. There was paperwork of his acquisition of businesses who had belonged to his sire, Judas Severus. Apparently he had gained control of his sire’s assets upon his death but I couldn’t find how the sire died. The file merely said that it was classified per leader of the council. So Lucian knows how the sire died but doesn’t want anyone else to. I’ll have to ask him what he knows. I’m sure he would have mentioned it if he thought it might have some bearing on this case.
Since I couldn’t find anything useful on Roman I decided to look up Brennan’s history. Her coming into her powers without an experienced Witch or Wizard there to help guide her is very rare and very dangerous. First, I have to find out her full name because I never thought to ask. That was easy enough. I already pulled the files on the asylum and even though it was privately owned the state requires a list of all patients since they are criminals. I narrowed my search to underage patients and only one name popped up. Brennan Shane. Sounds Irish if I had to guess.
I put the name and year of birth in my database and got several hits. One was a report of the accident. Both parents and younger brother perished in the flames. Brennan was fifteen at the time which sounds right for a Witch coming into her powers. That doesn’t answer the question of why she wasn’t guided. I looked for a birth certificate and found one. Both parents were listed. Okay, there goes my theory that she was adopted. Usually that would be the case in a situation like this one. Especially since no other family members stepped forward to claim her. It doesn’t make sense. I did a search of the Witch databases to find out if it was the mom or the dad who was Fabled. Or both. It turned out neither of them were associated with a clan. Huh. I searched just the last name and got no hits in Dallas but there were several members with that last name in Austin. A cross reference showed me the mother, Caroline Shane, was from Austin and her father is still a practicing Wizard there. So Brennan has a grandfather. It still doesn’t explain why Caroline didn’t teach her daughter to control her magic or why the grandfather didn’t claim her after the accident. I think I’m going to have to pay grandpa a visit as soon as this case is over.
“Okay, I’ve got some good news and some bad news.”
Tristan’s eyes were red and there were several empty paper coffee cups sitting on his desk. As I looked at him he stifled a huge yawn.
“Hurry and tell me so we can go home and get some rest.”
“That sounds like the best idea you’ve had all night, day, whatever we’re working on now.”
I raised a brow in a “get on with it” expression.
“Right. There is a conglomerate that owns LabTech. The majority stockholder is actually an account created in the name of a larger business that is owned by Neil Niobe.”
“Should that mean something to me?”
“Neil Niobe just runs a small software company called UniSoft. It is the leading software company in the world. He has businesses in every major country and is a major stockholder in several computer manufacturing companies. Basically if it’s a computer, it’s likely his company had a hand in it.”
“So he’s richer than, uh, almost anyone? Why hav
e I never heard of him before?”
“You’re not a billionaire? I don’t know. I had never heard of him either but I’ve heard of his company.”
“So he’s definitely rich enough to be funding this whole ‘steal the Vamps and kill them’ project? Is he Human?”
“As far as I know. I suppose he could be behind it but I couldn’t imagine why he would want to be?”
“Oh, you know, golf doesn’t hold the excitement it used to so now he’s torturing Fabled as a past time. His company has a logo, right? It doesn’t happen to be the symbol of Caduceus. Please say yes.”
“Sorry. It’s some weird geometric shape with a bunch of sides and a big ‘N’ in the middle.”
“That figures. So he’s rich enough to pull something like this off and he’s loosely connected to the asylum but that’s all we’ve got. Am I right?”
“Sounds right, yes.”
“Great. Let’s get some shut eye. Maybe I’ll dream about the answer to our problems.”
Tristan already had his coat on. “If you’re waiting for me, you’re backing up.”
I made it home in record time, showered and climbed into bed just as the sky outside was starting to turn purple. My phone started ringing before my head hit the pillow. I reached over and grabbed it off the nightstand without getting up.
“This better be good.”
“I waited all night for your call but it never arrived. Have you found any information at all or did you decide to take a vacation?”
“Yes Roman, I’m currently in Cancun getting a massage by the most amazingly fingered cabana boy. Sorry I forgot to call.”
“If I didn’t know you were currently in your bed alone, I might be upset by that knowledge.”
I bolted up and looked around the room but didn’t see anyone. Did he bug my house while I was gone? No, not only is there security setup at the entrance to the subdivision. My home had its own security system that was boosted by a spell created by Lucian.
