Thrall

by Jennifer Blackstream

  Liam was silent for a second. I heard Arianne’s voice in the background. There was a rhythm to her voice that made me think she was casting a spell.

  “Kylie was arrested,” Liam said finally, keeping his voice low as if he didn’t want Arianne to hear.

  “Arrested?” I leaned against the wall, staring into space without seeing anything. “What was she arrested for?”

  “Remember the pile of bodies at Fortuna’s? The one under Connor’s remains?”

  My stomach sank to my knees, and I was glad I was already leaning on the wall. “She didn’t.”

  “She didn’t eat it. Yet. But she took one home.”

  “Probably to save it until it rotted more.” I swallowed back the rising bile in my throat, trying to breathe through the urge to vomit until it passed. “I assume she snuck it out past the people you left there. So how did the police find out?”

  “Impossible to say. It was an anonymous tip, it could have been anyone at Fortuna’s, or even one of her neighbors.”

  “What’s the charge?” I asked.

  “No charges. The Vanguard sent someone in. Kylie has a lab in her basement, and they brought paperwork saying the family of the dead body had given Kylie permission to use the body for research purposes.”

  The mention of the Vanguard made me push off from the wall, legs trembling with the need to pace. “The Vanguard is letting her go too, right? They don’t usually step in for ghouls, as long as they’re not killing anyone.”

  “As far as I know, there won’t be any charges pressed against her by anyone.” He hesitated, then added, “But I’d expect Kylie may need some space.”

  I heard a question in his voice. A question he wasn’t ready to ask me. Which was good, because I didn’t want to talk about killing Kylie right now.

  “Shade—”

  A scream cut him off. My stomach rolled, and Liam cursed under his breath. “I have to go.”

  He ended the call, but not before I heard a second scream. Masculine. Sounded like Toby.

  I shuddered and shoved the phone back into the side pocket of my waist pouch.

  “What now?” Asher asked.

  “I’m going to find Scath.”

  I headed out of the room, and made my way through the warehouse’s interior, studiously avoiding looking in the direction of the altar. Even without looking at it, without walking near it, I swore I could feel the evil breathing against my skin. So much power. Old power. The power that came from harnessing a death. Dedicating it. I shivered and walked faster.

  Standing outside helped chase away the smell of death, but I still had to rub my arms to rid myself of that horrible feeling of wrongness that rolled off the altar. I would have given anything to take a hot shower right then, stand under the spray and scrub until I couldn’t remember what that foul magic felt like. I shivered again.

  “Cold?” Asher asked.

  I held up a hand in warning, just in case he was thinking of trying something. “I’m fine.”

  Asher stared out at the city, raising his injured hand so he could continue prodding at the wound with his opposite thumb. “Well, it seems like the fun is over for now. Won’t be anything for me to do as long as the sorceress is in charge of the interrogation.” He looked across the parking lot, considering. “I have brothers near here. I’ll catch you later.”

  I almost smiled in spite of myself. Finally, some good news. The goblin was going away on his own.

  Asher took a step, then paused. I stiffened as he turned to fully face me, tilting his head down to look directly into my eyes. “You will remember to call me this time.”

  It wasn’t a question. I narrowed my eyes and stepped closer, crowding his personal space. “I’ll call you when I need you.”

  Asher called my bluff, stepping closer until our bodies pressed together, until I could smell the blood drying on his chest. “And if I need you…I’ll find you.”

  He winked at me and walked away. I watched him leave the parking lot and cross the street with the confidence of someone who wouldn’t mind being hit by a car.

  “Someday you might have to do something about him.”

  I jumped.

  Scath arched an eyebrow. “Bit tense, are we?”

  I rubbed my hands over my face. “What time is it?”

  Scath fished her cell phone out of the pouch where she kept Majesty and brushed the fur off it. “Little after four.”

  “Why does it feel like it should be so much later?”

  Scath didn’t comment. We both stood there for a long minute, staring out at the city.

  “Are you okay?” I asked quietly.

  “Fine.”

  Her tone made it clear the conversation ended there, so I let it go. We stood there a while longer, watching Majesty play in the tall grass I was certain hadn’t been in the middle of the parking lot when we got here. Soon the sound of tires on the debris-free parking lot caught my attention, and I turned to see a van approaching. Blake was driving, and Sonar sat in the seat next to him.

  “Blake,” I said as he parked next to me and Scath. “Sonar. Pleasure to see you again.”

  “Is it though?” Blake muttered.

  The side door opened and Kylie and Vincent climbed out. When the half-ghoul spotted me, the tension between us solidified like a wall that kept her from walking too close. Or making eye contact. She halted just outside the van, and Vincent blinked in confusion. Apparently, Kylie was usually the one to lead the forensic charge.

  “The body is inside,” I said, gesturing to the warehouse.

  “Right.” Vincent looked like his usual self in his tweed jacket with padded elbows and a shirt that looked as if it had spent a few days sitting in the dryer before being pulled out and put straight on. He darted his gaze from me to Kylie, letting me know he felt the tension too. “Lead the way?”

  I led them inside and up to the room in question. I noticed Vincent giving the altar an uneasy look, walking as close to the opposite wall as he could. Unfortunately for him, he was going to have to analyze the altar after he finished with the body.

  “It’s been some time since they’ve called me to a scene you’ve already arrived at,” he said thoughtfully. “Have you already used my spell to find evidence?”

  I rubbed my forehead between my eyebrows. “My third eye was damaged earlier, I can’t use that spell.”

  The forensic wizard winced. “My condolences. Would you like me to take a look at it?”

  I took a quick step forward, my hopes rising sharply. “Can you heal it?”

  A flush colored the wizard’s cheeks. “Er, no. No, probably not. But I think I have something that’s almost as good. For this scene, at least.”

  I watched with an admittedly sullen expression as we entered the room and he put down a case he’d been carrying and took out a small black rectangular box with a wide handle.

  “Is that a smoke machine?” I asked.

  Vincent nodded. “I use it to help my spell show up on video when I record official scenes. It should let you see the results even without the use of your third eye.”

  He set up the smoke machine and turned it on, then cleared his throat and faced the room, waving his arms and sending his self-made forensic spell rolling outward. The magic gravitated toward blood droplets and skin cells, and as I watched, tiny shapes rose from each one. Shapes that showed what kind of creature had left the samples.

  As much as I appreciated Vincent’s attempt to include me in the evidence collecting, there wasn’t much to learn just from the shapes. All it showed me was what I already knew. I assumed the feminine form was the telekinetic, though I couldn’t tell without my third eye to give me the color of the magic. The shifter was probably the same werewolf that was at the casino. I winced at the much larger masculine shape. The giant. I remembered him.

  I knew who had been here, or was pretty sure I did. This was just a formality, a way to make sure they were held accountable when we brought them to the Vanguard.
r />   Kylie stayed by the door, still avoiding my gaze.

  “Kylie. How are you—”

  “I’m fine.” She straightened her spine and fixed me with a look that sucked the air out of the room. “I take back what I said before. What I asked you to do. Your services won’t be required.”

  “It’s your choice,” I said quietly. “It will always be your choice.”

  “Thanks,” she said, that one word ringing with sarcasm.

  I gave myself a second to brace myself, find my center. I’d known when she asked me for the favor that I’d have to have this conversation someday. It always came with requests like that. Requests made while in one state of mind, to be fulfilled in another.

  “But in order for me to know your choice is coming from the right place,” I continued softly, “you will need to talk to me. You asked me what you did because you knew there would come a time when you would make a bad choice. When who you are would change. If you want to take back what you asked of me, I need to know the Kylie I’m talking to now is the same Kylie, in spirit, that I spoke to then.”

  Kylie jerked her head, her pale blue eyes locking onto mine. “Are you threatening me?”

  I didn’t look away. I let her see the calm in my face, hear it in my voice. “I’m a witch. I gave you my word.”

  Kylie stared at me another long minute, and I waited for her to yell, or scream, or maybe even attack me. I watched her closely, looking for some sign that she was losing control, that her ghoul nature was winning out. Finally, she swallowed hard.

  “When they called me to Fortuna’s,” she whispered. “They didn’t mention the pile of bodies. I wasn’t…ready. Rotting bodies are different from fresh corpses. I could smell it before I got to the room. It—”

  She cut herself off, but I knew what she meant. The bodies had smelled good to her. Had appealed to her ghoul nature, made her hungry. And she’d given in.

  “I didn’t eat it,” she whispered. “I went back after Liam left. I just took it with me. For later.”

  “There are other options, Kylie. I’ll help you if you’ll let me. Not just at the end, but before that. Before it gets to that point.”

  Tears glittered in her eyes. “You can’t make me something other than I am. There is no cure for ghoul fever.”

  “No, but there’s always a balance to be had.” I considered her for a moment. “Did you know that back where I come from, loup garous would lose their minds completely on the full moon? They would kill family, friends, children, whomever was near to them. Uncontrollable bloodlust.”

  Kylie frowned. “I’ve known shifters like that, but it’s the exception to the rule.”

  “It is now,” I said simply. “Because one lycanthrope married a loup garou. Their bond let him help her control it, and their bloodline helped create a new evolution. Loup garou and lycanthrope are used interchangeably today, but back where I come from, they were two very different creatures.”

  “Evolution takes centuries, longer.”

  I shrugged. “Maybe I should have said when I come from.”

  Kylie narrowed her eyes. “And when would that be?”

  I patted her shoulder. “That’s a story for another day.”

  “I don’t have time for evolution to help me,” Kylie said bitterly.

  “No, you don’t. So what you need, is a little help from magic. And perhaps a little help from science.”

  I looked at Vincent when I said the last part, and Kylie followed my gaze. She stared at the wizard for a while before looking back at me. “You think there’s hope?”

  “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have said anything,” I said simply. “I think it’s worth talking to Vincent.”

  Kylie seemed to hear me, really hear me. So I started to leave her and Vincent to process the scene. Then I remembered something.

  “Kylie, did you by any chance work on the Stavros Rosso autopsy?”

  Kylie frowned. “No, why?”

  “I need to know how he died.”

  She shrugged and slid a tablet out of the bag slung over her shoulder. “I can look it up for you. Just give me a sec.”

  I held my breath as she swiped at the screen. If Stavros could be alive, then we needed to take another look at his bank statements, find out where his money had gone after his death. He had to be accessing it somehow. Or maybe he had a secret account.

  Kylie raised her eyebrows, then looked at me. “Ian cut out Stavros’ heart and burned his body.”

  My shoulders fell. “That seems very final.” Frustration made my skin itch, and I started pacing back and forth across the room. “This case has too many coincidences. I hate coincidences.” I slammed my hand against the wall, a flood of adrenaline scalding my veins. Even dead, Stavros was ruining people’s lives. Ending them. But how?

  Kylie put her tablet away and left me to stew in my own frustration. I waved a general goodbye to her and Vincent, then left the room again. I passed Blake and Sonar where they stood near the altar, waiting for the forensic team to finish with the murder room.

  Scath had stayed outside with Majesty, but she scooped him up as soon as she saw the look on my face.

  “Bad news?”

  “Stavros’ heart was ripped out and his body burned. He can’t be alive.”

  There was no mistaking the relief that washed over Scath’s face, the way her shoulders drooped. I tried to be happy for her, but I couldn’t ignore the fact that if Stavros was really dead, then that meant all these coincidences had no explanation.

  We got a cab back to Suite Dreams. I had the driver park in the lot of the business next to the hotel, and Scath and I disguised ourselves before we approached the front doors. Not that it mattered, since apparently Arianne had given up on the need for secrecy. But at least Liam had his pack members keeping an eye on the Foundations boarding house to protect the remaining women. They should be safe for now.

  Liam met us outside the front doors.

  That was my first signal that something was wrong.

  “What happened?” I asked, my throat constricting.

  “They talked,” Liam said grimly. “But neither of them know who the Emperor is. They never met him, not the real him. Apparently, they were involved in the Emperor’s operation, but all Toby and Kurt did was pick up the women from the airport and bring them to the halfway house. The few times they met the Emperor, he was using a different body each time. Kurt said they followed him once, but he just took the body to a bus stop and left him there. The guy looked around like he just woke up, confused and with no idea how he got there.”

  “Did you say halfway house?”

  “Yeah. The place they brought the women when they first got to this country. Apparently, the Emperor liked to come down personally and test the new arrivals.”

  I asked the question even though I didn’t want to know the answer. “Test?”

  “Not like that. He liked to have a peek inside their minds, make sure they weren’t law enforcement. And he’d talk with them. Kurt said it was like he was gauging their personalities, seeing how smart they were.”

  There was a strain in his voice that wouldn’t let the adrenaline stop pumping through my brain, melting my thoughts faster than I could have them.

  “Liam, spit it out. What aren’t you telling me?”

  Liam’s aura flared, even though his face remained calm. “I got a call from one of the people I had watching the women from Foundations. All the women arrived back at the boarding house at the same time three hours ago.” He took a deep breath. “Someone burned the place down.”

  Chapter 18

  The scent of lavender enveloped me as Liam opened the door to the hotel and ushered me inside. My legs moved of their own accord since my mind was miles away imagining a burning building. Even if I hadn’t grown to be wary of the scent of lavender from my experiences here, I still wouldn’t have felt any calmer sucking that aroma into my lungs.

  “Burnt it down?” I repeated.

  “And that
’s not all.” Liam kept his voice down as he took my elbow and pulled me toward the hallway that led behind the front desk. “I called a member of my pack that works at the fire department. He went out on that call, and he told me they found five bodies.”

  “Five?” I frowned. “There were only two women besides Rima and Renee. Aubrey is… Aubrey’s gone.”

  “We won’t have any information on identities until tomorrow at the earliest. And that’s assuming I can convince the fire department that the fire is related to my investigation so they’ll let our team handle it. Kylie and Vincent will get to it a lot faster than Dr. Dannon.”

  My heart plummeted into my beat-up fake velvet ankle boots. “We haven’t found Nikolaos yet. What if it was him?”

  Liam stopped at an elevator and pushed the button to go down. “My people were watching. They swear no one but the women went into that building.”

  I covered my face with my hands. “Please tell me you’re not saying they burned the house down themselves.”

  “We have to consider the possibility,” Liam said quietly.

  Scath crossed her arms. “You said five bodies. If your people only saw four women go in, that means someone else was already in there.”

  Liam sighed. “True, and that’s a mystery we need to solve as soon as possible. Unfortunately, like I said, we won’t know anything about the bodies until we can get them autopsied.”

  A thought whispered at me from the corner of my brain. I tilted my head, straining to listen. Bodies. Burned beyond recognition. We needed an autopsy to identify them.

  “It’s not going to be easy identifying them either,” Liam muttered. “We don’t have dental records. Or DNA. At best, we might be able to get sex and a ballpark age. Vincent might be able to get us species, but since it was fire, even that is debatable.”

  “So if there had been no witness, Jamila would have died nameless. No record to match her to, no way to find out her name?”

  I dropped my hands, my eyes wide as Renee’s voice came back to me. “Renee asked me about identifying bodies. She wanted to know if we’d have been able to identify Jamila’s body if there had been no witness.”