Sound's Familiar

by Dana Marie Bell

  “Has she ever given a lecture here?” Carol’s tone was back to normal, curious yet non-judgmental.

  “No.” Chief Rivers chuckled his expression bashful yet proud. “We can’t afford her.”

  “Would you mind if we spoke to her?” Jonah wanted to talk to Anna Templeton. If rumors were true, she was more than powerful enough to perform the Apep ritual.

  “She’s in Wisconsin right now. Has been...” Chief Rivers leaned back in his chair with a relieved expression. “She’s been there for over a month, working on a dimensional portal project that would allow us to see into Terra Noctem without actually entering it.”

  “So, she couldn’t have killed our latest victim.” Carol, still smiling sweetly at the chief, also seemed relieved. “I have to admit, I’ve admired her for a long time. However, we’ll have to confirm her alibi.”

  “I have no problem with that.” Chief Rivers glanced at his computer and grimaced. “Damn it. I have a meeting with Frank in ten minutes. Is there anything else you need to talk to me about?”

  Jonah shook his head. “I think we’re done. Thank you, Chief.”

  “Like I said, call me Larry.” The chief stood and held out his hand. “I’ll admit, I’m going to miss you guys running around campus stirring up shit. Some of the professors here are real assholes. Watching them squirm has been a pleasure.” He winked as Jonah shook his hand. “Once everything’s cleared up, I’d love to have a meal with you guys.”

  “I think we can arrange that.” Jonah stood back as his partners took their turns shaking the chief’s hand. He even heard Carol quietly apologizing for bringing up Sean’s death.

  The chief patted her on the shoulder. “You know, familiars sometimes come in here and tell me that their sorcerers are in distress or danger. I’ve been told to ignore those reports, that they’re unreliable.” His expression turned stern. “I think from now on I’m going to fucking ignore that order instead.”

  “Who gave it?” Carol’s eyes were wide, but through their link, Jonah understood exactly what she was truly feeling. Excitement.

  “Dean Anthony.” Chief Rivers’s expression turned grim. “He doesn’t have a lot of respect for familiars, to be honest. He sees them as extensions of their sorcerers rather than people in their own right, with magic we don’t completely understand.” He frowned, looking confused. “Why didn’t I think of that before?”

  Something about the way the chief spoke had Jonah’s hackles rising. Jonah took hold of the chief’s hand. “Let me check something.” He began to tug on Carol’s anima, blending it seamlessly with his own. The joy that always jolted through him at their connection filled him, made his magic stronger. He spoke the words of a delicate spell to check for mental tinkering.

  There. Two dark spots on the chief’s head. The first was in the front left-hand side, the second much deeper. “You need to go to a hospital. Now.”

  “What?” Chief Rivers looked horrified. “What did you see?”

  “Two dark spots on your brain. There are signs of magical tampering, but this spell is far more delicate and long-term than something I feel comfortable dealing with.” Jonah shook his head. “Someone’s been inside your mind, forcing you to forget certain things.”

  “Shit.” Chief Rivers sat back down so hard his chair squealed. “Will it kill me?”

  Jonah shrugged, but he couldn’t help but feel concern for the chief. His instincts were screaming that the man, and his family, were innocent. “I don’t know, but I’d go now to have it looked at.”

  “See if they can get a magical signature too. That might tell us who cast the spell.” Carol glanced at Jonah, her expression showing all the concern Jonah was experiencing.

  “I will.” Chief Rivers stood. “I owe you, Jonah.”

  Jonah waved his hand nonchalantly. “Eh, when you get out of the hospital, buy me a burger, and we’re even.”

  The chief laughed as he picked up the phone. “It’s a date.”

  Jonah led Ian and Carol out of the chief’s office. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “We need more proof that Dean Anthony is responsible before we can arrest him.” Ian was scowling furiously as he stomped toward the elevator. “If we took him in now, he’d wiggle his way free before we could say ‘lawyer up.’”

  “Let’s investigate his family situation. What do we know about his wife? What sort of accident took his daughter?” Jonah waited with his partners for the elevator to arrive. “Let’s make sure we take this fucker down hard.”

  “Agreed.” Carol, her lip curled up, was showing fang.

  Jonah was a sick, sick bastard, but damn. That was hot as hell. He put his arm around her shoulders and whispered in her ear. “Put that away, sweetheart. We don’t want someone else seeing it.”

  She appeared confused. “Huh?”

  He chuckled. “Don’t you realize? Your fangs turn me on.”

  Her cheeks turned bright red. “You’re so strange.”

  “Yup.” He settled her comfortably against him. “And you love every minute of it.”

  All he could do was laugh when she snarled playfully at him.

  Ian, like the good boy he’d promised to be, said absolutely nothing.

  Chapter 37

  Once back in the precinct, Carol called the best person she could think of to help her track down Dean Anthony’s dead child. Ian was working on the blueprint warrants, and Jonah was... Actually, she wasn’t sure what Jonah was up to, but she doubted he was sitting there playing Tiddlywinks.

  “Hey, Carol, what’s up?”

  “Hi, Debbie. Listen, I need your help tracking down a death certificate.”

  “Really? Whose?” Debbie seemed curious.

  Carol stared at the memorial page she’d managed to dig up on a social media site. “It’s the child of a suspect.”

  “What’s her name?” Debbie was pure professional now, the sound of a keyboard tinny through the phone.

  “Megan Anthony. She was twelve when she passed, and I was told it was in an accident.”

  “Date of death?”

  Carol read off the date of death from the social media site. “Can you expedite this?” She scrolled through message after message of condolences, looking for anything from the parents. “It has something to do with the campus murder case.”

  “The death was recent enough that it’s already been added to our database...ah. Here we go. Megan Anthony. What do you need to know?”

  “First, I need you to email me that death certificate, and if possible, Paul’s notes. Second, what’s the cause of death?”

  “It’s listed as accidental, just as you said.”

  “Is the type of accident listed as well?” Carol waved Jonah off when he tapped her on the shoulder.

  “Let me check.” She heard more typing as Debbie did as asked. “Ah. It seems she died from magical overload.”

  “Huh.” Carol had been thinking car accident or maybe drowning, not magical overload. “What’s her species sub-type listed as? Sorcerer, familiar, vamp, or dimen?”

  “That’s interesting. Familiar.”

  “Familiar?” Carol sat up straight, her mind racing.

  “Don’t see a lot of those dying of magical overload. Usually, our animal halves protect us by forcing the excess magic into the earth.”

  She glanced up at Jonah, who was frowning at her curiously. “She was twelve, Debbie. How does a twelve-year-old familiar, who’s never had their first bond, die of magical overload?”

  Jonah’s eyes went wide in shock.

  “Shit. Someone was using her, someone she wasn’t bound to. She couldn’t have been.” Carol was beginning to shake with rage. “She was too young to form a bond. Her animal would have refused it no matter who it was.”

  “Which means the magic was forced on her from an outside force.” Debbie’s tone had turned frosty, indicating she too was angry as hell. “The father or the mother?”

  Carol couldn’t say anything, not until they
had proof that Dean Anthony had been grossly abusing his child. “I can’t tell you.”

  “Hmph. Fine. But I want the full story once you’ve caught the bad guy, got it? Let me know if you need any further information. I can talk to Paul, see if he remembers anything about the girl’s case.”

  “Thanks, I’d appreciate that.” It was good to have an in with the wife of the chief medical examiner.

  “You’re welcome.” Debbie sounded sulky, but the next moment, she seemed full of delight. “Oh, before you go, guess what?” Carol could envision her friend bouncing in her seat.

  “You pierced your nipple?” She winked at Jonah, who was once again staring at her in surprise.

  “I...what? No! Ding, dong, the bitch is gone, baby!” Debbie began to crow in triumph.

  “Oh. Is that all?”

  “Is that all, she says. Hmph. Paul finally fired the bitch. She went too far when she insulted one of the board of supervisors. Apparently, she didn’t recognize him and treated him like dirt, all because he was wearing a T-shirt and jeans. The man complained, and poof! The office now runs efficiently thanks to a competent person holding the post.”

  “Congratulations.” Carol shook her head, amused at Debbie’s unholy joy.

  Debbie cackled again. “We can have a celebratory lunch later this week, okay?”

  “Sounds most excellent.” Carol said her goodbyes and turned to Jonah. “So, Megan Anthony died of magical overload.”

  “I heard some of that.” Her computer dinged, indicating she’d received an email. She opened it and, with Jonah reading over her shoulder, began to go over the death certificate and notes she’d asked for. “Burns across the left side of her face, down her arms to her hands. Part of her brain was turned to mush.”

  “The part where our magic resides. She was completely burned out.” Jonah cursed softly. “What the fuck was he doing with her?”

  “What if it wasn’t him but his wife? We don’t have any information on her, do we?” Carol glanced up at him to find his face mere inches from hers. She had the urge to lick him, so she did.

  He reared back in disbelief. “What the hell?”

  She giggled. “I licked it, so it’s mine.”

  He rolled his eyes. “I’ve been yours, you silly pup.” He leaned over her again. “Look at this.” He pointed to something in the notes she hadn’t seen before.

  “A signature.” She leaned forward, squinting slightly as even through an email the signature squirmed in front of her eyes almost as if it were alive and not happy to be viewed. “Is it me, or does it look exactly like the one Lessa translated for us?”

  “Apep, Lord of Rebirth.” Jonah stood up. “It’s definitely our killer’s signature.”

  “What the fuck, Jonah? I thought the ritual was to bring someone back to life, but if he was using it before this whole thing even began...”

  “Yeah. We’re going to have to rethink everything. If it wasn’t his daughter he wants to bring back, then who the fuck is it?”

  “We need to go farther back, look into his past. Maybe an old lover, another child, even a parent.” Jonah grabbed a sticky note and began jotting down notes. “Anyone else you can think of?”

  “A bonded familiar?” Carol leaned back in her chair, thinking. “If he’d created a strong bond and then lost that familiar, wouldn’t he want that one back?”

  “He has no real love for familiars, remember? Which might be why he was so willing to use his daughter the way he did.” Jonah ditched the sticky notes and grabbed his notepad. “Did he have a child who was a sorcerer and lost him?”

  Carol began to click on the social media pages. “If so, there might be something here. Check birth records for the county. I’ll find out where he was born. Maybe something’s there.”

  “Good idea.” Jonah ruffled her hair as he returned to his desk. “Good work running this down, Carol.”

  Her cheeks began to heat at the praise. “Thanks.” She hunched over, concentrating on looking for evidence in his social media pages that Frank Anthony had lost a sorcerer child.

  An hour later, she was beginning to think that he hadn’t. She decided to find out where the man had been born. She started by searching records of his alma mater, discovering that he’d gotten his degree in UC San Diego. From there, she was able to track his home town to Fremont, California. She then searched the public records and confirmed that, yes, Frank Anthony had been born in Fremont to Harvey Anthony, a high school teacher, and Kelly Ann Anthony (née Wallace), a housewife. She leaned back, stretching her arms over her head. She groaned as her stiff shoulders burned with the movements.

  She moaned even more as strong hands began massaging her shoulders. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” Jonah murmured. He dug his thumbs into a particularly nasty spot, making her twitch.

  “Ow.” She leaned her head against his stomach and looked up at him. “What did you find out?”

  “No other children, but Ian got us the blueprints. Found something interesting on them while you were working your Google-Fu.”

  “Oh?” She sighed as her muscles finally began to relax under his skilled fingers.

  “The spot where the pinhole formed was under Dean Anthony’s office.”

  She stiffened again, causing Jonah’s massage to turn painful. “Owie.”

  “Relax, sweetheart. This is just one piece of the puzzle, remember?”

  “Could he have been killing them in his office?” Carol tried to picture the man’s workplace in her mind but couldn’t figure out where such a ritual would take place. “Or could he be using a space just below his office but just above the pinhole?”

  Jonah’s hands froze before he lifted them away. “Good question. What is below his office?” He returned to his desk, clicking furiously.

  Carol stood, stretching her whole body upward. Gods, it felt good to stand.

  “Jeez, woman, don’t do that unless we’re alone.” Jonah was staring at her, his gaze roaming over her until she was once more blushing. Through their bond, she could sense his desire beginning to rise.

  “Down, boy.” She crossed her arms over her breasts. “We still have work to do.”

  “Slave driver.” Jonah turned back to his computer. “Huh.”

  “What?” She crossed to his side of the desk and glanced over his shoulder. “Well. What do you know? Looks like it’s a storage closet.”

  “Think we should send in CSI?” Jonah’s expression was sinful.

  “Most definitely.”

  Jonah picked up the phone. “Boss? We need a warrant...”

  Chapter 38

  Carol watched avidly as the CSI guys got to work, sifting through everything in the room. Plastic gloves and little plastic baggies were very much in evidence as they did their best not to contaminate the scene. They even sprayed luminol and used black-lights in the room.

  Unfortunately, they found very little blood evidence, but they did find hairs and fibers that they were carefully gathering in little baggies. Jonah was talking to one of the guys who was taking pictures of everything, being very careful not to touch a thing. Ian was taking notes while speaking with another investigator.

  Carol had chosen to remain just outside the room to help field the curious. Dean Hill had accepted the warrant with grace and was also in the corridor, making sure none of the staff gave the crime scene investigators trouble.

  “Heard from Chief Rivers?” Ian stood beside her, watching the staff watch them.

  “Nope. It’s been a couple of days. I hope he’s okay.” She glanced over at Ian. “I did confirm he’s at the hospital, however, and his wife and daughter are with him. He’s getting those magical growths taken care of.”

  “I thought his wife was working on a pretty sensitive project.”

  “Seems she thinks her husband is more important than her contract.” Carol turned back to the staff to see Dean Hill and Dean Anthony arguing. “Hmm. I spy with my little eye, something that begins with B.S.�
�

  “Oh, I know! Bullshit.” Ian clapped his hands. “What do I get for winning?”

  “You get to help Dean Hill keep Dean Anthony out of here.”

  Ian groaned, but instead of arguing he headed toward the duo.

  “Excuse me, Ms. Voss?” One of the technicians had taken Ian’s place.

  “Yes?” She tilted her head, wondering why the technician looked so nervous. Was it because she was a wolf, or because she was Jonah’s partner?

  The man was frowning, but not in distaste of her. It looked more...academic? Curious? “I hate to disturb you, but I think we could use your nose.”

  Her brows rose. “My nose?” She glanced back into the storeroom, realizing what it was he wanted from her. “Not a problem. You want me to sniff out something specific, or am I scenting things in general?”

  The man immediately relaxed. “A little bit of both, actually. I think there’s something in a specific spot, but I don’t want to prejudice you. By all means, sniff all over the place.”

  “And if I happen to find something else in the meanwhile, that would just be peachy keen, right?” Carol winked at the investigator, hoping he’d relax.

  It must have worked because his smile was wide and conspiratorial. “Exactly.”

  She stepped into the storeroom, wrinkling her nose at the smell of all the different people. It would be much stronger once she shifted.

  “Need me to clear the room?” The investigator was once more watching her warily.

  “Nah.” She glanced back at the cameraman. “In fact, make sure the guy with the camera follows me, taping everything I do. I don’t want anyone to say we planted any evidence.”

  The guy nodded. “I’ll set that up.” His gaze roamed over her body, utterly methodical. There was not a hint of desire in his eyes. “Do you need to strip, or can you change with your clothes on?”

  In response Carol shifted, apparently startling him enough that he took a step back. She sat, wagging her tail and allowing her tongue to hang out. Look at the pretty, goofy dog. No predators here, just someone looking for a belly rub and a treat.