Honey pulled herself up to her full five-foot-seven height. “These are my people, and I’m not leaving until every last one has been identified and bagged.”
Melody nodded. “Fine. In that case we better get to work.”
I didn’t know any of the yaksha here aside from Honey’s family, but there was no way I was leaving her to do this alone. It took hours. Some bodies were so badly maimed Honey couldn’t figure out who they were, and by the end it became a process of elimination. But after two hours we’d identified them all. Honey’s brothers and father were the last to be loaded into the morgue van, and throughout it all Honey didn’t shed a single tear. The final van drove out of the clearing, and the IEPEU began to pack up.
Melody joined us. “We’re done here for now. A team will sweep the area again once it’s light. You want a lift home?”
“Home …” Honey blinked slowly.
Shit. Her dad and brothers were her only family. And most of her pack was dead, what would she be going home to?
I put an arm around Honey’s shoulder and addressed Melody. “Can you drop us at my place?”
Melody nodded curtly. “Sure.”
The drive back was mostly silent. Honey fell asleep in the back—a blessing to shut out the horrific reality of what had just happened.
I kept my eyes on the road. “I want in on this case.”
Melody sighed. “I thought you might. Thing is, aside from the fact that you’ve only been with us for a week, it’s not advisable to work a case you’re so close to.”
“I know.”
She glanced at Honey in the rear view mirror. “I’ll pull some strings. Do my best to get you on it. Just, try to keep your friend out of it. I know it’ll be difficult, but she’s going to have a load of shit to deal with now. A mass murder investigation is the last thing she needs.”
“What do you mean?”
Melody’s lips tightened. “How much do you know about Yaksha inter-pack politics?”
“Not much. Just that a bunch of representatives and their families meet a couple of times a year to connect and hash stuff out.”
“Yeah, that’s the civilized aspect of the whole thing. But there’s been a power play between the packs for decades. The Renegade Pack is the most business orientated pack out of the six active packs we know of. Their eateries bring in a ton of revenue, and a couple of other packs, Moonlight and Shakti, have been trying to buy them out for years. Gareth Dante had been resistant to offers of investment and partnership. That business meant the world to him. With him gone, the new heads of the pack are gonna come gunning for Honey. A female in charge of an empire … the alpha males aren’t gonna stand for that. The treaties agreed by the old alphas died with those yaksha. A new order is on the horizon. Your friend is going to need her focus to navigate the stormy waters ahead.”
“Yeah, well she won’t have to do it alone.”
Melody smiled. “I didn’t think so.” We pulled into the lot behind the Delightful Bakery. “How are things with Banner?”
“I haven’t spoken to him in a few days. He likes me.”
“Yeah, I figured that might be the case. He has this look in his eyes when he speaks about you.”
“He does?”
She nodded. “Oh, before I forget. Update. After you told me about the Ghandarva feather and how Banner, Vritra, and Shukra were the only others that knew about it, I requested a surveillance on the three guys.”
“And?”
“Well, they wouldn’t approve it for Banner. As much as I hate to admit it, the covens have way too much influence on the IEPEU activities, and surveillance on their witches, especially an elder witch, is a huge no no. But we have been keeping tabs on Vritra and Shukra best we can, considering the high security of that place, but so far nothing to suggest anything nefarious.”
“Maybe the information got out some other way? Like I said at the time, Banner was gathering items for the spell. Someone could have cottoned on.”
Her mouth twisted in thought. “It’s looking more and more likely, which sucks because it means we’re totally in the dark again.” She sighed. “I’ll see you at work tomorrow.”
“You’ll get me on the case?”
“I’ll do my best.”
Honey stirred in the back. Her eyes opened, and for a moment her expression was clear and untroubled, and then her face pinched in pain and her lips quivered. She pressed them together and turned to look out the passenger side window.
“We here?” she asked.
“Yeah.”
“Thank you,” she nodded in Melody’s direction and then climbed out of the car.
“Let me know if you need anything,” Melody said softly. “If she needs anything.”
“I will.” I joined Honey by the metal steps leading up to my flat.
We watched Melody drive off before climbing the steps. I unlocked the door and entered, but Honey remained in the doorway looking dazed.
“Honey?”
She blew out a breath. “Did it really happen?”
Oh god, I wish I could say no. That it was all a bad dream. “Yeah. It did.”
She walked over to the sofa and sat down. “It was a hit.”
“What?”
She looked up, her expression hard. “It had to be a hit—all the most influential yaksha in one place at the same time—someone ordered a hit. I don’t know who the killers were, but that doesn’t matter, not really. We need to find out who ordered the hit.”
“It makes sense, but who’d want all the alphas dead?”
She snorted. “Any number of ambitious betas, heck, maybe they banded together and organized the hit so they could take power over the packs.”
“There weren’t any betas at the gathering?”
She swallowed hard. “There was one. Kieran. General rule is that you either get one or the other at any political event. Gatherings are alpha domain. Their close family members also attend. Father asked Kieran to stay behind, but he insisted on coming.” She dropped her head into her hands. “Oh fuck, Renegade has no beta. Whoever organized this took out the heads of every pack, leaving the hierarchy open to new rule. Everything we’ve worked toward, all the boundaries we’ve set up will be in question. And my pack … we’re fucked.”
Yeah, this theory was sounding more and more likely by the second. A beta would have motive. But I had to ask. “Is there anyone else aside from the betas who may have a grudge against the Yaksha? Did the packs have issues with anyone else?”
She snorted derisively. “We’re too busy having issues amongst ourselves to worry about anyone else. The Yaksha community is pretty egocentric.”
“Okay, so we figure out who these guys that attacked us are, and we get them to lead us back to whoever ordered the hit.”
“I’ve never seen anything like them.”
“Me either. But they were definitely supernatural, and if the IEPEU have tangled with them before, the system will pull up the details.”
“And if not?”
“Then we go to the gods.” If the IEPEU didn’t have a record, then the only other beings that may know what these creatures are would be the gods. They had been here for the birth of all the supernatural races after all.
She sat up straighter. “You could get access to the gods at Brahma Corp through the IEPEU, right?”
No need to tell her that I didn’t need the IEPEU to get access to the gods. I’d met Indra and Varuna five years ago when the world had almost gone to shit. They’d help me if I asked, no doubt.
“Yeah. Melody will do her best to get me on this case, but even if she can’t, I will find out what happened to your family. I promise you, you’ll have justice.”
Honey’s jaw tensed. “I know you will. But I’m not going to sit back and twiddle my thumbs while you do it.”
Melody was right, keeping Honey out of the investigation was the wise move, but wise wasn’t always the right move. Her family had been taken from her, murdered right before her ey
es. Shutting her out was not an option.
“I don’t expect you to, but first you need to take care of business. Your pack business.”
Her breath whooshed out. “Oh, fuck. The eateries.”
“Yeah.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “I need to get home.”
“Yeah. First thing tomorrow. Get some sleep and then—”
“No.” She was on her feet. “The vultures will be circling looking for weakness. If they find out I ran and hid I’ll be discredited, deemed unfit to run the empire my father created.” She walked over to the door. “The betas are probably meeting now. I need to be there to represent Renegade.”
“But, you’re not a beta.”
She gave me a tired smile. “No. With dad and Kieran gone, I’m the new alpha.”
3
My sleep had been fitful, filled with nightmares of shadows and death, and I was glad to get to the office in the morning. The building was situated on the South Bank, and my desk was on the third floor by the windows, with an awesome view of the river. But even the serene body of water did nothing to sooth me today.
Honey was an alpha. Apparently alphas and betas weren’t voted in, they were born—some kind of genetic thing—and Honey had the alpha gene. There were always one or two yaksha with the gene in any pack, but the most dominant one became Alpha, and the second most dominant took the beta role, moving up only when the alpha stepped down or died.
Operatives trickled in behind me. It didn’t matter that it was a Saturday. The IEPEU worked any and all hours, although numbers were considerably lighter on the weekends. The floor was open plan with each desk having its own corkboard and white board. The majority of which were covered in marker pen and photographs. Mine was embarrassingly bare, but that was to be expected with only a week on the job, most of which had been orientation and training. If Melody swung it, this would be my first case—a huge case. Come to think of it, it was highly unlikely that Parker would succeed in convincing them to let me run point on this a week into the job.
“Hey, Hunter.” Mason raised his coffee cup in greeting as he passed.
The older guy was close to retirement age and spent most of his time telling stories about his favorite cases, and very little time actually doing any work. But it was obvious from the way the rest of the staff spoke about him that the place wouldn’t be the same without him.
My phone rang, and Vritra flashed on caller ID. I just didn’t have the energy for his concern right now. It’d be the same mantra. Come live at Shaitan Enterprises, be with the asura, embrace the asura, lick the damn asura … Hmmm, he’d probably like that. A shiver ran through me, because maybe I’d like it too. No. Go away dirty thoughts. But seriously the man’s middle name was persistence, and it was working, he was wearing me down. My witch status was being taken away tomorrow, and all I’d have left was my asura side. Common sense dictated the importance of finding out about my asura heritage. Curiosity asserting that I find out who the fuck my father was. But there were two cases to solve first. Karen, the crazy Daayan who wanted to kill me, and the Yaksha massacre. No option but to hit ignore on his call.
My gaze snagged on the dark haired, stubble-faced figure of the most experienced investigative officer in the office. Murdoch glanced up as if sensing my regard and his green eyes focused on me through his Clark Kent spectacles. I raised a hand in greeting, and he inclined his head in acknowledgment. The guy was a legend in this place, with almost one hundred cases under his belt, all solved. There wasn’t a cold case to his name. In fact, he was actually working his way through the cold cases on file. Yeah, the man was a genius and kind of intimidating.
Dumping my bag at my desk, I picked up my phone and dialed Melody’s office.
She answered almost immediately. “Check your emails.”
“I got the case?”
“Sort of.”
“Sort of?”
She sighed. “Look, you’re a newbie with no proven track record, aside from uncovering the lab, which I made sure to point out. But this is a high-profile case, and the heads of allocations were totally against it, so I offered a compromise.”
My stomach sank. “What kind of compromise?”
“You get to run point on the case, but you report to a senior officer.”
There were only two senior officers I could think of who allocations may have picked. Please say Mason, please say Mason “Who?”
“Murdoch.”
Oh fuck.
“Hunter?”
“I’m here. Okay. I can do that.”
“You report to Murdoch, and Murdoch will keep the team informed. Remember, no rushing into active scenes. Your duty extends to investigative only.”
“I get it.”
“The team is sweeping the area again this morning and they’ll pass any new information to you. And Hunter?”
“Yeah?”
“Good luck.”
I dropped the phone back into its cradle just as a shadow fell over me.
“Hunter.” Murdoch said, towering over me from his six-foot-something height. “I assume that was Parker.”
I nodded. “Excited to be working with you.”
“For me. You’ll be working for me.”
For him? My hackles rose. Hell no. “Last I checked I worked for the IEPEU. I report to you, but this is my case.”
He stared at me levelly for a long beat, probably expecting me to be intimidated and back down. Ignoring the anxiety in my belly, I glared right back.
“Okay then.” He perched on the edge of my desk.
Huh? What had just happened?
“So tell me, what’s your first move?” he asked, all casual-like.
“I need to identify the creatures that attacked the gathering.”
“Yes, the description was put into the system. No hits I’m afraid, so what now?”
Was this some kind of test? “I didn’t think there would be. I’ve never seen anything like them, but I know who may have.”
He arched a brow.
“The gods.”
He nodded. “Good plan. You’ll need a Warrant for Information form, number E54. I’ll sign it for you.”
“Um, I think I’ll be fine without it.”
“Really? And how do you intend to obtain a meeting with the gods? Just walk in and ask to speak to them at reception?”
“Well, yeah, actually.”
He stared at me blankly.
“I kinda know them.”
“You know the gods?”
“Yeah.”
His eyes narrowed. “Well, maybe there is a reason they handed this case to a total noob.” His tone was more speculative than insulting. “Report back what you find. I’ll be here.”
Yeah, he was always here. The other operatives joked that the guy practically lived at the office. This job was his life. There was a story there, but no one seemed to know it—a hellava lot of speculation and not enough facts. It didn’t speak well for the investigative operatives’ skills, but whatever.
My mobile buzzed, and Honey’s name flashed on caller ID.
“Hey, Honey. How’d it go with the betas?”
“It didn’t, not yet. The meeting is scheduled for tonight. Did you get the case?”
“Yes. I have to report to another operative, but I’m taking lead. I’m just about to head to Brahma Corp to see Indra.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
No reason why she couldn’t tag along. I’d promised not to shut her out so … “See you in forty minutes.”
Hanging up and grabbing my bag, I headed for the lifts. My phone buzzed again, Urvashi this time.
“Carmella! Thank god you’re okay. I heard what happened at the gathering.”
“I’m fine. Just on the case now.”
“The same case? Oh babe, do you think you should?”
“I have to.” I pressed the call button on the lift.
“Any news on Karen?”
The High Witch had been
clear that we were on a deadline with finding Karen, but it had been a week and the Daayan hadn’t come for me. The pearl the High Witch had given me was tucked in the side pocket of my bag. It went everywhere with me, just in case.
“What if she doesn’t come for you?” Urvashi asked. “What if she just hides?”
It was a possibility the High Witch hadn’t considered. How much time did we have? Maybe it was time to become the hunter.
“I’m seeing the High Witch on Saturday so I’ll ask her then. There has to be some way to track Karen down. If the covens put their heads together maybe we can trace her and end this.”
The lift arrived. “I’ve got to dash, but pop over this evening if you like.”
“I’ll bring dinner.”
“Even better.”
My cuff caught the light as I stepped into the lift. What was Paimon doing right now? Nope, don’t think about it. He’d promised to tell me when Alara regained consciousness. But a week had gone by with no contact. Surely she was awake by now. Maybe they were making up for lost time in his wonderbed. Urgh!
Dammit, stop thinking about him.
My cuff had been on when the yaksha were attacked, but I hadn’t thought to call to him. I’d simply reacted. By somehow tapping into my asura power, I’d survived.
Ha, maybe I didn’t need his protection after all. A hollow feeling bloomed in my chest. Not needing him every single time didn’t mean I’d never need him, right? The cuff could stay. There was still Karen to consider. She could catch me unawares. Yeah. The cuff was useful. Okay, so the darn thing was turning into a comfort blanket—familiar and safe when too many things in my life were chopping and changing. Tomorrow my connection to the skein would be cut off, and I’d no longer be a witch.
Another change.
The cuff was my constant … for now.
The lift spat me out in the front foyer and my phone buzzed again. It sucked that I needed to almost die for people to call me, but then I checked the caller ID and my heart skipped a beat.
It was Aaron, one of my closest friends, and someone I hadn’t heard from in weeks. He’d been drafted by the IEPEU when the guild had shut down, and then transferred to another department out of town. Man, I missed him, but damn, I was annoyed with him. No contact, not a single fucking call since he’d left. Like, what was up with that? I stepped out into the warm breeze and answered.
Defying Magick: an Urban Fantasy Novel (The Witch Blood Chronicles Book 2) Page 2
