My thoughts fell abruptly into place.
The stick hadn’t worked for Tanisha and her co-workers. Neither had the boots. They didn’t have the code word for either. It would take psychometry to discover the code words to use them.
And not only was psychometry an ability vampires didn’t have, we knew magical objects rarely worked for them. I looked up, feeling the blood drain from my face. “We’re wrong.”
“About?” Dodson asked.
“It’s not vampires. That’s why the guys haven’t smelled vampires at any of the scenes. They’re not vampires.” I was shaking. “The killers are psychics.”
He glared. “You said psychics haven’t had enough...”
“That’s what everyone says about us. Humans who received any magic, I mean. We’re behind the learning curve.” I gestured at the photos. “And we’ve believed it. But these psychics aren’t, and they’ve proven it.”
Dodson’s glare faded. He swallowed. “Then we’re in deep shit.”
“The deepest.”
“You’re saying we have a trio of homicidal psychic maniacs running rampage?” Schumacher groaned when I nodded. “I’m too old for this crap.”
“It gets worse, because now I’m not certain there’s only three of them.” I went to the whiteboard and began to write: Telekinesis, teleportation, pyrokinesis, aerokinesis, psychometry, water calling, and light-bending.
Then I added a second list: Telepathy, retro-cognition, and psychic tracking. Stepping back, I capped the dry erase marker. “Ten abilities. Most human psychics, hell, even most vampires don’t get more than one or two abilities. Three is rare.”
“While you’re the psychic unicorn.” Damian frowned at the board. “Why did you add those last three?”
“We haven’t figured out how they’re picking their targets. The museum is easy, because the Fairy Tales display was publicized. But the others?” I pointed at the shorter list. “Those abilities could be the explanation.”
“The odds would be high against three psychics with these abilities finding each other, and all be criminally inclined,” Stone said.
“Only the three abilities part.” Damian kept frowning at the board. “It’s not against the odds for the criminally inclined to gravitate to each other. That happens all the damn time.”
“Easy part’s over then. Now for the hard part. How the hell do we find them?” Schumacher looked around. “Any ideas?”
Dodson stood. “Yeah. It’s time we call in the Feds.”
The Feds arrived the next day, Friday the eleventh, and took over the case, but agreed to allow us to continue participating to a limited degree. Limited enough that we weren’t needed over the weekend.
Nick had been correct. The government had a list of humans who’d become supes during the Melding. I suspected they also had lists of known supes who’d appeared. Nick had mentioned his pack being checked out by doctors. Logan and Terra verified the same had happened with both their clan and their birth clan.
However, keeping tabs on all those supes was a different matter. The government didn’t have the necessary manpower for that job. Some were easy to keep track of, like myself. We didn’t travel. Some had gone into public service, like Damian. Others were minor celebrities: dog whisperers, or folks with psychometry who verified the provenances of artwork.
And every one of them had to be checked off the list, in order to find out who wasn’t where they were supposed to be. Not a simple matter, but one that could take weeks. Maybe even months, because the agents weren’t exactly forthcoming about how long that list was.
Meanwhile, the killers continued their spree, hitting a new target that very night.
TWENTY-FOUR
Saturday, I was finally able to look at “my meadow,” as Logan kept calling it. We left the dogs with an unshaven, haggard Dane.
“Maybe we should find some happy tears and ask Moira to make him a tonic.” I turned in a full circle, surveying the extent of the open area. “Two acres may be too much space.”
“He’ll work it out. You have to give him some time.” Logan spread his arms. “Walling in the whole of it will give you a spot to work on your range without harming or bothering people.”
“Okay. How long before it’s ready, and how can I help get it that way?”
Dropping his arms, he grinned. “It’ll be ready tomorrow. The realm will build it, once we give it the idea to run with.”
I was never going to grow accustomed to other kinds of magic. Mine made sense. At least, as much sense as being one of the people able to use a particular form of energy could make. Or maybe, it was familiar enough that it felt like it made sense to me.
But being able to create a magical AI? Mix herbs and stuff together to make people change shapes? Nope. Never would understand that, because how could someone’s intentions make those kind of things work?
“How do we do that?”
“First, we should take care of hooking you into the realm. You need to be able to access the AI.”
My hands went to my hips, and I tilted my head. “Does thinking of it like it’s a computer keep your brain from hurting?”
He laughed. “Yeah, it actually does. Come on, we have to go to the cave behind Moira’s.”
We joined hands as we began to walk. Logan took the opportunity to explain. “If you think of a pocket realm as a game simulation, it makes all the weird easier to digest. Realms are aware, and that awareness is the AI. People who are hooked in, or blood bound, to a realm can talk to the AI, change the game’s settings.”
I nodded. “That does make it a lot easier to understand. Is everyone in the clan bound to the realm?”
“Yes. There are safeguards in place, so that no one redecorates the whole thing because of a nightmare or whatever. But everyone can change their houses to suit them, things like that. And like I said, if we were ever invaded, any of us can change our surroundings to hide, or whatever’s necessary.”
“Do you think that’ll ever happen?” I squeezed his hand.
“I hope not. It wouldn’t be easy for someone to come in here without permission, but it’s not totally impossible either.” He glanced at me.
“Yeah, the bad guys got into Thorandryll’s pretty easy.” I licked the corner of my lips, wishing we’d brought some water. “What about wards? Do we have any here?”
Logan grinned. “That’s actually a pretty cool part of things. The only thing that has to be warded is the entrance. The wards—yes, we do have some, hired Ronnie for that job—will sound an alarm if the entrance is bypassed in any fashion.”
“I’ve teleported into here.”
“You have a free pass, and no, I don’t have our realm letting me secretly know when you pop in.” Logan released my hand to give me a boost onto a fallen log. “You’re clan. But the AI still tracks all entries and exits people make.”
Aha, so that was how the vampire council tracked people. Stone had fibbed a little, about them not keeping as close track of people leaving. Or had he? The Barrows was a mishmash of pocket realms. Maybe that many shoved together didn’t work as well as a single one.
He stepped up beside me, and we hopped down together. “If you’ll also think of the realm and its AI as a form of internet, then the blood binding creates a wireless connection.”
I hadn’t thought learning about pocket realms should be at the top of my list, but now that Logan was explaining it, it was fascinating as heck. “How far does that connection reach?”
Logan waved away a fly. “It’s capable of alerting us to security breaches or major malfunctions wherever we are. Other than those, we have to be inside the realm to receive messages from the AI.”
“That is cool.” Blood really was a powerful thing. I needed to be super careful about leaving any lying around.
We continued on, reaching Moira’s cabin several minutes later. She was outside, tying herbs in bundles for drying. “Well, hello.”
“Hi.” I waved, my other hand in Log
an’s again. She smiled, dusting her hands off on her jeans.
“You two look happy. Things are going well?”
“They are,” Logan replied. “We dropped by to let you know we’ll be in the cave. Have the time to get Cordi hooked in.”
“All right.” She came to us, and gave each of us a hug. Stepping back, Moira placed one of her hands on each of our cheeks, a warm smile on her face. “I’m happy for you both.”
“Thank you.” I should’ve felt uncomfortable, but Logan was correct: the shamaness was a hard person to feel that way around. It didn’t hurt that her pleasure in seeing us together, and in accord, was radiating from our skin-to-skin contact.
Maybe one day, I’d be as good a person as she was.
She dropped her hands. “Feel free to take all the time you like.”
Okay, that caused a bit of face warming, but I pretended to miss her innuendo. “Thanks.”
We left her to return to her task, and walked around her cabin. Logan proved to know exactly where the entrance to the cave was, and we ducked inside. I again wondered whether he’d done any nude soaking with her, and tried to squelch the thought.
At the edge of the pool, Logan produced a pocket knife. “It only takes a few drops. Do you want to do it?”
I wished he had a needle, but held out my hand for the knife. “Yeah, I can.”
“You may want to sit down. It can be kind of overwhelming at first contact.”
“Okay.” I sat down tailor-style, and opened the knife. He sat down, sideways to me, with one leg bent and partially behind my back. “Does it matter which finger?”
“No.”
After a deep breath, I ran the pad of my thumb across the blade’s edge. Blood welled instantly, and I held it over the water’s surface. Logan took his knife, dipping the blade into the water, while drops fell from my thumb.
“That’s good.”
I pulled my hand back and applied pressure to my thumb. Once my “encouragement” had enough time to close the small cut, I rinsed off both hands in the water. Drying them on my jeans, I asked, “So when does...”
My vision went black, and I jerked away from the water, my back striking Logan’s leg. A series of images flew through my mind so quickly, I couldn’t make sense of any of them. Logan’s hand was on my knee, and he was telling me to relax.
The stream of images paused on one—us sitting in the cave, by the pool—and then faded completely. I blinked, and the water began bubbling. A figure formed, sliding up until it was facing us. “What the hell?”
Logan chuckled. “It’s the AI.”
The watery figure spoke, its voice rather bubbly too. “Discordia Angel Jones, clan member and queen. Processing.”
Just like a computer. I was suddenly grinning. “You could’ve mentioned this part.”
“And ruin the surprise? No way.” He rubbed my back.
“Processing complete. How may I serve you, Cordi?” The AI seemed to be looking at me, or at least, I could see my reflection in its huge, clear eyes.
“What do I do?”
“I’ll take care of it.” Logan stretched his hand out, and the AI laid a tendril of water on it. Solid water, none dripping. After a few seconds, the AI withdrew its tendril and gave a single nod.
“Your request is processed. The change will be made.” And with that, the AI lost all cohesion, becoming a column of water that splashed back into the pool.
“Done,” he said. His hand was dry.
“It called me Cordi.”
“You did ask all of us to do that. It hears people talking.”
I frowned. “Does it watch us when...”
Logan laughed, leaning forward to kiss my cheek. “It’s not a person, sweetheart, and it doesn’t spy on clan.”
“Okay.” I had floated naked in that pool. AI water had been in my hooha. “I don’t think I’ll be soaking in here again.”
There was plenty of daylight left to take care of grocery shopping and playtime with my pack. Logan received another cooking lesson, dinner this time, and after, we took a nap.
I had to be at the Blue Orb by eleven-thirty, for Tonya’s attempt to attract a familiar, and was. My car was the only one present on the street in the cul de sac.
Jo let me in. “She’s nervous, but she’s started preparing.”
“I came bearing many positive thoughts.” I’d never gotten to witness this kind of event before. Following her to the back room, I asked, “How exactly does it work?”
“She’s drawing the necessary symbols, and will do the usual to raise a circle. She’s picked her offerings over the past couple weeks, so will burn them while making her request.”
“Then poof! Her familiar appears?”
My friend grinned. “It’s more a slow reveal than a poof thing. Trixie took about twenty minutes to solidify.”
“Oh.” We’d reached the back room, so I didn’t have time to ask more questions. Tonya looked up from inscribing a wiggly symbol with chalk on the polished, cement floor. I gave her two thumbs up with a smile. “Get it, girl.”
The teen smiled back, and went back to work. We walked over to the seating area, where Damian, Kate, an obviously pregnant Ronnie, and David waited with their familiars. Kyra, Tonya’s Husky, was also present, and I sat down on the floor to scratch her neck.
“Having fun with the Feds?” I asked Damian, who grimaced.
“I liked Agent Kneller much better,” he said, naming the agent who’d been willing to listen to us, back when I had had my first retro-cognition, about Henry Wilkins. “Pacelli and Talbot are playing things close to the vest.”
Kate snorted. Her crimson hair coordinated with her red and gold makeup scheme, and really popped against all the black she was wearing. Black leather, from toes to neck. “They’re government goons.”
“Yes, I know.” His grin was crooked. “None of us has had a peek at their list, and believe me, we’ve tried.”
“Eh, we’re all on it, I’m sure.” David flapped his hand. “Doesn’t matter much. They can’t really do anything, now, can they?”
I could think of things they might be able to do, but wasn’t going to mention them while we were all focused on positive thinking for Tonya. Plus, they were kind of out there, aside from simply sneaking up and tazering people. Kyra began panting in my face, and I pushed her nose to the side. “Your breath leaves something to be desired, girl.”
“Sorry.” She politely closed her jaws. I began scratching her behind the ears.
Tonya called David over to check her work not long after that, and he approved. With a smile that stretched from ear to ear, he called us over and began arranging everyone outside the circle permanently etched into the floor. “You too, Cordi, and Kyra, you stand with her. We want all the positive energy we can get tonight.”
Once everyone was in place to his satisfaction, David moved to the spot he’d saved for himself. I realized that he and Damian were facing each other across the circle. I was facing Kate, while Ronnie and Jo were opposite each other. Everyone’s familiars were with them. I could just reach Kyra’s ear, and touched it when she softly whined.
“All right, Tonya.” David nodded at her. “Close your circle.”
She had a twig of some sort, and walked the circle with it pointed down, mumbling under her breath. When she reached her starting point, a clear half-bubble sprang into place. A few streaks of gold and silver flashed across its surface before fading away.
I concentrated on thinking about nothing but success for her, my fingers gently massaging Kyra’s ear. The only sound was Tonya’s voice, as she clearly intoned her request before kneeling and bowing her head over a small, white stone bowl. With a single word, she lit the bowl’s contents on fire.
Smoke rose and swirled around inside the bubble, changing colors. My quick peek around showed that everyone outside the circle was smiling, and appeared relaxed. That indicated things were going well.
Tonya lifted her head to watch the center of her wor
kspace. I focused there too, holding my breath. What was she going to get?
Several minutes passed. Nothing else was happening. Another check revealed smiles fading, and the witches beginning to look concerned.
I looked back in time to see Tonya’s shoulders sag. “It’s not working.”
Kyra bumped my leg, and I looked down, feeling disappointed for the girl. The Husky looked up, her blue eyes glowing. “Uh, guys?”
I wasn’t loud enough, because David told the teen, “It’s okay. We’ll try again in a month’s time. It’s not unusual for the first try to fail, and has no bearing on how well...”
“Guys,” I said, much louder, while moving my hand away from the Husky, because a soft, blue glow had completely enveloped Kyra.
That got their attention. Tonya turned around, and nearly fell on her butt as her eyes widened. “Kyra?”
Kate let out a loud whistle, Percy echoing it, and everyone began clapping. While Tonya scrambled to her feet and broke the circle, I looked down at the dog.
Kyra grinned, her tongue lolling out, and gave the doggy equivalent of a shrug. “I chose her years ago.”
TWENTY-FIVE
It was Monday morning, and I was in a great mood, considering the turmoil. Logan and I had spent all of Sunday together, and I’d stayed at his place again, after the weekly clan gathering. We were on our way to the station to see if the Feds had shaken anything loose.
Kethyrdryll had called, eager to tell me all about his new undertaking. I’d been shocked when he told me they’d already rescued over two hundred animals. Thorandryll had given him a staff of fifty elves to get the job done.
“It appears it’ll take time to find a property,” he said. “It seems to be quite important to find the right location.”
I’d hooked him up with my realtor, and family friend, Rita. “She’s right. One of the reasons adoptions weren’t high is the city shelter’s location.”
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