He'd mentioned Phraxes, too; it was now a dead world, located just outside the Alliance. Phraxes was a haunted world, filled with ghosts and little else. Somehow, Black Mist had managed to kill the entire planet before relocating. The ASD had struggled to track Black Mist ever since.
"Do I need to pack?" I asked, resignation plain in my voice. Norian was determined to drag me away from Le-Ath Veronis.
"Well, since we don't know what is going on, you probably should." Norian's green eyes searched my face.
"How much are you packing?" I'd been sitting with my Larentii near the pool—we'd had sun lamps installed in case anyone wanted to use them. Normal vampires stayed away from my pool and hot tub, but Connegar and Reemagar were happily soaking up artificial sun.
"At least a week's worth," Norian replied, doing his best to hurry me without being obvious about it. He had the nervous energy about him again, as if he wanted what he wanted, at least two weeks ago.
"Fine." I got up, kissed both my Larentii and followed Norian, who was talking while he led me toward my suite. I learned the name of his main operative and second-in-command—Lendill Schaff—who would meet us on Darthin. Norian also filled me in on the numbers of murdered Darthinians, which now stood in the thousands in less than a month. I sent my mates mindspeech, telling them I might be gone for a few days. I heard quite a bit of grumbling as a result—apparently, Garde and Erland wanted to celebrate impending fatherhood. I told them we'd do it when I got back.
Norian was still talking while I threw clothes into a bag with the help of Taff, one of my new assistants. I packed mostly jeans—then braided my hair, tossed in shampoo and toiletries, closed my bag and asked Norian where his bag was. He was still blathering about something and hadn't realized I'd tuned him out long ago.
"Norian, do I have to put a hand over your mouth?" I stood before him with hands on my hips. He grinned. "My bag is in my office," he said. I folded us to his office, he picked up his bag and we were off to Darthin.
* * *
"This is the headquarters for the ASD on Darthin," Norian explained as we dropped our bags off in the cramped sleeping quarters. Four small, low-walled cubicles painted white with no doors lay before me, coupled with two undersized, tiled showers, a single toilet and two sinks. A supply of extra towels, sheets and blankets were hidden inside a cramped closet, and all of it was fronted by a tiny kitchen area located behind an outer office with a desk. The building was hidden in a business complex, too, and had a fake sign out front. Go figure.
"I'm hungry. Feel like going out?" Norian hefted his bag onto the small bed inside his cubicle. "Go ahead; you get the one next door." With only a low wall separating each bed, there would be no privacy. I wasn't sure I was up to seeing Norian in his undies, or letting him see me in my PJs. It shouldn't worry me, though; I'd already seen him naked once, when he'd climbed into the hot tub with everybody else. Norian was compact and muscular, no doubt about that.
"Have you been here before? Where are we going first? What do we have to investigate?" I dumped my bag on the bed next door. I could see Norian's head and shoulders easily over the low wall that separated our cubicles. Yep—no privacy. Or anything close, even.
"Lissa Beth, you'll just have to trust me."
"Honey, I don't trust many people, and nobody calls me Lissa Beth."
"Lissa Beth, we'll be eating local cuisine first. I'll let you know our next move after that. Get used to the name," Norian's eyes crinkled around the corners when he smiled.
"I can put you through a wall, I'll have you know."
"Yes. I know that about you. Come on, stop being a grump."
"I wasn't being a grump," I grumped as I followed him out the door.
* * *
"This is a type of hare that is raised here for meat," Norian ordered for both of us. We ended up with pocket sandwiches stuffed with spiced meat, lettuce and vegetables. The food was good, as long as I didn't think about little, fluffy bunnies while I ate. Another man, carrying a plate of food, walked up and sat across from us at our outdoor table—it was late spring on Darthin, with perfect weather for dining outside.
"Well?" Norian asked.
"Got two leads—we can track tonight," the man said, lifting his sandwich and biting into it.
"Lissa Beth, this is Lendill Schaff, my second-in-command," Norian introduced us. I nodded to him, assuming he was more than aware of who I was even without Norian calling me Lissa Beth.
"The vids don't do you justice and I thought they looked pretty damn good," Lendill took another bite of his sandwich. I had no idea how to respond to that, so I didn't. Lendill had short, almost-blond hair, dark blue eyes, a slightly crooked nose (as if he'd broken it in a fight or two) and a nice mouth. He was taller than Norian, too—Lendill stood at six feet, even.
We followed Lendill away from the sandwich shop after our meal and hopped onto the public bus, which took us toward the downtown area. The buses all ran on a track and were computer operated—no drivers needed. The workday was over so the bus wasn't crowded; it was only half-full, if that. We got off after a while and walked about twelve blocks until we came to a barricaded building. Lendill led us to the back of the squat, ugly brick structure, opening a door there with a key.
"Three city workers were murdered in this building," Lendill said, leading us inside. I knew that already, just by the scents. Those deaths had been bloody, too; I smelled the blood before we ever got to the room where they'd been killed. Of course, the scents of the killers were now mixed with the scents of the local investigators and medical personnel who'd been called to the scene. I wouldn't be able to sort it all out unless I was introduced to each of the emergency responders, and that would be next to impossible. A buzz and a blurring of images appeared whenever I attempted to Look, and that spelled power to me. Could be wizards, warlocks or a number of other possibilities.
"Was there any connection among the three? Did they work together, on the same shift or anything?"
"Sometimes—they worked maintenance; usually on the sewer and water lines." Lendill had done some legwork already.
"Did they work together on anything recently?" I continued my questioning.
"A busted water line below street level, located three blocks from city hall a few days ago," Lendill replied.
"Any fingerprints or other evidence at the scene?" Norian asked.
"Nothing, boss. The victims' throats were slashed; no weapons, footprints or fingerprints were found and we don't know how they got into the building to begin with—the doors were locked and the alarm was set. This is a city-owned facility and the workers can come here during breaks for lunch or to take a quick shower if they've been doing dirty work."
"Somehow, all three of them ended up here, at the same time. The door was shut and locked already—none of the three used their code to get in or set the alarm, and then all of them were killed. The killer managed to get in and out without setting off the alarm or using anyone's code—the employee who set the code last was here two days before the murders. He also has a solid alibi." Norian shook his head.
"Well, if a wizard or warlock is involved, or someone else with power, it would be easy," I muttered. Erland could circumvent electronics and surveillance equipment with half a thought. He could also transport several people at once—without blinking.
"That's a nasty thought—if Black Mist has managed to hire or coerce a wizard." Norian didn't sound happy. "We haven't had any evidence of this before, but then they might be desperate after a bunch of their top assassins were killed not long ago. We're still trying to figure that out."
I knew, but I wasn't about to let that slip—Erland and Wylend had sent out some of their own and Solar Red, Red Hand and Black Mist had all gotten hit. They didn't know that I knew, but I did. They'd complained, too, that they hadn't been able to find Black Mist's or Solar Red's headquarters—they'd settled for temples on several worlds, and managed to find a few Black Mist operatives who'd moved in with Solar Red
or Red Hand at those temples.
I hadn't told Erland, either, but I'd gone Looking for Black Mist myself, and what I'd found, or in this case hadn't found, worried me greatly. There was a blurring of information surrounding Black Mist, just as there was a buzz blocking information on the murders we were investigating. If Black Mist was able to block me from finding them, then somebody connected to the organization likely held a great deal of power. We'd have to track Black Mist by normal methods. I couldn't find them otherwise, and that was quite aggravating.
"Can we go to the last place the three victims worked together?" Norian asked, interrupting my thoughts.
"I'm ahead of you, boss—that's next on the list," Lendill said. We walked ten blocks or so and then Lendill attempted to manhandle the heavy, steel cover that concealed an entrance into the city's sewers. After watching him struggle for a while with the heavy weight, I moved him aside and lifted the cover off easily. Lendill quirked an eyebrow at me. Norian didn't even blink.
"They couldn't find a nicer smelling place to work?" I complained as we climbed down a narrow metal ladder and dropped into the round, brick-lined tunnel.
"Lissa Beth, are you going to complain the whole thirty years we work together?" Norian was back to smiling.
"More than likely," I muttered. "If you don't like it, feel free to go to the Charter Members and demand another Liaison."
"That will not happen. They were quite insistent I work with you on this. I am stuck with you and you with me."
"Are you sure they said thirty years? That seems too long to me," I was back to being grumpy.
"I thought you were immortal—thirty years is no time at all," Norian pointed out as we followed Lendill.
"Is it part of your job description to be a thorn in my side and to continuously point out the obvious?" I wanted to poke Norian in the ribs.
"It is. In fact, I asked for that stipulation to be added to my contract shortly before I came to Le-Ath Veronis."
"So, tact and diplomacy aren't your strong suit?" I had to stop myself from elbowing Norian. As tight and muscular as his body was, he might not even feel it if I did.
"If I had either of those things, I'd be working as an ambassador for the Alliance." Norian was grinning again. Choosing to ignore Norian for a while, I turned my attention to our surroundings. Dim lights shone over our heads; otherwise, Lendill and Norian would have been walking blindly through the sewer. We branched off to the right after a while, until we came to the recent repair. New brick and mortar patched a hole large enough for a man to crawl inside on one wall. My skin itched. Something was wrong here and it had me worried.
"Norian, I think you and Lendill should stand back," I said, and turning my arm to mist I reached through the wall, found what had been placed inside and drew it out. If we'd torn the brick out, a device would have been tripped and the bombers would be notified. Instead, I'd moved around that, pulling out the detonation device itself.
Lendill cursed and Norian had some choice words to offer as well. "Boss, what are we going to do with that?" Lendill asked when he ran out of expletives. I wanted to point out that neither one of them was holding the stupid bomb, but decided against it. For now, I was faced with handling a bomb. That was a new experience for me, and one I had no real desire to repeat.
While I'd attended Conclave, a deserted planet had been chosen to drop Alliance trash and refuse on—I decided to take the bomb there right away before any of us were blown to bits. While Norian and Lendill casually discussed what we might do with the bomb, I folded away, placed the bomb carefully upon a tall mound of trash dumped on the deserted world of Tykl and folded back to Norian and Lendill.
"You may want to let the Alliance members know that the bomb is now on Tykl," I said, dusting myself off. Tykl wasn't a clean place—not with that much trash and debris dumped on it. Norian and Lendill shut up immediately and stared, blinking a time or two before shrugging their acceptance at my solution.
Lendill was the one who offered to make the communication. "Lissa Beth, I know you have a sensitive nose," Norian said instead. "Can you give us information on who was down here while the patch was placed?"
"Honey, it stinks so bad, I can't even sort out the scents of the three workers. If anybody knew that somebody might be looking for scents, they chose the perfect place to hide that bomb," I grumped. It worried me, too—if they were concerned about scents, then they knew I might be one of the investigators.
"That bomb would have taken out half the city," Lendill observed dryly.
"Do you think that half the city is all they were aiming for, or is there another one of those things out there somewhere?" I asked, holding back a shiver.
"Lendill, can we get into the city records and find out where maintenance crews have been working in the sewers recently on the other side of town?" Norian asked.
"Sure. Let's go back to headquarters and we can pull up the information," Lendill nodded.
I wasn't willing to spend any longer in the sewer than I had to, so I misted the three of us to the opening, replaced the cover and then misted us to ASD headquarters. "Why haven't we found somebody to do this for us before?" Lendill asked when I dropped him and Norian off inside the small office/sleeping quarters.
"Because nobody else can do this," Norian straightened his clothing absently. "Lissa Beth is the only one, aren't you, Lissa Beth?"
"How the hell should I know? And stop calling me Lissa Beth."
"But Lissa Beth, I like that name too much," Norian smiled. Yeah—looked like I was going to be stuck with thirty years of being called Lissa Beth. Lendill went to the wall opposite the sleeping cubicles, tapped a code into an alarm system keypad and a computer console slid out of the wall.
"I think I saw this in a James Bond film once," I said, watching while Lendill sat at the console and began searching for information on sewer repairs.
"James Bond?" Now Norian was interested.
"A fictional spy character," I mumbled. "Around three hundred years ago."
"Maybe a little more than that," Norian was grinning again.
"Norian, have you been snooping around?" My hands were on my hips now and I was glaring at him.
"I have—I check out all my Liaisons. Information from Earth isn't easy to come by, but it can be had."
One of my claws slid out and I pointed it at him. "You'd better be able to keep your mouth shut, Norian Keef."
* * *
Norian watched Lissa carefully. He'd gotten the information, all right. The memoirs of the man who'd held the office of President when Lissa disappeared had been copied and placed carefully back in the archives before he was done, and then he'd placed a few well-planned questions here and there among the vampires who'd come to Le-Ath Veronis from Earth.
The windfall had come from her personal guard, who threatened Norian afterward. Norian now knew about Lissa's childhood; he'd gone to pull those records himself. He didn't blame Rolfe for making the threat—Lissa needed to be protected in that way. Norian was the only person inside the ASD who held all that information, and it would stay with him. He understood the devastation of a cruel childhood all too well.
* * *
Norian was lost in thought for a few seconds and didn't seem concerned at all about the claw pointed in his direction. I let it slide back in. "Here we go, boss," Lendill had been working to get the required information, oblivious of what had passed between Norian and me. Norian turned to see what Lendill had. We found records of seven repairs made in the sewers citywide, so we set out to check every stinking (in the literal sense) one of them.
Why is it that the thing you're looking for is always at the last place on your list? As if you have to put in the effort before the reward comes. We found a second bomb, but this time we also found something else. This patch job was the biggest of all of them, so I misted inside and nearly gagged. Nine bodies, in addition to the bomb, lay inside a hastily excavated tomb. Bringing the bomb out first, I placed it beside its twin
on Tykl before returning and misting the bloodied bodies out of their bricked-up hole. Norian and Lendill stared at one in particular.
"No way to know if he was in on this, or got too close and was killed as a result," Norian muttered angrily as they glared at one of their missing agents, now deceased. Lendill nodded at the assessment. The other bodies were dressed in various ways—some looked like maintenance workers; the others could have been anyone. The nametags and ID hadn't been removed from the maintenance workers, though—three men and one woman still wore their city-issued identification. One of the nine was Norian's agent, so that left four others whom we couldn't identify.
"Lissa, can you take these to the city morgue?" Norian asked me.
"Yeah, I can take them there. How are we going to explain this?"
"We have someone there," Norian replied enigmatically. Lendill called somebody on his communicator and passed along information, then supplied directions. I gathered all the bodies as mist, then lifted Norian and Lendill. Someone met us on the loading dock behind the city morgue with nine body bags. Norian, Lendill and I helped get the bodies inside the bags then hauled them inside.
The agent who met us was barely five-four and nearly balding, with a round face. He looked to be the physician type to me. Norian then got on his communicator and I figured he was contacting somebody at Charter Headquarters. If anybody ran the Alliance, it was the Founder and the Charter Members. They had their own staff, seldom came to Conclaves and cast their votes from remote locations. Must be nice to be them.
All of us were covered in blood and muck after the bodies had been stored in refrigerated boxes, so Norian finished filing his report quickly. We left the morgue employee behind and walked roughly two blocks before I turned to mist again, getting us back to ASD headquarters as swiftly as I could. The smell of rotting bodies clung to my clothes and skin and I wanted it gone.
Blood Redemption (Blood Destiny #9) Page 7
