by D. R. Rosier
Scott nodded, “Good luck. Make sure you have cam footage for everything you do, chain of evidence will be a bit blurry with contractors actually leading the investigation.”
The meeting broke up, and I went back to my office to arm up on silver and iron knives, my sword, and two nine millimeters. One loaded with silver, the other loaded with the enchanted plastic rounds. Just in case, I grabbed a magazine of iron rounds as well and slipped it in my pocket, along with one more spare magazine of both silver and plastic.
Then we headed out to the car.
Chapter Eleven
Jace Milner’s apartment hadn’t been touched, not that we could tell as we walked in. Well, not outside the six demon corpses, but the scent of chitin, rot, and decay, along with yellow blood stains were still very much present. I’d already felt like I needed a third shower that day, the stench was disgusting.
I didn’t think it would take long to search, because the living room was just an empty room with furniture piled against the wall. It was just a one-bedroom apartment.
Lisa said, “I’ve got the bedroom.”
I glared, and she snickered as she left the living room and slammed the bedroom door shut, escaping the nasty stink, or at least partially. I on the other hand, went into the kitchen and looked over the counters, as well as started tossing the drawers. I didn’t find any pads, writing, or indications anyone else had ever been in the room. My shifter sense of smell told me no one but Jace had been in there.
I opened the lid over the trash can, and slowly poured it out. Coffee grinds, cans, an old pizza box, dirty napkins, and several receipts. I grabbed the receipts, two were for pizza, a third for Chinese delivery, and one for the liqueur store down the block. Nothing to tie him to anyone else, so I dropped them on the ground and went to join Lisa.
“Anything?”
Lisa frowned, “Not sure yet. He’s had female company here, given the living room and what he looked like, I’m guessing it was a mage female involved in their little cult. I haven’t found any hair though, just her scent on the sheets.”
I nodded, “That won’t be enough to scry, or identify her.”
I left the room, and I went into the bathroom. Single toothbrush, one hairbrush. I checked the shower, and there were a few of his hairs, but I didn’t scent any of hers. Maybe she was fastidious, or maybe she used magic to clean up any DNA leavings. The bathroom garbage was empty, and I returned to Lisa.
“Nothing, she probably used a spell to destroy any of her skin, hair, or blood in the apartment.”
Lisa nodded, “I think you’re right, I don’t have anything either.”
I was a bit disappointed this had been a dead end, but it was a lead we couldn’t have ignored. I was more than happy to get out of there, and to leave the rotten putrid stench behind. Last time it had lingered for hours, hopefully this time would be different, but I wasn’t holding my breath.
The last thing we did before leaving the building, was to walk all the floors and search for her scent. It didn’t bear any fruit, but it was worth checking. We figured if the other mages all came with Jace, maybe they’d all gotten apartments in the same building.
The warehouse was just a few blocks from the port, and there were a three black SUVs there, as well as two police cruisers as we pulled up. I didn’t have to assume long, as I picked up Carol Martin’s song, along with nine others. Assuming four of those were cops, Carol had put three teams on this, including herself.
This wasn’t going to be pleasant, neither the crime scene or running into Carol. We got out and pulled our badges to show the cops guarding the door.
“Welcome to the party, there’s a box of booties and gloves on the floor just inside.”
We nodded at the officer and went inside. I put the plastic booties on over my sandals, and then pulled on two gloves. The site was already cleared, but all that DNA evidence had been destroyed, and there was no sense in contaminating the scene if we had any hope to find more.
We walked out into the large floor, which was empty save the ten circles and ten ripped up bodies. The same demonic putrid stench existed in the warehouse, but not as strongly. Probably because none of the demons had been cut up or had bled.
Carol Martin sneered when she saw us, Lisa and I ignored the bitch. I’d have offered to pool resources, ideas, and evidence, but I knew she wouldn’t agree, so we didn’t bother.
I pulled out my cell phone and took some pictures of the circles. They all looked identical to me, even to the circles made by Jace at the other crime scenes, but the runes were unfamiliar enough to me that I couldn’t be sure with just a glance. Tony would have reports for us noting any minute discrepancies and what they meant, so I wasn’t overly worried about it in the moment. It took a few minutes to get all ten, and at the same time I looked for hair or other DNA evidence.
That was difficult, with ten torn apart corpses scattered in the large circles. With the smell of them, it would be almost impossible to pick up the scent of a single hair that didn’t match the ten scents of the victims. As far as we could tell, Carol’s team was having no better luck. I suspected they’d cleaned up their DNA evidence as well as that woman had cleaned up hers at Jace’s. If she did so for a romantic tryst, surely they’d done so at the scene of a multiple murder.
Lisa guessed it hadn’t been DNA the cop had found, but maybe a stray fingerprint. Regardless, that evidence was gone now.
We walked out the back door, and over to the dumpsters, and threw back the lids. Both dumpsters were completely empty.
Lisa said, “No leads.”
I shook my head, and looked around for surveillance equipment, no CCTV cameras in sight.
I said glumly, “You know what this means?”
She nodded, “We have to wait for another crime scene, and chances are they won’t make the same mistake twice.”
“Let’s go back in. I want to make sure.”
Lisa nodded with agreement, and we went back into the warehouse.
I used my nose despite the stench, and also used my sharp dragon eyes to carefully go over the scene, but… there was nothing.
It was late, past six at night, and the three of us were sharing pizza for dinner in the conference room. It’d been a long day, but we weren’t quite done with yet.
Tony brought up his report on the large screen television. He’d been working on it while we’d been painstakingly going through the crime scene.
“The circles are identical with one exception. They all summoned from the same hell, and bound demons to the summoner for power and obedience.”
He zoomed in on the circle, and the differences stood out to me that way. There was one small glyph symbol that varied, in the ten circles, three of them were the same in two circles, and one of them was the same in four.
He said, “This glyph indicates where the power and obedience is focused. These four different glyphs tell us there were four mages involved in the murders. Three of them bound two demons, one of them bound four. From what I’ve researched, it takes a lot of concentration and raw ability to bind even one, this tells us that they’ve all done it before. Jace was able to bind six, my guess is one of them has been doing it almost as long, and the other three were their apprentices.”
Huh, maybe the woman that had been sleeping with Jace?
“So, were looking for four more nut jobs?”
Tony said, “At least four. There could be others that didn’t bind demons last night.”
I frowned, “Do we have any idea where he was the last the few years, since he escaped.”
Tony shook his head, “Outside of the original case there’s been no duplicate crimes anywhere else. Maybe they were covering their tracks better.”
Lisa frowned, “Which begs the question why they aren’t now.”
Tony shrugged, “Fear and panic in the populace. Demons thrive on that sort of thing.”
“Which means they’re normally very careful, and we have no new leads.”
&
nbsp; Tony nodded, “I’ve also reviewed the original case that Jace was convicted for and had earned the death penalty. The circles were very similar, but far less refined. I’m not sure if that helps at all, but apparently they’ve gotten better at it.”
We ate. I wasn’t really all that hungry, but I had to feed my shifter side. We also talked in circles as we reviewed the evidence. It was after eight before we gave up for the day, and we went to our apartments. Neither of us were particularly in the mood, but Lisa and I cuddled on the couch and watched a movie before we went to bed…
Chapter Twelve
“Good morning.”
The coffee was hot and tasty as I took a sip, and Lisa looked thoughtful as she put a steaming omelet in front of me.
“What’s up?”
Lisa shook her head, “I might have an idea, but I need to check into something first.”
She walked out of the kitchen absently removing the pink silk robe on the way, giving me an awfully nice view for a moment. The shower turned on a moment later.
I was already up and showered, and I wore a light red women’s suit with a creamy off-white blouse and flats, with the enchanted armor underneath. It hadn’t been a great night, and my mind had gone in circles while I’d attempted to read my kindle. Neither of us wanted to see more deaths before we could track down the sick bastards summoning and binding demonic beetle warriors.
I hoped that’s what she’d been talking about, when she left to get in the shower.
The sausage and cheese omelet with mushrooms was delicious. By the time I ate it, washed it down with coffee, and brewed another cup, Lisa walked back into the kitchen. She wore a light gray women’s suit, with a light pink blouse. She looked good.
“Thanks for breakfast.”
Lisa smiled, “Anytime. I’ll see you in the morning meeting.”
I nodded, and she left the apartment in haste. Apparently, she wanted to track that information down before the meeting. I took a moment to clean up the kitchen, then I grabbed my coffee, and headed downstairs.
Tony, Cerise, and Jeris were already there when I arrived five minutes early. Tony and Jeris were in their usual mage robes, Tony’s a dark blue, and Jeris wore green. Cerise had on mauve blouse, and a pair of women’s dress pants. Tony had a comfortable smile on his face as he looked directly in my eyes, I didn’t imagine what we’d done together would stay a secret too long. His whole bearing was more confident, and Cerise and Jeris would pick up on it fast, if they haven’t already.
“Morning. Lisa should be here in a few, she’s checking on something.”
They all nodded as I sat down and turned on the television. There were a few reports of panic, violence, and fear about the human sacrifices found yesterday morning. The press was happily feeding it for ratings, and they were giving interviews to radical people calling for justice against the spawns of Satan, namely all supernatural beings in the city.
I sighed. It was a thing, and it wouldn’t change anytime soon. Except, I thought one day the humans really would fight us again.
Lisa came in a few moments later, and she picked up the remote to change inputs. She brought up her phone screen which had a list of facts. My eyes scanned them quickly, but I didn’t see anything that really stood out.
Lisa asked, “Tony, is there a job for Cerise and Jeris today?”
Tony shook his head, “No. The next scheduled ward is tomorrow, and there are no government jobs. I’d guess they’re holding back, so you can put everyone on the demon summoning case.”
Lisa tilted her head, “Maybe, but I won’t turn down the support. I got an idea when I woke up. Yesterday, Aria asked me why the hell that sick bastard and his cult had to come here. I dismissed it at the time, and simply said they had to go somewhere. Except, it stuck in my head as we reviewed the facts yesterday. I’ve just put the last piece in place. I might be wrong, probably am, but it all fits a bit too neatly. So, what do we know?
“Jace Milner was convicted and sentenced to die because of ritual murders. Sacrifices in his home town.
“Fact two, his summoning circles were similar but more simplistic than the ones here, not as good.
“Fact three, he went underground and successfully hid from authorities for years after he escaped his execution. We can also presume he raised his following over those years, and that if they did do sacrifices for power they managed to slide under the radar, completely. It was two weeks ago seemingly, that he arrives in town, and starts a terror campaign of sacrifices, with more elaborate and better-defined circles. So, what exactly would make him both come to Corpus Christie with his cult, and suddenly stop sliding under the radar with the sacrifices. It was like he wanted it to be found.”
She paused for a second to ensure we were all on the same page.
“That’s when it occurred to me what happened here three months ago, right outside the city. An ancient spider demon prison with an army of demons in it that almost escaped, and that probably would have wiped out the city, or good portions of it. Point is, I now believe Jace Milner saw the nationwide coverage of this event, and he came here to check it out. We never did find out what his endgame was, besides more power. What if he planned to raise an army of demons? Maybe not, point was, I believe the prison is why he came here.
“I just checked this morning, and outside of posting keep out signs nothing has been done with the prison since it was flooded. The city stopped funding the research, and it’s just sat there since. Now just suppose, him and his four mages, or possibly more, arrived a week after the incident. It seems reasonable to me that inside of two and half months, they’d be able to drain the water out of the prison, do research to improve their circles, and all before he started his sacrifices two weeks ago.
“This is just conjecture, but what if he found information in there to fix his circles, and that told him he needed to change his MO to be more visible, to accomplish whatever he wants to accomplish. Okay, maybe he’s just a sick bastard, and maybe he developed those circle changes on his own while he was in hiding, but I believe my theory has a good chance of being right, and that his cult is holed up out of town inside that ancient prison.”
Jeris frowned, “I remember that on the news. A lot of people died. But, if they’re out there, why not do the sacrifices out there?”
Tony grunted, “Because they’d be hidden. Some magic rituals do call for emotionally swinging the population. Demons like terror and destruction, it may be that she’s right that he discovered he couldn’t hide anymore, not if he wanted to be successful with his goals, and that’s why he performed sacrifices in the open. So, there they are, camped out and lying low in the prison. Jace Milner needed to do those sacrifices so they’d get seen, but he was smart enough to not want to risk his whole cult. So… he leaves his mages back at the prison, and comes into the city himself, gets a one-bedroom apartment and starts a campaign of terror.”
I nodded, “And Hannah and I killed him. His cult finds out, and it takes them a day and a half to take over the plan, and they’re pissed off that their leader is dead. They all, or maybe the second in command takes only three of their mages with her in the city, and she does a mass sacrifice to get the ball rolling. It would replace the six we destroyed, plus a few extra. One of her people weren’t careful, and left behind something that could traced, but the cop was bamboozled by magic.”
Jeris asked, “Her?”
Lisa shrugged, “Might be a her, we know a woman was visiting Jace for sex, and she was extremely careful not to leave behind evidence.”
Cerise said, “It’s a nice story, but it might all be bullshit that fits the few unhelpful facts we do have.”
Lisa nodded, “Agreed. But it’s at least a lead worth checking out. Question is, do we do some reconnaissance on our own to verify, or do we call in everyone. If my supposition is right, there’s four or more mages holed up in an old prison, that have had two months to lay down wards, traps, and summon demons. They could be doing this for persona
l power, or they could be doing this for a goal we’re unaware of. For all we know, there’s another demon army through that door.”
I said, “Or, we could look like idiots, if we led the cavalry to a flooded and unchanged prison.”
Lisa grinned, “I think we should check it out first, at the same time we need to send our wild ass theory to Agent Javier. That way they’ll pull out all the stops if we don’t report back in a reasonable time. We’re going to be cautious, six of those things gave us trouble, and they spit acid. If there’s an army down there, we run and regroup.”
Cerise nodded, “Fair enough.”
Lisa shrugged, “The best idea is to open the door, if it’s still flooded we’ll know we’re wrong, if not we’ll assume something is going on and call in everyone else. No unnecessary risks. Better yet, let’s hope they warded the door, and Jeris can just tell us people are in there. Let’s meet out front in ten minutes, Tony, you need to forward our meeting, facts, and guesses to Scott, and if you don’t hear from us by lunchtime, assume we were right.”
Jeris said, “Alright, this should be fun. Let’s get you loaded out Cerise.”
He got up and walked out, and Cerise followed him.
Tony said, “Be careful.”
Lisa grinned, “What’s the fun in that?”
Tony shook his head, but he didn’t say anything.
I winked at him, “We’ll be fine. Let’s get ourselves armed. Just in case, let’s take a backpack full of silver bullets, and some grenades. Last time we didn’t have enough.”
Lisa grinned, “I like the way you think.”
I sighed, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She shrugged, “It was all moot, until I verified the ancient site is just closed down and unmonitored.”
Tony frowned, “Last time?”
I exchanged a look with Lisa, oops. I fucked up.
“Well, they all died last time, except for three people, right?”
