Frank said, “Good news and bad news.”
I said, “Good news please, you can keep the bad.”
He chuckled, “The good news is we tracked down the plate and the cabin. Both belonged to a Nick Blake. We also recovered the child who is back with his parents. And of course the best news is we beat out the Feds.”
I laughed. Then my stomach twisted. Laughter felt like a betrayal, how could I be laughing when my mother was dead. Murdered. But I knew that was just misplaced guilt speaking, it still didn’t make me feel better though, not yet. I took a deep breath to make sure my voice didn’t break.
“Okay Frank, hit me with the bad.”
Frank said, “Well, Nick Blake managed to skedaddle. No sign of him at all. That makes the FBI suspicious that someone tipped him off to run in some type of collusion scam. Guess who their number one suspect is.”
I barked a laugh, “Why the crazy psychic of course, who pinpointed where the kid was. Of course if I was in collusion why would I give them the man’s license plate I was colluding with? Do those FBI folks need some brain cells?”
Frank laughed, “It might help. You could offer to donate.”
I sighed and thought for a moment, “Okay, can you take me to Nick’s house or apartment. I can get a location for you guys. Otherwise the FBI is going to crawl up and down my life. I don’t have time for that lately. Unless he lived in the city, then I can meet you there.”
Frank said, “Nah, he had an apartment in the suburbs, I’ll come get you.”
We hung up and I got ready to work, ready or not.
Frank could tell something was bugging me on the drive, but he didn’t ask. It was all a complicated jumble in my head anyway. Too complicated to work through missing 9 out of 10 pieces.
All I knew was men with magic tried to kill me. Not why, the circumstances that lead to it, or who my enemy was. Anything really. So I pushed it deep inside to simmer. I wouldn’t bury it, not again. But I couldn’t let it run my life. Without direction I would go insane, my mind moving in circles.
I did continue to mourn my mother. I would not push that pain down. It was long past time I did so. It was about an hour drive and eventually I broke the silence.
“That is strange about him disappearing though, who knew about the bust?”
Frank grunted. “Just about everyone, FBI was lead so we had to involve them. We told them right before we headed to the cabin.”
I nodded slowly, “So, it’s possible…”
Frank sounded annoyed when he said, “Yeah… It is.”
It was an ugly thought, but maybe there is someone on one of the teams who does work in tandem with a kidnapper. Agent Kilmer was right about one thing, the guy left and ran, before the police moved in.
We talked about other things. I found out they are trying to have a kid again. They have tried a few times and failed, they got a new specialist lined up anyway. It thought it sucked that someone who loved kids so much wasn’t able to make it happen yet.
We pulled into the complex and went up to the apartment. Kilmer was there. Must have gotten wind of our trip and decided to show up.
I smiled politely, “Agent Kilmer, a pleasure to see you again.”
Okay, so maybe I smiled to get him annoyed, I wasn’t normally a wiseass or mocking, but today wasn’t an ordinary day for me either.
Agent Kilmer said, “You better hope I can’t find proof, I’ll put you away in a dark hole and you will never see the light of day again.”
I sighed. Okay, poking the bear was stupid.
“Shall we go inside?”
Agent keys led us into the apartment. I looked around and didn’t see anything really weird. He lived like a normal guy. How does a person get from normal to let’s take a five year old hostage?
I closed my eyes and concentrated, I normally didn’t need to block stuff out but again… Today wasn’t a normal day. The swirling memories kept breaking my concentration.
I saw a house in ST. Louis Missouri, his cousin’s house. I looked for the address and found it, a piece of mail coming out of the mailbox.
“Pad and paper?”
Frank handed me his notepad and I started a new page and ripped it out after writing the address. Both of them looked surprised when I handed it to Kilmer.
“Sorry Frank, this one’s Federal. He split town to Missouri, went to a cousin’s house,” I shrugged, “Good luck agent.”
I walked out the door and waited in Frank’s car while the two officers of the law did whatever they did. I was silent on the way home, talking felt like too much effort. I went home and struggled to order my thoughts and work through the overwhelming feelings.
Aitheria helped, I guess she got tired of me being lost and she settled down on my shoulder. The feel of her energy against me was very comforting. She was of my element, and our power recognized each other as such. By the time night rolled around I didn’t exactly feel good, but I had all my problems where they needed to be for the moment. I just wondered how long that would last when I saw Diana again and I knew it wouldn’t take long before I found out.
I got a text around eight from Diana. She would be around at 9:30. It was the first one I ever got from her instead of a visit at my door. I wondered if that meant she would start avoiding me when possible and I wasn’t sure what to think about that either way. I sent a text message to Sierra with my business address and returned Diana’s to let her know where I would be.
The werewolf kind of freaked me out, I wasn’t sure if I wanted her to know where I lived. Not that she couldn’t find it anyway, my scent probably covered these streets since I walked so often. Still…
I took another shower and got dressed in some nice casual clothes. I wasn’t sure where we would end up so I was going for versatility. I locked up my apartment and headed for my office.
It was about 9:15 when I tried again to locate where Darrick and Vivian were. Tressa seemed to still be blocking them from me so I decided to call Aiya. I hadn’t talked to her or explained anything yet, so I was a bit nervous when she answered the phone. I tried to track it myself but he had some privacy block on his cell phone, only the police could do it.
“Aiya, it’s Ben. I know I still need to explain but can you track that number for me again?”
She sighed. “You know I am not supposed to be doing this, I only did it the once because you help us even if the Cap doesn’t pay you. You owe me that explanation.”
I felt guilty but put her off again, “It’s too involved for over the phone, all I can tell you is it’s a case I am working for a client. I will tell you what I can tomorrow.”
She said reluctantly, “Alright, but just this last time. If you don’t fill me in don’t ask for any more favors.”
She gave me the information after a few minutes and I thanked her. While I waited the last couple of minutes for Diana I reviewed the last day or so, there wasn’t much I could tell Aiya at all. At least not without pissing off the vampire council. I cringed when I thought of the possibility of Diana just having Aiya forget what she did for me. It didn’t seem right at all.
Speaking of Diana I could feel her approaching the door. I still had no conscious control of my power but apparently it was feeding me information. It felt a little stronger than last time and I wondered if it was because of my second dream. I steeled myself and went to the outer office to let her in.
When I opened the door it was my plan to be all professional. To ignore what had happened between us yesterday. What would be the point of dragging it all out again, nothing will have changed. Except, I could see the pain mirrored in her eyes and her beauty destroyed my resolve. Her face looked as miserable as I felt. What made it worse was mixing with the pain of this morning’s discoveries.
I didn’t mean to ask, the words slipped out without conscious thought, “How long?”
Her eyes widened as she put the words in context, realizing I had put it together.
She whispered, “The oath is a lifet
ime oath. Only they can release me from it.”
Well, in for a penny.
My voice was neutral, “And have they ever released anyone? Would you even want to be?” My thundering heart gave lie to the casual seeming inquiry.
I had thought between last night and today. What would make her not be able to be with me when she wants to and doesn’t think it’s a bad idea for any reason. I knew that from the lie of her two first replies. It was only the can’t part that bit back as truth after all. I had come to the conclusion it had to be the council. Who else has any power in her life? Of course I was assuming a lot too as I didn’t know all that much about her yet, but I turned out to be correct.
She shook her head answering the first question and looked torn at the second. Did the second question matter if they never did release anyone from oath? To me it did. Was that selfish? Whatever we had or felt was fresh and new and actually never went anywhere. Her oath to the council was solid and steeped in history and time. It wasn’t only a selfish question, it was arrogant, but I wanted to know.
I heard the door open and Sierra came in stopping our conversation cold. I would have to wait for an answer to my question. Sierra was wearing a white sundress and flip flops. I wondered at the choice. She nodded impatiently, looking like she wanted to be twisting some heads off right about now.
I said to Sierra, “You know of course, the council wants to question Darrick and Vivian before they die?”
She just growled.
Diana said, “You can kill the other ones, and I will make sure you are invited to the execution. I am sure they might even let you be the executioner so you can gain your revenge for imprisonment. But if you won’t agree to that you can’t come with us. I have my orders and if you want revenge you will have to abide by them as well.”
I half expected an explosive argument but Sierra just gave a hard nod of agreement, “Let’s get on with this,” Sierra said. Her voice was melodic and smooth. It startled me a little actually. I expected gruff like last night but maybe her throat was raw from the treatment she received. I need to learn not to build assumptions or expect anything from this strange world I have been a part of for less than a week.
I let them know where we were going. It was a condo high rise in Lake Shore East, which was a really nice part of Chicago. Not being nearly as isolated as the last place we needed to be a lot more discreet. We left my office and got in Diana’s car and headed that way.
We found a place to park and walked into the building. They had security in this building, but right now it was just one night guard and a bunch of monitors for the security cameras. I watched as Diana mesmerized him and had him stop recording. Just that simple and we were in.
Diana said, “Stairwell, I should be able to detect them as we get closer to the right floor. Unfortunately they might feel me coming as well, depends on how old they are really.”
We took the stairs and stopped at the 6th floor. Diana signaled with 4 fingers. Sierra pulled the sundress over her head and kicked the flip flops off. I now understood why a sundress, easy to take off and put on. Her form shimmered and in its place a large grey wolf stood there. Diana looked at my empty hands and rolled her eyes and tossed me a metal stake.
I wasn’t used to needing a weapon, I hardly ever carried my gun on the job normally but I blushed for not thinking about it. My mind hadn’t been working right today. Diana opened the door and they went out, 4 vampires guarding the hallway.
I wasn’t freaking out yet, but I was keyed up and scared. And after last night’s dream my magic felt closer. As I moved to follow them out I felt the power of air start to fill me up and I still didn’t have control of it. I thought at it hard, not so much. I knew that my power would make me faster where I could run around the others with impunity.
For about 30 seconds.
Then it would be nap time for an hour. That was less than ideal when the night was just getting started. It would put Diana and Sierra in danger if they had a sleeping me to protect. Not to mention on the defense and we were here to be on the offence and capture the rogues.
I was confident when I learned control I could balance my need with a reasonable speed instead of an overwhelming but very short response. Not to mention some shields to protect my relatively fragile body at those speeds.
But the magic listened to me and stopped filling my body. It wasn’t under my conscious control but somehow the desperate plea in my mind helped. Still no shields, and no second body, but I was sure the external stuff was a big part in what wiped me out so bad the last time. I was fast enough to try to help, just no tackles I reminded myself…
I ran into the hallway a second or two after them but all four were down already. One with its throat torn out and the other three beheaded. Diana pointed at the door and did a countdown with her fingers then kicked in the door. I was wondering if one of the neighbors would call the police. These apartments were fairly soundproofed but the door breaking was very loud and I looked nervously at the three other doors on this floor.
We rushed into chaos. I saw 6 vampires plus Vivian. I did not see Darrick. Did he run again at the first sign of trouble? I stayed in the doorway reminding myself Diana was the muscle in this group, it was my job to find them, and back her up if she needed it. Plus with Sierra there it didn’t look like they needed any.
They ripped into the group of vampires, one with claw the other with steel. Diana must have been older because I could see the vampires squaring off with her had trouble following her lightning fast sword movements. Sierra wasn’t as fast as Diana but she seemed unstoppable, ignoring the vampire’s strikes against her wolf body, even a stab wound or two, as she went for their throats and ripped them out.
I saw Vivian give up the fight when six became three in just a few seconds. She was trying to run again. Of course, I had put myself in the way of her only route of escape. I hoped once I had control of my powers I would figure out a better way to capture, but I didn’t, not yet. So when she tried to run past me I ducked under her punch and stabbed the back of her knee, then the other in quick succession.
I wasn’t going as fast as last night. It appeared Vivian was moving in slow motion or half speed, not the almost motionless movements it had been last night. It was still simple to dodge and strike however. She started falling before she even knew I had done it. Her body would heal of course, and quickly.
But it was only a few more seconds before Diana was kneeling on her back and putting on restraints. It was some kind of special alloy that was much stronger than steel, she wouldn’t be able to break it. With all the vampire rogues dead or neutralized my power drained. My legs felt sore, like I had run a marathon. But I did not pass out, although I felt fatigued enough to sit for a moment.
Diana looked over, concern in her eyes, “You okay?”
I said out of breath a little, “Fine, not like last night, just need a minute.”
It seemed as if my body had a limited endurance in holding or using the power of air. I could still feel it and I knew it was endless and as powerful as all the air encompassing the earth. But I could only use what my limited body could take.
We searched the condo quickly. We found the owners tied up, barely conscious from blood loss. They wouldn’t have lasted much longer feeding all the vampires that were here. They barely lasted the day as it was. Diana was able to make the groggy couple forget. She left orders for them to call for an ambulance once we left.
We didn’t find anything that would lead us to Darrick. Hopefully the council will get a location off of Vivian. He was getting annoying, he must have sensed us coming up the stairs and split, his earth shield would have ensured Diana didn’t feel him leaving while we made our way up.
Diana said all business, “You two okay to get home? I need to take Vivian to lock up, and neither of you are cleared to know where it is. I will call you when it’s time to get Darrick, it may take a day or two to get the information we need from her to corner him somewhere.”
I nodded slowly. “That’s fine. I can catch the L back home. Just a thought, if she is too much trouble or effort just hire a witch to remove that block and I can try to get what we need.”
I shrugged, that might or might not work. Seeing the future was more dependable than what knowledge I could gain from another.
Sierra wasn’t that happy with the idea of letting the quarry out of her sight but she reluctantly agreed after a short argument. We helped get Vivian down the stairs and into Diana’s car while she had the guard forget us and instructions to turn the cameras back on in a few minutes. I felt a little bad, he would probably get fired when the damaged apartment was investigated and the missing footage discovered.
I started walking for station and that’s when I heard a light sweet voice say, “Need a ride?”
Crap… Detective Aiya Takahashi. Did she stake out the address she gave me? I sighed and got into the car.
I said, “Fancy meeting you here! You look fantastic in that.”
She rolled her eyes at my pathetic misdirect and said confrontationally, “Talk to me Ben, what have you gotten yourself into. Why were you helping put an unconscious woman into a car? That woman with you looked suspiciously like the one from the alley where you got knocked out. What the hell is going on? Did you help kidnap someone?”
Well it was kind of true, she looked fantastic in anything. I kind of wished for a moment it was her I had felt the intense attraction for. Suddenly a work romance seemed not complicated at all, almost simple to what I was going though with my feelings for Diana and mysterious problems.
I said cautiously, “Yes, that was the woman from the alley when I was knocked out. She is my client so don’t ask me about her. All I can really tell you is I am helping to track down some dangerous people.”
I winced. That made it sound like some kind of vigilante thing. Not cautious enough apparently.
Just a Psychic?: Power of Air Book 1 Page 7
