Shattered Spirits

by C. I. Black

  “Trust me, that’s a dead end, and if you go poking your nose into Nero’s business, it could very well be a real dead end,” Cooper said.

  Hiro frowned. “Maybe this third body will help connect the dots somehow.”

  “All right.” A hint of pain slid through Capri’s head, and she rubbed her temples. “Well, Kardas’s body was found on Fountain Street near his office. Reynolds’s was by the youth center. Where was MacCabe found?”

  “On 5th Avenue in the alley beside his bike shop,” Hiro said.

  “So they’re being targeted at work.” Cooper chewed on his bottom lip, then his gaze jumped to Capri. “It doesn’t look like there’s a drake connection. Get that human away from my case. He can mess up the Clean Team’s stuff.”

  “We haven’t figured out anything, let alone whether there’s a drake connection or not.” More pain oozed through her.

  “I know that I don’t want Miller anywhere near this. Drop it or I’ll tell Tobias you were nosing around where you shouldn’t have been,” Cooper said.

  For the love of—“You invited me to nose around.”

  “And now I’m telling you to butt out. I see you or Miller anywhere near this and Tobias will be the least of your worries.”

  “Is this really a game you want to play?”

  “Keep that human away from my case.” He bared his teeth and stormed from the room.

  “Well,” Hiro said, her voice a little too bright. “The CSU is done with MacCabe’s scene… if you want to swing by and have a look.”

  “You’re not supposed to be encouraging me.” Even though checking out the latest crime scene was at the top of Capri’s to-do list.

  Hiro’s expression turned serious. “I don’t believe for a second that anyone knows what’s going on here, particularly Cooper.”

  “Still, it is his investigation and for some reason he doesn’t like Miller.”

  “I think he has a soft spot for human children.”

  “Who’d have thought.”

  Hiro snorted in agreement. “I’ll stall him. Tobias won’t learn about Reynolds’s murder until tonight. You have until then to learn everything you can.”

  “Let’s hope I don’t need it. Who knows. Maybe someone really did accidentally kill a drake.”

  “Who knows,” Hiro said, but she didn’t sound convinced.

  Outside of the exam room, the hall was empty. Cooper must have threatened Ryan and told him to get lost. He was probably waiting by the car, so Capri marched to the back door. Her head was now pounding as much as it had been after helping Anaea. Cooper had that effect on people.

  She rounded the final corner, and there, staring out the glass door, stood Ryan. Pale sunlight cut across his profile, lighting his eyes with that magical luminescence again.

  A part of her needed him to be magical. As ferocious and immortal as she.

  He glanced at her, the light now shining through his hair, giving him a halo.

  Her breath caught in her throat. He wasn’t a drake, he was an angel, a powerful warrior of divine beauty.

  He shoved away from the door, taking a step toward her and out of the light. The halo vanished, revealing his human self. Even if she defied dragon law and pursued anything with him, he wouldn’t live forever and she’d be heartbroken again. She couldn’t do that to herself. She’d made a promise. Never again.

  Except it had never before been such a hard promise to keep.

  “So,” he said. “Any connection with anything?”

  “No. Which leaves us with the one lead we got yesterday. Mr. Pimm.”

  “Actually, we got two yesterday. Pimm and the administrator of the youth center,” he said.

  She’d been hoping he’d have forgotten about that. Her, with a human, interviewing a drake was a bad idea. “Do you think the other two victims are connected to the center?”

  Miller shrugged. “I don’t know. I just get the feeling there’s more going on at the youth center.”

  Of that, she was pretty sure. But the real question was whether Nero knew about it. It was his center. Surely he knew youths there were being turned into mages. But that didn’t make any sense. Nero was a Traditionalist. He was Regis’s right hand. There wasn’t a drake more devoted to dragon law than Nero. Unless that was all a disguise and he really had been helping Zenobia with her coup.

  And none of those questions could be directly asked. If Nero wasn’t involved, even a hint of the suggestion that he was connected with Zenobia’s coup could be Capri’s death—and with the Handmaiden missing, it would be a real death, not just rebirth. Nero wasn’t the kind of drake who took accusations to his honor lightly.

  Although, maybe if Miller went asking around, asking human questions…

  Now that was a terrible idea. Remember? Showing up with a human was a bad plan. But it might be enough for Capri to get a read on Nero and know if she needed to be suspicious of him or not. She would have to ensure Miller’s memories were more than taken care of, but she already knew she was going to have to deal with that.

  Her stomach churned at the thought. That kind of magic could destroy his mind. And it would mean he’d forget her completely.

  She cleared her throat and headed outside. “Why don’t we swing by our third crime scene and start there.”

  Perhaps they could avoid Nero altogether. Well, perhaps Miller could. She, however, was going to have to find a delicate way to ask serious questions of Nero’s Third, and pray it didn’t get her killed.

  CHAPTER 22

  Ryan drove to 5th Avenue, unable to stop glancing at Capri in the passenger seat. One moment she’d be looking at him with obvious lust, the next, a scowl. He was dying to ask what Cooper had said about him, but Ryan was pretty sure he already knew: Ryan was no good, he was an arsonist and a child killer. The real question was, did Capri believe Cooper?

  5th Avenue was in an old section of downtown, five blocks from the latest revitalization project. The buildings were grimy from years of dirt and a few were abandoned and boarded up. Slush disguised potholes in the road and icicles hung from eaves, suggesting less than adequate insulation in the attics.

  Ryan drove to MacCabe’s motorcycle shop and parked two spots down. Capri got out and scanned the area, but didn’t go anywhere. The crime scene would have already been processed by the CSU. All evidence would have been collected and taken back to the lab. All he and Capri could do was try and get a feel for the location.

  Ryan got out of his car and joined Capri on the sidewalk. Salt crunched under his boots, fending off the ice in front of the door to MacCabe’s shop. The front window was grime-free, and a slick new Harley sat on display.

  Beside the shop was a shoe store with fluorescent platform shoes in the window. On the other side lay an alley. Given that Andy… or Pete… or whoever it was had been found in an alley, MacCabe had likely been discovered in one as well. Which meant while the murderer killed in public, he wasn’t brazen enough to do it in plain sight.

  Capri shifted near him. “Do you see that?”

  Yeah, the move made her closer, but not close enough to imply the intimacy they’d had back at Trisha’s house. Whatever Cooper had said must have changed her feelings for him.

  She raised an eyebrow.

  Right. She’d asked a question. What was wrong with him? They couldn’t have a relationship anyway. Why was that so hard to remember?

  He dragged his attention to where she’d pointed across the street. A square building with a sign reading Newgate Savings and Loans sat on 5th and a side street. And there, beside the front door, was an ATM.

  “Do you think it has a camera?” he asked.

  “Let’s find out,” she said.

  They crossed the street. Sure enough, the ATM had a small camera. Capri pulled out her phone and dialed.

  “If we’re lucky,” she said to him, “the camera will have caught something. Hey Gig, I need you to pull up some video for me. An ATM at 5th Ave. and—” she glanced at the street sign on
the corner. “5th Ave. and Kress.”

  She turned to Ryan, a satisfied smile lighting her eyes. God, she was so beautiful. “It’s a long shot—”

  “But it could be something.” This was the thrill of the chase, finding pieces and putting them together. “Let’s see if we’re on a roll and talk with Mr. Pimm.”

  Capri’s smile deepened. It warmed him to his core. She loved the chase as well. He could fall in love with this woman. Hell, he already had.

  This was bad, and impossible, and… and bad.

  He got back into his car. He couldn’t be in love with a woman he barely knew. It had to be lust. Plain and simple. Except there was nothing plain or simple about the situation.

  Capri slid into the passenger seat. Just her presence turned him on. She didn’t even have to touch him or look at him. She radiated strength and passion and it seared across his skin. It burned hot and sensual, invading his senses, invading him.

  He forced his attention to the car. Drive to Pimm’s and figure out who killed Pete. Really. That was his goal. Determine if the body in the morgue was Pete. It had nothing to do with who the murderer was or being with Capri.

  The air above the car’s hood rippled.

  Not. Now.

  A gunshot boomed and someone screamed. He clenched the steering wheel, praying the flash wouldn’t fully materialize.

  “Miller?” Capri brushed his arm.

  He jumped and jerked to face her. The flash vanished. Pete or not, his real goal was to protect Capri, to prevent what had always before been inevitable.

  She pursed her lips. Lips that had pressed against his, felt right against him, were—

  He was not going to go there. “What?”

  “Are we actually going to visit Pimm? Or are we just going to sit in your car?”

  Ah, shit. He had yet to even turn the engine on. Wow, he didn’t need Cooper to tell her he was crazy. He was doing a fine job at that himself.

  “Right. Sorry.” He started the car and drove down the street.

  “What were you thinking about?”

  You! “Just, ah… you know… how the pieces in this case fit together.” Oh, man. That was lame.

  “What pieces? There’s next to nothing.”

  He turned right, stealing a glance at her. “That’s what I mean.”

  “That you were thinking about nothing? You’re a man. I’m sure you were thinking about something.” She flashed him a wicked smile. It promised nights and days of incredible pleasure.

  God, he loved that smile.

  Down, boy. Remember, bad idea.

  He clenched the wheel. Hard. “No, I mean that there’s nothing. These aren’t murders of opportunity. This murderer is taking forensic precautions. He’s planned this. These men must have been killed for a specific reason.”

  “The question is, what reason?” she said. “If we knew the why, we might be able to figure out the who.”

  And how did that help him figure out if Pete was Andy or how the protect Capri from the future? “That would be the question.”

  He pulled onto Pimm’s street and stopped at his address. His house sat on the corner of two narrow streets, a small structure with siding more grey than pale brown, peeling paint along the windowpanes, and a rust-stained storm door. A bushy pine crowded the living room window as well as the three steps to the door, throwing the front of the house into perpetual shadow. Snow, frozen in the shape of dozens of footprints, covered the steps and driveway, and a rusty silver van sat beside the house.

  “Looks like he’s home.” Capri slid from the car. “Let’s see what he has to say about his argument with Mr. Reynolds.”

  Ryan fell into step beside her as if they’d been partners for years. He rapped on the door as she reached for her identification.

  Nothing.

  He knocked again. If he was still Newgate P.D. he’d announce himself, but he wasn’t and this was Capri’s show.

  She glanced at him and he shrugged.

  “All right.” She cleared her throat. “Mr. Pimm. Special Agent Jones. Can we talk about your son?”

  Heavy footsteps pounded, slow and steady, on the other side of the door. That had gotten his attention.

  “What do you want?” The door jerked open and a tall, bulky middle-aged man with a shaved head stood on the other side. His expression twisted, as if he fought myriad emotions then settled on mildly pleasant. “What’s this about?”

  Capri showed him her badge. “Special Agent Jones. Detective Miller. Can we talk, Mr. Pimm?”

  “Well, I—” Pimm glanced at Ryan then turned back to Capri.

  “We’d like to talk to you about a youth counselor your son had contact with. Can we come in?” Capri asked.

  “I was just on my way out.” Pimm shrugged, his gaze jumped to the left of Capri, his eyes unfocused, then he snapped back to her. “I really have to go. But I do want to discuss this.” He held out his hand. “Do you have a card?”

  “This won’t take long,” Ryan said.

  Pimm’s gaze slid to the space between Ryan and Capri again. “I’m going to be late for work, and I can’t afford to lose this job. I’m sorry.” He grabbed his coat from a hook beside the door and stepped onto the tiny front porch with them. “Excuse me.”

  His gaze jumped again, then he shifted around Ryan and rushed to his van. With a roar and a belch of black exhaust, the van lurched out of the driveway and down the street.

  “What was that about?” Capri asked.

  “I have no idea.”

  CHAPTER 23

  Howard eased his van around the corner and parked at the end of the street, his heart racing. The demons had found him, and they were FBI. He’d suspected they’d infiltrated the highest levels of law and government, but he’d never before had proof.

  All he’d known was that he’d needed to protect himself. His crusade was important and he couldn’t allow even his fellow humans, unaware of the hidden evil, to stop him. The demons were responsible for the death of his son. They were responsible for the death of his wife, too, although he hadn’t been able to see the truth when Lizzie had died.

  And really, he shouldn’t be so surprised they’d found him. He knew every time he rid the earth of one of those monsters he was putting himself in danger. Lizzie had warned him. An angel sent from God to open his eyes that only he could hear and no one—not even he—could see. She’d whispered the truth over and over again. Demons were real. Demons were dangerous. Look and you shall see. And he did see. But he’d had to protect his child, so he’d done nothing, stayed hidden in his house ignoring the spirit of his wife.

  His throat tightened. He’d done nothing. And now Tyler was dead. God had punished him for his uncertainty and Tyler was dead.

  And now the demons had found him. He couldn’t figure out how. He’d done everything right. Worn gloves. Made sure his scalp and beard were freshly shaved so he didn’t leave behind any hairs. He only wore each set of overalls once and then burned them after the job was done. He was careful about fingerprints, DNA, everything.

  He cut the engine and shifted to see past a tree branch and get a better view of his house. The demon—the short woman who claimed to be FBI—and her human slave peered through the window in the front door, then walked back to the driveway. But they didn’t head to their car. Instead, they wandered around the side of the house toward the backyard.

  Howard’s pulse raced. He had to stop them. He couldn’t let them discover all his plans. But he wasn’t prepared to fight right now. He didn’t have his weapons with him. Demons were hard to kill. Lizzie had warned him, he’d only get one swing to remove the beast’s head.

  Still, if they knew—

  The wind swept through the trees. Wait. Wait. He wasn’t caught yet. Even if they knew, he could change his plans. There was always another demon… just not one as powerful or with such a good opportunity to get close to it.

  The demon emerged from around the house and marched down the driveway. They hadn’
t been in the back long enough to have entered the house.

  Relief washed through him. They didn’t know. Lizzie had protected him and they didn’t know.

  The man the demon was with said something. She glanced at him, one hand on the open door of the car sitting at the curb, and said something back. The man, a handsome guy with dark hair and a square face, nodded. The fool was beguiled by her. It was clear he was the demon’s servant. And a demon’s servant was almost as dangerous as the demon herself.

  It didn’t matter. They didn’t know the truth about him. If they had, they would have killed him right there. And they hadn’t gone into his house, so they didn’t suspect him. One of the brats at the youth center likely had given them his name and that’s why they’d knocked on his door. Not because they knew he’d killed their fellow demon posing as a counselor.

  He was safe and tomorrow he’d be ready. The demons and their slaves would never see him coming.

  * * *

  Capri got into the passenger side of Ryan’s Camaro. If he hadn’t been with her, she would have broken into Howard Pimm’s house and thoroughly searched it. Or maybe not. The man had acted strangely, but not in any way that suggested a dragon connection. And really, wasn’t that the point of the investigation: to find any dragon connection to the murders?

  And while there had been two kids in the youth center with mage auras, it didn’t prove they were connected to the three decapitated victims.

  Ryan got into the car, his presence sliding across her skin. “Not really enough evidence for a warrant.”

  “No.” The urge to grab him and kiss him was overwhelming.

  “One strange man, though, even if that doesn’t make him a murderer.”

  “It doesn’t discount him.” Of course, it didn’t discount anyone in the Dragon Court, either.

  “Well, the only other lead we have is the coordinator of the youth center. What was her name?” Miller pulled out his notebook and flipped through the pages.

  “Mitchelle.” Raven Mitchelle and Nero’s Third in command, who currently resided at his Newgate residence. “I’m not sure talking to Ms. Mitchelle will do any good.” Aside from making this mess more complicated.