by AE Jones
And then my cell rang.
I refused to whimper. And sat up again. Zen was not my friend tonight. Hell, it hadn’t been my friend for quite some time. I got up and grabbed the phone before it went into voicemail. It was Dolly.
“Well, hello, Dolly.”
A groan answered me. “That wasn’t funny when Misha started it. Not sure why you think it’s funny now.”
I chuckled. “I don’t think it’s funny. But it irritates you. A girl’s got to get her kicks somewhere.”
“Where are you?”
“At home. Why?”
“Have a call for the BSR, and you’re the closest one. Java Café on Euclid. Trevor called it in. Said nothing dangerous, but they have a containment issue.”
Great. That’s all we needed. Trevor was a vamp who’d been in a minor scrape a few years ago. Since then, he’d been a model supe. Hopefully he wasn’t backpedaling now. “I’m on it.”
“Jean Luc and Talia are on their way, but they’re across town, so it’ll take them awhile to get there.”
“Got it.”
I picked up my keys, jammed my arms into my jacket, and headed out the door. Fifteen minutes later, I walked up to the small coffee shop, the sign on the door flipped to ‘closed.’ I tried the handle, and the door opened, a small bell ringing above my head.
Trevor stood behind the counter wearing a Beatles T-shirt and a scared face. “Kyle! Thanks for coming.”
“What kind of trouble are you in this time, Trevor?”
“It was an accident, I swear.”
He motioned for me to come behind the counter, and I followed him into a small kitchen area. A woman sat slumped on a kitchen stool. A young woman was standing next to her, her fangs peeking out slightly when she saw me.
I knelt in front of the unconscious woman and placed my fingers on her neck. I was relieved to find a pulse.
I looked up at the two vampires. “Did you bite her?”
“No!” The female stuttered, turning paper-white. “She’s my boss. She passed out when she saw my fangs.”
I frowned at her. “Why are you showing your fangs in broad daylight?”
Trevor answered. “Sandy’s a fledgling. When she gets upset, she sometimes shows her fangs.”
“And she was upset why?”
Trevor’s mouth tightened. “We were having an argument.”
“In the coffee shop?”
“No we were in the alley out back. Connie opened the door to take out some trash and heard us arguing. When she caught sight of Sandy’s fangs and glowing eyes she passed out.”
“My eyes were glowing?” Sandy squeaked.
“Yep. Red.”
Sandy staggered, and Trevor grabbed her arm.
A vampire with the vapors. How perfect. “Sit her on the floor and put her head between her knees.”
Trevor did as he was told. Smart vampire.
“Did anyone else see you in the alley?”
Trevor nodded.
“Spit it out.”
“Her daughter was there. I don’t know if she saw Sandy or was just scared when Connie fainted.”
“Crap. Where is she now?”
“She ran down the alley and up the back stairs to Connie’s apartment.”
“How old is she?”
“Hannah is five. I went to the apartment door, but she wouldn’t let me in.”
Smart little girl. “Okay. Here’s what we do. I’m going to erase Connie’s memory.” I pointed to Trevor. “You stay up front and keep people out of here. Some of my teammates will be here soon. Let them in and tell them what’s going on.” I pointed at Sandy. “You, suck it up, since I’m going to need your help.”
Trevor hustled to the front of the shop.
Sandy got up from the floor and came up next to me. “What do you need me to do?”
“Show me the alley and where the apartment is.”
I followed Sandy out and stared up and down the small alley, memorizing it, from its rusty blue dumpster to the old metal chair next to the door. Then we walked through the alley until we came to a door that opened to a set of stairs up to the apartment. We returned to the kitchen, and I knelt in front of Connie.
I concentrated and latched onto her synapses. They were moving languidly, interspersed with small surges of power, as if her conscious mind was trying to jumpstart her brain. I rolled with the motion of her thoughts and imagined Trevor and Sandy in the alley having an argument, and then grabbing each other and kissing passionately just as Connie and Hannah opened the back door.
Her brain accepted my suggestion easily, and I thanked the powers that be that she hadn’t fought my intrusion. I then pushed a suggestion into her subconscious that she was tired and needed a nap. Her breathing slowed and a light snore filled the room.
“She’ll sleep for now. You stay here. I don’t think Hannah needs to see you right now.”
Sandy blinked back tears. “Hannah’s a great kid. I feel so bad about scaring her.”
“I need you to watch over Connie for me until I send Hannah back down. When Hannah comes in, wake Connie up. She shouldn’t remember being asleep. Both she and Hannah will remember seeing you and Trevor argue and then kiss in the alley. Got it?”
Sandy nodded. I jogged up the stairs and ran my hands around the doorjamb, looking for a key. Nothing. Picking up the mat, I didn’t find a key on the floor either. But when I let the rubber mat plop back down, it made a plinking noise.
I turned it over. The key was taped to the bottom.
The apartment was small but tidy. A living room with a couch and chair opened to a kitchen with a table piled with crayons and coloring books. After a quick canvass of the area, I went and checked the two bedrooms thoroughly, even crawling under the beds and digging through the closets. No little girl. I finished off the search in the bathroom, which was also empty.
I hurried back into the living room and peeked behind the couch. Nothing. I returned to the kitchen and stopped when the table wobbled slightly, a crayon rolling off and landing on the linoleum.
I moved closer and hunkered down. Hannah sat under the table, clutching a doll. Twin pony tails stuck out on each side of her head, and large green eyes watched me warily.
“Hi, Hannah. My name’s Kyle. Your mommy sent me upstairs to find you.”
Hannah bit her lip and blinked as a large tear rolled down her freckled cheek. I waited for her to yell, “Stranger danger!”
She sniffled and whispered, “Mommy fell down.”
The door opened behind me, and I held out my hand to stop Jean Luc or Talia from coming in any further. I didn’t look away from Hannah, hoping she wouldn’t spook about having more strangers in the room.
“Your mommy’s fine, Hannah.”
She shook her head and squeezed the doll tight to her. “The monsters got her.”
“There are no monsters, honey. If you mean Trevor and Sandy, they aren’t monsters. They were playing around in the alley. Being silly.”
I held out my hand to her. “Let me take you to your mommy.”
When I touched her arm, she screamed. I went down on my hands and knees, crawled under the table, and swept her into my arms. She squirmed, and I held her as close as I could while I rubbed my hand over her forehead. Touching her would help strengthen the connection and hopefully help me to implant the memories quickly.
Her synapses were scattered and unlike any I had touched before. But then I’d never changed a memory for someone so young. I searched for the memory, weaving between the tendrils until a thin black string twisted in front of me. It had to be the one. I grasped it and fear shot through me. Bingo. I imagined the couple in the alley teasing each other and kissing. Then I pictured Connie taking Hannah’s hand and pulling her back into the restaurant as they both giggled at the pair in the alley.
After a few more seconds, warmth blossomed in my brain, and heat flowed through my hand into her forehead. The transfer of memories was complete.
I set Hannah dow
n and she looked at me, her head tipping slightly as she wondered who I was.
“Hi, Hannah. Your mommy is looking for you. She’s down in the café.” I stepped away from her, and she skipped across the room, smiling up at me before she slipped through the door.
“How did you do that?”
I spun at the sound of the voice, having forgotten that anyone was behind me. Instead of Jean Luc, it was Dalton, his eyes wide and unblinking.
“What are you doing here?” I barked.
His wide eyes narrowed with suspicion. “I called the office, and Dolly said you were on a call. She told me where to find you. I thought maybe it was about our case.”
“It’s not.”
Dalton crossed his arms. “Funny thing happened when I got here. I told Trevor and Sandy that I was with the BSR, and they explained what happened. When I asked them why they didn’t just make the woman downstairs forget with their thrall, they looked at me like I was a serial killer. Explained what thrall really was and how it worked. It was quite enlightening.”
“I bet.”
“Plus, they told me you were taking care of the issue. So are you going to tell me the truth, McKinley? What did you just do to that little girl?”
“I made the monsters go away.” I sighed. “I’ll explain, but let’s get out of here before someone sees us.” I locked the door and retaped the key to the mat before we headed down the stairs. As we walked into the alley, he glanced over at me and frowned before grabbing me by the arms.
“What?”
“You have a nosebleed.”
Damn. This was happening a lot more often lately.
He guided me over to his SUV, opened the passenger door, and helped me inside like I was about to fall over.
“I’m fine.”
He opened the glove box and pulled out a handful of napkins. “Lean forward just a little bit. Now pinch your nostrils.”
“I know the drill,” I said, my voice muffled by the napkin. Déjà vu swamped me. Dalton had taken care of me the first time I had a nosebleed.
We sat in silence until the bleeding stopped. I leaned back and turned to him. He was staring at me like I was a puzzle. It was as if his cop brain was chugging away behind his turquoise eyes, trying to determine what exactly to make of me.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah. The nosebleed is a side effect of what I can do. I work with the BSR because I have the ability to manipulate memories.”
“How?”
“I don’t know exactly. I can create a memory in my mind and insert it into someone else’s brain. I use it with humans to cover up supernatural exposure. I erased Hannah and her mother’s memory of seeing Sandy’s fangs.”
“So you were the one who erased David Heller’s memories of the museum events, not Jean Luc.”
It didn’t take him long to make that leap. “Yes.”
A hard rap on the window made us both jump. Jean Luc and Talia were looking in. Dalton rolled down his window.
“Everything okay, Kyle?” Jean Luc’s nostrils flared slightly, and he looked at the wadded-up, bloody napkins.
“Had another nosebleed. The case is contained. I erased the norms’ memories.”
Jean Luc’s eyebrows lifted in response.
Dalton unlocked the car doors. “Why don’t you two get in? I think we need to discuss a few things.”
They climbed into the backseat, and we sat in silence for a moment, the tension thick like fog in the air.
“I know the truth about her power now. Why the lie about your thrall?” Dalton asked, getting right to the point.
Jean Luc answered. “Because Kyle’s gift is unique. And I will do anything to protect her. Last year, she was stalked by someone who wanted to abuse her power. We will not allow it to happen again.”
“Are you worried what I would do with the knowledge?”
“I have been alive for more than four hundred years, Detective. I have seen what governments do in the pursuit of power. While I think you are a man of honor, you work for the government. I will not let Kyle become a victim of their avarice.”
I smiled at Jean Luc. It took a lot to get him worked up, but when he was, it was spectacular.
I spoke quickly when it seemed like Dalton was going to protest. “Please don’t take it personally. Nine out of ten humans who know about my power have tried to use me.”
He stared at me. “Well, count me as the one out of ten who won’t.”
I nodded. I had no doubt the old Dalton would never have used me. But this new Dalton was a wild card. I wanted more than anything to believe him, but I wasn’t sure if his drive to solve this case would overshadow everything else.
Chapter 31
I watched Dalton on the monitor. He prowled the hotel room, making sure the camera Misha had set up worked correctly.
“Can you hear me?” he asked.
I spoke through the open door between the adjoining hotel rooms. “You come through loud and clear. We should be set now.”
We were in a hotel one street away from Sylvia’s motel. A neutral place to talk to her. Dalton followed me into the room with the monitor and shut the door just as my phone rang.
I clicked on the speaker button. “Yeah, Jean Luc?”
“Misha and Talia are on their way with Sylvia.”
“They didn’t have any trouble?”
“No, they picked her up as she left the motel. There were no confrontations with any of the demons. Jason, Matthew, and I are going to keep watching the motel.”
“Okay, talk to you later.”
I hung up and checked the monitor and recording equipment one last time. Silence descended, choking the air out of me. Dalton had been all business since he found out about my powers. And while awkwardness had buzzed around us in the past like a worrisome gnat, it had now morphed into a flock of crows, dive-bombing us and squawking incessantly.
Did he think I was a freak?
After a few more minutes of choking silence, I cleared my throat. “I hope Sylvia can give us something to work with.”
Dalton nodded, his expression tight. “We’re getting closer, McKinley.”
Closer to when he left again after we solved this case.
The negative mental path I’d been stumbling down the past few minutes was waylaid by the sound of the hotel room door opening. We watched the monitor as Misha, Talia, and Sylvia entered the room.
Sylvia was small, but she had the presence of a larger person. Her silver hair was long and in a braid that hung down the middle of her back. She wore a loose sage green jumpsuit that must have been made of natural fibers…probably great for the environment, but hopelessly wrinkled within five minutes of putting it on.
Talia gestured to the loveseat, but Sylvia stood in the middle of the room with her arms crossed.
“Why don’t you tell me who you are and why I’m here?” she asked.
Misha answered her. “We told you, we’re with the police and need to speak with you.”
“I heard what you told me, and the shiny badges are a neat trick, but I need the truth now. The only reason I didn’t yell my head off at the motel was because I didn’t want my tenants to get pulled into whatever this is. Now, I will have no problem at all screaming.”
Misha and Talia exchanged a look while Sylvia plowed on. “I’ve been arrested more than once in my life. First time was at a peace rally when I was seventeen. You two aren’t normal cops.”
I chuckled. “This old broad is smart.”
“We’re from the BSR.” Misha answered. “The Bureau—”
“I know what the BSR is. Supernatural Fuzz.”
Misha smiled at her. “I haven’t heard that term in a while, Sylvia.”
“Don’t try to charm me with those icy blue eyes, demon.”
Misha’s icy blue eyes widened. “How did you know I’m a demon?”
“I can see auras. Yours is bright green with flecks of gold. Screams demon.” She nodded in Talia’s direction. “Just a
s the deep purple aura for your lady friend here tells me she’s a vampire.”
Talia grinned. “Very impressive.”
“I’m not here to impress anyone.” Sylvia held up her hands, wrists together. “If you’re going to arrest me, then get it over with.”
Misha shook his head. “We’re not going to arrest you, Sylvia. We want to talk to you about the demons you help cross over from the realm.”
Sylvia blew out a hard breath and glared at both Misha and Talia. “Who ratted me out?”
Talia answered. “Your name came up as part of our investigation.”
“Let me guess.” Sylvia sat on the loveseat. “You’re trying to stop the crossovers, right? Typical government, going about this the wrong way.”
Misha sat in the chair across from her. “You don’t know what our plan is.”
Sylvia snorted. “Don’t I? You want to stop all of these hardened criminals from coming to earth. Ask yourself this, Mr. Demon. Is it fair to incarcerate demons for millennia? To stop their children and grandchildren—who had nothing to do with their parents’ decisions—from living on earth?”
Sylvia lifted her chin and glared at Misha. “Most of the demons I’ve helped want nothing more than to live on earth and blend into society. And I teach them how to live here. Some are so screwed up that they have a hard time forming their human side when they first arrive. Do you know their realm is like living in the dark ages? No electricity. No modern conveniences.”
“I’ve never been to the realm.”
“Of course you haven’t. But you still judge them and tell them they can’t live here among us.” She shook her head in disgust. “It always comes down to us and them. I’ve heard their stories. Talk to me when you’ve experienced their world.”
The tough old hippie had a point. I walked across the room and reached for the door.
“What are you doing?” Dalton hissed.
“Giving her what she wants.” I opened the door and walked into the room. “I’ve been to the realm. Are you willing to talk to me?”
