“Brought her home? You knew the little girl already?” Alec asked, his brows drawing down.
Diana gauged Alec’s reaction. He was upset, indignant. But not with her.
“She was taken by a child molester last year. I brought her home before he did any permanent damage. Many others weren’t so lucky…” She looked out the window, watching the streets pass as they made their way across town.
Reluctantly, she continued. “I may have made a mistake when I brought her back,” she confessed, shoulders tight. “Her mother seemed relieved. I didn’t suspect anything might be wrong. But now Katie’s missing again, and so is her mother. So maybe there was something I should have seen back then that I missed.” She shook her head. “Brenda was just so terribly emotional. I couldn’t wait to get out of there.”
“Wait, the mother is missing, too?” he asked, confused. “Can’t you track her like you did Fiona or Jay?”
“It doesn’t really work that way for humans. Not unless they’ve done something bad enough to move the needle for one of us. And that takes a lot these days. It’s getting harder to track humans who do wrong. There are just so many more than there used to be. Their signal gets lost in the noise. Even if Brenda’s shady, I probably can’t find her as easily as I could find the circle. Which isn’t turning out to be easy at all. They’re masking themselves somehow, or we would have been aware when they started creating those black spells.”
“And now you suspect this Brenda woman is involved with the circle? You said she’s only a human. It could be a coincidence.”
Diana stared at him. “Maybe. . .but her sister, Katie’s aunt, was there, and she was uncomfortable. Really uncomfortable. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. Lots of people clam up when you flash a badge. But there could have been something there. Her name was Catherine.” Diana rubbed her temple.
“Brenda and Catherine. I can get my men on looking for traces of them if you think they’re involved,” he said. “People are easier to find these days. Just takes some old fashioned police work.”
“I tried that already. We have access to the human databases. Nothing’s turned up.”
“Well, a little more legwork couldn’t hurt,” he said. “I could put some private detectives on it. There are a few I use regularly that have done good work for me in the past.”
Something in Diana balked at the thought. She wasn’t used to getting outside help. There had never been a need. But she had to think about what was best for the children.
“Okay. Why not,” she said, exhaling deeply.
She almost changed her mind, but stifled the urge to take it back.
“Look, I need to talk to you about something.” She hesitated before pushing her shoulders back and continuing. “When I catch up with the circle, it won’t be pretty. When I find them, they will be punished. Harshly. I’m going to do things to them you may not be able to live with. You may not want to stick around for that part.”
Alec frowned. “I know it will be harsh. And if they’ve harmed the children, they deserve it. If they have broken the covenant, then their lives are forfeit. I may be a boring academic, but I’m still a vampire of house Broussard.”
“I wish everyone felt the same way about the covenant. Even humans no longer follow her ways—and most of the rules of the covenant were put in place to protect them. There’s too many of them, and they have no respect for the Mother, for the earth, or for themselves. They take each other’s lives and the lives of their children. Even the witches are not so callous and bloodthirsty. We’re losing them.” She sighed, covering her eyes briefly.
“A witch circle took the children. Not a human,” Alec said.
“It doesn’t matter. The witch in charge, the one with the real magic, was raised outside the magical families, among humans like I was,” she said. “Otherwise they might know better.”
“I didn’t know that you grew up among humans,” Alec said carefully.
Diana waited for him to start pushing for answers, but he just watched her, his big brown eyes filled with patient understanding.
She took a deep breath. “My mother was from an Elemental line long forgotten. She was murdered when I was four by a serial killer, one fond of strangling pretty young women. Even if they have little children.”
Alec’s mouth dropped open. “How did an Elemental get killed that way?”
Diana met his eyes, “I didn’t say she was an Elemental. She was just a woman. The line of inheritance is not always direct.”
“Oh, yes, of course. What about your father?” he asked a little hoarsely.
“Never knew him. I think he was in the army.”
“Is he still alive?”
Diana shrugged. She didn’t know and didn’t care.
“Did you ever try to find out more about him or your mother’s family?” he asked.
“Her family was pretty much all gone. And no. I didn’t try to find out more about my father’s family. The inheritance is matrilineal. The Elemental scholars don’t keep track of the fathers unless the relationships are long-term. And the boys don’t inherit.”
“You didn’t try to find out on your own?”
His voice was soft with sympathy. It was making her skin crawl.
“No,” she said pointedly. “There was no reason to.” She looked out the window with relief. “We’re here.”
They were outside of a seventies industrial-looking apartment building. It was next to others of similar design in a cheerless and drab neighborhood. Diana got out of the car first, eager to escape the small enclosed space. Alec followed her out a little more slowly, probably processing everything she’d told him.
Not waiting for him she climbed up the stairs to the apartment the little girl had shared with her mother. Assuming that there would be new tenants, she reached into her bag for her fake FBI badge, ready to flash it when the door opened, but a minute passed, and the door remained closed. After more knocking and waiting, she put her hand on the door and closed her eyes. There was no warmth in the rooms behind.
“No one home,” she murmured to Alec.
“You can feel heat like those infrared cameras can see through walls, can’t you?”
The quiet reticence that had come when he learned her secret had lasted the length of time it took him to climb the stairs. Her geek was back.
Diana didn’t bother to answer his question. Instead, she took the doorknob in hand and moved the tumblers with her heat. A chain stopped the door short, but she could see inside clearly. There was no end table in view, no furniture at all. She reached up and melted the chain with one hand, pushing the door wide with her hip.
“That is so badass,” Alec said in an undertone.
Diana shot him a look. “You’re a vampire. Try to at least act a little cool,” she said pushing the door wide with her hip.
“I am cool,” he said in an injured tone. “I got voted one of the supernatural world’s most eligible bachelors for Pete’s sake. Not that I care about that,” he said as Diana started to choke back her laughter. “But they did. They make a list every twenty years or so…”
“Well, all right then,” she said, no longer bothering to hide her laughter. “Consider me chastised. Why don’t you stay here in the doorway, ‘cause I don’t want all this eligible bachelor hotness,” she moved her hands up and down to encompass all of him, “to interfere with reading the room. That okay with you playboy?”
Alec closed his eyes. “Carry on. If you’re done mocking me, that is.”
Moving inside, Diana giggled. “Not even close, stud.” She circled the room, and her laughter subsided. The room was totally empty. There wasn’t even any trash. “If I didn’t know better, I would say Dietrich had been here.”
She had expected new people to have taken up residence, but apparently the landlord wasn’t in a hurry. It was off-putting to see it so empty. Closing her eyes, she scanned the heat signatures but gave up quickly. She shook her head resignedly, and Alec came
inside.
“Humans. They don’t leave much behind.”
Alec frowned. “Why would a mother move house when her child is missing?” he asked, rubbing his chin. “Shouldn’t she be waiting in the home her child knew and remembered in case she came back? Unless she thought to search on her own and couldn’t afford to keep the place while she went looking…”
“I don’t know.” Diana fingered the layer of dust on the shelves and counter, trying to decide how long this place had been empty. “She fell apart the first time Katie went missing. Or at least it looked that way. I can’t imagine that she’d be all that capable of striking out on her own to look for her, but like I said, I think I missed something there.”
“We should check with the super. Someone renting this place would’ve wanted their deposit back.”
The super was no help. Brenda had a month-to-month lease and had been a good tenant. When she suddenly gave notice and moved out, the guy hadn’t begrudged her the deposit. He knew Katie had gone missing, but handing over the cash without argument had been the extent of his concern.
From the general condition of the common spaces, and the lack of lighting and broken fixtures, the landlord didn’t use any of the rent to keep up the place.
And in addition to being a slacker, he had no compunction about leering, despite the presence of the very large and aggressive male with her. Tired of being ogled, Diana was tempted to punch him in the face, but she restrained herself when Alec gave her a little warning shake of his head.
“Let me,” he whispered. Turning to the lumpy excuse for a man, he said in a clear commanding tone, “Tomorrow I want you to come in to work and fix all of the things you’ve been neglecting for months. Wear those jeans you have on right now, the ones that ride low. And underneath them, you’re going to wear some clean underwear. Not like the ones you have on now. And they’re going to be lacy women’s panties all right? Something pink… a thong.”
Irritation completely gone, Diana left the office laughing.
22
Diana had Daniel drive them to the safe house so she could change. She was no longer concerned with Alec knowing the location. After pulling on clean cargo pants, she joined him in the living room to search for her boots while he wandered around, checking out the various knick-knacks and weapons displayed. He’d already been through all the swords and crossbows in the gym and had even tested one of the maces.
He was fingering a fourteenth century Japanese Koto when she finally found her left boot.
He turned to her, shock lining his features. “This is from the Kamakura period. It’s spectacular. And priceless in certain circles.”
“Yeah, I know,” Diana said with genuine nonchalance, bending down to tie her shoelace.
“But this thing is not only for display. You. . .you’ve been using it.”
“It’s a weapon,” she said dryly. “It’s common for a soldier to train with a variety of them.”
Alec stared, mouth slightly open. “It’s worth thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars. I can’t believe you practice with this as if it’s any old sword,” he said, taking it in hand and turning to display it to her, as though he was trying to make her see it clearly.
Suppressing a smile, Diana took the sword from him and put it back in its holder. “All of the weapons you see here are used. We train with them throughout our lives. We have to be ready to use whatever comes to hand. It all depends on the situation. We hone our skills with these as well as our Elemental abilities. Sometimes it’s better not to have to start a fire.”
“But this sword,” he said pointing, “it’s meant to be used from horseback.”
“I know that,” Diana said with a laugh.
“You’ve trained with it on horseback?”
“Well, actually, I used my bike most of the time.” She turned to grab her jacket. “Horses don’t like fire.”
“And the other times?”
She paused. “Well, you remember the lion?”
Alec stopped short. “You can ride your element like a. . .a. . .”
“Yes,” she said pointedly, cutting him off before the mental imagery became too colorful. “I left a message for the girls while I was changing. They will look into Brenda’s whereabouts if she left a trail. If she’s dead, the Mother will know.”
“And She’ll tell you that? Speak to you directly?”
Diana looked up at him and decided to be honest. He was a sensitive. He might be capable of sensing it anyway, but might not know how to put it into words.
“Maybe, and maybe not in a timely fashion. She’s. . .grown quieter in the last decades. Especially where humans are concerned. Earth will try to commune with her since the rest of us haven’t had much luck at it. The Earth Elemental is closest to her by design.”
“Is that normal? For Her to be quieter sometimes?”
“There have been periods when She has fallen silent,” she admitted. “Those were bad times for everyone, Supes and humans alike. As for now, She hasn’t withdrawn yet. She’s just slow to respond. A strong sensitive might be affected—have a sense that something is not right. There are probably some worried witches out there right now.”
“Are you saying that if I were stronger I could sense this withdrawal? Because I’ve never felt her presence at all.”
“I think you have. But maybe you didn’t know what you were feeling. Have you felt a. . .greater sense of dissatisfaction lately?”
He sat on a leather chair with a thump. “Yes, but I’m not sure that’s a huge change,” he said honestly.
“Oh.” She decided to change the subject. “I’m hungry. Have you made arrangements to. . .to feed?”
Why did I go for feeding? Couldn’t I have asked about cars or something?
Alec paused. “I’m having some bags sent from our private blood bank later tonight. Do you want to get dinner now?”
She nodded and bit the bullet before heading for the exit. “I thought live blood was better,” she said, holding the door open for him so she could lock up.
“It’s more pleasant that way,” he said carefully. “From a blood bag, it’s more like eating tofu and rice cakes, or drinking plain water when all you want is a coke or a good pinot noir.”
He stopped at the landing at the next security camera. He’d already commented on the infrared sensors and the thickness of the doors.
“Do you have access to these feeds?” he asked.
“Not supposed to, they’re part of the normal building’s security. But we hacked into it. We made our own additions as well.”
“Right,” he said, turning away from the camera and heading down the stairs. “No doubt you have your own wards and spell traps. You could withstand a siege from this place.”
“That’s the idea,” she murmured.
“Expecting an army to attack at dawn?” he joked.
Diana turned and shrugged.
“It’s happened before,” she said indifferently before going out the building entrance.
23
Dinner was delicious as always. Alec had opted to have one of his favorite restaurants prepare a selection of their best meals in advance so Diana could simply choose what she liked without having to wait.
He encouraged her to try a bit of each dish. She was pleased with the selection, but she didn’t feel good about the waste.
“It’s fine, take what you want. The rest will be packed off and taken to a homeless shelter nearby later tonight.”
“You always think ahead, don’t you?” she mused, trying a mushroom risotto that was to die for.
Alec took a bite of Foie Gras poêlé with a fruit compote.
“I try. All the time and as hard as I can.”
“Me too. But sometimes I feel like I’m just playing catch-up. Punishing the bad guys after the fact has lost something. They keep multiplying. You knock one down and two more spring up in their place.”
“You’re talking about humans now, aren’t you? The superna
tural crime rate is fairly steady, isn’t it? It’s the human crime rate that keeps exploding.”
“Yeah. There’s. . .just too many of them. They used to kill each other in wars, used to invade and rape and pillage,” she said, running a hand through her hair. “But that was the part of the process, the mysterious way the Mother worked. Sometimes it’s the little deaths that move the world forward. Or send it reeling back. But more and more, we don’t feel the shift in the balance until the crimes are well beyond the pale,” she said, putting a hand up. “Like I said before, the signal is getting lost in the noise. And it’s going to get worse. The further humans get from nature and the Mother, the less we are able to detect and intervene. They’re slipping away,” Diana finished in a whisper.
“It’s too much,” Alec said almost distantly, like he was thinking of something else.
She took a deep breath and shook off her melancholy. “It’s a burden, but we handle it. It’s just hard sometimes,” she said with a roll of her shoulders. “So many innocents die before we get the call. We don’t get to save very many. I’ve been frustrated lately.”
“You probably save many more people than you realize. The crimes you prevent must number in the thousands. Not to mention the pain you spare the families of potential victims,” he said, leaning back in his chair. “But it’s the emotional burden on you I’m concerned about. The weight on your shoulders and the others is simply insane. You’re not superwoman.”
Diana looked up with a well, actually expression.
“Well, all right, I guess you kind of are. But that doesn’t mean that the emotional burden isn’t intense. . .I think you need something. Someone to help you out, to do recon or research. Even Batman has Alfred.”
“I don’t need an Alfred,” Diana replied, aware of what he was offering.
“Every Batman needs an Alfred. They’re awfully handy. That’s why I have a Daniel. Probably more handy than an Alfred, actually.”
Fire: The Elementals Book One Page 17
