“You thought, you thought. , Oh my Gods! And you couldn’t involve me in any of this thinking?” She looked at up him, wondering if she did hit him if he’d hit her back. It was surprisingly tempting to try. “What do you want me to say to this?”
He stood up and walked around the table and she stood as he approached, tensing, “Allie, please. Please. I know I’m doing this badly. But I do love you. I’ve loved you for a long time now, and I just want you to know that. I want you to know how I feel.”
“Great, now I know,” she said, still furious, My best friend just died, my boyfriend might actually be using me as bait to catch a killer and now my other best friend is confessing his love. This day is unbelievable, she thought. “What do you want me to do with this knowledge?”
“I don’t want you to do anything, Allie, I just, I want…,” it was strange to see Bleidd floundering and searching for words, “…I want you to consider my court too.”
She looked at him in utter disbelief. He grabbed her hands, “Don’t say no, Allie, please, think about it. Don’t you love me too?”
“Of course I do.” she said without thinking, and then winced, “Bleidd, that doesn’t change anything.”
He kissed her, leaning forward and covering her mouth with his. She was so shocked she stood there and let him, her mind reeling. She had fantasized many times over the years about something like this and a small part of her wanted to give in to it. But the rest of her was too angry with him; after a second she pulled back and shoved him away. He staggered slightly, his expression hurt, and she punched him in the chest. “What is wrong with you? I can’t freaking handle this right now, okay? I practically had a nervous breakdown this morning, I’m trying to figure out how to be an empath as quickly as possible. Everything is falling apart, and I–can’t–handle–this!”
She was near tears, and she watched him struggle with his own emotions. She was learning first hand that Elven emotions were dangerous things, volatile and strong, and through her ragged shields she could feel his love warring with rage. She fought to calm herself down and get her shields back up, “I’m not rejecting your, your court, okay? Okay? But I can’t deal with this right now. And if you really care about me you’ll stop pushing this, okay?”
He took a deep breath, “I’m sorry Allie that was out of line.”
“Don’t apologize,” she muttered, sitting back down to eat, not because she was hungry but to get away from him without being obvious about it.
After a moment he sat back down as well and resumed his meal. Then, as if her words were just registering, “You’re an empath?”
“Always have been. And I seem to have blown a fuse through sheer stupidity and flipped my empath switch permanently to on,” she said not wanting to have to get back into that whole story.
He sighed, “That will make the funeral difficult for you, if you do not have your ability under control.”
“Yeah, I guess, but I have to go,” she replied, determined not to miss saying goodbye.
Chapter 10–Sunday
“We should have all the pieces,” Allie said frustrated. “I don’t understand this. We know what the ritual is and why it’s being done. We know where it’s being done and that the number of victims is higher than we thought. We know it has to be a descendant of one of the original coven members. We know he probably killed Aeyliss because she could have tracked him down, and Syndra to throw us off the track. I feel like it should be obvious who the killer is and we just aren’t seeing it,” Allie said rubbing her eyes.
It was the morning of Syndra’s funeral and the four Guards were with her as she prepared to go to the service. The entire Ashwood department and representatives from many other local human police forces were going to be there, and the elves had sent a couple squads as well, out of respect, which Allie appreciated.
“This killer is canny and manages to stay one step ahead,” Zarethyn said. “We will catch him, but it will not be easy.”
“It hasn’t been so far,” Allie agreed, pulling at the hem of her black dress. She hated wearing dresses. “I just feel like we already have the answer and we aren’t seeing it.”
The days since finding the stone altar had been almost anti-climactic in their normalcy. Jess had stayed by her side nearly continuously as she and Liz planned the funeral, and she got her store cleaned up and re-opened. Although working with several Guard hanging out in the store was both strange and not conducive to business, at least she felt slightly more normal, and Jess had been with her through it all, no matter how tedious.
But in the back of her head she had started to question whether he was staying with her to be supportive or because the elves thought the killer would make his move soon. Thanks to the empathy which she still could not block out, especially when physical contact was involved, she knew he did love her, but she doubted that would stop him from using her to catch the killer if it seemed expedient. It made her question their future once his duty wasn’t so conveniently aligned with her life, which was depressing but easier to think about than never seeing Syndra again.
The rest of the roommates were each struggling in their own ways to deal with Syndra’s absence. Liz had taken it upon herself to handle packing up Syndra’s things, working so quickly to clear her room that Allie had resorted to sneaking in during the night and filling a box with things she wanted to keep for herself. Since Syn didn’t have a will or any next of kin, Liz had decided to donate all of her possessions, including her car. Liz’s boyfriend Fred was helping her push the paperwork through the probate court in town hall where he worked.
Jason was picking up extra shifts at work and only coming home to sleep; Allie wasn’t sure if he was planning to come to the funeral or not. And she had been trying to avoid Bleidd, still not ready to deal with his declaration of love.
“Are you ready?” Jess asked her as the rest of the Guard all headed out the door.
No, Allie thought, swallowing a sudden surge of tears, but she nodded and followed him anyway, pulling on her old leather jacket. It looked strange with the formal funeral dress but she thought Syn would appreciate it and it was too cold not to wear a coat. She had no idea how the elves stayed warm in their metal armor, unless they used magic.
The ride to the town’s only funeral home was tense and silent. Allie was riding in the back of the Guard car again, this time with Jess and Natarien. She had realized earlier that the elves were a bit baffled by the complex funerary rites human’s had; in Elven culture the body was cremated privately and close kin would hold a memorial service later to honor the person’s life. She’d never stopped and thought of how strange the human customs must seem to them, but last night at the wake, when she’d had to explain that it wasn’t the funeral, and then try to explain what would happen the next day, it had become clear that the entire concept was bizarre to them.
The car Allie was riding in was driving between several other official Guard vehicles in a small procession. Zarethyn had chosen to send three squads, including his own, to Syndra’s funeral as a sign of solidarity with the local human police community. Even though Allie knew it was basically a public relations move and possibly also a precaution in case the killer tried anything, unlikely as that seemed, she still appreciated the gesture.
When they pulled up outside Sweeney’s Funeral Home there were police cars, marked and unmarked, as far as the eye could see. Allie was assaulted by a wave of grief, anger, and unhappiness, that made her catch her breath. Worried, Jess pulled her against his shoulder, stroking her hair, “You do not need to do this. If it is too much for you we will return to your house.”
“No,” she said, gritting her teeth and putting as much energy as she could into her battered shields. “No. She was my best friend. I need to do this. But if I pass out, you can say I told you so later.”
He looked alarmed at that but Brynneth was opening the door and she was pushing him out, giving him little choice except to get out of the car or make it obvious the
y were disagreeing. He pulled her along with him, keeping her tucked against his side as they walked up to the little door that led in to the building. He had quickly learned that physical contact had the strongest effect when she needed help with outside emotions; her growing dependence on him made her feel needy and comforted by turns.
As they walked into the funeral home Allie was once again assaulted by bitter memories of her grandmother’s death–the same nondescript hallway leading to the same blank room, the same heavy scent of flowers, the same underlying smell of death.
Unlike her grandmother’s tiny family service though, Syndra’s ceremony was packed with people, including friends, lovers, and rows of uniformed police. The Elven Guard squads stood in a row along the back wall, their armor gleaming under the electric lights. Allie looked to the front where the heavy oak coffin sat with a large framed picture on top of Syndra in her uniform smiling out at the room, and her feet would go no further. She saw Liz and Bleidd sitting in the front row with several empty seats, she assumed for herself and Jason, but she could not make herself join them.
She whispered up to Jess, “Can we stay back here with the rest of the Guard?”
He looked confused, but nodded, guiding her to an open space along the wall, “If you prefer, we may stand with the Guard. But are you certain you would not rather sit?”
“I’m certain,” she mumbled. And so she stood against the wall, weeping quietly, throughout the entire service, which was lovely. Several people got up and said nice things about Syndra, including Liz, who spotted Allie while she was talking and kept trying to catch her eye. Allie avoided her though, focusing on making it through to the cemetery. She could not let herself totally break down until it was all over, so she held on to her self-control by a thread.
The car ride to the cemetery provided some respite, and when they all gathered again at the grave side–Syndra’s picture now resting on an easel next to the coffin–Allie was starting to feel less ragged. Folding chairs had been set up in long rows to accommodate the crowd and this time Allie sat with her friends, Jess still by her side. Bleidd, on her other side reached out partway through the lowering of the coffin and took her hand, and she could feel Jess’s irritation radiating out on the other side. It provided a good distraction so that Allie wasn’t thinking quite as much about her friend’s body going into the cold ground.
It was a small explosion but somehow all the more dramatic for that. The flames leaped and consumed Syndra’s picture as the gathered mourners jumped to their feet in alarm. Someone pointed to the northern end of the cemetery and Allie spotted the two slim forms there; she had no doubt it was the two Dark Court elves, although she had no idea why they would show up to publically disrupt the funeral. It made no sense and there was something deeply counterintuitive to the action. Everyone was yelling and several of the armed police officers had drawn their guns. A moment later the Elven Guard who were present ran towards the woods, flying over the ground like deer. Jessilaen hesitated, his hand clenching on her shoulder, and without thinking she said, “Go! Don’t let them get away.”
He started to step away and stopped, and to her surprise Walters, who was standing nearby, said “Go–she’s surrounded by cops. Go catch those bastards. We’ll get her back to her house.”
Jess nodded and ran off at a right angle from the others, Bleidd running with him, trying to guess where the Dark Court elves would have been heading. Allie watched them run, praying they’d both stay safe and hoping that Bleidd would remember his promise to her not to seek revenge. Walters reached out awkwardly and put a hand on her shoulder. “Come on. I think that pretty much ended the service. We’d better get you back to the house where the other Guard are before anything else happens or your boyfriend’ll filet me.”
Allie couldn’t help smiling slightly, despite the circumstances. She felt a wave of anxiety from the brawny detective. Maybe Walters isn’t so bad, she thought wiping away the last few tears. He’s an ass, but I guess he has a good heart underneath it all. She spared a final look at the coffin being lowered into the earth. Goodbye Syn. I’ll never stop missing you. “Yeah, I guess we better get going.”
Liz shook her head, her nose red from crying, “I can’t leave yet, I have to finalize a few details with the cemetery manager. You go on though. I drove myself; I can’t leave my car here anyway.”
Allie reached out spontaneously and hugged her cousin. After a moment of stiff surprise Liz hugged her back. They were still not on the best of terms, in fact besides discussing Syndra’s arraignments they’d barely spoken, but Allie hoped her cousin knew how bad she felt about everything.
She and Detective Walters walked through the milling crowd, everyone still agitated from the disruption, towards the parking lot. Walters had parked in the far corner and by the time they reached his car she was tired and ready to go home. She was surprised to see he was driving an older heavy car, the kind that was common on Earth but not usually seen in the Borderland areas because it had a lot of iron in it and was hard to keep running. She turned and was walking towards the passenger side door, thinking that he must pay a fortune to someone to keep the car running, when she felt a sharp pain in her head and everything went black.
****************
Walters lifted the unconscious girl out of the trunk in the dark and carried her to the shed behind his house. It was amazing how well the plan had worked–his new allies had created a distraction as promised and all of the Elven Guard had chased after them like cats after a mouse, leaving the girl unguarded. It had almost been too easy then, despite all the human police milling around, to grab her, and no one suspected him. He’d hit her from behind, drugged her, and stuffed her in his trunk while everyone was still chasing rogue elves. His private phone rang several times but he ignored it. This was the best plan and he knew success was in his grasp; the others would realize he was right.
When the altar had been found he’d been sure everything was lost, but suddenly it was all turning back in his favor. The troublesome mixed blood bitch was out of the way; he’d managed to do it without technically going against what the rest of the group wanted, something he knew he could make them understand, and when he handed her over to the two elves he’d seal their bargain. Although he’d rather see her bleed out in his ritual to pay for her interference, the idea of what she’d suffer made him happy. He hoped it took her a long time to die.
He dropped her unceremoniously onto the shed’s concrete floor, rolling her over with his foot, and he pulled off the jacket she was wearing and tossed it in a corner. Grabbing an old strip of towel he kept as a rag off of a shelf he tied her wrists behind her back. Then just to be sure he pulled out the rag he used to drug all the girls with, soaked in a potent anesthetic, and held it against her face for a few more seconds. There was a risk that he’d overdose her and kill her, but he didn’t care too much–after all, he’d promised the damn elves the girl, but he’d never promised she’d be alive, and if she died, he’d blame her death on them. When she was totally limp he dropped her head back to the concrete. He quickly pulled off her shoes, throwing them onto her jacket; he’d take both and burn them now since she wouldn’t need them and it was too risky to keep any of her things. Now he had only to wait for his new friends to return and he could hand the girl over before heading back out to work.
****************************
Allie woke up in the dark, and her first thought was that she was cold. Her head hurt, and there was a strange metallic taste in her mouth. She tried to roll over and slowly realized that her hands were tied behind her back. Nothing made sense, but it was hard to think with the pounding in her head.
Somehow she managed to get to her knees, and then her feet, staggering as everything seemed to spin. She almost fell and her shoulder hit something; after a moment she realized it was the wall of an aluminum shed, the kind gardeners used to store tools and small equipment. She tried to walk and fell again and without warning found the surface she hit
moving as the door to the shed opened. She hit the cold earth and lay there for a moment, still not sure what was going on. It was so hard to think and her mouth tasted bad. She struggled up again and took a few more steps when she heard someone swearing–before she could turn towards the voice, she was tackled and driven to the ground with so much force she heard her ankle snap. The surge of pain cleared her head a little, but she couldn’t get her eyes to focus.
“You stupid bitch!” Someone was growling and then a fist hit her, hard in the back. She grunted and the person hit her again and again, until she started to cry. “Stupid bitch! You’re ruining everything!”
She felt helpless and frightened as her mind tried to make sense of what was going on. The person pinning her down stopped hitting her and for a moment she could hear his ragged breathing above her. Not the Dark Court elves then, this sounded distinctly human, and despite herself she could feel waves of savage anger and fanatical determination from him.
Is he the killer? Did he kill Detective Walters and kidnap me? But why? Why not just kill me too? I don’t understand this.
A moment later the person’s weight lifted and then she felt him grabbing the back of her dress. He dragged her the few feet back into the shed as she writhed and tried to kick, tossing her down onto the concrete floor. Before she could recover he had picked up something from a set of standing shelves against one wall and rolled her onto her stomach. He knelt on her back, and she heard the distinctive sound of duct tape being measured out, then he quickly untied her hands, dragging her right wrist up to her left elbow behind her back. She felt the tape being wrapped around her arms. He re-tied her hands that way on both sides leaving her no room to move. It pulled her shoulders painfully tight and made it hard to get a full breath. She heard herself whimpering and he got up kicking her hard in the ribs. She curled up reflexively, as much as she could, as he moved to the back of the shed. She heard a heavy metallic dragging sound as he moved something over in front of the little door; she could feel the iron even from there and repressed another whimper.
Murder Between the Worlds: A Between the Worlds Novel Page 22
