There was a bit of truth to that. Not that the man couldn’t have done it anyway. It really would work. Probably with no more than Bey praising the man for being so diligent.
“Okay… So, I suppose that the Line Walker and the Snowflake are out as well? Let me… Who do you know in the power structure, other than Richard Swerlin?”
That got him to stop for a moment.
“Rebekah. The Manthori? She runs the human blood concern. We’re dating.”
That was impressive, for an office man. She was both rich and famous, after all. Some people thought of her as the single most approachable and recognizable vampire in the entire world.
“That works. She might not remember me, but she can call in some of the others. Please hurry. I wasn’t kidding on the emergency part of things.”
“Let me get to that immediately, then.”
He hung up, so Troy stood there holding his phone, as Tran worked the two women like they were going to be buying a time share. Or else. It was perfectly done. In fact, they had a lot more data about Rhoda than it had seemed at first.
Leslie was her twin sister, after all.
“Rhoda Anne Hampton. Her social security number… Well, it’s mine except one number lower, so I have it memorized. I don’t know where she was living. It was some cult thing. Stupid. A mage oriented group. The Children of Baphomet or something like that?” She was acting as if the idea was a strange one for her, so Troy rolled his eyes.
“You mean it was exactly like that, but you don’t want to seem too knowledgeable about it. That means a lot. Your sister is a part of it… She had to have tried to get you into the whole thing at some point. Twins have to be powerful, magically speaking, right? So, they’d want you both.” Even if only for the collector’s value on the set.
Nevi looked at him, a bit wide eyed, then wrinkled her nose.
“You, are not bad at this. It was me. I didn't know what they were at first. It seemed harmless. They didn’t use that name. They were just The Children. I’m old enough to see a cult forming, trust me. They aren’t always bad though. Not for mages. We have covens and communes enough. I really thought it was just a new age thing, to start with. I worked with plants and animals, helping them grow. The girls came to me to learn for a while, when they were in their late teens. Wholesome things. Then our leader, Cheyenne Strobmier, she started to push for darker things. Eventually, we, Leslie and I, grabbed Forest and ran. That was technically kidnapping. They were going to kill him. A human sacrifice to their ancient god. Chey has been after us ever since then.”
Taking a deep breath, Leslie nodded.
If she was a bit worried before, she was petrified now. In fact, she wet herself, just a little. Not enough to show, but Troy could smell it. To him it permeated the whole room. Marking her as a target.
“The thing is… Forest… He isn’t my brother. We… I… When we ran, we saved him, but he’s Cheyenne’s son. If anyone finds out, then…”
Tran got that one.
“Fuck. Right. They’d be forced to send him back. No one would buy that they were going to sacrifice him like that. Or that mages are real. Only we know better and can check your story out. You might be going down for kidnapping but I can promise you, if your story holds, you won’t be sending the kid back to his death.”
They couldn’t truly promise that though. Well, Detective Tran couldn’t.
Troy on the other hand had resources almost no one else did.
“Even if it means he has to move to a different reality. That will keep him safe.” He didn't point out that he could do that on his own. They already knew that.
Leslie took a very deep breath then.
“We can prove it. Some of it. What do we need to do?”
Before he could answer her, the phone he was still holding, slim and black, chirped at him. It was set to ring, but was low enough no one else heard it happen.
“Hello? Troy Lopez here.”
The man who spoke was only vaguely familiar.
“Mr. Lopez! This is Eric Weise. You need a national convocation for a binding?”
“Right. We have four criminals that we need to keep from doing magic for a while. They seem to be part of a cult group? Mainly mages? The Children of Baphomet. Do you know anything about them? I have a name, but that’s it so far.”
“Yes. We actually have a good bit on that particular group. Are they behind the blood rituals that have been going on?”
Troy wanted to blurt out yes, but the truth was, he didn't know yet. Not for certain.
“It seems related. We know that the fugitives did the rituals. We’ve heard there might be a connection there. That isn’t proof. We still need to stop them. They escaped from custody, or helped others to. Using magic. That makes this our responsibility. The Supernatural Division and the mages as a whole. Are you in with us on this?”
There was a slight grumpiness to the next words, but they were spoken.
“We are, Mr. Lopez. Always, on the side of right. Can you send the pictures along? I have an e-mail account that my secretary can use.” There was an old man’s sensibility to the words, as if the President of his people were describing unknown forces that he barely comprehended.
Troy nodded, as if the man would know that using mystical forces. Showing that it wasn’t only the other guy who had some strange ideas on some level.
“Let me get that down. It will be a few minutes for us to get back to the station. If I give you some names could you task someone to research that for us? You aren’t compelled to, legally. We don’t have a warrant for the information or anything. It might help us though. All of us.”
After that they exchanged information. The other two mages seemed worried but they gave a lot of data then. More than he would have figured possible, to be honest.
Chapter thirteen
Tran sent the pictures ripped out of the video. That meant he got to sit there, not having much to do at all. At five, the Detective waved him away. He honestly didn’t get it when she started doing that. He really figured that it was her having a stroke, or desperately wanting some cake.
He recalled cake. Oddly, it wasn’t that big of a draw now. Which was probably a great thing, since he couldn’t eat it. Food wasn’t what he wanted. He hungered for blood, but even that was all about getting energy. Life force, to keep him animated and alive. After a fashion.
Finally, he made a face to show he wasn’t getting her clever sign language.
“What?” He understood she was sending him away, Troy just couldn’t understand her reasoning.
“Nine to five, except in an emergency. This isn’t one. Not for us. We did our part already. The mages get their spells clipped, we make nice with their people, so they don’t feel stomped on… That’s about it. We don’t have to be in on the take down for everything. In fact…” She paused, as if debating the wisdom of telling him something.
As if he wasn’t the best at being wise and not having problems in life.
He smiled, being charming, or faking it as best he could. That got her to make up her mind.
“Look. Our job, from the start, is all about… Really, getting me a place to hold out until I drop dead or retire. You being here is mainly just frosting on the cupcake. We’ve done some incredible things compared to what’s expected. Still, even if we make this real, we have to go carefully. If we start getting all the thunder, then we will be killed on the vine.” She took a sip from her coffee mug, which seemed to have water in it at the moment. “Not literally. Don’t feel threatened that way. Just… We need to win by doing parties and shaking hands with shifters for a while, you get me? This is… Way high profile. If we break it… Then we need to find some way to pass the credit to someone else. Santos, maybe. You like her right? Plus, she’s a carpet muncher. That’s progressive as fuck.”
The small Vietnamese woman was being crude on purpose. He could tell that one. Probably to distract him from the fact that she’d basically just told him they didn't h
ave real jobs. As if that hadn’t been made clear on the first day. Graffiti. That had told him a lot. Then, Roy Benson had as well. Pretty much flat out.
Instead of acting like a vampire, he laughed.
“I know. I know. About the job. Watch the non-PC stuff for now, though. People can lose careers over that kind of thing. Things have changed. Not for the better. Jokes will probably be made illegal inside the next ten years.” He wasn’t kidding on that one.
It got waved off. That or he was again.
“I’ve seen it before. We won back in ninety-four, we’ll do it again. Fine though, she’s LGBTQ squared PP.”
“Two Ps?” He hadn’t heard that one before. It kept growing faster than he could keep up with it.
“Sure. Pan sexual and pedophile. That isn’t an insult either. They’re embracing the kiddy-didlers. I have to draw the line there though. If they go all in on making that okay, it’s on.” She sounded like she meant it. As if she’d be willing to throw down with all of them over that one issue.
Then, if it was true, he was kind of with her.
“I hope that’s a joke. You do have that wicked sense of humor going for you. Fine though. I’m out, for now. On call, though. I should be in town all weekend. We meet back here on Monday, unless we get called in, right? Oh… Except that you’re in on the range on Saturday. Meet here at hell hour. You know, noon?” He needed to get with Santos for that as well. If she was in on it.
She had a desk, in the patrol section. She wasn’t at it, since the real cops were all out actually fighting crime and raising revenue for the city. Writing tickets for offenses that almost everyone made, day to day. Troy was good that way though. They didn't make up the rules after all, they just enforced them. He left a note, letting her know when she and Jainy were supposed to meet them and where. Also, to expect about eight or nine people for it.
Some people liked to know what was going on ahead of time.
Then, slowly, he walked home. His car was there, after all. It was late in the day, which got him to recall why his partner was probably so keen to get out of there. It was late on Friday. They’d started work at eight on Thursday morning and hadn’t been home since. Denise was a real person, who needed to sleep on occasion. He hadn’t even noticed her getting tired. She wasn’t on drugs either. That, more than anything, had probably been at the heart of her little speech.
After all, thirty hours of work or more in a row was a lot for a nothing, make work, job. That was what he was thinking about when he walked into his apartment, being hit with a lot of things as he moved past the threshold. At first, he honestly thought he was under attack. A magical one, sure, but that kind of thing, regardless.
There was music playing, which sounded vaguely like Indian cittern music. There was also the scent of cooking food, and sitting at his little four-person table were two individuals. Neither of them was Eve, though he could hear her voice. That was in the kitchen. From the sound of it, her head was deep in the fridge.
He’d been expecting The Rotted, since she’d invited herself over, so a sixteen-year-old girl being at his table wasn’t a big deal. She loved to show up as a little girl around him, for some reason. That was fine, but she normally picked a creepy pigtailed eleven-year-old in all black.
This version felt like her, but wasn’t even goth. The hair was a normal brown and she seemed nearly like she was planning to go off to church, for some reason. Her face was a bit pock-marked, but not enough to make her ugly. Just being about right to sell her as a real human. The man across from her was the surprise. He was older, but had helpfully kept the same face that Troy had seen him with a few times. He was also dressed up like a Catholic priest. More to the point, he was one and had been for hundreds or possibly thousands, of years.
“Cleric. Rotted. Snowflake.” He used all the names, since failing to do that was said to cause fights, if the people were high enough up in the food chain.
The older seeming man stood, then bowed.
“Officer. So good to see you. I hope it isn’t too inconvenient, my coming along unannounced? I was speaking with Eve about you and she rather invited me along. When we arrived, we found the lovely Ann, readying an ambush? At least there were flowers. I take that as a good sign, don’t you?” There were, right there on the table, a vase full of roses. Red ones.
It was pretty fancy.
“For me? They’re lovely, Ann. Thank you.” He didn’t sound like he was teasing but was ready for it to be a joke, or from The Cleric. Instead, The Rotted pretended to blush.
“I know I like them when people remember that I’m a woman. This was going to be a special evening, ending up in bed. Well, I guess we can take these two with us for that part? That or they can get lost and not ruin our evening?” She grinned, which in her world was either about her painful honesty, or meant it was all a joke. Maybe both, or neither. All at the same time. There was no way he could track all that at one time.
“Um, well… Or we could be more polite than that? At least to start with. I mean, I have a decent relationship with all of you, so far. Keeping that could be fun. If we get a chance to do that?” He sounded patronizing but thankfully it was a bit teasing at the same time.
Ann made a silly face at him about it.
“Fine. Be that way. So, what have you been up to today, honey?” She was looking at him, so it was clear she was playing up the relationship angle. Worse, that was close to being about the right level. If they were counting insane greater demons in the mix of his life, then Ann was his oldest pal in the room. Eve was a better friend, but he’d known the greater demon longer, by a few years.
She was the first crazy stalker that he’d ever had, for instance.
In fact, she’d been in bed with him when he’d nailed Zack’s dad the first time. That one wasn’t his fault, since the guy looked like a hot actress at the time. Ann had been a slightly dumpy club going girl with mental problems. Thankfully that brand of insanity had been an act. She had issues but not the ones she’d first shown him.
“Well, dear, we seem to have found part of the problem, with the chicken circle killers? Before you ask, no, it isn’t really being called that. Blood mages. Possibly part of a cult. The Children of Baphomet. We have four of them in our sights. They managed to escape from custody, earlier. Two of them did. The other two helped them do it from the outside.”
That had Eve standing there, not tending her food in the other room. He could hear meat sizzling. The scent was of chicken. That and a lot of sweet onions. It wasn’t objectionable or anything, but was probably for the others.
“No, freaking way! They let them escape? You did? Shame, Troy. Shame be upon you. I caught that one myself. Grrr.”
He kind of agreed with that last bit. Grrr, indeed.
“I know. I managed to stop one of the spells but the rest of them got them free, then hid them. The mages called a national convocation and binding, so hopefully that will slow them down. At least the ones we know about.”
There was an interested look from Ann, but Gregor, The Cleric, let his generally kind and fatherly face go sour.
“The Children. A lovely bunch of heathens. I don’t mean that in a light fashion, either. They’ve taken to worshiping several older demons and gods. Seeking power and control. Pacifying them has been hard for a while, but it’s becoming far more difficult now, while humans call to them constantly. There is power in blood and death. At least in the hands of the unprincipled. Forces from long ago are waking, I fear.”
Eve moved back to the other room. Speaking as she did it.
“That sounds fun. So, all of this is about you greater demons?”
Gregor made a slightly choked noise then.
“Not at all. Baphomet was never one of us. A different thing completely. In those days… Well, you young people don’t know what it was like back then. The gods walked the Earth, as did true monsters. Christianity was, perhaps, not perfectly arranged, but it prevented the worst of things from having the pow
ers they once did. It would be a shame to see a return of such beings.” Smiling, he let his pale blue eyes meet Troy’s brown. “By a shame, I mean the end of modern civilization, most likely. It seems as if we should be protected from such things, but The Librarian’s plans have led us to some strange places of late.”
Then he stopped talking, as if they were all supposed to get what that meant. Troy didn't, but it might also just not be a thing for the likes of him.
“That would suck. Being a god like that? It’s bad enough for you, having to be greater demons… I know that if I were you, or some ancient god like that, I’d quit. Find something else to do with my time. Take up a hobby. Macramé or juggling. Well, this won’t directly take them down, I bet, unless the killers rat out their leader. I do have a lead on a possible human sacrifice, but the boy lived and escaped. If it was real. I don’t have confirmation on that yet. It sounds more likely, if you can make similar claims, Cleric. It probably won’t be in my area at work, to be honest.” He didn’t go over the whole thing where he was supposed to be the new supernatural social director.
“Though, if you want, we’re holding a picnic here in a few weeks. It’s The Technician’s territory, and not worth huge payments or favors to attend but if you work that out, you’re all welcome. It will probably be a bit boring, but Living Proof and Cortechs Rocks are both playing, or so I’ve heard rumored. The mages are setting up a booth. We have… I think, Ambassador Keene coming for the vampires’ side of things. Maybe Ambassador Felicia. The organizer, other than Tyler Gartner, is a young shifter from the local area. The food is being paid for by Avery Rome, and we already have The Rotted in on preparation for that, so there’s a real community feeling going on here.”
Ann reached out and took his hand. There was no overt sense of tingling. She was just holding his hand, like a real person might have.
“It’s going to be amazing. This is the largest party of its kind in modern history. Troy and Detective Tran, along with Police Chief Roy Benson are directly responsible for it. Everyone of note is planning to come. You need to, Gregor. As the greater demon in charge of North America, we need you to make an appearance. You might need a different face for that. We don’t want to blow this one for you.”
Troy Ounce (Lopez Time Book 1) Page 19
