Demon Peepers

by Belinda White

  Taz gave her a gentle smile. "Remember, Finding people is kind of my specialty."

  Mine, too, but the rabbit already knew that.

  Rose nodded. "I expect you to keep me updated. Anything you find, I want to know the second you do."

  "We will keep you in the loop, I promise." Jed turned to me and Taz. "You two are the experts here. How do we go about this? By scent, or do you want to try your special skills first?"

  With a quick, covert glance at Rose, I looked at the motorcycle standing beside the garage. It was only built for two, but Dunwood—I mean Elmer—and I could always follow in his SUV. The open-air ride of the cycle was so much better for scent tracking.

  "I think scent first. At this point we really have no reason to suspect foul play of any kind," Taz said. What can I say? Our minds both came from the same gene pool.

  "We can ride double on that. Jed can steer, and with me in back I can concentrate on following her scent. We should be able to track her much quicker that way. It's actually good that she was on her bike instead of in a car. I should be able to follow her trail pretty easily."

  Was that hope I saw in Rose’s eyes? I didn't have the heart to tell her that normally we would do a psychic trace first, but neither of us wanted to do that with her there. I was really afraid of what I might find. Or even worse, what I might not find. Pretty sure Taz felt the same way.

  We went inside for our jackets and headed out. It was a warm enough morning, but with the wind from the cycle, it would still be a chilly ride. Rose handed us each a granola bar as we walked out.

  "I know I don't have time to fix you all a good breakfast, but you do need to keep up your strength." She laid her hand on my sister’s arm and looked at her imploringly. "Please bring her back to me, Taz. She's..." Her voice caught, and she couldn't go on.

  Taz just nodded and followed Jed out to the waiting bike. We'd bring her home all right, I just prayed that she would still be alive and well when we did.

  We followed her trail out of Gosport onto a country road. Good, it would be easier to track here than on a busy highway like the main state road. Her trail led about three miles to a small ranch style house. Lily's bike was in some trees a few yards from the house. She had obviously not wanted it to be seen.

  Unfortunately, our vehicles had made more noise than hers did. As we made it back out from the trees, a man came from the house walking toward us. That wasn't so scary. The fact that he was carrying a shotgun was.

  "Can I ask just what you think you were doing in my woods?" he asked. Luckily, the gun was still lowered. Most likely that was because we had the Sheriff of Owen County with us, still in uniform. Or so he would have thought. At least the man planned to give us a chance to explain our presence.

  Jed stepped forward. "I'm Jed Crowe with the US Field and Wildlife Division, sir. And this," he motioned to Taz, "is my fiancé. We are looking for a young teenage girl who has went missing. We just found her bike back in those trees just off your driveway. Have you seen her?"

  The man smiled and shook his head. "Can't say that I have, but maybe my son's been up to something he shouldn't have been. Come on in, and we'll ask him."

  I was a little wary of going into a strange man's house, but Jed followed him in, and my sister followed her mate. She'd follow her man into Hell itself, if it came to it. And I’d follow my sister.

  His house was ordinary, and there weren't any hordes of evil devil spawn waiting to jump us inside. Just a mother laying out cereal bowls on the table. She straightened as we came in and looked to her husband for an explanation.

  "These folks are here looking for a young teenage girl. They say they found her bike in the woods outside. I reckoned maybe we should ask Quinn about it." He glanced down the hall. "In fact, if you all will wait right here, I'll go get him."

  We were in the man's home, so there really wasn't anything more we could do than wait. It wasn't a long one. The man gave a short curse and came out past us to open a door that led into the garage. Only a truck was there.

  "Diane, you see Quinn leave this morning?" he asked.

  She looked puzzled. "He's still in bed, isn't he? It's the school's late morning, so I was just letting him sleep in." She came to look over her husband's shoulder at the single vehicle in the garage. "Where's Quinn's car?"

  The man glanced at us. "You'll have to excuse my wife, here, she isn't at her best first thing in the morning." He looked grim. "Looks like we got us two missing teenagers." He grimaced. "And it don't look like I'll be making it to work today."

  That's when I noticed the pentagram on the wall. Like our minds were linked, Taz noticed it at the same time. She jabbed Jed in the ribs and gave her head a slight jerk towards it. Elmer followed her little head movement, too, and I felt his body tighten.

  We were in the presence of witches.

  The man walked toward Jed. "Sorry folks, guess introductions are in order. I'm Matt Davis, and that," he pointed to his wife, " is Diane—my Missus. Now I know your name, and I know the sheriff there, but who are these other folks?"

  Normally I would have stepped forward to shake hands, but I just didn't trust him. I was really wishing that we'd thought to ask Elmer if there was a way to tell if people were possessed. If he was one of Titania's, I didn't want to get within reaching distance. So I held my ground.

  So did my sister. Maybe our minds were linked after all.

  "My name is Taz Hunt. I'm a Finder," she said. Then she motioned to me. “That’s my sister, but she goes by her nickname of Steele.”

  His eyebrows raised and a slow smile spread across his face. "The Taz Hunt? The one that helped with that renegade wolf hunt last year? Hell, girl, you're famous." He glanced over his shoulder at his wife. "Nothing to worry about, Honey," he said. "We got us a genuine Finder searching for our boy. He'll be home by lunch time. Sooner, probably."

  Taz tugged at Jed's arm. It was time to go.

  I felt the same way. I really wanted out of that house; that pentagram was giving me a very weird feeling. Not one I liked, either. The others had explained to me that not all witches were evil, but with our current situation, how could we tell which side this family fell on?

  Jed had other ideas. Seemed he wanted a little more information.

  "How well does your son know Lily Maxwell?" he asked. "Were they romantically involved?"

  The man's face got serious. "Wait a minute. Lily is the girl that's missing?"

  Jed nodded. " And she just happens to be a personal friend of ours. Do you have any idea where they might have gone?"

  The man glanced over at the pentagram, then back to us as if considering just how much to tell us. I decided to make it easy for him. Well, kind of.

  "That symbol is a pentagram, isn't it?" I asked. "Tell me, Mr. Davis, are you and your family witches?"

  He bristled, then slumped. "Yes. But I'll tell you the same thing I've told hundreds of people before, there ain't nothing wrong with being a witch. We aren't what the movies make us out to be. The coven has rules, and we don't go out to harm anyone. We focus mostly on the healing properties of nature."

  Diane stepped forward to stand beside Matt. "When people can't get the help they need from doctors, sometimes they come to us. And sometimes we can help. Other times not. But we always try." Her eyes flashed at us in defiance. "We are good people."

  Jed smiled. "I believe that you are." From his voice I could tell that he meant it. "Has your coven ever met in the Morgan-Monroe Forestry?"

  Matt and Diane glanced at each other, then shook their heads. "No," Matt said, his voice almost violent. "We've heard stories about what goes on in that area and our group wants no part of it."

  "What stories?" I asked, then reconsidered. "No, forget I asked—for now at least. Right now, we have to find Lily... and Quinn. They may be in danger."

  Matt's eyes flashed to mine. "What on earth makes you think that?"

  I opened my mouth to answer, but Jed beat me to it. "Because there is a coven
about that is filled with not nice people. And they seem to be targeting our friends."

  Matt rubbed his hand over his eyes. "I never thought writing the paper would get her in trouble. Coming as a guest to one of our meetings was innocent enough—I mean, I knew she was perfectly safe there. But if she went to one of the meetings in the forestry..." his voice trailed off. "Oh, goddess. If Quinn went with her." He went to the closet and pulled out his jacket.

  "Come on, Finder, we got us a couple of kids to find," he said, walking out the door.

  All we could do was follow.

  NOW WAS THE TIME TO do our physic thing and actually Find Lily. If they were in a vehicle than our chances of finding enough of a scent trail to follow weren’t the best. We’re good, but not that good.

  I was very relieved when the trail led to the teenage rabbit, alive and well. However, something about the vision at the other end of the physic trail seemed way off. She was alive, yes, but there was something very wrong.

  Taz turned to me. “We might need Rose for this.”

  I agreed. While there had been a chance that Lily might return home, it had made sense for Rose to stay behind. Now she was needed with the pack.

  Jed and Taz continued on with the motorbike, with Quinn’s father following closely behind. Normally we might have fought him over the shotgun he took with him, but with things the way they were, it might be needed.

  Besides, the pack would have enough arms between them to take on one lone witch with a shotgun. Of course, we had no way of knowing what truly waited for us at the other end. Our visions are extremely limited.

  Elmer and I went back to get Rose and the van. It was a good thing that Elmer remembered how to drive from his time on earth, because I had not yet taken the time to learn. I could handle the motorbike or a bicycle, but nothing with a steering wheel yet. I’d need to change that soon.

  His being the one actually driving was doubly good when I got a psychic call from an almost hysterical Lily. The mind thing works more with pictures and ideas than words, but if it had been words it would have gone something like this.

  "Steele, are you there? This is Lily."

  "Lily! Thank the Creator! Where are you?"

  "Um, I don't know exactly. I think Titania cast a spell on me. I'm still a rabbit, and I can't change."

  Silence for a second. "Uh, Steele?"

  "I'm here, Lily. Just thinking. Look around, what do you see?"

  "Well, I'm in a cage hanging about four or five feet off the ground. In a room with two doors, two windows, and a desk and chair."

  "Can you see anything out the window?"

  "Nothing but some tree limbs out one of them, and nothing but sky out the other."

  "Okay. Lily, I'm going to try to Link with you, okay? Just keep calm and look at everything around you, all right?"

  "Yeah, I get it." She paused. "It's not like I'm going anywhere."

  That's where it kind of got weird. I could feel the Link connect in my mind. It felt, kind of, well, itchy. But as I had instructed, Lily made sure to look at everything in the room, spending extra time on the doors and the windows.

  "Okay, Lily. I've never been on the other side of a Link before, but I hope it isn't too uncomfortable, because I need to keep it open, okay?"

  "Can you track me through it?" Her fear and confusion came through loud and clear via the link.

  "I think so. I get the sense that you aren't so very far away." I paused. “Actually, Taz and Jed might beat us to you.” After all, they did have a head start.

  "Steele?"

  "Yes, Lily?"

  "Please tell me I'm not in Faerie."

  "You aren't in Faerie, thank the Creator, or you wouldn't have been able to call me."

  A flood of relief flowed over me. It came from Lily, but mind links are kind of funny that way. It’s hard to tell which thoughts and emotions are your own.

  "Okay, then, one last thing and I'll leave you to do your thing, okay?" Lily asked.

  "What's that, Lily?"

  "Hurry."

  IT WASN’T ALL THAT much out of the way to pick up Rose, and a quick call ensured that she was ready and waiting for us. The van was already running and parked at the end of her drive when we arrived.

  Elmer parked, and we switched vehicles without a word. I probably should have mentioned that I had called Cin to join us, but in my defense, I tend to forget her favorite mode of transport.

  Cin popped in with us and didn't even wait for an introduction. Of course, then too, Elmer did look a lot like Dunwood. Actually, Elmer was Dunwood. Okay, enough thinking about that. Bottom line, she popped in.

  Right into the back of a moving van. Not a van from a moving company mind you, but into the back of Rose's van that was moving. At a pretty good rate of speed too. At Cin’s sudden appearance behind her driver's seat, Rose swerved but was able to miss the tree that loomed up in front of her. Well, for the most part anyway. Her van would probably need a new paint job in the near future.

  I expected her to be mad at Cin for showing up like that, but she wasn't. If anything, she was more upset she had taken so long.

  "About time you showed up," she said. "Cin, get your butt up here in the passenger seat. I need help with the navigating." She pointed one finger at an open computer tablet laying on the seat beside her. "We are the red dot, Taz is the blue. Keep me on the right course."

  I didn’t have a clue about that magic Rose called GPS, but Cin apparently understood it well enough to be of help. The trouble with Finding is that it gives the distance between you and your target in a straight line. It doesn’t take roads and accessibility into account.

  Cin crawled into the front seat and took the tablet on her lap. "Can do."

  In a matter of minutes, we pulled off the road down a much smaller gravel one. Well, actually more of a path than a road, and parked the van next to Taz's motorbike. Taz and Jed were waiting beside it. But they weren't the only ones there. The Davis family’s green pickup truck was also in the makeshift parking lot, and the tall man in jeans and a leather jacket stood with them.

  Jed nodded to Rose and jerked his head towards the man. "This is Matt Davis. He's a good witch, and we have reason to think his son was with Lily when she disappeared."

  Rose glared at the man. "Quinn?" She took a step closer to him. "Quinn took my granddaughter?" Okay, I know Taz had said that Rose was a scary rabbit, but I'd never really seen that side of her until now. Taz was right. I wouldn't want to stand between her and Lily.

  But my sister was pretty scary too. She stepped between the two. "Actually, Lily went willingly. She rode her bike there, remember?"

  It didn't seem to appease Rose much, but at least she backed off. "You really think it was such a great idea to bring him along? Considering the shape Lily is likely to be in when we get to her?"

  Taz glanced at Matt. "Yeah, well, it wasn't exactly our choice. Short of shooting out his tires, we couldn't stop him from following us here."

  "Damn straight you couldn't stop me. My son might be in there too, you know."

  Actually, we did know. He wasn't. But people don't tend to believe in our powers, so he wouldn't know that.

  "What I'd like to know is what the hell are we waiting for? Let's go get those kids," Matt said.

  "Look, Matt, there are things you don't know," Jed said. "And there are things we don't know too. We all want those kids back, but we want them safe and sound, not put into danger by us acting too quickly without all of the facts, right?"

  "What are you, special forces or something?"

  "As a matter of fact, yes." Jed hesitated then nodded at Dunwood. "And so is he. So please, just get back in your truck and let us get the feel for just what we've got here."

  Matt scoffed but shut up. He didn't get in his truck, but at least he went over to it and leaned on it. Out of our way. Good witch.

  We were about to do the secret huddle thing when we were joined by the rest of the pack. Well, all save one. MacDougal and
Shaylee appeared out of thin air, which gave Matt quite a start. Yeah, well, just wait buddy, the fun was only just beginning.

  A second later Rebel, Benni, and Danti popped in. Rebel didn't seem too happy about the two little ones being there. But Lily was special to them, and they weren't budging.

  "The trickster agreed to give us a lift, but canna stay to help," MacDougal said, glancing over at Elmer. "The situation being what it is and all."

  The air thinned for a second and there were five more women standing with us. All wore Faerie Royal Guard uniforms, and all were known to me. They were my guard. I'm not generally the emotional type, or at least I didn't use to be, but I could almost feel my eyes start to water up. When we got to this realm, they had pretty much gone their own way after a week or two. But here they were, just when I needed them. It meant a lot.

  Macy, who had been my second in command stepped forward and knelt. "Your command, Steele." The others knelt behind her.

  I had to swallow away the knot before I could respond. "Thank you all for coming. You are well needed in this fight."

  We heard a car door slam, and I realized that Matt had finally taken Jed's advice and gotten into his truck. A second later, we heard the door locks engage. I had to smile. Yeah, welcome to the real world, buddy. Here there be goblins. Which brought up a point.

  "Hey, guys, did anyone think to give him a four-leaf clover? I'd hate to end up fighting him if he really is on our side." But with Titania's ability to cast a glamour, it could happen. She could easily take on Quinn’s appearance if she chose to.

  We all looked toward the truck, which in turn seemed to make Matt even more nervous.

  "I'll take care of it," Jed said. He strode toward the truck with his hands in the air. After all, Matt had brought that shotgun with him.

  He stopped a few feet from the driver's window and motioned for him to roll it down. Matt rolled it down about an inch and there it stayed. It was enough.

  "Look," Jed said. "I wish we had the time to bring you up to speed, but we just don't. I want to give you something, and I want you to wear it—no questions asked okay? You just don't know what we are dealing with here, and we do. You are going to need this, and you need to wear it. Do you understand?"