by T R Kohler
Every so often, a tug of cool air could be felt rising from it.
“Jonas,” Rocco said, his familiar voice carrying a twinge of concern. “We may have a problem.”
“May?” Jonas asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“Yes,” Rocco replied. “I just had a visitor.”
Chapter Twelve
The skin along the back of Ember’s throat felt raw as she stepped out from between the front gates and made her way back to the Mustang. Fortunate to have Rocco open it from the confines of the home, she was able to pass between a small opening, hearing it slide back into position the moment she was through.
Forcing herself not to let him see her cough until she was free of the grounds, the instant she was beyond the mailbox and callbox along the front drive, she darted to the side. Hidden behind the tall brick wall lining the perimeter, she bent at the waist, hacking hard, attempting to remove the offending burn from her throat.
Each time she did, small bits of flesh passed over her tongue, dripping to the ground, laced with bright-red blood.
“Damn,” Kaia said, sitting up from behind the steering wheel. Peering over the passenger-side door, she slid the sunglasses down her nose, watching the spectacle. “And here I thought watching your fat ass waddle up over the gate was fun.”
Eyes narrowing, Ember turned to glare at her, a string of bloody spittle hanging from her bottom lip. “What the hell was in that drink he gave me?”
A wicked grin formed on Kaia’s face, slow dawning sliding in over her features. “Ha! You forgot rule one already, didn’t you?”
“Rule one?”
“Yeah, the part about being in Hell,” Kaia said. “Which means you don’t get to enjoy the pleasures of the world. Coffee, alcohol, even sex.”
It seemed like a vital piece of information, the type of thing that should have been included in the initial orientation, though Ember didn’t bother pointing it out. Forcing up one last cough, she spat the resulting chunk of flesh from her mouth before rising. Passing the back of her sleeve over her face, she settled a glare on Kaia as she strode forward and slid into the car.
Everything about the girl – from her flippant attitude to her lack of full clothing – was as if she had been designed to personally irritate Ember. The full embodiment of everything she despised.
Just like that damn song on the alarm.
And the cold water in the shower.
The first in what would surely be thousands more. The kinds of things that didn’t even warrant pointing out.
“Love what you did with the jeans,” Kaia said. “And again, watching that show with the gate was some of the best comedy I’ve seen in ages. Are you sure you didn’t work with Sandler in your previous life?”
Twisting her leg to the side, Ember looked down to her jeans. She could see the wide swath of blood crusted solid, the bottom four inches stained black.
Far from the first work-related injury she’d sustained, she had a feeling it wouldn’t be the last, either.
And like she’d told Rocco, she was a bleeder.
“Do I have access to a phone?” Ember asked, bypassing Kaia’s comment without so much as a response.
“A phone? Did you not just catch the part about being in Hell? And who do you think you’re going to call, anyway?”
“The internet,” Ember replied. “I got a lead in there, and I need to do some research. I assume I at least have that much at my disposal?”
Tugging her sunglasses down the rest of the way from her nose, Kaia stared over at Ember. Seeming to debate something internally, she bored her gaze into Ember for several moments, remaining motionless, before extending a hand. Pressing the pads of her fingers against the cover on the small compartment in front of the gear shift, she raised the plastic covering on it to reveal the newest model of iPhone on the market.
Slim and solid black, it shone under the bright sun as Kaia grabbed it up and thrust it to Ember.
Whether it was there the whole time or summoned on command, Ember couldn’t be certain. The item seemed completely at odds with the dented ride they were in, thus far the single most impressive thing she’d seen.
The rest seemed like it was subpar by design.
“It won’t make calls, so don’t try,” Kaia said. “And I get a copy of everything you type and every website you visit, so don’t think you can just go online and start sending out emergency blasts for help.”
Neither thought had ever occurred to Ember. Like Kaia had said earlier, they had her. No matter how miserable, no matter how much she despised the girl beside her, nothing changed that.
She was in Hell, for the foreseeable future at least.
Ignoring the girl again, Ember snatched the phone away. Turning it right side up, she took just a moment to familiarize herself with the layout and design before going to work on it. Thumbs flying across the screen, she pulled up a browser and went into a basic search engine.
Thirty seconds later, she was staring at the website for the downtown showroom of Mr. John Lee Tam. Done in bright colors and flowing script, it showed one picture after another of cavernous rooms, all of them crammed to capacity with artifacts and relics of various ages and origins.
Flicking her way down the screen, Ember gave just a cursory glance to the various items offered.
“Not much into antiques?” Kaia said, leaning across the middle console to peer at the screen.
Never in her real life had Ember given a damn about such things, the glassware she had mentioned to Rocco the closest things to antiques they had ever owned.
“Ex-husband was always obsessed with the newest and shiniest,” Ember said. “Newest cars, newest televisions, newest computers.”
“Even a new wife, right?” Kaia inserted.
The comment was meant to be a barb, but Ember was well past caring at this point. She had been traded in for a newer model. And when she wasn’t quite what he wanted, she would be put under the knife for a few new enhancements of her own.
The only part that continued to bother her at this point was where the bastard got off thinking he was worthy of such things. It wasn’t like there was a paucity of balding forty-year-olds out there with a paunch and five o’clock shadow.
Scrolling to the bottom of the page, Ember finally found what she was looking for. Tilting the screen, she tapped at the small lettering along the bottom and asked, “Do you know this address?”
Leaning in, Kaia peered at it, her nose wrinkling slightly.
In such a position, Ember imagined herself swinging the phone up in a hard arc, smashing the Plexiglas screen into the girl’s nose. Hooking her left hand around Kaia’s neck, she would slam the phone into her pretty face, swinging away until the screen was pulverized and the girl’s perfect features were a mottled mess of blood and bruising.
Just thinking about it formed the first genuine smile on her face since she’d woken that morning.
Even if it was only a nice daydream.
Besides, Ember had an idea in place for their next destination, and she needed to ensure Kaia remained in pristine condition at least until then.
“Yeah,” Kaia said, “that’s in the Gaslight District downtown. What’s there?”
Maybe nothing. But it was worth going to take a look.
Chapter Thirteen
For almost a decade, Ember had been hearing stories about the bustling metropolis of San Diego. Lumped in with mid-tier cities such as Portland, Austin, and Nashville, it was one of those that people throughout the country were flocking to in droves.
Located on the opposite end of the I-5 from Seattle, it was supposed to be the younger, warmer, sunnier sibling to the Emerald City.
Sitting in the passenger seat, staring out the window, all Ember could see was urban blight. Warehouses and military installations were built up close to the freeway on either side. Scab land and ragged palm trees were shoved into odd formations in the rare spots where there was a bit of free space.
Everyth
ing looked like it had been sun- and sand-blasted into submission.
And that was to say nothing of the oppressive heat, though whether that was San Diego or her being locked in the clutches of Hell was anybody’s guess.
Sitting in silence, the phone still gripped in her hand grew moist with sweat as she sat and stared out. Behind the steering wheel, Kaia continued to treat the freeway like her own personal slalom run, dodging in and out of traffic as she maneuvered toward downtown.
Traveling at a rate of speed that was neither safe nor advisable, she worked them past the airport and more turnoffs for places with Spanish names Ember had never heard of before taking a hard right into the business district.
Almost instantly, the blistering sun disappeared from above, blotted out by skyscrapers rising tall on either side. Ignoring all posted signs and warnings, Kaia drove three blocks into the heart of town, scads of day workers in suits and dresses staring as they tore past.
People enduring their own sort of Hell, if Ember really wanted to be honest about it.
Eighteen minutes after leaving Tam’s house in La Jolla, the Mustang pulled to a stop on Front Street, parked illegally along a red curb. Ember sat and stared straight up at a building that rose more than thirty floors above them. Windows tinted black, it appeared dark and ominous, a contrast from most of the architecture around them.
“Subtle,” she whispered.
“Yeah, well, you get that,” Kaia said. Lifting the sunglasses from her nose, she dropped them atop her head, strands of blond hair jutting at odd angles beneath them.
The first floor of the building was split between an Italian restaurant and an office supply store, bright lights visible behind the darkened windows on either side. Tinted just enough to keep any further detail from view, Ember dismissed each instantly before settling her gaze on the double door in the center of the building.
Glancing down to the listing for Tam’s still pulled up on the phone, she said, “Suite 1405. So the place is about halfway up, I’d guess.”
“And the way it works is, you go up, it doesn’t come to you,” Kaia replied.
Slowly pushing out a plume of hot breath, Ember turned her head just far enough to the side to let Kaia see her glare. “So what is your role in all of this?”
Opening her mouth, most likely about to release another caustic barb, Kaia pulled up. A crease appeared between her brows as she thought on the question, before managing, “Just like I told you. This is your show to run. I’m just here to make sure you don’t do anything stupid. You know, like-”
“Yeah, yeah, I got it,” Ember said, nodding along. “What I mean is, can you play an active part in any of this? Or are you strictly oversight?”
In Ember’s last post, she’d had a partner with her at all times. Given the various points of her career – starting out as a rookie, moving up to a beat cop, eventually transitioning to detective – who she was linked with had changed. As had their respective abilities.
What exactly Kaia was capable of, she had no clue about just yet.
What she did know was the girl had a certain look that was undeniable, even if it was likely created just to piss her off.
“Depends,” Kaia said. “I won’t do your job for you, if that’s what you want.”
Only a couple of times before had Ember ever been into a showroom. On both visits, the places were meant to house artwork, though she had a feeling they would bear a fair semblance to what she was about to walk into.
“I need a distraction,” Ember said. “At least, there’s a good chance I will.”
“Wow,” Kaia said, turning and hitting her with a dead stare. “You now seem to have forgotten rules one and three. You can’t-”
“I don’t want you to blow the damn place up,” Ember said, cutting off the lecture before it really gained steam. “I want you to walk in there and put that outfit of yours to good use.”
A smile came to Kaia’s face, her features brightening as she sat up a few inches in her seat. “Yeah? You think there’ll be someone in there that might like it?”
If Ember still had money, she would be willing to wager every cent she had that a man would be working inside Tam’s shop. Certain industries just seemed to pull them in by the droves.
It’s not like one ever saw a used car saleswoman.
And just as surely, she couldn’t imagine most any red-blooded male in the country not at least stopping to say hello to someone that looked like Kaia.
“Maybe,” Ember said.
“Huh,” Kaia replied. “And what will you be doing while I’m keeping everybody occupied?”
The particulars of that would have to wait until Ember got inside and had a look around. Reaching out, she unlatched the passenger door and said, “Suite 1405. Give me ten minutes, and then come strutting in like you own the place.”
Turning to stare up the building before them, Kaia said, “Yeah, I can do that.”
“I have no doubt.”
Chapter Fourteen
The pain in Ember’s leg was completely gone by the time she stepped off the elevator on the fourteenth floor. Feeling absolutely nothing save the soft touch of the gauze on her skin, she exited onto a white marble floor, the material an exact match for what was inside Tam’s home.
Expecting to find a hallway, or a lobby, or at the very least a reception desk, she was instead thrust into the main area of a showroom, the place large and expansive. Stretching wide in either direction, it looked to include the entirety of the floor. Walls were kept to a minimum and painted white, windows lining the outer edges of the room.
In total, it made for a place that felt light and airy, almost ethereal.
Except for the sheer volume of items that seemed to be crammed into the area, enough to make even the most ardent hoarder proud.
Beginning just inside the door was a series of tables and chairs, some restored, others in their original vintage condition. Behind them were scads of tapestries and wall hangings of various designs and color schemes. Far too many to be housed in such a small area, the effect was less likely to cause someone to spend thousands of dollars on an item than it was to send them to the nearest CVS for Advil.
Stepping further into the spread, Ember found the next section to be just as suffused with antiques, followed by the third in order. Conjuring memories of the last flea market she had been to more than a decade before, the smells of must and rubbing alcohol tickled her nose, further irritating the raw feeling along the back of her throat.
But, again, at least her leg didn’t hurt.
Making a hard turn to the right, Ember roamed in a counter-clockwise direction. Rising up slightly onto her toes, she made sure her footfalls were as quiet as possible as she looped wide, always keeping the windows in sight. Dodging her way between various offerings ranging from African tribal masks to Egyptian scrolls, she made sure not to stare directly up at the cameras hanging down from the ceiling.
In her mind was a running clock, seconds ticking down until Kaia arrived.
“Excuse me, I didn’t see you come in. May I help you?”
Deep in thought, Ember hadn’t heard the man approach from behind her. Seemingly appearing from nowhere, she turned to see him standing in the center of the narrow aisle she was in. Tall and thin, his features were extremely pointed, his limp hair combed to the side.
Hands folded behind his back, he leaned forward slightly at the waist. His shoulders were both rolled inward, a tie hanging in the crevasse created between them.
“Hi there,” Ember said, conjuring a smile. “I didn’t even see you when I walked by.”
“No worries,” the man said, the corners of his mouth twitching upward. “I was in my office over there. May I help you with something?”
Careful not to reveal her elation at his admission or to let him know he had just inadvertently given her all the aid she needed, Ember took a step forward.
“Yes, I just came here from Mr. Tam’s house,” Ember said, choosing to co
ntinue the charade she had started earlier.
It was weak, but it was certainly the best she had.
“And Rocco told me Mr. Tam is out of the country, but I might want to check in here.”
This time, the corners of the man’s mouth trended in the opposite direction, a slight frown forming. “Rocco?”
Taking another step forward, Ember felt her brows come together. The man hadn’t given her a last name, but she was quite certain he’d told her to refer to him as Rocco. It had seemed odd at the time, given that he didn’t appear Italian, though she’d long since learned not to make such assumptions.
Her first partner was a white guy named Dante, after all.
“I may have misheard, with the giant dog that was after me and all, but I’m pretty sure that’s what he said.”
Bringing the smile up a notch, Ember held her leg up, letting the man see her bloodstained pant leg. “No pain too great when you’re on the trail, right?”
The line was meant as a joke, though the look on the man’s face was one of abject horror. His eyes went wide and his jaw sagged as he stared at her leg before casting a glance to either side.
“Oh, no worries,” Ember said, “it’s completely dry. I wouldn’t come in here otherwise.” Leaning forward a few inches, she said, “I mean, I’ve got a little money to spend, but it’s not like I’m crazy.”
Her second attempt at levity landed just as flat as the first, the man’s gaze returning to her leg. “No, I didn’t mean that, I just can’t believe such a thing would happen at Mr. Tam’s. He’s so particular about that sort of thing.”
His brow scrunched up, he debated things in silence, his face looking genuinely flummoxed. “And this man, Rocco?”
“That’s what he said. He looks after the grounds for Mr. Tam and that, unfortunately, his boss is out of the country. Is that not true?”
Releasing his hands from behind his back, the man brought them to his face and rubbed vigorously, his skin tugging on either side. Once he was done, he lowered them back to his side, his cheeks pink.
