The Hand of Kali Box Set (Books 1-3)

by T. G. Ayer

  She glanced at Claudia who was busy taking pictures of the scene. "We may find more bling at the bottom of the alley."

  Claudia raised her eyebrows and gave a sober, unaffected half-nod, but Maya knew she'd like that suggestion. Especially since she hadn't come up with it herself. Maybe Maya was showing more talent than what her nose possessed.

  She and Claudia headed off down the alley, heads moving back and forth, scanning grid by grid as they searched the cobbles. Neither one of them would want to miss even one square inch in case the police ended up finding something significant.

  Maya had suggested the continued search as a means of escaping Claudia's amused gaze, but she soon found herself wondering what else they'd discover. Her stomach did a little nauseated jump as she considered the killer and the trail of evidence he'd left behind.

  Well, the 'he' in question may now be a 'she', considering the demon blood, but that fact still needed confirmation. And Maya's tongue would manage to do the job instantly.

  Just gross.

  She gave a delicate shudder before taking another step, ensuring she moved with care so as not to slip on the wet cobbles. Another glinting object caught her eye, a shine that was oddly different from the charm. When she hunched down to get a closer look, it became clear why.

  The smooth, unpolished surface leaned slightly in the direction of the next streetlamp, reflecting a meager amount of the vapid yellow light. The raw edge, ragged and red, sent a shiver down Maya's spine.

  A fingernail.

  The remnant of the missing girl lay half-hidden on the cobbles, and mere chance and circumstance had allowed Maya to find it.

  She reached into her pocket for the tweezer again, with a hand that held a slight tremor. The sight of the fingernail had affected Maya more than she'd expected. She bent closer and gripped the nail, lifting it to what little light she could catch.

  Its bloody, ragged end indicated a struggle violent enough to brutally rip the entire nail from its bed. Maya turned the nail over to inspect it for residue in case the victim had scraped onto anything or anyone. She stiffened.

  The girl had grabbed onto something alright.

  Grabbed on hard enough to get skin and blood under the nail before it had been yanked off. Sabala let out another growl, the sound reminiscent of an underground train, rumbling beneath Maya's feet, the vibrations making more of an impact on her than the threat of sound. And she understood the hell-hound's agitation.

  The scent was strong enough to announce its ownership.

  Maya gritted her teeth as she slipped the nail into another clean plastic bag.

  She looked up as Claudia returned from her inspection empty-handed. Her aunt shook her head, dejection hanging over her like a dark cloud.

  "Nothing," she said with a sigh. Then her eyes fell on Maya's discovery and she leaned closer to inspect the bag. "Well done, Sherlock."

  Maya snorted but was still happy to accept the compliment. "Thanks, but the sooner we get back to put these into sealed containers the better. The aroma is about to fry my nasal passages to a crisp."

  Claudia nodded and headed up the alley with Maya hurrying after her. Her stomach grumbled and she wanted to laugh. Neither the scent of rotten flesh, nor that of rotten Czech food had affected her need for sustenance.

  As they walked, a light rain began to fall, and Maya closed in on her aunt. She slipped her hand into the crook of her elbow and said, "Let's move. I'm hungry."

  Claudia laughed as they entered the narrow street, still bustling this late at night. The route would take them back to their hotel. She grinned at Maya, her mouth half-open to say something smart or insulting.

  A man walked straight into them.

  Aiming for their locked arms, he bumped into their shoulders with such force that he sent both stumbling to either side while he simply hurried off down the sidewalk.

  Maya nose twitched as the stink of rotting meat seared itself into her nostrils.

  She watched, frozen in place, as Claudia fell, tilting slowly toward the busy street, unable to regain her balance.

  A horn blared, the sound jarring against Maya's eardrums. Around her, pedestrians began to slow down, taking notice that something was wrong. Maya paid them no attention, just lunged forward, desperate to grab onto Claudia, a hand, her clothing, anything to stop her from falling into the road.

  But her grasping fingers clutched dead air.

  Brakes screeched and Claudia hit the cab with an ominous thud, clipping her hip. The impact tossed her over the hood where she landed with a harsh crunch, her weight and momentum denting the metal. While the horn still blared and the brakes still squealed, Claudia slid down the hood of the vehicle. She dropped in front of the car in a tumble of sprawling arms and legs and disheveled hair.

  Skidding off the sidewalk onto the street, Maya stumbled towards Claudia, watching helplessly as her aunt hit the ground, her outstretched hand falling to the street just as the wheel of the car halted inches from her fingers.

  Maya sank to her knees beside Claudia's unmoving form, her shaking fingers shoving aside the collar of her silk shirt, searching for a pulse. Then she sighed and almost sank to the ground herself, barely hearing the horns blaring around her, barely noticing the gathered crowd of onlookers, eager to get a glimpse of blood and death.

  Claudia's heartbeat pulsed steadily against her fingers, confirming she still lived. More than Maya had expected.

  With her body stiff, her limbs wooden, Maya's heart fluttered. She'd come so close to losing Claudia. And all the powers bestowed upon her by the goddess Kali had counted for nothing.

  She'd been utterly powerless to stop Claudia from getting hurt.

  And that was an irony she did not appreciate.

  Chapter 10

  At just after midnight, Maya strode in circles across the carpet outside Claudia's bedroom, flicking her thumb back and forth across the top of a spare plastic bag. She couldn't even recall picking the packet up. Her mind had remained so focused on Claudia and her condition, that sleep had evaded her.

  She barely paid attention to the apartment itself, a small part of her acknowledging the designed ceiling, the old cornices and the patterned wallpaper. A beautiful example of old Prague interior design that went mostly unappreciated by Maya.

  How the hell had that happened? Was it deliberate? If she were honest with herself she'd admit her instinct was telling her the man, or demon, considering his particular aroma, had slammed into them deliberately. Had he followed them? Watched them at the scene collecting evidence?

  That opened up a can of rot Maya wasn't ready to contemplate.

  Right now she was in bed, recovering from the accident. She'd refused to go to the hospital and assured Maya she was still in one piece. She'd also mumbled something about being tougher than the last batch of Seals the Navy had produced.

  Maya had left her to rest just a couple hours ago, but now, a tortured sound brought her worried pacing to a halt. She tilted her head and listened intently. A groan emanated from inside the room, the sound not dissimilar to someone being choked to death. Was that the sound of pain? Or something worse?

  "Claude?" asked Maya, placing an ear to the door. "Are you okay?"

  "I'm fine." She sounded annoyed and not in the least bit sore. "Can you do me a favor?" she asked, her voice hopeful and a little too bright for Maya's liking.

  "Sure," Maya said, eager to help in any way she could. "What do you need?"

  "You can stop your damned pacing and have a rest."

  Maya snorted, then gripped the handle of the door. "Hope you're decent."

  She shoved the door open and entered the room to see Claudia standing in the middle of the room, in her underwear, lifting a pair of neon pink weights.

  "What in God's name are you doing?" Maya found she was almost yelling, her voice so high it broke on a screech.

  Claudia went very still, both dumbbells held above her head, blue and purpled bruises standing out starkly on her bare sk
in. She stared at Maya, lifting her chin a little in the face of the heat from Maya's furious glare.

  "I need to ensure I stay strong?" Her tone was meek and she didn't meet Maya's eyes.

  Maya folded her arms and nodded, her expression serious as she said, "So, flying through the air and landing on a car, then on the ground, are not reasons enough for you to take it easy?" Maya deliberately stared first at Claudia's colorful ribs, then her bruised shoulder.

  But Claudia shook her head, her hair bouncing in the high ponytail she'd used to keep it away from her glistening face. "I have a responsibility. To your parents, to you."

  "Responsibility?" Maya asked, her ears catching the sound of clicking on the wooden floors coming closer and closer.

  "Yes. While you're with me, you're my responsibility. There's no time to waste lying in bed. We need to get a move on this case and part of that means I need to be strong enough to protect you if the shit hits the fan."

  Movement behind Maya told her that Sabala had come to a standstill in the doorway and when he let out what sounded like a choked sneeze, Maya had a hard time trying not to laugh.

  "What the hell was that?" asked Claudia, eyes going wide as she stared intently at the open doorway.

  "Sabala," said Maya, unable to suppress her grin.

  "What's wrong with him?" Claudia asked, looking blindly at the empty threshold.

  "I'm assuming it's not often that he gets to see a sweaty, bandaged chick in hot pink lace underwear lifting a pair of hot pink dumbbells."

  Claudia started to laugh but she quickly choked it off with a wince that twisted her face into something fit solely for a horror movie. She took a step back and sank onto the bed, letting the weights fall onto the carpet.

  It was Maya's turn to wince as the heavy metal hit the wood floor, and wonder if the downstairs guests would complain about all the noise they'd made since they'd returned from their foray in and on the streets of Prague.

  "Where the hell did you get those dumbbells anyway?"

  "The apartment is well-stocked," was all she said.

  Maya sighed. "Claude," said Maya, speaking slow and with gentle care, as if she was trying to persuade a child to part with a dangerous toy. "You have to rest."

  Claudia grunted and threw her a glare.

  Shaking her head, Maya threw both hands in the air. "Okay, fine. At least get back under the covers."

  "Why?" Claudia asked, her dark eyes flashing.

  "I don't think Sabala's sensibilities can handle that much naked flesh for too long."

  Claudia snorted, then dived under the blankets muttering something about respect and kids these days. She pulled the sheet up to her neck and sat with her back to the carved wooden headboard, glaring at Maya.

  "Happy?" Her tone wasn't much different to an Arctic ice-shelf

  "Very."

  "Now what?" Claudia asked, almost meek, but Maya didn't buy it.

  "Now, I tell you what I found after partaking of my little demonic delicacy."

  Claudia's eyebrows shot to her hairline. "You found something?" she asked leaning forward. "Well, don't make me wait, kid. I'm still the adult in this outfit."

  Maya smirked and considered taking advantage of the situation and making Claude wait in suspense for a while longer, but she couldn't control the urge to reveal what she'd discovered.

  She hurried over and sank onto the foot of the bed.

  "Watch it," Claudia snapped as the spongy mattress shuddered, sending her bouncing up and down.

  "Now you're worried about your injuries?" asked Maya, shaking her head. The woman was impossible to figure out.

  Claudia waved a hand, dismissing the question, then gave Maya a pointed glare. "Out with it."

  Maya leaned forward. "I tested it twice, and both times it came up the same." She paused while Claudia tried unsuccessfully to dissolve the expression of disgust on her face. "It's Rakshasi. High-level female. But we knew that. The nail though, that I wouldn't have guessed. It doesn't belong to the victim."

  "It's not human?"

  Maya shook her head as her heart thudded. She wasn't liking the way this case was going. "Nope. The victim gave her a pretty hard time. The nail belonged to the demon perp."

  "Wow." Claude shook her head and leaned back again. "Not a smart move leaving a piece of oneself behind at the scene."

  "She may not have realized it. We know demons use their human hosts to get around, but sometimes they aren't fully in tune with it. And, the older the host the more likely it is that vigorous activity, like murder, could loosen a body part or too." Strange, talking about demonic body possession as if she was discussing nail-polish shades or the latest blockbuster movies. She suppressed a sigh.

  "If we took the nail to a full-scale forensics lab, maybe they could tell us something about the health of the possessed person, and maybe their age too." Maya got to her feet and went to the window. "I'm thinking the nail tissue could tell us something. Don't hair and nails continue to grow after you die?"

  She shifted her gaze to Claudia who was nodding.

  "We can courier it to the Amsterdam office. We have a good facility there. Enough to perform the testing." Claudia was nodding, her mind already moving a mile a minute.

  "We have a facility in Amsterdam?" Maya wanted to bite her tongue the second the question slipped out. Of course, they did. They had properties all around the world, and employees in offices worldwide.

  "Still trying to get your head around the whole thing, eh?" asked Claudia. Her face, showed the effects of the accident, a purple bruise coloring the left side of her face from cheekbone to temple, another marring her right along her chin.

  Maya shrugged, threading her fingers together. Nails clicked on the floor and a soft whine emanated from her side. Sabala didn't like being so close to the demon's remnants, and she understood his discomfort.

  Then she laughed. "I guess a secret organization having little pockets in cities all around the world, isn't so bad. Not when you compare it to inheriting the ability to throw fireballs and sniff out demons. And certainly not when you compare it to the fact that the freaking gods are real."

  "It'll get easier," said Claudia, clearly saying what she hoped would make Maya feel better, but knowing it probably wouldn't.

  With a soft smile, Maya said. "I'm getting the hang of things."

  Claudia blinked then snuggled down under the blankets and suppressed a yawn. "So . . . when do you start your next training?" The words were slurred a little as fatigue took its toll.

  "How do you know about that?" Maya asked, shaking her head. "Are there no secrets left in my life?"

  "Nope." Claudia struggled to keep her eyes open. "Families don't have secrets," she whispered. A low hiss of breath left her lips and Maya smiled.

  She'd finally fallen asleep. With what the woman had been through you'd think she'd have passed out hours ago, but not Claudia. She'd go down fighting every time.

  Maya slid off the mattress slowly and left the room with Sabala in tow. She shut the door as softly as she could, before heading to the couch where she'd piled pillows and blankets. Autumn in Prague wasn't exactly the Riviera.

  Sabala followed close on her heels, choosing a spot beside the large brocade sofa where he sat back on his haunches to watch over her.

  Maya shivered, huddling close to the fire, moving the glowing logs with the iron poker from a metal stand beside the fireplace. The apartment was heated, but the fire warmed Maya to her bones, in a way that central-heating simply couldn't.

  Not unlike the way her own fire warmed her. From the inside, from deep down within the core of her being.

  Maya sank onto the couch and rested her head on the soft pillow, and stared at the dancing flames. The wood spat, and embers burst sending sparks flying into the air where they turned to nothing within seconds.

  Fire.

  Beautiful. Infinitely powerful.

  At times like this, while watching the beauty of the element of power, it was easy to
feel blessed, easy to see the ability to control fire as the ultimate power. Easy, but burdensome too.

  Only when the heat began to fade and only after the flames had died down, did Maya fall asleep, her last wakeful moments spent touching on the unspoken question.

  Did she really get to own this kind of power?

  Or did the power own her?

  Chapter 11

  The next morning Maya found herself gritty-eyed and bone-tired, as if she had been the one hit by a car. As she walked to the bedroom, she scraped her knuckles across her sore eyes and yawned twice, so hard her jaw clicked loud enough for Sabala to sit up and take notice.

  The muscles of her back and neck were coiled tightly, and throbbed, probably protesting her night on the unforgiving sofa. But she had to admit, having the fire keeping her toasty was a good enough trade-off for any of her aches and pains.

  She was in the middle of a satisfying stretch when she stopped cold at the threshold of the bedroom.

  Claudia was already up and dressed in jeans, boots and a silk shirt, her hair curling in the steam escaping the attached bathroom. If it hadn't been for the incredibly colorful bruising on her face, Maya would never have been able to tell what she'd been through.

  As Maya raised an eyebrow, Claudia leaned closer to the mirror above the dresser and expertly applied concealer to hide the multitude of bruises. Seconds later she stood back, examined her reflection, then gave a satisfied nod.

  Reaching for her backpack, which sat already packed and waiting on the bed, she threw her cosmetic bag inside and closed the zipper. She looked up, giving Maya a faded smile before pointing at the open bathroom door. "You jump in the shower. I have to email Amsterdam to give them a heads up about the test we need on the nail, and I'm hoping the police have come up with some of their own leads. Then we head out for a second look at the alley. Daylight might give us a bit more info."

  From the expression on Claudia's face, she wasn't going to take any rest advice from Maya. The set of her jaw, and that hard glint in her eye suggested Maya nod and obey. Claudia was already half way out the room when Maya sighed and turned on her heel.