Dark Demon Rising: Whisperings Paranormal Mystery book seven (21 page)

“Well,
yeah,” Rain said as if she hadn’t thought of it that way.

Royal’s
face might have been made of marble and his words came out clipped as he got to
his feet. “Sorry to have bothered you.”

I
harked back to what Angelina told us. “Wait. Angelina said to tell you she sent
us. Does that make a difference?”

“And
don’t forget the Station Master refused to let us pass because he wanted to
keep Maggie out but Royal insisted she come with us. Then the door opened. Angelina
thinks . . . well . . . she said. . . .” Chris tripped over the words before
managing to spit it out, “
Downside
opened it.”

Rain
twisted her neck to stare at Maggie. “Why keep you out?”

Royal
replied, “We think because Maggie is human and we are not.”

Rain’s
eyebrows shot up. “I don’t mean to be rude, but what are you?”

“We
are Gelpha.”

Rain
waited out the silence, then gave one of those shrugs meaning,
okay, if you
don’t want to tell us more, have it your own way.

“I
doubt the Station Master wanted to turn Maggie away because she’s human. Humans
do come, though rarely now. But they have stains on their souls. See what I
mean? They’re bad people and a little or a lot crazy. They belong here more than
they do Upside.”

“So
the Station Master didn’t think Maggie should come in because she’s
not
a bad human?” I asked.

“Exactly.”
She frowned, gaze dropping to her knees. “You should have said Angie sent you. She
knows more than she’s saying; she always does.” She drummed her fingers on the
floor. “You tried to bring a human woman Downside and the Station Master refused
to let her in, but the door opened anyway.”

“How
did you meet Angelina?” River asked.

“A
friend came years ago,” said Chris.

“You
didn’t have a problem leaving her?”

What
an odd question.

“Why
would we? She is an enchanting woman.”

“Sirens
usually are.”

“You
mean siren as in lure men to their death? Good grief!”

Siren,
huh. Aren’t they supposed to sit on rocks in the sea, singing, enticing seamen
to jump overboard? Or is that a Lorelei?

Rain
said, “Not to their death but a lot of people leave her house with less of
themselves.” She added in a mutter, “As River knows to his cost.”

River
gave her a sour look, which Rain ignored.

Chris
tucked his chin into his neck. “When I called her a siren, it was meant as
flattery.”

“She
must have got a kick out of that,” River said in a wry tone.

I
snorted. “So you didn’t overpower her with your charm. She was reeling you in
for a nibble.”

Chris
threw a wounded look in Maggie’s direction after she spoke for me. “Her
companion, Micah, said they are mers.”

“They
are, but Angie’s also a siren. She enraptures a person and feeds off their
energy.”

“Mermaids
don’t have tails?” Maggie asked, disappointed.

“Not
on land but yes, their tails form when they’re in water.”

“We
felt her spell but it had little effect on Chris and I,” Royal said. “Maggie,
on the other hand. . . .”

“Oh,
shut up,” from Maggie, her eyes wide open.

Rain
hid a grin behind her hand.

“When
she said Felipe went to her willingly, she meant he didn’t succumb to her spell
but they. . . .” I faltered. “He wanted an affair anyway,” I finished lamely.

“Poor
Felipe,” said Chris. “What a thing to forget. Should we tell him?”

“Sure,
if you have a cruel streak.”

His
palm splayed on his chest. “How can you think anything but tenderness fills my
heart?”

Why
did I doubt his declaration had anything to do with Felipe?

Royal
cut in grumpily. “Quite, but back to the reason she sent us here.”

Chapter Twenty-One

“Angie
must think Downside really needs you, and you need help. But why us when she
could have referred you to one of half a dozen crews?” Rain said thoughtfully.
“Angie and I had a falling out, we didn’t part on good terms.” She paused,
toothing her upper lip.

“Shan
wants the boy-king, or whatever he is,” she mused. Her brows lowered. “For the
mage’s spell to work, he must have Tiff’s body and spirit. Well and good, you
bring her body to Arthemy. But Shan wants the boy as payment. The mage won’t
cast his spell if the boy isn’t there. Hence, the boy
must
make an
appearance.” Her eyes sought River’s.

“Are
you thinking what I’m thinking?” he said.

Rain
tilted her head as her eyebrows lofted. She switched her arms to anchor one
knee and stretched the other leg along the floor. “Probably. Sending them to us
stinks of manipulation.”

“You
sound as if you’re putting pieces together,” I said. “What’s on your mind?”

“I’d
prefer not to say at the moment, but it bears looking into.” Rain braced her
hands on the floor and slid her back up the wall. “Where can we find Arthemy?”

“We
drove from The Station heading—” Royal stopped, started again. “I do not know
east from west here, so say with The Station on our right we drove from there
to the fifth street on the left. We then went through an intersection, and from
there took the second street on our right, the next street right, ahead through
an intersection, the next street on our left. Arthemy’s house is the third
along, on the left.”

Good
golly, he committed the drive to memory.

“Did
you get that, you big galoot?” Rain looked at the sofa. She nodded. “Good. Can
you take a look?”

There
followed a one-sided conversation:

“I
know what galoot means.”

“No,
Castle, I do not think you’re a knuckle-dragging oaf. Playing you at your own
game.”

“Fluffy
bunny? Do I look anything like a fluffy bunny?”

“Oh.
Fluff-buns. Yeah,
so
much better, Castle.”

“I
dunno? What do you usually look for in a blood mage’s house?”

“Always
a first for everything.”

“We’ll
be waiting.”

She
sounded crazy and a ghost partner was too outlandish to be believed.

What
was I thinking? I partnered with two ghosts. Why did someone else partnering
with a shade discombobulate me?

“He
. . . um . . . likes to call me pet names,” said Rain.

Ah,
the fluffy bunny thing. Better than some of the names Mel and Jack called me.

“I’ll
talk to Angie,” Rain said.

River
said, “You sure you want to?”

“One
of us has to and better me than you.”

River
swept his hair back from his forehead. “Don’t remind me again.”

“Did
you and Angelina . . . ah. . . ?” Chris asked.

River’s
gaze dropped. He rubbed his knee. “Not willingly.”

I
smirked. Chris’ latest infatuation sure spread her charms around.

Rain
got into the harness, settled the scabbard on her back and got her still damp
leather coat from the bathroom. With a nod of farewell, she left by the front
door.

“May
as well make yourselves comfortable,” River said. “This’ll take time.”

Royal
and Chris decided not to stand in the middle of the small room like a couple of
tree stumps for as long as it took, and sat at the dinette table.

“Can
I ask something about Downside?” Maggie said. “Me, not Tiff?”

River
spread his fingers and flexed them. “Go ahead but be warned, Downside is a land
of many
‘whys’
and
‘whats’
and few answers.”

Maggie
looked at the window. “Out there, it’s red. It can’t be a sky, but if it’s a
ceiling it’s incredibly high.” She offered a tiny, uncertain smile. “And the
rain . . . or water, why is there so
much
of it?”

River
looked past Maggie at the window. “It
is
the sky. And we don’t have rain
this frequently all year. Rivers and streams are salt water so rain is our pure
source. The rainfall gives all we can use.” He grinned. “Takes some getting
used to, doesn’t it.”

“How
do you
know
it’s the sky? Has anyone been up there?”

“The
angels told us.”

“Angels!
There are angels?”

“There
are.” River winked. “But I’d steer clear of them if I were you. They’re
unpredictable creatures and can be spiteful.”

“You’re
joshing me.” Maggie slid off the yellow chair and grabbed the sides. “Caverns,
even huge one, don’t have skies and rainfall.”

“Cavern?”
River made a face. “You’ve seen a fraction of one district in Gettaholt, it’s a
big city and there are other cities this size and a heap of towns and villages,
plus vast tracts of undeveloped land. We’ve been to the Far North, a mountain region
of ice and snow; getting there took days by boat and car. You can’t fit
Downside in a cavern.”

Having
traveled the Ways, used the Gates and seen Bel-Athaer, you’d think I’d have an
easier time accepting Downside. But the logical part of my brain still
struggled to categorize this weird place and especially its inhabitants. Poor
Maggie, who until today saw the world as a solid ball of dirt, must be at a
loss.

River
went to the counter, reached behind and produced squares of soft red material,
cotton mop, bore brush, cleaning rod and a small tin can. He took everything to
the table and spoke to Royal and Chris. “Do you mind? I need elbow room.”

With
a sour look from Chris, he and Royal moved to the sofa.

River
sat in the chair facing us, took his gun from the holster and began to clean it.
“Rain and humidity play hell with it.”

It
was a basic if heavy revolver. I stood behind River and watched him clean and
lubricate the bore and action, and wipe the action with a cloth. He rubbed the
rest of the gun with another cloth. All the time, his gaze rested on Chris and
Royal.

Royal
sat slightly hunched, coiled like a spring about to
sproing
at any
second, contained inside himself. Chris crossed one knee over the other and
examined his fingernails as if he found them fascinating. Maggie went to the
window and looked out.

River
eyed the men quizzically as he worked. “I was full of questions when I came
here, drove Rain crazy with them. I’m surprised you haven’t said a thing about
what you saw in the streets.”

“What
can
we say?” Chris slightly lifted one shoulder. “We’ve never seen anything
like them.”

“No.
But I’m sure you’ve read about most, though any similarity to their description
in Upside tales and lore is questionable.” He finished polishing his pistol and
settled it in the holster.

“I
have a question,” Chris said.

River
cocked an inquiring eyebrow. “Go ahead.”

“What
are you?”

He
smiled slightly. “I thought you realized when Rain told you about Castle. He
was a wraith, so are Rain and I.”

Whoa.
I had no inkling he wasn’t human.

“You?
My dear fellow, surely you jest.”

River’s
lips quirked. “Rain told me we were given the name long ago by those who
couldn’t decide whether we’re living or dead. Our flesh is mutable. We can be
as solid as you or, as we say, shed it, let it melt away into the atmosphere, until,
perhaps, we resemble wraiths as they’re imagined. We can, if we want, disperse
every particle of flesh, blood, bone, sinew. Until. . . .”

Bet
I wasn’t the only one holding my breath.

“Until?”
Chris prodded.

River
shifted his shoulders. “What do you think?”

I
guessed Castle had returned when River looked aside and said, “Before you say anything,
can you see if Rain’s heading back? Save having to repeat yourself.”

An
instant later he said, “Rain’s on her way, here in a minute or two.”

Royal
and Chris thrust to their feet, eyes on the door. Rain burst in soon after.

During
the next few eerie minutes we watched Rain and River listen to what we didn’t
hear, their expressions rapidly changing.

“Well
damn.” River deposited himself on the sofa. Rain plopped beside him, their
shoulders touching.

“Castle
found rooms and passages under the house Arthemy is leasing,” Rain began
quietly. “And in those rooms. . . .”

She
looked into the distance as she put up one hand, as if to keep us silent while
she composed herself, or listened to her invisible partner.

“Castle
found bodies in one room. Male and female, decapitated, burned, body parts in a
heap, heads missing. He thinks nine people, although deciding what parts
belonged to which body was difficult. Two dryads in another room. In the third,
four humans: two women, a man and an adolescent boy.”

Thinking
of the nine victims, I got the oddest feeling, as if I inhaled enough gas to
make me dizzy. It took me back to the beginning when the Charbroiler used Jacob
to find and destroy Gelpha. He took off their heads and burned their bodies, thinking
they were vampires and it was the only way to stop them resurrecting.

It
is also a surefire way to kill a Dark Cousin.

I
gave Maggie a verbal nudge, “Psst, Maggie we’re on again.”

As
she shut her eyes, I told her what to say. “Can Castle describe the four
prisoners?”

Rain
cocked her head, listening. “One woman has pale skin and long dark hair, the
other has dark skin and curling black hair. The young man has olive skin and
long black hair, and the boy is tanned with long blond hair.” She listened
again. “Castle says not blond, true yellow, an unusual color.”

I
knew someone who fitted the description. “You said they’re human, but you
thought Royal and Chris were human.”

The
two exchanged a look before returning their quizzical gazes to us. “They’re Gelpha?”

Chris
and I were on the same page. “Not Gelpha but we share the same origins.” He massaged
his chin with one hand. “You could say we’re cousins.”

I
jumped in again. “The boy Castle described . . . Teo Papek, Shan’s son.”

“Living
and dead, there are thirteen. Less than a score of Cousins survive,” Royal
said. “Or did.”

Did
Gia Sabato’s body lie among the charred remains? A sharp pang accompanied the
thought she might be dead. It came from a memory: a single tear slipping down
Gia’s cheek when she thought her lover was dead.

I
pushed the memory away. I had to concentrate on the here and now.

“What
did Angie say?” River asked.

“You
know how mysterious she can be. Still, she did say Shan needs stopping at any
cost.”

“
Any
cost?”

“Yeah,
and she was serious.”

“Wonder
if she knew about the bodies when the Upsiders went to her?”

Upsiders?
Oh, us.

“Dunno.
But she did already know Shan needs dealing with and told us how.”

“She
did? I must have missed that part,” I said.

“From
your description, you met Shan and Arthemy in the chamber where the mage casts
his spells. If—” Rain stopped talking and listened, then continued, “A door
opens to the garden in the rear. Arthemy’s spell room backs on to an alley but no
door leading out to it.” She eyed River.

“Ideal,”
he said. “Shan won’t suspect a thing.”

Huh?

Rain’s
forehead creased. “You’ll have to take our weapons in with you,” she told
Royal, “and a distraction will help.”

“Royal
takes him the kid,” River agreed.

Royal
shoved himself to his feet and his hands balled. “Lawrence? I told you, I will not
hand him to Shan.”

“We
know someone who can help, if he agrees. He’s a sióga prince, his name is
Baelfleur.”

“Sióga?”

“Fairy,”
said River.

“You
must be kidding,” I said but Maggie didn’t repeat it.

Royal
took it in stride. “How can he help?”

“He
can impersonate the boy.”

“Excuse
me,” I interrupted, and this time Maggie decided to speak for me. “How can he
impersonate a boy he’s never seen?”

“He
can look like anyone, it’s what he does,” River said.

“We
think he’s the reason Angelina sent you to us. A handful of people know what he
can do and where he is. We’re counted among the privileged few,” Rain said.

Earlier,
Rain said Angelina sending us to her and River stank of manipulation. They
meant their knowing someone who could impersonate Lawrence. The siren knew
Royal had to take Lawrence to Shan to fulfill the Cousin’s stipulations.