Shadow Rising (30 page)

“Talk to you in a bit, my sweet. My man’s name is Standers,
by the way. He’ll keep an eye on the body.” He hung up, and I clicked over to Carter.

“Carter?”

“Menolly? I have news. I got a call from a compatriot in Portland, Oregon. Something seems to be amiss with the witches and pagans there. A lingering malaise spreading through the communities.”

“That sounds all too familiar.”

“Yes, doesn’t it? I’ve talked to the witch who casts my wards. She’s a powerful sorceress, not fully human, but I’m not going to speculate on what her other lineage might be. She said that a week or so ago, she started to notice her energy flagging. She didn’t seem all that interested in talking to me, and I know something must be wrong.”

“I know what’s going on, Carter, but I can’t talk right now. We found our agent, I think. Dead. We’ll stop by after we get done in the park.” I paused, then added, “Carter, things are starting to go down in a really bad way. Watch your back.” And with that, I hung up and headed back into the living room to give Camille and Delilah the news.

The three of us, along with Shade, Morio, and Chase, headed out for the park. For once, I longed for the pull of the sun. So much had happened the past few nights that everybody was getting worn out, and I knew that Camille and Delilah were pulling long shifts with little sleep.

Morio offered to drive, so we took his SUV. Camille sat in front. Delilah and I were in the middle seat, and Shade and Chase sat in the back.

“Do you think that it’s really Andrees?” Delilah asked after a moment, her voice cracking. “I mean…it’s been a long time, but I really liked him. I always wondered what would have happened if I’d actually been brave enough to ask him out.”

“I’m hoping it isn’t him, but considering how stupid the OIA was, well…” I leaned back against the seat. “Now that we’re on speaking terms with Father again, we really have to reorganize things over there. As soon as we have this
situation in hand, we’re revamping the ES side of the organization.”

“That’s what the FH-CSI was originally supposed to be,” Chase said from the back. “But the OIA refused to talk to us. They fed us what they thought we ought to know, which wasn’t much, and let it go. I had a list of operatives—before they pulled out—but half the time, it wasn’t accurate.”

“So, as we told Father, we’re going to establish a new base of operations here. We’re working for them on our terms now.” Delilah grinned.

“We can turn the FH-CSI into what it was meant to be.” I glanced back at Chase. “You like that idea?”

“Love it,” he said. “I’ve been feeling overlooked and underappreciated since your people first came over—not by the three of you, but by your government. This would make me feel vindicated. I’ve done my best to hold things together for the visitors coming over from Otherworld, but it would be nice to have more support from your superiors.”

As we pulled into Tangleroot Park, Chase grimaced. “I don’t fancy a revisit to this area, but I’m game.”

“You still have nightmares about old Spider-Hag?” Chase had been captured by one of the Elder Fae—a spidery freak show who intended to fatten him up and eat him. Luckily, her plans had been nixed and he’d escaped. We thought we’d destroyed her, but upon leaving the plane into which she’d dragged him, we weren’t so sure.

“Her…Karvanak…the Tregarts. I count my blessings I’m still alive. I wouldn’t be if it weren’t…” He stopped, turning sober.

“For the Nectar of Life,” Delilah whispered.

“I was going to say you three. But yes, the Nectar of Life, as well.” After a moment, he changed the subject. “So, will you know your friend by sight?”

I gave him a nod. “Yes, we should. Andrees…we go way back. We took the same classes when we entered the OIA. Or rather, the YIA—we didn’t originally work for the branch dealing with Earthside affairs. Before we were assigned to specific departments, every agent has to go through what you might call a basic training.”

Camille turned in her seat, to stare over the back. “We joined the YIA before the portals to Earthside were opened up. Before we even really knew about them. The YIA—Y’Elestrial Intelligence Agency—took care of some of the worst criminal cases in Y’Elestrial’s history. We tracked down the rogue vamps, serial killers, the worst of the worst.”

Chase nodded. “I thought that might be what it was like. So you met Andrees then?”

“We met him in basic training, yes. What you would think of as the preliminary academic studies. Then he was assigned to Delilah’s department. The YIA is divided up into a number of departments and the OIA started as a branch, then hived off to become its own division.” I shrugged.

“Did you sign up because you wanted to come Earthside?” Chase had never asked us much about the time before we came over through the portals.

I hesitated, not sure of how to respond. “Not really. We were assigned to the OIA…”

“Oh, just say it. We were transferred to the OIA because of me,” Camille’s face clouded over. “My boss had been gunning for me for years because I wouldn’t fuck him. I managed to make a huge bust—I brought in Roche, a serial killer who had been a member of the Des’Estar. That’s when I met Trillian, in a nightclub I was scoping out.”

“And that didn’t cement your position?”

“My boss, Lathe, tried everything to get me to fuck him. He’s a sadist. He liked humiliating women. When I tossed Roche’s body at his feet, he couldn’t deny me a raise and a commendation. Three weeks later, Dredge caught hold of Menolly. And after that, Lathe set out to make my life a living hell.”

“You couldn’t call him on sexual harassment?” Chase looked mystified.

“In Otherworld, sexual harassment isn’t against the law. It’s only an issue when the individual employer forbids it. Among the Fae, it can be a fact of life. Especially for a half-breed like me.” She grimaced. “When the OIA opened up and they began recruiting agents, nobody wanted to join. Well, almost nobody. But Lathe, he ‘promoted’ me…and
I guess they figured they could get rid of all three of us at the same time. We were all assigned to the division.”

Delilah let out a sigh. “They didn’t like me because I was squeamish about roughing anybody up. I guess I’ve gotten over that little problem.”

I laughed. “That you have, Kitten. That you have. And they wanted to get me off their hands. Having a vampire in the YIA was an embarrassment, but they couldn’t just fire me, because it was their fault in the first place that Dredge caught me. Sending me into that nest with no backup—that would have been a nasty scandal, and I could have made things very messy for them.”

“Sorry to interrupt, but we’re here.” Morio edged into the parking lot. “Be careful. We have no way of knowing what the fuck is lurking around. I don’t even know what happened to the portal.”

Camille opened her door and stepped out into the chill night air. “Aeval told me that she can’t seal it permanently. The damn thing is growing stronger.”

“Delightful.” I glanced around the parking lot.

There was a black sedan parked nearby—presumably belonging to Roman’s guard. No other cars in sight. The paths were no longer covered with snow, but the rain had started up again, a light drizzle that was more annoying than anything else. The trees were stark against the sky, black silhouettes rising up, towering fir and cedars overlooking the deciduous trees whose leaves were mere buds on the branches at this point.

I motioned to one of the paths. I could sense the vampire nearby. As we headed in that direction, I called out, “Stan-ders? It’s Menolly—”

I’d no more than said my name when he slipped out from behind a bush. He was average height, had been an FBH, but was now dressed in Roman’s requisite uniform—black turtleneck and jeans. He wore the crest from Roman’s house on his shirt pocket.

“Miss Menolly, thank you for arriving so promptly. The Master said you were on the way.” He paused, looking at all of us. “Follow me, please. I’ve made sure nothing touched
the body since I found it.” And with that, he led us back along the path to where two firs stood side by side. We weren’t far from the portal, and I noticed both Camille and Chase nervously glancing down the path.

“Back here, behind these bushes.” Standers led us through the trees, onto the grass. It was spongy from the rain, and the scent of moss floated up, mixed with mildew and mushrooms and the sour tang of the earth. The woodlands were pungent in the Northwest, but they were also crisp. The smell of rain on cedars was one that I willingly forced myself to notice. It had a
wake-up
feeling to it.

The
drip-drip-drip
of rain splashing off the needles trickled down our cheeks and hair. I shook away a droplet that threatened to fall into my eyes and veered around the huckleberry bush. There, on the ground, a body splayed out, covered in dried blood and very, very dead.
Andrees.

Camille and Delilah caught up with me, and then Morio, Shade, and Chase. Camille bowed her head as Delilah let out a little cry and covered her mouth with her fingers.

“Yeah, it’s Andrees,” I said, after a moment. I knelt beside the body on one side, while Chase knelt on the other. It was obvious by the state of his corpse that Andrees had been murdered. But the single gunshot wound in his head couldn’t have caused the body to be so ravaged, nor did the cuts and marks on him look like an animal.

Chase stared at him for a moment, then said, “I think he was killed before the body was torn up. That’s an execution-style gunshot—he was murdered and dumped here. Probably a gangbanger, by first look. But those cuts…they’re made postmortem, I believe. I need to get Mallen over here.”

He flipped open his cell phone and punched in a number. “Mallen, you’re still up?…Get dressed, then. We need you down here at Tangleroot Park…No, no injuries—just one very dead Fae. Bring a forensics team. We’re not dealing with death by natural causes here.”

While Chase was on the phone, Delilah and Camille headed down the path. I tagged along, sliding in between them and slipping my arms around their waists. “I’m sorry. Delilah, I know you were closest to Andrees.”

She nodded, a stark expression on her face. “He was a good man. He was a good agent. At one point, I really thought there might be a chance…”

“I know.” I glanced up at Camille. “How are you doing?”

She shrugged. “Fine, I guess. Weary. Wishing we could catch a chance to breathe.” Then, laughing faintly, she added, “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do.” I stopped. “Do you hear that?”

We spread out and began to move forward. Something up ahead was making noise. A hum, or perhaps a faint pulse, thrummed lightly.

As we rounded the bend in the sidewalk, Camille let out a groan. “The portal, it’s active again.”

And it was. The portal, which was supposed to have someone watching over it at all times, had been left unattended, and it was shimmering in the darkened night. It hummed with a faint tune, whispering melodies of spring and of invitations and of tea parties and tulips and a light wind on warm days. Even I could feel the invitation echoing out from it.

“Crap, they’re at it again.” Camille shook her head. “I wonder what Tra and Herne are up to?” Herne, the god of the forest, and his son Tra had been dancing around in there the last time they’d gone through, and the experience hadn’t been all that jolly.

Delilah cleared her throat. “There’s one way to find out.”

“Oh no you don’t!” I jumped in front of them. “Don’t you dare. We have no idea what’s on the other side, this time. Remember, Yannie Fin Diver is still there, and other, worse, Elder Fae.”

Camille nodded, slowly. “Right. I wish to hell we could figure out why we can’t seal it. Except the Elder Fae use it and their magic is stronger than even Titania’s or Aeval’s, let alone magic like Morio and I use.”

We stared at the opening for a moment, as if we expected something to come through at any time. After a while, when nothing did, we returned to Chase, and to Andrees’s body. There was nothing more we could do for him, and once more, with a heavy heart, the three of us whispered our prayer for the dead over his body, commending his soul to
the Land of the Silver Falls, with Chase, Morio, and Shade standing at attention, heads bowed.

“What was life has crumbled. What was form, now falls away. Mortal chains unbind and the soul is lifted free. May you find your way to the ancestors. May you find your path to the gods. May your bravery and courage be remembered in song and story. May your parents be proud, and may your children carry your birthright. Sleep, and wander no more.”

After that, we waited for Chase’s team to arrive. I sat beside Andrees, far enough away not to mess with the crime scene, but close enough to keep watch. Camille and Delilah stood near me, a silent vigil.

I felt we owed it to him. He was one of our own—an OIA member who had done his job, and done it well. And because of the cruddy bureaucracy, he’d ended up being sent to the wrong place at the wrong time with no backup, and he’d paid for it with his life.

“Where do we go from here?” Camille shivered, pulling her jacket tighter.

“To Carter’s. I didn’t tell you this before, because we had to hurry over, but Carter called while I was talking to Roman. There are reports filtering up from Portland that some of the witches down there are being drained. And another thing I forgot to tell you. When I went to see him last night, the wards on his place were broken. He called his witch/sorceress today and she didn’t seem to feel like talking about the issue.”

“Crap. Then the bhouts are spreading out? We have to find out how widespread they are. If Gulakah is controlling them, and they spread to other parts of the country, he could be pulling the strings of a lot of very valuable puppets.” Delilah pressed her lips together, shifting from one foot to another.

An owl hooted softly through the trees, announcing the arrival of strangers. It was Mallen, with a forensics team. As they took over, we asked Chase to come with us. He was still vulnerable to the demonic spirits, and we had to keep an eye on him. With heavy hearts, we headed out for Carter’s apartment.