Wyrd Calling (Wyrd Bound Book 1) (27 page)

They looked up towards me, and I came down to land on rough tarmac in front of them, double-checking no one was around before I embraced the agony once more.
 

I brushed myself off and glared at them. "Why haven't you hidden your energies?"

I hissed at them. They both looked down and away. "We lost him."

Nik had spoken. Ryan clearly didn't dare. I looked between them. How!? I took a deep breath and calmed myself. It was my fault, not theirs. I had sent them off to fulfil the task that I should have done myself. They did their best.
 

I turned and marched off towards Dan's location. "When did you lose him?"

Nik said quietly, "About half an hour ago."

I groaned. "And you didn't tell me?"

There was a painful silence as we approached Dan. "We wanted to try and find him, to redeem ourselves."

I nodded and allowed the air to escape through my gritted teeth. They did their best.
 

Dan had his hands thrust into his pockets. His eyes were far darker than usual, and he was muttering under his breath.
 

I ground my teeth and looked at him. "Where's Alex?"

He glanced over his shoulder and Alex appeared from the shadows. "What happened, boys?"

His voice was calm, but the touch of ice below the surface gave away his irritation.
 

Nik took a deep breath and began, "Everything was going well. We stayed back far enough that he couldn't be sure we were anywhere around. We kept an eye on him but moved around. He went about his routine exactly as the information told us he would. He bought his pack of cigarettes, he had a short conversation with the woman, and he continued on his route. Everything was good. Then, the next thing we knew, he was gone."

Ryan took over, "We had stopped for a minute because his pace had changed, so we dropped back a bit to give him more space. We looked at a magazine stall, flicked through a couple of newspapers and acted as though we were out for an evening stroll. We kept an eye on him the corner of our eye, but he vanished."

Nik carried on. "We were careful. We scouted out his potential routes, we checked the surrounding area; there was no trace of him. We had our eye off him for no more than five seconds!"

I knew very well how much could be accomplished in five seconds. I held back my curses. It was my fault. I should have trained them. I should have done it myself.
 

Nik continued, "We were thorough, we went down every possible option. He was already en route to Dan's location, so we covered all the different angles and ways by which he could come at this location, and he wasn't seen."

I looked at Dan.
 

He shrugged. "I didn't see any sign of him. A siren did show up, but she only hung around for a few minutes."

I closed my eyes and squeezed the bridge of my nose. It wasn't a tragedy. No one had been hurt. Alex's voice rumbled from the darkness, "It was a mistake, one you won't make again."

They both bowed their heads low and didn't say a word. We weren’t ready to give up. We were so close. I looked up to Alex, but refused to ask his permission. I was taking control. “Spread out. Track this bastard down. If he’s still in the city, I want him found. Nik and Ryan, go and cover the old part of the city; Dan get over to the industrial end; Alex and I will cover the modern areas. Don’t waste time. Don’t fuck up. Go.”

Nik and Ryan turned and took off at an easy jog, heading north towards the old part of the city. Dan lingered for a second, but he turned and headed down the alley towards the industrial end. Alex watched me for a second, an odd smile on his face, before he strode off into the darkness. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before embracing the pain and shifting back into my raven form. I wasn’t going to waste time trying to get there on foot when I had a better option. I scoured the ground below, looking for anything that could help me find that bastard. It was more of a pain than I liked to admit ducking between the buildings. After twisting around the third one, I gave up and flew above them. The boys would cover that area soon enough. I needed to focus on my own zone.
 

I wasn’t as careful as perhaps I should have been, but I was focused entirely on the task at hand. At finding him. I landed at the base of a large willow tree and hopped inside where I shifted back to my human form under the cover of the willow’s hanging limbs. I brushed myself off quickly and calmed myself. My breathing had become shallow. My heart was racing. I needed to be in control. I didn’t have time to be overwhelmed or jittery like a cub. I hoped the cubs were going to be ok, that they were up to the demands we were placing on them. It was too late, then. They’d have to be. I took another deep breath and focused. I slowly extended my energies out along the ground and used the slender tendrils to feel out something different or odd. I was hoping for something as clear cut and simple as a patch entirely without energies. Nothing.
 

I stepped out from beneath the willow’s protection and looked around me. I’d landed in a small park with immaculately trimmed grass and elegantly planted flowerbeds. Not a single petal was out of place. The buildings were all metal and glass. The soft blue-ish light trailed along the strong black lines of the metal between the oversized windows on the apartment building before me. It stood in stark contrast to the secure confidence of the cream stone in the old quarter. The glass grabbed at the viewer’s attention, desperately seeking reassurance for everything that it was. I’d rather have stone any day. No one was nearby, so I stepped out and casually walked along the pitch-black path with its simple streetlamps. They had put the bulbs in delicately designed black cages that looked like a modern take on the old gas-lamps. No doubt trying to add some extra personality and class to the area. It didn’t fit.
 

I couldn’t help but be reminded of the first scene of the siren’s death as I walked by the twisted building, which appeared to be spiralling upwards towards the sky. Not a thing was out of place. Every bush was trimmed to an exact standard. There wasn’t even a leaf out of place on the box hedges running along side the path. Every flower was a shining beacon of health with its striking colours. It was too perfect. It felt… fake.
 

A dog-walker gave me a polite smile as he wandered past with his sedate black lab. No words were exchanged. I doubted that was the done thing there. He blended in perfectly, though, just another human, nothing worth pinning down and interrogating. I was becoming anxious again. I hadn’t heard from Alex or the boys, and the longer he was away from us, the worse our chances at tracking him down became. My pace increased without realising it as I looked down the wide alleys, each of them lit with the increasingly eerie blueish-white light. Nothing was out of place, and it was beginning to make me nervous.
 

I’d covered some nine blocks when I sat down on a bench to pause and think things through. I hadn’t felt a single non-human energy since I’d landed under the willow tree. The rest of the city had been packed with various creatures. If anything, humans were the minority in some areas. It was very odd that there wasn’t a single one (that I had felt) in that area. It niggled at me and added to my nervousness and anxiety. I found myself looking around, inspecting every little shadow, almost jumping at the slightest movements. My muscles were incredibly tense, and my breathing had become too shallow again. I took a deep breath. I was fine. I had to focus.
 

28

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I leapt on it in the knowledge that it could well be the essential news I was desperately waiting for. It was Dan, and he was sure he’d seen the killer. I told him to stay put. We couldn’t risk losing him. I tried to keep my appearance as calm as possible as I ducked behind the closest hedge and shifted back into my raven form. I didn’t have time to worry about what the humans thought. He was only a couple of minutes’ flight away from where I had been. The cool breeze running through my feathers brought back the feeling of calm and bliss that I associated so strongly with the raven. I landed at Dan’s feet and shifted back into human form. Nik and Ryan arrived at a jog as I was brushing myself down, and Alex appeared behind me in his dog form.
 

We all looked to Dan, who was slightly flustered. “He went south, towards the outskirts.”
 

I didn’t like the slight waver to his voice, but there was no time to waste. We all jogged down the road with the short industrial buildings on either side of us. They grew into the vast expanses of the warehouses interspersed with rickety brick buildings that I had to assume were offices of some form. After a block, we stopped and split up.
 

It didn’t take long.
 

A scream cut through the air. The high-pitched sound was coated in the familiar honeyed tones of a siren. I took off in the direction it was coming from. The scream was cut short just as I rounded the corner. I was immediately struck by the cool, clean feel of the area. It carried none of the usual markers. There were no energy traces at all and not a single sound. I rushed forwards while the boys appeared behind me from various directions. They covered my back and looked for any other signs.
 

Her body was crumpled on the pavement, the body still warm and her eyes wide open staring down the alley. I ignored her and hunted around for some sign of the killer.
 

Away from the body, there was nothing out of the place. The grass remained defiant in the cracks where the tree roots had dislodged the tarmac. The trees were untouched and held no one, their thin branches far too weak to hold a man's weight. There were no doors, no nooks, nowhere for him to hide. Yet we had heard no footsteps, there were no scents, no energies. It must have been him.

 
I ran to the other end of the alley, hoping to catch sight of someone or something fleeing. There was nothing. Not a trace of life. I growled and twisted on my heel to march back to the body. The boys were arguing again, but at least someone had closed her eyes.
 

"Quiet!"

I glared at them all. "He was right under our nose, how is this possibly acceptable?"

Anger bubbled up and consumed my thoughts. Had the killer known we were nearby and changed his plans? I paced around in a small circle while the boys continued to inspect the surrounding area.
 

Ryan called out, "Here!"
 

We crowded around him and looked up at where he was pointing. A small scrap of blue cotton fabric was caught on the wire fence where it had been pulled back to form a small hole. It was suspicious; there had been nothing left behind previously. We had to take what we had and run with it; what choice did we have? Alex nodded to Ryan who scrambled up the wall and carefully retrieved the fabric. He held it between thumb and forefinger, careful to keep his energies from touching it. Alex leaned in and looked at it. There was a tiny mark of blood, just enough to catch a scent and the energy. It meant that we could compare it back to the man Nik and Ryan had followed earlier. That wasn't ideal, but it was something.
 

Nik reached out. "May I?"

I frowned and looked at him. He looked a little sheepish. "I'm a good tracker, and I'd like to be the one to do this."

I glanced at Alex. His lips tightened, but he said, "Do not fail us."

Nik smiled weakly and took the fabric from Ryan. He closed his eyes and breathed deep, taking in the scent. I had no doubt that it wasn't much, but I hoped it was enough. He kept his eyes closed for a moment before taking off into the night.
 

I looked to Ryan and said, "Get and follow him! This is your chance to redeem yourself."

Ryan ran off after him. I didn't trust them to act alone. If they were in a pair, then they had a better chance of handling any trouble, and if Nik lost the trail then hopefully Ryan would be able to pick it up again. I didn't trust either Nik's skills or the twist of luck enough to have the entire pack go after the trail. We went over every inch of the alley and covered the siren's face out of respect. She appeared to at least have been given a quick death. Her neck was twisted and broken, and there were no other marks on her.
 

I was ready to end the killer's life and move on. The game was growing tedious and wearisome. I didn't appreciate the idea that he or Kit was playing us. I sat down on the half-wall at the farthest end of the alley and put my head in my hands trying to pull all of the pieces together. Fae and pixies had the best chance of being able to wipe the place clean like that, but Ryan and Nik had said the man was just a human. It would also take a group of fae or similar quite some time to completely wipe all traces like that. The creature that did that only had a minute at most; we had moved quickly.

I growled to myself and looked up at Alex. His face was dark, half hidden in the shadows, but his ice blue eyes still carried the sharp spark of the predator. Dan gritted his teeth and seemed lost in his thoughts.

Finally he broke and said, "Is Keiran playing us? What about the pixie girl? Could it be the entire fucking fae clan here in the city?"

I curled my lip, but Alex answered, "Fae have nothing to gain from this, and it doesn't fit in with their sadistic M.O. It lacks their twisted sense of humour. I'm suspicious of the information Kit gave, but he wasn't involved."

Dan growled quietly. His cougar aspect slunk forward, and he climbed up to sit in the tree.
 

Our phones all vibrated. Ryan had sent a text, "Nik confirmed. The scent matches the man. No sign of him."

I took a deep breath and replied, "Any trail?"

Alex looked down to me. "What are you thinking?"

"We take him tonight."

If there was any sign of a trail to follow, then we would hunt him down and rip his throat out. I was fed up of this ridiculous game.