Читать книгу Grey's Magic - Dawn Addonizio - Страница 9

Bile rose in Scarlett’s throat as she read the bullet points that tied each of the five murders together. The women had all been raped and the man had strangled them to death with his bare hands. A ‘distinctive herbal odor’ had been noted at each crime scene, but no residue had been found to enable an identification of the substance.

“Let me show you something,” Pat said. He clicked on a small icon in the upper corner of the screen and the image changed before she could get into the more grisly details.

A map of the human globe appeared, with tiny red dots flashing across every land mass. He zoomed into the western hemisphere, then zoomed further down to a map of North America, and finally settled on the United States.

“What is this?” she asked, her gaze travelling over what must have been hundreds of thousands of blinking red dots scattered across the country.

“It’s a tracking program that some of the mages put together for us. Each of these dots represents a human who is aware of our realm in some way.”

Scarlett’s eyes widened. “All of these humans know we exist?”

Pat chuckled. “No, not exactly.” He clicked on Florida and the map zoomed in to an image of the state. He pointed to a cluster of red dots along the southeast coast. “Do you see a green dot in there somewhere?”

Scarlett squinted and shook her head.

He clicked twice more, finally zooming in to a map of the town of Palm Beach. And then she saw it, a lone green dot amongst all the red.

“That’s Sydney,” he said with a vague smile. “Some humans, like Sydney and Violet, are fully aware of our realm and have even visited it. But they are only a tiny percentage.

“The rest are merely aware on a subconscious level. Some are fascinated by legends of Faerie and a part of them accepts the stories as truth. Some have dabbled in spellcraft and possess the ability to become mages, whether they realize it or not. But whatever the reason, the veil between our realms is thinner for them than it is for other humans.”

“I had no idea so many of them were so close to believing in us,” Scarlett said faintly.

Pat leaned back and sighed. “It’s of grave concern to the Seelie Court. Most of them believe the balance between good and evil would be thrown into chaos if the veil were lifted for so many.”

Scarlett didn’t know what to say. She had never imagined such a thing was possible. “So what does this have to do with Agent Derrington’s investigation?”

Pat reached forward to click on another icon and all of the red dots, as well as Sydney’s single green dot, were replaced by black ones.

“What are those?” Scarlett asked, a sense of foreboding pricking at her spine.

“They represent all of the humans who once had red or green dots on the map, but who are now deceased. There’s a symbol, only viewable by someone using this system, next to each of the names of the murdered women your Agent Derrington is investigating.”

He reopened the screen with the case files and pointed out the small star-shaped emblems next to each name.

“Those symbols tell me that each one of these women is pinpointed on our map. They would have once had either red or green dots, but now they’ll have been added to the map with the black dots.”

Scarlett blinked at him. “So you’re saying that all five of them either knew about us, or were close to believing in our realm?”

Pat nodded, looking troubled.

“The woman in Key Largo was certainly fascinated by garden gnomes,” Scarlett murmured as she recalled almost tripping over one of them after her fight with Agent Derrington. “So what does this mean?” she asked. “Do you think someone from our realm is targeting human women because of your map?”

“Highly unlikely,” he said. “Only a few of us have access to it, and you’ve seen how many humans are marked on it. No, what I’m thinking is that someone from our realm is targeting human women through his own connection with them. The map simply proves that the connection exists.”

“Oh no,” Scarlett breathed, her eyes fixated on the screen.

“What?” he asked, his concerned gaze following hers.

“Another name just appeared on the list of victims.”

“Sarah Wentworth,” he read in a startled voice. “And she has a symbol by her name too. I think you’re right, Letty. I’m definitely going to have to look into this. If an immortal is committing these crimes, and using magic to subdue his victims and hide his tracks, the human police will never be able to stop him.”

“Is all of this happening right down the street from Doyle?” she asked in alarm.

Pat clicked the first name on the list. “Nashua, New Hampshire,” he murmured as he returned to the previous screen to click on the second name. “Denver, Colorado,” he continued, going back for the rest of the names. “Fort Worth, Texas...Key Largo, Florida...Woodbridge, Virginia...and...holy shite,” he cursed, turning pale.

“Palm Beach, Florida,” Scarlett finished for him.

He stood abruptly. “That’s right down the street from Sydney’s penthouse. I have to go.”

He grabbed his sports jacket from the back of his chair and shrugged it on, looking more panicked than Scarlett had ever seen him.

“Wait,” she demanded, placing a hand on his arm. “Are you going to check out the crime scene?”

“As soon as I check on Sydney, yes,” he replied impatiently.

“I’m coming with you.”

“The hell you are!” he scoffed. “This will probably turn into an official Seelie investigation, not to mention you hate going to the human realm.”

“What are you going to say if you run into Agent Derrington?” she challenged. “He’ll recognize me from Key Largo. We can say we’re with the local human police and wanted to investigate both crime scenes since they’re so close to each other.”

“Of all the troll brained ideas you’ve ever had, Letty, that has to be the worst! There will be no ‘running into’ Agent Derrington. I’ve had run-ins with the human authorities in the past, and I learned long ago that the less contact we have with them, the better it is for everyone involved.”

Pat shook his head. “No. I’ll go check out the scene after the human police leave.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and her eyes narrowed with a steely glint he knew all too well. “I’m coming with you.”

He cursed in frustration. “Why is this so important to you, Letty?”

She looked flustered, as if she wasn’t sure of the answer herself. Then she glared at him as if it was his fault for asking. “I have my reasons,” she insisted stubbornly. “Not to mention, I have the address. So I’ll find my way there with or without you.”

“You are a giant pain in my ass,” he accused. “I’d lock you in a cell ‘til I get back, but Galen would probably let you out.”

She arched a brow at him. “Galen would definitely let me out. And that’s assuming you could get me in a cell in the first place.”

He curled his lip at her. “Fine. Come on then, I don’t have time to argue with you.”

He held his arms out and she stepped into them. “But you will be nice to Sydney, and you will follow my lead at the crime scene. And not touch anything,” he emphasized.

“Agreed,” she conceded.

“Why do I have the feeling I’m going to regret this?” he muttered as he blinked them out of the station.

They touched down in a bright, enclosed space between two doors. Scarlett’s brow knitted in confusion as she took in the tiny, cheerful room. Oddly, the paintings, candles and welcome mat all depicted frogs.

Laughter spilled from beyond one of the doors, and on closer inspection, Scarlett realized that the second door led to a human contraption called an ‘elevator’.

Pat knocked and there was a shushing sound, followed by a few beats of silence. Then a renewed bout of giggles grew louder as someone neared the door. Pat’s human, Sydney, threw it open and rushed into his arms.

“Sparrow, I didn’t expect you until later!”

He pulled her into his chest and held her for a moment, then bent his head to claim her lips in a slow, heated kiss.

Scarlett averted her eyes, wondering why Pat’s soul mate insisted on calling him by his last name, as she waited for their kiss to end.

“Not that I’m complaining, but what was that for?” Sydney murmured finally.

“I’m just very happy to see you.” He reached up to brush a strand of hair from her face. “And I wanted to make sure you were alright. Scarlett gave me some disturbing news today about the possibility of an immortal preying on human women.”

“Another death djinn?” Sydney asked in disgust.

“We’re not sure,” he replied. “But there was a murder not far from here and I need to take a look at the crime scene. I brought Scarlett along.”

He stepped to the side so that the women could see each other. “I believe you two met at Doyle and Violet’s wedding.”

Sydney’s cheeks colored as she smoothed the hair that he had rumpled during their kiss. She managed to look charming even in an old t-shirt, shorts and bare feet. “Oh, hi...come on in!”

Scarlett started past the woman, but Pat nudged her with his elbow. She realized she was being rude and muttered, “Sorry.” She was so used to avoiding contact with humans that being silent around them was a default behavior for her.

She cleared her throat. “Thank you for inviting me into your home, Sydney,” she said in a stilted voice. She glanced at Pat for approval and his lips twitched as if he was trying to hide a smile. She glared at him and strode into Sydney’s dwelling.

A wooden table lay to the right, its surface littered with papers, files and small machinery.

“I use the dining room as my office, so it’s kind of a mess,” Sydney apologized as she followed Scarlett’s gaze. “Why don’t we sit in the living room?” She pointed toward the area beyond.

“Where are we?” Scarlett murmured as her eyes widened to take in a wall of glass that looked out on the ocean, glistening far below them in the fading afternoon light.

Sydney gave her a confused look.

“Your home is as high as a pegasus’ aerie!” she exclaimed.

Sydney grinned. “Oh, that! We’re in the tenth storey penthouse of a hotel. I guess it would be disconcerting, blinking up here for the first time and not knowing that.”

“You live in a hotel?” Scarlett asked in surprise.

“I know it’s a little strange, but this penthouse is one of my ill gotten gains from my death djinn contract,” Sydney replied with a laugh as she padded over to a corner bar and grabbed a couple of tall, stemmed glasses. “Would you like some champagne?”

“Death djinn contract?” Scarlett echoed, glancing at Pat in alarm. He’d lost his mother to a death djinn when he was only a child. She couldn’t believe he would be so relaxed about them having a contract out for his soul mate.

“She got hers voided,” piped a smug voice.

Scarlett followed the sound until her gaze rested on one of the strangest sights she’d ever seen. A sprite sat on a glass tabletop in front of the sofa, her bare feet swinging over the edge. She was dwarfed by the bottle of wine she leaned against, and as she took a dainty sip from a tiny earthenware jug, she erupted into a fit of hiccups.

A stream of miniscule bubbles floated from her mouth, drifting down toward a black cat that lay on the carpet below her. It rolled playfully on its back, batting at the bubbles with a fluffy paw.

The sprite giggled and then shot up into the air, jarring the bottle so that it teetered on the edge of the table. Sydney grabbed it before it could tip over, curling her lip at the faerie as she poured two more glasses and set the wine safely out of the way.

The sprite flew toward Scarlett, green dust sprinkling in an unsteady path behind her. “Hi, I’m Lorien. I’m Sydney’s faerie guardian.” She lifted a hand to cover another hiccup and grinned, her silvery skin glowing with mirth.

“Good day, little sister, I’m Scarlett.” Her lips twitched in humor. “I see it’s happy hour here in the human realm.”

“I’m afraid I have a bit of a weakness for champagne,” Lorien admitted on a loud whisper. “But the effects don’t last long—quick metabolism. Come have a drink with us. I hear you’re something of a legend with a sword.”

Scarlett gave the faerie a wary look as she followed her to the sitting area. She lowered herself onto the smaller sofa, while Pat and Sydney shared the larger one.

“Who told you that?” she asked, wondering, not for the first time, what Pat might have told his human about her.

Sydney handed her a glass and she murmured her thanks as she stared curiously at Lorien.

“I was at your brother and Violet’s bonding ceremony in our realm,” Lorien explained. “My sister is Violet’s faerie guardian.”

Scarlett had avoided Sydney during that event, so it wasn’t surprising that she hadn’t met the cheeky sprite who watched over her.

Lorien grinned. “Your kin were bragging about you.”

“She can kick my ass with a sword, that’s for sure,” Pat said drily.

“I can kick your ass without one,” Scarlett retorted.

Lorien snickered and Sydney let out a bark of laughter.

Scarlett’s cheeks heated and she added, “I teach sword technique to our young warriors, so I have to keep my skills sharp.”

“Really?” Sydney asked. “My best friend Sunny teaches college, so her students are probably about the same age group as yours. Is that your full time job?”

“Yes,” Scarlett replied in a guarded tone. She was surprised at the genuine interest in Sydney’s expression.

Pat made a face at her behind Sydney’s back and motioned with his hand for her to keep talking.

Scarlett cleared her throat, unused to conversing with humans, but aware of the promise she’d made to be nice to Sydney.

“I teach five days a week, primarily the young warriors from our village, but sometimes trainees come in from the surrounding villages as well.”

“Cool. Sunny specializes in medieval literature. So I guess you teach your students how to use swords, and she teaches hers about people who fought with them long ago,” Sydney said with a smile.

“Your histories are littered with tales of humans who unknowingly fought alongside the sidhe,” Scarlett replied stiffly. “Many of the sword techniques your people used were learned from us.”

“Really? You’ll have to sit down with Sunny some time and let her pick your brain. I’m sure she’d love to hear anything you have to say about that time period.”

Scarlett shifted uncomfortably at the thought of allowing another human to ‘pick her brain’. She took a sip of her drink to avoid answering, and made a surprised sound of pleasure at the taste.

“It’s good, right?” Sydney commented. “This penthouse came with a case of it and Lorien and I have been addicted ever since. It’s pricey but, since I don’t have a mortgage payment anymore, I can justify splurging on it.”

“I think you go through about a case of that stuff a week,” Sparrow teased.

“I usually have help,” Sydney defended laughingly.

“Yeah, Sunny’s usually here to drink with us,” Lorien said. “Speaking of which, when’s her next visit?”

“In a couple of weeks,” Sydney replied. “She’s presenting an academic paper at a conference in France in a few days, and she may extend her stay to hang out in Paris. I’m so jealous!”

“Have you ever been to Paris?” Sparrow asked, his thumb idly brushing her shoulder.

“No, but my mom says it’s beautiful.”

“Maybe we can meet Sunny there for dinner one evening,” he suggested.

Sydney twisted on the sofa to face him, excitement lighting her eyes. “Seriously?”

Sparrow smiled at her and nodded.

“They can be a little nauseating, can’t they?” Lorien asked from the side of her mouth.

Scarlett transferred her startled gaze to the faerie. She realized she’d been staring at the couple, but it was intriguing to see Pat acting the man-in-love. She was used to his tough detective side, and his teasing brotherly side, but this was a side of him she’d never witnessed.

It was just as strange to see her beach-bunny-chasing brother suddenly all doe eyed over his new wife, Violet. The fact that both women were human only added to the surrealism. Not that she disapproved, exactly. She was surprised by how much she liked them.

An image of Agent Derrington popped into her mind, and she wondered why she couldn’t seem to shake him from her thoughts.

Not that it mattered. She would probably never see him again. Pat had made it clear that he had no intention of making their presence known to the human authorities.

Perhaps she was just feeling a little adrift because Pat and Doyle had found their soul mates. The last time she’d felt such an inexplicable fascination for a male had been when she was a teenager.

Acting on that feeling had been the worst mistake of her life.

This felt much different though. Back then she had been focused solely on how he reacted to her. With Agent Derrington, it was more that something deep within her reacted to him.

A soft wuffing sound escaped her throat as the hefty black cat jumped onto her lap, effectively derailing her unsettling train of thought.

“Oh sorry! That’s Jasper,” Sydney apologized as she extricated herself from Sparrow’s embrace and started to lunge for the feline.

“No. It’s okay. I like animals.” Scarlett maneuvered the cat into a more comfortable position and stroked his silky fur.

“My brother has an Irish wolfhound,” Scarlett murmured as she ran her palm along the cat’s long, white-tipped tail. “He’s as big as a baby peg. He loves to play with the fallen palm fronds in Doyle’s back yard.”

“Well, Jasper certainly seems to like you,” Sydney remarked as she refilled their glasses and dropped back onto the couch next to Sparrow. “Do you have any pets?”

Scarlett shook her head. “We don’t have the same issues with animals needing homes as you do in your realm. Most of the animals of Faerie possess a certain...magical awareness. They are independent creatures in their own right. Some may choose to live with us, but we do not own them or make such choices for them.”

Sydney turned to the hiccupping sprite and asked, “What about your nephew’s pet frog? Is he magical?”

“Buster?” Lorien asked in amusement. “He’s not magical in the sense that he can cast spells, but he’s unlike any frog you’d find in the human realm. He injured one of his back legs years ago and my sister cured him. He never strayed far from our home after that. When my nephew was born, they developed a bond, and Buster chose to live as part of our family.”

Scarlett grinned at the faerie. “So the sprite child riding the frog across the aisle in the middle of Doyle and Violet’s bonding ceremony must have been your nephew.”

Lorien rolled her eyes and covered her mouth to stifle a stream of bubbles. “He can be a handful. Turn your back for a second and he’s halfway to Seelie City—drives my sister batty.”

Scarlett chuckled and took another sip of her drink. She scratched the purring cat under his chin and looked out the wall of glass at the bruised purples and oranges of the darkening sky.

It was strange to realize that, despite being in the home of a human, she was actually beginning to relax and enjoy herself. It made her regret leaving her brother’s wedding events early and missing out on celebrating with him.

Perhaps she could have made more of an effort to get to know Pat and Doyle’s human women, especially when they had been guests in her own realm.

“It’s getting late,” Pat commented. “The human authorities may have left the crime scene for the night. I should blink over and check it out.”

“You said a woman might have been murdered by someone from the faerie realm,” Sydney said with a frown. “What happened?”

Sparrow sighed. “Scarlett brought it to my attention today. There have been a series of rapes and murders across the country and the FBI believes they were all committed by the same man. When I ran the case through a program at Seelie Headquarters, I realized that all of the women had a periphery connection to the faerie realm.”

“That’s horrible!” Sydney exclaimed. “What kind of connection? And how did you find out about it, Scarlett?”

Scarlett glanced at Pat, unsure how much she should tell his human. “I stumbled across it by accident,” she replied evasively.

Pat smirked at her. “Scarlett got into a fistfight with the FBI agent who’s heading up the case. She got suspicious when she smelled a magical sidhe sleeping potion at his crime scene.”

“A fistfight?” Sydney asked in disbelief. “With an FBI agent?”

“Yes. And apparently he was a skilled enough opponent to pique her interest. Right Letty?” Pat teased.

Scarlett glared at him. “That has nothing to do with anything,” she stammered her accent thickening with embarrassment. “And I gave you that information so you could stop a crime, not use it to take the mickey out of me.”

Sydney punched Sparrow in the shoulder. “Yeah. Leave her alone, you big bully.”

Scarlett gave her a startled look, as if she couldn’t understand why Sydney would side with her over Pat.

Sydney snickered at Sparrow’s indignant expression and the other woman’s confusion. “What? Haven’t you guys ever heard of female solidarity?”

Pat shook his head at Scarlett. “I knew I was going to regret bringing you with me,” he accused.

Sydney narrowed laughing eyes at Scarlett. “Don’t get me wrong. I definitely want to hear more about your FBI agent. But first tell me how these women were connected to the faerie realm,” she said with a concerned look at Sparrow.

“We’re not sure yet. And I want you to be very careful until we figure it out,” he replied in a serious tone. “If this psycho is choosing his victims based on that connection, you could be at risk.”

He turned his worried gaze on Lorien. “So both of you, keep an eye out for any sign of danger. And let me know immediately if you sense something. Okay?”

“Consider us on high alert,” Lorien replied with a jaunty salute.

“And be sure to let your sister know what’s going on,” he added, “since Violet could be a target as well.”

“Oh, dragon dung,” Lorien murmured unhappily.

“What’s wrong?” Sydney asked.

Lorien sighed. “This is going to put my sister into a complete panic. Her ability to sense danger tends to go on the fritz when another immortal is involved.”

Sydney grimaced in sympathy.

Pat looked askance at Scarlett. “Are you sure you wouldn’t be more comfortable hanging out here? I won’t be long.”

“Don’t even try it,” she said as she stood. “I told you I was coming with you, and I haven’t changed my mind.”

“Fine,” he replied in a resigned voice. “We’ll see you ladies later.” He winked at Lorien and kissed Sydney soundly on the lips.

“Do you know where we’re going?” he asked Scarlett.

“Committed it to memory.” She smirked. “In case you tried to ditch me.”

“Of course you did,” he drawled in a long suffering tone. “While you’re at it, commit this to memory—there may be people around. So stay out of sight when you blink in.”

“Thanks, Captain Obvious,” Scarlett muttered beneath her breath.