Authors: Kate Pearce
Mark smiled for the first time. “That’s not a problem. It’s also on the house. I’ll get your food and take my break when you’re done. Now what can I get you?”
Vadim chose the spinach salad and the banana split. Despite his disapproving stare, Ella went for the double cheeseburger and fries.
After the server left, he gave her a serious look. “That excuse of yours about eating what you like because you’ll die young is no longer valid. You are going to have to start taking care of your body.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“You’re still not convinced you’re going to live, are you?”
“Well, would you be?” She rested her chin on her fist. “I don’t think I’ll believe it until way after my twenty-seventh birthday.”
“Which is when?”
“In about ten days.” She made a face. “My mom left me a message this morning asking me to come and spend next weekend with them to get my presents. She sounded like she was arranging a wake.”
“She’s probably worried about you.”
“I suppose so.” She sat back as the waiter put two glasses crammed full with ice and water on the table. “I’m not sure what she wants from me. Why buy me anything if she knows I’m not going to make it? What did she get me? Three wishes from a genie? A burial plot?”
“Maybe she still has hope?”
Ella stared into Vadim’s calm blue eyes and thought about how he looked when he was having sex. “You’ve met her. She’s not like that. She always thinks I’m going to fail.”
“I understand why your relationship is fraught with difficulties, but she is still your mother.”
“The mother who sent me away to school because she was scared of me.”
“You told your brother you were drawing Otherworld creatures to the house and that it was probably for the best you were sent away.”
“I said that to make
him
feel better. It doesn’t mean I actually meant it.” His unconvinced expression dared her to continue. “Okay, so I’ve done therapy. I know as an intelligent adult that me leaving was the best thing for everyone. I still hated it and I have a childish tendency to lash out at my mother.”
“At least you acknowledge it.”
“Yeah, I’m great like that.” Ella looked away and rearranged her silverware. “This is getting far too profound for a lunchtime chat.”
He shrugged. “We’re linked. We can be as intimate as we like. I won’t tell anyone.”
She fixed him with her most challenging stare. “How come you know so much about this empath mating thing?”
“Because I had nothing to do all weekend, so I did some research, called a few friends, infiltrated some Fae-Webs...”
“You didn’t tell anyone, did you?”
“About us bonding?” He shook his head. “I told you I wouldn’t do that yet.”
“Apparently, if I agree to the match, we’re supposed to get a ton of paperwork from OCOS telling us what to expect.”
“Shame we missed that.”
She gave him a bright smile. “I don’t know. We seem to be managing quite well by ourselves. I hate reading instructions anyway. Oh, look. Food.”
She made Vadim try her cheeseburger and he reluctantly agreed that it was rather good. He offered her some of his spinach, but when she pretended to gag he retreated and focused on forking the obnoxious slippery greenery into his mouth. She liked watching him. He was incredibly neat and cut the food up into similar size bundles before eating them.
When the banana split was placed in front of him, he moved it into the center of the table. It was a sight to behold. Three types of ice cream, a whole banana—one half on each side—whipped cream, nuts and cherries on top.
“A classic. It’s almost a shame to dig into it, but I’ll force myself.”
“Be my guest.” Vadim gestured at her with his long spoon. “I won’t be able to eat all of it.”
“Don’t worry about that. Desserts are my specialty.”
He took a small scoop of the strawberry ice cream and Ella watched his expression change.
“Good?”
He smiled at her and she almost forgot to swallow. “To borrow a phrase from you—that is awesome.”
“I think they make their own ice cream.”
“You can tell.”
It didn’t take long for them to finish the whole thing and then Mark reappeared, took away the remaining plates and sat down beside Vadim.
“My uncle wants to talk to you. I hope that’s okay?”
“Sure, we can pop into the kitchen after this.” Ella pushed her water glass out of the way. “So, what’s been happening?”
Mark grimaced. “For the last month or so, every time we open up, the kitchen is a mess. There are broken plates, spilled water, smashed glasses...”
“Do you have a security system?”
“Yeah, that’s the kicker. We upgraded it recently so we have cameras and everything.”
“And nothing is showing up?”
Mark hesitated. “Well, there is
something
, but it’s not so much a person as a green, swirling mist.” He attempted a laugh. “That sounds ridiculous, right?”
“Not at all,” Ella reassured him. “What do your uncle and aunt think is causing this?”
“They think it’s a poltergeist.”
“Why’s that?”
“Because they recently gave a job washing up to their youngest grandson, my sixteen-year-old cousin Erik.”
“And they think Erik is creating the disturbances?”
“Yeah, because he’s been in a lot of trouble recently at school: drugs, alcohol, you know the kind of stuff. They gave him the job to help him straighten himself out. He’s not taken to the working life real well and they reckon adolescents can cause disturbances in the psychic field.” He grinned. “What can I say? My auntie Vita watches a lot of crap TV.”
“It makes sense, though. Do you think Erik could be doing it?”
Mark shrugged. “If it
is
him, it’s not deliberate.”
“What do you think it is?” Vadim asked.
Mark’s gaze switched to Vadim. “This is going to sound strange, but when I looked at the footage, I was sure that I could see something
solid
at the center of the mist.”
“And what did it look like?”
“Green, short and spiky.”
“That’s interesting.” Vadim looked at Ella, his eyebrow raised. “What do you think, Ms. Walsh?”
Ella stood up. “I think you might be on to something, Mark. I know it’s still busy, but can we go into the kitchen now?”
* * *
Vadim followed Ella and Mark into the surprisingly modern kitchen at the back of the diner. All the surfaces gleamed either white or silver. The staff moved in a blur of speed and efficiency watched over by a small, loud-mouthed man at the pass. It was a kitchen even he would be happy to eat in.
The short, gray-haired man stopped shouting out orders and came toward them, his expression fierce. Mark held up his hand.
“These are the folks from the SBLE, Uncle Roberto.”
Roberto wiped his hand on his apron and stuck it out. “You are like the
X
-
Files
, yes?” His gaze slid down over Ella’s baggy overalls. “Although you are no Scully.”
Vadim fought a smile.
Ella shook Roberto’s hand. “I don’t want to get in the way, but can I ask you a couple of questions?”
He nodded.
“Firstly, can I view your security camera data, and secondly, did you recently update your kitchen?”
“Mark will show you the camera tapes, and yes, we did update the kitchen. This building was constructed not long after the last big earthquake in the 1900’s. The plumbing and ventilation were no longer up to current Californian health and safety standards. We had no choice.” He frowned. “Why, is it important?”
“Sometimes when renovations are made on a building, the inhabitants don’t like it.”
“The ghosts, you mean?”
“Maybe, but that’s not all that might live here.” Ella smiled. “Let me check the security data, and then I’ll be more certain of what we are dealing with.”
Mark took them through into the back office, which smelled deliciously like cinnamon buns, and showed Ella how to work her way through the security camera data. He went back to the front of the house, leaving them alone. Vadim stood behind Ella and watched the screen intently.
“What do you think it is, then?” he finally asked.
“I’m not sure, but green, short and spiky doesn’t sound like either poltergeist activity or a ghost.”
“It sounds like something from Otherworld.”
“Yeah.” Ella froze the picture. “Do you see that, Morosov? That thin trail of mist rising up from the floor?”
He leaned in closer and breathed in the scent of fried onions. He’d never thought it was attractive before... “Yes. Where is it coming from?”
“Let’s back it up a few frames. Look at where the water is pooling on the floor.”
He saw it then, the beginning of the mist seeping out in a thin trickle from between the cupboards below the three industrial-sized metal sinks. “It lives under the sink?”
“In the plumbing probably. I should imagine that remodel must have destroyed whatever it calls home. No wonder it’s mad. I’ll let the film run on a bit longer now, and see if we can actually identify this thing.”
“There it is.” Vadim pointed at the screen and Ella stilled the footage. “Definitely green and pointy. What do you think it is?”
She leaned back and almost collided with his nose. “I’m thinking some kind of small Fae. We’ll have to come back tonight and catch it in the act.”
“And what will you tell the Bonettis?”
“The truth.”
“Is that wise?”
She regarded him steadily. “I always tell Otherworld victims the truth before I replace the memory. I think they deserve to know.”
“Even if they won’t remember it?”
“Absolutely.” She must have sensed his confusion because she continued. “I think the mind remembers everything, and even if I do my job, there is still a remnant of the truth left in a human’s subconscious.”
“Like the way every culture has similar myths and fairytales?”
“Exactly, a collective subconscious fear.”
He resisted the urge to kiss the top of her head, then stood back to allow her to stand. “What time do we need to be back here tonight?”
“From the security camera log, the culprit tends to appear around 3:00 a.m., so we’d better be in place at midnight.” She went over to the door. “I’ll okay it with Mr. Bonetti and meet you downstairs, all right?”
He nodded his agreement and waited until she left. Was she finding it as hard to be physically close to him as he was to her? She seemed even pricklier than usual, and keen to get away, but then he was hardly his normal, calm self either. He walked out through the restaurant and down the dark stairs to the street. The noise and heat hit in a dirty, dusty wave and he almost recoiled.
He didn’t like feeling so on edge. It reminded him of his childhood, when the wrong word could mean death or worse. In order to avoid the vilest excesses of his parents, he’d learned early to avoid antagonizing them, but sometimes that hadn’t been enough. Sometimes he had to stand up and face them with all the weapons of his forebears, both magical and physical, at his disposal. And even then that hadn’t always saved those he loved... But he’d learned from that and then they’d learned to fear him.
And now here he was, the scourge of Otherworld, afraid of being rejected by a mouthy, tiny blonde who ordered him around and never let him know exactly where he stood with her. Somewhere deep in Otherworld, he guessed someone was laughing.
Chapter Fifteen
“Ah, there you are Ella, Vadim,” Feehan called out to them as they walked past his office. “Have you got a moment?”
She glanced at Vadim but he’d already obediently turned toward Feehan’s open door. She’d have to talk to him about that biddable streak of his. It was so not cool and, she now knew,
so
not like him.
Feehan was seated at his desk tapping away at his keyboard. The smell of his tuna sandwiches permeated the air along with the underlying hint of nicotine.
“I have the security footage from last Friday.”
“And what does it show?” Ella perched on the side of his desk.
“Nothing.”
Feehan rotated his screen to show them a view of the SBLE lobby and then one of the white marble foyer upstairs. He clicked again and showed a frozen image of her and Vadim waiting at the elevator doors, and a later one of them both exiting the building at street level.
“That makes no sense.”
“I know. No sign of maintenance, and no evidence that the elevator didn’t behave perfectly.” Feehan put down his pen. “Are you certain you were trapped? You don’t think it might be some...
empath
issue?”
“Mr. Feehan, I’m no empath,” Vadim said. “We were both there, and we both experienced the same thing. And there is one major problem with those pictures.”
“What?”
“Ms. Walsh doesn’t wait for the elevator. She always uses the stairs.”
Feehan nodded slowly. “That’s true.”
“I suspect someone has gone to a lot of trouble to cover up what happened. I have no idea why, or who would choose to do such a thing,” Vadim said.
“Neither do I,” Feehan agreed. “But I’ll get right on it. What do you think, Ella?”
“It definitely happened. That’s all I have to say about it.” She rose to her feet. “Are we done?” Ever since she was a kid she’d hated it when she hadn’t been believed. It felt odd to have Vadim standing up for her.
“There is one more matter I needed to pass on.” Feehan consulted a piece of paper on his desk. “Sam left me a note to tell me that Fay Roberts died just after she graduated from college. He spoke to her parents, and confirmed her death with Otherworld.”
“Oh great. That leaves three of us.” Ella shoved her hands in her pockets. “I feel like a sitting duck.”
“You’re the safest of the lot,” Feehan said far too cheerfully for her liking. “You are, Ms. Walsh. One of our team will be with you 24/7.”
Vadim held the door open for her.
“Thanks.” Fear always brought out her most pugnacious side. “I need to do some research on small, green spiky things. I’ll be in my office.”
As she left she heard Vadim speaking softly to Feehan. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep her in my sights. She’s just upset you didn’t believe her about what happened on Friday.”
She almost turned around and went back. Who the hell did Morosov think he was, making excuses for her? Just because it was true didn’t mean she wanted her boss to know about it. Had Vadim somehow picked up her earlier thought? This bonding crap could also be a gigantic pain in the ass. No one could be expected to keep her shields up all the time.
She got herself some coffee and stared at the slowly filling cup. But hadn’t Mari said something about a mate being able to share the physic burden too? Ella thought she just meant the memories she stole—which was after all, the whole point of the bonding exercise. She hadn’t realized Vadim might be able to access
every
thought. It made her far too vulnerable.
She picked up the coffee, jammed a lid on it and went back to her office. There was a light blinking on her phone and she dialed her passcode to receive messages. An unfamiliar voice filled the room.
“Hi, Ella, long time no speak. It’s Trini Yamada here!” Ella froze. “I just wanted to touch base with you. I’m staying at the Bay View Hotel on Embarcadero and I was hoping you might want to get together with me to celebrate.”
The door to Ella’s office flew open and Vadim stood there, his gun out, his expression lethal. She put a shaking finger to her lips as Trini gave a light laugh.
“Thanks so much for inviting me to your birthday party, Ella! It’s mine too! Isn’t it great!”
There was the sound of whispering and then Trini giggled. “Sure, I’ll tell her. The Siren says he can’t wait to see you either, so come on over! Bye for now!”
The phone went dead and Ella just stared at Vadim, who jerked his head in the direction of the door. “Let’s go.”
“She wasn’t supposed to be next, Morosov. What the hell is going on?”
Ella checked she had her weapon, and followed Vadim out into the hall. Alexei appeared in the doorway of the conference room and fell in behind them.
“Do we need transport to get there?” Vadim asked as they ran into the lobby.
For a second Ella stared at him. “I...don’t know. I don’t know where that hotel is.”
“Alexei? Can you find it?”
“Yes, it’s about a twenty minute walk or I could get us there sooner if I use magic.”
“Are you okay with that, Ella?”
She nodded. The next moment both men grabbed her hands, there was a flash of light, and they were outside the neat brown façade of the Bay View Hotel. Ella fought to control the nausea magic always gave her and started up the steps to the hotel.
At the small reception desk, a young man dressed in a smart suit was tapping away at a keyboard. He greeted Ella with a smile.
“Welcome to the Bay View Hotel. Do you have a reservation?”
“No, I’ve just come by to meet a friend of mine, Trini Yamada. Is she here yet? Can you give me her room number?”
“I’m afraid I can’t give you that information, ma’am.”
Vadim leaned past Ella and smiled charmingly at the receptionist. “Is it possible that Ms. Yamada left a message for Ms. Walsh? She is definitely expecting her.”
“I just came on shift. I’ll check.” The man looked flustered and searched through the various sticky notes that adorned the desk and the computer screen. “Oh, yes, there’s something here!” He read the note. “If I could just see some ID, Ms. Walsh, you can go on up.”
Ella gave him her driver’s license and waited another interminable minute before he gave it back to her.
“Ms. Yamada is in room 209.” He lifted the phone receiver. “I’ll call up and let her know you’re coming.”
“Don’t worry about that. We want to surprise her.” Alexei leaned across, took the receiver and put it back down. The receptionist didn’t say a word, his gaze caught in the Fae’s, his will already under Alexei’s spell.
Ella was already moving across the lobby, Vadim at her side.
He touched her shoulder. “I’ll come up the stairs with you.”
He pushed the door open and followed her, his weapon drawn, his barriers high. When they emerged onto the second floor, Vadim made her stop.
“Do you want me to go in first?”
“No, he’s expecting me. I’d rather you stayed back.”
His expression darkened. “I’m not sure if I can do that.”
“You have to.”
“I know, but something inside me doesn’t want to let you out of my sight.”
“How sweet.” She patted his cheek. “Well suck it up, buttercup. I need to do this alone.”
With a terrible sense of déjà vu, she headed down the hallway toward Trini’s room. She knew which room it was because of the pounding music that shook the insubstantial hotel door. For a moment, she leaned her hand against the door and tried to concentrate, but she could get no sense of anything apart from the Siren’s exultation.
“Do you need me to break in?”
She nodded, then Vadim touched the door handle until the green light flashed over the key card slot. He slowly opened the door and let it swing wide. The ugly blare of the music made it difficult to think, let alone examine the room for danger. She went in with her weapon held in front of her. Not that it would do much good if the Siren was Otherworld, but it might slow him down. The bathroom was to the right of the door and it was empty, the lights over the sink illuminating the empty white space.
Ella moved along the left hand wall, keeping her gun hand unencumbered until she had a clear view into the main part of the bedroom. There was only one figure there, and it definitely wasn’t the Siren. Ella let out her breath and cautiously checked the room again. The windows were shut and, unless the Siren was extremely good at hiding, he wasn’t concealed somewhere.
“Bathroom’s clear,” Vadim called out from behind her.
She walked over to the radio to turn it off. The sudden silence was shocking, revealing the patchiness of her breathing and the loud thump of her heart. When she turned around, she was confronted by the sight of a dark—haired woman sitting bolt upright in the chair, a party hat on her head and a birthday cake on her lap. The candles were still burning, and wax discolored the thick white frosting on the top, which read “Happy Birthday.”
Even in death, Trini was still smiling, her grin wide, her brown eyes fixed in eternal approval. An empty bottle of champagne and two glasses sat on the desk along with a box of matches.
“Ms. Walsh, I’m going to call Feehan and the cleanup squad, okay? We need to read this scene before the regular cops get here. Alexei’s already got the reception guy’s cooperation, and he’ll keep it for as long as it is necessary.” Vadim paused. “I assume she’s dead?”
“Yeah.”
“Is there anything else you need to do here?”
“Not really, except catch the sick bastard who thinks this is amusing.”
“I wondered about that. You can feel his satisfaction in the air. It’s almost alive.”
Ella stared at him. Perhaps she wasn’t the only one who would be gaining power from their bonding.
“Do you need to touch her?”
She recoiled. “I don’t want to, but I have to make sure.” She took a reluctant step toward the dead empath and touched her throat. “There’s nothing there except his pleasure and her relief.” She frowned. “Why don’t they struggle? What does he do to them?”
Vadim put his arm around her shoulders. “We can talk about this later. If you are sure she’s dead, we need to get out of here.”
She shrugged off his attempt to lead her away, and instead turned back to the body.
“Happy birthday, Trini.” She carefully blew out the candles. “I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”
She left then, with Vadim close behind her. There was no sense of the Siren nearby. Had he gotten bored waiting for her, and moved on? Surely not for much longer...he was running out of victims—at least in western USA.
Down in the lobby, Alexei still chatted to the receptionist. He looked up as Vadim and Ella appeared.
“Hey guys, I should have called you. I just checked with Adam here, and the person we want isn’t staying here after all. The guy
we
want is at the Bay View
Apartments
, not the hotel.”
“Oh!” Ella forced a laugh as she approached the receptionist. “I should’ve checked with my secretary before we left. We’re so sorry to have bothered you.”
Adam looked confused. “But didn’t you want to see Ms. Yamada? I...”
Ella leaned across the desk, took his hand and concentrated on extracting every image he had of the three of them and what they’d asked him. When she’d retrieved the memories she smiled at Adam. “We’re so sorry to have bothered you by looking for the wrong person at the wrong hotel. But you’re okay about it. It happens so often that you don’t even think it’s important enough to mention to the authorities.”
“Don’t even remember you,” Adam repeated. “You’re not even here.”
“That’s right.” Ella pushed the memory firmly into his head. “When you look up, everything will be normal and we’ll be gone. Okay?”
“Okay.”
“Count to one hundred and then open your eyes.”
He obediently began counting. Before he reached twenty, Alexei had taken her hand and whisked them all back to SBLE.
* * *
Ella went back to her office, shut the door and continued to look up information about small green Fae. Around her she could hear her SBLE colleagues dealing with the fallout of another empath murder, but for once, no one came to bother her or ask for her opinion. And what was there to say? Trini had been killed in exactly the same way as the others, her memories removed, her brain emptied of everything that had made her unique.
Ella rubbed at her eyes and tried to concentrate on the screen. A knock at the door made her lift her head.
“Come in?”
Vadim appeared. “Are you okay?”
“Why shouldn’t I be?”
He leaned against the closed door and studied her. She was pleased to see that for once he looked less than perfect. His tie was askew and the starched collar of his white shirt had wilted in the heat.
“You just had to deal with another murder victim.” She opened her mouth and he held up his hand. “Ella, you can say what you like, but I
know
you.”
“Biblically, you mean?”
“Biblically, psychically and emotionally.” He hesitated. “I know this is hard for you.”
“Sure it is, but what good will I do anyone if I make a big deal out of it? Those dead women need me to be strong—to stand up for them.”
He inclined his head. “I don’t doubt you’ll do your best to bring their killer to justice.”
“Thanks.” Ella let her gaze stray back to her screen. “Was there something in particular you wanted?”
“Just this.” He moved so quickly she hardly had time to blink before he hauled her out of her chair and put his arms around her. He kissed her forehead and she elbowed him in the side.
“What are you doing?”
“Holding you.” He didn’t let her go, just looked down at her. She felt him enfolding her mind.
“Then stop it, you idiot.”
“No.” A corner of his beautiful mouth kicked up.
She narrowed her eyes at him but he still held her. The desire to rest her head on his shoulder and just let go was almost as overwhelming as it was horrifying. Tears crowded her throat. She shoved her hands between them and pushed at his chest.
“If you make me cry at work, I’ll never forgive you.”
His shields slammed up so fast she winced.
He stepped away. “I apologize, Ms. Walsh. That was the last thing I wanted to do. I assume you’ll be putting off the investigation at the Bonettis’ for another night?”