Soul Sucker (24 page)

Plenty of time.

If she survived.

And if Vadim stayed around to find out she’d had a change of heart.

Chapter Nineteen

“I got this through internal mail yesterday.” Ella waved the photograph to get everyone’s attention. “Does anyone know anything about it?”

“What is it?” Feehan asked, after a nervous glance at Drew Spencer who had decided to “sit in” on the morning meeting.

“It’s a picture of my incoming class at college.”

“So what?” Alexei said. He seemed even sulkier than Vadim, which was quite a feat seeing as her erstwhile mate hadn’t said a word to her yet and had closed down his shields so she had no clue as to his feelings.

“It shows fourteen of us.”

Liz sat up. “But only ten of you graduated, correct?”

“It made me wonder what happened to the others.” She looked around the attentive faces. “Did we ever get that information from Perry at the college, Liz?”

“I thought we did.” Liz turned to Sam. “Didn’t I give it to you?”

“Oh shit.” Sam’s face turned red and he opened his file and began rummaging through it. “I have it here somewhere. I forgot to pass it on to Ella and the rest of you guys.”

Ella held out her hand. “Can I see it now?”

Sam found the letter and passed it across. “I’m sorry, Ella. I suck.”

“It’s okay. It might be nothing.”

Drew Spencer cleared his throat. “Ms. Walsh, if we’re going to trap the Siren anyway, is this really necessary?”

Ella met his irritated gaze. “Before I offer myself up as the ultimate sacrifice, I believe we should investigate every available avenue, don’t you?”

His eyes narrowed. “Why? Don’t you think the entire resources of the SBLE can keep you safe?”

“They haven’t done a very good job with their empaths so far, have they?”

Magical power gathered around Spencer’s head and Ella instinctively raised her shields. Since bonding with Vadim they had improved tremendously.

“You can hardly blame the whole of the SBLE for your own team’s incompetence.”

“We’ve had this conversation before, Mr. Spencer. I don’t think my team is incompetent. I
think
the upper echelons of the SBLE should be addressing the way it deals with empaths, not criticizing those of us who work in the field.” She took a deep breath. “I sense something is wrong here. I
know
it.”

Spencer smiled and sat back in his seat. “Ms. Walsh, you are under a lot of strain, we all realize that. I’m sure even Mr. Morosov would agree that an empath under stress—even through no fault of their own—can ruin an investigation.” His patronizing tone was grating. “Perhaps you might consider stepping back and reassessing your input into this matter.”

“Are you taking me off the case?”

He smiled again and she wanted to leap across the table and scratch out his eyes. “How about you concentrate on our plan to trap the Siren and forget about all these wild goose chases of yours? We wouldn’t want you to overtax yourself, especially with your twenty-seventh birthday coming up.”

Beside her Vadim shifted minutely in his seat as if preparing to come to her defense. Should she blow the idea that her physic abilities were compromised right out of the water, or was it better to keep quiet? Perhaps it was easier to pretend to agree and do things her preferred way—behind the authorities’ back.

She gave Spencer her best team-building smile. “Fine, whatever. I’ll think about it.”

As Feehan concluded the meeting, she placed the photo on top of the letter Sam had passed her and slid them into her backpack. No one looked at her when she was the first to rise and head out. Were they worried that she was losing it too, or would they stand by her? Between Morosov’s crazy Natasha and Spencer’s insinuations, it was no wonder no one trusted an empath.

In the quiet of her office she checked the list of names against the photo, matching them to the young faces. Two of the males and two of the females had failed to complete the course. She remembered two of them quite clearly now, one man and one woman who had bailed at the end of year two because they’d fallen in love. They should be relatively easy to trace. She looked up his last name and found them, both still alive and living in New Zealand keeping sheep.

She couldn’t help but smile as she fired up an image of the couple in matching knitted sweaters on top of a craggy snow-covered peak. Perhaps marrying another empath kept you sane after all. The college definitely didn’t encourage it. Ella had always wondered if they said that because they wanted empaths to marry outsiders and spread the load. It didn’t matter now. They looked happy.

Two names left. Anna Wheeler and Geoffrey White. Ella studied their faces on the photograph. They both looked quite normal but she had a sense that she’d seen one or the other of them more recently...

Someone knocked on her door and she hid the photo and list in her desk. Liz poked her head around the door.

“You okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Liz came to perch on the side of Ella’s desk. “That man is an idiot.”

“Drew Spencer?”

“Who else? I just wanted you to know that the rest of us have complete confidence in you, okay?”

“Thanks.”

Liz shook her finger at Ella. “Why didn’t you tell him the truth?”

“About what?”

“I
saw
you with Vadim at the party, Ella. If you’re not mated to the guy, I’m resigning my right to operate a Fae-Web.”

“
Shit
.” Ella stared at Liz. “Who else knows?”

“Only Doug, Big Jim and the entire wolf pack. Vadim did everything but bare his teeth at them before you both left.”

“What about Alexei?”

Liz bit her lip. “I’ve been trying to keep it from him and my Fae-Web but it’s becoming increasingly difficult. I don’t think Alexei is contributing much to this investigation at all. He seems more intent on tripping Vadim up than anything else.”

“Morosov said that Alexei had been sent to spy on him and bring him down.”

“He’s right.”

They regarded each other glumly for a moment.

“If you accept I’m not going nuts because I’m mated, can you also accept this sense I have that the empaths who didn’t graduate are important?”

“Sure.”

Ella frowned. “I also feel like I’ve met one of them again recently.” She retrieved Perry’s letter and showed it to Liz. “Two of these people eloped and got married, so it only leaves two.”

“One male and one female. We’ve always assumed the Siren is male. Hang on a minute.” Liz’s finger remained on the letter. “Anna Wheeler works at the empath college. I spoke to her when I chased up the information last week.”

Ella met Liz’s gaze. “I’m going to have to return to Otherworld, aren’t I? I just
know
the solution lies there.”

“Not by yourself.”

“Liz, I can’t ask Feehan. He’ll tell Spencer and he’s already told me to back off and await my fate.”

“Vadim?”

“I don’t think I can do that to him, Liz.”

“He’s your mate. He’ll want to be by your side.”

“Not in Otherworld, he won’t. I did kind of ask him already, and he didn’t exactly sound keen. Don’t you remember what happened last time? He barely got out alive and ended up mated to me. I can’t do that to him.”

There was one thing she could do for him while she was in Otherworld. Something that might convince Vadim she was taking the mating business seriously.

Liz uncrossed her legs and slid off the table. “I’ll come with you, but we have to let someone know where we are.”

“Cool, let’s go and tell Sam.” Hopefully he’d forget to mention it to anyone.

“The portal on Embarcadero is still open.” Liz put away her phone.

“That’s useful.” Ella picked up her backpack and shoved the photo and letter inside. “Hopefully we’ll be back before anyone notices we’ve even gone.”

“I wish.” Liz glanced up at the sky as they exited the building. “I told Sam that if we weren’t back in two hours, he should tell Vadim and Doug where we are, okay?”

“Sounds like a plan.” Ella concentrated on avoiding another speeding passerby. “Why is it so busy today?”

“It’s Friday. Everyone’s either out for a long lunch, or skipping off home early.”

“Oh God, I promised to visit my mom tomorrow. She has a birthday surprise for me.”

“Lucky you.”

“Funny, Liz.”

“No, I mean it. You can give her the good news about you and Vadim. She’ll be thrilled.”

“Do you think so?”

“Ella, in her own peculiar way she loves you.”

Ella didn’t answer, just pretended she needed all her resources to get across the street. The baseball park loomed up ahead of them and they turned toward the bay and the portal.

As Ella checked for the portal, Liz nudged her in the ribs. “Ooh, I meant to ask how you and Vadim ended up mated.”

“It’s a long story.”

“But it’s a bit weird isn’t it? Him being right here and not needing to come and find you?”

“Weird doesn’t even begin to describe it, seeing as Morosov says he wasn’t even on the OCOS list.”

“What?”

“I know. He thinks it might have something to do with his visit to Otherworld with us.”

“Someone set him up? That’s typical Fae.” Liz made a face. “The poor guy. Someone in Otherworld must really hate him.”

“Yeah, sticking him with me.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Liz shivered and Ella glanced at her.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. Something just set off all my warning instincts.” Liz looked around. “Did you feel it?”

“Nope.” Ella pressed the brick wall and the entrance to the portal appeared. “Let’s go.” She focused her attention on the green light on the ground and then closed her eyes. Sometimes she wished the portals didn’t resemble elevators, but she had no other option. “Merton records office, please.”

The light blinked and threw them forward to wherever Otherworld was or wasn’t. Liz screamed and then everything stopped moving and she frantically pushed against the side of the portal, falling into the street outside the records office.

“Liz?” Ella looked around but there was no sign of her friend. “Where are you?”

The first stirring of unease settled in her gut. She’d promised Liz she wouldn’t go to Otherworld alone, and yet she’d done it anyway. She hoped Liz was okay, and not trapped somewhere between the two worlds as a portal relocated itself. It happened occasionally, and didn’t result in many deaths... Ella looked around the deserted street and then set off at a run for the college. Miss Vera might not like her, but she was incredibly efficient, and would know how to alert the authorities that one of the portals had malfunctioned.

By the time she arrived at the college, she was panting and her hair was coming out of its already untidy braids. Miss Vera glanced up from her typewriter, her mouth settling into a thin line.

“What have you done now, Miss Walsh?”

Ella immediately felt like a guilty teen. “The portal I arrived in didn’t release my colleague, Liz Smith. Is there someone we could call to check that she is okay?”

“Miss Smith is the lady who came with you before?”

“Yes.” Ella nodded.

“She seemed nice.”

“She is.”

“She isn’t an empath, though.”

“No, she’s a Fae-Web specialist.”

“Part Fae, then?” Miss Vera picked up the phone.

“Yes.” Ella let her gaze scan the office and tried to see if she recognized anyone. She was reluctant to drop her guard and use her psychic abilities when there were so many empaths around.

Miss Vera put her finger to her lips and focused her attention on the phone. “Maintenance? This is Miss Vera from the Empath College. Yes, how are you, Claude? I’m very well.” She nodded. “The portal outside the college? Has it moved?”

Thanks to Vadim’s superior genes, Ella’s breathing evened out far more quickly than usual. She eyed Miss Vera’s desk. If she sat on the corner edge, would she be breaking some kind of unwritten rule? Did she even care anymore? Reluctantly she decided to keep standing. She needed Miss V on her side at the moment.

Miss Vera covered the mouthpiece and looked up at Ella. “The one at your end moved. Your friend is alive and has ended up in Netherfield.”

“Will she be able to get back here?” Ella asked.

Miss Vera consulted Claude. “Eventually.”

“Thank you.” Ella smiled. “I really appreciate it.”

Miss Vera put the phone down and studied Ella who wore a short black stretchy skirt, blue leggings and a purple top with silver bling on it. She shook her head. “You should smile more. It suits you.”

“Thanks.”

“Although you really should do something about your appearance. You can’t look like an eighteen-year-old college student forever.”

Ella nodded. “You have a point, Miss Vera. Now, could you help me with something else? Is Anna Wheeler in today?”

“I think so.” Miss Vera turned to survey the office. “She’s over there in the corner.”

Ella managed another smile. “I need to touch base with her about something. Is it okay if I just go and speak to her?”

Miss Vera nodded graciously and Ella was allowed into the inner sanctum of the office. It was strange to be in a place that had no computers sitting on the desks, only typewriters. The internet didn’t work well with Otherworld and humans who visited or lived there just had to deal with it.

Ella approached the young dark-haired woman who was reading something at her desk. “Anna?”

Anna looked up and smiled. “Ella Walsh? You haven’t changed a bit.”

“So Miss Vera was telling me. Long time, no see.” Ella gestured at the empty chair. “May I talk to you for a minute?”

“Certainly.” Anna put a bookmark in her book and closed it. “What can I do for you?”

“This might sound crazy, but why didn’t you graduate from college?”

“So much for small talk.” Anna shuddered, her hands clenched together on her lap. “I try not to think about it.”

“I wouldn’t ask, but I work for the SBLE now. It might be a matter of life and death. Almost all the empaths from our year at college are dead.”

“That’s quite common for empaths at our age.”

“I know, but this is way beyond the norm.”

“And what does it have to do with me?” Anna asked. “You’ve probably already noticed I’m no longer an empath.”