Soul Sucker (8 page)

“And you didn’t. She’s dead and something liquefied her brain.”

She winced as she opened the door. “Thanks for the visual.”

He followed her out into the main hallway and almost bumped into her as her steps slowed.

“What’s up now?”

She appeared to be listening to something. “This place needs help.”

He barely repressed a shiver. “I know.”

Her interested gaze swung back to his. “What do you feel?”

“What do you feel? You’re the expert,” he countered.

“Trapped souls screaming in torment, and magic gone awry.”

“Can you fix it?”

“Why, does it bother you?”

He started walking again. “Not particularly.”

“Liar. If you feel it, it bothers you.”

“I can live with it. The question is, can you?”

She cocked her head to one side and wrinkled her nose. “Nope.”

He watched, fascinated as she drew a deep breath and closed her eyes. Time seemed to stop, his heartbeat slowed and he couldn’t have moved even if he’d wanted to. She raised her hands and held them palm up as if she was begging.

“
Come
to
me
.”

Her lips didn’t move. He realized the words were resonating through his skull and the hairs on the back of his neck stood to attention. Around her swirled things and emotions he couldn’t quite identify and didn’t want to. She took another deep breath. The swirling turned into the roar of a tornado, which seemed to coil tighter and tighter and disappeared into her hands.

He felt a visceral tug deep inside his chest and resisted an urge to wrap his arms around himself and curl up into a little ball. No wonder they were called the gatekeepers. He’d never witnessed an empath channeling lost souls back to Otherworld and he wasn’t sure he ever wanted to again. When he opened his eyes Ella was on the move, her smile in place. “That’s better. Thanks for reminding me. I meant to come down here last week and see to it, but I forgot.”

And it was better. The polluted atmosphere he’d sensed had disappeared.

He found he could move again, and hurried after her. Feehan waited for them by the main door still chatting to Dr. Clegg. He didn’t look bothered, so the extraordinary incident Vadim had witnessed hadn’t taken much time or been noticed by anyone else.

“Excuse me, guys.”

Just before she reached Mr. Feehan, Ella veered off course and headed into the bathroom. She emerged a couple of minutes later, looking even greener than she had before.

Vadim held the outer door open for her. “Are you all right?”

“Sure.” Her grin wasn’t good enough to fool him.

“Do you need to lie down or something?”

“I’m fine. What I need is half a dozen iced donuts and a chocolate milkshake. I’ll be good to go then.”

Vadim held open the elevator door. “You’d be better off having some protein and complex carbs.”

“You sound like my mother.”

“I’m just saying...” Vadim didn’t get to finish his sentence as Ella stormed off to take the stairs. He sighed as the doors started to close and her untidy yellow braid disappeared around the corner.

“Don’t worry yourself, Vadim. She’s like that with everyone these days.”

He turned to find Feehan watching him and tried to think of something neutral to say. He didn’t want to give the impression that he wasn’t a good team player, or he might get sent back to Russia. He decided to focus on the obvious.

“She doesn’t eat very healthy stuff.”

Feehan snorted. “She lives on the kind of junk food that would send most people to the hospital. I tried to talk to her about her diet when I first arrived here.”

“I assume she didn’t listen?”

“She informed me that she wasn’t planning on living past twenty-seven, so she’d decided to eat whatever she damned well liked.” Feehan paused. “I shut up after that.”

“She doesn’t plan on taking an OCOS mate?”

“She says not. Although, a lot of empaths change their mind as their twenty-seventh birthday approaches.”

“So I’ve heard.” Vadim spotted Alexei waving at him. “If you’ll excuse me, Mr. Feehan?”

“Sure. I have to go and pick up George Ralston from the airport. I’ll let you know when you can interview him, so stick around.”

“I think Alexei got us some lunch so we can eat here while we go over the case notes.”

“Great.” Feehan nodded and went into his office, closing the door behind him. Vadim went over to where Alexei was waiting in the smaller of the conference rooms that had become their temporary office.

“I got you a ham sandwich, okay?” Alexei handed him a wrapped parcel.

He sat down and realized his hands were trembling. If he still felt the effect of the bad atmosphere in the morgue, how the hell was Ella Walsh feeling? He’d seen the debilitating effect it had on her. Had she done it deliberately to remind him of the strain Natasha had been under? He shook his head. No, she’d just sensed a problem and dealt with it as quickly as possible.

“Are you talking to me?” Alexei asked, his sandwich poised in front of his mouth.

“No, I was just thinking about Ella Walsh.”

“She’s interesting, isn’t she? Powerful too.”

Vadim unwrapped his sandwich. “How powerful?”

Alexei shrugged. “Enough to make herself the center of my Fae-Web.”

“In what way?”

“I’m not sure yet, but she will have a profound effect on this case.” Alexei’s silver eyes took on a faraway look.

“Like Natasha?” Suddenly, he didn’t feel hungry anymore. Vadim sipped at his can of jasmine iced tea. “She’s not going to implode is she?”

“She’s not Natasha. She is connected to you, though.”

“We’re on the same team.”

“It’s more than that.”

“Don’t go all mystical on me. I’m not in the mood for it.” Vadim picked up his sandwich and took a big bite. It was surprisingly good. “I thought you were having lunch with Liz.”

Alexei pouted. “Her husband called and she decided to go out with him instead. I did get to meet him though. He seems like a nice enough guy.”

“With the flexible morals you require?”

“I’m not sure yet. I’ll need to get to know him a bit better. Speaking of which, are you free for lunch this Sunday?”

“I’m free every Sunday.”

“Liz said something about us all getting together for a barbecue.”

“Sounds fine to me. American beef is always excellent.” Vadim concentrated on finishing his sandwich. “The report from the morgue is that Christa Morehouse was not assaulted in any way.”

“I’ve already added that information into my web.” Alexei shuddered. “If it is the same guy, he’s obviously getting better. The first victim was tied up, the second was choked, and the third only had a couple of bumps and scratches on her wrists.”

“Great. Maybe he does feed off their empath power. Maybe it enhances his.”

Alexei sat up and his Fae-Web streamed out around him. “That’s an interesting possibility. Let me share it with Liz.”

Chapter Seven

Vadim cleared away the remnants of his lunch and deposited everything in the trashcan. He came back and tidied up Alexei’s space while his coworker spun his magic. He was just dusting off the desktop with his napkin when Ella came through the door, a large pink box in the curve of her arm and a monster cup of some beverage that was leaking bright orange bubbles through the inadequately fitted lid.

He held out a chair for her and grabbed for the box as it slid off her arm.

“Thanks. Is Feehan back yet?” Ella asked.

She looked less fragile than she had in the morgue. He preferred her in full-on belligerent mode, although why he was concerned about her feelings at all was a mystery.

“I think he only just left.” He gestured at the box. “Is that your lunch?”

“Yeah, would you like one?”

He stared through the clear plastic lid at the brightly colored glazed donuts.
Only
in
America
. “No thanks. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth.”

Ella’s gaze wandered over his body. “I bet you work out, don’t you?”

“I try to keep in shape.”

She smiled and he couldn’t look away. “Of course you do.” She opened the box, took out a donut covered in white glaze and purple sprinkles and bit into it. “Mmm...”

He watched, fascinated as she licked the frosting off her lip with the tip of her tongue and then slowly chewed.

“May I have one, please?” Alexei asked.

Ella nodded, and kept eating as Alexei pondered his selection. The Fae could eat just about anything and still retain their beauty. Alexei only accompanied Vadim to the gym to look good rather than because he needed to go. Ella started on her second donut, pausing occasionally to slurp at the disgusting orange concoction.

Vadim had to look away, instead concentrating his gaze on the Fae-Web that still hovered over Alexei’s head. It took him a while to interpret the Fae symbols and gain entry, but soon he was enmeshed in the beauty of the web. It took on the dimensions of a tunnel he could walk through with information covering every surface, constantly offering new pathways, new analogies with all roads leading to a central rune that glowed blood red.

Death.

Being immortal, the Fae preferred not to deal with the consequences of death. Only those who weren’t purebred could cope with the ramifications of the Fae-Web, of its predictions for the future, of a mortal’s ultimate fate. Vadim carefully avoided all avenues that addressed himself, concentrating only on the trail of the elusive killer and the far brighter light of Ella Walsh. But Alexei was right. The red stones of death were definitely drawing closer to Ella, and so was his lifeline...

God
,
no
.

“What are you doing?”

Vadim jumped as Ella poked his arm. He was snapped back into reality with a speed that made him want to vomit. He glanced down at the sleeve of his jacket where a large yellow blob of frosting now rested.

“Give him a second, Ella. He was in the Fae-Web,” Alexei said.

Vadim swallowed hard and refocused on the offensive frosting.

“You can see into those things, Morosov?”

He got out his handkerchief and tried to decide whether he would make matters worse by trying to rub the stain off. There was really no other option. He’d have to get the hotel to dry clean the jacket for him tonight.

“Morosov?”

He dabbed at the stain, then wet his handkerchief with water to blot out the stickiness.

“What, Ms. Walsh?”

She rested her chin on her hand and studied him. “I was asking if you could see into the Fae-Web. Liz tried to tell me what it was like, but I couldn’t really understand.”

“It’s...different.”

She snorted. “That’s a lot of help.”

“It just is.”

Her brown eyes narrowed. “So what percentage of Fae are you exactly?”

“I have no idea.”

“If you’re more than fifty percent Fae, Morosov, don’t you need a permit to live on this side?”

“You should know, gatekeeper. Isn’t it your job to police Otherworld creatures?”

“One of my jobs. I can’t tell with you. Your shields are too good.”

“What a shame.” He returned her earlier smile with interest.

She looked across to Alexei, who was still helping himself to the box of donuts. Vadim noticed they’d managed to eat about half-a-dozen between them already.

“How much Fae do you have to be to make that thing work?”

“To operate it? At least thirty-three percent. To see it?” Alexei shrugged, his gaze skipping over Vadim. “That depends on your line.”

“Your Fae line?”

“Yes. Some families are more powerful than others.”

“I’ve noticed that. Sometimes it’s harder to remove one memory than another, although they initially seem the same.” She turned back to Vadim. “Can you create one of those things?”

He repressed a shudder. “No.”

“I wish I could see into one. I bet things would make a lot more sense on a case.”

“It’s not quite that straightforward. Fae logic is not the same as human.” He glanced at Alexei who looked amused. “In fact a lot of it is both misleading and irrelevant. That’s why we need Alexei and Liz to interpret the data for us.”

“He’s right, Ella. Sometimes even I don’t understand what my Fae-Web is trying to tell me.”

“Until it’s too late,” Vadim said. Alexei had the grace to look abashed. Vadim stood and pushed in his chair. He took off his jacket and laid it over his arm. “Will you both excuse me? I need to clean off my sleeve properly.”

* * *

Ella watched him leave the room, then turned back to Alexei.

“What did you miss last time?”

He shrugged. “That Natasha was going nuts.”

She considered that and found her gaze drawn back to the door through which Vadim had just left. “Morosov’s a bit cranky about his clothes, isn’t he?”

“That’s a bespoke suit from Savile Row in England. I’d be pissed too.”

Ella stared at the remnants of her donut. “No wonder he looks so good in it.”

“It’s his armor.”

“Against what?”

Alexei smiled. “Against everything.”

“How much does one of those cost?”

“About four or five thousand dollars, but they are made to last a human lifetime.”

“Holy shit.” She dropped her donut onto her napkin. “Should I offer to have his jacket dry-cleaned or something?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Alexei helped himself to another donut. “We get enough in our budget to cover cleaning, and Vadim isn’t short of money.”

Curiosity was vulgar, but she couldn’t help herself, and the Fae were terrible gossips. “He’s rich, as well as handsome as a god? Why on earth does he work for the government?”

Alexei sat back. “You’ll have to ask him yourself.” He idly studied his fingernails. “You think he’s handsome, do you?”

“Who doesn’t? You’d have to be blind not to notice that ass and that face,” Ella sighed. “But it’s okay, I’ll live.”

“He likes you.”

“He does not.”

Alexei grinned. “Sure he does, but he’s fighting it. Natasha really did a number on him.”

“Were they that close?”

“Hard to tell. She certainly doted on him. I was never quite sure how he felt about her. Vadim’s never been one to like a clingy woman, and by the end she was emotionally needy.”

“Like all empaths. I’m a bit of an exception apparently.” She grimaced. “I’ve seen a picture of Natasha. She was stunning. Let’s just be grateful I know he’s way out of my league. Morosov would do better to date Laney.”

“But Laney’s just about to meet her OCOS match, isn’t she?”

She stared at him. “You don’t miss much do you?”

He shrugged. “She ended up in my Fae-Web, I have no idea why. Naturally, I picked up some information about her.”

“
Supernaturally
, you mean.”

“Well, that and some deliberate eavesdropping on your conversation last night.”

Ella couldn’t help laughing at Alexei’s cool admission of guilt. “You’re definitely more Fae than human, aren’t you?”

“I certainly have more adaptable morals.” His gaze dropped to her mouth. “Is it just Vadim you won’t date, or does that ban extend to me?”

She took her time looking him over. He certainly was a beautiful specimen and most Fae were spectacular in bed...

“Nope, I can’t do it.” She shook her head. “It just makes everything complicated at work. I need to keep my mind on Otherworld.”

“Not a problem.” He picked up his empty cup. “Can I get you anything?”

“No thanks, I’ve got soda.”

He rose to his feet and looked down at her, all delicious silver hair and eyes. “If you change your mind, let me know, won’t you?”

“Sure.”

He nodded, and she watched him walk to the door with his usual grace and then hesitate. “Mr. Feehan’s back.”

Ella stood too. “Good to know. I’m going to my office. Come and get me if anything exciting happens.”

* * *

Ella left Feehan’s office. She’d done her job and established that George Ralston didn’t have any obvious connection to the victim, her apartment or the killer. It would be up to Liz and Alexei to decide if he was of any further interest to the Fae-Web. She found Liz chatting to Alexei, their heads close together, their Fae-Webs enmeshed.

She coughed loudly and they both jumped. Damn, she should have remembered from lunch that interrupting someone when they were deeply in the Fae-Web gave them a shock.

“Sorry, guys. Feehan wants to see you, Liz.”

Liz stretched, and the silver lines of her Fae-Web trembled and disappeared. She walked out to Ella in the hallway. “Did you meet Ralston?”

“Yeah, I did. As far as I’m concerned, he’s in the clear. Feehan wants you to meet him too, though.”

“I’d be happy to.” Liz smoothed down her pink skirt and patted the shining curve of her blond bob. “By the way, is it okay if I bring some guests to the barbecue on Sunday?”

“The more the merrier. I can hide from my parents in the crowd.” She’d finally succumbed to Mom Guilt and agreed to visit her family in the East Bay for the weekend. Apparently, they were celebrating something she should have known about weeks ago. Something she’d already forgotten the details of—again.

“Do you still need a ride, Liz?”

“No, we’ll bring the others. You can take Laney.”

“If she wants to come.”

“Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. She’s just all excited about hooking up with her OCOS date.”

“
Laney
is?” Liz stopped walking.

Ella forced a smile. “Yeah, she decided to go for it after all.”

“Well, good for her.” She patted Ella’s shoulder. “You should consider it.”

“Hmm...”

Liz knocked on Feehan’s door and Ella continued on down to her corner office. She passed the open door of the small conference room and saw Vadim writing on the whiteboard. His precious jacket was placed carefully on the back of a chair and his sleeves were rolled up to the elbow.

She paused in the doorway, ostensibly to check out what he was writing, but also to check him out. Just because he thought he was too good for her didn’t mean she couldn’t admire him from afar. His hair was almost black and his cheekbones rivaled a supermodel. Luckily, that tough mouth of his saved him from being too pretty...

“Did you want something, Ms. Walsh?”

She leaned against the doorframe. “Mr. Ralston’s here if you want to see him.”

“What did you think of him?”

She came farther into the room and dropped her backpack on the table. “I can’t sense any connections between him and the victim. He seems genuinely upset about her loss.”

He exhaled and shoved a hand through his dark hair, which immediately fell back into place. “Damn. I suppose it would’ve made it too easy if he’d been the murderer.”

“And unlikely, seeing as he hasn’t ever been outside the U.S.”

“That we know of. Otherworld doesn’t keep the same kind of immigration records as the U.S. He could have gone through a portal.”

“Did your guy actually speak Russian?”

Vadim went still. “That’s a good question. I’ll have to check Natasha’s notes, such as they were.”

Ella got out her laptop. “I can do that right now.” She found the files and opened the one marked with Natasha’s name. Vadim came to look over her shoulder. Up close, he smelled of expensive aftershave and warm, vibrant male. Ella shivered.

“What is it?”

She ignored him and concentrated on the file. “This is the translation. Do I have the original as well?”

“Yes.” Vadim leaned around her and tapped something on the keyboard. A second file came up and they both stared at the Russian script.

“Look.” Ella touched the screen. “This bit is in English, right?”

Vadim cursed softly, his mouth close to her ear. “Interesting. That’s just above Natasha’s comments on the killer’s voice and thoughts. Sounds like he is an English speaker.” He straightened away from her. “What made you think of that?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe I picked it up when I sensed him in the stairwell at the victim’s apartment.” Vadim frowned and she hastened to add, “It might not be important.”

“But I still missed it.” He walked away from her. “And I was all ready to blame you for fucking up this case. Maybe I’m the one who needs to worry.”

“Shit happens.” She couldn’t believe she was the one trying to make him feel better.

He swung around to stare at her, his dark blue gaze intent. “This time I can’t afford to make a mistake.”

“Because you’ll be the one held accountable back in Russia?”

“Exactly.” He grimaced. “You don’t know my boss. When she says if you fail she’s going to eat you alive, she means it literally.”

“She’s a shapeshifter?”

“And the rest.” He picked up his jacket and put it back on. The fabric settled around him like a second skin. “I need to talk to Alexei.”

“Sure.” She shut down her laptop and put it back in her backpack. “Are you doing anything this weekend?”

“I think Alexei’s got something planned.”

“Then have a good one.”

“Thanks.” He smiled at her and she had to remember not to drool.

For a moment she’d considered inviting him to her parents’ barbecue, but perhaps it was best that he was busy doing other things. If she had a few beers, she might get up the courage to flirt with him, and despite his avowed dislike of empaths, he might just take her up on it. She might not have the courage to call his bluff and walk away.