Witch Hunt, A Paranormal/Urban Fantasy (The Maurin Kincaide Series) (16 page)

Everything that I could see was som
ething that we already knew. There had to be something else. I moved to another laptop a little farther down the table. This time Aidan didn’t say a word as he hovered behind me. I held my hands above the keys again and was immediately drawn to a new pattern of letters. I let the fingerprints on the keys lead me down this new path of keystrokes, hopeful that I would find something. The last person to use this computer was doing a lot of research. Was this the one that held the information that I needed?

I followed a few references about
lachadiel, but they were all dead ends. Everything I found on this laptop was common knowledge too. Damn it! Why wasn’t there anything useful in here about him? If the Inquisitors weren’t keeping any information about him and Mahalia didn’t have anything either, then what the hell was I supposed to do? It’s not like I could just stroll into the nearest bookstore to grab a latte and a book on zealot cults and their heavenly defenders.

Aidan cleared his throat.
I had forgotten that he was behind me for a second.

“Do you believe that
lachadiel has something to do with the murder of his conjurers?” he asked.

“How did you…” I started to ask.

“It was simple, really. I just watched your fingers move across the keys. I’ve always been an excellent speller,” he said with a smirk.

“Um, I don’t know.
I mean, anything’s possible,” I replied, not wanting to admit my real reasons for focusing on any path that led to lachadiel.

“Hmmm,” was all he said in response.

I shrugged it off and went back to focusing on the keyboard. I let my fingers slide across the keys again, this time opening myself up to all patterns and letter formations. A word that I didn’t know came up over and over again. Afrit. What the hell was an Afrit and why did the Inquisitors want to know so much about it?

“We don’t have much time, Maurin.
You haven’t found anything that we can use to clear the coven. We need to move on,” Aidan prodded.

“Give me a second.
I think I’m on to something here,” I told him.

“Cash has found something too,” he said.

“What? I didn’t hear him say anything,” I said, still trying to find more information about the Afrit.

“If he said it loud enough for you to hear, then the men patrolling outside would hear him as well,” Aidan replied quietly.

He grabbed me by the waist. Before I could protest, he had his other hand clamped around my mouth. In what seemed like half a second we were across the warehouse and standing next to Cash. Aidan set me down, reminding me not to yell when he uncovered my mouth.

“Don’t do that again!”
I hissed at him.

“I believe that it was you who said that we were on a tight schedule,” Aidan remin
ded me.

“Yeah, because it would have taken so much time to walk back here,” I grumbled.

“In my time, a gentleman escorted a lady,” Aidan replied, gesturing to me. “Besides, you would have just stayed at that computer if I hadn’t brought you back here.”

“Grabbing someone and covering her mouth is your idea of escorting?
No wonder chivalry is dead!” I snapped.

“A lady?
You obviously don’t know her very well,” Cash chimed in sarcastically.

“Well, she certainly looks like a lady to me,” Aidan said, eying me up and down with a smile.

“Looks can be deceiving,” Cash retorted.

“Screw you, Cash!” I shot back.

“See what I mean?” Cash said to Aidan.

Aidan chuckled.
“Indeed I do.”

“Wasn’t there something that you wanted to show us, Cash?” I asked in a bitchy tone.

“Yeah, I caught a scent over here that I don’t recognize,” Cash said, pointing to the bloodstains on the floor and back wall.

The cleaning crew hadn’t been here yet.
SPTF must not be done working the crime scene. Aidan was right. We needed to wrap it up before someone came back.

“Another Inquisitor maybe?
One who wasn’t on Winter Island?” I asked.

“No, that’s the thing - it’s not a human scent.
I can’t place it at all,” he said.

“Animal?” I asked.

“lachadiel,” Aidan said.

“Could be, but I’d need a scent to co
mpare it with to be sure,” Cash said to Aidan.

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Aidan said, pointing to the blood splatter on the wall.
He pulled us both back a step. “Look.”

“Look at what?
I don’t see anything but…” Cash started to say.

“Stare at it for a moment, then blink and look at a clean spot on the wall or the floor.
Keep blinking and you will see the image,” Aidan instructed.

I did as I was told without arguing for a change.
Cash did too because I could hear him cussing when he figured out what the image was. I felt like I was going to throw up.

“How’d you figure that out?” Cash asked Aidan.

“It’s an old vampire trick. It used to be all the rage. Vampires would leave their name or a logo (for lack of a better word) when marking a new territory. If you wanted to call out a master vampire when attempting to take over his domain, then you’d leave this. It sort of went out of fashion with cell phones, although, there are some of us that still like to leave calling cards. It’s my job to track them down and remind them of the rules,” he explained.

Aidan stood in front of me, turning my head to expose my neck.
“It looks like someone is trying to send you a message.”

“I don’t think that it’s the first time either,” I responded, recalling the bizarre dream that I’d had earlier where I was covered in blood.

“He’s able to gain access to your mind? Even with the amulet?” Aidan asked.

“What amulet?” Cash asked, trying to keep up.

“This one,” I said, pulling the amulet out of my shirt. “It’s supposed to protect my mind and keep things out.”

“Well it isn’t doing a very good job of it,” Cash said.

The door opened, just enough for Oberon to stick his head in.

“I hope you
found something, because Masarelli’s car just pulled up to the gate. We need to go. Now!” Oberon said urgently.

There was movement in the alley.
Two patrolmen were headed in Oberon’s direction. He slipped inside the door and quietly clicked it shut. Little orbs of light bounced around the alley from their flashlights. Chatter from their radios broke the silence.

“Thought I saw something back here, D
etective!” one of them shouted.

“All clear!” he said, after what felt like the longest minute of my life.

“Then get your ass up here and get the lock off this door. Clean up is on their way!” Masarelli shouted back.

“We didn’t get what we need,” I said.

“Too late for that now,” Cash replied.

“We know it was
lachadiel who killed the Inquisitors. That’s going to have to do for now,” Aidan said.

“
lachadiel?” Oberon asked.

“I’ll explain later.
We need to go. Now,” I said.

We were out of time and out of exits.
We needed to get the hell out of this warehouse and we had about two minutes to do it.

“We can get out through the roof.
There’s an access panel at the end of the catwalk. From there, we’ll have to jump off the back. We should be able to clear the chain link and hug the coast for a while. Might have to go a few blocks out of our way and double back to the truck, but it’s our best shot of getting out of here undetected,” Cash said.

“You just came up with that?
I’m impressed,” I said.

“I had an exit strategy before I walked through the door.
Now move it,” Cash said.

“
Hoo-rah,” I replied.

He laughed, “Just get your ass up on that catwalk.”

We all ran to the far corner of the warehouse and the ladder leading up to the catwalk. Cash was already at the top of the ladder, taking two rungs at a time. Oberon was next. He was halfway up the ladder.

Aidan held me back.
“It won’t help the coven or the Council if we all get arrested.”

“What?” I asked.

“Cash’s escape route was for himself. We won’t all get off the roof,” he said.

“With a werewolf, a witch and a vampire?
I’m pretty sure we can manage,” I said, not following him.

“I’m a vampire; I’m not superman.
I don’t fly. You and Oberon won’t make the jump on your own. And I don’t think Cash can make it carrying you, let alone Oberon. There won’t be time for me to make two trips,” he said.

I could hear the chain sliding through the door handles.
Masarelli was going to come through that door any second.

Oberon stopped and looked behind him to see where I was.
“What are you doing? Get up here! Let’s go!” he called down to us.

“I’m sure that Oberon would do the ho
norable thing and stay behind, but you and I both know that can’t happen,” Aidan said.

“Right behind you,” I called back to Oberon, waving him on.

I knew what Aidan was trying to say. Oberon had to get away clean. We knew there was a risk we would get caught. I never should have brought him along. The coven was in enough shit without one of their witches getting arrested for breaking and entering, and tampering with evidence. Aidan didn’t think that he could jump the distance carrying both of us and Cash couldn’t make it with either of us. I was about to make Masarelli’s night.

“I have a plan.
Do you trust me?” Aidan asked.

“What choice do I have?” I asked sarca
stically.

“When
Masarelli comes through the door, I want you to run out the side. Go out through the alley and make a break for the fence. Let them catch you, but make it convincing,” he said.

“That’s your plan?
Let them catch me?” I said in disbelief.

“Have a little faith, Maurin,” Aidan said.

He was up the ladder and pulling Oberon through the access panel. I could hear muffled arguing and Cash telling them to shut up before they got us all busted. The access panel closed as Masarelli came through the door. I bolted for the side door while he tried to turn on the lights.

“What the hell?
SPTF! Don’t move!” he shouted.

His
maglite frantically swept the warehouse, finally finding me as I stepped through the door.

“Freeze, Kincaide!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.

I didn’t of course.
Does anybody? I was out the door and running up the alley as fast as I could. Two officers were sprinting toward me. I lowered my head and led with my shoulder, barreling through them. One crashed into the side of the warehouse and the other hit the chain link. He bounced off the fence and made a grab for me. I dodged; he stumbled into his partner, taking him down for me. I was up and over the fence before they got untangled.

I darted out into the street. I stopped for a second, looking around. There were cops in every direction. I could have pushed through them and I wanted to, but Aidan had a plan. It went against all of my instincts, but I had to trust him. He said to make it convincing, right? I darted left away from the warehouse and Masarelli. I heard a pop and felt a sharp pain in my back. I stumbled, but quickly regained my footing. There was a bean bag on the ground by my foot. They broke out the riot guns? Another pop. This time it hit me on the side of the head, right in the temple. I lost my equilibrium and went down. Just before I hit the ground, I thought that I saw Aidan and Cash holding Oberon back. I blinked and they were gone.

The pavement came up to meet me and my side felt like it was on fire.
It felt like my skull had been cracked open. Masarelli and the rest of the officers were running over to where I was laying on the pavement. The sound of guns cocking surrounded me.

“Don’t even think about fucking moving!” one of them yelled at me.

“I told you to stop her - not to give her brain damage, you idiot!” Masarelli screamed at the officer with the riot gun. “You want her to be able to file police brutality charges? Get her ziptied and into the back of a patrol car.”

I didn’t fight.
I didn’t cry out or complain when the officer put a knee with all his weight on my spine and pulled my arms behind my back. They fastened the zipties too tight around my wrists and yanked me up off of the ground. I was shoved into the back of a patrol car, my head hitting the roof on the way in.

“Watch your head,” one of them laughed as he slammed the car door shut.

I’d never had so much as a parking ticket and now I was being arrested. They would take me in and process me. I’d have a mugshot and my fingerprints taken. I was a criminal. No – I was a complete moron. Why the hell did I agree to this?