Infernal Affairs (30 page)

“I am a Vapor. My touch will atomize you.”

“Right. Kind of like what happened to Blq.”

She drew into herself. “That was not supposed to be. The Bercilak was unyielding and refused to see reason.”

“I don’t understand your connection to Mr. Corvid.”

“
Mr. Corvid.
Is that what the demon went by?” The debris of energy that swirled within her rippled, contracting slightly.

I kept looking for something like a heart, since I had no face to fix my eyes on, but there was only a kind of glowing ribbon that moved within the cloud. I wondered if she had a wandering soul.

“Blq was a Mound-Dweller. An old one. Blq had a contract with the Senate, but failed to honor a clause.”

“Which clause?”

“The promise of his psychic essence to be held in receivership by the Senate.”

“Well. To be fair, I wouldn’t want to fulfill that end of the agreement.”

“The Invictus lent the Mound-Dweller a favor. The gift increased the demon’s business, but it came with a price. Blq’s time was up.”

“So Blq’s execution had nothing to do with Ru.”

“Wrong. It has absolutely everything to do with him.” Arcadia flowed over to the mirror, which was still dark, still humming. “The Senate authorized an incursion into your world. The goal was to retrieve Blq’s essence. But when the rift was opened, the two Ptah’li escaped.”

“Were they really involved in a coup?”

“They are subjects of interest.”

“To whom?”

“The Senate.”

“And what is your relationship to this Senate?”

Arcadia flowed closer. I could feel her electromagnetic field raising the hair on my arms. The heat of her eyes was strong on my face.
This is what it feels like to have an intimate conversation with a spinning barbecue.

“I am a Senator’s daughter. As are you.”

Those three words knocked the wind out of me. I took a step back.

“We’re sisters?”

“Half sisters.”

“Half sisters.” I spread my arms. “You’re a homicidal water spout. What the hell does that make me?”

“The Ferid are part of you. But the rest of you is human.”

“Right. The fucking
Ferid
are part of me because your father attacked my mother. I never asked for this.”

“He did not attack her. She is not telling you the truth.”

“I’m supposed to trust you over my own mother.”

“Has she not deceived you before?”

“I feel like you guys have still deceived me a lot more. Your father’s the reason I’ve had nightmares since I can remember.”

“No. I am the cause of your nightmares.”

“What?”

Arcadia’s form contracted. She moved almost fractally, her vague insides glowing as they shifted. Suddenly, a young girl was standing in front of me. She was dark-skinned and had green eyes.

“I remember you,” I whispered. “You were in my dream about
las meninas
. You were the
menina
I didn’t recognize.”

“I gave you all those dreams.”

“Why?”

“So you would hate him as I do.”

“Well, you could have saved yourself the trouble, because I already hated him without having to endure creepy nightmares about him.”

“You hated him because you thought he forced himself upon your mother. I believe you will discover that he did not, or at least not in the way you surmise.”

“You just admitted that you’ve been mentally tormenting me since I was a little girl. Why should I believe anything you say?”

“Because I have also helped you.”

“The dreams weren’t all premonitory.”

“But they made you think about things differently. They allowed you to harness your own creativity as an investigator.”

“What am I supposed to say? Thanks for the nightmares?” I gestured to the apartment around me. “His brother died here. Did you kill him?”

“I meant to wound him. But he moved suddenly. He moved to protect his brother, and my presence grazed him.”

“Well, your presence gave him a penetrating chest wound. He bled to death on that ugly floor. And for what? What was his life worth to you?”

“Next to nothing.”

I swallowed. “I think I’d like to officially become estranged from your side of the family. That’s effective immediately.”

“El saw something he should not have. The Senate needs his memories back.”

“That’s tough. His memories are gone.”

“Not completely. Some of them were transferred to Ru when he carried El’s remembering organ to the beach. El must have told him to destroy it, and the water is close by. Possibly, he tried to drown the organ, or smother it. But finally, he thought of burning it. As you’ve seen, it’s highly combustible. The blast would have knocked him out, scattering the fragments of the vessel.”

“But why did the two of them go through the rift in the first place?”

“Because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. When it was realized that they had breached your world, the Kentauros was sent to extract them.”

“And then you were sent. To extract the Kentauros.”

“I never left. I remained here after settling Blq’s debt.”

“Watching me?”

“Pitying you. Wondering if I should put you out of your misery.”

“Do it, then, you fucking cow. Atomize me.”

“Why do you seek disambiguation?”

“Because I’m tired of talking to Mound-Dwellers and Vapors and purebloods. I’m tired of talking.”

“If you wish to die,” Arcadia said, “by all means, approach.”

I took a small step forward. The cloud did not move. I could feel thrills of electricity moving along my body now. I inched forward again. Her heat was burning my face now, but it felt good, somehow. Like steaming water from the bath that was too hot, but only just.

That was when I remembered the bathtub. It was made of solid porcelain. If I gave it a massive charge, I might be able to disrupt her electromagnetic field. I might even be able to leech power from it.

I didn’t draw my athame. I just stood there.

Arcadia’s form seemed to exhale slightly. I felt stings go down my body. My cheeks and my neck burned, and I could feel blood welling up in the cuts.

“Ru is under my protection,” I said.

“A lot of people seem to share that honor.” She drifted back slightly. The cuts throbbed. I bit my lip. “One vampire. A half vampire. An addled telepath.”

“Derrick’s not addled.”

“He thought he touched Basuram’s mind, but he was wrong. It was my mind the psychic touched, as he was blindly fumbling about.”

“What did you do to him?”

“I accelerated his potential.”

“He’s not going to become a zombie-king for the Ferid.”

“He will become whatever we wish him to become.”

I sighed. “Give me one thing, at least.”

“What do you wish?”

“Tell me the bastard’s name.”

“Is that your only question, Tess? It’s unoriginal.”

“Arcadia. Please.” I felt a strange pressure leave me. “Whether we like it or not, we’re family. And you owe me.”

She was silent for a moment. Then her eyes became two points of light, so brilliant I could barely look at them.

“You have always known it,” she said.

Then Arcadia flowed back into the mirror. Its edges gradually softened, until it became a regular vanity again.

I was shaking violently. The curtain of materia I’d thrown up had dissolved a long time ago. As I slowly made my way out of the bathroom, I saw Lucian.

“Hey.” He put his hand on my face. “What did this to you?”

“A falling-out.”

He put his arm around me. “Let me help you.”

“I won’t say no.”

Ru and Selena walked through the door. Ru immediately crossed the room and stood next to me.

“Now you’ve seen them,” he said. “Now you understand.”

“No. I absolutely don’t understand. I do know one thing, though.” I reached out and grabbed his hand. “We’re going to become better friends.”

“Will we? That’s exciting.”

“Yeah. I kind of thought so.”

Selena gave me a tired look. “This is the part where I give you the speech about not following protocol, borrowing the Denali, endangering a subject in an active investigation, et cetera. But I think I’m going to save it this time. You look beat-up.”

“I am beat-up.” I took out my gun and laid it on the sofa. “I’m tired of telling everyone how tired I am. But mostly, I’m unhappy. And life’s too short for that.”

“I don’t understand.”

I laid my CORE badge on top of the gun.

“I quit.”

I walked out with Lucian and Ru. Derrick met me at the foot of the stairs. I looked into his bright face and was once again astonished by what an amazing person he was, and how much I loved him.

“What just happened?”

I kissed his cheek. “I just completely screwed us over.”

Jes Battis was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. He teaches and writes in Regina, Saskatchewan. Visit his website at
www.authorjesbattis.com
.

 

Kate Daniels may have quit the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid, but she’s still knee-deep in paranormal problems. Or she would be if she could get someone to hire her. Starting her own business has been more challenging than she thought it would be—now that the Order is disparaging her good name. Plus, many potential clients are afraid of getting on the bad side of the Beast Lord, who just happens to be Kate’s mate.

So when Atlanta’s premier Master of the Dead calls to ask for help with a vampire on the loose, Kate leaps at the chance of some paying work. But it turns out that this is not an isolated incident, and Kate needs to get to the bottom of it—fast, or the city and everyone dear to her may pay the ultimate price.

 

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From the #1 New York Times

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Car mechanic Mercy Thompson has always known there is something unique about her, and it’s not just the way she can make a VW engine sit up and beg. Mercy is a different breed of shapeshifter, a characteristic she inherited from her long-gone father. She’s never known any others of her kind. Until now.

 

An evil is stirring in the depths of the Columbia River—one that her father’s people may know something about. And to have any hope of surviving, Mercy and her mate, the Alpha werewolf Adam, will need their help . . .

 

 

 

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