Part 15 (2/2)
He yanked his cell phone out of his trouser pocket and opened it. ”Have you seen this girl before?”
Esmeralda took the phone from him and studied the image hard. ”Yes . . . she's new. She just came to our second night of full-moon rituals and was immediately invited to join our coven. Her energy was so strong, surprisingly so for a girl of so few years.”
”How long did she attend?”
Esmeralda gave him a quizzical look. ”Why?”
”It is of vital importance, love. Please do not be difficult.”
”She came at sundown, as is customary,” Esmeralda said, growing peevish. ”She didn't come with an escort or a mentor. She just seemed to know where to find our meeting, which portends that her psychic abilities arc extremely strong. She stayed until sunrise, when we all dispersed.”
”You are sure about this?” he asked, now holding her by her upper arms.
”Yes, why? And you're hurting me.” Esmeralda pulled out of his grasp. ”I've never seen you like this, and you're scaring me.”
”Do you know where she lives . . . where she sleeps by day?”
”Oh, come on,” Esmeralda said with a smirk. ”She's not a Vampire. That much we know for sure. She has a strong life force and knew all the rituals by heart.”
”You said you trusted me, so I'll ask you again. Do you know where she sleeps by day?”
Esmeralda shook her head no. ”But now that she's taken the coven ritual, I can consult my crystal ball and possibly find out.”
Shogun sat under a wide yew tree in the teahouse garden watching the miasma of sparkling light dance about his head like dust motes. The Faeries had gotten Sir Rodney's Fae missive, and it was important to stay extremely still to hear what the tiny beings were saying. In his mind he blocked out distant traffic noise, becoming Zena”one with the peaceful oasis. This was the last place in the world he ever wanted to revisit... the place where he'd fallen so deeply in love with Sasha... the place where she'd allowed her shadow to dance with his.
For now, he couldn't think about that. He had to hear what the Faeries were whispering. They knew the girl in the picture. She'd been here just the day prior to have tea. He would not tell them that inside the beautiful face and delicate body lived a feline monster that could take their tiny lives.
They led him to the salon where she'd been and then dispersed. That was as much as they knew. Shogun entered it and tensed. He could smell her light signature scent, the new one she'd stolen from the innocent Amy Chen. But worse yet, his aunt was toying with him, knowing he would try to track her by traditional Were methods. She'd come to the same private room where he'd been with Sasha, where he'd tasted her mouth for the very first time.
His aunt was such a b.i.t.c.h.
Okay, now this s.h.i.+t was really getting on her nerves. Sasha stood by Doc's side in the lab as she handed the cooler to him and Clarissa. Waiting for a flight was out of the question; she needed immediate answers.
Her stomach did a weird flip-flop as she glanced at Bradley and Winters, who were on computers and ready for sample a.n.a.lysis to begin. Woods and Fisher hung back, waiting on Sasha to give them the go-ahead that they could join the fight. But first, she wanted to know what they were dealing with.
”I can't even begin to tell you what the scene looked like back at that kid's apartment. I've gotta know if Vamps did this or if this was from a rampaging Were Leopard.” She set Russell Conway's digital camera down between Winters and Bradley. ”I also need to know what that ent.i.ty is that he captured on the vid. Shogun made an interesting point: Lady Jung Suka”our suspected predatora”is white with black spots when in Were form. But what attacked that Ghost Finders, Inc., crew was transparent and black. Slow the frames down and you'll see what I mean.”
”You okay, Sasha?” Clarissa asked as Sasha blotted her forehead. ”You look flushed.”
”I've just seen a lot of really horrific s.h.i.+t in the last twenty-four hours, and didn't really eat this morning.”
”Get her some orange juice,” Doc said to Fisher. ”She looks like her blood sugar's dropping and she's about to pa.s.s out.”
”I'm cool, I'm cool,” Sasha said, weakly protesting.
Ignoring her, Fisher left the room as Clarissa opened the first cooler and then screamed. Everybody was on their feet, and the adrenaline spike instantly revived Sasha.
”Bradley, get a brick-dust circle going, stat!” Clarissa shouted, backing away from the cooler. ”Demon essence in the house!”
Clarissa waited until Bradley was able to dig in the lab drawers and rush back to begin pouring the reddish dust into the floor from the hole he'd made in his fist. Then she put some on her hands and carried the cooler to the center of the circle, cautiously opened the lid, and jumped back.
Angry green slime hissed and popped and slithered over the edge of the cooler like a fast-moving cold fire. As soon as Sasha saw it, she vomited green bile, which Clarissa and Bradley hit with brick dust.
”Get a circle around her, people,” Clarissa said, watching Bradley, Winters, and Doc jump into action. ”You hold the line at the door, Woods; don't let it get out of the lab!”
”What am I supposed to do, 'Rissa?” he shouted, running toward the open drawer and grabbing a handful of dust.
”Make a line in front of the door!” she yelled back as Doc held Sasha up while Bradley began saying the Twenty-third Psalm in a very loud voice.
Just as suddenly as the fracas began, the essence in the middle of the circles quieted, turned from a vibrant green to a gooey black tar, and then torched.
”I don't think we need any a.n.a.lysis on the stuff in cooler number one. This was definitely a pure demon that took those folks,” Bradley said.
”Bigger question is, how did Sasha get infected?” Doc peered at her with concern and helped her to a chair.
”I probably picked it up while mucking around at the kill sites,” she said, wobbling to sit down.
”I want a full evaluation on hera”she's not going back through shadow lands in this state . . . there could still be some infection in her,” Doc argued, folding his arms in front of her.
”As much as I appreciate the concern, no can do, Doc.” Sasha offered him a wan smile. ”There's a huge problem down in the Delta, obviously .. . whatever was in me for sure came outa”my apologies to the team.”
”Clarissa, can you scan her psychically, and at least make me feel better?”
”No!” Bradley shouted. ”Just let Sasha step through some Holy Water or something.”
Sasha nodded. ”Clarissa's been through enough. Flash me with brick dust, the Twenty-third Psalm, Holy Water, whatever, but leave Clarissa out of anya””
”I'm okay, guys, no problem ... but I think Sasha's all right. I'm not getting bad vibes now.”
Bradley walked away from Clarissa, raking his hair in frustration.
”You're sure?” Doc said, looking at Clarissa hard. ”And how are you feeling? You okay, McGill?”
”Yeah, and never better, sir,” Clarissa replied, going to Bradley. ”I'm all right.” She placed a hand on his back.
”Then humor me and let me purge you, just in case,” he muttered, slowly drawing her into a hug.
”Well, now that all the excitement is over, what the h.e.l.l was that?” Winters looked at the cooler and ran his fingers through his hair just as Fisher came back in the door.
”Yo, what's wrong everybody?” Fisher said, glancing around. ”What'd I miss?”
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