Misguided Angel (20 page)

Sam Lennox popped out of the glom and gripped her shoulder. "Sorry. It was a good guess, though."

A good guess but not good enough. Not the truth. She was back to the beginning. Back where she had started. In the dark. Nowhere. The Lennox brothers were being kind, but their disappointment said it al .

"By the way, as soon as you can, the Regent wants to see you in her office," Sam said quietly.

When she arrived at headquarters, Deming was ushered into a smal waiting room. She was made to wait for a few hours, with nothing but the drone of FNN on the television screen and old magazines to keep her company. Final y Mimi's secretary arrived. "She's ready for you now, dear," Doris said.

Deming entered the office and took a seat across from the massive desk. The Regent was certainly in a foul mood. The Venator thought she had never seen a person with a blacker
affectus
, and steeled herself for a tongue-lashing.

But after a heavy silence, Mimi only sighed. "You're very lucky. Piper's so traumatized from learning about Victoria's death that the Crandal s have decided not to file a complaint."

"I assume complete responsibility. If you'd like me to resign . . ." Deming said, looking squarely at her superior with her head held high. What happened that morning was a blow to her ego, but she had no time for self-pity. She felt a huge amount of shame, and promised herself she would make it up to Piper by bringing Victoria's real murderer to justice.

"No. I don't accept. We need you more than ever. While you were breaking down your suspect, this arrived in my in-box." Mimi flipped her screen around so Deming could watch. This time, the video was much shorter. It was just a freeze frame of a bound and shackled vampire. But the message was the same.
On the eve of the crescent moon, watch the vampire burn.

"Who is it?" Deming asked, stoic in the face of this new disaster.

"Stuart Rhodes. Duchesne senior. He's been missing since Rufus King's party in Connecticut. Saturday night. You were there, weren't you?"

"Yes." Deming reviewed her memories from that evening, but she had been so busy with Bryce she hadn't paid attention to anyone else, hadn't noticed anything odd. Stuart Rhodes. Who was Stuart Rhodes? He wasn't part of the in-crowd. But it had been a tasting party, which meant every Blue Blood at Duchesne was usual y invited. Deming had a vague memory of a smal , quiet boy standing to the side, watching everyone from behind glass-bottom lenses.

"Anyway, it's the same thing. Just like Victoria's video," Mimi said.

"Is there any link between Victoria Taylor and Stuart Rhodes?"

"As far I know, none. Stuart is not . . . Wel , let's just say he had his own friends," Mimi said delicately.

"You think this is random, then?"

The Regent shrugged. "Isn't that for you to find out? Anyway, just like before, his location has been masked. We can't find him in the glom."

"This thing's on the Internet?" she asked, motioning to the screen.

Mimi nodded. "Yes, but the Conspiracy's working to add the
Suck
movie tagline on it. That should be up within an hour."

"Good, that takes care of exposure."

"But it doesn't help us find our victim," Mimi pointed out. "You heard the video, and this time we only have three days until the next crescent moon. I've managed to keep the Conclave unaware of this new hostage for now. I can't take the wards down again; not that it helped us any last time. So start doing what I brought you here to do. You'd better come up with something, Chen! Find me my kil er! Find Stuart! Or I swear to God when the Coven dies, I'l take you down with me." The Regent did not need the help of the glom to look like a wrathful Angel of Death just then.

But Deming remained unperturbed in her seat. "Understood."

"You seem awful y confident," Mimi huffed. "What are you planning?"

"What I should've done the minute I arrived in New York. A DeathWalk."

THIRTY-SIX

Background Checks

The next morning the Lennox brothers listened intently as Deming outlined what they would need to help her prepare for the mission. After yesterday's humiliation she had believed she would never be able to work in New York again, that her fel ow Venators would demand she be taken off the case and shipped back directly to China. Instead the brothers were being extraordinarily understanding. It happened al the time, they assured her. Venator work was not infal ible. They made mistakes. What was important was that they kept trying.

The plan was for the three of them to enter the glom together, with Sam keeping an eye out for danger and staying at the top level, while Ted would fol ow her as far as he could into the spirit trail, stopping just below the subconscious layer. Once Deming flatlined she would be able to go underneath the masking spel , locate Stuart, and pul his body out of the real world and into the glom, where the boys would be waiting to help, and then the four of them would jump out together.

"Stil sounds risky," Sam said, shaking his head. "Once you're in the protoconscious, you're on your own, and you might not be able to get back into your body in time."

"Yes, technical y I'l be dead for five minutes and my heart wil stop beating. But five minutes out here is like five hours in the glom. I'l have plenty of time."

"It's your cal ."

Deming nodded. "We'l do it tomorrow night. I need a day to get ready."

To prepare for a DeathWalk she had to familiarize herself with every aspect of her victims' current and past incarnations. Given the immortal history of the Blue Bloods, one could never predict what one might find in a DeathWalk, and it was best to be prepared. She had a hunch Stuart Rhodes was not a random victim even though he had no apparent link to Victoria Taylor. From her innumerable cycles as a Truth Seeker, Deming knew that things were rarely as they seemed, and while it might appear on the surface that Victoria Taylor and Stuart Rhodes had no connection to each other, the reality was usual y a lot more complicated.

Stuart Rhodes's cycle mother was out of the county, and Deming left a message with her assistant to cal her back as soon as Mrs. Rhodes was able.

In the meantime, Victoria Taylor's cycle mother agreed to meet Deming for a cup of coffee that afternoon. Even if there was nothing more she could do for Victoria, Deming thought maybe the cycle parents would know something that might help her current case, to see if there was any connection between the two victims.

She met Gertrude Taylor at the MOMA cafe that afternoon. Gertrude was one of the museum's premier trustees, a hard-working Committee member.

The Taylors had been told of Victoria's demise but had been denied the ability to grieve, as the Regent had insisted on keeping everything classified until the case was solved. According to the Venator reports, the Taylors were hands-off parents who barely knew their daughter, so Deming did not know what to expect.

"How lovely to meet you." Gertrude smiled and took a seat at the bustling cafe.

"Thanks for meeting me, Mrs. Taylor."

"Oh, it's Gertrude, and I know you're not a student at Duchesne, real y. You're the Venator they brought in to find out who did this to Victoria, yes?"

"I aim to." Deming nodded.

"Good." Gertrude stirred her green tea. Up close, Deming could see the deep lines around her eyes. While the woman gave every outward indication of serenity and contentment, her face bore a shadow of sorrows that no amount of plastic surgery or vampire genes could mask. The reports were wrong.

This woman was clearly suffering. "Victoria was our first. We've never been asked to carry a spirit before. Our names came up in the House of Records and we were thril ed. Victoria was the most sweet-tempered child. She always had so many friends. I can't imagine how anyone would want to harm her, especial y someone who knew her."

"What about an earlier cycle? Was there anything in her past that might indicate . . . a grudge? A weakness? Anything?"

"I don't recal ."

Deming took out her notepad. "When was her last incarnation? Did she tel you?"

"Let me see. I think when the Transformation began and Victoria started having the blood memories, she said she believed she was last in cycle in Florence, around the fifteenth century or so--she remembered being in Michelangelo's studio. The House of Records would have her file, I should think.

Sometimes the blood memory isn't so reliable at her age."

"Thanks very much, you've been real y helpful."

"No, thank you. The Conclave has kept us in the dark about al this, but we're very glad to hear they've put someone of your caliber in charge."

Gertrude Taylor rose from the table and shook Deming's hand, her eyes bright with tears. For a moment she did not look like an intimidating society matron or a fal en angel, merely a mother mourning her daughter.

* * *

Amelia Rhodes did not seem particularly distraught over her son's disappearance. "Sounds as if it's just some kind of prank, doesn't it?" she asked over the roar of helicopters. "I spoke to Stuart just a few days ago. He was going to some party and was pretty excited about it. He doesn't get invited out much, you know."

"I'm afraid it's not a prank, ma'am. The Regent has given me permission to inform you that what has happened to Stuart happened to another student at Duchesne, another vampire in our community." Deming fil ed her in on the gory details. "Stuart is in grave danger."

"Wel , what do you want us to do? We didn't ask for this."

"You didn't petition the House of Records for a cycle birthing?" Deming asked.

"A long time ago. In my past life I thought I should try to experience being a mother. By the time they got around to my number, I was bored of the idea."

"If there's anything you can tel us about him, it would be helpful in saving his life. Do you remember if he was beginning to have any indication of his past incarnations? Of when he was in cycle last?"

"He did mention it, but I can't remember. Somewhere in Europe, maybe? I'm sorry. You wil find him, won't you? Before they burn him like they did this poor girl? I have become quite fond of the boy. With our work, his father and I don't get to see him that often, but we do miss him."

THIRTY-SEVEN

The House of Records

That night Deming studied her case files again, paying close attention to the notes on the obscure message the Venators had found in the original video.

She had dismissed it as a mere distraction at first but now she took a second look. The head of the Repository believed they had cracked the code and that the three images--Lucifer's sigil, the sheep, which stood for humanity, and the symbol for union--indicated that the Morningstar was in league with Red Bloods. If so, it meant that whoever had made the video and had taken the hostages was part of this movement. A human in service to Croatan? It was simply unheard of, which was why she had ignored it as a diversion. To think that it might be real unsettled the usual y stoic Venator.

Before sunrise, she crept into Duchesne to pick up her lucky jade turtle from her locker--it was a sil y superstition but she didn't want to do a DeathWalk without it. Her twin had bought them the tiny figurines in a Hong Kong market, and Deming had made it a habit to bring the little guy wherever she went. She wanted to slip in and out without anyone noticing or asking any questions. With the early hour, the school was empty save for the janitors, so she was surprised to bump into Paul Rayburn walking out of the third-floor library with a cart of books. The junior lockers were located right across from the library doors.

"Paul, hey," she said.

"Oh hey," he said, his
affectus
turning the usual shade of orange in her presence.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm a library aide. Part of the work study program," Paul said, jangling keys. "I try to get my work done before school. It's better than staying late." He looked sleepy and tired, and Deming was moved by how much effort being a student at Duchesne must have cost him. It couldn't be easy to be poor around such wealth.

She felt the now-familiar stirrings of bloodlust in his presence, but his shy smile invoked a different reaction as wel , one that went deeper than the impulse to drink his blood. "It's not even morning yet," she said as she stuffed her files into her book bag. She realized that her heart hurt a little, knowing that after today she would probably never see him again. Once she found Stuart, and she was certain she would, her assignment would be complete and she would leave the country.

It was a pity, since she felt something for Paul, a queasy mixture of desire and affection that she could not figure out. And it scared her because her life until now had been about order and discipline. Her feelings for him were a distraction. They would only cloud her judgment, if they hadn't already. The best Venators were unencumbered by emotion, and Deming strove to be the best.

"Yeah, wel ." He shrugged. "I'm used to it. What brings you here so early?"

"Honestly, I couldn't sleep," she told him.

"Maybe we can catch up later? When we're both awake?"

She was about to shake her head when it occurred to her that maybe instead of running away from her feelings she should see where this was going so she could completely shut it down. "I'd like that. How about this time tomorrow? A sunrise breakfast?"

Paul gave her a dazzling smile that made Deming momentarily forget she had asked him to meet her only so she could crush any romantic ideas he might harbor about the two of them.

Only when he left did she realize she had forgotten to ask him about what he'd told her about Victoria, Bryce, and Piper. She wanted to know where he had heard that piece of false information.