Murder Between the Worlds: A Between the Worlds Novel (5 page)

Both women paused on the threshold taking in the strange scene by the counter: the two cops, the four Elven Guard, Allie standing awkwardly facing the six police. One woman started to step in, but the other clutched her arm and practically dragged her back out the door. Allie swore silently. Not only had she lost a potential sale but word would get around that she’d had the police and Guard in the store questioning her. Within a few hours the story would spread through the different groups in town, and like the children’s game of “Telephone” by the end it would not resemble the actual event anymore. By tomorrow they’d probably be saying her store had been raided by a half dozen government agencies and a small army from Fairy. She was really starting to hate this entire day.

Oblivious to her dismay, Detective Riordan had regained his composure and his signature smile, “Basically we need to know what you might know about ritual murders.”

“Ritual murders? You mean, like human sacrifice in an occult context?” she felt herself making a face, “It’s really not very likely. I mean sometimes in the older accounts you see cultures that did it–were the girls’ hearts missing?” Several people shook their heads no and Allie went on, “Then not that. Usually when you hear about ritual murders it’s not actually any real tradition or group, it’s just an individual crazy acting out some fantasy.”

Walters was watching her closely and his face had become unreadable. She found it unsettling and lost her train of thought.
Can’t the jerk just say whatever he’s thinking instead of looking at me like he can’t decide whether to hit me with his squad car or agree with me
? she thought uncomfortably.

“Are you certain?” One of the elves asked. Jessilaen, Allie remembered after a moment. He was also looking at her closely, but it didn’t make her skin crawl the way Walters scrutiny did. It was almost a relief to turn and focus on the Elven Guard.

“Well…I can’t be certain, no. There are a few groups that do use death to raise energy, but not usually human death. Animals mostly, from what I understand. And I don’t know very much at all about that end of things, just what I’ve read and a few anecdotal things.”

“How would you tell if it was such a ritual?” he pressed.

Allie took a deep breath, thinking about the question. “I don’t know. It would depend on the ultimate point of the ritual, I guess. If it was just to gather the energy of the death, to harness it…”

Her voice trailed off as something Bleidd had said in the bathroom suddenly flickered through her mind. Something must have shown on her face because both of the closest elves, Zarethyn and Jessilaen, stepped towards her. Looking quizzical the Elven Captain stepped back slightly and the other elf moved forward putting his hands on her shoulders. She looked up, meeting his eyes without feeling uncomfortable at the physical proximity, which was the Elven equivalent of a pat on the hand or encouraging nod. Allie bit her lip, thinking fast. “He said the girls had been raped and mutilated.”

“Who?”

“Bleidd”

“Gee, I wonder why he told you that?” Walters sneered, his voice implying unpleasant things. Allie couldn’t stop herself from glaring at him but recoiled a bit at the open animosity on his face. The burly detective’s gaze was fixed on the Elven Guard’s hands on her shoulders, in a way that made her feel suddenly exposed. She shifted her weight away from Jessilaen but stopped short of stepping back. The Guard’s head turned towards the cop and for the first time she saw something like real anger break through the impassivity that had been the Guards’ trademark since they had first come in. She spoke quickly trying to diffuse what seemed to be an inevitably nasty situation. “He told me because he was telling me that you had questioned him, and he said what was done to that girl was horrible. He didn’t get into any detail about it.”

The shutters came back down over Walters face as his partner stepped up in front of him, partially blocking him from her view. Riordan spoke slowly but with obvious interest “Is that significant? The girls being raped and cut up? All of our investigation so far has pointed to that not being a typical occult thing.”

“It isn’t. But there’s something about that–something familiar about that somehow,” Allie frowned. “It’s like when you’re trying to remember a word and it’s on the tip of your tongue, you know? I feel like I’ve heard about something like that or read about it before, but I can’t quite think of where.”

“What would be the purpose?” the red haired elf, Aeyliss asked, her voice as calm as if they were discussing the weather rather than the systematic torture of young women.

“Well, it’s all about raising energy. There’s different schools of thought about which methods are more effective–most people stick with the pleasant ones…” At the word pleasant Walters muttered under his breath; Allie was almost certain he said “I bet” but she ignored him. “e dancing, chanting, that sort of thing.”

“And sex magic?” Riordan added.

“Well, yes. That’s not a popular one though because it’s difficult to do”

“Really?” the detective sounded skeptical.

“Yeah. The point isn’t to have sex for fun but to focus during the, um, activity, on channeling the energy,” Allie was sure she was blushing now and she more than half expected Walters to add another snarky comment, but he said nothing. All six investigators waited for her to continue and she floundered. Jessilaen’s hands squeezed her shoulders gently and she felt a wave of gratitude as she shifted her focus back to him.

“I’ve never personally heard of anyone using rape as sex magic, but–it’s theoretically possible. I think. And the mutilation, could, again theoretically, be used to raise magical energy.”

“And that gets ‘em more than just killing the girls?” Riordan asked, his voice serious and no trace of a smile now.

“I don’t know.” Allie answered honestly. “Death magic isn’t exactly something many people talk or write about and most of what is out there is from religious rituals that are hundreds of years or more old. If you have someone who has adapted something or is working on a new theory…” she shrugged.

“But you think you have read of something similar to this?” Jessilaen asked softly

“I don’t know,” Allie repeated. “Like I said there’s something almost familiar about it, but I can’t quite place it.”

The elves were exchanging looks that made Allie think they wished she didn’t speak their language. After a moment Jessilaen stepped back and for an instant Allie had the unsettling desire to follow him. The four elves moved over to stand by the bookshelves and talked quietly among themselves. The two police came over to her, Riordan back to his reassuring smile, Walters stony faced. Riordan held out a business card, “Thanks for your time. If you think of anything else that might help this is my direct number. My email’s on the card too.”

She took the card and nodded, feeling a rush of relief that this bizarre interview seemed to be wrapping up. Both police hesitated a moment and then turned and headed for the door. She expected the elves to follow, but instead they stepped back over to her. She racked her brain trying to remember the correct etiquette for leave taking but the 4 hours of sleep and long stressful day were catching up to her and she felt blank. The Guard Captain nodded politely again and then extended his own business card, a small slip of cardstock filled with magic. Her fingers tingled as she took it and she tried not to think about what spells were woven into it. When he spoke it was in Elvish again, “We appreciate your time in answering our questions. If you think of where you might have seen such a ritual as this before please contact us. If we have any additional questions or need of your assistance we will be back to discuss this further.”

She nodded, unable to think of a single thing to say and hoping that he wasn’t too offended by her silence. As they turned to leave Jessilaen hesitated then turned back. He reached past her to take one of the store’s business cards off the counter and then took her hand, slipping another business card in with the two she already held. “If you have any questions or need anything, call,” he said simply.

The group left the store with Allie still standing there. Finally she shook herself out of the daze they had left her in and looked down at the cards clutched in her hand. Detective Riordan’s card looked plain and terribly official. The Elven Captain’s card was double sided, one side in English the other in Elven runes, both with the same basic information: rank, name, contact number, and the border outpost was listed as his address.

That was interesting. Allie had not known until then that the Guard operated out of there, although she could understand the logic. The Outpost was the mid-point between the border of the Queen’s Fairy Holding and Ashwood and while it primarily acted as a border crossing it would be the most obvious staging point for the Guard to act within both realms. Curious she looked at the third card which turned out to be Jessilaen’s. It listed his rank as commander, gave a different contact number from Zarethyn, but the same address. She had no idea why he had given her the card, unless the elves felt that she might be hesitant to contact the Guard Captain.

Shaking her head slightly she moved to lock the front door before anything else could happen. She was thoroughly done with this entire day.

   *********************************

Detective Rick Walters pulled his car into an open space in the gym parking lot and cut the motor, but he didn’t get out. He pocketed his keys and sat behind the wheel, frowning, listening to the old motor tick as it cooled down. Walters was a common sight at the gym so no one looked twice at him sitting in his car.

That mixed blood bitch could ruin everything,
He thought to himself, glaring at the dashboard.
Why couldn’t Jim listen to me and go to a different expert?
Walters had tried hard to convince his partner and the elves to go to someone else, but he couldn’t be too obvious about it without making them suspicious, and since almost everyone they’d spoken to recommended her, in the end he’d had to go along with the consensus. At first it had seemed like it would still work out okay but then she’d almost remembered something; it was maddening, standing there waiting to see what she knew. Maybe nothing after all, but if she really did know about the ritual, if she remembered anything, or–worst of all–if she found a copy of the book before he could get his hands on it, then she could destroy months of work.

He shook his head.
No. No, I won’t let it come to that
. He picked up his personal cell phone, the one that no one in the department knew he had, and dialed a number from memory. A distracted voice answered on the second ring, low and angry, “Why are you calling?”

“We went to the book store
Between The Worlds
for the investigation.” He answered, his own tone harsh.

“You did what? Why? I told you…”

He cut the speaker off. “Wasn’t my call. That was where everyone said to go and Jim and the elves decided it was the best option. It was mostly a dead end–we’re going to start talking to some of the ceremonial mages in town next–but I’m worried.”

“Don’t be. We can handle it.” The person said briskly. It was hard to hear with the background noise. He wanted to ask the other person to speak up but he knew it was useless.

“We need to find the book.” He gritted his teeth.

“We don’t need the book. You reconstructed the ritual and it’s working perfectly the way you’re doing it.” His contact sounded annoyed now, and he chaffed at being spoken to like a child.

“There’s more in that book than just the bits I know of. And if that mixed blood bi…”

“Don’t worry about her.” It was the other speaker’s turn to cut him off mid-word, “We need to focus on the bigger threat. You said that elf can track magic. That’s a much bigger problem.”

“Yeah. That’s a bigger problem, but what am I supposed to do about it?”

“Remove the problem.” The speaker sounded bored now.

As if it’s that simple,
Walters thought, grimacing. “Are you kidding me? How the hell am I supposed to do that?”

“You’ll think of something. We have time–they said she can’t track the spell until they understand what it is, and without the book that will take time. So work out a solution. Think on your feet.” The speaker’s confidence in his ability to solve the problem made him feel flattered and frustrated in turn. He hadn’t liked killing the girls at first, but he’d understood it was a necessary thing, something that had to be done for the greater good; however he really wanted to kill the bookshop owner. It seemed unfair after everything he’d done for the cause that he couldn’t do the one thing he wanted to do now.

“I still think that mixed blood girl is trouble. If she knows anything…” he pressed, knowing the odds were slim of being allowed to go after her.

“Leave her alone. She’s a distraction. Keep them focused on the elf as a suspect, work on taking out that tracker, and if we need to we’ll come up with a way to throw them off track. But don’t lose focus now–we’re too close to our goal.” The voice was firm and he felt his own resolve hardening again, “Now I have to go. Remember–stay focused.”

The phone went dead in his hand. He nodded to himself.
Yeah, stay focused. Everything’s fine. Everything’s been going perfect up until now. Just keep the momentum. Do what has to be done to succeed. Keep the ultimate goal in mind, and don’t get distracted
. Feeling better he got out of the car and went in to the gym to work out, thinking about how one would kill a stronger, faster, better armed enemy… without getting caught.