Shaded Vision: An Otherworld Novel (35 page)

Shade carried Jaycee into the safe room, where we cuffed her to the bedpost. Even if she got loose, she might be able to
trash the room but she’d never be able to escape. As I removed the gag from her mouth, she let out what sounded like the words to a magical curse, her eyes gleaming. When nothing happened, she looked confused.

“Not gonna happen, Jaycee. Your magic won’t work in here. Face it, we’ve got you, you’re ours, and you might as well answer some questions.” I straddled a chair, leaning my elbows on the back. “Now, tell us where you guys are holed up this time.”

She let out a choked laugh. “You really think I’m going to talk? What are you, a moron in addition to being one of those stinking Weres?” She wrinkled her nose at me. “I smell cat shit.”

I cocked my head. “You know our sister Menolly’s a vampire. Tonight, she’d be more than happy to come question you, and she’s not always a very nice person.” Intimidation, I could do. Or at least a good semblance.

“You really think I’m going to turn in my partner? You’re stupider than I thought. I’m a Tregart. We know the meaning of loyalty.”

Camille joined me. “Loyalty? You’re so loyal you’d spy on Stacia Bonecrusher for Shadow Wing, wouldn’t you? You were so loyal that you set her up because your boss—Mr. Big and Mighty—thought she was a danger to him.”

At the mention of Shadow Wing, Jaycee blinked. Aha—we were right.

“We know you’re working with Shadow Wing; you might as well tell us the truth.” I stood up and motioned for Camille to stand back.

“If I’m working with Shadow Wing, what makes you think I have any intention of talking to you? I’m not getting out of here alive. I’d be an imbecile to think so. You can do what you like, but I’m not talking.”

Her bluster was real. I could see it in her eyes. She was waiting for us to kill her. Which we’d have to do. We’d never turn her to our side. Even if we did manage to secure her cooperation, we wouldn’t be able to trust that she was telling the truth.

I shoved her back on the bed. “Shade, hold her down while I search her pockets.”

Jaycee struggled, but Shade was too strong for her and I went through all her pockets, searching for anything that might help. I found her wallet and phone, and stepped back.

“No, those are mine—give them back!”

“I don’t think so.” I sat at the table with Camille and we started going through the wallet. “Our demon here has a driver’s license, and her address is printed on it. And it’s not the safe house they used last time.” I jotted down the address.

“Found her smart phone. Let’s see what we have in here…” Camille frowned. “It won’t work.”

“Remember? Most electronics won’t work in this room. Step outside and check it out.” I was still going through the various receipts and cards in Jaycee’s wallet. Camille exited the room.

“Jaycee, I see you spend a lot of time at the Energy Exchange. Care to tell me more about the club?”

“Eat me out, pussycat.” She just glared.

“I’m more into men, thank you. But I’ll pass the invitation on to my sister, the vampire.” My gaze flickered up to meet Jaycee’s, and I saw the barest of flinches. So she
was
afraid of vampires.

After a couple of minutes of useless insults flying back and forth, Smoky frowned and slipped outside. I wondered where he was going, but the next minute he slammed the door back open.

“Get out here now—we need your help!”

Stuffing Jaycee’s wallet and information in my pocket, I gave her a dark glare and then followed him out of the room, along with Trillian and Shade.

There was a major fight going on near the portal. Three Tregarts were tearing up the place, while Kendra and Camille were doing their best to hold them off. Camille had her dagger out that Shamas had given her, and I saw slashes on one of the demons’ arms. Kendra was trained in martial arts and
she was involved in a brawl with the shortest one—she’d just knocked him against one wall with an uppercut to the chin, but it merely stunned him for a second and he was charging at her again.

I unsheathed my dagger and charged in, helping Camille with her opponent. Smoky and Shade divided up on the other two, Smoky aiming for the one Kendra was fighting, while Shade and Trillian took on the third.

I managed to land a blow on the Tregart’s bald head, gashing a long wound on his skull. He groaned, staggering back. Camille rushed in, her dagger aimed at his heart. Her blade bit deep and he stumbled, grunting. But then he shook off the pain and gave a hard shove, throwing her back across the room.

A flash caught my attention, but I didn’t have time to look. I attacked the Tregart, slamming him against the wall, and drew my dagger across his throat as he struggled. A fountain of blood sprayed my face and shirt as the demon slid to the floor.

“No!” Camille’s scream echoed and she took off on the run toward the safe room. I whirled around to see Trillian and Shade following her. Unsure of what was going on, but trusting that it was something we weren’t going to like, I followed them as Smoky finished off his demon, his talons gutting him like a fish.

As I skidded into the safe room, I saw Shade and Camille grappling with another Tregart. Jaycee was lying dead on the bed, her throat cut from ear to ear. Shade caught the demon in a chokehold and, with one quick movement, snapped his neck. Camille knelt by Jaycee, then looked up and shook her head.

“She’s dead. He got to her before we could stop him.”

“Van sent an assassin to kill his own wife? Or partner? Or whatever the hell they are?”

“To keep her from talking, you bet he did.”

“Question is, how the hell did they know about the safe room? That we’d be keeping her here?”

“Oh great gods, I know how they knew!” She paled.
“Remember when Trytian sent the daemon to warn me that Hyto was around? We brought him down here. And we let him go afterward. He must have talked about it in front of the Tregarts. And since the Tregarts are working both sides of the fence, they told Van and Jaycee about it. That makes the Wayfarer an effective target. They may not be able to destroy the safe room, but they can destroy this building and put us out of commission. And now the demons know there’s a portal down here, too.”

Holy crap, she was right. I sank down on the nearest chair. “But why haven’t they shown their hand till now, though? I’m surprised they haven’t charged in to destroy the place and take over the portal. They can get to Otherworld through it.”

Smoky frowned, then shook his head. “They may know about it, but they can’t use it to get to the Subterranean Realms. And that is where their focus lies. They want to start ripping portals open to bring a number of demons over Earthside. They don’t want to take a holiday jaunt to Otherworld. Not just yet.”

Shade nodded his agreement. “You’re probably right. Once they have a free-flowing portal between Earthside and the Sub-Realms, then they’ll be looking for a way over to Otherworld. And then, this portal—along with Grandmother Coyote’s portal, and all the others—will be targeted.”

I started to haul Jaycee’s body out of the room. “I’m not leaving her in there for Martin to feast on, regardless of how much we despise her.”

With a queasy look on her face, Camille nodded. “I’m going to go check on Kendra and make sure she’s okay. I suppose…we head back to the FH-CSI to see what’s going on with the protest. Then, we make plans for tonight. All roads are leading to the Energy Exchange.”

“Right…but we’re going in the back way. Through the entrance in Underground Seattle. And if we’re
really lucky
, maybe we’ll run into some more ghosts down there.” I grimaced.

Camille reached out and knocked on one of the walls. “Don’t jinx us, babe. Don’t jinx us.”

Kendra was fine. I told her to call in extra help, just in case the Tregarts returned. As we headed out toward the door, I asked her to call Peder, the day bouncer—who was a giant—and have him take Jaycee’s body and the dead Tregarts through the portal and dump them in OW, away from the city.

Once again, we were on the road. Traffic had picked up, and pedestrians were out in full force despite the wind and the chill. Men and women in three-piece suits hurried toward their jobs in the skyscrapers, shoppers in Prada and Armani scoured the boutiques, students waited for the bus, on their way toward the universities, their backpacks and Starbucks firmly in hand. Cars and Metro accordion buses crowded the streets as we edged our way through the morning bustle. The sky was overcast, but the rain had let up for a little while.

Finally, we were out of downtown Seattle and nearing the FH-CSI headquarters. As we pulled into the parking lot, I could see that the crowd had swelled even further. Andy Gambit’s supporters were backed into one small area of the lot by now, and the crowd protesting against the hate groups was a good four times their size. Someone was handing out papers, and I grabbed one as we headed in the building.

The headline read,
Seattleites Refuse to Accept Hate Crimes or Rapists.
That was promising. I scanned the story as we pushed through the doors.

Apparently, the city had been looking for a good cause, because the quotes supporting the Supe Community were coming from housewives, students, cops, and businessmen alike. The statistics showed what I’d thought: the Church of the Earthborn Brethren’s membership wasn’t nearly as big as they’d let on, and most of the people polled wanted to see them run out of town on a rail. They were just a terribly vocal minority.

“Hate can only exist where people refuse to speak out
against it.” Chase had been quoted, and the picture of him standing next to Sharah spoke volumes.

While Camille, Smoky, and Trillian stayed outside to talk to Tim and Neely and get the lowdown on what was happening, Shade and I pushed through the doors. Yugi waved us over. He had turned on the television that was mounted on the wall. The news was on.

The reporter was new; I’d never seen her before, but she looked bright and perky. I wondered if there was a finishing school for TV news reporters and talk show hosts where they were trained in the fine art of looking like they were on a perpetual high.

She cleared her throat and said, “And in other news, today, at the Faerie-Human Crime Scene Investigations headquarters, a protest involving around fifty people was staged in support of Andy Gambit, reporter for the
Seattle Tattler
, who was arrested on rape charges this morning. Accused of raping several women, including a woman from Otherworld, Gambit remains in custody without bail.

“His supporters—primarily members of the Church of the Earthborn Brethren—were passing out anti-Supe literature. A counterprotest ensued, sponsored by a combined effort from the United Worlds Church, the Rainbow Community Action Center, the Reclaim the Night Women’s Coalition, and the Supe Community Council, and quickly swelled to encompass more than four hundred people.”

The scene cut to a reporter interviewing people at the scene. They showed a montage of comments, cutting from one person to another.

And then Neely came on screen. She smiled and held up a new pamphlet that looked fresh off the presses. “We invite anyone who doesn’t want Seattle to seen as a mire of hate and bigotry to join our new organization. Sponsored by the United Worlds Church, the Supe Community Council, Vampires Anonymous, and the Sovereign Nation of Talamh Lonrach Oll, we have formed an inclusive organization—All Worlds United in Peace. AWUP. Please, feel free to take some of our literature if you are interested.”

And the comments went on. After a moment, Yugi turned down the sound. “As hard as it is to say, considering Alfina’s injuries, the attack may be a blessing in disguise. This seems to have woken the city up. People don’t want their home to be known for hate crimes.”

I stared at him. Yugi was usually as sensitive as they come. “You’re saying you
glad
Gambit raped her? Don’t let Camille hear that garbage when she comes in here.”

“
No!
I’m not saying that. But let’s face it—as we’ve seen, this doesn’t seem to be his first attack. We still need to get the DNA back, but there’s no doubt in my mind that he attacked all those other women first. And there may be more. He may be a murderer. After all, from what Alfina says, he was all for killing her afterward, but the Tregarts wanted to leave her alive. They wanted to make the city believe that the FBHs were hurting the Supes and maybe start a fire.”

He sat down at his desk. “I’ll bet Gambit was quaking in his boots when he realized she’d be able to tell us about him. The Tregarts sold him down the river along with the Earthborn Brethren. We’d better pull our unsolved cases and see if we can match any of them up with him.”

As he flipped through some papers on his desk, looking for something, Chase came striding out of his office.

“Good work on the protests. Thank Tim for me, will you? That news coverage did us a world of good. I’ve already gotten five requests to talk to neighborhood watch associations who don’t want this kind of crap in their part of town. Did you catch the report right before it about the rise in hate crimes lately? They segued nicely into the piece about the protests.”

We headed back to his office. “Chase, are you going to be available tonight? We’re planning a raid on the Energy Exchange, and it would be helpful to have a member of the FH-CSI there to shut it down officially if we can capture Van. We know he ordered the bombings—”

The phone on Chase’s desk rang and he held up one hand. “Yes?…Where? Oh crap, all right, we’ll get a unit right over there. How many injured?…Right.” As he hung up, he pushed himself out of his chair. “Come on. The Supe-Urban Café just went up in flames. Five injured so far, no known deaths at this point.”