Tales Of The Sazi 02 - Moon's Web (30 page)

"Chief Justice Wingate, sir! You drove yourself? Where are your guards?" The man spoke with a thick, refined British accent. His voice boomed, even when he was trying to be quiet. He waved his hand airily. "I left them at the hotel. I grew weary of them fussing about." He lowered his head as Bobby sputtered. "I can take care of myself, you know."

"Oh, of course you can sir. It's just that… "

"Chief Justice!" exclaimed Ivan, who was tearing out the door. "Where are John and Brace?"

"I… oh, what is that phrase?" He raised his finger in the air and smiled. "Ah, yes! I ditched them, Ivan. I was in a bit of a rush to get here, and they were dallying." He raised his nose and sniffed slightly. He sighed and smelled annoyed. "But I see I'm too late. Dash it! I had hoped to get here before Ahmad arrived. Has he killed any of the staff yet, Ivan?"

Ivan also sighed in a manner very similar to his employer. "Not yet, thankfully. He's too busy berating them about the buffet." He smiled and nudged the older man in the shoulder. "It's excellent, by the way, sir!

Venison with berries, wild pig and… " He winked. "The Duchess Olga's famous borscht!" The Chief Justice's face absolutely glowed. "You mean that I will at last have a meal at a council meeting that doesn't give me indigestion? A meal without thick French sauces and pastries everywhere? Heaven be praised!" He rubbed his hands together in anticipation and turned toward the door— and me. He nodded his head. "I see you've found our new seer, Ivan. Good job. It's a pleasure to meet you, Joseph Giambrocco. While the council members are a bloody imperious lot, the seers are not. I am Charles. I would offer to shake your hand," he said, and then looked suddenly serious, "But I don't think either of us would enjoy it." After my recent experiences, I agreed. He seemed like a nice enough guy. It made me wonder why everyone was afraid of him. But then something occurred to me— hadn't Bobby said that the Chief Justice rescinded my execution? Then why couldn't he give Ivan my name? I furrowed my brow lightly. "No problem. Consider us shaked, Charles."

He raised a finger. "But not stirred." He laughed at his own joke. "Has anyone explained your new talents to you yet? We seers will be meeting with you when the others arrive."

I nodded slightly and crossed my arms. "The second sight is seeing colored auras, right? The seeing backwards— what was it, hindsight? That's a little too strange for me to wrap my head around so far. Oh, and please call me Tony. Joseph was my father."

He growled lightly, and it made the hairs on the back of my neck prickle. "I'd rather you not muddy your present life with the past too much, but I suppose it will be all right. We did use Anthony for a middle name." Yep, he knew me all right. Just another plan within a plan for me to discover. He nodded. "Very well, Tony. Apparently someone has explained second sight to you— probably Lucas. His Second, Raphael, has the same gift. Good. Your other gift is very rare. There is only one other living seer who shares your talent. You have the ability to see the recent, as well as the ancient, past. Most likely, you will pick up images that are important to the person you are reading at that precise moment." Ah! Finally something made sense. Bobby was thinking about Asri— naturally, Lucas about why he was in Chicago, and Amber was experiencing a bit of déjà vu at the conference.

"So I'm not going to see planes crashing and people dying and stuff like that when I touch someone?" That was a huge relief.

The Chief Justice shook his head. "No. You're quite fortunate, old boy. As seer gifts go, yours is distinctly less… messy. You will never get images off objects, because they don't think or feel. But you will pick up strong images from people. It will be worse when that person is in a crisis. You will need to learn to control the images. That is why I have invited the other seer who shares your talent to this meeting." Bobby dropped the bag he was holding, and Ivan paled visibly before stammering. "Are you sure that was wise, sir?" Hot and sour soup and ammonia panic filled the air between the two of them enough to make me sneeze.

Charles raised his brows at the scents floating into his twitching nostrils. "It would be distinctly less wise to allow Tony to wander around untrained, Ivan. Wouldn't you agree?" The words lowered to a dangerous growl. He glared at the large bear and then turned to the snake. "Bobby, would you please park my car? I circled, but couldn't find the entrance to the garage. The keys are in it."

Ivan shut his open jaw and nodded mutely. Bobby did the same.

"Good," Charles said. "We'll talk more later, Tony. But right now, I need to get inside and undo whatever damage Ahmad has caused." With a brief nod of acknowledgement he passed inside, with Ivan at his heels. Bobby had gone to park the car.

I stayed where I was. Someone needed to watch the front. A sudden, strong north wind threatened to knock me over. I had to lean against the nearest light pole to remain standing. Soon, even the Hummer began to shake. I watched a whirlwind of snow appear a block away, and stared in fascination as it slowly moved toward me. The wind began to howl and tear at my jacket. The whirlwind became a tornado and seemed to be lighted from within, like there was a beacon inside it. I heard faint voices over the wind. They grew louder as the swirling snow got closer.

"I suppose the food will be Russian?" I recognized the voice, but couldn't quite place it. Pleasantly male and ever so slightly disdainful, with just a trace of a French accent.

I heard Lucas's reply, even though I couldn't see him through the blowing snow. "It'll be a nice change from Fiona's dishes, won't it?"

There was a light, distinctly male laugh. "My sister is an adequate cook, I suppose. But I agree that her dishes are a bit heavy with sauces. You'd think the woman had never seen a vegetable. We are omnivores, after all. At least part of the time."

The whirlwind lessened to reveal the older wolf, accompanied by a tall, slender blond man with a neatly trimmed blond goatee, who was wearing an ankle length white fox coat. I could barely see him through the intense white light that surrounded the pair. But I knew him! His face was plastered on billboards all over the country. He was Antoine Monier, a circus performer who had gone big time, like Siegfried and Roy. Now he traveled the country with his cats and entourage, entertaining for extravagant ticket prices. It would never have occurred to me that he was Sazi.

The wind lessened even more, and the thick braid of long hair settled against the coat.

"Oh, before I forget, Antoine," Lucas said, "You'll be acting as a seer for this meeting." Another burst of light made me close my eyes for a moment. My headache was getting worse. "Then who will represent the cats? I was not informed of this change, Lucas."

"Fiona will represent the cats. I tried to reach you all last week, but you didn't return my calls. You have an amended agenda in your room."

"I was on tour, as you well know. And last I heard my twin was on forced leave." His green eyes narrowed to slits, and his voice trailed off into a hiss. "You're up to something, Lucas." Lucas put a hand on his chest and raised his brows. "Moi? Never, Antoine. You will sit with the seers, your twin will represent the cats, and Amber will represent the physicians." Antoine gave a harsh laugh as they finally reached the doors of the hotel. "You are putting Amber and Fiona in the same room? And there will be three Monier siblings in the same room as Ahmad? How fascinating!

And how unfortunate— I suppose one of us will be ruining a number of tables at this meeting. Would you care to flip a coin to see who pays for the furniture this time?"

Lucas smiled. "Actually, since I'm representing Wolven I won't be in the room for most of the meeting. Still, you might want to split the bill with your sisters— four ways."

Antoine stopped and staggered a bit. "What do you mean— four ways? You can't be implying… Mon Dieu!" Lucas nodded his head. "Charles invited her to meet our new seer. Have you met Tony yet?" He motioned to me, and I tipped my chin in greeting.

Antoine stared into space for a moment before he could focus on me. When he did finally look at me, he started as though he remembered something. He raised a finger into the air and swung an expensive leather backpack from his shoulder. He unzipped it and rummaged around for a moment before removing a box. He held it out to me, being careful to remove his hand just as I touched it. "For you, mon ami. You will find them useful this meeting. Welcome to our humble and insane ranks." Then he stepped toward the door, swearing in French. He glanced at Lucas and shook his head. "You will be the death of me, Lucas! Had you reached me last week, I would have declined to attend. To see Josette after all these years! MON DIEU!"

"Aspen, Antoine. She is called Aspen now."

He continued to mutter and swear in French as Lucas held the door to the hotel open. A cab arrived as I opened the small box. Inside was a pair of expensive sunglasses, similar to mine, but with a price tag at least two hundred dollars more. I slipped them on and found that the bright light emanating from Antoine and Lucas diminished greatly and my head stopped throbbing. Cool.

A woman exited the taxi carefully. She looked around, taking every single thing in with a glance. She wasn't a pretty woman, but she was incredibly striking. Long legs, long arms, about a size four body, with a chest worthy of Penthouse. Her face was sharply angular, with high cheekbones and a hawk-ish nose under dark brown hair with pale highlights. I was thankful for the sunglasses as she let loose a burst of radiant yellow light. She pointed at me and spoke with a French, bordering on Belgian, accent.

"You! You, there! Take my bags inside and pay zee man." I raised my brows and almost winced. Her voice was a high pitched squeak. It was sharp, penetrating and painfully similar to fingernails on a chalkboard. Then she called out to Lucas, who was still standing by the door. "Lucas! What has happened to zee protocol? My plane was not met, I had to gather my own bags! Surely you see that this iz unacceptable! Who iz responsible?" She stepped forward quickly.

Lucas bowed from his neck briefly. "I am sorry if your car was delayed. We have many flights, and only one driver, Angelique. You understand that Wolven's resources are stretched thin at the moment." Her voice rose even higher. "You see? Unacceptable, Lucas!" She pounded one tiny fist into her other hand.

"This iz why the meetings should not moved to zis place and zat."

"You will have to speak to Charles about that, Angelique. He and the other seers chose the location." She flounced through the open door, leaving Lucas shaking his head.

"Who was that?" I asked in awe.

Lucas let go of the door and walked toward me, removing his wallet from his back pocket. He whispered as he passed, "Angelique Calibria, representative for the raptors. You might guess that she's friends with Ahmad."

He removed several bills and paid the taxi driver, who was busily removing bags and cases from the tightly packed trunk. He was dropping them unceremoniously into the snow. "Glad to have that broad out of my cab. Her voice could shatter glass, and she won't shut her trap! I ought to charge double for not dumping her in the lake."

Lucas started picking up bags and replied to the driver. "It wouldn't do any good. People have tried. She just won't die." The driver burst out laughing and tried to give Lucas his change. He waved his hand dismissively. "Keep it. You deserve it."

There were too many bags for Lucas, so I picked up a few as well. It looked like she was planning to stay for a month.

Boris met us at the door with a second wheeled luggage cart. Lucas excused himself to go talk to the Chief Justice. I heard Sue's voice and turned to see her and another woman walking toward the entrance. The woman was about Sue's size and shape, but with pale blonde hair and penetrating brown eyes. Sue stepped closer to me and started to reach out, but then pulled back and lowered her hand, clenched into a fist. She still can't touch me. Great. I felt a little stab in my chest. I shook it off and smiled instead. I had to give her space, and I hated every single, solitary moment.

"Hi, Sue. Going out?"

She smiled in return, and I could tell she was grateful that I wasn't going to bring up a tense subject. "Hi, sweetie. Yeah. This is Pamela, Yurgi's wife. We're going to go for a walk and then grab some dinner, since you and Yurgi are going to be busy for a few hours."

I nodded to the woman, who was holding out her hand. I raised my brows at Sue, and she gasped. She reached out and pushed Pamela's hand down and gave her a reminding look. God forbid someone should touch me right now. Emotions were way too high for that. Pamela's face flushed lightly and she burbled an apology. The dry heat of embarrassment blended badly with her natural spearmint scent.

"Gosh, I'm really sorry! I've just never met a seer before."

I let out a short snort of air. "Me neither." I glanced upstairs to see Yurgi motioning to me. I stepped into Sue and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before she could pull back. "Well, I'll let you girls get to your walking. Have fun!"

I sprinted up the stairs. Keep the mind occupied, Tony. But the ache and trembling wouldn't listen to my head. I clenched my hands into tight fists and felt a shudder pass through me before I got to the control room entrance. "What's up, Yurgi?"

"I see shadow on screen, Tony! It moves very fast! Is more test?"

"No, Yurgi. There is no other test." I walked toward the bank of computer screens. "Show me where. What did it look like?"

He pointed to the camera on the alley behind the hotel. "Looks like… " he raised his hands in frustration.

"Like… shadow! It moved quickly— like Sazi, but not shadow I recognize." If I stopped the camera to rewind the tape, I'd lose current input. Damn it! That's a system flaw I hadn't anticipated. "Where's Bobby? Have you called him to check it out?" Yurgi looked suddenly uncomfortable. "Yes, I call. He tell me… well, he tell me too busy and not bother him." I growled in annoyance. I glanced around the various cameras and finally saw one corner of his arm. I moved the camera until it was fully on him… and Asri. Damn it! They were in the parking garage, arguing— and I bet I knew about what. The camera didn't pick up sound, but it was obvious that the argument would go on for some time. I was sorry to interrupt, but security comes first and he damn well knew it!