Blue Moon Rising (The Patroness) (22 page)

A key clattered, and the door to my cell was opened on squeaking hinges.

“Bonjour, the DA set your punishment, if you’d please follow me.” The officer was a young dark-haired woman I’d never seen around here which meant she was new on the team, and also that the day shift had taken over, so it had to be around nine in the morning.

While she led me to the office of the day shift’s chief, I asked “You’re new here, right?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Yes, and obviously you come by very often to notice that.”

Sad, but true. “Yeah. Just a little piece of advice, don’t get on LaMarcq’s shit list, he’s very unforgiving.”

With that I went into the office, closing the door behind me.

Behind the desk sat a middle-aged, dark-eyed and dark-skinned man. “Bonjour Mademoiselle Cadic, since you’ve already spent the whole night here, I’ll be brief. The DA set a fine.”

He pushed a stack of papers across the table. “The amount is noted on the bottom of the first page, and if you sign the rest, you’ll be free to go.”

My gaze dropped to the amount of the fine. Uh, that would hurt my monthly budget.

I sighed and looked through the other papers, which turned out to be just the usual stuff, for instance that they’d offered me food and to drink, although they hadn’t actually. I signed it anyway. Anything to get out of this place.

Out the door the new officer gave me back my waist bag and licensed weapons, including Cutter, basically all the stuff they’d taken from me. I snapped my bag around my hips and enjoyed the feeling of holding Cutter again. It was paradise. I’d never liked being separated from my sword, it felt like missing a limb. Since the officer eyed me suspiciously holding my sword, I tucked Cutter quickly away. Then I positioned myself in a way so she couldn’t see that my sword had gone invisible, though most of the time it was just useless. Once you gotten out of there they just didn’t seem to care anymore, didn’t seem to really look at you.

She escorted me to the entrance door of the police station, then left me alone and turned around heading back inside. Finally free, I took a deep breath and then headed down the stairs. I had only taken a few steps toward home as I suddenly heard a familiar voice calling out behind me.

“Hey, Maiwenn!”

Turning around I stared incredulously at Kylian and Chastel standing on top of the stairs.

“They only now let you go? For what reasons? Especially since you didn’t even carry a weapon.” I asked, with a curious look at Kylian.

He grinned. “Well, being in your company turns out to be enough of a crime.”

I grimaced. “I’m sorry guys. I hope they treated you well.”

“Yeah, maybe you should kiss it better anyhow. Just to be sure, you know.” Chastel suggested with a wink at me.

I just looked at him, staying silent.

“That’s a no, huh? What a shame. So, how did it go for you?”

I waved a hand in the air. “Ah, it wasn’t his usual team on the night-shift, so I’d a rather quiet night.” Looking back at Kylian, I said, “Thanks for calling Viviane by the way.”

His lips curved into a small smile. “You’re welcome.” Then his expression changed, determination getting the upper hand. “We lost a whole night, we should get moving, and find some answers today.”

Within five minutes we were in front of my apartment. Even from across the street I could tell that something was wrong. My office was still closed. I’ve gotten to know Pauline and I knew she would have helped me out just like yesterday and opened up for me. Without thinking I crossed the street in a sprint, punched in the security code and practically flew up the stairs. On my way to the fourth floor I found Viviane lying on the stairs. It looked like she’d fallen. I ran to her, and checked for wounds. Except for a really nasty looking laceration on her temple that was caked in blood, she seemed okay.

“Viviane, Viviane wake up!”

I kept myself from shaking her of fear to hurt her. Her hands twitched, and then her eyelids fluttered open. She needed a second to focus on my face. “Maiwenn? What...What happened? What -” Abruptly she sat up, with a wild look on her face, obviously remembering, she grabbed my arm in a fierce grip. “Pauline! Oh God, no! They took Pauline.” At her words an ice cold fist of fear and dread clamped my heart, trying to squeeze every last drop of hope out of it. “We have to find her, we have to -”.

Swallowing hard, I pushed away the fear and the dread, staying concentrated on the present. “Yes, we will. But first of all let us bring you upstairs and take a look at your wounds, okay. And then you’ll tell us what exactly happened here, okay?” I told her, in a patient and calm voice, not knowing how I managed it.

Kylian scooped up Viviane in a swift but gently motion and carried her upstairs. The door to my apartment was standing wide open and the wild scratches on the lock indicated forced entry. Bastards.  Kylian laid Viviane down on the couch in the living room. Quickly glancing around I noticed the door to Pauline’s bedroom stood wide open and was slightly dented; a flowerpot lay broken on the floor near the kitchen, and a lamp, whose former place had been on the table in the living room, had met the same fate. So Pauline had put up a fight. Good girl!

I got my first-aid kit from the bathroom and knelt down in front of the couch, beside Viviane. While I disinfected and patched her wound, I heard Kylian rummaging in the kitchen. A few moments later, as I had finished, he came back, helped Viviane to sit up and pushed a cup into her slightly trembling hands. Tea, I realized as the calming scent of camomile filled the air.

“This one’s for you,” Kylian said, motioning towards a second cup standing on the coffee table.

“Thank you.” I set back on my heels and watched Viviane. This strong woman suddenly seemed so fragile. As long as I could remember I knew that whatever might happen she would be there to help me, to protect me, to get me out of whatever mess I’d gotten myself into. But now I recognized that things had changed, the roles had been switched, and I was the one who had to be strong, who had to protect. I swallowed at the heavy weight this sudden responsibility brought, knowing that there was no way around it.

I waited for Viviane to take a sip of her tea, and then I had to ask her. “What happened Viviane?”

A deep crease formed between her eyebrows, as she concentrated on last night’s events. Closing her eyes she began to tell, her voice hoarser than usual. “It was late, early morning I think, when I woke up. At first I couldn’t tell why, but then I heard noises from upstairs...muffled sounds, screams. And I knew something was wrong. I ran out the door and saw them. They had Pauline. She was unconscious...oh God, I hope she was unconscious.” She held a hand to her mouth to put a stop to the sobs bubbling up. “I fought with them, but they were too strong. One of them landed a good punch and I fell down the stairs. That’s the last thing I can remember. Then you woke me up.”

Trying really hard to stay calm, I asked, “Who were they? What did they look like?”

“I don’t know. Creatures I’ve never seen before.”

“Where they feathered?” Kylian asked.

Viviane took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair. Slowly getting a grip on herself again, she continued, “Two males, black-haired, tall, about seven feet. They had big, black wings, wingspread also around seven feet, maybe more. Otherwise they just...looked rather human to me.”

Okay, that sounded a lot like angels, except there were two minor problems. First of all, angels were good and wouldn’t kidnap a faery and second of all, they just didn’t exist in our realm. Magic sustained them, and since Earth was a little short of that, they were very unlikely to visit. So they must be something else, but what?

Kneeling before Viviane I suggested, “How about you go into my room, get some sleep?” After she nodded, I helped her to get up, and then lent a shoulder to hold on to, since her legs were still shaking, and we went into my room. I tucked her into bed. “Do you need anything? Tea, water?”

She shook her head, and took my hand. “Don’t worry about me, ma grande. I’m fine. Go kick some ass and bring our Pauline back home!”

Leaning down to kiss her hair, I whispered, “I’ll, I promise.”

I turned around to open my closet, grabbed some fresh clothes, and I headed out, silently closing the door behind me. I took out my phone and texted Mathieu to get his ass over here ASAP.

Then I took a deep breath. Okay, concentrate Maiwenn. Ever since the pendulum had let me down when I searched for Josianne I’ve been developing a new spell, and I really hoped to get better results this time. I needed to get better results this time.

After a little side-trip into the bathroom, where I left my stack of clothes and picked some of Pauline’s flaxen hair off her brush, I went into the kitchen. Opening one of the cupboards beside the stove, I took out a copper cauldron and filled it with water. After adding some garden herbs, which floated upon the water, and her hair, I nicked my thumb with a knife so a few thick droplets of my blood fell into the mixture. The herbs and hair went up in teal colored flames, and smoke began to pour out of the cauldron, gliding to the floor, swirling around my feet and sliding up my legs, like a lover’s restless hand.

I began to chant in an old language and concentrated on the magic within me, and on Pauline. Recalling the first time we met, how she danced in a fountain before the Senate in the middle of the night, high on faerie dust. Remembering her face, her smile, her willingness to accept my jobs and the risks attached, though that might have been hasty of her. Remembering her kindness and good heart.

A tear rolled down my cheek and dropped into the cauldron. With a hiss the smoke vanished and the water cleared, its surface as smooth as a mirror now.

I should have been able to see where exactly she was. However, as well as in the ritual for Josianne, I sort of bumped into a wall. But at least this time it wasn’t all for nothing. Looking into the cauldron, through the water, in a bird’s-eye view I made out buildings and streets, and I could finally narrow it down to a rough district. “She’s somewhere in the north-eastern suburbs.”

Chastel grimaced at my words and Kylian frowned at him. “What’s wrong with her finding where they hold Pauline?”

“Nothing wrong with that at all, it’s just that the north-eastern suburbs aren’t exactly a bed of roses. Ever heard of the 2005 and early 2012 riots?” Chastel asked.

As Kylian shook his head, I explained, “Well you have to understand that, since the 1970s the north-eastern suburbs gradually turned into ghettos for immigrants; unemployment and high crime rate locking them into a vicious circle. At the same time, however the western and southern suburbs, as well as the city of Paris, with that I mean the city within the Périphérique expressway, flourished, which, of course, resulted in great wealth for the residents and the advantages of such. Now imagine this widening social gap of abyss-proportion, and you end up with the riots.”

Kylian nodded in understanding. “Okay, so hostile territory. What-”

The doorbell rang. While I went to answer the door, I called out over my shoulder towards Kylian and Chastel, “I’ve called Mathieu so he could look after Viviane while we’re out.”

Mathieu and Philippe came in. “Hey Maiwenn. Guys. So what’s going on? Why are we here?”

“Do you want something to drink? Tea maybe? Kylian made some nice tea.”

Philippe frowned. “What’s wrong, Maiwenn? You’re babbling, that’s not good.”

Crap. I took a deep breath; better to get this over with. “They kidnapped Pauline last night. Right out of her bed.”

Mathieu paled. “What...Fuck. Fuck! But...I mean...how was that even possible? How could that happen? Where were you?”

That hurt. Okay, he had a crush on Pauline and was a young male, perfectly normal for him to hit the roof, but damn, did he have to find the right questions? “We were in jail, the three of us. I wasn’t here.” There was a shitload of bitterness behind that truth.

“And why the fuck are you here now instead of going after them?”

Kylian stepped in, “Hey calm down, Matt. Might want to rethink that tone. The reason why we’re still here is that Viviane tried to save Pauline and got hurt. Besides, we can’t just march on, revenge in our eyes without a slightest clue, without knowing where exactly they hold her, who ‘they’ might be or the faintest outline of a plan. Could be fatal otherwise, and not only for us.”

His matter-of-fact tone and clear reasoning actually helped to calm down Mathieu. “Okay, fine. So what are we going to do?”

“That depends on you. I hope you’ve got something for us?”

Mathieu looked as if caught with a hand in the cookie jar. Oh, that’s interesting. I’d been hoping on some information on the ghosts, but there seemed to be more hidden behind his angel face since even Philippe pulled up his transparent eyebrows and had a question mark stamped right over his face, and so I stayed silent.

Mathieu pulled half a dozen flyers out of his pocket, and I tensed. “I, err, I followed up on the flyers...”

I sucked in a sharp breath as a good-sized bubble of anger and worry suddenly burst open in my chest. Then I looked down at Kylian’s arm that had suddenly come up in front of me, holding me back.

“No, wait! Let him finish.”

I hadn’t even realized I’d taken a step towards Mathieu. Putting my anger in a drawer way back in my head – for now – I tried to concentrate on what Mathieu was saying.