Linda Welch - A conspiracy of Demons (21 page)

“
You make it sound like a cake
walk.”

“B
rief and violent, but I am fine, Tiff.”

The lump in my throat loosened.

“Mr. Mortensen, see your
doctor
the day after tomorrow,” the nurse said. She looked at the notebook computer balanced on one
palm
. “You don’t have one listed.”

“I will
get one,” Royal said.

Shaking her head, the nurse left. Mike caught the door as it swung to and
thumbed toward the corridor
outside
.
“Come with me.”

W
e hurried after Mike
through the hospital and down to the
first floor
and
a narrow passageway lined with doors. Opening the third along, he ushered us inside a small, cramped
, windowless
room filled with two desks and a dozen monitors. A young
, fair-haired
man in navy pants and
a
white shirt looked up. “Captain,” he acknowledged.

“This is John Shaw, chief of security. He’s going to show us
a
tape of the perp.”

We gathered behind Shaw as he brought the footage up on his monitor.

Mike leaned down, one hand on the desk, the other in his hip pocket.
“
Either they experienced
a systems malfunction or
our perp
managed to avoid the c
ameras until he arrived at Roy
’s room. Watch.”

Malfunction? How easily we explain the inexplicable.
The corridor was clear, then it wasn’t. A man materialized outside the door to Royal’s room. It took everything I had to keep my startled gaze from Royal. Mike
thought the man stepped in camera range
-
his brain
would not
let him think
otherwise
-
but he just . . .
appeared
. . .
as if from thin air.

A demon, moving so fast the cameras didn’t pick him up until he stopped.

Glimmering metallic hair d
oes
not translate to
photos or video,
so h
e didn’t look like a demon
.
Tall, broad shouldered, pale-yellow hair cropped short, he wore blue jeans and a denim jacket and stood with his back to the camera a bare second before opening Royal’s door and entering the room. A tiny silver hoop decorated his right earlobe.

The camera didn’t catch what happened in the roo
m, and the recording lacked
audio, but not fifteen seconds passed when a shadowy form which could be anything hit the observation window and it cracked. A male nurse at the end of the hall froze in his tracks, then came running. Two more nurses
came
on
the scene
and
rushed
after. The door banged open
before anyone reached it,
but the camera didn’t catch
the man
coming out
. T
he nurses burst into the room.

I remembered to breathe. “Shame the camera malfunctioned when he came out.”

“Lucky bastard.”
Mike nodded
at the screen
. “Do you recognize him?”

“F
rom
the rear and from
his build
, I do
not
know
him
.”

Eyes still on the computer,
Mike said, “I’m putting you guys in
a safe house.”

I gave him a cross-eyed look.
“Huh! No way.”
I looked at Royal for confirmation.

He frowned at me
and folded his arms over his chest
.
A
muscle ticked in his jaw
.
“
It will be best for you.
”

“For
me?
What the -”

“
You too, Roy,
”
Mike said.

“Absolutely not.”

I put hand
s
to hip
s
and gave
them
attitude.
“
Ditto
.”

Royal shot me a chastening look
. I
widened my eyes
.
As if I’d let him
tuck me out of the way.

Mike’s chin jutted and I think he ground his teeth.
“
How about
I put
a
detail
on you
,
twenty-four-seven.”

I glared at Royal as I told Mike,
“That’s not gonna happen either.”

Royal
pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes
, then
looked
away as if exasperated
.

He’d get over it.

I gave him a beatific smile before asking Mike, “Anything new on our shooter?”

Mike rubbed one eyebrow with his index finger
and spoke to Royal
. “
His ammo of cho
ice was .338
Magnum
-rifle round
.
You’re a lucky guy, Roy. Hunters use th
em
to take down
bears
, and surgeons don’t often get to dig out one of those suckers.
”

Because they usually go clean through an animal, or a person.
Royal met my eyes, his face paler beneath the copper sheen, and I
read his mind. I
f the bullet meant for me had hit my back, it would have
blo
w
n
out my chest.

“
The Lab hasn’t got back to us yet, but he
likely
use
d
a
snip
er rifle with a damn good scope,
”
Mike added.

Or he had damn good eyesight.

We were in the Jeep. Instead of telling me more about the attack on him, Royal started with questions.

“Your . . . friend, said partial fingerprints were found on Lynn’s neck.”

‘Yeah.”

“What exactly did she tell you?”

“You said it.”

The
skin of his forehead tightened.
“Word for word?”

“Hm.
She
said they didn’t have nearly as
many squirly things.” Like Carrie had, I in
spected my fingertips. “I
guess
she meant the ridges.”

Royal looked through the
w
i
ndshield
, lips so tight they
were barely
there.

My gaze rested on his fisted hands. “What is it?”

His voice
emerged
a shade from monotone, as if he reluctantly forced out the words. “
The man you saw on the tape was not Gelpha
.”

My mind tried to change gear, but I couldn’t imagine a human man battling Royal.

“Their finger
tips . . .
they
do not have as many
friction ridges
as humans and Gelpha
.” He finally met my eyes. “
He was a Dark Cousin
.”

The weight of his words settled
on
me. Pressure seemed to build in the air.

His fingers curled into tight fists.
“I should have known when I went after the shooter.”

My
hammering pulse made concentration difficult
and a second passed before I realized what he mea
nt. Gelpha sense
one another
and human being
s
, but not Dark Cousins.
Royal came back from looking for the would-be assassin surprised he didn’t catc
h up to a human
person
, nor
sense a Gelpha’s
presence. We
attributed it to
weakness from
the injury
slowing him down.

I thought my life was complicated, then along came a demon. He introduced me to another world, Bel-Athaer, land of the Gelpha. And he introduced me to Dark Cousins, or as they once called themselves, the Mothers. Bel-Athaer was an uninhabited
paradise until
the Mothers took human
beings
from my world and bred with them. They
made
the Gelpha.

I eventually discovered I am Gelpha, only I do
no
t have their
supernatural
abilities
-
speed, heightened
senses
- n
or
their
sensitivity
to other Gelpha
. Yet I
did
feel we were watched as we stood outside Provo Police Department.

I moistened my dry lips, then dropped my face
in
my palm. Why did I think
I’
d
seen the las
t of the fucking
Cousin
s when,
thanks to their
plotting
.
we brought down the Seers?

A Cousin killed Lynn, then came after us?
I lifted
my
head
and clenched my hands so tight
they
began to go
numb.
“
Lynn’s body wasn’t supposed to be found. So when it was, they kept an eye on the investigation. They
discovered
we’re involved, maybe when the detectives came to Clarion, or when we went to Provo
.”

Visiting hours were over and
the parking area began to empty. Headlights washed over the Jeep, making Royal’s metallic copper-gold hair glisten, but his eyes had lost their sparkle.
I started the engine, popped the gear into drive and wheeled
from
the parking spot.

On the drive home,
when thoughts of Dark Cousins after our blood should have consumed me, I thought only
of Lynn.
I had to face reality. The chance we could find a Gelpha killer was unlikely. The odds on identifying and finding a Dark Cousin were slim to impossible. And if we did, they were all but indestructible. I blew out Dagka Shan’s brains and he didn’t die.
Philip Vance cut off their he
ads and burned their bodies.
C
ould I do that?

Lynn
was out there, somewhere, probably in an isolat
ed, lonely place,
seeing nothing
day and night
. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, fifty-two weeks a year.
She’d
linger long after I was gone.
As lights flickered on the edge of my vision and familiar landmarks flashed past, I
firmly shoved aside my reluctance
to find her
.
I’ll find you, Lynn. You won’t be alone forever.

“
Royal, w
hat are we gonna do?”

“
I have no idea what to do, look for, where to look.”

My breath
hitched
in my throat. My house, Mac. . . . H
ow could I have forgotten
Mac?

“Oh my God, I have to get home!
I think someone was in my house. I was about to head inside when Jack and Mel warned me.”

“How did they warn. . . ?” He closed his eyes. “Never mind.
”

Brig
ht with alarm
, his eyes sprang open.
“If someone is in your house, we go to my apartment.”

My head whipped every which way as I watched for other autos. An accident was all I needed. “I have to
go home
. If
Mac
’s hurt. . . .” Words failed me.

Royal, bless him, didn’t question the sanity of p
ossibly
walking into a
trap
for the sake of a dog.
“Okay. But you wait while I go in first.”

“
You can’t sense a Cousin. You won’t know if he’s in there any more than I will
.”

“You have a point, but I will check the house nonetheless.”

“Whatever
.”
Arguing was pointless
. I woul
d
give him a minute in the house before
follow
ing
. Right now, I had to concentrate on driving.

The Jeep roared along, slaloming from one lane to another to beat slower traffic. But I eased off on the accelerator as we drove up the hill on Beeches.
The street was quiet,
my
neighbors either indoors or not home yet. I turned off the car’s headlamps.

Royal
already grasped the handle as
the Jeep
rolled
to
a stop
. “Wait,” I whispered.

T
he engine idle
d
as I tried to see in the
kitchen windows. Shadows moved.
I tensed, ready to
ram
my foot down, then let my breath ease out
when
Jack and Mel came right up to th
e window and gave me the thumbs—
up.

“It’s okay.” I flashed a smile at Royal, thumbed the garage door remote and slid the Jeep inside t
he garage before the door
opened
all the way
.

We got out and whipped
in
the house. I closed the front door and flipped the
hall
light switch.
“Mac!”

My boy trundled in from the kitchen, scowling as only a starved pup can.
It was
way
past his supper time.
I dropped to my knees and ran my hands over him. “Mac, am I glad to see you.”

Jack and Mel converged on us. “Tiff!
A man
was here!” Mel gasped.

“I figured.” I grinned at my roommates. “Thanks
,
guys. I knew I kept you around for a reason.”

“Oh ha,” from Jack.

Royal pointed at the security alarm control box. “Tiff, did you forget again?”

“No. I swear I
put
in on before I left.”

“Do not move and do not touch anything.” Royal said, and took
off
to
the kitchen in
a mini burst of speed
.

I went rigid as I realized he searched for more than in intruder. He looked for surveillance devices, or explosives.

Then I relaxed - Jack and Mel watched the guy, they’d know if he planted anything and would have told me immediately. Since the Seers bombed Royal’s apartment and tried to do the same to my house, my roommates were as scared
as I
of explosives.

But
reminding Royal
of that was pointless.
My friends’
word was not good enough for him, he had to look himself.

“Clear,” he said, and zipped to the living room.

I left the kitchen light off when
I went
in and
lowered
the blinds
. The
lights
from the appliances were enough t
o let me see the room
and find
Mac
’s
kibble
in the
pantry
.

I sat at the kitchen table. “
Okay, guys, tell me about it.”

Jack wriggled his shoulders.
“Nothing much to tell. We heard a noise at the door, then a man came in.”

“
Big
man,” Mel clarified.

So h
e picked the lock.

“The alarm screamed for about three second
s
but he did something to make it stop,” said Mel.

I looked from one to the other. “Can you describe him?
”

“One of
them
,” Jack hissed.

“Them?”

“Like Gia Sabato,” from Mel. “Dark skin, black dreadlocks,
muscles bulging all over the place
. I’d be quite taken with him in other circumstances.”

“He had a
huge
gun,” Jack butted in. “And a sword on his back.
He
sat on the stairs.”

Waiting for me to get home. A Dark Cousin, a Mother, c
ame
for me when at the same time another went after Royal. A
tingle ran up
my spine. I woul
d have walked into an ambush
i
f not for Jack and Mel
.

Mac went to the backdoor. “I should have litter box trained you,” I murmured as I went to open it far enough for his chunky body to squeeze through.
I shut
it, but
switched
on the outside light and
stood at the window
to watch
him snuffle
around the backyard
.

Royal entered the kitchen and stood inside the door
way
.
“I went over the entire house including the basement. We are fine.”

I could have told him that, but resisted the impulse.
I told him what Jack and Mel had told me.
“Crazy, isn’t it.” I gave him a pale smile. “I don’t know about you, but I feel helpless.”

He rubbed his ja
w. “The answer is out there, we wi
ll find it.”

I wished I had his confidence
. “
Could
the High House
tell us
anything?”

“They would
have told me when I was there i
nquiring about a
Gelpha
assassin.”

“
Are they
the same guy
s
who killed Lynn?”

“I hope so, because that will narrow it down. Two Cousins is bad enough, if more are involved. . . .”
He inhaled through his nose. “
Pray the Lady they are
rogue
s
, acting independently, not part of some Dark Cousin conspiracy.”

My shoulders
drooped, my chin wanted to sag.

Mac came inside. I slid down the pet door and
headed for the stairs. “Come on
,
”
I told Royal.

“Where are we going?”

“You should be resting that shoulder.
You don’t have a dose of Dark Cousin blood to help you heal this time,” I rem
in
ded him. “
You
heal quickly
, but even you have to rest. I’m gonna tuck you
in
bed.”

“Only if you join me.”

“After I’ve done a little online research.”

He sighed so loudly, I stopped and looked
back
, mistaking the
exhalation for pain, but saw an exaggerated
hangdog expression.
“I thought you were lusting after me.”

“Oh, I al
ways lust after you.” I tried to laugh as
I
tromped
up the steps
, but it sounded forced
.

Shoeless, sockless, shirtless,
Royal lay on my bed
with
hands cl
asped behind
his
head and
legs crossed.
A square of white gauze stood out on
burnished pale-copper skin and hi
s unbound hair covered hi
s hands to the wrists in silken
copper and gold skeins. He
seem
ed relaxed,
but I bet he was a coiled spring inside, ready to leap up at the slightest sound.