Murder Between the Worlds: A Between the Worlds Novel (13 page)

“And you see such value in drinking yourself into a stupor every night that you think a woman would choose a lifetime of that? Where were you last night when she needed help? Why did she not reach out to you except that she knew it would be pointless?” Jessilaen’s voice was low and dangerous.

The two elves glared at each other for several minutes, each trying to get the other to look away first. Finally Bleidd took a deep breath and spoke slowly. “Perhaps we are both great fools.”

Jessilaen was caught off guard by this comment and cocked his head to the side listening as Bleidd continued, “We both care for her in some way. And she is not only very upset right now but also in grave danger. If you are right, then those who hurt her yesterday will be back. Whether they return or not, helping with this murder investigation by itself may put her at risk. I would rather put my own pride aside for the moment and see her safe than know that she died because you and I were squabbling like children over a toy.”

The Elven Guard commander gave the Outcast elf a long appraising look, “You truly are innocent of these crimes.”

“I have many flaws, Guard, some of them egregious. But my hands are clean of the blood of those poor girls,” Bleidd said seriously.

“Why did you not simply say as much when we questioned you?” Jessilaen asked, confused by the sudden change in the strange elf.
Perhaps living so long with humans has warped his ability to act in a civilized manner,
Jess thought to himself, not liking the sudden odd kinship he felt with the other elf, who had made it clear he was a rival for Allie’s affections.

“Because I was wrongly Outcast by the Guard and it is not in my heart now to expect any justice or fairness from anyone in that uniform,” Bleidd said simply. Jessilaen shook his head slightly, unsure how such a thing could ever happen. Bleidd continued, “Know this though Commander; as soon as this danger is past I will offer my own court to her and we shall see who she really prefers. You may not like the outcome of that.”

Jessilaen’s head came up and his eyes narrowed, “Why tell me this now? Why ask for a truce and say that we should work together to protect her and then in the next breath give me reason to want you out of the way?”

“Perhaps I want to see you prove that the Guard are as honest and trustworthy as Allie believes you to be. Show me that you can seek real justice even when it would better suit your own purpose to see me framed for the crime,” Bleidd said casually.

“And if I acted against you, how quickly would that turn her against me?” Jessilaen said.

“If you feel that way, then you acknowledge she cares more for me than you.”

“If the situation were reversed maybe you would be the one who would not like the outcome,” Jessilaen replied. Then he took a deep breath and said “If we wish to cooperate to achieve anything we will have to stop arguing over this.”

Bleidd shook his head ruefully. “Yes. It is obviously a subject we will have to avoid. That said, perhaps I can be of help to you in tracking down these Dark Court elves.”

“How so?” Jessilaen said, not trying to hide his interest.

“Allie has made me promise not to seek revenge for her sake, but I made no oath not to seek them out. I know the city well and I have connections among the residents that you could never hope to reach. If they are here, in the city, I can find them.”

Jessilaen nodded thoughtfully.

     ****************************

Allie emerged from the shower feeling slightly more able to take on the world and having had her cathartic cry, she felt far less emotionally on edge. She was vaguely worried that Jessilaen would be upset about finding her crying on Bleidd’s shoulder, but he was just going to have to learn to accept that Bleidd was one of her closest friends, and she had no intention of losing that friendship now. Besides, whether Jess understood it or not, Bleidd needed her.

She dressed quickly in the same clothes she’d pulled on that morning, a t-shirt and sweatpants, before venturing out of the bathroom again. To her surprise she found the two elves she’d ducked in the shower to avoid dealing with standing there waiting for her. Her expression must have mirrored her feelings because Bleidd smiled and Jess looked rueful.

“Dinner’s ready. Jason made spaghetti just for you.” Bleidd said in a conciliatory tone.

Jess gave him an odd sideways look “I thought we were all eating?”

Allie couldn’t hold back a giggle as Bleidd explained “It’s an expression, Guard. It means he knows it’s one of her favorite foods and cooked it special to please her.”

Jess looked truly confused, “Is he a servant here? He always seems to be cooking for everyone else.”

Allie was shaking her head, still giggling, but Bleidd looked annoyed “Of course not, he just enjoys cooking.”

Jess clearly thought that was insane, but Allie’s stomach chose that moment to growl loudly and the other two seemed to snap out of whatever strange mood they were in. If she didn’t know better she’d swear they were acting like friends. It was a strange thought. “Come on guys you can argue the semantics of human idioms later. I’m actually hungry for the first time today and spaghetti sounds really good right about now.”

She moved past them and down the stairs, feeling almost cheerful for the first time in over a week. The aroma of Jason’s excellent spaghetti sauce filled the lower level and made her mouth water. In the kitchen she found Liz and Aeyliss sitting at the table while Jason shuttled plates and dishes from the counter to the various place settings and Syndra poured drinks into glasses. The Victorian’s kitchen was spacious and the table was a long farm style set with a dozen chairs that could easily accommodate the residents and the two Elven Guard. Allie felt herself relaxing slightly at the domestic scene, strange as it was to see the red haired Elven woman, sword strapped to her side, sitting at the table. She moved to sit in her usual place on the hallway side of the long table and before she could pull her seat in she had Jess settling in on her right and Bleidd sliding into the chair on her left. She looked from one side to the other, puzzled that with so many seating options they’d each choose to sit directly next to her, and caught Syndra across the room rolling her eyes. Liz, sitting at the far narrow end of the table frowned and then made a point of studying her silverware. Allie felt bad for her cousin, who she knew was a private person and was probably horrified by the intrusion into her home. Then again Allie realized her cousin hadn’t seen her since she’d been injured.
Maybe she’s upset at seeing my fabulous multi-colored face,
Allie thought, then,
I wonder why she never came and saw me in my room today?
It was an uncomfortable thought that she quickly pushed away.

Jason hustled over with a plate, smiling at her and ignoring the bruises. She smiled back.

“Awesome Jason, this looks great.”

“I put extra cheese on yours,” he said winking.

“Because I’m extra cheesy, right?” and they both laughed. It made things feel almost normal.

Syndra brought over the drinks: milk for Allie and the two Elven Guard, juice for Jason, water for Liz and beer for herself and Bleidd. Much to everyone’s surprise Bleidd turned down the beer, getting a glass of milk instead. Syndra was speechless at this turn of events and kept giving Allie weird looks, which Allie returned with frowns and shrugs. She had a feeling that she’d get an earful from Syn later. Both the Guards were poking at their food uncertainly and she wondered if they had ever eaten spaghetti before. Instead of asking what it was or how one went about eating it they started surreptitiously watching the humans eat and mimicking them. Allie found herself smiling down at her plate as Syndra and Jason argued over the merits of the latest album from their favorite band.

“Are your meals always like this?” Jess asked her.

“On a good day.”

“What a strange way to enjoy a meal.” Aeyliss said when she finished eating. “Everyone talking–how can you enjoy your food?”

“We enjoy the food in between talking.” Jason answered cheerfully. Despite his near phobia of elves he seemed to have gotten somewhat acclimated to the Guard’s presence.

She gave him an appraising look that had Allie thinking the Elven woman was about to be disappointed. “Is it not better to focus all your attention on one thing at a time so that you can savor that experience to its fullest, rather than distracting the senses with many things at once?”

Jason shrugged, “I’m not that disciplined”

“Perhaps I could show you the advantages of such an approach,” Aeyliss said with a look that made her meaning plain. Jason blushed but looked oddly flattered.

Syndra laughed, “Jason doesn’t enjoy discipline–or women–so you’re going to be out of luck on both counts.”

Aeyliss looked a bit nonplussed, probably at the disavowal of women, “That’s a shame. I’m certain I could convince him of the value of both.”

“I don’t doubt you could,” Syndra said archly, earning raised eye brows from everyone but Allie. She was already aware of her friend’s diverse interests and the two Guards who didn’t know how unusual such an omnivorous attitude was. Aeyliss shifted her appraisal to Syndra and Allie repressed the urge to look at her friend to see whether Syn was returning the interest. There were some things she really didn’t need to know.

Liz cleared her throat loudly, “So, Allie, you’re feeling better?”

Allie wasn’t sure if it was meant as a statement or a question but assumed the latter, “Yes, actually. Brynneth’s a skilled healer and I spent most of today resting. Well that and racking my brain trying to remember where I’d read about that ritual or something like it before.”

“It’s a shame,” Liz said clearly making an effort at conversation, “that there isn’t some master index for this sort of thing. Remember how Grandmother was always indexing her books? It always made referencing things so convenient.”

Allie dropped her fork with a clang onto her plate, “Oh my Gods, Liz! That’s it.”

“What? What’s it?” Liz looked alarmed by her reaction, and everyone else had fallen silent, looking at Allie.

“That’s where I saw it. In Grandmother’s grimoire.” Allie couldn’t repress a shudder at the memory.

“What are you talking about Allie. Grandmother didn’t have a grimoire, she had a spell book,” Liz said, looking uncomfortable.

“No. No. She had a grimoire from before. From a long time ago, before Dad and Aunt Mary where born. I found it once when I was in–Gods, like middle school I think. I was flipping through it reading and it was…”Allie stopped, looking at her cousin’s skeptical expression. She took a deep breath. “It was dark stuff, Liz. Nothing like what she was doing when we were alive. I was reading through it and she found me and freaked out. I’ve never seen her so upset, before or since.”

Jessilaen and Aeyliss both looked grim. Jess spoke carefully, “You are certain that is where you saw this?”

“I’m positive,” Allie said confidently. “When she found me and took the book away, I was reading about what the grimoire called inverse fertility magic, the idea of using negative sex magic and prolonged death to create a desired effect. That’s what was so familiar about the murders.”

Liz blanched, and her other roommates looked stunned, but the Guard become suddenly animated. “To what purpose was this used?” Aeyliss asked

“I don’t know, she took the book away before I finished reading that section. I only remember that much because she was so very upset about me finding the book.”

“Do you have the book still? Is it in your store?” Jess asked.

Allie thought hard. “Not in the store, no. It should still be in the house.”

“Here?” Aeyliss said sharply “This house?”

“Yes,” Allie said, watching Liz pale and look around as if she expected the book to appear from thin air. “It was one of my grandmother’s personal books. We kept them all after she died.”

“She left them to you,” Liz said quickly and then looked uncomfortable as everyone looked at her. “Well, I’m no witch. Or mage, or whatever,” she mumbled.

“That’s true, she did. I haven’t really dealt with them though, since she died.”

“Allie, that was 10 years ago. You’re saying she left you all her magical books and you just–what–left them in a box?” Syndra said, sounding exasperated.

Allie made a face. “Kind of. Some of them are boxed up. Some are in the attic. Some are in my closet.” She shrugged helplessly. “I just didn’t want to deal with her personal stuff, so I sort of, you know, didn’t.”

“Fucking A, Al,” Syn said, shaking her head.

“Well, it’s still here somewhere. We just have to find it,” Allie said defensively.

They all looked at each other for a moment. Jason shook his head slightly, “Sorry, I have to work tonight, I’m on 3
rd
shift today and tomorrow.”

Liz also looked unhappy, already getting up from the table “I have to be at the theater. It’s the second night of that new play and it was crazy busy last night. Actually if I don’t get moving I’ll be late.”

Syndra nodded, taking charge, “Okay well you two get going and the rest of us can search. We may as well start in the attic. Just let me call Riordan and Walters and let them know we have some kind of lead,” she looked at Jessilaen, “Maybe you should contact your Captain?”