Mystery's Choice (Vengeance Of The Fallen Book 1) (28 page)

“Shit.”  He said as he laid back and closed his eyes.

“Hiya pardner.”  Naomi said as she straddled him.

“Hiya.”  Sam said politely as he tossed her off and elbowed her in the gut. He sprung to his feet and pulled his revolver.

Naomi kicked the revolver out of his hand. “Oh boy.”  She began circling him. “This is gonna be fun.”

Sam grunted as Naomi pounced on him and knocked him over. She wrapped her hands around his throat and squeezed. Sam began to see stars as he fumbled in his pocket. Naomi squeezed tighter, and Sam’s world began to go gray.

Naomi was enjoying herself immensely. She gagged and screeched as pain spread through out her abdomen. She looked down at her belly and blinked in wonder at the pocketknife protruding from her middle. She laughed and let go of Sam’s throat.

“Satan loves me, to him I go.”  She slumped forward.

Sam pushed his way out from under Naomi’s body; he wiped tears from his pale face. Sitting down on his neighbor’s snowy lawn, he cradled Naomi’s head in his lap. His tears started again as he noticed the sickeningly sweet smile on her face.

After they looked Sam over at the scene, he borrowed a car; his was blown apart, and went to tell Herb the bad news. He kept telling himself grown men don’t cry, as tears rolled down his face.

“Damn!”  He screamed into the night air. Naomi had been a damn good partner and a good cop. She had been more than just his partner she had been his friend. And now, he had to tell her husband he’d killed her and her children she wasn’t coming home. He remembered one of her children would never know her mother and cussed a blue streak. He didn’t know how the bastards had managed to brainwash her so completely. And the religious part of him, buried so long ago, wondered if she was roasting in Hell as she had said.

He pulled into the driveway behind Herb’s car and pulled his battered body out of the car. He noticed a light was on downstairs and thanked his lucky stars he wouldn’t have to wake him. As he got closer he noticed the door was ajar. He reached for his gun and realized it wasn’t there. Sam took a deep breath and nudged the door open. When he stepped inside nothing in the living room looked misplaced. He went through the first floor and found nothing, so he went upstairs. He noticed all the doors were shut. They never shut the doors unless they were home. He walked to the master bedroom and softly tapped on the door. No one answered, so he opened the door.

Sam felt vomit leap from his throat as he stared in horror and disbelief at the body sprawled on the bed. Someone had shoved a gun up inside her and pulled the trigger. Sam gripped the wall and backed out of the room. He ran frantically down the hall to Gwen’s room. He felt the bile rise at the thought of what he might find. He stopped outside the door and tried desperately to put the picture of the sweet, bubbly girl Gwen had been out of his mind. Taking a deep breath he pushed the door open.

He sighed resignedly at the bodies within. How could Naomi, who was such a good mother, have done this to her child?  He didn’t know who the boy was, but Sam would have to tell another mother her child was dead. He thought of the mess in the other room; her would have to tell two mothers. Sam steeled himself as he went back down the hall to the baby’s room. He knew she would be dead. Poor Herb, he had lost his entire family tonight. Sam figured if he had been caught in the bloodbath, he would have been in the master bedroom.

He was wrong.

Herb was propped up against the baby’s closet, his head blown apart. Sam walked to the crib and shook his head as though he could erase the sight of the dead baby. Turning, he went to call for reinforcements.

18

The funerals were all held on a rainy day in the beginning of April. Sam looked at the large crowd standing at Naomi’s gravesite. He dreaded speaking to Naomi’s mother after service, how could he explain, a perfectly sane mother of two, turning into Lizzie Borden. He had no explanations, but thanks to Naomi’s last words, he had a lead. A woman’s mournful cry brought him back to his surroundings, just as they lowered Naomi’s coffin into the ground.

When the minister was done, Sam took a deep breath as Naomi’s mother and three very large brothers approached him.

“Mrs. Summerton.”  Sam choked back tears and fought to be strong. “I would like to extend my condolences.”

Her sons were holding her arms to support her. She tried to smile past her tears. “The service was lovely, thank you for arranging it for us.”

“I don’t know what to say.”  He wiped a wayward tear away. “I would give almost anything for this not to have happened. I swear I didn’t see it coming.”

One of the mountains sniffed and said, “None of us did; she was a little remote, but she always was when she was working on a tough case. We don’t blame you, Sam.”

“But please find who did this to her, so I can find some peace.”  Mrs. Summerton said as she laid a hand on Sam’s arm. “You’ll understand if we don’t want to see you for a while; it’s just too painful.”  She moved away taking the mountains with her.

Sam sighed and turned to walk away. He stood still when he noticed the piercing green eyes staring at him. A beautiful woman walked toward him, with an equally stunning man beside her.

“You probably don’t remember me, Detective Jefferies, I’m Mystery Williams.”  She extended a slender hand, which Sam took. She motioned to the man beside her. “This is my boyfriend Ryan Parsons.”  She looked back at the grave. “I came because she was nice to me and because I thought I would try one more time to get you to listen.”

He remembered her all right. At the time he had thought she was a fruitcake. Now he wasn’t so sure. “I remember you, Ms. Williams, and I am ready to listen.”  He looked at the man beside her. “I thought your boyfriend was named Seth Parsons, not Ryan.”  He motioned to a bench under the limbs of a big maple tree.

“Yes he was. This is his brother, Ryan. Long story and one which has nothing to do with why I’m here.”  She sat on the bench and the man sat with her; it was as though they moved in tandem. “I don’t know what we can do, but we have to try.”  She pushed her hair out of her eyes. “You see Roodmas is coming up and as it is a big holiday for them, the killing will probably extend to several in one night versus the usual one a night.”

“What the heck is Roodmas?”  Sam asked.

“It is their celebration of Christ’s death on the cross.”  She looked at him anxiously. “You can understand why it is a big holiday for them.”

Sam gulped and nodded.

“My mother and father are the leaders of this coven.”  She took a deep breath and seemed to tremble for a moment. Ryan took her hand. “My father is Cain. The original Cain. He is the Antichrist. A devil. My mother is a powerful witch, I believe her to be human. So, I am at least half-devil and half-human. My mother is the leader of the cult, which is Satanic and very powerful. It has existed since the beginning of time. Its members include heads of State, businessmen, doctors, lawyers, and taxi drivers. It is completely self-contained and ultra-violent.” She held her hand up when Sam tried to speak. “My father, Cain, is back to bring about the prophecy these people have been awaiting for thousands of years. The child has finally been born that can tip the scales once and for all.”  She looked up at Sam and he found himself unable to look away. “If I chose my ancestors, my heritage, the easy way, mankind will end up in Satan’s hands, the battle going to him at last. If I chose myself, my family.” she looked at the hand Ryan held so tightly in his. “If I choose humankind the Roodmasi will be no more.”

“Well, the choice is simple, if this for real, chose mankind and this ends.”

“No, it’s not simple!  Even if I made a choice now the killing wouldn’t stop, not yet. And they have my son. Cain won’t simply lie down and die. He will fight until the bitter end.”  She smiled, “The first five or six rounds have already gone to him and he has the advantage. I am just learning to use my powers. He has fine-tuned his for the last seven or eight thousand years. And as much as I hate to admit it, there’s a part of me which longs to go to my mother and the Roodmasi.”

“Okay how do we stop them?”  Sam said trying to loosen his hold on the normal and grab hold of the abnormal.

“If I can figure out where they meet, maybe the police could plan a raid, which would take care of the human members and weaken Cain’s numbers. If we manage to do that much, it would just leave us with the non-humans to battle.”  She looked at Ryan and he nodded his head. “Ryan has special abilities as well, we will take on Cain and my mother and whoever else isn’t human.”  Mystery’s eyes glowed with excitement.

“Maybe.”  He ran his hands through his hair. The lieutenant was going to take some convincing to give the kind of manpower this raid would require. “You work on figuring out where they are and I’ll work on my lieutenant when you give me a location.”  He stood and Mystery stood with him. Ryan reached out to shake hands with him. Sam took it and thought about the differences between the brothers. There was absolutely no fear in his eyes and his palms were dry. Seth had been scared every time he had seen him. Then Sam looked at Mystery and realized how much she had changed; she had come out of the catatonic state armed and ready to fight. They both looked at him with the steady gazes of the battle-tested. He smiled, maybe he could give Naomi’s mother what he had promised her: those bastards dead or behind bars. Mystery returned the smile and she and Ryan walked away. As Sam left he whispered goodbye to Naomi.

Sam looked around the spacious townhouse. It was split-level, with a bedroom, bath, kitchen, dining room, and living room on the main floor. He had already seen the recreation room, bath, and bedroom downstairs and now he was wondering through the master suite into a huge bathroom. He liked the place but something about it made him feel lonely. He listened to the real estate lady drone on about what a steal the townhome was and wished, like he had every time she had shown him some place that he had someone to move into whatever new place he chose, with him.

“I’ll take it.”  Sam blurted out. “Tell them I’ll pay what they are asking and I want to take possession by the first of the month. If they give you grief because that’s only ten days away offer them a thousand dollar bonus.”

The lady was nearly apoplectic. “Yes, sir.”

Sam wanted out of all that vacant space and he went for the door, the lady rambling on as she followed him.

“Thank you, Mrs. Langtree.”  Sam turned and shook her hand. He hurried to his car and pulled away. It was time to go back to the hotel room he had been calling home and get drunk.

Raevanne glared at the small photo of Sam she held in her hand. So, he thought he would bring the Roodmasi down, did he?  She laughed. The Roodmasi had existed for thousands of years and it would take more than one mortal cop to bring it to ruin. However, he could bring them trouble at a time when they needed to be focused on the Ascension. So she stood and went down the stone steps. She motioned five of the women she passed over to her and bade them to follow. She entered the ritual room and all of the candles flared to life. Each woman and Raevanne dropped their cloaks and let the candle light shine off their naked bodies. Then Raevanne poured ritual wine in chalices and passed each of the women one. Each took out her boline and sliced her fingers, adding their blood to the wine. They stood in a circle around the inverted pentagram etched into the floor and it began to glow. They all bowed their heads, and said in unison.

“Lilith, I beseech you. Lilith, I summon you. Lilith, I plead with you. Lilith, I ask that you rise from your home with The Master and come to me. Lilith, there is one who would threaten all of us. My sister, I have need of your prowess to protect our people from an enemy. I beseech you. I beseech you. I beseech you.”

Together they all drank the wine. The air inside the circle begun to shimmer and the candles flared. A figure began to form inside the circle. Eventually, a beautiful woman with blond hair and black eyes stood inside. She looked toward Raevanne.

“Why have I been summoned?”  She said in a soft lilting voice. The other women wept at the beauty of the sound.

Raevanne showed her the picture of Sam. “He is trying to disturb the Ascension. I want him to be preoccupied for now. Do not kill him. Simply keep his focus split.”

“I will do this for you because of our friendship, Raevanne. I will go now.”  She turned and disappeared.

Raevanne smiled at the other women and dismissed them. Sam wouldn’t be a problem anymore.

Sam sighed as he got into his car; he was tired of people telling him they understood what he was going through. How could they unless they had lived through their partner going insane, murdering her family, and trying her best to murder you? And you had to kill her before she killed you. It definitely put you in a class all by yourself. No matter the number of sessions you had with the department shrink, you kind of knew you were broken and you would never be fixed.

Rubbing his red, achy eyes, he started his car and pulled out onto the road. The world had gone mad and only he could see it. He knew the case was not going to be solved by conventional means and they were up against something they couldn’t comprehend and could never hope to stop. Naomi had known and now with her gone, he was alone, he had to endure the stares of his fellow officers and the knowledge he was drowning in this mess, solo. The leads had all panned out, the one witness was trying her hardest to come up with their location, but she was still drawing a blank. And the death toll grew nightly. He was, for the first time since he became a cop, considering turning in his shield.

As he pulled into the parking lot of his usual hangout, he wondered if he had the right to go in. The only rule to the bar they all gathered at; was no shoptalk inside the doors. The mood was purposely kept light, because it was supposed to be a haven for cops in a world, which did not understand them. Sam wanted to be with his friends, but Naomi and this screwed up case kept him from fitting in. He got out of his car and tried to lighten up, but when he walked through the door and noticed the subtle stares and looks of pity, reality came slamming back and he slunk to a table in the back, where he could drown his sorrows in peace. The waitress put his beer on the table and smiled at him before heading back to the bar. Sam looked around the room, sighed and let the beer take away the pain.

Sometime after his tenth or eleventh beer, he heard the guys whistling at some new hot chick, but he wasn’t interested in her. He swallowed hard when a gorgeous pair of legs stopped beside his table. Following the legs up and up, he eventually got to a luminous pair of dark eyes and noticed the full pouty lips where moving with words. He blinked and struggled to focus,

“Excuse me.” He hiccupped, “Are you talking to me?”

The lips turned upward in a smile, “Yes, may I sit down?”

“Sure”

The lips slowly focused and became an entire face, heart–stopping in its beauty. He tried to sit up straight and failed miserably.

“Steady there, sailor” she said with a chuckle in her soft, lilting voice. “I’m Lilith Adamson, the chief said I would probably find you here and I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow to meet you.”

“Meet me?”

“Yes, I’m your new partner.” Her eyes were kind and understanding, not pitying and he was mortified to feel a tear slide down his face. “I know it’s soon, but the brass felt with the case you are working on and all that has happened, you needed a new partner as soon as possible.” She reached out long, beautifully manicured hands and covered his work-worn ones, “ I didn’t want to wait because I thought it would be easier for you if I wasn’t standing at Naomi’s desk the first time you met me.”

“God.”

“Sam are you okay?” her huge black eyes filled with concern.

“Yeah, just peachy.”