The Ryu Morgue (A Jane True Short Story) (Trueniverse Book 2) (8 page)

“And what, exactly,
do
we know?” Maeve decided to take his words at face value and stop beating herself up. Especially as they needed to get a move on to put the kibosh on this case.

“I’ll explain in the car. Are you ready?”

Maeve nodded, standing and then grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair. “I think I am. You tell me. Do I need anything special?”

Ryu’s eyes again raked over her. Maeve had donned her most comfortable skinny jeans, a long-sleeved tee and a yoga hoodie, and pseudo-combat boots made for fashionable ladies. Her hair was in a ponytail. He seemed to approve, nodding to himself.

“You’re perfect. And everything we need is right here,” he said, holding up a padded manila envelope marked COURIER. “Let’s go.”

They retrieved the rental, and Ryu drove. Maeve wasn’t surprised to find them heading back out to Pai’s.

“So what is she?” Maeve asked. “Last night you said something about a god, but that you weren’t sure. I take it now you are?”

“As sure as I can be until we confront her, yes. And, unfortunately, I do think we’re dealing with a minor deity. They’re always the worst.”

Maeve felt a bit lightheaded. Her work for the US government, and now her work for the Initiative, meant that she was constantly confronted with disturbing new aspects of the supernatural world. But this was definitely the first time any gods had been involved.

“So, you really mean a
god
?” Only after she said it did she realize how faint she sounded.

Ryu shot her an amused look. “Yes, but this one is fairly manageable.”

“Oh, good. A manageable god. How nice.”

“The downside is we are dealing with something old and rare, if she’s what I think she is. But the good news is she isn’t one of the old things powerful enough to kill with a look.”

Maeve swallowed, her mouth suddenly feeling dry. The day was bright and crisp, the sun shining off the vineyards they sped past. It looked so normal...everything always looked so normal. Except they were talking about going to confront a god.

“What is she, then?” Maeve asked.

“I’m pretty sure she’s a
Moirai
,” Ryu said, slowing down to take a few sharp curves then rocketing back to his normal Speed Racer mode. “Do you know what Moirai are?”

Maeve frowned, thinking back to her training. “Isn’t that the Greek word for the Fates?”

“Very good. But it’s not a Greek word, it’s Old Tongue for ‘weaver.’ They’re an incredibly rare and ancient race with the ability to weave destiny. There were only ever a handful, and they’re so purely magical they almost never reproduce. There were enough born, however, to spread out and create havoc.”

“How did they do that?” Maeve noticed a few familiar landmarks, indicating they were near Pai’s farm. She tried to quell the nausea in her belly, but felt her stomach roll anyway. Although that could be as much from Ryu’s kamikaze driving as fear.

“You’ll notice that almost all human societies have a similar mythology involving spinners and weavers of fate. A goddess who creates and cuts off the threads of her worshipers’ lives.

“Pai, if she’s who I think she is, is short for Päivätär. She’s ruled as a goddess over many peoples, most recently the Finnish.”

“Wait, I’ve heard of her. She’s associated with the sun, right? She’s in that Finnish epic poem.”

“Yep, that’s our girl.”

“The weaving makes sense now, then,” Maeve said.

“Yes, it does. It also makes sense why I couldn’t sense anything magical done to the shawl. The Moirai’s magic is a part of them, it’s not...forced upon something. The shawl
is
magic, but its magic is part of it in a way I wasn’t looking for. It’s also interactive, meaning it’s totally inert until it comes into contact with a living thing.”

“But the Fates didn’t make magic shawls...at least not in mythology.”

“No,” said Ryu. “Back in the day, they were able to interfere more directly. But that’s illegal nowadays, in our society. So she’s found a sort of workaround, I guess, through knitted goods. Thank the gods she didn’t use Etsy.”

“So, are
all
gods and goddesses really supernaturals?” Maeve asked, feeling like a light bulb had gone on in the woodshed of her mind.

Ryu grinned at her. “Well done, and yes. Most pagan gods and goddesses are, at least. Your Jesus was human, I’m afraid.”

“No, that’s fine. A bit of a relief, really. And are they all still alive? Like Pai?”

“Many are.” Ryu pulled down the long, single track road that led to Pai’s. “And many, like Pai, do their best to interfere like they used to, despite it being strictly illegal in our world to do so. Setting yourself up as a god draws too much attention.”

“Well, that’s just common sense,” Maeve said, still feeling lightheaded. She’d never cease to be amazed by supernaturals.

She also realized they were very close to the farm when she saw Pai’s mailbox at the end of her long driveway. Ryu slowed, then pulled over, stopping the car next to the mailbox. He reached into the back seat where he’d stashed the courier’s envelope.

“I’ll take on Pai directly,” Ryu said, his voice serious and his eyes locked on Maeve’s. “I want you to stay out of the way. Just because she’s limiting herself to weaving latent magic like the shawl doesn’t mean she has to—she’s probably nearly as strong as she was when she was a goddess.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Distract her,” Ryu said. “And don’t get yourself killed.”

Maeve gave a small, sarcastic bow. “I’ll do my best, sir.”

“Good. Ready?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Then let’s go.” Ryu got out of the car, and Maeve followed, wondering for the millionth time in her life why she couldn’t have gone into something sedate, like flower arranging.

THIRTEEN

Ryu held up a hand to Maeve as they neared the main house. They’d seen no sign of Pai, and the whole farm was eerily silent. Ryu gestured for Maeve to stand at the bottom of stairs leading up to the porch. She drew her gun and aimed toward the door, nodding at him to proceed.

He didn’t have the heart to tell her the gun wouldn’t work on Pai any more than in it would work on him, unless she managed to fatally wound the Moiroi and knock her out before she could heal herself.

Creeping up to the door, Ryu armed himself with his own missile—a mage ball juiced with as much power as he could spare.

Which really wasn’t much.

The truth was he should have fed last night. But it hadn’t felt right, after what happened with Maeve, to leave her in the room alone. Granted, she’d passed out, snoring like a lumberjack, the minute she’d gotten into bed. She wouldn’t have noticed if he slipped away. And yet he’d stayed, guarding her while she slept, after he’d made a few necessary phone calls to source the item they needed to get the upper hand on the Moirai.

He touched the polished wood of the door frame, listening for any sound from within the house not only with his mind, but with his power. Pai’s signature absence was indeed absent—she wasn’t at home.

He shook his head at Maeve, who swiveled away from the steps, guarding his descent. She nodded toward the barn and he moved in that direction. The wide double doors were closed, but as they neared, they heard singing coming from within.

“The Old Tongue,” Ryu whispered. “A working song, invoking the sun and the loom.”

“Sounds ominous,” Maeve whispered back. “Have a plan?”

“I’ll go in through that door, up there,” Ryu said, pointing. “The one that leads into the hay loft.”

“How do you know it leads into a hay loft?” Maeve whispered.

“I’ve seen enough movies,” he replied softly. “It’s always a hayloft.”

“Okay, Errol Flynn. What do I do?”

“You wait ‘til I’m in, then fling open these doors. Distract Pai so I can take care of her.”

“Take care of her? How?”

“She can’t be killed, only incapacitated. That’s where these come in.”

He reached into the courier bag, pulling out a pair of gleaming scissors.

“Are those gold?” Maeve asked, blinking at the bright yellow metal.

Ryu nodded. “And heavily spelled.”

“What do you do with them?”

“You’ll see when we get the door open. Ready?”

Maeve nodded. Ryu gripped her hand suddenly in his. “Be careful,” he said.

“Of course. And you.”

He could hear her heartbeat racing, but her voice and eyes were calm. She was well trained, and as ready as she’d ever be.

He used the decorative lattice on the barn to help swing himself up, motioning to Maeve to open the big doors. He heard her do so, turning at the same moment he heard them crash open, so that he saw what she must have, in the same moment.

Pai was sitting in the center of the barn, at a spinning wheel that looked ancient yet well cared for, its intricately carved surfaces made out of a wood Ryu didn’t recognize, probably from a tree that had died out long before his own birth.

She was spinning bright blue wool, which glimmered in that strange way that Maeve’s shawl had. Now the true nature of the glimmer was revealed.

Pai’s long braids were down, her gold and silver hair falling about her in a monstrously abundant wave, reminiscent of a German fairy tale. She was spinning strands of that hair into the blue wool, so it sparkled in the dim light cast by a dozen or so lanterns.

“There you are,” Maeve said conversationally. Pai had looked up as soon as the door was opened, but she seemed neither surprised nor worried at Maeve’s presence. Ryu crept forward a few feet into what was indeed a hayloft that covered only a third of the space available, so he could easily see Pai at her wheel and hear Maeve at the door.

“Here I am. What can I do for you, child?” The words were friendly, holding not the slightest edge of menace. She seemed genuinely pleased to see Maeve.

“Your shawl did something to me,” Maeve replied. “I don’t know what, but it was horrible. What you’re doing is evil.”

Pai laughed, returning to her spinning. It was a rich, earthy sound, that laugh. The laugh of a goddess.

Ryu moved ever closer to the edge of the hayloft.

“Oh, humans are so entertaining. I have missed you so.”

“It’s not funny. This is serious. I hurt my…my boyfriend, because of you.”

Pai looked up sharply at that. “That bloodsucker was no more your boyfriend than I am.” She carefully disentangled her hair from the spinning wheel, but still she stayed seated. “In fact, you hate him.”

“That’s a lie,” said Maeve. “I don’t hate him.”

Pai sat back, her arms crossing over her chest so that she looked stern and matronly. “You are the one who is lying, young miss. But you don’t have to…not with me. I can see into you, don’t you know that?”

Maeve faltered. Ryu took a few more steps toward the edge.

He was nearly there…

FOURTEEN

“What do you mean, you can see into me?” Maeve said, intent on keeping the Moiroi distracted.

“I mean that I know what you really want. What you need. And I gave it to you. That is my gift to humanity.”

“Gift? I attacked my partner.” Maeve’s head was beginning to hurt, her thoughts growing muzzy. “How is that a gift?”

Pai stood up from the spinning wheel, moving a few steps closer to Maeve. Maeve knew she should move, but it didn’t seem all that important to do so. She felt safe, suddenly.

Pai was now in front of Maeve, and she was unsure how the blonde woman had gotten there. Had she closed her eyes? Pai took Maeve’s hands in hers.

“I know humans, you see,” Pai explained, looking into Maeve’s eyes. Maeve saw eternity in that gaze. “I know how much people want things. How much they feel. How they yearn to accomplish their dreams and yet how much holds them back.”

“Accomplish their dreams,” Maeve repeated, falling into the depths of those eyes.

“But you can’t, can you?” Pai said, letting go of one of Maeve’s hands to stroke a finger down her cheek. “You are all so conflicted. So fraught. So needy for other things, so distracted by all the effluvia in your lives. That’s where I help. I take all of that away, so you can finally go after what you really want.”

Maeve forced herself to focus. That was wrong, wasn’t it? She hadn’t truly wanted to kill Ryu?

“No. That’s not what you do. You pervert our desires. I didn’t want to hurt him. I didn’t...”

“Of course you did,” Pai interrupted, placing her finger on Maeve’s lips. “You hate him. You hate all of them.”

Maeve saw something drop behind Pai, crouching for a moment before straightening. Ryu. Her partner. She kept her eyes on Pai, however.

“No,” Maeve said, “I don’t hate him.”

“But you do, child! I know you do!
I can see you
. I can see how much you hurt after your mother’s death. She was killed by just such a monster. You went into this line of work to hunt things like him, things…how do you say? That go bump in the night? You want to kill all of them, to make humanity safe. Instead you
work
with one of them. You have dinner together and act like they’re not murderers, when you know they are. You
know
they are!”

At this point Pai had both hands on Maeve’s jaw, holding her head still. Maeve was too confused to fight back, her vision swimming.

They
had
killed her mother. Left her an orphan. Taken away her childhood, her one chance at a happy life.

But that wasn’t Ryu
, a tiny voice reminded her. She clung to that voice. It sounded like sanity in a brain racked with chaos.

“Ryu didn’t do any of that,” she said. “He’s not a monster. He could have gotten rid of me a hundred ways, but he didn’t. He’s my partner.”

Her voice was strong now. She shook off Pai’s hands, taking a step back but keeping her eyes on Pai. “I can trust him.”

“Well, I can’t,” Pai said, and suddenly her hair lashed behind her like an octopus tentacle, wrapping around Ryu’s throat. The baobhan sith had managed to creep right up behind Pai, but the Moiroi had never been fooled.

Ryu hung from Pai’s grasp, his face turning red as her hair tightened around his throat. His eyes watered, but still they latched on Maeve. She raised her gun and shot the Moiroi, point blank, ‘til Maeve was out of bullets.