To Kill a Sorcerer (33 page)

“Yes, she is.” That didn’t matter, though, since Kanga’s ritual did not require another sacrifice. He had kidnapped her because she was important to me. That gave me little comfort. Madame Leoni had not been necessary to his ritual, either.

“Jesus.” He scrunched his eyebrows in thought. “It still doesn’t figure. He doesn’t take hostages. And he’s offering her to us in exchange for what? We can’t give him his freedom. We couldn’t promise him that even if he was holding the president.”

He was right, but I could not tell him Kanga’s real request. So I did the only thing I could.

“He will probably tell us what else he wants when we meet with him.”

“Sebastian, when we see Kanga tonight, we’re going in with a SWAT team, or had you forgotten? We’ll hold his ‘meeting’ in the station.”

“He will kill Aliena if we do that.”

He stood, paced past the Christmas tree to the fireplace and back. “The SWAT team’s going in at seven. Even if I could stop it, I wouldn’t.”

“I know.”

He glanced at his watch. “Does he want to meet with us before that? If we report it, Reyes may not allow it.”

“I am sure she wouldn’t.”

He stared at me suspiciously. “Christ. He’s not at that address, is he?”

“No.”

“Dammit, Sebastian.” He pulled his phone out. “We need to cancel the raid,” he said, punching buttons. “Did he give you his real location?”

“Put your phone away, Steve. No one else can be involved in this.” I stood and moved around the coffee table so nothing stood between us. “If you continue your call, I will disable you and leave you here while I handle this on my own.”

He slowly lowered the cell and canceled the call. “What do you want me to do? Ignore that this guy has killed four people? We have to arrest him!”

“We can’t. You still don’t understand what we’re up against. Kanga will kill any squad that attempts to arrest him.”

“Come
on
! You’re saying he can take down a crack team attacking him with flash-bangs, assault rifles, full body armor, and do it all by himself?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“He sent spirits after both of us. You felt their power. I got lucky and survived and was able to defend you. Believe me, that is a soft sample of his abilities.”

“Then what do you suggest?”

Stall
, I thought. But how? Kanga would not be patient after dark. “Reed said the conjunction was part of the ritual, and that it was at seven oh-two.”

“So?”

“We need to delay him until then. It will buy us some time to figure out what to do.”

“Why not just wait until he goes into the astral plane and attack his body then?”

“That’s two hours from now. He won’t wait that long at his current location. If I haven’t shown up in an hour, he will take Aliena—or kill her—and leave. We may never find him after that.”

“How do we distract him?”

“He already wants to meet us. We attempt to prolong that meeting.”

“It sounds like you’re placing us in harm’s way,” he said.

“I suppose I’m using ‘we’ a bit freely. I must go. You have no obligation to do so.”

“Oh, I’m coming. I just wish we had a better plan.”

5:06 p.m.

The Laurel Canyon address Kanga had given me lay past the Mount Olympus area, on a part of the Boulevard that really was inside a canyon. Many of the properties here stood back from the road on undeveloped—and sometimes wooded—land. Kanga’s place sat in an especially out of the way area.

I turned off the winding two-lane road onto a smooth dirt path running between rows of cedar and eucalyptus trees. The sky had darkened to purple-black, which meant Aliena was awake.

The plan Hamilton and I had come up with was similar to the one I had devised with Aliena and Marcus. We agreed that if Kanga were distracted, even for a moment, I could fire and get a bullet or two in him before he realized I had drawn my weapon.

The probability of success was low. Having Marcus with us would have been better, but I did not know how to contact him.

“If I’m going to be the bait,” Hamilton said, “isn’t there a good chance he’ll jack me up?”

“Yes.”

“As long as I know. Now I can relax.”

The Maserati’s headlights shone brilliantly as we hurtled through the trees. The grove thinned, and we emerged into a wide clearing. A two-story house rose at the base of the canyon wall. Spanish colonial, with a white stucco facade that reminded me of the missions of San Diego.

“Not what I expected,” Hamilton said.

“No.” The place looked more like the home of a retired movie mogul than that of a pharmaceutical chemist moonlighting as a satanic serial killer.

I parked by the walk leading to the house. Hamilton and I checked our weapons as we approached the front door.

“Do we knock?” Hamilton asked.

I opened the front door and walked in. He followed.

“Mr. Kanga?” Hamilton called. “It’s the police. LAPD.”

No answer. The house was dark. I flipped a switch in the foyer to the left of where we were standing. Only one light came on in the living room, but it was enough for us to see our surroundings. White sheets and blue mover’s pads covered the furniture.

Hamilton followed me across the living room and into a hallway.

We moved quietly down the passage. The last door stood open. We proceeded through it, me in the lead.

We emerged in a shadowy atrium filled with plants on long rows of tables. Through the clear ceiling, the crescent moon shone. At the other end of the room loomed a pair of broad, intricately carved doors. They were ajar and flickering light emanated from within.

Kanga’s voice boomed. “Welcome, gentlemen.”

Hamilton and I crossed the room between two rows of fruitless plum trees. My skin prickled as I recalled my last encounter with the sorcerer. I stopped at the entrance, glanced at Hamilton. He nodded.

We stepped into the presence of the Voodoo Killer.

Friday, December 24, 5:27 p.m.

The chamber looked as if it belonged in the catacombs of an ancient European cathedral. Stone floors. Heavy torches placed at intervals along the walls lit up the room, the smoke spiraling into ventilation shafts in the ceiling.

Tables stood around the room, covered with books, cups, scattered herbs, scientific instruments, dozens of labeled jars, and many devices with unknown purposes. A huge fireplace filled with burning logs lent the room a flickering glow. Hellish tapestries and lurid paintings of ritual sacrifice adorned the walls.

A tall cylindrical object the size of a phone booth looked out of place in this dungeon. It was sleek, with silver bands on top and bottom, covered with scrollwork. In between the bands was opaque glass with faint, pulsing lights behind it.

Bones encircled the room, lying along the base of the walls.

Hamilton and I stood motionless for several seconds. Kanga watched us with a small smile on his face.

Then we saw Aliena. She was on her knees, chained to the wall under a mosquito net draped from the ceiling. Her head hung down, her golden hair falling over her face. She sat on her heels, the bottom half of her legs pressed against the rough stone floor. Her arms extended backward, her wrists bound with heavy metal shackles. The restraints were attached to a short chain bolted to the wall.

Her clothes were piled outside the net.

Black candles surrounded her, accompanied by wax figures, numbers, and diagrams. These talismanic objects took away Aliena’s nighttime power and made it possible for Kanga to control her using only the medieval fetters.

Hamilton moved toward her.

“Stay where you are,” Kanga said.

When Hamilton ignored him, Kanga made a small gesture with his hand. Hamilton froze and looked up in surprise.

I remained motionless, hoping that Kanga would forget I was there for a moment. His gaze remained on Hamilton as he made a slight, twisting gesture with his palm open.

Hamilton lifted off his feet. He flew backward, slammed into the wall, and slumped to the stone floor.

I raised the Walther, sighted in one movement, and fired twice for Kanga’s eyes. I timed it perfectly, but Kanga made a dismissive gesture with his right hand, as he had done in Madame Leoni’s shop. The bullets slammed into the wall behind him.

Then he gestured at me, his face a grimace of anger, teeth bared. A blue bolt leaped from his fingertip and shot across the room, exploding the barrel of my gun. Flying shrapnel cut my face. Three fingers blew off my right hand.

I staggered from the blast and sank to my knees as pain shot up my arm and burned across my face and neck. The gun lay in front of me, a twisted, shredded mass of metal. My hand was blackened and bloody, only my pinkie completely attached. The finger next to it hung by a thin strap of skin.

Kanga watched me with an amused expression.

Grunting with pain, I scrambled around, picked up the other fingers, and held them against their stumps. My body could rejuvenate lost parts, but it was the most excruciating process I have ever endured.

Kanga turned to Hamilton. He moved forward and raised his hand. Hamilton was still down, unconscious, his eyelids fluttering.

“Wait!” I said, struggling to my feet. “Leave him alone.”

Kanga lowered his hand. “Very well, Mr. Montero. I am willing to negotiate peacefully.”

Aliena’s body shook, and she raised her head. A dull luster misted her eyes.

“Sebastian?” A soft sob escaped her. Two blood-red tears rolled down her cheeks. “He touched me. Even you haven’t . . . I never would have allowed . . . he’s going to cut out my heart!” She moaned piteously. “Tonight.”

A choking lump constricted my throat. Except for my hot, healing injuries, my whole body turned to ice.
He touched me
continued to resonate in my head. I stared at Kanga with fascinated loathing, wondering what his lungs would look like in my hands.

“I applaud your taste in female companionship,” he said. “Although, I understand you have not yet had her. No one has. Her Virginal Aura startled me in so ancient a being.” He turned a lazy gaze on Aliena. “To take it from a reluctant woman is exciting, but to rape a beautiful, unwilling vampire virgin who cannot stop you from taking her . . . I will truly reach the pinnacle tonight if you prove uncooperative.”

My immortal blood raged in my ears. Images of Kanga and Aliena flashed through my mind, and I nearly lost control. With effort, I blocked them. He was trying to distract me emotionally so I would make mistakes. This was a dangerous, delicate situation. I had handled similarly tricky problems with icy calm, but the sight of Aliena on the floor, naked and shackled, whipped at me.

“How did you catch her?” I asked.

“The link between us works both ways, Mr. Montero. I have been observing you with my astral body as you courted your girlfriend with the Virginal Aura. Unless I am mistaken, the two of you are in love. When I saw the young lady fly off your patio two nights ago, I was startled—I had not realized I had found a vampire. So I followed her. Did you know she takes her clothes off before she travels to her hiding place?”

I did not trust myself to respond.

“Her final resting place was impossible for a human to reach, so I made a note of the spot where she had disrobed and waited there this morning. I had prepared a special mist for her. She showed up just before sunrise. So easy to catch a woman. They can’t keep their mouths closed.”

Fighting down my fury, I checked my hands. Except for the blood on the right, neither looked as if it had sustained an injury. The itch of repair had ceased on my face and neck.

“Remarkable,” Kanga commented. His eyes glittered greedily as he followed my gaze. He knew exactly how he intended to use my blood.

Hamilton shook.

“Are you okay?” I asked him.

He struggled to his feet. In a now familiar gesture, he pressed a hand to his chest as he straightened. “I think so.”

“Put your gun away,” Kanga said.

Hamilton looked at the gun as if he had forgotten about it, slid it in its holster. He glanced at Aliena, and his mouth tightened to a thin line before he turned back to Kanga. “You filthy piece of shit.”

“You would do well to use a different tone, Detective Hamilton,” Kanga said. “Or would you prefer I stop your tongue my way?”

“Leave it, Steve,” I said. “We’ll take care of Aliena. How do we proceed?” I asked Kanga, feeling the cooling of my mind.

“You may take the woman this moment. Simply give me what I want.”

The only way out of this trap was to delay or give him my blood. My mind raced as I tried to think of a third alternative. I came up with a long shot, but it meant leaving Aliena with Kanga while I made my plans. Yet I could see no other choice.

“I will need to drain it. I can deliver it to you in a few hours.”

“You have it now,” Kanga said. “I can take the required amount in a few minutes. Your body replenishes it at an accelerated rate, so you will not be inconvenienced.”

He wanted to overpower me and take it. A flutter of panic touched me, like icy feathers along the nape of my neck. If Kanga captured me, he would certainly experiment on my body. After seeing my fingers reattach, his first test might be to amputate my legs without putting them back in place, in order to see if I could regenerate them. In a torture situation, my body’s ability to recover is a curse, making it possible for me to sustain more pain than a mortal.

“I do not trust you.”

“As you wish.” He reached over and picked up a knife. I recognized it. “This is the knife I use to cut open my victims.” He held it toward Aliena. She watched him with a trembling mouth. “To cut the heart out of so powerful a creature as a vampire will give me special talents against all of them.” Two more blood tears rolled down Aliena’s face.

“If you touch her,” I said, “I swear to you, Kanga, I will—”

“You will do nothing, Mr. Montero. If you will not give me what I want, you and your friend may show yourselves out.”

“We’re not going anywhere without Aliena,” Hamilton said furiously.

“Steve, we must.”