Embracing Magick: an Urban Fantasy Novel (The Witch Blood Chronicles Book 3) Read online

  “Miss, Parker. Good of you to come so quickly. This way,” he said and strode off.

  With a quick glance at Drake, Melody indicated we follow.

  He was leading us in the general direction of the overlap. Melody and I exchanged glances. I’d told her about Paimon’s visit and his warning. This had to be related. But then we were walking past the overlap and across the street onto a green, where a long time ago kids would have played football or cricket, or outdoor residential events would have been hosted. A tall speaker was planted at each corner of the huge green. Announcements would have been made via these to the people gathered to watch their kids compete, or to take in a live show. How long had it been since this space had been used? And then I saw the blood, tiny droplets at first, then larger violent smears.

  Melody brought the patrol to a halt. “Scan the area.”

  Kosmos paused to glance back at us. “No need. The bodies are over there.” He pointed ahead.

  Wait. Was that a pile of bodies?

  “Shit.” Melody broke into a jog and we followed. We came to a standstill a meter away from the carnage.

  My stomach dropped. Pieces. They were in pieces. Yaksha and vampire and other stuff I wasn’t even sure of. Gore and blood and entrails decorated the pile. Bile rose up in my throat and I turned away, gagging.

  Someone handed me a mint. The wind changed and the smell, God, the fucking smell. Melody clamped a hand over her mouth and backed up.

  Drake was already on his radio, but there was only static. “Shit,” he said “There’s no fucking reception in this damn place, is there?”

  Melody shook her head. “Let’s get back to the van and call it in from there. There’s nothing we can do here.”

  We moved away from the dead, back across the green to the road.

  “Why didn’t you tell us what to expect?” Melody said.

  Kosmos blinked up at her. “Because I didn’t know what to expect myself.”

  “What the heck happened here?”

  “I’m not sure. A strange noise woke me in the early hours of the morning. A low steady hum. It got more persistent over the course of thirty minutes or so, and then I saw them—Yaksha and vampires and the other denizens of this place. They were just out there en mass. Not talking or interacting in any way, just walking.”

  “So you followed?” Drake asked.

  He nodded. “They came here. To the green, and I realized the noise was coming from the damn speakers. It made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up and my stomach hurt, but the supernaturals just stood there, gormless and dazed and then...”

  “And then what?” Melody prompted.

  “There was a flash of light, like lightning and when my eyes adjusted, the green, which had been filled with dazed bodies, was practically empty. There were barely forty yaksha and vamps left. And then they just turned on each other. It was horrific. The creatures that live here do so because they do not wish to follow your human laws, but they have their own tentative code, and what I saw was no normal dispute. It was savage and unnecessary and completely out of control.”

  “And that’s when you called it in.”

  “Yes. By the time I rang you, the commotion had abated, and I ventured back out to find this.” He glanced up at the speakers. “The noise is gone.”

  I gripped Melody’s arm. “The light and the missing supernaturals are too much of a coincidence.”

  She pressed her lips together. “You think it’s spreading to the supe community?”

  “Don’t you? What other explanation is there. That noise must have been some kind of beacon, a mind control thing. Could it have messed with their brains somehow?”

  “It’s very possible,” Drake said. “And if that is the case then we have another clue for your case.” He turned to Kosmos. “How come you weren’t affected?”

  Kosmos shrugged. “If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it may be due to the fact I’m not from this reality. My mind must be immune to the effects of this siren call.”

  There wasn’t going to be any outlet for my aggression here, but we’d stumbled across another clue which brought us closer to understanding what could be happening. Now it was time to put it all together and figure out what the fuck was going on.

  ◆◆◆

  “Certain frequencies could disrupt mental processes,” Kevin said. “There could have been sound waves in that emission that only targeted the yaksha and vampire cerebral cortexes.”

  “We have no way of knowing if the same method was used on the human families,” Melody said.

  I shook my head. “No. That wouldn’t make sense. If the sound had been used, then surely Ben would have been lured out of his hiding spot. I mean the blanket wouldn’t have blocked the sound.”

  “You’re right.” Kevin said. “All the blanket does is mask body heat.”

  “Which may be why the kidnappers missed him? If they were somehow scanning the house for occupants to take, the blanket would have hidden him.” I growled in exasperation. “It doesn’t explain this strange light. How the heck does the kidnapper just make people disappear like that?”

  Kevin tapped at his keyboard. “I’ve been doing some research on alien abductions and there’s always the mention of a bright light. People claim they were sucked up into a spaceship. They report being experimented on. They even claim to have heard a strange noise before it happened. Some insist that they’ve been tagged.”

  “Oh, come on, you don’t seriously think its aliens do you?” Even I wasn’t prepared to take that leap.

  He shrugged. “Who knows? This has been going on for some time all over the world, but reports have been so few and far between that the individuals have been easily discredited.”

  “So, you think aliens are real and now they’ve upped their game for some reason?” Melody said.

  Were we really having this conversation? “Or maybe alien is just a label. These kidnapers could be some supernatural threat that’s remained hidden effectively, simply because we’ve given it such an incredulous label. It’s relied on our disbelief to operate under our noses.”

  “Then why come out so blatantly now?” Melody asked.

  I shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine. But if all goes well with the mission, we should have an answer by the end of the week.”

  Melody frowned.

  There was something more bothering her. “What is it?”

  “I haven’t heard back from covert ops yet,” she said. “They said they needed to go over our mission plan and would get back to me asap.”

  I sat back and crossed my arms. “It’s only been a few hours though, right?”

  “Bearing in mind the urgency of the situation, a few hours is a few hours too many.”

  “Then maybe they need a nudge. Have you sent up the red zone report?”

  “Yeah, as soon as we got back. I have Murdoch combing through the news feeds to see if any other cases of disappearing supernaturals made the smaller tabloids. We’ve been focusing on the human element here, but what if this is bigger than that?”

  “You think supes are being taken on a regular basis too?”

  She shrugged. “We can’t rule it out.”

  Kevin snorted. “Murdoch won’t find anything in the tabloids. If he wants news on the supe world, he’ll need to go onto the net.” He began to click and type. “There a few sites that serve the supe community.”

  “Really? And how do you know about these?” Melody asked.

  He flashed her a cheeky grin. “This boyish face is a major turn on for the female yaksha. I dated a few, and this is their go to site for daily updates.”

  A screen popped up and the words The Flipside, scrolled up. It was a newsletter put together by someone called the Night Owl.

  I chuckled. “Great reporter name.”

  “Oh, Nathanial is awesome,” Kevin said.

  Melody leaned in to get a better look at the screen. “You know him?”

  He smiled. “We’ve met.
If there’s shit going down in the supe communities, then he’s the one to speak to.”

  We scrolled through the feeds and, sure enough, there was an article on the spate of strange disappearances and a few damning words about enforcement agencies putting these cases on the back burner while they give the humans priority.

  “Shit.” Melody ran a hand over her face. “I need to make some calls. If these cases have been reported, we need the data. Dates, numbers, area. Fuck. I can’t believe the damn enforcement agencies, fucking prejudice wankers.”

  I recalled my experience with Urvashi and how quick they’d been to dismiss my concerns she was missing. In that case, the IEPEU had been involved in the cover-up, but still, it seemed that even if they hadn’t been involved, her case would have been relegated to the bottom of the list. The only reason the missing apsara had been flagged was due to the fact there hadn’t been any major cases involving humans at the time. Nathaniel’s article was short but inflammatory and thin on the details.

  I grabbed a sticky note and a pen off Kevin’s cluttered desk. “Do you have an address for this Nathaniel?”

  He made an O with his mouth. “He doesn’t take kindly to unannounced visitors. He’s kind of a recluse.”

  “You said you met him.”

  “He’s a friend of Jessica—the girl I was dating.”

  “Give her the damn address Kevin,” Melody snapped. “We’re up to our eyeballs in shit and any extra information we can glean will help us claw our way out.”

  Kevin rattled off an address in Finchley.

  I pocket the note. “I’m gonna head out and see if I can speak to this guy.”

  “Is he safe?” Melody asked Kevin.

  Kevin nodded. “He won’t hurt her. At least I don’t think he will.”

  Melody locked gazes with me. “If he tries anything, you have my permission to use force.”

  Oh, man. Now she had me wishing he’d try something. Argh. I really needed to get this needing under control.

  “I’ll page you as soon as I hear back from covert ops,” Melody said.

  “Great. I’ll be back once I have some intel.”

  I was halfway to the lift when my phone buzzed. It was Patrick with a summons to the lab. My muting device was ready. Yes!

  ◆◆◆

  Patrick clasped the collar around my neck. Made of breathable material and super light, I couldn’t even tell it was on.

  “So, how does this work?”

  “I’ve imbedded a chip inside the fabric. As long as the collar is touching your skin it will send a consistent pulse to the relevant sections of your brain to balance your emotions. The ribbon is spelled to balance your energies. It will keep your needing under control.”

  “You’re sure?”

  He gave me a self-satisfied smile. “I don’t create crap, Miss Hunter. It won’t even interfere with the chips we’ll be imbedding in you to mute your powers. But you need to know that the collar is a temporary solution to your problem.”

  “Temporary?”

  He exhaled heavily. “When a living thing fights its nature, to survive, to procreate and breed, it never ends well. You inherent dragon nature is urging you to mate and that urge will not just go away because you will it. No spell or tech chip will make that urge disappear. You can put it off, mute it and ignore it but in the meantime, it will gather its forces and eventually it will overcome you. I suggest you take the time you have to really think about what it is you want. Best to make a decision when you have your faculties and can guide the needing, then have it take over completely and guide you into a mating you may later regret.”

  My heart sank, because, of course, he was right. And, yeah, somewhere deep down I’d known it, but having it said to me out loud meant there was no avoiding the fact. A decision would have to be made but not now. I had a case to solve and a Night Owl to meet.

  9

  The address in Finchley was for an old converted warehouse. The front door was up a flight of steps which hugged the wall. I pressed the buzzer and waited. The intercom crackled.

  “Who is it?” The voice was smooth, masculine but almost melodic.

  “Hi. I’m with the IEPEU.” I held up my badge. “I was hoping to have a word.”

  “You got a warrant?”

  “It’s not that kind of chat. I need your help with a case.”

  “Why would you think I’d be able to help you with anything?”

  “Because you’re the Night Owl and you know stuff.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Yes, you do. Look, I’m not interested in exposing your identity or anything I just need some information.”

  There was a long beat of silence and then the door opened with a click. I stepped onto a platform above the main floor. Below me, the warehouse had been converted into a huge open plan living space. Indian rugs covered the concrete floor. Two cushy sofas faced a flat screen television fixed to the wall. Brightly colored tapestries turned, what had once been an industrial space, into a home. Glass cabinets displaying strange artefacts were dotted around the space too: vases, and idols and scrolls. It was as if someone had melded a museum with their living room.

  A man padded into the vast room. Bare foot, dressed in loose pants and a vest, he looked like he’d just finished a workout.

  He walked into the kitchen area, opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.

  “How’d you find out?” he asked. “My account is protected. I made sure not to leave a trail to anything personal.” He looked up, his piercing green gaze lasering into me.

  I clattered down the stairs. “It doesn’t matter how we found out. I can promise you, I won’t be relaying the information to anyone.”

  His eyes narrowed. “It may not matter to you, but it matters to me. I keep a small circle of friends, and only a handful of people know that I’m the Night Owl, so I’ll ask you again.” His voice deepened, taking on a resonance that sent chills up and down my back. “Who told you I was the Night Owl?”

  “Kevin Summers.” I slapped my hand over my mouth. “What the fuck?”

  He smiled and then drained his bottle. “Jessica’s ex. Didn’t know he worked for the IEPEU. Didn’t know Jessica had told him who I was. I’ll have to have a chat with her.”

  Why had I told him? I hadn’t wanted to. “What did you do to me?”

  He frowned. “Do? I didn’t do anything?”

  “Yes. You did. You just made me tell you about Kevin.”

  He dropped the empty bottle in the bin. “Look, lady, it’s not my fault you have a tendency to blab.”

  Man, I was so confused.

  “Can’t say I’m not annoyed. I like to keep a low profile. Write the paper in peace without coercion from the people. I report what I hear and what I see. Some people don’t like that. It’s better to fly under the radar.”

  “Well, your secret is safe with me.”

  He snorted. “I bet Kevin asked you to keep his name out of this, right?”

  My cheeks heated.

  He widened his eyes. “Yeah, that inspires so much confidence.”

  “I didn’t mean to tell you, you...you made me.”

  He laughed. “Right. Because I have superpowers.” He wiggled his fingers in the air.

  That was it. He wasn’t human. He was some kind of supernatural. “What are you?”

  “I’m busy, that’s what I am. No time for a social visit. You wanted help with a case, so spill it. Otherwise, leave.”

  “Fine. The article you wrote about the missing supernaturals, how many have actually gone missing?”

  “Not missing. Taken. They were taken.”

  “I need details.”

  “Then check the enforcement office records. The families all made reports. I’m sure the officers will be more than happy to dig them out for you. They’re probably buried under a pile of reports about the missing humans.”

  “I get that you’re pissed. You have every right to be, but
getting arsey with me isn’t going to help. We’re on the same side. I want to find the taken as much as you do—human and supernatural, both.”

  He blew out a breath and ran a hand over his face. “You want tea?”

  “Yeah. Tea would be great.”

  An hour later, I was back on the street armed with notes on all the missing supernaturals. All twenty of them, and Nathanial suspected there were more—all male, all between the age of twenty to twenty-five, and all taken with all their belongings. There was a definite connection here. Nathaniel was adamant that this was a build up to something bigger, that the takings were just the beginning.

  My phone rang. It was Melody, probably with a go from covert ops.

  I answered quickly. “You got the go ahead?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They want to see us. You, me, and Mira at nine o’clock tomorrow morning. Top floor.”

  Top floor was the head honcho’s department. “The heads of division want to see us? That’s not usual is it?”

  “No, it isn’t.”

  “Shit. Okay, we’ll be there. I’ll brief you on my meeting with Nathaniel then too.”

  It looked like getting approval for this mission wasn’t going to be as smooth sailing as we’d anticipated. If Nathaniel’s theory was correct then the clock was ticking, and if we didn’t make a move soon it might be too late.

  10

  The lifts opened on to the executive floor. All the bigwigs lounged up here. It was where the heavy decisions were made. Melody was already there, standing in the plush carpeted reception, her expression strained.

  “Hey? What the heck is going on?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know, but I had a bad feeling when covert ops didn’t get back to us yesterday.” She nodded in Mira’s direction. “Thank you for agreeing to do this.”

  “Carmella promised there may be some maiming involved,” Mira said with glee.

  Melody shot me a perplexed look.

  I shook my head slightly in a don’t ask gesture.

  “What did you find out from our Night Owl?” Melody asked.