The Hour of Dust and Ashes cm-3 Read online

  “Sian’s here right now,” he said. “She’s been on the phone for the last hour. The exorcists’ union has issued a warning to all registered members not to come to Atlanta. They know that several exorcists have already fled the area and some have gone missing. It’d take a miracle to get one to come here right now.”

  Or a whole lot of cash. “Tell her to keep trying. Offer them whatever they want. I’m heading to the scene now.”

  “Look.” His voice dropped. “I know you’re worried about Bryn, but she’s fine. She’s been called, and the League knows what’s going on. There’s a guard in her room. You just get to the Healey and find out what you can.”

  After I agreed and hung up the phone, I sat back on the bed and pulled on my boots, debating on whether or not to call Bryn anyway. I knew she was sleeping. With a whispered curse, I picked up the cell and hit her speed dial number.

  She picked up on the sixth ring. “Charlie.” Her voice was groggy.

  I went to my mirror, dragged my fingers through my chin-length hair, tucked one side behind my ear, and then left the room. “Hey. You okay?”

  “Yeah.” She yawned. “I’m fine. Are you?”

  No. I feel like putting my fist through a wall or, better yet, murdering Grigori Tennin. “I’m okay. Just checking in. Someone there with you?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Good. I don’t want you doing anything alone, even going to the bathroom. I mean it. Leave the door open. Just don’t be alone. Please. Promise me.” I left my room and walked down the hallway.

  “I promise21;

  A relieved breath escaped me. “Okay, thanks. I’ll come by first thing tomorrow.”

  “Okay.”

  “Now let me talk to your guard.” As expected, she sighed into the phone. But I wasn’t taking any chances. If I couldn’t be there myself, I had to know she was being protected, even if it was from herself.

  After talking to her guard, saying my piece, and being assured Bryn would not make a move without his knowing, I hung up, clipped my cell on my hip, and inched open Emma’s bedroom door. Our adopted hellhound lifted his gray head.

  “Just me, Brim,” I whispered under my breath.

  His eyes caught the light from the hallway and flashed red. He blinked in that quiet way of his and then resumed his position on the rug by my daughter’s bed. Those two shared an incredible bond. Brim and I would never so close that we could communicate without words, but ever since he’d given his life to protect me on Helios Tower and I brought him back from the brink of death … well, I loved that ugly beast and I got the feeling he might just love me too.

  I crept to Emma’s bed, brushed the hair from her temple, and kissed her softly, not worried about waking her; the kid slept like the dead.

  After closing her door, I went downstairs and headed toward the living room, where the blue glow of the TV told me Rex was either still watching or had fallen asleep.

  I went for the hall closet, pulled out my shoulder harness, and then walked into the living room. Rex was stretched out on the sofa, hands folded over his chest and out cold. I nudged his leg. Nothing. “Rex.”

  “Hmm?” His eyes didn’t open.

  “I have to go to work.” I picked up the remote and turned off the TV. “Not sure when I’ll be back.”

  “Hmm. Fine. I’ll take Em to school …”

  “Rex. There is no school. It’s Christmas break. Rex.”

  “Huh. Yeah. Break. Sure. Hey, turn off the TV, will ya.”

  I rolled my eyes, grabbed the afghan off the back of the sofa, and spread it over him.

  Me leaving in the middle of the night for a case was nothing new to Emma and was no surprise to Rex. I knew they had shopping plans tomorrow and Rex would look after her. That was our deal—he had a place to stay, and in return he helped with the house and played stand-in parent to Em. As much as Rex bitched and complained, it was clear that the Revenant inside my ex’s body was trustworthy and he liked living here, being a part of our family.

  I went into the kitchen and left my daughter a note, pretty sure she’d be up in the morning before Rex, and then I left the house.

  It was only after I pulled out of the driveway and headed downtown that I allowed myself a moment to freak out about the suicides and what this all meant.

  Murder. I was sure of it.

  No one needed to be on the roof with thm, not if they weren’t in control of their minds and bodies. The Sons of Dawn could’ve given the suicide order to the spirits controlling Casey and Mike. Death would set their spirits free, and would keep law enforcement from containing them and using an exorcist to find out what they knew. Like the names of the high-ranking cult members.

  My fingers tapped impatiently on the steering wheel. Shit, shit, shit.

  This was not like Grigori Tennin. He’d never get rid of a useable commodity. So, what the hell was going on?

  Could it be that he wasn’t the big man in charge after all? A faint tremor ran up my spine. Not a comforting thought.

  The Healey was one of my favorite old downtown buildings. Sixteen stories. Took up an entire city block, and had a grand Gothic presence I loved. Will and I used come here with Emma to see the massive Christmas tree they’d place in the rotunda for the holidays, eat at one of the restaurants, and do a little shopping in the ground-floor stores. Much of the building, however, was luxury condos. It was right near Five Points and Woodruff Park, and convenient to Station One.

  An ambulance and a few police cars blocked Forsyth Street. A cop directed traffic at the intersection. I drove up and flashed my badge. He waved me through. A TV crew was hurrying down the sidewalk. Pedestrian onlookers had gathered on both sides of the street beyond the tape.

  I parked behind a cruiser, ducked under the tape, and approached the uniformed officer already walking toward me. “ID?”

  I flashed my ITF badge. Federal Division, Detective Madigan, it said. What it didn’t say was: covert division, license to use deadly force, no disclosure necessary, deal with it. Hank and I did what the ITF did not and could not. We cleaned up messes. We hunted down monsters. We killed that which fought to the death, that which could not be integrated into the prison system or stand trial, that which was a danger to society on a level far beyond the average criminal.

  But the only thing I cared about now was that my badge opened doors. The officer stepped aside as I clipped the badge back onto my belt and proceeded to the sidewalk, just a few feet down from the grand entrance of the Healey.

  I glanced up, the windows above me ablaze with light, with onlookers from above. Finding the broken one wasn’t hard. Twelve stories up. Guess they hadn’t bothered to go for the roof. No doubt the falling glass had alerted someone to start recording. Don’t call police. Don’t try to talk them down. Just turn on your camera and start filming. I’d never understand that mentality. Everything was reality porn these days—even a tragedy like this.

  A thirty-something guy stood in the street talking to investigators. Eyewitness, maybe. Or could be the person who caught the footage. Might even be the owner of the car where one of the victims had landed. I’d find out later.

  I turned my attention to the second “crash site” on the sidewalk, bracing myself and taking a hard analytical line to process the scene of blood, fluids, and brain matter with a detached approach. The body had already been bagged and was being hoisted onto a gurney.

  “Great way to end the year, eh?” Liz came up beside me. “Looks like your average double suicide,” she said. m"> how was your Christmas?”

  “Fine. Rex and I took Emma to Jekyll Island. We spent most of our trip on the beach in the sun. Nice getting away from the darkness for a while.”

  “Tell me about it. I need to drive out for lunch on my next day off. Could use some real sunlight instead of this fake crap from a bulb …”

  “What’d you do for Christmas?”

  “Slept. All damn night. No one woke me until dinner. Best Christmas ever.”

&nbs
p; “I thought you loved the night shift.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, about as much as paying full price for Beausoleils.”

  “Never heard of them, but I’m guessing those are eyeglasses.”

  She turned to look at me, giving a model-like wave at her face. “Yeah. You like?”

  I studied the glasses she wore. The fifties-style secretary look she had going was cute on her small frame and Asian features. “I do. They’re very nice.”

  “I know, right? So, two fatalities,” she said, switching gears. “Broke the window up there, twelfth story. Female landed on the Ford Fusion. The other on the sidewalk. Computer geek over there”—she indicated the guy I’d put on my radar earlier—“saw the glass fall and recorded it with his phone. Guys are up in the condo now, but so far no signs of a struggle, nothing to suggest this was anything but a suicide.”

  “Who owned the condo?”

  “The female. Lewis.” She scribbled on a piece of paper and then tore off the edge. “Here’s the male vic’s address. Heard Ashton talking about it. Said he was heading over to notify next of kin and see if the guy left any kind of warning. You know he won’t be too happy to see you.”

  “Ashton’s never happy to see me. Didn’t you hear? I’m not only a Tri-racial Bitch, now he thinks I’m the Antichrist.”

  Liz glanced up, her eyes narrowing. “Well, you can get scary.” I opened my mouth to argue that summation, but she cut me off. “But I find it cute, endearing, more like a rabid puppy than the Antichrist.” Her lips twitched.

  “Ha ha.” I rolled my eyes.

  “I would say one of these days Ashton will get over it, but I think we both know it’s a lost cause.”

  Couldn’t argue with that one. Ashton Perry was one of ITF’s lead detectives. He’d never had a problem with me in all the years we worked together in the department, until I stopped being “one of them,” as he called it … until it was known that I had the genes of all three worlds in me, that I was the one who’d brought darkness to the city of Atlanta to save my kid from Mynogan, the now deceased Charbydon noble and Sons of Dawn cult member.

  But more than anything else, Ashton hated that I’d taken a federal job, one where I didn’t answer to the department or the reigning chief. Ashton and everyone else in the ITF were on a need-to-know basis when it cae to my job. And Ashton hated that. He hated even more the fact that I now had the freedom to work on the really big cases, and that my new division had the power to take cases away from him, if necessary. Such was the power of Washington.

  And Liz was right. He’d never let it go. He took every opportunity to insult me, call me out, push me to the edge, which usually involved insulting my daughter somehow. Asshole. “Well, he won’t see me at all,” I said. “I’d rather not deal with him making my life miserable. All he’ll know is that I was here nosing around.”

  Liz chuckled. “You’ll be wanting autopsy details, yes?”

  “As soon as you have them.”

  “Will do. How’s Bryn holding up?”

  Boy, that was a loaded question. “She’s been okay. Under watch at the League. But now …” I dragged my hand down my face, gazing up at the building. “We need to get every ash victim under lock and key. This can’t happen again. Not until we know more.”

  “Hey!” Liz shouted suddenly. “Hands off my body!” She mumbled a quick good-bye and then marched over to the detective who’d been about to lift Casey Lewis’s hand from the hood of the car with the tip of a pen or pencil.

  Damn, I’d meant to ask her if she’d heard of any new sidhé fae in the city.

  I walked away from the scene, shoving my hands in my pockets. It could wait.

  4

  “What do you mean, Aaron moved out?” I leaned against a dresser in Bryn’s room at the Mordecai House—the League of Mages headquarters in Atlanta—cradling a venti Starbucks coffee like it was a lifeline. I’d had very little sleep last night and had gotten up early to check on Bryn.

  Bryn stood near one of her upstairs bedroom windows, one shoulder against the wall, her arms wrapped around her middle as she stared out at some mysterious point beyond the glass. She was so quiet, so enigmatic, and with her blank aura, I couldn’t even begin to guess her mood.

  “Why would he leave?” I went on. “The League is his home.”

  My sister turned her head—the first time she’d visually acknowledged me since I’d arrived just moments ago. “He didn’t leave the property, Charlie. He’s staying in one of the guest houses on the grounds. Says he wants his solitude.” Her attention returned to the window.

  I expected the pale skin, the somberness, the muted-out version of her former, vibrant self, but it was her eyes that thickened my throat and squeezed my chest. Round. Tired. Hollow.

  “I think he just wanted to get away from me. I did”—she tossed an uncaring glance at the guard sitting quietly in the corner—“kill him, after all.”

  I took a step toward her, denial and sadness filling me. But she was so distant. For the first time, I wasn’t sure my sister would welcome my emace. “You don’t know that,” I said instead. “Aaron knows whatever part you played, whatever happened that night, it wasn’t you in control. He knows you’d never do something like that willingly.”

  “I’m sick of this room. I’m sick of being tired all the time.”

  Her depression dominated the space, heavy and stifling, covering everything like a dreary, sepia-toned picture. It scared me to death. Two ash vics had just committed suicide. Could depression, intensified by ash, be the cause, and not murder?

  I kept my voice neutral. “You want to get out of here? Take a walk. Go get some breakfast. We can raid the kitchen, make some nachos …”

  A faint smile tugged on her full lips, but didn’t reach her eyes. “Haven’t had nachos for breakfast in a while … What did Alessandra have to say?”

  Emma had stayed with Bryn last night so Rex and I could go to Underground and see the oracle. My visit wasn’t exactly a secret. And, though it was unspoken between us, we both knew I couldn’t share details with someone who might still be possessed. I hated that part … Hated to think there was something else inside of my little sister pulling the strings, wanting to know what Alessandra said, wanting to get to the hidden sarcophagus …

  It was clear from Bryn’s look that she understood the direction of my thoughts. “Don’t worry about it.” She pushed away from the wall. “Come on, I’ll take you to see Aaron.”

  Bryn turned to the guard. I’d tagged him the minute I walked into her temporary living space. Human. Midthirties. Typical mage aura—a wash of intelligent greens. Warlock tattoo—a black dragon swallowing its tail, and always placed around the right wrist. It all equated to a bodyguard more than capable for the job. “Charlie and I are going outside,” she told him in a robotic tone.

  “She’ll be fine with me.” His dark eyes met mine. “Why don’t you go take a break? We’ll be back in a little while.”

  He stood, clipping his phone on his hip. “I’ll follow behind.”

  Ah. Yes. It would be just like Aaron to give the orders where Bryn was concerned. Orders that’d be followed to the letter. I nodded in reply.

  No doubt, every single one of her guards was a warlock.

  Since warlocks were the warrior sect of the mage class, Aaron’s decision made perfect sense. Not only were they skilled mages dedicated to study, craft, and knowledge, but they trained regularly in the art of warfare. And since Aaron was a warlock himself, it made even more sense. He’d trust them more than any other. Even if they knew Bryn had a hand in his death, they’d still put their lives on the line for her, because Aaron had asked them to. Simple as that. Warlocks were a very tight band of brothers.

  Bryn took the lead, going down the wide second-floor hallway toward the service stairs at the back of the house, instead of the main, sweeping staircase that commanded the front. Her blue tri-colored skirt swished around her legs and her ankle bracelets tinkled like wind chi
mes in a slow breeze as we went; the sound so normal and comforting. So … Bryn-like that it gave me renewed hope.

  The warlock stayed true to his word and trailed us at a leisurely pace.

  Once we were through the massive kitchen and out the side door into large herb and vegetable garden, Bryn slowed enough for me to walk on the stone path beside her. “I’ve never been in the back before,” I said in a low voice. “It’s huge.”

  “It’s hard to see everything with the darkness, but there’s a swimming pool, veranda, gazebo, patio … The grounds and gardens make up about seven acres. The woods, or the park as the League calls it, make up another three. And then the school”—she flung a gentle hand to her right—“makes up another five.”

  If she hadn’t sounded like an emotionless robot, the tour guide bit would’ve been interesting. As it was, it only cemented the fact that she was changing.

  “Wasn’t always like this,” she said.

  After buying the old Mordecai House a few years ago, the League set about buying up property around the mansion. They cleared the land, put their earth mages to work, and created a park-like setting within downtown city limits.

  Even though it was morning, the sky was dark, the kind of deep ominous color that heralded thunderstorms and tornadoes. Every once in a while a green flash would snake like otherworldly lightning through the churning mass of gray and bathe the ground in a fleeting, eerie glow.

  There was enough outdoor lighting to see over the lawn dotted with old oak trees to the school where street lamps illuminated the massive, gray stone church and monastery, which had been converted into the League’s private school. One of the most exclusive in the country. One that Emma begged to attend, now that her secret was out and her abilities known.

  “So how’s the school coping with the darkness?” I asked, wondering if attendance had been affected.

  Bryn shrugged. “The kids are on break now. Maybe some won’t come back. I don’t know. We just installed sunlamps in the classrooms. Our teachers are scholars and crafters, so to them the darkness is fascinating, an opportunity to study and learn. Before break, they were teaching Abuse of Power. Rituals. Properties of Raw Energy. History of Charbydon, et cetera … They take full advantage of this new development. It’s a good school. Emma would do well here.”