“I don’t trust either one of you.”
“In the end, it doesn’t matter,” he said, unbothered. “I do not require your trust. Only your obedience.”
“Ok, just wait right here while I go polish your father-of-the-year trophy for you.”
“I am warning you.” There was a note of impatience in his cool, level tone. “Take care not to speak with such levity to a god.”
There was simply no getting through to him.
“As for Ava,” he continued. “She is obviously in on Grace’s plan. Lately, they’re always scheming together.”
I wondered just what Grace’s plan was. Calix, the goddess Saphira’s bodyguard, had hinted that she had one. It must have had something to do with all that telepathic magic she’d saturated me in before I was born.
As quickly as they came, I washed those memories and speculations from my thoughts. I had to keep my mind clear—and Faris out of it as much as possible.
“What about Valerian?” I asked him.
“Valerian will vote for the alliance because his granddaughter swindled a favor out of him.” He favored me with a cool smile. “I’m referring to your foster sister Bella, of course.”
“How do you know about Bella?” I demanded.
“I’m omnipotent. Keep that in mind before you contemplate treason.”
Faris wasn’t omnipotent. Not really. But he did have a bunch of telepaths who kept an eye on what was happening in all the realms for him. He called them his Orchestra.
“We need to focus on Violet,” said Faris. “The Demon of Nature is as ever-changing as the shifting seasons. She can be persuaded to vote for the alliance. You must persuade her.”
“And just how am I supposed to do that when none of the demons will even see me?”
“You will find a way.” He folded his hands together. “And I will be watching you.”
Then Faris disappeared.
I really needed to install a deadbolt in my mind. Or a force field that zapped nosy gods.
When I woke up, I wasn’t even sure if all that had been nothing but a simple dream, or if Faris had actually broken into my mind while I slept.
I got out of bed and went to the sink to wash my face. I was patting it dry with a towel when Alec called.
“I collected all the reports of missing people in the last month,” he told me. “I put them on the map I’m sending you now.”
My phone dinged to indicate I’d received his map.
“There are over ten thousand dots on this map, Alec.”
“People go missing all the time. The rogue vampire nest in Purgatory alone was responsible for over a hundred missing people. They came from various towns along the Frontier, along with some people from the bigger cities,” he said. “Most of the ten thousand missing people are probably not linked to the case you’re working on. I colored the dots depending on how likely I believe they are connected: red for highly likely, yellow for maybe related, and blue for those I don’t think are related at all.”
I slid my finger over the screen, taking a quick preview of his work. And he had put a lot of work into it. When I tapped on a dot, it told me all about the missing person, including references to news articles on the disappearance. Alec had even placed dotted lines over the map to indicate which directions his research suggested the person might have gone.
“How ever did you manage to create such a detailed presentation?” I asked him.
“I stayed up all night,” he said casually, like it was no big deal.
“Another thing. I’m sending you a picture of something I want you to check out.” I forwarded him a photo of the leather strip I’d found in Beyond. “Can you look into what this symbol means?”
“I don’t need to look into it,” he said after a moment. “I recognize that skull goblet. I saw it at the vampires’ nest in Purgatory. It’s the symbol of their rogue house.”
“I found that symbol near the bodies of dead fire elementals in Beyond.” I chewed thoughtfully on my lower lip. “That means there must be a link between the vampires and the fire elementals, something besides the fact that they were both killed by their own magic.”
“I’ll see what I can find,” said Alec. “So, I also looked into Carver Spellsword. There have been a number of possible sightings of the dark angel in the last week. I’ve included those on your map as well.”
“Alec, you did great! You’re a research machine! I should put you on research duty more often.”
“Na, I prefer shooting things.”
“I’m sure you do,” I laughed. “But I need to keep you on research duty for just a little longer. Can you see if any of the people went missing from any town at the same time Spellsword was there?”
He let out a low whistle. “You don’t ask for much, do you?”
“Only miracles,” I chuckled. “Use any Legion resources you need to track down Spellsword.”
“Any?”
“Just try to leave the rocket launchers be until we’re closer to the mark.”
“Sure thing, boss. I’ll get right on it after I grab some food and a nap.”
“Thanks, Alec.”
“If you really want to thank me…” He let his voice fade out, and I could almost picture the purely indecent look on his face.
“Better catch a cold shower while you’re at it, Lieutenant.”
“Dreaming of you already, angel.” He made a kissing noise into the phone, then hung up.
I laughed. Alec was incorrigible, but he was a good friend. He’d cheered me up after that disturbing dream. Unfortunately, there would be more dreams where it came from if I didn’t do something about it asap.
A quick glance at the clock told me it wasn’t yet six in the morning, but matters of heaven and hell waited for no man. Or woman. Or even angel.
I quickly got dressed and set out to find Damiel Dragonsire. I trusted he’d already be awake at this unholy hour. He and I had business to discuss. Last night’s nightmares had convinced me of one thing: I had to accept Damiel’s offer to train my telepathic magic. No matter how much I did not want him in my mind, having Faris and Grace digging around in there was far worse.
15
Relentless
Finding Damiel wasn’t hard. I didn’t have to look any further than my own building. I’d just settled down in my chair and was about to call him when he walked into my office. Maybe this was fate’s way of telling me that I was doing the right thing.
Or maybe Damiel had been keeping tabs on me and knew I would seek out his help. I wouldn’t put it past the Legion’s former Master Interrogator.
“You’re still willing to help me?” I asked him as he took the seat on the other side of my desk.
“I offered to help you, and that hasn’t changed.” He smiled. “Even though you and Nero aren’t getting along at the moment.”
“You know about that?”
“Leda, everyone knows about it. You aren’t subtle, after all.”
I couldn’t really argue with that. But Nero was being less subtle than I was. He was the one who’d cast a big storm cloud over his house.