“Apparently not.” He scraped a hand across his bristly chin. “What about Katie? Do you know where she is?”
“No,” she said quickly.
Too quickly, I thought, as that darkness surged in her eyes again.
Luc obviously agreed with me. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Why would I lie about something like that?”
“That’s what we’re trying to uncover.” He pursed his lips. “What’s the address of the place in Euston you were sent to?”
Once again she struggled to reply. I wasn’t entirely surprised to discover it was the same address that Gianna—the mother of Max’s twins—had given us. Winter had apparently ordered her to drop the kids off there a number of times.
“And what was the disturbance reported?”
“Screams and the stench of death.”
“So why was a preternatural team sent in rather than regular cops?”
She shrugged. “I got my orders and obeyed them. Ask Kendrick if you want to know more than that.”
Mo reached out and touched the top of Noelle’s head. The tendrils of healing energy swirled upwards, and a few seconds later, Noelle’s eyes closed and her head dropped. Mo gently lowered her back to the floor.
Luc frowned. “Why did you do that? We’re not going to get any answers when she’s unconscious.”
“You’re not going to get any real answers when she’s awake. Trust me on that.”
“Why?” I asked. “Has there been some sort of telepathic or spell-based interference in her mind?”
“I can’t speak to the former, and there’s definitely none of the latter. But magic is only one of many means of controlling someone’s thoughts or actions.”
“Preternatural operatives are regularly screened for telepathic, medical, or magical interference,” Luc said.
“And I would have thought an operative couldn’t go missing for three days without someone noticing,” she bit back. “Apparently, that’s not the case at all.”
He sucked in a breath, but a loud and somewhat urgent rapping on the door cut off anything he might have said. I automatically reached for Nex’s hilt but relaxed when I realized it was Jason and two other men. I flexed my fingers in a vague attempt to ease the tension, then rose and walked over to let them in.
“You’d think Darkside would have learned their lesson when it came to attacking you two,” Jason said. He was a tall but slender man with brown skin, silver hair, and bright green eyes. “What have we got this time?”
“One of your own,” I said, even as Luc added, “My damn sister.”
“What?” Jason immediately strode over. “Noelle? What the hell is she doing here?”
“That is very much the question of the moment,” Mo said evenly. “And it is, unfortunately, one I suspect will take time and careful unpicking to answer.”
Luc’s gaze shot to her. “Unpicking? Why? I thought you said there was no magic on her?”
“There’s not, but I’ve been monitoring her responses alongside her physical condition, and there’s something odd happening with the electric output of her brain—something that only became evident on awakening.”
“Would that be the odd shimmer reacting against your healing magic?” I asked.
Mo’s gaze shot to mine. “You saw that?”
My smile was wry. “Obviously.”
“Ladies,” Jason said, voice sharp. “Can we please concentrate?”
Mo sighed. “I’ve seen this before, but it’s nevertheless a very rare occurrence.”
“Mo,” Luc growled. “I’m really not in the mood for games right now. Whatever it is, just spit it out.”
“Fine,” Mo said. “But you’re not going to like it.”
“Mo—”
She raised her hand, stopping him. “I don’t believe your sister is spelled or under telepathic influence. I believe she’s absorbed a wraith demon.”
Chapter Three
“A what?” the three of us said together.
“A wraith demon. They’re a rare find outside of Darkside, as they generally can’t exist within the structure of our world.”
“Meaning our atmosphere, or something else?” I asked.
“Our atmosphere is not all that different from Darkside—we couldn’t exist in each other’s worlds if that were not the case.”
“Then why are wraiths rare here?”
“Because they’re creatures of chaos. They cannot exist without it.”
“Chaos as in disorder and confusion? Because I would have said the current state of the world would be perfect for them,” I said.
“The chaos they crave is more along the lines of mass destruction and war. Indeed, the last time wraith demons emerged was during the Second World War. They infected a number of high-ranking government and military personal.”
“To kill or control?” Jason asked. “And to what point?”
“If they control those who are in charge, they’ve more chance of creating the perfect situation in which to feed and grow.” She grimaced. “That they’re emerging again now is not a good sign.”
“Why would it inhabit Noelle, though? It’s not like she can help create the chaos they crave—she’s not high enough in the pecking order.”
“Perhaps not,” Mo said, “but the Preternatural Division will play a part in any upcoming war with Darkside, and infecting her might be nothing more than a safe means of keeping track of what her division is doing.”
“Then why not infect her boss? Or someone else in charge?” Jason asked.
Mo glanced at him. “It’s very possible they already have infected others, especially when you consider how often our joint investigations have gone south. But the preternatural team will not be their only targets. They will try to infect as many as possible across the full spectrum of government.”
“Well, fuck,” Jason muttered.
“Understatement of the year,” Luc said. “How the hell do we stop them? And can we get it out of Noelle?”
“I am by no means an expert on these things. I was working for the High Council at the time of the First World War, but wraith displacement was never something I was involved in—”
“Then who—”
“However,” Mo continued, cutting Luc off. “I know the theory behind it all well enough. Wraiths are, essentially, gaseous creatures that seep into the body through the skin and become one with the neurological centers. Removal involves a mix of careful magical unpicking and the use of what we now call thermal imaging.”
Which was why she’d been monitoring Noelle’s brain activity. Her electrical and maybe even biochemical outputs would have been very different with a wraith inside of her. That I’d also seen it was, as she’d said, interesting, though I had no idea what it meant.
“Can you do that?” Luc asked. “How dangerous will removal be?”
Mo grimaced. “I’m nowhere near skilled enough to perform such an operation, but the High Witch Council will certainly have a team who can. As to how dangerous the process is, that has always depended on not only how long and how deep the immersion is, but also on how old the wraith is. I’ve seen people infected with minor wraiths who came out intact mentally and physically while others lost their sanity.”