"No!" the Nix shrieked. "I will not go!"
She struggled harder, but was held fast. The man stopped, head tilted, studying her face. As she looked into his eyes, she realized, with a jolt, that he wasn't an angel.
He walked closer and hunkered down beside her spirit form.
"You appear to have a problem, pretty one," he said in Bulgarian.
The Nix snarled and writhed.
"I've been sent to capture you," he said. "And promised a nice reward for your return. All I have to do is call my angel partner, and it's over." He smiled. "Unless you can make me a more attractive offer." He lowered himself to the ground. "She appears to be taking a while to die. Shall we discuss my terms?"
Chapter 16
I FELT A PANG OF GUILT AT HAVING LEFT THE JAIL BEFORE I could find the little boy and say good-bye. Too late to go back now. I hadn't left a marker, so it'd take me hours to walk there again. I'd return and see him when this was all done.
I found Kristof in my house, and told him what had happened.
"Why not just kill her?" he said when I'd finished.
I threw my hands up. "Exactly. Why isn't this dead obvious to everyone but us?"
He put his legs up on the ottoman, resting his feet a hairsbreadth from mine. "This Janah told you to find the latest partner. Is that because she's the only one you can use?"
"No, I think that was just because she'd be the easiest one to find. With the others, who knows if they're still alive…" My chin jerked up, eyes meeting his. "I see. If I don't need to use the latest, then I can check out one who's already passed over, and test my theory, see whether they're connected to the Nix when she's on this side. I'll just need to visit the Fates and get myself a visitor's pass to a dead partner's hell dimension." I looked over at him. "Want to come along?"
He smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."
"No," the eldest Fate said, not even pausing in her spinning long enough to look at us. "You cannot go flitting about the other dimensions, bothering ghosts in purgatory."
"We can't bother ghosts in purgatory?" I said. "What the hell is purgatory for, then?"
The middle Fate took over before her sister could answer. "Most wouldn't speak to you anyway, Eve, and those that did would only try to lead you astray with lies and half-truths."
The youngest Fate cut in. "What about—?"
Her sisters cut her short, and the three of them flipped past as they discussed something. Then the middle Fate returned.
"We have a possibility," she said. "Someone who may be inclined to help you, and who will be truthful.
However, like the others, she's not a supernatural, so she isn't within the realms we govern. We must make arrangements for you to speak to her, and this may take some time. Leave it with us."
The Fates sent us to my house. I stood on the front porch and looked at the pair of wicker rockers. I'd picked them up shortly after moving in. They conjured up images of lazy afternoons whiled away sipping mint juleps and reading trashy novels. And just as soon as I had time for lazy afternoons, mint juleps, and trashy novels, I'd use them. For now, though…
I looked over at Kris. "The Fates and Trsiel think this is all about following clues like tracks in the snow.
But to catch your prey, you need to understand it."
"You want to better understand the Nix."
"Exactly." I waved him to the twin rockers. "I need to speak not to a partner, but someone else who was there, who saw what was happening. Someone who'd have a reason to talk to me. Maybe a victim…"
"Possibly, but outside of movies, I doubt many killers share their thoughts and motives with their victims.
Those women the Fates showed you both had male partners. The first man is still alive, but the later one died in prison about ten years ago. From what I dimly recall of the trial, he and his wife didn't present the most united front. After his sentence was read, they dragged him out cursing her name."
I grinned. "So he might be up for a little tattletale payback?"
"Let's hope so."
Jaime lifted her eye mask to peer at me. "The first night off I've had in two weeks, and you're asking me to spend it in a cemetery five hundred miles away?"
I dropped onto the armchair and pulled my legs under me. "Forget the graveside version, then. Let's go for the long-distance ritual."
"You mean the one that will zap my powers for a week, and knock me flat on my back for three days?
Even if I cared to do that—which I don't—the long-distance ritual never works on anyone who isn't in a normal afterlife dimension."
"Well, there is an alternative."
"Good."
"We could contact the ghost of Amanda Sullivan's five-year-old daughter, ask her if she noticed anything strange about Mommy before she drowned her."
Jaime glowered at me, then plucked off her mask and tossed it across the room. "I'll pack."
It took me a couple of hours to get to the cemetery, first transporting as near as I could, then walking the rest of the way. While I waited for Jaime to arrive, I laid a marker and returned to the ghost world, to check on the Fates' progress. The wraith-clerk receptionist assured me the Fates were working on my request, but couldn't provide an ETA for results.
I popped over to Portland to check on Savannah. She was at school, poring over a math test. Math has never been her best subject, and I hovered there for a few minutes, trying to mentally communicate the answers, but the truth is that math was never my best subject, either. If I succeeded, I'd probably only guarantee her a failing grade. I kissed her for good luck, and went back to the cemetery to wait for Jaime.
It was a dark and stormy night…
Actually, the skies were crystal clear and, with the three-quarter moon overhead, it wasn't even that dark, but if you're going to conduct a graveside séance, you have to set the scene properly.
I'd been sitting on a grave marker for over an hour now. It was one of those double headstones, for a husband and wife… only the wife hadn't died yet, so the stone just bore her name and date of birth.
She struggled harder, but was held fast. The man stopped, head tilted, studying her face. As she looked into his eyes, she realized, with a jolt, that he wasn't an angel.
He walked closer and hunkered down beside her spirit form.
"You appear to have a problem, pretty one," he said in Bulgarian.
The Nix snarled and writhed.
"I've been sent to capture you," he said. "And promised a nice reward for your return. All I have to do is call my angel partner, and it's over." He smiled. "Unless you can make me a more attractive offer." He lowered himself to the ground. "She appears to be taking a while to die. Shall we discuss my terms?"
Chapter 16
I FELT A PANG OF GUILT AT HAVING LEFT THE JAIL BEFORE I could find the little boy and say good-bye. Too late to go back now. I hadn't left a marker, so it'd take me hours to walk there again. I'd return and see him when this was all done.
I found Kristof in my house, and told him what had happened.
"Why not just kill her?" he said when I'd finished.
I threw my hands up. "Exactly. Why isn't this dead obvious to everyone but us?"
He put his legs up on the ottoman, resting his feet a hairsbreadth from mine. "This Janah told you to find the latest partner. Is that because she's the only one you can use?"
"No, I think that was just because she'd be the easiest one to find. With the others, who knows if they're still alive…" My chin jerked up, eyes meeting his. "I see. If I don't need to use the latest, then I can check out one who's already passed over, and test my theory, see whether they're connected to the Nix when she's on this side. I'll just need to visit the Fates and get myself a visitor's pass to a dead partner's hell dimension." I looked over at him. "Want to come along?"
He smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."
"No," the eldest Fate said, not even pausing in her spinning long enough to look at us. "You cannot go flitting about the other dimensions, bothering ghosts in purgatory."
"We can't bother ghosts in purgatory?" I said. "What the hell is purgatory for, then?"
The middle Fate took over before her sister could answer. "Most wouldn't speak to you anyway, Eve, and those that did would only try to lead you astray with lies and half-truths."
The youngest Fate cut in. "What about—?"
Her sisters cut her short, and the three of them flipped past as they discussed something. Then the middle Fate returned.
"We have a possibility," she said. "Someone who may be inclined to help you, and who will be truthful.
However, like the others, she's not a supernatural, so she isn't within the realms we govern. We must make arrangements for you to speak to her, and this may take some time. Leave it with us."
The Fates sent us to my house. I stood on the front porch and looked at the pair of wicker rockers. I'd picked them up shortly after moving in. They conjured up images of lazy afternoons whiled away sipping mint juleps and reading trashy novels. And just as soon as I had time for lazy afternoons, mint juleps, and trashy novels, I'd use them. For now, though…
I looked over at Kris. "The Fates and Trsiel think this is all about following clues like tracks in the snow.
But to catch your prey, you need to understand it."
"You want to better understand the Nix."
"Exactly." I waved him to the twin rockers. "I need to speak not to a partner, but someone else who was there, who saw what was happening. Someone who'd have a reason to talk to me. Maybe a victim…"
"Possibly, but outside of movies, I doubt many killers share their thoughts and motives with their victims.
Those women the Fates showed you both had male partners. The first man is still alive, but the later one died in prison about ten years ago. From what I dimly recall of the trial, he and his wife didn't present the most united front. After his sentence was read, they dragged him out cursing her name."
I grinned. "So he might be up for a little tattletale payback?"
"Let's hope so."
Jaime lifted her eye mask to peer at me. "The first night off I've had in two weeks, and you're asking me to spend it in a cemetery five hundred miles away?"
I dropped onto the armchair and pulled my legs under me. "Forget the graveside version, then. Let's go for the long-distance ritual."
"You mean the one that will zap my powers for a week, and knock me flat on my back for three days?
Even if I cared to do that—which I don't—the long-distance ritual never works on anyone who isn't in a normal afterlife dimension."
"Well, there is an alternative."
"Good."
"We could contact the ghost of Amanda Sullivan's five-year-old daughter, ask her if she noticed anything strange about Mommy before she drowned her."
Jaime glowered at me, then plucked off her mask and tossed it across the room. "I'll pack."
It took me a couple of hours to get to the cemetery, first transporting as near as I could, then walking the rest of the way. While I waited for Jaime to arrive, I laid a marker and returned to the ghost world, to check on the Fates' progress. The wraith-clerk receptionist assured me the Fates were working on my request, but couldn't provide an ETA for results.
I popped over to Portland to check on Savannah. She was at school, poring over a math test. Math has never been her best subject, and I hovered there for a few minutes, trying to mentally communicate the answers, but the truth is that math was never my best subject, either. If I succeeded, I'd probably only guarantee her a failing grade. I kissed her for good luck, and went back to the cemetery to wait for Jaime.
It was a dark and stormy night…
Actually, the skies were crystal clear and, with the three-quarter moon overhead, it wasn't even that dark, but if you're going to conduct a graveside séance, you have to set the scene properly.
I'd been sitting on a grave marker for over an hour now. It was one of those double headstones, for a husband and wife… only the wife hadn't died yet, so the stone just bore her name and date of birth.
