Dirk And Steele: The Wild Road Part 23

As did their recent shared vision.

As did Koni's revelation about the woman.

Alice. Lethe. Blood kin of the witch who had tried to enslave him and his brothers. Who had tortured him and nearly stolen both his soul and his mind. His brothers would s.h.i.t themselves if they knew whom he was keeping company with. He wondered if Charlie had been made aware. There were no missed calls on his phone.

The devastation of the knowledge still rocked him. So stupid, he had thought. So stupid. He had thrown his heart to the world, and the world had burned it with venom. Even knowing what lay inside Lethe's mind-the wounds, the emptiness-had not been enough; everything, every memory of his captivity, had slammed him sideways. He could not stand to look at her.

I would have left her, he thought, staring at Lethe now, so slender and still beside him. I would have given her to Koni and Rictor and run like h.e.l.l.

He would have. He definitely would have, if she had not come for him, her heart like a small bird in his mind, fluttering and strong. Filled with concern. Concern for him.

No deception, no lies. She had sat on that gra.s.s for hours only to make certain he was all right, and for all those hours he had listened to nothing but their link, searching it for even one trace of dislike or greed or selfishness. Just one stray emotion would have sent him fleeing.

He had found nothing but compa.s.sion. Nothing but distress at his obvious upset. Not an ounce of concern for herself. Lannes could not fight that. He had stood there trying to, and all he had done was burn a hole through his soul.

Her memories were gone. Who she had been, whom she had loved, the things she might have done-these things all meant nothing. He could not judge her. Not when he could see inside her heart.

And that kiss...and later, in the bedroom...

Lannes folded his arms over his chest, leaning on the Impala. "Koni. Something happened just before you came to get Lethe. The two of us... saw something. Another vision of what started this mess."

"We saw the murder," Lethe said. "We were...part of the murder."

"Not just a murder," Lannes corrected her grimly. "Ritual sacrifice. An attempt to summon something."

Rictor, down by the lake, turned around. His green eyes flashed. It was similar to the light Lannes had witnessed just once in Lethe's eyes. He started walking back toward them. Fast.

Koni frowned. "So, who's responsible for what, again?"

Lannes curled his hands into fists and ground them together. "It was evil. That's all I can tell you. Old and evil."

"They were just kids," Lethe remarked, rubbing the back of her neck. "Just kids, but..."

"Ed," Lannes replied. "We need to show him that photograph."

"And then what?" Koni asked, as Rictor joined them. "You find the kids who did the deed, and all you'll be doing is setting them up to die. Isn't that what this thing wants?"

"Maybe you can protect them from me," Lethe said, a note of desperation in her voice.

"Lady," Koni said, "no offense, but how long do you propose we do that?"

"He's right," Lannes told her. "We have to focus more on getting Runa out of your head. If she won't go willingly..."

"Doesn't seem right," muttered Lethe. "If this is Runa...Punishing a mother for wanting to hurt the people who killed her daughter and herself just feels wrong."

"And the alternative?"

She looked down at her hands, almost as though she were seeing blood. "I know. It's bad."

Rictor stared at the lake. "Did the sacrifice take place in the dome?"

"Seems that way."

"And you're sure the mother is the one responsible for using the woman?"

"I have a name," Lethe said. "I'm not 'the woman.'"

Rictor gave her a long look, then fixed his gaze back on Lannes. "Are you sure?"

For a moment, Lannes thought the man was still talking to Lethe. She seemed to think so, too, given the hint of confusion pulsing from her mind.

Lannes finally said, "I'm sure."

"Then perhaps we are dealing with a ghost."

"If you're right, a ghost, a spirit, will make things more difficult."

"How difficult?" Lethe asked.

"Depends on the dead person," Rictor replied. "Yours will be... complicated."

"Oh," she said. "Lovely."

Koni leaned back into the Humvee, against the pa.s.senger seat, most of his face lost in shadow. "Lannes...maybe you should take a moment."

Lannes studied him. "A moment of what?"

But Koni made no reply, and the silence stretched into something uncomfortable.

Lethe tilted her head, gaze sharp. "A moment of your time," she answered for him, coldly. "With them."

Lannes reached for her, but she slid away and walked across the parking lot to the boat ramp. No backward glance, spine straight, tension rolling across their link. Her limp was almost gone.

Koni said, "Don't give me that look."

"Then tell me something," Lannes replied, fighting to control his temper. "What was her crime, when you knew her? You never told me."

The shape-shifter's golden eyes glittered. "There was no crime, as far as I know. She was kidnapped. I met her briefly, after she had been freed. It was her own family who hurt her. A great-aunt, I suppose. It happened more than a year ago in Vancouver. The old woman locked Alice in a cage with a bunch of dead people, made her sit in her own s.h.i.t for days, all because she needed a blood sacrifice. The old woman was trying to summon something. Maybe the same kind of thing you saw in your...vision."

Chills raced down Lannes' spine, chased by fury. Rictor grabbed him before he could do anything stupid. "Don't. Calm down."

"I'm calm," muttered Lannes. "But what you just told me isn't exactly an indictment of her character."

"Like h.e.l.l," snapped Koni quietly. "And don't blame me for being cautious. Even if she doesn't remember who she is, you can bet her family hasn't forgotten. Most of them are normal. But there might be some who aren't, and they'll find her, eventually. And if she tells them what she's seen, what she knows about us-"

"How could they not know already?" Lannes shook off Rictor's arm and glanced over his shoulder. He saw Lethe's slender body standing at the end of the dock.

Feels like the boogeyman, she had said. Something terrible.

"She's afraid of being found," he told the other men, still watching her. "A deep fear, more instinct than anything else. She doesn't know why she feels that way, but I think she'd rather die than get caught."

"She'll get caught," Rictor said, with far too much certainty for comfort. "Family always catches up."

Lannes frowned at him. "And what do you do at the agency? Besides look menacing?"

Rictor gave him a cold, bitter smile. "Isn't that enough?"

Koni shook his head. "Never mind. There's something strange going on in this area. I wouldn't mention it, except for everything else that's happened. It might be connected."

"And?"

"And, it's the crows. They're...different."

"Different. What do you mean?"

"I mean, the crows in this area...have a different way of getting on. They're clannish. They don't talk. Not much, and not to me."

"You fly as a crow? That's your blood form?" Lannes asked, and when Koni shrugged, he added, "Not to diminish what you're telling me, but how are the talking habits of birds important?"

"I was out," Koni explained, pointing at the sky, "and when I tried to pa.s.s over one particular area, the local crows drove me away. That's never happened."

"What did you see?"

"Woods, water. Maybe a house. It was hard to say. Those birds are protecting at least three, four hundred acres."

"What do you think it means?"

"It means we should mind our own business," Rictor muttered.

Koni gave him a sharp look. "I don't get you."

"I don't give a f.u.c.k," Rictor said, and walked away. He disappeared in moments, lost in shadows.

"a.s.shole," Koni muttered.

"Who is he?" Lannes asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine. Rictor is as Rictor does." The shape-shifter's golden eyes briefly glowed. "He's immortal."

"No such thing."

"Dude," Koni said, "you need to get out more."

Lannes let that slide. "You think it's possible to find out where Ed lives?"

"h.e.l.l of a lot easier than sitting in a car with him for eight hours." Koni slid out of the Humvee. Lannes looked back at Lethe and found her watching them. It was too dark to see much of her face, but he felt her curiosity in his mind.

"You came back to her," said Koni.

"You thought I wouldn't." Lannes folded his wings even tighter around his body. "Maybe you calculated it that way."

"No, but we knew it was a possibility. Better than lying to you." Koni craned his neck to peer at the night sky. "When are you going to tell her? Or are you?"

"She figured out on her own that you had bad news about her. You weren't subtle. Neither was I. She told me she doesn't want to know. When that changes...we'll see. I can't lie to her."

Koni remained silent. So did Lannes. Once upon a time, he would have marveled at standing beside a shape-shifter. Now, it felt like a burden.

But that was his fault. Until the witch, he had spent his life immersed in books, taking for granted the fact that the modern world was a soft world, without the dangers that had affected his kind before the age of steel and science. Superst.i.tion still existed, but it had been dampened with logic, with humanity's inexorable disbelief in strange things.

Yes, gargoyles might be few in number, but in some ways, it was easier now to live. You could be G.o.dzilla in a tutu, but if you had e-mail and a telephone, no one would ever know.

No one. They had paid for safety with solitude. Inexperience. Innocence.

You wanted to be alone, whispered his mind, mockingly. He had wanted to be alone, and now he was very much not, but he was too far gone into the mystery, so far beyond the crossroads of that fateful meeting in Chicago, he could not conceive of his life before.

Never go back? He would not change a moment of his life even if he could, not if it meant losing Lethe.

"Can you find this tract of land at night?" Lannes asked Koni. "The tract protected by crows?"

"No," said the shape-shifter. "I need landmarks. I might even have to go into the air again. All I can tell you is that it's close."

"It'll be dawn in three hours. We should find Ed first. Show him that photo."

"If the police are looking for Alice-"

"Don't call her that," Lannes said sharply. "She goes by Lethe now."

Koni gave him a long steady look. "Is that for her benefit or yours?"

Lannes made himself breathe. "Find Ed."

Without waiting to see if Koni agreed, he started walking across the parking lot toward Lethe. Footsteps scuffed, and a strong hand grabbed his arm.

"Wait," Koni said, "there's something else. About her."

Rictor appeared from the shadows behind the car, utterly silent. "Don't."

"Don't what?" Lannes asked, his voice dangerously quiet.

"Don't," Rictor said again, staring at Koni. "You'll cause trouble."

Lannes grabbed the shape-shifter's arm and twisted it away. "Talk, or don't. But make up your mind."

Koni suddenly looked as though he wished he had kept his mouth shut. Lannes wished the same thing.

"Your lady friend," said Koni slowly. "Before she lost her memories, she knew a woman, one of us. Kit Bell. Kit can see when people are going to be murdered. She foresaw Alice's death."

Disbelief was the first thing Lannes felt, and then gut-wrenching horror. He stopped breathing. "How?"