Shadowflame Part 25

"What kind of tests?" Miranda wanted to know.

"He finally got a full a.n.a.lysis back on the poison and wants to see if the a.s.sa.s.sin also used it on Jake and Denise."

"Do you think she did?" Faith asked.

"Yes and no," David said, reaching under the car for his discarded wrench and returning it to the cart. "If she'd poisoned Denise, there wouldn't have been nearly so much blood at the crime scene-Denise put up a h.e.l.l of a fight for a human, and that toxin would have killed her before she could even struggle. But she might have poisoned Jake to bring him down before cutting off his hand. That's Novotny's theory, anyway. But he wanted to run the list of parameters by me first."

Miranda leaned her hip against the car, one hand trailing over its glossy finish. "I hate that we're stuck waiting for this b.i.t.c.h to make the next move, David. Something has to give."

"I know, beloved. I'm hoping that decreasing the network's cycle time from five seconds to three will give us something."

"What about the raw sensor data?" she asked. "How far back does it go?"

"Ninety days," he replied. "Why?"

"What if you compared the readings at the time of each attack and looked for blips?"

"You said there were no blips," Faith pointed out.

David nodded. "There weren't on the network itself. But when something moves past a sensor, it records an array of information. The network is calibrated to collect more than two dozen parameters, but only the important ones-height, weight, temperature, and speed-are a.n.a.lyzed, and then the system displays only combinations of readings that indicate a vampire's presence. If something corresponds to, say, a toddler or a German shepherd, it doesn't show up on the grid. But all the raw data is dumped every ten minutes into the backup server. There's a vast amount of data, so it overwrites every ninety days, otherwise we wouldn't have nearly enough drive s.p.a.ce to store it all. Most of it is just noise."

Faith nodded. "Based on observations from you, Prime Deven, and Kat, our killer is totally average for a vampire, although she is d.a.m.ned fast."

Miranda said, "Something about her keeps her from showing on the grid. But the sensors might have picked up something else, something nonvampiric."

"Maybe she's a werewolf," Faith said, grinning at the dirty looks they both shot her. "Kidding."

"I did a search on the raw data right after Jake went missing and got nothing," David mused, "but once I get the upgrade done, the enhanced sensitivity and processing speed may produce something. I'll try it again. It certainly can't hurt at this point."

"I can't believe that with all the technology we have and all the brain power working on the problem, we can't find a single d.a.m.n thing," said Faith irritably. "Who the h.e.l.l is this woman? What could she have that makes her harder to find than the Blackthorn?"

"It could be magic," Miranda said.

David laughed. "Of course. She's a magical werewolf. Why didn't I see it before?"

"Don't laugh," Miranda admonished him. "You don't know how everything in this world works."

"Beloved, there's no such thing as magic."

She gave him a look that Faith almost laughed at. Few people ever seemed to think that David was capable of saying something stupid.

Miranda pointed wordlessly at her Signet.

The Prime considered that for a second. "I don't think it's magic. I think there's some technology to it that we simply don't understand yet. That's what magic is, in the end."

Again, Miranda gave him that look. "So you think that a glowing ruby that has the power to pick out your soul mate has a tiny little hamster on a wheel inside it? What about our psychic abilities, or Misting, or the fact that if one half of a Pair dies, the other does, too? What is that if it's not magic?"

He shrugged. "Physics is a mysterious thing, but it's not mystical."

Miranda shot Faith an amused glance, then said to her husband, "Whatever you say, dear." She leaned down and kissed the top of his head, earning a sweet smile. "I'm off to learn the Bada.s.s-asana."

After she had gone, David asked Faith, "Was she mocking me just now?"

Faith grinned. "I think it was more a case of humoring you than mocking you."

The Prime didn't seem bothered by that; in fact, quite the opposite. He looked relieved. "That's a good sign . . . isn't it?"

Faith stood out of the way while he rolled the tool cart and the flat thing he'd been lying on-a creeper, she thought it was called-over to the next car on the row. There were eight vehicles in the garage right now as a nasty autumn storm was supposed to move in sometime after two that morning. Faith's little red hybrid was at the far end, parked next to Miranda's Prius. There were two vans present of the three that shuttled patrol teams to and from the city; those, she guessed, were the ones David needed to work on next. The Town Car that Harlan drove was the Prime's ride of choice, but there was also a limo, a Rolls, and a Bentley, the three of which were rarely used as David hadn't converted them to solar yet. The two vans were gas/electric hybrids.

It had never really occurred to Faith before coming to serve the South that vampires should have an interest in the environment, but David had wisely decided that immortality would be far less pleasant on a burned-out husk of a planet, so one of the first things he had done upon taking the Signet was to put the entire Haven complex on solar power. Aside from the ecological impact, it helped keep the Haven concealed; they were completely off the city power grid, a self-contained village of vampires out in the Hill Country. If they could have grown their own blood, David would probably have the place running like the world's weirdest hippie commune.

"I think so," Faith responded, not sure what Miranda's comment was a sign of, exactly, but wanting to be supportive.

David moved on to the first of the two black vans, settling himself on the creeper again. Faith did as Miranda had done, leaning on the side of the van watching wrenches float from the cart to the Prime, who dragged a plastic tub underneath the van and set to uns.c.r.e.w.i.n.g something-the oil filter? Faith cheerfully admitted she didn't know a thing about cars.

"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself," Faith heard herself say before she could stop.

He rolled back out and looked at her. "Yes, I should. What I did was indefensible."

"But you didn't hide it from her; you stepped up and accepted the consequences. Believe me, a lot of men wouldn't. You could have blamed it on Deven-there'd be no love lost there. But you took responsibility and you're doing everything you can to make it right. There's only so much good that hair shirt is going to do you, Sire, before you just have to stop castigating yourself and move on."

He frowned. "Are you saying that it's . . . no big deal?"

"No. You f.u.c.ked up big-time."

"Good. As long as we're on the same page."

"I'm just saying that if the woman you love doesn't hate you for what you did, then you shouldn't either."

He half smiled. "I'll take that under advis.e.m.e.nt, Second."

Faith rolled her eyes and started to leave the garage, but David said, "Thank you, Faith," and she turned back to him one more time.

"I appreciate that you've stood by me," he went on. "By both of us. I'm sure you were angry at me for a while, too, but it didn't interfere with our working relationship, and for that I'm grateful."

Faith nodded, bowed. "Just don't do it again," she told the Prime, "or I'll have to castrate you with a seven-sixteenths ratchet wrench."

The Prime looked at the tool in his hand and laughed, arching an eyebrow. "Seven-sixteenths wouldn't be nearly big enough."

Faith snorted. "Too much information, Sire. I'll take my leave now unless you need anything else."

"Nothing further. Dismissed."

He disappeared back underneath the van, and Faith left him to it, heading out to an advanced combat training session with several of the newer Elite.

Outside, she looked up at the lowering black sky where thick storm clouds hung amid the expectant, electric feel of an oncoming torrent. The wind had kicked up and was whirling leaves all over the gardens. Faith could smell the rain and the lightning and hoped the servants had all the windows shut; they'd been opening some of the groundfloor panes at night to let the fresh, crisp air in between cold fronts, to keep the Haven from feeling stuffy with so many fireplaces going.

A chill crawled over her skin. The weather had been building toward this storm for days . . . and as the first few drops began to fall, she hurried from the garage to the training building, hoping to avoid the worst of the rain.

Cora was more than one hundred years old and had spent all but eighteen of them trying very hard to divorce herself from her body, teaching herself to run away inside her mind so that she was distant, safe from Hart's perversions. The thought that she might one day want to reclaim her violated flesh and learn to live in it, or perhaps even enjoy physical sensation or, G.o.d forbid, sensuality had always been depressingly laughable.

Yet here she was, spending hours with her secondhand Elite workout clothes soaked in sweat, learning to twist and bend her body into dozens of unaccustomed shapes, pushing herself until her muscles shook and she was so exhausted she could barely stand while a tiny brown woman with a musical accent guided her from one pose into another.

Lalita called it Hatha yoga. It was an ancient art that helped to train the body and the mind together, and Faith had prescribed it for Cora to help strengthen her muscles and bring health back into her pitiful body. Cora was too weak and clumsy for more conventional workouts, and too frightened to learn fighting skills, but Faith a.s.sured her there was nothing violent about yoga and that Lalita was a gentle and compa.s.sionate teacher.

Lalita's voice danced through the syllables of the sacred language of her homeland-the names of the poses and the words of chants far older than anything in the Haven. Cora liked the sound of it, and of Lalita's accented English.

Cora might not be an intelligent woman, but she learned the yoga poses quickly. Her body seemed to have its own memory, and a very good one. Only a few sessions in she could fumble her way through a Sun Salutation without prompting.

It was strange to be good at something that allowed her to keep her clothes on.

Cora usually arrived first, as Lalita had a full duty roster and had to come to the studio once her bodyguard shift was done. They had their sessions in a small room in one of the outbuildings, and Lalita had turned the utilitarian s.p.a.ce into a soothing, quiet studio that smelled faintly of incense. Cora didn't mind being alone there; there was only one door, so she felt as safe there as she did in her bedroom. She usually spent those first few minutes in seated meditation as Lalita had taught her.

She had fought Lalita tooth and nail over meditation, claiming she didn't want to know the inner workings of her own mind, because there was nothing there except the grimy leavings of Hart's l.u.s.ts. But she had seen a glimmer . . . just a glimmer . . . of something beyond that, something about her that was not broken, and could not ever be broken. She didn't know what to call it, but she wanted to learn more about it.

Once she had slept in a dirty nest of pillows, but now she sat on them with her spine straight, seeking the silence within herself.

Lalita, who had arrived silently and let her continue her meditations uninterrupted, sat down before her, mirroring her posture, and said, "Perhaps you are starting to see that there is much more to you than you thought."

One day, Cora hoped to be as graceful as Lalita. For now she would settle for being able to support her own body weight on her bird-thin legs.

"We have another student joining us tonight," Lalita said.

Cora tried to hide her dismay. "Oh?"

"Yes-but don't worry, she's a beginner like you were a few weeks ago."

Cora nodded. It wouldn't have occurred to her to object. These people, kind though they were, were still in control here, and if Lalita wanted more students she would have them. Besides, she had mentioned that she was pushing Faith to a.s.sign more of the Elite to her cla.s.ses, claiming that they would be better warriors if they could find a calm center from which to fight. The new student might even be Faith herself, come to see what all the fuss was about.

At least it was a woman. Cora didn't think she could bear sharing this with a man. She knew from what Lalita had told her about India that yoga was invented mostly by men of the early Hindu traditions, and that every school of yoga and every teacher had his own style. Lalita's was peaceful and flowing, feminine, emphasizing balance and flexibility rather than brutal technical perfection. She had learned in two schools, Hatha and Kripalu, and combined the two to form something that she felt was appropriate for vampires, drawing on their enhanced sensory perception and the inherent strength of their bodies. Strength training wasn't usually an issue for Elite warriors, so Lalita focused on yoga's other benefits, especially on harmonizing body and mind.

It was an utterly alien philosophy for Cora, who had been taught-and had clung to the idea-that the body was meaningless and would fall to dust. That had made it easier to let Hart do what he liked with her. But Lalita had created her own spiritual tradition, combining the movements of yoga, meditation, and chanting, with devotion to a G.o.ddess named Green Tara who apparently came from the Tibetan Buddhist mythos. There was a statue of that deity in the corner of the studio, sitting on a low table with the incense burner and candles.

Cora found herself staring at the Tara often, thinking that she reminded Cora of the Virgin, a gentle mother who was still willing to step down from her throne to right the wrongs of the world.

After that Cora threw her fears to the wind and did whatever Lalita suggested. The most amazing thing about the teacher was that if Cora had reasons why something made her uncomfortable, Lalita would listen to her, suggest alternatives, and they would talk about it. There was no yelling, no force, no demands that she obey. Cora didn't know how to a.s.sert herself, so her tendency was to let things slide, but finally Lalita called her on it: "You were strong enough to leave the Prime," Lalita reminded her as she went to the bench to remove her onduty gear. "Don't forget that, Cora. You were taught that you were weak and undeserving, but you know that's not true. You, and you alone, walked out of that room to find something better. You had that strength. You still have it. All you need to do is believe in it and learn to draw on it."

The Elite had an array of items they carried: Each had a standard-issue sword, a wooden stake, a knife in one boot, a belt pouch whose contents Cora didn't know, and a device that she wasn't sure about.

Cora pulled her knees up to her chin and watched Lalita prepare for their session; curious, she asked, "Is that a telephone?"

Lalita looked down at the device and laughed. "Among other things. Our intra-Elite communication goes through the wrist coms, but this phone also shows us maps of the city, and some of us get to see parts of the sensor network. I can check the duty roster for the coming week and know when others are on or off shift, as well as accessing weather reports and other information."

"All of that in that tiny box?"

She grinned and nodded. "Remarkable, isn't it? When I was a young girl, no one could have dreamed of this sort of thing. Even radio was a fantasy back then. To get a message to someone took days of travel and now it takes seconds."

She handed Cora the phone, and Cora examined it gingerly, afraid to touch anything. The computer in her room was larger and looked less fragile, but it still confounded her for the most part. When she touched the phone's screen, it lit up, displaying a photograph of several cats playing on a rug; one was biting the other on the neck. Cora smiled.

Just then there was a knock at the studio door. Cora handed the phone back to Lalita, who took it and rose gracefully, unfolding herself like Green Tara from her lotus position.

"Come in, my Lady," she called.

Cora's heart clenched at the words . . . and did so again when the door opened and Queen Miranda entered the studio.

"h.e.l.lo, Cora," the Queen said, smiling. "I hope you don't mind my joining you."

Cora swallowed. She tried to speak, but nothing would come out of her mouth. It was the first time she had seen the Queen since she had been granted asylum, and in the intervening days she had forgotten how frightening the woman was . . . she seemed to fill the entire studio with her presence and power, and even dressed in similar clothes to Cora with her abundant hair pulled back, being anywhere near her made Cora's pulse fly into chaos, fear destroying her meditative calm.

The Queen came over and knelt in front of her, concerned. "Are you all right?" She laid her hand on Cora's forehead, and her eyebrows shot up. "Good Lord, Cora . . . you have to learn to shield."

Lalita looked chagrined. "It never occurred to me that she would need to," she admitted. "Most of us have some telepathic ability, but hardly anyone here needs more than basic grounding and centering."

"What . . . what do I have?" Cora asked haltingly.

Miranda was staring at her hard, her hand still on Cora's forehead. "I'm not sure," the Queen replied. "Identifying gifts isn't something I'm good at, and it seems like most of your talent is still . . . asleep. Here . . . this will help you for now."

Cora felt . . . something . . . move through her, and it was as if someone had pulled a curtain down between her and the Queen; one second Cora was on the verge of panic, and the next she was simply sitting cross-legged in front of a woman with a messy red ponytail.

"I've put a shield around you," the Queen explained. "It's temporary, but it will keep me from freaking you out while we're here. I'll talk to Faith about having someone teach you to do it yourself. I would, but I'm not really experienced enough at it to show you the technique, and I have a feeling that you'd do better with a female teacher than with David."

The idea of having the Prime-even as kind as he seemed to be-so close to her, touching her energy, was so awful that she couldn't hide her reaction.

Miranda smiled. "I thought as much. But we'll find someone. It's something you absolutely must learn before you leave the Haven-our gifted Elite shield themselves, so you're safe here, but you've got enough ability just from what I can see that going out in the world without protection would drive you mad. Trust me, I know."

"I should add," Lalita said, "that the practices we are learning here in yoga can make such things worse for the gifted-if you have any abilities, meddling about with your chakras can intensify them, which is probably why Cora reacted so strongly. Fair warning, my Lady. I know you are very strongly shielded, but for your own sake, be careful."

Cora was surprised that Miranda deferred immediately to Lalita on the subject; she wouldn't have expected a Queen to listen to anyone. "I'll try to stay mindful," Miranda said.

"Excellent. Let's begin, shall we?" Lalita moved to the front of the studio, where her mat was already unfurled on the ground.

Cora had brought her own mat; there were several standing in the corner that anyone could use, but Lalita had given her one outright so that she could practice in her room if she wanted. Cora liked the slightly sticky purple foam, which had a paisley pattern in pink outlined along one end. She and the Queen stood up, and Cora rolled her mat out while Miranda sought one of the extras and did the same.

Cora hated to admit it, but she felt a tiny bit of satisfaction as the session got underway, because while she was strong and agile, the Queen was no yoga prodigy; her alignment was dreadful, and even with her considerable physical prowess she lost her balance at one point and actually toppled over, giggling.

"Why don't you try that one again?" Lalita suggested.

Miranda sobered and stood back up, and Lalita led her back into the pose; the Queen concentrated on her work, which was a relief, as Cora had feared she wouldn't take what they were doing seriously, especially not the first time. But Miranda was completely respectful of Lalita's knowledge and even paused to watch Cora during the Sun Salutation to get a different view of the flow of postures. Cora tried not to acknowledge her stare, but found herself blushing anyway.

"I'm sorry," the Queen said. "I don't mean to make you uncomfortable. But you really are a natural at this, Cora. You look like you were born to it."

Cora blushed even more fiercely. "Thank you, my Lady."

Lalita was smiling warmly at her. "I've taught yoga off and on for twenty years, and Cora is the quickest learner I've had so far. Just in the last few weeks she's gained so much poise and grace-I'm very proud of her."

Seeing how uncomfortable Cora was at being stared at, Lalita changed the subject. "All right, then, let us continue."

After they moved through the entire series of asanas and spent several minutes lying in Corpse Pose, Lalita began a guided meditation for chakra clearing; in her tradition the body had seven primary energy centers, each corresponding to a different aspect of a person's being, and those centers needed to stay healthy in order for the whole person to thrive. She led them through the meditation slowly, in deference to the Queen, and Cora visualized her energy moving up through her body, starting in the root chakra at the base of the spine and ending in the crown of the head. The energy opened each chakra, cleaned out any psychic debris, and left that aspect of the self running more smoothly. Cora wasn't sure how much of Lalita's spirituality she believed in, but when she did the meditation she could certainly feel something, and when it was done she always felt different, better.