Death Bringer

Chapter Five

“We still haven’t talked.” Ella pushed open the door into the hospital and Vadim walked through beside her.

“It’s difficult to have a conversation with someone eating ribs with such gusto.”

She stopped and faced him. “Don’t you want to discuss our relationship?”

He pressed a hand to his heart. “Words every male, both human and Otherworld, is just longing to hear.”

“But you said you wanted to talk!”

He sighed. “And you’ve been avoiding me all day. Why now? What do you want, Ella?”

“It’s more a question of what you want.”

“I want you. That’s it.”

“But what about the logistics? What about where we’re going to live, how often we see each other, what we tell our friends and family, or colleagues?”

His expression tightened. “You’re so fucking contrary. At one moment you’re pushing me away and telling me not to get in your space, the next we’re setting up home together?” He shook his head. “You’re the one who seems to have the problems with this, not me, so why don’t you work it out? If you don’t want me at your place in Tiburon, what do you want? Should I stay in the city and you can just join me at my hotel when you can’t do without the sex?”

“That’s not fair.”

“Life’s not fair, Ella. You know that.” He started walking again, his last comment thrown over his shoulder. “When you work out how I’ll fit into your life, let me know.”

She let him leave, her heart stuttering, her breath uneven. Didn’t he understand? She never made long-term plans. She’d never had to. Someone barged into her, and she moved to the side of the hallway and continued toward the stairs.

He was waiting for her by the door, his head lowered, his gaze averted.

“I’m sorry, Ella. I keep forgetting that for you this is an extremely difficult transition.”

She stared at his blue-and-yellow tie until the pattern blurred into a swirl of dots.

After a long moment, he sighed and held open the door. “Shall we go up?”

She forced the words out of her mouth. “Will you come with me to my parents on the weekend?”

He hesitated, one hand braced against the frame. “If you want me to.”

“Yeah.” She swallowed hard. “You can use your charm to distract my mom from complaining about me.”

His smile made her feel loved, which was ridiculous. “I’d be more than happy to do that. Let’s go and check on Brad Dailey.”

As Vadim approached Brad’s room, his Otherworld senses came to high alert and he studied each person in the hallway with all his unique abilities. Beside him, Ella reached for her weapon. Delia sat by the door, but she didn’t look up as they approached, her gaze seemingly fixed on some pleasant faraway memory. Vadim touched her shoulder.

“Delia?”

She didn’t respond. The kick of Otherworld magic hit him hard.

“Ms. Walsh, get out of the way.”

He didn’t wait for Ella’s indignant reply, just pushed in front of her and tried to force the door open. Dark magic shot up his arm, making him clench his teeth. If a human had touched the handle, the person would probably be dead now. He focused on the door and pushed the power back out, turning the spell on itself and blasting through it. Inside, someone was screaming like a wounded animal.

“Ella, call security!”

The room was in chaos, the bed halfway across the floor. Brad was no longer sedated or secured to the gurney. He stood on the windowsill, his scarred face free of bandages and contorted in agony.

Vadim held out his hand. “Mr. Dailey, calm down. Whatever is wrong, we can fix it.” As he spoke, he sent calming magic toward Brad, but he appeared to be impervious to it.

“I’m a freak! My grandfather couldn’t even look at me. I don’t want my parents to see me like this!”

“It’s not that bad. Your face can be altered again. We’ll find the best plastic surgeons in the world to work with you.”

He heard Ella and someone else approaching down the hallway and motioned for them to stay put at the door. He advanced toward Brad, still holding out his hand.

“Please get down, Brad.”

“You’re fucking lying! That SBLE doctor said plastic surgery wouldn’t work! That I’d be like this forever!”

He swung his fist and it went right through the glass with an ease that surprised Vadim. Cold air rushed through the hole, and the rest of the window simply gave way, sending slivers of glass exploding in all directions. Even as he instinctively covered his eyes, Vadim was moving forward. He grabbed for Brad’s skinny, tattooed ankle, but Brad slipped from Vadim’s grasp, throwing himself forward into the night.

Vadim came down hard on his knees and shards of glass pierced his skin. Why hadn’t he been able to keep hold of the man? What malign magic had held him at bay? From below came the sound of screaming and the wail of an ambulance. He pushed himself upright and looked out of the window. Brad lay sprawled on the unforgiving ground just in front of the ER, surrounded by a cluster of people who were either running around like ants or looking up and pointing.

“Are you okay, Morosov?”

He looked over his shoulder to see Ella advancing cautiously toward him.

“Stay over there, Ms. Walsh. There’s glass everywhere.”

She ignored him and came across to his side. She looked out of the window.

“Shit, that happened so fast!”

“I couldn’t stop him.” Vadim stared down at the scene below them, which was now being dealt with by the hospital staff and the authorities. “It was as if my magic bounced off.”

“You’re bleeding.” She touched the corner of his mouth. “Maybe it did. Maybe that dude Adam got to Brad while we were having dinner.”

Vadim swore softly and walked toward the door, glass falling from him like raindrops. Two of the hospital security team pushed past him and surveyed the ruined room and began to take pictures. He paused by the empty chair outside the door.

“Where’s Delia?”

She seems to be in a trance. No one can wake her.”

“Perhaps I should go and see her.”

Ella grabbed his sleeve. “Hold up. You haven’t told me exactly what happened here yet.”

“Isn’t it obvious? You said it yourself. Someone got in here and killed our patient.”

“Did Brad say anything to you? I thought I heard him shouting when I was coming back along the hallway.”

Vadim let out his breath. “He said an SBLE doctor told him he would never regain his true face even after plastic surgery.”

“What?”

He got out his handkerchief and dabbed at the blood now dripping from his lip. “Someone got in here, convinced Brad his life was worthless and set him free to kill himself.”

“And by someone, I assume you mean Adam.” She took his injured hand and he sucked in a breath. “Come on, we need to see the security footage and get you fixed up.”

“But what about Delia?”

“She’s being guarded by SBLE security. I doubt they’ll be quite as easy to fool. You can go and see her in a minute.”

He allowed himself to be marched down to Ms. Phelps’s office and sat in a chair while they waited for Mr. Feehan and the police. Jose came to check out the state of his hands and face and applied warm cloths to his skin and then a thin layer of white glue, which he peeled off after it set, bringing most of the tiny splinters with it.

“I think you’ll be okay now, Vadim.” Jose rose to his feet. “When you get home, take some painkillers and have a long bath. That should loosen any other pieces. If you see any reddish or swollen sites, come back. You might have an infection.”

“Thanks, Jose.”

“You’re welcome.”

He was quite capable of healing himself, but in present company, he didn’t want to draw attention to his magical powers. Frustration boiled under his skin. He felt far too exposed. Had he spent so much time controlling his powers in this world that they wouldn’t respond to him any more? Feehan arrived, his thin hair blown wildly around by the wind, a smudge of red sauce on his knitted sweater.

“Are you all right, Vadim?”

“I’m fine. I can’t say the same for poor Mr. Dailey.”

Feehan took the seat opposite him. “What happened?”

“The SBLE version, or the one I’m going to tell the police?”

“I’ll handle the police. Tell me how you saw it.”

“Someone got in to see Brad by bespelling the nurse and pretending to be an SBLE doctor. This ‘doctor’ told Brad his face was unfixable and that he’d always look like that. Brad believed him and decided to jump out of the window.”

“Damn.” Feehan shook his head. “This is not going to go down well with our head office or with the Dailey family.” He hesitated. “Um, we don’t have doctors in the SBLE, do we?”

“No.” Vadim pressed his handkerchief to his lip again to stem the bleeding. “Where’s Ms. Walsh?”

“I passed her in the hallway. She’s gone to find the security tapes, or whatever they call them nowadays, for this floor. We’ll bring them back to our office to review.” Feehan patted Vadim’s knee, making him flinch. “Let’s hope we get an image of that so-called doctor.”

The sound of an altercation at the door reached Vadim’s ears and he looked up. Ella was toe-to-toe with one of San Francisco’s cops.

“He’s not ready to be interviewed. Can’t you wait until we’ve cleared up our part of the investigation before you start on yours?”

“I’m okay, Ms. Walsh.” Vadim waved the police officers over. “How can I help you?”

He told them the cleaned-up version of how Brad had been standing on the windowsill, threatening to jump, and that despite Vadim’s efforts, he hadn’t been able to reach Brad in time to stop him. The officers seemed okay with that, nodding as he described Brad’s fragile mental state and his often-expressed desire to die. The hospital records would confirm his words. It was contrived, but at this point, it was in everyone’s best interest to believe that the death was viewed as a suicide—everyone apart from Brad, his family and the investigating team of the SBLE, of course.

The police officers departed to check in with the medical team in the ER, where Brad now lay. Vadim shoved a hand through his hair and dislodged another shower of shards.

“You look like the Christmas fairy.” He looked up to see Ella standing in front of him, arms crossed over her chest, her expression fierce. “Are you really okay?”

Her mind tentatively touched his, and some part of him relaxed. “I’ll be fine.”

“Feehan wants us to go back to the office. Do you want me to put him off until the morning?”

Vadim got to his feet, aware of a thousand small pinpricks of pain stirring in his still-tender skin. He felt like an old man. “I’d rather get this out of the way while it’s fresh in our memories.”

“Then at least let me drive. Your car’s still here, isn’t it?”

He dug in his pocket and handed her the keys. “You don’t actually use the key. The door will unlock when you approach the car. You start the engine by putting your foot on the brake and pushing the start button.”

“Got it.” She jangled the keys in her hand in a manner guaranteed to set his teeth on edge. “Do you want me to bring the car around to the front of the building?”

“I want to see Delia first, and then I want to see Brad’s body.”

“Sure. I’ll come with you.”

He halted, his hand on the back of the chair. “You don’t have to follow me around.”

“Yes, I do.” She raised her chin to meet his gaze. “Let me show you where Delia is.”

Ella studied the nurse. Delia looked as if she were having an excellent nap. Only the fact that her eyes were still open gave a clue that it wasn’t exactly a natural kind of sleep.

“Can you get her out of it, Morosov?” She still whispered, even though she knew Delia couldn’t hear her.

“I’m not sure.”

Vadim sounded exhausted. She had the strangest urge to pick him up, wrap him in a blanket and take him home to bed. Not that he’d be any use to her there, but at least she could hold him close and look after him...

“Ms. Walsh, what’s wrong?”

Had her horror shown on her face? A ministering angel she was not. Damn Vadim for putting her in touch with her feminine side.

“Is she in a Fae trance?” She concentrated hard and found it impossible to penetrate Delia’s mind. It was as if a thick fog surrounded her thoughts.

“Yes.”

“And?”

“I’m not sure how to break the spell.”

Even though the only other personnel in the room were SBLE, Vadim spoke as quietly as she did.

“But you can do everything.”

“Not this time.” He removed his hand from Delia’s. “If she’s not better in the morning, I can try something more radical. I just hope that whatever our murderer did will eventually wear off. He has no motive for killing her.”

“As if that ever bothered the Fae.”

“True.” His smile was slight and looked painful. “Shall we go down to the ER?”

She nodded at the security team and shut the door behind them. It was quiet, as if the building held its breath, waiting to see who would win the nightly struggle over life and death the hospital waged. They walked back along the hallway toward the exit. She almost bumped into Vadim when he suddenly stopped in front of Brad’s old room. She frowned. Shouldn’t someone be guarding this space?

He put his hand on her arm and she cautiously opened her senses to the fractured magic around them.

“Is someone in there?”

“I don’t know.”

He pushed open the unlatched door and they both viewed the scene. Everything looked the same. The bed was still at a crazy angle, Brad’s ripped-off bandages lay on the floor and everywhere there was glass shining in the light coming through the broken window and the hallway.

She shivered. “Can’t they even board up the window?”

Vadim didn’t answer her. His attention seemed to be riveted on the floor by the window, where the glass was...

“Shit, it’s moving around!”

His fingers tightened on her arm. Shards of glass glittered and writhed on the floor. Tiny flashes of crimson—Vadim’s blood?—joined the mass of movement and formed into characters displayed against the floor. She didn’t understand the language. From the hitch in her partner’s breath, she reckoned he did.

“Is that Fae?”

He still didn’t answer her as the glass swirled and finally dispersed into a sea of dangerous shards.

“Morosov?”

He shook his head and walked out of the room, leaving her to chase after him. She poked him in the side.

“What was that all about?”

“Just a message from Adam.”

“Saying what?”

“To back off.”

“As if we would.”

He stopped moving and looked down at her, his gaze shadowed. “Maybe we should just let him be.”

“And stand back and watch his mutilate two more people on our watch? You’re nuts if you think I’d go along with that.” She practically stamped her foot. “What’s wrong with you?”

His smile was wry. “Perhaps I’m scared.”

“You? The big bad bird?”

“You can’t win every battle, Ella. I’m living proof of that. Sometimes it’s better to let something go, and avoid causing harm to even more people you care about.”

“Everyone who works for the SBLE knows the risks of dealing with Otherworld. None of them are cowards. Do you really think that a threat from a secret sect would make them all run away?”

“That wasn’t what I meant.”

“But it’s still the truth. If we let Adam get away with this, the next monster might want to take ten lives or twenty. Do we turn away from that, as well? Eventually we’ll have nothing left to protect, and our world will be annexed. I’m not going to let that happen.” She paused to stare up at him. “Are you?”

“You’re a brave woman, Ella Walsh.”

“Humph.” She started moving again, and after a moment, he followed her down the stairs to the ER.

Brad’s body hadn’t been put in the morgue yet but was being guarded in a more private area in the ER. Ms. Phelps saw them approaching and told the security guards to let them through. She held a handkerchief to her mouth and looked to be on the verge of passing out.

“He’s in there.” She waved a helpless hand at the door. “Please forgive me if I can’t accompany you.”

Ella patted her shoulder as they went past. Even if you’d seen as many dead bodies as she had, they were never easy.

She waited until Vadim closed the door behind him and joined her beside the corpse. The smell already reminded her of a rotting apple or a compost heap. She carefully uncovered the body and stared down at Brad’s now-motionless face.

“His body’s a mess. Why isn’t his face smashed in?”

Vadim put his hand out and passed it over Brad’s skin. His magic resonated through Ella. “Because the face doesn’t belong to him.”

“Like it’s not connected or touched by his death?”

“I assume so.”

“Will someone, or something, come and take it back?”

“I don’t know. If Adam wanted it, why didn’t he just take it when he got in to see Brad?”

“Because he wanted him to die more than he wanted the face back?”

“I suspect that’s part of it.” Vadim pulled the sheet back up over what remained of Brad. “The magic feels the same to me. How about you?”

“Like Adam? Yeah, that’s what I’m getting too. At least we can assume he’s working alone.”

“Apart from his affiliation with the sect.”

“Which we haven’t confirmed.”

“Oh, he’s connected. I’m convinced of that now.” Vadim washed his hands at the sink, and she did the same. “We should be getting back to the office.”

“I’m still driving.” She dug out his car keys and steered him toward the stairs that led to the parking lot below. “You can heal yourself in the car.”

The lights were already on in the big conference room, and Ella headed there. Vadim was still complaining about her driving. She hadn’t hit anything, had she? She heard him behind her and increased her pace, nodding to Liz, who was already seated next to Feehan at the table.

“How are you feeling, Vadim?”

Liz jumped to her feet and Ella bristled as she patted and cooed over poor, poor Morosov. He was fine! He’d magicked himself all better in the car and had still had time to criticize her driving. She had the most ridiculous desire to slap Liz’s hands away and growl at her. Was that how Vadim felt when men looked at her? Was she turning into one of those women? It was incredibly uncool. She chose a seat as far away from her partner as possible, then kicked the table leg with the side of her boot until Liz finally sat back down.

Feehan nodded at Vadim. “I’ve given them the basics, but you were actually there. So can you tell everyone what happened?”

Ella waited for him to finish speaking, noting carefully what he said and what he didn’t. There was no mention of the cryptic Fae message in the broken glass, but she’d half expected that. If Feehan thought Adam threatened them all, he’d be straight over to Otherworld, demanding that all kinds of shit happen, and he’d be dead.

“You couldn’t break Delia’s trance?” Feehan asked.

“Not easily. Each Fae’s spell is unique to the individual and to his line. If Delia hasn’t recovered by tomorrow, there are other ways of freeing her.”

“More dangerous ways. The Fae don’t like it when their spells are threatened or tampered with.’” Liz turned to Vadim, her eyes as silver as her Fae-Web, and her expression not human at all. “Be wary, the human mind is very frail.”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Of course, you bespelled Brad, didn’t you?”

Ella shot a glance at Liz. “What makes you think that?”

“Just an educated, Fae-Web-assisted guess.” Liz allowed herself a small satisfied smile. “The other patients were virtually impossible to sedate, and yet Brad was reported to be sleeping like a baby.”

“I certainly helped with that,” Vadim admitted.

“Then how did Brad break your spell and end up on the windowsill? As you just said, it’s very hard to fracture a Fae dream spell because of the complexities involved in creating it.”

“That’s a good question. I have to assume that whoever we are dealing with has stronger magic than I do.”

“I find that difficult to believe.”

Vadim shrugged. “Why? I’m not invincible.”

“But you are connected to several of the most powerful Fae bloodlines in Otherworld.”

“Then this Adam, or whatever we want to call him, is obviously even more powerful and was able to override my magic and wake Brad up.”

Liz sat back and stared at Vadim while the silver lines of her Fae-Web writhed around like a tornado.

He raised an eyebrow. “What is it, Liz? Do you think I broke the spell I placed on Brad, and caused him to leap to his death?”

“No, but—”

“Why would I do that?”

“This isn’t getting us anywhere.” Ella interrupted the staring contest that seemed to be going on between her mate and her best friend. “Can we focus on what we do know? What about the untouched nature of Brad’s face? Were the other victims’ the same?”

“I don’t know.” Liz turned to look at Ella. “I’m still attempting to download the pictures through that new Fae interface. It doesn’t seem to work, which means I might have to go back to Otherworld to get the photos of the previous victims.”

Ella shuddered. The last time she’d visited the records office at Merton, the Siren had tried to wipe her mind clean of all thought and bring her his version of empath peace, which meant her death and an increase in his powers. “Can’t we just request them?”

“We can, but it will take a while. They’re shorthanded over there.”

“And I bet they blame me for that too,” Ella groused. “Anyone would think they’d be glad not to have a crazed empath in their midst.”

“They are Otherworld. Apparently he did a good job.”

“Killing empaths.”

Feehan cleared his throat. “Speaking of going off topic, Ella, shall we focus on the matter in hand? Liz, you can request the photos by internal mail or send Sam for them, as long as it’s quick. Rich has been working on the security tapes and has isolated the time period we need. Do we all want to take a look?”

Rich opened his laptop and clicked his mouse. They all gathered round.

“Here’s the hallway in front of Brad’s room. The camera is facing that direction, so we should get some good shots of everyone who is going in and out of that door. I’ve gone back a few hours to where his grandfather, the ex-senator, came to visit and set his guard outside the door. This is just before they leave.”

Ella pointed at the screen. “There’s me and Morosov arriving and being told to take a hike.” She inclined her head an inch. “Wow. My ass looks huge in those jeans. Why didn’t anyone tell me? You look good in that suit though, Morosov.”

“Thanks.” Vadim was close behind her. “Delia looks fine here. Let’s watch her when the senator leaves and see if anyone interacts with her.”

There was silence as they all stared at the screen. Vadim’s breath curled around Ella’s throat and she inhaled his fancy aftershave and unique scent. The senator emerged looking suitably anxious, shook Delia by the hand and left. His security guard fell into step behind him, and they headed for the bank of elevators.

Nothing happened for a while. Staff walked by, some of them stopping to chat with Delia but most of them intent on their own tasks. Ella stifled a yawn. Behind her, Vadim shifted his stance and made it remarkably easy for her to lean back against him.

“Look.” Liz pointed at the screen. “There’s someone in a white coat. It’s a shame we can only see the back of his head. Why didn’t he have the decency to approach from the other side and make our lives easier?”

The man paused in front of Delia for a moment and then turned right, into Brad’s room. Just before he opened the door, he lifted his head and smiled.

“Holy shit!” Sam said. “It’s Vad!”