Chapter 2
The Lake Elysium sign appeared and Fay knew she couldn’t keep quiet any longer. She’d been silent for the drive from the airport. Abe hadn’t pushed but she could tell he was battling inside. His instincts made him hating going in where he’d probably be blindsided; however, experience cautioned him, as he feared losing Fay completely. She glanced at him, saw his hands tighten fractionally on the steering wheel. With a deep breath she turned and rested her cheek against the warm pane of glass.
“I don’t remember much about where I come from. Peter, my…the man who raised me told me he found me. He was vague on the details but I never cared. Not at first, anyway. In the pack we weren’t powerful but we weren’t poorly positioned either. Still, it was a good childhood. Normal, as much it could’ve been for me, a human amongst werewolves. In time I made lots of friends…” Fay’s voice faded away as she recalled her group and her running down to the lake’s edge, giddy on summer – and the boy who kissed her that day. “I fell in love. A year after that we were at a fair, celebrating my birthday and our anniversary.” She glanced at him, her eyes guarded. “I turned that night and suddenly I was the big bad monster. I could’ve killed them all. I wanted to, you know?”
She fell silent, waited for the inevitable questions but none came. She didn’t look over to see if he had or to gauge his reaction. It wasn’t the whole story she told him, though she knew he could tell that. It was a start, though. More than she’d told anyone in years. It was not as cathartic as she imagined. There was no cosmic release, no chains unlocked. Perhaps, she thought, she’d have to tell everything. All the dark, ugly details. She wasn’t exactly innocent, either. It’s why she’d released some
of her anger towards the pack. Not much, just a little. It was hard to release an anger that wasn’t entirely hers.
Abe didn’t speak until he turned the car down the driveway to the pack’s compound. They passed through a security gate. The compound was quitter than she remembered, especially for a weekend.
When the main house, the one she’d spent hours in as a kid with Ben and Ryan, the Alpha’s son, appeared, her breath hitched. Abe reached across and gently touched her hand, which clutched her leg, white-knuckled. The tension bled away as she glanced at him but his focus was on the road. She gave his hand a squeeze, reassuring him before she gently removing his hand.
Abe set his hand back on the wheel and parked the car.
“Are you still my partner?” Fay asked quietly.
“Always. Someday I’d like the rest of that story but I’m relieved you told me. Now, shall we deal with this?”
The gloomy feeling was, for the moment, dispelled.
To her amusement he sounded mildly scathing of the wolves. She nodded at him, not letting herself be too swept away by his acceptance. Abe got out of the car first, striding over to the man who stepped down from the front door, and shook his hand. It was only when Fay carefully stepped out of the car and stood up did she realise who it was – and the shock registered on their face, too, as the small group of the senior pack members saw her. All familiar faces.
“Ryan?”
“Fay?” Ryan glanced at Abe, eyes cold as ice. “Why have you bought that thing here?”
With a slick smile Fay stepped up beside Abe; after staring down and spitting on the feet of Hades, staring at Ryan was rather easy. “Agents Childers, actually. This is my partner, Agent Preston. We’re from the Council. Might we continue this discussion inside? I do hate to create a scene and my partner knows I can be a bit loose with my tempestuous nature.”
Abe’s lips twitched but remained silent as Ryan grudgingly led them inside, right past the scowls of his pack. Oh, Fay had enjoyed that play of power. Especially since Ryan had played arguably the biggest role in her ugly past, the key instigator of her grief. It must’ve burned how she called him to heel, subtly reminding him that it was she who had the power. As much as the council permitted anyway.
In the quiet of the formal living room Ryan sat down in the large black recliner, Abe on the couch, and Fay standing by the wall. She’d scoped her exits, planned a route, and her demon side was ready to come out. Before, she’d been young and inexperienced, having no grip on her hellhound form. She wasn’t like that anymore. She knew how to tear the whole pack apart, limb from limb, without breaking a sweat, then dragging their souls down to the underworld. They’d never even get a claw on her.
Abe clasped his hands together. “Right, I’ll cut to the point, past all the protocol. Like my partner I don’t really care for all the niceties. We’re here for the Poltergeist problem you have, nothing else. Our mission is to find, examine and remove every poltergeist you have and learn the source. If it’s a person we take them, wolf or not, and take them away.”
“You mean you kill them?” A girl snarled from the doorway.
Ryan looked up sharply and went to answer but Fay beat him to it. She turned to the girl, whom she recognised as Tarryn Carmichael, a girl who’d always been smitten with Ryan. Once, Fay called her a friend, best friend for a time, too.
“Yes. That is the punishment for breaking The Law of Summoning. It’s dangerous to toy with that stuff and now we have two dead bodies; a janitor and, most damning of all, the exorcist the council sent before us.” Fay cocked her head to the side. “You know your lands. Have there been any witches passing through? Any supernatural groups aside from us?”
Ryan shook his head. “I take care to know who and what passes through my land. I told all of this to the exorcist.”
“Who is now dead,” Fay reminded him.
Ryan met her gaze across the room. Oh, how it must’ve burned him to deal with her, to be reminded of his ugly past. To have no power to remove her. Still, he was clever and knew that, whilst he could make things hard for them, there was a line. For a pack to make an enemy of the council by stalling the Bureau’s investigations…Bad move. The other packs wouldn’t even fight for him if he was taken. They all liked the protection and peace that followed since the council presided over just about everything after the Olympia Accords, the document binding just about every supernatural race under one law system.
Fay wondered, however, how far Ryan might go to protect Amanda, his heir and cousin, if she was somehow involved. Pack loyalty went a long way. Fay just saw the ugly side of it.
Abe cleared his throat. “My partner will be attending the local school. Her paperwork has been organised but I’d like you to ensure there are no incidences with my partner, given her history here. Additionally, none beyond those who have heard these conversations is to know who we are. I’d hate to call in a witch to wipe their minds. Such a dangerous procedure.”
Ryan ran a hand through his hair but nodded, tiredly. “You’re both insane.”
“No, I’m just Abe Preston and she’s Fay Childers, my partner. A match made in the underworld if I do say so myself.” Abe stood and glanced to Fay. “I’d say we’ve given our notice of our arrival. Anything else?”
Fay pressed her lips together dramatically. “Warn them not to leave town?”
“I don’t think that’ll be an issue.” Abe shot a Ryan a long look. “That won’t be an issue.” Ryan opened his mouth but Abe turned back to Fay. “No, I’d say we’re good. Shall we go?”
With Ryan and Tarryn staring at them Fay followed Abe out and got into the car. The other members of the pack were staring at them as they drove away. Only when they hit the open road Abe dropped the façade and exhaled deeply.
“You didn’t slaughter them.”
Fay looked up at the roof of the car. “I didn’t.”
Abe glanced back in the rear-view place. “That pack will fall apart in the next few years. At last reports the pack was thriving. It looks like a run down, empty reserve. Karma, as an old friend of mine might’ve said.”
Fay said nothing further as they drove to their new house, her mind drifting back into the past, to the boy she loved, and the boy she wanted dead.
The house was nicer than she expected at first; by the time she wandered through the grand front door to the gleaming foyer – yes, the place actually had a grand foyer – which had high arched doorways leading off to sprawling formal living rooms, casual ones. Through one Fay spied an enormous kitchen and dining table, mahogany from the smell of it. Fay hoisted her bags across the foyer up the grand staircase to the next floor where she found several nicely furnished rooms. She ended up taking the one at the very end, a colossal room furnished with French provincial furniture. A large bay window overlooked a simple but well-tended garden, vast with roses and lilies and ornamental hedges carved into a myriad of animals. It was bordered by a tall brick fence topped with iron spikes and gargoyles perched on every corner.
As she stood by the window she felt a small breeze blow from behind her; warm, smelling of ash and bone. A presence hovered behind her. Gooseflesh rippled across her skin. Not fear but an awareness. Familiar but not comforting – not terrifying either. She worked her lips, as if to call Abe, though it scarcely felt anything like his presence, but her mouth refused to obey.
“Fay…”
She spun around, heart racing but there was nothing. Her room was empty. With a deep breath she blinked several times and shook her head. She reminded herself that there were a lot of ghosts in the town, as were there plenty of poltergeists. So, she wasn’t surprised she felt watched, sensed the presence of the dead. The whole town practically reeked of it.
Once she finished unpacking and changed into running gear she found Abe downstairs, sharpening his swords in the living room. His jacket lay draped over the back of the couch. His strong arms worked in long, steady strokes over the blade. All the focus was on the blades until Fay took a step into the room. He looked up.
“You going out?”
“I figure I could do a quick run around the area, see what I can sense on a cursory look. Might find nothing but may be able to pick up some trails, get a feel for what’s in this town. I mean, I can feel the death already but I want to get a better feel for it.”
He nodded. “If anyone gives you trouble state you’re an agent-“
“I know the protocol,” she reminded him with a smile.
“I was going to say feel free to give them hell if they still persist,” he returned humorously.
“Naturally. You be okay in this palace of ours?”
“I’ll be fine. Dr Marlo wants to call us later around eight, get a mission update. Can you be back by then?”
“Sure.” Fay lingered for an awkward moment then hurried out.
She set out on the road in a steady jog, feeling the solid ground beneath her feet and her legs pounding. Soon, she settled into a comfy rhythm and ran without any direction in mind. She let the presence of death lead her. It led her to the dance hall in the middle of town, adjoining the school where she’d attended – where she’d be attending again. She remembered going to a dance with Ben there. It’d been a magical night with pretty dresses and flowers and wonderful music. She wiped the sweat from her brow and turned to leave when she saw the guy walking towards her; having not seen her, his head down and one earphone in, he didn’t notice her until she summoned his name to her lips.
“Ben?”
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