Chapter 6

6

“ S o, I have some news.”

“Good or bad? Please say good. I could really use it right now?” Gil sounded tired, frustrated, and badly in need of letting his wings hang out.

“Yeah, it’s good. I met the Detective in charge of the case, she wasn’t thrilled but after a bit she warmed up and we got some work done.” He paused and took a drink of his beer. “There is no doubt it’s a case for us. The guy is using alchemy and black magic.”

“Is he a wizard?”

“No clue yet. We’re going to the morgue first thing in the morning and then interviewing a few suspects Det. Hale found who intersect with all the victims.”

“Det. Hale?” Gil question, the snicker evident in his tone. “You usually have a snarky nickname for the local LEOs you’re working with. Why all the formality with this one?”

Not realizing his faux pas until his brother called him out on it, Rafe just told him the truth. “She’s my mate. Knew it the minute I walked into the room.”

“What? How? She’s human?” Suddenly serious, Gil fired off questions.

Answering in the order his brother asked, Rafe spoke very slowly just to rile Gil up. “She’s my mate. The Universe made it so. No, from what I can tell she’s an honest-to-God Seer. Picked me out as a Dragon straight up.”

“Congrats, Brother. I’m truly happy for you. Just don’t let it get in the way of the investigation.”

“Pfft, damn Gil, don’t gush. I’d hate to have to tell anyone you had a heart.”

“Shit. Sorry, Rafe. I really am happy for you and we’ll celebrate and all that happy horseshit as soon as this case is over, promise. Hell, I’ll even foot the bill for the liquor.”

“Isaacs on your ass again?”

“No, it’s not that. It’s just…yeah, it’s just.” Out of sorts, that’s the only way Rafe could think of the way his brother was acting, and Gilbride O’Rhordan did not do out of sorts.

As if a switch had been flipped, Gil was alert and all business, as he asked, more than a little surprise in his voice, “Your mate is a one-hundred-percent Italian from the old country Seer? As far as the Council knows there is only one and she is very old.”

“Yeah, I have a sneaky suspicious the one you’re talking about is Nat’s Nona.”

“No shit? Well, tread lightly. If she is your mate and a Seer, she’ll cut right through your bullshit before it’s even outta your mouth.”

It was good to hear his older brother laugh, even if it was a bit forced.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’ve got no doubt about that.” After taking another drink of his beer, he went on, “But something tells me she’s been raised almost completely as a human. She missed the mercury tattoo inside the victims’ wrists and had no idea the symbol was a Leviathan Cross.”

“The mark of Satan?” Gil’s voice was a deep rumble, more Dragon than man. “And there were organs stolen from the bodies?”

“The same organs from each body – heart and liver.”

“Son of a bitch!” Gil spat, “He’s…”

“Sacrificing them and sending their souls to Hell,” Rafe interrupted, rolling his eyes even though his brother couldn’t see the gesture through the phone. “Yeah, I got that, Bro. Not my first trip down this rocky road.”

“I know,” Gil sighed, his voice back to normal and twice as tired as before. “I just hate that you’re there without backup.”

“Won’t Max be here in the morning?”

“He will, but I mean one of us.”

“You really gotta get over it. Max might as well be one of us. He seems to be helping us more and more lately.”

“Well, I’m gonna get with the Clan Leaders and see if they have any Guardsmen who’d be a good fit for us. I know Rian, you’ve met him, right? The Leader of the Blue Dragons?”

“Yep, met him a bunch of times over the years.”

“Oh crap, that’s right. Damn, I need to sleep for about a week.” Pausing during which time Rafe could hear his brother shuffling papers, Gil finally went on, “Anyway, I know he’s got a few guys who’ve not found their mates with military background and great skills that we could use.”

“Let me guess,” Rafe acknowledged. “Declan is top of your list?”

“Well, yeah, but why was he your first guess?”

“’Cause you’ liked him since we worked with him in the desert. He’s your kinda no-shit-straight-to-the-point-get-the-job-done Guardsman.”

“And what is wrong with that?” Gil growled.

“Not a damn thing. Simmer down, I’m not criticizing, just statin’ the facts. He’ll work well with Abe and Ben, no doubt about it.”

“I think so, too. There’s also a couple others that are floatin’ around, not really with a Clan, but still pitchin’ in where they can that I want to talk to.”

“Anybody else I know?”

“No, I only know them in a friend-of-a-friend kinda way. Got their military records from the DOD. One’s an intelligence expert, did some work for the CIA and has extensive undercover experience.”

“Now, that’s one area we seriously need some help in.”

“That’s what I was thinkin’, too.” A beep broke into their conversation prompting Gil to add, “Director Isaacs is callin’. I gotta take this. Keep me informed and stay safe, Brother.”

“You know it.” Rafe pulled the phone from his ear, pushed the red button to disconnect the call and laid his phone on the counter.

Grabbing the case file Nat had given him, he looked over the information on the three men and one woman they would be interviewing the next morning. He doubted the woman was involved. Not because women can’t be serial killers, but from her size and weight, he doubted she could’ve moved the bodies from wherever they were murdered to the piers. It just didn’t seem feasible, but he would follow Nat’s lead, and Max would be watching from the other room.

“And he can smell deceit at a hundred yards.”

The more he read about each ‘person of interest’ the more he doubted the killer was in the bunch. Checking through financial records, employment history, known associates – the whole ball of wax, he couldn’t find anything that linked any of them to the Occult, Witches, or even anything remotely Supernatural.

“But that means exactly bupkis,” he muttered. “Getting away with it for this long, he’s had to be careful. Wonder if Gil’s called Calysta?”

Looking at his phone across the living room of his rented condo, he decided to ask Max tomorrow morning about calling the Grand Priestess of All Earthen Witches for her advice. Flying under the radar and involving as few people as possible was how the DPA operated, and Rafe wasn’t about to rock the boat. He’d let the King do it.

Parked outside the DFW airport, he waited for the King of the Big Cats. Waking up to a text that Max took an earlier plane had meant Rafe had showered, shaved and dressed in less than ten minutes to be able to grab a coffee on his way. After staying up half the night studying the victims’ profiles and the witness statements, there was no way he could fight the busy airport traffic without a large cup of hot java.

Grinning as the tall, sleek, always suave, never bothered by anything King sauntered out of the electronic doors, Rafe couldn’t help but snicker, “Damn it, if he doesn’t look like he just stepped out of an ad from a men’s magazine.

South American, fluent in four languages aside from his native Spanish, Maximillian Prentice was just three days younger than dirt, sharp as a tack, and fierce as a lion. He’d been allied with the Dragons from the very beginning and had contacts in every nook and cranny of the world.

Popping the trunk open and jumping out of the car, Rafe met Max at the back of the car with a hearty handshake.

“How’s life been treatin’ ya, Old Man?”

“Fine.” Max’s posh accent and knowing smirk guaranteed he had more to add and sure enough, he raised a single eyebrow and nodded. “At least until you called me an old man.”

Chuckling as he released the other man’s hand, Rafe teased, “I call ‘em as I see ‘em.”

“Remind me of that the next time I have my tail in a trap while trying to save your scaly ass.”

With his chuckles turning to laughter, Rafe guffawed, “Never gonna let me live that down are ya’?”

“Not a chance, mi amigo .”

Shutting the trunk after Max’s luggage was stowed, Rafe got back in the car, hooked his belt and once the King was ready, took off towards the exit.

“You eat on the plane? Need coffee? Anything before we head to the police station?”

“No, thank you. I really want to get up to speed on this case. If all that Gil told me is still accurate, we don’t have a lot of time before this mad man will be looking for his next victim.”

Handing Max the files he had reviewed last night, Rafe asked, “So, you agree that this killer is taking them long before we find them.”

“He must be, even though they are not being reported missing right away.” Max laid the manilla folder on his lap, opening it to the middle and asking, “I am right in assuming that they all lived alone, and if they were students, they were loners.”

“Yes, and from the details on their cell phone usage, all received texts were returned stating the vic had taken a trip of some kind.”

“All to the same place?”

“No, he’s smarter than that.”

Sitting so still and so silent Rafe wondered if he was even breathing, Max suddenly asked, “And you have not released the information about the texts to the public?”

“No, the police haven’t. To be honest, they haven’t released much. The detective in charge, Donatella Hale, is playin’ it close to the vest.”

“Gil says she is a true Seer.” There was an unasked question sitting like an elephant between them. One that Rafe was not going to answer until Max asked.

True to form, too perceptive for anyone’s good, the King questioned, “And this detective , she is your mate, mi amigo ?”

“Talked to Gil last night or just knew ?” Rafe raised his free hand and wiggled his fingers while making a “wooooooooooo” sound. “Those freaky senses of yours truly freak me out sometimes, ya’ know?”

“It did not take any of my ‘freaky senses’, as you call them, to know that you have found the woman who completes you.” He motioned by barely lifting his index finger from the papers in his lap. “Your aura is glowing, your Dragon King is content, and you are truly happy, fulfilled.”

“Alright, I’ll take your word for it,” Rafe scoffed.

Pulling into the parking lot behind the Police Station, he pulled into one of the visitor’s spots at the very end of the front row of cars and turned off the car. Looking directly at Max, he warned, “Just don’t say anything. I haven’t said anything to Detective Hale, Nat. We just met yesterday and from what I can tell, her knowledge of our world is limited.”

A knowing smiled speared on the King’s lips as he nodded. “I happen to know the Hale family very well, and I can assure you that with Angelique as her grandmother, your mate already knows more than you can imagine.”