Chapter Four
Thane stood as close as he could without spooking the man his mystery woman was talking to at a bus stop on the corner four blocks from his place. He couldn’t hear what she was saying, but the man was waving his arms and shouting at her to get lost.
The streets were brisk with people hurrying home and cabs honking their horns every five seconds. But above it all, he could hear the undertone of faint voices murmuring. There was no reason for it, except for Reya. Only around her did he hear them so clearly. He was positive now that they were the same ones he heard the night his father died. The mix of anger, frustration, and curiosity were potent even after all these years.
She was the key to it all, and he would make sure she didn’t disappear until he had his answers.
The man flipped Reya the finger and walked away from her. She watched him for a moment, and then turned to return to where Thane was standing in front of a smoke shop.
Thane kept his eyes on the man as he blended in with the people waiting for the light to change. He was still alive, but that didn’t mean anything. She could have just picked some stranger out of the crowd. She walked back to him with purpose, strong and lithe, just like in the videos. It was a damn shame she was a suspect.
She stopped in front of him and smiled. “See? I didn’t kill him.”
“So? He could have been anyone,” Thane corrected. “Doesn’t mean a damn thing.”
She gave him a lopsided smile. “Wait for it.”
He frowned at the certainty in her voice.
Then there was a squeal, a loud thump, and screams in the intersection. The light had changed, but people were gathering quickly in the middle of the street. Thane brushed past Reya and raced into the fray. He made his way to the center of the action to find the man that Reya had been talking to lying facedown in front of a bus. He was dead.
Thane pulled out his phone and called it in. Then he turned to the people standing around. “Did anyone see this happen?”
They shook their heads and began wandering away. By the time a patrol car showed up, he had managed to find one person willing to talk to him. He handed the witness over, and then went back to find Reya.
She was waiting for him in front of the store.
He didn’t even know where to start. She’d been telling the truth about knowing when the man would die and not being involved. She knew the exact time and place of that man’s death. How do you interrogate someone about that?
“I didn’t kill him. That means I’m free to go,” she said simply and started walking down the street.
Thane followed. He wasn’t ready to give up just yet. So maybe she wasn’t killing people, but she knew they were going to die and he wasn’t about to let her disappear until he found out how. Plus there was the still the whole whispers thing to broach. “Perhaps not—”
“I didn’t,” she said curtly, and kept walking.
“But you knew he was going to die. How?”
“It’s a gift,” she muttered.
Hell of a gift. “Can you tell when everyone is going to die?”
“Yes,” she said. “And no, I won’t tell you when it’s your time.”
He hadn’t even thought about that. He wouldn’t want to know if he could. “What else do you know about them?”
“Nothing,” she said, clamming up.
He felt his options slipping away. He couldn’t bring her in. That would put Martin over the edge. He had one shot left. “Is your gift connected with the voices?”
She slanted him a look. “You hear voices? I can’t help you with that.”
“And you see death,” he countered.
She shrugged. “So we’re even.”
“You don’t seem surprised about the whispers,” he pressed, grasping at straws. She was the key, he couldn’t let her go.
They crossed onto a side street with less traffic. The streetlights were just coming on.
“I told you I can’t help you with the voices.”
“Whispers, actually,” he said. “Do you hear them?”
“No, I don’t. Are we done here, Driscoll? Because I’m tired of this game,” she said. “I just proved to you that I’m not involved. Move on.”
Damn, he needed a way to get more information out of her. “I need your contact information. The correct information this time.”
But his words were drowned out by a buzzing sound coming from behind him. He turned, but there was nothing there. Then he heard what sounded like thousands of birds flying overhead, but the skies were clear.
He looked at Reya, who had stopped a short distance away and was staring up at the sky. There was an otherworldly look to her, and a bad feeling settled in his gut. A strangely familiar bad feeling. He looked up to where she was facing. The sky was shimmering like a mirage.
Then his thoughts were lost in a torrent of small black bodies.
* * *
The furious flutter sent chills down her spine seconds before they attacked. Thousands of winged creatures blackened the sky and swooped over her head. The air became oppressive and heavy.
Their shrieks drowned out the noise of the city, and everything turned to chaos. Reya reached out and grabbed one as it swept by her. It was black as the night—half bat, half demon. Hellraiders. Impossible. They couldn’t come over. They shouldn’t even be able to survive here.
On the other hand, its claws and teeth tore at her, so they were doing better than surviving. She crushed its neck, and it stopped wriggling. Then it turned to dust in her hand and blew away in the windstorm created by a few thousand of its closest friends.
She gazed around to find the city surroundings shimmering under the lower frequency. People walked by, obvious in their own higher frequency, not seeing the horde of demons among them.
It went against everything she knew. Then Reya looked over to find the demons circling Thane like a tornado. He had his jacket off and was swinging at them.
She realized he was contained in the same bubble as she was. The only difference was that he didn’t stand a chance.
Crap. Time to save the pain-in-the-ass cop. He better appreciate this.
She extended her collapsible staff and ran toward him, into the whirlwind of wings and limbs. Bodies exploded into balls of ash as she spun the staff, clearing a path to Thane. It smelled like brimstone and fire. She reached Thane and fought with him—back to back. He was sliced and bleeding, but fighting.
“You brought these!” he yelled over the blood-curdling screeches.
What? Wait, he thought she was responsible for these things? “Shut up, I’m saving your life!”
He swatted at two creatures. “Really? Doesn’t look that way from here.”
Unreal. At this rate, she was never going to convince him that she was one of the good guys. Time to show him something new. She turned around and grabbed his shoulder, pushing him straight to the ground. “Stay down!”
She raised the staff over her head and spun it up to speed until it became a blur of black and silver. The creatures squealed and backed away enough for her to see the sky once again. The baton whirred, making a low hum that grew unbearably loud in an instant, drowning out everything else until it culminated in a loud boom. The shockwave ripped through demon bodies and a dust ball spread out around them as the bubble burst.
Then it was silent save for the car horns.
Light returned swiftly, and the air cleared. She glanced around. No one even noticed. No one paid attention to them. Something was very wrong. Why had hellraiders broken through? Why did they attack her?
“What the f*ck was that?” Thane asked, getting to his feet and looking around.
Reya had no idea. This was bigger than him, bigger than her. Either way, she was done with him. She’d proven her innocence and even saved his life. The sooner she got away from him, the better off he’d be.
He kept turning around and frowning as he realized that no one else seemed to have seen what had just happened. Only the two of them. Then he pinned her with a glare. “You have some explaining to do.”
No, no she didn’t.
So she vanished.
* * *
The nursing home smelled like old people and aging flesh. Thane nodded to the receptionist at the front desk before breezing down the main hallway. He tried not to look into the rooms. It was too depressing to see what time could do to the human body and mind.
Whenever he left here, he prayed to die a quick, violent death. It was one of the reasons he liked being a cop. Chances were excellent that his life would end just like that.
Old hands reached for him as he passed by; fragile voices called out to him. He ignored them for his own sanity. He couldn’t come here week after week if he didn’t.
He caught his reflection in a glass divider, complete with scratches and scrapes on his face and neck. He looked pretty banged up from something that had apparently happened in his imagination. There’d been little sleep last night while he called everyone he knew looking for surveillance in the area. He’d found it, and there were no flying monkeys in any of the footage.
The only way he could prove he wasn’t going crazy was to find Reya, which was next to impossible, since she could vanish into thin air at will. The only way he’d find her was if he was of use to her. She’d looked as shocked as he had been. She was not expecting that. The sooner he found something useful, the sooner she’d find him.
His mother’s private room was at the far end of a white hallway with white polished floors and white doors. You’d think all that white would brighten the place up, but it didn’t. It just created a bigger contrast between the inhabitants and their world.
He found Millie Driscoll sitting in the rocking chair facing the door, waiting for him. He walked in and kissed her on the cheek, and hoped that today she’d remember him. He really needed to talk to her.
“Mom, how are you feeling?” he asked, pulling a chair up to sit in front of her.
She blinked her eyes a few times and smiled. “Hello, Thane.”
His lucky day. “You want the windows open? It smells like bleach in here.”
She laughed, a high tinkling sound. “I just had my hair colored. You like it?”
It was mostly blond with a little green on the edges. “Looks great.”
She beamed, her blue eyes looking right through him. Then for a moment, she stared at something behind him and lost her place.
He cleared his throat and put her hands in his. “I need to ask you about something. About Dad.”
“Oh, is he here?” she asked, her face lighting up.
“No, he’s not here anymore,” Thane said softly.
She frowned. “Oh. Doesn’t he love me anymore?”
Thane held the pain in his heart at bay. “He loved you dearly.”
That seemed to placate her. “This is our fortieth year together.”
Thane smiled. “Do you remember the night Dad…left?”
Her eyes met his. “Of course. It was a Saturday.”
“Right,” Thane said. “Do you recall hearing anything? Voices? Whispers?”
Her eyes widened, and her voice was abruptly harsh. She pushed him away. “No. Nothing like that.”
He was surprised by her reaction. His mother was usually very gentle. “Are you sure? Because I could swear someone was there, talking.”
“No,” she said, getting visibly agitated. “No, you didn’t. You heard nothing.”
What was going on? “Mom—”
She put her hands over her ears. “Don’t say it. Don’t listen to them.”
A chill settled over Thane. “Listen to who?”
Millie closed her eyes and shook her head. “No! No!” She started screaming it over and over until an orderly came in to calm her down. When that didn’t work, Thane watched them give her a sedative. They put her into her bed, and she started sobbing.
He felt helpless and angry. Helpless for not being able to stop her mind from disintegrating and angry for his father’s death, which had started her downfall.
She was still sobbing when he left.
* * *
“Orson, get down here! I mean it!” Reya yelled like she had for the past few hours. “This is serious!”
She heard papers rustle and turned to find him behind her in the living room.
He frowned. “I’m not at your beck and call, Reya.”
She was this close to exploding and it took all her self-control to keep it together. She pointed out the window. “I was attacked by hellraiders. In the middle of the street. Why?”
Orson folded his notebook under his arm and clasped his hands together as he looked at her in earnest. “Are you certain?”
Reya closed her eyes. “Yes, trust me. I know them when I see them. They came through the other side, and I don’t know how, I don’t know why, and I don’t like it.”
The little man nodded his head. “That is unusual. Did anyone see them?”
“No,” she said, spreading out her arms. “Just me and, oh yes, the detective who’s been tracking me down.”
Orson blinked furiously. “Why did he see them?”
She stepped up to him. “I don’t know. Maybe because he’s bad, maybe because he’s a legacy. Does it matter?”
“Everything matters,” Orson said. “Is he okay?”
She walked into the kitchen and grabbed a cold beer from the fridge. It was still early in the morning, but her nerves were shot between walking the city looking for hellraiders half the night, grabbing a few hours of sleep, and waiting for Orson to get his ass down here. “He got a few cuts.”
“That’s good,” Orson said. “So why were they after you?”
The beer tasted damn good and helped to get rid of the sulfur stuck in her throat. “How should I know? That’s why you’re here.”
He shrugged. “What can I do? I’m not privy to their plans.”
“Wow, you are so helpful,” she said and saluted him with the half-empty beer. “Thanks a heap.”
Orson sighed. “Perhaps it was only this one time—”
She shook her head. “No. Not buying it. This did not happen by accident. Someone planned it. Someone found a way to isolate me in a cocoon of negative energy. So you tell me what changed. Because I’m contacting people like I always have, just doing my job like all the other Redeemers. Are any of them getting attacked?”
“No, I would have heard,” Orson said.
“Okay. So how did I get on their radar?”
Orson looked thoughtful. “The only difference has been your contact with Thane Driscoll.”
Driscoll, she hadn’t even considered him. “Why would my contact with him get me attacked?”
Orson cocked his head to the side and looked at her. “Are you certain it was you they were attacking?”
Oh, shit. She nearly choked on the beer. What if they were after Driscoll? “Impossible. Why would they want him?”
“You said it yourself, there hasn’t been a legacy in thirty years,” Orson noted.
For a brief moment, she felt relief. “Fine, let them have him. He’s halfway there anyway.”
“No,” Orson said and frowned. “It cannot be allowed to happen.” Then he looked at her. “You must protect him.”
She took a full step back. “What? Wait, no. I already have a job to do.”
“This is important, Reya,” Orson said. “He must be protected at all costs.”
She gaped at him. “Why? He’s nobody.”
Orson lifted his eyebrows. “Everyone is important.”
Reya rolled her eyes. “Fine. He’s no more important than anyone else here.”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps his move to the other side could cause imbalance in the duality.”
Christ, the f*cking duality. “Positive and negative energy have been warring for this planet for thousands of years. One man is going to change the playing field? I don’t think so.”
Orson peered at her. “We don’t know that.”
She drained the beer. “Not my problem. I’m a Redeemer, not a babysitter.”
“And we must find out why they want him,” Orson added as if he hadn’t heard her protests.
“Not interested.”
“You were on the other side,” he pressed.
She gripped the bottle dangerously hard. “And I learned my lesson, thank you. And no.”
He smiled. “If you do this, it might move you up faster. On the other hand, refusing an opportunity to choose the light could extend your ascension.”
She sucked in a breath. “How long have you been holding that card?”
He shrugged. “I have some leeway. This is obviously an opportunity, a choice you must make.”
Son of a bitch. And he knew exactly when to throw it down. He knew time was not on her side. She’d do just about anything to move fully into the safety of the light. All she’d have to do is keep the hellraiders off Driscoll until Orson could find out why they wanted him. How hard could that be? Beat chasing down scumbags all day. “Make that a guarantee, and I’ll babysit whoever you want.”
Orson nodded. “Done.”
“Really?” she asked, skeptical. Nothing moved fast in the spirit world. It dawned on her that Orson had a lot more leeway than he let on.
“Really,” he said and stood up. “I will provide you with everything we have on him—past, present, and future. Now, if we are finished—”
“Oh, no,” she said, putting up her hands to stop him right there. “What if they get to him? What if we can’t figure out what’s going on?”
Orson frowned. “Then we could have a major problem. You may not think this could change the balance, but this has the potential. It is no coincidence that Thane appeared now. This world is still fragile, straddling the line between light and dark. His actions could have more impact than either of us can imagine.”
“No, this planet’s light quotient is finally over fifty percent for the first time in thousands of years. One man can’t change that.”
“Perhaps not. But he could if he joined the darkness. We have no precedence for a legacy doing that. It could very well alter the balance and send this planet’s evolution back centuries.”
Oh hell. Why did these things happen to her? “Gee, thanks. Nothing like putting a little pressure on me.”
He looked at her. “If anyone can do this, you can. I have complete faith in you.”
She sighed. She wished she did.
* * *
It was still dark out when Thane’s phone rang. He fumbled around for his cell phone on the bedside table.
“Six a.m. This better be good,” he growled.
“Hey, I got woken up ten minutes ago, so don’t bitch at me,” Martin said. “We got another torched victim.”
Thane sat up and swung out of bed on his way to the bathroom. “Where?”
“Lower East Side. I texted you the address.”
“I’ll meet you there in half an hour.” Then he hung up.
He showered, changed, and was out the door in fifteen minutes. He’d just exited his apartment building when he noticed Reya waiting in the shadows. She stepped out to block his way.
“Morning,” she said, her voice low. “Going somewhere?”
He wasn’t sure why she’d tracked him down but wasn’t about to question his good fortune. Something had changed. She wouldn’t be here if she didn’t want something. “Come with me.”
He hailed a cab for both of them and slid in the backseat close to her. He was sticking to her like glue. “You disappeared again last night.”
“I got called away.”
He eyed her. “By who?”
“No one you know.”
Fine. Her thigh next to his felt solid and warm. Not like a ghost. It was a little distracting. “Maybe you can tell me what those things were then.”
She looked ahead. “It’s way too early for twenty questions.”
“I’m a cop, that’s what I do.”
She turned to him then, and he was riveted to the palest blue eyes he’d ever seen. Yesterday, they’d seemed black. Silver in the surveillance footage. She might not be quite human after all.
“I know what they were, but I don’t know why they attacked us.”
A straight answer. A damn miracle. “Let’s start with what they were.”
“You’d probably call them demons. They aren’t really, but it’s close enough. Hellraiders.”
Martin was going to love this. “From Hell, I suppose?”
She smirked. “Now I see why you’re a detective.”
He was trying. It wasn’t easy. “Were they trying to kill us? Scare us? What?”
She suddenly narrowed her eyes at him, and for a moment, it felt like she could see right into his soul. “You’ve done some things.”
He stilled. Where did that come from? “How would you know what I’ve done?”
“Planted evidence, lied on the stand during trials, even shot an unarmed man under the guise of self-defense. Do you want the details?”
It was the second time she’d mentioned it, but she couldn’t know those things. Yes, some people suspected but he was very good at cleaning up. Besides, he’d done it to keep murderers and killers off the streets. That alone was justification enough.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” he told her. “And what does that have to do with them coming after us?”
She raised an eyebrow. “Maybe they like you.”
“You think I’m one of them?” he asked carefully.
She cut him a look. “Hell is a long way to travel from for nothing.”
The cab pulled over at the crime scene, and Thane handed the cabbie a twenty. The man just waved him off and said, “No charge.” Reya was already out of the cab and looking at the scene.
Thane murmured a thank you, and the cab pulled away. He was still perturbed by the whole conversation and the unsettling feeling that his mystery woman knew too much, but dead people took precedence over self-respect.
Blue and white lights flashed across the early-morning scene. Thane made his way over to where the body was located. Martin wasn’t there yet. He got the information from the officer in charge. Same MO. Man burst into flames for no apparent reason. No one saw any weapons. No answers.
He walked back to where Reya was standing on the sidewalk. She appeared to be talking to someone but there was no one around. He heard the whispers rise above the chatter, unintelligent and mangled in the crime scene noise. When she saw him coming toward her, she seemed to wrap up the conversation. By the time he got within reach, she was staring at him and the whispers were gone.
“Who were you talking to?” he asked gruffly. He was getting tired of invisible people messing with his head.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she said with a smile. “No witnesses?”
“Plenty of witnesses. No apparent cause of the fire,” he replied. “He’s the second one in as many days. You wouldn’t have any thoughts on this, would you?”
“Me?” she said. “Nope.”
Liar. “You seem to know everything about me. About future victims. About when people will die. But nothing about this?”
She batted her eyelashes a few times. “I’m not God.”
He was beginning to wonder if that was also a lie. “Let’s cut the bullshit. I heard you talking to someone. Who was it?”
“Well, since we’re cutting the bullshit,” she started.
He glared at her, and she rolled her eyes. “Just remember you asked for it. Do you believe in ghosts, Thane?”
Trick question? “No.”
“Too bad. You’re going to.” Reya crossed her arms. “I was talking to him.”
He eyed her. “Him who? God?”
She laughed and sounded surprisingly genuine. “Not God. The dead guy. Or rather, the dead guy’s spirit.”
Okay. “Is he still here?”
“He left,” she said. “He doesn’t know what happened to him. Probably too traumatized by being yanked out so quickly. Takes them a while to acclimate. Not long though, especially the old souls. They cross over pretty quick and get the hell off this planet.”
And the conversation just kept getting more and more bizarre. He decided to stay on one bizarre track at a time. “He didn’t see anything?”
She hesitated just long enough for Thane to realize that she knew something. “There was someone, but he didn’t know who it was.”
So it was a someone, not a something. He found it hard to believe that anyone could get close enough to set a person on fire without them noticing. “Flying monkeys, perhaps?”
She shook her head in thought and frowned slightly. “Definitely not flying monkeys.” Then she smiled at him brightly. “So where to next?”
Her sudden change of demeanor worried him. “I have to work.”
“Thought you wanted to take me into the office for questioning?”
Okay, now he was feeling like he’d been sucked into a parallel universe. “And you’ll do that.”
She blinked. “Of course.”
He got the impression he was being played. “No disappearing?”
“You have my wor—”
“Don’t even,” he said, stopping her. “It didn’t work last time.”
“Oh, right,” she said. “Well, I guess you’ll just have to trust me.”
Now he knew for certain he was in trouble.