Hunter (11 page)

"Then why
didn't you bring him in for questioning?" Nova asked.

"There
wouldn't have been any point. You saw for yourself; the coven can
make you do all kinds of things. Besides, I don't believe he saw
them last night. He's probably just as surprised as we
are."

"I see," said
Nova.

She took a
deep breath and joined Briggles deeper inside the room. It didn't
get any better past the doorway. Toppled furniture was strewn
across the floor. The sheets had been ripped from the beds and lay
in tatters. The curtain rods had been pulled down and the elegant
curtains were lying in heaps on the floor.

The
television and almost every light were smashed. Glass covered the
floor; tiny reflective sparkles shone across the carpet.

The kitchen
was also in ruins. The utensils were scattered across the main
bench and knives were lodged into the back of the overturned couch.
The food generator's door was open and the inside was covered with
red blood.

"I hope
that's synthetic," Nova said when she stepped up to the machine and
peered inside.

"Me too,"
Briggles replied. "I've called for them to send Doctor Dunwood up.
The three of us will go over this mess before I call the boys up
for a full sweep."

Nova nodded.
She reached into the bag at her waist and pulled on a set of rubber
gloves. She pulled out a glass vial and scooped up some of the
blood from the food generator and dropped the vial into a plastic
bag.

She scanned
around the floor. Aside from the glass, there wasn't much else; no
blood-soaked footprints or any other giveaways.

"This is
where the crime happened," Briggles called from the adjoining
room.

Nova tiptoed
around the upturned furniture and shards of glass into the bedroom.
The blankets and sheets were torn to shreds and the pillows were
pulled to pieces. The door to the balcony was smashed across the
floor and the glass shards had droplets of red blood dried to their
tips.

"What
happened through the rest of the place then?" Nova asked. "Did they
suddenly all turn on one another?"

"Doubtful,"
said Doctor Dunwood, stepping up behind them. "Covens are usually
tightly knit. There are very few times when they would all turn
against one another."

"Then why was
there a woman impaled on a tree and why does it look like the
Battle of Brukzel happened in this apartment?"

"The woman I
would have said was condemned to death by Corvus. As their coven
leader it's his right to cast judgement. It doesn't happen very
often but she must have done something extremely bad to offend him.
However, the rest of the room suggests a bigger story. There's no
mention in the history books of a coven turning on their leader.
The only thing I can think of is another coven attacking
Corvus's."

"Another
coven?" Nova asked, her jaw clenched.

Dunwood
shrugged. "They will fight for territory from time to time, or just
for title. Corvus is a well-known and highly ranked lecheon. If
someone were to overthrow him and take over his coven they would be
highly respected in lecheon society."

Nova nodded.
Not that different from the politics of the Human Confederacy,
although that was usually done with poison and assassins rather
than full blown attacks.

"If they're
staying in fancy hotels can't we just put out a message to the
public, to be on the lookout?" Nova asked.

"It won't do
any good," said Briggles.

"He's right,"
added Doctor Dunwood. "With their powers of persuasion they could
convince someone to rent them a room and then make them forget they
were ever there. All a public message would do is send the humans
of Boullion Five into a panic."

"I see," said
Nova, frowning.

"If they were
under attack, they may have been in a hurry to leave," Briggles
said. "Perhaps they left some clue of where they were headed? I can
bring up more deputies."

"I think it
would be better to keep it small," Nova said. "The crime scene has
been disturbed enough as it is."

She turned
back to the apartment. It was a complete and utter mess, a
nightmare to sort through. It took them a good hour of all three of
them searching before they could safely say that every square inch
had been explored.

They gathered
around the kitchen bench which was scattered with
utensils.

"What have we
found?" Briggles asked.

"I've got a
bit of blood from the food generator, the blood from the glass
shards in the bedroom and a torn piece of paper which could be a
receipt but I'm not sure," said Nova.

"I've also
got blood samples from some of the glass. I'll have the lab techs
compare it against the samples we've got and see if we get any
matches. I also found one of these behind the door," Briggles said,
holding up a leather glove. . Extending from where the knuckles of
each finger would be were sharpened pieces of wood, stained with
blood. The wood looked harder than any Nova had seen and it was
sharpened to a fine point.

"What is
that?" Nova asked, leaning in closer for a better look.

"The perfect
weapon for hand-to-hand combat with a lecheon," Dunwood
explained.

"Someone came
here deliberately to kill the coven?"

"It looks
that way, there's a lot of blood spattered around the place, once
you look."

"Humans?"
Nova asked.

"It's
possible but I'd expect there to be bloodless bodies left here. If
humans had attacked, even with this kind of weaponry, they would
have been overwhelmed. The lecheons would have drained them dry and
left the bodies behind."

"So they were
attacked by ghosts because there are no bodies?" Nova asked,
rolling her eyes.

"No. If you
ask me, this has all the hallmarks of a coven war," Dunwood
said.

"You still
think there are two covens?"

"I'm almost
sure of it. Lecheons don't like to leave their dead behind. Both
covens would have taken any fallen with them, hence no
bodies."

"Great," Nova
sighed. "Was there anything that might help us find out where
they've gone?"

"Well, I
don't want to get your hopes up, but I did find this," Briggles
said. He held up a scrap of paper with spidery numbers scrawled
across it.

"That looks
like a phone number," Nova said.

"My thoughts
exactly. I've already had my people trace it. It belongs to another
hotel not far from here. It's even more posh than this one, if you
can believe it."

"Lecheons
have always been known for their expensive taste," Dunwood said,
holding up his tattered old-world book as proof. "I would never
have even looked for them in the tunnels under the city. Usually
that would be far too dark for lecheon taste."

"Great!" said
Nova, "Why aren't we over at this other hotel?"

"We don't
want to jump to any conclusions," Briggles said, "And we have some
time, if they've just been attacked, they'll be weak and worried.
On top of that, it's daytime; I doubt they'll be going
anywhere."

"But that
means that it's the perfect time to move on them." Nova
frowned.

Frustration
rose in her chest, what were they waiting for? The space-race was
only a few days away and she wanted to be done with this lecheon
mess by then.

"It's not as
simple as that. This particular hotel is more like an embassy. It
caters to the very rich and very famous and is considered outside
of our normal jurisdiction. Without a formal warrant we can't touch
it," Briggles said.

"Then get the
warrant," Nova said through clenched teeth.

"It's in
process as we speak. However, it could take days. In the meantime,
we can't do anything that might spook them. They're just where we
want them to be and as long as they think they're safe they'll
lower their guard."

Nova breathed
out a long sigh. If only the wheels of bureaucracy would turn a
little faster.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"Is everything ok?" Selene whispered from the
other side of the bedroom door. Her voice was calm but
concerned.

Corvus
glanced at the door and then at the balcony covered with shattered
glass. There were a few specks of blood, but it could have been
worse. His breath came in great gasps and his face was flushed red.
He felt overcome with joy and sorrow in equal amounts.

"Come in," he
said.

Selene pushed
open the door and stepped into the room. Her eyes widened with
surprise and confusion. Her gaze darted between Corvus and the
balcony.

"What—"

"You sick
bastard!"

Corvus didn't
have time to turn before someone flew through the broken window and
crashed into his back, sending him sprawling to the floor. He
scrambled on hands and knees as fast as he could. There was a
commotion behind him. He rose to his feet and whipped around to
survey the room.

An unfamiliar
male lecheon stood in the centre of the room between Corvus and
Selene, snarling. His eyes were rimmed red and his teeth gnashed.
Selene was still at the door, her lips pulled back, revealing her
pointed teeth. She threw the door wide open and in an instant the
rest of the coven was there, snarling at the stranger.

"You killed
her and you'll pay for it!" the stranger said. His nose curled up
and he growled.

"Whoever you
are, get away from me this instant before I see you killed," Corvus
said. His voice was level, quiet and deadly.

"I don't
think so, Corvus Vadova. You thought you were so high and mighty.
You and that bitch of yours. But where has it got you? Hmm? Where
are you now? You don't even remember me do you? But why would you,
I was so unimportant." The words were spat around
snarls.

Corvus's eyes
narrowed. He stared at the stranger. How dare he mention Laticia.
Who did he think he was? His dark hair and the cut of his jaw were
somehow familiar. Where did he know those features from? It was
years ago, decades even.

"Byzant?"
Corvus whispered.

"Ah, his
majesty sees me and in so doing I have become real!" Byzant said
with a false smile, throwing up his hands and bowing.

His features
dropped back to focused hatred.

"Get out of
here, Byzant," Corvus said. The young boy had longed for Laticia's
affections, longed for a coven of his own, but at every turn he had
been bested by Corvus. He had eventually been set loose to fend for
himself. He should have learnt his lesson by now.

"Oh no,
Corvus. It's my turn. I will succeed where Selwyn failed," Byzant
said.

With his last
words a howl echoed from outside and the room was flooded with new
lecheons. They poured in through the window and from the hallway.
There were at least thirty of them and they were obviously ready
for a fight.

Byzant leapt
for Corvus, while the rest of his coven lunged at the
others.

Corvus's
coven was taken off guard. Their attackers wielded wooden stakes
and wore leather gloves. A few had wooden swords edged with
sharpened steel and covered in deadly splinters. They hissed as
they ran forward, their eyes gleaming with bloodlust. It wasn't
often that covens fought, but when they did it was always bloody
and violent.

Byzant
slammed into Corvus and smashed him into the wall. Corvus's head
cracked against the solid stone and he growled in pain. Byzant's
forearm pressed against his throat, crushing it. Corvus's neck bent
under Byzant's weight, sending shots of pain into his head. Stars
danced at the edges of Corvus's vision. He sucked in breath after
laboured breath, each one more difficult and less satisfying than
the one before.

Corvus lashed
out with his leg. It smashed into Byzant's stomach and sent the
other lecheon stumbling back. Corvus pushed the advantage. He
lunged after Byzant, his fist swinging. He was so focussed that he
didn't see the other two lecheons coming up on either side of him.
They clamped onto his arms and wrenched him backwards.

His back
slammed against the wall and this time he was pinned. Byzant leapt
forward so that his face was pressed against Corvus's. He grinned,
revealing the pulsating leach behind his teeth.

Corvus
strained against the younger lecheons, but the three of them
together were too much for him to break free. Byzant's hand was
back around his throat, clenching tighter. Corvus's legs grew shaky
with the lack of oxygen. His body slid an inch down the wall. The
three lecheons kept him upright even though his legs were on the
verge of collapse.

Byzant's
other arm fumbled in his belt. He smiled with triumph and brought
his hand up in front of Corvus's face. He was holding a ring, of
sorts. It was like a small section of armour designed to encase a
single finger. The main segment was metal but where it covered the
end of Byzant's finger the metal was replaced with wood in the
shape of a talon. It was a deep, dark wood that was already stained
red by the blood it had seen. It was coated with a sticky layer
that Corvus recognised instantly; the sap of an oak
tree.