Powerful Moves [L.U.S.T.] (Siren Publishing Classic) (15 page)

Elena glanced at his hand on her arm, then up at him, but her steps didn’t falter. “What?”

“Wait.” He didn’t want her to see what he already knew. The blood, torn flesh, strewn body parts made his stomach queasy. He wouldn’t forget the sight for a very long time, and he hadn’t needed to walk into the building to witness it. If he could keep her from seeing it at all, he was damned well going to try. “There’s no need to go in there. We can’t help them now.”

“And how else are we supposed to know what he’s done, where he’s gone? What if he left something behind in there?” She pulled her arm from his hand. He could’ve stopped her, but he let her go. “These cops don’t have a clue what they’re up against, Tavius. Only we do.”

“The only thing he left behind in there is a horrid scene I wouldn’t wish upon my worst enemy, Elena.”

That made her pause long enough to study him. “You can see in there, can’t you? Even from this distance, you can see straight through those walls.”

Tavius nodded. “Believe me, right about now, I’m wishing I couldn’t.”

Color drained from her cheeks, and she swallowed hard. “It’s that bad?”

Tavius nodded again. “It’s that bad.”

“How many?”

He knew what she wanted to know. How many people had Le Mort slaughtered? Trouble was, Tavius didn’t have an answer. “I can’t tell. There are…” He stared at her, watching her eyes, not wanting to see the horror in them when he told her. “He tore them to pieces, muirnin, too many pieces for me to tell how many there were.”

Her hand flew to her mouth as, yes, the horror he’d expected swam into her eyes. She shook her head. “Vampires don’t tear people apart that way.”

“If what you’re saying is what it really looks like in there, I’d say Le Mort has hooked up with a shifter, a wolf or tiger, an animal that gets off on mutilating its victims.” Cedric came up beside them. He snaked an arm around Elena’s shoulders, drawing her against him, but his gaze was transfixed on Tavius. “Your man is apparently no longer alone.”

“I didn’t expect him to be for long.”

“You can see what’s happened in there, the details and shit.” He made it more statement than question, not pausing to give Tavius a chance to answer either way. “That’s good because the boys in blue here won’t let us put a toe past the yellow tape.”

“I don’t suppose telling them you’re with the agency will help.”

Cedric gave him a mocking grin. “LUST doesn’t exist to these guys. We don’t exist, remember?”

Right. The LUST agency was only real to those who requested their help. The agents were ignored or believed to be monsters the rest of the time.

“And neither does the vampire or his chum who did all that.” Tavius made a small gesture with his hand toward the museum.

“Ironic, isn’t it?”

“Morrigan is the goddess of war, the ruler of fate and death,” Elena said softly. “The superstitious would say this is meant to be, such an act of carnage in a museum with her name.”

“And others would say there is, or was, something in there Le Mort wanted,” Cedric countered. “I can’t figure out why he would come here otherwise.”

Elena pinned Tavius with a strong stare. “Can you tell if there’s anything missing from inside?”

Tavius looked at the building, starting with the bottom floor and scanning his way up. He saw paintings, relics, tapestries and jewels. All seemed to be undisturbed from his vantage point. “I can’t be certain.”

“Then we
do
need to go in there.” When Tavius opened his mouth to argue, she hurried on. “We have to make sure. It might be our only way of catching this demon.” She pulled a badge from her back pocket.

“Will that get you in?”

“I don’t know, but it’s the only chance we’ve got.”

“Not quite. Come here. Let me do the talking, okay.” He glanced at both Elena and Cedric, letting his gaze linger warningly on Cedric for a beat longer, and led them to the officer.

Less than a half an hour had passed since Tavius achieved the mother of all releases. His evocative powers should need little more than a nudge to have the officer bending over backward to please.

It took a push that left Tavius with an aching head and a muddled mind, but a minute and a half later, he led Elena and Cedric through the giant double doors of The Morrigan Museum of Arts.

“I’m going to ask you later how you did that”—Elena leaned close to whisper—“and I’m going to expect an answer.”

“Right now you better just hope I can keep doing it.” He wasn’t positive he could, and they barely had all their feet in the door before another officer headed their way.

“I’m Lieutenant Glacier,” the officer introduced himself. Tavius took his extended hand, noting that it shook with a barely concealed fear. “Officer Clemons outside said the agency sent you. I’ve got to tell you, I’m grateful. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Elena glanced at Tavius, surprise and wonder vying for paramount expression in her eyes, and she gave Lieutenant Glacier a friendly smile. “We’re here to do what we can, Lieutenant. We hear it isn’t a pretty sight.”

The lieutenant raked a hand down his wrinkled face probably made to look twenty years older by the carnage he’d observed tonight. “That’s putting it mildly, Agent…”

“Cabot,” Elena supplied. “And this is Agents Zolan and Steele.”

Tavius returned the lieutenant’s nod, watching for any show of resistance to the suggestive power, a power he thought he turned off before walking inside. Glacier’s expression showed nothing but gratitude and even a hint of camaraderie. He was, Tavius realized, under the spell just as the officer outside had been. Yet, Tavius only used the power once, gave his story of he, Elena, and Cedric being from the agency sent here to investigate. He hadn’t identified which agency. The strength of the suggestion prevented the need.

And apparently prevented the need to use it on any of the other officers inside
.

Tavius caught himself just before gaping at the man as realization struck. He’d never been able to use his talent on a group of people before and certainly not several spread as far apart as the officers at this scene. His power always required a new push for each subject, a fresh rush to accompany a fresh suggestion.

He also never got a headache when he used it. He rubbed at his temple, wondering if the pain was a side effect of the apparent new strength.

“You might want to take something for that headache if you have it before we get started, Agent Zolan,” the lieutenant advised. “What you’re about to see is only going to make it worse.”

“I’ll be fine, Lieutenant.” Tavius dropped his hand. “Have you determined who might be behind the, umm, break-in, the murders?”

“You mean the massacre?” Glacier corrected, his face solemn. “That’s what happened here tonight, Agent Zolan. Those people were butchered.”

“How many were there?” Elena asked.

“Thirteen.” Glacier shuddered visibly. “Always hated that number. You wouldn’t know it by the blood and”—he gulped—“parts scattered about. There’s a register kept at the front desk over there of all visitors to the museum. The owner pulled up tonight’s schedule after we got him here. There were three employees on duty.”

“Three employees and ten guests.” Cedric spoke for the first time since they entered the building. “And no survivors.”

Glacier shook his head. “Not even close.”

“Have you determined if anything is missing?” Tavius asked. “Any art from the museum or jewelry from the displays, perhaps.”

This time Glacier nodded. “A necklace, or rather a piece of one. I didn’t get the history behind it, but apparently it was one of the museum’s greatest attractions.”

“What would Le Mort want with a necklace?” Cedric asked so softly Tavius felt pretty certain he was the only one who heard the man and only because his ears automatically amplified the sound.

Strange that he couldn’t teleport for shit but all his other powers seemed to have escalated to super strength, even if they did present all new side effects.

“Maybe it contains a stone or gem that’s needed for the plans.” Elena looked to Tavius for confirmation. Obviously she’d heard Cedric, too, but she stood much closer to the other man. No power needed to hear when his mouth was almost in her freaking ear.

Tavius tamped down the rise of unwanted and definitely unneeded jealously and answered her. “Metals and liquid alloys are the supplies he’d need. Not stones or gems.”

“Are you talking about supplies to make some kind of weapon?” Glacier might have been shaken to his boot clad feet, but he obviously hadn’t gained his rank of lieutenant by being slow. “We aren’t looking at some kind of gruesome terrorist attack here, are we?”

Elena ignored his question in favor of asking another of her own. “Can you tell us what the jewelry looked like?”

Glacier looked to each of them in turn before he answered. “The owner can give you more information on that than I can. We have him in the office over here. Follow me.”

“What do you know about this necklace?” Michael’s elegant voice travelled smoothly through the cell phone line.

Elena phoned him as soon as her feet hit the outside pavement once leaving The Morrigan Museum of Arts. She knew he preferred mind-speak. It likely would’ve been the safest way to go given there would be less chance of being overheard. However, letting Michael in her head after what transpired between her and Tavius back in the hotel room didn’t appeal to her much at the moment.

“It’s not a complete necklace, but one of four parts,” she told him, relaying the history of the piece she’d learned from the owner of The Morrigan. Walking at her side, Tavius handed her the flier with the grainy photo of the piece the owner had passed on to them, the one he told them had been hung from half the power poles and lamp posts in the city. She nodded her thanks and described the photo to Michael.

“The chain is silver with toggles of an antique flower design on either end, likely to connect it to the other parts that form the whole necklace. The largest stone is a tiger’s eye set in the center and accented with smaller stones of lava and jet. I find that interesting since tiger’s eye is a known gemstone with the properties of protection, as are lava and jet, and the piece was showcased in a museum named after a war goddess.”

“An ironic twist, indeed,” Michael agreed. “And what of the other pieces? Where are they?”

“The museum owner knew the location of two of them, one in Rio and the other in Washington State. They’re purposely kept hundreds of miles apart because of some legend.”

“Each of the stones holds the properties of a fulfilling eternal life,” Michael said. “Alone, they are merely beautiful, but when joined as one it is said the necklace will give the wearer immortality.”

Elena stopped, heart thudding a fierce beat. “You’ve heard the legend.”

“I have.”

“
Is
it a legend? Or will the necklace really make the person wearing it immortal?”

“It will do as the legend says. As long as the necklace is around the neck, the one who wears it will be immortal.”

“Dear Gods.” Elena leaned into Tavius as he slipped a comforting arm around her waist. His chest felt hard, sure, wonderfully reassuring against her cheek. “What would Le Mort want with a necklace of immortality? He’s a vampire. He’s already immortal.”

Michael sighed. “That is a question I cannot answer, sweet Elena.”

Can’t or won’t
? Elena wanted to ask but bit her tongue.

“He has apparently deviated from the mission your Tavius said he returned to our realm to fulfill. I do not believe this necklace has anything to do with building weapons of mass destruction.”

“Unless he plans to give it to someone, a human or other being who can be killed when the weapons are used,” Elena guessed. She tipped her head back to find Tavius staring down at her. His expression told her he heard everything being said on both ends of the conversation.

“It is possible, I suppose, though not likely. I am sure Le Mort has not forgotten the last time he attempted such an endeavor. The ending was, shall we say, catastrophic.”

Elena straightened. “Are you saying he had all the pieces once? That he gave the necklace to someone.”

“The necklace originated with him.” Michael’s voice oozed with disgust and something more she couldn’t quite define. “If he has the first piece, he is obviously in search of the rest. Was Cedric able to determine where Le Mort would go next, Rio or Washington?”

“Rio.” Elena didn’t miss the fact that Michael answered her first question but not her second. Though she knew more now than she did before she made the call, Michael still knew more he wasn’t telling her. She let it go for now. She would grill him about it later if she felt it necessary. “Cedric took flight a few minutes ago. Tavius and I are headed to the airport now. This city is a mad house. Catching a cab is next to impossible.”

“He still cannot teleport?” The hint of concern in Michael’s tone both amused and worried her.

“Not so far. His other powers seem to be working okay. Better than okay in some cases,” she added, thinking of the hotel room, of the sheer electric build-up that exploded between them. It hadn’t been all Tavius. She knew that. It hadn’t been her power either. It had been something else, something stronger than either of them felt before, something alien and potent, and it just plain freaked her out.