Chapter 6

 

 

 

Raphael teleported us to Landon’s address, the evening air rippling a wave of chill across my skin. He cast an invisibility spell before the teleportation, just in case, so that no human eyes could see the magic.

The shimmering cloud of sparkling glyphs took us to the outskirts of San Francisco in a fancy district with large, private houses, massive iron fences encircling them. A few cars, probably belonging to guests, were parked on the street in front of the properties. I thought I spotted a Tesla car among them, too.

“Nice place,” Loki commented, taking in the view of the neighborhood.

“Would you like to rent an apartment here?” I asked him. The prices here went from a few million to God knew how many digits. I didn’t even want to guess how much a property here would cost. The house Dara and I had bought seemed cheap compared to these. But ours was smaller and not in San Francisco.

“Nah, I prefer my place in Angels’ City.” Loki winked at me, and I had to concede I didn’t expect this comeback. Having nothing to respond to his statement, I remained silent.

“Can you two please stop teasing each other? We have work to do. Here is the house,” Raphael scolded us like a parent would petulant children—probably we were—and pointed at the building opposite of us. An iron fence rose what I estimated to be ten feet high and two pine trees towered from both ends of the property. The house was colored light beige, with a wooden terrace on the second floor. The archangel bolted to the front door at the right corner of the fence and Loki and I came in tow after him.

Raphael pressed the door bell and a shrill sound rang in the evening air. The last sun rays shone low on the horizon, heralding the twilight and the darkness that would veil the light. Silence fell and I wondered if she was home. “Does she know we’re coming? Did you call her?”

Raphael nodded in confirmation. “I talked to Laura Thompson, she said she’d be home.” He again pressed the doorbell.

As no one responded this time either, Loki cursed out loud. “And you took me from the pub to hang out in the cold for this? The gal is probably shopping or gossiping with her girlfriends.” He pressed his lips tight and I could almost hear more vulgar words clouding his thoughts.

Raphael narrowed his eyes and was about to shoot Loki a crude reply when distinct mincing steps echoed on the floor, growing louder with each further step. Soon, something beeped and the front door slid open. Oh, it was a sliding door? Inside the fence, another front door, this one mahogany, opened and an attractive lady in her early 30s appeared, leaning on the door frame. “Hello? Can I help you?”

My magical sense indicated to me she was a shifter too, and more specifically a fox shifter. Her amber reddish hair gleamed in the dim light, giving her a mysterious halo. Tall, lean, and sexy, she could grace the cover of H&M Magazine. Loki grinned in appreciation at what he saw, and I rolled my eyes.

“I’m Archangel Raphael and these are my colleagues. I called you earlier today, if you remember. We’re here at the request of Neil Murdoch, your husband’s colleague at the Magic Council. He asked us to look into your husband’s disappearance. Can we come inside and ask you a few questions, ma’am?”

The fox shifter’s features loosened their hardness and she forced a wan smile, making a step backward so that we could pass the entrance. “Of course, come in, but I already told the investigators everything I know.”

“I’m aware of that, I already talked to Nadine and Albert but wanted to question you myself too. I promise, we won’t take more than 15 minutes of your time.” Raphael gave her a broad smile as he stepped inside the house, Loki and I following suit. We passed a long, dim-lit corridor, and then she led us to a brightly illuminated and spacious living room. The game here was opulence. I nearly gawked as my eyes took in the expensive furniture, the cherrywood table placed in the middle of the room and the marble floor. I could totally see myself living in here, and I’d love every second of it.

“Please take a seat. Would you like something to drink?” She turned to us as she slid onto a fluffy couch.

“We’re fine,” Raphael said. “Please tell us everything you know about your husband’s disappearance.”

The woman braced herself and began her story. “Landon left home as usual yesterday at 8:30. His work hours end at 6 o’clock, but he’s a workaholic, more so now that the council has additional work with the upcoming annual supernatural games, and I thought he’d stayed for extra work. When the clock approached midnight, I was alarmed and mentally called Neil. He was calm and assured me everything would be fine, said he hadn’t seen Landon at work, but stressed that he’d take this issue very seriously. Early this morning, he sent two investigators. They asked me the same questions as you, went to his room and searched for any clue, but didn’t find anything.” She straightened her back as if prepared for the worst. “Do you…” Her voice faltered and she cleared her throat, trying again, “Do you think he’s dead?” Her voice turned into a whisper, her fingers fidgeting with a small part of her dress. A sense of compassion shot through my chest and I wished I could soothe her or at least give her a warm, reassuring hug.

“We’ll try our best to find your husband, ma’am,” Raphael said. His voice rang surprisingly soft and tender. “Now, did your husband usually stop by somewhere else before going to the Magic Council’s headquarters?”

Laura gathered her composure and after she fought her tears, she said, “Only by the local gas station. Not sure if he stopped by there yesterday. Anything could have happened.” Suddenly she looked like she’d gotten an idea as she hurriedly asked Raphael, “Do you think he was kidnapped or… murdered? The Magic Council’s a wasp nest.” She spat the last words with unadulterated hatred and I wondered what she knew about the organization. Truth be told, I wasn’t their biggest fan either, given they'd once declared my magical kind an abomination and I'd been forced to hide my powers all my life. Until the Council of Nine had found me and recruited me to stop Drogo Rothstein and his grand evil master plan.

“There’s no way we can say at this point of the investigation, ma’am. We’re trying to track down your husband’s movements from yesterday. Did you see or sense anything strange or outside of the ordinary the last few days? You’re a fox shifter, right?” Raphael kept questioning her.

She squinted her eyes, contemplating his questions hard. “I told the investigators I hadn’t noticed anything suspicious, but your remark reminded me of something, archangel. On the night when he didn’t return, I was worried and decided to sniff the surrounding air in my inner animal form. I didn’t track down or recognize his particular smell, but I definitely sensed something dark and thick in the air… a threat, a warning, something like poison wrapped in a veil. Oh, I’m talking bullshit, pardon me, archangel. The stress is wearing me out, messing with my head.” She cracked a smile, her fingers nervously fidgeting while speaking. She was worried we’d think of her as a crackpot, or her remembering that dark magic made her uncomfortable. Or possibly both.

“So, you say you sensed some form of dark magic in the surrounding area?” Raphael clarified.

“Yes, definitely, but I have no idea who would have cast or unleashed it,” she hurriedly added.

Drogo Rothstein, I thought immediately, my intuition taking over. The only question was if he was working alone or had an accomplice.

“Does your husband have any enemies? Someone who might wish him dead or out of their way?” I asked suddenly. Had Drogo himself kidnapped the two shifters or had someone assisted him? I leaned toward the latter option. From what I'd gathered about him over our meeting and fight, it’d be unlikely for him to taint his hands with such a job when someone else could do the dirty work.

Laura shook her head, barely acknowledging my presence. She seemed a nice lady and genuinely cared about her husband. Even Loki had sensed that also, and at least he’d kept on decent behavior and hadn’t visibly ogled her or even flirted with her.

“Please think this through. I know you said this was all, but if you remember anyone, a colleague, acquaintance, or a distant relative who might hold a grudge against Landon, give me a call. You can find me on this number.” He slipped a small personal card into her hands. “Or you can always mentally connect to me.”

Laura took the card and raised it to read it better. “Thank you, I will if something new pops up. I’m sure Neil must have told you a few psychics looked into my husband's and Simon’s disappearances, too, but something blocked their vision. Something like a veil. Yes, these were the exact words they used.”

“Could you please give us the psychics’ names? Just in case,” Loki said, intervening in the conversation for the first time.

Laura darted her eyes at him, sizing him up. “Sure, do you have a pen and paper to write them down?”

Raphael nodded and as she said them out loud, he scribbled down two names, one of which turned out to be the assistant investigator, Nadine Welch.

“Okay, this was everything. Thank you for your help, ma’am.” Raphael rose to his feet and added, “Could we, umm, just in case check your husband’s room?”

Laura fought a frown but reluctantly agreed. She showed us his work room, which wasn’t far away from the living room, down the corridor, the first door on the left. It was a smaller room; against the windowsill stood a table with a computer, a bookshelf towering above them, and a few chairs scattered over the green carpet, the walls painted in light blue. Raphael inhaled deeply and closed his eyes as he positioned himself in the center of the room while Loki perched on the chair in front of the table. I stood sheepishly between them, curiosity budding inside me. Did they connect with their third eye or were they magically scanning the room? My own magical radar signaled no magic or anything of interest to us in here.

Raphael opened his eyes and shook his head. “It’s clean, no clues here. Let’s move on.”

Loki, who was toying with a small pencil in his fingers, sprang up and we went out of the room. Laura was waiting for us in the doorway and she guided us toward the entrance.

“We’ll call you if we have a lead or new information about your husband,” Raphael said at the entrance, ready to leave. Laura reached for his hand and squeezed it tight in her small, delicate fingers. I now noticed she had scarlet polish on her fingernails.

“Please, find Landon alive and bring him safe home,” she barely said and rushed inside her house, closing the door. Then we heard her weeping beyond the door, my heart sinking into my heels. This questioning had depressed me immensely. Even Loki’s face was sullen. His cheerful and mischievous self had disappeared behind his worried look.

Raphael shook his head, clenching his fist. “We’ll find Landon and Simon. Dead or alive, these shifters have families and they deserve to know the truth.”

I was about to ask the guys something when the air around us thundered and a shimmer sparkled, blinding my eyes for a split second. Next, a pack of hellhounds crashed onto the ground, their white fur peppered with gray spots, glowing menacingly in the darkness. They prowled around us, their fangs bared in evil snarls, ready to tear us apart.

“Wulfrid, you’re late!” Loki’s reproachful voice boomed in the air and the front hellhound, who was also the largest among his pals, lowered his head and, whimpering, came to the trickster god, waving his tail joyfully. He jumped at Loki’s legs, his tongue licking the Nordic god.

“Okay, okay, enough. I’m happy to see you too,” Loki said, brushing off the hellhound’s expression of love. The other hellhounds dropped their menace, but still eyed Raphael and me suspiciously. They retreated a few steps backwards, their mouths pressed shut as they stopped growling at us.

I heaved a sigh of relief and took a closer look at these creatures’ complexion. Under the street lamp that shone brightly, I studied them. They were the size of giant pit bulls; their eyes gleamed in dark chestnut hues, their fur shiny and gorgeous. If they didn’t snarl, show you their fangs or pounce at you, their cold beauty evoked admiration and I was no exception. I felt the urge to caress them, my mind wondering how it would feel if my fingers slid through their fluffy fur. But I knew better–this could be a trap. Loki was their relative and commanded them, but I was a nobody. I glanced at Loki, who had kneeled beside the chief hellhound, his face hardened in deep concentration. I knew this face of Loki. He was mentally communicating with the hellhound. A few minutes passed in deadly silence and then Loki abruptly stood up, his face creased in deep concentration. The air around him shimmered, and he exploded, shapeshifting into a hellhound similar to Wulfrid, only almost double in size. His snow-white fluffy fur glistened in the dark air and his big eyes glowed in a crimson color. He wailed at his hellhound brethren and they leapt in the air, charging the low hill that lay behind the missing shifter’s house. I traced them as their enormous furry bodies got lost, shrouded in the darkness.

Raphael and I stood on the sidewalk near Landon’s house, patiently waiting for Loki and his friends to return. The minutes went by and the night wore on and with it the coldness compounded. I summoned a medium sized fireball to keep me warm while Raphael was seated cross legged on the sidewalk, checking his cell phone.

Eventually, hellhound Loki returned, jumping from above, and landed next to us. He exploded, shapeshifting into his human form again in a sparkling white glow.

“What’s up? Find anything?” Raphael tucked his phone into his back pocket and stood up, hope written on his handsome face. I couldn’t help but admire his beautiful features. I scolded myself, reminding myself that we were investigating two senior shifters’ disappearances. Romance shouldn’t have been in the air, not after I'd seen Laura’s pain and her suffering. I had to focus to find her husband.

“Strange, really peculiar. I can’t explain it, unless…” Loki was muttering to himself, his forehead creased by a deep scowl as he paced the space between me and Raphael to and fro, frantically.

“Hey, bro, what happened? Is everything alright?” Raphael came head level with Loki and grabbed his arms, shaking him hard. Loki pulled away from Raphael’s grip and indignantly said, “I’m fine, no need to bring me to my senses.” He brushed some invisible speck of dust off his clothes.

“Spill the beans, then. Did you find something?” Raphael demanded.

Loki pursed his lips. “Not really. Well, we sensed some lingering dark magic, a mere leftover. The source came from behind the hills, deep into the forest.” He pointed with his hand at the mountain that sprang up northwest of the city and added, “But as we followed the trace, something ominous snapped in the air, and we lost the dark magic trace. It’s really peculiar, Raph. Someone definitely blocked us from finding the shifters.”

Raphael gave Loki a long, meaningful look and some mutual silent understanding seemed to form between them. I lost patience with their puzzling behavior, only watching them as an observer. Whatever they exchanged as mental thoughts, I had the right to hear them, too. I turned to them. “What is it? What’s going on? Care to explain?”

“It’s sorcery,” they said in unison, their eyes gleaming in darker hues.