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I don’t know how I’m going to manage this. Tabatha stared out of the car window on the long drive back to Mailith. I need to talk to Kai, but what do I tell her about Melanie?
The car drew up to the ornate gates in front of the Palace. The driver spoke to the guards who waved them through. As Tabatha began to get ready to leave the car when it arrived, Morrigan laid one hand gently on her arm, pulling her attention to the older woman.
“Now, I will allow you to go about whatever you wish to do, Princess, but I would suggest that you give a great deal of thought to behaving yourself. I would hate to have to physically force you to do as your royal mother requests.”
Tabatha nodded.
“Excellent. I see that it is almost lunch; do enjoy your meal, Highness.” Morrigan bowed and strode across the courtyard toward her office.
Tabatha looked up at the imposing front doors of the Palace and sighed.
“Why so sad, Lady?” Lord Faidren asked.
Tabatha jumped, “You scared me. I didn’t hear you coming.”
“I’m sorry, Highness. You appeared to be lost in thought.” He offered her his arm, “May I escort you somewhere?”
“Is my mother home for lunch?” she didn’t take his arm but began to walk up the steps.
He matched her stride for stride, “She is currently in Japan, speaking to the Emperor.”
Good, I’ll have time to formulate my approach. She reached the top step and one of the liveried servants opened the door for them.
“I may as well take my lunch in private then.” She sighed again, with relief this time.
“Actually, I was hoping that you would consent to take your meal in my presence.” He smiled at her, “There’s a small restaurant that I would particularly like to show you in the city.”
She blinked and worked her way through the convoluted sentence. “Are you asking me out for a Lunch Date?”
“The modern idiom is so abrupt. Yes, I am; will you come?”
She laughed at his hopeful expression, “I am ever willing to partake of the midday meal, and to do so in your presence would be useful; I have some questions that I must ask you.”
It was Faidren’s turn to laugh, “You’ve been practising, Highness.”
“Stop calling me that. If we’re going to work together, then you will have to drop the formality in private at least. You can call me Tabatha, you know.”
“Thank you for the honour, Highness... Tabatha. I must insist that you call me Quill then.”
“OK. Just let me get changed and I’ll meet you in the foyer.” Tabatha disappeared inside the palace.
“Trying to get on her good side before you propose, Faidren?” A voice said from a nearby window.
He looked up and frowned, “That was a private matter between the Banríona and myself. How did you...?”
“I’m always listening, Faidren. It’s my job.” The voice replied, “You gave it to me, remember that?” It giggled manically.
“It’s also your job to keep a track of Morrigan and her pet. What’s happening?”
“Pets... she gave the first permission to turn his life mate.” The voice replied.
“It’s just as well that Ghouls can’t procreate naturally; we’d be up to our ears in them if they could.” Faidren shuddered, “Any news from the Dark Cities that I need to know about?”
“The Black Dragon has been outed as a Werewolf / Vampire Hybrid. There is a half dozen, blood-drinking cubs gambolling around the gardens of Hēilóng Gōngdiàn.”
“Publicly?”
“No. The Black Dragon’s official face is still a vampire. As is the White Tiger’s. The story around the cubs is that they are adopted.” the voice giggled again, “Qin Lo has had to refuse half a dozen cases involving investigating their supposed treason and abomination status.”
“Have you been snooping in her files again?” Faidren hardened his voice.
“How else am I to get information from that section of my brief? No one ever sees me, remember.” The giggle turned filthy, “I get to see all sorts of things you know.”
Faidren rolled his eyes to the sky and sighed, “Anything else?”
“You may wish to warn the Queen of coming trouble in Grande Britannia. Her Nimrod has been seen in Te Ling and a little ghost told me that her cousin’s former husband has died in the quest.”
Faidren cursed in Chinese, “Someone got a little trigger happy I suppose.”
“He was found this morning, his throat ripped out and lying on a bench in the West Industrial Marina Park.” The voice sighed, “I liked Francis, he was a good friend.”
“I suppose that even Lost Souls can have friends.”
“If I had just won that last fight...” the voice paused, “She returns. Treat her well, Faidren or you will find out what a Lost Soul can really do.”
The front door opened again, and Tabatha stepped through, wearing a flowing, golden silk dress and heels. “Sorry if I took too long, Quill. You weren’t in the Foyer, so I came back here...”
Faidren smiled up at her, “that is quite all right, Your... Lady Tor... Tabatha.”
“Thank you.” She looked around, “Who were you talking to? I didn’t recognise the voice.”
“Just one of the queen’s many servitors, nothing to worry about.” He offered his arm to her, “Shall we go to lunch?” he waved the other hand, and a car drew up in front of them, the driver stepping out quickly to open the door.
Tabatha inclined her head, “Lead on.”
––––––––
“SO, HE TOOK YOU OUT to lunch... are you going soft on him?” Kai sipped her cocktail and raised an eyebrow.
“Of course not. He doesn’t care for me beyond my mother’s orders.” Tabatha picked up and sipped from the tall glass juice in front of her.
They sat on the tiny balcony at Kai’s apartment, a tray of snacks on the table between them and a large green umbrella providing shade.
“What did you talk about?”
“I kept it about the role I had to play here. He was happy enough with that, but every time I tried to question him about the long-range global plan that Aoife has in mind, he clammed up.” She shrugged, “I’ll have to work on him a bit more.
“What can you tell me about the plan for this area?” Kai sat back in her chair, glass in hand.
“It’s fairly simple actually. Get all the sworn in leaders of the Triang out of the way so that I can take over.” She grinned, “I don’t think she really understands that it wouldn’t be me taking over in an emergency situation.”
“If I’ve understood the information I was given when I started as Jade Cat, I’m the only non-sworn in member of the Triang and the only one who can take over in that kind of circumstances.” Kai looked over her shoulder, “Maybe I need to get a bodyguard again.”
“What happened to the last one?” Tabatha looked around.
“Amin is currently looking after Edward and Clarke died during the attack that Faidren launched on us.” Kai sighed.
“I’m sorry, Kai. Clarke was a good officer.”
“She was becoming something I haven’t had in a long time, a friend. Now between Edward being a Ghoul and my abilities, everyone is scared stiff of me.”
“Friends are hard to come by. Is it too much to hope that we can become friends?” Tabatha asked. She hadn’t blinked when Kai had told of the attack and Edward’s condition, which made Kai feel uneasy.
“My successor was friends with the Fae. He even married one of their Hybrids and was about to have a baby with her when she was killed.” Kai replied, “I suggest that you talk with your Fae family and find out how she died.”
They fell silent for a while. The joyous shrieks of the children playing in the park seemed more poignant after that.
Kai sighed, “I have no problem with having a friendly working partnership, the same as I would expect with all the other Triang Leaders. But I can’t afford to allow friendship to influence my decisions on the job.”
“Understandable. And I can accept that. Now all I have to do is stop Aoife from enacting her plan. I intend to discuss it this evening when she returns from Japan.”
“Go careful. You can contact me if you need back up; Just call out Mojito with your mind and I’ll link with you.” Kai stood up and moved back into her apartment.
Tabatha followed, “Are you moving again? I thought you just moved in?” she waved a hand at the boxes and obvious packing going on.
“Yes. I need to live in a more secure location. The Dragons have agreed to allow me to take one of the abandoned estates in the Temple district.”
“Which one?” Tabatha’s question made Kai raise an eyebrow. The young woman shook her head quickly, “Never mind. Are you keeping your office in the same place?”
“I work out of the TLPD building now, as befits the Chief of Special Division.” Kai grinned, “My subordinates aren’t too happy with me now though.”
“I can’t see why...” Tabatha laughed as they reached the apartment door, “Thanks for the drink, I’ll see you around I should imagine.”
Kai nodded and opened the door for her, “If you need me, just holla Mojito or send me a message with it in and I’ll come see if I can help.”
Tabatha smiled and walked down the hall with a little hand wave. Kai watched as she reached the lift and then frowned. I can feel something watching her. It’s not malevolent, or at least I don’t think it is.
The lift doors closed behind the girl and Kai cast her mind out in the searching pattern that she’d developed recently. Her neighbour’s minds and the local Ghosts or Spirits were all familiar to her by now, so she skimmed across them. She found Tabatha quickly, along with several other unfamiliar people. Only one of them gave her any pause.
That’s the tenor of a Fae mind, but it doesn’t feel like it’s attached to a body. I wonder if that’s the Watcher that my predecessor made notes about.
All of the unfamiliar minds left the building with Tabatha, but Kai ’locked’ the feel of the odd one into her memory so she could identify it should it cross her path again. Releasing the search, Kai tidied up the balcony and shut the doors, put the glasses and snack tray in the kitchen and picked up her work bag, running her bare fingers through the contents to check everything was there without looking.
It’s kind of handy now, this sensitivity. I can see what something I touch is, as well as who produced it and so forth... even if it means I must wear gloves twenty-four-seven. She picked up the plain, skin coloured silk gloves that were Amira’s latest weaving and slipped them on. It doesn’t even look like I have gloves on when I wear these...
Her mind drifted back to her current problems with the Fae and the normal cases she was having to turn down. I think I need to touch base with Qin-Lo. She’s going to have to take over most of my normal case load anyway and she’s at the top of the TLPD Trusted List.
With that decision made, Kai grabbed her keys and locked the apartment up. I’ll get this ‘steward’ that I’ve been given to sort out this place and the move. I can’t let Edward loose on his own just yet, he’s not fully in control of his powers or hunger.
Instead of taking the lift, kai took the stairs down, her bootsteps ringing from the smooth stone and echoing up the stairwell.
At the bottom of the stairs, she flipped open a tiny metal plate in the wall, slid the new key she’d been given into the keyhole behind the plate and turned it to the right, then left, in a full circle. Part of the wall sank backward and then slid to the left, revealing a small landing leading to another flight of stairs, dropping down into the darkness.
You know that the vampires control this city when every single building in the new town is built with a connection to the network of tunnels. Kai stepped through, retrieved the key from the hole in the wall and watched the door slid silently shut. The moment it clicked into place; the stairs lit up in the same way that the ones in the Fae bolthole had. I wonder if Te Ling has always been controlled by the Vampires. I haven’t seen anything to suggest otherwise, but there are a few things that feel more Fae than vampire.
The stairs dropped precipitously, and Kai needed to keep her wits about her as the lights flashed out behind her, making the descent an exercise in trusting her senses.
At the bottom, there was another wall. This time, there was a palm plate at hip height. Kai laid her hand flat against it fingertips down. The plate lit up around her hand, leaving a black shadow when she moved it. The wall slid toward her a few centimetres and then sideways, letting her step through onto what looked like a tiny subway station.
The wall shut again; at the same time, a rush of air in the tunnel heralded what looked like a cross between a zorb ball and a single person train carriage pulling up in front of Kai. The side of the ball popped open in obvious invitation.
I must admit, the technology being used in Te Ling is amazing. I just wish that the Underworld would share it with the humans. She got into the ball and sat on the seat inside. The door closed.
“Destination?” the voice issued from a small speaker in the floor.
“Te Ling Police Department.” She said.
“Complying.” The voice replied and a harness clicked into place around Kai’s body. The seat adjusted itself to cradle Kai’s body before the ball shot off into the darkness.