The Apsara Chronicles Boxed Set Page 15

  The girl had paced the floor while Vee unrolled the scroll, impressed at the intricate carvings on the handles. The writing, Sanskrit written in gold, had both annoyed and uplifted Vee.

  The good thing was she’d been granted a boon from Dharma, God of Justice, and Ruler of the Underworld—the services of a hellhound guard whose talents spanned both her four- and two-legged forms.

  The bad thing was said hellhound guard didn't want to be here.

  Her attitude had been one of I’m-forced-to-be-here-but-it-doesn’t-mean-I-have-to-like-it. Vee had tolerated it so far, but Syama seemed to have calmed down after Vee had agreed to take her along in human form every so often.

  But that could only happen under certain circumstances, which so far had been few and far between.

  To Syama’s dislike and Vee’s detriment.

  Chapter 28

  The address on the card was, incongruously, that of an unassuming residential home in an equally unassuming suburb on the other side of the city. Vee had scanned the area using her GPS app, and looked for the best place for Syama to get her there without being seen.

  They found a shadowed clump of bushes in a park a block away from the address. Syama and Vee arrived huddled together beside an oversized bush. Vee hid a grin at the look on the hellhound’s canine face, her glossy eyes gleaming with disdain.

  Until she’d met Syama, Vee had never thought it possible to identify specific emotions in the eyes of an animal.

  You learn something new every day.

  After glancing over the bushes to ensure the coast was clear, Vee and the hellhound hurried across the street and down the block. Syama’s glamor kept the two of them invisible but it always paid to be careful in case any passersby themselves were supernatural. Most demons would be able to see Syama in either of her forms, but only if they were looking.

  The hellhound could enter any ward undetected—human, magic, or demon. That itself had proven invaluable on many an occasion. And Vee wasn’t about to complain.

  They hurried down the path, slowing their steps as a jogger came their way. Dressed in neon green, the woman ran past, her ponytail flying, music blasting in her ears so loud both Vee and Syama shared a glance.

  Fool woman was just asking for trouble. Music that loud, she’d never hear an attacker coming. Vee was tempted to stop and warn her, but she suspected the girl would be one of the many who felt entitled to do what they wanted, felt they had the right to do what they wanted, so they were damn well going to do it and to hell with the consequences.

  To Vee, that was called stupidity.

  Vee focused on the house up ahead, her stomach now thrumming again with nerves. The ward glimmered around the house, a network of complicated, convoluted dark lines, confirming its dark magic origin.

  With little idea of what awaited them, Vee could be neither confident nor negative in her expectations, especially considering the wards.

  She blinked and felt the contact lenses shift against her eyes. They didn’t fit as well as she’d hoped, but at least they were backup enough. Vee dug her phone from her pocket and sent the text to her mother, confirming she was ready to begin the feedback.

  Then she trained her eyes on the front door, seeing what her mother would see, and more. Painted white with glass inlays, it gave the house an innocent air. As did the wraparound veranda and the rose bushes surrounding the house providing a burst of color.

  The setting put Vee more on edge than ever.

  They headed up the street, Syama following, her nails clicking sharply on the stone pathway. Vee winced as the transmitter in her earlobe sent a crackle of sound into her eardrums.

  It settled just as Vee and Syama began to move along the side of the house. They made a circuit of the property, studying all the entrances and exits.

  Her grandmother’s captor certainly didn’t believe in high security. And that was a very bad thing.

  Coming back to the front door, she glanced over her shoulder and gave the hellhound a nod, then felt Syama release her from the glamor.

  Vee quashed a smile. That passive expression hid all of Syama’s frustration. Vee rang the doorbell and ignored the tightening of her stomach. Nothing in this scenario was making sense.

  When the door made a soft click, Vee had a sudden strange expectation that the house would prove haunted.

  Things were getting a little bit too weird for her.

  She was relieved to see that a living, breathing man answered the door. Having seen so many kinds of supernatural creatures in her lifetime, she didn’t immediately assume that the man was human.

  He stood tall, his skin an unhealthy gray-brown, as if he hadn’t seen the sun in years. He waved a hand at the front living room, a silent instruction to take a seat.

  The ward shimmered, almost lifelike as it parted to allow them through. Vee suppressed a shudder.

  The butler turned on his heel and disappeared down the hallway. Vee stood motionless for a moment, considering her options. She could follow him, and find out where he’d gone. Or she could sit down and wait as instructed.

  The only reason she didn’t do the former was that it would likely endanger her grandmother’s life. So despite her instinct, she forced herself to walk into the room and take a seat.

  Syama entered the room after her and began to pace. She eventually tired of walking and took up position just inside the doorway, keeping an eye on the hall.

  Vee began to study the room, aware that the live feed would pick up every tiny detail. Light coffee carpets covered the floor of the living room which was decorated in neutral cream golds and taupes. Vee couldn’t sit still. Instead rising, she walked to the window where she drew the curtain aside to watch the street.

  Be on your guard at all times.

  The attention to the interior decor of the room was impressive. Old paintings, the subject matter far too gory for the elegant neutral setting of the room. A many-headed demon, mouth dripping blood, spears impaling victims.

  She drifted toward the wall with the fireplace, and the two floor-to-ceiling bookshelves flanking the stone hearth.

  Above the mantelpiece, a giant mirror reflected the room, making the space seem twice its size. As Vee studied her reflection, the surface shimmered, taking on an almost watery consistency, rippling and undulating, distorting her image into macabre shapes.

  Vee was tempted to reach out and touch it, just to check.

  “Are you getting this?” she whispered.

  “Yeah. Whatever you do don’t touch it. Can you see the wards?”

  “Yeah. No auras though. It’s like the place isn’t, and never was, occupied.”

  She wasn’t sure what she would encounter, and she hadn’t expected to enter the house without being watched in some way. She suspected that the mirror was either some kind of portal, or a way for her grandmother’s captor to keep an eye on Vee.

  Again, she refrained from following her instincts in order to ensure that her grandmother’s life would not be jeopardized.

  She turned her attention to the shelves flanking the fireplace. Ancient artifacts, statues, and trinkets lined every available space.

  Daggers sat beside carvings of skeletons, and bodies impaled on staffs. The entire display was an homage to torture and horror.

  Vee swallowed hard, wondering what that said about her grandmother’s likelihood of survival.

  She forced herself to study everything, completely documenting the contents of the shelf. It might help them, it might not.

  Footsteps echoed through the hall as the butler returned; he paused on the threshold his eyes going from Syama to Vee and back again.

  Then he stepped inside and handed a rectangular white card to Vee. Syama got to her feet, and moved toward the man.

  Vee took hold of the card just in time, as the man’s hand shuddered and he let go, backing away, seemingly eager to get away from both Vee and the hellhound.

  Strange behavior. He seems to have some sort of aversion to invisibl
e hellhounds.

  Vee’s jaw hardened. Not so invisible to him, it appeared. His behavior confirmed that he was some sort of supernatural. One that Vee was unable to identify just yet.

  The butler returned to his position on the threshold, folded his hands behind his back and waited. Vee looked down at the card and her stomach tightened as she read the message.

  The killer of my brother will not go unpunished.

  Give yourself freely, and the old woman will go free.

  Come to me at the hour of midnight in two days.

  Or she dies.

  Chapter 29

  Vee’s hands trembled as she read the words, unsure of what it meant for her grandmother’s survival. She looked up and met the butler’s dark eyes, a part of her registering how little awareness there was in those opaque irises.

  He looked a lot like the walking dead. Vampire, maybe? Most vampiric creatures tended to be female, although it wasn’t unusual to find the odd male. Perhaps this corpse-like man was one.

  Vee pocketed the message, gave the man a nod, then headed out into the hall. She glanced over her shoulder and watched as Syama got to her feet and followed, the hellhound’s eyes remaining on the butler.

  Then Syama turned and gave Vee a glare. Vee could almost hear her questioning the decision to leave without doing anything constructive.

  But the kidnapper had called them there for one reason—to give her further instructions. It wasn’t safe to question those instructions, not when things were so precarious.

  Vee walked past Syama and headed outside. Ignoring the coils of the dark ward, she waited on the porch until the hellhound followed her. The door was shut behind them before they even stepped off the porch stairs, and the sound of it slamming twisted like a jagged knife in her heart.

  They headed around the corner and Vee stopped the moment they were out of sight of the property. Syama transformed, the midnight hellhound disappearing to be replaced a furious girl.

  “Why the hell did you just leave him? We could have beat the truth out of him, forced him to tell us where your grandmother is.”

  Vee shook her head. “We have no idea what he is. Or how strong he is.”

  She frowned at the angry girl, understanding her frustration but also afraid of her brashness. Her need to act could be dangerous for them all. Vee let out a ragged sigh, swallowing the burn of tears that threatened to fall.

  “We would just be jeopardizing my grandmother’s life on the off-chance that the man was weak enough to provide us with any information. Would you really like me to kill Ma just because we guessed wrong?”

  Syama lowered her lids, glancing away as she processed Vee’s words. Then she sighed, her shoulders hunching. “What do we do now?” Syama clenched her teeth so hard that Vee could see the muscles in the jaw pulse.

  Vee shook her head and turned back in the direction of the house. “Don’t worry, I don’t plan on leaving here without a little more information.”

  Over the comms device in her ear, Vee heard her mother say, “We’ve done a GPS scan of the place, including heat sensors. Haven’t picked up anything alive within the building. I’m beginning to suspect they don’t have Ma in there.”

  Vee had been wondering the same thing.

  “Okay, but I’m still going to go back and have a look. I can find a way in, I’m sure. For all we know they’re using some form of tech to mask signs of life.”

  When her mother didn’t argue, Vee began to walk around the block to the small alley running along the back of the house.

  Syama followed in human form, refusing to turn back now. Vee gave her a warning glance. At this point it didn’t really matter what form the girl used. Perhaps a pair of solid hands and the ability to use a gun would be more beneficial than invisibility.

  The rear of the house was dark as Vee released the latch on the back gate, slipping onto the property as quietly as she could. Syama did the same and closed the gate so silently that Vee nodded, impressed with her dexterity.

  They walked along the fence, using a number of fruit trees and rose bushes as cover. From where they stood they could make out the two windows of the basement beneath the house. The house lay draped in darkness and silence.

  Not a sign of life coming from any of its windows.

  Vee pointed at the left basement window and nodded at Syama. The hellhound duckwalked to the window crouching low until she stopped beside it. She bent closer, and sniffed the air around the frame and sill, going so far as to almost touch her nose to the glass.

  Then she sat back, glanced over at Vee and shook her head.

  Though disappointed, Vee knew that not being able to smell Ma there was a positive sign. It was entirely possible that if Syama was unable to smell Ma then it could be that her captors were not holding her at this particular address.

  Still, Vee had to check it out further.

  She beckoned Syama to follow and headed up the side of the house until they came to the kitchen door. Made of glass, it provided a view of the inside of a darkened kitchen.

  Had the butler left the house? Or retreated upstairs? There was no sign of light anywhere inside the building.

  Vee glanced at Syama, who glared at her, already knowing what needed to be done. She tensed her jaw but gave Vee a sharp nod. Then, her solid body beginning to shimmer and undulate until she disappeared.

  Within seconds the dark shape of the hellhound appeared beyond the glass panes and the door handle began to turn, its clicks making Vee cringe. Syama opened the door, allowing Vee to slip inside and shut it behind her.

  Both girls remained as still as possible. Vee listened to the silent house, expecting a horde of armed guards to rush at them and pepper them with bullets.

  Nothing.

  Vee and Syama tiptoed toward the door to the hall, and paused to listen before they entered. Still no sound from any of the building’s occupants.

  Vee focused her thoughts on the energy of her mind, gathered the power and closed her eyes. After taking a short breath, she opened them and studied the layers upon layers of auras in the passage.

  How odd that the living room seemed to have been scrubbed clean and yet here in the hallway, it seemed like dozens of people had passed this way. Some of the auras had already faded so much that Vee couldn’t identify facial features or even hazard a guess as to their race. The only one form that was recognizable was that of the maybe-maybe-not-dead butler. However dead he’d seemed to her, he certainly had enough of an aura to remain identifiable.

  Vee leaned closer to Syama.

  “Can you use that nose of yours to clear the ground floor?”

  Syama nodded and disappeared, shifting smoothly into her hellhound form. Vee remained tense as the dog stepped carefully into the passageway, nose to the ground, and disappeared from view. She reappeared a few minutes later, and only then did Vee exhale the breath she’d had no idea she’d been holding.

  Syama transformed back into her human form and shook her head.

  “The place is empty. It would probably pay to check the upper floor, and the basement, but this one is clear.”

  Vee nodded, but something still didn’t feel right.

  Her eyes tracked across the hall to the doorway under the stairs. It made sense to assume it led to the basement, as neither of them had seen any other doorways or entrances that could lead below the house.

  Vee was about to step out into the passage when Syama touched her shoulder. “Let me go. I’ll check it out first.”

  Vee hesitated but when she saw the darkening of the girl’s eyes she nodded, if only to let Syama feel like she was needed. Vee preferred to work alone, and when Syama had arrived in her life, she’d found it hard to let go enough to give the hellhound things to do that would make her feel useful.

  Vee’s control-freak mindset always defaulted to the assumption that nobody else could do any given task as well as she could. It wasn’t an arrogance, it was just past experience. She’d learned slowly that Syama was
well and truly capable.

  Syama’s body began to shimmer, wavering in the air as she took on her hellhound form again. She hurried toward the basement door, nails clicking on the bare wood floor.

  The hellhound was halfway through the door when a flash of bright light seared Vee’s retinas. A loud crack emanated around Vee and Syama went flying through the air. The shockwave sent her glamor haywire and her form shimmered between hellhound and human, almost contorting her body.

  As she landed hard onto the kitchen tiles, her body shifted to human form and then she was skidding along, upending three barstools and smashing into the trashcan.

  Chapter 30

  Syama made enough noise to wake the dead.

  Which meant they needed to get the holy hell out of there. Vee spun on her heel and raced to Syama, grabbing hold of her elbow to help her back onto her feet.

  The hellhound-girl looked a little stunned, but as her expression cleared, she turned to glare at the door. “What the hell was that?” she snapped, dusting off her clothes.

  “They must have it warded.”

  Brilliant deduction, Sherlock.

  “Against demons?” Syama frowned. That she’d ignored Vee’s duh moment was a concern. “That would be some serious magic. Something probably only deities could conjure.”

  The suggestion made Vee’s heart thud. She did not want to consider the possibility that the gods could be involved in Ma’s abduction. Vee shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. Let’s go.”

  A loud crackling echoed in Vee’s ear. Shaking her head, she glanced at Syama to see the hellhound-girl’s dark eyes widen as she stared at something behind Vee.

  Vee spun around in time to see the air solidify into an opaque white sheet from floor to ceiling. The temperature in the kitchen dropped and every breath Vee and Syama exhaled turned into a white puffy cloud.

  A sheen of frost appeared on the surface of the sheet and it began to crack, shattering the air. Jagged shards splintered off the larger piece in crackling bursts. Slowly each shard dropped.