The Apsara Chronicles Boxed Set Page 28

  The pey moaned, trying to turn toward Vee. The keening sound ended on a high note that had the closest agents—including Vee—slapping their hands over their ears.

  “What the hell?” Brent squeaked and stepped away fast, clutching his laptop close to his chest. “That thing is still breathing.”

  “Yep,” Vee said, smirking, her amusement helping to keep the pain from her throbbing wing at bay.

  “He looks…angry.”

  Vee stared at Brent, her face void of expression. “Wouldn’t you be angry if your wife’s brains were splattered around the warehouse, right after she’d been stabbed in the chest and throat by two flying daggers?”

  Brent grunted in response, then took another step away from the moaning demon. “Perhaps we ought to put it out of its misery.”

  Rossi looked over at the techie. “I’m a little concerned, Cadiz. Such a disregard for life could be dangerous.”

  “That thing…” Brent turned to look over at the body of the peymakilir, “…isn’t human.”

  “Doesn’t mean it’s not alive,” Vee replied.

  “But you’re the one who just killed them,” the techie said, eyes wide, though a little suspicion had begun to crease his brow.

  “I don’t kill all of them, Brent. Besides, that’s a moot point. If you guys hadn’t come, I would have had to kill them anyway.”

  “See? Dispensable.” Brent smiled smugly, then folded his arms as he leaned toward the pillar behind him. He missed and stumbled then scrambled to right himself. Vee hid a smile as he straightened and tugged at the lapels of his coat.

  Vee sighed. “Not dispensable. Dangerous. They were threatening my life. It was either me or them.”

  “Don’t look to me like it was you or them. Looked more like it was you or her…it.” Brent pointed at the remains of the female demon.

  Rossi grunted and silenced whatever it was Brent had been wanting to say. “What’s your assessment here, Agent Shankar. You’ve got two very different, unrelated species in one location.”

  Vee nodded. “I suspect they may not be related. I have a feeling that the lead was solid. It led me here to find the bhayakara. He’s the one you saw over on the other side.”

  Brent frowned and glanced over his shoulder in the general direction of the demon’s liquid remains. “You mean the puddle of yellow slush?” Vee nodded. “Right,” he replied, looking a little uncomfortable now.

  “So what about these two?” Rossi jerked a chin at the dead—and dying—demons before them. “After Slushy over there? Or something more sinister?”

  Vee shrugged. “Perhaps they were lying in wait for him? Who knows. He didn’t seem too much of a threat, so I’m wondering if he could have been an informant of some kind.” Vee glanced down at the bodies of the two pey demons lying at her feet.

  “Or?” Rossi probed, seeming to easily read her train of thought.

  Vee sighed. “Or it could be that they were tracking me.”

  Brent’s eyes widened. “I’ll get onto traffic cams in the area.” Before anyone could respond—or add to his task list—the techie was gone, hunkering down a safe distance from all present demons and setting up his small workstation. Before long he was tapping away at the keyboard, paying no attention to anything around him.

  Rossi cleared his throat. “So anything you want to tell me about these demons who are on your tail?” he asked softly, his eyes still on Brent.

  Vee shook her head even though Rossi couldn’t see her face or movement. “No clue. I’ll have to put out a few feelers to see what I can dig up. The odd thing was they didn’t seem desperate. They almost appeared to be calm, as if the kill was routine, as if they’d been through the tag team thing before and it had been easy for them in the past.”

  “They were comfortable with each other?”

  “With this type of demon, they are more than likely a mated pair.”

  “Can you give me a debrief?” Rossi’s eyes sparkled with interest. Vee had enjoyed working with him. His open-mindedness had been a huge help when she’d started out working for his off-the-books FBI squad. Now he’d begun to take strange demons, and tales of deific beings and god-given boons in his stride.

  Vee nodded. “I’ll email it once I get back home.” She made a face again at the amount of demon blood and gore she had on her person.

  With a short nod, Rossi turned and then stopped. He glanced over his shoulder at Vee. “Go home, Shankar. You need a bath.”

  His words generated a round of good-natured chuckles from the agents within hearing distance, and she shook her head, trying and failing to glare angrily at them. She turned on her heel and headed across the warehouse, deciding to scan the place one more time.

  As she circled a stack of containers across the way from where the demonic couple had ambushed her, she caught sight of a new aura, a strange pale yellow that hadn’t been there before. Vee had passed on this route when she’d moved away from the bhayakara demon and hadn’t seen any sign of this aural signature.

  The voyeur had to have arrived after she’d killed the bhayakara.

  Someone had been watching Vee.

  She stepped closer to the aura and stared at the floor. The remains of a cigar littered the bare concrete. Vee reached into her pocket for a tweezer and a plastic bag. She proceeded to retrieve all the pieces of the cigar as well as some of the ash that had been left behind. She labeled the item then continued on her way, the bag dangling from her fingers.

  As she closed in on the place where the two other demons had been killed, Vee realized that the person who’d been watching had not been in a hurry to leave. He’d waited for her, likely up until the point when he’d seen her kill the first demon.

  Vee crouched again. Ashy footprints marked a small narrow spot behind two crates a mere twenty feet from where Vee had sat after she’d fallen against the pillar. He’d ground the cigar into the floor with his shoe, leaving a smear of tar and charcoal on the bare concrete. Didn’t seem to be the careful type.

  Her quarry was long gone now, not likely that he’d stick around to get himself caught.

  Rising to her feet, Vee thought about the two pey demons. Now, who exactly was following who? Had he set you up, or were you two trying to set me up?

  Vee shook her head.

  She’d provide Rossi with the full report on the incident before she went to bed that night. Or was it morning already?

  For now, all she knew was she had to get home soon, before the blood dried into her jeans and she’d have to throw them out. As Vee turned to walk out of the warehouse, she frowned. Getting clean was her top priority. But she also had to pay a visit to Karan before he got too impatient.

  He’d been the one to send her on this wild demon chase to begin with. He ought to be informed of her brush with death. And also be told that someone else was watching her. Other than him, of course.

  Given the lack of the voyeur’s interference, Vee considered the possibility that perhaps it had been Karan himself who had been observing her. But she shrugged the suspicion away. That would make absolutely no sense. Karan was a puzzle. He was mysterious, and well connected. But there was something else about him—like his ability to freeze time, of course—that made her wary of him. The last thing Vee needed was to rock the boat in terms of their working relationship.

  She still wasn’t entirely sure how she’d landed this gig, but she wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  Vee strode out of the building and headed into the bright moonlight with one thing in mind, and one thing only.

  A hot bath, and a jasmine and cocoa butter bath bomb.

  Okay, so maybe that was two things.

  Chapter 54

  Without Syama to transport her from place to place with her magical teleportation ability, Vee was forced to use the mundane method of walking and taking public transport home.

  She would have done so tonight if Rossi hadn’t arranged a car for her to take her home. The man was far too observan
t, and Vee had to remind herself that he was a trained agent.

  She slid into the back of the car and gave the driver her address, then fell into an almost morbid silence as he drove off. Vee checked he phone, in case Nivaan had left her a message, she missed the guy too damned much.

  She smiled at the memory. Of Nivaan and his adorable niece Sona. Vee had tried hard not to think too much of Nivaan, more so because the man’s mere existence made her weak at the knees. She was no wilting wallflower, no fainting Miss. And yet when Nivaan was around all she wanted to do was to faint in his arms so that he would sweep her up and take her away with him.

  Vee grinned at her strange imaginings. The object of those fantasies would burst into uncontrollable laughter should she ever admit to having them. Vee considered telling him—and making a fool of herself in the process—just so that she could hear that laugh.

  She shook her head and hid a smile. Who would have thought that Vee Shankar would ever fall for a guy?

  She sighed as the cab zipped through the city streets. Reality only hit her when she was alone, without the stress of catching and or killing demons to distract her.

  Vee stared out at the city streets as they flitted by, but all she saw was her grandmother’s face.

  Radhima.

  She’d been so young at heart, so filled with the love of life that she’d often drawn Vee out of her own self-pity. Now she was dead as a result of something Vee had done.

  Maybe that deed had been done when Vee had been a kid. So what? It had still been her fault. She’d been the one to open the vortex, to kill the demon Kasipu, to cast her father into an uncertain hell. She’d been the one to bring the wrath of the demon’s brother down on her family, and in the end, cause the death of her beloved grandmother.

  A pained sigh echoed within the vehicle and Vee glanced up to check if the driver was annoyed or upset about something. But the man’s eyes were focused on the street ahead, and he didn’t even twitch when he caught Vee staring at him in the rear-view mirror.

  Frowning, Vee turned her attention back to the view of the city. At night the lights were so beautiful, the shadows and darkness hiding the bleak sadness of what lay within the abandoned alleys, and beneath the overpasses. The homeless had never been anything but a consistent issue for the city, both financially, and in a humanitarian light.

  But ever since the demons had begun to seep through into the city, the homeless population had burgeoned. Demons preyed on them, decimating their numbers, but those same demons eventually joined their number, more so when they discovered that our world was not the land of milk and amrita they’d believed it to be.

  This time it was Vee who sighed, and when the voice spoke in her ear, she almost jumped out of her skin.

  “You know, I always thought you were a responsible, level-headed child.” Radhima shook her head and studied Vee’s face. “I expected more from you.”

  Vee snorted. The apparition had haunted her ever since her grandmother’s death. Vee knew she was generating this ghost, probably born out of her own desperate need to see her grandmother again.

  “What?” said the ghost, her eyes narrowing. “Now you won’t talk to me?”

  Vee glared at the apparition. “Not here. You’re going to make people think I’m crazy.”

  The ghost snorted. “For a smart young woman, you’re terribly dense.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Vee snapped, forgetting that the driver was directly in front of her. A glance up confirmed that the man was now paying attention to her, his scowl saying he was probably wondering if he should take the turn for Bellevue instead.

  When Vee glanced back at the apparition, she found Radhima’s eyes staring down at Vee’s phone. Vee rolled her eyes and let out a long-suffering sigh. As she picked up the phone and pretended to take a call, she had to admit that her imaginary grandmother was pretty smart.

  Vee gritted her teeth.

  The ghost is a figment of my imagination, for god’s sake. Even I’m beginning to believe my hysterical ravings.

  Phone to her ear, she said, “What do you want?” She felt ridiculous. It was too bizarre to be talking to something she’d dreamed up. What the hell was happening to her?

  Maybe Bellevue isn’t such a bad idea.

  Radhima’s voice was calm. “I want to help you.”

  “This isn’t real,” Vee snapped, glancing up at the driver. The man had turned his attention back to the road, although he flicked his gaze back to her every few seconds, as if watching for the slightest hint of crazy.

  “It is real. I don’t know why it’s so hard for you to accept.”

  Vee sighed. “You’re gone. You can’t come back. This is just…because I want you back with us, because I can’t accept it. It doesn’t mean anything. Just…the grieving process. Which I apparently suck at.” Vee swallowed the hard knot in her throat, tears threatening to spill over any second.

  The ghost leaned toward Vee, and her heart stilled. She could feel the warmth emanating from Radhima’s—or rather the apparition’s—arm. Vee’s eyes widened as she stared at the spot which the ghost had touched, and then looked back up at her grandmother’s eyes.

  “How can I prove it to you?” she asked Vee softly.

  Vee shook her head. This was getting insane. “You can’t prove anything to me. Don’t you get that? I need to work this through at my own pace. I don’t need you…talking to me all the time.” A glance up at the driver showed the man’s sad, empathetic expression. Vee felt awful for misleading him, for making him believe she’d been dumped or abandoned by someone important in her life.

  Better than letting him find out you’re talking to your grandmother’s ghost.

  Radhima shifted slightly, so she was facing Vee directly. “Do you need more proof? This whole thing is getting a bit tiring. I thought I’d have gotten through to you by now.”

  “You can’t get through to me. I’m trying to heal and this…” Vee waved her hand around the back of the car, “…this is all just making it worse.”

  “I know dear, but it’s not meant to make you feel worse. If you will just listen to me, then I can make you understand.”

  “There is nothing to understand. You’re gone. I’m dealing with it. Don’t make it worse than it already is.” Then Vee paused and glared at the ghost. She found herself wondering for the briefest moment if this ghost was haunting her mother too. She frowned. “You’d better leave Mom alone. She doesn’t need you making things worse for her. She’s got way too much on her mind.”

  The apparition sighed and sat back. “They say the worst pain is when a mother loses a child. I can agree but from a completely different perspective.” She turned to stare at Vee. “It must be easy when death takes you away, far from this plane so you can’t see your loved ones, be around them and not be able to touch them or talk to them.”

  “This is crazy,” Vee whispered. Something was niggling at her now. This ghost was a figment of her own imagination but what she was saying…they were things Vee had never considered. Was it possible….

  No. She shook her head but before she could speak Radhima lifted her hand. “No. Don’t say it. Not yet. If you really want me to leave, if you really truly don’t believe I am real, then perhaps there is nothing I can do or say to change that. But at least take the time to think about it.”

  Vee opened her mouth to respond, then shut it without uttering a word. What could she possibly say to the apparition that would even make sense? Then she let out a soft breath. “Fine.”

  “Good.” The ghost grinned, looking far too pleased with herself.

  Vee pursed her lips and lifted a brow. “Don’t get too excited. I only said I’ll think about it.”

  Vee’s warning didn’t seem to have an effect on the apparition, who clapped her hands happily and began to fade away. Then, suddenly the image of the old woman strengthened as she returned, her expression intent.

  “Oh, and don’t forget one thing… You’re not so
special that you’d go crazy just from the death of a loved one. You lived through and survived your father’s death. Why would you lose your marbles over me? You’re too strong for that. If you weren’t, I’d doubt the gods would have seen fit to choose you as their emissary on this plane.”

  With those words the ghost evaporated, leaving Vee alone in the back of the car with a driver who was again staring at her suspiciously. He was right to be concerned about her mental state.

  Vee sighed and clicked her phone off.

  Just fabulous. She was now actually beginning to consider that her imaginary grandmother could be real. Maybe she really was going nuts. Insanity would certainly make more sense than ghosts.

  Vee started as Radhima’s voice echoed in her ear. “And gods and demons? How much sense do they make?”

  Chapter 55

  Walking into the house, Vee tiptoed across the hallway and hurried up the stairs as quietly as possible. She’d almost made it to the landing when a voice stopped her in her tracks.

  “Where have you been?”

  Vee turned on her heel and looked down at her dad who was standing at the foot of the stairs holding a cup of tea in his hand. He was frowning at her, studying her filthy clothing, his nose crinkled as if she’d been rolling in cow poop all day. He wouldn’t be far off.

  She sighed. “On a case.”

  He tilted his head. “You have bhayakara goo on your shoes and clothes, and you seem to have a little bit of pey blood on your face. Not to mention a smidge of brain matter in your hair.”

  Vee’s hand lifted to her head, worried now about getting the muck out of her hair as soon as possible. “Ugh. I have to wash it off.”

  She was turning to race up the stairs when her dad said, “Stop.”

  The tone was so stern that she had little choice but to obey. The only movement she made was to look over her shoulder and watch as he set his mug down and jogged up the stairs toward her. As he came, he retrieved a little plastic bag from his pocket. Dropping the contents onto his palm, he chose the tweezer and slipped the spatula back into his pocket. Then he reached out with the tweezer and picked something out of her hair.