“He’s irked people in the magical community.” I gazed out into the trees, not seeing Mom, but I sensed Sindari on the other side of the pond. “Defending against irked magical beings is my specialty.”
“I’ll see if I can dig up anything for you.”
“You’re doing her a favor?” came Shauna’s voice—she was probably hovering right by his shoulder.
“Hi, Shauna!” I said with false but loud cheer. “How are you doing? Did you like the cupcakes?”
That earned a haughty sniff and silence.
“I’ll text you if I find anything,” Thad said dryly.
“Thanks. Bye.”
I trotted into the wetlands to catch up with Mom, Sindari, and Rocket. Even though it was August, the earth was muddy around the edges of the pond, and I almost lost my boot to a quagmire hidden by leaves and cattail fluff.
Were you expecting to find a body out here? Sindari asked as I drew close enough to see him and Mom looking down at something.
No. I remembered Willard mentioning a missing man.
“Val?” Mom peered through the trees at me. “There’s a dead man here. With a message.”
I puzzled over that until I reached them. Mom was standing back, Rocket’s leash on now to keep him from getting too close to the body in the mud. He’d been a twenty-something guy and wore a T-shirt promoting the dance studio. A knife in the chest had taken him down, and there was a note pinned to it. It wasn’t a bone knife like the one dark elves had left in my apartment, but this reminded me of that scene. A deadly version of that scene.
Assuming that neither the police nor Willard’s people had found this guy, I took a few pictures for them before inching close enough to peel back the paper. It was soggy and limp, and I assumed it and the body had spent the night out here.
This is the fate of those who deal with Intelli-Ads. Support them and die.
It wasn’t signed.
“Do the tracks smell of vampire?” I waved at two sets of prints in the mud.
Mom spread her hand. “Rocket can’t tell me what he’s tracking, but it’s the same suspicious thing that had him agitated by the door.”
The vampire’s scent is here along with the man’s, Sindari told me. No other people have been in the area recently.
“Where did the vampire go after killing the guy?”
“Out into the water,” Mom said. “I’ll circle the pond with Rocket and see if we can pick up where he came out.”
Sindari also padded off, sniffing the ground and the air liberally.
I stared bleakly at the body, jerking when a thought occurred to me. I called Nin.
“Do you have news on Dimitri?” she asked, concern in her voice.
I didn’t want her to worry more than she already was, so I didn’t tell her about the phone message he’d left, the message I was kicking myself over since I could have picked up and hadn’t. “Not yet, but do you know by chance if he was using a service called Intelli-Ads to promote his yard art? Or the new business?”
“He did not mention it. It would have been premature to promote the coffee shop, but it is possible he was trying to sell some of his yard-art creations online. I know he had Zoltan helping him record videos for the socials.”
I shook my head, reminded that Zoltan was also in trouble. Were he and Dimitri in the same place? I’d assumed Dimitri had only been kidnapped because he’d been in the wrong place at the wrong time for his investigation, but now I wondered if he’d been targeted specifically.
“You haven’t heard of the ad company, have you?” I asked.
“It sounds familiar. Maybe I have seen a brochure. I will search around and also ask my contacts.”
“Good. Thank you.”
The more people hunting for information on this company, the more likely I would figure this out.
One thing I knew for sure was that I was going to question Weber this afternoon and find out everything he knew. If he was a target himself, I would learn about it. If he was involved with whoever was behind this… I would learn about that too. I hoped Zav would finish up with the other dragon in time to help me, but one way or another, I was going to get to the bottom of this.
23
Sindari sat in the back of the Jeep with his head out the window as we rolled into Laurelhurst. I’d taken Mom to eat—her appetite had been muted after finding a body, but Rocket had helped himself to her scrambled eggs—and dropped her off at her conference. I was going to arrive early at Weber’s, but that was fine. I was eager to have a chat with him.
I smell orcs, Sindari announced.
“Here?” I threw on the brakes. “In Laurelhurst?”
Is this neighborhood supposed to be orc-free?
“Well, I’m sure they can’t afford the property taxes.” I stretched out with my senses as I peered into the large yards. “I don’t sense anything.”
I also do not sense magical beings, but I sense an artifact or something else magical. Continue forward.
As I followed the road around a bend, the first inkling of what Sindari had mentioned tickled my senses. As he’d said, a magical artifact, not a person. But it was on the move. We weren’t far from Weber’s house. Maybe someone had made off with one of his security devices.
Turn right. Sindari had his nose out the window, nostrils quivering as he sampled the air.
I obeyed, though it would take us off the route to Weber’s house. Maybe I wouldn’t be early after all.
The new road curved left and right, meandering around the hilly topography toward the water. The aura of the magical artifact grew stronger until it was almost dead ahead.
As we rounded another bend, four cloaked and hooded figures came into view like ringwraiths out of Lord of the Rings, except that they weren’t half-obscured by mist on a dark night. It was a sunny day, and the big figures threw shadows as they crept off of a perfectly manicured yard and crossed the road toward a wooded area that sloped steeply downhill toward Lake Washington. They were carrying a heavy iron box, one gripping each corner. It was the source of the magical aura.
When I sped up, they glanced at me. Despite the hoods, I glimpsed beady dark eyes, a hint of blue-tinted skin, and short snouts with tusks. Orcs, not ringwraiths, though it was strange that I didn’t sense them. They appeared to be full-blooded, so they should have had substantial auras.
One orc’s cloak opened enough to show a sword in a belt scabbard, its hilt glowing green. There was no way I shouldn’t have sensed a magical blade, but the box continued to be the only thing I felt. Either these guys were wearing camouflaging charms of some sort, or the magic of the box drowned out everything around it.
The orcs hurried up when they saw me, though the heavy box slowed them down. I couldn’t imagine how much an iron chest would have to weigh to slow down burly seven-foot-tall orcs. As they hopped the curb to head into the woods, one dropped his corner of the box, and it struck the cement. The orc closest to him punched him and yelled.
I sped up, intending to catch up to them and have a chat. They were heading vaguely in the direction of Weber’s house, not away from it, so they hadn’t stolen this from him, but whatever they were up to, it looked shady. They recovered the chest and hustled between the trees, maneuvering down the steep slope.
Careful, Sindari warned as I braked beside the road. They have magic, even if we can’t sense them. I think they’ve used a spell to camouflage their magic.
“Why wouldn’t they have hidden themselves from sight as well as magical sense?” I parked, grabbed my weapons, and got out.
I don’t know.
“And why wouldn’t they be hiding the box too?”
Whatever is in that chest may be so significant that we’re sensing it through their spell.
“Maybe they just don’t care about cloaking it. Get around front of the group and see if you can delay them so I can catch up.”
Sindari let himself out and bounded down the hill first. As I rushed after him, a flash of light came from the trees. It was bright enough to sting my eyes even on the bright day, and I winced and held my hand up. When it faded, the orcs and the chest were gone.
Sindari had almost been to the group, but he faltered, sniffing at the air. I could see the lake through the trees, sun glinting off the gentle waves, and also the rooftops of the waterfront houses at the bottom of the slope. Nothing stirred in the woods.
Guided by his nose, Sindari angled off to the side, cutting across the hill instead of continuing down it. I jogged after him, ivy hiding roots that threatened to trip me. I’d almost caught up with him when he spun toward me.
Look out!
I tore Chopper from its scabbard and sprang to the side. Instincts warned me of the right direction more than any sound or sense, but at the last second, the orc charged close enough that I saw through whatever magic hid him. It was the one with the green glowing sword, the blade now bared as it flashed toward my head.
I parried and also scrambled away from him, certain the big orc would mow me down if all I did was block the blow. Metal screeched as our swords met, Chopper flaring blue to match the green of the enemy blade. The jarring power of the strike almost knocked my weapon from my grip.
With startling agility, the orc whirled to attack again, launching a series of feints and serious thrusts that had me skittering backward. The uneven ivy-covered terrain added to the difficulty level, but that wasn’t the only problem. Right away, I realized this was a powerful and skilled opponent, far better trained than most orcs I’d met.
As soon as I found my balance and managed to push back with a series of attacks of my own, he snarled a word in his language, and invisible power slammed into my chest like a locomotive.
It hurled me ten feet up the slope, and I crashed into a tree, my head striking the trunk hard enough that I saw stars. The orc rushed after me, but Sindari flew up the slope and launched himself into the air. He landed on our enemy’s broad shoulders, taking him down.
As I scrambled to my feet, blinking away dizzying dots floating through my vision, they rolled on the ground, both roaring, both attacking each other. Sindari bit and clawed while the orc punched and also bit, his tusks as dangerous as a tiger’s fangs. He hurled Sindari back as I was charging down to help. Before I reached them, the orc rose to one knee and slashed with that wicked green blade. Sindari twisted away, quick enough to avoid the brunt of the blow, but the tip scoured his flank, and blood flew.