Denai Touch: Excalibar Investigations Series Read online

  “You haven’t been on a date in weeks. Why not ask Jason out?”

  “Goddess, no!”

  “He’s not seeing anyone, is he?”

  “I don’t know. We don’t really talk about that kind of thing.”

  “Great, he’s single and so are you. You two are completely perfect for each other. It’s time you got over your commitment phobia.”

  “I don’t have a commitment phobia and I don’t do serious relationships either, you know that.”

  “Fine, think of him as a friend with benefits.”

  “We work together — being anything other than friends will just be too weird. Not that I want anything more than that.”

  “But you’re thinking about it.”

  Cate groaned. “I knew I shouldn’t have said anything to you. Now I’m never going to hear the end of it.”

  “Damn right! We need to come up with the best way for you to ask Jason out.”

  “I am not asking Jason out,” she snapped. “Now let’s focus on work, that’s an order.”

  “I don’t take orders from you.”

  “Wanna bet? I’m team leader and Second Grand Mistress.”

  “I can’t believe you’re pulling rank on me.” Jade pouted.

  Cate grinned. “The rank might as well be good for something. I order you not to talk about Jason and dating any more. I could always compel you.”

  “You wouldn’t dare!”

  “Try me.”

  The two of them spent the next hour searching through Bethany’s room, including her library; some of the books contained very dark magic – so dangerous they had been banned by the United Magickind Council.

  A bleeping in her ear told Cate someone was calling on the comm link. She pressed the tiny device to accept the call. “Cate.”

  “Cate? Are you getting anything up there?” It was Steve. “Because we’re getting nothing down here. How did they manage to clean things out so quickly?”

  “They knew we were onto them. Keep looking.”

  Cate started examining the bookcases again, there had to be something hidden here somewhere. There was a soft click as a panel slid back.

  “Jade? I think I’ve found something.”

  Outside, Jason and Doug were examining the coven spell circle.

  “Definitely some symbols for blood magic,” Jason commented.

  “I’m surprised Blue Eyes isn’t down here. You two are usually joined at the hip. Did you have an argument?”

  “No.” He glanced around to make sure no one else was in ear shot. “Doug, I’m in trouble. I can’t keep being around Cate. She’s starting to notice things – like when my eyes glowed last night.”

  “Shit! Jase, you need to be more careful. You know how important keeping your secret is.”

  “I can’t help it — you know how I feel about her. Maybe…”

  “No way! You know damn well you can’t tell her the truth. Even if she was alright with it, they could use her to get to you,” Doug sighed. “I knew you would grow too close to her. This has gone far enough. You need to walk away now, leave Faliaster if you have to.”

  “I can’t. I’ve finally found a place I feel at home and have real friends and family here. I don’t want to just throw all that away.”

  “What’s more important than your life?”

  “Cate is more important than anything.”

  “You can’t spend your life pining away for someone you can never be with. You need to move on, walk away from her.”

  “Could you ever walk away from Mel?”

  “That’s different. Ours isn’t a forbidden, doomed love.”

  “I can’t leave her. I won’t.” His hands clenched into fists and he grimaced at the thought.

  “At least distance yourself from her a bit, move out of her house. Better yet date someone else. Being celibate for so long isn’t natural, especially for one of your kind. You’ve never had trouble getting women before.”

  Jason sighed. “Perhaps you’re right, but I had a dream last night. You know in the old stories, where women from the clans were given to the old gods to be their brides?” he asked. “In the dream I was in a villa, on one of the sacred isles and Cate was my bride. It felt so real, like she was actually there with me.”

  Doug chuckled. “Gods above, Blue Eyes would kill you if she ever found out. I don’t imagine her as the virgin sacrifice type.”

  “That’s not the important part. In the dream I was able to show her my true self. I didn’t have to hide anything and she was okay with it.”

  “Mate, you know that can never happen. She’s going to be the Grand Mistress one day, there’s no way you can be with her. Not without the Ashrali raining bloody hell down on you both.”

  He nodded. “I know. You’re right, I need to move on and I will.”

  There was a shimmer of silver orbs as Cate teleported in beside him. “Hey, I found something that could be really important,” she held up a small, leather-bound, black book, “this is Bethany’s Book of Shadows.”

  “Brilliant! Find anything useful?”

  “Some of it seems to be concealed, but I’m hoping we might be able to reveal whatever’s hidden inside. Let’s leave the others to it, and go and see if we can get some answers from this thing.”

  “Are you sure we shouldn’t be doing this at the Tower?” Jason asked as they walked into the small third bedroom which she used to practise her magic in.

  “No, it’s safer here. I don’t want word getting out that we have this.”

  “You think there’s a spy at the Tower?”

  “Hell, Raven has spies everywhere. That’s why I don’t trust people easily, even if I can read some of them like a book.”

  “You trust me, yet I’m immune to your powers.”

  “That’s different. I’ve known you a long time. Is there a reason I shouldn’t trust you?”

  “No, of course not. I just don’t want things to be weird between us after last night.”

  Cate frowned. “Why would they be? All we did was fall asleep together. Nothing happened – not that it would.”

  “Right. Now that would be weird.”

  Cate started sprinkling some kind of powder over the blank pages.

  “What’s that?”

  “It can make the invisible visible again. Ian and I made it together when I was little. He was the cool big brother and let me play around with herbs and potions in his lab. Well, up until I almost blew the place to hell.”

  Jason laughed. “Yeah, I remember hearing about that.”

  “Poor Ian. Mum and Dad really laid into him because of it, but he was never angry at me.”

  “You’re his baby sister — all he did was spoil you rotten.”

  “Yeah, Steve was always a bit stricter, but he used to let me hang out with him a lot. Too bad I didn’t grow up into the lady he wanted me to be.”

  “You’re a lady, whether you like it or not.”

  “You know I hate being called that!”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Good, because I’m not. I’m an arse-kicking bitch, and you’d do well to remember that.”

  Jason gave her a mock salute. “Aye, my lady.”

  Cate rolled her eyes and looked back down at the book, as words slowly began to appear on the pages. “Look, it’s working.”

  Turning the page over, more words began to materialise. “That date’s around the time the second Enforcer went missing. Come on, let’s go and read it.”

  They went into the living room, where they settled down on the settee and started reading through the witch’s journal.

  Cate read aloud. “Tia Alexander came again today. She’s a good actress, but my spies have already told me she’s an Enforcer. I can tell they haven’t risked sending in a Denai – not yet. Phelps will be here tonight and she requires another blood sacrifice. The Enforcer will serve Raven well.”

  “Well, at least now we know what happened to her,” he commented. “Anything about
the drug?”

  “Nothing so far.”

  They carried on scouring through the book for the next half an hour, but found no mention of the drug, or any clue as to where Bethany might have run off to.

  “I have an idea — I can use this to trace Bethany. It’s magically linked to her, so I should be able to use it to focus my senses on.” She closed the book and rose, going over to the permanent spell circle made out of pure Silveron she had engraved on the floor. It featured a Denai star on its outer edge.

  “You want to use a piece of evidence in a spell? What if something goes wrong and it gets destroyed?” Jason asked, looking concerned. “Or worse, what if Bethany attacks you?”

  “I’ll be safe inside the spell circle.” She pulled off her weapons belt and tossed it onto the armchair.

  Stepping into it, Cate waved her hand as she cast protective wards and lit several coloured candles which would add their energy to her working. Normally, she wore her formal robes during spell working, but she didn’t have time to change.

  Cate looked over at Jason, nervously hovering on the other side of the room and sighed. “Would you relax? I can’t concentrate,” she said. “Maybe you should go back to the compound with the rest of the team.”

  “And leave you alone? Not bloody likely!”

  “This over-protectiveness thing of yours is getting really annoying.”

  “Can you blame me after everything that’s been happening lately?”

  “Goddess, I’ll get a new partner if this keeps up,” she muttered.

  “Ha, having a new partner would drive you up the wall, especially if you were being constantly bombarded by their emotions.”

  “That’s if you don’t drive me up there first. Now shush, I need to focus.”

  She closed her eyes, sinking into a meditative state. Opening them again, the world changed into a blur of colour, as she switched to her Other Sight. As the book hummed beneath her fingertips, Bethany’s magical signature glowed with a faint red energy.

  Closing her eyes again, she flung her senses out into the world, as she followed the invisible link of Bethany’s magic back to the witch herself. Images started flashing, just before it felt as if she were being slammed against a brick wall. Cate winced, biting back a curse, just as Jason waved the phone at her to indicate it was ringing.

  “It’s Ian.” He tossed it to her.

  “Yeah?” she asked, rubbing her temples.

  “Hi Sis, just to let you know we found three bodies down in the basement. They look fairly recent and from what I can tell they burned from the inside out.”

  “The drug? Damn, I wish we knew what that thing was made of. Let me know if you get anything else.”

  “There’s one more thing and you might want to go and see Gran about this.”

  Cate frowned. “Why?”

  “Because one of the victims is wearing a Denai pendant.”

  As soon as Cate hung up and grabbed her weapons belt, she and Jason teleported back to the compound.

  “Where’s the pendant?” she asked as soon as she laid eyes on her brother. “Do we know who she was?”

  Enforcers dying were bad enough, but the death of a Denai was much more serious, given how their numbers were dwindling rapidly.

  Why hadn’t they heard about a missing Denai? Seline would have screamed bloody murder as soon as she found out. Unless she didn’t know. Perhaps the witch had been a dark Denai, one that had forsaken clan and coven, and everything they stood for.

  Ian pulled out the small evidence bag from his jacket; inside was a tiny, gold, star pendant. Only McCray’s wore silver ones.

  “No ID, the bodies are too badly burned. Doubt we’ll get many answers, if any, from the remains. I’ll give Phelps one thing, she’s bloody good at covering her tracks.”

  “I’d better go and see Gran. She’ll be livid if she hears the news from someone else. Hopefully she will know who the victim is.”

  CHAPTER 9

  Cate received a round of bowing heads from the Guard as she passed through the long corridors lined with weapons, richly decorated tapestries depicting age-old battles, and especially those that included the coven. She headed to Seline’s private meeting chamber and was confronted by Elsie.

  The Dwarf looked up from her desk as Cate barged in. “Is she expecting you?”

  As if she needed an appointment to see her own grandmother! But apparently Elsie seemed to think she did. “Nope, but I’m going to see her now.” Cate took a step towards the double doors.

  “Wait, Catherine, you can’t just…”

  “Oh, can’t I? And who are you to call me Catherine?” She tapped her pendant. “Remember who you’re talking to.”

  Elsie’s lips tightened. “Forgive me, my lady, but the Grand Mistress has told me not to allow anyone to disturb her.”

  Cate quickly scanned the room with her senses, but only felt Seline’s presence inside. “Whatever. She can make time for me.”

  Cate moved past Elsie to where Seline’s personal guard stood at the door. Olaf was a seven-foot giant, dark and imposing, who immediately opened the door when he saw her coming. It was strange how someone as scary as Olaf could be afraid of her, but she thought it had something to do with the fact that she’d once thrown him through a wall when she was a teenager – accidentally of course. Now, whenever she was around, he gave her a wide berth.

  “Second Grand – Mistress – Catherine – McCray,” Olaf said in his gravelly voice as he announced her.

  Inside, Seline was sitting at her large mahogany desk with a large pile of paperwork. She looked up as Cate came striding in.

  “Gran, we found the body of a Denai at the Thorn’s compound. You never mentioned one was missing.”

  “To my knowledge none are. Are you certain it was a Denai?”

  Cate pulled out the evidence bag with the pendant inside. “This was found on one of the remains.”

  Seline carefully removed the pendant and held it in her palm. “Have you used your powers on it?”

  “No, I could do without the migraine.”

  Seline closed her eyes for a moment and Cate felt her grandmother’s power rise, as she scanned the object with her mind.

  “I sense nothing. There may not be enough of the witch’s energy left on it for me to detect.” She closed her eyes again and was silent for a few moments. “All of the coven are present and accounted for. Nor do I sense any danger to them. You could easily sense that for yourself, Catherine.”

  “Jason has been nagging me to come and see you anyway,” she paused. “The migraines and nosebleeds have been getting worse and more frequent recently.”

  Seline frowned. “Why haven’t you told me this before now?”

  “I didn’t think…”

  “Of course you didn’t, you’re just as stubborn as your mother at times. Have you been to your monthly examination?”

  “Yeah – about three months ago.”

  “Goddess give me strength!”

  “Look, you know how much I hate those things and I don’t need to be hooked up to a bloody machine to know my powers are growing. I compelled a vamp last night named Colbane.”

  “Colbane? Yes, I heard you brought him in. Well, this is wonderful news.”

  “Wonderful? Gran, he’s a vampire and a bloody powerful one at that. I wouldn’t say that was wonderful,” she replied. “Denais either compel the living or the dead. I can do both and that scares me.”

  “You’re not like the rest of us, you are the Goddess Marked. You’re special even among our kind.”

  “Yeah, but my powers are too strong for my pathetic, mortal body and I’m not special.”

  “Have you been meditating?”

  “It doesn’t help. I’ve been having headaches after barely using a minimal amount of power,” she admitted and bit her lip nervously. “Gran, I don’t know what else to do. I’m afraid of what my powers are turning into, of what they’re going to do to me.”

  “You would
n’t have the power if you couldn’t control it. I will find something to help with the side-effects.”

  “Like what? Potions and meditation only goes so far.”

  Seline reached out and grabbed her hand, frowning. “You are in transition. The ascension is upon you.”

  “Transition? I can’t be!” Cate felt a sudden panic.

  “I thought you would be happy, you keep complaining how your powers are affecting you. Once you’ve ascended they won’t do so, but you will need to feed much more to help you through it.”

  “I fed from Jason last night, but I don’t like to keep doing that.”

  “Why not? It’s what he’s there for. It’s why we work with Elementals, so they can be used as an energy source when we need to feed.”

  “Gran, Jason isn’t my personal battery pack, he’s my friend.”

  “Then take a lover perhaps. Feeding through sex is perfectly natural and you can gain more energy that way.”

  Cate grimaced. “Gran, I don’t have a lover nor do I want one.”

  “You haven’t had a lover for months now, or are the tabloids correct when they say Talbot…”

  “Goddess, no! I told you, you should never believe anything those vultures write about me. I don’t understand why everyone thinks Jason and I are a couple anyway.”

  “Perhaps because you spend most of your time together, even outside of work and he lives under the same roof as you.”

  “He has his own room. Jason is just a good friend and I sure as hell don’t plan on using him for sex. I just feed on him when I need to,” Cate sighed. “My lack of lovers isn’t your concern either.”

  “Nothing about being a Denai involves celibacy, my dear.”

  “Ha, I used Finn for sex and look where that got me. He fell in love with me and then threatened to go to the press with an exclusive,” she said angrily.

  “That’s because Finn, demigod or not, is a pathetic little worm. You could do so much better.”

  “Oh yeah? Do you have a list of guys who are immune to my powers then — other than Jason?”

  “Jason is … unique, but I don’t encourage you to take him as your lover.”

  Cate scowled; how the hell had they ended up discussing her love life or lack thereof?