She seemed shocked, and I smiled. Obviously, the Queensland crew were a little more law-abiding than us Canberrans. But then, they hadn’t just lost Tane Ashworth’s only child, and had absolutely no idea of the hell that would rain down on us all if I didn’t successfully resolvethatsituation.
“I have reason to believe there is evidence to be found within, and that gives me leeway to break and enter.”
“Seriously?” she repeated.
“The Society has its own set of rules,” I said wryly, and couldn’t help wondering just how long she’d been in the job. “And sometimes said rules don’t run in the same direction as the law.”
She harrumphed. “You want me to have a team or forensics on standby, just in case?”
“Let’s see what I find first, but here’s hoping forensics aren’t needed. They’re already busy enough.”
“Truth,” she said, and signed off. I glanced around to be doubly sure no one was paying me any attention, then shoved my phone back into my handbag and continued on, walking down the driveway, through the carport, to the front door. Both it and the screen door were locked, but a simple spell soon fixed that. I pulled on some gloves and warily opened the screen door. After another check to ensure no one was watching, I pushed the main door open and stepped inside, keeping my fingers on the screen door to ensure it didn’t slam.
The house was silent, the air warm and somewhat stuffy, which was no surprise if it had been locked up for any length of time without ventilation, or at least cooling running. The entrance hall was square and empty, but the thick carpet, which had obviously been cleaned very recently if the vacuumed lines were anything to go by, held the imprints of numerous shoes. At least three separate people had been in this house from what I could see, and at least two of them were large enough to belong to men, while the other was definitely the imprint of a high heel. Of course, that didn’t necessarily mean any of them belonged to Lanie or Levi. It was totally possible they belonged to would-be renters inspecting the place.
There was a short corridor to my right, at the end of which was a small room I presumed was a study. Just before that was another corridor, which no doubt led into bedrooms and a bathroom. To my immediate left was a large but seemingly empty living room. Sunlight poured in through windows I couldn’t see somewhere off to the right and, once again, dust danced lightly through the bright beams. That suggested recent movement, even if the house was as silent as a tomb and I had no sense that it held any life.
The dead? Well, that was another matter entirely.
A chill skittered across my skin, but I ignored it and went right, checking the study before moving into the longer hall, discovering three bedrooms and a bathroom. None of them contained either people or furniture, and the carpet was pristine, unmarred by any footprints aside from my own.
I headed back down to the entrance and slid the glass door into the living room open. The dust had died down somewhat, perhaps suggesting that whatever—whoever—had caused the stir had likely left the house via a rear entrance while I entered from the front. Or so I hoped; it wasn’t as if my senses were still giving me anything to confirm either prospect.
The carpet in this room, like that in the hall, held multiple shoe imprints; some led directly across the room to the sliding wooden door opposite, while others went right, into the light-bathed area that was likely a dining room. If this house followed the usual layout of an eighties-style house, the kitchen would be attached to the dining room, with a laundry and rear access beyond that.
I hesitated, briefly undecided about which room to check first. Instinct was suggesting the answers lay in the room beyond the door opposite, but I really didn’t like the thought of leaving unexplored rooms behind me. I wasn’t feeling any sort of magic, but with the walls between me and the kitchen, I wasn’t able to see the glow of life. I couldn’t feel it either, but I was so locked down that only a rave club situation would have any hope of breaching those defenses.
After a brief hesitation, I warily lowered an outer shield... and was hit by a tidal wave of agony and confusion so strong, it overwhelmed anything else I might have sensed. I sucked in a deep breath and shoved the shield back up. Maybe Ihadinherited some of my grandfather’s empathy skill after all. Just because it hadn’t risen before now didn’t mean it couldn’t.
But that wave had come from the room opposite the kitchen, and that meant it had to be first port of call.
I wove a “just in case” repelling spell around my fingers, then walked across the room and pressed an ear to the door. No one moved inside. No one moaned or otherwise made any sound. If the person whose agony I’d picked up lay beyond this door, then he or she was either unconscious or dead.
I carefully slid the door open but didn’t immediately step inside, my gaze searching the section of the room I could see while I drew in a deeper breath. I wasn’t a wolf, but there were some scents that were unmistakable even for a “regular” nose like mine. Scents like leather and wood, which were the main notes in the aftershave Levi had worn last night, and the wretched scent of shit.
My stomach turned, but I resisted the urge to draw in a deeper breath to calm it. The last thing I needed right now was to draw in more putrid air. I forced my feet forward and looked around.
Levi was indeed here. Naked. Brutalized. Sliced open.
I stepped toward him, but in that same instant, my inner darkness flared to life.
Someone was in the house. Someone who was coming at me fast.
I turned and raised the hand that held the repelling spell, but never got the chance to unleash it.
Something heavy smashed against the side of my head, and the lights went out.
ChapterFive
Waking was a slow and painful process, but at least Ididwake, and the relief that came withthatrealization had tears seeping past closed eyelids. I tried to blink them away but couldn’t, because something seemed to be gluing my eyelids shut. Until I was more certain of my situation, I wasn’t about to move.
I was lying on my side, my face resting on my arm while the other lay limply across my breasts. My head pounded like a bitch, and my left hip and shoulder were chorusing in sympathy, but for the moment at least, it seemed I’d escaped major injury.
As consciousness sharpened to full awareness, I realized my handbag no longer lay around my shoulders. I had no idea where it was, but more importantly, no idea if my attacker remained in the room. There was no sound other than the odd wheeze of pain coming from my lips, and there was no sense of life. But then, there hadn’t been before it had hit me with something hard and heavy, either.
I cracked open a small section of my inner shields and let the darkness creep forward. The melody of life was absent in the air. I was alone in this room. Whether that applied to the rest of the house, I couldn’t actually say, and never in my life had I been more annoyed by the native restrictions on my inner darkness.
I lightly rubbed at the shit coating my eyes. It was blood, I realized, once I opened them and saw the smear of red across my fingers. I gently probed the right side of my head, discovering a mat of stickiness in my hair and a gash that was several inches long. That was probably going to need stitches or, at the very least, that scalp glue they used these days.
