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I snorted. "Do you really mink the Queen would have anything to do with us? We're half-human, if you didn't notice. Chill out, we're not here to cause trouble. We just remembered that you were a lore keeper back in OW and wanted to ask if you know anything about a certain legend. My name's Camille D'Artigo," I added, nodding deeply. "And this is my sister Delilah."
Rina blinked. "Now that you mention it, you aren't full-blood, are you? I remember now—you and your sisters were much the topic of conversation back in the Court. There were several there who were bent on dispatching you to the goblin lands. Looks like they did the next best thing." Her voice held a tinge of the old hostility we'd encountered growing up. So Rina didn't like half-breeds.
I narrowed my eyes and leaned across the counter. "Listen, friend. Our heritage isn't germane to the discussion. We work for the OIA, and that should be enough for you. Expatriate or not, you owe allegiance to the Court and Crown. Now, we've run across some potentially dangerous news for both Earth and Otherworld. Are you going to help us voluntarily, or do I have to call HQ?" I was bluffing, but she didn't have to know that.
She paused, and I could tell she was considering all angles. Frankly, she had no reason to love the Queen nor to help out OLA, but if I gave her a little shove, she might just open up.
"What do you want to know?" she finally said.
"We need to know what you've heard about a man named Tom Lane who holds one of the spirit seals. We know he's alive, we know he's near Mount Rainier, and we have to find him."
Rina glanced over at a small handful of customers who were browsing the shelves. "Go wait in my office. I'll be there in a few moments," she said, pointing us to a door down a short hallway behind the counter.
Delilah and I strolled down the hall and into the room. It was sparsely furnished, with an ornate love seat against one wall, a bookshelf next to it, and a big walnut desk and leather chair filling the rest of the cubicle. I curled up on the love seat and glanced at Delilah. The beginnings of a headache were creeping around at the back of my mind, but I had a vague sense that it was connected to something other than lack of sleep. There was something out of whack.
"Do you sense anything strange?" I asked.
"Strange as in how?"
"Oh, energy… smell… something's wrong, and I'm not sure what."
Delilah paused, sniffing the air. She closed her eyes for a moment and then cocked her head. Her shoulders stiffened, and she rushed to the door, jiggling the knob. "We're locked in," she whispered. "What's going on?"
"I don't know, but I don't like it."
I reached out, trying to figure out what was going down. Inhaling deeply, I let the breath settle into my lungs, but the sound of breaking glass startled me. A muffled scream rang back from the front of the store.
"That's Rina!" I jumped up and looked around wildly for something to open the door with. "We've got to get out of here!"
Delilah motioned for me to stand back. She stared at the door for a moment, contemplating the trajectory, then took aim and let fly with her foot. The heel of her platform boot caught the knob at just the right angle, busting it loose from the wood as the doorframe splintered. She'd learned from the best back in OW, training for a number of years under a martial arts master. Delilah was the equivalent of a black belt kung fu practitioner.
We rushed down the hall into the main room of the store. Rina was sprawled over the counter, all too dead. Blood spatters led from the counter to the middle of the room, and stopped. I sniffed. The metallic smell of blood filled the air. That, and ozone. Somebody had dropped a butt load of magic here in the past few minutes. I glanced down at my feet where a single brown and yellow feather lay. As I bent down to pick it up, Delilah hissed and backed up.
"Demon. That's from a demon," she said. "I can feel it from here."
"It's that freakin' harpy." I turned the feather over in my hand. It felt greasy and dirty and all kinds of nasty. "When we find this bitch, we're going to spit her and roast her over Shadow Wing's fire pit."
"Do you think she was after the same information we were?"
"I don't know, but I'm calling Chase. We have to report this, and I think we should ask him to bring in a Corpse Talker." With a sigh, I pulled out my phone and punched seven on speed dial.
While we waited for Chase, I took a closer look at Rina's body. A few minutes ago, she'd been a gorgeous woman capable of turning a King's head. Now, there wasn't much left that you could even remotely, call beautiful. Blood covered the floor from multiple lacerations covering her body and face. I averted my eyes from her midsection, which had been eviscerated, leaving nothing to the imagination. Blood and guts I was used to, but that didn't mean I had to like it.
Delilah joined me, trying not to look at Rina. We knew better than to cover the body. There would be evidence to take, and if we were going to employ a Corpse Talker, then we needed to leave as few energy imprints as possible.
"You think Bad Ass Luke was with her?" she said.
I shook my head. "I don't smell him here, but I smell bird."
To be precise, Bad Ass Luke's real name was twenty-eight letters long and almost unpronounceable. Father had told us what it really was, but Lucianopoloneelisunekonekari was just too much of a mouthful, so he'd shortened it to Luke. Bad Ass had simply been tagged on due to a well-deserved reputation.
"No, this was the harpy's work." I fingered the feather. "The coloring's right, and Rina's shredded flesh… talons for sure."
Delilah grimaced. "Dirty, filthy creatures. How the hell did they sneak through the portal in the first place? Jocko keeps a good guard on duty."
"The answer to that would be right in line with Chase's suspicion of an inside job," I said as the shop door opened. Speak of the devil, Chase peeked inside. I waved him over, and he cautiously approached Rina's body, a pained look on his face. Sometimes I forgot FBHs had weaker stomachs than we did.
"Jesus, what happened?" he pulled out his notebook, shaking his head. "She looks like she's been through a body-count movie."
