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“We have to find that table. If we find the table, we have a starting place. I remember seeing it—I distinctly remember seeing it, but I can’t pinpoint where.” I described it to them in detail, hoping it would spark some memories. After all, most of them had been one place or another with me over the past couple years.
“The bald man—do you have any clue whom it might be? Did he look like a Tregart?” Camille frowned, playing with a cookie. She looked tired and a little worn around the edges. We all did.
“No, but he was summoning something with the spirit seal. A force, a spell, a ghost, an entity—I’m not sure what.” I took a long drink of tea and sighed. It was too strong. Hanna hadn’t quite mastered the art of brewing the perfect pot yet. “He was wearing the spirit seal, and I get the feeling he was far stronger than Van or Jaycee. And I’m pretty sure the vampire that he and Van and Jaycee were with was Bryan.”
“I think we can safely assume you’re right about the vampire. Let’s see…you had several visions. One, with Wylie, Van, Jaycee, and the unknown man. The second…Telazhar destroying a village?”
“No—but I think he was the older man in the next flash I had. I think the person destroying the village was the bald man, a long time ago. I’d swear it was in Otherworld, probably during the Scorching Wars, so it had to be a vision of the past.”
“Okay, we have a bald-headed sorcerer both in the present and from the past. And Telazhar. Wylie paying off Van and Jaycee and handing them something about the Supe Community Hall. Wylie beating up a woman. Did you recognize her?” Camille was jotting down notes on a steno pad while Morio had commandeered my laptop and began searching the Internet for something.
“No. She didn’t seem connected…probably just one more memory that stood out in his mind. I wonder if that was his child. But he referred to the boy as ‘your’ rug rat, so probably not.” The memory infuriated me. “If we could find out her name, maybe we could find out more about him.”
“Do you think they were in a relationship?” Morio asked. “I could search for Wylie online and see if there’s any mention of him on the Net. Maybe they were married?” His fingers poised above the keyboard.
“Yeah, why don’t you give that a try.” I loved the Internet. It had provided us with an amazing amount of information over the years. “Google Wylie Smith, and put the name in quotation marks.”
Morio tapped away at the keys. “Okay, we’ve got a lot of hits. Anything we can narrow it down with?”
“Try…Seattle. And coyote shifters, again in quotation marks.” I frowned. I’d become an expert on Internet sleuthing.
Again, Morio quickly typed in the refined search query. He was quick on the keys, far quicker than I was. “How’d you learn to type so well?”
“I had a job in Japan as a data entry operator for about ten years. That was before Grandmother Coyote summoned me to come here.” He glanced up. Camille gave him a long look, smiling. She’d obviously known this.
“Really? I thought…” I paused. “I don’t know what I thought.” It occurred to me that we really had very little clue on the backgrounds of some of our loves and allies. “What kind of information did you enter? Was it with a private company or a government?”
He gave me a feral smile. “I worked for a hospital. I was inputting insurance information for patients. It was a boring job but allowed me to live in the city without being suspect. I moved around every ten to fifteen years so people wouldn’t suspect something odd when I didn’t appear to age.”
Camille was sitting next to him. She leaned her head against his arm, and he leaned over and kissed the top of her head. “I’m so glad you’re healed up. I was so worried about you.”
He pushed the laptop over to me. “Here you go, take a look.” And then he draped his arm around Camille’s shoulder and began kissing her, long and deep. I glanced over at Menolly, who was eyeing them, an indescribable look on her face. She didn’t look angry, but her gaze was hungry, almost predatory. I decided to put a stop to any potential altercations.
“No necking at the table, please. At least not right now.” I scrolled through the search results. Wylie had been part of several forums. The Supe Community Forums, for one, but that wouldn’t do me much good, considering he’d been hiding so many secrets. But then, two references caught my eye.
The first was FangGirlWannabes.com.
“Well, well, well…looks like Marion’s sister wasn’t the only one trolling this site.” I scanned the forums until I found the search function. First, I typed in Wylie. I found his profile, but it stated he had no postings on the site—he’d just registered for the forums. He’d registered in October.
After that, I typed in Trixie’s name—she’d registered in September and had ten pages of postings. A number were simple fan-girl postings to other fang hags, but then I found a series of posts between Trixie and a vampire who went by the user name of Luv-Bites. They started out flirty and grew progressively more sexual. And then—in one of them—the post to Trixie was signed Luv U—Bryan. Another quick search and Luv-Bites’ profile showed that he’d registered in October, the same day as Wylie.
“Bingo. We have Trixie and Bryan and Wylie on this site. Wylie didn’t make any public postings, but what if he and Bryan were private messaging? They registered on the same day, a month after Trixie joined the site—a couple days after we took out the Koyannis’ warehouse.”
“Okay. So the Koyanni have been planning revenge since then. That gives them several months to raise havoc that we weren’t aware of. Who knows what else they’ve been up to since then? So, anything else on Wylie?” Camille jotted down a few notes on a steno pad.
“Looking…looking…here.” Another forum site, this one called, Fire Burn Me. But the bulletin board forum system was locked. A strange feeling ran through me as I stared at the logo.
“Camille, look at this. Do you recognize this symbol?” I motioned for her to come look.
She leaned down, staring over my shoulder. “That looks…yes, that’s Sorcerer’s Tongue. Firespeak. Crap, Shamas, get over here. You studied sorcery. You look at it.” She shifted to give him room.
Shamas gave her a long look as he headed over, holding her gaze. “Let’s get this out in the open. You’re pissed at me for what I did. I accept that. But I was stupid and when I realized that Feris had planned an attack on the Moon Mother’s grove, I did what I could to stop it. I didn’t do this to hurt you, Camille.”
Camille turned on him, furious. “You should have known! Everybody knows the Scorching Wars were a battle between the moon and the sun, at the heart. We grew up hearing the stories about the sorcerers and the evil they brought with them. You made the choice—you turned your back on your race, your family…on me!”
Shamas lashed out at her. “I screwed up! I fucked up. I almost died for doing so. Nothing can change the past, but I’m not the idiot I was. I’m not the same man. And I can help you with what I’ve learned.” He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “Please, forgive me. I can’t stand that you hate me so much.”
“I don’t hate you—I just hate what you did! Let go of me.”
