Life - Life & Death Book 1

Chapter 28 - Part 1 - Zivena

"Now that we're all here, why don't we begin?" Zedek says.
Another three hours in the warehouse moving bodies resulted in nothing. We'd wanted to stay longer but were called back to the Pillar for a Council meeting. Hod tried again to get in touch with Lotair to set up an earlier meeting with the vampire queen and again we were told it would be a few more days until she's free.
Zedek turns his head to me and Mictain. "Was anything found at the warehouse?"
"There was another survivor. It was a similar situation as yesterday with the witch. It suggests the killer was in a rush," Mictain speaks up straight away.
"Aksel has sent two of his own down into the pit to learn more," Artemis states. "Hopefully."
"They won't find anything," someone speaks up. Across from Artemis, Kali is leaning back in her chair. Her eyes flick up when no one says anything. "Aksel's werewolves are too clean."
Artemis frowns before turning back to Zedek, "Regardless, we are hoping they will find something useful."
"Keep on it," Zedek replies. "There'll only be more death if we don't stop whoever's doing this."
Beside Mictain, Hod shifts in his chair, "We have had neighboring Six Clan estates contact us, demanding extra protection. They fear they'll be next."
Zedek sighs, "They only want us as cannon fodder."
"They need to feel protected—" Hod starts, affronted.
"Fine, send three Guardians to each estate. Any more and we'll have too few guarding the Pillar."
Hod dips his head slightly but I can sense that's he's not impressed.
"Was there anything else?" Zedek glances at me.
"No," I reply.
"No more information from the survivors?"
I shake my head, "Medea told us everything she could remember but it wasn't much. And Max, the werewolf, was found in an industrial freezer so he didn't witness anything."
"An industrial freezer? Why was he in there for?" Vulcan speaks up.
"He's newly turned, yes?" Zedek asks. Mictain and I nod. "They do that with new werewolves so they don't hurt anyone when they turn."
"How about the original task you were given? Have there been any developments with finding the killer? Miss Stone has been missing for almost two full days now."
I've barely even thought of Sinopa. Gods, I hope she's alive.
Artemis leans forward and says, "After our discussion this morning, I think the killer is either a witch or warlock or they have one helping them. Beyond that, we're still no closer to finding who they are or what they want to accomplish."
"That may coincide with the discovery that Mictain and Zivena found," Zedek muses, "If someone powerful enough is pulling souls from the bodies then they would need natural raw magic."
Artemis nods in agreement.
"If whoever is doing this is ripping souls out of humans with no result, that might be why they've kidnapped a Guardian," Kali says conversationally. It as if she's talking about the weather as she inspects her hands and the skin on her arms.
"That may be true but there is no way of knowing until we catch the murderer," Hod says, his gaze never leaving Kali.
The rest of us sit in silence.
"Have there been any developments in Chicago, Flora?" Zedek finally asks.
"You could say that," Flora's reluctant expression only means bad news. "Neither Alpha appreciated us intervening."
Zedek sighs, "What happened?"
"Well," Flora chooses her words carefully, "Both packs kind of imploded and tore apart a city block. We had to modify a bunch of humans memories." We can modify memories? "No humans were hurt though!" Flora says, quickly. "They just think it was the local gangs causing trouble."
"Did they at least sort out their territory issues?" Zedek starts to rub his temples.
Flora nods, "Yes, we think so. I've made sure that the Pillar there keeps an eye on the situation until things calm down."
"Good work, Flora." Zedek turns to Vulcan. "How has your training been going, Vulcan? Has Dyami been treating you well?"
The surprise on Vulcan's face almost makes me laugh. "Yes, sir, he's an awesome trainer."
"Glad to hear it," Zedek smiles kindly then glances at me, "Considering the details of your cases I'm going to stress the urgency of finding something, anything. Just bring our Guardian home."

✲✲✲✲✲

Mictain and I walk out of the elevator into the lobby. My head hurts from the stress.
"Hey Zivena! Mictain," someone calls. We walk around the corner to find Ulfric and Ahren standing by the reception desk, grinning.
"Hey guys, what are you up to?"
Ulfric shrugs but it looks more like a twitch, "Not much. We knew you were coming out of a Council meeting and were hoping we could catch up and maybe give you a tour of the place or see your apartment or go and grab a coffee or just hang out or you know something like that." The words fall out of his mouth at a hundred miles an hour. I look closer at him and notice a crazy gleam in his eyes.
"What are you on, Ulfric?" I laugh.
"Nothing! It might be the energy drink I've been working on lately," He smiles, bobbing up and down and his hands won't stop shaking.
"Do I want to know?"
Ahren grins, "He hasn't slept in about forty hours."
I can't help myself as I double over in laughter. It feels good. "What about at dinner last night? You didn't seem this, um, enthusiastic?"
"Oh, well, it's like this you see. At first it felt as if nothing had happened but that night I couldn't sleep. This morning I felt really awake, like I could take down a pack of werewolves by myself! Oh, whoops, too soon, eh? Anyways since this morning it's slowly gotten stronger, so now I feel like I can run around the world fifty times and still do like a million push ups," Ulfric says quickly and by the time he finishes he's jogging on the stop. Then he suddenly screams, "Nascha!"
Nascha freezes in the middle of the lobby, her backpack halfway off her back. "What in the world is wrong with you, Ulfric?"
"It's those energy drinks I was telling you about! They work! You should have one. You'll be a proper night owl then cause you'll never, ever sleep," Ulfric grins.
Nascha gives him a lopsided smile, her yellow eyes gleaming. "Sounds like a great idea." She glances at us and a blush appears. "Oh, hi. Didn't see all of you there."
"Are you about to start your shift?" Ulfric asks.
"Yep," Nascha brightens. "Should be a pretty quiet night. No full moon," she winks at us.
"Okay! Are we still hanging out tomorrow?"
"Of course! We'll make a great pear," Nascha grins as she whips a pear out of her bag and takes a bite.
I can't help but stare wide-eyed at my brother.
Does he have a date?
Nascha waves as we walk past. When we're out of earshot, I turn to Ulfric.
"Is Nascha your girlfriend?" I tease.
"What?" He squeaks. "No. No no. No no no no no no no. Okay, maybe."
Me and Mictain struggle to hold in our fits of laughter. "So," I draw out the word. "How long have you been seeing her?"
"It's nothing official!" Ulfric blushes, his fingers tapping on the wall next to him. "But we've been hanging out for a few weeks now. Hey! I thought we were going to give you a tour!" He gasps dramatically when he realizes that we're in our private elevator.
Ahren grabs him by the arm, "They don't really need a tour right now, Ulfric. I think they might want to relax. You can see how terrible they both look, right?"
"Hey, that's not very nice! I could comment on your weird face but I choose to keep my mouth shut," I poke my tongue out at him.
"Ouch, you know we share the same genetics right? Your face is just as ugly as Ulfric's," Ahren points to our brother who's pulling faces in the mirrored walls of the elevator.
We reach our apartment and step inside.
"Whoa! This place is awesome!" Ulfric runs into the lounge room and jumps onto the couch. A moment later, he hops up and runs into Mictain's bedroom. "Holy crap! This place is a mess! Mictain, you really need to do something about this. I can barely see the floor!"
Mictain stammers an apology, his face bright red.
"You'll have to let me stay here for a night or a hundred!" Ulfric calls again. "Oh hey Mictain, I was only kidding. Your place is a lot neater than mine!" He practically leaps back into the lounge room.
"He's not kidding," Ahren mutters to Mictain. "His room at our parents' place is disgusting."
"Where would we have gone, if you guys had given us the tour?" Mictain asks. He grabs a packet of potato chips from the cupboard and relaxes on the couch.
I gesture for Ahren and Ulfric to help themselves to the fridge. My stomach grumbles and I realize I've barely eaten all day. My mouth waters as I grab some chocolate and a box of pop tarts.
"Are they the only thing you eat?" Mictain frowns at pop tart that's halfway to my mouth.
"Are potato chips the only think you eat?" I glare playfully back.
Ahren and Ulfric sit in the armchairs next to us, both with food in their hands. "Most Pillars are the same," Ahren says and thinks for a minute. "The first floors are the offices for the humans. They usually comb through the internet to find any photos or videos of anything supernatural that humans shouldn't know about. They also deal with other humans that are nosy," Ulfric mutters something the reporters should do to themselves under his breath, "and our guys convince them that what they saw is totally explainable through science or they hack into their servers."
"Do a lot of humans work in the Pillars?" I ask.
"Yeah, there are usually a hundred in each Pillar," Ahren says before taking a bite of his sandwich.
"How do you know they can be trusted?" Mictain asks.
Ulfric kicks his feet up onto the coffee table and says, "A lot of them were born into our world. They've known about everything. Even about the Council," he answers my questioning look. "It's pretty much a family trade. I mean, we make sure they sign disclosure documents too. If anything goes wrong, we can always say they're crazy 'cause who's going to believe them?"
"That's a bit harsh."
Ulfric shrugs, "It's what they get for not keeping our secrets. They all know the consequences. Plus they want to stay quiet when they get paid the big bucks!"
"Where does the money come from though?" I ask.
"We have a division in each country's government. It's on a need to know basis. I'm pretty sure not even the President knows about it. But whenever anyone comes close to a conspiracy about us, we turn it into something to do with aliens. It seems to keep people at bay," Ahren says around a mouthful of food.
"So we're the reason why there are people out there that are obsessed with aliens and Area 51?" I laugh.
"We never speak about Area 51, Zivena." Ulfric turns to me seriously but it doesn't last long before he keels over in a fit of giggles. Yes, giggles.
We sit a watch for a moment as Ulfric wipes tears from his eyes. I notice Ahren give me a side long look before reluctantly opening his mouth.
"He's still being an idiot," Ahren's voice is quiet, the mood in the room changing. "Mom and Dad haven't let him back in the house since the argument. I think they've finally given up on him."
I can't seem to find my voice at first. Evert hasn't been home in over six months? "For gods' sake," I breathe. "Where did all of this come from? It isn't why we created this world. We're here to protect and serve and rid this place of demons—"
Well, shit.
"We created?" Ahren studies me, his eyes intense.
I glance at Mictain and a look of horror is on his face. "Oh, you know what I mean!" I fake. "You know cause we're like 'reincarnations' of them or whatever." I shrug it off.
"Guys?" Mictain points at Ulfric. He's passed out, legs and arms dangling over the armrests. It doesn't look comfortable at all.
Ahren sighs, standing up. "I knew he was going to crash hard. Well it was nice seeing your place, Zi."
"Come over anytime," I smile.
Ahren nods before hoisting Ulfric over his shoulder in a fireman's lift. Mictain and I help them to the lift. And then we're alone once more.
I sigh when the doors close, "I might go have a shower." I walk off without looking at Mictain.
"That was too close, Zi," Mictain says quietly to my back.
I don't turn around, "I know. I'm sorry." I head into my bedroom when he doesn't say anything else.
The hot water rushes over me as I jump into the shower. The sun outside the windows is fading now, the afternoon slipping away. How can it only be the afternoon? This morning I saw murdered children. For the rest of the city, it's a normal winter's day.
Don't think about it.
I get out of the shower after rinsing my hair. I throw my clothes on and start pacing in my bedroom.
What Ahren said about Evert plays on my mind. I don't want to think about him but I can't seem to push it away. He can't honestly think he's going to get anywhere with this crazy idea, does he?
Anger at my brother starts to build. Why can't he just let this go? After seeing everything, after learning everything, can't he see that Amon and Marzanna wanted us to protect them? Not to rule over them.
I start raging around my bedroom, throwing pillows and kicking my clothes that litter the floor.
"Ahh!" I yell, grabbing another pillow to throw at my door when I find it already open. Mictain is leaning against the door frame, his arms folded, eyebrows raised and a smirk on his face. I must look like a rampaging gorilla.
"I thought you might like to go out for dinner but it looks like you're busy," Mictain tries to hold in a laugh. It bursts out anyway. My cheeks feel hot and I calm my breathing.
I straighten up. "I would love to go to dinner."
"I messaged Vulcan and Flora and it looks like they're free as well," Mictain smiles.
"Sounds perfect!" I grab my leather jacket and we head for the elevator.
"I can't believe we've only been here two days. It feels like it's been weeks," Mictain says as we step into the lobby.
I nod, "The days seem to stretch on forever." I glance at him as we walk down the street, the freezing air burning my cheeks. "How are you coping?"
Mictain stays quiet for so long I assume he isn't going to answer. Eventually he says, "I'm not sure if I see these deaths differently. Ander's body was so obviously broken. But with the massacres, it's like they've fallen asleep." Mictain shrugs, embarrassed. "I don't know if that makes sense."
"It does." I hail a taxi and we slide in.
"What about you? You seem to be holding it together pretty well."
"Yeah, fine." I look out the window to avoid his gaze. "Haven't been thinking about it."
"What? You know you're going to have to face it eventually," Mictain says.
If I don't think about it then it's not going to bother me.
We sit in silence for the rest of the trip and I start to feel restless. Mictain won't stop glancing at me. My leg starts to bob up and down, and my hands fiddle with the zipper on my jacket. I need to get out.
The taxi finally pulls up in front of the restaurant. Vulcan and Flora are already there, holding hands and being bloody adorable.
"Hey guys!" I shout, running up to them. When they notice me, both Vulcan and Flora blush and let go of each other's hand.
"Hi Zi!" Flora pulls me into a massive hug. "Can't believe we get to work together! I'm so excited!"
"Me too!"
"Hey Mictain," Vulcan says as Mictain steps up beside me.
"Hey," Mictain smiles. We all walk into the Italian restaurant.
We grab a seat near the window and settle in. I flick through the menu and find the few vegetarian options near the back.
"How's the training going?" Mictain asks Vulcan.
"It's brutal. Dyami is insane! He makes me train for like eight hours or more a day. I just wish I had a case or something to work on 'cause that sounds a lot more interesting."
Well Vulcan can have our cases if he wants. We aren't getting anywhere with them.
"Where are you guys living at the moment?" I ask, steering the conversation away from work.
"In this really really cute apartment in Midtown. It's amazing being so close to Times Square and Broadway. And there are so many shops nearby. I've been buying so many clothes!" Flora's face takes on a dreamy look. They're already living together?
"You sound like such a tourist!" I grin, as our food arrives.
"No, I don't!" Flora gasps.
"Having the M'n'M shop so close by is awesome though," Vulcan grins. "I've pretty much been living on them."
I laugh, "It is pretty awesome there."
"You guys will have to take me one time," Mictain speaks up and Vulcan instantly agrees and starts telling him about the Hershey's store.
I'm about to tell them they all sound like interstate bumpkins when my phone vibrates. I take it out of my jacket pocket and notice three messages from Imogen.
The first she sent was from early this morning, "Heya Zi! If you're free today I'd love to catch up!"
The second was a few hours after that, "So not sure if you got my other message? Would love to see you. Let me know!"
And the one that just came through now, "Would have loved to have seen you today... We haven't spent any time together since you've been back. Next time text me if you're not free."
I groan. In all the craziness of today, I hadn't even seen her messages. Now she's pissed off.
"Are you okay?" Flora asks.
"I'm fine," I say but it comes out grumpy.
"Yeah, obviously," Mictain picks at his pasta.
I point my fork at him and glare, "Sarcasm doesn't suit you."
"Doesn't suit you either." His voice is cold.
"Honeymoon period over already?" Vulcan jokes.
We both snap. "We're not dating."
"What?" Flora says, her eyes huge. "Why not? Don't you remember what I told you?"
"Of course I remember but it's none of your damn business."
Vulcan and Flora share a look and decide not to push it further.
I steal a quick glance at Mictain, but he isn't looking up. He continues to poke at his food. I slump in my chair.
The car ride back to the apartment is going to be killer.
The night doesn't last long after that. We pay and stand outside awkwardly before Vulcan and Flora walk off, saying goodbye.
"I'm going for a walk. I'll see you back at the apartment." Mictain stalks off in the opposite direction. He's gone before I can say anything.