Fractured Souls by Ava Marie Salinger
34
Morgan’s nailsbit into his palms as he watched the medical mages wheel away the body bag containing the sorcerer’s remains, Cassius standing stiffly at his side.
“Shit,” Adrianne mumbled, pale-faced.
She exchanged a troubled glance with Julia and Zach where they stood in the corridor. Morgan knew what was going through everyone’s mind.
They’d never tortured someone to get a confession out of them before. It didn’t matter that it was Morgan and Cassius who were ultimately responsible for the sorcerer’s death. They’d all been in on it and would have to live with the consequences of that choice for the rest of their lives.
Strickland watched them broodingly while the cleaners mopped up the blood staining the floor of the interrogation chamber.
Bailey returned from the direction of the restrooms.
“Is Mr. Lloyd alright?” Strickland asked.
The wizard nodded. “Yeah. He threw up plenty, but he feels better for it. I’ve asked one of the medical mages to look him over.”
Strickland observed everyone’s grim expressions. “I know what just went down in that room wasn’t pleasant for any of you. But we needed answers. This won’t be much of a consolation right now, but that sorcerer was to be sentenced to death for the possession of a summoning staff.”
Morgan stared at his right hand. He could still feel the heat of the sorcerer’s soul core where he’d grasped it. The sensation had been uncanny, unlike any he’d experienced before. A single truth had echoed through him in that moment.
This must be one of Cassius’s secret powers. The ability to locate and destroy a soul core.
Morgan didn’t know whether to be scared or awed by that fact.
“I’m sorry.”
Morgan looked at Cassius. “What for?”
Regret darkened Cassius’s eyes. “For making you do that.”
Morgan frowned. “You didn’t make me do anything. It was my decision.”
He could tell the Empyreal thought otherwise. He was about to berate the angel when Strickland spoke.
“Do you have any idea what the Eternity Key is?” the Argonaut director asked Cassius. “It’s not something any of us have heard of before.”
“No.” Cassius sighed and raked his hair with his fingers, his expression tired. “But it wouldn’t surprise me if it were an artifact of some kind.”
“One from the Nine Hells?” Adrianne said.
Cassius nodded.
Strickland rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “It looks like whatever Eric wants to achieve, he won’t be able to do it without this Eternity Key or its Keeper. You are certain there’s nothing unusual in Joyce Almeda’s background check?”
“Nothing,” Julia said in a self-assured voice.
Footsteps sounded behind them. Maggie was walking rapidly up the corridor, Lucy on her heels.
“We found out what the poison is!” Maggie said excitedly. “The sample from Santa Cruz came in late last night.”
Morgan straightened. “What is it?”
“Reaper Seed,” Lucy announced grimly.
A stunned silence followed.
“Fuck,” Zach mumbled.
Strickland narrowed his eyes briefly at the demon.
Morgan fisted his hands.
Reaper Seed was a banned substance and for good reason. It was a drug that could intoxicate most beings, including the otherworldly and magic users. It was fatal in high doses.
“That stuff was declared illegal on Earth over a hundred years ago,” Strickland said, furious. “How the hell did these black-magic sorcerers get their hands on it?” The director frowned at Maggie. “Moreover, how did you figure out what it is?”
Maggie exchanged a guilty look with Lucy. “Hmm.”
Lucy scratched her cheek and carefully avoided Strickland’s gaze. “Let’s just say I have a source who, er, knows his drugs.”
Strickland’s expression grew thunderous. “This source wouldn’t happen to be a certain Dryad with a shop in Chinatown, would it?”
“Oh.” Lucy blinked. “You know Brian?”
Strickland cursed.
“The Lucifugous,” Cassius murmured.
They stared at him, puzzled.
“Reaper Seed might be dangerous to us, but it’s a potent stimulant for Lucifugous demons,” he explained. “The one I discovered in the sewers when I was looking for Loki may very well have been drawn there by the Reaper Seed on the ninth victim’s body.”
“Who’s Loki?” Strickland asked, nonplussed.
“The demon cat Cassius rescued,” Adrianne replied.
“The guy who met our warlock in the alley behind Occulta was a Lucifugous too,” Julia pondered. “Who wants to bet that sports bag he handed over contained Reaper Seed?”
“That would make sense,” Cassius acknowledged with a somber expression. “They would need a large amount for their runes and spells.”
“Did you get any hit on that Lucifugous demon’s number plate?” Strickland asked Maggie.
Maggie shook her head. “It was a fake. And I couldn’t find anything about the guy when I ran his picture through our database.”
Strickland scowled. “Damn it!”
“But I did find something interesting when the Santa Cruz specimen came in,” Maggie said. “The Argonaut agent who sent it over included a copy of the incident report associated with the dead Lucifugous demon in Redwoods State Park. The body was picked up by another Lucifugous who wanted to give the dead demon his funeral rites. The name of that Lucifugous is Bostrof Orzkal.”
A frown creased Julia’s brow. “That thug?”
Cassius stared, puzzled. “Who’s Bostrof Orzkal?”
“He’s the top dog among the Lucifugous demons in the city,” Strickland said unhappily. “He’s also the rumored head of one of the largest crime syndicates on the West Coast.”
“All the agencies in San Francisco have a tenuous agreement with him,” Zach said in a hard voice.
“What kind of agreement?” Cassius said warily.
“The ‘we scratch his back, he scratches ours’ kind,” Morgan replied in a steely voice. “We’ve overlooked many of his more minor crimes over the past few years in exchange for vital information on other important figures in the underworld.”
He traded a guarded glance with Strickland. Knowing that Orzkal could be involved in this didn’t please either of them one bit. Their past dealings with the Lucifugous had always ended up costing them more than they’d been willing to concede.
“He might be able to tell us who the other Lucifugous is,” Cassius suggested. “The one who met Eric.”
“And he might also know something about the Reaper Seed,” Julia acknowledged grudgingly. “There’s not a lot that escapes that asshole’s attention when it comes to the grimy underworld of this city.” She blew a heavy sigh. “Damn. Looks like we’re gonna have to hunt a Lucifugous again.”
Cassius frowned. Bailey and Adrianne startled. The wizard and the sorceress hadn’t had any dealings with Orzkal yet.
Julia grimaced at their expressions. “I don’t mean that kind of hunt. I mean laying out a trap so we can draw one out and have a little talk with them about where we can find Orzkal. You’d think the supposed head of a criminal syndicate would have a fixed abode, but this guy is like a ghost.”