3 Dark Energy (22 page)

“I’m stunned.” Josephine’s thoughts churned with shock. “I can’t believe they’re giving custody back to me.”

“You have a lot of supporters out there. Your reputation precedes you. And there’s also a lot of public attention on getting the cure to the DV-2 virus.” Ben offered a fleeting smile before he grew solemn again. “Unfortunately, I know there are a lot of unhappy people who wanted to keep the case under their jurisdiction. They’re poised to see you fail. You’ll want to get results quickly or you may become a scapegoat for the FBI.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t accept the case then.”

“I’m afraid you have no choice. I’m sorry,” Ben said. “But I know you can do it.”

Josephine refrained from letting her boss know about the alteration to the protection at her house. “Why is there pressure about the virus?”

“It’s escalating. People are afraid. No one’s been spared the infection except for a tiny fraction who are immune due to white magic or just natural immunity. The government is reaching out to the white magic practitioners for help with a cure but their population is meager and they won’t be able to do much.”

“Mark hasn’t been contacted. Neither has Helen.”

“They can expect to receive a call or a visit from the Feds shortly,” Ben informed her. “Since you’re technically working for the Feds, your budget for expenses is higher. If you need to hire a consultant or take a trip to help your investigation, don’t hesitate to do so.”

“Thank you for letting me know.” Josephine flashed a grateful smile. “What about Alice? Can I hire her to help? She’s better than any professional psychiatrist I’ve ever worked with.”

“She achieved excellent results with Lucius already. It’s impressive what she could do when the feds were unable to make any progress with him whatsoever. It definitely takes skill and an inherent gift to perform the claro mentis well. I’ll email you your specific budget for this case and the forms that the FBI wants you to use. And of course, Jake and Alex will be reassigned to work with you. Lucius and the enforcers will arrive at the SeaTac airport at eleven this morning. I’ll send you the details. Do you have any other questions?”

“That about sums it up.” Josephine rose to her feet. “Thank you for your help.”

“You’re welcome.”

Josephine, Alex, and Jake made preparations for their new assignment with Lucius Padovani. When it was time to head out for the airport, the three of them ventured outdoors into the hot, humid weather. Jake turned his head and covered his mouth as he sneezed.

“Bless you,” Josephine said.

“Thanks.”

“I hope we do better than the FBI,” Alex commented.

“We already did in the short time we had Lucius before he was snatched away from us,” Josephine said confidently in spite of the doubts that gnawed at the back of her mind.

She sensed the faint murmur of dark energy and brought up her protection instinctively even thought she’d had a lot of false alarms due to the DV-2 virus. Josephine flinched as two arrows hurtled into her shields which flared briefly into visibility for several seconds as they deflected the attack. The arrows hit the pavement about a dozen feet away.

“Shields!” Josephine shouted.

Alex and Jake brought up their protection with haste. Josephine searched for the attackers and spotted two men with shaved heads and dressed in shorts and tee shirts standing in the parking lot of a restaurant across the street. She immediately recognized them as the two construo letalis curses who’d gone rogue in their assignment to kill her. They’d gotten smarter. This was the first time they’d attacked from a distance. Both men tossed aside their crossbows with careless abandon and ran into the street towards her. Cars swerved to avoid them and tires squealed as others slammed on their brakes. One of the attackers smashed his fist through the driver’s side window of a car that had crashed into another who’d lost control and fishtailed sideways into his lane. The construo letalis curse unlocked the door and shoved it open, ripping the seatbelt off the driver and tossing him into the street.

The second curse ran across the street towards Josephine as she pulled out two wands that contained niveus imperium enchantments. The creature ducked behind a car that was stuck with a group of cars in the middle of the street. The drivers were honking their horns like crazy, unaware that this man was a dangerous curse whose attention they wouldn’t necessarily want to attract. The first curse was behind the wheel of his new car and drove it the rest of the way across the street and rammed into Josephine and Jake. Their shields protected them but they were shoved a dozen feet backward. The curse narrowed his eyes vengefully as he stomped on the gas pedal and the car lurched forward, bashing Josephine into the side of the police station building. The bumper twisted against the strain of her shield. The wands slipped from Josephine’s hands as she was stunned by the impact but not seriously injured. She ducked beneath the bumper as the car lunged forward again.

Josephine brought up her backup shields and crawled off to the side. The curse peered with intensity over the steering wheel but couldn’t see her. She remained close to the car but off the side. She snatched one of her discarded wands from the ground and leapt to her feet. She aimed her wand through the closed passenger-side window as she pointed her hand and directed a blast of telekinetic energy through it. The glass shattered and she immediately activated her wand. Sparkling gold energy gushed from the wand and wrapped tight around the creature who managed to throw the door open. He was immobilized before he could escape. Josephine pulled out her other two wands and activated them before waiting for the first enchantment to wear off. Gold energy cascaded over the curse who remained trapped in his current position. Josephine tucked away her wands and was reaching into her pockets to pull out two more when a beat up green sedan rammed into her from behind, crushing her against the first car.

Josephine’s backup shields buckled as the green sedan pulled back just enough so it could lunge forward again. She flew straight up into the air using telekinesis and managed to avoid the attack which would have killed her. Adrenaline coursed through her body as she floated over the car then brought herself forward and landed gently on the roof. Before the curse could try to shake her off the car, Jake and Alex cast their own niveus imperium spells. They each had two wands that Josephine had given her for just such an eventuality.

“Grandma, you need to get into the police station.” Jake’s brown eyes conveyed a sense of panic and fear for her.

“We need to finish these guys off.” Josephine pointed two wands at the first curse before he could break free of her earlier spell.

More gold energy rushed out and encased the creature. She floated from the top of the car to the ground a short distance away from the second curse.

“Come a bit closer. I’m going to toss you some wands,” Josephine said.

Alex and Jake moved over to her as she threw a wand at each of them. They fumbled to catch them but missed. Josephine fired two more wands at the second curse as it was beginning to squirm and she feared he’d break free. She slapped two more wands on the trunk of the green car for Jake and Alex and pulled out two for herself. Jake and Alex fired their wands at the second curse while she took care of the first one.

“Do you think you have enough of these enchantments?” Jake asked.

“I’m pretty sure. I’ve been working on creating these every night.” Josephine’s lips curved in a grim smile as she fired two more spells at the first curse. She slapped two more wands on the trunk of the green car. Alex and Jake took them and continued their work on the second curse. A crowd of people gathered nearby and watched the spectacle with fascination. Police officers and detectives emerged from the station and began herding away the onlookers. Finally, after eleven hits from her wands, the first curse exploded into a huge pile of black granules as it was vanquished. Josephine’s anxiety mounted as she reached into her pants pocket for her last niveus imperium wand.

“That’s the last one, isn’t it?” Alex regarded her with a nervous frown.

“Yes, it is.” Josephine aimed and fired at the curse.

She held her breath for several seconds as golden energy spilled from the tip of her wand. She reminded herself to breathe again as the enchantment encased the curse. She began to retreat as the sparkling luminescence continued to swirl around the creature. Jake and Alex grabbed her right shoulder and urged her to walk faster. Josephine couldn’t take her eyes off the construo letalis entombed in her spell. It would wear off any second now and the police station wouldn’t offer her protection against this thing.

“We’ll need to drive away,” Josephine said.

The curse broke free of the niveus imperium and jumped from the car towards her with alarming speed. Josephine gasped and almost lost her footing. The attacker rushed towards her and she knew she couldn’t possibly run fast enough to escape. His hands reached towards her throat as his intent gaze locked onto her with anticipation. His fingers grazed her skin as more gold energy streamed past her from behind and wrapped around him. He fell flat on his face as the niveus imperium did its work. Several seconds later, he exploded into millions of black granules that scattered across the pavement. Josephine turned to see Ben with his wand still pointed where the creature had been.

“You had your own niveus imperium?” Josephine peered at her boss with surprise.

“I’ve got a few of them for emergencies,” Ben said.

“Look at this mess.” Alex gestured at the damaged vehicles around them. “We’re going through a lot of police cars lately.”

“I’ve noticed,” Ben said.

“Maybe we can write this one off with my new FBI budget.” Josephine cocked a sardonic brow.

Ben grinned at her with amusement. “I like the way you think, O’Connor.”

Chapter 24

Josephine awoke in the dark as she lay on her side with Mark’s comforting presence beside her for a change. She opened her third eye so she could see without waking her boyfriend. She took a moment to listen to his deep, heavy breathing as he continued to sleep. She reached out to brush aside a lock of his silky brown hair. She savored the ever-present currents of energy that flowed between the two of them. She loved him so much it scared her sometimes. She wasn’t sure how it had happened. After she’d divorced, she’d sworn she would never take the risk of falling in love again. She’d broken that promise to herself and right now she didn’t care.

Josephine smiled as she pushed herself off the bed and crossed the room. She paused at the door to throw one more look at Mark before exiting. Sometimes it felt like she was dreaming but if that was the case, she hoped it would never end. Josephine showered and got the coffee started. Alice and Lucius would be the first to join her. The white magic practitioners needed a bit more sleep but still less than ordinary wizards. Perry was sleeping in the form of a white dove and perched on top of the refrigerator. Josephine shot him an amused grin as she walked past him on her way to the dining room. Lucius was already seated at the table waiting for her with a troubled expression on his face.

“Good morning.” Josephine’s smile froze as unease flared in her. “Is something wrong?”

“I decoded another section of the journal.”

“That’s great news!” Josephine gushed with excitement.

“Maybe you should read this.” Lucius shoved the notes he’d jotted down towards her.

Josephine took a deep, cleansing breath and began to read. Her brows furrowed with concentration as she studied the details more closely.

“This is some sort of advanced spell,” she said.

“Yes, and there’s no way of knowing what it’s for,” Lucius advised.

“You must have had some idea.” Josephine turned the page and skimmed over the notes which was another spell that had a similar purpose to the first one. She flipped through the remaining eight pages of notes which were other spells. “These are some sort of devices. I would guess by the design that they’re weapons.”

“One would imagine so since it’s from the house of an administrator,” Lucius said.

Josephine flipped through the pages until she got to the page which was at the end of what he’d decoded.

“It says you’ve been following her for some time but then it cuts off. The next section in this journal probably has her name and where she lives!” Josephine said.

“What’s all the fuss about?” Alice appeared in the doorway.

Josephine filled her in on what Lucius had just uncovered.

“You’re making great headway.” Alice leveled an approving look at Lucius.

“Thanks. I think it’s the claro mentis you did last night for me.”

“I’m glad it helped.”

Josephine leveled a curious gaze at Lucius. “How did you decode this portion of the journal?”

“It was like before. I remembered it from when I was a teenager. I guess I have other memories blocked besides the time period after the Valituras kidnapped me.”

Josephine’s heart surged with compassion for this man. The poor guy had lost his entire life because of this unethical, power-hungry organization. She wished she could help him get those years back. Of course, his mind had erased those memories. They still weren’t sure if it was because of the side-effect of the amnesia spell or if it was his mind protecting itself from experiencing the pain of living all those years in servitude of the Valituras.

“Aren’t you going to call Ben and let him know what you discovered?” Alice asked.

Josephine took the papers with a contemplative frown. “Yes but I’m going to hold off on that for an hour or two. I’ll have to go to the station and fill out reports and I’m not ready to go back to work just yet. Besides, we need to have a celebration breakfast.” Her lips curved in a bright smile and her brown eyes twinkled with merriment. “Any special requests?”

“How about that cream cheese stuffed French toast I heard about?” Lucius requested.

“Sure! I can do that!” Josephine said.

She puttered around the kitchen, glad to take her mind off the Valituras threat. Perry was awake now and flew to the curtain rod above the kitchen window to perch. One of his feathers drifted down to the kitchen sink. Josephine cocked an eye of bemusement at the fluffy white plume that lay there. She grabbed it, placed it in a plastic bag and tucked it away in one of her drawers for safekeeping.

“Why did you do that?” Perry warbled in his bird voice.

“A lot of wands are made with a feather inside them. I think I’ll have one made with one of yours. It might give it more of a kick,” Josephine said.

“Perhaps.” Perry’s tone was doubtful.

Josephine continued beating the cream cheese mixture in her bowl but stopped when Mark stepped into the kitchen.

“Hello, sweetheart,” she said.

“Hi, Josephine.” Mark strode over to her and they kissed briefly. He flashed her a loving smile as he pulled back. “My sister called me just a bit ago.”

“So that’s why you’re up so early,” Josephine said. “I haven’t finished making breakfast yet. So why is she calling you at five in the morning?”

“She wanted to mend fences. She felt bad about how our conversation went last time. One of the companies she’s consulting for, Advantage MicroTech Corporation, is involved in the American Stonehenge project and they need more restoration help at the site. MADA didn’t want any civilians working it but Maggie pulled some strings and got them interested in hiring me and her as consultants.” Mark’s face lit with excitement as he gave her the news.

“That’s terrific!” Josephine gave him an effusive hug. “Congratulations!”

“Thanks.”

“Why would the government let Advantage MicroTech work on this?” she asked.

“Apparently they do a lot of contract work for the government with advanced magical applications. They’ve discovered some breakthroughs in the past.”

“I’m so happy for you.” Josephine picked up her mixing bowl and resumed beating the cream cheese mixture. “So when are you going?”

“In a few hours. There’s a private jet reserved for me.”

“That’s terrific!” Josephine beamed at him. “It’s about time they hired you again.”

“What are you making?” Mark asked.

“Stuffed French toast,” she said.

Mark’s warm brown eyes twinkled with delight. “Yum! Need any help?”

“You bet.” Josephine usually didn’t accept offers of help but she wanted to spend some more time alone with him. Last night had been great. She was still a little sore from their late night gymnastics in bed but it was a good sore. She enjoyed his company immensely as they worked together to make breakfast. When Josephine filled her four large, stainless steel skillets with pieces of French toast and waited for them to finish, she remembered that Perry was still in the room. She’d completely forgotten about him. Mark stood beside her and ogled the food with anticipation. Josephine focused on the white dove which was still perched on the curtain rod.

Perry watched her and Mark with fascination. “I think I know how you and Mark linked.”

“You do?” Mark turned to gaze at the bird with a curious expression.

“You have your own natural bond to each other. It’s born of a deep love at the soul level,” Perry informed them. “I think you intuitively used that as a stepping stone to create a magical link.”

Josephine rather liked that idea. From the moment she’d met Mark, there had been a connection. She’d denied it at first but she’d always sensed the currents of energy that flowed between them. Josephine, Mark, Perry, Helen, Lucius, and Alice enjoyed a very pleasant breakfast but afterwards, Josephine could no longer put off her discovery of the latest portion of the journal that was now decoded. She read through it one more time and placed a call to Ben who insisted she stop by the station right away to write up reports. Because Jake and Alex weren’t on duty yet as it was about a quarter till seven, Josephine had to bring Lucius with her to the station. She was on edge for the entire trip but relaxed a little once the two of them were seated at her desk. Lucius sat down at the empty chair beside her where Mark used to sit when he was an intern here.

Josephine typed up the appropriate reports and submitted them electronically to Ben. It took her over an hour to finish her preliminary analysis of the translations. She printed out a copy of her report which contained all the details of what Lucius had decoded and stuffed it in her purse so she could study it later at home. She checked in with Ben to make sure he was satisfied with the reports.

“Josephine, come in.” Ben motioned her inside.

Josephine closed the door behind her and sat down in the plush office chair facing her boss.

“Excellent reports,” Ben said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you had experience as a federal investigator.”

“Thank you, sir.” A pleased smile curved her lips.

“I’m hoping the next section he decodes will be the one with the administrator’s name. We really need to find this woman.”

“It will be a huge break in the case.”

“That’s for sure.” Ben clasped his hands on the desk in front of him. “He doesn’t have any of the enchantments labeled with names or the purpose for them. The Feds and MADA will have their hands full discovering what they’re used for. Whatever it is, it’s seriously advanced stuff. Good work, Josephine.”

Josephine assigned half a dozen officers to escort her and Lucius home but again, there were no attacks. She relaxed a little once she arrived at her house even though the protection was a lot weaker here than it had been before the white magic conversion. Shortly after Jake and Alex arrived, Josephine received a call from Ben.

“This is Josephine,” she said into her cell.

“We’ve got Frederic. He was killed at Lori’s Breakfast House on Webber Street,” Ben informed her.

“I know where that is. What happened?” Josephine asked.

“His table went up in flames. There were some injuries because of the intense heat. It was like an explosion.”

“Frederic is a category six. He should have sensed the spell before it struck. It must be the new secret weapon that was used on my team when we were searching his house,” Josephine said.

“That’s what I was thinking as well. I need you to scan the area for clues. See if anything was left behind for a reading,” Ben ordered.

“I’m on my way.”

Josephine disconnected the call and had Alex go with her while Jake stayed behind to guard Lucius. It puzzled and disturbed her that the Valituras would kill one of their own. She hadn’t heard of this happening before. When they reached the breakfast restaurant, it was devoid of all customers except for the crowd in the parking lot where several police officers were guarding the entrance which was blocked with a strip of crime scene tape. Josephine and Alex nodded at the police officers and ducked under the tape on their way into the eating establishment. The scent of smoke and burnt flesh permeated the air and made Josephine’s stomach clench. The CSI team was already on site but held back about twenty feet away from the corpse. They had disgruntled expressions on their faces and Josephine could sense their unhappiness and disapproval. The table had collapsed and was burnt to a crisp along with the two chairs closest to Frederic. All that remained of his body was a skeleton blackened with soot stretched out on the floor.

“What’s their story?” Alex nodded at the disgruntled officers.

“Ben said everyone has to stay clear of the body until I can get a reading from it,” Josephine explained. “The forensics guys hate for anyone to get near their crime scene. They think everyone else on the force are clueless schmucks who destroy and trample over all their evidence.”

Alex narrowed his eyes at the three forensics officers. “They’re a bunch of jerks who think they’re better than everyone else.”

Josephine came to a halt on the opposite side of the skeletal remains from the others so their trace energies wouldn’t distract her as much. She fully opened her psychic receptors and tuned into her surroundings. There was plenty of psychometric impressions swarming around her but nothing from the Valituras except for Frederic. He’d been completely oblivious to the fact that his life was in danger. Josephine couldn’t locate the source of the magic responsible for the fire. It was exactly like the attack on Frederic’s house. She kept scanning the area for more clues for a long period of time. Frederic had been conscious for several seconds after he’d caught fire. Agony tore through his body. Josephine was horrified by the awful way he’d died. At least it had been over quickly. Finally, she turned to face Alex.

“There’s nothing. Frederic had no clue what the weapon was all about. He had a few seconds when he caught on fire but had no idea what caused it.” Josephine shuddered at the brutal sensations she’d picked up.

“Are you all right?” Alex asked.

“I’m fine.” Josephine offered a shaky smile of reassurance that didn’t reach her eyes. She caught gazes with one of the forensics officers. “You guys can go ahead and do your thing.”

“It’s about time,” he grumbled.