3 Dark Energy (3 page)

“All right. If I discover Meg’s by herself, I’ll try to disarm the wards. Otherwise, I’ll wait for the backup to take over.”

“Let me know if anything changes.”

Ben disconnected the call before she could respond. Josephine tucked the phone into her pocket. After a moment, she turned around and headed back the way she’d came. Josephine forced her psychic receptors to become fully active when she neared Edison’s yard again. Unfortunately, a jogger turned the corner with her German Shepard right at that moment. The newcomer was a woman in her thirties wearing a blue silk jogging suit with her long blond hair swept up into a pony tail. Her dog kept pace with her and was without a leash. At her current pace, she would come within a dozen feet or so of Josephine about halfway past Edison’s house which would inhibit a deep scan. Josephine couldn’t turn around and try again without making herself conspicuous to both the jogger and Edison if he happened to be looking out the window. She couldn’t risk making another pass for awhile because he may start to notice a pattern if she came back too soon.

Josephine forced a faint smile on her face as she continued to keep her senses open. She was close enough to the yard that impressions from Edison began to trickle in. Josephine maintained a leisure stride along the sidewalk as she sifted through the psychometric energy and tried to access only the pertinent information. The currents of emotions and thoughts radiating from the jogger became stronger as she approached. Her first name was Rhonda and her dog was Buster. To Josephine’s dismay, Rhonda slowed down and focused on her with curiosity.

“I haven’t seen you around before,” Rhonda said.

“I usually don’t come this way but thought I’d get some exercise by walking farther,” Josephine fibbed.

“Where do you live?”

“About five or six blocks back.” Josephine leveled a brief amiable smile at the stranger then turned her gaze so she was staring straight ahead to avoid further conversation.

Rhonda was still a short distance away and wasn’t easily deterred as her attention remained fixed on Josephine.

“It’s not good for the baby to have her wrapped up like that in this heat,” she advised.

“Thanks for the tip. I’ll remember that in the future.”

Rhonda began walking backwards and keeping pace with Josephine. “Maybe you should think about removing the blanket now. She must be hot.”

“My baby and I both have thin blood. We get chilled very easily.”

The German Shepard drew closer to the doll and sniffed at the blanket with curiosity.

“Would you mind calling off Buster?” Josephine asked.

“How did you know his name?” Rhonda gazed at her with surprise.

“I’m a category five.”

“I wish I was a five or a six. I’d love to be an enforcer. I don’t think the government is doing enough to protect us from the Valituras and the vampires that are running loose.”

“I assure you that there are very few vampires,” Josephine said.

“How can you know that? Vampires look just like everyone else and they walk among us in the daylight. After they drink your blood, the puncture marks they leave in your neck heal up after just a few minutes and your memory goes away so you could be a regular, unwilling donor for years and never even have the slightest idea of what’s happening to you. I have a friend who thinks she gets fed on because she’s always tired and weak all the time. She went to the doctor and he said she has slight anemia which happens when you’re blood is drained all the time,” Rhonda said.

Before Josephine could respond, Buster clamped his jaws around the two ends of the blanket and plucked the doll off the stroller. He rushed over to Edison’s yard before either of the two women could reach for him. Josephine gasped in alarm as she was afraid the doll would slip loose and reveal itself.

“Buster! Put that baby down!” Rhonda commanded. Her dog completely ignored her. “Buster, heal!” She threw Josephine an apologetic gaze. “I’m so sorry. He’s never done this before.”

“I should hope not.”

Rhonda stepped into the yard and knelt down so she was eye-level with her pet.

“Come on, Buster. Bring me the baby. Come here, boy.”

Josephine forced herself to stand very still so she wouldn’t distract the dog. Buster remained standing with the bundle of blanket dangling from his jaw as he stared at his owner. Rhonda kept herself hunched down to the ground but shuffled forward a bit. Her dog countered by backing away which brought him closer to Edison’s house.

“I want you to come here right now or you’re not going to get any treats today!” Rhonda leveled a stern look at her pet.

The front door to the house opened and Edison emerged with an angry scowl on his face. Josephine swallowed as a cold dread washed over her.

“Get that damned dog off my property,” he said heatedly.

“I’m so sorry! He snatched this woman’s baby before I could stop him,” Rhonda apologized.

Edison possessed an arsenal of hidden enchantments which radiated currents of power that Josephine easily detected. He must have seen what had occurred through his window because he kept his hostile glare centered on Rhonda.

“That stupid mutt should be put down,” Edison snarled.

Josephine extended the palm of her right hand towards the dark wizard and cast a knockout spell. Edison stumbled backward a couple of steps then collapsed in an unconscious heap. Josephine heaved a sigh of relief as she’d taken a risk. It would have only taken him a split second to activate his protective enchantments.

Rhonda regarded her with shocked disbelief. “I can’t believe you did that!”

“He had it coming.”

“Your baby is really calm. I can’t believe she hasn’t started crying her head off by now.”

Josephine’s glamour melted away to reveal her true identity. Rhonda gaped at her with surprise and slowly straightened to her full height. An instant later, comprehension lit her face.

“You’re Josephine O’Connor!” she exclaimed.

“That’s me.”

“You said you’re a five.”

“I was undercover.” Josephine strode over to Edison as she pulled out her enchanted handcuffs she kept hidden in her pocket which would temporarily bind his powers. Jake and Alex reached the two women as Josephine finished cuffing the dark wizard. Buster dropped the blanket which exposed the doll.

“That’s not a real baby!” Rhonda exclaimed.

“I was undercover. Remember?” Josephine said.

“Oh! That’s right!”

Josephine scooped up the blanket and the doll while Alex and Jake checked on Edison.

Chapter 3

Josephine and Jennifer stood guard as they peered through the one-way mirror into the interrogation room where Ben questioned Edison about the Valituras. Jake and Alex occupied the chairs on either side of the chief of police as he continued to grill the prisoner. Time was of the essence as the amnesia spell implanted in Edison’s mind would take effect sometime within the next two hours. No one had figured out how to reverse the memory suppression enchantment or prevent it from activating when a member of the Valituras was captured. Other officers were currently searching and confiscating enchantments in Edison’s house and Meg had already been returned to her parents. Ben was utilizing a truth-speak enchantment which manifested visibly as a silvery-colored energy field in the shape of a sphere which encompassed all four men. It compelled Edison to answer all questions and ensured complete honesty as it was impossible to lie under the influence of this magic.

“I wanted to thank you,” Jennifer said without taking her eyes off the prisoner.

“For what?” Josephine shot her a quizzical look.

“Before you discovered the Valituras and got the government to overturn its policy to use restrictive enchantments on their category six enforcers, I was in constant pain. It wasn’t excruciating but it was always there in my head.”

“Ben was the one who spoke out for the rights of sixes,” Josephine said.

“But you deserve some credit for exposing the Valituras to the world as the threat that they are and for being the catalyst for change.” Jennifer turned and leveled a fervent gaze at her. “I just want you to know I’m grateful. The mind control and inhibitor enchantments were removed so I’m free now and without pain. I feel better than I have in years.”

“I’m sorry you had to suffer through that.”

“I’ve been accessing the vortex at the beach and it gives me quite a buzz.”

Josephine grinned with amusement. “If you do it on a regular basis, you’ll discover it has restorative properties.”

“I’ve noticed you’re looking about ten years younger. How is that possible?”

Josephine hesitated because she’d discovered by accident that tapping into a vortex at least once every three days made a five or six immortal. She’d only revealed this secret to a few close friends.

“It’s like I said, there are healing properties at work.”

This must have satisfied Jennifer because her attention shifted back to Edison and the information he was revealing about the Valituras.

“Why were you ordered to increase production of the dark energy collectors?” Ben asked.

“They never explain to us what they’re using that stuff for. It could be anything,” Edison replied.

“Did they give you any hint as to what they’re planning?”

“All they said was that it’s time to do something big. They gave us a potion and told us it’s crucial to drink at least two tablespoons a day until it’s safe to stop.”

“It sounds like some sort of attack is imminent. Do you have any idea what kind of plans they’ve developed in the past that they may or may not have already implemented?” Ben asked.

“They’ve never told us about any of that.”

“What’s the recipe for this potion you were given?”

“They didn’t give that to us. We only have the potion and enough doses to last for about a month.”

“Weren’t you curious about it? Did they give away any details about how it was made?” Ben asked.

Edison’s eyes glazed over then he jerked his hands which rattled the handcuffs that secured his wrists to the table top. His expression became confused as the memory suppression spell took effect.

“Where am I?” Edison asked.

“You’re at the police station. You’re being questioned about the crimes you’ve committed. Tell me about the potion you were given. Do you have any idea at all how it was made or at least some of the ingredients?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Edison peered at him with confusion.

Ben clutched a mini wand measuring approximately five inches in his right hand which contained the truth-speak enchantment. He deactivated the spell and the energy field surrounding the four men in the interrogation room winked out of existence. These spells were exceedingly valuable and rare so Ben couldn’t afford to continue using it on someone who’d developed amnesia.

“We got the names and addresses of the other four members of his team and a lot of useful information. Too bad we couldn’t get the name of the territory administrator,” Jennifer said.

The Valituras were so extremely organized and paranoid that they divided their members into teams. Each team comprised of approximately five individuals with one representative as their leader and only the leader knew the names or how to contact anyone outside their team. One administrator was assigned to lead the teams in a territory which was broken down into clusters of two or three states. Team representatives were never given the address or the real name of their administrator. Instead, they were given messaging stones which signaled their leader that a meeting was requested. None of the Valituras teams or their representatives knew who was in charge of the administrators. Ben had Jennifer and several officers transport Edison to the Clearwater Corrections Facility. Ben reported his findings over the phone before he and Josephine gathered in his office to speak privately.

“Good work on catching Edison. You seized a perfect opportunity to knock him out and rescue Meg. I couldn’t ask for a better scenario,” Ben said.

“Thank you, sir.”

“As you know, the team of combat enforcers is located in Miami so we have to wait for them to fly in before we can make our move on the other Valituras agents here in Sarasota. We sure could use some of those teleportation enchantments that you’re making.”

“Since I’m the only one in this entire country that’s ever managed to capture a Valituras agent without any intel, maybe the headquarters for Florida state should be relocated to Sarasota?” Josephine suggested.

Ben laughed boisterously. “You’re so funny! And I also happen to agree with you but so far, no one’s listened to my suggestions for them to move here. Seriously though, I would like for you to spend half a day working on manufacturing teleportation enchantments for the team. It would give us a distinct edge against the Valituras.”

“I can’t make them on my own. I’d have to work on it elsewhere,” Josephine advised.

“That’s okay. I’ll schedule you to come in late on Tuesday’s. How many do you think you can make if I gave you half a day every week?”

“I’m still learning but I would guess I could do about three or four a month.”

“That’ll work.” Ben leveled a satisfied smile at her. “And you’ll probably get better with practice, right?”

“I’m sure I will,” Josephine agreed.

“It’s rare for people to work together successfully in manufacturing enchantments. Who’s assisting you?”

Josephine tensed as anxiety clawed her gut. She already knew he wanted to know who this mysterious individual was and had made guesses before in attempts to coax the answer from her.

“You know I can’t say.”

“Maybe he or she would consider working for us as a manufacturer,” Ben suggested.

“They can’t work with others for reasons I can’t explain.”

“It’s someone who’s practicing white magic, isn’t it? You’ve found a way to work with this person to combine mainstream magic with white magic, haven’t you?” Ben asked in his typical booming voice.

Josephine didn’t want to reveal her recent discovery as she didn’t want to rope Mark into any dangerous situations. White magic applications were limited to the general areas of healing and defense. For this reason, along with the fact that working with source energy inhibited one’s ability to use mainstream magic, even those rare gifted individuals usually chose to turn away from white magic.

“I really can’t say.” Josephine adopted a stoic expression so she wouldn’t reveal any of her uneasiness.

“Come on! You can tell me! I promise I won’t say a word to anyone – not even my supervisors. And just so you know, I learned that Mark is a practitioner of white magic.”

Josephine was stunned that Ben had found out. An instant later, she stewed with anger over the fact that Ben had either spied on her or invaded her privacy somehow.

“I can see that leaving retirement was a huge mistake. Ever since I started working for you, I feel like I’m always being studied under a microscope,” Josephine said.

Ben’s expression turned apologetic. “I’m sorry to be so blunt with you. I didn’t have anyone spy on you or anything, if that’s what you’re thinking. I heard you and Jake talking at the end of your shift the other day and you mentioned Mark.”

“You’re right. I was careless.”

“It’s not a dark secret. Mark isn’t breaking the law or anything. In fact, I’m sure I could get a contract drawn up where we could purchase enchantments that he makes.”

“You’re right, he’s the one I work with.” Josephine pointed her finger at Ben in a stern gesture. “And you promised this is a secret between just the two of us.”

“I promise.”

“Enchantments made from pure source energy can’t be triggered by anyone except for a white magic practitioner.”

“I know that but the two of  you can somehow make stuff with a combination of those energies that allows anyone to use the spells,” Ben argued.

“That’s true but we can only work together on a limited range of spells. So far, the teleportation enchantments are the only joint effort we’ve been successful at,” Josephine advised.

“That’s a huge accomplishment by itself.”

“You can see why Mark could never sell his work now, right?”

“I do understand. And I’m sorry for being so pushy. I hope you’re not really thinking about quitting,” Ben said.

“I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon.”

“Good.” Ben offered a relieved smile. “As usual, you did an outstanding job today.”