Dark Wings Descending Read online

  Rafe tried not to react, but she knew her face gave her away.

  “Two horns, either side of his temples, thick and banded. His face distorted until he no longer resembled a mortal man, and when he spoke it was with a voice so deep it rattled through your bones until you thought they would shatter into splinters.”

  Rafe’s whole body twitched at the memory of how his words had vibrated through to her very core. “Now I put an end to your misery on earth.” She felt bile rise to her throat. A numbing dread at what Ashley was revealing to her made Rafe search desperately for another answer, terrified that what Ashley was suggesting was truly real and hadn’t just been her mind conjuring up terrifying images as she prepared to die. “Please just tell me you’re from Internal Affairs.”

  Ashley laughed once, a short, sharp sound. “No. I’m not here to trick you into saying what you really saw that night. Your badge is safe, Detective. I’m here in the hope that what you saw will leave your mind open for what I need you to consider.”

  “What’s that?”

  “That the killer you’re seeking may not be entirely human himself.”

  Chapter Seven

  Ashley couldn’t stifle her groan at the inconvenient timing of her cell phone ringing just as she’d delivered her bombshell. She checked the screen and saw it was Eli. “Damn it,” she grumbled and answered it. The conversation was short and sweet. Ashley hung up and looked over her shoulder at Rafe, who had barely moved since Ashley’s revelation.

  “I have to go. Will you be okay?”

  Rafe just nodded.

  “I know I’ve kind of given you a lot to process, but we seriously need to work together on this. It’s not going to stop any time soon.”

  “What could you possibly bring to this investigation that we don’t already know?”

  Ashley slipped into her jacket. “The fact that I have been at the last two crime scenes while the body was still warm.” She was satisfied by Rafe’s gasp. “I believe that’s quicker than you managed to get to them.” She saw the intended barb bring some spark back into Rafe’s eyes. “You want to talk, call me. I took the liberty of programming my number into your cell.” She headed toward the front door. “You might want to shield your eyes, Detective. I’m about to get my glamour on.” She shifted and Rafe immediately began to squint.

  “Why are you doing that?”

  “Because I came into your house as one person, I can’t really leave as another. What kind of reputation do you want in this neighborhood, Rafe?” Rafe’s face was so nonplussed Ashley flashed her a cheeky grin. “Call me before we get another body, Detective. You and I have a lot to talk about.” She closed the door behind her, then hurried to the street to hail a taxi. She stood on the street corner, watching the moon begin its steady climb into the night sky. Ashley prepared herself for yet another night out in the cold.

  “Like I don’t have enough to deal with one killer on the loose, and now there are murmurs of another demon rampant in the city. Since when did Chicago become Demon Central Station?” She flagged down a taxi and got in, giving him directions to where Eli had reported a sighting.

  “Cool night,” the taxi driver said as he pulled away from the curb. “You going into work?” He obviously knew the office buildings Ashley had given him the address for.

  “Yes, another late night, trying to keep the company afloat,” she said.

  “No rest for the wicked, eh?” he said, turning onto the main street and heading into town.

  With one last look at Rafe’s building, Ashley finally turned around. “You got that right,” she said humorlessly, watching the lights from the street lamps streak across the night.

  *

  Rafe got to work early the next morning. She sat before her computer searching for Ashley Scott through every database she could enter her name into.

  Alona walked in, stopped dead in her tracks, and blinked at her. “Geez, you’re in early, Detective. I’m used to having this office to myself for at least a few hours.” She moved to her own desk and started up her computer. “Can I get you anything?”

  Rafe distractedly tapped her pen against a Starbucks cup. “I’m fine, thanks.” For the umpteenth time that morning she frowned as she brought up yet another screen and began typing Ashley’s name in the required box.

  “Anything I can help you with?” Alona asked, sidling over to see what Rafe was doing.

  “I want to run this person through every system we have, but all I have is her name. I’m getting too many hits.”

  Alona pulled her chair over and straddled it. “You’ve got no other data at all? Date of birth? Address?”

  Rafe shook her head, thought for a moment, then fumbled for her phone. “I do have her cell phone number, though. For Christ’s sake, why didn’t I think of that half a fucking hour ago?” She thumbed through her list of contacts but couldn’t find Ashley in the A’s so continued through the S’s. “There’s no Scott,” she said, then found a new listing. “Damn woman.” She shook her head at finding a new entry for “Sparky” displayed on her phone. She read the number out to Alona, who began her own search.

  “Please don’t let it be a disposable.” Rafe peered over Alona’s shoulder as she worked.

  “This some woman you just met, ma’am?” Alona asked carefully.

  “She’s someone who says she might have information about our killer, but I’d like to know a little more about her before I accept what she says is true.”

  “If she can help.” Alona brought up a screen full of Ashley Scott’s details. “Wow, she’s one pretty lady if this is the one you’re after,” she said on seeing Ashley’s driver’s license photo. “Looks like trouble is her middle name, too, by the twinkle in those eyes.”

  She’s trouble all right. Rafe read what details Alona had found. Twenty-nine years old. Rafe was surprised she was only six years younger than her. She looks so much younger. I wonder if that’s got anything to do with all that golden glitter that surrounds her.

  “Says here she’s a private investigator,” Alona said. “Hell, she even got a commendation from the mayor of Kansas City for cracking a child porn ring. Says she helped save the kids from a group of predators.”

  Rafe wondered which variety, human or otherwise.

  “Pedophiles are the worst scum,” Alona said as she continued scrolling down the page. “I’ve got an address for you.” She printed it off unasked.

  “Do me a favor? Print it all out, license, newspaper mentions, commendation report, all of it. I think I’ll keep a file handy on Ms. Scott, just in case.”

  “Are you going to call her?”

  “I might just pay her a friendly visit.” Rafe gathered up the information from the printer and tucked it into a file. “What do you think, Alona? Does Ms. Scott strike you as a doughnut for breakfast kind of person?”

  Alona chuckled. “I’m sure she’d be more than grateful for your company at this ungodly hour of the morning, ma’am.”

  “I’ve told you before to call me Rafe, Alona. Ma’am makes me think my mother has entered the room, and God forbid that should ever happen.”

  “Thank you. While we’re dispensing with formalities, if your lady here doesn’t like doughnuts, I’ll take one. Heavy on the chocolate and light on the sprinkles.”

  Rafe patted her on the shoulder as she walked past. “I’ll see what I can come up with for you. When Detective Jackson finally drags his ass in, please tell him I’ll be back shortly.”

  Alona called after her, “Can I say you look great today? Your eyes are less clouded and that gash on your forehead looks so much better. You must have had a healing sleep.”

  Rafe paused with her hand on the door. “Thank you, I feel…lighter.” She cringed inwardly at her own words, but in truth she felt…cleansed. “Amazing what a good night’s sleep in your own bed can do.”

  “Just watch yourself in that neighborhood, Rafe. It’s not the safest part of the city. It’s even got a reputation among the gangs as
unsafe.”

  “Where is safe here?” she said as she left.

  Her mind on the case, Rafe recalled Blythe’s name for the killer: the Spine Tingler. She grimaced. Wouldn’t the newspapers have a field day with that nickname splashed across the front of their tabloids to help spread fear across the city? People’s views of being safe on the streets would plummet lower than they already were.

  Rafe easily found a cab, seeing as it was barely six a.m. She hadn’t been able to sleep for long after Ashley had left her. She’d felt strangely wired, energized like she hadn’t felt since before the incident. Rafe was determined to find out just who Ashley Scott was, if she really was an investigator or something more sinister. Rafe was aware that for all her questioning the night before, Ashley had never explained what the glittery lights were. Magic didn’t cut it in Rafe’s world. She dealt in facts and things that were proven. She directed the driver to wait for her and got out in front of one of the biggest derelict-looking buildings she had seen in years. She would never have thought Ashley would have chosen to live there. It seemed too dilapidated for the woman whose leather coat had to be a name brand. Rafe pulled her own leather coat collar tighter around her neck at the bitter air that chilled her skin. The air seemed different here than it had in the city, and her chest ached as she breathed the cold in. Rafe shivered at the air’s icy touch. She pushed through the building’s main doors and startled a young man who seemed engrossed in whatever he was doing under his makeshift desk. Rafe wasn’t sure she wanted to know, until he pulled out a PSP and put it aside hastily, flashing her a smile which only faltered fractionally when she showed him her badge.

  “Can I help you?” he asked nervously, his fingers fumbling for the cell phone lying on top of the table.

  “I’m just here to see my…girlfriend. I’d prefer not to be announced.”

  His hand drifting guiltily away from the phone that Rafe knew he used to give the building’s occupants the heads up that police were on the premises. She had the feeling she had just walked into drug central, seeing as a building this run down had a watcher in the lobby. Someone was obviously paying him to keep an eye on their “business.”

  “Please, go right ahead. I’ll just…” He sat back abruptly under Rafe’s cool stare.

  “Get back to your game,” she said, already aiming for the elevator. “You never saw me here.”

  “Yes, ma’am, no, ma’am,” he blustered.

  Rafe was sure she heard him let out a sigh of relief when the doors closed on her. She pushed the button for the floor Ashley Scott supposedly resided on. “If this is a false address, Sparky, then you’re the liar I believe you to be and maybe then I can stop thinking about you.”

  The landing was lit by a sad strip of weak light as Rafe stepped from the elevator. She instinctively drew her jacket back from her gun. She’d been in too many run-down apartment buildings not to be prepared for whatever came out from behind the doors. She hugged the wall, one hand on her gun, counting down the apartment numbers. Rafe raised her free hand to rap on the door. She heard footsteps and the door opened without any preamble. Ashley Scott stood there, dressed in the same clothing she’d worn the night before. She leaned against the door jamb, smiling at Rafe like she’d been expecting her.

  “I figured you’d at least have given me the chance to change before you got here.”

  “You’ve been out all night?” Rafe found the idea of Ashley being with someone else until the early hours made her stomach clench painfully.

  “I wish I could say it was for the pleasant company, but I’d done that earlier in the evening.” She batted her eyelashes outrageously at Rafe. “I was working, Detective. Sadly, not painting the town red.” She stepped back and ushered Rafe inside. “Now that you’re here, without a phone call I might add, do you want to get straight to work or can I at least have a cup of coffee to start my day?” Without waiting for an answer, she moved back toward the kitchen. “Then you can tell me why you’re to be found at my door before even God has gotten up.”

  Rafe followed Ashley into the apartment and looked around. “This isn’t how I pictured you living,” she said, finding the apartment impersonal and curiously empty. She caught sight of a large whiteboard, its back flipped toward her. It looked grossly out of place in the room.

  “That’s because it’s not really mine. It’s just a place to sleep while I deal with stuff before I move on to the next job.” Ashley puttered about the tiny kitchen fixing two cups.

  “Where’s your home?”

  “I don’t have one. I go where the need for me is, then I move on.”

  Rafe heard the resignation in Ashley’s voice. “I’m a workaholic, but even I have somewhere to call home.”

  “And a cat,” Ashley added. “A big black cat to come home to and cuddle up with.”

  Rafe wondered at the wistful quality to Ashley’s words. “I’ve had her from a kitten. She was a present from a friend who said with the job I did, I should always come home to a friendly face.” Rafe remembered Blythe handing over the small scrap of fur that had grown into the beautiful animal Trinity had become. “Admittedly, a face with whiskers and kibble breath.”

  Ashley pushed a cup of coffee toward Rafe, then placed the milk and sugar within her reach. She eyed the file under Rafe’s arm. “Do you come bearing gifts?”

  Rafe placed the file on the table between them and opened it, spreading out the photocopied screen prints of Ashley’s life, at least, all that she could find documented.

  Ashley flipped through a few of the sheets, made a face at the driver’s license photo, then looked up. “What? You don’t have my latest Pap smear results? Your team must be slipping.”

  Rafe could tell Ashley wasn’t very pleased but was holding back her anger. Sipping from the hot coffee, Rafe made her wait for her answer. “I’ve found out just the smallest slivers of information about you. You obviously manage to cover your tracks in all you do. But there’s one detail missing that I really would like to know about that’s not covered in any of these sparse details about you.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Why all that glitters is gold around you.” She took another mouthful of coffee and watched Ashley’s eyes sparkle a dangerous shade of blue. Dark clouds gathered; Rafe braced herself for the storm.

  “It’s not exactly public record,” Ashley said, heaping sugar into her own coffee cup and stirring vigorously.

  “So you have no real home. You have an investigative business that has no offices that I can find, yet you receive commendations from grateful folk for what you do in serving the public. So tell me, Ashley Scott, while I am not under whatever spell it was you wove over me last night, who the hell are you?”

  “She’s one of the good souls on earth.”

  The voice came from behind Rafe, causing her to spill her coffee as she spun around. She cried out in pain as a brilliant white seared her eyeballs and pierced through her skull. Even with her eyes screwed tightly shut, the light still pounded through her eyelids. Her knees buckled beneath her as the light overwhelmed her. The last time she’d seen light that bright she’d been waiting to mercifully die.

  She could hear Ashley’s voice calling, and the whiteness faded enough for Rafe to stop clutching at her head waiting for it to explode. Curled up on the floor in a protective ball, Rafe could feel hands on her back. She cracked open an eye to the room. A man stood before her, dressed in the most impeccable white suit she had ever seen. She opened her eyes a little wider and gasped as something behind him shifted in the light and just as quickly vanished from her blighted sight. She could smell Ashley’s scent surrounding her and dimly registered that it was Ashley cradling her in her arms.

  “You okay?” Ashley asked, running her hand across Rafe’s forehead as if checking for a temperature.

  “He’s brighter than you, so much brighter,” Rafe bit out.

  “I do believe it’s not just you she can see,” Eli said. “This is more than a little
unexpected.”

  Rafe looked at them both as best she could, desperately trying not to be frightened by what she could see or what she had gotten herself involved with.

  “Rafe, this is Eli. He’s kind of my boss, well, one of them anyway.” Ashley grumbled at him. “For God’s sake, Eli, turn it down if you can. I told you she was sensitive.”

  Rafe barely heard Ashley’s harsh reprimand over the steady hum of white noise that accompanied the light. It sounded like a million voices suppressed into one endless tone. The brightness faded enough for Rafe to try to keep her eyes open a little longer, but she still ended up having to shut them. But there was no escape from the light. “What the fuck is going on?”

  “Eli, do something.”

  Rafe flinched as unfamiliar hands grasped her face and held her head captive.

  “What…” She gasped as white-hot pain lanced through her brain. She nearly blacked out as the agony threatened to overwhelm her. Then as suddenly as the pain had struck, it was mercifully gone. Rafe fell forward, saved only by Ashley’s grasp. She opened her eyes to find Ashley’s concerned face mere inches from her own.

  “Are you okay?”

  Rafe looked around her. She could still see the white light vibrating around Eli. It pulsated and flashed like a living, breathing entity. But looking didn’t hurt her anymore and the sound was gone. Rafe turned to Ashley.

  “Do your thing, Sparky,” she said and watched as Ashley lit up in her familiar golden glow. “I can keep my eyes open when you do that now.” She flicked a wary look in Eli’s direction. “What is it with you two and the laying on of hands without consent?”

  Eli cocked his head at Ashley. “You touched her again?”

  “I healed her. That damn demon scratch was poisoning her. I’d triggered it, so of course I touched her to stop it from killing her.”

  Rafe tried to get to her feet as best she could without pulling at her side or needing too much of Ashley’s help. Muttering under her breath at having to accept the arm under her elbow to keep her upright, Rafe grumbled, “Lights out, Sparky,” and Ashley dropped the glamour. Rafe directed her attention to the man in the room. “So, Eli? What did you do to me?”