Victoria Nelson - Blood Lines Part 28

"It's just she doesn't seem to be..." He spread his hands.

"Feeling anything?"

"Yes."

"It's all there. It's just all locked in behind the anger."

"She has every right to be angry."

Celluci scowled. "I didn't say she didn't have."

During the ride back to Henry's condo, Vicki had spat out the bare bones of what had happened to her.

Both men had listened quietly, both recognizing that interrupting with either questions or pa.s.sions would stop the flow of words completely. When she'd finished, Celluci had immediately begun making plans to take care of Gowan and Mallard, but Vicki had glared through the spare pair of gla.s.ses he'd brought for her and said, "No. I don't know how or when, but the pay back's mine. Not yours. Mine."

Her tone left little doubt that Gowan and Mallard would get exactly what they had coming. And then she'd added, "I want Tawfik, " in such a voice that even Henry had found himself chilled by it.

They turned toward her as she limped into the living room, wet hair slicked back, the bruise that discolored one side of her face a sharp contrast to the pallor of the other cheek. The hand smoothing the front of her sweats.h.i.+rt was wrapped in gauze.

I've seen holy fanatics, Henry thought, as Vicki crossed over to the window,wearing exactly that expression . Again, the two men exchanged worried glances. She moved, not as if she might break at any second, but as if she might explode.

"Before we begin," she said to the night, "order a pizza. I'm starving."

"But we still don't know," Celluci pointed out, waving a piece of gnawed crust for emphasis, "how Tawfik found out about Vicki."

"Once Cantree told him about you, it wouldn't have been difficult for Tawfik to have lifted the information from his mind." Henry paused in his slow pacing and looked down at Celluci. "Cantree would believe that anything you knew, you would have told Vicki and Tawfik must have decided to tie up the loose end."

"Yeah? Then why such an elaborate scenario?" Celluci tossed the crust into the box and straightened, wiping his hands. "Why not get rid of her the way he got rid of Trembley? Kapow and it's over."

"I don't know."

"It seems to me that you spent at least as much time talking with him as Cantree did. How do we know you didn't say anything?"

"Because," the pause filled with something very close to menace, "I wouldn't."

Celluci fought a nearly irresistible urge to drop his gaze and continued, his voice beginning to rise. "We know he can mess with people's thoughts-the staff at the museum are proof of that. How do we know he didn't lift her from your mind?"

"No! I would never betray her."

Celluci "s eyes narrowed as he realized the source of the pain that shadowed Henry's protest.No, he wouldn't betray her. He loves her. He really loves her. The son of a b.i.t.c.h. And he's afraid he might have done it. That Tawfik might have lifted Vicki out of his head . "Would you have even noticed him doing it?" The question needed to be asked. He wasn't just twisting the knife. At least he didn't think he was.

"No one walks uninvited through my mind, mortal." But Tawfik had touched him just by existing and Henry had no real idea what the wizard-priest might have picked up. For all his declared certainty, this showed in his voice. Celluci heard it and Henry knew he did.

"Enough." Vicki threw herself up out of the armchair, wiping grease off her mouth with the palm of her hand. "It doesn't matter how he knew about me. It's over. The only thing that matters now, and I mean theonly thing, is finding Tawfik and taking him out. Henry, you said that the woman who left the Solicitor General's library before Cantree went in said she'd meet him at the ceremony." "Yes."

"And Tawfik himself told you it was essential for the gathered acolytes to be sworn to his G.o.d as soon as possible."

"Yes."

"Well, since we know that his first group of acolytes have been pulled-at the very least-from the upper ranks of both the metro and the provincial police forces, we'd better stop him before this ceremony happens."

"How do we know it hasn't?"

Vicki snorted. "You tell me. I've been a little out of touch the last couple of days."

"The party was Sat.u.r.day. Tawfik spoke with me Sunday." Had it only been two days ago? "Monday..."

Was that why he hadn't come, Henry wondered. Were they already too late?

"For what it's worth," Celluci offered, "Cantree was home last night."

"How do you know?"

"I watched his house for a while."

"Why?"

"I thought I might ask him what the f.u.c.k was going on."

"Did you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I remembered what happened to Trembley and it occurred to me that lying low might be a healthier plan. All right?" Celluci threw the question at Henry, then followed it with, "Might have been more useful if you'd done as thorough an interrogation on Tawfik during your little stroll. Or were you too busy being creatures of the night together that you forgot the's...o...b..''sa killer?"

"I am as immortal as you are, Richmond. I will never grow old. I will never die. I will never leave you."

Celluci read the thought off Henry's face. He flung himself up out of the chair and across the living room.

"You b.a.s.t.a.r.d, that's exactly what happened, isn't it?"

Henry met the rush with an outstretched hand and Celluci rocked to a halt as though he'd hit a wall. Just for a moment, Henry wanted to make him understand. And then the moment pa.s.sed. "Never presume,"

he said, catching the other man's gaze and holding it, forcing him to stand and listen, "that you know what I do or why I do it. I am not as you are. The laws I follow are not the laws that master you. We are very, very different you and I; in two things only we are the same. Whatever Tawfik and I spoke of, whatevermy reaction to him, all that has changed. He has hurt one of mine and I will not have that."

As Henry dropped his hand, Celluci staggered forward. He had the strange feeling he would have fallen had Henry not continued to hold his gaze until he steadied. "And the second thing," he demanded, stepping back and shoving the curl of hair back off his face.

"Please, Detective," Henry purposefully lowered his lids, allowing Celluci to look away if he chose, "do not attempt to convince me you have no knowledge of the other... interest we share."

Brown eyes stared into hazel for a moment. Finally, Celluci sighed.

"If you two have finished," Vicki snapped, leaning back against the windows and crossing her arms, "can we get on with it?"

"Finished?" Celluci snorted quietly, turning and walking back to the couch. "Something tells me we're just getting started." He pushed the pizza box out of the way and dropped down, the couch springs protesting the sudden weight. "Look, ceremonies don't usually happen on a whim. Most religions have schedules to keep."

Vicki nodded. "Good point. Henry?"

"He said,soon . Nothing more definite."

"d.a.m.nit, there's got to be somewhere we can find out about ancient Egyptian religious rituals." Her eyes narrowed. "Mike..."

"Uh-uh. The closest I ever got to ancient Egypt was doing a little overtime at the Tut exhibit. And that was years ago."

"Oh, you've been a lot closer to ancient Egypt than that." Vicki smiled. She never thought she'd be grateful he'd cultivated the woman. "What about your friend, Dr. Shane?"

"Rachel?"

"If there's anyone left in the city who'll know," Vicki pointed out, handing him the phone. "It's her."

Celluci shook his head. "I don't want to bring more civilians into this. The danger..."

"Tawfik is at his weakest now," Henry said quietly. "If Dr. Shane can't help us stop him before he completes his power base, then you won't be able to keep her safe, not from what's likely to come."

"Rachel? It's Mike. Mike Celluci. I need to ask you a couple of questions."

She laughed and doodled a sarcophagus in the margin of the acquisition report she'd been spending the evening with. "What? Don't I even get dinner this time?"

"Sorry, but no."

Something in his voice drew her up straight in the chair. "It's important?"

"Very. Did the ancient Egyptians have specific dates when the priests of dark G.o.ds would performimportant ceremonies?"

"Well, there were very specific dates set during the calendar year for the rites of Set."

"No, we're not looking for their version of Christmas or Easter..."

"Hardly that, Set is adark G.o.d."

"Yeah. Well, it's not Set we're concerned about. If one of the lesser dark G.o.ds needed to hold an unscheduled rite, when would it happen?"

"It might help if you gave me some idea of why you needed to know."

"I'm sorry, I can't tell you."

Why did she know he was going to say that? "Well, it could happen any time, I suppose, but a dark rite would most likely be held during the dark of the moon, when the eye of Thoth is out of the sky. And probably at midnight, when Ra, the sun G.o.d, has been out of the world for the longest time, and will still be gone for an equal amount of time."

"Where?"

She blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

"Where would the rite be held?"

"Does this G.o.d of yours not have a temple?"

"The rite involves creating a temple."

Involvescreating a temple? Present tense? Police work in Toronto was stranger than she thought. "Then the rite would have happened wherever the priest wanted the temple to be."

From the sound of his voice, his teeth were clenched. "I was afraid you were going to say that. Thanks, Rachel. You've been a help."

"Mike?" The pause before he answered told her she'd barely caught him before he hung up. "Will you tell me why you needed to know this when you've finished whatever you're working on?"

"Depends."

"On?"

"On who wins."

Rachel laughed at the melodrama as she settled the receiver back on the phone. Perhaps she should see Detective-Sergeant Celluci again; he was certainly more interesting than academics and bureaucrats.

"Depends on who wins," she repeated, bending back over the report. "He even sounded like he meant it." The sudden chill that brushed against the fine hair on her neck, she credited to an overactive imagination. Vicki turned to look out the window and frowned. "It's the dark of the moon tonight."

"How do you know?" Celluci asked. "Maybe the moon's behind a cloud?"

"I start my period two days after the dark of the moon. It's Tuesday. I start Thursday."

Hard to argue with. "Yeah, but the dark of the moon happens once a month," Celluci pointed out.

"Tawfik said soon." She wrapped her arms around her body and winced as the motion pulled one of her multiple bruises into a painful position. "It's tonight."

"We're in no shape to take him on tonight."

"You mean I'm not.We don't have a choice."

Celluci knew better than to argue with that tone. "Then we still have to find him."

"He must have told you something, Henry." The city stretched out below her, offering a thousand possibilities. "What else did he say?"

"Nothing about the location of a temple."

"Wasn't there something about a mountaintop?" Celluci asked.

"In a manner of speaking. He said, 'With no need to hide, I will shout Akhekh from the top of the highest mountain.'"

"Well, we're a little short of mountains in this part of the country. High or low."

"No." Both of Vicki's hands pressed flat against the gla.s.s as she suddenly realized what had caught her attention. "No. We aren't. Look."

Her tone pulled both men to her side without questions. Her eyes were wide, her breathing labored, and her heart beating so hard, Henry was almost afraid for her.

"What are we looking at?" he asked softly.

"The tower. Look at the tower."

The CN Tower rose at the foot of the city, a shadow against the stars. As they watched, a section of the revolving disk lit up as though a giant flashbulb had gone off inside. It only lasted for an instant, but the light left an afterimage on the eye like a film of grease.