“Once we are through this, perhaps I will.”
And with that, he swept us to Stane’s.
Only Stane wasn’t alone. Tao was with him.
I stared at him for a moment, taking in the haunted eyes, hollowed cheeks, and dusty, partially burned clothing, then all but threw myself into his arms. He caught me with a grunt and his arms wrapped around me, his grip so fierce my ribs were in danger of cracking. I didn’t care. He was here, he was whole, and that was all that mattered.
“God,” I muttered, wrapping my arms around his neck and holding him as fiercely as he held me. “I’m so glad you’re safe.”
“So am I,” he said softly. “So am I.”
I pulled back, my gaze searching his. The flames had totally retreated and there was little more than ash and desperation in his eyes.
“What happened?”
He shrugged and scraped one hand across his chin. “I don’t really know. One minute I was home, and the next I was flat on my face in a field the other side of Sunbury, near the landfill center there.”
“The elemental was heading back to where it was created again.”
“Yes.” He shook his head. “And it was close to getting there by the time I regained control. Up until that point I was —” He paused and a shudder went through him. He briefly closed his eyes, his voice breaking as he added, “I was nowhere. I was nothing. No matter what I did, no matter how hard I fought, all there was were flames and heat and endless agony. I think I’d rather be dead than go through that again.”
“Tao —”
His gaze hit mine. Fierce. Angry. “Don’t say it, Ris. Don’t you dare say it. You have no idea what it’s like to lose your entire being to another force, and until you do, don’t lecture me or feed me platitudes.”
I didn’t say anything. Couldn’t really, simply because anything I did say probably would come off sounding like one or the other.
Tao knew how I felt and what I believed. I’d told him often enough already. He knew we were there for him, no matter what. Just as I knew that, right now, he was angry and scared; who wouldn’t be, placed in the same position?
So I simply dropped a kiss on his ash-stained cheek, then stepped back, took the index cards from Azriel, and handed them to Stane. His gaze, when it met mine, was sympathetic. Maybe he’d tried comforting Tao as well, only to receive a similar response.
“Where did you get these?” He flicked through the cards with a slight frown. “It’s very old-fashioned to store information in this form these days.”
“They were stolen from the premises of a dead man. Maybe he didn’t trust computers.”
Stane snorted. “It’s far easier to steal information from these things than it is from computers.”
“Says the man who hacks for fun and profit.”
He grinned. “Well, yeah, but I’m an extraordinary individual. The common man generally isn’t as clever as me and my kind.”
His kind meaning hackers and black marketeers, not werewolves, obviously. “If we haven’t already overwhelmed you and your computers with requests, could you do a search through these and see if there’s any link – however tenuous – to Lauren Macintyre?”
“Sure. Could take a while, though. There’s a fair few names in here, by the look of it.”
“I know, and I’m sorry, but it could be the only way we’re going to track down our sorceress.” And maybe the only way to save Mirri. But there was no point adding that. Stane would do his best, as usual. “We need to know the minute you find anything.”
“Speaking of findings, I managed to get the autopsy results for the body parts and teeth the cops found at the storage place that blew up.” Stane reached over to the second of his desks and flicked a screen. Several documents flashed onto it. “Long story short, the bits did belong to Genevieve Sands. Problem is, she was dead long before this blast tore her apart. The coroner picked up evidence that the body had been frozen.”
“Just like the real John Nadler.” My voice was grim. “It’s beginning to look more and more likely that we’re dealing with not only a full-body face shifter, but one capable of taking multiple male and female forms.”
“If that is the case,” Azriel said, “then it is possible the clothes we saw in Lauren’s wardrobe might well have belonged to her alternate male identity.”
I glanced at him. “Yes. Which means that cuff link might yet lead us to her, even if a search through the index cards doesn’t.”
He raised an eyebrow. “How? It is an inanimate object, and in and of itself can provide no clues.”
“To you and me, yes. But to someone who has psychometry skills, maybe it can. We have to go see Adeline Greenfield about her apparently resurrected brother; maybe she can point us to someone who can help.”
“Why not ask the Brindle?” Tao said, voice a little strained, but overall sounding a whole lot less tense than a few moments ago. “Surely they have witches capable of that there?”
“Yes, but their first priority has to be Mirri —”
“Fuck,” he said, cutting me off. “I’d forgotten. How is she? How is Ilianna?”
“Okay for the moment. Ilianna’s mom and Kiandra are both helping to try to get the threads unraveled before the deadline.”
He hesitated. “And have they any hope?”
“Who knows?” I half shrugged. “But Ilianna did manage to unravel the magic in my father’s warding stones, so she has at least a basic level of understanding of what’s involved.”
“Fuck.” He thrust a hand through his tangled, matted hair. “We’ve made a right old cock-up of everything, haven’t we?”
“Not we,” I refuted softly. “Me.”
“Ris —”
“Don’t,” I cut in. “And for exactly the same reasons you gave me only minutes ago.”
He stared at me for several seconds; then the faintest trace of a smile touched his lips. “Fair enough. Although I will remind you that you can hardly be held to account for your father’s stupidity in losing the keys in the first place.”
“True, but that doesn’t absolve me of responsibility for everything else that has happened.” My voice broke, and I swallowed heavily. Damn it, I wouldn’t cry. Not again. There’d been enough tears shed for Jak for the time being, and I refused to cry for Tao or Mirri. It wasn’t over yet. They weren’t dead. And until it was all done and dusted and we knew… I paused, not wanting to think about the rest of that sentence, but it ran through my mind nevertheless.
… we knew who survived and who didn’t, there was no point in grieving. Hell, there was a fair chance I wouldn’t survive, let alone anyone else. And that would be the pits given the possibility of a happy ever after had been dangled in front of my nose.
I returned my gaze to Stane. “Any luck finding more information on Pénombre Manufacturing?”
He shook his head. “For all intents and purposes, it’s a shelf company, as I said. I have no idea how they can own that Maribyrnong premises given it shouldn’t be possible.”
“So there’s no connection to either Genevieve Sands or Lauren Macintyre?”
“None that I can find. Doesn’t mean there isn’t one, of course.” He leaned across to another screen. “There is, however, a link between Sands and Macintyre. It’s tenuous, and I’m trying to uncover more details, but it would seem that twenty-eight years ago, Sands invested in a property that Macintyre subsequently purchased.”
My eyebrows rose. “The Maribyrnong warehouse was purchased by the shelf company some twenty-eight years ago, too.”
“Yeah. Odd coincidence, don’t you think?” He half smiled. “Macintyre no longer owns the property. According to records, she sold it five years ago.”
“And the new owners?”
“It went through several, and ended up being one of the properties purchased by the consortium owned by John Nadler.”
“And round and round the circle goes,” Tao commented. “Only it seems to stop at exactly the same spot.”
Stane glanced at him. “Yeah. I’m currently doing a search on all the owners between Macintyre and Nadler, just to see what I come up with.”
“It’s worth a shot.” If nothing else, it might give us some home addresses to search. I mean, sooner or later, we had to hit gold. Or, in this case, a legitimate address that actually had the person registered as the former owner actually living there.
“Anything else?” Stane said.
I smiled. “That’s enough, don’t you think?”
“Well, I am becoming accustomed to my crates of top-shelf champagne. Not sure how I’ll manage once all this over.”
My smiled grew. “You could actually purchase them yourself.”
Shock claimed his expression, although his brown eyes twinkled. “Buy them myself? Good god, I don’t buy anything,dear woman. I’m a trader. Unfortunately, crates of Dom Pérignon aren’t something I often come across in the electronics market.”
“Then you need to get better contacts.” I glanced at Tao. “Are you heading home?”
He shook his head. “I have a feeling if I do, the elemental might wrest control from me again. I seem to do better when I have company.”
I hesitated, wondering if his being here was actually safe for Stane, then mentally slapped myself. Stane was probably in more danger from my actions than from any possibility that Tao would hurt him. So I simply said, “Do you need anything brought here from home?”
He shook his head. “Whatever I need, I’ll borrow from Stane. I just don’t —” he paused, and half shrugged. “Keep in contact.”
“I will.” I squeezed his arm gently, and tried to ignore the heat so evident in his flesh, even through the barrier of his clothes. The elemental was far from finished with this battle.