Page 63 of Destined for Dreams
It was Haagenti’s symbol.
“Wise of you not to speak the name out loud,” Caius said, meeting the mystic’s anxious gaze. “The more powerful he grows, the more dangerous mentioning him will become.”
They’d all agreed not to say the name or even mention it to anyone else since the day in the woods in Belarus. It was too risky. Better people just know that they were tracking a powerful demon and leave it at that.
“How did the victims die?” Bartol asked.
Norbert set his tome aside and returned to the kitchen to finish the tea. “One of them had their wrists slit. The second either hung himself or someone else did it, and the third was from poison. In every case, it isn’t quite clear whether they killed themselves or if the demon or a minion did it.”
That didn’t sound like something Haagenti would do. Everything they’d investigated so far led them to believe he preferred the mass deaths, but then again, Zoe had said she suspected the demon of smaller crimes on his way out of Russia. Could he have just been topping up his power as he went along?
“We’ll need to see the bodies.” Without viewing them, they couldn’t determine anything for sure.
The mystic brought over a tray with steaming tea cups. “Can’t do it today, but I can get you into the morgue tomorrow morning during my shift. You can look at them all you want then.”
They each took a cup. Bartol and the others weren’t particularly interested in drinking the hot brew but chose to humor the older man by taking a few sips. Norbert had been kind enough to allow them into his home, so it was the least they could do.
“Then we’ll meet you first thing in the morning,” Bartol said.
***
Norbert already had the bodies pulled out and ready for them to view when they arrived the next day. He’d greeted them at the front of the building and led them into the morgue without anyone questioning them along the way. The older man was nothing if not efficient.
He pulled back the sheet on the first body for them to view, stopping just below the collarbone. It was a young woman with bruising around her neck consistent with a rope. “What did she hang from?”
“The fifth story of an apartment building—out the window,” the coroner replied. He pulled the sheet further down to reveal the Haagenti symbol carved on the victim’s chest. “These were made before she died, so she would have felt every bit of it.”
Bartol shuddered. He’d had his skin carved into many times by Kerbasi, and the pain was considerable, but at least he’d known he’d heal and recover. Had this woman known her attacker would kill her, or had he taunted her for a while first?
“I don’t sense any demon energy,” Tormod said, grimacing at the woman.
“How can you tell?” Norbert asked. “The energy feels dark to me.”
The nerou nodded. “It is dark, but it’s not demon magic. It’s something else.”
“But…”
Bartol interrupted, “Tormod is a quarter demon. He would know.”
Norbert took a step back. “How…how did I miss that, and why would you bring someone who is part demon here? What good could he do?”
Tormod stiffened. “I’m also part angel.”
“I don’t understand,” the man said, and muttered something in Hungarian.
“He’s training with the nerou and considered one of them, but he has unique parentage. His father was half demon and half angel. His mother is a sensor,” Bartol explained.
Recognition lit in the mystics eyes, and he relaxed. “Ah, now that makes sense. I’ve heard of this young man’s father, and I saw him on the news earlier this year.”
That must have been when the supernaturals came out to the world and made a complete spectacle of themselves to ensure the angels couldn’t possibly cover it up. Tormod’s father, Yerik, had led the way by flying through the air around the Seattle Space Needle and then landed on the ground for extra theatrics with fire. The media had been there to catch it on film, which was replayed around the world.
“I wish I’d been here to see him on the news,” Tormod said, sighing. “But I was still in Purgatory then.”
It had been the same for Bartol, but Emily had been helpful enough to show him the video on YouTube. She’d likely shown Tormod as well, but it didn’t have the same impact as if they’d had the chance to see the action live. It was more like watching an event from the past the way he’d done to catch up on other events over the last hundred years. He still found computers daunting, but he’d learned how to do a few things—mostly searching for videos. There were quite a few featuring cats, which he found strange.
Norbert shook his head. “Life hasn’t been the same since we were brought into the open.”
Bartol couldn’t agree more. He would have found the world a dramatically changed place when he returned to Earth regardless, but supernaturals being out in the open after hiding so long made it even stranger. This trip was only highlighting how much he’d missed.
