Ceremony In Death

CHAPTER THREE

It was quite a place, Eve mused, and certainly quieter than any club she'd been in before. Both conversation and music were muted, and both had an elegant little lilt. Tables were packed together as was the norm, but they were arranged to provide circular traffic patterns that reminded Eve of the symbol at the base of Alice's note.

Ringing the walls were mirrors fashioned into the shapes of stars and moons. Each held a burning candle, a white pillar, that reflected light and flame. Between each mirror were plaques of symbols and figures she didn't recognize. The small dance floor was circular as well, as was the bar where patrons sat on stools that depicted signs of the zodiac. It took her a moment to place the woman seated on the twin faces of Gemini.

"Jesus, that's Peabody."

Roarke shifted his gaze, focused on the woman in a long, sweeping dress in swirling hues of blue and green. Three long strands of beads sparkled to her waist, and earrings of varicolored metals jingled beneath the fringes of her straight, cropped hair.

"Well, well," he said and smiled slowly, "our sturdy Peabody makes quite a picture."

"She sure… blends," Eve decided. "I have to meet with Alice alone. Why don't you go over and talk to Peabody?"

"A pleasure. Lieutenant…" He took a long look at her worn jeans, battered leather jacket, and unadorned ears. "You don't blend."

"Is that a dig?"

"No." He flicked a finger over the dent in her chin. "An observation." He strolled over, slid onto the stool beside Peabody. "Now, let's see, what would be the standard line? What's a nice witch like you doing in a place like this?"

Peabody slid him a sidelong look, grimaced. "I feel like an idiot in this getup."

"You look lovely."

She snorted. "Not exactly my style."

"You know the fascinating thing about women, Peabody?" He reached out, tapped a finger against her dangling earrings to send them dancing. "You have so many styles. What are you drinking?"

Ridiculously flattered, she struggled not to flush. "A Sagittarius. That's my sign. The drink's supposed to be metabolically and spiritually designed for my personality." She sipped from the clear chalice. "Actually, it's not bad. What's your, you know, birth sign?"

"I have no idea. I believe I was born the first week of October."

Believe, Peabody mused. How odd not to know. "Well, that would make you Libran."

"Well then, let's be metabolically and spiritually correct." He turned to order drinks, watched Eve sitting at a table. "What sign would you attribute to your lieutenant?"

"She's a tough one to pin down."

"Indeed she is," Roarke murmured.

From her table on the outer circle, Eve watched everything. There was no band or holographic image of one. Instead, the music seem to come from nowhere and everywhere. Windy flutes and plucked strings, a soothing female voice that sang with impossible sweetness in a language Eve didn't recognize.

She saw couples in earnest conversations, others laughing quietly. No one flicked an eyelash when a woman in a sheer white sheath rose to dance alone. Eve ordered water and was amused when it was served in a goblet of simulated silver.

She tuned in to the conversation at the table behind her and was further amused to hear the group's sober discussion on their experiences with astral projection.

At a table in the next ring, two women talked about their former lives as temple dancers in Atlantis. She wondered why former lives were always more exotic than the one being lived. The only shot a person had, in her opinion.

Harmless weirdos, Eve thought, but caught herself rubbing her still tingling palm on her jeans.

She saw Alice the minute the girl walked in. Agitated, Eve thought. Nervous hands, tensed shoulders, jittery eyes. She waited until Alice scanned the room, spotted her, then she inclined her head in acknowledgment. With a last backward glance at the door, Alice hurried over.

"You came. I was afraid you wouldn't." Quickly, she dipped into her pocket and drew out a smooth black stone on a silver chain. "Put this on. Please," she insisted when Eve only studied it. "It's obsidian. It's been consecrated. It'll block evil."

"I'm all for that." Eve slipped the chain around her neck. "Better?"

"This is the safest place I know. The cleanest." Still darting glances around the room, Alice sat. "I used to come here all the time." She gripped the amulet she wore in both hands as a server glided to the table. "A Golden Sun, please." She took a deep breath as she looked back at Eve. "I need courage. I've tried to meditate all day, but I'm blocked. I'm afraid."

"What are you afraid of, Alice?"

"That those who killed my grandfather will kill me next."

"Who killed your grandfather?"

"Evil killed him. Killing is what evil does best. You won't believe what I tell you. You're too grounded in what can be seen only with the eyes." She accepted the drink from the server, closed her eyes a moment as if in prayer, then slowly lifted the cup to her lips. "But you won't ignore it, either. You're too much a cop. I don't want to die," Alice said and set her cup down.

That, Eve thought, was the first sensible statement she'd heard. The fear was genuine enough, she decided, and unmasked tonight. At the viewing, Alice had been careful to slick on a layer of composure and calm.

For her family, Eve realized.

"Who are you afraid of, and why?"

"I have to explain. All of it. I have to purge before I can atone. My grandfather respected you, so I come to you in his memory. I wasn't born a witch."

"Weren't you?" Eve said dryly.

"Some are, and some, like me, are simply drawn to the craft. I became interested in Wicca through my studies, and the more I learned, the more I felt a need to belong. I was drawn to the rituals, the search for balance, the joy, and the positive ethics. I didn't share my interest with my family. They wouldn't have understood."

She dipped her head and her hair flowed down like a curtain. "I enjoyed the secrecy of that and was still young enough to find the experience of going skyclad at an outdoor celebration slightly wicked. My family…" She lifted her head again. "They're conservative, and a part of me simply wanted to do something daring."

"A small rebellion?"

"Yes, that's true. If I had left it at that," Alice murmured, "if I had truly accepted my initiation into the craft, and what it meant, everything would be different now. I was weak, and my intellect too ambitious." She picked up her drink again, wet her dry throat. "I wanted to know. To compare and analyze, rather like a thesis, the contrasts of white and black magic. How could I fully appreciate the one without fully understanding its antithesis? That was my rationale."

"Sounds logical."

"False logic," Alice insisted. "I was deluding myself. The ego and the intellect were so arrogant. I would study the black arts on a purely scholarly level. I'd talk to those who had chosen the other path and discover what had turned them away from the light. It would be exciting." She smiled tremulously. "I thought it would be exciting, and for a short time, it was."

A child, Eve thought, in the body of a stunning woman. Bright and curious, but a child, nonetheless. It was pitifully easy to tug information from the young. "Is that how you met Selina Cross?"

Paling, Alice made a quick forking gesture with her forefinger and pinky. "How do you know of her?"

"I did some research. I didn't walk in here blind, Alice. As a cop's granddaughter, you shouldn't have expected me to."

"Be afraid of her." Alice compressed her lips. "Be afraid of her."

"She's a second-rate grifter and chemi-dealer."

"No, she's much more." Alice gripped her amulet again. "Believe that, Lieutenant. I've seen. I know. She'll want you. You'll challenge her."

"Do you believe she had something to do with Frank's death?"

"I know she did." Tears swam into her eyes, deepening the soft blue. One huge and lovely drop spilled over and slid down her white cheek. "Because of me."

Eve leaned closer to comfort, and to block the tearful face from any onlookers. "Tell me about it, about her."

"I met her nearly a year ago. On the sabbat of Samhain. All Hallow's Eve. More research, I told myself. I didn't realize how deeply I'd already been drawn in, how utterly seduced I was by the power, the pure selfish greed of the other side. I hadn't performed any of the rituals, not then. I was still observing. Then I met her, and the one they call Alban."

"Alban?"

"He serves her." Alice lifted a hand, laid her fingers against her mouth. "That night still isn't clear in my mind. I realize now they cast a spell over me. I let them lead me into the circle, strip off my robes. I heard the bells ring, and the chant to the dark prince. I watched the sacrifice of the goat. And I shared in the blood."

Her head drooped again as shame whirled inside her. "I shared in it, drank of it, and enjoyed. I was the altar that night. I was tied to the stone. I don't know how or by whom, but I wasn't afraid. I was aroused."

Her voice dropped to a whisper. The music changed, slid from strings to drums and bells, cheerfully sexual. Alice never lifted her gaze.

"Each member of the coven touched me, rubbed oils and blood over me. The chanting was inside me, and the fire was so hot. Then Selina laid over me. She… did things. I'd never had any sexual experience. Then while she slid up my body, Alban straddled me. She watched me. His hands were on her breasts and he was inside me. And she watched my face. I wanted to close my eyes, but I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't stop looking into her eyes. It was like she was the one – the one inside me."

Her tears plopped on the table now. Even though Eve had shifted to shield her from most of the room, and Alice's voice was barely more than a whisper, several heads were turning curiously.

"You were drugged, Alice. And exploited. You have nothing to be ashamed of."

Her eyes lifted briefly and threatened to break Eve's heart. "Then why am I so ashamed? I was a virgin, and there was pain, but even that was arousing. Unbearably. And the pleasure that came with it was huge, monstrous. They used me, and I begged to be used again. And was, by the entire coven. By sunrise I was lost, enslaved. I woke in bed, between them. Alban and Selina. I'd already become their apprentice. And their toy."

Tears were running down her cheeks as she drank again. "Sexually, there was nothing I would not allow them, or one of their choosing, to do to me. I embraced the dark. And I became careless in my arrogance. Someone told my grandfather. He would never give me a name, but I know it was a Wiccan. He confronted me, and I laughed at him. I warned him to stay out of my affairs. I thought he had."

Saying nothing, Eve slid her water across the table. Gratefully, Alice picked it up, drained it. "A few months ago, I discovered Selina and Alban were performing private rituals. I'd come down from college a day early. I went to their house, and I heard the ceremonial chant. I opened the door of the ritual room. They were there, together, performing a sacrifice." Her hands shook. "Not a goat this time, but a child. A young boy."

Eve's hand closed tight over Alice's wrist. "You saw them murder a child?''

"Murder is too tame a word for what they did." The tears dried up in horror. "Don't ask me to tell you. Don't ask me that."

She would have to, Eve knew, but it could wait. "Tell me what you can."

"I saw… Selina, the ritual knife. The blood, the screams. I swear you could see the screams like black smears on the air. It was too late to stop it."

She looked at Eve again, those swimming eyes begging to be believed in this one thing. "I was too late to do anything for the boy, even if I'd had the power or the courage to try."

"You were alone, shocked," Eve said carefully. "The woman was armed, the boy was dead. You couldn't have helped him."

For one long moment, Alice stared at her, then covered her face with her hands. "I try to believe that. Try so hard. Living with it is destroying me. I ran away. I just ran."

"You can't change it." Eve kept her hand on Alice's wrist, but her grip gentled. She had once seen a child mutilated, had been too late. Seconds too late. She hadn't run, she had killed. But the child was just as dead, either way. "You can't go back and change it. You have to live with what is."

"I know. Isis tells me that." Alice took a shuddering breath, lowered her hands. "They were engrossed in their work and never saw me. Or I pray they never saw me. I didn't go to my grandfather or the police. I was terrified, sick. I don't know how much time went by, but I went to Isis, the high priestess who had initiated me into Wicca. She took me in; even after all I'd done, she took me in."

"You didn't tell Frank what you'd seen?"

Alice winced at the bite in Eve's voice. "Not then. I spent time in reflection and purification. Isis performed several cleansing rites and auric healings. Isis and I felt it best that I stay in seclusion for a while, concentrate on finding the light, and atonement."

Eve's eyes were hot and hard as she leaned closer. "Alice, you saw a child murdered and told no one but your neighborhood witch?"

"I know how it sounds." Her lip quivered before she caught it between her teeth and steadied it. "The child's physical being was beyond help. I could do nothing for him but pray for the safe passage of his soul to the next plane. I was afraid to tell Grandpa. Afraid of what he might do and what Selina would do to him. When I did go to him last month, I told him everything. Now he's dead, and I know she's responsible."

"How do you know?"

"I saw her."

"Wait." Eyes narrowed, Eve held up a hand. "You saw her kill him?"

"No, I saw her outside my window. I looked out the night he died, and she was standing below, looking up. Looking up at me. The call came from my mother to tell me Grandpa was dead. And Selina smiled. She smiled and she beckoned to me." Alice buried her face in her hands again. "She sent her forces against him. Used her power to stop his heart. Because of me. Now the raven comes every night to my window and watches me with her eyes."

Christ, Eve thought, where were they going with this? "A bird?"

Alice laid her trembling hands on the table. "She's a shape-shifter. She takes what form she wills. I've protected myself as best I can, but my faith may not be strong enough. They're pulling at me, calling to me."

"Alice." While sympathy remained, Eve found her patience waning. "Selina Cross might have had a part in your grandfather's death. If we find that he didn't die of natural causes, it wasn't some spell; it was calculated, simple murder. If so, there'll be evidence, and a trial, and she'll be dealt with."

"You can't find smoke." Alice shook her head. "You won't find evidence in a curse."

Enough was enough. "At this point, you're a witness to a crime. Potentially the only witness, and if you're afraid, I can arrange a safe house for you." Her voice was flat and brisk, all cop. "I need you to give me a description of the child so that I can check missing persons. With your formal statement, I can get a warrant to search the room where you allegedly witnessed the murder. I need you to give me details, straight details. Times, places, names. I can help you."

"You don't understand," Alice said, shaking her head slowly. "You don't believe me."

"I believe you're an intelligent and curious woman who got in over her head with some very nasty people. And I believe you're confused and upset. I have someone you can talk to who can help you sort things out."

"Someone?" Alice's eyes went cold and her voice hard. "A psychiatrist? You think I'm imagining things, making them up." Her body trembled as she surged to her feet. "It's not my mind that's in danger, it's my life. My life, Lieutenant Dallas, and my soul. If you find yourself in battle with Selina, you'll believe. And may the goddess help you."

She whirled and ran out, leaving Eve cursing.

"That seemed remarkably unsuccessful," Roarke commented as he came up behind her.

"The girl's whacked out, but she's terrified." Eve heaved a long breath and rose. "Let's get the hell out of here." She signaled Peabody, then headed for the door.

Outside, a thin fog crept along the ground, stealthily, like twining gray snakes. Rain, thin and chilly, was just beginning to slick the street.

"There she is," Eve murmured when she caught sight of Alice rushing around the corner. "Headed south. Peabody, tail her, make sure she gets home safe."

"Got her." Peabody headed off at a half trot.

"That kid's a mess, Roarke. They've fucked with her in every way possible." Disgusted, she dug her hands into her pockets. "I probably could've handled it better, but I don't see how it would help to encourage her delusions. Spells and curses and shape shifters. Jesus."

"Darling Eve." He kissed her brow. "My own practical cop."

"The way she tells it, she was practically the bride of Satan." Grumbling, Eve started for the car, turned on her heel, and paced back. "I'll tell you how it went, Roarke. She wanted to play, wanted to dabble in the occult, and she ran into real bad news. She's a naive, pretty girl, and it doesn't take a crystal ball to see it. So she went to one of their meetings, or whatever the hell you call them, and they drugged her. Then they gang-raped her. Bastards. She's drugged and in shock and vulnerable to suggestions, and it's easy for a couple of professional cons to convince her she's part of their cult. Pull a couple of magic tricks out of their hat and fascinate her. Use sex to keep her in line."

"She got to you," Roarke murmured and touched her hair, brushing away the wet.

"Maybe she did. Damn it, did you look at her? She's well-named. Looks like that kid in the fairy story. Probably believes in talking rabbits, too." Then she sighed, struggled to put her emotions back into place. "But we're not in a fairy story here. She claims she walked in on a ritual murder. A little boy, she said. I've got to get her in to Mira. A shrink will be able to sort out the fact from fiction. But I believe that murder was fact, and if they killed one child, they've killed more. People like them prey on the helpless."

"I know." He reached out to rub the tension in her shoulders. "Close to home?"

"No. It's not like what happened to me. Or you." But there were enough echoes to unnerve her. "We're still here, aren't we?" She laid a hand on his but frowned into the shadows. "Why didn't Frank make a log of what she'd told him? Why the hell did he go solo on this?"

"Maybe he did make a log. A private one."

She blinked, stared at him. "God, how could I be so slow!" She clapped her hands on either side of his face and kissed him hard. "You're brilliant."

"Yes, I know." He jerked her back as a figure darted out of the shadows and over the ramp. "Black cat," he said, simultaneously uneasy and amused at himself. "Bad luck."

"Yeah, right." She started up the ramp, cocked her head as the cat sat at the side of Roarke's car, watching her out of bright and glittering green eyes. "You don't look hungry, ace. Too sleek and glossy for an alley cat. Too perfect," she realized. "Must be a droid." Still, she crouched, reached out to stroke. The cat hissed, arched, and swiped. Eve would have found her palm laid open if she hadn't been quick enough to dodge. "Well, that's friendly."

"You should know better than to offer your hand to strange animals – or droids." But he stepped in front of Eve to uncode the car and kept his eyes on the gleaming green of the cat's. When Eve was in the car, he spoke softly. The cat's fur bristled, its tail switched, then it leaped nimbly from the ramp to the street, and it was swallowed by the fog.

Roarke couldn't have said why he'd given the order to go in Gaelic. It had simply come out that way. He was still pondering it when he slid in beside Eve.

"Listen, Roarke, I can't tap Feeney for any E-work on this. At least not until the commander loosens up. I may have to go to the family for access to Frank's personal records, but if I do that, I'll have to tell them something."

"And you'd rather not."

"Not yet, in any case. So how do you feel about using your… skills to access Frank's personal unit and logs?"

His mood lifted as he started the car, guiding it down to street level. "That depends, Lieutenant. Do I get a badge?''

Her lips twitched into a smirk. "No. But you get to have sex with a cop."

"Do I get to pick the cop?" He only smiled when she punched his arm. "I'd pick you. Probably. And I suppose you want me to begin my unofficial consultation tonight."

"That's the idea."

"All right, but I want sex first." He tucked his tongue in his cheek as she chuckled. "How long do you think Peabody's going to be busy? Just joking," he said quickly, but shifted into autodrive just in case Eve got violent. "She did look quite appealing tonight though."

Laughing, he caught her fist in his hand, then snuck the other one up to her breast.

"Listen, pal, you're in deep enough without trying that. Engaging in any sexual act in a moving vehicle is in violation of inner city codes."

"Arrest me," he suggested and nipped her bottom lip.

"I might. When I'm done with you." She wiggled free and shoved him back. "And just for that smart-ass remark about my aide, no sex until after the consult."

He disengaged auto, then slid her a slow, smiling glance. "Wanna bet?"

She met that arrogant glance narrow-eyed. "Fifty credits, even odds."

"Done." And he whistled his way through the iron gates that led home.