Kira Malone Chronicles: Vol 1 (Slaughter USA) Page 12

  Scanning it, her lips pursed. The coin wasn't Roman. It was Nabataean. Stefano had picked it up for David in Jordan, thinking his friend would like it as he enjoyed learning about currency, both current and ancient. The thing was? None of Stefan's official paperwork stated he was in Jordan for any sanctioned digs. He shouldn't have any artifacts from that region, at least not recent ones.

  Kira's heart sank. If that was the case, it meant he'd stolen this. The only large dig site she knew of in Jordan where coins like this had been found was the one place where it was strictly forbidden to remove artifacts from. Her dad had taken her to an exhibit once before he'd passed.

  When she'd asked why there was so few exhibits compared to others, he'd explained that Petra had been listed as one of the Wonders of the World. Very few people were approved to conduct archaeological surveys there. Even fewer were allowed to remove anything from the site. Things found in Petra were supposed to remain in Petra, period.

  "Oh God..." Her heart thumped against her chest, feeling heavy and sluggish as she thought over the mythology and legends she'd read about the region. Many people thought Petra was cursed. That supernatural creatures lived there, who would take revenge on any who disrespected Petra and her history. They were sentries, protecting their home. Stealing from the site definitely counted.

  The myths explained the smell of frankincense and myrrh that seeped into the bodies after death. It explained the impossible crime, where no human should have been able to get in or out without notice or noise. Hell, it explained the fire that didn't burn anything else in the vicinity, only the body that the creature touched.

  It just made their job so much harder. This wasn't a ghost. It'd be so much easier if it was. This was something far worse. The creature they were hunting wasn't something anyone in myths had survived a round with.

  They were hunting a Djinn.

  Chapter Twelve

  Rushing towards the porch as fast as she could, letter in hand, Kira caught them just as Deanna appeared to be losing her patience with standing there. "The coin. Where did it go? Did you send it to one of the men in the photo? The Nabataean coin. It was with the book. What did you do with it?"

  She saw Andy making hush motions with his hand behind the woman, but ignored it. This was too important for social pleasantries, she needed to know who had possession now. Deanna's cheeks flushed with color, anger rising as she glanced between the paper and Kira's face.

  "The other person in that photo is my husband, Edward. He was helping to clean the house, as I didn't have the stomach for it. If anyone knows where it is, it'd be him, and he is at the cabin this weekend. I will not have reporters there harassing him on our private property as I already explained to your colleague."

  "Does he have a phone there?!?! Some way to reach him while he's away? Deanna, please. This is important. You don't have to believe us, just please answer the question. Or even just call him yourself. We don't even have to speak to him. Just see if he'll tell you where the coin is. That's all we need, and we'll be out of your hair, I promise."

  With a glare, Deanna dug around in her purse, pulling out a cell phone. As she selected a number from her contacts list, she turned around, ignoring them as she waited for the call to connect. Seconds turned to a full minute, Kira and Andy's eyes meeting behind the woman. If he wasn't answering his wife's calls, and he had been the last to have contact with the coin, this was not a good situation.

  As Deanna turned around, her face now showed her own worry, tone less icy as worry set in. "He's never ignored a call from me before. Ever. Especially not with what's happened to Stefano and David. He wouldn't turn his phone off at the cabin, it has satellite service so he's never out of range, even if he goes out to fish. He was going out to meet John. He's the fourth man in the photo. They used to go up to the cabin when they wanted to get away from it all, escape their jobs and just fish for a bit."

  Both of them were together, the coin was gone from David's study, and Deanna's husband wasn't answering his phone. This had 'bad news' written all over it. "How far away is the cabin? Can you give us directions or an address we can put into the GPS?" Kira was grateful for Andy asking the question she didn't want to ask. If the worst had happened, they were going to be walking into a crime scene.

  Deanna shoved her phone in her purse, meeting their gazes. "I can do better than that. You can follow me." Andy winced and Kira knew he was thinking the same thing she was. If what they suspected was true, Deanna didn't need to be going inside that cabin. No one needed to see a loved one brutalized that way, no matter the circumstances. If Edward really did have the coin with him, and John had met him there, they might be walking into two bodies, not just one.

  "Deanna, I don't know if that's such a good idea..." Kira started the sentence, but wasn't able to finish it. Deanna quickly cut her off. "You think I don't realize something weird is going on here? That these official reports aren't true? I'm not an idiot. My brother wasn't killed by an intruder. Stefano wasn't killed by a faulty fireplace line. The law enforcement here is covering something up, and I want to know what."

  Her blue eyes clouded with tears, voice choking up as she used one hand to quickly wipe them away. "If something has happened to Edward and John, I need to be there. I have to see with my own eyes, to know what really happened, to be the one to call the authorities before they figure out the official story. Don't take that away from me."

  Kira understood. When you truly loved someone, you were there for them even through the worst, when you had nothing else left. Andy stepped up, taking the car keys from Deanna's hands. "Deal. But I'll be driving. Just in case this doesn't turn out well, you don't need to be driving back on your own. You can give me directions from the passenger seat." She nodded, allowing him to escort her to the car.

  Kira followed, slipping into the backseat. She fervently hoped she was wrong, but her gut told her she wasn't. The coin had gone somewhere, and Edward had been the only one who may have known what it was and that it'd been from Stefano. He may have taken it to remember both of them by, or to share it with John.

  Having two people in direct contact with it meant both were in danger, especially with how fast this thing was taking its revenge. She didn't know much about Djinn, except that the myths said they protected Petra.

  If so, this thing wasn't going to just disappear. Whoever held the coin would die. They couldn't exactly get on a plane and return it. Nor could they ship it... too many people could come into contact with it who might become unknowing targets of the monster before the coin made its way home safely. Kira wasn't willing to put that many lives in jeopardy.

  Once they searched the cabin, she'd call Noni, see if there were any other ways to deal with this. Surely there were some old legends that told of ways to kill or incapacitate a Djinn, or how to remove a curse from a stolen artifact. Someone had to have come across this type of situation before. Putting others in danger couldn't be the only way.

  Soon, the paved road turned to gravel. A little while later, even the gravel disappeared, leaving them bouncing along on a packed earthen road for at least two miles before it turned back to gravel, a small cabin coming into view. There was only one car parked in front of it, smoke curling from the chimney.

  It all looked normal, but the feeling of dread was almost palatable. Deanna seemed to sense it as well, large tears beginning to track down her cheeks. Parking next to her husband's car, Andy glanced towards her. "Do you want us to go in first? You don't have to do this, Deanna."

  As if resolve stiffened her nerves, she reached for the handle, opening her own door. "Yes, I really do." Together, the three of them ascended the two short steps, trying the door to find it locked, as expected. Deanna dug a key from her purse, silently turning it in the lock and letting the door swing open.

  The scent of singed hair, frankincense and myrrh met them where they stood, simultaneously beckoning them closer while warning them to stay far away from what they already knew must lie wit
hin.

  Stepping around Deanna who seemed frozen to the spot, Kira glanced around the cabin's main room. It was simple in style, four bedrooms and two bathrooms off of the main living room that was divided into a living space and a small kitchenette. Edward's body lay halfway on the tile floor of the kitchen and halfway on the wooden flooring of the living room. Like the others, lividity showed he'd been battered before death, and it hadn't come easy.

  Letting out a breath, Kira began looking into each room. They were all empty, but items had been knocked over in the one, and the window screen was pushed outwards in another. "Guys? We got a problem. John's gone. Looks like he left in a hurry."

  Chapter Thirteen

  They searched the cabin while Deanna sat next to her husband, praying through her tears for absolution for his soul. Kira hated to tell her that's what they were trying to do, if they could only find the coin he'd taken from David. After checking everywhere it could have been stashed, they had to admit defeat. John must have taken it with him when he'd made a hasty exit, likely after seeing what happened to Edward.

  You'd think after realizing everyone who'd touched the damn thing ended up dead, he'd have just left it behind, but apparently that was too easy. Scrubbing a frustrated hand over her face, Kira moved back out into the main room. As much as she sympathized with the woman mourning the man she'd loved for so long, they didn't have time for this.

  "Deanna, is there anyone you can call? Do you know where John might go, have a number for him, anything?" It was imperative that they found him before the Djinn got to him as well. If someone else picked up the coin from him, they'd have nothing left to trace, it'd be a dead end with no photo or lifelong friendships to guide them.

  Deanna glanced up, before nodding, digging around to find her phone. Moving away to give her some privacy, Kira nevertheless heard as she called her sister, the tears that choked her threatening to spill over again as she explained what had happened and asked her sister to come to the cabin. Next was John. As expected, he didn't answer. She left a message, telling him to call her back right away, but Kira doubted he'd respond.

  If he was in a panicky flight or fight mode, he could be anywhere by now. They'd never manage to catch up to him, since they didn't know how much of a head start he'd gotten.

  "Andy? Call Noni. Tell her what we're after. See if she can find us any lore that might help, even the smallest bit we can use. Explain to her we have a target on the run, see if there's any way we can track it ourselves. We'll stay until Deanna's sister gets here, then take one of the cars to go after him."

  Once they sorted this, they'd get back to the van and return the car to Deanna, but right now, the Djinn was more important than social niceties. She didn't think Deanna would mind all that much, however. At this point, she probably wanted this thing dead and gone just as much as they did. It'd taken the lives of three people she'd known and loved and was now after a third. As an answer, Deanna held out her keys.

  "Go now. My sister will be here shortly. I'd rather not have to explain... everything. Just yet. Do what you can to save John, please. He's all that's left." Taking the keys and the address Deanna had written down on a small piece of paper, Kira nodded solemnly, gripping the woman's hand tight for a few moments longer.

  "We will do everything we can. We always do."

  Rushing to the car, she slid into the driver's seat as Andy was on the phone with Noni, hurriedly giving her what information they had. After adjusting the seat, Kira plugged John's address into the GPS, taking the gravel and mud roads as quickly as she dared before reaching the paved streets of the city.

  Following the turns almost on autopilot, she attempted to listen to their conversation as well as the directions being spit out by the GPS in a rush due to her speed.

  "I don't care about their legends or how they live! I just want to know how to kill the blasted thing! And worse, without any of our supplies, because those are in the frickin' van!" Taking a corner too fast, she heard Andy mutter a curse under his breath as he grabbed for the dashboard to steady himself, before telling Noni that her driving was going to kill him before the Djinn did.

  "This is no time for jokes, Andy. For all we know, he's already dead. Just find a way to kill it, and fast. We've got five minutes before we're on top of him, and might be facing a damn angry Djinn with nothing but our bare hands. We might have had worse odds before, but at this moment, I can't really think of any!"

  Chapter Fourteen

  Pulling in behind a black sedan with its driver side door left wide open, Kira threw the car into park, dashing out and up to the porch. Skidding on the tile just inside the door, she glanced to the left and right, not seeing anything immediately amiss. Hearing noises coming from above, she took the stairs two at a time, turning into the first open door.

  Inside was Edward, frantically packing a suitcase, mumbling to himself. Raising a brow, Kira crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned against the doorjamb. "You realize running isn't going to help, right? I mean, just saying, from a monster hunter point of view. He's just going to follow you, and you're going to put anyone who crosses your path in danger. What's the plan here, exactly?"

  Before he had a chance to answer, she heard Andy bellowing for her from below. His voice was shrill, but steady. Edging out of the room, she peered over the railing to see... well. She wasn't quite certain what she was looking at. The air in front of him shimmered, much like heat waves over asphalt baked by the summer sun. Grains of something like sand swirled through it, interspersed with blue streaks of what looked like phantom fire or possibly lightning.

  This must be their elusive Djinn. And in Andy's hand? The coin he must have picked up from the side table when they'd entered. Panic seized Kira's chest, tightening like a vise until she swore she couldn't pull enough air in to breathe. As it moved closer to her friend, a surge of adrenaline went through her, and she leaned over the banister to get its attention.

  "Andy! Throw it! Throw it to me!"

  He hesitated for the briefest second before he tossed the coin. It somersaulted through the air and for a moment she feared she wasn't going to be able to reach it. Stretching as far as she dared, she caught it between the tips of her fingers, heart pounding as the Djinn turned its attention on her. She didn't exactly have a plan, she'd reacted on instinct. She just wanted to get it the hell away from Andy.

  Good going there, Kira. Now she had to figure out what to do while the Djinn was silently drifting upwards in the air, the blue fire inside its phantasm form growing brighter. Was this what its victims had seen before they died? Kira wasn't ready to say goodbye yet. The others may have been frightened and allowed him to get the upper hand. She wasn't.

  "You enjoy beating up on people who don't know any better, is that it? Does it make you feel strong and invincible? Like you still matter? It shouldn't. Every monster hiding in the dark has a weak side, you know. And we intend to find it. Taking this was an accident. Had they known, they would have taken it right back. You? You're a giant, bad tempered mythological bully, that's what you are."

  The amorphous blob shifted in front of her as it bristled, clearly trying to decide whether to attack her, since she currently held the coin, or shoot past her to its original target. Despite her nonchalant words, Kira was terrified. They couldn't fight something without a form. Could they?

  "Andy, anytime you'd like to shout the solution here, would be pretty awesome timing-wise. I can't exactly stall it with false bravado forever." Forever turned out to be pretty dang short. Before she could finish the sentence, she felt heat rising on her skin.

  It burned, but the worst part was the pressure that was beginning to force on her from all sides. She'd read descriptions from people that had gotten caught by boa constrictors and had to be pulled free, and this felt a lot like what they described. Just a constant tightening and release before the pressure returned tighter than before. She could feel areas on her skin getting tender and knew bruises were forming under the st
rain.

  The coin slipped from her fingers as she began to twist, fighting in earnest to be released. Heat spiraled, competing with the excruciating pressure for 'worst pain ever'. Tears filled the corners of her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. After everything she'd been through, she refused to go down like this, to die due to someone else's mistake.

  She knew what came next. The images of the bloated, pulverized bodies were seared into her subconscious like a brand. The charred skin the only remnant of a magical fire that burned only what it touched and left no other evidence behind. She looked into the phantasm in front of her, and all she saw was darkness, cold and unyielding. This wasn't something they could reason with, something they could defeat by trickery.

  They needed the lore.

  Spots began to swim in her vision as her air was cut off, muscles relaxing as she lost the strength to keep fighting. Vaguely, she heard Andy shouting something, and then... the most beautiful sound in the world at that moment. Loud and clear, Noni's firm voice filled the room, echoing from the speaker on Andy's phone.