Forbidden Lineage

Chapter 24

“Where is she?”  Nik asked him.  

“At the hospital.  But she’s still out cold.” 

“Same MO?”  Ulrica asked.

“Same.  Drained and thrown off a rooftop, but she landed in a laundry bin instead of the road.  There were two sets of footsteps heading towards her, but I think they caught my scent and ran off.  I couldn’t scent them though.”

“Did you chase them at least?”  Caleb threw Nik a silent look as he questioned Dante.

“No, I thought finding living proof would be better.  This way I ensured she lived, instead of one of them backtracking to finish her off.  I called it in.”

“Good thinking.”  Ulrica complimented.   “Yesinia wasn’t with you?”

“No.  Actually, she fell asleep earlier.”  He cleared his throat.  “I thought I’d have a look around by myself in the meantime and happened to run into that.”

“How convenient.”  Nik muttered.

“What?”  He could feel Dante’s hackles rise when Caleb and Ulrica shot him twin questioning glares.

“Nothing.  Which hospital?  We’ll meet you there.”  He said instead.

Dante told them quickly, before adding, “She’s still out cold from the loss of blood and essence.  Thankfully she has no other injuries either.  She should wake up in a little while and then we can question her together.  I’ll get Yesinia.”

“Yeah, you do that.”  Caleb told him, his eyes still on Nik.  “We’ll go freshen up before meeting with you.  We all look like crap.”  He laughed the last part and Dante chuckled, the invisible waves relaxing.

They ended the conversation and severed the links, each one quickly shielding their thoughts to keep a clear head.

 “Right, I’m off then.”  Nik waved and began to walk away from them when Caleb stopped him. 

“You’re not coming with?”  He frowned.

“I’ll meet you there.  I already said that have things to do.  I may as well get started.” 

“Seriously Nik?  The fact that the tainted could be causing this means nothing to you?”

Her voice cut through the crashing waves and carried further down the beach.  Lucky for them, it was a quiet afternoon.

“I have no doubt that this is the job of an experienced Crimson, but I don’t believe it’s the tainted we are after.”  He told her angrily.  “I thought I made that clear when you insisted on chasing the kid.”

“You really think it’s someone else?  Even after Dante specifying that he heard two of them approaching the woman?”  Caleb asked looking up at them.

Nik shook his head.  “Too easy.  Those two tainted have been around for a while.  They could have done something like this in all that time but they didn’t.  This began, a few days ago.  Doesn’t it make you wonder?”

“Wonder what, exactly?”  Ulrica asked crossly.

“Why it happened now, after Kai escaped?”  He replied in the same tone.

Ulrica rolled her eyes.  “I thought we already agreed that it wasn’t him.”

“He’s a Forbidden.  He falls in the same category as the tainted.   The meeting is still on tomorrow, and when this comes out there will be pandemonium.  All the Guardians will be baying for blood, and it wouldn’t matter that the innocent will be the ones paying for it.”