Chapter 15

The office door opened as I reached for the handle, juggling the sandwich bags, newspaper and cups of coffee that I held. A yelp escaped me, and I stepped back, almost dropping the coffees and sandwiches, as a small mountain of a man glared out at me.

Lucas grunted, lips twitching in amusement as I had to crane my neck to glare up at him.

"You gonna let me in?"

He stepped aside and waved me through the door, and I braced myself as I entered Jack's office.

It was crowded, with just the two of us in it. Add in Lucas and Marko, and I had to turn sideways to squeeze past the two half-demons to reach my desk where I set down the items I carried. Jack, seated behind his desk, lifted his chin in acknowledgement while Marko ignored me entirely.

The half-demon gangter jabbed a finger down against the desk as he scowled at Jack.

"Where is he?"

"I think we need to accept that he's likely dead," Jack said, choosing each word carefully. "I've checked all his usual haunts, and many more besides, and left word with the people who frequent them. If anyone knows where he is, they aren't speaking."

Marko eyes flashed and the desk beneath his finger began to blacken, a wisp of smoke rising from it. When he spoke, his voice was tight, barely held under control as Lucas leaned forward eagerly.

"Then get me someone who can drag his spirit back here!" The smouldering patch of black on the desk spread outwards, flashes of orange embers sparking briefly besides his finger. "I don't care about cost; I want to know who killed him!"

Jack eyed the black spot on his desk, mouth twisting as he reached into a drawer of his desk and pulled out an address book.

"A necromancer won't help," he said. "Will be weeks before the spirit is contactable."

"Witch then!"

The werewolf PI sighed and shook his head. He raised a hand and ran his fingers through hair that was badly in need of a comb. His clothes were rumpled and were the same ones he'd worn yesterday, and the dark smudges beneath his eyes told me he probably hadn't slept.

I wasn't sure what that meant or whether it was a bad thing for me.

"There's a clairvoyant I know," he said, hemming and hawing as he considered. "She could try and track him"

Or his remains, went unspoken.

"Then do that."

"Technically she works for the Hargrave Coven, and they don't like to share. It won't be cheap to persuade her to do this."

"I don't care," Marko snapped, jabbing his finger down again, and a small pillar of flame appeared on the desk where he pressed, there and gone in an instant. His skin remained unblemished, though the same could not be said of the desk. "Get it done, and soon. If he'd dead, I want his body so his mother can bury him."

"And, if he's alive?"

"Then bring him home so I can bloody well kill him myself!" the older half-demon said. "For the trouble he's caused."

Marko rose, pushing back the chair and almost knocking it over. Without another word, he stormed from the office with Lucas giving Jack a hard look before he followed after his boss. The door closed, harder than needed, and I flinched at the sound even though I'd been expecting it.

I stared at the door for a moment and then looked at Jack, eyebrows rising. "Well, I think your sandwich will be cold now."

Jack chuckled and leaned over his desk, inspecting the damage. He rubbed at the black spot, about the size of the bottom of his mug, and he muttered something I didn't catch. He rubbed at his eyes and shook his head as I deposited the three bacon sandwiches and the cup of coffee on his desk in front of him.

"Eat," I ordered. "You changed yesterday. Your body will need the calories."

"Most don't know that," he said, pulling the first sandwich from its wrapping and taking a large bite. He chewed quickly and swallowed before taking another bite. It was the very definition of 'wolfing it down' and I chuckled at the thought. "I'll be gone most of today, off to see a clairvoyant."

"You don't need me to come with you?"

"No." He shook his head and finished the last bite of the sandwich before reaching for the next. "I need you to watch the office."

Sounded boring.

"Are you sure I can't do anything else? I could talk to the Gwiber."

"No!" His eyes narrowed, and I flinched back from his sharp tone. He smiled, apologetically. "Sorry. They're too dangerous for you to go alone."

"What about Banner?"

"Christ," he snorted, shaggy head shaking. "He's not as dangerous but you don't want to mess with him." The second sandwich finished, he reached for the third. "No, they can wait. First, we find the body and then we can figure out who killed him."

"You're certain he's dead then?"

"Yes."

He wasn't giving anything away and he didn't quite look at me when he said it. That left me wondering if he knew what I had done or if he just suspected it. Or even if he was considering me responsible at all!

I hated not knowing, and I needed to be doing something, or it would drive me crazy.

Though what I could do, I didn't know.

Jack finished his sandwich and drank the coffee as I picked at my toasted t-cake and stared glumly at my desk. He waved his goodbyes and then I was alone. In the office. With nothing much to do but wait for the phone to ring.

I couldn't help but wonder if I was being punished.

There had to be more to why he hadn't taken me with him. I was sure of it. Unfortunately, though, there was nothing I could do to prove that.

So, instead, I finished my breakfast and set to work.

I'd never been one to sit on my hands doing nothing and would always rather be busy than not. I'd finished the filing last Friday, and the filing cabinets were in better shape than they had been before I started.

Jack's desk, however, and the shelves on the wall opposite the filing cabinets, were a different matter.

By lunchtime I had organised the books on the shelves and tidied his desk. I'd found some cleaning supplies and cleaned every surface in the office with them. The window had been opened to allow in some fresh air and let the dust out, and I'd answered three phone calls taking notes enough with each that Jack could simply call them back as needed.

I was beyond bored.

I slumped down into Jack's chair and set the phone back on the receiver before glancing at the notes I'd taken.

Woman looking to divorce her husband and wanting evidence of infidelity.

Hardly a life-or-death situation, but it would be easy money for him, I supposed. The sort of bog-standard job that kept the lights on.

Still, with that call ended, there was literally nothing left for me to do but wait for the next call and that just meant I had nothing to stop my mind from dwelling on my problems. Namely, finding a scapegoat to blame for Kenny's murder.

The Gwiber would be the obvious choice considering what Kenny had done to them, though for all their fearsome reputation, I wasn't entirely sure they deserved to take the blame, let alone what came with that.

Banner, on the other hand, was a drug dealer and a criminal who had enough people knowing he'd argued with Kenny to be easy to blame for his death. Whether he was exactly deserving of what Marko would do to him, I didn't know, but I was pretty sure a drug dealer wasn't exactly someone I would be feeling too sorry for, no matter what happened.

I just needed to know if he was someone I could blame. So far, rushing and panicking, had only caused me more problems. A body hastily buried, and a now a debt to warlock.

Then there were my powers.

I had lost the supernatural strength but gained invisibility. It didn't take a genius to realise there was a connection between Kenny's death and my gaining that power since he was an Invisibilis half-demon.

Though I wasn't sure how that connection came to be.

There was a small mirror in one of the desk drawers along with a shaving kit that clearly Jack hadn't used for some time. I took out the mirror and propped it up on the desk so that I could see myself clearly in it.

I had a new power, but I didn't quite know how to use it.

Seemed like as good a time as any to figure that out.

I'd turned invisible when I thought I was about to be caught by the men in the old colliery. I couldn't really recall having done anything specific and the only feeling I'd had, had been a fear of being caught.

Thinking back, though, in Dalby Forest Jack had burst into the clearing and seemed confused. As much as I could tell, considering he was in his wolf form. Almost like he had expected to see me there but hadn't.

Like I'd been invisible then too, and while he could smell me, he hadn't been able to see me.

Again, I had been desperately trying not to be seen. To be hidden from view. So that he wouldn't catch me.

And he hadn't.

I chewed on my lower lip as I thought about that, trying to recall that exact feeling. It hadn't been fear, not that time, but I'd wanted to win the race and being caught would have meant losing. Whereas with the men in the colliery, it had been fear.

So, it wasn't the emotion, but the strong desire instead.

Was that it? I wondered. Simply wanting to be invisible hard enough would activate the power?

Only one way to find out.

I fixed my gaze on my reflection, narrowing my eyes as I focused on the idea of turning invisible.

Nothing happened. My reflection stubbornly refused to fade away.

Screwing up my nose in disgust, I tried again.

And again.

With no change in the result.

Shoulders slumping, I sighed and leaned back in the chair.

What was I missing?

What did I know about half-demons and their powers?

Not a lot.

When a demon possessed someone, a portion of their power was held in that human form. Since demons loved nothing more than spreading chaos, they often spread their seed far and wide also, impregnating women or, if a female body, their host.

The child born would have a shadow of a shadow of that demons' abilities. Kenny had been an Invisibilis, while his father, Marko, was an Infernus.

Or rather, more likely his stepfather, since a half-demon wouldn't pass on their abilities to their own offspring. It was a one and done ability, too weak to spread further.

Each half-demon would have their own way of accessing and controlling their power. For Marko, it was his anger, a common theme for those with fire abilities. But, was it his anger that activated the ability, or merely a byproduct?

My eyes fell to the black mark on the desk where his finger had been pressed.

Perhaps it was anger and contact, since nothing else had burned but where his finger was pressed.

My mind went back to the times I'd been impossible, and I tried to recall just what I had been doing when it happened, and then I laughed. My eyes went back to the mirror, and I squeezed my hand into a fist as I focused on the idea of vanishing.

And I did.

The mirror reflected the chair and window behind me, but my image vanished.

I released my hand, and I flashed back into view.

It was so simple. At the colliery I had instinctively gripped my knife tighter, and in the forest, I had squeezed my hands into fists as I pressed myself back against the tree. That was all it took. Simply squeezing shut my hand.

My laughter filled the room, and I tried again, squeezing shut my hand and fading from view.

I had a new power, and I could use it!

I was almost giddy with the idea.

My gaze fell on the address book that Jack had left on his desk. In it was the name, telephone number and address of everyone he knew. I chewed my lower lip as I wondered; was Banner's address in there?

With my new power, and his address, all I needed to do was walk into his home or business and plant the evidence and there was no one who could see me do it.

I would be done with the worry and the looking over my shoulder. That fear that someone would link Kenny's death to me.

All I had to do was be okay with someone else taking the blame.