“Don’t jump to any conclusions. We have other magical hot spots to investigate.”
“Could our durance be looking for a partner?” Darren mused aloud.
“Or he has one and they’re plotting something. The NCCP could be involved without being the source of the problem.”
If Darren had been a newly returned durance who had joined with a shaman, he might see the NCCP as a threat. Guns and bombs were just as effective against shamans and adepts and magic users as they were against mundanes.
Given that the durance had been driven out of the world by the simple but brutal act of killing all the shamans last time, Darren could imagine they would take steps to protect their human partners this time. As they passed the power sink, an older man was taking a knife to the magic-soaked tree.
“If our suspect is partnering up with someone greedy, is it going to make them more greedy?” Darren asked Kavon.
Kavon frowned. “I don’t know.”
“How often do you think the partners aggravate a person's worst instincts?”
Kavon stopped and looked at Darren. “That makes it sound like you're assuming they do.”
A patrol car stopped and an officer yelled at the man trying to claim bits of wood from the damaged tree. Darren thought about his own personality quirks. When Bennu was around, he had more power to get himself in trouble. Their first act as a partnership had been to blow up a city street.
Darren’s habit of being impulsive had been magnified, not because Bennu was changing his personality as much as allowing him to be more himself. “I was always quick to start things and sometimes not so quick to finish them,” Darren admitted. “I get the feeling my partner is the same, and sometimes I think that we feed each other’s impulsiveness.” Darren figured that was why the other ifrit in the deeper well world wanted Bennu to give his obedience to Kavon.
Kavon frowned. “Do you blame my guide for my personality flaws?”
Darren blew out a breath. “I don't know. Do guides make our traits more... I don’t know. More evident? Stronger? Harder to control?”
Kavon spoke slowly. “I honestly don't know. Dave discouraged me from talking to other shamans about their experiences. He taught me how to negotiate with guides and shamans on the spirit plane in order to gain information or power, but he warned me against relationships or real world interactions.”
“Have you known people before and after they found guides?” Darren asked. The bond was quiet with a deeply buried strain of discomfort.
“No. I’ve never taken an interest in training potential shamans. Some people will not return from their first visit to the spirit plane, and the law takes a dim view on shamans who lose young people during training, especially when they’re in law enforcement. Besides, most people these days prefer the magic user end of the Talent pool.”
“I don’t think many people want to confront their own deaths,” Darren said.
“True,” Kavon said. “Let’s check out the other sites. You can use some of that flighty energy of yours to brainstorm possible connections.”
Darren stepped to one side of the sidewalk to let a power-walking woman storm past. He was half afraid that if he didn't, she would bowl them over. This part of the city road was filled with more power players and less human decency than most of Washington DC. “If we do find a pattern, are we going to bring the rest of the team in on it?” Darren asked.
Kavon laughed ruefully. “Can you imagine getting the rest of the team to stay out of it?”
“You have a point there. They are a pushy group. Of course, that might be because they've had to learn to deal with you.”
“Are you insulting my leadership style?” Kavon’s control over the bond loosened and teasing amusement flowed across, although Darren still sensed buried discomfort under it.
Darren was about to make a witty comment about the difficulty of handling a cranky Kavon when he felt something drag across to his skin. It was like walking through cobwebs. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.
“Problem?” Kavon’s eyes lost their focus and his freckles glowed with a faint blue light.
“I don't know. I thought something brushed past me.”
“Like what?” Kavon’s voice lost all the familiar cadence of Darren’s lover and took on the brisk, impatient qualities of his boss.
“I have no idea.” Darren was about ready to chalk it up to too little sleep and too much paranoia when a shiver went up his spine.
Kavon caught Darren by the arm. “I felt that.” He fast-walked them back toward the SUV. It made sense since that was the closest place with magical protections.
“What was it?” Darren asked. He was trying hard to avoid any potential freaking out, but Kavon’s voice had a sharp edge that Darren associated with firefights and magical explosions.
“I have no idea, but I'm not interested in standing on the street and finding out.”
One man cried out when Kavon practically elbowed him aside. Kavon didn’t even slow. In the distance, Darren heard a bird scream. He turned around, and a form appeared to swoop out of the sky.
Darren had a brief impression of something with a massive predator’s body and a skeletal face, and then a blast of magic knocked him off his feet. Kavon executed a tuck and roll, grabbing Darren and hiding both of them in the shadow of a large sedan. A barking, atavistic cry filled the air, and Bennu streaked across the sky, his wings stretched out so far that his shadow covered the street from curb to curb. Kavon shouted, and a power shield shimmered around them.
“Bennu!” Darren cried out as Bennu flew straight at the monstrous bird that hovered above them. It had a body that appeared almost feline with wide shoulders tapering down to narrow hips and a multi-jointed pair of legs with heavy thighs. Bennu and the monster met in the air, claws and beaks tearing at one another as magic rained over the street.
