Chapter 3
Maia shivered against the cold. A frigid breeze had picked up just as she was getting out of the cab and blew her thick curly hair around her face. Kenzi shifted to get out as well, but Maia turned and crouched in her way. Her cold hands settled over one of Kenzi's own, and her glasses flashed in the passing headlights of another car as it sped past.
"Don't. Just go home. I don't want to worry about you finding a taxi back at this hour." Maia smiled wanly and offered the already protesting girl a wad of cash. "For the cab. Look, my apartment's right here. There's the door!" She pointed behind her. A tall, fancy apartment building loomed out of the darkness there, surrounded by buildings of the same high-rent caliber. Light from various apartments spilled into the freezing night. The glass door that led to the building's reception area glowed like a beacon. "Really. I'll be fine." Maia reassured Kenzi, who looked back doubtfully. The wind picked up again. It whistled through the buildings, a lonely, keening cry.
"Fine. But I'm watching you go inside. You have mine and Bo's phone numbers speed-dialed into your cell, right?" Kenzi still felt uneasy about letting Maia go home alone, but the curly haired human had made up her mind, and Kenzi had discovered that when it was made up, there really was no changing it.
"For the thousandth time, yes. I'll call you first thing in the morning to check up on the case."
"And to check in," Kenzi frowned against her better judgment, "stay safe, Chiquita. Call me up if you change your mind and want to do that sleepover after all."
Maia straightened and smiled in a way she hoped looked heartening, and pushed the door shut before turning resolutely and walking to the apartment building's entrance. She gathered her rough leather jacket close around her and hunched her shoulders. It was so strangely cold for this late in the spring. Her keys jingled soothingly in her pocket, biting into her fingers as they closed around the cold, hard metal.
She turned once after she'd crossed the threshold. True to her word, Kenzi had made the taxi wait for her to go in. With a small wave, Maia turned back and heard the car pull away behind her. She sighed deeply. This wasn't the first night she'd spent wondering where Seth was, and worrying if she'd make it home safe, but it was the first she'd known without a doubt that Seth had been taken against her will.
The reception area was empty, a table lamp shone over the lonely desk. Plush velvet couches waited patiently for the next day's traffic of visitors, and her footsteps echoed over the cool marble floor as she strode to the elevator. It would be some hours before the next building attendant clocked in for work, and longer still before the lobby filled with waiting limo-drivers and milling, impatient tenants, going to and from appointments and living their busy, important lives. Her heart beat heavily in her chest as she stepped into the elevator, and she felt the familiar drop of her stomach as it ascended, slowly, to the penthouse floor. Her chucks sank deep into the rug that welcomed her home. She chewed on her bottom lip till it bled as she turned her key in the lock and breathed deeply as she stepped into the apartment, closed the door behind her, and leaned against it as she sank to her knees. With her head in her hands, she whispered a silent prayer for Seth. Then she rose, and her shoulders squared with desolate determination. She walked through every room, flipping the lights on as she went, as though they would call Seth home, like a lighthouse guiding lost ships in the dark.
Maia stopped at the door to the room she shared with Seth. Her eyes fluttered shut against the overwhelming sense of loneliness that washed through her. Even in the darkness, she could see the bed, made and ready, and the table beside it, with Seth's perfumes and moisturizers and jewelry waiting patiently for Seth to come home and use them. A shawl draped over the chair that sat in the room's corner, Maia knew it was a deep brown, the color of milk chocolate, though it looked black in the shadows of the unlit bedroom. It brought out Seth's eyes when she wore it.
Maia took a deep breath and swallowed down the anxiety that threatened to overtake her. With shaking fingers, she flipped the light switch, instantly bathing the room in bright, welcoming light. Seth didn't wait for her here, with an apologetic smile and an easy explanation.
Slowly, Maia undressed herself for a hot shower and what she knew would be the longest night of her life.
If nothing else, the redcaps seemed to have a powerful sense of loyalty to each other. Dolph mused on this as he waited patiently for the call to come in that would confirm the delivery's arrival. The pair of underlings cowered in a corner, watching dismally and flinching whenever Dolph looked their way. The redcap he'd flung to the wall had recovered his breath and crouched close to his friend, watching with ill-concealed resentment, anger and fear. Duncan, the swine, trembled beneath his feet, whimpering pitifully in agony whenever Dolph shifted his weight.
They had not been waiting long before a shrill ring cut the air. The Shifter reached into his pocket and pulled the old phone out. Without even glancing at the caller ID, he flipped it open and lifted it to his ear.
"The package has arrived." A non-descript voice said into the earpiece. "Have them run that second errand for me now."
Dolph did not respond. A dial tone flat-lined into his ear, and he flipped the phone shut once again and tucked it into his pocket. Almost gingerly, the massive Shifter lifted his foot, and with a menacing grin, gestured to Duncan that he was free to go.
Immediately, the leader of the redcaps shuffled back, clutching the briefcase with his other hand now while he cradled his broken wrist against his chest. Pain and fury twisted his face into an ugly scowl.
"I think you'll find an added fee in that case." His teeth gleamed against the fluorescent lights as he stepped into the flickering glow of the streetlamp just ahead of him. "And the sudden desire to inflict pain upon someone. A human."
The pair of redcaps that had come to back their leader sprang forward to help Duncan, who snarled at them furiously in response.
"At the building in which you retrieved my package, you'll find just one such specimen. Have at it, boys." His voice reverberated into the night, carrying easily over the grunts and curses shared between the three redcaps. They snapped an affirmative at him and turned to go, eager to be rid of the powerful, dangerous Bear. But he raised his hand to stop them. They froze in their tracks.
"Do what you will with her. But leave her alive."
Kenzi stared out the window of the cab, mind wandering over the events of the day. Maia had seemed like a sweet girl, if a little antisocial and introverted. She'd quickly rebuffed Kenzi's many attempts at conversation, her numerous offers of fresh-baked cookies and liquor, and pulled out a book before she'd even had the opportunity to offer a team game of Robot Hookers III. At least it wasn't a trashy romance novel, the quick glimpse Kenzi had snuck before Maia's hands had obscured the cover had revealed that it an old, worn Steven King. The girl had taste. And patience.
Kenzi had wondered for the past couple of years since she'd started living with Bo if theirs was a unique situation. Fae having pets wasn't unheard of. Perhaps unusual, at most. But for a long time, she'd held the belief that she was the only human so willingly attached to another Fae. Maia and Seth seemed to enjoy at least a semblance of Kenzi's relationship with Bo, however.
"Hey, lady, mind if we stop for gas? I'm runnin' on empty here." The cab-driver's rough voice interrupted Kenzi's wandering thoughts. Kenzi nodded as she straightened a little in her seat.
"No problemo, dude. I'll be here."
The car swerved gently to the left as the cab turned into a gas station. Lights sputtered unsteadily over the pumps, they pulled up beside the furthest one. The car rocked as the heavy, balding driver pulled himself out of his seat with a quiet grunt and slammed the door after him. Kenzi's thoughts began to drift again with the quiet knock of the gas valve opening and the soft whirr of gasoline passing through the pump into the tank.
Kenzi thought back uneasily over Maia's story, something about it was odd, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. She was still wholly uncomfortable with the idea of Maia being home alone, and that discomfort twisted and roiled in her gut. The overpowering smell of petrol stole at her senses. It wasn't that Kenzi didn't trust Maia, or disbelieved any part of her account of Seth's kidnap. But there was something about the way Seth was kidnapped that niggled at the back of Kenzi's sharp intellect.
The door bumped shut and the engine turned over with a throaty purr. Slowly, the car pulled away from the station, and yellow streetlights flashed in a silent, rapid, calming rhythm into the back seat. A melody strained against the muffled whizz of cars passing them on the quiet street and over the hum of the old taxi's engine, Kenzi thought distractedly that it might be an old 50's Big Band song as she frowned out the window at the decrepit buildings and streets that marched past steadily. What was it about Maia's story that wiggled its proverbial eyebrows so suggestively at her? Like a friend telling a riddle to which the answer was so obvious, if you only thought around the right corner?
The streets and buildings flew by. Still, Kenzi fingered the roll of singles Maia had shoved into her palm and scowled at the answer to the puzzle that eluded her. The buildings and cars slumped into the street, old, and weary, as the taxi wove through unfamiliar streets into the worst parts of town.
Something wasn't right. Kenzi shook herself mentally and looked closer at the surroundings that whizzed past the window. She sat up straighter and leaned toward the driver's seat, ready to point that out when she belatedly realized that the driver somehow looked… different.
A diminutive girl drove where once a fat, balding middle-aged man sat. Bright red hair spilled bountifully over narrow shoulders. A wicked smile bubbled at the corners of her mouth. She looked barely old enough to drink.
"What the Fae?!" Kenzi cried, clutching the seat in front of her as the car swerved sharply into a back street.
"Hello, new me!" Her voice was high pitched, and the wicked smile widened into a nasty grin that stretched from ear to ear. Glittering green eyes flicked from the empty, narrow street to Kenzi's and back again. The car skidded to a halt.
The water ran, steaming, pounding, into Maia's back. She lifted her face and leaned her head backward, letting the hot, clean liquid drive her heavy curls into her scalp, and ran her hands over them. Her eyes shut against the onslaught of the shower as it spilled over her forehead, her eyelids, her nose, her mouth. Droplets flew as she heaved a heavy sigh, willing her shoulders to relax, to no avail.
Still, the water beat a steady rhythm into her skin, and she scrubbed herself, quiet and wholly lost in deep, exhausted thought.
She didn't hear the door to the apartment bang open. She didn't hear heavy footsteps on the stairs to the bathroom. She only started when the doorknob turned, clicked, and the door fell open.
"Seth…?" She murmured, disbelievingly. Could it possibly be that the Seer had found her way home? Maia's chest tightened against vain hope, even as her heart soared with it. The frosted glass of the shower unit slid open easily, her lips parted in preparation of a surprised, happy cry. But the person standing on the other side was not her beloved Seer. It wasn't even a single person. Three redcaps, grinning madly, with dried blood tracking down their unshaven faces, were what looked back at her. Maia's mouth dropped open instead in a silent scream.
They grasped at her violently, filthy hands reaching for her hair, her arms, and her legs. They slipped against her soapy skin, but their grip was hard and uncompromising, and though she struggled, they managed to tear her from the shower and heave her into the hallway that connected the bathroom to the bedrooms. She slammed into the railing of the stairs, her spine jarring painfully with the impact. Her skin hummed with surprised pain and her head throbbed where it had connected with hard, cold iron bars. Only one stood back and laughed menacingly, cradling an arm to his chest while he let his cohorts enjoy themselves.
"Oh, go on, pet… Go on and scream. Make my day." His rough, Cheapside accent was colored with evil intent, with sadistic joy. Maia rocked against the floor, the water on her bare skin a cold reminder of her complete nakedness. She fought to rise to her feet, but the pair that had grabbed and hauled her bore down on her now, even as she scrambled to gain her footing and run. A fist crashed into the side of her face, her neck cracked painfully as it was whipped around. A spiked boot pummeled into her hip, hard, hot hands pressed and squeezed painfully on her shoulders, her thighs and her ankle, and she struggled to recoil from the searching, merciless fingers. She kicked desperately, aimlessly against the dark, grinning shapes that clouded her dizzy vision. A knee, padded with gritty, rough plastic, dug forcefully into her belly, and she was down again. The harder she struggled against the vise grip the red-capped thugs trapped her in, the harder they pushed her into the carpet. Her spine and shoulders ground agonizingly against the iron bars of the railing behind her. The sharp edges of a knife glittered into the edges of Maia's already swimming, reduced sight.
"Our caps have dried. Let's soak them, gents!"