Page 57 of Soul Sucker

“Alexei is supposed to be here,” Vadim interrupted.

Ella and Liz looked at him. “It’s no big deal. You can come with us instead, right?”

He stared at them for a long moment. If he refused, would it get back to Feehan and more importantly his Russian boss? His conduct had to be exemplary and Ella needed to be protected. Mentally he strengthened his shields. He could manage a quick trip back to Otherworld. He’d be in and out before anyone or anything picked up a trace of him. At least, he hoped he would.

“Where’s the nearest portal?”

Ella took out her phone and clicked on the app. “The one at the end of Embarcadero near the ball park is still open. We can walk there.”

If he hadn’t have been too busy thinking up gruesome ways to slaughter his extremely hard-to-kill Fae partner, Vadim would have enjoyed the walk more. The sun was shining and despite the brisk breeze blowing in off the bay, the walkways were thronged with a mixture of tourists and office workers seeking a late lunch. Ella led them through a complex route of backstreets that brought them out close to the walls of the ballpark. He stopped to admire the statue of an unknown baseball player. “Who is this?”

Ella gave him a look. “It’s Willie McCovey, dude.”

“It might surprise you to know that outside America, baseball isn’t such a big deal.”

“Maybe not in Russia.” Ella held up her phone. “Where is this damned portal?”

He pointed at a spot close to the brick wall. “It’s there.”

Liz gave him a surprised glance. “You can see them?”

“Sometimes when I’m close,” Vadim admitted. “Shall we get on with it?” He headed for the portal, his hand outstretched, and felt the wall dissolve at his touch. When Ella and Liz stood beside him in the small circle of light, he closed his eyes and spoke out loud.

“Registry at Merton, please.”

Although his body didn’t appear to move, he was aware of a strange whooshing sensation in his head. When he opened his eyes, the circle of light had turned green. He touched the nearest solid surface and pushed through it to find himself outside an old-fashioned brick building four stories high with a double fronted black door. There was no one else on the cobbled street and a light rain had begun to fall. A sign on the door told any caller to use the side entrance. In small print at the bottom it also said “at your own risk,” but that was a pretty standard disclaimer for Otherworld.

“I haven’t been here before,” Ella said.

“I have.” Liz shuddered. “Prepare to whisk yourself back fifty years in time.”

Vadim walked around the side of the building and his magical senses flared to life. He pushed open the side door and a bell jangled somewhere deep within the building. The hallway opened up into a large, dimly lit room that appeared to be empty. A long high countertop made of gleaming oak divided the space neatly in half. Lamps with green shades cast inadequate light into the dark corners where things listened and lingered.

“Where is everyone?” Ella whispered.

Liz headed for the counter. “God knows, but it doesn’t matter. It’s all done with bits of paper anyway.” She took a sheet of the yellow lined paper and a pencil from the pot and started to write. “You have to be very careful how you phrase your request or you end up with something you didn’t expect.”

“We want a list of my graduating class from six years ago, and if they have it, lists for all the other colleges in the same time period.”

“Right, and we also want copies of any correspondence between Otherworld and either of the two victims,” Liz added.

As the women discussed what to ask for, Vadim prowled around the space, trying to keep his shields up and yet delicately sense what was going on. A shadow flitted by him, brushing his face, and he almost recoiled. He had the unwelcome sensation that something was already inside his head, delicately peeling back the layers of his defenses until he’d be exposed in his true form.

“How long will this take?” he asked Liz.

She pointed to a clock set on the countertop. “What time’s the next pick up?”

He squinted at the cloudy glass clockface. “In about three minutes.”

Liz handed him the sheet of paper. “Put it in the basket next to the clock and step away from the counter.” Vadim did as she asked and, for good measure, retreated behind Ella. “Do we need to ring the bell or something?”

“God, don’t do that.” Liz shuddered. “You really don’t want to make them angry.”

A door opened at the back of the official side of the room. Vadim turned his attention to the young man who approached the desk. He looked quite human, his hair a nondescript brown and his eyes hidden behind a pair of thick glasses.

“Don’t acknowledge him,” Liz whispered. “Let him get on with his job.”

The man took the paper out of the basket, scanned the contents and then reset the clock. He disappeared back through the door without saying a single word.

---