Lisa nodded, “But if you were discovered, it would be safer if we took out that particular dragon before running.”

  I snorted, “Right. So hopefully that doesn’t happen for the next eighty years, so I’d have a shot at doing it.”

  Harold said, “There are anti-scrying enchantments, and I’d be surprised if one wasn’t included in your father’s necklace. It probably hides both your magic and you from magic. Send me a text next time you leave your wards, and I’ll see if I can scry you or not.”

  That made sense, but it was something I’d need to find out for sure. If not, I thought I could probably make something like that myself, which might hide me globally but give me away locally. So… bad idea. Regardless, if it was true a water dragon couldn’t find me either, even after meeting me if Lisa and I escaped.

  “Thanks Harold.”

  Lisa said, “We miss you, so let us know when you come up for air and we can visit.”

  Harold snickered, “Sorry, I have been a bit absorbed. Be careful.”

  “Take care,” I said.

  Then we hung up.

  Lisa said, “Alright, magic up so I can kick your ass some more.”

  I smirked, “One second, I want to verify something.”

  I reached out with my magic for the water vapor, and at the same time desired it not to intersect with where I felt Lisa’s song. I could feel the room around me, not in full clarity like underwater but good enough, but not Lisa, so that idea worked, I’d be able to avoid mages out in the field. The trick would be to train my mind to think that every time, so it became automatic.

  I figured it was probably safe to use my magic inside our building’s wards, and I could practice in a non-threatening situation, and feel everyone in the building except for the mage songs, Tony and Jeris. That way in the field it would already be a mostly subconscious magical control thing.

  I included Lisa in my reach, and then rushed her.

  Even cheating like that, she easily blocked my sword stroke.

  It did help with anticipating, and blocking where her sword was going, but it didn’t help me at all with actually hitting her…

  Chapter Fourteen

  The next morning, the first half of our morning meeting was giving the comms charms to Jeris and Cerise, and teaching them to use them, which was a relief of sorts. Depending on cell phones for comms was just a bad idea.

  Jeris looked impressed, “They charge just by being in the building?”

  Tony nodded, “I used the sympathetic connection for it, as well as the comms, though the charging has a much greater limitation for distance, and would be blocked by the wards anyway. It takes just a few minutes of time in the building. The stone on my desk which ties them all together also charges them, and I charge the main stone every morning just by sitting in my office.”

  Tony changed the subject, and gave them their next ward job, which didn’t start until eleven.

  Lisa asked, “Anything else come in?”

  Tony nodded, “I got a call early this morning about a missing woman. Callie Storm. Her father, Jason, is convinced she wouldn’t just disappear and not call, but the police won’t do anything for forty-eight hours. He’s frustrated, and he doesn’t want to wait for tonight. I can’t say I blame him, they say the first seventy-two hours of a missing person case are the most critical, and the police piss away two thirds of it. Her friends told him they were at Rapid Pulse, which is owned and run by five vampires. They also told him she bailed on them to leave with some guy, and she wouldn’t listen to them.”

  Jeris said, “Yeah, that time thing can be an issue, but chances are she’s fine. Most of the time it’s just a bender of drunken or drugged debauchery, and they show back up. Parents never believe their kids are capable of that sort of thing. Especially the first time.”

  Lisa shrugged, “For us that doesn’t matter, even if she is safe and passed out in some guy’s bed, the father will pay us money to check.”

  I said over the tele-conference screen, “Alright, you two have a couple of hours before your job, why don’t you run by Callie’s house, and try to scry and locate her using hair. Hannah and I will go check out the club, and if that fails, we’ll track down some of her friends and try to identify the mysterious guy she ran off with. Tony, send what you have to all our phones, and call Jason and let him know we’ll take the job.”

  Everyone nodded, and the meeting broke up. I started to arm up with mostly silver, I was already in armor underneath a dark blue woman’s suit. I kind of missed jeans and t-shirts, but we were respectable business owners now.

  Lisa came in a few minutes later, ready to go.

  “What are you thinking?”

  I shrugged, “She’s probably fine, but Tony’s last comment got me thinking maybe she was under compulsion, if Callie wouldn’t listen to them and they really tried to stop her. It’s worth checking out.”

  If the vampire owners knew anything, or were involved in any way, we’d both pick it up by their scents most likely. Unless the vampires were old enough to hide it, but the ones I’d seen so far in this town were relatively young.

  Lisa nodded, “Let’s go.”

  The two of us had never been to Rapid Pulse before. Of course, the place would be closed that time of day, but we hoped the owners would be around taking care of business. The building was white stucco with a dark brown overhang by the front door. Above that, was the sign Rapid Pulse, written out in neon light script, with two small hearts between the words. It looked tacky as all hell, but maybe it was better at night with the sign lit up?

  Maybe.

  We got out and approached the building, and I heard three vampire songs inside.

  “Three of the five are here, in the basement, I think. Do you know if they’re all connected here yet?”

  Lisa shook her head, “I don’t think they are, but I don’t know for sure. The same two vampires are always at Crimson Tide when we’re there, and none of the other vampires visit. If they were all together there’d probably be some rotation or at least mixing.”

  I nodded, and we rang the buzzer and waited. And waited.

  I was about to hit the buzzer again, when I felt one of the songs come upstairs and move our way.

  “One’s coming.”

  The door was pushed open, and a vampire scowled and squinted in the bright light. Vampires were nocturnal, and although they wouldn’t die under the sun, they were weaker under it. For Lisa too, though she was so old and powerful it was hard to tell with her. He looked us up and down, and then frowned.

  “What do you want?”

  I held out my phone, which had a picture of Cassie on it. She was a very attractive woman, maybe eighteen, and wouldn’t look out of place gracing the cover of a magazine, or a centerfold. She was a stunning young woman. Lisa and I with a little effort, could draw every male eye in the room, but Cassie had the type of looks to do it without even trying.

  “Do you recognize this woman?”

  He shook his head, “Never seen her.”

  My nose wrinkled at the obvious lie. Maybe he was off balance in the sun, but I could scent the dishonesty, and hear it in his increased heartrate. He also stunk of bleach and cleaners.

  Lisa growled, “Try again.”

  The vampire went to slam the door closed, but Lisa kicked him in the stomach and sent him flying back against a wall. Then she stalked inside the building.

  Damn, we didn’t have a warrant, or even a standing with the government here. Still, it was obvious he’d recognized her, and was very nervous about our question. Our noses weren’t admissible in court. The cleaning product scent was setting off alarm bells as well.

  I reached out with my magic as I stepped inside, and searched the place by feeling, when I got to the basement my stomach sunk a little.

  “Li… Hannah, there are cells downstairs.”

  Cages really, I could feel the shape of steel cages below us.

  Lisa said, “Where is she?” and the compulsion was thick in the air.

  My partner didn’t think much of rules sometimes. Of course, neither did I, not when there was a missing teen woman and cages involved.

  He shook his head, “I don’t know. Gone.”

  Lisa barked, “Explain.”

  He said, “We don’t have her anymore, she’ll be long gone by now.”

  Lisa asked, “How do you not know where she is?”

  He shrugged, “The business is designed that way, no one knows what the others are doing, or how they’re doing it. It’s safer that way.”

  Lisa kicked him in the face, “Stop resisting, and telling the minimum you can get away with. What business?”

  He cursed and bit his tongue, but that didn’t stop him from saying, “Sex trafficking. That little hottie is going to go for a premium overseas.”

  Fuck. We stepped in it this time. Callie was gorgeous, mostly innocent fresh-faced beauty, with blow job lips and long gorgeous eyelashes to give her a seductive tilt to that beauty. She had wide light brown eyes and sun kissed skin. Her hair was a rich light blonde, and her body was in perfect proportion from what I could see in the picture. Curvy, and generous only in the right places, with a tight waist. Her genetic lottery looks had bought her a one-way ticket to hell, through no fault of her own of course, but there it was.

  Lisa asked, “How many?”

  He said, “There were twenty-three others. Only two local, most came from other cities.”

  I frowned, “If this is a collection point, they’re probably going out in a container ship. I can’t think of another reason they’d use such a small city as a major hub in their operation.”

  Lisa kicked him in the face again.

  “Is that right?”

  He shrugged, “Probably, it seems likely that’s how they’re getting out of the country, but I don’t know for sure. It’s just a guess. We get drop offs, and pickups. Every once in a while, we add one or two to the group, money changes hands, that’s all we know.”

  My phone went off, and I checked it. Jeris failed to scry her, she must be behind wards on the ship.

  “When was the last pickup.”

  He looked at me mulishly, but he spoke quickly when Lisa’s foot raised off the floor.

  “Six hours ago? Around three in the morning, an hour after we closed the club.”

  Right, that would explain the cleaning product scent, they’d probably been scrubbing the cages, to get rid of all the evidence.

  Lisa and I exchanged a look. She didn’t look any surer than I was about what to do next. Short of enthralling or compulsion, we couldn’t even bust these guys much less the rest of the ring, and that was illegal and would be thrown out of court. In the end we’d be the ones arrested and thrown in jail, and we’d have our current private security licenses revoked and lose any chance to be approved for government work.

  “The only way we can bust them, is by finding that ship. Callie and the others can put these ass munching poor excuses of humanity in jail, and probably break up a few other parts of the ring as well. The shipping company, and the cities the other girls come from.”

  Lisa nodded, and she glared down at the asshat.

  “You will forget we were here, and what you told us. Go back downstairs, and just tell your partners it was a salesman you got rid of.”

  His eyes glazed over, and we turned around and walked out.

  “You okay?”

  She shook her head, “Sexual slavery and trafficking is one of my pet peeves. I’ll try not to butcher them all, but I really want to.”

  Honestly, I kind of felt the same way, but that wasn’t who we were. I had no problems putting down people that earned execution and escaped that fate, ones that had already been convicted in a court of law. Self-defense too, obviously. But vigilantism isn’t good.

  “Just imagine all those butt rapes in jail they have to look forward to, I know it helps me.”

  Lisa laughed darkly, but she didn’t reply otherwise.

  “Tony?” I asked, while thinking about talking to him, the earring should handle the rest.

  Tony replied, “What’s up Aria?”

  I said, “Can you find out how many ships left port in the last five or six hours?”

  Tony replied, “Wait one.”

  We were back in the car and waiting for a couple of minutes before he found the information.

  “Too many, boss. Four large container ships, two barges, and who knows how many private yachts and other boats which don’t have to check in.”

  Fuck.

  “Let’s go to her house, I’ve fought off wards before, I bet if I pushed hard enough, I could punch a hole through whatever blocked Jeris. We’ll just need to figure out a reasonable story for the police and everyone else on how we tracked down the ship.”

  Lisa nodded, “It’s either that, or give up. We don’t have any proof, so calling the coast guard wouldn’t work either. You sure it’s worth the risk?”

  I blew out a breath, “Not for everything, but for this? Sex traffickers are worse than murderers, and it’s the worst kind of slavery. Yes, I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t try.”

  Lisa started the car, and we raced to Callie’s house. I wasn’t worried about Jason figuring anything out, he was human and wouldn’t be able to feel my magic.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Jason Storm and his daughter lived in a mid-sized mansion, I guessed eight to ten bedrooms at a glance. There was a tightness in my gut as we knocked on the door and waited. It was a risk, but there were no dragons in the city, and no mages within hearing distance of my siren half.

  If this did work, I still wasn’t sure how we’d explain to the authorities how we tracked the ship down. There was also the matter of getting to it, I could open a large window and step onto the ship, but there’d be no way to cover that up, and explain how we got aboard.

  Jason answered the door, he was in his mid-forties, and still had the shadow of his good looks.

  He smiled when he saw took me in, and I gently smiled back, hopefully this wouldn’t be too awkward.

  “I’m Aria Jones, this is my partner Hannah. I’d like to take a look at your daughter’s room?”

  Jason frowned, “The mage you sent said he couldn’t locate Callie.”

  Lisa nodded in agreement, “We have other avenues to explore, and have a lead of where she might be, but we need access.”

  Jason nodded as he moved out of the way, and said, “Come on in, it’s the second room on the left up the stairs.”

  We walked past him and moved up the stairs quickly, and I found her room easily by both his directions and her lingering scent. The walls were a light understated pink, and she had a lot of pictures, cute knickknacks, and stuffed animals all over the place. This was not a rebellious dark teen we were after. Not that it made a difference in the least, or would.

  I spotted the brush on the dresser, and I walked over to pull a few hairs out.

  Jason was at the door looking at us, and I turned and smiled, “We’re doing all we can to find her.”

  Jason asked, “What do you know?”

  I replied, “We know she’s alive, and we know she was taken, but we don’t have solid proof for the police. You hired us to find your daughter, please let us do our jobs. We’ll call you as soon as we can with an update.”

  Jason nodded, and looked worried.

  We walked past him, and we left the house.

  Lisa asked, “Did you find it?”

  I shook my head, “Haven’t tried yet. Every time I’ve used enough magic to defeat a ward, I glowed like a damned blue night light. I didn’t want to do that in front of Jason.”

  She chuckled as she got in the car, “Where to?”

  “Head for our boat. We need an explainable way how we got to the container ship anyway. Risk is one thing, but let’s try to cover my magical tracks as best we can.”

  I wasn’t sure how my magic worked. Finding someone I met was easy, but this was the first time I was trying with a hair. I created a small square of ice against the dashboard, then pictured her picture, her room, her scent, and felt her hair with my magic, as I reached out to find her.

  Nothing happened, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I couldn’t scry sympathetically like a mage could, or because I’d hit the ward. I hadn’t felt Brent’s ward either, when I’d tried to scry him last month, it had just failed to work.

  I slumped back in my seat as Lisa drove, and tried again, this time pouring more of my will and magic into it, then some more.

  Lisa said, “You’re glowing blue.”

  I ignored that and kept concentrating and pouring even more magic into the effort.

  A weight, that I hadn’t felt until it was lifted, seemed to fall off my shoulders. The small flat piece of ice against the dashboard wavered and I saw a young white blonde-haired woman in a cage. She looked miserable, but at least she was still fully clothed. She still wore club clothes. A grimy, wrinkled, and stained black mini-skirt and thin translucent red blouse with a black sports bra. Even then, her obvious beauty shone through, not that I cared about that, but it made me disgusted with the people that would do this.

  I zoomed out with a thought, and there were six rows of ten cages in the hold, but only twenty-four of them were occupied which matched the numbers the vampire had given us. I zoomed out further and up, and the picture of a large container ship appeared.

  I wondered if the whole crew was in on it. There were probably only twenty of them or so, we’d find out. We also had to assume at least one was a mage. I tilted the angle a bit, and I read the ships registry and name.

  “The Kipawo.”

  Lisa smirked, “You are so sexy.”

  I grinned, “So what now? A scry gives us probable cause to legally board, but we can’t tell the government I did it.”

  Lisa said, “I can tell them I picked up her scent trail where that ship was docked. It’ll be sticky, but it will give us the right of pursuit. Now we just need an explanation for how we got that far in the first place.”