Thaumatology 05 - Disturbia Read online

  ‘Uh, yeah.’

  ‘Small world. The director… He’s weird. Wants his actors to do what he tells them. Seems overly keen about the film succeeding too. His desires are… bitty. Like he isn’t focussed on anything. I think he’s a practitioner too.’

  Ceri raised an eyebrow. ‘I’ll have a look when we interview him.’

  ‘The cameraman wants the actor they were filming to… well, wants the actor,’ Lily went on. ‘I don’t know any of the other actors, by the way. Seem to be after my time. The sound guy wanted me right after he saw me, before that he wanted Tawni. Seemed like a one-track mind. Michael and I met the two props guys. One of them is on something, he was wanting to get into Cardiff for a fix.’

  ‘The blonde?’ Michael asked.

  ‘That’s the one.’

  ‘He smelled funny. Chemical, but not normal chemical.’

  ‘Alchemy?’ Ceri asked.

  Michael shrugged. ‘I’m not sure I’d know it if I smelled it.’

  ‘The others…’ Lily said and shrugged before moving closer to Ceri. ‘They just want to get paid.’ Reaching out toward Ceri she lifted her T-shirt up and over her head.

  ‘So, um, so far we may have a link to Hughes’ drug ring?’ Ceri asked. Lily placed a hand between her breasts and pushed so that she found herself lying on Michael’s legs.

  ‘So far,’ Lily said, starting work on undoing Ceri’s jeans. ‘But we’ll find more tomorrow.’ Her hands pulled Ceri’s jeans and thong down her legs. ‘Now we need to get your head back in the game.’

  ‘My head is in the game,’ Ceri protested.

  ‘No it’s not,’ Lily said. ‘Michael, you start at the top.’

  Michael shifted and Ceri closed her eyes as his hands stroked over her breasts. Lily lowered her head between Ceri’s legs, fingers stroking over her thighs. ‘Well,’ Ceri sighed, ‘perhaps I am a little distract-ah!’

  August 27th

  The sound of her mobile ringing jarred Ceri awake. Lily reached out, apparently without looking, and plucked the instrument off the night table to hand it over. Sandwiched between a half-demon and a werewolf, getting the phone to her ear was not easy, but Ceri managed it, more or less.

  ‘Hello?’ Ceri said, sleep still showing in her voice.

  ‘Ceri? It’s Kate. Did I wake you?’

  ‘Yeah, what time is it?’

  ‘Uh… just after ten.’

  Ceri grunted. ‘I suppose we should get up anyway. We’re interviewing the film crew this morning.’

  ‘Okay. We got our hands on a couple of copies of the film. We’re couriering one of them out to Cardiff for you guys to take a look at.’ Her voice faltered. ‘I’ll warn you now, it’s not pleasant.’

  ‘Okay,’ Ceri said. ‘Could you get them to call us when it’s there? We’ll drive back.’

  ‘Sure, where are you now?’

  ‘The farmhouse the film crew are using. Something feels a bit wrong here. I’m not sure what it is. No one seems to believe Walls would have done that movie, but I’m sure the same thing killed him.’

  Kate’s voice lowered. ‘You’re staying on a porn set? Never mind. I probably don’t want to know. Keep us informed.’ She cut off the call before Ceri could answer.

  Taking the phone back to put on the table, Lily said, ‘I’m not getting up without a proper breakfast.’ Ceri grinned softly, a small sigh escaping her lips before Lily’s mouth covered them.

  ~~~

  ‘Well, he was one of the actors, y’know? He was pretty much okay. Treated the rest of us well enough.’ The speaker was thin, but all wiry muscle. Ceri could see him being able to lug heavy equipment around with fair ease. He seemed a little vague and at the same time twitchy, and his name was Dennis which Ceri thought was a really poor name for someone working in porn. ‘Pretty sure he banged Scoop a couple of times. Y’know, freebie for a fan, like.’

  Ceri glanced at Lily. ‘Adrian the cameraman,’ Lily supplied. They had taken over the room Tawni had been using as an office, but since that was a bedroom with the bed pushed back against the wall there was limited room for four people. Michael was perched on the edge of the bed, trying to look unobtrusive.

  ‘Ah yeah.’ They had already interviewed Adrian. He had broken down and sobbed half way through, saying that “Monty was a god amongst men and the world would not be the same without him.” Ceri thought it was the most fake-sounding speech she had ever heard, but the guy had almost certainly had nothing to do with Walls’ death. ‘Could you confirm your whereabouts on the twenty-fifth around nine-thirty?’

  ‘Uh, yeah, I was setting up for a night scene out on the beach. Tawni and Cruise.’

  Ceri nodded. The alibi covered most of the people on the crew. It had been an off-site scene and they had taken both props men, the cameraman and sound guy, the missing fluffer, make-up girl, and, of course, Tawni, Terry, and Cruise had been there. Cruise was the other male actor, the one they had seen filming the night before. That left Lia, the Dutch actress, and Chrissy, Cruise’s partner in the stable, alone at the house when Walls had left.

  ‘Is that all?’ Dennis asked. ‘I gotta go into Cardiff for, uh, batteries.’

  Batteries, right. ‘Thank you, yes. Could you send Cruise in?’ She waited for him to walk out and close the door before turning to Michael. ‘You make sure you meet him when he gets back,’ she said quietly. ‘Find his “batteries” and we’ll arrest his arse for possession.’

  Michael nodded just as the door opened and a tall, muscular man with a shock of blonde hair walked in. He was moderately attractive in a hard, angular way; Ceri did not particularly go for the type. The broad grin suggested he was moderately sure no woman alive could resist him. He did not even look at Michael, but favoured both Lily and Ceri with a lingering look which took in every detail and, Ceri was fairly sure, detected nothing other than boobs, hips, legs.

  ‘Sit down, Cruise,’ Ceri said, giving him a professional, so-not-interested smile.

  ‘You want to know about Monty then?’ He had a slightly high voice which did not go with the physique. ‘Well, he was okay. Bit soft, y’know? Liked being liked too much. Shagged Scoop, for example. I’m a girls only guy, y’know? But he went both ways if anyone was interested.’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Ceri said. ‘Was he acting strangely at all on the twenty-fifth?’

  ‘The day he croaked? No. Just normal.’ Ceri got the feeling that Cruise would not have noticed if Walls had been suicidal never mind anything more subtle.

  ‘And that night you were shooting a scene with Tawni?’

  ‘Yeah. Beach scene. She’s a good lay. Likes it hard.’

  Ceri bit her lip. ‘Thanks, we’ll be around if you think of anything.’

  ‘Sure,’ he said, getting to his feet. ‘I’m free this afternoon, if you want to… talk some more.’

  Ceri had to stop herself laughing as Lily made gagging motions behind Cruise’s back as he left. ‘I don’t have to tell you what he wants, do I?’ Lily asked when the door closed.

  ‘I think I could take a guess,’ Ceri replied and Michael growled softly. Ceri grinned at him. ‘Possessive, love?’

  ‘He doesn’t deserve either of you,’ Michael grumbled. He was not being possessive, he simply had too high an opinion of them to let Cruise near them. Werewolves had a rather different view of fidelity to most humans.

  There was a soft knock on the door and Lia poked her head in. ‘Could you do me next?’ she asked. ‘I’ve got to set up for a retake with Leo.’ Ceri nodded and she slipped in dressed in a short blue wrap.

  ‘So,’ Ceri said when she had sat herself down and crossed her long legs, ‘tell me about Mister Walls.’

  ‘Monty? He was sweet. Always had a good word for everyone. I mean, I just met him recently, but he seemed like a nice guy. He’s been doing this a while and he seemed friendly with Tawni. Joked with the crew. Big cock, but he didn’t just rely on the size? Actually knew what to do with it.’

  ‘You slept with him off-camera?’<
br />
  ‘Uh-huh. I was with him the night before he died and then we filmed a scene on the morning.’

  Ceri raised an eyebrow. ‘Did he seem… out of sorts or anything?’

  ‘Well, kind of,’ Lia said, frowning. ‘He woke me up in the middle of the night. Some sort of nightmare. He said there was a woman in the room, just standing in the shadows watching us sleep. There wasn’t anyone there, of course. I went back to my room after that, but he was kind of tired in the morning. I think the only thing keeping him up was the spell.’ She grimaced. ‘Which is why I’m having to reshoot with Leo.’

  ‘No fluffer?’ Ceri said.

  Lia grinned at her. ‘Yeah, no fluffer. Sorry again about that.’

  Ceri shrugged. ‘I’ve been called a lot worse. The night of the twenty-fifth you were here?’

  ‘Chrissy and I were in the lounge chatting when Monty left. Neither of us knew anything was wrong. Then we heard a car start outside. It took off fast. Must have made a mess of the opschorting… uh, suspension, sorry.’

  Ceri smiled. ‘Your English is excellent.’

  ‘Thank you. Trade with England is really important in Amsterdam so we learn early, especially if we’re in the tourist trade.’

  ‘I thought you said you worked the red light district.’

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Lia replied, grinning, ‘and about fifty per cent of the trade is English.’

  ‘Oh… So Monty left in a hurry?’

  Lia nodded. ‘It wasn’t until we looked around and couldn’t find him that we realised it was him, but yeah. Went off like Hellhounds were chasing him.’

  ‘Okay, thanks Lia. You’ve been very helpful. If Chrissy’s out there, could you send her in?’

  ‘Sure.’ The tall woman rose smoothly to her feet and headed out, Ceri waiting for the door to close before looking to Lily.

  ‘She’d really like a foursome,’ the half-succubus said, ‘but she’d take any of us she could get, especially Michael. I like her. She’s up-front, there’s nothing much about her that isn’t obvious, I think.’

  Ceri grinned and glanced at Michael. ‘I won’t mind if you do,’ she said.

  ‘I’ve got my hands full with you two,’ he replied, though there was just a hint of thoughtful desire in his eyes.

  The door opened and Chrissy walked in without preamble. Her jaw was moving as she chewed gum with all the slack-jawed elegance of a masticating cow. It was difficult to think of her as attractive, but she was pretty with a symmetrical, high-cheekboned face, blue eyes, bobbed blonde hair, and a good body. The camisole top and short skirt did little to hide her attributes.

  ‘Chrissy,’ Ceri began.

  ‘Yeah, Monty. Well, he was nice. I did a scene with him early in the week. It was okay.’

  ‘Right,’ Ceri said. The woman spoke in a light monotone, as if she had no brain operating behind the pretty exterior. ‘You were chatting with Lia the night he died?’

  ‘Yeah, I painted her toe nails. She’s cute. Really open, y’know? Tall, great body.’ The blank face arranged itself into a smile which seemed genuine.

  ‘And you heard Walls leaving?’

  ‘Yeah, like a bat out of Hell. It was real weird.’ All the expression had drained from her face again.

  ‘And you didn’t notice anything odd about him before then?’

  ‘No, I didn’t notice anything about him.’

  ‘Okay,’ Ceri said. ‘Thank you for your time.’ She watched Chrissy walk out and close the door. ‘She prefers girls?’

  Lily nodded. Michael frowned and said, ‘Wasn’t she the one groaning and moaning with Cruise when we arrived?’

  ‘Yes,’ Lily said. ‘She prefers girls, and she’s also an actress. You don’t think all the moaning on porn films is actually real, do you?’

  ‘I, uh, wouldn’t know, I’ve never seen one.’ He actually looked embarrassed about it.

  ‘This place is going to be a bit of a shock,’ Lily commented. ‘Then again, you’re a werewolf. You’re used to casual nudity and people having sex in front of you.’

  ‘They’re not usually humans,’ he pointed out. ‘Even Ceri turned out not to be. Entirely.’

  ‘Does it make a difference?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘Yes.’ He frowned slightly. ‘I guess it shouldn’t. I’d imagine I’ll cope.’

  Ceri smiled; he would cope, she had every confidence he would. ‘Let’s take a break,’ she said. ‘We’ve got Tan… We’ve got Tawni and Terry to go, but they’re going to be a pain to get away from the filming.’

  ‘We can probably grab them when they break for dinner,’ Lily suggested.

  Ceri checked her watch. It was just after two, probably four hours until tea time. ‘Okay. We’ll watch for Dennis coming back with his “batteries” until then.’

  ~~~

  Shooting appeared to be encountering issues. Ceri could not quite understand what was up, but with lunch out of the way Terry apparently started up a “discussion” he had been having with Tawni before they had walked in.

  ‘I admit he’s impressive,’ the man said, ‘but without a fluffer he’s just too unreliable. We’ll be filming for the rest of the day at this rate and we’re behind schedule as it is.’ Something about the man made Ceri’s skin crawl. Possibly the arrogance; he exuded it like musk.

  ‘Perhaps if you could make your mind up about camera angles,’ Tawni said, ‘we could get a scene out faster and he would be more reliable.’

  ‘We want this to be as good as we can make it…’ Terry began.

  ‘Within budget!’ Tawni snapped. ‘We actually have a budget, remember?’

  ‘I can always arrange more money if you need it.’

  ‘You still haven’t managed to replace the guy who left then?’ Lily asked, interrupting the argument.

  Tawni whipped around and then forced herself to relax. ‘Oh, no. Getting someone out here from London is difficult and I’ve not found anyone local who could do it.’ She sighed. ‘Leo’s good. Not as big a draw as Monty, but he can fill the role well enough, but… Well, he has the same problem as Monty did and now we’re short someone who can cast the charm.’

  Lily looked around at Ceri. Ceri’s eyes widened. ‘Oh no,’ she said, ‘I can’t.’

  ‘I could do it,’ Lily said, ‘but I’m not nearly as good as you.’

  ‘I’ve never…’

  ‘You’ve seen it cast,’ Lily said. ‘I know you can do it.’

  ‘Sorry,’ Tawni’s confused voice intruded. ‘You… could cast the priapism charm?’

  ‘I’ve never…’ Ceri began and then sagged with a sigh. ‘Okay, yes, I can cast it. It’s just a neurochemical feedback induction. Quite interesting really. What it says about the biochemistry of errr… And you’re not really bothered about that are you?’

  Tawni was beaming. She looked over at Lily. ‘She hasn’t changed since when she was a kid.’ Lily grinned back. ‘Okay, let’s go give Leo a jump start.’

  Slightly slumped, Ceri followed Tawni through into the lounge where blackout curtains had been put up over the windows and the fire relit. Between the lights and the fire it felt like an oven; no wonder the actors were having trouble. ‘Have you considered some ventilation?’ Ceri asked.

  ‘It interferes with the sound,’ Terry replied snidely.

  ‘Leo,’ Tawni was saying, ‘we got you a fluffer.’

  Ceri winced. Leo looked up from the floor where he was sat, stark naked, apparently trying to be his own fluffer. A slow grin spread over his face. ‘So, you aren’t the fluffer then?’

  Ceri folded; okay, it was funny. She grinned. ‘Apparently I am. You ready for this?’

  ‘Oh Hell yeah.’

  Ceri concentrated, forming the required energy pattern she had seen Faran and Lily generate, and then pushing it onto Leo. Almost immediately, he started to harden; Ceri’s eyes bulged slightly.

  Behind her, Lia giggled. ‘Now that’s what I’m talking about.’

  Terry had not been watching. ‘Well is she going to c
ast the spell or not?’

  Ceri looked toward him, her Sight still on from casting the charm. ‘I did it already. If you want all that fancy mystical words crap, get another practitioner.’ Her breath caught slightly as she saw the dark tendrils wrapped around Terry’s Chakral Median. Terry the director was pacted.

  ~~~

  Dennis’ battered Mini pulled into the courtyard and stopped with a shudder. Ceri and Lily watched from the stables as he climbed out of the vehicle and Michael moved out from the bushes to the side of the track as though coming back from a walk.

  ‘You’re sure Terry’s pacted?’ Lily asked quietly.

  ‘Yeah, but it was weird,’ Ceri replied. ‘Not like any other pact corruption I’ve seen.’

  Michael was smiling and offering to help Dennis with his bags. ‘He’s good at this,’ Lily said, nodding toward Michael.

  Ceri grinned. ‘Yeah, he is.’

  Dennis did not seem to be too keen on being helped, but Michael obliviously picked up several carrier bags and started toward the farmhouse. After about three paces with Dennis struggling after him, apparently protesting the help, the werewolf stopped. Dropping all but one of the bags, Michael reached into the last one and started rummaging through it as Dennis yelled for him to stop. Ceri and Lily took off across the courtyard.

  ‘What the Hell are you doing?!’ Dennis yelled. ‘Stop that! You’ve got no right!’

  ‘We have probable cause,’ Ceri said, holding up her warrant card for emphasis.

  Dennis’ eyes widened. Ceri could see him thinking about running. She watched as his eyes flicked to Michael pulling something out of the bag. Then she watched him make the choice and break for the nearby hedge.

  ‘Shouldn’t we stop him?’ Lily asked.

  ‘What’ve you got, Michael?’ Ceri said. He showed her; six vials of a purplish fluid wrapped in a towel. He handed them to Ceri.

  ‘It’s Oblivion,’ Lily said, her nose wrinkling in disgust.

  Ceri turned the vials over in her hand. The liquid moved slowly and there was a faint shimmer in it. Manufactured alchemically from fae wine, Oblivion gave a fantastic high, but the side effects started at dangerous and moved on to horrific. Eventually, Oblivion users lost their souls leaving a shell with limited humanity, easily targeted for possession.