by Cathy Clamp
The snake screamed then, with a human voice. The scream wasn’t as high-pitched as she’d expected from a woman. The cobra fled back into the house, and though she wanted to, Anica didn’t dare follow. She had to stay with Bojan. She used a bottle of water Papa kept in the refrigerator to clean the blood off Bojan’s head. There was a wide gash in his scalp.
While she was carefully probing the wound, she heard a voice at the other end of the house. “Anica!” Was it Tristan? It was! She could feel his presence in her mind again.
“Be careful, Tristan!” she called out as loud as she could. “There is viper in house! A woman snake!”
“Bojan! Anica!” It was Papa! “Where are you?”
“Papa! Tristan! We’re in the garage.” She put Bojan’s head gently on the floor and raced to the door, yanking it open. She didn’t worry about the snake anymore. The men could handle her, if she was still in the house.
Papa raced toward Anica, his arms open wide. Tristan was just behind, his face worried. She wasn’t sure who to run to, but Papa reached her first and pulled her into a tight hug that reminded her of his animal form.
Tristan stopped just behind. She hugged Papa but looked at Tristan over her father’s shoulder and held out a hand. He touched it quickly and then slipped into her mind.
Are you okay?
She nodded, and smiled at him. I am well. Bojan is hurt, but he will heal. He is alpha.
His brow furrowed and he smelled worried, but she wasn’t sure why. She’d just told him she felt fine. Actually, she felt better than fine. Good, really. It seemed long ago that she’d woken hurting so much. And even the pain from fighting against the snake’s magic seemed gone.
“Anica,” Papa said, pulling her to arm’s length, away from Tristan’s hand. Papa smelled both worried and guilty. “You say there is snake. I smell it when I come in. Where did it come from? Where did it go?”
She didn’t have an answer for him. “I wake and house is filled with smoke. We … Bojan and I … call for you and when do you do not answer, we look for you to make sure you are safe.” She pointed to where Bojan was still unconscious. Tristan moved to squat down beside him.
The sour, bitter scent of Papa’s guilt was overwhelming. “I should have been here. I should have been protecting you. Again, I have failed you. And Bojan.” She followed her father’s gaze to where Tristan was helping Bojan sit up. She could feel the push of magic he was using to heal the wound on her brother’s head. It wasn’t healing magic, but it was strong enough to mend the flesh. He would probably have a scar, but he would live to have one.
She put a hand on Papa’s cheek, rough with thick, unshaven hair. She turned his face to meet hers. She couldn’t help but notice the swollen nose and heavy, dark bruising under reddened eyes. He was exhausted. “No, Papa. No. You do not have to protect me.” He tightened his grip on her arm and she patted his cheek. “I love that you wish to.” She pointed to the door. “But the snake? I fight her and she runs. She runs. I do not. You have taught me to be strong. You did not fail me.”
Anica turned her head to a new smell. More people were arriving. “Hello? Anyone here?” It was the doctor’s voice, but Anica also smelled Bobby with her. It actually excited her, because there was so much to smell here and she didn’t quite know where to start.
“Excuse me, Papa.” She gave him a quick hug and gave Tristan a fast kiss on her way to the front door. It surprised him, but she could feel that he didn’t object. The pair had remained outside the door, only each poking a head in to call their arrival. It was very courteous of them, so she was too. She held the door and waved them in as Mama had taught her, with a short curtsy. “Please, come in. It is nice to have guests who do not sneak in and try to kill me.”
Bobby’s tongue was already flicking as Tristan came to stand near her, close enough that the exotic spice of his scent surrounded her, soaked into her skin. “Yeah, I smell the viper. Female king cobra. And I haven’t smelled a single snake until this second … present company excepted.”
Tristan put a hand on her shoulder and pulled her close, to nestle against his chest. “She fought off the snake with a baseball bat. There’s blood in two spots in the garage and spit venom in at least one. We should be able to find the shifter who attacked the family fairly quickly.” He motioned with his head behind them. “If the good doctor could check on Anica’s brother, I’m sure he’d appreciate it. He was unconscious with a bad head wound. I got him awake, but I’ll bet he has a nasty headache.”
She nodded. “I’m on it.” Then the doctor looked at her with a strangely amused expression. “I take it Anica doesn’t require any healing?”
Anica wasn’t sure why that would amuse her. “I am well. I was very sore when I woke up, but it was just stiffness.”
Even Bobby had a quirk of a smile. “I’m sure you’re feeling better now.” The amusement of the two was making Tristan annoyed, judging by the burnt-metal smell wafting through the smoke. Which reminded her!
She looked at Bobby, who might share her excitement. “The smoke in the house now is not same smoke as when I woke! There was much more and it smelled of metal.”
He turned his attention from Tristan to her. “What sort of metal?”
Anica let out a frustrated breath. “That is problem. I do not know so many metals. But it is not steel or aluminum or copper. I have smelled those all recently, when you say to smell things. So I smell copper pipes in bathroom and metal of refrigerator and stove and pots when I am cooking. Cold and hot make the metal smell different!”
This time, his smile went with the pride smell. “Yes, they do. I’m glad you’re studying on your own. So … not a common metal. Where did you smell it the strongest? In what room?”
She tried to think back. “It was when I first smell snake. So in hallway on way to laundry.”
Tristan let out a slight cough. “I’m going to find some fans and get the rest of this smoke out of here.”
“There are fans in the bedrooms and on the ceilings. But there is smoke outside too, yes?”
Bobby waved his hand in agreement. “Don’t clear out the smells until I finish with the scene, okay? Check the outside perimeter. See if the snake left a trail.”
Tristan gave a curt nod and went out on the front porch. Like at Paula’s house, he took off his shirt and stood very still with arms raised.
“Excuse me,” she asked Bobby, “but what does he do, to stand like that? He is very pretty, but I do not understand this way to smell for trail.” “Very pretty” was an understatement. Every muscle stood out in sharp relief under his skin. He reminded Anica of the models she saw in expensive magazines who sold swimming things in photos. For just a moment, he turned and their eyes met through the window before he shut his again. Her whole body felt woozy just from a look. Never had other boyfriends made her feel so … wobbly on her feet, yet tight and flush all over.
Bobby was already flicking his tongue around the hallway and spoke to her in a distracted way. “Kraits smell with their skin … all of their skin. Where you have only the tissues in your nose that can absorb and identify scent, every pore of his body can absorb and identify. You can smell better in your animal form, but imagine if every hair on your body as a bear was a separate, distinct nose.” He touched a spot on the wall, brushing the paint with his fingers and flicking his tongue. “The more skin he exposes, the bigger his … nose.”
Anica stared out through the blinds on the window. Tristan had moved from the porch to stand on the front path. He would walk a step, then stand with eyes shut. Then turn and take another step. She wondered first what sort of bear a crake was and then what it would feel like to smell with her shoulder or finger or—“What is it like to smell with tongue?” She noticed he was tasting the air very high on the wall. “You are not smelling in right place. I crawl down hall … below smoke.”
Bobby turned his head. “But smoke, like heat, rises. What you smelled at the floor earlier is on the top of the wall or
the ceiling now. That’s why you found air near the floor. For crime scenes, we look for where things go. Where blood splatters, where particles fall, where scents stick.”
Oh! That made very good sense!
“And for smelling with my tongue, I don’t know that I can compare it to a nose. I’ve never had one … not to smell with, anyway. But I can tell you that when I eat, I don’t get the luxury of tasting blends. You can eat a piece of cake and taste cake. I eat cake and I taste flour and butter and egg. Each taste is distinct by itself. I really hate anything processed, because I don’t like the taste of the chemicals.”
She wasn’t really sure what to say to that, except, “I do like cake. I would be sad to not taste it anymore.” He just shrugged. She watched him looking up, and then thought of what he said. To look where things go. It reminded her of the fight and how she bit the woman. “When we fight, before she shift, I bite her and rip her shirt.” She started looking around the floor and there—“Here is piece of shirt I rip. Will this help you?” She picked up the piece of golden fabric. It clung to her fingers. “It is silk.” She reached down and smelled it. “This is the perfume she was wearing, and you can still smell the metal smoke.” She handed it up to Bobby, who flicked his tongue all along the surface but left no wet spots that would say his tongue had been there.
“Wait. This is terbium. But I don’t smell any insulation burning.”
“I do not know this … is it a metal? You say insulation. Is it in walls? Was the house really on fire? I did not smell any fire. Only smoke.” She looked up and around. There was a pattern of black smoke on the ceiling, but she didn’t see anything that looked burnt.
“Terbium is used in fluorescent lightbulbs and televisions to create yellow and orange color. It’s used in a lot of other things too, but in tiny little amounts. It’s a rare earth metal but isn’t found in pure form in nature. The thing is, there’s too much of it on this tiny scrap of fabric. This is more terbium than you would normally find in a whole room of flat screens.”
“Then why you say insulation? It is not in walls?”
He flicked a glance down at her. “Since it’s inside bulbs or screens, I would expect to smell the insulation covering the wiring—”
He paused long enough that she looked up to see his reddish-golden slitted eyes watching her calmly. But she could hear his heart beating faster and his smell had anticipation, as though he was willing her to work it out for herself. “I have never smell this metal before, even when I have dropped long bulb and it breaks. So it must only smell when hot. If wiring is burnt or hot, then bulbs break and we smell the terbium? So not just where things go, but what causes them to go we must look for?”
Again the scent of pride from his dark skin and what she realized was a rare smile. He patted her head. “Exactly. But there aren’t any burnt bulbs here and no hot wiring.”
“So where does terbium come from?” She knew little about metals, but he said rare and tiny and there was already too much for a small scrap of shirt. And far too much smoke she’d smelled. “Metal comes from stone, yes? We have only lived here a short time. Could there be such stone in house that burn?”
Bobby clapped her on the shoulder so firmly that she nearly fell over. “A good question. I think we need to find out.”
Papa came in from the garage. “You find where this snake went, Agent?”
Bobby shook his head. “Tristan is outside looking for that. I’m trying to find out why she was here at all.”
Papa nodded thoughtfully. “I have wonder this too. Anica has never hurt fly, and Bojan is gentle soul. Samit … yes. I could see him angering someone enough to attack. But not my other children. Why come here in night? Attack my children? Was she looking for me? I know no snakes, and there are no snakes in town. Except you, of course.” He paused and shook his head. His scent was troubled, chaotic, and Bobby waited until he found the words. “But I must say this, even though I do not like to say it. Please know that.” Bobby nodded, but he was frowning. “You are first snake in town since I come here, other than snake councilman and his guards. Did you come here alone? I do not see you come to town.”
Papa was asking if he brought the attacker with him? It made sense, for a snake to come with another snake, and for a man to come with a woman. But why would he do that? To Anica’s surprise, Bobby didn’t react with anger. “Thank you for your honesty. I do understand your concern, but I did come here alone.” Papa accepted his words, but his nose wasn’t as good as hers. Bobby was lying. Should I tell Papa? She didn’t know. Everyone acted like he was an important man, honest and trusted. He was smart. But evil men could be smart too. She needed to talk to someone she trusted first. But she would be keeping a close eye on him.
She turned her head as she smelled Bojan come into the house from the garage. His face lit up with a smile when he saw her and he opened his arms wide to greet her. “Anica!” She raced to him and let him envelop her in a hug. “Papa tells me you smash snake with bat?!” He laughed when she nodded. “You are mean little bear.”
That made her smile. The doctor had healed him well for him to be laughing. “You were hurt. She slithered to you, was going to bite you. It was bad enough little bear bit you. I do not want snake for a brother.”
She didn’t mean to say it loud, but Bobby heard and let out an annoyed sigh. “I understand your anger, Anica, but not all snakes are bad. There are good snakes in the world too.”
Turning her head, she didn’t leave her brother’s side. “I know you believe this, and I want to believe you too. But I have seen only two good snakes in my short time as Sazi. Ahmad and Tuli are good snakes. When they help us, after the mediation, find the cave where I was turned, they fight their own kind to protect bears. Ahmad’s anger is real for poor bear children. I could smell it myself. Never would I have believed that before I see, so it is possible, and I hope you are right that there are others.”
Bobby’s face showed a knowledge he wasn’t willing to share and his scent was muddied with too many other smells. She would need time for her head to sort them. “There are others, closer than you may think.”
CHAPTER 14
Tristan was trying hard to concentrate on what Bobby had asked him to do. The problem was, he knew who the attacker was and that was making it difficult to focus. Because the simple answer was, if he could find Lagash he would find the woman too, because she was his mate. Not only that, she was likely the reason Ahmad had sent him here. It wasn’t Lagash Ahmad had smelled when he arrived.
It was Ahmad’s own sister.
Ahmad and Tristan had both thought her dead. But then, they’d thought Lagash dead too. If Ahmad had stopped to think about it, he would have realized it himself. But the fact that he couldn’t root out Enheduanna in such a small town meant they both had incredibly clever disguises.
Tristan didn’t know the oldest of Sargon’s daughters very well. Mostly, she’d kept to the temples—she was the high priestess. But Enheduanna was a prolific and brilliant writer, of both songs and epic poems, and Tristan had read nearly everything she’d written back then.
What an odd pairing, Lagash and Enheduanna, the warrior and the poet. But the cosmos had an odd sense of humor when it came to matings.
Such as his own.
What the hell am I going to do about Anica? How could he be mated to an attack victim … one who hated snakes with completely justified passion?
He’d thought he could shield her out. They hadn’t had sex. Not really. He should be able to block the connection. It should be possible for her to remain blissfully unaware and he could move on to complete his mission and go home.
But that plan had failed miserably. Bobby had found it hilarious when he’d been awakened by the feel of his magic being sucked away to deal with Anica’s crisis. When he’d taken Bobby’s advice and dropped his shields, he’d known instantly what the crisis was and had rushed to find her father and bring him home.
I’m pretty sure Zarko knew I was l
ying about how I knew his children were in danger. But he didn’t question it. He’d just told Tristan to get in the ATV and they’d raced to get here.
“You okay?” Amber’s voice made him jump. She noticed and apologized. “Sorry. Didn’t realize you were concentrating.”
He shook his head and lowered his arms, reaching down to pick up his shirt. “That’s okay. I was concentrating on the wrong things anyway.”
Her answer was noncommittal. “Ah.” They stood there for a moment, breathing in the smoky air before she finally spoke again. “I suggest telling her.” She was serious, and there was a concern there that was surprising, considering she really didn’t like him.
It wasn’t her decision. “Noted.”
Another pause before she spoke. “So there’s another snake in town?”
“Yes, and it’s a real concern. I think I need to do some more looking around town and then talk to Ahmad before I discuss what I found with anyone else.”
The abrupt stink of annoyed cat flooded his pores on one side. “Not acceptable. Tell me and I’ll decide whether the full Council needs to know.”
He turned and looked down at the diminutive bobcat. He didn’t really worry if she was annoyed. He’d never met a Monier he couldn’t handle, including her vicious, unstable mother. “I don’t answer to you. I don’t even answer to the Council. An old friend called in a favor. I answer to him alone. But if you want to try to convince Ahmad that I should tell the Council, feel free. Or hey, Bobby’s right here. He’s a fine investigator. Let him figure it out and tell Charles. But see, there’s a problem. Finding and killing Lagash would be relatively easy. I could go through town and slaughter the whole population in the middle of the night and it would be done. One of the people here is him. A simple fire would destroy the evidence and barely raise a human eyebrow in a state covered with wildfires.” She winced when he said that, and her anger ratcheted up even more. A high-pitched growl escaped her.