Rock. Hard place.
“I’ll go.” What other answer was there?
The gold in his eyes started to cool back to black. “Get up.”
I did as I was told, hating every action my body made, watching him return to his throne.
He didn’t look at me as he sat down or when he spoke. “You will need to head for Aldwych. That is where the body was found.”
I waited for more, but he sat back, giving me nothing else but a closed down man.
“Right. I’ll report back when I’m done.”
“Good luck, Son.”
* * *
G had whisked me out of the building super-quick, back into his car and back onto the streets of London.
When we turned off The Mall, I finally remembered to breathe.
“You knew he wanted me on the elf job?” I asked G.
“I did. Sorry.”
“You don’t need to say sorry, G. I’m not mad. Got no right to be. He’s…he’s him.”
Gabriel nodded. “I’ll take you straight to Aldwych.”
“Why me? Wait. I know why me—because there ain’t any other way for you lot to sort this without some drama.”
“That’s right.”
“But still.” I sighed. “I should move. Way up north, maybe abroad.”
Yeah, maybe it was my dad who was gonna break me and drive me away. Thank fuck for my savings.
“Away from the city?” G questioned.
“There’re more cities in the world.”
“But they’re not London.”
“Good!”
Traffic was pretty light, so we’d be at Aldwych in minutes.
Great.
“You can’t leave, Aki.”
I faced him. “Why not?”
“Who’ll make the best brownies ever?”
“You trying to charm my pants off, G?”
He looked a little flustered, like it’d passed over him in a brief wave—there, then quickly gone. He frowned. “What?”
“It was a joke.”
“I know.”
“But thanks for the compliment.”
“Truth.”
“How can I argue with that?”
He chuckled. “Mr. Modest strikes again.”
“Man, you give it, then snatch it right back, eh?”
“You know it, Aki.”
One more street and we’d arrive.
Great.
Chapter Twelve
There was no sign of a crime scene on the streets outside the entrance to Aldwych—a maroon-bricked building off The Strand. Above the gated doorway was the silver stag crest of the elves. Fake silver, as real silver, was illegal on account of how deadly it could be to wolves. I always thought the choice of color was two fingers up to the werewolves. Quite funny, really.
The only unusual thing was that this particular entrance to the caravans was closed, no queue like there usually was. This was one of the busiest spots in the city, with some of the fancier goods being traded in the underground market. My regular trading area was Angel, which was awesome for spices and foodstuff.
A bronze-skinned female elf waited inside the gate, a mass of purple dreadlocks sprouting from her head, her elven mark on her chin.
“Sorry, darling,” she said, “closed today. No traders. Come back tomorrow, yeah?”
“I’ve come to investigate the incident.”
She cocked her head. All supernatural creatures could detect the essence of a creature, mostly, and sometimes with a lot of effort. There were ways of hiding yourself, especially if magic was your thing. But once the trace was caught, there was no way of going back. The damage was done.
“Half a wolf?”
“Yeah.”
“You Akira?”
“I am.”
She grinned. “My mate Janet knows you.”
“Yeah, Janet. Get the best sugar from her. She good? Haven’t seen her for a few weeks. Shana said she’s been sick.”
“Flu. She’s getting over it now.”
“Good to know.”
“So, you here for the wolves?”
“Yeah. The High Alpha summoned me, wants me to help ‘cos I ain’t a dick like him and his cronies.”
She laughed at that. “Nice. What’s it like having him as a dad?”
Some people did know about me being a Murakami, but it wasn’t made a big deal of because I rejected it and kept my surname hush, hush when I could. Those who did know me stuck to not giving much of a shit. The press had come after me once, years ago, but it’d burned off pretty fast. Guess I was too boring to be newsworthy.
Phew!
Anyway, Sarah’s pregnancy was the big story flooding the news on an almost daily basis when it wasn’t about the missing banshee.
“Complicated,” I answered.
“I bet. Good for you not being caught up in that wolf web.”
I shrugged. “Like to think I’m not that much of a wanker.”
She clapped, laughing some more. “Stick it to the man, right?”
“Could say that.”
“Someone should’ve called ahead to say I was coming.”
“Let me get Xavier. He’s on duty. Wait there.” The elf disappeared.
A man came up to me. “Oh, no. It’s closed?”
“Yeah.”
He huffed. “Ridiculous.”
The elf reappeared, this time with a dark-skinned guy with tattoos all over his bald head, elf mark on his forehead, a huge bone piercing through his nose, and a chainmail dress just about covering his modesty, massive black boots to top it all off.
His lip gloss was bright blue today, with eyeshadow to match.
“Akira! How lovely to see your face! How are you, sunshine?”
Xavier was all sorts of awesome. “Yeah, good.”
The moody man tutted. “I don’t think that’s appropriate clothing for someone who’s supposed to work in customer service.”
Xavier pulled the gate open and stepped out. He was a huge man—a good seven feet and muscled to heaven. He looked down at the man. “I don’t think your mouth is appropriate, but there it is.”
The man gulped but tried to carry on with his rude crap. “Excuse me? I don’t think you should be talking to me like that—a paying customer.”
“Do you have a brain inside that marrow you call a head?”
The man’s already rosy cheeks went scarlet. “You—”
“You’re not a paying customer. You’re standing there ragging on my fierce dress, making yourself look like a man in need of a good shag.”
“You—”
“Here.” Xavier handed the man a tenner. “This might get you a blow job.”
“You—”
“No?” He retracted the money. “Fine. I know your kind. Come down into the tunnels, don’t buy anything, face like a slapped arse, likes to moan and try and assert some weird notion that the customer is always right. Well, honey pie, the customer is only correct when I say they are. Got it?”
“You—”
“And if I see your face here again, or here you diss my beautiful dress one more time, there won’t be anything left between your thighs to be blown.” He laughed. “You’d still be a miserable sod. What a predicament.”
“You—”
“Actually, this doesn’t need to be complicated.” Xavier lowered his face to be level with the cowering man who couldn’t get a word in. “Get the fuck out of here.”
The man didn’t try and say anything again. With his tail between his legs, he scurried off.
“Come and give me a big hug!” Xavier exclaimed.
I went into his big arms, and he squeezed me. “My darling, Akira. How I’ve missed you this past month.”
“Missed you too,” I said into his rib cage.
Ending the hug, he cupped my face in his hands. “Still as handsome as ever.”
“Cheers.” I didn’t blush. Xavier was sweet, not embarrassing—and awesome at shutting down arseholes.
&n
bsp; “So, I received a call from one of your father’s people.”
“Yep.”
“Come inside, sunshine.”
I stepped into the entrance, the female elf slamming the gate closed. “I’m Melody, by the way,” she said.
“Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
Either side of me were the teal drapes of silk billowing in the breeze, covering the stairwells leading down into the tunnels.
Xavier put his arm around me. “I told the man on the phone I would gladly allow you to come and inspect the body.”
“Thanks,” I replied. “They really want it back.”
“I know. You’re a little conduit of peace.”
“Never heard that one before.”
“I think it’s cute.”
“Kind of is.”
He patted my head. “We’ll have the body taken to the Green Park trading point. We’ll help you with the transfer. Wouldn’t expect you to drag it anywhere.” He giggled. “As long as you’re present and the wolves stay over the line, then all will be fine. Ooo! That rhymed!”
I laughed.
“Come on, let’s get you down to the crime scene.” He sighed. “Darn thing ruined my morning.”
* * *
The elven caravans moved around the skytube’s former underground tunnels along purposely built roads, clustering in places along the tunnels to form markets on the platforms, or deeper inside the tunnels where trading spaces had been formed by widening the space up.
Xavier led me down the spiral staircase deep into the ground. There were lifts, but they were mostly used to move goods up and down rather than as passenger convenience.
The Aldwych platform had a handful of elves on it, and two caravans waiting on the road. One of the wooden caravans, or vardo as they were known, was immaculately painted in green and red, while the other was covered in colorful graffiti. Both were closed up, their innards hidden from view.
I knew two of the elf guys hanging around, and slapped hands with them, but didn’t know the other geezer who was standing with a woman on the opposite side, both of them silent and watching me.
There was something about him—
“This is the caravan,” Xavier said, directing me to the graffiti one.
I stepped off the platform and onto the footboard as Xavier peeled open the small door.
It was warm inside, and the elf trader sold jewelry and beer by the looks of it, the caravan split into two halves—two separate businesses in one. The stones in the rings and bracelets were from Elvenrie, a small realm on the other side of the veil. Elf stones didn’t have a high market value, but they were pretty.
Didn’t matter about any of that, though, because there were blood spatters all over the place and only one real star of the show.
Mostly in the half with the beer bottles lined up on shelves with brightly colored labels, was the body of the murdered werewolf. His eyes were open wide, staring, his throat cut along with his wrists.
He was lying in a symbol of a crudely drawn circle with a strange marking inside it, apparently made using his blood. I couldn’t feel any energy coming off it, though.
The corpse was Derek. He was the same age as me, a werewolf soldier. Not one of the ten uber peeps. He’d always been one of my…
Bullies.
That was an understatement.
I crouched down, inspecting the ashen bloke, his dead eyes, taking in the dried blood at his mouth.
Derek. Dead.
I felt nothing.
“We have conducted our own investigation,” Xavier said from behind me. “We haven’t found a trace of anything other than elf and wolf—which is self-evident given he’s a wolf, and we’re in an elven caravan.”
“No sign of any weapon?” I wasn’t a PI or a cop, and defo not SCU material. But I went for the basic questions that popped into my head.
“No. We’ll have to do a trace sweep when we allow investigators in.”
They were the only race that could get away with dictating the rules—to a degree.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
“Then, we’ll pass them on.”
The one question I had at the top of the pile was one I wasn’t about to ask: Could the murderer be an elf?
Yeah, my mouth stayed zipped. Once the body was handed back to the wolves, though, they’d probably be able to tell. If there was foul play on behalf of the elves, then they’d be making things a lot more difficult than they were. Plus, this was too convenient, as if the location was supposed to shit stir.
I stood up. “Well, it’s in line with the other two killings. That’s all we have to go on.”
Xavier stroked his chin. “Yes. Shall we—”
The man and woman who’d been standing silent on the platform entered the caravan. She was dark-skinned, with gorgeous crimson hair, and wide silver eyes, dressed in purple tie-dye shorts and a crop top, with a pair of bright pink trainers on her feet. Her elven mark was on her left cheek.
The guy was taller than her, olive-skinned, wavy raven-black hair falling to his shoulders, with Asian features. He wore torn blue jeans and a white T-shirt with a yellow rose on the front.
His eyes weren’t the silver of the elves. Well, one was, with the other brown. His elven mark was smaller than regular marks, sitting just under his silver eye.
Bob and Rose stirred, my whole werewolf half reacting to him in a warm, yet strange way.
What the hell?
I stared at him, my eyes narrowing as if I was really giving him some full-on scrutiny.
Elf…
Wolf…
Elf…
Half…
Elf…
Oh, my God! He was wolf and elf rolled into one.
“Shit,” I said. “You’re—”
The guy moved his hands in sign language. I didn’t know it, but the woman next to him was nodding as he directed it at her.
“This is my caravan,” the woman said. There was no wolf in her, only elf.
The man moved his hands again.
“I’m Zach,” the woman said. “And I’m Phi, Zach’s girlfriend. I’ll translate for you.”
“Zach and Phi haven’t been here in two years,” Xavier added.
“Hi again,” Phi said to Xavier.
“Lovely to have you back,” the big guy replied.
“Nice to meet you both,” I replied, not taking my eyes of Zach. He gave me the same intense stare right back.
Half-elf, half-wolf? Why was my wolf side pushing toward him? Bob and Rose liked him near. What the hell was going on? It wasn’t the mate bond, was it? Oh, shite bags! No! Everyone knew the bond suddenly attached when the time was right. But I didn’t know this guy, and he had a girlfriend! Anyway, I wasn’t feeling anything like that, but there was a connection brewing. No denying it.
Was it the half nature? Kindred spirits?
“Did you see anything?” I asked.
Phi signed to Zach. He shook his head.
“We parked up last night,” Phi answered, “and checked into a hotel nearby. It was our three-year anniversary yesterday, so we wanted to have a special evening together. That soon went down the drain when we found the body. Do you have any idea who’s doing this? What is the circle thing about?”
“The alibi checked out,” Xavier said, “so this cute pair aren’t suspects at all.”
The staring between me and Zach continued on.
Zach signed.
Phi spoke for him, “You’re half and half like me. But what’s the other side? I can’t tell. It’s like it’s buried down in the dark, not quite formed.”
“Whoa. Well, no one’s ever said that to me before. How did you do that?”
What the hell had he felt? A different part of me? Had I just crossed paths with a bloke who could unlock all the secrets of my heritage? Maybe it was just a human half, blurred by my wolfy genes. But then, I don’t think my dad would’ve been all cagey if that were the case.
Phi signed
, Zach gave his reply through her. “Something strange is going on.”
I knew he wasn’t talking about the murder. “Yeah, there is.” He’d felt that pull between us, along with the mystery side of me. It was gone, but the aftereffects had the tips of my fingers tingling.
Man, did I hate being kept in the dark!
“So,” Xavier cut in, “before we delve deeper into the strangeness of everything, shall we start thinking about getting this body out of here and try to get back to some level of normality? I know our investigators want one more look.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Bring your people in, and I’ll call the High Alpha’s peeps to let them know what’s going on.”
“Good. In the meantime, you’ll have to wait on the platform. As I said, you have to be a presence throughout this process, or we will not do the hand over.” He put a hand on my shoulder. “My little conduit of peace.”
* * *
It was kinda stupid that to make all this go smoothly, all I had to really do was be here. But if that’s what it took, fine. I was all for some peace.
My scalp prickled as I sat with Zach and Phi on a bench, thinking about the way my dad had shoved me to the ground.
Bastard!
Colin…
Okay, I needed to get out of my head. “Xavier said it’d been a while since you traded down here. How come?”
Phi answered, sitting between me and Zach. “I got sick, and Zach looked after me.” She took his hand in hers. He lifted it to his lips, placing a kiss on her knuckles. “I wouldn’t have survived without him. Anyway, I’m back to normal now, so we can return to making a profit again. Been a tough time, but there’s hope again.”
“That’s cool.”
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“What do you do apart from being caught between the wolves and the elves?”
“This and that. Try to just live my life. Do private work.”
She nodded, signing every word I said back to Zach.
Our eyes kept meeting, but not in an epic romance way. That sensation of connection had proper gone.
“Do you still feel it?” I asked him.
“No,” he signed. “You?”
“No. I don’t get it.”
“Me, either.”
Four Moons: The Complete Collection: (Books 1 - 4) Page 11