by C. T. Adams
“Heck, and he hasn’t even eaten the food yet. Some sort of record for ptomaine. The rest of us won’t get it for an hour or so.”
The old codger with the missing teeth let out a whoop of laughter. “Told you that coffeepot ought to be cleaned out at least once a year, Jonyye.”
“Oh, stop.” She was smiling when she said it. “You shouldn’t make fun of a man in distress. I’ll see if I’ve got some Kao in the back for him.” But I noticed she didn’t move very fast.
I stayed right in my seat because although I’d love to watch him heaving, I found it interesting that Ricky and Stuart didn’t find it interesting. They didn’t seem to mind at all that he was gone. Sort of relieved, in fact. I kept casually cutting off tiny bits of the pie, savoring each bite as Lucas shuddered in my head.
“Wonder what set him off,” Stuart finally whispered after a couple of sips of coffee, while the other men continued to hoot and holler. “Tastes fine to me.”
Ricky waved it off and muttered. “Fugettaboutit. Who knows? Who cares? The guy drives me nuts anyway. What I wanna know is how long we’re gonna be stuck in this bumfuck town? It’s been two days, and nuttin. I think someone’s yanking the Don’s chain. Giodone’s dead. Otherwise, he would have showed up at the hospital by now or at least sent word. But not even flowers. We’re chasin’ air here.”
Hospital? You know anything about someone in a hospital? I was asking Lucas, and he knew it. The little stabby pain made me wince as I bit down. The men at the table noticed me wince so I fished around in my mouth like I’d found a pit in my cherries, then peered at my fingers and wiped them on the plate. It was enough to make them ignore me again.
Just the clinic. We don’t have any agents or pack members in any hospital these guys would have access to.
Stuart shrugged. “Maybe. But Pop says stay here until the weekend, so we stay until the weekend. There was still that plane that landed at the farm this morning, and I still say that farmer was lying about someone flying in.”
Ricky raised his hand, trying to attract Jonyye’s attention to order. But she seemed to be really, really busy right then and didn’t acknowledge the wave. “I just don’t see any reason why they’d protect a guy like Giodone, and if roughing up his kid didn’t make him talk, nothing will.”
Lucas reacted violently and I could hear a low growl come out from the hallway across the room. I agreed. That just put these guys on my shit list. You don’t get to hit kids. It was a hard and fast rule of Carmine’s and one I always enforced . . . permanently.
Stuart slapped his hand out sideways and thumped Ricky’s bicep. “Keep your voice down, stupid!” he hissed. “We’re not on home turf here. That dumbass sheriff is already too damn nosy without giving him ideas of where to go look.”
My ears were really sensitive today or I wouldn’t have even noticed that Lucas had pulled out his cell phone in the bathroom. No doubt he was calling the Sampsons to check up on them.
“Think we ought to call our snitch again to find out when they’re leaving? I’d rather spend the weekend at the beach than in this heat.”
I’d very much like to listen in on that call to find out who this “snitch” was. I was just starting to think about how to track their car when Lucas came out from the bathroom hallway fast and hard, barely missing Jonyye carrying a tray of food for the family near the door. He didn’t even apologize, which wasn’t like him. As he reached the table, he pulled out his wallet and threw a pair of fifties on the table, which was waaay more than the bill would be, even with the pie. “C’mon, Joe. We have places to be. Right now.”
I wasn’t quite done with my pie, but I don’t argue when he uses that tone. He’s a lot more like Carmine than he’d like to think. I wouldn’t put it past him to just pull out a piece and start firing at anything that stepped in his way when he’s on a mission . . . including me.
Jonyye didn’t even have time to acknowledge our leaving before I was up and following him out the door.
Mustaf was still on the ground, coughing and trying to catch his breath. We were halfway to the truck when Lucas changed his mind about leaving and made a U-turn toward the snake. A golden light, tinged with blue, shot out from the aura surrounding him and caught the Sazi snake in a vise. I’d seen him do this before, but it’s always entertaining to watch . . . from the outside. Mustaf fell to his side as though paralyzed. Which he was. Then the magic tightened around him until he was curled into a fetal position with only his head free to move. Lucas, in his Josh persona, moved toward him quickly. His face wore a concerned expression that would convince everyone still staring out the window of the restaurant. But most of the diners had returned to their meals, so there wouldn’t be many people to witness whatever he was about to do to the shape-shifter. I stayed out of it. It wouldn’t look right for both of us to race over. Still, I stayed nearby in case he needed help.
Right.
Fortunately, my ears were still in overkill mode, so I would hear every word like it was being screamed next to my ear. Of course, the trouble with that is that ears aren’t terribly selective when it comes to loud noise. It’s like those “personal amplifiers” you see on television that claim you can eavesdrop on conversations a block away. Sure you can . . . right up until the moment the neighbor kid’s car with the bad muffler, or the high-end speakers, drives by. Then you won’t be hearing anything at all for a day or so.
But Lucas’s whispered conversation? No problem at all.
“Were you with the men who harmed the child on the farm, Mustaf? If you were, it’s a death sentence offense.”
The man’s facial features stilled and instead of trying to fight against Lucas’s power—always a futile effort, he froze. “You know my name. Nobody in this country knows my true name.”
Josh had one of those smiles that was filled with even white teeth that spoke of years of expensive orthodontic treatments. But Lucas’s eyes didn’t match the smile. The eyes were filled with anger and deadly intent. He crouched down next to the snake and let his eyes glow bright. “Wolven knows everything, and we’re everywhere. Remember that. The men you’re with are wanted by the human authorities. If you stay with them, and are put behind bars for crimes they committed, I don’t believe Ahmad will see fit to send a lawyer. He will visit you himself and you will never see a fair trial. Now, I will ask again. Were you with them?”
Mustaf let out a slow breath and then shook his head once, firmly. “No. They went to the house alone.” I believed him, because there was no scent of black peppers, which I’ve learned means a person is lying. “I remained behind to watch for the three-day wolf they said was to come. That’s my only purpose here. I was paid to help find the man they seek to bring him back for crimes he committed. They don’t even know how I find other Sazi. I have broken no council laws to become a bounty hunter. But if I cannot get the taste of that wretched fruit from my tongue, I will do no good for them, so I might as well leave.”
Lucas released his magical hold on Mustaf and once he’d relaxed onto the dirt, got out of his crouch and offered him a hand to his feet. His words were firm, even though the smile was still on his face. “Wolven is not so depleted that we require vigilante assistance. Tell those you work with, and for, that to capture another Sazi for delivery to anyone other than the council will have punishment meted. The Sazi these men seek is a Wolven agent now. Any crimes have been commuted by the chief justice. We will allow him to defend himself as any other Wolven agent can. Is that understood?”
The ultimatum didn’t go over well. He let out a low hiss and his fists clenched. “You have no right to make this rule, Wolven! I do no harm. I do not plan injuries to others. I do not kill or participate in torture or risk creating a new snake. I merely point out criminals others seek. This is my livelihood, to feed my many children. Only the council can make such a law, and they must be aware that it will injure myself and others. I demand to have my say before them, to defend my business.”
It was pretty
obvious Lucas didn’t like it from the low growl he let out and the scent of burning coffee that filled the parking lot. But he dipped his head once. “You will have your say at the next council meeting, two months hence. Ahmad will notify you of the location. But until then, my word is law. The charter of Wolven, enacted by the council, gives me that right. You will leave this place, and turn away any jobs until then. Am I understood?”
Mustaf leaned back his shoulders fluidly until there was a definite bowing of his spine. I’ve learned the snake-shifters do that when they’re about to strike. I stepped forward carefully and started to plan how to reach the derringer in the holster at my ankle in case I needed to dive for cover and shoot. Since he was a cobra, he might only spit. But even that’s deadly. Lucas didn’t budge. He stared him down, not even bothering to freeze him with magic, until the snake’s shoulders relaxed, fraction by fraction. But the cobra’s words were still poisoned darts and I’d bet if he could have found a way to make them cut flesh, he would have. “You . . . are . . . understood.”
Lucas turned and walked away, not even bothering to come my way, or look back at the pissed-off snake. All I could do was shake my head as I got in the truck, which was already running by the time I got there. “Gee. That went well.” I tried to keep the sarcasm out of my voice, because actually it did sort of go well.
“The problem is that he’s right. Wolven is depleted to the point where we need extra help. But we can’t let the average Sazi know that, because they’ll take advantage. All I can do is puff up my chest and pretend at this point and hope the council is going to agree with my position.”
The way he was gripping the steering wheel as he backed out made me wonder whether he was going to snap it in two by the time the ride was over.
“Need me to take over driving? You seem a little . . . stressed. I’d like to make it wherever we’re going in one piece.”
His own growl, low pitched and vicious, caught him unaware and he had to slam his mouth shut and blink a couple of times. I fingered the door latch in case I needed to dive out. No way was I a match for him if he was pissed and we both knew it.
He sighed and tried to get his emotions under control. I only knew that because there was so much scent overload in the car that I started a sneezing fit. And there wasn’t a single tissue in the truck. “Lots of things going on right now. I’m overextended and it’s starting to show. Wolven’s a mess, Boulder’s a mess, the new turn is about to leave town with an unwitting human right at the full moon, and we have a councilwoman down from unknown causes. There’s still something big happening out there and the harder I try to figure it out, the faster it slips through my fingers.”
There wasn’t a thing I could do about any of it, other than the matter at hand, so I focused on that. “I presume it’s the new turn about to leave town that’s our crisis of the moment? Or are we heading to the Sanderson farm to check out whether there are going to be any new snakes in the region?”
He shook his head. “No, I believe Mustaf. Good job on outing him, by the way. I’ve actually heard of him, but had never seen him before. Wherever you got the information is fine with me. But if you’re connecting to Ahmad’s head without him knowing, we’re going to have to find some way to stop it. He’s privy to secrets that you don’t get to have access to.”
I couldn’t help a small smile. “Afraid I’ll sell you out?”
Lucas kept a straight face, and I was pretty sure he wasn’t kidding. “It’s not beneath you. I don’t have any illusions about you, Tony. I’d love to think I could trust you, but there’s a divide between our worlds that I doubt if you’ll ever cross.” I was pretty sure I knew what he was talking about, but I let him continue anyway. “You have morals, of a sort, which is why I’m giving you a chance with Wolven. But your morals are your own, which is pretty typical of a sociopath. Sometimes they coincide with what the rest of society considers normal, sometimes they’re even stricter. But more often they’re looser, and that’s where we have a problem.”
“And it’s why you keep partnering me with agents stronger than me, magically.” The huff of air I let out wasn’t really humor. Just irony. I looked out the window at the neat houses with green lawns. I’d had a nice house with a lawn once, on a quiet cul-de-sac where I had friends and people who respected me. But then came the Sazi and everything changed. Now I was in a dumpy apartment in a strange town where I was part of a pack I didn’t really belong to. I was the lowest of the low of my kind, living with a woman that I was married to on paper, but had never actually agreed to share my life with before a man of the cloth. And I might lose her any day and could lose my life on any given assignment at the whim of my partner. I spent each day trying not to think about a whole bunch of things that it was best not to dwell on. “No doubt with orders of shoot to kill if I become too much of a pain.” I raised my brows as he glanced at me without responding. “It’s not like I hadn’t already figured it out.”
“I don’t doubt it, but it’s not like it was a secret. You have plenty of detractors among Wolven and the council, and only a few supporters. That you’re still alive says your benefits outweigh your . . . issues. I keep hoping that’ll continue.”
“Hope springs eternal.” This time I did smile and he couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
Chapter Six
“YOU WERE RIGHT to call us in, Paul.” Lucas and I were sitting on a comfortable couch across from a man who shouldn’t be out of bed. He was pale, gaunt, and it was obvious moving was a chore. “She’s one of us, all right.”
Liz Sutton-Kendall had just left the room to check up on her guest, who was missing in action in the bathroom. We hadn’t really talked to her about the Sazi yet, but we would. The size of the pearlescent pink aura around the petite brunette told me she would probably wind up an alpha, and she smelled distinctly of warm fur, rich soil, and something sweet and candy-like that I couldn’t completely place. “She’s not going to be able to travel by the end of the day. Tonight’s the first night of the moon. Anything could happen and from what Lucas has said, her kind isn’t to be taken lightly.”
Kendall sighed, and I would have thought it was from sorrow, but there was also the lighter fragrance of relief that drifted my way on the cool air from floor vents. The small smile that eased his face took a few years, or a few levels of pain, away from him. “She’s always been different . . . like her mother, and it’s sort of nice there’s a reason. I used to worry about her, getting in fights with the neighbor kids over nothing, spending all her time alone, digging holes in the yard. Why, the girl didn’t own an outfit that wasn’t caked with ground-in mud and red clay.” Now he chuckled and his scent filled with the warm cookie overtones of parental love. “She was my fishing buddy until she got too grown-up. I’d send her out to find worms for me. She always knew where they were. That’s something Margaret talked about having too—how she could find bugs and worms. She could hear them moving underground. It got worse on the moon and she used to have to put on headphones and listen to music to stop hearing them bumping around under the house. But she never did turn.”
Lucas nodded and leaned forward until his elbows were on his knees. “That happens sometimes with family members. They get some of the symptoms, but never turn. It used to be that people like them got locked up in asylums. Now we watch the hospitals for near-turns, help them cope. Sometimes we can even heal the damage to their systems so they can live normal lives.”
Paul tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair and it was like watching bones wiggle in a Halloween display. “I’m concerned about sending her to her grandpa for training, though. Margaret made it really clear that he wouldn’t welcome anyone from this branch of the family. Isn’t there anyone else who can teach Elizabeth the ways . . . any other option except to send her away?”
“Send me away where? What are you guys talking about out here so seriously? You heard me turn down the job with these guys, Dad. I’m going to accept the one back East I was offe
red last week. Heather and I are leaving tomorrow morning, just like we planned.”
It seemed a quick and easy way to get the girl to come with us—offer a job to a fresh college grad. We’d hoped that by offering more money than her other offer, she’d leap on it. No such luck. Lucas shook his head. “I’m afraid we can’t let you do that.”
I finally got a look at Elizabeth’s friend Heather, who was now hovering in the doorway trying to stay as far out of the room as possible. She was taller and thinner than the Kendall girl, and while she didn’t have an aura, there was a way she held her body—very catlike and ready to spring away, that made me wonder. I twitched a finger until she came fully into the room. “You’re a family member, aren’t you, Heather? What species? Cougar? Jaguar? You’re too tall and lithe for a bobcat.”
She went even paler than she already was, until the dark freckles on her nose stood out in sharp relief. “Not for generations. Please tell me I’m not going to turn! God, I wouldn’t know what to do.” Heather turned to her friend with tears in her eyes. “I know it’s not your fault. Truly. But I’m scared for you, Liz. You don’t know what these people are like. I didn’t want to tell you when I heard your dad talking to Wolven yesterday. I just wanted to run away and hide. But I couldn’t leave you. Not like this.”
Liz’s face was a study in amazement—probably very similar to my own when Bobby first talked to me about stuff I couldn’t grasp. “What are you talking about, Heather? What is Wolven? And who in the world brought in Chinese food just now? I didn’t even know we had a takeout restaurant in town.”