Angel brightened. “Thanks, but I just threw together a jar of sauce with the pasta.”
“Don’t let her kid you,” I said. “She added herbs, specialty cheeses, and a smidge of her cooking magic to make this. Angel’s incredible in the kitchen.”
“That we can attest to,” Yutani said, raising his glass. “Here’s to a successful venture.”
Even as we clinked out glasses together, I couldn’t help but dwell on the fact that we were going in blind. We had no real idea of what to expect, or of how the killer would retaliate, if they figured out what we were doing. But I raised my glass, joining the toast, hoping that we’d find a little good luck on our side.
Everyone had left except Herne. Angel was in her room, folding clothes. Herne sat on my bed with Mr. Rumblebutt snuggled against him. He absently stroked his fur, and Mr. Rumblebutt was purring loud enough to wake the dead.
“So, my mother said you were taken aback by what she asked you to do. And before you ask, she didn’t tell me what that was.” He lay across the bed on his side as I took off my makeup and brushed out my hair.
“Yeah,” I said, setting down my brush and turning around. “It seems that my Leannan Sidhe blood is getting…bottlenecked. I need to use those powers more frequently, and she suggested that I let them out when we’re…when you and I are…” I blushed, suddenly feeling awkward, given Morgana was his mother and had been talking about our sex life.
“In bed?” Herne said.
I nodded. “Yeah, and I’m kind of freaking out about it. I know I can’t hurt you—that’s not the problem. But what if you like me better that way?”
“I love you no matter what. But say I do enjoy it. What would be the problem? It’s not like you’re a different person. You’re just going to explore another side of your nature. It’s not like you’ve got multiple personalities.” He sat up, crossing his legs. “I love you, Ember. I love all of you. I love you when you’re gentle, and I love you when you’re a spitfire—both in bed and out. No matter what, I’m going to enjoy making love to you, regardless of whether you’re climbing all over me, or whether you’re curled in the nook of my arm.”
I licked my lips. “Logically I know that, but—oh, I don’t know why this is so hard for me!”
“I think I do,” Herne said. “I think you’re afraid that you’ll like that part of yourself, and the chaos frightens you. I think you’re afraid you’ll become less compassionate. But that can’t happen. Ember, you have so many facets to your personality. You’re brave and loyal, and sometimes you’re hot-headed and careless. You’re loving and true to your friends. You’re determined, and when someone throws down the gauntlet, you’re willing to charge ahead. The Leannan Sidhe blood…it’s already in play. You just haven’t fully unleashed your abilities except for the times when they’ve spontaneously risen to protect you. Why not see what you can do with them for your pleasure as well as your protection? You might find you like that side of yourself more than you think.”
He stretched out on the bed, spreading out his arms. I slowly stood, sliding out of my jeans and moving toward the bed. I had almost reached the edge when both Herne’s phone and mine rang simultaneously. I was about to ignore it, but something inside said, No, answer it. I turned to the nightstand.
Herne was faster. He was staring at his phone, his eyes dark. “Crap. Come on, get dressed. Viktor needs us.”
I grabbed my phone and brought up the group text message. Viktor had sent it to everyone. It read: sheila’s been attacked. she’s in the hospital. can you come?
“I’ll get dressed. You grab Angel and text him for directions.”
All thoughts of sex out the window, I slid my jeans and bra back on, then a clean tank top. I pulled my hair back in a ponytail and shoved my feet in my boots. Within ten minutes, the three of us were heading to the hospital, praying that Sheila—Viktor’s girlfriend—was all right.
Chapter Eleven
Herne drove, with me riding shotgun and Angel right behind me. We reached the hospital in ten minutes. He dropped Angel and me at the door while he went to find a parking space. As we rushed into the ER, we saw Viktor pacing the waiting room. He had a frantic look on his face and I could see that he had been crying.
“Viktor, what happened?” I hurried over to him, Angel following.
He gave me a frantic look. “I just want to know how she is. They won’t tell me anything.”
“Let me see what I can find out,” Angel said, striding toward the admittance desk.
I led Viktor over to one of the sofas. “Come on, sit down. Herne will be here in a moment.”
He nodded, rubbing his head. “I’ve never been so worried in my life. What will I do if something happens to her? I love her, Ember. I was going to propose to her on Beltane. What if—”
“No. No what-ifs. Put all those thoughts on hold till the doctor can talk to us.” I glanced up to see Herne striding down the hallway. At that moment, Talia texted me.
i’m on my way. i stopped to pick up yutani.
“Talia’s on her way with Yutani. They’ll be here soon.” I patted his arm as Herne hurried over to Viktor’s other side.
“Hey, man, what happened? Where’s Angel?” Herne asked, frowning as he looked around.
“She went to find out if the doctor can tell us anything.” I tapped Viktor’s arm again. “Hey, big guy, tell us what went down.”
Viktor wiped his eyes on his sleeve. “I was supposed to pick her up after she was done for the day. She took today off and was spending it at the library, and she had a book club meeting tonight. I was late getting there, and as I drove up, I saw the ambulance and cops. I had a feeling… I just knew, you know? You know when your gut just screams that something’s wrong?”
“Yes, we know. What happened?”
“Sheila was waiting at the bus stop. I guess she thought I forgot to pick her up, and I had forgotten to text her that I was going to be late. While she was waiting, some doped-up streep pushed her against the wall and demanded her purse. There were witnesses but they weren’t doing anything to stop him, because he had a knife and people are fucking afraid to get involved. She gave him the purse, but I guess she wasn’t fast enough because he went nuts and slashed her throat. She collapsed, and the fucking SOB went full psycho on her, kicking her in her ribs and hips. Nobody even tried to stop him. There were five people at that stop and not one fucking person tried to intervene.”
I wanted to say they were probably scared, but right now it wasn’t a good time to take anybody else’s side. “Did the cops catch him?”
Viktor shook his head. “No, but some woman got a picture of him on her phone, and she called 911 after the guy staggered off. She’s in surgery now. She bled so much. There was blood everywhere, and she was lying so still.” He paled, shaking. “What if she dies? I was supposed to be there. If I had been on time, she wouldn’t be lying on a hospital bed now.”
“Take it easy,” Herne said. “This isn’t your fault. There are always a dozen if-onlys for every trauma in life. You weren’t the junkie who cut her.”
Angel returned at that moment. “The doctor will be out in a while to talk to us. Meanwhile, does Sheila have any family in the area? They want to contact them.”
Viktor closed his eyes. “Oh my gods, is it that bad? Yes, she has a sister who lives in Port Angeles, and her mother lives over on Bainbridge Island. I have Sheila’s phone with me. I’ll call them.” He headed over to the desk, his shoulders slumped.
I let out a sigh. “Did the nurse say anything else?”
Angel shook her head. “No, though he asked me if Sheila was religious, just in case. I told them she’s pagan so they’re bringing in a priestess.” She paused, then added, “I think it’s bad. What are we going to do for him if—”
“No,” Herne said. “I won’t let Viktor go there, and we aren’t going there either unless and until it happens. He needs us to be strong.”
“You guys, he told me he was going to pr
opose to her on Beltane, so…” I shrugged. “Look, Talia and Yutani are here.” I nodded toward the door, where they were walking down the hallway toward us. Talia saw me and they headed over to where we were standing.
“What happened?” Yutani asked.
“A streep attacked Sheila. He robbed her, got freaked, and slashed her throat.” I motioned to Viktor, who was still on the phone. “He’s talking to her family now. We don’t know how she’s doing yet.”
At that moment, a couple of cops walked in, one of them Erica, a friend of Viktor’s and one of our best contacts. She zeroed in on us immediately.
“Viktor around? Oh, I see him.” She glanced at the desk. “Any news?”
I shook my head. “Not yet. Viktor’s talking to her family. Did you catch the guy?”
Erica shook her head. “No, but we know who he is. We got a good description from the bystanders, and one of them recognized him. I have a picture I want to show Sheila when she’s able to be questioned.”
“Her throat was cut. The doctor has yet to let us know how she’s doing,” Herne said.
“I know her throat was cut. I was there. I was one of the cops on the job. I’m the one who called Viktor. But the sooner we positively ID this guy, the sooner we can pick him up. We don’t want to go after him now, because he’s a lot more than just a streep.”
“Oh?” Angel asked.
Erica sighed, brushing a strand of long blond hair out of her face. She was Dark Fae, but unlike most of her comrades on the force, she never turned up her nose at me. “His name is Falcon Smith, and he hangs around the streeps for a good reason, which is why people think he’s one of them. In actuality, he’s a crackalaine dealer. Sometimes, in between shipments, he’s been known to get fucked up and go on robbery sprees. We’ve busted him a number of times, but he’s got a sharp lawyer and he always gets off. I think he may be the front for a bigger operation run by vamps. And—”
“They own the financial district and can pay off just about anybody,” Herne said, sighing. “Please do not tell Viktor or he’s likely to hunt down Falcon and kill him. Wait until we know for sure?”
Erica nodded. “I feel bad keeping things from the big guy, but I agree.” She stopped abruptly as Viktor finished talking on the phone and returned to the waiting area.
“Erica! Tell me you caught the guy?”
She shook her head. “Not yet, but we have some leads. I dropped in to check on Sheila’s condition.”
“We don’t—” Viktor paused as a doctor in a white coat approached us. A tall black woman, she was carrying a chart and had a weary look on her face.
“I’m Dr. Fuhrman. Are you waiting for news about Sheila Masters?” the doctor asked.
“I’m her boyfriend,” Viktor said. “How is she? Will she be all right?”
The doctor said nothing but opened the chart. “Have you notified her family?”
“Yes, her mother’s on the way. Her father died last year.” Viktor’s voice was trembling. “Please tell me how she is, doctor.”
“Well, she sustained a lot of damage to her throat. The knife clipped her vocal cords and I’m not sure how much trouble she’ll have speaking when they heal up. But she’s in stable condition. We managed to get enough blood back in her so she’s not in danger any longer. She lost a lot of blood. The assailant also stabbed her shoulder. I ended up giving her seventy-three stitches on her throat and neck, and twenty stitches on her arm. The beating left her with two broken ribs and a bruised hip, but luckily, the ribs didn’t puncture a lung. She’s groggy, but if you’d like to see her, I can let you talk to her for a few minutes. She won’t be able to speak, and I don’t want her upset, or trying to speak, do you understand?” Dr. Fuhrman gave Viktor a stern look.
“I understand. Thank you, thank you for saving her life.”
“Dr. Fuhrman? I need to see her too. I have a couple questions, but she can answer yes or no with her hand. I just need her to identify a picture.” Erica held up her hand as Viktor started to speak. “Don’t even ask. Right now, you can help me best by keeping clear of the investigation.”
“Who the hell…you have more than just a lead, don’t you?” Viktor glared at Erica.
“Yes we do, but the last thing I need is for you to go running off after someone we think may be guilty. We don’t know for sure and I don’t want you mucking up the investigation, do you understand? There are…obstacles…in this case, and we need to handle it carefully.” Erica turned back to the doctor. “Perhaps it’s best if I see her first and then I’ll be on my way. I promise you, I’ll try not to agitate her.”
Viktor sputtered but the doctor, taking one look at him, agreed and escorted Erica back through the double doors leading to the ER rooms. Herne clapped Viktor on the shoulder and forcibly led him back to the sofa. Talia joined them. She could usually calm Viktor down when he was angry. Angel wandered over to the vending machines, searching through her pockets for change. Yutani and I stayed where we were. I rubbed my forehead.
“The big lug. He needs to understand there are some things he can’t solve by running full tilt into the fray.” Viktor was fairly level headed, but in matters of the heart, all bets were off.
“I agree, but that’s not likely to happen. Erica should have waited until he went back to see Sheila before talking to the doctor. Meanwhile, this means we’ll be forced to babysit him because he’s not going to take this lying down. At least he doesn’t know who Erica’s looking for. Any dealer backed by the vamps is going to have an extensive operation. However, given the fact that this Falcon has moved on to slashing throats in his spare time, the vamps may very well consider him a liability.” Yutani pulled out his tablet and began tapping away.
“What are you looking up?”
“Precursory info on Falcon Smith. I have a feeling if I go into the Dark Web I’ll have better luck, though.” Yutani had, a few months ago, stumbled onto a way to get into the Dark Web without being traced. He was always cautious—the Dark Web was a dangerous place in which to roam, but there was so much useful information there that he had worked on building a silent pathway into the underbelly of the internet.
“When you get a chance, do it. The moment Viktor finds out, if the cops haven’t caught Falcon by then, he’s going to go on a rampage.” I glanced over at Viktor, who was quietly listening to Herne and Talia.
“Yeah, and that’s one explosion we’re not going to be able to rein in.”
With that, we returned to the others.
By the time Herne dropped us off at our house, it was three in the morning. I leaned against the driver’s side window. “Sure you don’t want to come in?”
He shook his head. “You need sleep, love. Tomorrow night you’re headed down to Fire & Fang. And as much as I don’t like the thought of it, I want you well rested and alert. We’ll pick up where we left off soon enough.” He leaned out the window and kissed me. “And quit worrying. I love you. All of you.”
I nodded, brushing his hair out of his face. “I can’t believe how lucky I am.” I paused, then added, “We need to watch Viktor. If he finds out that Falcon Smith attacked Sheila, he’s going to go ballistic and hunt the creep down. If the cops don’t find Falcon soon, we might have to intervene. Given the guy’s connection with the vamps, it could go very bad, very quickly. Yutani’s doing some sleuthing on the Dark Web. The more we know about Smith, the better. If we can hand him over to the cops, then Viktor won’t have a reason to go after him. At least not until he gets out of jail.”
“True that. All right, I’ll do some snooping around too. You guys swinging by the office before you go to Fire & Fang? If so, I’ll come in. Otherwise, I thought I’d tackle another problem—a more personal one—that my father dumped in my lap.”
“No, I think we’re actually going to drop in on Charlie to ask if he has any advice for us. Though honestly, as newly turned as Charlie is, I have the feeling that Yutani knows more about the vamps than our clerk.”
“Just cal
l me before you head into the Catacombs, please. Or maybe I’ll drop over to talk to you before then, if I get the chance.” With that, Herne kissed me again and then eased out of the driveway, back onto the road. As I watched him go, I felt suddenly lonely. I loved my own space, I liked having my own house, but the longer Herne and I were together, the harder it was getting to be apart for any length of time.
Overhead, a sudden gust of warm wind came barreling by, and I caught sight of an owl sitting in one of our trees. It stared down at me, then suddenly went gliding off the limb, sailing down to the front yard. I heard one shrill squeak, and the owl pulled up again, a mouse dangling in its feet. As the owl sailed back to its perch, I had a sudden feeling of dread and hurried inside, wanting to be away from the dark with its prying eyes.
Next morning, Angel and I dragged ourselves out of bed at nine and spent a couple of hours on our weekly chores. We divided them up, and every Saturday morning, we set to, usually before breakfast, and cleaned our way through the house. Then Angel would make brunch, we’d eat, and I’d clean up the dishes.
But first, coffee. I fired up the espresso machine while she fixed herself a cup of English breakfast tea, two bags strong. I pulled four shots and added milk, caramel, and ice to make an iced caramel latte. We sat down at the table with our to-do list, still tired from the night before.
“I should call Viktor and ask how Sheila’s doing,” I said, stifling a yawn.
“Text him instead. If he’s still sleeping, which I would think he is, you don’t want to wake him.” Angel sipped her tea and glanced over the list. “Okay, this week, I have the floors, dusting, and straightening up, while you have bathrooms and laundry. We both clean the kitchen.”
“Ugh. I hate doing bathrooms. But at least it doesn’t take too long. I’m grateful neither one of us is a slob, though.” I chugged down half my latte. “I guess we’d better get a move on.”
She finished her tea and pushed back her chair. “All right. Let’s get going.”
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