by LJ Rivers
“Call Saga,” he ordered. She picked up on the second ring, and Leon briefly explained his findings to her.
“Thank you,” Saga said when he had finished his account. “This isn’t what I had hoped, I must say. It worries me a great deal. Make sure you and Camryn see Rosamund around lunchtime tomorrow. She’ll be home then and might be able to shed some light on this. At sundown, I want the two of you to speak to Ursula. It would have been better if you saw her tonight, but she’s been informed of your arrival, and I don’t think our newfound witch would have been up for the task after the day she’s had. Find out if any of the cats have caused disturbances lately. Perhaps there’s simply a rogue vampire with a grudge.”
“It felt like more than a grudge, Saga,” Leon said reluctantly. He didn’t usually speak back to her like that, but she didn’t miss a beat.
“I know, but I have to believe this attack was unsanctioned. At least until proven otherwise.”
“Understood.”
He ended the call, and his mind drifted back to Camryn. Without meaning to, he detoured past her apartment again, only realizing what he’d done as he glanced at the dark windows. He drove past and headed home. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day.
Chapter Eight
Leon showed up at half past ten. I was exhausted—more so than on any normal Sunday morning—and barely out of the shower, so he waited for me in the living room while I got dressed. My report was due yesterday, and I left Leon hanging an additional fifteen minutes as I typed and filed it. It was half-assed at best, but I didn’t want to show up late for our meeting. When I was reasonably refreshed and clothed, I stood in my room, staring at my bed.
“Leon,” I called, “should I bring my Glock or leave it here?”
“Leave it.” His reply was immediate.
I frowned, still wanting to carry it on me. Instead, I took the Glock and the ammunition I had taken from the kitchen safe earlier and put them into a padded compartment in my backpack. A couple of changes of underwear, a toothbrush, and a few other toiletries went in next. Not sure if I would be running by nightfall, I decided to pack my sneakers as well, then made my way into the living room and put the backpack on the floor next to the couch. “I hope this is OK, I wasn’t sure what to wear.”
He glanced up at me, consuming me with those syrupy eyes. “Maybe lose the suit jacket. I mean, you look fine, but we’ll be on our feet or driving around for most of the day. Comfort is more important than appearances. Plus, to be honest, you kind of look like a cop in that outfit, and the veiled world has, uhm, let’s just say, we don’t much care for them.”
“I see.” I turned on my heel and hurried back to my bedroom. I undressed quickly and opted for jeans and a white T-shirt, instead of the black suit I’d had on. It did nothing to conceal the dressing on my neck, but at least the colors matched. I was relieved I got to choose a comfortable attire, and was more relaxed when I returned to the living room. Besides, I’d rather be running in this outfit than the previous one.
“Perfect,” he said.
“I have something for every occasion. Though, surprisingly, I couldn’t find an obvious choice for meeting with veiled queens.” I smiled. My job required me to constantly change my persona, and for once I felt like myself. I guess casual was my thing. “I did consider a cape and maybe a top hat for a second, but what do I know?”
He chuckled. It was deep and mellow, heartfelt even. “There’s no dress code for veiled society, Cam. Relax. Besides the magic tricks, everyone is more or less just people.”
Emphasis on the less, I thought, but kept that one to myself. Could I ever consider vampires people? My mind conjured up the image of my attacker, sending a trail of shivers down my neck. People? Maybe. Human? Definitely not.
“Oh, and just so you know, I have a prior arrangement at five, so we’ll need to wrap it up before then.” I picked up my backpack and slung it over my shoulder.
He slanted his head, scratching at the stubble on his jaw. “We’ll have to see Ursula after nightfall, but I suppose you can take a couple of hours before we go.”
“Thanks.” I didn’t bother explaining that I might not be seeing the vampire queen at all. “Shall we?” I gestured for the door.
“I’ll fill you in on the cats on the drive.”
Once again seated next to Leon in his dark blue Volkswagen, I flexed my fingers and tried to calm my nerves. Watching Nova change last night was nothing short of mesmerizing, but we were going to see Nova’s Solis, the head of the Berlin pride of werecats. I was so not prepared.
“What’s she like?”
“Who?” Leon asked, though I suspect he was being difficult on purpose.
I resisted the urge to stick my tongue out, seeing as I was a grown-ass woman and all. “The, uh, Solis. Are they all wildcats like Nova? No big cats, like, say, jaguars?” Or Arabian leopards.
“Rosamund is—“ He sucked on his bottom lip briefly, which made the scar on his upper lip more prominent. “She’s a fair leader, and she loves her pride. Because of her devotion to the cats, though, she plays her cards very close to her chest. I’ve never seen her appear weak, even in the darkest of times. Her pride is all wildcats, though, since, apart from a few recently introduced Eurasian lynx, there are no other native felines in the wild in Germany.”
That was a relief. I wasn’t sure how I would handle coming face to face with the same kind of animal that killed my mother, even if it was part human. “So, if someone hurt any of hers?” I prompted.
He nodded gravely. “She wouldn’t let it pass. She couldn’t.” There was a long silence before he continued. “If this vampire was after Petra on Ursula’s orders, Rosamund will go to war against them. It doesn’t matter if Petra escaped unscathed or not, as not only is she part of the pride, she’s also Rosamund’s daughter.”
That brought me up short. Petra had seemed like any rebellious teenager on the verge of womanhood. She might be considered a woman at twenty, now that I thought about it, but she had always seemed younger to me. A bit brazen and impulsive, though sweet when she wanted to be. Nothing about her screamed she was anything but some rich girl who wanted to spend daddy’s money. I was probably right about the rich part, but this made her more than that. It made her royalty. Shapeshifter royalty, that was.
“She’s what, like, a princess?”
Leon chuckled again. I could get used to that sound. While he looked intimidating as all hell, his laugh was effortless and honest, and surprisingly disarming. “Actually, kind of. Rosamund has more kits in addition to Petra, but she’s her firstborn and is expected to take over the mantle at some point.”
“Kits?” I couldn’t help but snort at that. “How many?”
He tried to keep a straight face, but was clearly amused. “Let’s see. Petra was an anomaly, the only kit to be born out of that pregnancy.”
“That’s rare?” I looked at him in my peripheral vision, trying not to stare, yet I couldn’t help but notice the fine lines at the corners of his mouth when his lips quirked up.
“A werecat tends to have three in each litter, on occasion more, but almost never less than two. That said, the cats have frequent heat cycles.” He paused, taking a deep breath. “They don’t get pregnant as easily as regular cats. Rosamund has been fortunate and has had two litters after Petra, seven kits total.”
“Seven,” I breathed. “Wow.” It was hard to imagine having one child, let alone seven of them. “Do they all turn into werecats?”
“They do, but not until puberty, at which point they are homeschooled until they learn to control it.”
“Huh,” was all I managed to say.
The drive to Charlottenburg was brief, and we were already closing in on our destination. Leon opened the window and swiped a card through a machine reader by the gates, which was as far as I had gone when Petra was my client. They opened, and we drove up to the spectacular villa. It was one of those modern looking ones with lots of angles and large windows, with plent
y of greenery around the entryway. I suspected there was also a large garden at the back, due to the hedges that went around the villa on either side. To be honest, it looked more like a spa resort than a home, easily able to house far more than a family of seven children. Or kittens? Kits?
We parked and made our way to the door.
A gangly man in a beige suit opened. There was no hint of emotion on his face, and his thin lips formed a neutral line. He slid his fingers over his silver hair, which tied together at the nape of his neck, and looked at me, then up at Leon. I’m tall for a woman, and about this man’s height. Leon, on the other hand, was simply tall.
“Hey, Gustav,” Leon said conversationally. “Rosamund is expecting us.”
“Indeed.”
I stifled a grimace at Gustav’s grating voice. He could not be any more dry if he’d been a biscuit left in the oven for too long, then left to sit on the counter for a week. His gray eyes gave me a quick appraisal as he held the door open for us.
“Do step inside.”
We entered into a spacious hall with glistening white surfaces all around, and I had to squint at the bright light. There wasn’t a hairball in sight, though I spotted several feline depictions in the form of sculptures and art. The bittersweet smell of coffee made my throat itch for a taste, and I wondered where it was coming from. It smelled divine.
“This way,” Gustav said lazily. “Our Solis is waiting for you in the sunroom.”
A couple of girls of maybe six or seven years old were sitting on a winding staircase as we passed. They glanced up from the tablet they shared, and the one on the right, a girl with chubby cheeks and pigtails, gave me a shy wave. I waved back. Footsteps issued behind them as an older girl in her preteens skipped down the steps.
She was a beauty. Chocolate brown braids swished around her waist, and her chestnut-colored eyes widened with delight as she looked down at us. The white summer dress she had on made her skin practically glow, like a hot evening sun. It was a few shades darker than mine, and I wondered where she was from. I didn’t have to wonder for long.
“Papa!” She beamed, stepping past the younger girls before flinging herself off the stairs and into Leon’s arms.
“Hi, there, precious.” He held her tight, burying his nose in her hair.
My eyes rounded. Somehow, I had made myself believe that Leon was some kind of a lone wolf. Seeing him as a father came as a bit of a surprise. Not only that, but it reminded me of something I’d never had.
According to my guardian, my father had visited my mom and me occasionally during my early childhood, but had never stayed long, and I had no memories of him. Edwin became the only father figure I had known. Looking at Leon and his daughter, however, I couldn’t recall a time when Edwin had embraced me like that. My guardian had never read me stories featuring cute animals or princesses. Instead, he had taught me languages and history, always attempting to sharpen my mind. At the age of eight, I learned how to navigate using the stars when he sent me into the woods by myself. I had spent two weeks alone. While I was sure he’d had eyes on me, he never intervened. Edwin was not an affectionate man, and he never blew kisses on my scratches or wounds like I had seen other fathers do. Physical contact was limited to throwing punches at martial arts grand masters and receiving a fair few of my own. He cared for me in his own way, and his teachings have made me into the woman I am. For that, I was grateful. My gratitude still didn’t diminish the ache in my chest as I watched Leon spin his daughter around in the air.
He finally put her down and kept his hands on her shoulders, turning her to face me. He leaned forward to talk more privately in her ear, though I could hear every word. “This is Camryn. She’s going to be working with your papa for a little while.”
The girl raised her stubborn chin, and the resemblance to Leon became evident. They shared similar square features, if not the same colorings.
“I’m Noelle Nasri.” She extended her hand, and I took it in mine.
“Camryn MacKay.” The name rolled off my tongue, and I almost corrected myself. But what would be the point? Leon already knew my given name, and though I had gone by Anker for most of my life, it felt right using my real name for once. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Noelle.”
She narrowed her eyes in a curious expression, tapping her jaw with purple painted nails. “You’re different.”
“How so?”
She angled her head back at Leon. “What’s wrong with her? It feels strange. Good, but strange.”
He chortled. “Nothing is wrong with her, precious. And yeah, it feels pretty good, doesn’t it?”
I crossed my arms, getting a little annoyed. “What does?”
Gustav cleared his throat, sounding like he was cleaning his throat with sandpaper. “The Solis is waiting.”
Leon nodded, then kissed his daughter on the head. “I’ll call you later.”
“No need, papa.” Noelle smiled up at him. “Petra and the OTs have planned an evening of movies and manicures.”
He gave a slight shake of his head. “Be good.”
“I won’t do anything you wouldn’t.” She jutted her hip out, spun around, and breezed past me. “I hope I’ll see you again, Camryn. Thanks for the break.” She slipped inside one of the nearby doors, and Leon and I resumed our walk, following Gustav further down the hall. I had no idea what Noelle had meant by giving her a break, but unless I was leaving Berlin behind, I wouldn’t mind spending more time with her, maybe even crash one of these girly pampering sessions and get myself a manicure. Another thing I had never done before.
Sounds of chatter and laughter issued from some of the rooms as we moved deeper into the werecats’ den, giving the otherwise expensive-looking villa more of a homely atmosphere.
“OTs?” I whispered to Leon.
“Rosamund’s older triplets. They're a couple of years older than Noelle, and she adores them.”
We turned a corner and descended a few steps into a dining area, proceeding through an arched doorway into the sunroom. I wasn’t sure what I had expected from a sunroom, but it certainly gave credit to its name. The midday sun sent beams of light through the oval glass roof, the rays breaking into shimmering reflections in the shape of prisms all around us. A sliding door covered the length of the end of the sunroom, portraying the garden outside like some kind of painting from a fairy tale, beckoning me to step through it just to feel a part of it. The rest of the house had a comforting but cool temperature. In here, though, the sun made it seem like I had gone from an early fall breeze in Denmark to a tropical island somewhere in the Caribbean.
The lush plants scattered around the room gave off a sweet scent that somehow merged perfectly with the coffee smell. My mouth watered when I noticed the cups on the glass table ahead, arranged neatly next to a porcelain coffee pot.
“Mr. Nasri is here,” Gustav announced, in that same detached voice as earlier. I wondered what would happen if I blew on him. Would he crumble?
A woman turned her head at us from where she’d been sitting on her haunches amidst a cluster of various plants. I hadn’t noticed her while scanning the room, which unnerved me. Her loose moss-colored pants matched the surrounding greenery, and her white silk shirt blended with the bright light in the room. I tried not to stare, but the woman was stunning, reminding me of Audrey Hepburn in her elegance. Her feline features were undeniable, with slanted fern-green eyes and a petite heart-shaped mouth. Auburn tresses flowed down from underneath her white sun hat and around her shoulders, and she smiled briefly as she approached.
“Thank you, Gustav. Will you please fetch us some snacks?”
“Right away.” Gustav walked out.
“Rosamund,” Leon said. “May I introduce Camryn Anker?”
“MacKay,” I corrected, chin held high.
The Solis angled toward me, staring as though I was a curiosity she wanted to study more closely. “Miss MacKay. Good to finally meet you. Do sit.” She gestured for the earthy wicker seati
ng group. I took one of the chairs while Leon made himself comfortable on the couch, and Rosamund took the chair next to mine.
I had expected any of them to start the conversation, but they were both looking at me without a word. Was I meant to say something clever? Not likely.
“I hope Petra is OK.” It was the only thing I could think of to break the silence.
Rosamund’s lips parted outwards at the mention of her firstborn. “She is quite all right. I hope you understand now why I had to let you go.”
I thought about that for a second. “Actually, no. I thought I was doing a good job, and I can’t really see how I can be blamed for some rogue vampire.” There it was again. That word. It fell easier from my lips this time, though. Imagine that, I was coming to terms with the term.
“Petra is, well, she’s special. When she pleaded for a human bodyguard, I eventually caved. Under certain conditions, of course. But when Petra told me a vampire attacked you, I was forced to terminate the arrangement.”
I started to object, but she held up a hand.
“It’s not that I doubt your skills, Camryn, but you knew nothing of what lay beyond the veil, and I could hardly expect you to keep my daughter safe from vampires. Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be a problem, since we don’t usually go around attacking each other. You understand?”
While I wanted to tell her how great I was at my job, I could see where she was coming from. “I have to admit, this veiled world thing is daunting.”
Gustav returned with a tray filled with fruit and, to my amusement, biscuits. He put it on the table and reached for the coffee pot, topping one cup and placing it in front of Rosamund before turning to me. “Miss Anker?”
“Apparently, it’s MacKay now,” Rosamund interjected.
“Please.” I picked up one of the cups and held it out for him. He filled it halfway, proceeded to top one for Leon, and left the sunroom once more.