by Lily Webb
“I don’t know, but something tells me they’re playing the long game. Don’t forget, pretty much every vampire in town will live longer than us unless they find themselves on the wrong end of stake. Maybe they have some master plan they’re working toward that we’ll never know about.”
Heath shot me a concerned look. “I’m embarrassed to say that never occurred to me. Honestly, Zoe, I don’t know where I’d be without you here to balance me out.”
“Likewise,” I said and he beamed at me. “Anyway, what else did you learn while you were out there schmoozing? Anything juicy?”
“Make no mistake, each of the new representatives want something, but they all seem to know better than to ask for anything this early in the game — especially now that we’ve got a major event to plan. Lilith only knows if that will continue as they get more comfortable in their positions and the banquet gets closer.”
“Well, maybe I’d better do some digging to find out what they want. Oh, I know, I’ll start with Sam! I need to talk to him anyway, and of all the new representatives, he seems the most plugged in — for good reason. He might not tell me what the shifters are after, but I bet it wouldn’t take much work to get him to spill what he knows about the vampires.”
Heath lowered himself into the cushy chair behind his desk and passed Beau’s letter back to me. “Genius. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help with either issue.”
“Well, it’s unrelated, but there’s something else I wanted to ask you about…”
Heath raised an eyebrow. “Which is?”
“By chance, have you heard anything about my grandma?”
A frown split his face. “No, I’m sorry. But even if I had, I—”
“Couldn’t share it with me,” I interrupted. “I know, I know. I’m just worried about her. You have to understand, she and I have been together my whole life. It’s killing me not knowing where she is or if she’s okay.”
“I’m sure it isn’t much consolation, but that is the point of the protection program. If you knew where she was, it would put her in danger.”
“You’re right, and I know you are, but I can’t help worrying. It’s been two whole months and I haven’t heard a peep.”
“That’s by design. I’m sure Eleanor is doing just fine wherever she is. Remember, she’s not alone. She’s watched and taken care of at all times by the FBI.”
“Will she ever be able to come back?”
“Probably not as long as you’re Head Witch,” Heath said and reached for my hand to pat it. “But it’s best not to focus on things you can’t control. Eleanor wouldn’t want you worrying over her.”
I laughed and shook my head. “No, she’d probably slap me for it and tell me to get back to work.”
“It’s unfortunate when our family members are right, isn’t it?” Heath asked, his eyes twinkling above his mischievous smile. I didn’t miss the message.
“Thanks for the chat, Heath. I’ll see what I can get out of Sam and let you know what I hear.”
“Good luck, Zoe, not that you’ll need it. If you can charm me, you can charm anyone.”
“We’ll see about that,” I said as I stood and left to track Sam down.
Chapter Three
Sam’s new office in the town hall was less an office and more a broom closet. Unfortunately for all the new members of the Council, we didn’t have enough space to house them all, so we’d renovated rooms that used to hold utilities into shared offices.
Inside, Sam sat wedged between his desk and his partner’s. There couldn’t have been more than ten feet of space from wall-to-wall, so each time one of them moved, they crashed into the other’s chair.
Sam glanced up from his laptop at my arrival. “Oh, Zoe, good to see you. How are things?”
Jackie Newton, the other shifter who won election to the Council, pretended like she wasn’t listening but not well enough. She brushed a lock of her long brown hair behind one ear and continued scribbling whatever note she was writing.
“Great, thanks for asking. Hey, do you two have a minute to talk?”
Jackie dropped her pen to make eye contact and Sam raised his eyebrows at me. “Sure, what about?”
I weaseled into the space between them, lifted my bag off my shoulder, and sat down on the edge of Sam’s desk. “Heath and I were talking, and we want to help you newbies as much as possible. This job isn’t easy, as I’ve learned the hard way, and you’ve got a lot to learn on top of bringing your people together for the banquet later this week. How can we lighten the load?”
Sam smiled. “I think we’ll be okay, but thank you for the offer. I’m coming from running a pretty big company, remember? Organizing is what I’m best at.”
Jackie cleared her throat. “I think what Sam is trying to say is we’re grateful for the opportunity to raise the visibility of the shifter community and we’re happy to be part of the larger conversation.”
Sam nodded. “Absolutely right. Too often, we shifters get passed over in favor of more flashy paranormal species in town.”
I raised an eyebrow. “Is that a common point of view among the shifters?”
“I don’t know if I’d call it common, but we’ve heard it enough since the election to take it into consideration,” Jackie said. I’d never met her until her community nominated her for the Council, but she seemed easy-going and trustworthy, which was a rarity in politics.
“I see. While we're on the subject, what other things have come up among your constituents? We have a lot of learning to do about you, too.”
“The biggest thing we’ve heard is a desire for a part of town dedicated to us shifters, somewhere in Moon Grove where we can feel comfortable being ourselves,” Sam said.
“That’s fair. I’ll bring it up with Heath and see what I can do.” I didn’t know how realistic it was to carve out a piece of town for the shifters — Moon Grove was already pretty cut up among paranormal species — but it couldn’t hurt to ask. If nothing else, we might use it as a bargaining chip with the shifters. “Anything else?”
Sam looked to Jackie for guidance, but she shrugged. “No, I guess not,” he said.
“Okay. Moving on, could we speak alone for a minute?” I asked Sam.
“I’d be happy to, but there isn’t much room for privacy in here.”
“Oh, it’s not a problem. Just give me a second to gather my things and I’ll give you two some space. I have some errands I need to run anyway,” Jackie said as she scrambled to collect the scattered things on her desk. She shoveled them into a messenger bag in a matter of seconds and left the room with a smile on her face as she passed me.
I stood and closed the door behind her and waited a few moments to make sure we were alone.
“Is everything okay?” Sam asked, his brows furrowed.
“I think so? I hope so?” I laughed and shook my head. “Honestly, I’m not sure.”
“What’s going on?”
I didn’t know where to start, so I reached in my bag for the letter and held it out to Sam. “This came in the mail for Beau today. I don’t know what to make of it, but I can’t help being concerned.”
Sam read it quickly and chuckled when he finished. “Oh, he’s been getting a lot of these at the office lately. We just wrote it off as some obsessive super fan. I’m sure whoever it is means no harm. Pretty much every on-air reporter at Channel 666 gets a letter like this, eventually. It’s a rite of passage.”
“Wait, what? How long has this been going on?”
“Hard to say. Beau and I are like passing ships in the night at the office these days, so I haven’t stayed on top of things, but I’d say he’s been getting them for about a month.”
My heart clawed its way up my throat and lodged right in the center. It couldn’t be a coincidence that these letters started showing up around the time that Beau moved in with me. “Has this ever happened to him before?”
Sam shrugged. “Probably, but I’m not sure. You know how he is, he kee
ps things to himself, and I doubt he’d want to talk to me of all people about something like this even if it worried him.”
That was true, but it still bothered me Beau wouldn’t open up to me about it. If he couldn’t trust me with something as silly — and potentially dangerous — as an overzealous fan, then who could he tell? Then again, maybe he didn’t take it seriously because it was a common thing like Sam said… but if that were the case, then why did he react so strongly when the latest letter showed up in my mailbox?
“If it makes you feel any better, we haven’t had any incidents at the station because of something like this,” Sam said, snapping me out of my panic.
“Only slightly.”
Sam chuckled. “I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Zoe. People do crazy things for celebrities sometimes, and Beau is probably one of the most well-known people in town. If I had to guess, I’d bet it’s a young lady who wishes she were in your shoes.”
“That’s a misguided wish. Anyway, I don’t think it’s that simple. Beau got really upset when I showed him the letter this morning.”
“Really? That doesn’t seem like him.”
“Exactly! I don’t understand it. He acted like he’d seen a ghost or something. He was so flustered he cut himself while he was shaving, and he demanded I throw the letter away. He didn’t even want to open it.”
“Weird. Now that you mention it, he seemed out of sorts earlier during our meeting at the station.”
“How so?”
Sam’s face scrunched as he thought. He rubbed his chin. “It’s hard to explain, but I know the kid well enough to pick up on when something isn’t right. He’s an adult, so I didn’t pry, but he seemed scattered and jittery, like he was waiting for someone or something to jump out and get him.”
“Do you think it’s because of the transition at the station, or could it be something else?”
“Oh, he’s definitely stressed about taking over for me, but who wouldn’t be? Running any company isn’t easy, but running one as big as Channel 666 is daunting. Something else could be bothering him too though. He’s hard to read.”
As much as I tried to convince myself Beau’s nervousness meant nothing, I couldn’t get there. All the red flags were flapping in my face, so how could I ignore them? In all the time I’d known Beau, I’d never seen him scattered. He was such a steady guy that it seemed impossible to knock him off-kilter, but the sight of the letter alone had done it, which had to mean something.
“This might sound like a crazy question, but I have to ask: is there anyone at the station who isn’t particularly fond of Beau? Or anyone you can think of that might admire him a bit too much?”
Sam thought about it for a second, but eventually shook his head. “The only person I can think of is Olivia Starr, his on-air rival, but as far as I know the two of them are on good terms. Then again, I think she wanted my job more than Beau did.”
“Why’s that?”
“Good question. I never understood her motivation either. She’s made for PV, the audience loves her, and she’d be a great fit to take over for Beau on Moon Grove Tonight. It would waste her talent to stick her in an office all day.”
It occurred to me that Olivia might be intensely jealous that Sam had handed the reins of the company over to his son out of familial obligation rather than to someone who was more qualified, but it was nothing more than a hunch so I kept it to myself.
“Looks like Beau and I need to talk,” I said, though I doubted he’d be forthcoming. “If he won’t worry, someone has to do it for him so it might as well be me. Maybe I’m overreacting, but you have to admit that letter is weird, plain and simple.”
Sam read it again and shrugged. He passed it back to me and I crammed it into my bag. “I’m actually going back to the station in a few minutes to deal with some legal paperwork. Want to come with me?”
“Yeah, that would be great. He mentioned wanting to get together today anyway, but I thought I’d be too busy with Council stuff. Turns out I was wrong.” Despite all the time we’d been dating, and an offer to tour the station from Beau, I realized I’d never once set foot in the station where he worked.
“Perfect. Give me a couple minutes to finish up this p-mail I’m working on and we can head over,” he said and I nodded and left the office to pace the hall. Though both Heath and Sam seem convinced the letter was nothing more than the work of a slightly creepy fan, I had a hard time accepting it. I hoped Beau would understand my concern, even if he didn’t share it. After what I’d been through recently with Grandma Elle’s disappearance, I couldn’t afford to overlook anything suspicious when it involved my loved ones.
“Ready?” Sam asked, making me jump. I nodded and we left the town hall together, but no one seemed to notice or care — except for the gargoyles guarding the front door.
“Councilwoman, are you leaving?” one growled as we passed.
“Yeah, Mr. Duncan and I are going to the Channel 666 offices. If he asks, tell the Head Warlock we won’t be long.”
“You can’t leave unaccompanied,” the gargoyle said, annoyed, and motioned over his shoulder for another from the staff to escort us.
“Oh, come on, is that necessary?” I asked, though I knew darn well it was. The gargoyle folded its arms over its chest and glared at me. Things had settled down in the last couple of months since council members stopped spontaneously disappearing, but the gargoyles sure didn’t act like it. They watched me so closely that it often felt like I couldn’t even go to the bathroom without one of them breathing down my neck.
I threw my hands in the air. “Fine, have it your way,” I said but didn’t wait for the assigned gargoyle to catch up with Sam and me. “Do your best to ignore our security detail. I’d say you get used to it, but you don’t.”
Sam smirked. “It comes with the territory, right?”
“Something like that.”
As we walked down Crescent Street and turned left on Luna, I tried my best to ignore the sound of the gargoyle’s thunderous footsteps behind us and the skittish looks we received from passersby. Good thing we weren’t trying to be incognito.
The Channel 666 offices loomed, a skyscraper among an otherwise unimpressive skyline. From the street, I could never have counted how many floors were in the building, nor how many people, but it didn’t stop me from trying.
“You’ve never been inside, have you?” Sam asked just outside the entrance. The gargoyle guard posted itself near the door. Evidently, it wasn’t worried about anything happening to me once I got inside the building.
“No, believe it or not.” Not for the first time, I realized how out of place the station looked compared to the other buildings in town. Where most of the houses and business establishments looked like someone transplanted them from an old plantation, the Channel 666 offices looked like Lilith herself had plucked an art déco skyscraper from 1920s New York and stuck it in the middle of Moon Grove for a laugh.
The building’s frosted glass doors slid open automatically. Inside, speckled marble flooring stretched as far as my eyes could see and led to a receptionist desk made from the same material.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Sam asked.
“It’s stunning.”
Sam smiled as he took a long, slow look around the building. “It’s easy to forget how impressive it is when you spend so much time here, but the looks on first-timers’ faces never gets old. Anyhow, this way.” He led me around the receptionist’s desk, where a young female shifter smiled and waved to him. Around the corner from the desk, four different elevator doors waited. “Beau’s new office is on the top floor,” Sam said as he pressed a button to summon an elevator.
“Naturally.”
A ding filled the silence as the elevator arrived, and Sam held the door for me. He slipped an ID card into a slit above the buttons for the elevator’s whopping forty floors and pressed the one marked “40.” It illuminated and a smooth voice came over the PA: “Going up.”
“Maybe not after I ask him about the letter,” I sighed.
Sam chuckled and fell silent as the elevator rocketed upward faster than I would’ve thought possible. My ears popped as we soared and a tinge of dizziness crept up on me. Thankfully, the elevator jerked to a stop at the top floor before a full-blown case of vertigo could take over.
“After you,” Sam said, gesturing at the hall. Had it not been for the extra security to get here, and for the nervous, nerdy looking fairy with oversized glasses sitting at a small desk outside the wooden double doors, I might’ve mistaken the boss’s floor for any of the thirty-nine others below it.
“Hello, Mr. Duncan,” the fairy said as she fluttered up from her chair to stand perfectly straight like a drill sergeant had just entered the room. She pushed her smudged, dirty glasses up her nose and flashed us an overly enthusiastic, forced smile.
“Hi, Rose. This is—”
“The Head Witch,” Rose interrupted, her eyes wide. She flicked her tongue over her chapped, dry lips, revealing a set of braces on her teeth. Her four wings twitched on her back nervously, reminding me of an anxious fly rubbing its legs together.
“Please, call me Zoe.”
“Zoe, this is Beau’s assistant, Rose.”
“Nice to meet you.” Unlike the other paranormals, the shifters in Moon Grove didn’t seem to have any qualms about mingling with other species, but I still couldn’t help thinking how odd it was for Beau to have a fairy as an assistant.
Rose nodded enthusiastically, nearly knocking her glasses off her face. “Likewise, but what Mr. Duncan said isn’t technically correct. I’m actually just an intern. Anyway, what a nice surprise. Are you here to see, uh, the other Mr. Duncan?”
“We are. Is he busy?” Sam asked. Rose pulled a flake of skin off her lower lip with her teeth and looked everywhere but at Sam. “Rose?”
“S-sorry, Mr. Duncan, it’s just that, well… The other Mr. Duncan is very busy writing his script for his final broadcast tonight and he doesn’t want to be bothered.”