Approaching Storm

by A. L. Kessler

  If there was one thing I was sure of, it was that eyewitnesses couldn't always be trusted, stress could play a factor in how they perceived things and could mess up what details they recalled. "We could try."

  "You don't sound confident," Davina said.

  "That's because something isn't sitting right with the deputy either. He hired Maverick and told us all he was human. He should have known Maverick was a shifter."

  "You think he was in on it?"

  "I think he might have been using Maverick to clean up the outskirts." I looked at Allie. "You said that the sheriff and the deputy brushed off all the deaths."

  She nodded. "Outskirts violence."

  "It's known that Hamish wants to take the sheriff job, but he can't because he can't go out in the sunlight. He basically runs the office. Maverick might have been his puppet."

  Everyone was silent for a minute. Allie cleared her throat. "So, can I go now?"

  "I don't want you sneaking around here again," Davina snapped.

  Allie nodded. "Sure thing. Let me know if you need me again, May."

  I nodded and waved to her after she ran off. I looked at Davina. "Care to have a chat now?"

  She shook her head. "No, I don't. Not while Zephyr is around."

  "I need him around until Callister is gone."

  "Then I guess we'll talk after that. Now, off my property."

  Zephyr motioned me to leave. "I just want to have a few words with her in private."

  I raised a brow. "Why?"

  "Because, she and I have a past, and I want to make sure she understands that things have changed over the centuries." He kissed my cheek. "Just give us a second?"

  I nodded and walked out. It seemed like silence surrounded me while I waited for him. My mind turned as I wondered what on earth he could be saying to her that I couldn't listen to.

  Finally, he walked out, and Davina stood in the doorway. "I'm sorry Zephyr."

  He nodded. "Yeah, thanks anyway." He grabbed my hand, but his head and shoulders slouched a little bit, and he wouldn't meet my gaze.

  I could almost feel the sorrow rolling off of him. "What's wrong?"

  He squeezed my hand. "Don't worry about it. Come on; I want to talk to Teal."

  I went to push, and he turned to put a finger to my lips. "I'm not ready to tell you, please don't ask."

  I met his gaze and nodded. "Are you okay?"

  He pulled me into a hug. "I'll be fine." I waited for some comforting words to follow, but he pulled away with that, and we started back to the soda shop.

  Whatever Davina said to him was eating at him. I wanted in, but I needed to respect his wishes and not push. Focus on the task at hand, worry about him later.

  We walked into the soda shop, and it was like he changed masks. His shoulders lifted up, and he plastered a smile on his face. "Hey Teal," he greeted the sprite and sat down at her table.

  She looked up over her computer. "What's up?"

  "How long have the wind sprites been in town?"

  An irritated look crossed her face, and I was wondering what he was getting at. "I don't know, last full moon? We had unusual winds with our typical full moon thunderstorm."

  Zephyr looked at me. "Your doing?"

  "Unintentionally, I swear. Though she's right, it was a bit more windy than normal. That wasn't my doing that I know of."

  He shook his head. "No, you've always been more of a rolling thunderstorm kind of girl." He turned back to Teal. "Who would they have negotiated with first to go through here?"

  "Maverick, but he's well, we all thought he was human. He had us all fooled. So the next should have been Hamish. Instead, they chose to go through May, because apparently she never sleeps or something." Her voice was playful.

  Honestly, I wasn't sure why they chose to go through me, but it worked. For now. I was starting to see what Zephyr was getting at. "Allie said there had been some agreement that Maverick and the other man had. Do you think that Van would have killed Maverick over breaking the agreement if it were him?"

  "No, I think Van would have just blown through here. They were angry, no doubt, remember them attacking the shop?" Teal asked and shut her computer. "I don't think for one minute that they wouldn't just forcefully rip through here."

  "I agree, I think the only reason he came back to ask permission was because Zephyr banished the sprites." I pulled up a chair to the table. "We're missing something here. There's no way it's that obvious of an answer."

  Zephyr nodded. "So let's lay out what we know. We know Allie is the witness and her testimony adds up to what Nokken showed May."

  I nodded. "We know that Allie overheard them talking about a deal, and that Hamish may be covering up for Maverick's hunting hobby."

  Teal opened her computer and tapped on a few keys. I assumed she was taking notes. "We know that the wind sprites have been in town and that they should have gone through Maverick for permission and that someone lowered the wards."

  "We know that the house belongs to Davina, that Maverick was in the outskirts, and that he killed at least five people and got away with it." Zephyr looked at me. "We know that you were one of his possible victims."

  I nodded. "He supposedly went out of town to get a love potion. We know he was a shifter that was damn good at hiding himself. He was killed with a stake in front of Davina's house and dropped on my porch after I had the date."

  Teal continued to type and then looked up. "So we have a lot of information, a couple theories, but some missing links."

  I nodded. "A lot of links missing. We need someone to slip up on something they are hiding. Maybe go see Nokken again."

  "Nokken can only show you what he's learned from other people," Teal reminded me. "So unless he's talked to someone else lately and feasted on their memories, I doubt he'll have more information."

  She had a point, and I didn't really want to see the creep again right now. "Teal, maybe you can talk to the deputy?"

  "Why me?"

  "Tell him you're writing a blog post on something and pry information out of him, you're the best at things like that."

  She rolled her eyes. "Fine, I'll try."

  Zephyr nodded. "And what about you and I?"

  "I'm going back to Maverick's house and looking around. You can come with me or stay. Up to you." I grinned and stood up. "We have a couple hours until the sun goes down too, I could peek around Hamish's house as well." I looked at Zephyr. "Assuming you can pop us in and out."

  "Didn't he already get you for breaking and entering?" Zephyr shot back, but he was already standing up.

  "No, he threatened to get me for breaking and entering. He can't prove it if I don't break anything. Just saying." I spun on my heel. "Lee, we'll be back later, thanks again for letting us crash at the house."

  She muttered a goodbye as we walked out. Zephyr followed my lead, but I noticed that he didn't take my hand like normal the moment we were out the door. I glanced back at him. "Are you really worried about me being caught breaking and entering?"

  He shook his head. "No, I'm not. I'm not sure the deputy would take you in for that. He may just shoot you for trespassing."

  "Can I die by gunshot?"

  He hesitated for a moment. "I have no idea, but let's not test that theory out, okay?"

  "Okay, deal. I'll avoid a gunshot." I nudged him.

  He let out a forced chuckle. I pressed my lips together, and we walked through the town toward Maverick's house.

  When we arrived, he held his hand out to me. "Shall we pop in for a visit?"

  I wrapped my fingers around his, and the world changed around us. It reappeared, and we were standing in the living room again. I went straight to the bedroom where we had found the weapons the first time. All the pictures were gone as were all the weapons. There weren't even dust lines around where the weapons had been. The only evidence of the pict
ures were the little holes in the walls from the pins.

  "It's all gone."

  "Maybe Hamish took the pictures for evidence." Zephyr walked up to the walls as if he could see what was there.

  "Maybe," I muttered and spun around in the room. "I hope so."

  "What happens if Hamish is involved?"

  I swallowed and thought about it. "I guess I figure out a way to deliver him to Nokken as well."

  "You're just going to let that creep kill them?" Zephyr raised a brow. "That's a bit brutal."

  I bent down to look under the bed and found it empty of everything, even dust balls. "If they all had a hand in murdering multiple people, then the only two people in this town's justice system are involved in a crime. Who would you like me to turn them over to?"

  Zephyr looked speechless for a moment and then shook his head. "Okay fine."

  "You have a problem with it?" I asked, trying to keep the grumpiness out of my voice. I didn't want to deal with him suddenly having a high horse, especially knowing that he'd wiped out a village before.

  He shook his head. "No, just, you're a bit more ruthless than I remember."

  Something in the statement hurt. I put a hand to my chest as the pain started there. "At least you remember," I snapped back and walked into a different part of the house.

  I expected him to come after me, but he stayed in that room. I walked up and down the hallway looking for anything that might seem out of place, and Zephyr finally came out to join me.

  "Look, May, I'm sorry."

  I shook my head. "Don't worry about it. We're from two different worlds and whatever happened over the last five years and before I was dumped here has turned me into this. If you can't accept that I'm more ruthless or violent or whatever it is, then maybe you should move on." I could feel the anger boiling in me. The words stung me to say more than I thought they would. In my head I could see him just disappearing, leaving me here alone to deal with this.

  I turned away from him, not wanting to see if he was actually going to leave me standing there. He grabbed my wrist and turned me back around.

  "Let's get one thing straight; I'm not leaving you. You're right, everything that's happened the last five years has turned you into you. I'm not letting you go." He pushed me against the wall and met my gaze. "I finally found you. I'm not just going to walk out."

  My breath caught, and I knew a small smile crossed my face. I pushed away from the wall and heard something click.

  I turned around to see what I had pressed. A panel popped open, and Zephyr raised a brow. "A hidden room, how original."

  I rolled my eyes and pried the door further open and walked in. "Holy shit." Bleached skulls dotted the floor, anything from human looking to wolves, to what I assumed was a lion. Boxes and packing materials were shoved in one corner.

  "These are like trophies." He bent down and picked one of the skulls up and flipped it over. "2017, sprite, stake." He handed me the skull, and I took it and looked at the label. "Depending on when in 2017 that was less than a year ago."

  "This is sick." I took pictures of some of the skulls to reference later.

  He nodded and flipped over another one. "Wolf."

  "Lee lost a wolf about three months ago. They were running in the desert. They said that a human hunter shot him." My stomach churned. I put the skull down. "How did we not know this was going on?"

  "You all assumed he was human. No one noticed his scent in a town like this because shifter scents are all over." Zephyr came to my side and looked over the collection.

  "Let's get out of here before Hamish wakes." I grabbed his hand. "I don't want to be found in a room full of skulls."

  He nodded and made sure the secret door was shut and then took us out of there. We appeared down the street. "So that proves that he was a hunter, but why did someone remove the weapons and not the collection?"

  "There were boxes and packaging around. They knew. They just weren't in a rush to get them out." I sighed. "I need to talk to Van because I have a feeling he might have pushed that stake into Maverick."

  "The sprite skull. It's a couple years old. The sprites haven't been moving through here that long, have they?"

  "I don't know. That's why I need to talk to him." I sighed.

  Zephyr nodded. "Come on, let's go look at Hamish's house and see if we can find anything to connect them. Then you can worry about Van."

  I wrapped my fingers around his, and he took us to the house, making us appear in the entryway. We both stood still for a moment, keeping contact with each other for a quick escape. No noises came from the house.

  Many of the vampires here had an empty upstairs with a basement living area so they could walk around during the daylight hours. That's what I expected when I got to Hamish's house, but it's not what we found. We walked further in and found ourselves in the kitchen. Packing boxes were stacked on the counter and floor.

  A skull stuck out of one of the boxes, and I swallowed. "Shit, I think they were partners."

  Chapter Fourteen

  There was a panic in my body that was telling me to run. Zephyr must have felt it too because his hand tightened on mine. There was something I needed to confirm before we could leave though. I went and flipped the skull over. The label on the bottom read: witch with a smeared date, in the same style as the skulls at Maverick's place. I put the skull down and shook my head.

  "So now what?" Zephyr reached out for me.

  "Now we go back to the soda shop and regroup a little bit. Maybe find a wind sprite to take a message to Van, see if we can get him and Allie to meet to confirm the voice."

  "Then how do we get him and Hamish to Nokken? That fae won't let you get away without completing that deal."

  I nodded. "I know, I'll figure it out. One step at a time."

  He took us back to the soda shop, and Teal looked up. "Hey, back already?"

  "Yeah, we found something pretty disturbing." I motioned for Lee to sit down.

  Lee came and pulled a chair up to the table. "How disturbing?"

  "Hamish and Maverick were hunting and keeping the skulls." I looked at the table. I didn't want to see the faces of my friends who had also been possible targets. "We found skulls with labels at both houses."

  The light started to fade from the shop, and I knew the sun was going down. "Somehow, we need to get Hamish out to Nokken's, because he's going to be the only creature who can take care of him."

  "You could just shoot him." Teal pointed out. "He's a vampire, destroy the heart, and he's done for good."

  "Yes, but I also gave my word to Nokken that I would bring Maverick's killer to him."

  "But he didn't kill Maverick, did he?"

  I shook my head. "No, but I have a feeling Nokken might judge the killer differently than we all thought."

  I turned to Teal. "Do you think you can get Van to meet me here in a couple hours?"

  "I will talk to one of his little minions and get him the message." I didn't miss the slightly sarcastic tone in her voice. "If it will help."

  "It will, thank you. I'm going to call Allie and have her meet us here too." I pulled my phone out and dialed the number Allie had given me. The phone rang a few times and then went to voicemail.

  My stomach sank, and I looked at Zephyr. "Call The Cave of Wonders, see if she's working."

  I nodded and tried there. "The Cave of Wonders, come relax in your own little fantasy." The male voice was smooth and sultry, making the hookah bar sound more like a sex store.

  "Hey, is Allie working tonight?"

  "She's scheduled, but not here. Is there someone else who can help you or did you want to leave a message for when she shows up?"

  "No, that's fine." I hung up. "We need to go to Allie's house. Now."

  Zephyr nodded and put a hand on my shoulder. We appeared outside of Allie's place. The lights were on, her car was in
the driveway, and both those things calmed me down a little bit.

  Zephyr and I walked up and knocked. "Allie? It's May," I called, but nothing came through the door. It didn't open magically. There was nothing to hint that anyone was awake inside.

  "Do you want to pop us in there?" I asked.

  Zephyr nodded. "Since she's not answering, sure." He took my hand and took us to the other side of the door.

  After we appeared, I could hear muffled sounds and footsteps further in the house. I pulled my gun out and held it by my side, and Zephyr stayed a step or two behind me as we moved forward. My heart pounded as I rounded the corner and found the living room. Allie was laying in the middle of the floor, her wrists chained behind her, her feet also tied up, and a gag in her mouth.

  Behind her stood Hamish with a shotgun in his hand.

  "Hello, May. I've been expecting you." He cocked the shotgun.

  Zephyr put me behind him. "Let Allie go."

  Hamish looked Zephyr up and down. "I should have killed you when I had the chance." He pointed the shotgun at Zephyr. "I don't know what you are, but you don't belong in this town."

  I went to Allie as she scooted and rolled her way to me. I undid the gag, and she screamed, "He's a fucking hunter."

  Yeah, we had gathered that already.

  Hamish swung his shotgun around, and for a moment, I wondered why as a vampire he was carrying one. Why didn't he just drain Allie's blood and be done with it? Unless he wasn't actually going to kill her.

  "Now, here's what we're going to do. You're going to kneel down, put your gun down, and Zephyr is going to put chains on you. You resist, I'm going to shoot you.

  I glanced at Zephyr, he nodded slowly, and I knelt down, putting my gun on the floor.

  Hamish kicked the gun away. "Okay Zephyr, be a good boy and chain her up."

  Zephyr dragged some chains from the coffee table and wrapped them around my wrist. I heard the click of a padlock, and my heart sank. I didn't think there was going to be an easy way out of this.

  Hamish chuckled. "Now, Zephyr, I'm going to chain you up, and we're all going to go for a little ride. I'm not sure what you and May are, but you'll fetch a nice price in the hunting ring."