by Mac Flynn
I jumped to my feet to his left dressed in the mannequin's ancient garb and grinned at him. "Sorry, doll face, but you've got the wrong dummy."
I swung a hard right that connected with the side of his face. He was sent sprawling into the furniture and his back landed on one of the shrink couches. His head lolled back and he slumped over the cushions.
I slipped back into my slightly mussed red dress and covered the guard with the old garb. "Next time take a second sniff," I advised him.
I didn't waste too much time on quips. The guards would soon learn one of their own was missing and go searching for him. I climbed down the stairs he'd kindly left for me and found myself in a long hallway that ran the length of the building. Doors lined either side of the long, carpeted passage. This was the third floor, and according to the floor plan Quinn gave me my objective was on the first.
I closed the attic entrance, put my heels back on and hurried down the hall. The stairs were at the other end. My pace was just short of a sprint as I hurried to them, but even that didn't give me enough time. I heard voices and the sounds of several footsteps. I froze and looked around. No place to hide but the rooms, and I didn't feel like trapping myself in one of them.
So I decided to play it bold.
I rushed down the remainder of the hallway and met a pair of guards at the top of the stairs. They stopped and the lead one held up his hand.
"Stop!" he ordered me.
"Please help me!" I yelled. I stumbled into his outstretched arm and clung onto it. "Something's wrong! I saw a man go up there-" I pointed at the closed hatch, "-and I heard a noise, and the hatch closed and please help him!"
The guards looked at each other and nodded. They rushed past me towards the hatch. I grinned and waved at them as I walked backwards down the stairs.
"Thanks for the help," I whispered as I made my getaway down the stairs.
Those were two lucky breaks, but I could still strike out on the third. The stairs ran down to the first floor. I passed the landing for the second and made it to the ground floor and the mess of people who came for the party and stayed for the alcohol.
The ground floor of the castle-house was split down the middle by the stairs and the hallway that ran from its foot. At the front half to my right was the constant flow of people through the dining room near the stairs or the ballroom at the opposite front end of the house. The entrance hall took up the rest of the space in front. All of these rooms were open into the stairs hallway through wide, open doorways.
At the far end of the back was the study with a connected two-floor library. Closest to the stairs and to me were the kitchen and two bathrooms the size of my apartment. That completed the elegant castle's main floor except for a patio out back that was accessed by two pairs of French doors past the bathrooms.
The people were grouped into their familiar circles of friends, family and admirers, or they roamed the large dining hall and ballroom with an escort attached to their arm. I slowed my run to a walk and slapped on my brightest smile to blend in with the intoxicated crowd of silver-spoons and rich-nouveau.
I hated to admit it, but Quinn was right. My dress fit in and a slid through the crowd like a ghost. That didn't mean I was problem-free. I had a bunch of problems that equaled the number of guests and guards. My sensitive nose told me all these people dressed in jewels and expensive footwear weren't just filthy rich. They were all werewolves. I could smell a hint of hair on all of them, and it didn't come from the real and fake fur they wore. Whoever this Night guy was, he'd invited all the wealthy werewolves to howling good party.
I kept my calm and focused on my job. The plans for the house had pointed to a short hall that separated the lower floor of the library from the study. That was the only way into the study other than climbing in through a window or going through the upper balconies of the two-floor library. I spotted a pair of thick wood doors that led to the hall, and quickened my steps.
A hand reached out and grabbed my arm. I instinctively twisted in their grasp, but they were a lot stronger than me.
"Let go of-" I spun around to find myself staring into the troubled face of Shadow. He wore a black suit that showed off his dark, unhappy eyes.
Shadow glanced around us and pulled me close to him. "What are you doing here?" he hissed.
I yanked my arm, but he held me tight. "None of your business, so back off," I shot back.
"You are my business."
"Then I'm foreclosing on you," I quipped.
"Thomas! Thomas, there you are!" a female called to him. I looked over my shoulder and saw a woman with a dead animal slung across her shoulders walking towards us. She sported a fancy dress and heels that were sharp enough to be deadly weapons.
"Thomas?" I asked him.
The woman reached us and scowled at me. "Thomas, who is this?" she asked him. She leaned towards me and sniffed me. "She has your family's scent."
"She's a new addition to the family. A part of Night's harem," he explained.
It was at that moment that I saw movement behind Shadow. A half dozen guards rushed down the stairs and looked over the crowd. I shrank between Shadow and the annoying woman.
"Oh? When did she join?" she questioned him.
"Not now, Gloria. Maybe another time," Shadow pleaded.
Shadow pushed past her and yanked me through the doors that led into the hall towards the study. The door to the study was on my right, and the library door lay on the left. A window at the far end showed the long patio. Shadow pressed me against the wall of the study and placed his hands on both sides of my head.
"Now tell me what you're doing here," he demanded.
I tried to slip out from under one of his arms, but he lowered it and blocked my way. "How about you tell me what that bullshit about being party of the harem was? You think I'm some sort of a sex toy now, is that it?"
"No, that is not it, but you shouldn't be here. There's no place less safe for you than here," he insisted.
"If you're not going to explain what you said then why don't you leave me the hell alone?" I growled.
He pushed his face into mine so our noses almost touched. "Because like it or not you are my responsibility, and I-" I slammed my forehead into his.
Shadow stumbled back and clutched his forehead. I rushed to the study door and slipped into. My eyes swept over the joint. There was the usual fancy oak desk in the far left corner in front of some tall windows, and a bunch of bookshelves on either side of me and on the wall behind me. A balcony lay overhead with more bookshelves and a door that led into the library. In front of me and to the right was a wooden cabinet, and to the right of that was the spiral staircase that led up to the balcony.
I glimpsed a glass case on one of the shelves to the left of the desk and rushed over. A glass vial with a dark red liquid inside was set on a pedestal. The top was plugged by a cork. I didn't have time to show off my claw glass-cutting technique, so I slammed my fist into the glass and snatched the vial from its case. My ears picked up on a whining noise that told me an alarm had gone off.
Shadow rushed into the room and spotted me by the desk. He hurried over, but I put the desk between us.
"What are you doing?" he hissed.
"Trying to get out of here if you'd just stay out of my way," I snapped.
My opening for a quick escape closed when the study door opened and in stepped the group of guards. Shadow spun around, and they pointed their guns at both of us. The guards parted and revealed the annoying Gloria with a man who I recognized from Quinn's photos as Night. The pair stepped into the room, and Night studied me and shook his head.
"You're right. I don't recognize this one," he told Gloria.
She beamed with pride and gave a nod. "I didn't believe I'd seen her among your harem," she commented.
"Thank you for bringing this to my attention," Night praised her. "Now if you will excuse us, I have something to discuss with them."
Gloria frowned. "Whatever can be discuss
ed in front of my fiance can surely be discussed in front-"
"Don't take too many liberties, Gloria. The marriage hasn't occurred yet," Night warned her.
Gloria's eyes blazed like a five-alarm chili bowl at Matilda's diner, but she spun around and stomped out of the room. One of the goons closed the door behind her, and the owner of the house turned to Shadow and me.
"Good evening, Father."
"Good evening, Son."
CHAPTER 29
Normally a cold reception like that would've just given me the chills. This time it just downright confused the hell out of me. It wasn't Night who addressed Shadow as his son, but the other way around. The biggest problem I saw was those two were a hell of a lot different in ages, and Night was definitely the older guy.
"I'm glad you accepted my invitation to my party, but I think you're taking far too many liberties in making yourself at home in my study," Night scolded Shadow.
Shadow's eyes narrowed. "I accepted your invitation only to try to convince you to stop your dealings."
Night laughed and strode a few steps to our left. "Always the caring father, aren't you? Afraid your son will overshadow you?"
"If you don't watch your steps you'll reveal us all to the humans," Shadow snapped.
Night paused and whipped his head around to glare at Shadow. "I'm not the one who left the two bodies by the river for the police force to find." He glanced behind Shadow and at me. I hid the vial behind me back and glared back at him. "And I also didn't turn one of their own into one of us."
I would've been glad to get out of the way and let these two go at it in a domestic brawl, but the goons behind Night didn't look like they'd let me waltz out. They'd have to be persuaded, but I'd left my sledge hammer in my other dress.
"Those men were sent on your orders to capture the Moonstone," Shadow pointed out.
Night sighed and shook his head. "You always have to blame me, don't you? It's almost as if I'm the only one of us who's grown up."
"If you won't listen then there's nothing more to say. We'll leave right now-" Night held up his hand and pointed a finger at me.
"The girl is an interesting dilemma. Have you forgotten what you taught me about loose ends, Father?" he asked him. Shadow didn't reply. He only glared at the other man. Night grinned and shrugged. "But perhaps she caught your fancy. I can understand that. She is quite pretty. But what will Mother think?"
I frowned. This was a new angle for Shadow I hadn't heard, and I didn't like the thought of hanging around a married guy's bed.
Shadow stiffened. "What she thinks is of no concern to me."
Night clucked his tongue and walked around us to a cabinet against the wall on my left between two bookshelves. The spiral staircase to the balcony was just to his right.
"Don't say such things. It hurts my feelings to be reminded of your separation." Our 'host' opened the doors and took out some wine glasses and a glass of the stuff. "Besides, I wanted to congratulate you on keeping her alive until her wound healed. It must have taken some doing to send her to the right hospital and have yourself assigned to her care." He placed the glasses on the desk and poured out the wine into each of them. "You must have been 'conveniently' available, am I right?"
I frowned and glanced at Shadow. "What's he talking about?"
"Nothing of importance," Shadow replied.
Night looked up from the glasses and a crooked smile slid onto his lips. "Is that how you treat your new toys? Keep them at arm's length and hope they don't try to touch your cold heart?"
"You're heart is the only cold organ here," Shadow argued.
"I'm not the one keeping secrets, and you both appear to have some interesting secrets," he commented. His eyes flitted over to me and he jerked his head towards my arms. "Have you asked her why she's holding the vial of ancient vampire blood that's the prize of my collection?"
"You should keep your stuff under better protection," I retorted.
He picked up two of the glasses of wine and chuckled. "I must admit my security is a little lax. No one who knows me would dare break into my home, much less to steal one of my most prized possessions."
"Then I'd like to keep not knowing you and leave," I quipped.
Night held out a glass to Shadow, and he grudgingly took the wine. "I'm afraid that isn't possible. You see, I know you wouldn't have any use for vampire blood, so that means someone had you steal it for them." He walked around the desk and stopped two feet from me to offer me the glass of wine. "I want to know who it is who told you about the vial, and who wants it badly enough to risk you and their identity to get it."
I pushed the glass away from me and shook my head. "Sorry. I don't divulge my sources."
He smiled. "Pity. I had thought about letting you die first, but I'll have to save you for later."
"Killing another werewolf unless in self-defense is against the code," Shadow reminded him.
Night turned to him and chuckled. "The rules are written by the ones who lead, and the last I looked I led quite a few werewolves."
"That doesn't make you a leader. It merely means you control that many," Shadow shot back.
Night shrugged. "I can see we're getting nowhere with this conversation." He looked to his half dozen thugs who stood in front of the door and jerked his head towards Shadow. "Please escort our guest to the basement and treat him accordingly."
They nodded like a pack of robots rather than werewolves and turned to Shadow. The men moved to surround him. Shadow took a step back and flung the contents of his wine glass at their faces.
I was glad I refused my glass when the men in black clutched their faces and screamed in agony. Steam slipped through their fingers and I saw blood run down their chins and onto the floor. Shadow rushed the group and swung punches left and right. Soon the guards didn't have to worry about their pain because they were knocked out cold. I caught a good glimpse of their faces and saw that the flesh had been burned by some sort of acid.
Night turned to Shadow and snarled at him. "Must I get rid of you myself?" he growled.
Shadow took a defensive stance with his fists outstretched like a boxer. "I would be glad if you did," he challenged him.
A crooked smile slid onto Night's face. He threw down the two glasses of wine and slipped behind me. His arm wrapped around mine and pinned them to my sides while his other hand was pressed against my throat. I felt his fingernails lengthen into claws and dig into my skin.
"I think I won't risk it, and I know you won't risk her," Night commented. He leaned down and pressed a kiss against my temple. "She is quite lovely, isn't she?"
Apparently a penchant to underestimate me ran in the family because I jerked my head back and connected with his face. He cried out in pain as I crushed the bones in his nose. Night let go of me and stumbled back. I jumped onto the desk and dove off the other side to land neatly beside Shadow.
Night lowered his hands from his bloody nose and glared at us. He pursed his lips together and emitted a whistle that made me cringe. A dozen pairs of feet pounded down the hall and the door burst open to reveal more guards, and more on the way.
"Kill them!" Night screamed.
The guards stepped over their fallen comrades and made to surround us. Shadow and I backed up towards the cabinet.
"I hope you have a plan to get us out of here," I told him.
"Not quite, but this may help," he replied.
Shadow wrapped his arm around my waist and picked me up off the floor. He spun around and hurried up the spiral staircase with me in tow. I looked down between the rungs and watched the guards swarm the bottom of the stairs with Night behind them closer to the door.
We reached the balcony and Shadow made for the door to the library, but three of the werewolves from below knelt down and sprang up. They performed a ten-foot vertical and landed on the part of the balcony in front of us. Our route was blocked behind and in front of us.
Shadow set me down and pushed me behind him. I glared at him a
nd pushed his arm away.
"If I'm going to die, it's not going to be behind anybody," I snapped at him.
Apparently it wasn't my time to die because a pair of bright lights shone through the windows behind the desk. A second later a red convertible careened through the glass and barreled through the desk. Shards of glass and splintered wood flew in all directions, and most of the guards on the ground floor were put out of commission by the debris. Night himself jumped back against the door and avoided any major injuries.
Quinn sat in the driver's seat and leaned his head back to look at us. "I'm not parking illegal just for the fun of it, Detective, so get down here."
CHAPTER 30
I didn't need to be told twice. I grabbed Shadow's hand and flung us off the balcony railing. We landed with a hard thud in the back seat. Quinn jammed the stick of his car into reverse and slammed his foot on the pedal. The wheels spun out for a few seconds on the hardwood floor before they found traction on the debris. We flew backwards out of the remains of the study and onto the lawn.
I grabbed onto the back of Quinn's chair and stuck my head through the space between the two front seats.
"How'd you find us?" I asked him.
"You're high heels are wired for GPS and sound, now could I drive in peace?" he snapped.
Quinn spun the wheel so we faced the direction of the gate and we flew down the hill. The guards who were still lively jumped from the debris and balcony, and raced after us on all fours. I turned around and watched them transform into full blown werewolves complete with gnashing teeth and bright yellow eyes. They were ugly, and they were gaining on us.
"Faster, Quinn!" I yelled at him.
"Do you want to drive?" he bit back.
"No, I want you to go faster!" I snapped.
We sped past the front of the house where the party-goers gawked at our escape. The werewolf guards put on a burst of speed and lunged at the car. Three of them managed to cling to the trunk. They slammed their clawed hands into the metal and climbed towards us.