Chris nodded slowly.
They probably thought frightening someone was better than fighting them. They were good at it too; it was working on her. Just looking at them made her shiver.
She watched them warily as they approached. They didn’t look the way Ryder had that night except in a general way. They walked erect on their oddly shaped legs as Ryder had done, and they were tall like him—easily seven feet—but these things were obviously kin to coyotes not wolves. Their pelts were dark grey not black, and both of them had light grey bellies with a mane of long hair running down their backs. Like Ryder, they did have sharp claws on hands and feet, but their heads seemed smaller, narrower, and their amber coloured eyes were set closer together as a result. In short, they fit her definition of what shifters should look like—monstrous.
The huge creatures stopped and stared down at her. Both of them were obviously male. The evidence hung grotesquely huge and all too visible between their legs. She forced herself to look away and up at their faces. They loomed over her, crowding her on purpose, and her passenger objected. Strongly. She was suddenly hot and itchy all over, as her beast tried to trigger the Change. Her skin felt like a million ants were doing the polka on her, and her muscles tensed. She felt her skin ripple over her back, and with it a wave of pain as things inside tried to change.
“I won’t let you out,” she whispered through gritted teeth.
Her answer was a snarl of rage and another flood of heat, but the itching did ease and the pain with it. She sighed in relief as her passenger settled down. Her eyes narrowed when she realised the newcomers were laughing at her. They knew what had almost happened and were grinning at her. She felt anger building again, but that was dangerous. It could trigger the Change. She couldn’t let them make her angry.
She waved a hand in front of her face and forced a nonchalant grin onto her face. “Phew! You boys need some mouthwash. What the hell have you been eating?”
A rumble of warning came from the one on the left. In a barely understandable guttural voice he said, “You think you funny, little wolf. Should ask who we eat, not what.”
That wiped the grin off her face; she wasn’t sure it was a joke. Danyelle’s expression made her think it was not. Her stomach flip-flopped and she swallowed hard to keep her dinner from reappearing.
“Leave her alone, Jonas,” Danyelle said.
“Why, what special about her? She want me go, she make me go,” the grinning monstrosity said.
“Stephen invited her. She’s his guest and under my protection.”
Jonas ignored Danyelle. She stepped forward to make her displeasure felt.
Remembering the lecture about status, Chris waved Danyelle back. “I’m not special, Jonas, but will this do?” She pushed her boomer hard against his belly.
He looked down at the weapon buried in his fur. “Pull trigger. I not die.”
“But it will hurt a lot,” she agreed quickly. She hadn’t considered he might not die, but of course he wouldn’t. Ryder hadn’t, and he had taken a lot more than a single bullet in the belly. “If you make me pull the trigger, Jonas, I’ll make sure the second one takes your balls off.”
Jonas’ friend grinned at that.
“Now I don’t know much about shifters,” Chris continued, “but I’m betting it will take quite a while for them to grow back… will they grow back do you think?”
Jonas surprised her. He made a sound like choking—he was laughing. He backed up then said, “All good. She strong enough.”
“We will see,” Danyelle said.
“She fine. We go,” Jonas said and trotted away.
Chris watched him and his friend enter the hangar and then turned back to Danyelle for an explanation. “What was that about?”
Danyelle began walking, leading the way to the hangar. Chris held back, but she had a job to do. Edmonton was in there and she needed him. She couldn’t leave, not now. She trotted a little way and then walked beside Danyelle.
“What’s the secret, Danyelle? Who is Jonas and what did he mean?”
“It’s not a secret. If Jonas hadn’t stopped to talk, one of the others would have before the night was out. His quiet friend’s name is Leon Pullen. Have you heard that name?”
Chris frowned. “I don’t think so. Should I have?”
Danyelle shrugged and stopped just before the hangar doors. “It was on the news, but it doesn’t matter. Leon is an alpha like Jonas, and they’re friends as much as two alphas can be. Their packs are the largest in the area. They would normally be rivals for the territory, but they have a treaty and don’t fight each other. No matter what it takes, Jonas and Leon keep the peace here.” Danyelle looked hard at Chris. “Whatever it takes.”
“What’s that to do with me?”
“New recruits are always trouble. They can’t help it, but that holds no weight with us. It sounds harsh, but we have no time for those who cannot adjust to our world. Troublemakers, or those too weak to survive, generally don’t.”
“I’m not here to cause trouble.”
“It was too late the moment you were bitten.”
Chris bit her lip. More complications she didn’t need. How would this affect what she needed to do here? Maybe it wouldn’t have a bearing, but she couldn’t count on it.
“Is it just because I’m a police officer?”
Danyelle stared. “You hear, but you do not listen. I told you in the car that status is everything to us. What do you think that means? You were a police officer. That time belongs to the Human world and the past. It means nothing here and now. You have no status… none that we recognise. You will have none until you prove your dominance. Among us—shifter or vampire it doesn’t matter—status must be earned. We have to constantly prove our strength.”
“You mean use it or lose it?”
“Exactly, and losing it is death. New recruits are always trouble because they upset the status quo. They don’t know their place. Until they prove themselves, no one knows how they should react to them.”
“Oh great,” Chris said with a heartfelt sigh. “You mean I’ll have to join this pissing contest before I can talk to Edmonton?”
Danyelle shook her head. “You are his guest; of course he will meet with you. Anything else you want will have to be earned.”
Chris nodded.
They stepped through the door together.
* * *
12 ~ Rituals
Chris felt uncomfortable the moment she entered the hangar. It was cavernous, easily big enough to house ten times the numbers currently occupying it, but still it felt confining. A couple of hundred people should have been lost within it, but there was something about shifters that filled any space they occupied. The air felt thick, the building filled to capacity and beyond despite the evidence of her eyes. So many shifters in one place filled the air with conflicting scents and made her passenger restless. Chris echoed its unease.
There were shifters of all shapes and sizes. Men and women who looked Human from behind proved to be something else when they turned and revealed eyes with cat-like slit pupils, or eyes that glowed amber or gold.
Everyone was talking at once, the sound blurring into an incomprehensible babble of voices. There were wolves here. Her passenger noticed them at the same moment Chris did. She could feel its interest, but to her surprise, it didn’t try to trigger the Change. It was alert, but wary.
Laughter made her check her stride, suddenly sure it was her they were laughing at, but when she located those laughing, they weren’t paying the slightest attention to her. She stared at the group where they lounged on the floor chatting together. There were six—four men and two… things. The men were naked as the day they were born and obviously didn’t care who noticed. She couldn’t call the things reclining with them women, because although they were female, they were like Jonas—Changed.
She turned a slow circle on the spot. Variations of the scene were repeated everywhere she looked.
Jo
nas’ coyotes were here somewhere, but the few she saw didn’t account for half of them. They must have changed back to Human form. There were a lot of unclothed people wandering around; maybe they were coyotes sometimes? Shifters were not body conscious by any stretch of the imagination. A lucky thing, because changing forms must be hell on their wardrobes. She couldn’t see Jonas or his quiet friend, but she wouldn’t recognise either of them in Human guise.
In the centre of the hangar, an area had been left empty, and a square roughly thirty feet to a side had been chalked upon the concrete floor. A long trestle table had been set up aligned with one of its sides. It was nothing fancy, just a beaten up wooden table with a row of plastic chairs tucked under it. There were a few items seemingly discarded on its surface: a portable comp, some papers, and a couple of carafes of water with glasses.
Chris smelled the scent of fresh blood, and her passenger went hyper alert. Beneath the tantalising scent, she picked up others; scents layered deeply over the bloodstained concrete whispering to her of old blood and terror. Her skin crawled—heat followed by a ripple of something running up both her arms.
“Stop that,” she hissed under her breath. In her head, she could see an agitated wolf pacing back and forth.
Danyelle cut across the corner of the square towards a man dressed in an Armani suit and sunglasses. Surrounding him at a respectful distance, a dozen men and women silently watched every direction at once. They stood widely separated from each other, trying hard to remain unnoticed. They failed miserably. For one thing, their scents gave them all away as vamps, and they each had a telltale bulge under their jackets. They wore them unbuttoned so they could reach those mysterious bulges quickly. Their looks and attitude shouted security team.
Edmonton wore his hair long in a ponytail like a waterfall of night down his back, and his skin was very white. As Chris approached him, she noticed he was wearing a plain gold wedding band. It was dull and battered, and seemed out of place, especially when he also wore a flashy gold watch.
A woman stood beside him listening attentively to Danyelle. She must have died very young, around nineteen or twenty, but looks could be deceptive. She could be centuries old; vamps were tricky like that. She was wearing a black business jacket over a painfully white blouse and knee length skirt, none of which could possibly match Danyelle’s backless evening gown for elegance, but for all of that, she had a quiet beauty all her own.
“…is done for now,” Edmonton was saying to Danyelle. “With David’s help, we should be able to keep the lid on a little longer.”
“Do you think it will be enough?”
Edmonton turned to his young-looking companion. “Marie?”
She cocked her head. “I think so. David knows what’s at stake. I think we can trust him to keep his people on a tight leash.”
Danyelle nodded. “I wasn’t questioning David’s abilities. Of course he’s trustworthy, but will keeping things quiet be enough to win us the vote?”
Marie shook her head gently. “I don’t think even the President knows the answer, and the polls are evenly split. It will be close, but I think we’ll win.”
“Let us hope so,” Edmonton said. “If I knew of a way to ensure victory… but let us not talk of that now, I am being discourteous to our guest.” He smiled charmingly at Chris and offered his hand to shake. “Welcome to our little get together, Miss Humber. I trust the drive out here was not too onerous. Did Danyelle keep you entertained?”
“Oh yeah, she was a real riot,” Chris said sourly.
She stared at the offered hand for a tense moment. She could feel her passenger’s guarded watchfulness. It didn’t like being so close to three vampires. Neither did she, but she forced herself to take Edmonton’s hand for a brief shake. Very brief.
“Really?” Edmonton pinned Danyelle with an intense look. “My dear, Danyelle, what have you been telling her?”
Danyelle stepped back a little. “Nothing, Stephen. I swear I told her nothing.”
“Nothing?” he asked as if tasting the word. “That hardly sounds like you, Danyelle.”
“She tried to teach me about your status games,” Chris said, interrupting the power trip Edmonton had going.
“I don’t play games, Miss Humber. I doubt Danyelle said I do.”
She stared at Edmonton’s sunglasses, foolishly wishing he would remove them. He didn’t seem angry, but gauging his expression without seeing his eyes was hard. She wasn’t yet comfortable with all the strangeness to rely upon her other senses alone.
“Call me Chris. Calling me Miss Humber makes me want to look over my shoulder. There’s only one Miss Humber in my family, and that’s Aunty Janice.”
Edmonton smiled. “In that case, you may call me Stephen.”
“Okay, Stephen. I do appreciate your seeing me on short notice like this, but I don’t have time for idle chit-chat. I need your help or someone’s going to die.”
The silence between them stretched out. The barest of smiles crossed Stephen’s face and was gone.
He removed his sunglasses and gestured at her with them. “I’m waiting to learn how it concerns me. Do I know this soon to be dead person?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Does this person work for me, or for someone I am affiliated with?”
“No but—”
“Then I fail to see how it’s any of my business.”
She kept her eyes focused on the knot of his tie, not willing to risk the power undoubtedly resident in his. “Her real name is Tina Rowe, but she goes by the moniker of Lil’ Tina.”
“Ah, a child of the modern age. Which gang?”
“Little Rascals. Do you know it?”
“I do not believe so. Should I?”
She shrugged. “It’s a Human gang, so probably not. Tina is a friend of mine. She’s in some trouble, and I think you can help.”
Stephen glanced at Danyelle. “Go back to the club. Chris will accompany me back in my car.” Danyelle nodded once and left without a word. “I was pleased when Edward called me about your visit. I have wanted to meet you for some time now. Can you guess why?”
“It can’t be my dazzling personality.”
He raised an eyebrow. “It can’t? Would it surprise you to learn that you are something of a celebrity among us?”
Chris scowled. “I have no control over what the newsies say about me.”
Marie grinned.
“I’ve been following your exploits,” Edmonton said. “Especially the most recent of them… the shifter slayings?” He waved a hand at those nearby. “I suspect everyone here knows who you are. The media has taken a particular interest in you, especially that Davis fellow. His column is a little overblown for my tastes, but I have to admit he does have a flair for the dramatic.”
“I didn’t come here to talk about Ed Davis,” she said tightly.
Stephen cocked his head. “You don’t like him I see.”
“We have a history.”
“Forgive me, I did not know that. Let us change the subject then, and talk of why you came to me. This Tina person, how is she in need of my help?”
Chris relaxed tight shoulders and began her story. She told him about her kids, and how she looked out for them. About TC and J-bone, and how J-bone contacted her with his fears about Tina and Loco. When she told him about her search for Trigger and Cruz in Alley Dog territory, Stephen finally reacted. He looked sharply at Marie.
Marie nodded in silent acknowledgement and hurried away.
“What?” Chris asked suspiciously. “What did I say?”
“Did Danyelle tell you why I was asked to come here?”
“Something about a territorial dispute between packs.”
“Correct. That was dealt with before you arrived, as was one other minor matter. Both problems involved Alley Dogs. Pederson and his pack are starting to become more than a mere annoyance.”
“Pederson?”
“Raymond Pederson is alpha of the Alley Dog pack
, or gang if you prefer. He was an ally of mine once, but no longer. Another man—a better more honourable man—took his place. He has never truly forgiven either one of us for that.”
“How dangerous is he?”
“Anyone can be dangerous given the right motivation, but I do not fear him if that’s what you mean.”
“Would you admit it if you did?”
Stephen smiled briefly. “You are learning. Pederson is a shifter, an alpha, and something of a psychopath when all is said. Any of those things makes him someone to be wary of. There are many like him among the shifters of Los Angeles.”
She didn’t like the sound of that. Tina hanging around with Loco was bad enough, but if this Pederson was as unstable as Stephen made him seem, even she might have trouble saving the girl.
“Can you help me get Tina back?”
“Possibly. Ordinarily we do not interfere with each other’s business. It’s safer for all concerned, but I do have some influence with the shifters. Even Pederson, despite our mutual dislike, can be reasoned with.”
“But?”
Stephen smiled. “But it will cost me.”
“How much?”
“That remains to be seen, but I can guarantee Pederson will drive a hard bargain. I doubt money will satisfy.”
So did she. “Now I know you can help, will you?”
Stephen nodded. “If you agree to help me in return.”
“Nothing illegal,” she warned.
He waved that away impatiently. “I’m sure I don’t have to remind you of what I am. I’m hardly in the habit of recruiting outsiders to do ‘the dirty work’ as they say.”
She snorted. “What have you got in mind?”
“I want you to attend a press conference Marie is arranging. AML has been running a campaign against the amendments in the media. I need you to help me counter them. There will be interviews with reporters, talk shows… the usual kind of thing.”
Oh no… not that.
Stephen noted the sour look on her face. “Think of it as a learning experience. Your name could be worth a lot of votes for our side. Marie thinks so, and I trust her judgment. You’ll have a chance to tell your story, and in a good cause.”
Shifter Legacies Special Edition: Books 1-2 Page 69