by Anne Bishop
Simon panted. Hard to breathe. The prey was gone. No point fighting with the Grizzly now that the prey was gone.
“Simon.”
Fucking vampire was right in his face again. Bite him!
“Who did you talk to?” Vlad asked quietly. “Simon? Who told you about Meg’s puppies?”
Not Meg’s puppies, but they might have been.
His mouth couldn’t shape human speech.
Henry hauled him up to the Business Association’s room. Unable to stand being in that filthy human skin a moment longer, Simon tore off his clothes and shifted fully to Wolf. The relief was almost painful.
He curled up and studied Henry, who stood guard at the door.
Henry wouldn’t lie. With the humans out of the Courtyard, Meg would be safe.
Simon closed his eyes. Drifting in an uneasy sleep, he dreamed of Meg falling through the ice on Courtyard Creek, weighed down by bags that wailed and screamed.
* * *
Vlad hung up the phone with exaggerated care . . . and wondered how long Tess had been standing in the doorway.
“It’s bad?” she asked.
He understood killing to eat, to survive. He understood killing an enemy. He understood killing to protect family and home.
But he didn’t understand this. He wasn’t sure there was any kind of terra indigene who could understand this.
One chance, he thought as he picked up the phone and dialed. One chance to show us you’re not all monsters. “Come in so you can listen. I’d rather not repeat this more often than required.”
* * *
Monty stepped into Burke’s office to ask if the man wanted a cup of coffee, but the captain was on the phone, and his face was set and pale.
Retreating, Monty bumped into Kowalski, who grabbed his arm and pulled him toward his own desk, where Officers Debany and MacDonald waited for them, along with Louis Gresh and Pete Denby.
“Ruthie just called me,” Kowalski said, speaking so low the other men had to lean in to hear him. “Something has happened, something bad, but the girls don’t know what it is. Simon Wolfgard just banished all humans from the Courtyard. He’s so pissing mad, he tried to attack Merri Lee and Ruthie.”
Monty’s heart banged against his chest. Mikhos, guardian spirit, please spare us from having to fill out a Deceased, Location Unknown form for any of these girls. “Are they all right?”
“Yeah. Tess, Vlad, and Henry intervened. Right now, the other two girls are with Ruthie at our apartment. Merri Lee is staying with us tonight. Lawrence can pick up Theral after his shift.”
“Thanks,” MacDonald said.
Pete looked at the rest of them. “Is this because of the girls everyone is searching for?”
“Ruthie doesn’t think so,” Kowalski replied.
“The Others knew about those girls before we did,” Monty said. “Wolfgard wouldn’t have lost control hours later, so it has to be—”
“Gentlemen,” Burke said from his office doorway. “In here. Last one in, close the door.”
Monty went in first. Pete Denby came in last, closing the door.
“I’ve just had two phone calls. The first was from a contact in a police department in the Northwest.” Burke gave them all a chilling smile. “The girls the police and the Others are searching for? They’re all pregnant. Every single girl who has been found so far is pregnant, and some of them were in labor when they were found.”
“Gods, they must be terrified,” Monty said.
“Scared to death. Literally, in some cases. It appears the girls have been brainwashed to believe that the police will beat them until they lose their babies. And that the Others will eat them. They’re running away from help—and some girls have died as a result.”
Monty studied Burke’s face. “That’s not the worst of it. That’s not what pushed Simon Wolfgard over the edge a short while ago.”
“The second phone call was from Vladimir Sanguinati.” Burke’s hands curled into fists. “Most people prefer not knowing about the laws allowing benevolent ownership. And even people who don’t think humans should be able to ‘own’ another human will justify keeping troubled girls in special compounds for their own sake. How many of those people will try to justify not only breeding those troubled girls but also disposing of the unwanted offspring? Yes, gentlemen, apparently some of those compounds also have their own breeding farms. Can’t have that little secret coming out, can we?”
“The cassandra sangue are all girls,” Monty said. “Is there an orphanage for the boy babies?”
“Disposal, Lieutenant, not adoption. And that is what the terra indigene discovered while searching for the girls.” Slowly, with effort, he forced his hands to open. “The people responsible for breeding these girls like livestock need to be found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of our law. The girls, and any surviving babies, need to be found and saved. The breeding farms need to be found and shut down. Lieutenant, I’m splitting up your team for the rest of the day. Each man will pair up with another officer from the station. That way there will be one man in each car who has had dealings with the Others. You go out to the farms around Lakeside. You check the barns, the outbuildings. You make a note of any building that could house these girls. If you run into trouble or run into anyone who doesn’t want you looking around, you call for backup—or fire a couple of shots in the air. I was told that will bring a different kind of help.”
“Captain?” Kowalski asked. “Do you think we’ll find anything?”
“No, I don’t. But we’re going to search anyway in order to reassure all the citizens of Lakeside.”
Pete Denby cleared his throat. “These girls. The ones who live around here. Do they need an advocate?”
“Not at the moment,” Burke replied. “But it’s good to know you’re willing to stand for them in that capacity.” He walked toward the door. “Let’s do this, gentlemen.”
“You’re going out to search?” Monty said. Shouldn’t the captain remain at the station to coordinate with other precincts, other captains? With the commissioner and the mayor?
“Oh, yes. I’m going out to search. I’ll keep my mobile phone turned on so you can reach me in the field.” Burke opened his office door and walked out.
Monty and the other men hurried to catch up to him.
* * *
Meg. The puppies.
Simon jerked awake and sprang to his feet.
Henry’s warning growl convinced him to stay put.
He studied the Grizzly, whose hands were furry and clawed. Henry could do a lot of damage with those claws.
Right now, he hated the human form. Right now, he thought his heart would tear if he had to wear that skin. But he didn’t think Henry would let him out of the Business Association’s room while he was in Wolf form, so he shifted. He pulled on the jeans, then pondered the rips in the knit shirt he’d been wearing. Had Grizzly claws or sharp Wolf nails done that?
“I didn’t bite any of them.” His voice sounded rough, as if his body was resisting the shift to human.
“You would have.”
Shame was an odd feeling. Despite their being human, he liked Ruthie and Merri Lee. More important, Meg liked them. He’d just been so angry at all of the monkeys for hurting girls like Meg. And he’d felt terrified that by wearing the human form as much as he did, by trying to understand them and have so much contact with them, he might absorb that terrible aspect of being human.
“Does Meg know about . . .” He swallowed. Couldn’t say the words.
“Not yet.” Henry shifted his hands back to human shape. “Meg is in no danger. We thought it was better to sp
read the word to the terra indigene who are searching for the girls so they know what to look for if they spot humans near water.”
“Has anyone contacted Jackson Wolfgard or Roy Panthergard?”
“You were asleep only for a few minutes—just long enough for Vlad to find out why you were so angry and tell us and a few others in the Courtyard before he started contacting the Sanguinati to give them this new information.”
“I’ll call Jackson and Roy.”
Henry dipped a hand in his pocket and held out a mobile phone. “Don’t know where your mobile phone is. Vlad’s using the phone in HGR’s office, so you can stay in here and use my phone. I’ll go down and use the phone in the store. Make some calls to the Beargard.”
Staying in this room would keep him out of sight—and keep him away from any humans.
Simon took the mobile phone. “I would never bite Meg.”
“I know that. But as long as you’re up here, you won’t have words with Tess. Right now, that’s better for all of us.”
He waited until Henry left the room. He didn’t call Jackson or Roy. The first call he made was to the Liaison’s Office to talk to Meg. But the line was busy, so he didn’t have the comfort of hearing her voice.
Sighing, he called Jackson to tell him what else humans did to each other.
* * *
Meg gripped the phone’s receiver so hard her hand hurt. “I don’t know what happened. Was this part of the visions I saw?” She’d made the cut that morning. It felt like days had passed since then.
“No,” Merri Lee said. “That’s why we don’t understand what happened. One minute Simon is telling the three of us to work together on the Guide, and the next minute he’s kicking all the humans except you out of the Courtyard. Ruth and I have gone over it again and again, but we can’t figure out what we did to upset him.”
“I’ll try to find out.”
“Be careful.” A pause. “That drug. The gone over wolf stuff. Could he have taken some of that accidentally?”
“No.” Since the drug was made from cassandra sangue blood, he would have had to bite her or bite someone who had taken the drug. If he had bitten someone who had taken the drug, there would be a human acting violent and crazy too, and if that were the case, there would be Wolves and Sanguinati filling up the office to guard her, or they’d be hustling her back to her apartment.
“Are you sure you’ll be all right staying there?” Merri Lee asked.
“I’m sure.”
Meg set the receiver in the cradle. Someone knew why Simon had gone all “bite the human,” but who would tell her? Not Vlad or Tess or Henry. They would—what was the word?—stonewall. Yes. They would stonewall because even if they had intervened to save Ruth and Merri Lee, Simon was still the leader of the Courtyard, and they would protect the leader and give him a chance to speak for himself. Jester Coyotegard might know and would tell her just to cause a bit of mischief, but she was pretty sure he wouldn’t tell her over the phone, and she would have to close the office too long to drive over to the Pony Barn.
But there were other residents who usually knew what was going on in the Courtyard, and they would be at their shop in the Market Square.
Meg tore off a page from the pad of paper Merri Lee had left on the counter. She hunted through a couple of drawers before she found a thick-line marker and a roll of clear adhesive tape. Then she paused to consider what she was about to do.
She hadn’t gone into Sparkles and Junk yet. Too many other things happening in the Courtyard over the past few months. Too many other things to see just in her daily routine. She’d yelled at Merri Lee for moving the stack of CDs, a clear indication that she needed some quiet time before she tried to deal with anything else. And with so many of the Others already stirred up about something, having an “episode” now could cause a lot of trouble.
Well, she just wouldn’t have an “episode.” At least, not until she got home and could hide from everyone.
She wrote Back in ten minutes on the paper, taped it to the office’s front door, and hurried out the back door and over to the Market Square.
There were usually a few of the terra indigene picking up a bit of food from the butcher’s shop or the grocery store. There was usually some activity at Music and Movies and at the library. Today the square was empty, felt deserted.
Hurrying to Sparkles and Junk, Meg felt relieved to find the shop open—until she stepped inside. The shop run by the Crows was a visual explosion of colors and shapes crammed together and piled high.
This was a mistake, Meg thought, holding the doorframe for support. Then she focused on Crystal, who stood behind a glass counter at the back of the store.
“It’s our Meg.” Feathers sprang up all over Crystal’s head, a sure sign of distress.
She doesn’t want to see me today, doesn’t want to be the one who lets slip whatever they’re all keeping from me. Just my being here is upsetting her. Can’t ask and can’t retreat without causing a different kind of trouble.
Keeping her eyes focused on Crystal so that she wouldn’t be overloaded by the rest of the store, Meg walked up to the counter and forced herself to smile.
Crystal looked toward a curtained doorway behind her. “Jenni and Starr are making phone calls. Does our Meg need something?” More feathers replaced hair.
“I’m learning how to be in a place that has a lot of things. To help the other cassandra sangue so that they can go into shops too.” Not a lie, just not the whole truth.
“Oh.” Crystal looked around. “We have lots of treasures. Not so many as we did, but we still have lots. Do you want to look?”
Meg glanced down at the shelf she could see through the glass and felt dizzy. There must be an entire binder of images on that shelf alone! “No. I can’t look at too many things at one time.”
The feathers on Crystal’s head smoothed into a more relaxed position. She picked up a green glass bowl and set it down in front of Meg. “Maybe this?” She dipped her hand into the bowl and came up with a handful of shiny coins. “I like to hold them, watch them shine as they fall back into the bowl. You can try it.”
To please her friend, Meg dipped her hand in the bowl. Shiny coins. Crystal must have spent hours polishing so many coins. Or did she just keep the coins that were already shiny?
“This was good. Thank you,” Meg said when the last coin fell back into the bowl. She started to turn away, bracing herself for the ordeal of walking to the door.
“Wait.” Crystal dashed to one of the tables and rummaged through a basket. She hurried back to Meg and held out her offering. “I don’t have the right kind of string. Blair might. You could ask. He wouldn’t growl at you.”
Sure he would.
Meg took the faceted oval piece of glass, not sure what to do with it.
“You hang it by a window, and rainbows will dance in your room!”
“This is wonderful. But I didn’t bring any money.”
“This is your first treasure hunt. You keep it. As a gift.”
“A crystal from Crystal. Thank you.”
“Is our Meg going back to the office now?”
“Yes. But I might sit in the Market Square for a minute before I do.”
As she chose a bench in the square, Meg wondered how many of the Others would know exactly where she was by the time Crystal finished relaying the news about her first treasure hunt.
* * *
Vlad watched Meg hurry toward the Market Square. Unusual for her to break routine. Of course, this entire day had broken a lot of things that had been carefully established over months, even years. He wouldn’t have been surprised if any of the other Wolves had lost control and turned on the girls today, but Simon? The leader who, just this morning, had talked about buying buildings to provide homes for these same girls?
He turned toward the desk, steelin
g himself to read the e-mail messages that had started pouring in as blood prophets were found in other parts of Thaisia, alive or dead. Then he heard a car pull into the area behind the store and looked out the window to see who was foolish enough to come here today.
Police car.
“Blessed Thaisia,” he muttered as he raced out of the office, down the stairs, and out HGR’s back door.
Three police officers worked with Lieutenant Montgomery to keep the peace between the humans living in Lakeside and the Courtyard. Karl Kowalski, Montgomery’s partner and Ruthie’s mate, had dark hair and brown eyes. The other two, Debany and MacDonald, had dark blond or light brown hair and blue eyes and were about the same height and build.
A matched pair, Vlad thought as he walked toward the car and the man who stepped out of it. Until recently Debany and MacDonald hadn’t been around the Courtyard as much as Kowalski and Montgomery, so it wasn’t always easy to tell them apart—unless you were a Wolf, who not only recognized the scent of each male but knew which female scent should also be present on their skin and clothes.
It took him a moment to decide it was Lawrence MacDonald who was waiting for him to approach. The officer still in the car, looking sweaty and pale, wasn’t Debany.
“Mr. Sanguinati.” MacDonald removed his hat and held it, making a noticeable effort not to fidget.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Vlad said. “You know that.”
“Yes, sir, I do. But I have to ask. Is the Courtyard closed to humans for good or just today? Can Theral come to work tomorrow?”
Interesting question, especially when it was so obvious by MacDonald’s control that the answer was very important.
“Can’t she stay home for a day?” Vlad asked.
“Not alone.” MacDonald looked uncomfortable. “She lived with someone for a while. He . . . hurt her, and she left. But he’s caused trouble for her. That’s why she moved to Lakeside, why she’s living at my parents’ house, trying to start over. Over the past few days, there have been phone calls to the house. Person hangs up as soon as someone answers. We think Jack Fillmore—that’s his name, Jack Fillmore—we think he’s looking for her. If he came to the house when no one else was home . . .”