Brush With Death: A Sadie Salt Urban Fantasy (Sadie Salt Series)

by Ware Wilkins

  “How long has she been dead?”

  “The guess is about three days.”

  Three days. Nash was still alive three days ago. It was so close to the full moon... Fresh shifters, especially ones as temperamental as wolves, have a difficult time controlling their emotions so close to the full moon. Hell, it’s why I hadn’t wanted to treat him in the first place. So it is completely within the realm of possibility that Nash accidentally hurt Gina. Killed her and tried to hide the body.

  Except.

  Except he had exceptional control in my office when I pulled his teeth. There are older wolves who didn’t have that level of control. And he’d spoken so fondly of Gina. Each sentence where she was the topic lit him up inside. Something would have had to provoke him enough to lose control, shift, and kill her, and based on his puppy-dog lovey dovey feelings, I can’t imagine Gina could have done that.

  Finally, and this is what tips the scales in my mind, Nash was every inch an eighteen year old boy. Still growing. Giant feet and hands. On top of that, he was dealing with an extra increase in testosterone and learning to keep the biggest secret of his life—that he was a werewolf. With that and love on the brain, I can’t believe he’d have the finesse to pull this off. No foot prints. No paw prints. And—

  Another guy in uniform approaches us. “Abe? There’s no fingerprints we can find. Coroner said bring her in and he’ll try to find DNA.”

  Yeah, I’m certain this is a bone witch.

  Moving so men can come and fetch the body, I cross my arms and think. I’m going to have to talk to Alec, for sure. He needs to know that a bone witch is working with a werewolf. That’s the only possibility I can come up with for the bites. Unless bone witches could also be werewolves? That much power mixed with volatility... A chilling thought, and I file the question away to ask Benji later.

  “What do you think?” Abe needs answers now. In my heart, I make an apology to Nash. He was a good boy and doesn’t deserve to have his personality smeared. But I need to give Abe answers and I can’t give him the truth.

  “I guess you’ll need to find out if Nash had dogs. Or maybe he killed her, brought her here, and wolves used her as a toy? I don’t know, but my instincts are on Nash.”

  “Really?” Abe doesn’t sound like he’s verifying my theory. He sounds like he can’t believe it. Well, dude, neither can I. But it’s all I’ve got for you, because I have to keep you safe.

  I shrug. “I saw the same things you did. You’re right, those are obviously animal bites. Too big for the wolves I’m familiar with, but I’m also not familiar with wildlife. So I think it’s the safest bet. Just... hard to believe. He is a sweet kid.”

  Abe’s stony for a long time. He’s passed by frown and launched fully into scowl. I hate that he’s so close to this but will never get the truth. “Sadie, I don’t think you’re wrong, I just don’t know if you’re right.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  “It means while we investigate this, you shouldn’t leave town. I’ll have someone drive you back home.”

  Chapter Twelve

  It feels good to be back home. Especially when I see Ingrid’s car and remember she has the night off. My body still needs to crash hard, but our quick “catch up” session earlier only wet my thirst for some good, old-fashioned bestie time.

  Those hopes are dashed, however, when I come in and see that Ingrid’s not the only one in my apartment. David is, too.

  “Hey! I’m glad you’re home! We ordered pizza and I got you some wings, extra spicy.” Oh, the jerk is trying to butter me up. Extra spicy wings are a favorite extravagance that I rarely have the time or money for. I love how they make my eyes water and how eating each one is a challenge as I try to not get the sauce anywhere but my mouth. Ingrid buys them for me from time to time in the hopes that she can make me laugh so hard while eating them I snort hot sauce.

  So nice of her, right?

  “Hey! Hi, uh, David.” A half smile is all I can muster. I mean really, is a night with my friend too much to ask for? He’s holding her hand, too, fingers interlaced. And both of them are guilty of googly eyes. Ugh.

  Maybe I’m a little jealous, too.

  “Is it okay that he’s here?” She asks, despite basically being in his lap. As if I can say “no, not really, could you kick him out?”

  “Yeah, that’s fine. What are you guys up to?”

  “Waiting for you to hear all about the body, of course!”

  I lean against the couch. I don’t know how much of it I’m allowed to talk about. Abe didn’t say not to talk about it, but as it’s an ongoing investigation, I’m pretty sure the rules say not to. “Ah, right. It was pretty gross. When I went into dental assistance I didn’t expect to be doing forensics, you know?”

  David’s eyes flash. “Where was the body?”

  “Our side of the Pisgah. Look, I don’t know how much I’m supposed to tell you about these things, so...”

  “Do you know who it was?”

  “Yes. I mean, I don’t know her personally, but she’s from here.” And she fell in love with a werewolf, and now neither of them will find out if it was puppy love or the forever kind because they’re both dead.

  “Who was it?” Ingrid’s leaning forward, wiggling a bit. Maybe we’ve both become a little too immune to this sort of thing. I don’t know.

  Before I was forced to answer or come up with a clever dodge, there’s a knock at the door. “If that’s Abe, so help me God,” I mutter as I go to answer it.

  “It’s probably the pizza.” Ingrid’s by my side in a heartbeat, a wad of cash in her hands. She drives people around town crazy by paying for things with small bills. A hundred dollars in groceries? Better get ready to thumb through a hundred dollar bills. She used to go to the bank to switch them out for larger bills or deposit them, but “those tight ass bitches are so judgmental. Cash is cash, am I right?”

  When she opens the door, we’re both startled. Instead of Abe, or the pizza guy, it’s Benji. He’s wearing an old David Bowie t-shirt that clings in, I’ll admit, a very appealing way to his muscular torso. Low rise black pants and black Chuck Taylors complete the look. It’s dashing in a cute, boy-next-door sort of way. I bet he get all the guys he wants in Asheville. And I bet his guys don’t think he committed murder, even though he probably has at least once in his long life.

  “Hello?” Ingrid says/asks, her gaze darting to me.

  “I’m here for—oh! Sadie. Just the girl I was hoping to see.” He winks. “May I come in?”

  “Sure, open invitation.” I don’t know why he’s here, and it seems early, but then I remember that the days are growing shorter. “How’s it going?”

  He pulls me into a hug and it feels strange. His skin and muscles and shape feel human. They form around me the way a human’s would, and when I awkwardly hug him back, it almost feels comforting. Except that his skin is frigid and his body feels tense, like he’s aware of how little it would take for him to crush the life out of me. Controlled. “Well. I hope you didn’t forget about us hanging out tonight.” He’s so good at playing human it’s disorienting and impressive.

  We had no such plans, but maybe he’s got information and he’s here to share.

  “Nope. They ordered pizza and wings, would you like some?”

  “That’s okay, I ate before.”

  Ingrid shifts from foot to foot. “Benji, is that right? From up the road?”

  “That’s me. And you must be Ingrid. Sadie’s told me all about you.” This earns me a not-happy glare from Ingrid, who now thinks I’m holding out in a major way. I mean, I’ve discussed Benji with her before because he keeps me stocked in venom for my other patients. Now, though, she’s wondering how close our relationship is, I suppose, outside of business. Not my fault. Like two ships passing in the night, our schedules mean we don’t have time to connect. Add in a few murders, my newly tapped powers, and a bone witch on the loose, and I can’t be held accountable for not giving h
er juicy details.

  Besides, I don’t actually know why Benji’s here now.

  The front door is still open, though, and the pizza guy arrives behind Benji. Ingrid pays him and hands me the wings. “You guys can hang with us, if you want.”

  “Forgive me, Ingrid,” Benji says with a light chuckle. “Would it be rude if I saw Sadie alone? Besides, you have a date here. No need for us to intrude.”

  He hasn’t seen David yet, so I’m curious how he knows that. But I can tell by Ingrid’s face that we come to the conclusion at the same time. He’s a vampire, he probably smells David.

  “That’s, um, fine. Nice to see you, Benji.” Ingrid’s pretty good at rolling with the punches. She has to be, in her line of work.

  I hand Benji the wings. “Remember where my bedroom is?” He’s never been in it, but if his senses are that good, he can figure it out.

  “Yep!” He smiles in such a way that his fangs are hidden. It makes the smile feel too tight.

  “I’m going to grab a drink and I’ll meet you in there.”

  He walks off, and I hear him saying a polite hello to David. Ingrid, though, grabs my arm and pulls me close. “Are you having a thing with a vampire?”

  “No!” I hiss. “Besides, he’s gay. He’s been helping me with the Nash thing. You know he can probably hear us whisper, right?”

  “I don’t care! Are you in trouble? Like, worse than it sounded earlier?”

  “Maybe,” I admit. “I don’t know. Abe thinks I had something to do with it.”

  She pales. “Why would he think that? He knows you!”

  “Because—and don’t tell David this—the girl was Nash’s girlfriend.”

  “He thinks you killed them both? Is he nuts? You’re the same size as a middle schooler!” Gee, thanks, Ingrid. “He’s crazy to even consider you!”

  “No, everyone thinks Nash has gone missing. No one but us knows he’s dead. Which is the only thing in my favor right now.”

  She looks sick, and I know exactly how she feels. “You’re going to let them think he did it.”

  I know she’s not trying to sound accusatory, but with my own mounting guilt, I feel like she’s calling me out, anyway. “What else can I do? She had a molar missing. It was the same witch that killed Nash, I’m sure of it.”

  “Fuck. Well, go see what your gay vampire boyfriend knows.”

  “You’re ridiculous. I miss you.”

  She softens and squeezes my shoulder. “I miss you, too. I’m dancing four nights straight after tonight, but then I’ll be off. We’ll have some time together, just you and me. Or, when my lottery ticket wins, I’ll quit and take us all out to dinner.”

  Her ability to bounce right back to optimism is the thing that keeps me going. Ingrid has this wonderful way of pushing all the bad shit right out the door and leaving everyone feeling a bit more upbeat. “Sounds good.”

  In my room, Benji is smelling the wings. “You can try one, if you want,” I say as I close the door behind me.

  “No, thanks. It doesn’t even smell like food.”

  “There’s, like, thirty ingredients in the sauce, and I bet their chicken isn’t organic or grain fed, so you’re probably right.”

  “And you’re going to eat them?”

  My tummy grumbles and he hears it, staring. “Yep. I’m going to eat them and love each mouth-burning one.”

  He hands the box over. “They’re orange, Sadie.”

  “So are tangerines, but I bet you wouldn’t be giving me grief over those.”

  He closes his eyes and smiles dreamily. “I almost remember tangerines. Fruit is one of the things I miss. Dates and plums, especially.”

  There’s not a good response for that, so I take a seat next to him on my bed. “Why the surprise visit?”

  “I didn’t trust that you’d stay out of the hunt for the other bone witch, so I came to see what you were up to.”

  I’ve just taken a huge bite and swallow too fast. My eyes water as the saucy lump burns its way down my throat. Coughing a bit, I nod. “Okay, yeah, I was probably going to do some investigation.”

  He sighs. “I heard you tell Ingrid that Nash’s girlfriend is dead, too. Tell me about that.”

  I describe the body and all the details, like the lack of foot prints and the werewolf bite marks. “What do you think? Is someone in the local pack working with the witch?”

  “We should tell Alec, regardless, if he hasn’t already heard about it. And I have to go to the nest tonight and warn them.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t suppose you want to come along for the ride?” There’s a curious lilt in his voice.

  My heart skips a beat. “Do you mean it? I’d love to!”

  He raises and eyebrow. “You want to go into a nest of vampires and to the local pack to tell them Nash’s girlfriend’s also dead?” Curiosity has changed to something closer to amusement.

  “It beats sitting around and waiting for whoever is out there to finally come get me.”

  He waits a beat, staring hard into my eyes. The green is more prominent in his irises, his pupils normal. He’s fed recently. There’re never reports of drained victims anymore. Anywhere, really. I wonder how they do it, if it’s like the movies where they go to the blood bank now, or if they can just feed a little at a time. It seems rude to ask, so I keep quiet. Finally, he smiles, showing his fangs. “That’s a good answer.” I don’t tell him that the sight of his fangs fills me with a rush of need that’s so potent it’s almost sexual. The magic I could do with those fangs. Finding and killing my parent’s murderer would be easy. It would also be deadly for me to even try to get one. I’m wishing I’d never used Nash’s molars, or my uncle’s. If wishes were cows, we’d all be eating steak.

  When I stand up to leave, he hands me Respect. The bat hums as I grab it, like it was waiting for my touch. Cool. I start for the door, but Benji grabs my hand to stop me. He’s being super affectionate. First the hug, now the hand? I look pointedly at it.

  “We’ll go out the window. I don’t want David to see us leave.”

  “Wait, what? Why not?”

  “Something smells off about him.”

  “Off like I need to go warn Ingrid to double glove him?”

  Benji pauses, startled. “What does ‘double glove’ mean?”

  Heat tickles my cheeks. “I assumed you meant he smelled sick. They’re sleeping together, so ‘double glove’ means he needs to, uh, put two condoms on. To keep from passing it to her.”

  “I miss fruit, but I don’t miss contraception or risk of disease,” he mutters and makes a face. “No, I don’t mean that. I mean he smells like...” he shrugs. “Danger, maybe. Not to Ingrid, not right now at least, but like he just carries it around with him.”

  There’s so much information in what he’s said that I’m still absorbing it as he opens the window to my bedroom. “I can’t jump out my window, Benji. We’re two floors up.”

  “I can carry you.”

  Then he scoops me in his arms, my bat weirdly cradled between us, and ducks out the window.

  You know how in movies when the strong supernatural whoever carries the girl and falls and she just looks pretty and graceful as they descend and land? This is nothing like that. He might be able to handle jumping from two floors up, but physics still applies. His arms tighten to keep me close but my stomach is in my throat like I’m dropping on The Tower of Terror amusement ride. And when he hits the ground, knees bending, he absorbs most of the fall.

  But not all of it.

  My teeth jar into each other and my bones mash a bit, sending protest and pain through my limbs. But nothing is broken and when he sets me on my feet, I can stand. A wave of dizziness swoops in, then out. I take a deep breath. My bat rests on the ground like a cane, supporting my weight.

  “You okay?”

  Shaking my body a bit, I can tell everything is fine. Except for my heart, which is thudding so hard it hurts. “Good enough. I wouldn’t want to try that off a skyscr
aper.”

  “Oh, no, me neither. I’d go splat and it would take hours for my body to put itself together. You’d be soup. My car is this way.”

  He parked at the edge of our lot, in the shadows. I can see why.

  Benji has a sweet ride. It’s a black Porsche Spyder, low and sexy, it’s curves reflecting the low light of the street lamp a few feet away. It’s one of those “I look fast and expensive” cars without being overly flashy or ostentatious. He pats it. “A 918. She’s a hybrid, too.”

  “Vampires care about the environment?”

  He gives me a wry look. “No offense, but I’m immortal. The environment is a huge concern. You’ll be dead and I’ll be living in a hot-boxed landfill if we aren’t careful.”

  “Touché.” I sort of fall into the car seat because it’s so low, but baby, that leather is there to cradle me. Inside is sleek, too, and I’m more than a little in love. “This car is amazing.”

  “Some things are worth splurging on. Besides, if we’re going to hit the nest and the pack tonight, we need speed on our side.”

  “Right.” I buckle in.

  The drive in Benji’s car is so different from driving in my car that they can’t even be compared. For one, the Spyder feels like it’s flying instead of driving. Since we hit over one hundred miles an hour with ease (and often), I can’t even watch the landscape. Secondly, it hugs the turns. As we wind along the Blue Ridge Parkway, I feel the centrifugal force with each curve of the road, but there’s no sliding, no peeling. Benji gives me a wink and then speeds up more.

  I can’t help it, I scream. But I’m laughing, too, because it’s exhilarating.

  With anyone else, I’d be terrified for my life. Actually, with anyone else we’d already be wrapped around a tree. But the competent car has an even more talented driver, and I’m able to relax as much as you can when zooming through the mountains at night.

  “Is the nest a secret?” This is something I should have thought of before. The location of nests is rarely promoted. There’s strength in groups of paranormals, but also danger. A group of vampires, for example, are vulnerable during the day. I’m about to know where they sleep.