“You must be Detective Padgett,” I said.
He nodded and dropped my hand, smiling wonderfully. Smiling made him look even younger. If he hadn’t been nearly Dolph’s height, he’d have had real trouble with being authoritative. But a lot of people mistake height for in charge. I’ve struggled against the opposite reaction most of my life.
He put a hand across my shoulders and led me away from the werewolves. I didn’t much care for the hand on my shoulders. If I’d been a guy, he wouldn’t have done it. I let him herd me to one side, then stepped out of the circle of his arm. Didn’t make a point of it, just did it. Who says I haven’t mellowed?
“Fill me in,” I said.
He did. It was pretty much what Dolph had told me. The only addition was that it had been Lorraine who slammed the man into the wall, which explained her tears. She probably thought she’d be going to jail. I couldn’t promise she wouldn’t be. If she’d been a human female that had just saved a policeman’s life by inadvertently killing a bad guy, she wouldn’t go to jail, not today. But she wasn’t human, and the law isn’t even-handed, or blind, no matter what we’d like to believe.
“Let me test my understanding here,” I said. “The officer on the door was down. The shooter had the gun pointed at the officer’s head and was about to deliver the coup de grâce when the woman dived into him. Her momentum carried them both back into the far wall, where he hit his head. That about right?”
Padgett glanced at his notes. “Yeah, that’s about right.”
“Why is she in handcuffs?”
His eyes widened, and he gave me his best little boy smile. Detective Padgett was a charmer. Didn’t matter that he looked like a scarecrow, he was accustomed to getting by on charm. At least with women. I was betting his act had worked even less well on Lorraine.
“She’s a lycanthrope,” he said smiling, as if that explained it all.
“She tell you that?” I asked.
He looked startled. “No.”
“You assumed she was a shapeshifter because why?”
The smile wilted, replaced by a frown that made him look petulant rather than angry. “She threw a man into a wall hard enough to crack his skull.”
“Little old ladies lift cars off their grandchildren. Does that make them lycanthropes?”
“No, but…” His face closed down, defensive.
“I’m told you don’t like shapeshifters much, Padgett.”
“How I feel personally doesn’t interfere with my job.”
I laughed, and it startled him. “Padgett, how we feel personally always affects our job. I came here pissed because I’d had a fight with an ex-boyfriend, so I got in Murdock’s face about his holster. Why don’t you like lycanthropes, Padgett?”
“They give me the creeps, okay.”
I had an idea. “Literally?” I asked.
“What do you mean, literally?”
“Does being around shapeshifters actually make your skin creep?”
He glanced up towards where the other cops were clustered. He bent forward and lowered his voice, and I knew I was right. “It’s like bugs crawling on my skin every time I’m around them.” He didn’t look twelve now. The fear and the loathing in his face showed lines that put him closer to thirty than twenty.
“You’re feeling their energy, their aura.”
He jerked back from me. “The hell I am.”
“Look, Padgett, I knew you were psychic the second I shook your hand.”
“You’re full of shit,” he said. He was scared, scared of himself.
“Dolph’s put the word out for any cops that have talent in this area. Why didn’t you apply?”
“I am not a freak,” he said.
“Ah, the truth comes out. You’re not afraid of lycanthropes. You’re afraid of you.”
He raised a large fist, not to hit me, but just somewhere for his anger to go. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“They make my skin crawl, too, Padgett.”
That calmed him, a little. “How can you stand to be near them?”
I shrugged. “You get used to it.”
He shook his head, almost shivering. “I’d never get used to this.”
“They aren’t doing it on purpose, Detective. Some shapeshifters are better at hiding what they are than others, but all of them give off more energy during strong emotions. The more you questioned them, the more distressed they got, the more energy they gave off, and the creepier you felt.”
“I had the woman in a room alone and I thought my skin was going to crawl off my body.”
“Wait, alone? Did you Mirandize her?”
He nodded.
“Did she tell you anything?”
He shook his head. “Not a damn word.”
“What about the others?”
“The men didn’t do anything.”
“Are they free to go?”
“The big one won’t leave her and the other one is in the room with the two injured ones. Says he can’t leave them unguarded. I told him that we could take care of it. He said, apparently not.”
I agreed with Kevin. “You’ve got witnesses that say she didn’t mean to hurt the man. He isn’t even dead yet. Why is she still here in handcuffs?”
“She has already killed one man today. I think that’s enough,” he said.
“Two things, Detective. First, she could snap those cuffs any time she wanted to. Second, if she were human, you’d have let her go home by now.”
“That’s not true,” he said.
I looked at him. He tried to stare me down, but he flinched first. He said, looking at a spot above my head, “The man is dying. If I let her go, she could skip out.”
“Skip out on what? She saw a cop about to get his head blown off and jumped an armed man to save him. She didn’t cut him up. She pushed him into a wall. Trust me, Detective, if she’d meant to kill him, it would have been a more thorough job. She risked her life to save one of your own.”
“She didn’t risk anything. Bullets don’t hurt lycanthropes.”
“Silver bullets do. They work just like real ammo on a human. Every hit that they’ve investigated today had silver ammo, Padgett. Lorraine could have been killed, but she didn’t hesitate. If she had, we’d have a dead cop on our hands. How many citizens would risk their lives to save a cop?”
He finally looked at me, eyes so angry they’d darkened two shades of blue. “You’ve made your point.”
“Have I?”
He nodded. “Yes.” He walked back down towards the waiting uniforms and the sobbing werewolf. “Uncuff her.”
Murdock said, “Sir?”
“Do it, Murdock,” Padgett said.
He didn’t question it again, just knelt in front of Lorraine and unlocked the cuffs. His partner on the other side unsnapped his holster and took two big steps back. I let it go. We were winning, no need to fight.
As soon as her hands were free, Lorraine threw herself at me. I knew she didn’t mean any harm, but I could hear the leather clearing down the hallway. I raised my voice and said, “It’s okay, guys. She’s okay. Ease down.”
Lorraine was on her knees, arms locked around my legs, sobbing full out, loud and messy. I held a hand pointed palm out to either end of the hallway. Teddy stood and half the guns swiveled to cover him. We were on the verge of having things go really wrong.
“Padgett, get ahold of your men.” I spared a glanced back at him and found his gun out, pointed at Teddy. Shit.
“Padgett, put up your gun and they’ll follow your lead.”
“Have him sit down,” Padgett said, voice even and very serious.
“Teddy,” I said softly, “sit back down, very slowly, no sudden moves.”
“I haven’t done anything,” he said.
“Doesn’t matter, just do it, please.”
He sat back down under the watchful eyes of half a dozen guns. He put his big hands on his knees, palms down showing he was unarmed. Like he’d had practice try
ing to look harmless.
“Now put your gun up, Detective,” I said.
Padgett looked at me for a second. I thought he wasn’t going to do it. I looked into those big blue eyes and saw something dangerous. A fear so deep and wide that he needed to destroy the thing he feared. He put the gun up, but that one moment of nakedness in his eyes had been enough. I’d talk to Dolph and see if Padgett had any shapeshifter kills to his credit. I’d almost have bet that he did. Cleared of charges didn’t always mean innocent.
I patted the top of Lorraine’s head. “It’s all right. Everything’s all right.” I had to get them out of here. The good guys were almost as big a threat as the bad ones.
She looked up at me, eyes puffy, nose running. Real crying is like real sex. If you really do it, it isn’t pretty. “I didn’t mean to hurt him,” she whispered.
“I know.” I glanced at the police up and down the hallway. Some of them avoided my eyes. I shook my head and helped her stand. “I’m taking them into Stephen and Nathaniel’s room with me, Detective Padgett. Any objections?”
He just shook his head.
“Great. Come on, Teddy.”
“I can stand up?” he asked.
I looked at Padgett. “You think you and your people can hold the Rambo routine?”
“If he behaves himself, sure.” Padgett wasn’t trying to be charming anymore. I think he was embarrassed about the show. I knew he was still angry, maybe at me, maybe at himself. I didn’t care as long as he didn’t start shooting.
“You got a uniform inside the room?” I asked.
He gave one curt nod.
“Is he as trigger-happy as the rest of you, or can I open the door without being shot at?”
Padgett strode to the door and knocked on it. “Smith, it’s Padgett. Detective coming in.” He opened the door with a flourish and ushered Lorraine and me in.
I looked at the young uniform seated just inside the door. Kevin was slumped down in a chair across from him, an unlit cigarette in the corner of his mouth. The werewolf looked at me, and one look was enough—not a happy camper. It wasn’t just nicotine withdrawal either.
I half-pushed Lorraine into the room, then walked back to Teddy. I held my left hand out to him, and he took it. I helped him stand, though he didn’t need the help. “Thank you,” he said, and he didn’t mean for helping him stand up.
“No problem,” I said. I escorted him back to the room. Once they were both safely inside, I turned to Padgett.
“We need to talk. I’d prefer private if I could be guaranteed no one will get shot while I’m gone.”
“You okay in here, Smith?” he asked.
The young cop said, “I’m fine. I like animals.”
The look on Teddy’s face was scary even to me. That otherworldly energy was rising like a warm, stinging tide. “If the nice policeman behaves himself, then so do the rest of you,” I said.
Teddy stared right at me. “I know how to follow orders.”
“Great, shall we find some place private, Detective Padgett?”
His breath was coming fast, almost a pant. He was feeling the rising energy, too. “We can talk right here. I’m not leaving one of my men alone with these things.”
“I’m okay, boss,” the young cop said.
“You’re not afraid?” Padgett asked. It was a question that cops seldom ask each other. They ask, are you all right. They admit to being nervous. Never scared.
Officer Smith’s eyes widened a little, but he shook his head. “I know Crossman. He’s a good guy. She saved his life.” Smith sat up a little straighter in his chair, said softly, “These aren’t the bad guys.”
A tic started in Padgett’s cheek. He opened his mouth, closed it, then turned abruptly on his heel and left. The door slid shut behind him. We all stood in the suddenly thick silence.
Stephen said, “Anita.” He held his hand out to me. His face was flawless, no scars, no marks of any kind. I took his hand and smiled.
“I know you guys heal fast, but it’s still impressive. You looked pretty bad last time I saw you.”
“I looked worse,” a soft male voice said. Nathaniel was awake in the other bed. His long auburn hair hung like a shining curtain around his face, maybe longer than waist-length. I’d never seen a man with hair that long. I couldn’t see his face because I was too busy staring at his eyes. They were the color of lilacs, a wonderful pale lavender that was a genuine showstopper. It took me a few seconds of staring to be able to see the rest of his face. He looked a few years older awake than he had unconscious—nineteen instead of sixteen, maybe. He still looked drawn and tired, ill, but there was a vast improvement.
“Yeah, you looked worse,” I said.
Stephen turned to Officer Smith like they were old friends. “Can we have a few minutes alone?”
Smith looked at me. “Okay with you?”
I nodded.
He stood. “I don’t know how Padgett’s going to like it, so if you want to exchange secret codes or anything, make it fast.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Don’t mention it.” He stopped in front of Lorraine before he left. “Thank you. Crossman has a wife and two daughters. I know they’d thank you if they could.”
Lorraine blushed and nodded, mumbling, “You’re welcome.”
Smith left, and I walked over to Nathaniel’s bed. “Nice to meet you while you’re conscious.”
He tried to smile, but the effort showed. He held out his left hand to me, the right hand was still hooked up to an IV drip.
I took his hand. His grip was tremblingly weak. He drew my hand towards his mouth as if to kiss it. I let him do it. The effort made his hand shake.
He pressed his lips to my hand, eyes closed, almost as if he were resting. For a second I thought he’d passed out, but his tongue flicked out, a quick wetness.
I jerked back, fighting the urge to wipe my hand on my jeans. “Thanks, a handshake would have been fine.”
He frowned up at me. “But you’re our léoparde lionné,” he said.
“So people keep telling me,” I said.
He turned his head so he could see Stephen. “You lied to me.” Tears trembled in his pale, pale eyes. “She won’t feed us.”
I looked at Stephen. “I have missed part of this conversation, haven’t I?”
“Have you seen Richard share blood with the pack?”
I started to say no, then, “I saw him let Jason feed off of a knife wound once. Jason seemed almost drugged from it.”
Stephen nodded. “That’s it. Gabriel could share blood.”
My eyes widened. “I didn’t think he was strong enough to do that.”
“Neither did we.” This from Kevin. He came to stand near me, cigarette transferred, still unlit, to his left hand. “It’s been very interesting listening to Nathaniel talk about Gabriel. Nathaniel was addicted to heroin and a street whore when Gabriel rescued him, gave him a second life.”
“Bully for him, getting him off drugs, but Gabriel still pimped him out. To a sicker clientele.”
Kevin patted Nathaniel’s leg under the sheet, a casual gesture, like you’d pat a dog. “But Nat here likes it, don’t you, boy?”
Nathaniel looked at him and said softly, “Yes.”
“Please, tell me you didn’t enjoy being gutted.”
He closed his eyes. “No, not that. But until then it was…”
“That’s all right,” I said. Something occurred to me. “Have you told the police who did this to you?”
“He doesn’t know,” Kevin said. He put the ever-present cig back in his mouth, as if just the taste of the paper was sweet.
“What do you mean, he doesn’t know?” I asked.
Stephen answered, “Zane chained and blindfolded him, then left. That was the deal. Nathaniel never saw them.”
“Them?” I made it a question.
Stephen nodded. “Them.”
I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Do you remember anythin
g unique or different that might help identify them?”
“Perfume like gardenias, and a sickly smell.”
Great, I thought, that was helpful.
He looked full at me, and suddenly his eyes weren’t just dull with illness. I realized they were dull with experience. It went beyond jaded, as if Nathaniel had looked into the lower rungs of hell. He’d lived to tell the tale, but he hadn’t really survived, not intact.
“I remember the perfume. I’d recognize it again if I smelled it.”
“Okay, Nathaniel, okay.” In the bottom of the awful emptiness of his eyes was panic. He was scared, unbelievably scared. I patted his hand, and when his fingers curled around mine, I held on. “No one will ever hurt you like that again, Nathaniel. I promise you that.”
“You’ll take care of me?” He looked up at me with a need in his eyes that was so raw, so primitive, I would have promised him anything to chase that look away.
“Yes, I’ll take care of you.”
His whole body relaxed. A tension running out of him like water from a cracked cup. I felt it run down his arm into his hand into me like a jolt of energy. It made me jump, but I didn’t pull away.
He smiled up at me, lying back against the pillows. He looked a little better somehow, stronger.
I slid my hand out of his slowly, and he let me go. Great. I turned to the rest of the room. “We need to get you all out of here.”
“I could go home now,” Stephen said, “but Nathaniel still can’t be moved.”
“I don’t trust the cops without me here to act as a buffer.”
“Padgett is very afraid of us,” Teddy said.
I nodded. “I know.”
“Feed me,” Nathaniel said. “Give me your strength, and I will go with you.”
I frowned at him, then looked back at Stephen. “He’s not seriously suggesting I open a vein for him, is he?”
“Richard could do it,” Stephen said.
“Richard couldn’t feed one of the leopards,” Lorraine said, “only us.”
“Raina could have fucked him back to health,” Kevin said.
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