“You told me how you met Bran, but what made you agree to work for him?” If he had so much distrust for the monsters why would he agree to do their bidding?
One corner of his mouth barely moved in an almost-smile. “I used to kill monsters. Period. I saw them as heartless beasts and never got to know any of them.” He sighed, shook his head, and leaned against the wall. “A female friend and I occasionally team up on tough cases. I don’t make friends easily, and the few I have, I’m protective of. She started dating a Strigorii — powerful, but not as strong as Abbott.”
He was quiet long enough I wondered if he’d continue, but I stayed still until he kept going. “I thought he’d mind-controlled her, and I went to save her. It was bad, with me disabling the vampire and seconds from taking his heart, and her drawing down on me to keep me from killing him. We finally worked through it, and she went to him and fucking let him drink from her to heal the damage I inflicted.” He shook his head. “She’s immune to vampire mind stuff, but I assumed he’d found a way around it. An hour with them and I realized it wasn’t the case — she really cared about him.” He sighed. “I didn’t understand how she could...” Another sigh. “I walked away from our friendship. A few years later we were both hired for the same job and didn’t know until we arrived. I couldn’t understand how she could still be killing vampires if she was fucking them too. She finally got it through my thick skull that vampires don’t all give in to their killer nature. As it turned out, she had some vamps help us on that case and I got to see a few of the good ones in action.”
“Do you love her?”
Damn, sometimes I forget not to be a therapist. I realized I was about to lose the conversation as I saw his eyes changing and his expression closing off. As a therapist, I’d have challenged him and kept him talking, but I wasn’t there to help him work through his shit, and he wasn’t asking for help. I quickly switched gears. “Okay, that tells me about the vamps. What about the shifters?”
“Shifters mostly fall into two categories — the ones who let their animal nature rule, and the ones who fight to keep the human side in charge. The new ones are dangerous until they gain control, but most are okay once they learn to manage their animal side, assuming they want to live as a human. While it may be true there are good and bad — just like people — the difference is the bad ones have the capability of doing so much more harm than a human. With their strength and heightened senses, it’s like turning a superhero loose on the population.” He shrugged. “ Even for those who’ve managed control for years or decades, there’s always a danger of them skipping a meal and then having shitty unforeseen circumstances trigger their animal so they lose control.”
“You know what I do for a living, right?”
“You’re a shrink.”
No, but close enough. “A while back, some vampires and shifters started coming to me, knowing they could level with me about the things going on in their lives. They could tell me everything, not just the human parts. Vampires can tell me they’ve been together over a hundred years, and that their problem is with their spouse’s human companion.”
“But you didn’t know about this other side of their psyche?”
“Not in quite the way you’ve worded it, but I’ve had the gist of it. I’ve seen the shapeshifters fight for control when they’re stressed, and I’ve heard the way they sometimes talk about making deals with their animals.” It was time for me to see how much I could get from him. “Do you know why Chattanooga’s drawn so many Alphas?”
He shook his head. “No. But it’s troubling.”
“I’ve been told the Celrau are evil, and all are bad. Have you ever found a Celrau who chose to do good?”
“No. In theory, I guess it could happen — a really good person changed against their will who finds a way to survive. Maybe by only finding people in the act of a crime and waiting to kill them on the full moon?” He shrugged and shook his head again. “I think the act of becoming a Celrau mutates them so they truly become the monster, like maybe it kills the moral center of their brain, because they all seem to be the worst sort of sociopath.
“I’m probably not supposed to tell you this, but there are shifters like that — when they change it isn’t possible for them to control the beast they become. They can’t be taught control because the human parts of them aren’t present when they change. It’s a different race of shifters than what you’ve met. I’ve encountered a few of the wolves, called vilkachi or sometimes loup-garou. Those are two different races — they look different but they act similar, and both are nice enough when in human form. Their animals aren’t at all present when they’re human, so they’re safe as long as they lock themselves up on the full moon.”
He left the bathroom, walked to the bottom of the steps, looked up them, walked back to me, and closed the bathroom door again. “They only turn wolf on nights when the moon is full, but they lose all consciousness and become a monster. When human again, they have no memory of what they did while changed. The responsible ones lock themselves away the three nights of the full moon. The rest of the month they have extra strength and some heightened senses, but usually not so much as a regular werewolf. They’re practically impossible to kill in any form.”
“You’ve killed them?”
“Let’s turn the water off and go back into the other room.”
“You didn’t answer the question.”
“You’re correct.”
Great. A wise-ass. I wasn’t sure why he’d told me as much as he had — perhaps he saw me as another human who would help him kill monsters? I hoped not. I mean, sure, if it was a question of me or them, I’d do it. But to go out and hunt for them for money? A monster assassin? No.
“Thanks for the talk,” I told him as we turned everything off. “I’m serious about you making sure Lauren’s safe first. I hope you’re good with that now that you’ve met her.”
“I never make promises I’m not sure I can follow through on, but I’ll do my best to keep you both safe.”
Lauren was reading her book when I returned to our room, and she handed me a notepad as I neared the bed.
He likes slicing things up. I saw him cutting the heart out of people and monsters. A lot of them. Also, this is going to sound crazy but he looked like Van Helsing in the Dracula movie for a split second. He wasn’t grossed out when he cut the hearts out. He was so cold.
I read it through a couple of times before I tore the page from the notebook, ripped it into tiny pieces, walked to our en suite bathroom, and flushed the pieces.
“It’ll all work out,” I told her, my voice soft. “Thanks for telling me. It’s probably important.”
I considered the implications of Ryan being some kind of Van Helsing type person. He was open minded enough to acknowledge he’d been wrong about all supernaturals being monsters, but had he been trained from childhood to fight them? How early had he been indoctrinated?
“I’m hungry,” said Lauren, interrupting my internal thoughts. I rolled my eyes and grinned at her — she’s a size zero and is always hungry. I don’t know where she puts it.
“Let’s go find food.”
Chapter 11
Fluffy was in the kitchen when we entered, sitting at the table with a tablet and a cup of coffee. Bran hadn’t told us his real name when he’d introduced us, and something told me it was best not to ask. He looked just like Chef from South Park, with the voice to go with it.
“What can I get for you ladies?” he asked as we stepped into his domain.
“I’m not hungry, but Lauren will probably eat whatever you have that’ll take the least amount of time to prepare.”
“Sit at my table and let Fluffy fix you something.” He narrowed his eyes at Lauren a second before smiling. “Vegetable omelet? Or maybe loaded fries?”
“How’d you know I’m a vegetarian?”
“It’s my job to know what the people I’m feeding like, little lady.”
“Loaded fries woul
d be great, what can we put on them?”
I fixed myself a glass of ice water while they worked out what was going on the potatoes, and went on alert as I heard people coming in from the front porch.
“It’s okay, mama bear,” Fluffy told me. “It’s our people.”
I wasn’t going to leave Lauren alone with someone she didn’t know — not even to walk into another room — so I stepped to the doorway and looked into the great room. Ryan, Nathan, Tyler, Cora, and Randall entered the room, and Cora looked at them and came to me.
“I’ll hang out with Lauren while she eats. I wouldn’t mind a burger and some of those loaded fries myself. You go talk to the guys.”
Ryan nodded into one of the bedrooms, and ordered me to take my shirt off as he stuck his head into the small closet.
I crossed my arms and waited to see what he retrieved, and my brow furrowed when he came out with some kind of vest, but there were a lot of straps. It was on a hanger, and was flesh colored, and it looked like the straps would loop under my groin. The vest was long and would go down past my hips.
“Body armor?”
The door opened, and Nathan stepped inside and closed the door behind him. “Yeah,” Nathan said with a pointed look towards Ryan. “I can handle this if you don’t want to undress in front of Ryan.”
I shook my head. “He saw me in my bathing suit — he can see me in a bra, but do I really need to wear that?”
“Humor us,” said Nathan. “Try it on.”
I pulled my t-shirt over my head, and Ryan settled the vest on my shoulders. He was the consummate professional as he helped me with the straps, but with Nathan staring at him, I wasn’t surprised.
I stepped away from them both to move my arms around and get a feel for the fit. “It isn’t restrictive, and it’s more comfortable than I expected.”
“It’s top of the line, and custom made for your measurements,” said Nathan.
“Who paid for it?”
“Drake Security. You’ll have use of it on ops in the future.”
“Who paid the rush fees to have something custom made without waiting months to get it?”
“What were you and Ryan talking about with the television, radio, and water going earlier?”
“If we’d wanted you to know, we wouldn’t have turned everything on.”
His tilted head clearly told me he had no intention of answering my question, either, and he motioned to the center of the room as he told me to do some kicks and jumps.
I complied, and pretended I had a quarterstaff as I executed some complex twirls and leaps. While I was testing it, Ryan asked, “Do you believe in soul mates?”
I stopped moving and looked at him a second, but his face didn’t give anything away.
“How philosophical do you want to get?”
Nathan groaned, but Ryan said, “Try me.”
“Why don’t we save that conversation for later?” I answered. “I’d like to be let in on the game plan for the next couple of days.”
“Everyone’s accounted for,” said Ryan, “but you should make sure your exchange student doesn’t intend to come home.”
He handed me a cellphone, and I assumed he’d done something so no one could find us if they were monitoring her phone. I called Xiaolan and asked if she’d be okay staying with her boyfriend again, or if she wanted to go to my parent’s house. She switched to Mandarin to tell me he’d gone out of his way to invite her to stay longer than the weekend. I made a mental note to thank Randall later, but merely asked her to touch base in the evenings to let me know where she was spending the night.
“Any instructions about the vest?” I asked Ryan when I’d disconnected the call and returned the phone. “Am I going to have to wear it all the time, or only when we’re suiting up for battle?”
“This is one of the newest vests — the older ones protected against bullets, but not claws or teeth unless you added heavier shielding. This one will provide limited protection from claws and knives, but not from shifter or vampire teeth. It can only help against claws for a little while — the fabric will eventually give way, so don’t depend on it to do something it wasn’t designed to do. We’ll talk as we go about when you should wear it and when it probably isn’t necessary.”
Nathan looked at his watch. “We’ll get Lauren to your parents’ house before dark, and we’re meeting at Abbott’s coterie house for a strategy session.”
He and Ryan exchanged a glance that told me I wasn’t going to like that particular conversation, but I squared my shoulders and focused on the task at hand — making sure Lauren was safe.
“I’m assuming I don’t need the vest right now?”
“Put your shirt on over it,” said Ryan. “We’re about to travel. When you aren’t wearing it, hang it in your closet and be careful it has air around it and isn’t crushed. One time won’t hurt it, but the better care you take of it, the better care it’ll take of you.”
Everyone seemed to know where they were assigned, which meant duties had been given out and I hadn’t been privy. I’d needed the time with Lauren, but once she went to my parents’ house I was going to insist they let me in on the plans.
I hugged Josh goodbye and assured him the Drake guys staying with him could protect him.
Nathan, Ryan, Lauren, Smokey, and I left in a Sherpa, with an Explorer both in front and behind us full of our other guards. The Explorers stopped on the street out of sight of my parents, Nathan pulled the Sherpa into the driveway, and I walked Lauren and Smokey in with their bags. A ten-minute conversation with my parents about Lauren’s practice schedule for the rest of the week, and I was back outside with Nathan and Ryan.
“Okay, guys,” I told them as I climbed into the backseat. “Out with it. What’s the game plan to keep Josh and me safe?” I hadn’t pushed for information with Lauren around, but it was time for them to let me in on the game plan. We’d left people at the house to protect Josh, but the heavyweights were mostly with me.
“We have Abbott and his people,” said Nathan, “and I’m bringing in a few Drake employees to help with the perimeter. I’m glad Mordecai’s back, but with the most recent arrival, I’d feel better if Aaron were here.”
Ryan seemed flabbergasted as he exclaimed, “We don’t have to protect her from him! Her life will be safe with him around — the Celrau won’t be able to touch her.”
“Yes, but at what cost?” asked Nathan.
“Someone, please explain!” I hate being kept in the dark.
Nathan nodded to the lead Explorer as we approached them, and the driver pulled in front of us as the other fell in behind. When he was satisfied we were set up correctly, he asked, “What do you know of the myths about Adonis?”
“Please tell me I haven’t drawn the attention of yet another ancient legend?”
“What do you know of him?” Nathan repeated.
I searched my memory. “His mom was turned into a tree when pregnant with him, and he burst out of the tree when he was born. He had a relationship with Aphrodite, and I think they had kids together... but didn’t he die? He was a great hunter, and the myths have him being killed by a boar on the hunt. And, of course, his beauty is the biggest legend of all.”
Nathan nodded. “You have most of the pertinent bits. He pissed off a bunch of gods, including Ares. The rumors say he faked his death and ran off with someone, though who the someone is changes depending on who’s telling the story. I don’t think anyone born in the past two or three thousand years knows for sure. Mordecai’s waiting for us at Abbott’s, and he can tell us more. Since the sun isn’t down yet, we’re going to them. Bran’s already there, trying to convince Abbott to let Ryan into the basement so he can be part of the conversation.”
I looked at Ryan. “Abbott doesn’t trust you.”
Ryan faced forward and didn’t respond.
I met Nathan’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “Why not just use a speakerphone and let Ryan be in on it from outside? That way he’s part of
the conversation and can keep watch on things up above at the same time.”
I don’t remember the minute-by-minute details of what happened next. We were driving down a country road on a section with almost no houses when the landscape around us suddenly flipped every direction as we tumbled end-over-end through a field. My seatbelt locked me in as it’s supposed to, but every impact with the ground hurt as I flopped around like a rag doll. Airbags deployed, but we were still tumbling across the field long after they deflated. I don’t know when the landscape stopped tumbling and I realized we were the ones somersaulting and banging our way across the cow fields, and I have no idea how our car managed to miss all the cows.
When we finally came to a stop, I was dazed, hurt, nauseated, and possibly in shock. The Sherpa was on its side and I was hanging awkwardly in my seatbelt, and the first thing that came to my mind was relief Smokey hadn’t been in the back. I should’ve gone into defense mode, but my thoughts were buried in mush and my head hurt. I touched my cheek and whined in pain — it must’ve hit the side window before it broke.
Nathan kicked through the front windshield, and Ryan leapt out with a gun aimed and ready to fire. Nathan looked me over before springing out of the broken windshield as well.
I got myself free of the seatbelt and used my levitation to keep from crashing to the ground as the sounds of battle reached me, but the effort was almost too much for my pounding head. It seemed all the people in our lead and tail cars were fighting, but I was in no shape to help.
I stayed between the seats until I could get my bearings. It was so hard to think, and my eyes weren’t working right.
“Ryan wants me to take you to Abbott’s,” Marco said as he neared the wrecked Sherpa. I hadn’t seen him until he was close, and I worried even more at my state of mind.
Of Humans and Monsters Page 10