by E G Bateman
To distract herself from the wait, she stood and went to the window. The car was there again. A coincidence? Probably not.
When she glanced at the clock, she saw a fly walking across its face. She approached it slowly and smacked it with her yellow legal pad, then took it down and wiped the brown stain from its face with a tissue. As she polished the glass front, she considered returning it to its place, but the sound of footsteps on the stairs made her lean it against the wall on top of the filing cabinet. She returned to her chair.
The man knocked and opened the door. Three deep, angry scratches raked his face. One went through his left eye, which was half brown and half milky-white. He looked nervously around the office.
“Are you Dolores? I’m Eric. We spoke on the phone.”
“Come in, Eric.” She looked at the clock. “You’re exactly on time.”
He glanced at the clock as well and smiled nervously at her.
“Take a seat. Tell me how we can help.”
“You deal with unusual situations involving unusual…people, yes?”
“That’s correct.” She leaned forward.
The man looked around the room. “I’m sorry, but have you just arrived or are you moving out?”
“We’re preparing to decorate. So, your problem?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be intrusive but I don’t want to hire you and have you disappear on me.”
“Eric. I’d like to save you the effort of bullshitting me. Why don’t you tell me what Kindred wants?” Dolores asked.
Eric ceased wringing his hands and straightened in his chair.
“Thank you, Dolores. I respect expediency.” As he spoke, the scratches vanished from his face but the half-white eye remained. “You were involved in taking something of ours.”
“As you can see, Eric, I don’t have much.” She gestured to the sparse room. “Do you see your property in here?”
“I thought we weren’t going to bullshit.” He was unsmiling.
“Under US law, it’s no longer legal to keep people as property.”
“People, quite,” he agreed as though she had proven his point for him.
The door opened to admit an angry-looking young man and a pale, thin girl. She remained at the back of the room and leaned against the wall, while her companion walked to Dolores’s side of the desk and sat on it to stare belligerently at her. The older woman glanced at Eric with a raised eyebrow that asked why he hadn’t taught the boy any manners. His eyes flicked in irritation at the young man.
“Our asset’s disappearance has caused friction for his family. They merely want him back. We know you were hired to assist with his removal. I’d like to hire you to find him again—unless you still know where he is?”
“I’m afraid I don’t have your…asset.” She would never think of Scott as her or anyone else’s property.
The young man jumped from the desk and back-handed her across the face. She saw it coming and winced as she tried to turn her face away.
The room wavered and flickered slightly and they all saw it.
“Lucy, what was that?” Eric turned in his chair to face the girl.
“There’s a glamor on the room.” The girl closed her eyes, held a hand up, and muttered.
Dolores turned to the young man. “I see you favor the fae. Personally, I never approved of the unseelie fae blood being used in the legacy ritual. They are too…unpredictable, or perhaps I mean predictable.” She wiped blood from the corner of her mouth.
Lucy’s face tensed and eventually, she sighed. “I can’t get through the glamor.”
“I can.” The young man drew his hand back.
“Warren!” Eric snapped.
Warren glanced briefly at the man and curled his hand into a fist. Dolores tried to get out of the chair but he struck her on the side of the head and she fell beside the filing cabinet. The room wobbled, and a door appeared in the rear wall. The three of them turned to face it while she lay unmoving on the floor.
“It’s a portal.” The girl walked toward it.
“Let’s see what the bitch was hiding.” Her assailant barged past the others, caught hold of the handle, and opened the door.
Chapter Seven
Dick and Lexi reached the motel and she ran up to the room with her stilettos in her hand. Scott was watching the Cary Grant movie while playing cat’s cradle absently with a luminescent blue-white light. She observed that he was fully dressed and had his sneakers on.
“Were you planning to go somewhere?” she asked.
“Only staying ready. It felt like you would need me.” He dissolved the ethereal string instantly.
She snatched her leathers up and hurried into the bathroom.
“Dick’s waiting in the car.” She closed the door.
Seated on the end of the tub, she retrieved the vial, pulled the stopper, and shook it with her finger over the end. She stroked her fingertip over her tongue and sighed as the strength returned to her extremities and her mind cleared. These things were great and she told herself that wasn’t why she took the vamp blood but sometimes, she wondered if she was simply fooling herself. She stood quickly. No, it was to help her find the memories buried by Kindred. With her eyes closed, she sought those memories and returned to her oldest ones—brief flashes of a stolen childhood—but nothing new surfaced. She replaced the stopper and put the vial into her pocket.
Within three minutes, she was in her familiar leathers. Removing the black pendant, she slipped it into her pocket. Scott still stood in the room. “I thought you’d be in the car.”
“I won’t leave you alone. Dolores told us to look after each other. Let me fix you.”
He put his hand on her head. The pain in her nose and throat disappeared and her depleted magic re-energized.
Scott pulled his beanie on and waited at the door for her to walk through.
“What the hell happened to your car?” he asked as he stared at the dents in the bodywork, the bullet holes, and the missing back window.
“It drives okay. It’s a little wobbly at the back, but otherwise fine.” Dick sighed.
The young man looked around before he placed his hand on the vehicle. He closed his eyes and whispered. Dick gaped in surprise as the dents in the back buckled into their correct shape and the wheel straightened. When the process finished, the bullet holes weren’t perfect but at least they wouldn’t draw attention. He couldn’t put the window back so he created a glamor of one instead.
The vampire gazed from the car to him several times. “If you’d consider a change in employment, I’m wondering if I could keep you on retainer.”
“If this is a service you need regularly, I’d suggest you need a change of career.” Scott opened the back door of the car, swept the glass off the seat with his beanie, and climbed in. As they drove to their next destination, they filled him in.
The neighborhood in Cathedral City was dark and quiet. Scott cloaked them when they parked a block from Leonard’s house and prepared to walk to it. Lexi detected a curious odor but before she could step onto the street to follow it, Dick pulled her back. “This whole area smells of shifters. I’m sure they’re still around.”
“Ah, yes. That’s what it is. So if we’d followed the shifters from the party, we’d have wound up here anyway.” She looked into the darkness and although her senses were temporarily improved, she could neither see nor hear them.
“Why would they hang around if they’ve already—” Scott searched for the right words. “Uh, done something to your friend?”
“I don’t like this. Simply walking in there could be a bad idea.” She continued to scan the area all around them.
“I have to know if he’s okay. I’ll go alone.” The vampire prepared to step onto the street.
“Wait, let me.” She touched his arm. “Scott can keep me cloaked from a distance through our link.”
“Are you sure?” He sounded doubtful.
“Yes. I…feel better now.” She av
erted her face to avoid his stare.
Scott glanced at the other man. “Let’s get to the car. It’ll take a fair amount of energy. I should sit for this.”
Lexi hopped the gate of the property that backed onto Leonard’s house with ease. She walked through the garden to the wall at the rear and came face to face with a shifter in human form who hid in the bushes. She assumed a defensive posture and prepared to fight. He looked up, sniffed the air, then settled into his hiding place.
Well, I know the spell works.
She jumped the wall and hurried to Leonard’s house. The patio door hung open on a single hinge, and the home had been ransacked.
When she entered, someone she assumed was Leonard lay dead on the tiled floor. She studied the body and suspected she knew why the pack was still in the area. Her phone buzzed in her pocket. When she glanced at the caller ID, it was Dick.
“This isn’t the best time.”
“Is he?”
“Someone is. I’m sorry. The place is a mess. It appears they were looking for something.”
“Are there a couple of silver birch logs in the fireplace?” he asked.
“Yes, but I need to get out of here.” She glanced at the logs.
“One of them is hollow. The end pops out. If he found anything, it’ll be in there.”
“Surely he’d have told them.” Lexi didn’t want Dick to know the condition of the body.
If he knew anything, she was sure he’d have told them.
“Dear God. I was there last night so my prints will be all over that place,” he whispered as she disconnected.
Lexi stepped over the body to the fireplace. The second log she lifted was as heavy as the first, but when she moved it, she heard something shift inside. She puzzled for a few moments about how to open it and finally pushed the end. It clicked and came away to reveal a metallic lining, which explained the weight of the hollow log. She shook it until an envelope fell out, followed by a wad of cash. Hastily, she pocketed both items, stood, and returned to the door. She looked into the room and stroked the length of the scar.
Ablaze.
Little flames ignited all over the room. She started to leave, then turned again and stroked the scar again, “Oh, jeez, and definitely the bedroom.” A loud whoosh sounded farther inside the house. It was time to go. She was about to turn away again when a high-pitched squeal issued from inside the house. Uncertain, she stood still and listened. It came again. She looked at the flames that now rose quickly, turned away, then spun back again.
“Shit,” she muttered and raced into the house and through to the hallway. She stopped and listened but heard nothing. There were several doors, but only one was closed. Cautiously, she placed her right hand on it and pulled it away quickly. It was already hot. That would be the bedroom. She ran up the hall and glanced into the other rooms, but they were all empty.
Of course, It would have to be this room.
Reluctantly, she returned to the hot door and moved her hand over the surface. It was still cool at the bottom, so she crouched and pulled the handle down quickly as she shoved the door. Flames surged across the ceiling of the hallway in a whoosh. The room was black with toxic smoke but luckily, she didn’t have to look far. A little ball of fur lay curled and still near the entrance.
Lexi picked it up and ran. The fire in the living room was well underway now. While she needed to conserve the little magic she had remaining, she would have to create a path to protect her from the flames. She used the magic, held the unresponsive creature to her, and bolted along the edge of the room to the exit. In the last moments, the flames licked at her left side, and the sharp smell of burning hair caught her nose.
She sprinted through the garden, hopped the wall as best she could with her bundle, and hurried through the neighbor’s yard. Halfway across the lawn, she became aware of a snorting sound behind her. She turned to where the shifter sniffed the air where she had come over the wall. The spell was wearing off. She wasn’t sure if he’d be susceptible to a spell in his wolf form, but she stroked the unhealing scar and whispered, “Sleep.”
Instead of falling asleep as had happened when she’d used this spell previously, the young man staggered and shook his head as though trying to shake off a dizzy spell. Protecting herself from the flames had used the magic reserves. When she realized this moment of distraction was all she would get, she ran to the shifter, who was still unaware of her, and launched a kick to the side of his head. He dropped like a stone. She hopped over the gate and ran to the car.
“Move it.” She leapt in.
Dick complied and they accelerated away. His face was like thunder.
“Maybe that wasn’t him.” Lexi patted the face of what appeared to be a French bulldog puppy.
“A mole on his face here?” Dick asked and pointed to the lower jaw on the right side of his face. She looked at him and nodded.
His gaze moved to the dog. “Marcel doesn’t look good.”
She fixed him with a horrified look. “Tell me he didn’t have any more pets.”
“No, Marcel’s the only one.”
“Why didn’t the shifters leave after they killed him?” His gaze moved from her to the rearview mirror.
“It wasn’t shifters who killed him. He was murdered by a vampire,” she told him.
“He was what?” He almost lost control of the car in his surprise but regained it quickly.
“That’s why they were there. The guys in the trucks were simply to delay us so they could get into position around the house and catch you. I think it was a trap.”
“The deeper into this mess we get, the less sense it makes.” Dick glanced at the puppy.
“That means Kindred either is or will soon be in town. Scott, I’m out. Can you help me?” She looked into the back of the car and frowned when she realized her friend was sprawled unconscious across the back seat.
“He’s okay, isn’t he? He only slumped a minute or so before you appeared.”
“He’ll be fine. What he did takes a ton of energy. He needs to recoup but I need help.” Lexi stretched awkwardly and touched Scott’s knee for a few moments.
She put her hand on the little dog’s chest and whispered, “Breathe.”
The animal lay still for another two seconds before he coughed and barked feebly several times. He whimpered, wobbled to his feet, turned in her lap, and flopped again.
“Oh.” She wasn’t sure what to do and shook him gently.
“He’s okay. His heart’s beating stronger now.” Dick stroked the dog briefly. “Poor little guy.”
They reached the vampire’s house and Lexi shook Scott awake. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.” He yawned and climbed out of the car, although he wobbled slightly and leaned against the car. “Mostly.”
“Great. Hold this.” She thrust the puppy at him and his face lit up.
“Can we—” he began.
“No, we can’t keep it.” She shook her head as they walked into the house.
The three of them gathered in the hallway and watched Jesús, who had his back to them and was mopping the floor. He had EarPods in and danced as he worked, singing “The Girl From Ipanema.”
“Jesús,” Dick shouted.
The man uttered a little scream and spun as he yanked his earplugs out. “Oh, my God! What happened to your dress?”
“It’s fine. A little dusty but it lived. I changed after we left the party.”
He walked toward them. “You smell of smoke. Please tell me you didn’t burn the clubhouse down.” He looked at Marcel in Scott’s arms. “You got a puppy.” He squealed.
Scott handed the animal to Lexi, and Jesús stepped closer to stroke the sleeping puppy. Scott moved behind him and whispered, “Sleep.” The Mexican man slumped where he stood, and Scott caught him and carried him to a sofa.
Dick’s jaw dropped. “That was amazing. If you could put that into an app, you’d be a billionaire.”
She headed to the coffee p
ot and Dick followed, picking up a throw pillow on the way. They congregated around the breakfast bar. He placed the large pillow on the countertop and she placed the sleeping puppy on it.
“Right! What do we know?” she asked.
“I got Leonard killed.” The vampire poured himself a large Jack Daniels. He offered the bottle to Lexi, who pushed her black coffee toward him. Once he’d topped it up, he offered the bottle to Scott, who shook his head.
“We got him killed.” The young man took a glass and held it to the water dispenser on the refrigerator.
“Oh, I wouldn’t—” Dick’ protest cut off abruptly.
Thick red liquid ran into Scott’s glass.
“What the fuck?” He put it on the counter.
“Waste not want not.” Dick tipped his bourbon into the blood and swirled the glass. He knocked the drink back and looked at the horrified Scott. “You seem a little naive for a Kindred mage.”
“They don’t let mages go out on the dangerous jobs until they’re matched with a legacy,” Lexi explained.
“Surely they’re more than capable of handling themselves.” The vampire waved his fingers in a pseudo-magical fashion.
“It’s complicated.” She didn’t want to discuss it any further.
The vampire opened the refrigerator and passed a bottle of water to the other man, who took it, nodded his thanks, and sat at the counter.
“How are your reserves?” she asked her friend as she stared at the gaping indent on her arm.
He paused to assess how he felt. “Building up. I feel like I’m at about twenty percent. I’ll be fully restored in an hour.”
“Halfsies?” She placed her open hand onto the counter.
He put his hand into hers, and all three of them stared at the unhealing scar as light surged into it.
Dick shook his head as if to clear it. “That’s quite mesmerizing.”
Lexi retrieved the envelope and the wad of money, which she passed to the vampire. “That was in the log. I don’t know if he supported any charities.”
“You’re the worst charity case I know. Get a decent hotel.” He pushed the money to her.