Warrior Unraveled

by Tina Folsom

  Virginia sighed. “You said you know who killed him.”

  “I’m getting to that. She has two nephews. I found their address in her papers, so I paid them a visit. They’re renting a small apartment together. It’s full of stolen merchandise. Everything from cell phones to watches to computers.”

  “Anything from Faldo’s house?” Logan asked, looking up from the pancakes Wes had served him in the meantime.

  “I couldn’t tell,” Aiden said, “but what I did find was blood. On a pair of sneakers.”

  “Did you take a sample?” Manus asked. “I could run it through the system.”

  “No. I did something even better. I called the police and gave them an anonymous tip.”

  Hamish whistled through his teeth. “Nice one. Were they arrested?”

  “I waited until the police came and took them away. With the stolen goods in their apartment there’s enough evidence to keep them for a while. In the meantime, I’m sure forensics is going to tie them to Faldo’s murder. It all makes sense.”

  Wesley placed another plate heaped with pancakes on the island for everybody to help themselves. “There was no sign of a break-in. Are you thinking that they got their aunt’s key?”

  Aiden nodded. “That’s my guess. She probably mentioned that Faldo was going to be gone for a week, so they figured it would be easy to get in and rob the place.”

  Manus grunted. “Faldo must have surprised them, so they grabbed whatever weapon they could and killed him.”

  “The paperweight from the desk,” Wes suggested.

  Logan nodded. “Exactly. The police took it as evidence. It would have been covered in Faldo’s blood and possibly had their fingerprints on it, unless they wore gloves.”

  “How can we know for sure it was them?” Virginia asked.

  Aiden turned to her. “We’ll have to wait for the police to release that information. I’m sure it won’t take long.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, and Virginia glanced in the direction he’d indicated: a large TV mounted on the wall in the living area, muted and turned to a local channel. “I’m guessing it’ll be on the news soon.”

  “Guess we’ll have to wait then. In the meantime,” Virginia said and shifted her gaze to Pearce. “What happened last night with Deirdre?”

  “Everything went well. I bugged her place while she was asleep. We’ll know who she speaks to, and who visits her. And I put some trackers into several of her shoes and her handbag. We’ll know where she is at all times. We’re covered.”

  Virginia nodded. “Good job. Did you notice anything strange about her?”

  Pearce shrugged. “Given that she was asleep, there wasn’t anything I could detect. But everything in her place looked normal. The place is sparsely furnished, but that’s to be expected if she’s only been there for a few days.”

  “Hmm.” Virginia contemplated his words. “What if she’s not planning to stay there for long? She’s still my top suspect. She knows where the compounds are.”

  “So do a lot of people,” Hamish interrupted.

  “But she has motive,” Virginia said. “And who else is there? We can’t exactly pin it on Finlay, he’s dead.”

  “Who’s Finlay?” Wesley asked.

  Hamish put his fork aside, glanced at Aiden, then said, “He was a traitor. A member of the Council of Nine. A little over a year ago, he made a pact with the demons. He was going to deliver Leila to them in exchange for taking over leadership of the demons.”

  “Why?” Wes looked at Aiden. “No offense, Aiden, I know you love your wife, but why would the demons want her?”

  “Because she’s a brilliant scientist,” Aiden said. “She was developing an Alzheimer’s drug, a vaccine in fact, that, had it been allowed to go to market, would have made mankind so vulnerable to the demons’ influence that they would have taken over the world within months. There would have been nothing we could do except stand by helplessly.”

  “Oh.”

  Hamish nodded. “Yeah. But luckily, we discovered Finlay’s plan and were able to stop him.”

  “What happened?”

  “Finlay kidnapped Leila and took her to meet with the demons,” Hamish continued.

  “You forgot to mention that he first cut my Achilles tendon and locked me in a lead cell so I couldn’t follow him,” Pearce interrupted.

  “Fuck,” Wes cursed, looking at Pearce. “Must’ve hurt.”

  “Yeah, he sliced right through it with his dagger.” Then he shrugged. “Luckily we heal fast.”

  “In any case,” Hamish said, “we found them just in time. Finlay was killed, by Zoltan actually, who’s now the Great One, the ruler of the demons. He never had any intention of holding up his end of the bargain.”

  “So you guys saw Finlay die?” Wes asked.

  Every member of the Baltimore compound nodded.

  “He was dead as a doornail,” Aiden grunted. “Deservedly so.”

  “And the body? What happened to it?” Wes asked.

  “Where are you going with this?” Virginia interjected.

  Wes looked at her, then back at Aiden. “What if he had something on him that could have fallen into the demon’s hands, like his cell phone?”

  Pearce shook his head. “Sorry, impossible.”

  “But—”

  “We recovered Finlay’s cell phone after his death. Not a bad idea, but that’s a dead end.”

  Wes sighed. “Hmm, then I don’t know either.” He heaved a couple of pancakes onto his plate and started eating.

  For a few moments nobody spoke, and only the clatter of cutlery clinking against porcelain could be heard while everybody chowed down on their breakfast.

  The sound of the door opening made Virginia look over her shoulder. Leila entered, and Virginia froze.

  At the other end of the island, Wes let out a gasp. “Oh my God! Leila?”

  25

  Wesley had to do a double-take. The woman entering the kitchen definitely looked like Leila, but at the same time, it couldn’t be her. Because the Leila he knew didn’t have golden skin. Not golden in a Goldfinger kind of way, but glowing as if a million grains of light were sparkling under her rosy complexion.

  He slid off his barstool and walked to her, while the others wished her a good morning as if they didn’t even notice her appearance. Stopping a few feet away from her, Wes caught her gaze.

  “Are you alright, Leila?”

  “Thanks for asking, I’m fine. I smelled the pancakes, and it made me hungry.”

  He nodded automatically, still unable to tear his gaze away from her face, neck, and bare arms. He quickly cast a look at the guardians closest to him at the island, Manus and Logan, but they were talking to each other as if nothing had happened.

  Hamish was whispering something to Tessa, and Enya was shoveling more food into her mouth, while Pearce stared at the tablet and swiped over it with his finger.

  “Stop staring,” Virginia suddenly whispered behind him.

  Wes whirled around. He hadn’t noticed that Virginia had jumped off her barstool and approached him.

  “But something is obviously wrong with her. Why is nobody doing anything?” he said, trying to be as quiet as Virginia, but the worry he felt lifted his voice. “Maybe it’s the pregnancy.”

  A gasp from Leila made him pivot toward her.

  Leila looked at Aiden accusingly. “You told him?”

  Aiden stood up and walked toward his wife. “I didn’t. Wesley guessed it.”

  “Oh.” Then she smiled and shrugged. “I suppose it was time for people to find out.”

  As soon as she said it, all the others started talking over each other, congratulating Leila on her pregnancy, expressing their best wishes and their surprise. Tessa and Enya even hugged their compound mate’s wife. Yet nobody made a single remark about her golden skin.

  For a moment, Wesley just stood there in silence. Was it possible that he was the only one who could see the golden glow? Could it mean that he was sensing
that something was wrong with Leila? That she was maybe sick?

  He reached for Aiden, gripping his forearm, drawing his gaze onto him.

  Wesley leaned in. “Something is wrong with your wife.”

  Aiden’s eyes widened. “What?”

  “Listen, I don’t know what it is, and obviously none of you can see it, so it must be my witch senses, but I think your wife is sick.”

  A heavy hand landed on Wesley’s shoulder. He spun his head around as Hamish sidled up to them.

  Hamish grinned. “You wouldn’t by any chance be referring to the fact that Leila is glowing golden?”

  Wesley’s chin dropped. “You can see it, too?”

  Hamish smirked, then exchanged a look with Aiden. “Do you want to explain to Wes here what you did to your wife?”

  “None of his business,” Aiden said curtly, his cheeks reddening.

  “What the fuck is going on?” Wes cursed. “Will somebody please explain to me what this is? Because whatever it is, it’s not normal.”

  “Yeah, well, vampires biting their mates isn’t normal for us either,” Hamish said dryly. “We have our own sexual practices that might seem a little weird to you.” Then he leaned in and lowered his voice to a whisper. “And who knows, maybe you’ll find out firsthand someday.”

  “Oh.” Understanding dawned on him. Hamish knew about him and Virginia, and was insinuating that Virginia would introduce him to whatever sexual practice he was referring to.

  The question in Wesley’s mind, however, was why hadn’t she already done so?

  Wes turned to where Virginia stood at the kitchen island. She was looking at them. She’d watched them. Slowly he ripped his eyes from her and looked back at Aiden and Hamish. This was neither the time nor the place to discuss this with Virginia. It was best to divert everybody’s attention away from the two of them.

  “But Leila is human. Are you sure she’s alright?” he asked instead.

  Aiden smiled. “I’m touched that you care so much about my wife’s wellbeing, but I assure you, she’s more than alright.” He looked away, and Wesley followed his gaze and saw Leila smiling back at them.

  “Do you mind if I congratulate her?”

  “Go ahead.”

  Wes made his way through the well-wishers. Leila looked at him.

  “I’m very happy for both of you.” He reached for her hand, and she allowed it.

  “Thank you, Wesley. If you really want to do something for me, a couple of pancakes would be great.” She gifted him with a wide smile.

  “Come, I’ll make you some fresh ones,” he said and took her elbow, when somebody bumped into him from behind. He lost his balance and stumbled forward, toward Leila. She caught him, and in the process of steadying himself, his hand slipped to her stomach. There was no noticeable bump yet, but there was something else he picked up. Though he wasn’t a hundred percent certain, since the contact had been so brief.

  Wes straightened.

  “Everything okay?” Aiden said behind him.

  Wes nodded, but didn’t turn, and instead looked at Leila. “Leila, I know this might sound like an odd request, but do you mind if I put my hand on your stomach?”

  “Why?” Aiden walked to stand beside his wife, though he didn’t put his arm around her like he normally did when Wes saw them together.

  “I noticed something about the pregnancy when we bumped into each other just now. I want to make sure.”

  Leila and Aiden exchanged a look, then Leila nodded. “Okay.”

  Wes looked at Aiden, making sure he too was giving his permission. A barely perceivable nod told him it was fine, so Wes laid his palm on Leila’s stomach, then closed his eyes and concentrated.

  A moment later he opened his eyes and removed his hand. “I can hear two heartbeats.”

  “Of course, mine and the baby’s,” Leila said.

  Wes smiled and shook his head. “Two heartbeats coming from your womb. You’re having twins. Congratulations.”

  “Twins?” Leila murmured and looked at her husband. “Oh, Aiden.” It looked like she wanted to put her arms around him, but she didn’t, and neither did he.

  “Come on, Aiden, what is wrong with you today? Aren’t you even gonna hug your wife?”

  Aiden sighed. “Could somebody please explain to Wes why I can’t do that?” He looked around. “Logan?”

  “Sure thing,” Logan immediately said and put his arm around Wesley’s shoulder, leading him toward the living room.

  “What is all this?” Wes asked, getting a little annoyed about all the secrecy.

  “Listen, maybe Virginia should explain this to you, but clearly you guys aren’t at that stage in your relationship yet,” Logan said carefully and rather quietly.

  Wes lifted an eyebrow but didn’t contradict him.

  “Anyway. Between couples there’s sex and then there’s sex the Stealth Guardian way.”

  “The Stealth Guardian way?”

  “Yeah. It’s intense. In their case”—Logan motioned in Aiden’s and Leila’s direction—“Aiden poured his virta, his life force, into Leila while they made love. That’s what makes her shimmer golden for hours afterwards. But what it also does is make her climax every time he touches her.”

  “But everybody else hugged her, and I touched her too.”

  “It only happens if the person touching her is the same one who gave her his virta.”

  Wes shook his head in stunned disbelief. “Wow, that’s wild. Does that work the other way around too?”

  Logan chuckled. “You mean when the Stealth Guardian is a female?”

  Wes cleared his throat. “Yes, just, you know, out of interest.”

  “I’ll leave that for Virginia to explain to you.” He smirked.

  “Come on, be a friend.”

  “Hey, not my place,” Logan said, lifting his hands. “If she wants you to know what happens to a guy if and when she does it, she’ll tell you.” He turned and walked back to the kitchen island.

  Wes sighed. Now that he knew about this particular Stealth Guardian practice, he couldn’t wait to be alone with Virginia to ask her about it. Alas, the occasion didn’t present itself right away. Leila was asking for pancakes, and the rest of the gang wanted seconds, too. So for the next half hour he was glued to the stove, filling orders as if he were a short-order cook at a busy diner.

  And just as everybody finished breakfast, and Manus and Tessa volunteered to clean up, somebody switched on the sound on the TV, drawing everybody’s attention to the news report that was unfolding on the screen. The reporter from the previous night spoke into the camera, while a red banner reading Breaking News scrolled along the bottom of the screen.

  “Police have arrested two suspects during a raid in West Baltimore last night. They are being held in connection with the brutal murder of Baltimore businessman Anton Faldo, who was found bludgeoned to death yesterday.”

  The screen split, and the mugshots of two thugs appeared on one side, while the reporter continued, “Michael Brown and James Brown are the nephews of Carol Jefferson, Mr. Faldo’s housekeeper. The police found items belonging to Mr. Faldo in the suspects’ apartment, as well as forensic evidence that may directly link the two to Mr. Faldo’s death. A police source also confirmed that Mrs. Jefferson, whom we interviewed on this program yesterday, has become a person of interest, and it hasn’t been ruled out that she may have given her nephews access to the house. Police are currently waiting for DNA evidence to be analyzed, but a source close to the investigation has told us that both suspects will be charged with murder and an array of other crimes.”

  Somebody muted the TV.

  Wes looked at the assembled. He’d been witness to plenty of criminal cases and worked with the San Francisco Police Department enough times to understand what the Baltimore police must have in terms of evidence. “If the police are willing to leak that they’ll be charging those two with murder, then they have enough evidence even without the DNA results to make a case. Once
they have that, it’ll be a slam dunk.”

  Virginia met his gaze. “I agree. So that’s a dead end for us. The demons didn’t get to Faldo, a bunch of thugs did.”

  “So what now?” Wesley asked.

  “We’ll have to wait for Deirdre to make a move,” Virginia said.

  “Sit around and wait?” He didn’t like that at all. “We’ve gotta do something.”

  “Virginia is right,” Hamish said. “We need to wait. In the meantime, we’ll check in with the other compounds. See if they have any news for us. Everybody’s got their eyes and ears open.”

  Though Wes nodded to agree with Hamish, he knew he couldn’t just sit around. He had to think of what else there could be done. Maybe it was time to convince the Stealth Guardians that they didn’t have to fight this battle alone.

  26

  Vintoq placed a stack of papers on Zoltan’s desk. “The reports you were looking for, oh Great One.”

  Zoltan nodded. “For the entire last four weeks?”

  “Yes. It includes every possible Stealth Guardian sighting as recorded by our spies as well as our own men.”

  “Worldwide?”

  “As you requested.”

  “Good. Pull up a chair and sit down. You can help me go through them.”

  Vintoq pulled the chair closer and sat down. “What am I looking for?”

  “Names.”

  “Names?”

  “Yes, take down the names of anybody mentioned in the reports, note whether they are human or Stealth Guardian, and the location they were spotted at.”

  Vintoq nodded dutifully. Then he looked at the stack again. “And, if I may ask, what is the purpose of it? These reports have already been acted upon, with no result. The Stealth Guardians spotted are long gone from wherever they were seen, and the humans are no use to us at this point.”

  Zoltan cast a long assessing look at his underling. “On the contrary.” He reached for the cell phone next to him. “Do you remember this? Ulric brought it to me. It belongs to a Stealth Guardian, and its contact list is full of names.” He slammed his hand on the stack of reports. “There must be someone in here who matches a contact in this phone. I only need to find one, and we’re in the game. Now, start.”