Don't Feed the Mermaids (The Mermaid Files Book 1)

by Tiana LaGrone

  I lock up my apartment and trot down the walkway behind North, so I’ve a view. His butt cute. I try to shake thoughts of giving it a squeeze out of head. What’s wrong with me. Am I just thirsty. It has been a little while since I’ve gotten laid. And maybe all this sexual energy is coming from my encounter with Collin, except Collin is not here. To be honest, I miss the shit out of Collin. My throat burns at the thought of him.

  Forget all this stuff, I should be worrying about my brother and the fate of the world, not some movie star’s ass or my ex-boyfriend.

  “People don’t realize I’m a person,” North says as we drive down the road.

  “I know what you mean,” I say.

  “Of course you do. Not all humans accept underlanders or hybrids. I mean most people are okay with vampires, werewolves, fairies and their ilk, but when it comes to underlanders, people aren’t so kind. Why is that?”

  “You’d think after three hundred years, since the veil was torn, they’d be willing to accept us, but whelp here we are. And let’s be honest some underlanders don’t accept others.”

  “Some people are just afraid I bet.”

  I growl. I slam my hand down on my seat. “See, I hate that. I mean, underlanders aren’t any more likely to hurt people than people are are likely to hurt people. Same thing goes for other types. I mean even the vampires aren’t any more a dangerous to people than people. It has been proven. You move fast enough and you can get a shot of on a vampire before they can get your from across the room. I wish that myth would day a violent death and then be cremated that underlanders are any more dangerous.”

  “You’re cute,” North says. “You’re so passionate about this.

  “I am.”

  “I mean it,” North says, “you’re cute.”

  I clear my throat. “Uh, thanks. You’re not so bad yourself.”

  The two of us sit along, rush hour in full effect. The car jerks to a stop, go, stop, go, then jerk to a stop again. We don’t have that far to go in miles, but damn the drive is taking forever. Just as well.

  “You look like you have something to ask me,” North says.

  Am I that obvious. I think about what Wolfie said earlier about North being the murderer of his sister. I don’t believe it, but I can leave no stone unturned. Personally, I believe North’s too nice kill someone. Unless of course it’s all an act. He is an actor after all, and judging by the way people respond to him, he must be a good one. I’ve never really been a movie buff. I love the hell out of game shows though and I’m a sucker for music.

  “I do have a question actually. It’s a sensitive question.”

  “Ask away?”

  “Is it possible that you killed your sister?” I figure asking him, outright, the million dollar question, I’ll get an answer I can judge.

  North scratches his head. “Are you seriously asking me that?”

  “Yeah.”

  North swallows hard. “I’d say that I’m offended, but I don’t it would matter.”

  “Now what’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.

  “I save your life and you still don’t trust me?”

  I shrink in my seat. “Everybody’s a suspect,” I say.

  “So then what about you? How I know you didn’t kill my sister.”

  “Why would I do that?” I ask. “What would my motive have been?”

  “You didn’t want your brother marrying human so you killed her.”

  “Why would I care if my brother is a human. He’s part human.”

  “Right. So my crazy theories are as crazy as yours because there’s no way I killed April. No way in hell.”

  “Fine. I had to ask. What about your father?”

  “Maybe. I don’t think so.”

  “Wow, things between you and your father are strained,” I say.

  “My father is a ruthless man. As far as I know he loved April. But he may have loved his principals more, or maybe he found out about April’s plan and wanted to stop her.”

  “I need to know whether he knew anything about my brother and your sister.”

  “My father is not an easy man to get along with,” North says. “He puts on a good show for the cameras, for his constituency, even for my mother, but I know things about him, things which tell me he’s an evil man. He’s also secretive. So if he knew, he wouldn’t have told anyone else. Trust me. One to protect his rep, and two, to move towards a resolution without a paper trail”

  “There can be no secrets, no barriers to information if I’m to do my job. Is there anything else that I ought to know.”

  “ No,” North says. He pulls into the visitor parking lot of the bureau precinct. “That’s all I know honest.”

  “Is there anyone in your family in Amy’s circle that we could talk to on the side, without the bureau knowing? Do you know someone who would be willing to talk about Amy’s life without letting your father or the bureau that they talked to us.”

  “No, unfortunately not,” North says. North parks. He shuts off the G-Wagon engine.

  Back to where I started. It has been one helluva day. My car is off in a corner by itself with it’s busted back window, its flat tire, and failing engine. Hex car. I’ll need to call someone to come look at it.

  “Be careful, Willow. Stay away from my father. He won’t like you snooping.”

  “I’m used to difficult people,” I tell North. “But I’ll likely stay away from your father. At least I have you.”

  “At least you have me,” North says. He takes a deep breath and exhales. “Too bad we have to say good by on a note like this.”

  “Death and taxes, that’s the way it goes,” I say. I get out of the car. Chief Goldman won’t be on shift for another few hours. I want to see my brother before she shoes up tonight. I cannot afford to spend another shift following her order to stay away from my brother’s case. The fates of two lands depends on it. “Catch you later?” I ask North through the passenger side window.

  “Dinner. Tomorrow night. Wait.” North gets out of the car and comes around to me.

  “Okay,” I say. I extend my hand. “Dinner tomorrow. We’ll see where we are in all this.”

  “Listen,” North says. “I’d love to shake your hand, but I consider us friends now, so how about a hug?”

  “Okay,” I say. My body tightens.

  North reaches his arms around me. I return the favor. He smells good. My body tingles strangely as his neck brushes my cheek.

  “See you tomorrow night then?” North asks.

  “Yeah, mañana.”

  “Can’t wait,” North says with a wink.

  I wag my finger. “This is a business dinner.”

  North winks.

  I wave goodbye and make my way into the bureau precinct. I’m not sure what’s going on between North and me. I hope nothing, but I hope something too.

  Chapter Ten

  The holding cells in the basement are specially fortified. It’s dusty down here, dank, dark, made mostly of concrete. It’s not comfy that’s for sure.

  I show my bureau identification card to a guard. I don’t know the guard, so I smile, instead of making small conversation with him like I do with the guards I do know.

  “You here to see Balthazar?”

  “I am.”

  “He’s not here. They had to rush him to the hospital.”

  “What?” I ask. “Rush him to the hospital. Why?” My legs buckle beneath me. I balance myself by placing my hands on the table in front of me.

  “He got sick. One minute he was spitting up blood. The next minute he passed out.”

  “What hospital?”

  “St. Catherine’s.”

  “How come no one called me?”

  “Chief Goldman said not to let any information in or out about Balthazar. He’s a high profile suspect.”

  I ball up my fist and pull it back. “This is some lame ass shit! I’m his sister for fucks sake.”

  The guard’s eyes widen. That’s enough. I have had
just about enough.

  St. Catherine’s hospital is only a few miles away. I skip the elevator and run up the stairs to level floor of the SWLEB precinct.

  I’m mad as hell. No one called me, I can’t believe it. What sort of shit show is Chief Goldman running here? She does not deserve my respect. Respect gone done.

  My brother is a person, not some power play.

  As soon as I cross through the SWLEB lobby and out the door, I run to my car. I get in my car, and then I remember that the fucker is broke down.

  And then I hear her voice. “Hey, Dubois. Where you going?”

  I whip around. Chief Goldman stands wearing her usual all black ensemble. She has her hands on her hips. Her eyes glimmer. She’s got her fucking face in my car window.

  “I’m going to see my brother,” I say. “Thanks for calling to tell me that he got sick. I’m his sister.”

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to let me take a bureau car to go visit him at the hospital.”

  Chief Goldman looks over my car and then she says, “It’s too late. He’s dead.”

  “What?”

  “I said it’s too late, he’s dead.”

  I don’t know what comes over me, but I open my car door without any regards for her body. Her head hits the concrete.

  I put my hands around her throat and squeeze. Chief Goldman shows me her vampire teeth, hisses, and grabs me by my hair. She rips me off of her and flings me back. My back slams into my car. I slide down my hexed jeep. My legs splay out. I almost feel like I’m outside of my own body.

  “Next time you want to ante up, you might want to think about who the fuck you’re going up against,” Fabula says brushing off her clothes. “You’re fired.”

  “I quit!” I scream.

  Chapter Eleven

  The world spins so fast you can’t tell it’s moving. The world spins and Balthazar’s dead.

  Just like it’s terrifying that the earth spins 1000 miles per hour. My brother is gone and he’s never coming back.

  I look at Balthazar lying on a slab. His face is peaceful. It’s hard to imagine that life filled his body once.

  A woman enters the room. “Are you Willow Dubois?” the woman asks.

  “Yes,” I say. My head wobbles on my neck like it doesn’t belong.

  The woman extends her hand. “I’m Doctor Olivia Stone,” she says.

  I take her hand into mine. Her hand is smooth like baby’s skin. I’d expect it to be rough. She must wash her hands a million times a day.

  “Don’t worry I’ll take good care of him.”

  “I want to know what happened to him, I mean what killed him.”

  “That’s my job to tell you,” Dr. Stone says.

  I wonder if I should bring up the fact that what killed Balthazar might not be as simple as a person dying by some sickness or whatever. “My brother was a mermaid, transformed by a sea witch into a human, and whatever killed him probably isn’t your kind of natural,” I blurt. “Do you think it had anything to do with his turning? Mermaids sometimes die from the transformation you know.”

  “I understand the risk factors embedded in your brother’s life. I will look into whether his death had anything to do with his transformation. Look I get it,” Doctor Stone says. “I’m fairy. I get that some people’s idea of natural is different. No need to worry. I’ve seen just about all there is to see, across many types of beings, and if I haven’t seen it, I have sources I can tap into to figure out what’s going on.”

  “Sounds good to me. Now tell me this, is there any sort of way, as his next of kin, I can restrict access to him?”

  The Doctor walks up to me. “Would you like to go have a cup of coffee across the street? I’ve never met a mermaid hybrid before. I’d like to pick your brain.”

  “Uh, I really have a lot of things to do.”

  “I’d be ever so grateful. Just a quick cup of coffee. Then I have to rush back get right to work.”

  “Fine,” I say.

  Doctor Stone smiles. She has perfect teeth. She brushes her hair blond behind her ear. Ah, so she is fairy. I can tell by her ears. I think a knowledge of magic is a good idea for a medical examiner in this world. Fairies are very skilled as far as magic is concerned.”

  We walk across the street and enter a small coffee shop. Lots of people sit alone at tables busy behind their laptops and tablets. They’re to lucky to be busy. My brother will never be busy again. I cry.

  My cellphone buzzes. I ignore it. I’m guessing it’s Wolfie checking up on me. If I know my coworkers at the bureau, word has already spread about the fight between Fabula and I, the fight in which I got my ass beat down, but at least I quit my job.

  When you’re angry and fighting in name of what’s right, sometimes you forget how big the person is that you’re going up against. Doesn’t matter. Right is right. Vampires are stronger than mermaids like me, at least physically they are and they’re impervious to our song.

  “Can I help you?” a short woman asks me from behind the coffee shop counter.

  “I’m not really, I,” I say stumbling.

  “She’ll have the saltwater taffy latte,” Doctor Olivia says over my shoulder. “I dated a mermaid once. He loved salty stuff.”

  I raise an eyebrow. It’s true mermaids do love salty things. I didn’t escape that fact either. We wait for our coffees to get made and then we take a seat in the corner of the coffee shop.

  “Did the mermaid you dated give up his fins for you?” I ask. I’m so out of it. I guess I don’t know what else to say.

  “No. He didn’t,” Doctor Stone says. “I met him out in the ocean, on my father’s boat. We carried on for a long time that way.”

  The Doctor’s eyes wander off. She takes a sip from her coffee and licks the cream from the top of her lip. “He was the only person I ever loved. He had to stop seeing me because his father forbid him.” The doctor does air quotes.

  I almost laugh. I completely understand. The House of Mermaids is deserving of air quotes. It’s so archaic with it’s ridiculous notions of what’s proper. There are those within the Houses who absolutely despise any relations with humans. Even though there’s no law against it, there might as well be as far as some circles of mermaids are concerned. I think about my brother and all the hatred. If it hadn’t have been for that, he might still be alive.

  For some mermaids, the rule is that mermaids do not mate with humans. My mother, who is the daughter of a King, broke her father’s rule when she hooked up with my father. She says she had a plan for why she did. My brother had a plan too, and it look how it ended.

  It’s going to be interesting moving around the city without access to the SWLEB databases, without access to SWLEB undercover agents, etcetera, etcetera.

  I’m going to have to depend on other sources to help me out. I’m almost certain that my brother’s death is connected April Villa’s death. How could it not be? That would be just too damned coincidental.

  I try to sip the coffee but it’s lawsuit hot. I haven’t slept. I think it’s adrenaline that’s been keeping me awake, but I could use a little caffeine pick me. Dr. Stone blows one blow on her coffee. “You can cool it with your breath lickety split,” I say.

  “It appears I can. I’d offer to do yours, but you ought to savor that warmth. Let it warm your soul. Besides you don’t want some stranger blowing their spit all over your coffee.”

  “It’s a half-soul,” I say before attempting another sip. “I really appreciate you bringing me for coffee,” I say, trying to be polite even though I’d like to get on with the reason she has asked me here. I rub my head. My scalp throbs from when Fabula pulled my hair. I think if Fabula wanted to she could have scalped me back there in that bureau parking lot.

  Doctor Stone and I sit slurping our coffee’s for a while longer until Doctor Stone clears her throat. We lock eyes. She smiles. “I brought you here because I know your brother died of unnatural causes
. I have a magic meter I run over every corpse. Saves me a lot of time. The bureau doesn’t want you to know that.”

  I glance around me. “Why are you telling me this? ”

  “Because sometimes, examiners writes down what the bureau wants them to write. Who knows why they change some of the reports. I suppose each time they have their reasons.”

  “Are you saying that’s what you’ll do? Change the report?”

  “No, of course not, I say this to give you some reassurance. As a bureau agent, you must have worried that I’d do a thing like that, knowing how the system works.”

  I had no idea the bureau was doing stuff like that. I wondered why all the coroner reports had to pass through Fabula before they got to me.

  “I had no idea, they were doing that, actually,” I admit. And thoughts of what else they were doing, crooked wise, dance in my head. Tears fill Dr. Stones eyes. One tear slips down her cheek before she dabs her eyes with a napkin. “I lost my brother a long time ago. He died of unnatural causes too. I guess I feel a kinship with you.”

  “I appreciate it,” I say. I take more sips of coffee. It’s in a mug. “Excuse me. This is so good,” I ought to get another to go,” I say. Would you like another cup?”

  “No, thank you,” Doctor Stone says. “Might give me the jitters.”

  Jitters wouldn’t be good for a medical examiner. They have cuts to make, precise ones at that.

  As I stand at the counter waiting for my to go cup, I look out the windows of the coffee shop, checking out the passers by. I spot a man across the street, wearing a hat. I can’t see his face because the brim of the hat is lowered. I think about Valerie, but Valerie is gone.

  The man crosses the street eventually. Nothing really suspicious about that. And then he looks up at me and smiles. Nothing suspicious about that either. I don’t see tentacles anywhere.

  Something comes over me then, an immense sadness. My eyes fill up with tears and they burn. My brother is gone and he’s never coming back. I basically fall apart at the counter.

  My lips tremble when the barista calls my name. I take the steaming hot cup of coffee, and as I do, I think of my mother. She must be in pieces. I have to go to her, but I’m I don’t want to because I know exactly what is going to happen at the hands of Ali. He will not let this stand. He will want his revenge.