by Helen Harper
Chapter Nineteen
A phoenix. Was that what I was?
‘Spread your legs a little wider.’
Surely a phoenix was a bird. I didn’t have wings. I couldn’t fly.
‘Focus on your breathing.’
Only one phoenix in existence at any one time? So was I unique? Literally unique?
‘Aim.’
How on earth did that happen?
‘Fire.’
There was a faint whistle as the silver-tipped bolt flew through the air. I dropped the crossbow, re-loaded it and raised it yet again. Then I glanced at Kennedy. His lips were pursed, though not in an expression of disapproval. Far from it.
‘Well done.’
I looked at the stuffed dummy. Huh. I’d shot it right through the head. I squinted, adjusted my aim and released my second bolt. It thudded into the dummy, less than an inch away from the first one.
‘I’m not often impressed,’ Kennedy declared, ‘but I reckon you’ve nailed this.’
‘Shooting at a dummy is a bit different from shooting at a living being.’
‘True.’
‘It’s not exactly a moving target.’
‘True.’
‘My life isn’t currently in danger. Neither is anyone else’s.’
‘True.’
‘But yeah.’ I flashed the satyr a grin. ‘It turns out all I needed was some expert tuition to set me on the right track. Thanks, Kennedy.’
‘You’re welcome.’ His long, fur-covered ears quivered. He was a lot more pleased with my progress than he was letting on. He strode over to the far wall. ‘Don’t ever forget that the crossbow is an extension of yourself. You’re not detached from it. As a ranged weapon, it can be easy to shoot it then walk away. And the best motives can still result in the worst murders.’
He lifted one of the hanging daggers and inspected the blade before turning and walking towards me. Then he held the dagger up until its sharp tip was scratching the skin on my cheek. I didn’t move.
‘When you wield a blade,’ Kennedy said softly, ‘you have to get up close and personal. It’s far harder to hurt someone when you’re in their face and when you can feel their breath. A crossbow can be used at a distance – but killing never should be. If you’re not prepared to kill someone from here,’ he told me, his breath hot on my cheek, ‘you’re not prepared to kill someone from one hundred metres away.’
The crossbow didn’t have that sort of power but I understood what Kennedy was saying. ‘I’ve been on this side before,’ I said. ‘I’ve felt a knife sliding into my skin. I know what death feels like and I don’t take it lightly.’
‘In that case,’ Kennedy whispered, ‘what they say about you is true.’
‘What do they say?’
He smiled enigmatically and didn’t answer. He simply replaced the dagger in its spot, picked up his bag and prepared to leave.
After a moment or two, I shrugged. ‘Thank you,’ I said again, ‘for all your help.’ I grabbed a jar of salve that Liza had procured for me and rubbed some into my raw fingertips.
‘Take care out there.’ Kennedy paused at the door. ‘And take care of yourself with Lukas. As vampires go, he’s one of the best. But he’s also Lord Horvath and he didn’t reach that position by being warm and cuddly. He’s a dangerous man. You wouldn’t be the first to fall for his charms. Know that it doesn’t usually end well. His priorities will always be his vampires.’
My head jerked up. ‘I’ve not fallen—’ I started.
Kennedy had already gone.
I cursed under my breath. I wouldn’t deny that my feelings about Lukas were growing more complex by the day, but I would never put myself in the position where a man – any man – could harm me again. I’d already learnt my lesson. And the last thing I would ever be was a vampire’s plaything.
I pulled on my blouse, fastened the buttons and headed down to the main office. The interlude with Kennedy had been useful and diverting but it was time to get back to the real business of the day.
The room was busier than I’d ever seen it. Fred and Scarlett were in one corner, their heads close together. Lukas was standing by the window with three sombre-looking vampires around him. Liza was at her desk, finishing a phone call.
I took a moment to absorb the focused buzz. I enjoyed the freedom that my status as the sole detective at Supe Squad granted me, but there was a lot to be said for this sort of atmosphere. We were all working towards one goal and it felt good to be part of an energetic team.
My eyes drifted to Lukas. A lock of his dark hair had fallen across his forehead and his eyes were sharp with intensity. Kennedy’s words echoed back at me.
I swallowed and cleared my throat. ‘Team meeting,’ I called. ‘I need to hear where we’re at, and what information we’ve got.’
The vamps looked to Lukas but he was already moving towards the centre of the room. They followed suit and gathered behind him. Fred perched on the back of his favourite sofa and Liza straightened her posture.
‘I’ll start,’ she said. ‘I’ve been through every database I can find but there’s not much out there. In terms of criminal activity, Edward Nappey has either kept his nose clean or is very good at staying under the radar. He drove a car until last year, when it was sent to be scrapped. No outstanding parking tickets or speeding fines. He’s never been named as part of any illegal activity. He is thirty-two years old, with one surviving parent. He’s been unemployed for the last five years and has made repeated attempts to claim disability benefit. He has considerable savings, however, so each claim has been denied.’
‘Those savings will be thanks to his grandfather,’ Fred interjected. ‘He ran a small chain of hardware shops until the early nineties when he retired. The shops were all closed down and sold off.’
‘Did you find out anything about his death?’ I asked.
‘Heart attack,’ Scarlett said. ‘We’ve checked all the records and spoken to the hospital. There was nothing sinister about it.’
I wasn’t surprised by that. While there was no doubt that Ted Nappey had benefited enormously from his grandfather’s passing, I reckoned that he wouldn’t harm a member of his own family. Or his girlfriend. In fact, it was possible that Nappey didn’t want to kill anyone in his quest for the daft Elixir of Fortitude. Moira’s death had been an accident, and Nappey had tried to capture Lukas rather than murder him.
Then an entirely different thought occurred to me and my blood chilled. ‘His car,’ I said to Liza, ‘what make and model was it?’
She consulted her notes. ‘A blue Ford Escort.’
I sucked in a breath. ‘Where’s the file on Julian Clarke’s hit and run?’
‘Wait,’ Fred said, ‘you don’t think—?’
Liza waved a manila folder. ‘Here it is.’ She opened and scanned it. ‘The car that hit Julian Clarke was never found. It was identified as a blue Ford. Possibly an Escort, but the eye witnesses couldn’t be sure.’
The atmosphere in the room altered significantly. It wasn’t proof that Nappey had mowed down Julian Clarke but that’s what we were all thinking. According to Maggie, his ex-girlfriend, Ted Nappey had once detested violence in all forms, but we also knew he’d spent a lot of time surrounding himself with death and that he hated supes. And he’d developed his own protective arsenal. If he was obsessed enough with creating the elixir, there was no telling what depths he might have descended to in pursuit of it. People changed all the time.
‘Okay.’ I nodded. ‘Okay.’ I glanced at Liza. ‘Did you manage to get in touch with Vivienne Clark? Julian’s mother?’
‘Yes.’ Her expression was grim. ‘Julian obtained the shark’s tooth necklace during a family holiday to Australia when he was seventeen. I have a photo of him wearing it.’ She held up the image. I stared at it; the necklace certainly looked similar to the one Ted Nappey had been wearing. ‘Mrs Clarke said that he was buried with it.’
‘A trophy,’ Lukas muttered. His hands bunched into f
ists. ‘He took Moira’s jewellery as well. Edward Nappey has persuaded himself that he’s on a mission to make that elixir. He’s probably convinced himself that he’s a force for good. But he’s taken a trophy, and that suggests he enjoys what he’s doing. He gets a thrill out of killing and he’s kept the necklace to remind himself of that.’
I wished I could disagree with him but unfortunately I knew he was right. The only silver lining was that thrill seekers took risks, and risk takers made mistakes.
‘What elixir?’ Fred asked.
I explained what we’d found at the Carlyle Library. Everyone in the room looked sickened.
‘Strengthen body and mind?’ Scarlett snorted. ‘If he wants to do that, he ought to become a supe.’
I didn’t fail to notice the adoring look that Fred sent her.
‘That’s the problem,’ I said. ‘He wants the sort of power that supes possess but he despises the supes themselves.’
‘Would it even work?’ one of the other vamps asked dubiously. ‘Could something like this elixir crap really cure disease?’
‘It’s highly unlikely,’ Lukas said.
Liza raised an eyebrow. ‘How do you know for sure?’
I answered for him. ‘Because Ted Nappey has been trying to create the elixir for the last five years and he’s not had any success. If he had, he wouldn’t be trying to kidnap a vampire to use their blood to enhance what he already has.’ I paused. ‘We can assume that he has a makeshift laboratory somewhere. That’s probably where he’s holed up now. If we can find that laboratory, we can find him.’
‘Easier said than done,’ Fred grunted. ‘The garage was the only other property registered in Nappey’s name.’
‘And,’ Lukas bit out, ‘he wanted us to find that.’
I was beginning to think that we were being played like puppets. Until Ted Nappey chose to stick his head above the parapet again, we were floundering.
‘He was in construction,’ I said. ‘He’s been out of work for five years, but he may have worked on a lot of local building sites before that. He probably knows several places where he could hide away without anyone noticing.’ I nodded at Fred. ‘Speak to his old employers. See if you can get hold of a list of where he worked.’
Scarlett stepped forward. ‘I’ll help,’ she said. ‘Freddy and I can visit the sites together.’
Fred’s cheeks reddened.
‘Liza,’ I said, ‘see if you can use your computer wizardry to track where Nappey might have gone after he ran from the garage. CCTV. Bus routes. Reports from residents nearby that sound suspicious. Anything that might hint at the direction he went in.’
She bobbed her head. ‘Will do.’
Lukas folded his arms. ‘My people will look into the book, Infernal Enchantments, and track down those three people who requested it.’ The stern trio of vampires behind him lifted their chins in unison.
‘Take care,’ I warned. ‘And stick together. Remember that Nappey wants a vampire. He might be human, but he’s got the weaponry to bring any number of vampires down.’
Lukas agreed. ‘Don’t get cocky.’ He raised an eyebrow in my direction. ‘How about it, D’Artagnan? Shall the two of us pay a visit to the church and have that chat with Reverend Knight?’
I checked my watch. It wouldn’t be long before Devereau Webb showed up at Fairfax’s club. ‘Actually,’ I said apologetically, ‘can I meet you there later? I have somewhere else I need to be first.’
Lukas’s eyes narrowed. ‘Somewhere else?’
‘It’s a wolf thing.’
‘I’ll come along.’
I straightened my shoulders. ‘It doesn’t involve you.’
‘Last time you had a wolf thing that didn’t involve me, they tried to kill you.’
Liza’s head jerked towards us, alarmed.
‘I told you already,’ I said, the very definition of calm placidity, ‘I dealt with that. They won’t try anything again.’
Lukas opened his mouth to continue arguing but I forestalled him. ‘I don’t need your protection. You can look after you, and I can look after me. Remember? The last thing we need is heightened tension between the vamps and the wolves. We have enough to deal with as it is.’
His mouth flattened. ‘Fine. I’ll see you at St Erbin’s later?’
I nodded. ‘Yep.’
One by one, everyone filed out until only Liza and I remained in the room. ‘It sounds like you’ve a lot going on,’ she said. ‘And I’m not talking about the Nappey investigation.’
I sighed. ‘You don’t know the half of it.’
‘Has he asked you out for that business dinner yet?’
My eyes slid away and Liza laughed.
‘Fred seems rather taken with Scarlett,’ I said, keen to shift her attention away from me and onto someone else.
‘Smitten,’ she agreed. ‘I’ve seen it happen many times before. I’m only surprised that it’s taken Fred this long to be roped in.’
At my questioning look, Liza smiled slightly. ‘It’s what they do,’ she said. ‘They’re vampires – they tease and play and draw you in. Theirs is a dance of seduction, sometimes for sex, sometimes for blood, but always for power. It’s very hard to deny a vampire when they’re fixated on you.’
‘That sounds like the voice of personal experience.’
‘I’ve worked here for a long time,’ she told me. ‘Sooner or later, the vamps always try it on with Supe Squad. It’s the ultimate notch on their bedpost. Or coffin.’ She eyed me. ‘Or whatever. Lord Horvath has never got involved in any of that but you’re not like the detectives we’ve had here before. There’s a first time for everything.’
Cold discomfort prickled through my veins. First Kennedy had warned me off, and now Liza was doing the same. Lukas’s flirting had been gentle, but the notion that this was nothing but a game to him caused a heaviness to settle in the centre of my chest.
‘I’d better go,’ I said, changing the subject. ‘I’ll take a crossbow with me. If you don’t hear from me by four o’clock, get hold of DSI Barnes and tell her I went to Lord Fairfax’s place.’
‘So the werewolves did try and kill you before?’
‘Lady Sullivan did, but I don’t think the others were aware of what she was up to.’ My mouth turned down. ‘Probably because they didn’t think of it themselves first.’
‘So you think they’ll make another attempt, even though you told Horvath otherwise?’
I grimaced. ‘Frankly, Liza, the way my week is going, just about anything is possible.’
Chapter Twenty
I knew I was being followed almost as soon as I left the Supe Squad building. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and there was a frisson of tension running down my spine. Despite my words to Liza, I hadn’t seriously expected the werewolves to come after me again but, as the sensation of being watched grew stronger, I wondered if I’d been wrong.
I debated sticking to the main streets and making sure that my tracker had no opportunity to try anything untoward. I wasn’t a terrified little mouse, however; I wasn’t going to live my life looking over my shoulder because I was worried about who was behind me. When it came to fight or flight, I no longer had an option. Besides, I figured wryly, if I truly were a phoenix, I should have nothing to fear.
I veered off, heading down the same narrow back road that Buffy had led me to the previous day. The crossbow was strapped to my back in a simple harness and I knew I could grab it within seconds if I needed to. For now I left it where it was, but it was comforting to know that it was there – and that I finally had the skill to use it properly. At least some of the time.
Walking casually, I kept moving until I was past the house I’d run into the day before. I strained my ears but, beyond the sounds of passing traffic from the streets further away and the occasional coo from a pigeon, there was nothing to be heard. I swung my arms, scratched absently at the side of my leg, and then whipped round. Nothing. No-one was there. There wasn’t so much as a f
licker of a shadow. My eyes narrowed, searching the few obvious hiding places. It was possible I was being paranoid, though I doubted it, but with no-one to confront there was little I could do. At least I wasn’t entirely helpless.
I unhooked the crossbow and held it loosely in front of me for a beat or two, then I slipped my foot into the stirrup and loaded it, thumbing off the safety and raising the bow. Sighting an old metal dustbin lid, I aimed and fired. The bolt zipped towards it with unerring speed, clanging loudly when it made contact. A crow nearby was startled into action, cawing and flapping into the air. I smiled, satisfied. As warning shots went, it could have been worse. At least it was loud enough to draw attention.
I didn’t bother returning to retrieve the bolt. Assuming it was a werewolf that was following me, they would inspect it and realise it was silver tipped. That should be more than enough to tell them to back off.
I re-loaded the crossbow, just in case, and returned to my path. I stayed alert but it seemed I’d done enough. By the time I swung out onto the busy road at the end of the street, I was humming away quite happily. The grin remained on my face all the way to Lord Fairfax’s club.
The same bouncer who’d been stationed outside the previous day was there. He’d been joined by three colleagues, who all glowered at me. None of them looked surprised by my appearance – and none of them looked remotely pleased by it, either. But it wasn’t their identical expressions that interested me, it was the tags on their sleeves indicating they were highly placed selsas, all from separate clans. It was very unusual for a high-ranking wolf to do such a menial job – and it was as rare as a blue moon for four wolves from four separate clans to work together.
I tilted my head and gazed at them. ‘Fairfax,’ I said, pointing at the first wolf. ‘Carr, McGuigan and Sullivan. Am I right?’
‘You’re not welcome here today,’ the Fairfax bouncer said.
‘And why is that?’ I enquired.