Chapter Five
I entered the lobby of WWL at 8:29:37. Before I could congratulate myself at having arrived twenty-three seconds early, the security line leading up to two metal detectors cross-checked me. Backwoods naiveté still dealt me the occasional blow, even a year into living in the city. Of course, there was security. WWL occupied the first twelve floors of a thirty-two-story building in Chicago’s financial district, the rest of the space rented out to financial institutions, law firms, and various other professional outfits. It needed to be secured. Also, you know, vampires.
“Miss, please keep moving forward.”
A female guard waved insistently in my direction, her eyes narrowing on me as a man pushed past me to join the line. Suddenly, I realized that I’d managed to do one of the most suspicious things possible: freeze the second I saw security.
I shook off my nerves and stepped forward. “Sorry, guess I’m a little in shock.”
She took my backpack and laid it down on the belt of the scanning machine. “Never seen a security check point before?”
“No. I mean, yes, of course. Just...”
Plastering on faux awe, I surveyed the three-story interior lobby with the look of Dorothy taking in the Emerald City. Come to think of it, there was something a little odd about the quality of the light bouncing around. Did it actually have a greenish hue?
I continued, “I didn’t know buildings like this existed. Back where I come from – the Upper Peninsula, ever heard of it? – the biggest building in town is where we keep the snow plows parked in summer. This sure beats a pole barn.”
The guard gawked at me, scrutinizing my sanity, before grimacing and pointing at the body scanner. After a minute or two – because unlike me, the other people waiting in line knew the routine – I plopped my backpack down on the conveyor belt. A red light and buzzer went off the second I stepped through the body scanner. The guard flexed her finger, directing me to step back.
“Ma’am, if you can step over here, I’ll need to do a secondary search.”
The second her fingers traced over the hilt of my dagger, making my insides squelch and knowing her discovery of my weapon was just moments away, and, of course, having no idea what that would result in but assuming it was nothing good... a familiar voice called out.
“Charlotte!”
Igor Karmarov veritably sauntered from the elevator, across the lobby. I’d never seen the professor be anything less than an adamant professional, even in the midst of a vampire-werewolf battle with lives on the line. The confidence with hints of mischievousness he imbued with each step threw me for a loop. Only when Charlotte went crimson and her pupils dilated did I understand what was going on. Impossible. Was I really seeing this? Was it really happening? It wasn’t the enthralling taking place right before my eyes that had me questioning my sanity, but the standing in a glass-walled lobby on a bright, sunny day in Chicago and not bursting into flames.
“Morning, Iggy,” Charlotte sing-songed.
“Good morning, Charlotte.” Igor winked. Actually winked. For an old man, he still had moves. “I see you’ve found Miss Kline in the nick of time. I just called up to the Internship Coordinator to see if she made orientation. I should take her up right away.”
His hand took me by the elbow and attempted to drag me away, but Charlotte extended a finger and an objection.
“Just a second, Iggy. I thought I felt something in that braid of hers. Probably nothing, but—”
The polarity of the air shifted as Igor bore down into her mind with his power. “It is nothing, Charlotte. Nothing to worry about at all. In fact, you don’t even remember the slightest thing being suspicious.”
“No, nothing at all,” a dazed Charlotte agreed as she swept my bag off the other end of the conveyor and handed it to me. “You better get up to that orientation, now. Mr. Speck hates people who are late.”
Igor dipped his head. “Thank you, Charlotte.”
“Enthrall security on a regular basis, do you?” I asked Igor as he led us towards the elevators. “Charlotte seemed to know you quite well, Iggy.”
The professor modeled the term nonchalant. “I’ve taken of her vein before.”
With that chilling matter-of-fact delivery, I was reminded I wasn’t in the packlands and this wasn’t a hood compound. WWL was run by vampires, and how many, I had no idea. At their head sat the firstborn daughter of Dracula himself. The second I got cocky here could be the second I got myself into serious trouble.
“The security in the work zone proper isn’t so easily counteracted,” Igor continued. “Bringing a weapon into this building again would be unwise. Only dumb luck saved you this time.”
“Acknowledged. Do you mind if I ask how you’re able to be here at all given current atmospheric conditions?”
Igor smirked. “You mean because we’re in a lobby bursting with sunlight, and I’m not bursting from sunlight?” He pointed to the transparent walls that framed the expansive foyer. “The glass has a filter that keeps us from going poof. I have the same thing in my car. That, and some underground garages, allows me to be here for a few hours after sunrise, should I desire.”
“And you desired?” I asked as the elevator opened, allowing three or four people to come out as we queued to get in.
“I wanted to be certain you got to the orientation on time. And if you didn’t. Well... Luckily, we don’t have to address that hypothetical. Take care to be on time, please. I will not always be here to save the day.”
“You have too little faith in my ability to get myself out of trouble.”
He stifled a laugh as the elevator dashed towards floor six. “Perhaps.”
The hallways of WWL didn’t scream out “This place is run by vampires.” Not that I had a huge catalog of experience to compare, but if forced to describe the motif, I would say “a dull assortment of neutral-toned paintings on off-white walls and benignly-patterned carpet. Textbook corporate facilities.” I wondered where the labs were, and if that floor looked like something out of a hospital.
Igor put a hand on my shoulder and turned me up a hall. I bristled at his touch. Even though I’d come to accept that the vampire indeed was on my side, it didn’t quell instincts born of generations of breeding. At the door, a stout, red-haired snap of Huey stood, a clipboard in hand and a scowl on her face.
“Igor,” she said, in the same way someone might say “locusts.”
“Good morning, Thelma. Miss Gerwalta Kline here to check in for orientation.”
Thelma pushed black-rimmed, coke bottle glasses tinted pink over the bump of her bulbous nose. “Mr. Speck’s instructions were clear. No tardiness. Those who are late, are cut.”
Again, the air shifted, dull electricity humming through my body as Igor leaned in, pushing his power out to the strict woman.
“Surely an exception can be made for interns hand-selected by senior staff, such as myself.”
Unlike Charlotte, who acquiesced like water to gravity, Thelma only stared back, deadpan. “No use in trying to enthrall me, Igor,” she said, flicking the lens of her glasses. “My prescription got upgraded. Now, unless you got another trick up your sleeve, I’ll trust you to show Miss Kline out.”
The professor blew out a huff through pursed lips, looking at the wall as if it had some kind of solution written in graffiti. I, however, wasn’t about to let some paper-pushing hard ass screw things up. If this Thelma knew about enthralling, and thus vampires, I was willing to bet she knew about other supes as well.
“Have you ever heard of the Red Matron?” I asked.
The administrative bouncer blinked twice. “That old battle axe? Of course, I have.”
“Then you know how crazy she can be.”
Thelma’s slow nod matched up with a sly smirk. “Oh, yeah, I’ve heard she’s some kind of modern day Xena. A real shoot first, there’s no need to ask any questions type of loon.”
We shared a laugh. Until, that was, I leaned in close and whispered, “She�
��s my mother.”
Thelma’s eyebrow arched. “Are you honestly trying to pull a do-you-know-who-I-am maneuver?”
“Well, that depends.” Calling on my nascent power, I shot energy through my body, making my eyes glow pale blue. It didn’t have too much of an effect, until I pulled my silver dagger from my hair and held it to her throat. “Tell me, Thelma, do you know who I am?”
Nerves made her giggle. Her arm whipped back, indicating the door to the meeting room. “You’re our newest intern at WWL. Go right on in.”
“Despite your best efforts, I fear you may be your mother’s child.” Igor walked me past the petrified woman and opened the door for me. “Try to get through orientation without pulling a knife on anyone else. I’ll see you in the lab tonight.”
Chapter Six
To think, all my life I’d fretted over dying at the hands of a werewolf, when really, these high-heeled shoes would be the death of me.
The second I got home and walked through the door, the black pumps came off my feet and landed on the top of the garbage bin.
“These were clearly invented by a man!” I yelled, stuffing them down. “Probably the Marquis de Sade.”
Tobias peeked out of the kitchen, a dishtowel strewn over his shoulders. “Bad day at work, hood?”
“No, bad day to and from work, wolf,” I growled back. “But work wasn’t all that great either.”
He patted his hands dry as he came around the corner. “You smell like vampire.”
“And you smell like lilacs. I guess you used Amy’s body wash then.”
“Yours was something called English Garden. It was too close to home for comfort.”
I surrendered to the couch, thanking sweet mercy as its cushions embraced me. I took a survey of the living room and kitchen island. “Have you been cleaning?”
Tobias sat in the armchair to my right. “Slept a couple hours. Took a shower. Then, I had nothing to do. I, um, I have to have something to do. If I don’t, I think about...”
Sadness pulled his features towards the ground. He didn’t need to finish the sentence.
I sat up, softening my voice. “About this morning. It was rude of me to...”
“Rude is when you tell someone their cooking bites. You were being a bitch,” he said, cutting me off. Just before I could get my ire raised again, he added, “but I should have warned you I was coming, and why.”
“I stick by what I said back in Paradise. We’ll get our answers, but we’re dealing with vampires here. I know wolves; you guys are all in, or all out. And when you decide to do something about a situation, you want it taken care of right away. But we’re going to have to be, well, a bit more ‘hoodish’ on this.”
“Hoodish?” he repeated, one eyebrow arched. “You’re not going to ask me to put on a cloak and kill stray dogs, are you?”
Don’t be drawn in. “I mean methodic. We’re hunters, trackers. We’re used to looking at the big picture, taking in the whole environment, and trailing leads until we’re sure we can come out of a confrontation victorious. Right now, we only know that the vamps involved with Cynthia are up to something that’s killing wolves or, at the very least, seriously altering lupine behavior. We don’t know what exactly, we don’t know how, and most importantly, we don’t know why.”
“That bitch vamp who killed Kara said why. Because they want us out of the way.”
I shook my head. “I don’t think she meant all wolves when she said that. I think she meant us specifically. Think about it: there’s really no reason why a wolf would pose a threat to a vampire. You guys generally don’t overlap territory, you’re not competing for food. There’s no reason for you to be in conflict. There’s something bigger behind that goal, and we have to figure out what it is.”
“Which is why you’re working at WWL. So, then, orientation. What was that all about?”
Now that we were getting to the meat of my day, I shrank back from the reality of its paltry quality. “There’s about twenty interns for the summer, but I seem to be the only non-Huey.”
I didn’t mention that among that lot was the brain-bleached Huey I’d almost had sex with on this very couch and who turned out to be a conspirator of the vampire I’d killed, Jess Harmon. My handsome but heinous ex held no memory of what I was or what had happened between us; Igor had scrambled his brains to a fluffy goo. Jess only recalled my name was Geri, and no, not like the Spice Girl. Outside of that, I was practically a stranger to him.
Tobias’s face screwed up. “And vamps?”
“Igor, briefly, when I first arrived. Then, none. Like you said, daytime.”
“You’re sure that Igor is on our side?”
“If he’s not, he’s doing a really good impression of it. Trust me, the second I suspect it’s otherwise, things will change.”
“This still doesn’t feel right. How can you continue to work for someone who held you prisoner for three days?”
My face soured. “I’m not.”
The wolf cocked his head. “I don’t understand.”
“I was supposed to be working with Igor, but at the end of orientation, when we were given our badges, mine said mailroom.”
Tobias drew himself up to the edge of the cushion. “Mailroom?”
“As in, sorting the mail in a room designated for that purpose. Much to my chagrin, it was not a metaphor. P.S., My supervisor is a man named Doug who hated me on sight. Anyways, I was so shocked, I didn’t say anything. How and the hell am I supposed to figure out what WWL is up to if I have to spend the next eight weeks licking stamps? And to top it all off, it’s the day shift! I don’t know. I have to talk to Igor, figure out if it’s a mistake or something.”
The bubbly expression on Tobias’s face was either adorable, or insulting. “Day shift in the mailroom? But that’s perfect!”
“Why, because now you won’t have to get all uber-overprotective when there aren’t so many vampires around?”
“Let me introduce a little wolf rational into your oh-so-holy hood logic.” The chair nearly flew back when Tobias sprang to his feet. “Yes, fewer vampires during the day shift – if any – means it’s easier for me to obey my alpha and protect your life. But a good wolf knows that stealth nets more kills than charging. No one’s going to bat an eyelash if a new intern who doesn’t know her way around accidentally goes some place she’s not supposed to be. Don’t you see? This is a good thing.”
Committed to my sulk, I chewed on his words but tasted only reluctance. “Did I mention the mailroom also runs the shared printers for the whole company? Can’t wait until I’m running all around, dropping off everyone’s printouts of cat memes and cookie recipes.”
Tobias reached out and grabbed my hand, dragging me up. “Are you daft? You said you were the only non-Huey in the orientation, yes?”
“Yeah, so?”
“How likely is it, then, that most of the Hueys who work at WWL have no idea what you are? It’s the perfect disguise. You’re going to be a nobody, and no one pays attention to a nobody.” He stuck a finger up between us. “Someone else’s hubris is their weakness and your strength. A rabbit on a hill can see far, but he can also be seen from afar even better.”
He must have read the confusion in my face.
“It’s one of the tenets we’re raised on,” Tobias continued. “The Six Silver Rules, we call them, handed down from generation to generation. Sort of like our Ten Commandments, only for how to avoid hoods and be good wolves.”
“Tobias, I’ve studied werewolf culture and history all my life. I’ve never heard of something called the Silver Rules.”
“And that just proves my point. You don’t know what you don’t know.” Putting his hand on the small of my back, the wolf guided me toward my room, shoving me in and closing the door. “Change into something you can get dirty and sweaty. City life is making you weak. We’re going for a run. If we’re lucky, we’ll find somewhere we can spar a little too.”
Chapter Seven
; “I’m just as surprised as you are,” Igor said when I called him later that night to catch him up on the last few days – despite the fact that Tobias had made me run so hard and so long, I could barely move. “But for me to voice my objection would likely do more damage than solve any problem.”
“Do you have any idea why my assignment changed?” I asked, reaching for a water bottle on my side table.
“The vampire who runs WWL – actually runs it, not the Huey figurehead who works the dayshift – she knows you’re a hood. I had to, of course, disclose this fact before recommending that you be offered a position. If I had not, it would have made it look like I was trying to hide something. Perhaps she decided that having the Red Matron’s daughter involved in research might not be prudent.”
My instinct to defend myself warred with the reality that there was indeed reason not to trust me. My intentions were not purely academic or professional.
“By she, do you mean Inga?”
The fact that my initial offer letter had come from the firstborn daughter of Dracula hadn’t faded from my memory.
“Yes, Inga,” Igor confirmed. “Generally, she will grant any request I make. Then again, I don’t really make that many. But, at the beginning of the day, it is at her discretion to place you as she sees fit. For what it’s worth, I agree with Tobias. There is a certain level of flexibility that comes with being in the mailroom that you would not otherwise have.”
I grumbled my agreement, though the ache in my shins and hips tried to convince me the only compliment I should offer where Tobias was concerned was how good he’d look wearing a silver choker.
Igor continued, “I think it goes without saying then, Geri, that it will be necessary for us to keep up appearances should we ever see each other at the office. A quick greeting will not be out of line; WWL knows you were my student worker last term. But if we are seen discussing anything together, it will be noted and reported upon. We shouldn’t be seen lingering about, talking.”
Relinquished Hood (Red Hood Chronicles Book 2) Page 4