I'm a little surprised to hear her talk like that, but I guess I still don't know everything about her and how she handles things. By now I should be aware that there's a lot more to her than meets the eye.
"Shall I meet you at the morgue tomorrow at 10?" she asks.
"Ten in the morning or evening."
Lady Lara chuckles. "I know your schedule is a little different from mine, but I try to be home by 10 pm. Anything else you need to know before we go there?"
"Do you have files for the victims?"
She nods and points towards her desk. "They're waiting there for you. Copies of the police files, so they should be pretty thorough. Again, as I said before, they weren't able to establish a link, but maybe you'll be able to spot something they missed. Keep me updated with whatever you find." She gets up, our meeting clearly at its end. "Tomorrow at ten?"
I sigh and snatch two more lemon biscuits from the table. "I guess so."
Back home, Bethany is waiting for me. She barely lets me take off my boots before she assaults me with a barrage of words.
"I've given them the antidote and the guy has woken up. He's got lots to tell you but I already had him give me a summary. They were taken by some masked thugs a week ago and held hostage ever since. They're husband and wife and you won't believe who they are. It blows my mind still, especially that I didn't even hear that they're missing."
I hold up a hand. "Slow down. Who are they?"
She grins. "I think I should keep that to myself for now, increase the suspense."
I've got my knife at her throat before she can even blink. "I'm impatient today. Tell me."
Bethany takes a step back, away from my blade, and shoots me an exasperated look. "Violence isn't the answer, Kat, you should know that by now. But alright then, they're the MacFays. The MacFays."
I don't get her excitement, mainly because I have no idea who they are.
"That rings a bell," I hedge. "Who are they again?"
"Oh my, you haven't got the faintest, do ya. You really need to get more involved in the town gossip, it's fascinating."
"Who are they?" I growl.
"Only two of the richest people in Attenburgh. They were at that Jewellers' Guild ball back before you were kidnapped. They do a lot of charity work and as far as I know, are allies of the mayor. Mrs MacFay is on the Council, while he's got a chain of restaurants. You'll find them at pretty much every single high society event and not just in Attenburgh. They're loaded, Kat. Think they'll reward us for saving them?"
"They should. What do you think your antidote is worth. A thousand darems?"
Bethany grins wolfishly. "At the very least. Plus we had to get them here. Transport costs are high at the moment."
"Definitely. Let's not mention that it was the mayor who paid for it."
"Yes, let's forget that. Do you want to see him now? I think he's got a lot more to share than he was willing to say to me."
"Because he didn't trust you or because he needs to be tortured?"
She shrugs. "Because I'm not the boss. You've got authority. I'm just a lowly servant."
Hah, I'm not going to let her forget that she said that. Lowly servant. She'll never live that one down.
I hang up my coat and put some of my weapons into the makeshift armoury. I always keep at least two knives on me, especially now that our home has been breached, but I also want to be comfortable.
"I'll make some tea," Bethany offers. Wow, something's happened to her. She's never this nice unless there's something in it for her. Maybe she's only making tea for herself, not for me. That would make more sense.
Before I go downstairs into the part of the morgue that has recently been fashioned into a medical area – mostly for me but it comes in handy now – I check who else is home. Benjamin is in his room along with the fawn. I grin. I wonder what they’re doing. I’d have thought that the deer would like to leave and be back in the wild, but it seems she’s content being spoiled by Benjamin. I’ll have to check in with him later to ask if he found anything of interest in the Delaney manor.
Cats are all over the house, mostly snoozing in nooks and crannies only cats can find. Ryker is upstairs with the litter, but there’s no trace of Gryphon and Lennox. Lily is in the office, hopefully doing the paperwork I’ve been ignoring. My sisters aren’t in, but I think I heard them talk about going shopping after they’d removed the two corpses from the hallway. As much as I hate going shopping, I kind of wish I could be with them for some sister time.
I stretch my back and roll my shoulders. The exercise earlier was good for my body, but it also showed how much out of shape I am. I should go for a run tonight, maybe take the guys with me and see if we can find a romantic moonlit lawn for some fun time. Although I think Ryker wants to talk. I sigh. I don’t want to talk. I want them to get naked and fuck me so I can forget everything that’s happened.
“Tea’s ready!” Bethany calls from the kitchen. She’s prepared a tray with three mugs for me to take downstairs. I give her a quizzical look and she grins evilly. “Laced with some Mother’s Milk. That should help get them talking. The green mug is safe.”
I give it a sniff just to make sure. Mother’s Milk, a potion that loosens the tongue and decreases inhibitions, is hard to detect, but my cat senses are sharp enough to spot the whiff of vanilla coming from the two blue mugs. It’s not a truth potion per se, those don’t exist, but it makes people more willing to talk. Bethany must have had trouble getting all the information she wanted from the MacFays if she’s using Mother’s Milk.
I grab the tray and put on my impassive, unreadable assassin mask. It’s time to talk to our guests.
Chapter Eight
Mr MacFay glares at me when I enter the room. He’s shaved and already looks a little less emaciated, although he clearly needs the wall’s support to sit upright. A stack of used plates bears witness to all the food he and his wife must have eaten. It’s one of the side effects of Heltaskelter Juice withdrawal. It makes you ravenous, so much so that victims have tried to eat their own flesh if they didn’t have any food. Gryphon has given both an intravenous drip to help them back to full strength as soon as possible, but it will still take weeks for them to regain their previous weight. Mr MacFay will have to do a lot of workouts if he wants to get those muscles back; they’re affected even more by the poison than fat deposits.
Mrs MacFay lifts her head but her eyes are glazed over. Someone’s given her a woollen hat to cover her bald head, but it doesn’t hide the sunken cheeks and skeletal limbs. It’s going to be a long time until she can walk around in high society again.
“I’m Kat Feln,” I introduce myself in my best business voice. “You’re in my home.”
“I demand you let us go immediately,” MacFay barks, but his authority is undermined by him swaying when he tries to lean forward. He quickly sinks back against the wall, hiding his weakness.
I point at the door. “You can go whenever you like, but I doubt you’d make it far in your current state. We rescued you and will do our best to help you recover. You’ve already met Bethany, she’s one of the best poison specialists out there. Gryphon, the doctor who assessed you when we first got you here, also has special expertise in everything to do with poisonings. You couldn’t be in better hands. The mayor herself made sure you were brought here rather than the local hospital.”
“The mayor?” he asks sceptically. “You know her?”
“I’m her special advisor,” I explain, taking great pleasure in watching his expression turn to astonishment. “Before, I worked as her bodyguard and improved the security of both the town hall and her own home. As I said, you’re in the best place possible.”
He groans and all the bravado leaks out of him, leaving only a weak, tortured man. “I apologise, I misjudged you. Do you have anti-siren technology in this place?”
I try to hide my surprise but I’m not sure I’m successful. “You know about sirens?”
He scoffs. “It’s how we end
ed up in the Delaney’s captivity. I’d heard rumours about him and his involvement in a clandestine organisation, so we went to challenge him. I never expected him to assault us and keep us prisoner.”
Pride is everyone’s downfall. He must have thought that he and his wife were too important, too famous to be attacked.
I put the tray on a metal trolley between the two beds and take the green mug. I don’t think they need the Mother’s Milk to talk, but it won’t do them any harm. It might even help relax them a little.
“Dorothy, would you like some tea?” he asks his wife, warmth and concern swinging in his voice. He truly loves her, that’s obvious from this simple interaction.
She nods and tries to sit up, but she’s too weak. I help her, propping her up with some pillows, while mentally rolling my eyes at my kindness. I’m getting soft. I don’t go as far as holding the mug to her lips though. If she can’t drink on her own, her husband will have to help her. I’m not a nurse.
I let them sip some tea in silence, waiting for Mother’s Milk to take effect. Dorothy’s cheeks turn a pale pink, making her appear a little less like a ghost and more like a human being.
“How did you find out about sirens?” I ask after a couple of minutes.
Mr MacFay clears his throat, suddenly looking a little uncomfortable. “Have you ever come across Peter Tamari?”
I nod. “Scar beneath his eye, filthy rich, works for the Delaneys?”
“That’s the one. He died a couple of months ago under mysterious circumstances. He owed me money, so I went to investigate whether I could get some of his daughter’s inheritance. I don’t remember much of that visit, which is what started it all.”
“He came back completely dazed,” Mrs MacFay says in a croaky, barely audible voice. “Like someone had messed with his head.”
“She wanted to send me to a doctor,” he nods towards his wife, “but I knew there was nothing wrong with me. I started reaching out to my network and got some very strange, very similar reports about Tamari. How he’d done business deals with people who later couldn’t remember what they’d agreed to. How he’d risen in society from nothing without having any particular skills or even being particularly charming. It was suspicious, so I dug deeper and deeper until I came across some conspiracy theories. Supernatural beings living among us. Sirens, able to hex people with their voice.”
“It sounded ridiculous at first, but when we heard the same thing again and again, it started to make sense,” Dorothy adds. I wish she’d stop talking; it sounds like she’s torturing herself with every word. But again, I’m not her carer.
“After we’d figured out what the Tamaris were, we made the connection to other families, including the Delaneys. They’re all beautiful, wealthy, influential. Some have been powerful for generations, others come out of nowhere. It took months but we ended up with a shockingly long list of suspected sirens. Then one of the private investigators we’d hired turned up dead with a strange coin in his mouth where his tongue had been before.”
I take out the Fang coin Lady Lara had given me. “A coin like this one?”
MacFay nods, staring at the bronze coin with hate. “That’s how we came across the Fangs. How much do you know about them?”
“Enough to know how powerful they are, not enough to know who’s part of them,” I say, surprised by my honesty.
“That’s right. We poured immense resources into the investigation but only resulted in a list of five suspected members. Lord Delaney was at the very top, so we went to confront him.”
“That was very stupid, you’re only human.”
His eyes widen. “You say that as if you’re not human.”
“I’m not a siren, if that’s what you’re scared of.”
Neither of them looks reassured by that.
“Are you…a werewolf?” Dorothy whispers.
I grin. “No, I’m not. But you should know that humans aren’t alone in this world.”
“Vampires?” she asks with wide eyes.
“No, they don’t exist. Well, kind of, but let’s focus on what’s important.”
I think back to how Gryphon told me that vampires were a kind of succubi who fed on all sorts of things, not just blood. I’d been heavily pregnant and had just bitten my siren. It must have been Vamp and Biter inside of me who somehow made me do that. Since then, I’ve not felt any urges to bite my mates.
“When you got us out of the Delaney mansion, did you capture the Delaneys?” Mr MacFay asks. “I can’t seem to remember if I ever got the chance to challenge them and ask them the questions I’d planned to.”
“Only Mrs Delaney was there. She’s not a full siren though so you must have met her husband when you went to confront them. She wouldn’t have been able to overpower the two of you.”
“I didn’t know that. Not that it matters, she wasn’t involved in the Fangs.”
I raise an eyebrow. “How do you know?”
“They’re misogynist,” Dorothy replies instead of her husband, sounding disapproving even with her broken voice. “They don’t approve of women in positions of power.”
“Hence the hate for the mayor,” I mutter. “She knows about sirens, she’s for democracy, she wants to help the poor, and she’s a woman. She’s everything they despise.”
She nods. “And that’s exactly why we support her. She’s what Attenburgh has needed for a long time.”
“Did you capture Lady Delaney?” her husband asks impatiently.
“Ehm, no. She’s dead.”
“But-“
“She tried to kill me,” I interrupt coldly. “It was self-defence. Besides, they poisoned the two of you and would have watched you starve to death. You should have no pity for her.”
“I don’t, but she would have had information we need. It’s going to be much harder to get it out of Lord Delaney. Now that his wife is dead, he’ll likely go underground for a while.”
“Don’t worry, underground is where I work. I have people all over town looking for a trace of him.”
When I say ‘people’, I obviously mean cats, but he doesn’t have to know about my secret feline spy network. It’s my biggest asset and the fewer people know about it, the better. Besides, that would start the whole ‘I’m a shifter’ conversation and I don’t have time for that.
“Is there anything more about the Fangs that you can tell me?” I ask them.
Mr MacFay sighs deeply. “They’re planning something big, that’s all I know. I assume it’s to do with the mayor since she’s the biggest thorn in their side, but I don’t have any proof. The whispers all sounded like it’s going to happen soon.”
The murders around the town hall must be the beginning of it. I’m going to ask Lady Lara to increase her personal security, although I assume she’s already done so anyway. She’s a smart cookie.
I get up and take their empty cups like the lovely, attentive woman I am. “Alright, I’ll leave you to get some rest. If you can think of anything else, just tell one of the others and they’ll fetch me. It’s best if you stay here for a couple of days until we can be sure that the poison has been fully eradicated from your bloodstream.”
“Could we have some books?” Dorothy whispers. “It’s going to get boring.”
“Of course. I’ll ask Bethany to bring you some.” I turn to Mr MacFay. “And I’ll get you something to write. You’re going to make me a list of all the Fang members and sirens you uncovered. Call it your payment for your stay here.”
Benjamin corners me when I get upstairs. “Are we still having the naming ceremony tonight?”
I want to say no – I have way too many other things to think about – but I should really put my litter first, right? The babies need better names than their current nicknames, Lily is right about that. I wanted to make this ceremony something special, but once again sirens have destroyed my plans. Yet another reason to make sure this town is and stays siren-free. With the exception of Gryphon and any other good sirens, of course
.
“Alright, yes. Say in at sunset?” That should give me almost two hours to decide on names and deal with everything else.
“How romantic. I’ll tell the others.”
He turns to run off, but I grab his arm. “Did you find anything of interest in the Delaney manor?”
“A whole bag of Fang coins. They must have been distributing them. I also found a bundle of correspondence hidden underneath a floorboard.”
“How very predictable.”
“Yeah, I was disappointed by that. I’ve not had the chance to read through those letters yet but I assume they’re important if they were hidden away?”
“You can give them to me. I need to feed the babies and that’ll give me something to do while they destroy my boobs.”
A slight blush creeps over Benjamin’s cheeks. None of the others has any problems with me nursing in front of them, but he’s too close still to puberty to see it for the natural thing it is. Women have been nursing their babies ever since we crawled from the sea and turned into mammals, so men really shouldn’t have an issue with it. They’re lucky their nipples aren’t being tortured by greedy mouths several times a day.
“I’ll bring them upstairs,” he promises. “And then I’ll tell the others about the ceremony. Bethany has put a wager on the names you might choose.”
“Has she now?” I laugh. “I better get my bet in quickly then.”
“I’m not sure you’re allowed to enter-“ he begins but I shush him with another laugh.
“My house, my rules, my money. Now go get those letters. Oh, and bring our guests something to write. I’ll be in the nursery feeding the babies.”
His blush increases at the thought of going into that room while I’ve got my boobs out. He runs off quicker than ever.
Oh my, teasing my employees is way too much fun.
Chapter Nine
Tailie’s got his tail around Biter’s neck, but it seems more a friendly embrace than strangulation. Still, I gently pull them apart and press Tailie against my chest, encouraging him to feed. I always start with him or Furrie, leaving the fanged babies for last. It’s slightly less painful that way, although Furrie has also developed a strong bite even without teeth.
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