“Oh. Ah, thanks.” The lab access alone made me giddy, not that I would need it except for private case work like this since I would soon have the NSB’s resources behind me. “When did that happen?”
“It’s always been that way. Your name is on all the deeds, all the policies, all the accounts. All of it.” He heard my gasp and glanced at me. “Our duty is to provide for you. The business Cole imagined, that we helped him build, was only ever meant for you.”
Gold dots winked in my vision. “I don’t need any of that. I don’t want it.”
“We did the best we could on our own,” he said on a soft breath. “Are you not pleased?”
First Cole and then Miller and now Thom. How did I always end up with my foot in my mouth?
“You all worked so hard,” I explained. “The company, the properties, the money, all of it, should belong to the coterie.”
His ears twitched, the muscles pulling taut so that had he been shifted, they would have flattened against his skull. “That’s not how this works.”
“Maybe it’s how this should work.”
A long sigh parted his lips. “You don’t want anything from us, do you?”
“I want your friendship, your knowledge. I want to not be alone in my otherness.” I tore the wrapper containing my muffin to shreds. “I want the best for you, and from everything you’ve told me, that means the old power structure has to go. I understand Miller needs me in ways the rest of you don’t, and he and I have come to an understanding, but I can’t play overlord and pretend I’m okay with that. It’s wrong. You’re asking me to abandon who I am, the core of what makes me me.”
His shoulders rounded until I had to keep going, had to make him understand.
“I’m not going to abandon you, any of you. I accept that you’re mine to care for, mine to protect.” Conquest had brought them here, spirited them away from their home worlds, and that burden was mine to bear. “And I understand that means I’m yours too, and that your ideas about protecting me are different than mine.”
“I wish you could stay,” he said softly, and his meaning was clear. He believed Conquest was in me and that she would prevail. “Perhaps you’re the reason why I made this journey. I wanted to witness miracles, to experience wonders, to understand the fundamental reason for our existence, and I have beheld echoes of all those things in you.
“When I return to my people, I will possess a vaster knowledge than any who has come before me, and I will tell them of the two-souled Otillian who fought against her nature and won the loyalty of her coterie through bonds stronger than the bands implanted beneath their skin.” Satisfaction gave his eyes a glint. “It will make a good story, I think.”
My gut clenched like I’d been kicked. “You’re leaving? When? I didn’t think that was possible.”
The alarm in my voice accomplished what my speech had failed to do and put a satisfied grin back on his face. “You don’t want me to go.”
“We need you.” By all accounts, the worst was yet to come. “We can’t survive this without you.”
War had savaged him and Santiago, and that was during her opening salvo.
Puffed up to maximum capacity, he allowed, “I won’t return until you no longer require me.”
As to the how, he kept that nugget of information to himself. I couldn’t say I blamed him.
Thom executed a series of quick turns that dumped us out into a paved lot beside an industrial building. The logo painted on the side was a variation on the one I was used to seeing on White Horse’s vehicles. I must have missed the memo where Cole admitted the private lab they used belonged to them, but the setup made sense. I didn’t see him contracting work out to the general public. He wasn’t that trusting. There was also the fact some of the compounds he required tested were not of this world. On the heels of that thought stumbled another. “Does this lab employ humans?”
“No.” Thom eyed my muffin so hard I passed it over to him. “All the employees at this facility are charun. There was no other way to ensure our privacy.”
“I wonder how many are in the NSB’s pocket?” I fiddled with the door handle. “Kapoor would have planted a mole here, maybe several, and they would have dug in deep.”
“You’ve partnered with the NSB,” Thom reminded me. “There’s no point weeding them out now that we are aware they must exist. It would only cast suspicion on you. We’ll isolate them instead and make sure none of the more sensitive materials pass through their hands.”
I popped open the door and stepped out. “What do I need to tell them?”
“Bring the cooler to the front desk.” Thom began picking the blueberries from the muffin and tossing them out his window. “They know who you are. They know why you’re here.”
Sucking it up, I left him to finish his breakfast while I grabbed the cooler from the trunk. I backed through the front door of the building and approached a circular desk. The lobby was as sterile as it got without being a hospital, but what had I expected from a lab?
The dowdy receptionist who had been lost in conversation goggled up at me, and the phone slid through her fingers. It clattered across the linoleum, and she joined it, going down on her knees and planting her palms before her. She didn’t stop there, either. She bent forward until her forehead touched the floor and held the pose until I cleared my throat.
“You, ah, don’t have to do that.” I glanced around like maybe she was bowing to someone else who had crept up behind me the way it happens in the movies, but we were alone. “Really. You can get up now.”
“Mistress, blessings upon you.” Her voice came out muffled. “I had heard we were to expect a visit from you. I would have prepared the rites, but Master Cole forbade it.”
“I’m in a bit of a hurry.” I backed up a half-step. “Can I leave this with you and…?”
“Yes, Mistress.” She didn’t budge from her position. “I will see it is taken in for processing.”
“Thanks.” I rubbed the base of my neck. “I, ah, appreciate your assistance.”
“It is nothing, Mistress.”
Unable to peel my eyes off the prostrate woman, I inched out the door before rejoining Thom. “That was uncomfortable.”
“Veronica still bows to Cole after all these years.” He got us back on the road. “Breaking etiquette would shatter the foundation of her world.”
There was a message there, a blunt one, and I received it with a sigh. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Does she bow to you?”
“No.”
Getting answers when he wasn’t in a giving mood was like pulling teeth. “Why?”
“The gesture is done out of respect for his station.”
I should have packed pliers. “As leader of the coterie?”
Thom cranked up the radio, and that was the end of that.
CHAPTER EIGHT
I spent the rest of the drive absorbed in the Culberson file, pausing now and again to ping Rixton with questions. Mostly I got baby pics in return. I didn’t mind the trade. Plus, Nettie’s adorableness meant her father had trouble forming cohesive non-baby thoughts long enough to tease me.
Thom dropped his gaze to the phone in my lap. “Are you going to answer that?”
“It’s not —” the display lit with a number that left my palms sweaty “— ringing.” I narrowed my eyes at Thom, wondering how the trick worked. “Boudreau.”
“Wu filed the paperwork to establish your partnership the night you agreed to join the taskforce.” Kapoor cut right to the chase. “You two will be working together unless or until the higher ups are convinced the match isn’t working.” His sigh blew across the line. “Sorry, Luce, but what Wu wants, Wu tends to get.”
That solved one mystery. Our partnership had been his bright idea. No wonder he’d shown up on my doorstep with an ultimatum. His was more than professional courtesy; it was personal interest. “Why does he want me?”
“You’ll have to ask h
im that.”
“Is this how it’s always going to be with us?” I gazed out the window as the rolling scenery slowed. “I ask a question, you get back with the answer after careful consideration, and raise four more questions while you’re at it?”
“Nah.” The edge of amusement crept into his tone. “Sometimes I’ll raise five.”
Thom cut his eyes toward me. “We’re here.”
“I have to go.” I peered through the window. “Thanks for getting back with me.”
“Luce…” Kapoor made a ticking sound behind his teeth. “Let me know if Wu gives you problems. He might be a whale, but I’m in management. They issue us harpoon guns for a reason, understand?”
A sliver of grudging respect for his willingness to confront Wu cut through my annoyance with him. “I’ll let you know if I can’t handle him.”
Kapoor signed off with a huff of laughter that implied a better trick would be if I could.
After tucking away the phone, I began flipping through the Culberson file again. I skimmed the whole thing, front to back, without experiencing a single ah-ha moment. Frustrated, I took stock of our surroundings. “How much farther?”
“Another pet was discovered a half mile from this location.” Thom threw the SUV into park while I stuffed my gear back where it belonged. “I tracked it to that house on the right last night.”
Blinking away the dancing lines of text from my eyes, I focused on our surroundings. “This is not what I was expecting.”
Thom had guided us into a warren of a subdivision and parked in the driveway of a half-finished house at the end of a row dappled with homes in various stages of completion. Pallets stacked with shingles waited on the road, and some yellow, mechanical monstrosity was frozen mid-scoop over the manmade pond it was creating.
“The site has been shut down until bills owed by the development are paid to its construction partner.”
“Are ubaste nocturnal?” I swept my gaze over the area. “Are we hoping to find where it’s denning?”
“Yes.” He lifted the rear hatch and removed a carpeted square that revealed a hidden weapons cache. Three knives and a gun disappeared on his person that I noticed. I’m sure there were more. The last Glock got pressed into my hand, and already I felt better about life. He also passed me a six-inch dagger I slid between my belt and jeans for safekeeping. “Hunting them is easier during the day.”
A detailed map of the subdivision was only a few clicks away online. The developer wanted the plots sold ASAP, and there were at least two dozen listings that outlined the layout of the entire development. The cell signal wasn’t great out here. I almost whipped out the black phone to check its reception, but I decided to make do with what I had.
“Let’s use a standard search grid.” I checked the gleaming road signs until I located the ideal starting point. “We’ll start on Cypress Lane, work our way down Dogwood Court, then finish on Magnolia Circle.” I scanned the nearest houses, both skeletal outlines left exposed to the elements. “Do we stick together, or do we each take a road and meet in the middle?”
“You aren’t at full strength, and it will capitalize on any perceived weakness.” Thom sidled up to me. “I’m not sure how susceptible you are to an ubaste in your current form, but we can’t risk finding out. We do this together.”
Full strength meant going demon, a thing I wasn’t certain I could do. After all, if Conquest hadn’t stirred to save herself from her sister, I doubted she would care much if an ubaste snacked on us. “Works for me.”
As we moved from shell to shell, we cleared every room on each floor. No sod had been rolled out, so the yards were patchworks of dirt and weeds that made it obvious nothing had tunneled down into the earth or was otherwise using the ground for cover. We made it three houses down Dogwood Court before a fetid stench launched me into a coughing fit.
“What is that?” I lifted the collar of my tee over my nose, but it didn’t help much. “It smells like week-old Chinese food and dirty diapers.”
“We’re getting close.” Thom flared his nostrils, his expression tight. “That reek is indicative of a den.”
House number four came up empty, but we struck pay dirt on house number five. It was more than three-quarters finished inside, and it was one of the few homes that had a full basement. Claw marks had ruined the cherry hardwood floor, and thick clumps of gray hair made dust bunnies in the corners. We cleared the first and second levels then regrouped by the door leading underground.
“Cover me.” Thom gripped a dagger in each hand then vanished down the stairs.
“Thomas,” I hissed. No electricity meant no lights, and no lights meant he had disappeared on me. I couldn’t see him to cover him. I couldn’t perceive anything at all beyond the fifth or sixth step. All was pitch black. “Fall back.”
A high-pitched yowling pierced my ears a second before a massive ball of mottled fur plowed me down on its way out of the darkness. I hit the floor with a grunt and aimed my gun at its retreating back, but Thom flew past in a whir of black feathers and ruined the shot for me. Glass exploded as the beast shattered a window in its frantic bid for escape, and Thom zipped through the opening, wings blurring with their speed.
“Don’t worry about me.” Groaning, I got my legs under me. “I’m fine. Thanks for asking.”
I jogged through the house, out the front door, and trailed the thing from where it crash-landed. The ubaste, in daylight, with its low hind quarters and higher withers paired with its spotted pelt reminded me of a hyena, but its face was utterly alien. Rather than a jaw lined with teeth, the tip of its nose tapered down into a proboscis similar to what came standard on mosquitos, except the ubaste swung its limber snout with the ease of an elephant curling its trunk.
Unlike Veronica, the ubaste wasn’t humbled by my appearance. Given its rabid expression after waking up on the wrong side of the basement, I’m not entirely certain it knew what I was or cared. Still, it would have been handy if it had fallen at my feet instead of scuffing its paws in preparation for a charge.
I settled into a comfortable stance and steadied my aim. I couldn’t outrun the creature. I had to stand my ground. One deep breath in, one out, and it was thundering toward me. I popped off six rounds that hit center mass and caused green blood to blossom across its chest, but it didn’t slow. I got in a few more shots before impact slammed me flat on my back. Pinned under its paws, I was stuck as the ubaste aimed its needlelike snout at me.
“Thom?” I called. “Little help here?”
Black wings came into view over the ubaste’s shoulder. Thom had landed on its back and was walking the length of its spine. No time to wonder what the cat was up to, not when the ubaste was stabbing at me like I was an iced coffee he wanted to slurp.
Whatever Thom was up to, he wasn’t doing it fast enough. The puckered end of the ubaste’s snout brushed my cheek, and white-hot agony ripped through my limbs. The pounding of my heart slowed, and my lungs forgot what they were supposed to be doing for the span of a few tortuous beats.
The cold place surfaced before true panic sank in, and it was as if my body moved on autopilot. I retrieved the knife Thom had given me and sliced through the creature’s snout in a clean arc. Its shriek of rage was more of a gurgle as its proboscis hit the dirt, and I almost pitied the ugly thing.
“Mmmrrrrpt.”
Over the ubaste’s thrashing head, Thom locked gazes with me. I read the look to mean you better get while the getting’s good. Scrabbling backward, I managed to wriggle out from under it seconds before its dazed thrashing morphed into drunken imbalance. Thom hovered out of range until the ubaste’s knees liquefied, and it collapsed in a heap of fur and stink. I flopped on my back a safe distance away and caught my breath.
“Thanks for the assist,” I panted. “Is it dead?”
The boxy tomcat landed on my chest, turning breathing into a workout, and proceeded to lick his right front paw.
“Good talk.” I rolled onto my side, startl
ing the cat into flight, and pushed myself upright to get a better look at the demon. “Did you get what you needed?” Already the smell was worse. Must be all that green blood slicking its fur. “What do we do with the body?”
Once the cat finished cleaning his face, he deigned to notice me and shifted back onto two legs.
“It’s not dead. The narcotic in my saliva has rendered it unconscious.” Thom left me where I sat and approached the creature. He squatted beside it, ran his palm over its mottled fur and inhaled the scents he stirred on the air. He dipped his fingers in its blood and tasted that too. “There is no hint of Famine on this beast. The taint of the other worlds has gone too.”
“Then it knew the rules.” I frowned at the hulking mass. “It’s been here long enough to figure out how to blend in, how to survive. What caused it to go rogue? It must have known it would be hunted down.”
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