by Eileen Wilks
Naturally everyone started talking again, with those closest telling the others that the little girl had been found, looked like she hadn’t been missing after all, she’d been right there all along.
“She wasn’t, though,” Nathan said softly. “She was gone. Now she isn’t.”
What in the world was going on? Flowers that turned into bloodsucking butterflies. Toddlers who vanished then reappeared.
“You’re okay now?” he asked.
“What? Oh, shit, I forgot. I mean yes, I’m fine, but I’m not sure about everyone else.” Fine, but blithering. Sometimes it took a while for her brain to come fully online after she’d tranced deeply. She looked around. “Where’s Cullen? You said he was coming with you.”
Benedict said, “Headed this way.” He gave a jerk of his chin to indicate the direction.
Kai stood and peered through the crowd until she spotted a cinnamon-colored head moving toward them, or maybe for the table next to theirs, where Ackleford was talking to the mother newly reunited with her child and Lieutenant Jenkins was talking into her lapel mic.
Cullen Seabourne was unlikely in several ways, but the most obvious was his appearance. Beauty isn’t all that rare. Sunsets achieve it all the time. But if Cullen Seabourne were a sunset, he’d be the one that slowed rush hour traffic because drivers kept wanting to look. The people he was moving through wanted to look, too. That might have bogged him down if he hadn’t applied liberal doses of his personal antidote to beauty: sheer rudeness.
Nathan said, “Kai, I need you to go to the Ladies’.”
“Now?” She turned to him, surprised. “Why?”
“Because if I do it’s likely to upset people.”
“Yes, but—” She stopped. Her spine prickled, raising the hairs on the back of her neck. Even without the return of her Gift, she’d know what Nathan’s expression meant. He was utterly calm. Utterly focused. And his thoughts swam in an amethyst sea.
Nathan was on a Hunt.
Oh, this was going to be interesting. “Can it wait? I need to tell Cullen what Dell did. Others may be in danger.”
Dell shoved her chair back. “I go.”
Accustomed to translating for her familiar, Kai explained that Dell meant she’d check out the ladies’ room while Kai spoke to Cullen.
“Good.” Nathan nodded at Dell. “I need to know if someone is in there.”
Dell headed for the door with the skirted icon. Nathan went with her, though he stopped on this side of the door. Now, where was Cullen? Oh, there he was, next to Ackleford. Before Kai could head his way, someone else stopped her with a hand on her arm.
This time it was Benedict. “Hunter’s right. The little girl was gone. I didn’t see her return, but I smelled it when she did.”
“I imagine Nathan did, too.”
“Something changed with him just now.”
She tipped her head, curious. “Does he smell different?”
“I don’t know what’s different, but something is. I want to know what.”
“You do realize he can hear you, don’t you?” Not that Nathan seemed to be paying any attention to them. He was leaning against the wall beside the restroom door that had closed behind Dell. “Benedict, I need to talk to Cullen. It’s important.”
He frowned but released her, his gaze fixed on Nathan. Benedict’s colors were calm enough, but a deep reddish violet was spiking through the wary pewter that dominated at the moment.
Oh, yeah, this would be interesting. Kai shook her head and started again for Cullen. Arjenie followed her, so Benedict did, too.
“What just happened?” Cullen demanded of Ackleford.
“Hell. I was hoping you could tell me.”
Cullen shook his head. “Something happened. I know that, but it was over too fast. All I saw was a flash of power. The little girl’s okay?”
“Seems fine. There’s some confusion about whether she really disappeared or not. The officer here says—”
Kai broke in. “She really disappeared. Cullen, you need to check her for magical contamination. The others who were bitten, too.”
Piercing blue eyes zeroed in on her. One more unlikely thing about Cullen—when all his shields were up, she couldn’t see his thoughts. Kai had only met four beings who could completely shield their thoughts from her, and three of them needed a few thousand candles on their birthday cakes. It made no sense that Cullen would have shields on a par with the Eldest and the two Queens, but he did. All Kai had to go on with him were the things everyone else could see and hear.
Right now, he looked and sounded irritated. “Why?”
“Dell had to remake my blood. That’s why it took so long. I couldn’t tell what she was worried about, and she was in too much of a hurry to wait until I sensed it, too, but there was something in my blood she considered dangerous. That same something might be in the others’ blood, too.”
“Dammit.” Cullen turned his frown toward Cammy’s mother, who wasn’t paying attention to anything but her little girl. One of her friends was arguing with the police officer, insisting Cammy had truly disappeared. The officer now seemed to think Cammy had been there all along. Amazing how people could remake their memories to fit what they thought must be true.
Cullen studied mother and daughter for a moment, then sighed. “I can’t tell without a closer look. If I find something, I’m going to have to look at all of them, and that is going to take time. Time I ought to be spending studying the residue, dammit. How many people were bitten?”
Ackleford answered. “Lieutenant Jenkins tells me nineteen have reported being bitten, but that may not be a complete count. There were forty-four people on the patio.”
“Are they all still here?”
Lieutenant Jenkins didn’t like being left out. “Damn straight they are. My orders were clear.”
The next voice was Nathan’s. He’d joined them so quietly Kai hadn’t noticed. “Some orders can’t be followed. At least one person is missing. Someone was in the ladies’ room ten minutes ago. It’s empty now.”
The lieutenant curled her lip at him. “People do leave the restroom.”
“There’s only one exit. She didn’t use it.”
They didn’t believe him, of course. No one here had any idea what a Hound could do, and it didn’t look like Nathan meant to tell them.
How could he be positive there’d been two people in the ladies’ room if he hadn’t seen them enter?
He heard them.
Benedict accepted that. Kai’s fellow humans looked skeptical. Even if Nathan was right about what he’d heard, he hadn’t been watching the ladies’ room the whole time, had he?
He hadn’t been looking directly at it, no.
Then he couldn’t be sure both occupants hadn’t both left the usual way.
Yes, he could. He’d been guarding Kai and Dell.
Naturally they didn’t consider that proof of anything. They had no idea what it meant when a Hound set himself to guard. At least Ackleford decided to check out Nathan’s claim instead of dismissing it altogether. He raised his voice. “Anyone here aware of someone who isn’t accounted for?”
That generated a lot of uneasy looks and an uneasy silence. Kai opened her Gift up a bit . . . she couldn’t be sure, not with so many people whose colors all crowded each other, most of them agitated, but . . .
—hungry!
Kai glanced at Dell, who stood next to the ladies’ room door. The chameleon’s hunger was becoming a problem if she made the effort to send a word. The crowded conditions were bugging her, too. Crowds were never Dell’s favorite thing, but when she was hungry they were more of a strain. If she’d been in her other form, her tail would’ve been lashing. Okay, Kai sent, along with a wave of reassurance. She spoke quickly to Ackleford. “See that dark-haired young man in the blue shirt standing near the serving
counter? I think he’s missing someone.”
Ackleford’s brows drew down. “I thought you didn’t really read minds.”
“I don’t. I’m interpreting what I see. When you asked about someone being missing, first he was alarmed, then this big, gray doubt oozed over the alarm, trying to smother it. He doesn’t want to think what he’s thinking.”
“What’s he thinking?”
“I don’t know. Talk to him, okay?” She looked around for Nathan—ah, there he was, talking to Benedict. Kai moved closer so she could keep her voice down. Arjenie was sitting next to the two men, but she had her laptop out and was working away at something. “Nathan, Dell’s getting seriously hungry.”
“Eh.” He glanced around. “It’s crowded here. That doesn’t help. I guess we can use the men’s room.”
“Wait a minute,” Arjenie said, looking up. “You’re going to feed her? Is that safe?”
“Sure. She won’t take more blood than I can afford. It won’t make a full meal for her, but it should help her settle.”
Benedict rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “She’s got good control, then, if she’s that hungry.”
“Nathan has given her blood before,” Kai explained. “Once Dell accepts blood-gift from someone, he or she isn’t prey. Ever.”
“I make blood pretty fast,” Benedict said. “I could donate some. My men could, too.”
“That’s, um, generous, but . . .” Kai dwindled to an embarrassed halt.
Nathan rescued her. “What Kai’s uncomfortable saying is that Dell prefers not to permanently shrink her possibilities for prey if she doesn’t have to. It’s not that she intends to hunt you or the others—just that she prefers to keep her options open.”
Benedict nodded. “Makes sense.” He looked over at Dell, who still stood next to the ladies’ room, as far from everyone else as she could manage. He raised his voice slightly. “Keep it in mind, though, if the need arises.”
Dell’s face didn’t show any reaction, but Kai felt her heightened interest and what felt like . . . utility? Pragmatism, maybe. “She’s thinking about it. She’s, ah, she’s been curious about you lupi.”
Benedict’s eyebrows lifted a fraction. “Wonders what our blood tastes like?”
“Well, yes.”
Benedict just nodded. It was not the reaction she’d expected from either his human side or the wolf. Predators don’t usually like being seen as prey. “Something you should know,” she went on. “I would’ve told you before you made your offer, but I didn’t know you were going to. Blood-gift goes both ways. Neither of you can be prey to the other, so you have to taste her blood, too.”
Benedict slid an amused look at Nathan. “Tastes like chicken?’
“Not in the slightest.”
“Benedict,” Dell said clearly. “I accept offer of you. Not men of you. You.”
When Dell made the effort to form full sentences, she was being formal. Benedict seemed to recognize this. He gave her a small bow, then looked at Kai. “Anything else I should know?”
“She’ll want to change back to her original form. Give her—” Kai interrupted herself when the chameleon started to go in the ladies room. “Use the men’s room!”
Dell looked back at her, affronted. Females were very much at the top of the chameleon hierarchy. They were rarer than their male counterparts. Larger, too, and—according to Dell—smarter, stronger, faster, and better in every way. She did not like being mistaken for a male. “I know, but the cops might need to check out the ladies’ room. You don’t want to be interrupted.” She looked back at Benedict. “She’ll need a few minutes. I’ll let you know when she’s done.”
Arjenie’s brow was furrowed. “Benedict, are you sure this is a good idea? You’re not getting into some kind of macho I-can-do-it-if-he-can game, are you?”
“Probably to the first,” Benedict said, “no to the second.” That’s all he said, but it satisfied Arjenie, who went back to whatever absorbed her on her laptop. He frowned at Nathan. “Hunter. You have any idea what’s going on? I don’t see what the Great Bitch gets out of this.”
Nathan looked faintly astonished. “You’re still thinking it was your Great Enemy behind this?”
“Who else? Whatever the motive, it took a helluva lot of power to transform flowers to butterflies.”
“Which attacked Kai. Who is not a target for your enemy.”
“Kai and thirty or more other people.” Benedict was impatient. “Look, we’ve been through this sort of thing before. The opening salvo in one of her attacks often seems pointless, but who else has that kind of power to lob around?”
“Itzpapalotl, for one,” Arjenie said.
Benedict blinked. “What?”
“The Aztec warrior goddess. That is, she’s the goddess of childbirth, but the Aztecs considered that the female equivalent of a warrior.” She turned her laptop so the screen faced them. It held the image of a being with a skeletal head, butterfly wings, and the clawed feet of a big cat. “It’s the butterflies. I’ve done a lot of research on the Great Bitch, and she’s never been associated with butterflies, not under any of her goddess names. Itzpapalotl has. Her name means obsidian butterfly, or possibly clawed butterfly. She’s particularly associated with the Rothschildia orizaba moth, which doesn’t look anything like the butterflies that attacked us, so we should keep other possibilities in mind, like Xochiquetzal, the Aztec goddess of pleasure and beauty, whose retinue is birds and butterflies, only the way these butterflies bit people doesn’t really fit. She was one of the few peaceable sorts in the Aztec pantheon. There aren’t many butterfly associations with any of the Western pantheon. There’s Psyche, of course, but even if she is still able to manifest—which doesn’t seem likely—her only association with butterflies is the wings she was sometimes depicted with.”
The expression on Benedict’s face suggested he was about to get himself in trouble. “You don’t think we’ve had enough deities messing with us, you have to go looking for more?”
“What I think,” she said tartly, “is that transformation on this scale means either an Old One or a deity is involved. Not necessarily an Aztec deity, but that’s a place to start.”
Benedict’s expression darkened further. Kai spoke to save him from himself. “Dell’s ready.”
“Okay.” He ran a hand over the top of his head, muttered, “Itz-papa-what-il?” and headed for the men’s room.
SIX
AS soon as the door shut behind Benedict, the one next to it opened and a female cop came out of the ladies’ room. Kai hadn’t noticed her go in. Either the woman had an awkwardly weak bladder, or someone wanted to find out if Nathan was right about it being unoccupied.
“Hunter!” Ackleford called. “Come here a minute.”
Kai glanced that way. Ackleford stood next to the man she’d suggested he talk to. He hadn’t asked Kai to come, though, had he? He wanted Nathan—who frowned, but started that way. Kai huffed out an impatient breath. She’d been told that Ackleford had a bias against women. Looked like she’d heard right. Should she elbow her way into that discussion, or would it be better to—
Outside, someone screamed.
Dammit! She didn’t have any kind of weapon with her. Others headed for the front door—Ackleford, and of course Nathan, and even Lieutenant Jenkins—
“Wait up,” Cullen called out. “It’s just Sam. He must have startled someone when he landed.”
Kai sent reassurance to Dell, who’d just started to feed when the scream put her on alert. “Who’s Sam?”
“Also known as Sun Mzao.” Cullen paused, grimaced. “Sarcastic bastard. He isn’t talking to the rest of you?”
“The black dragon,” Kai said flatly. “You call him Sam?”
“Right,” the lieutenant said. “Out.” She touched her lapel mic to disconnect and announced, “The dragon has parked himse
lf on the roof of the building next door. It upset people.” She looked tense, which was a more appropriate reaction, Kai thought, than Cullen’s. “I don’t—hang on.” She touched her mic again. “No, Phillips, you don’t do a damn thing about the dragon, except make sure that no idiots bother him! Got that?”
Everyone in the room was listening avidly. Two men stood up, and two more were already headed for the front door.
“Sit down!” Ackleford barked. “No one’s going out to look at the pretty dragon. I mean you,” he said, pointing at a young man with blue-streaked blond hair and a nose ring who was still edging toward the front. “Sit your ass down and stay put.”
Kai wasn’t surprised when the man did as he was told.
“You can do that?” Cullen asked the empty air in front of him. “Okay, dumb question, but I want . . . yeah, yeah, okay.”
“You’re talking to Sun Mzao?” Nathan asked.
Cullen nodded, clearly listening to something the rest of them couldn’t hear. “Deal,” he said crisply. Then, to the rest of them: “Sam wants a closer look. He’s in a bit of a hurry, so he’s going to borrow my Sight so he doesn’t have to take out a wall.” Apparently thinking he’d explained things adequately, he turned and headed for one of the wrought iron gates that led to the patio.
Nathan turned to Ackleford, who was a few paces away. “You wanted me for something, Special Agent?”
Ackleford stared at Cullen’s departing back, then shook his head hard, like a horse shaking off biting flies. “Yeah. How did you know there’s only one exit from the restroom?”
“Aside from where it’s located, you mean? Dell checked.”
Ackleford cast a glance out at the patio where Cullen was doing whatever it was the dragon wanted him to do. “You think he’s okay? I mean . . . hell. Will whatever he’s doing take long?”