Undead on Arrival

by L. A. Banks

  “Put your evidence on the table, Baron!” Sasha shouted, causing another crowd uproar.

  “Gladly,” the baron said evenly through his teeth once the noise had died down. “But young lady, we will follow due process in this courtroom.” He sat back and sniffed. “You have heard eyewitness testimony from two tribunal members. In addition we have spent needle casings, vials, and drug paraphernalia that were confiscated from Dugan’s B and B. Let that be entered into the record.”

  Sasha watched in horror as the Elf held his wrist over the book and the wand made a quick slash at it, splattering blood onto the pages.

  “I did not plant these items on the accused,” Dugan said with his chin lifted, gazing at the crowd confidently, “and they were collected by my Pixie staff from the suite of the accused.”

  It seemed as though the entire room held its collective breath. Then a low murmur rippled through the crowd as the wand wrote and the page it wrote on didn’t burn.

  “You may be seated,” the baron said with a sly smile, nodding to Buchanan Broussard.

  The burly redheaded Werewolf stood, sauntered over to the center podium, and held out his wrist. He waited for the strike and smiled like a heavyweight wrestler about to go into the ring.

  “I seen him clear as day, the accused, in a wolf tussle in the bayou—bit the hell out of that po’ dying boy. When they came out of the brawl, Shogun was tore up bad.”

  Again the wand wrote and nothing burned. Sasha’s nails dug into her fists as she watched a miscarriage of justice in the making.

  “I would like to call Dana Broussard,” the baron crooned, causing an audible ripple in the crowd. “Come, my lovely, tell us what you saw.”

  Dana stood, preened, and finally sashayed forward, making every male in the room crane his neck to watch her stand before the book. She licked her wrist vein first, and several audible whistles sounded in low appreciation.

  “Right there, honey,” she said to the wand. “Don’t leave too bad of a mark, wouldya, sugah?” She closed her eyes as the blood splattered the page and the wand waited for her testimony. “Don’t get me wrong,” she said in a sensual murmur, staring at Hunter. “I think the man is a beast . . . and I was attracted to his dark danger . . . but he was really upset by that po’ student human boy—the waiter who died. Why, that chile came up behind him while he was feeding and I could tell he was high on something . . . I can’t say, but Ethan had to change staff, Hunter was so bristled. Then he turned on my date, his enforcer, they had words out of my earshot a bit, and finally Hunter saw his lady friend and they went into the same alley where they found that human in a Dumpster—behind Ethan’s restaurant.”

  “That’s not how it happened,” Hunter snarled beneath his breath in Sasha’s ear.

  “Yeah, buddy, but if you haven’t noticed, those were the facts—out of context or not. The pages didn’t burn,” Sasha replied beneath her breath. “This shit happens every day in human courts, so get over it. Save it for the defense.”

  The Shadow Clans watched with burning gazes but dejected spirits as yet another testimony held. Dana gave Sasha a smug glance as she slipped by the Shadow section to return to her wolf pack.

  But when they called Bear Shadow, all hell broke loose.

  “No!” Bear Shadow shouted, on the verge of a shape-shift. “I will not be a party to this charade! My alpha is clean; he is honorable—as is his mate!”

  “Then testify to what you know happened that night,” Baron Montague said. “We want a balance of testimony from all entities represented here tonight, so that it can never be said that Maximus Hunter and Sasha Trudeau were railroaded. There must be Shadow testimony. We are endeavoring for fairness.”

  “You were there that night, darlin’,” Dana called out from her box. “You saw your alpha go into the alley and you know it. In fact, if he won’t tell it, I’d be more than happy to come back up there and tell the court where he was standing and what he wanted from me when the big guy sulked off.”

  All eyes turned to Bear Shadow. The book swiftly flew toward him, the wand hovering dangerously near.

  “Did. You. See. The accused. Leave by way of the alley?” Baron Montague sat back and tented his fingers before his mouth, retracting fangs as Bear Shadow clenched his jaw and lifted his chin, refusing to speak. “Add this in the notes in the record—Shadow Clan member refuses to testify. Let it never be said that we didn’t ask, but to me this seems more incriminating than a simple yes or no.”

  Rolling his shoulders, the baron gazed around the room. “In lieu of Bear Shadow, I would like to call Silver Hawk, then.”

  The entire Shadow Clan was on their feet. Silver Hawk held up his hand. The baron smiled, showing a slight hint of fangs.

  “Excellent,” Geoff cooed as the elderly shaman made his way to the podium.

  Silver Hawk held out his wrist and waited. The wand struck him, and then the Vampire turned to gaze as him with glittering hatred in his eyes.

  “Tell me, mon ami . . . did your grandson Maximus Hunter ever experience infected Werewolf contagion?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “That is all!” the baron shouted, cutting Silver Hawk off. “Let the record show that even the accused relatives knew that he was a carrier, but allowed him to freely mingle in our taverns, frequent our establishments, and roam the streets of New Orleans! By rights, any and all who were aware and did not, by wolf pack law, take him out of circulation are also guilty of aiding and abetting his disease spreading! These are not our UCE laws,” he said, now standing and pointing at the Shadow Wolf section that had erupted in jeers and growls. “These are your own laws that you’ve violated.”

  “Yeah, that’s right!” a disgruntled Werewolf yelled across the divide. “We take our own down, that’s the way of the wolf, man!”

  This time it took several minutes to restore order. Geoff remained standing, pulling down his black robe sleeves and shaking his head.

  “We of the Vampire Cartel hate to see this lack of civility among entities,” he said quietly, causing the crowd to listen, rapt. “Ours is a long-standing community that has lived in symbiotic harmony with our human environment. We also solve issues within our ranks—quietly, discreetly, efficiently. This conduct is deplorable . . .” He clucked his tongue and again began to shake his head. “How you can sleep in the morning is beyond me. To bring a disease carrier amid all these healthy wolves and allow him to use toxin in our best Fae establishments—even to compromise his mate to the point that she’s jonesing for Werewolf blood, willing to prostitute herself to get it at a teahouse.”

  “What?” Sasha was on her feet. “I did no such thing! It wasn’t like that at all, and you know it!”

  “Save it for the defense, right,” Hunter muttered under his breath.

  “I would like to call Takiyama,” the baron said coolly. “A delicate Phoenix hostess who was also kind enough to bring me this.” He materialized the blood-drawing needle between his graceful fingers. “We could have this tested, but I think my Vampire colleagues and I are all above reproach when it comes to our ability to positively identify blood sources. This is Shogun’s blood, which he drew at the request of one Sasha Trudeau. I will ask that this court be mindful that the Phoenix nervous system is extremely sensitive. This poor woman burned to ash once already and she’s just coming back—that happened the morning she came to work to open up and found a dead server in the teahouse gardens. Our Dragon brothers brought her to our lairs that same evening to help restore her. Therefore, we kept her in protective custody, assuring her safety, until now . . . so if you’d be so kind, no outbursts, although her testimony is extremely shocking.”

  He sat calmly with a placid expression, allowing lumbering Dragons to walk between the wolf boxes breathing fire until everyone else also sat and fell silent. Then a timid dark-haired beauty stepped out from the misty doorway as though a fawn testing her first dawn. She took two steps and covered her shy face with an elaborate fan of feathers. Brightl
y hued streams of silk ribbons and scarves floated away from her fragile, birdlike body as she advanced to the podium, eyes lowered. She held out a porcelain wrist, trembling, and released a shocked chirp when she was struck till she bled.

  “My dear, just in your own words . . . what did you see?” Baron Montague cooed.

  “They must have loved each other dearly,” she said quietly. “I thought . . . they were so passionate that the girls blushed at the shadows on the privacy screen and I shooed them away.”

  Sasha closed her eyes. She’d take the silver bullet in the skull now please.

  “Then, when it was all over . . . she brought him a new pair of pants to hide his shame. It was a kind gesture of discretion. But when I was cleaning the stalls and saw the needle . . . I was shocked.” The Phoenix lifted her dark eyes and revealed irises engulfed in flames.

  “Go on, ma petite, then what happened?” Geoff leered.

  The other Vampires sat forward, hanging on every lascivious word. Sasha glimpsed Hunter’s jaw, watching the muscle in it throb. Shadow Wolves stared at the floor, their once outraged spirits crushed. Even Werewolves hung their heads in shame; their leader, Shogun, had obviously given his blood to a female toxin junkie and screwed her. You could have heard a pin drop in the hall.

  “He kissed her,” Takiyama said. “And handed her the vial. We could see their shadows through the screen . . . and the Fairies are so nosy, they didn’t want to miss any of the romance—I couldn’t hear but they said that Shogun said, ‘I know, Sasha, this never happened.’ ”

  “Oh, my God! In a regular court that would be hearsay!” Sasha shouted through cresting canines, unable to contain herself. “The Fairies said that he said—what kind of bullshit is that?”

  “Ooooohhhh . . . You said there would be no violence or anger directed toward me personally, Baron,” Takiyama wailed, gathering her silk skirts around her and dashing back and forth like a chicken with her head cut off. “I wasn’t involved; I was just there at the teahouse! A girl was murdered. I don’t want to be murdered!”

  “She’s gonna blow,” Dugan said, getting up and taking cover with Buchanan as suddenly a burst of flames and spiraling colors swirled across the podium. The baron never moved. He just sat calmly as ash rained down on his robe, and then he casually brushed it off.

  “Add another petite morte to your portfolio of charges, Ms. Trudeau,” he said flatly, gaining laughter from the Vampire box as Dragons frantically tried to scoop up Takiyama’s burning remains. “Do note, however,” he added with a droll smile. “She burned, but the book didn’t. Fascinating, isn’t it.”

  “Do we get a turn at bat or is this entire travesty only about you guys saying what you heard and saw and we don’t get a chance?” Sasha strode forward, unable to stand next to Hunter at the moment. She held out her wrist. “Strike me,” she said. “Let the goddamned games begin.”

  CHAPTER 19

  Sasha made a fist as the wand viciously slashed her wrist. She glared at it, noting that it had taken more blood from her arm than from any of the previous witnesses.

  “I’m gonna chalk that up to the fact that I have more to say than the others,” Sasha said in a low growl, making the wand and the book back farther away from her. She looked at the bench and held up a hand as the baron took a breath to begin another line of insidious questioning. “Under oath, I have reason to suspect foul play on the bench, and I hereby call Sir Rodney to ask for my testimony.”

  “No, overruled,” the baron said, hotly standing.

  Fae archers positioned as Vampires hissed and Wolves sat back, new awareness slowly dawning in their eyes.

  “It is the law, Baron,” Sir Rodney said with a wry smile. “Any witness can call a neutral interrogator. We, the Fae, have been that for years. We were the jailers—to both Werewolves and Shadow Wolves this time around. I see no harm, as long as no one has anything to hide.” He flashed the baron a dashing Gaelic smile and then shrugged.

  The Fae captain strode to the front of the room with a cheerful expression and held out his wrist. Once struck, he bowed politely to the book, as only the Fae can do, and spoke to it respectfully. “So help me, I swear to tell the whole truth and nothing but the whole truth no matter who is involved.”

  The pages took and Sasha relaxed. She watched Sir Rodney pace before the front of the courtroom with his hands behind his back. Then, as though the mood simply struck him, he laughed and threw up his hands.

  “I have no further questions,” he said cheerfully.

  Vampires snickered as wolf packs sent nervous glances between them. Sasha closed her eyes and groaned. She’d picked a madman to represent her—or maybe one who was in cahoots with Dugan.

  “Really, I don’t, for a thousand questions ’ave crossed my mind, but I think the whole truth requires Captain Trudeau to tell us wot ’appened in that teahouse from her own sweet words.” Sir Rodney stood before the crowd, charisma oozing from every pore. “But I do know the woman is no junkie . . . truth is, if she was, I would have most assuredly been the first in line to supply her.”

  She was going to kill herself.

  Laughter rang out from the Fae archers from overhead. Werewolves smirked despite themselves. Only Vampires and Shadow Clan members seemed offended.

  “You must ask a specific question or her testimony is void,” the baron said through full fangs, leaning forward.

  “All right, all right, due process, yes, of course,” Sir Rodney said, waving off the offense with merriment in his eyes. “But do note for the record that, when I said she was no junkie, the book didn’t even smolder, laddie.”

  Sasha opened her eyes. Sir Rodney’s disarming charm was all a front. The man was sly as a fox. She watched him hold the courtroom spellbound as he turned to her, his smile belying the new intensity that burned in his piercing blue gaze.

  “Ah,” he said, rocking back on his heels and clasping his hands behind his back. “Here’s a specific question, Captain Trudeau. Can you tell the court, in your own words, the purpose of your meeting the Southeast Asian Clan leader at the teahouse that fateful day? I think we should get through the juicy part of the testimony first, since we just lost a Phoenix behind it.”

  “Of course she can tell us, but—”

  “Well, that’s wot I want her to do, man,” Sir Rodney said, cutting off the Baron’s objection and seeming shocked.

  “I went to the teahouse to meet with Shogun because I wanted a blood sample for medical reasons,” Sasha said carefully. “I wanted to see if there was any way we could find a cure for the contagion that plagues wolves.”

  “Good, then—”

  “And why was that a necessary thing?” the baron said in a sinister tone, cutting off Sir Rodney’s line of questioning.

  “Are we to follow due process of your witnesses testifying, and then mine, and then we each have time to cross-examine? Or have Robert’s Rules of Order changed here, sir?”

  The baron sat back as the Vampire section fell eerily quiet. “Forgive me . . . do continue.”

  Sir Rodney nodded and turned back to Sasha, seeming to choose his words very carefully. “Did you need this blood to inject yourself, or was it to study?”

  “To study,” Sasha said.

  Sir Rodney’s gaze bore into hers for a moment. “Did you kill anyone at the teahouse or otherwise eat a human or feed a human to your Shadow Wolf mate?”

  “No!” Sasha said, appalled.

  “Under the duress of making an exchange with the Southeast Asian Clan leader, did a quasisexual act occur?”

  Sasha lowered her gaze. “Yes.”

  “But do you have evidence that shows a Fairy enchantment was involved?”

  Sasha nodded as the room erupted into murmurs.

  “I call forward evidence captured on digital video with sound enhanced so it can be presented in court.” Sir Rodney motioned to a Dragon guard to pass up the black gym bag Hunter had been holding. He smiled when the baron’s eyes narrowed and he began rubbing
his temples as though vexed by a sudden migraine. “I should warn our Vampire friends in the room to be wary of trying to penetrate this particular bit of evidence, as it had been anointed and silver-protected.” He chuckled and passed the handheld DVD player to Sasha. “Would you be so kind? I haven’t a clue as to how human technology works.”

  She set up the digital image and turned to the crowd. “This is just after an incident at Tulane Hospital, where Fairies sought my human dark arts expert to reverse an enchantment spell they’d performed at the behest of Lei—and in return, they thought their gardens would be safe from demon incursion. But Lei double-crossed them, so they came looking for me to tell on her, as well as for someone who could help them reverse a love spell.”

  “Play the tape, Captain!” Sir Rodney said like a mad hatter. He pointed to the tape as the Fairies’ complaint rang out in the courtroom. “You see, this woman is no junkie. There was foul play that obviously contributed to the intimate events, which may well have never happened under normal circumstances . . . and, what’s more, if the Fairies had believed that the accused ate a human in their gardens, they most assuredly would not have come to her or her familiars!”

  Grumbles rippled through the room. Wolves on both sides began hot debate, but Lei remained extremely silent as Dana Broussard and her father stared her down. But Sasha’s gaze sought Hunter and then her Shadow Clan. One day she would seriously repay Sir Rodney for the not-so-small gift of restoring her honor in her clan’s eyes . . . in her mate’s eyes.

  “Then that is all I would like to ask about the subject of allegedly what happened at the teahouse—that Captain Trudeau is not a toxin user or a murderess is the only fact of relevance here, and any further innuendo is simply in poor taste.” Sir Rodney lifted his chin and walked about as though flustered; he then put a graceful finger to his lips for a moment. “Let’s talk about who was at the teahouse following her, though.”