by E. A. Copen
The footsteps came down the hall and stopped in front of the closed bathroom door. Something in my gut told me it wasn’t Sal. I reached around, feeling for something I could use as a weapon and grabbed the only thing within reach: a plunger. Curse my knack for always getting into trouble when there isn’t a chainsaw nearby.
There wasn’t time for me to get out of the bath and go in search of a better weapon. As soon as I grabbed the plunger, the door exploded inward and the towering form of Sven charged in. He reached for me, his eyes wide and bloodshot, thick lip curled up in a snarl. I didn’t even get a chance to smack him with the plunger. For a big guy, Sven was fast. He barreled into the tub on top of me and pushed me back underwater, holding me there.
There was a sudden burning pressure in my chest that forced my mouth open as I struggled against him. I gulped water into my lungs instead of the lifesaving air and choked on it. Even with all my magick thrown into my muscles, I couldn’t budge him. Believe me, I tried. I kicked and punched. Once, I scratched him so deep, blood poured down his arm and plopped into the tub, turning the water red. The guy was like a rock and I was already tired and drained. The edges of my vision turned black and every pump of blood through my temples built up pressure in my skull.
Sven stayed glued to me, eyes wide and unblinking. Tears streamed down the side of his face, and his lips worked to form the words, “I’m sorry.”
Chapter Twenty
I came to on the bathroom floor, water all around me, gasping and coughing. The burning pressure was still in my chest, and it felt like someone had just punched me in the neck. The coughing forced my shoulders up off the floor, and I turned on my side to vomit up mouthfuls of bloody water.
That was about the time sound came back to me, and I heard a loud crash in the living room. Fighting the pain, I jerked down a towel, stumbled to my feet and staggered down the hall, wrapping the towel around me.
The scene was confusing. Sven was there, being held on the floor by a big, brown wolf I recognized as Sal. He had his jaws closed around Sven’s arm, which was a bloody mess, along with much of the rest of Sven. Sven was punching Sal in the snout with his free hand. The punches weren’t particularly effective since they were coming from a position of panic and fear rather than of malice.
“Stop!” I screamed and ran over to pull on Sal. I jerked on the wolf’s shoulders as hard as I could but it was no use. I couldn’t move him, not unless he wanted to be moved. “Let him go!”
Sal growled at me and shook his shoulders, sending me back. Then, as I stumbled back into a chair, he turned and let out a fierce bark in my direction. The message was clear: Don’t interfere.
I’d distracted Sal just long enough for Sven to get the upper hand. He landed one good fist to the side of Sal’s face, sending the wolf spiraling. Sven scrambled to his feet but, instead of jumping on Sal and showering him with more punches, the big man scampered behind my overturned kitchen table and hid there, blubbering like a baby. “Please! Please save me!”
I seized my discarded handgun from the stand next to me and jumped forward, throwing myself between Sven and Sal, pointing my gun at Sal’s bared teeth. “Stop it or so help me, Sal…”
Sal’s whole body spasmed. Bones cracked. Skin and fur fell away as Sal shifted back into his human form. The whole process took less than a minute. When he was once again bipedal, Sal cracked his neck and said, “Get that gun the hell out of my face.”
I held it steady, afraid he would charge as soon as I did as he asked.
He pointed at Sven. “He just tried to drown you. Why are you defending him?”
“Because it wasn’t him.”
“What do you mean, it wasn’t him? I found him standing over you, his hands around your neck. I pulled you out of the water.”
“Sven,” I shouted behind me. “Get out here.”
“No!” Sven shouted back. “He’ll kill me!”
“Damn right, I will!”
“Shut up, Sal,” I said, lowering the gun. I picked up the jeans he’d gotten out of when he shifted. They were a bit ripped, but they’d work for now. I tossed them to him. “Nobody’s killing anybody.” I turned and jerked Sven up by his shirt. As I’d proven before, I wasn’t strong enough to lift him, but he didn’t resist when I pulled upward. He was trembling and had wet himself. I guided him around the table and shoved him toward Sal as Sal finished buttoning them up. “What were you saying to me while you held me under, Sven?”
Sven blubbered something incomprehensible. I pushed him closer to Sal. “I’m sorry!” he screeched. “I was saying I was sorry. I didn’t want to. I wouldn’t hurt a fly. But he made me… My master makes me hurt people.” Sven turned to Sal and got down on his knees, which was the only way Sven was ever going to be shorter than Sal. “He has my friend.”
“What friend?” Sal growled.
I shrugged.
Sven hung his head and pulled his knees up, rocking back and forth. “The Master is in my head. He makes me hurt people. He makes me. I don’t have a choice. I don’t want to.”
Pity ached in the pit of my gut. I had read about this but never seen it. Free will was something a lot of people took for granted. Free people got to make choices. They chose what to wear, what to eat, who to make friends with…The thrall of a vampire was no longer capable of those things. Crux had taken all of that away. It was a form of magick, similar in nature to the control an alpha werewolf exercised over his pack. The two were interconnected in mind and body. I had seen Chanter use his magick to make unruly werewolves stop and pay attention when needed. He’d even used it on me once when we first met. A strong mind could fight it. But Sven didn’t have that kind of mental strength. Perhaps that’s why Crux had sought him out. Who better to ensnare and enslave than a huge, mentally delayed man?
“This man is enthralled to a vampire,” I told Sal. “He can only exercise so much control over his own actions. If Crux ordered him to hurt me, he really didn’t have a choice.”
“My friend. He took her,” Sven bawled.
“Who?” I asked, putting a hand on Sven’s shoulder. “Who has her?”
“Crux,” he bawled. “If I go back a failure, he’s going to make me hurt her. I can’t. Please.” He turned to me, giant, meaty hands grabbing at the towel. I only barely managed to hold it in place. “You can’t let him hurt my friend.”
I squatted down in front of Sven, leaving my hand on his shoulder. “I promise you I’ll do everything I can to help you, Sven, but I need you to help me first.”
“Anything,” he said, drawing a hand under his nose to wipe away the snot. “Just tell me what you need.”
“I need to know what really happened at Aisling with Harry and the girls.”
“I can’t,” he choked. “What if my master finds out I helped you? He’ll make me hurt more people. I don’t want to hurt people.”
“You have to tell me the truth now, Sven.”
He looked behind him at Sal, who narrowed his eyes. Sven’s gaze sank to the floor. “Harry and Crux and Kim Kelley are bad people.”
“What do you mean?”
“They take people,” he explained, fidgeting with his fingers. “Fae without papers. Illegals.”
“Crux is responsible for the missing fae?”
Sven nodded.
“What does he do with them?”
“They put them in rail cars and then takes them out on a boat. When they are out to sea, they put them upside down and make them bleed. Then, Crux makes me lift the bodies and drop them over the side of the boat. They keep the blood. I’m not allowed to touch it. I’m not allowed to touch anything expensive.”
Fae blood. It was one of the most expensive drugs on the market, particularly because of the people who sought it. While it was toxic in quantity to vampires, several found it irresistible and made it their drug of choice. I’d heard some ambitious dealers were even mixing a drop or two with heroin or other drugs. Crux must have been working on something similar. That woul
d be the only reason he would need fae blood in quantity. He meant to sell it.
Sven wiped an arm under his nose, leaving a smear of blood behind. “Crux said he could make Kim’s debt go away. He said he would take people instead of money.”
“And Kim went along with it?” I asked.
“No. Not at first. But eventually, she did.”
That explains why Kim hesitated when I asked her about the missing fae, I thought. But it doesn’t do anything to clear Robbie. If he’d found out…He may have decided she was as guilty as Harry and Crux. But then, why wasn’t Crux a target? There was still a piece that wasn’t fitting somewhere.
“Sven,” I said. “Do you know the name of the girl who didn’t show up to the set the night Harry was killed?”
A big, wide grin spread over Sven’s face, the kind a puppy dog gets when its owner comes through the door after a long day. “My friend, Tammy. She’s so nice. And she’s pretty.” The smile faded. “But Harry was so mean to her. Harry made Tammy cry.”
My skin prickled, and I was suddenly cold and dizzy. “Tammy?” I repeated, my mouth dry. “What…what does Tammy look like?”
“Pretty,” said Sven, color rising in his cheeks. “I saw her without her clothes. She has scars. She said bad people did it, bad people like Crux, but I think even her scars are pretty. She has rainbow hair, like cotton candy.”
I stumbled back and caught myself on the table, barely holding myself up. Mara…Mara’s full name was Tamara. She had rainbow-colored, cotton-candy hair. She had magick. She hung out at Aisling. In fact, she’d been right there when I came out. And Sven said Harry made her cry. Could it be Tammy and Mara were the same person?
But I couldn’t let on what I knew. It could get back to Abe or Crux and if Crux had her…
I swallowed and turned back to Sven. “Sven, this is my friend, Sal. He’s going to get you cleaned up and take you to the police station.”
“Like hell I am,” Sal grunted.
I shot him a glare of daggers. “Find Detective Tindall. Tell him I sent you. Tell him I promised you’d be safe. Can you do that, Sven?”
“I think so.” Sven stood. “What about Tammy? You promised you’d help her.”
“I will. Just go with my friend.”
Sven turned and gave Sal a wary glance. Sal sighed and jerked his head toward the door. “Wait outside.”
Sven didn’t hesitate. He broke into a jog for the door and slammed it excitedly closed behind him, plopping down on the porch to wait.
“What gives?” Sal said, gesturing to the door, clearly meaning Sven. “I’m not your errand boy, Judah. You gotta learn to ask, respect some boundaries. I’m not okay with this. That guy tried to kill you.”
“I need your help,” I said, standing and frowning at him. What was his problem? Couldn’t he see this was important? “And boundaries didn’t seem to matter to you when you barged into my house.”
“I saved your life.” He stepped up to stare down at me, upper lip curled. “Again. How many times have I been here to save the day for you, huh? Watching Hunter, picking things up, driving you around when your piece of shit car breaks down… Hell, I’ve spent more time raising your kid since you moved here than you have.”
“That’s not true,” I said, shaking my head. “And don’t act like you didn’t have ulterior motives for all of that help.”
“If you had a problem with it, you shouldn’t have waited fifteen months to make it known!”
I turned my head away. Sal took a deep breath. The two of us took a moment to calm ourselves. There was no point in arguing, not with so much to do.
Sal cleared his throat, and we both pretended we hadn’t just been screaming at each other. “So, how’s the new partner?”
I rolled my eyes and said. “Don’t get me started. And he’s got fangs.”
“What do you expect from a vampire?” Sal said with a shrug.
“Half-vampire.”
“Still. Hard to think about helping people when you view them as lunch.”
I swallowed and decided it wouldn’t hurt to ask Sal about Mara. “Sal, did you ever see Mara…work at the club?”
Sal raised an eyebrow. “Why? What are you thinking?”
I stood and felt a little woozy, my head swimming from the latent effects of oxygen deprivation. “Dammit,” I said as I plopped back down. “I don’t think I can drive.”
“You go out looking like that, and people are going to ask a lot of questions.”
I looked down at the towel and then up at the clock. It was just before noon. Abe wouldn’t be finished with his search. After the search, club and employee records would be a mess, and Robbie wouldn’t be inclined to talk. That fang-toothed asshole, I thought. He’s ruined any chance of me getting Robbie to talk unless he actually does manage to arrest him.
I had bigger problems now, though. I had to go and check on Mara.
My whole face felt numb, and my limbs were starting to ache. Even though I’d gotten a few minutes of sleep over the last day, it wasn’t enough to keep me going. If anything, all it had done was make me even more tired.
But I still had to try.
I grabbed the phone off the receiver, punched in Mara’s number, and pressed the phone to my ear. It rang twice…three times…four, and then it went to voicemail. I didn’t leave a message, instead preferring to just call again and again. Mara should have picked up. I knew she wasn’t in class or studying. The only class she had on Fridays was anatomy, and she usually finished by noon.
The worry must have been obvious on my face because Sal offered, “She could be asleep. Chanter said you guys were up late last night.”
“She hit the road early to write a paper,” I said, hanging up. “I need to go check on her.”
“Well, there’s always the off chance she and Ed are busy doing something a little less academic. I know I wouldn’t answer the phone if that were the case.”
“Just the same, I’d like to go check on her.”
“Let me get some pants on. You get dressed. I’ll drop you off on the way through. I came in Valentino’s tow truck. Brought your Firebird.”
I’d almost forgotten I called for a tow in the first place. I shook my head. “No, thanks. But we can catch up later.”
Sal hesitated and rubbed his chin. “Yeah. I mean, tomorrow. It’s Friday night. I kind of…” He cleared his throat and looked down at his hands. “I have plans.”
I blinked. Plans? Sal never had plans on a Friday night. Friday nights were usually the nights Hunter and I came over and watched a movie and had dinner. I didn’t own his Friday nights, I guessed, but he’d made plans and neglected to mention them to me…It hurt a little, though I couldn’t understand why.
“Oh,” I said and pretended not to feel the sting. “What kind of plans?”
“Going out with a friend,” he answered, not meeting my gaze. “I think you and I could use some space, don’t you?”
I forced a smile, despite the sour taste in my mouth. Why hadn’t he told me? “Yeah.”
He gave a nervous laugh and stood up. “So, you should get dressed. I’ll wait for you before we hit the road.”
“Yeah.” I wiped my palms on the towel. “Just give me five minutes.”
I went back down the hall to get dressed, my heart in my throat the whole time. Over the last year and change, Sal and I had gotten increasingly closer. There were moments where it felt like there was something more there than friendship, but every time we got close, one or both of us backed away from it. It made perfect sense to do so. His last relationship with his ex hadn’t ended well. But I guess it was behind him now.
As I slid on a plain black t-shirt, I heard him say from the hallway, “So, I’m not going to be here for Hunter tonight, either.”
“That’s fine.” I dug out a pair of jeans, made sure they smelled clean enough, and shimmied into them. “About what I said earlier…”
“Don’t sweat it. I overstepped.” An awkward pause fo
llowed. “Hunter’s a good kid, Judah. A little troubled, but I think he’ll come around.”
“Glad he has you in his corner.” Another long, awkward silence followed. It was too much for me to take. I came out of the bedroom wearing a forced smile. “You know what? I’m feeling a lot better, Sal. You don’t have to wait for me.”
His brow furrowed with worry. “You sure? Last time I left you by yourself, you almost drowned.”
“Once I get to Mara’s, I won’t be by myself, will I? Besides, Valentino’s going to want his tow truck back, right?”
He considered it for a moment, bobbing his head back and forth, and then added as he rubbed his chin, “Well, I do have a few stops to make.”
“And some more clothes to throw on,” I pointed out, grabbing his arm and walking him toward the door. I pulled it open for him.
“Okay, if you’re sure. The keys to the firebird are on the counter.”
“I’m sure.”
I stood on the front porch and waved to him as he pulled out before going back inside to grab the keys. Their weight felt different in my hand, heavier, colder. I stared down at them, wondering where everything had gone wrong. Mara was a good kid, too. Why had she gone to work for Robbie at Aisling? If she needed money, why didn’t she just come to me? What if something I had done had pushed her over the edge and into danger? What if it was my fault and she was hurt?
It can’t be, I reasoned. What have I ever done but try to help her? But, if that were true, why in the hell did I feel so damn guilty?
Chapter Twenty-One
There was no sign of Ed’s moped at Mara’s, and the lights were all off. That wasn’t surprising, given it was the middle of the day, but, combined with all the other evidence, it was enough to make me worry. I got out of the car cautiously and trudged up to the front door. Instead of knocking, I raised my palm parallel to the door and held it two inches away, extending my senses outward and feeling for wards.