Corruption

by Jennifer Blackstream

  My jaw hurt from clenching my teeth. This wasn’t the first time in my life that I’d faced this choice. The choice between doing what I wanted, satisfying a desperate need, and doing what was right for others. Chances were, I could still find Andy without Lorelei. But if I didn’t stop her now, I might not get another chance.

  Images of Andy haunted me. Could I bear to leave him to the kelpies’ tender mercy for one minute longer than absolutely necessary? Could I let him suffer to save more lives?

  “It’s okay, Shade,” Peasblossom whispered.

  “I hoped I’d make a different choice next time.” My eyes burned with the threat of tears. “I want to choose the greater good. But I want to save him. I need to save him.”

  “It’s not a selfish choice,” the pixie insisted. “You’re not doing this for you. You’re doing it for Andy.”

  “If she kills again, it will be on me.” I looked at Paul, crumpled on the floor at the foot of the bed. “His death is on me.”

  “His death is on me,” Lorelei corrected. “He made the choice to try and kill me. You saved my life.” She tightened her grip on the gun. “He was dead the moment he poisoned me. If it makes you feel any better, this was a much quicker death than the one I wanted for him.” She didn’t point the gun at me, but she didn’t put it down either. “I promise you, Shade. I would have killed him eventually. No matter what you did.”

  “You’re in a confessing mood,” I said. “Care to claim any other murders today?”

  Lorelei held my gaze. “I did not kill Corban and Christophe. I did not want them dead.”

  I wasn’t sure I believed her, but I had to admit to myself that I’d already made my decision. I dropped my hand, only now realizing I’d raised it. “Give me the license plate number.”

  “Your word that you will take me with you to save Agent Bradford,” Lorelei countered.

  “No. You shot a man, and Kylie is already on her way. You need to stay and tell her what happened. You need to let her treat the poison and save Laurie.”

  “You and I both know you want me to stay behind so she can call the Vanguard and let them arrest me for murder.” She sniffed. “Besides, you saved my life. I despise being in anyone’s debt, so you will let me help you save the FBI man. Now.”

  “Give me the number,” I snapped. “Pay your debt with the information.”

  “The information was payment for helping me get past his defenses. And I will give it to you, but not until I have your word.” She tapped the barrel of the gun against her palm. “Swear you will take me with you to rescue the FBI man.”

  “If anything happens to him because you’re stalling, I will end you,” I hissed.

  “The only one stalling is you.” Lorelei’s voice was cold, but there was something in her expression. A hint of concern. Not quite fear, but close. It made me wonder what she saw in my eyes.

  For some reason, that flicker of concern soothed my temper, gave me back a sense of control. “You have my word,” I said softly.

  Lorelei hesitated, but finally gave me the license number. I wrote it down on the battered stationery on the table beside the bed.

  I was already heading for the door as I fished my phone out of the side pocket of my waist pouch. “I—”

  “Shade?”

  I froze, swearing a blue streak in my head as I looked up to find Kylie standing in the open doorway. She stared from me to Lorelei, a deep line between her brows. “I brought the antidote.”

  “What antidote?” Lorelei asked.

  “The one for the poison Paul injected you with,” I reminded her. “Do you have one for the poison he gave Laurie? The one on the bullet he shot her with this afternoon?”

  Kylie nodded, but her expression remained grim. “Yes, but it might be too late. The poison’s been in her system for nearly a whole day.”

  “We have to try.”

  I let myself be distracted by thoughts of poisons and Andy being tortured by kelpies. I didn’t stop Kylie when she moved farther into the room, raised the small medical kit to set it on the bed. Her body stiffened. Too late, I realized she’d seen Paul’s body.

  “I can explain,” I said quickly.

  Kylie stared at me, her hands unmoving on the medical bag. The stillness that fell over her wasn’t quite the stillness vampires were capable of, but eerily similar. Something…dead. “What is going on?”

  I fought to keep my thoughts from my face as I wondered if a sleep spell would work on a half ghoul. Kylie was my friend—sort of. I couldn’t attack her.

  Not unless I had to.

  “Andy is in trouble. The kelpies took him.” I shifted my weight, taking a small half step toward the door. “It’s important that I leave now and find him before they…” I trailed off, unwilling to finish that thought.

  “Who is the dead man?” Kylie pressed.

  “He’s a bounty hunter.” Lorelei put the gun down and retrieved her camisole from the floor. “He tried to kill me. He failed.”

  Kylie looked at me. Waiting.

  “It’s true.” I glanced down at my cell phone. “Kylie, please, he’s been with them for over an hour. I can’t stay.”

  “You can’t leave the scene of a murder,” Kylie insisted. She shoved her fingers through her blonde hair, tugged in frustration. “You know I have to report this. If you flee without giving a statement, they’ll be suspicious.” She shifted from one foot to the other. “Especially if you leave with the demon.”

  “Kylie, I can’t let them kill him,” I whispered. “Please. Let me go, and maybe…take your time calling the Vanguard?”

  The half-ghoul’s face closed down, her grey eyes shifting like storm clouds over a summer sky right before forming the black funnel of a tornado. “You would make me a part of this?” She pointed at Lorelei as the demon pulled her red camisole over her head and tugged it into place before retrieving the gun. “You would align me with that…evil?”

  A hysterical part of my brain said it was possible the demon wasn’t technically evil anymore, but I swallowed that assertion. That conversation would only delay me further.

  “I’m not asking you to lie,” I pleaded. “I’m only asking you to be…less efficient. Or more thorough. You could lock down the crime scene, do your analysis before you call the Vanguard?”

  Kylie looked away, her shoulders so stiff they almost cracked with the movement. “Get out.”

  My chest tightened. “Kylie…”

  She jerked open the medical bag and pulled out two bottles and two syringes still sealed in plastic. “Take this. The dosages are on the bottles.”

  I took the antidotes, my body turning for the door even as I lingered, needing Kylie to understand. “Thank you,” I said lamely.

  “Let’s go, Shade.” Lorelei marched past me. “Don’t give the ghoul a chance to change her mind.”

  I felt worse with every step I took, but I broke into a run before I gave into the urge to go back. Andy was my first priority. He had to be.

  “This way,” Lorelei said.

  I followed her to a grey SUV, frowning as she pulled a set of keys from her pocket and used them to unlock the door.

  “It’s Paul’s,” Lorelei supplied, pressing the button to unlock the passenger door. “I’m sure he’d want us to take it. Making amends and all that.”

  I didn’t argue. Considering everything that had happened today, stealing a dead man’s car didn’t seem like a big deal. I strapped my seatbelt on, checked to make sure Peasblossom was settled in the neckline of my coat, and composed a new text message to Silence.

  “How long do you think it will take him to trace the car?” Lorelei asked.

  “Not long. If he has to comb through traffic cam footage, that might be a problem.”

  “Not really,” Peasblossom corrected her. “For a technomancer, combing through electronic surveillance is as easy as it would be for me to ask pixies in the neighborhood if they saw anything.”

  “And that will be our plan B,” I
told her. “You being so clever as to have a whole army of wee ones at your disposal.” I finished the text and hit send, then dug around in my pouch. After discarding a handful of Magic the Gathering cards and two sharp pencils, I pulled out a honey packet and handed it to Peasblossom. “You are amazing.”

  Peasblossom snatched the honey packet, tearing into it with the same gusto I’d used to finish off my last fudge brownie last night. With everything that was going wrong today, somehow watching the pixie enjoy her honey made me feel better. I hardly even noticed the sticky spot on the shoulder of my trench coat.

  “If we’re going to take on a herd of kelpies, we’re going to need help.” Lorelei dug a cell phone out of her other pocket—probably stolen from Paul as well. “My Acolytes would help.”

  “No. No, absolutely not. Even if most of them weren’t children,” I gave her a pointed look, “they’ve had their powers for less than forty-eight hours.” I waited for confirmation, and she nodded. “They are nowhere near ready to use their abilities in a real fight. I won’t risk their lives.”

  Lorelei arched an eyebrow. “But I would?”

  “You just offered to.” I frowned. “Just drive, before the Vanguard get here.”

  “We don’t have an address yet, where should we go?”

  “Hhflakeerie,” Peasblossom said.

  I sighed. “Swallow the honey before you talk.”

  Peasblossom gave me an indignant look, but did as I’d asked. “Head. For. Lake. Erie.” She enunciated each word with an exaggeration that made me want to snatch the honey packet away from her.

  “There are other bodies of water in Cleveland,” Lorelei pointed out.

  “None as big. And they were given use of that boathouse before.” Peasblossom held the honey packet close enough to her mouth that her lips brushed it when she spoke. “Marilyn robbed them to get revenge on you, she might have tried to make reparations by letting them use the boathouse while they planned their revenge.”

  A chill ran down my spine at the thought that the kelpie had remained in town since our last encounter, waiting for an opportunity to get revenge. If the kelpies hadn’t returned home, if they’d allowed Marilyn to offer such meager reparation as continued hospitality in exchange for what she’d cost them, then they were planning something much more immediate. They might kill him right away.

  I sent another text to Silence. “Drive,” I told Lorelei.

  Lorelei hit the gas and we shot out of the parking lot. I stared at my phone. Calling the Acolytes was a bad idea, but Lorelei was right. We needed help.

  I took a deep breath and dialed Flint’s number.

  “Shade,” Flint’s voice oozed through the phone. “How fortunate you called. We did not leave things to my liking earlier.”

  “You’re right, we were rather abrupt,” I agreed. “We should meet in person for a real chat.”

  A pause. “A surprising offer,” Flint said slowly. “Where would you like to meet?”

  “Well, I don’t have an address yet,” I hedged. “But I was thinking somewhere near the lake.”

  Flint sighed. Bedsprings groaned as he shifted his weight. “What have you done now?”

  “I don’t know why you ask it like that,” I said. “You knew I was working a case.”

  “And you are still working this case?”

  “Sort of.” I couldn’t get into my suspicions about Lorelei right now. “I’ve hit a snag. You remember the kelpies from Marilyn’s that we had the dubious pleasure of meeting last month?”

  Anger heated his tone until his words burned against my ear. “Shade, what did you do?”

  “I didn’t do anything. They took Andy. I’m going to get him.”

  “You most certainly are not. Agent Bradford made his decision when he shot one of them, it is on him to deal with the consequences.”

  I tightened my grip on the phone. “There shouldn’t be any consequences, because he only did it to save a child. Marilyn voided the contract, they have no right to seek revenge.”

  “Then report them to the Vanguard,” Flint snapped.

  “I can’t, I don’t know for certain what the circumstances were,” I argued, my own temper flaring. “There was a bounty hunter, and he shot Andy, and I think he left him like that for the kelpies. They could argue they were saving him, that they didn’t want to leave him behind hurt and vulnerable after the bounty hunter shot me and took me away.”

  “You were shot?”

  “That’s not the point, I’m fine, it was a tranquilizer. Look, a technomancer is tracing the license plate of the kelpies’ car, and Peasblossom is pretty sure they’ll be near Lake Erie, so we’re heading there while we wait for the address.”

  “You. Aren’t. Going,” Flint bit out. “Turn around now.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Why?”

  “I gave my word,” I said.

  “I told you not to give your word,” Flint growled. “Not without my permission.”

  “Unless not giving my word would risk my life,” I reminded him. I glanced at Lorelei. “There was a demon holding a gun. She demanded I give my word I would let her help me rescue Andy right away.”

  Lorelei bit the inside of her cheek, a distinct look of amusement crinkling the corners of her eyes.

  He didn’t respond right away, but if his breathing was any indication, he wasn’t happy. That didn’t bode well for me.

  “All right,” he said, his voice strained as if it were taking a significant effort not to yell. “Can I assume that you called me to meet you because you think I’m going to help you save the FBI agent?”

  I cleared my throat. “Well, if you’re offering…”

  “I am not. And what’s more, I think it is time you learn what our relationship truly is. I have been too lenient with you, allowed you too much freedom. That is over now.”

  My stomach bottomed out, hard enough that I had to press my lips together and breathe through my nose to avoid vomiting in the car.

  “I didn’t call you to make you help,” I said when I could speak again. “I called because I’m entering a dangerous situation. Since I’m your property, I felt it was my duty to call you and tell you what was going on.”

  “Lie to yourself, but not to me.” He took another deep breath. “Send me the address. And Shade?”

  “Yes?”

  “Don’t make any plans for tomorrow.”

  I gulped. “Okay.”

  He hung up the phone, and I sat there for a moment, trying not to give in to the hysteria pressing at the edges of my consciousness. No time for a nervous breakdown. Later, I promised myself.

  Something pressed against my belly, and I looked down to see a bright red can of Coke popping out of my waist pouch. I grasped the top and took it as Peasblossom pushed it the rest of the way free. I gave her a weak smile. “Thank you.”

  “I’m not digging for another one,” she said gruffly. “Those things are heavy.”

  I cracked open the soda and took a long drink, letting the burn of carbonation distract me from thoughts on what tomorrow would bring. First I had to survive the night.

  “I don’t suppose there’s any whiskey in there?” Lorelei asked, eyeing the pouch.

  Peasblossom glared at her and hopped out onto my thigh. She jerked the zipper closed with a ferocious tug and lifted her chin at Lorelei. “Nothing for you in there.”

  I took another sip of Coke. “Peasblossom?”

  “What?”

  “How do you call an animal companion?”

  She scowled and crossed her arms. “You learn how to do that when you’re a druid, or a wizard. That’s not for a witch who has a perfectly good familiar sitting in her lap.”

  “I would never replace you,” I promised. “No animal companion could be a patch on you.”

  Peasblossom snorted. “I should say not.”

  “You have an animal companion and a familiar?” Lorelei asked, her voice rising with sudden interest.

  “No, she doe
sn’t,” Peasblossom bit out. “If you’re going to eavesdrop, do it properly.”

  “I don’t think it’s my animal companion,” I said quickly. “But last month, there was this huge black cat. It helped me when one of Marilyn’s guests attacked me at the auction.” I narrowed my eyes. “The first auction where I was treated like cattle. I don’t want you to confuse it with the second auction, which you found so amusing.”

  “Yes. You’ll want to stop it before it ends,” Lorelei added.

  I froze, almost spilling Coke all over my coat. “What?”

  “The auction. I assume you didn’t take the time to stop it when we were at the motel?”

  Peasblossom heaved a put upon sigh and grabbed my phone. “I hope you know his Ebay login and password.”

  Lorelei rolled her eyes. “What makes you think I’d know his password?”

  I kept staring at her. She huffed out a breath. “Fine. His ID is GeneralZaroff and the password is dangerousgame1924.”

  Peasblossom tapped out the information, and I left her to it. “Anyway, if the black cat is so inclined to help me, then it would be worth a try to call it now. If I can figure it out.” I bit my lip. “But I’ve never had an animal companion.”

  “You have a familiar, you can’t have an animal companion.” Peasblossom tapped harder on the screen. “Maybe it’s Andy’s animal companion.”

  My eyebrows rose. “Could it be?”

  “No,” Peasblossom snapped. “He’s human.”

  I bit back the harsh words that almost escaped my mouth. “If there’s even a chance it might help me now, then I need to take it. Do you have any ideas for how to contact it?”

  Peasblossom looked away, and for a second, I thought she was sulking.

  “Peasblossom,” I said gently. “No one will ever take your place. You know that.”

  The pixie sighed. “If the beast has taken a shine to you, then it’ll find you when you need it. Especially since we’re returning to the same place it helped you last time.”

  Right on cue, my cell phone beeped. It was a text from Silence. An address.