by N Gray
I nodded too quickly and it hurt, the knock to my head starting to show signs of life. Something dripped down my back, and after I felt my head, my hand came back with blood on my fingertips.
I didn’t want to put the Glock back in my holster until I knew we were out of danger and there were no more leopards trying to kill me. Sebastian had laid Phillip on the floor and said something to the woman who sat next to his unconscious body before he approached me.
Someone caught my eye as they went to Grant, now back in his human form. I couldn’t see his chest moving. Shit.
I went down on my haunches to feel for a pulse in his neck and moved him onto his back. The bullet had left a hole where his heart was meant to be. There were gasps coming from people all around me, but I didn’t look at any of them. The bullet had shredded his heart exactly as it had been designed to, which was why Ulysses paid so much for these bullets. There was nothing we could do for him.
“Why did you have to kill him?” the woman asked as she sat beside Grant’s body.
“She had no choice, Vivian,” Sebastian said from behind me.
He touched my arm, and I flinched.
“It’s okay, Blaire. You can put the gun away.”
He touched my arm again, but I didn’t jerk away this time. I put the gun back in my holster, shivered, and then zipped up my jacket.
Anne stood in front of me, her green-brown eyes filled with sadness and unshed tears. With her being so close, I realized that it was her eyes that made her beautiful, in the way that the green and brown interlaced with each other. And there was a yellow ring around the iris. One would think the yellow would only show when she was in her leopard form, but it remained with her in human form, too. Her lips were moving, but they were too fast for me to read. My ears were ringing louder now.
I caught some words: ‘trouble’, ‘shock’, then ‘danger’.
I looked beyond Anne at the woman sitting near Grant’s body and saw that she was crying now. She pulled something from Grant’s wrist and made as if to throw it to one side.
“No, don’t throw it away,” I said, and I went onto my haunches again beside her. The woman froze, with the armband still in her hand. I reached out for it, and she handed it to me. The armband was woven from rough brown material and had a small pouch containing tiny bones, pieces of leather, a feather, and a number of herbs inside. I brought it near my nose and found that the smell which emanated from it was pungent.
The woman asked, “What is it?”
Finally, I could hear again.
“It’s a medicine bag,” Sebastian said from behind me. He reached out for it, and I handed it to him.
“Why would any of your people need this, Sebastian?” I asked.
Sebastian turned away from me and went over to Phillip, who was still lying on the floor, unconscious. “Show me his wrists,” he asked the man watching over Phillip.
The man pulled Phillip’s sleeves to his elbows to reveal his wrists. First, the left, where there was nothing, but then, on the right, there was an armband similar to the one retrieved from Grant’s body.
“Does anyone know where these two went before they came here?” Sebastian asked as he glanced around the room.
A man in the corner of the room stepped forward. “Grant told me they stopped off at a shop to buy special candles.”
“Do you know which shop?”
“No. Just some hoodoo shop.”
“Do you know the street name?” I blurted. My heart sped up, and my hands were clammy.
“I think he said Jackson.”
“What is it, Blaire?” Sebastian said, turning to face me.
“That’s the priest’s shop, Sebastian,” I whispered, even though I knew everyone present could hear, thanks to their were-leopard ears.
His eyes widened.
“How did he even know I would be here?”
“Anne, did you tell anyone else that I was bringing Blaire here tonight?”
Anne thought about it for a second, then said, “Greg and Ivy were with me”—she looked around the room—“and Lauren.”
Ivy was still sitting beside Lauren, who was lying on the floor. She was conscious now, watching the exchanges taking place in the room. Greg was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch, his hands pressed to his sides to stop the bleeding from Phillip’s claw marks. He needed to shift in order to heal.
“Did any of you disclose to an outsider that Blaire was coming here tonight?” Sebastian said as he looked at each of them: the siblings first, and, lastly, Lauren.
Greg and Ivy shook their heads and said, ‘No,’ at the same time.
Lauren scowled at him.
“Lauren?” That one word questioned everything she may or may not have done.
She didn’t blink as she sat up and hissed at Sebastian.
“Lauren, what did you do?” Greg said as he crawled to her, but she ignored him.
“Lauren.” Anne sat on the couch in front of her, took her right wrist, and pulled up her sleeve to reveal the armband beneath. “Speak.”
Lauren yanked her wrist from Anne’s grasp and pulled her sleeve down. Sebastian stepped closer to her, and I followed him. Others moved away from us, deciding that it was better to be away from the fight than near it.
“Take it off, Lauren. Then talk,” Sebastian said with a hint of anger.
Her face was etched with pain, like it would hurt to remove it. Anne grabbed her arm and pulled the armband off. Like a light switch could brighten or darken a room, the look on Lauren’s face changed from anger and pain to comfort and delight once the armband had been removed. She let out her breath in a long exhalation of relief. It sent shivers down my spine, like a cold hand trailing over my warm skin.
Lauren blinked sparkly eyes at us, confusion stamped all over her face. “What’s going on?”
“We were hoping you could tell us. Where did you get this from?” Anne asked, lifting the armband near her face.
“I bought it at the voodoo shop on Jackson Street. I think the owner, Ross or something, gave one to each of the four of us.”
“Who else, Lauren?” Sebastian asked as he sat on his haunches in front of her.
“Me, Phillip, Grant, and…” She frowned. “Dammit, I can’t remember who the fourth was.” She brought her hand to her forehead and rubbed her temples.
“Think, Lauren, please.” Greg came to sit beside her and put his arm around her. “Who took the fourth armband?”
“Jeremiah,” she said, looking up at Sebastian. She seemed as surprised as she sounded when she said his name. “It was Jeremiah—but he isn’t here.” Her brows furrowed, and she started rubbing her temples again. “I didn’t know he was going out. Did he tell anyone where he was going?”
My cell phone rang, and I jumped in response. Everybody turned to stare at me. “Sorry,” I said, fishing the phone out of my pocket and whispering, “Hello.”
“It’s Ralph. Can you ask Sebastian if he knows a ‘Jeremiah’?”
“Yeah, he does. Do you know where he is?”
“Sure do. He followed me, then attacked us when I arrived at Devan’s apartment.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No.” He yelled so loudly that I had to move the phone away from my ear.
“What did you do with him?”
“We tied him up.”
“Tell Devan to look on his right arm. There should be an armband.” When I said that, everyone was staring at me again. Sebastian turned to me. I placed my hand over the mouthpiece and said, “My partner has Jeremiah. He attacked them, but he’s fine; they detained him.”
Ralph came on the line again. “Yeah, he has one.”
“Before you remove it, ask him who gave him the armband and why.”
There were muffled sounds—men’s voices—and then Ralph said, “The priest has our names and addresses, Blaire. He gave four armbands to the were-leopards who came into his shop this afternoon and instructed them to hurt us.”
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“He is one conniving bastard, I’ll give him that. He won’t stop until we’re dead.”
“What should I do with this one?”
“Don’t hurt him. Can you bring him here?”
Anne gave me her address, and I repeated it to Ralph. He told me they’d be here within the hour.
Chapter 10
I EXPLAINED THE EVENING’S EVENTS TO Ralph over the phone, and then gave the leap a short version of the case we were working on. I didn’t include a lot of information, but it was enough for everyone to know not to buy anything from that shop ever again—and to stay clear of McNielty. When I asked if anyone had previously bought anything from the shop, almost everyone put up their hands. So, any of them could have been there today and have been given the armband.
We waited for Jeremiah to arrive before speaking with Lauren and Phillip. Everyone else was welcome to leave.
Staring down at Grant’s body, at the large hole in his chest, I thought that he didn’t deserve to die like a monster, like some contract target I had been assigned to. I had killed him with one of the special silver bullets that was custom-made for Ulysses Assassins. We used them to stop the monsters from hurting us, but this were-leopard should have been a friend.
I wanted to make this better, but I didn’t know how. I hoped that he didn’t have a wife and kids.
I blinked back tears.
“What are you going to do with his body?” I asked no one in particular.
Anne, Greg, and Sebastian were standing nearby. I glanced at each of them. When I looked at Greg, something flashed through his eyes. For a second, I would have said it was pain or sadness, but it also looked like fear. The muscles in his jaw moved as he fought not to speak.
“What is it, Greg? If you have something to say to me, then say it.”
“I don’t know you well enough, Blaire. I’d rather reserve my opinion.”
“No, Greg, say what’s on your mind,” Anne pushed.
“Fine.” His anger flared through the room, and he no longer seemed afraid. “She knew her gun was loaded with silver bullets, yet she fired it directly at his heart anyway. If she’d aimed anywhere else, he would still be alive.” He was pointing a long finger at me.
“I’m sorry, Greg. I didn’t mean to kill him. I warned him before I pulled the trigger, but he still came for me. Before you say anything, I know he wasn’t himself. I know that now, but at the time, none of us knew they weren’t acting of their own volition. And perhaps a part of me didn’t feel like getting mauled by another were-animal. If anything charges at me, I’ll shoot it.” As soon as the words flew out of my mouth, I regretted them.
Greg’s mouth opened slightly, like I had punched him in the face, and his eyes glistened with tears.
I wanted to take the pain away.
“I’m sorry.” My voice sounded strained as I choked back tears.
Rory came to stand behind me, and the air smelt like disinfectant and soap. He had washed his face and hands, and Mel had already patched him up.
Mel, the were-wolf doctor who worked with the were-leopards, had arrived earlier and was tending to each of the injured leopards. Now that Rory had returned, it meant that Lauren was now with her.
Phillip lay on the sofa, looking worse for wear, even though Mel had already seen him. All the leopards could heal if they shifted, but they were waiting for Jeremiah to arrive so we could hear his side of the story.
Anne and Sebastian spoke at the same time. Anne said, “She was only protecting herself, Greg,” while Sebastian said, “It could have been any of us.”
Greg looked from his mother to his ‘brother’ and screamed as loudly as he could. He screamed until his face turned the color of the liquid lying beneath Grant’s body.
I didn’t stick my fingers in my ears to block his screams; I heard them all. I felt them vibrate off the walls. I needed to hurt, even though I knew it wasn’t my fault. I felt his power explode in the air, and it took my breath away. When he stopped screaming, his eyes glowed yellow and his hands had changed into claws.
In a hoarse voice, he said, “Sorry,” and he skulked toward the back door in the kitchen and left, leaving the door open.
Sebastian wanted to put his arm around me, but I stepped back. “If you console me, I’ll lose it.”
“There’s no shame in breaking down, Blaire. You just shot and killed someone. If you didn’t break down, then I’d worry.”
I frowned at him. “What do you mean?”
“If you killed him and didn’t feel something, whether it was sadness, pain, or guilt, then I’d worry about your morals. It would tell me that you would kill anything without thinking twice.”
Like a cold-blooded killer.
I felt cold. Empty. Numb. Was that the same as not feeling? Was the old Blaire returning? Apparently, she could kill without feeling much of anything, whereas I felt regret for feeling this way. Maybe that was the difference between us.
I felt regret.
“What are we going to do with his body?” I asked again, changing the subject.
“The blue moon will be full in five days’ time. We will feast on his body then.” Anne whispered.
I blinked very slowly as I processed this information. I turned to Sebastian, but he avoided eye contact with me. Was he ashamed that this was what his leap did, that they consumed their dead? My mouth opened, but no words came out.
“It is a ritual we perform if we want one of our own to join the others and stay with us metaphysically. I would like for you to join us when it takes place, Blaire. We need you to be there.”
“But”—I cleared my throat— “I am not one of you.”
“Yes, you are,” Anne said, and she glanced at Sebastian. “Yes, you are, Blaire. You are one of us. No one else knows Sebastian’s secret except for me, but I know how you are tied to him, the were-leopard strain excluded. I can also feel the attraction between you, and I feel that there is something else buried deep inside of you. Your mind became clouded after your attack, but when your sun shines again, you will know what to do with many of the things you have consumed.”
I was about to object when the banging started on the front door.
Ralph, Devan, and Jeremiah arrived before midnight. Ralph had deep scratches on his forearm, and because he was human, Mel treated him first. Devan stood off to one side with Rory, as far away from any were-leopard as he could get.
Jeremiah was young. He looked younger than his nineteen years and was exactly my height; five foot five. He had soft brown curly hair, the lightest blue eyes I had ever seen and chubby cheeks. He looked innocent, like someone’s younger brother or son, or a next-door neighbor. But the exterior was deceiving; his eyes whispered hints of a hard life, and when he shook my hand, power jolted through my arm like lightning and I had to jerk my hand free of his.
He gave me wide eyes and said, “What was that?”
“That was you, Jeremiah,” Sebastian said, rubbing his arms. “Tone it down, dude.”
Jeremiah flinched when I moved away from him. He had a stab wound to his gut, but it appeared superficial. He walked around the room giving the other were-leopards hugs and chest-bumps.
Mel called him next, and Ralph came out.
“Are you okay?” I asked, staring at his forearm.
“Jeremiah used his claws on me. Mel took some blood. She’ll let me know the results.”
“Shit, I’m sorry, Ralph.” I hugged him.
“Can all leopards shift their hands into claws without shifting completely, or is it only certain people who can?” Ralph asked.
“Only those powerful enough can shift a body part at a time,” Sebastian said.
“Jeremiah is only nineteen. Is he really that powerful?”
“Yes, he is.”
“What happened to him? He seems so young and innocent, but that’s so not the case, is it?” I asked Sebastian.
“No, it isn’t, but he hasn’t elaborated on all that has happened to him. All we kn
ow is that his family was attacked and he was the only survivor. He came to us through a mutual friend and has stayed here with Anne ever since. She’s helping him to control his powers, because, at the moment, they are all over the place. As you saw when you shook his hand.”
“Yeah, I can still feel it.” I rubbed my hands together.
Jeremiah came out with Mel trailing behind him and stood near the fireplace. Phillip was still lying on the couch with Lauren tending to him. Greg came through the back door, looking much calmer than when he left.
“Right, everyone; come closer. Let’s hear exactly what happened,” Anne said.
Jeremiah’s account matched exactly with what Lauren had said, and Phillip nodded in agreement. The four of them had often shopped for candles or incense and had never spoken more than five words to the owner, but they knew his name was Ross. They described McNielty as pale—so pale that his skin seemed translucent—with white hair and white eyebrows. They didn’t think he had any eyelashes, and if he did, they were white and couldn’t be seen from across the counter.
I began making notes in a little booklet I kept in my pocket.
One thing the three of them couldn’t agree on was the color of his eyes. Jeremiah said they were blue; Phillip said they were lilac; and Lauren said they were green. I wrote all three colors down with question marks next to them. The police report had varying descriptions of his eye color as well, with one even stating that they were red.
Jeremiah started to say something, then stopped, thought about it, and said, “His accent. I can’t place it, but it’s different.”
“Do you remember him saying anything specific?” I asked.
“No, I only remember him saying he had armbands for us to wear and that they would guide us spiritually.” Jeremiah frowned like he still wasn’t sure that that was what McNielty had said.
“I remember that, now that you mention it, Jeremiah,” Phillip said, wincing as he sat up and glanced at Sebastian. “I’m sorry I acted like such a dick, Sebastian. I know I can be a pain in the ass.” He shook his head gently, then added, “Poor Grant. I still can’t believe he’s gone.”
An ache burned in my stomach, and I stared at a spot on the floor as I felt the stares of the others boring holes into me.