Pack of Freaks: Beasts Among Us - Book 2

by Jennifer Zamboni

  The house seemed to be sucking up, like it knew we were all pretty angry with it for hiding a serial killer from the rest of us in the guise of my former best friend, a vampire named Lacey-Marie. No, she wasn’t dead, but if she ever stepped foot in Maine again, never mind my little home of Isenburge, I would rip her limb from limb.

  I wrapped a second towel around my hair, securing the other just under my armpits. The floor towel moved with me, so I didn’t have to step on the cold tile.

  Opening the fog free mirror, I pulled out my contact case and uncapped the compartment marked with an R, rinsed the contact, and shoved it in my right eye, blinking a couple times. A lopsided amber and brown gaze reflected back at me. I wore contacts to help hide my furry personality from the ignorant public. I’d successfully, well, sort of successfully, not really, hidden from the public for the last 100 or so years, letting them believe that there weren’t any monsters hiding in their closets, no ghosties that went bump in the night.

  I may not have been a full-blooded fae, but I had no desire to be exposed. All the girls that I worked with knew, that had been unavoidable, but I’m proud to report that I hadn’t mauled anyone in the last 10 years or so. Except for that one time with Lacey-Marie.

  Why no local packs never put me down, I couldn’t know for sure. It may be that I’m a little more dominant than average, but I doubt that meant that a whole pack couldn’t take me. It was a comforting thought.

  Of course, the real reason for my recent success was Percy. She was a responsible adult and made sure I was caged when I was feeling less than friendly.

  Wait, scratch that, I did kill one person a few months ago, when Lacy-Marie had been using me like a lap dog. Good times. So my record was almost perfect.

  I dressed and swiped on some makeup. I’d been wearing it much more naturally since dating Doug, but today I was in no mood for cutesy me. I used dark browns, blues, and blacks, finishing it off with a coat of rum raisin lipstick.

  I ran my fingers through my wet curls and decided to go for the natural look for the day. I really wasn’t in the mood to fight with it, so I pinned the top and the sides back, and scrunched up the rest with curl cream and headed downstairs.

  The tea kettle was whistling in the kitchen, announcing it was tea time for Gretchen and Doug. I selected two mugs and dropped in muslin bags of anti-werewolf tea before pouring the boiling water and adding a dollop of honey, then left them to steep.

  Doug still hadn’t made an appearance, a fact for which, I’m sorry to say, I was relieved. I wasn’t ready to face him yet.

  I piled a meaty meal onto a platter-sized plate (don’t judge, I was hungry), wolfing it all down in record time, then made myself some toast with orange marmalade.

  By then, my tea was ready.

  “Um, I’m going to finish this in the library,” I grabbed the remainder of the meal, and headed for the door. “If Doug comes down, will you tell him I’m sorry, but I don’t really want to talk today?” I aimed the question at Hades because Percy was an unreliable messenger. She’d twist it all out to mean what she wanted, not what I meant.

  Hades nodded, not looking up from his paper.

  I really had no reason to hang out in the library. I had yet to finish the last book I’d taken from the shelves. In fact, I’d put it away. I just didn’t have the patience for Jane Austen lately. Don’t get me wrong, I thought she was a wonderful writer, I simply didn’t have patience with much at all.

  When the door I tried didn’t lead to the proper room, I was forced to walk all the way down the hall, almost to the ballroom-cum-gym.

  I quickly found out why the change.

  The hall doorway had moved too, it opened midway to my destination, revealing Doug, clutching the doorknob.

  “You’re going to break it,” I commented.

  He let go and let his fist fall to his side.

  “I don’t want to talk,” I blurted before any sound could spill out of his open mouth.

  His shoulders slumped, and he walked around me to go find his own breakfast.

  I felt bad, but I couldn’t handle it, I needed some space after what had happened between us. I slipped into the library and locked the door behind me. There were other ways in, but Doug didn’t know them.

  I curled up in my favorite armchair, smack dab in the middle of a nice sunny spot.

  My thoughts drifted until they wafted out of my head, and I drifted off to sleep.

  “Gretchen, wake up, we need to talk! Now!”

  Banging accompanied the yelling, and I groaned. I needed that sleep. After unfolding my long legs I forced myself upright and to the door.

  Percy stood on the other side, arms crossed tightly over her chest. “You’re mated! You’re mated and you didn’t tell me?” Magic crackled around her in angry invisible sparks.

  I held in another groan. She and Doug must have had themselves a little chat. “He told you?”

  “Yes, and he’s worried about you. Are you sure it was a wise decision? Shouldn’t there be a ring on your finger?”

  Percy was an old fashioned girl, and so am I. I wanted a ring on my finger, and to wear a pretty dress in front of all my friends and family. Things had definitely not gone as planned.

  “It wasn’t my idea.” I tried to excuse myself around her.

  “Funny, I find that hard to believe. You’ve wanted a family, more than anything, for as long as I’ve known you.”

  “All right, let me rephrase: it wasn’t the human me’s idea. It was all wolf and I don’t know what to do.” I hated to admit defeat, but there it was.

  “Well, you’ll get married, and then you’ll get to know each other a bit better.”

  I scowled.

  “What? That’s the way of it. Hades and I didn’t exactly have a long romance before my father arranged our marriage. You’ll be fine.”

  I’d momentarily forgotten that Percy and Hades’s union had been an arranged one.

  “I don’t really want to talk about it. That’s kinda why I locked the door,” I pointed out.

  “Well whatever reason it was, it’s almost time to open. Are you fit to work? The girls are going to get here any minute.”

  I nodded and headed out to the salon. Anything to avoid talking about the issues at hand.

  Another mug of tea waited for me on my station, and I had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t from Percy. I looked around for Doug and was relieved, yet again, that he wasn’t around.

  How despicable was I, wanting to avoid the person that I was going to spend the rest of my life with, who cared for me deeply? Love hadn’t been mentioned by either of us, but I didn’t need to hear it from him, I could tell.

  I was a horrible person.

  Cleaning my combs and returning them to their drawer in the big wooden vanity that operated as my styling station, served as a distraction for moment. I added roughly a tablespoon of powdered Barbicide to my empty comb container and topped it off with warm water.

  I wiped my damp fingers off on my black jeans and settled in my chair to wait, my fingers wrapped around my mug of tea. A bit of lavender, a bit of chamomile, a touch of spearmint and lemon, it was my perfect soothing drink in lieu of hot cocoa. Honey in my tea was about as dessert-like as I could get.

  Percy joined me, performing her own last minute preparations as she kept one eye on the front door. We were both watching for signs of our third stylist, Meredith. Her first month she had been more than punctual, arriving at work at least a half hour early, but the bloom of our new relationship was wilting, and bad habits were emerging.

  That’s not to say that I was never late, but I did put in an effort.

  The big antique grandfather clock set up in the museum section of the salon, an area we had filled with old styling and barbering tools centered around a perming machine, struck 9 o’clock. It was time to open, and I felt the amount of tardiness, without at least a phone call, unacceptable.

  We unlocked the front door, turned on the lights, and
flipped over our open sign. At the end of the driveway, Hades could be seen affixing an open flag to our carved wood sign. He waved as a car pulled in, the man inside waving back and smiling. One of our regulars, Jos Neer. he usually came to me, but he had made an appointment with Meredith to spread the love.

  Still no sign of the wayward stylist.

  His smile diminished somewhat after he’d parked and made his way inside, noting that Meredith was nowhere to be found.

  “Where’s little Miss Winders?” he asked, walking over.

  “Not a clue,” I answered. It was all I could do not to snarl or roll my eyes.

  “Well, I’m in a bit of a hurry, do you think you could squeeze me in?” he asked, glancing down at his Rolex.

  My first client wasn’t due for another 15 minutes, and I was having a slow period. Many of my clients had left me after my former pack removed me from the building in the middle of the day.

  “Absolutely, have a seat.” I grabbed a black cape from the shelf between my station and Meredith’s and flung it around his shoulders.

  “Shaping up, or trying something new?” I asked, remembering well what he usually got.

  “Shape up. The kids and I are heading down to Portland this weekend—to meet my new girlfriend.

  “I’m sorry, meet? Have you not met her, or have they not met her?” I asked, attaching a half inch guard to my clippers.

  “All of us meet. She’s the sister of a friend. We used to know each other in high school, so it’s sort of a reacquaintance. We got in touch a while ago, and been doing a bit of online dating.” His eyes lit up as he spoke, and the smile that took over his face was contagious.

  “Well all right then, I better get you prettied up, so you don’t scare her off.” I turned on the clippers and went to work paring his hair down to a neater looking length.

  Percy walked by, crossing her arms as she studied the parking lot outside.

  “I hope nothing has happened to her,” she said, her back turned to my client and me.

  I rolled my eyes at Jos in the mirror, and set the clippers aside in favor of a set of edgers to crisp up the outline.

  I’d just squirted down the top when Meredith came strolling in.

  “Nice of you to join us,” I commented, then clamped my lips shut when Percy gave me one of her disapproving looks. She was determined to see the best in people when they so obviously didn’t deserve it.

  “Sorry,” I muttered under my breath, more to Jos, who was sitting through all of this, than to my friend.

  “No problem. I understand the need for professionalism. Besides, I know you do a good job, I’ll just stick with you from now on.” He smiled at me in the mirror.

  Good.

  “Thanks. How does that look?” I asked, ruffling the newly shorn hair on the top of his head.

  “Perfect.” He ran a hand over it as he nodded.

  “Shampoo to get rid of the loose hairs?” I asked.

  There is nothing worse than little bits of hair sticking to your back all day long.

  “Please.” He stood and followed me to the shampoo area, where I lathered him up with a masculine scented shampoo.

  “Any gel today?” I toweled him off.

  “No thanks, I’ve got to get going.” He handed me thirty bucks. “Keep the change.”

  “Thanks.” I pocketed the cash and went to sweep up my mess.

  “See you later, Gretchen.” He waved as he left, leaving a whiff of excitement in his wake as he practically bounced to his car.

  I smiled to myself as I cleaned up, entered the transaction in the computer, deposited the money in the cash drawer, and pocketed the generous tip. I forgot it on occasion, leaving whoever closed out the counter with a bit of extra cash. We decided a long time ago, that if someone left a tip, they couldn’t have wanted it badly enough to keep it, so the extra work of closing up earned you the cash.

  I sat down to wait for my next client, who arrived two minutes late by my clock.

  I avoided Meredith’s scowls as she seated herself at her own station.

  “You stole my client,” she accused after I finished my next haircut.

  “Nope, I took on a client that expected a service on time. If you want—”

  “Gretchen, go get a snack,” Percy stepped in, mediating me right out of the situation. This new look she gave me said that she’d talk to Meredith, then have a little chat with me later.

  I held in the grumbles and did as I was told, grabbing a handful of healthy Percy-made trail mix from the table by the door that led to the back rooms.

  I worked and kept my tongue civil by keeping my teeth clamped together whenever I wasn’t conversing with a client. Percy smiled at me, my attagirl until we had that chat.

  The bell over the door tinkled as our postwoman strolled in to deliver our mail to the front desk. We all smiled and said hello to the friendly brunette and continued on with our work.

  Hades wandered out from the private section of the house to sort it. You’d think he got mail on a regular basis, with the eagerness he thumbed through the envelopes.

  The eager look ran away as he held up an expensive looking envelope between his thumb and forefinger, as if it contained something distasteful. He took it and the house mail, leaving the salon addressed stuff on the counter, and headed back out.

  “What was that about?” I asked Percy, as we sorted magazines from bills and catalogs.

  She just shrugged and carried copies of Down East and Allure to the coffee table in the waiting area. She arranged them and removed some particularly old issues, which would probably find new homes in the library. Percy couldn’t let go of any sort of published work.

  I shrugged back, then set about sweeping dust bunnies out from under the counter.

  I waited for Percy to close out for the night, then pounced.

  “So, why was she late?”

  “She forgot to turn off her curling iron, so she turned around.” Percy took up the packet of sorted money and carried it out to the library, which was once again back where it belonged.

  She pressed against one edge of a heavy gilded frame containing a painting of a moose. There was a soft click and it swung away from the wall on a hinge. Behind it was concealed an antique safe, installed the same time the house was built, to which she was the only one to possess a key.

  She thumbed through her key chain until she located the correct one and fit it to the lock. Again there was a soft click, this time coupled with the slight static twinge of magic. The safe was probably almost as old as she was, and brought over from the fae lands.

  I’d recently heard Percy and Hades refer to their other home as “Underhill.” The most I knew about it was it wasn’t exactly on earth, more like a different dimension, or a parallel universe, and it was starting to shrink as the pathways between sucked away at the magic that kept it alive. Maine had a few healthy pathways (which, no, I hadn’t been through) because the magic here is so unspoiled by humans.

  Hades was waiting for us in the kitchen.

  Let me just make one little comment: Hades does not cook. Ever.

  But there he was, wearing a “Kiss Me I’m Irish” apron, stir-frying veggies. Why we had an Irish themed apron, I couldn’t tell you, since not one of us could claim the nationality, except our masseuse, Fern, who was as red-headed green-eyed Irish as they came. She also didn’t live with us, so the apron was definitely not hers.

  I hoped there would be steak to go with those veggies. A nice big juicy steak, barely seared on the outside and bloody on the inside. I might have drooled a little at the thought.

  Percy was a vegetarian, so I’d only have to fight the boys over such a supper.

  Doug was still conspicuously absent, so that left only Hades, which I didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of beating in a scuffle. God of the dead and all that. He definitely has some unfair advantages.

  But back to that whole Hades at the stove wielding a wooden spoon thing.

  “Yo
u’re cooking.” I pointed at the pan.

  “Yes, I am.” He added a sprinkle of fresh rosemary, filling the air with the delicious aroma.

  “Why?”

  “I just felt like it. Wine?” he asked, stepping away from the stove, and picked up an uncorked bottle of Merlot.

  I wrinkled my nose at the dry room temperature beverage.

  He picked up a different bottle.

  I shook my head.

  He shrugged and turned back to his stir-fry.

  Percy entered, looking nonplussed at this sudden domestic side to her husband.

  Doug arrived right on her heels.

  “Uh, can I get dinner in my room? I’ve got a piece I’m working on for Chaos Theory’s upcoming album.” I referred to the rock band I belonged to.

  “No, I think you need to sit with the family.” Percy pulled out my usual chair and waited for me to take a seat in it.

  Again, I held in the grumbles and sat.

  Doug took his usual spot on my left, and I immediately stiffened, causing him to slide his chair over a bit to keep a submissive distance.

  I forced my muscles to relax and sipped the water that was waiting for me.

  “So um, darling, I have something I need to tell you.” Hades kept his eyes focused on the food.

  A crackling hiss perked up my ears, just as the scent of the sizzling steak wafted to me. Yay!

  “I got a letter from home. Through the U.S. Postal Service, don’t worry.”

  Was news from home less unpleasant through traditional mail? It didn’t explain the look of distaste during his mail sorting extravaganza.

  “I’ve been banished.” His tone was mild, but his posture was tense.

  “Excuse me, banished?” Percy raised her eyebrows and set her wine glass down with a clank.

  “You can be banished from your own kingdom?” I asked at the same time.

  “Apparently. They’ll keep a look out for me. It seems my council doesn’t approve of my reviving a vampire’s kill.” He stopped stirring and looked at me.

  A vampire’s kill? As in Lacey-Marie’s attempted murder of me?