“Where is he?” I demanded when Calvin picked up the phone.
“Out with her.”
“I’ve left him like fifty-two messages, Calvin.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, all this morning. Samuel was on phone duty.” I slapped my forehead feeling like an idiot. “He didn’t give them to anyone did he?”
“Probably didn’t even write them down, Hicks. He’s really got it in for you.”
“What did I do? I mean most people, you save their life, and they’re grateful.”
“I’ve been thinking about it. I think maybe he didn’t want to be saved. Maybe he was done. It happened a lot in the Depression.”
“I don’t think he’s depressed.”
“No, I mean the Great Depression. You’d see these guys and they couldn’t feed their family; the life just went out of them. I think he’s like that. There’s nothing left for him here, and he’s hanging out waiting to exit.”
“Well, if he keeps pissing me off, I’ll help speed that up.”
Calvin laughed. “So you need LaRue?”
“Yeah, the cat he has me watching? It’s not a cat.”
“No? What is it?”
“Half the time it’s a kid.”
Calvin gave a long low whistle. “I never figured you for the maternal type, Hicks.”
“Not funny. Get him to call me, would you?”
“Will do.”
“And come over here to kitten-sit.” It wasn’t a question. Thankfully, Calvin was smart enough to realize that.
I left the friendly vampire kitten-sitting and hot-footed it to Ted’s place where I found him sitting next to the coldest vampire I’d ever met. This vamp clocked in at the same level of power as LaRue but didn’t seduce. He carried the same formal air as Josephine’s mother but didn’t have a family to humanize him. He killed without conscience, had OPS training, and knew enough about bombs to blow up a building in a matter of minutes. He scared me.
He’d also helped Ted save my life. More importantly, he was Ted’s best friend, so I did my best to play nice.
“William,” I nodded.
“Elisabeth,” he replied with a curt nod.
“Hi lover,” I told Ted with a quick kiss on his cheek. I tried to downplay the affection in front of William. He’d gotten an earful of the two of us once and I still blushed thinking about it.
“Going to tell us about this werelion?”
“After I grab beers. Anything for you, William?”
“No, thank you.”
I grabbed two longnecks from the fridge and sat on the couch next to Ted, William looking at us from the armchair.
“Still no word from LaRue,” I started. “Which means all of this is just guesses, ideas. It doesn’t seem like his boys knew it was werelion. They thought it was just lion, so he probably doesn’t know.”
“He wouldn’t,” William supplied.
“You mean a vampire couldn’t tell?”
William shook his head.
I swallowed some beer as hope welled up inside me. LaRue hadn’t enslaved a child. He wasn’t that horrible. “LaRue probably bought the cub and has no clue. It’s just a matter of finding who he bought it from, figuring out how they got it, and finding the cub’s parents.”
“As well as keeping yourself safe,” William added.
“No, I’m fine. The cub is tiny.”
“Not the cub,” Ted told me gently, “the mother and the father.”
“But we don’t know where they are. When I find them I’m sure they’ll be overjoyed.”
“What if they find you first?” Ted asked. “Think about it from their side: you’re the woman who kidnapped their kid.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“You’ve got him. They didn’t willingly give him up, that makes you—”
I threw my hands up in a plea for mercy and cut him off. “I get it. I need to stay safe from them until I can make them see reason.”
“Exactly.”
“Any tips?”
They started talking and after a few minutes I began to suspect I was hearing the OPS operating manual on how to handle werelions. I didn’t mind. If anything, I wished I could take notes. After about five minutes, I gave up my pride and grabbed a pad from the kitchen.
“Let me see if I have this straight: they attack with claws, slashing like big cats. They’ll go for veins and then use pressure to hold them shut, toying with their prey.”
“Just like all the other big cats,” Ted nodded.
“Heightened sense of smell, hearing, speeded healing, increased strength,” I rattled off the attributes of my would-be attackers. “I’m screwed, aren’t I?”
I groaned and fell into the sofa next to Ted. He gave me a few pats for comfort.
“They’ll beat you in a fight, so don’t get into one,” William instructed.
“And how do you suggest I do that?”
“When you find them, immediately tell them you have their child and have been looking for them.”
“What if they don’t give me a chance?”
“Make them,” Ted told me. “Keep the apartment locked. Keep your gun loaded with silver. If you shoot them, it’ll throw them back. Use that time to talk.”
“While you aim,” William instructed.
“Good point,” Ted agreed, taking a long drink of beer. They were good teachers, but I never wanted to use any of this knowledge. I finished my own beer and Ted grabbed the empties, headed out to the garage. A knock came from the front door just as he stepped outside
“Will you get that?” he called to me.
Still jumpy from being kidnapped I checked through the peephole. The woman appeared human, and there wasn’t any magic coming off her. The hole’s fish eye lens stopped me from being sure but she looked familiar.
When I opened the door, she looked at me with intense green eyes. Her dark blonde hair fell to her shoulders, glossy with health. She looked about forty, maybe fifty, but well-kept, no wrinkles or worn edges. Next to her was a man of at least sixty who wore a crisp blazer and a short round cap, the kind that always made me think of cab drivers. His look was a little less intense, the skin around his brown eyes crinkled, like he expected to smile.
“I’m looking for Edward Falconer.” The woman’s face revealed no emotion. “I’m his mother.”
I opened the door a bit wider but didn’t know what to say. It wasn’t my house. I couldn’t invite them in. Even if I could, would Ted want me to? He’d dodged her phone calls all day. Now she was on her doorstep. What was my play? Shut the door in her face?
“Don’t worry about it, Elisabeth, I’ll barge in.” She smiled sweetly, reminding me of the most important thing about his mother: she was psychic. I wished for Ted’s ability to clean his mind and protect himself from psychics. She brushed by me and into the living room making William immediately snap to attention. Shouting out a warning might be rude but not surprising Ted was more important than not offending her.
“Honey,” I called. “Your mom is here.”
She gave me a look so cold I almost shivered.
I lifted the corners of my mouth in the smallest smile ever. “And she brought her friend,” I turned toward the man. He looked nothing like Ted’s stepfather had in the dream, but something about him still said werewolf. “I don’t think I caught your name?”
“Vincent.” He smiled, but didn’t offer me his hand. “And this is Susan.”
She didn’t even turn to me, let alone offer a handshake.
“Yes, he’s a werewolf. No, he’s not my mate. And most people won’t shake hands with one of us. Not if they know, like you do,” she explained what I’d been thinking.
“I thought most psychics didn’t read people’s minds because it was impolite.”
“Would it really change what you think of me, Elisabeth?” she asked with a smug smile.
I would never have expected it but William came to my rescue, walking to stand next to me. “You choose yo
ur actions solely on the reactions of others?”
It wasn’t an easy question for her to puzzle out, which gave Ted time to walk into the room.
“Vincent.” He smiled for the older man, but the happy welcome didn’t touch his eyes. Every muscle on his body seemed locked, an unnatural stillness hinted at tension even from across the room. “It’s nice to know you’re still alive.”
Vincent nodded. “Feeling’s mutual. You grew into a fine man.”
Okay, I could agree with that, but the werewolf invasion wasn’t going to become a tea party until Ted decided on our other guest. He turned toward her and his smile evaporated. “Why are you here?”
“They’re killing us, one by one. Taking people in the middle of the night. We need your help.” She drew herself up, throwing her shoulders back defiantly. “I need your help.”
“I see.”
“No, you don’t see. Sweetheart, we’ve changed.” She moved while she talked, getting closer to him, her hands outstretched. “We’re in a hotel now, in the city. No more hunting, your father—”
“My stepfather,” he corrected. His tone made William turn. The vampires gave me a small nod and then immediately was at Ted’s side. Vampires moved that way, too fast for humans to see, maybe even too fast for werewolves.
“Are you protecting him from me?” she challenged William. “Protecting him from his mother? Because I might what? Hug him?”
She reached out her arms as if she was going to do just that, but again William moved. He placed himself in front of Ted and picked her up, his hands tight around her arms, forcing her hands to her sides. She growled, a deep rumbling coming from her throat. When she opened her mouth, her teeth weren’t quite human. Without thinking I’d grabbed my gun, and now I found it up and aimed at her head. Ted hadn’t moved, not an inch. In front of me Vincent hadn’t even twitched.
“Control yourself and I will put you down,” William said, quite calmly.
“And if I don’t?” She bit the words out, her voice like gravel under someone’s boot.
“I will end you.” For the first time, William’s cold formal voice sounded perfect.
“Susan, go outside,” Vincent said, quietly.
“No,” she insisted. William had her trapped two feet off the ground. She really didn’t get a say, Vincent was just trying to make peace.
“You can hear everything we’re going to say, and read all of our minds from out there. Just go. It’ll be easier for all of us.”
“He’s my son.”
“Not anymore,” Vincent told her. Her façade cracked, then shattered. Sadness came off of her, remorse, regret, guilt. The emotions in the room were so high I didn’t need to touch anyone to feel what they felt. And none of them felt good.
When she spoke again, her voice was quiet, “I’ll go.”
William lowered her, and she walked to the door. With her hand on the knob she turned back and looked at me. “Don’t you dare pity me,” she hissed. “I’ve eaten people like you for breakfast.”
It wasn’t just a line. She’d done it. She’d eaten people like me. Worse, it looked like she’d gone native, giving up everything she was to be one of the Pack. I swallowed hard.
“Can we start again, Edward?” Vincent asked. “Please?”
“I don’t know,” Ted said. In the time since she reached out to him, he hadn’t moved.
“Let’s try? I’ll sit down here, by the door. You take one of the dining room chairs.”
They both did so, increasing the space between them until they were in separate rooms.
“Now if you could lower your gun?”
Well, would you look at that, the gun was still out, and it was now pointed at Vincent. Huh. Wasn’t that a nice reflex to have? I lowered my weapon but didn’t holster it.
“Your mother is very concerned about the disappearances. She knows you have a background in investigations. She’s hoping you’ll come and try to help.”
“Investigations?” Ted asked.
“Isn’t that what OPS does?”
William almost laughed but caught himself. It was the kind of impression only someone who wasn’t there would have.
“You could say that.” Ted looked at me, seeking permission.
I nodded.
“Elisabeth is a private investigator. I’m not. I’m probably not what you’re looking for.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Vincent shook his head. “The police don’t care. The FBI doesn’t care. No one else is going to help us.”
“Who’s disappearing?” I asked.
“All the old timers, anyone left over from the days when Edward was young. That’s why Susan and I are so worried. We’re on that list.”
“Didn’t most of them go to jail?”
“Most of them were executed, a handful went to jail. They trickled back to the pack as they finished their sentences. We’re all productive, safe, members of society, just like everyone else, except if one of us disappears in the middle of the night, no one cares or protects us.” His voice rose to a sneer. While I felt bad for him, I didn’t like the effect this visit was having on my boyfriend.
“Are you staying in town?” I asked, eager to get him and the ever-listening psychic outside away from the house.
“Yes. I told Susan this was bad idea. I could have come alone or brought someone else with me, or only come when we’d talked to Edward on the phone but she insisted. She was determined to bully—” A sharp look of pain crossed his features. I reached out by reflex, grabbing his arm. As I touched his skin, deep seated fear flowed into me, terror, the feeling of nightmares. Before I could move, William moved me, pulling me away from Vincent. His skin was cold, and normally I cringed when he touched me, but this time, I rested against him and turned to mouth the words thank you. After another few seconds the look on Vincent’s face faded, and he recovered himself.
“What was that?” I stepped away from William’s protective embrace but didn’t go far.
“Susan,” he told me with a weak voice. “She runs us now, Edward. Your mother is a strong woman. People don’t defy her.”
Ted barely nodded.
“Okay.” The residue of his psychic punishment left me a little unsteady. “Why don’t you let Ted, William, and me talk this out? Then we’ll call you.”
“Susan thinks we should all have breakfast. Someplace near Edward’s shop.”
“It’s a spa,” Ted corrected.
“Of course,” Vincent agreed.
“Give me the number where you’re staying. I’ll let you know about breakfast.” From the vibe coming off of Ted the answer wasn’t just going to be no, but hell no. And after Susan threatened to eat me, I didn’t mind that one bit. Vincent agreed, and wrote the number down for us before saying goodnight. When the door was shut and locked, I looked at William and Ted, trying to assess the situation.
“I’m going after them,” William told us, already by the door.
“Be safe.” We didn’t always get along but he was on my side. Tonight he’d proven how important that was.
I turned to Ted, trying to figure out what to do.
“Come to the bedroom,” I decided.
“I’m not up for sex.” He didn’t even try to smile.
“Well then it’s a good thing that’s not what I had in mind.” I got him into the bedroom and shut the bedroom door. Now there were two locks and an alarm system between us and his mother. Not a bad start, but probably not enough. My first inclination was to tell him to strip so I could press as much of my skin against his and use that connection to add a magical calming influence. I stopped myself though, because I didn’t want him to feel vulnerable. Instead I patted the bed, and watched him lay back into the pillows. Once he’d told me he bought the biggest bed he could find to make up for the skinny cots he’d endured during the war; now his bed was too big. We stayed next to each other using only a quarter of the space.
“Tell me about it.” My bare feet wrapped up with his, my hand rested
on his arm. His mind held only blackness, no emotion, no feeling. She’d brought him back to that place and all I could do was project my own emotions into him: calm, comfort, understanding. It felt like throwing a drop of water down a well. After a few minutes, he turned toward me.
“William hasn’t protected me like that since the war. He’d pick someone up and set them down where I could work on them. I did… Jesus, Hicks, you know what I did, sick things, terrible things. I broke bones and cut pieces off. I did things that would turn your stomach. But I was never as bad as her.”
“Go on.”
“She turned her back on her only child. She threw me to the wolves, literally. She never once tried to protect me, never once said we should escape or call someone. That was me. I was twelve when I called an FBI hotline.”
I nodded.
“She would turn peoples’ heads inside out for them. Say this one is loyal and that one isn’t. The ones that weren’t we ate. Ripped them apart and ate them. She made that happen.”
“Maybe it was her way of keeping you alive?”
“Or maybe she did it all for herself. I’ve had a long time to think about how it worked in her head. She found her place in the Pack the way she could never find her place in the real world. She was medicated so much when I was a kid. I remember all the pill bottles, tranquilizers, sedatives, all these drugs just to go to PTA night or see my little league game. But once she changed, she didn’t need any of them. She was stronger, better. I think she liked it there.”
I hated the idea and hated her for making him think it. He knew her better than I ever would, so he was probably right.
“After the FBI came and Sebastian saved us, she saw me once in the hospital. She told me I was brave and strong, and then she never looked back. Not once in high school, not for graduation, or when I finished boot camp, not even before I shipped out. Even after her mate was dead, she didn’t leave them.”
Missing, Suspected Dead: Elisabeth Hicks, Witch Detective Page 9