All right. I cleared my throat and took Charles through my discovery that Samuel had tried to commit suicide all the way through Kelly Heart trying to apprehend Adam.
He played with the children? Charles asked.
Yes. I told you. Maia got on his back and rode him like a pony. Its a good thing for him she wasnt wearing spurs.
Still flat on the floor, Sam thumped it with his tail twiceotherwise, he might have been asleep.
Thats good, isnt it? I asked. It means he has some time.
Maybe, Charles answered. Mercy, for werewolvesall of us have different relations with our wolves. Charles didnt usually talk a lot, and when he did, his speech was deliberate, as if he thought through everything twice before saying anything out loud. Bran sounded that way on the phone, but Charles did it all the time, even in person.
Think of werewolves as conjoined twins. Some of us are quite separate, barely sharing anything at all with our wolves. Just two entities under the same skinwe all start out that way. When our human side is able to take control, wolf and man work out a . . . Truce is the wrong word. Balance is better. And just as our human soul loses parts of what it was to be human, our wolf loses part of what it means to be wolf.
So Samuels wolf isnt dangerous?
No, he said quickly, and Sam picked up his head, rolled up to his belly, and took a more sphinxlike stance. Never think that. Hes not whole anymorehe isnt equipped to be in charge. Like a conjoined twin, he shares his heart and head with Samuel. And if he succeeds in wresting complete control from Samuel, or if Samuel lets him do it, that heart will quit beating.
I dropped to my knees and put a hand on Sams shoulder because the pain in Charless voice found its echo in mine.
I doubt hell survive for very long that waydo you hear me, wolf?
Sams upper lip curled, showing teeth.
He does, I said.
Hell grow tired and more hungry than usual. Hell slowly lose the chains that Samuel forged to control him, but all that will be left is a ravenous beast. A new wolf, a whole wolf in charge, kills easily and often, but usually there is a reason for it, even if that reason is that he doesnt like the way his victim smelled. What will be left of Samuel will kill and destroy until he drops dead.
How do you know? Charles was only a couple of centuries old. He hadnt ever lived in a place outside of the Marroks control, and the Marrok killed the wolves who lost control. But he sounded absolutely certain.
Lets say that, like you, I once had a friend I wished to help, and I kept him out of sight of my father in a place he could do no harm. It would have been kinder to kill him from the first.
My fingers sank into Sams fur.
How long do we have?
My friend was old, but not as old as Samuel. He lost his humanity over a few days, became sick and lethargic toward the end of that. I thought he was just fadingbut he went into a frenzy. He stopped speaking for a moment. Then just dropped dead. Less than a week. I have no idea how long Samuel will last.
If hed lost it when the wolf took over? I asked. Like the new wolves do? Hed have been better off? Id been so happy that hed been different.
Then hed have lived until our father caught up with himbut you would have died along with the people in the hospital where you found him. This is better, Mercedes. But do not trust him, too much.
Do you have any suggestions how I can help him?
The first is to convince the wolf to allow Samuel back in the drivers seat, if only for a short period of time.
He wants to survive, I told them both. Thats why he took over from Samuel in the first place. If that means letting Samuel back in, hell do it. I sounded much more convinced of that than I felt, but Sam sighed and gave me a tired, faint whine.
And then you have to convince Samuel that he wants to survive.
And if I cant? If the wolf lets Samuel out, and he still wants to kill himself?
Then the wolf will have to fight for control againor my brother dies. Charles let out a breath of air. All things die, Mercedes. Some just take longer than others.
Chapter 7
I TOOK SAM WITH ME TO THE BOOKSTORE THAT NIGHT, which was inconvenient.
I suppose we both could have stayed home, but I wanted in to look at Phins bookstore. The woman had been searching for something; maybe I could figure out what it had been. Maybe Id find Phin there, happy and healthy. Maybe I wouldnt sit home all night, worrying about things I couldnt change.
I couldnt leave Sam by himself, not after my little talk with Charles. But he wasnt the best partner to bring with me to break into the store.
People would overlook a woman wandering around the Uptown mall in Richland even after most of the stores were closed. It wasnt that late, a little after nine at night. The crime rate is relatively low in Richlandand most of what crime there is tends to be committed by gang members or teenagers. Sam . . .
I imagined the hypothetical conversation as I drove down the interstate.
Officer: Tell me, did you see anything unusual last night?
Random witness: There was this big white dog. Huge. And really white, stood out in the darkness like a beacon.
Yep. Sam made matters more difficult. So I would just act like I knew what I was doing and hope no one ever called the police to investigate.
I dont know what I hope to discover in the bookstore, I said. There is hardly going to be a note telling me where Phin is, right? Still, its a start. If we dont find anything, maybe well go break into his apartment. Its better than sitting around at home, right?
And the pack was meeting at Adams house that night. I knew why hed called the meeting. He wanted to find out whod been playing games with me. Hed called me to tell me what he was doingand asked me to stay away because he hadnt had a chance to show me how to defend myself from pack members crawling around in my head.
I should have gone over anyway, confronted my enemies. But it was different when all your enemies could do was kill you.
I dont want to stay home knowing how much of a coward I am, I told Sam. I should have gone to Adams when I saw them all arrive.
He grunted.
But the thought of them being able to make me do something I would never . . .
I was pretty sure that it hadnt just been lack of opportunity that kept Adam from teaching me how to protect myself. Hed said that if hed known what was happening at the time when whoever it was started influencing me, he could have discovered their identity. I think he planned on trying to force a confession tonightand if he couldnt, he would wait until they tried it again. If that was his motivation, I approved in spirit, but at the same time, I really didnt want to wait around until someone tried to make me do their bidding again.
I parked in the corner of the Uptown parking lot where an all-night restaurant was located. There werent a lot of cars there but enough that the Rabbit didnt stand out.
I opened Sams door and he sniffed the air carefully.
Are you scenting for the fae woman who was here today? I asked.
He didnt give me any kind of answer, just shook himself and looked at me expectantlyas if he really were the dog we were pretending he was. Was he slower? Did his tail droop more than usual? Or was I letting Charless words make me paranoid?
I glanced at him and was pretty sure it was both. Just because youre paranoid doesnt mean you arent right. He wasnt quite as responsive, either, as if it took him a moment to translate words into meanings.
I didnt notice anyone who seemed to be watching us as we crossed the parking lotbut we were out where people could see us. All I could do was act as if I werent breaking into the shop. It took me two full minutes to crack the lock on the door of the bookstore, which was about one and a half minutes longer than I was comfortable standing there with my back to the parking lot and the busy street beyond. I was hopeful that someone from the street couldnt tell that I was playing with my lockpicks instead of fumbling with a stiff lock. There was a bar that was still open about three stores over, but no one had come or gone while I struggled. Sheer good luck, something I couldnt always count on. I was going to have to get some practice in if I kept having to break into buildings.
The door handle turned, and I started to move on to the dead bolt, when I realized that the door had popped open when Id unlocked the handle. Someone hadnt engaged the dead bolt.
I held the door for Sam, then slipped inside myself. He couldnt shut the doorand if there was something unfriendly in the store, he was better able to deal with it.
I turned the dead bolt and looked around. My eyesight is good in the dark, so we didnt need to attract even more attention by turning on the light. It was darker in the store than it was outside and the windows were already tinted, so it would be hard for anyone looking to see anything but the reflection of the outside lights.
At first I observed a neat and tidy store that smelled of incense and old books. Paper holds the memory of any strong scent, so in a used bookstore, it wasnt uncommon to get little trickles of food, tobacco, and perfume. I took a deep breath to see if I could find anything that stood out.
Blood and fear and rage are a little out of the ordinary.
I stopped where I was and sucked in several deep breaths. Each time the smell grew stronger and stronger.
Fae glamoura type of illusionis strongly effective on sight, sound, taste, and touch. Im told it is sufficient for a human sense of smell, but mine is better than that. By the third breath I smelled the sharp smell of broken wood, and the ammonia-like scent that fae magic sometimes leaves behind.
I closed my eyes, bowed my head, and let my nose be right. My ears cleared with a pop, and when I looked up, the tidy bookcases filled with tidy books had disappeared, leaving destruction in their place.
Sam. I kept my voice down, though I dont think anyone outside would have heard me if Id shouted. It was a reflex thingwe were sneaking around, so I needed to be quiet. Do you smell it? The blood? Theres a glamour here. Can you break it, too? Do you see the mess the fae left behind when they searched the place?
He cocked an ear at me, then looked around. With a movement swifter than thought, he turned and sank his teeth into my arm.
Maybe if Id thought there was a chance of him attacking me, I could have gotten out of the way or defended myself somehow. Instead, I stared at him dumbly as his fangs slid through skin and into flesh. He released me almost immediately, leaving behind two clean marks that could have been a vampire bite except that they were too far apart and too big. Vampires have smaller fangs.
Blood trickled out of one mark, then the other, dribbling down my forearm. Sam licked it clean, mostly, ignoring my surprised squeak and the way I backed away from him.
He looked around the shop again. I clamped my arm to my mouthI didnt want to be bleeding anywhere in enemy territory. Witches can use blood and hair and other body parts to do nasty things. I didnt think the fae worked quite the same way, but I didnt want to chance it.
I checked under the counter for tissues and found something bettera first-aid kit. It wasnt as good as the one I had, but it was good enough to have gauze and an Ace bandage.
Wrapped and no longer in danger of dripping bits of myself all over, I walked back to Sam. He was still where Id left him, staring as hard as he could at something I could no longer see.
It hadnt been a hard bite, and I wouldnt let myself be afraid of Sam. My foster fathers SIG was in its holster across my shoulder, full of regular ammunition that generally worked just fine on faeand did nothing to werewolves but make them mad. I tuned out Charless warning voice and put the hand of my uninjured arm on Sams neck. I refused to believe he was regressing into a vicious killer. A bite did not a killer make.
Damn it all, Sam, whyd you bite me? If I yelled at him, I couldnt be afraid of him. So I yelled at him.
Sam glanced at me, then knocked one of the fallen books aside with one paw. It was a cloth-bound copy of Felix Saltens Bambis Children. In the glamour version of the shop, there had been no books on the floor. Hed bitten me on purposehadnt I asked him if he could break the glamour, too? Evidently, the bite was his answer. My blood must have allowed him to see what I did, some sort of sympathetic magic or something.
Cool, I said. Thats cool. Pushing out of my head the knowledge that neither Samuel nor Sam, my friend, would have bitten me so casually, I turned my attention to the bookstore.
I have a pretty good memory for scents, and I picked up Phins without any trouble. If Id been looking for purely human assailants, Id have been in trouble. This was a bookstore and had had a lot of people running through it. There werent many fae aside from Phin, who barely qualified to my nose. However, several of the fae had been here recently, without many people in to cover up their trail.
Ive got Phin, the old woman from this afternoon, and three other fae, I told Sam.
Sam raised himself on the edge of one of the dominoed bookcases and put his nose against the back, moving and sniffing until hed found what he wanted. He stepped back in obvious invitation.
Without touching it, I bent until my nose was nearly touching the wood. I smelled it, too, right where someone had put their magic-laden hand on the wood and pushed the bookcase over.
Thats one of them, I told Sam. Some kind of woodland fae, I thinkair and growing things.
I followed Sams lead and sniffed and crawled and sniffed some more until we had a handle of sorts on what had happened here. Id have done it easier if I took coyote form. But if someone came upon us, Id have a better chance of explaining myself and keeping things calm if I was human. Calm was good, because I didnt want Sam eating anyone he shouldnt.
I told myself all these good reasons to keep my human shape on because they were good reasons. But I knew the real reason was because that bite had made me concerned that Sam would forget that I was his friend if I were running around as a coyote instead of a human who could remind him of it.
So, I told him, my hand on my hips as I surveyed a patch of blood belonging to Phin. They came in the door, and the last one locked it behind him. Lets call him Fishy Boy, because hes a water fae of some sort. He seems to be the one running the show because all the damage to the store was done by the other two.
Sams icy gaze speared me, and I looked down and awaylike the salute of a fencer. Acknowledging his state as the big bad wolf without submitting to it. It must have been enough, because he didnt act any more aggressive.
Again with the dominance stuff, it wasnt something Sam usually indulged in unless he was really upset or meeting a wolf for the first time. When you are the top dog for long enough, I guess you dont feel like you have to rub peoples noses in it.
If he hadnt bitten me, Id have just dropped my eyes, but that didnt feel safe anymore. Not after he bit me. I needed to remind him that I was an Alphas mate, predator and not prey.
A week, Charles had said, based on one example who had been a lot younger than Samuel was. I was starting to worry that hed been optimisticwhich is something Ive never felt compelled to accuse Charles of being. How much time did Sam have?
So Fishy Boy grabs Phin, and says, We know youse got it, see.I used my best Jimmy Cagney voice as I recited the scene as I had pieced together. And then he nods to his minionsJolly Green Giants One and Two, because they both smell like green beans to me. Giant One, she pushes over a bookcase that topples a few more. I couldnt always tell the sex of the person whose scent trail I was following, but Giant One was definitely female, though not necessarily big. Two, hes a little stronger. He gets some loft on his and tosses it about halfway across the room, taking down a couple of more bookcases along the way in a much more destructive fashion.
The original bookcase Two had tossed was in pieces, having broken apart when it hit. I could see the action running like a film through my head; the steps had been laid out before my nose, and eyeswith a little imagination thrown in. I wasnt sure even a werewolf could have picked up a bookcase stuffed full of books.
But Phin doesnt tell right away, I told Sam.
I thought about Tad, my morning visitor-with-gun, and the dried blood on the floor. So Fishy Boy continues working on Phin while the Giant Twins go looking for it in the store. Theyre pretty convinced it is here because they took apart everything. Im thinking that the ripped-up books might just be frustrationbecause it wasnt done in a methodical way. I suppose, even so, it could be that they are looking for something that is not a book. I looked around. Maybe it could be hidden in a book or behind a book. They stopped because Phin started talking.
Sam sneezed a quick agreementor maybe it was just dust. I was worried it was just dust.
Did he know they were coming and call Tad to warn me? I asked. Or did they make him call Tad, and he managed to leave a vague warning instead? Either way, isnt it interesting that he didnt say what it was Id borrowed?
I tapped my fingers on a bookcase that was still upright. So maybe they dont know it was a book, and he was afraid they could hear himor they could read Tads message.
Sam sneezed again. I glanced at him and saw the intelligent gleam that told me he was listeningand made me realize that he hadnt been just a few minutes ago.
Maybe they really are after something entirely different. It could even be that Phin got clever and sent them after me to throw them off the trail. He does know that I have more protection than most people.
I let go of the bookcase so I could start pacing. And this is where Im going to be adding one and one and getting fiftybut bear with me. I walked twice around the shop and came to a halt where Id started in the first place.
Assume that at some point yesterday, Phin breaks down and tells them exactly who I am: things like who Im dating and how many people would be angry if they just came after me. This next part is the weakest part of my story, Sam, but my instincts are screaming at me that the incident with Kelly Heart this morning and what happened to Phin are connectedits that fae waiting up on the roof that makes me certain of it. I just dont know exactly why they wanted me dead.
Sam growled.
Think about it, I told him, as if I were sure that he was growling at the threat to me. This isnt the work of the Gray Lords. If it were, Id be dead. We know there are at least three of the fae. Four if the woman on the roof of the storage building wasnt Giant One . . . Five if the old woman I saw here earlier today, who may or may not be Phins grandmother, is one of them. But still, I dont think its a huge group. It wouldnt be a happy thing for them if the werewolves went out hunting them. So they set up an incident, and Kelly Hearts producer is encouragedby charm or by harm, as Zee would sayto send Kelly to my garage to find Adam.
I stopped and looked out past the parking lot to the headlights of the cars driving by.
If they were after Adam, there are better ways to find him than coming to my garage. Hes not hard to find. He goes to work six days a week, and his home address is a matter of public record. I had put it down to Hearts producer looking for the best drama . . .
I took a deep breath and gauged Sam for his reaction.
Sams stanceintent on my wordstold me that he was making the leap with me. Or at least his wolf was. Just how smart was the wolf half of the werewolf?
But things didnt go quite as they planned. I disarmed Heart right off the bat. They could hardly shoot me while I held the gun I was supposed to be shot with, right? But when Adam showed up, then the police, they decided to try to create a little chaos: a feeding frenzy fueled by magic. But Zee took care of thatand spotted their shooter. They had to run from Ben and leave the field.
I rubbed my damp palms on my thighs. It sounds far-fetched, I know. But there is the book and the phone call to Tad that ties me to the fae who came into Phins bookshop and destroyed it. They beat Phin until he bled, then took off with him. Violence and faejust like this morning. And the only common factor is me. Coincidences happen, I know. Maybe Im just egocentric, thinking its all about me.
I waited in the bookstore until I realized I was waiting for Samuel to say something. But Samuel wasnt here: it was just Sam and me.
Okay, thats enough make-believe for me. I dusted off my jeans. Id have been hoping that I was wrong, but the way my life had been going the past yearthis almost sounded tame. No vampires or ghosts, right? No Gray Lords who terrified even other fae. If I was wrong, I was afraid that it was only because the reality was even worse. Lets keep looking. Id feel really dumb if Phin turns out to be hidden in the basement.
Sam found a door behind about three bookcases. Happily, it opened away from us, so we just had to scramble over the top to drop to a landing. Straight ahead was a brick wall; to the right of the door wed entered through was a set of narrow and steep stairs that led down into a pit of inky blackness: the bookstore had a basement.
I didnt think that anyone would notice if I turned on the lights here because I was pretty sure that there werent any windows in the basement. Id have noticed.
It took me a minute to find the light switch. Sam, apparently unfazed by the darkness, had already continued down on his own when my hand found the right place.
With light to guide my way, I could see that the basement was mostly a storage facility with cardboard boxes set in piles. It reminded me of the hospitals X-ray storage room in that there was obvious order to the stacks. The ceiling height was deeper than usual for basements this near the river, but I could detect no trace of dampness.
Just to the right of the stairway, a section had been used as an office. A Persian rug delineated the space and stretched out beneath an old-fashioned oak desk complete with clamp-on desk lamp. There was a large framed oil painting of an English-type garden placed just in front of the desk, where someone sitting might use it as a mock window.
At one time the desk had held a computer monitor. I could tell because the monitor was lying in pieces on the cement floor next to the rug. There were more broken things on the groundwhat looked to be the remains of a scentless jar candle, a mug that might have held the pens and pencils that had scattered when they hit the cement, and an office chair minus a wheel and the backrest.
Be careful, I told Sam. Youll end up with glass in your paws.
The stack of boxes nearest the desk was the only one that had been disturbed. Five or six boxes had been knocked around, spilling their contents on the floor.
No blood here, I told him, and tried not to be relieved. I did not want to discover Phins body. Not while I was alone with Sam, the wolf. They were just lookingand not very seriously at that. Maybe they were interrupted, or this is how far they got when Phin finally broke down and started to talk.
Fee fie foe feral, said a mans voice, hitting my ears like the blast of a barges horn. I smell the blood of a little girl. He rhymed girl with feral, something only possible because of his cockney-accented English. Be she hot, be she cold, Ill wager this, me ladsshe wont get more old.
All I could see was two feet on the stairs. Id had no warning that the man was in the building at alland from Sams sudden movement, he hadnt heard or smelled anything either. I had no idea that fae could hide themselves like that. No telling whether hed been there all the time, or if hed followed us in.
The fae was wearing big, black boots, the kind that should go clomp-clomp-clomp. And he was in no hurry to come down and kill uswhich told me that he was one of the kind that enjoyed the hunt.
He wasnt a giant, despite my facetious naming of the two forest fae, because the giants were beast-minded, more instinct than intelligent. The beast-minded fae who had survived the rise of metal-wielding humans had died at the hands of the Gray Lords. Instinctive behaviors werent good enough to make sure youd hide your nature from the humans, and for centuries the fae had tried to pretend that they had never existed outside of folklore and fairy tales. But from the size of those feet, he was big enough.
Sam caught my attention by bumping his head against my hipthen ducked under the desk. He planned on taking the fae by surprise. Good to know Sam was still with me.
Thats possibly the worst doggerel verse Ive heard since I was thirteen and wrote a poem for an English assignment, I told the waiting fae as I walked around so I could look up the stairs.
The one who stood at the top of the stairs was maybe six feet or a little under, though his feet were five inches longer than Ive ever seen on any normal human. He had curly red hair and a pleasantly cheerful faceif you didnt look too hard at his eyes. He was wearing slacks and a red shirt with a blue tie that matched the red canvas apron that covered his clothes. Embroidered across the top of the apron was the name of a grocery store.
In his right hand he held a butcher knife.
He smelled of the iron and sweetness that was blood, with an undertone that made him the second of the Jolly Green Giants whod trashed the place. The damned strong one whod hefted a filled bookcase.
Ah, he said, a hintruder. How droll. He loosened his neck by pulling his head to one side, then the other. His accent was so heavy it was hard to decipher. Intruder, I thought, not hintruder.
Droll? I tried it, then shook my head. Fateful, rather. At least for you. When in doubt, sound confidentit confuses the guys who are about to wipe the floor with you. It helped that I had a secret weapon. What have you done with Phin?
Phin? He came down three steps and paused with a smile. I think he was waiting for me to runor, like a bored cat, drawing out the pleasure of the kill. A lot of fae are predators by nature, and among the things they like to eat are people.
Phin is the owner of this bookstore. My voice was steady. I dont think I was getting braver, but after all the things that had happened lately, being frightened had lost its novelty.
Maybe oye et im. He smiled. His teeth were sharper than a humansand there were more of them.
Maybe youre a fae and cant lie, I told him. So you should stick to the facts instead of trying my patience with maybes. Like where is Phin?
He raised his left hand and gestured at me. Faint green sparkles stretched out between us and hung in the air for a moment until one touched me. It fell and took the others with it. They glittered on the floor, then winked out.
What are you? he asked, tilting his head like a puzzled wolf. You aint witch. Oi can feels witches in moy ead.
Stop right there, I said, pulling the SIG from its holster.
Are you threatening me with that? He laughed.
So I shot him. Three times over the heart. It knocked him back but not down. I remembered, from my reading of Phins book, that not all the fae have their organs in exactly the same places that we do. Maybe I should have aimed for his head. I raised the gun to make certain of my target and watched him sink through the wooden stairs like a ghost. He left the butcher knife and his apron behind.
Stone hands rose from the floor and grabbed my ankles, pulling my feet out from under me. I fell too fast to react.
* * *
I WOKE UP LYING IN THE DARK AND HURTING ALL OVER, but especially on the back of my head. My ankles were also sore when I tried to move them. I blinked, but I still couldnt see anythingwhich is very unusual for me.
I smelled blood, and felt something ridged under my shoulder. Old sensory memory, left over from late-night studying in college, told me it was a pen. I waited for more recent memory to kick inthe last thing I remembered was the fae grabbing my ankles. When nothing more made itself known, I decided that there were no memories to come back. I must have been knocked out when my head hit the cement.
Odd as it might seem, I was still alive even though Id been lying helpless before the fae.
I almost sat up, but there was a sound I couldnt place, a wet sound. Not a drip, but a slop, slop, slop. Rip. Slop, slop, slop.