Catastrophe

by Liz Schulte

  ****

  It was late enough and I was numb enough that suddenly everything felt like a good idea. Though walking was a bit troublesome, especially for Dempsey, who bumped against me again.

  “You’re weaving,” I told him.

  “I think it’s you,” he said with a slur. “I can fix it.” He put his arm around me, pressing my hip tight against his. “Better?”

  “Mmm.” The alcohol did a pretty good job shutting up the internal voice that sounded a lot like my mother telling me that I was being irresponsible and I had a job to do. “I’ll do my job,” I mumbled as we slowly went back to the hotel.

  “What job?” he asked.

  “Find the killer and bring him to justice, no matter who he is.” And that was the crux of the problem. It appeared we had two different killers. Dempsey was chasing a loup-garou, but what I was chasing definitely wasn’t. There was a cold, calculated killer who wanted something, though I couldn’t see what that was. Then we also had the vampires who wanted me to give them Thomas and Corbin, who had betrayed and then attempted to save me, which only confused matters more.

  Despite everything, I liked Corbin and I didn’t hate Thomas. I didn’t always approve of their methods—okay, I never liked their actions, but we all made mistakes. I had made plenty of them in my life. As far as I was concerned, we could all happily live out our lives not being assholes to each other or using one another, but I couldn’t say the same for either of them. For the first time, I kind of wished I had listened to Sy and kept my mouth shut. That way I wouldn’t have to ruin Dempsey’s life further by telling him what he only thought he wanted to know. I wouldn’t be in this mess with the damn vampires, and this case would be Frost’s problem and not mine.

  I grabbed Dempsey by the front of the shirt and pressed my lips hard against his. It only took a split second for him to respond. He shifted his body so we fit together better, and his tongue brushed against the seam of my lips. I smiled against him. It wasn’t like kissing Sy, but it wasn’t bad either. I couldn’t feel myself falling and I certainly wasn’t worried about falling in love with him, but it served the purpose I needed it to. My mind was once again blissfully blank as he backed me up against the building behind us.

  I lightly ran my nails down his chest until I got to the waistband of his pants. He pulled back slightly, his hypnotic brown eyes hooded as he brushed his hand against the side of my head and I sucked in a breath. “Are you okay?” he said, instantly pulling away. “Did I hurt you?” He leaned in closer to look at my head. “You’re bleeding again,” he said. “You need to go to the hospital. I think you need stitches.”

  And the moment was broken. I brushed his hand away. “I’m fine.”

  A sound down the street and laughter somewhere in the distance sobered me almost instantly. We were on the street at night in a city filled with vampires. Not the smartest decision I had ever made. I started back down the sidewalk with more purpose. Providing Corbin wasn’t lying, it probably wasn’t safe for either of us to be out here now.

  “Femi, stop. Talk to me. What are you doing? What happened to you tonight?”

  “I don’t have time for twenty questions.” I walked a little faster. “Sorry, but this was a mistake.” Humans were so fragile. The vampires could break him like a twig. “You should stay away from me. Like you said, I’m trouble.”

  He caught my arm. “You still haven’t told me—”

  I shook my head. “Not here. Let’s get off the street.”

  Finally back at my hotel room, he spoke again. “No more stalling. Tell me everything.”

  There was an envelope on the desk that hadn’t been there before. I went over picked it up, sitting down on the chair. “There are people watching me. The more you are seen with me, the greater the risk to your life. Right now, that’s what you need to know. I promise before I leave this city, I will tell you all about the Abyss. I can’t be responsible for you too.”

  His mouth fell open. “I’m a police officer—”

  “Your laws don’t matter to them.” There was a note on it from Amos, basically saying he must have missed me and that he was heading out to look for me. How had he gotten into my room? I opened the envelope and looked inside. It was filled with police reports. “Close the door behind you,” I said without looking up.

  Dempsey didn’t budge. “No. I have waited this long. I have no life outside of the loup-garou curse. I deserve to know the truth.”

  “I don’t know anything about the curse. I had never even heard of it until I met you. What do you want me to say? Magic is real. Curses are real. And there are plenty of things in this world that hunt humans for food.” I crossed my legs. “The more you know, the worse it will get. I have watched another human go through this.”

  “I don’t want your help,” he said, coming closer. “I want answers.”

  I gave him a helpless gesture.

  He pulled out his handcuffs and dangled them in front of me.

  Judging by his face, he didn’t intend to use them in a fun way. “Do you believe in vampires?”

  His teeth clicked together a few times. “I think we both do. For all I know, you are one, because you aren’t human.”

  I rolled my eyes. “So if I’m not human, I must be a vampire? That’s ridiculous.”

  “Then enlighten me. Why are you here?” He sat on the edge of my bed, resting his elbows against his knees. “Did you follow the curse back here from Chicago? Is that how I lost it?” He waited for me to respond, but I couldn’t. The lies I should have said stuck in my throat. He closed his eyes.

  “That’s possible,” I said softly. “But that isn’t why I am here.”

  “Then why? If you aren’t a vampire, what are you?”

  I reached up around my neck and touched the clasp of the necklace the coven charmed to make me appear more human. One of two things would happen next: either I would disappear and Dempsey wouldn’t be able to see me, or he’d see me as I truly was. This was exactly the sort of revelation I should have avoided, but looking at him so haunted and tired, I couldn’t keep up the charade. No one deserved to live with a burden like he carried. With a deep breath, I took it off.

  His head pulled back then he squinted at me and his mouth fell open slightly. “How much did we have to drink?” he asked, reaching out toward me then pulling back almost immediately without touching me. “You—” He shook his head.

  I pressed my fingers to his lips and he flinched slightly. It wasn’t like I was a monster, even by human standards. I just wasn’t exactly like them. I was a descendant of the goddess Sekhmet. He should be happy I didn’t look like her. We had evolved over the years to fit into the world around us better. My race no longer had the head of a lion, but we did retain many catlike features, including our eyes and vertically contracting pupils, claw-like fingernails, slightly pointed teeth, an excellent sense of balance, skin flecked with gold, and nine lives. Thankfully, the mane, the whiskers, and the tail fell victims to evolution.

  “You can see me,” I whispered in his ear. “That means you can see the others too. That puts you in a very dangerous situation. Humans aren’t supposed to know about us.”

  He slowly moved his head up and down.

  “Did you see the faery in the restaurant?” I raised an eyebrow and he looked confused. Obviously he didn’t. If that was the case, why could he see me now? “There was a creak outside my hotel room door.” I looked through the peephole but nothing was there, at least not anything I could see. Amos could obviously come and go from my room freely. Talking here probably wasn’t any better than talking at the restaurant.

  “I have to go,” he said, sliding by me, careful not to touch me or look directly at me.

  “Watch your back, Dempsey,” I said.

  “How do I know you aren’t the killer?” he asked, still looking at the door.

  His question stung, but I’d suspected him earlier of the same thing. “I don’t kill people,” I said, raising my chin ever so
slightly. “I save them.”

  The door softly clicked behind him.

  Chapter 9