by K. J. Emrick
“Oh?” he says doubtfully. “And what way is that, my lady?”
“By giving me information on things I don’t understand, like you do. You’ve been alive for hundreds and hundreds of years. Thousands of years. That kind of experience is invaluable for someone like me. You taught me about Arnie Chen, for instance.”
“Not everything,” he said, a little less grumpily. “I do not know everything about him.”
“Yeah, I’m beginning to think no one does. But you also let me know that Molly Knowell is a witch.”
He shrugs. “True.”
“And let’s not forget all the times you’ve granted me a wish that saved my life. Right?”
The tension fades from around his eyes a little more. “I am rather talented at granting wishes.”
“Yeah you are! See? This is why I need you, Harry. This is you, keeping me safe even when you can’t be right there with me.”
The gold flecks in his deep brown eyes flash at me. “It does me good to hear you say that, my lady. I…I need you, too.”
There’s an emotion in his voice I can’t quite describe, but it almost makes me blush.
“Um. So,” I say to him, looking away from his beautiful eyes. Was it getting hot in here? “Listen. I saw something today. Someone, actually, and here’s where your advice and wisdom comes in so handy. I need to know if you can tell me anything about him.”
“Hmm. I take it, since you are asking me, that this was a magic user you saw?”
“Yeah, I would definitely say so.” I told him about my meeting with Samuel Kato, and how he got away from me by turning himself into a human pretzel. “He could even stretch his lips out from ear to ear. Creepiest thing I’ve ever seen in my life, and that includes my time in the Middle East. Is that some sort of magic? Like a spell, or something?”
He frowns deep enough to pull his lips into a bow and for a minute I think that maybe he’s upset with me again, but he’s not frowning at me, he’s frowning over the description that I gave him of Kato. “This sounds like a being—a Person of Magic, as you like to say—that you should not tangle with, my lady.”
“Tell me about it. First time in my career that I’ve gone up against someone who could literally dance circles around me.” Which begged another question…why hadn’t the guy attacked me? That smashing of the teacup was just to distract me, not hurt me. He could have really done a number on me if he’d tried. Not saying that I wouldn’t have been the last one standing in the end, but I’m sure I would have taken my lumps in the process.
“Hmm,” Harry muses. “I believe I know what sort of man this is, and I know that you should leave them alone if at all possible.”
“Well, I can’t do that. The guy is a thief. He has something Chen wants back.”
“And we don’t wish to upset Mister Chen, do we?”
“Not if I can help it.” And, I’m working under a deadline. “So what can you tell me about this dude?”
He settles more comfortably in his chair and picks up his milkshake again, taking a giant slurp from it this time with a smile. He feels better now that I’ve shown him he has been helping me right along, even when he can’t be with me to protect me. I do need his help. The protection? Not so much, making no apologies to his centuries-old male ego.
The shake cup thumps onto the table. “There have always been things on this Earth that look human, my lady. Things that can take the shape of humans, no matter how inhuman they truly are.”
“Yeah, I’m starting to understand that. You mean like werewolves, right?”
“Hmm, no. That would be the reverse. Werewolves like Kurt Dachiana are human in their basic form. They can shapeshift into something not human. There are other shifter species as well, like weretigers and werehorses. When they are not in their animal form, they actually are human.”
“Wait…werehorses?”
“Among others. I met a werecamel once. Very disagreeable woman.”
I wish I could say he was kidding, but he has that serious set to his jaw that he always does when he’s talking about any subject he knows this well. And just like that, my world got a little bit weirder.
“All right. So there’s were-people who can change into animals, but people like the Taffy Man that I saw…?”
“They are the opposite. They are creatures who shift into a human form. They can appear just as you or I, but in the end their true form is something else entirely.”
Okay. I guess that made sense. It would explain why Samuel Kato was so twisty-bendy if he’s not human after all. “So what is he? You know, when he’s not busy looking human?”
Taking another drink right from the cup, Harry takes a moment to lick his lips with great satisfaction. “He is most likely,” he says, proud to be helping me, “a viperae.”
The way he says that name, it’s like he expects me to know what he’s talking about. Well, I don’t. “What the hell is that?”
“A viperae? Don’t they have those in this modern world?”
I lean back in the kitchen chair, and fold my arms over my chest. In my mind I sound out the word. I’m not sure how he’s spelling it, but it sounds like vi-peer-ray. “I think I would have heard of them if we did.”
“Oh. Well.” He scratches at his nose, surprised to know that. “I suppose a few things have changed since I was first made a genie. The hanging gardens of Babylon are something I particularly miss. They’ve nothing like it today.” He sighs with his whole body, and I have no doubt in my mind that thousands of years ago he used to spend his spare time hanging out in those gardens of legend. “Well. To put it simply, the viperae evolved from a serpentine lineage. They are snakes inside a human skin. A false skin which they can shed at will.”
Well that’s… Wow. Just…wow. That thing, Samuel Kato, was a snake in a man suit. Fan-freaking-tastic. “So they can make themselves look human? Like, they can wrap themselves in a human suit and look human?”
“For a time, yes.”
“For how long?”
“Days. Weeks. Perhaps a month or two. I’m not certain, but I’m sure it’s not any longer than that.”
“And you can’t tell them apart from a regular person until they get all stretchy with their body?” Stretchy and slithery, I thought to myself. Just like a snake in the grass. Yeah, I got it now. “Do they always look like regular people?”
“Until they shed their skin, yes. Like all snakes they must shed their skin and then for a short time they are in their true form, scales and forked tongue and all. Until they grow a new human disguise, they are vulnerable. Easier to hurt. They are exposed, and for this reason they will hide until the new skin grows again.”
“Hmm. Okay, so get them when they go all snakey and they’re easier to kill?”
“Yes. Precisely put, my lady.”
Funny, how the thing that everyone seems to know about People of Magic is how to kill them. I got this same sort of information from Parker about the werewolves. I guess that’s normal, sort of. When people are afraid of something, they learn how to kill it. I mean, there’s entire shelves in every hardware store in the world full of insecticides and bug repellent, but not a single pamphlet on how to use bees to keep away mosquitos. We’d rather kill what we don’t understand than learn how to live in harmony with it.
So why didn’t Samuel Kato, the Taffy Man, kill me when he had the chance?
Hmm.
“All right, Harry. I think I get it. I might have nightmares every night for the next week, but I get it. So, here’s the really important question. Where do I find this vi-peer-ray dude?”
His milkshake is already half gone when he pushes it aside. “My lady, I do not know.”
“What? Harry!” I can’t believe it. Harry’s supposed to be my Yoda in all things that have to do with magic. He’s supposed to have all the answers. It doesn’t help me all that much to know there’s a snake out there somewhere, if I don’t know what rock he’s hiding under. “Come on, use that genie knowhow of you
rs. You know all about these guys. You must know where I can find him?”
He spreads his hands helplessly, his brass wrist cuffs catching the light as his sleeves slide up. For a moment, I could have sworn I saw the decorative lines on those cuffs move, but then I do have snakes on the brain. Probably just my mind playing tricks on me.
With a shake of his head, he apologizes. “I am sorry, my lady. Snakes are very good at hiding, and not being found. If he were a genie, I would know how to look for him. A werewolf, and I could certainly find him for you. The sun spirit of Egypt leaves a telltale odor by which I could track him. The—”
“Okay, okay, I take the point. Werehorses and magic Taffy Men and witches, oh my.” I know it sounds like I’m being all nonchalant about this but believe me, I’m not. On the inside I’m shaking like a leaf in a tornado. I’m just really good at hiding when I’m scared and maybe out of my depth. “What you’re saying, is you don’t know where the snake is.”
He shrugs again. “I would help you if I could. You know that.”
“Of course I know that. You might have popped into my life just a couple of months ago, but I trust you with my life.”
“And I trust you, as well. I am sorry I could not serve you better this time.”
“I don’t suppose there’s any sense in me wishing to know where Samuel Kato is?”
Of course he shakes his head. “No. It is one of the rules of my magic, as you know. I can not create information from nothing. If I knew where he was, you could wish for me to tell you, but then again if I knew where he was I would simply tell you without the wish.”
I rub a hand across my forehead. “How come whenever you start talking about these rules, it makes my head spin? Never mind, don’t answer that. I’ve got three wishes to use on Arnie Chen’s case and I’ll be sure they’re good ones.” That gave me a thought, and the thought makes my whole outlook much brighter. “And I have three wishes to use for Molly Knowell’s case too, don’t I? Ooh, three more wishes. Come on, Harry, tell me that’s how it works. I know that’s how it works. Three per case, right? Huh? Right?”
His smile is coy. Almost cute. “Yes, my lady. That is how our arrangement works. If you choose to use your wishes for Molly’s dilemma, then that will be three times you have used my genie powers to help you solve a mystery. You will only have my services for two more cases after that.”
“Which puts you that much closer to your freedom.”
That’s our arrangement, and I have every intention of honoring it. He helps me out on five cases, and then he earns his freedom. I’ll let him go, let him be human again, and then he’ll have the rest of his life to do whatever he wants. I’ll be sad if that means him leaving me, but I’ll be happy for him. The poor guy’s been the next best thing to a slave for hundreds of years, stuck in that carpet unless his master needed him. I’ve been the exception. He’s had the chance at a real life with me, even with the limits being a genie puts on him.
At the end of our arrangement, Harry gets his freedom. Until then I’m going to enjoy the time we have together.
“All right,” I tell him, matching the smile on his puffy lips. “Well, if I can’t do anything to solve Arnie Chen’s case right now, then I’d better get back to Molly Knowell’s. I have her list of people who might want to hurt Kurt, and I have the address of the Dachiana’s estate.”
I can’t do anything else to find that stolen statue right now. Not until Chris gets back to me with more info on Samuel Kato. On the other hand, there are things I can do for Molly and Kurt to find that charm necklace. That one seems a little more urgent to me than Chen’s case, anyway. Molly’s fiancé is stuck scratching fleas off his ass until we find that necklace to turn him back. Chen just wants a favorite knick-knack returned to him. His greed, versus Molly and Kurt’s need.
Yeah. The Garoul Necklace first. Even if Chen gave me a deadline, he’s just going to have to take a back burner for a day and get over it.
“So can you tell me anything about werewolves?” I ask Harry. He wants to help and let’s face it, Parker didn’t tell me much besides stay indoors on a full moon and always carry silver. Useful information, sure, but nothing that’s going to help me solve the case. “I know about silver killing them, and the whole thing about them changing with the lunar cycle. Except for Kurt, I guess. He’s stuck under the spell of that necklace until we find it. What else is there to know about them?”
Taking up his shake cup again, he lifts it to me like he’s making a toast. “Don’t let yourself get bit.”
“Really? That whole thing about turning into a werewolf after one bites you is real?”
“Hmm? No, of course not. Who told you about that?”
“Harry, it’s a thing. Every werewolf movie out there says when you get bit you turn into a wolf yourself. Those Twilight films, Teen Wolf, that really lame one with Jack Nicholson, all of them. You get bit, you turn into a wolf. “
“Er, no. Being a werewolf is hereditary. It’s in the blood, passed down from the parents. Genetic, as you say nowadays. You have to be born with it.”
I eye him skeptically. “Are you sure?”
“My lady, I have known these things for centuries. Remember, this is my area of expertise. Kurt and his family are pureblooded werewolves, born from two wolf parents. If Kurt produces children with Molly, their offspring will have a fifty-fifty chance of being werewolves, or not. Trust me. You have some small magic of your own, but this is all new to you. Trust your elder,” he adds with a wink.
“Uh-huh. You don’t look a day over five hundred.” And for someone that old he looks really, really good. “I still think you might be missing a page from your werewolf manual, though.”
“I assure you, I am not. Also, the werewolves are led by the Dachiana family. They rule them in much the same way a king or queen would rule their people. Everything Molly told you about Kurt’s place as the next Lupus Regem was correct. She is dating royalty.”
“Which I have to believe is going to create hard feelings. That’s a possible motive for the theft right there. Either to punish Kurt for being with an outsider, or to hurt Molly’s chances of being with him. She was the one who was holding the necklace for him, after all. It was her responsibility, and she failed.”
“Someone made her fail, you mean.”
“Exactly my point. Someone went through a lot of trouble to get to it, through all of Molly’s defenses. The motive isn’t money. From everything I’ve learned so far, this Garoul Necklace isn’t something anyone would get a lot of money for on the black market. Its value is in its symbolism. That means the motive was personal. Someone who has a grudge against Molly or Kurt.”
Harry nods along to my explanation. “Very reasonable. Do you think your thief is on Molly’s list, then?”
“I think there’s a good chance. I’m putting the Northside Demons on that list for the same reason. They have a beef with the whole family. So. Why shouldn’t I let them bite me?”
“Because it hurts. Obviously.”
I can’t help it. I burst out laughing. Harry was trying to be so serious, but he just said something so innocently funny that it pushed aside all of my worries and just made me feel like things were okay. Here, sitting in my apartment with Harry, everything could be fine for this one moment.
When the laughter passes, I get up and come around the table to him and drape my arms over his shoulders to give him a quick kiss on his cheek. “You’re one of a kind, Harris.”
His hand lays itself over mine. “As are you, Sidney Stone.”
The feel of his hand is different than I remember Chris’s feeling. Harry’s is rougher, stronger. These two men in my life are so different. Both gorgeous. Both strong-willed and honorable men. Big hearts and wide shoulders—even if Harry’s are a little wider. They both have every quality that makes a real man, but the two of them wear those qualities so differently. Chris carries his masculinity like the badge he wears in his job. Harry’s is a lot more understated.
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A girl couldn’t be any luckier than I am to have these two in her life.
When I try to move away, he holds my hand tight.
“Harry, I’ve got to go.”
His finger moves along mine, slowly across the skin. “Yes. You must go. Without me, once more.”
My finger tickles where he’s touching me. “I’d take you with me if I could, really.” With a little tug, I pull my hand back. “You know I would, but carrying your rug out the front door in the middle of the day is going to draw some attention. Just like it would if I roll up to the Dachiana’s estate with your rug in the back, and you still not able to walk very far away from my car. Don’t you think that would raise a few questions?”
“I’d rather be suspicious, than leave you unguarded.”
Sweet, sweet Harry. I look over at his rug, spread out across the middle of the living room floor. If it wasn’t so big and bulky we wouldn’t even be having this conversation. Why couldn’t he have been the genie of a cute clutch purse? A girl can carry one of those anywhere. “Listen, I’d love to have you with me, it’s just…”
If it wasn’t for that rug.
Sure, but what if…?
“Hey, Harry? Remember when you told me about all those rooms that are in your rug?”
“Of course. I have spent many years locked away in there fixing each and every one up to my liking. It is quite spacious.”
“How many rooms would you say there are?”
“Hmm. Hundreds, certainly. I have never counted them all.”
Hmm, indeed. “Have you ever considered a little renovation?
“No, I have not. Why?”
“Because I am having the absolute craziest idea that I have ever had in my life.”
All things considered, that’s saying quite a bit.
But you know what? It might just work.
Chapter Eight
Woodlawn Cemetery is a sprawling field of stones and monuments, one hundred and forty acres in all. That sounds like a lot until you realize Detroit is more than a hundred square miles big. This place is just one tiny corner of the city. A busy corner of the city, but still.
