by Devon Monk
Nope. This was not going to come down to a fight. Not on my shift.
“Ben’s missing,” I said.
Rossi didn’t look away from Granny. “Yes,” he said.
“And Jame’s been bitten by someone or something that isn’t Ben. Not one of yours. Not a Rossi.”
“Yes.”
Granny jerked at that, then finally broke the staring contest to glance at Jame. Her nostrils flared and she sniffed the air.
“We need to get Jame to the hospital so he can heal,” I went on. “Tell a few of your pack to help us get him on the stretcher, Granny.”
Mykal, an EMT and vampire, had wisely remained by the ambulance.
Granny dragged the blanket over her shoulders and lifted her chin.
Two of the wolves, a big grey and brown and a white and gray, moved slightly away from the dogpile and shifted.
It took them longer to change, and the painful sound of gristle and bone snapping and grinding filled the air. But if it was painful, they didn’t show it once they were back in their human forms. They just looked angry.
The two wolves were Rudy, who I’d last seen driving Granny away from Joe Boy’s gas station, and Fawn, who was one of Jame’s sisters.
Naked, it was impossible to miss their hard bodies covered in muscles. I didn’t think they’d need anyone else to help them get Jame on the stretcher. The wolves moved back as Ryder began maneuvering the stretcher closer. He was quickly relieved of that duty by a scowling Fawn.
Rudy and Fawn gently lifted Jame, who wasn’t moving, but seemed to be breathing a little more evenly. The rain had washed away a lot of the blood, but Jame was still half-shifted, and there had to be a lot more blood soaked into his fur.
At least the bite on his neck had closed up.
“I’ll need to ride with him,” Mykal said, handing each of them a blanket to wrap up in. “Both of you can come with me, make sure I’m treating him the way you want. He’s my friend. Not just because we work together.”
I couldn’t have thanked Mykal more for being so diplomatic with the Wolfes. Still, Rudy and Fawn glared at him as they rolled the stretcher to the back of the ambulance.
The Wolfes somehow wedged themselves into the ambulance along with Mykal, Fawn curling up beside her brother on the stretcher. The vehicle pulled out toward the hospital, lights flashing red, amber, white, siren screaming.
Now all I had to do was keep the remaining fangs and claws from getting into a rumble.
“We need to find Ben.” It was probably unnecessary to state the obvious, but I thought putting the point on the situation might be for the best. “Can either of you or your people track him?”
“Yes,” they both said.
It could have been taken as an agreement, but mostly it just sounded like a challenge.
“I want him back here alive,” I shot that toward Granny. She gave a slight nod, though she still wasn’t backing down from Rossi’s glare.
Jean walked over to us.
“Trillium’s on her way.” Trillium was Ordinary’s lone reporter, and kept the locals and tourists up-to-date on all the canned food drives, classes, and contests in town.
Also on the murders and assaults, though they were few and far between.
The Wolfes gathering at Granny’s back, had hackles up, heads down, but were silent. I didn’t know if silent was good.
“His blood’s on your hands, strigoi,” she said. “His pain, your debt now. We are not at peace.”
Rossi’s lips pulled back and I saw just the peak of fang. “He let my son be taken, bled, brutalized.” It came out part growl, part hiss. His eyes flooded with red and black.
I unconsciously reached down for the gun that was not on my hip, my hand accidentally brushing the bottle of powers I had stashed in my coat like a second-rate bootlegger.
Wild thoughts shot through my head. They were going to fight. Rossi and Granny were going to kill each other, and drag all the vamps and weres into a battle that Ordinary hadn’t seen since—no, had never seen.
Should I throw the god powers at his head? Would that stop a vampire? Or should I smash it on the ground like a smoke bomb between them?
“There are rules.”
It took me a minute to recognize that voice. It was Ryder. I didn’t recognize it because there was a timbre of power behind it. God power. But not really god power. More like weight or texture as if, along with his voice, something else was layered on top of it, or pushing through from behind it.
The alpha and prime turned to him.
It was...well, I don’t think I could have broken their staring contest that quickly.
Ryder didn’t look any different. He didn’t even appear surprised that the head werewolf and head vampire were holding off on a serious smack down only because he’d said something.
He frowned though, like he was remembering something he’d read in a book once.
“You have agreed upon terms of peace, both individually and between your people. This attack, on Jame and Ben, does not negate the conditions you agreed upon. Unless it is proved that either a Wolfe or a Rossi not only threatened, but also carried through with potentially life-ending violence.” His eyes focused, and he held Rossi’s gaze then Granny’s.
“There can be no war. Not until either Jame is able to testify to the events that led up to his injuries, or Ben is able to do the same.”
Ryder nodded, as if satisfied that he’d settled that problem. “In accordance to your agreements, you will both give the other what support is needed and you are capable of providing to come to a resolution of this situation. That means finding Ben. Both of you.”
I took a breath, held it.
No one told the prime vampire what to do. No one gave the alpha werewolf trotting orders.
Well, no one who wanted to keep their head attached to their spine.
“Warden,” Rossi sneered.
“What?” Myra and Jean asked at the same time.
Granny sniffed the air, as if she could smell the position Mithra had bestowed upon Ryder, and didn’t like the stink of it. “You let this go and happen?” she accused me.
“I told him not to. Said I’d take care of it. He didn’t listen.”
“Men,” Granny said.
“Right?”
“Never gonna listen.”
“Hey, now,” Ryder protested. But when all of us, including Rossi, gave him a look, he just sort of slumped and stared at his boots. “It’s not like there was another choice. You weren’t going to say yes.”
“No, I wasn’t. And don’t you think you should have taken that as a hint?”
“That you have authority issues?”
“That I’d refuse to tie myself to one deity’s skewed vision of justice? That I’d ever let one god tell me who to be, how to live? That I’d ever let a god change me like that?”
“I’m not changed.”
The silence said what we all thought about that.
Ryder scowled, then cussed softly. “I’m still myself, no matter what job or responsibilities I take on.”
“But...warden?” Jean bit her lip, and looked from Ryder to me then back to Ryder. “Do you understand what that means? What it means between you and Delaney?”
“So,” I said loudly, clapping my hands. “We need to find Ben. Now. Is there anything else we need to know before we pack this up and deal with the reporters and crime scene?”
“One thing,” Myra said quietly.
From her tone of voice I knew I wasn’t going to like it.
“The vampire hunters are dead.”
Chapter 18
Myra gave us the details that had come over the wire. Four men had rented a small boat up in Astoria. One of those men was the guy Ryder had known and spoken to at the bar. The four of them had seemed to think crossing the mouth of the Columbia River in rough swells would be a safe and good idea.
It wasn’t. The mayday was called in, but even though the Coast Guard scrambled, by the time they got there, all they f
ound was a capsized vessel and four dead bodies.
“Could be just an accident,” Jean said.
Yeah, none of us thought that was true.
“Who’s killing them, Rossi?” I asked. “Who has declared war on us?”
Rossi’s eyes were still that terrifying red and black. “A dead man.”
That might have been a threat or might have been the truth. I didn’t have a chance for any follow up questions because the crunch of wheels on wet gravel filled the air, and between one blink and the next, Rossi was gone.
All the other vampires similarly disappeared, fading into mist that was lost to the rain and drizzle.
“He knows who it is, doesn’t he?” Jean asked.
“I think so.”
Myra was watching me. “You have an idea who it is too.”
I nodded.
“How bad?” Jean asked.
“All the bad.”
“Shit,” Myra whispered. “Did you find the god powers?”
Car doors opened and slammed shut. Footsteps coming our way.
“Please tell me we have some kind of win in all this,” she said.
“Yeah, I’ve got them. Jean, do you mind handling Trillium?”
“Sure. Are we going with mugging? Robbery? Drunken brawl?”
“Let’s go with mugging. Nothing Dave would have seen or heard from inside the shop. Oh, and pull the video before she gets hold of it.”
“I’ll get the video,” Ryder said.
I nodded. He might not know about everything that happened in Ordinary, but he knew enough now that I didn’t think he’d do anything to compromise the video.
He jogged to the bait shop, and Myra fell into step next to me as I headed to the Jeep. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, sure. Just another boring day in Ordinary. I need coffee. With a side of coffee with coffee on top.”
Trillium spotted us, but Jean cut her off with a quick greeting. “Trillium, glad you could make it out here. I’d be happy to answer any questions, but can’t let you any closer to the scene of the crime until we’re done gathering evidence. You know the drill....”
Trillium cast one more look over at Myra and me, then focused on Jean.
Myra walked over to my Jeep with me. Her cruiser was parked right next to it, light bar spinning a lazy pattern of reds and blues.
She pressed her hand against my arm, and squeezed tight enough I stopped.
“Why is Ryder the warden? Did Mithra force him to take it? Did he steal it from you? Did you give it to him? Didn’t you warn him what it could do to him? This isn’t good, Delaney. You realize it puts him in a higher position than us.”
Everything—the standoff with Mithra, the deal to get the god powers back, Sven’s death, Jame’s broken body, Ben’s kidnapping—twisted up inside me. I was tired, and tired of not getting ahead of what felt like one disaster after another.
“It doesn’t make him our boss!” That might have come out a little louder than I intended. I toned it down a bit. “Just like none of the gods are our bosses, just like none of the creatures are our bosses. We’re our bosses. We’re still the law here. Both as police officers and as the Reed family. Ryder “the warden”,” and yes, I did the ironic quote fingers, “can just suck it if he thinks he’s going to boss us around.”
“Feel strongly about this do you?”
“Terrifyingly so.” That was so true we both gave each other the “me too” nod.
“So...coffee before the next disaster hits?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Have to get the powers back to the gods.”
“Still haven’t heard the story there.”
“Mithra was just how we expected him to be: annoying and demanding. Made a lot of threats, reminded me who he was and how hard he wanted to tell us all what to do all the time.”
“He threatened you?”
“Naturally. With the warden position. I said no. Ryder said yes.”
“Yeah, I can see that. What I can’t understand is why.”
I shook my head, searching the front of the bait shop for Ryder. He was still inside looking for the video. “I don’t think he understands what he just did. He doesn’t even believe in gods.”
“That doesn’t matter when a god believes in you.”
I sighed. “I tried to stop him.”
She moved her hand to my shoulder and gave me a squeeze. “I know. Do you want me there when you hand back the powers?”
“Yeah, I think that would be good. Could you pick up Crow? We can meet at his shop.”
“They’re not going to let him store the powers.”
“I know. Odin’s up next, right?”
She nodded.
“Okay, so we should all just meet out at Odin’s place.”
“I’ll gather the gods. You get some coffee on the way.”
“That works. I think Piper should be there too.”
“You really want to do that to her?”
“I’d rather she be revealed to all the gods when we’re there to run interference than one-on-one when we’re not.”
“True.”
Ryder strode out of the shop and headed toward us.
“Why don’t you come with me,” Myra said. “We’ll drop the video off at the station and lock it up.”
Ryder looked my way. “Okay with you, boss?”
It was so normal, so not like the last few hours, that I almost smiled with relief. “Yeah. Good. And come along with Myra to Odin’s. You’ll want to see that dog-and-pony show too.”
He hesitated, his body language sort of bent my way as if he wanted to touch me, or hug me, and had decided halfway through that he probably shouldn’t.
“Sure,” he said. “See you there.”
They got into the cruiser and I slipped into the Jeep. It might have been more comfortable to put the water bottle of god powers in the cup holder but I was feeling a little paranoid about letting it even that far out of my sight. So I kept it in the inner pocket of my coat, slid the seatbelt in a mostly-comfortable position over my chest, and headed toward the first drive-thru coffee shop in Ordinary.
~~~
Halfway through a quad-shot latte, I pulled onto Odin’s property.
He wasn’t out with his chainsaw, which surprised me a little since it wasn’t raining. Not that everything wasn’t still soggy as a broken wash machine’s spin cycle, but there was a little bit of sunlight shouldering through the clouds just in time for the day to be slipping toward sunset.
Seemed like it’d be a perfect time to hack out a few more flat-face bears and one-winged owls.
The other gods weren’t there yet, but I knew it wouldn’t be long. I parked the Jeep and crossed to Odin’s house, the cleansing perfume of green and wet and pine filling me.
Tucked beneath a small forest of tall Douglas fir trees, the house wasn’t much bigger than mine. Cedar shakes painted brick red, shingled roof about three years past needing both new gutters and some moss control efforts, it didn’t give off a welcoming feeling exactly.
Neither did the two headless wooden bunnies on the porch on either side of the door.
Or at least I thought they were bunnies. Beavers? I tipped my head. Nope. Ravens.
I knocked on the door. Didn’t have to wait very long for it to open.
“Delaney.” Odin glanced over my shoulder as if expecting someone to be there.
“Crow’s with Myra,” I said. “They’re on their way over here with the rest of the gods.”
He grunted and stepped aside so I could step in.
The outside might have looked like a graham cracker house that had been left out in the rain—a little soggy and soft around the edges—but the interior was quite the opposite.
The wood walls were polished to a soft gold glow. Furniture was mahogany, and the artwork leaned a bit Nordic and tribal, some from local artists, some from Odin’s personal collection that either had never been seen by human eyes, or if it had, probably belonged in museums.
Anyone in town might expect to find a bachelor’s pad, maybe even expect unmatched socks to be balled up in the corners, or microwave dinners to be stacked on side tables. But it was nothing like that. It felt relaxing, refreshing. A retreat from the world.
Which, I supposed, was exactly why the gods had come to Ordinary. So it should be no surprise that Odin’s house was a home, and a very comfortable one at that.
“Coffee?” He was already moving toward the kitchen.
“Yes, thanks.” I drank down the rest of my latte and walked over to the stone fireplace on the opposite wall. It stacked up to the second floor which was basically a loft space that covered two sides of the upper story.
“You found the powers,” he said. “Mithra have them?”
There was no reason not to tell him the truth. “Did you know all along that’s where they were?”
He came back into the room with two huge ceramic mugs shaped like tree stumps and handed one to me.
“When they were taken outside Ordinary. There was a...sense of his disapproval I got through my power.”
“Could have told me.” I took a sip of the coffee, which was so rich it almost tasted alcoholic.
“Not my job.” He settled in the easy chair. “So Crow’s leaving town?”
“He has to. And that means you’re up next for storing the powers.”
He nodded, like he didn’t really care about that. “Never thought you’d let a warden in Ordinary.”
I didn’t ask him how he knew about that. He was a god. Just because he was on vacation didn’t mean he had no lingering abilities. Or maybe he’d heard it from someone else. Didn’t need god power if you were friendly with the town gossips.
“It wasn’t my idea, trust me.”
“Ryder?”
I nodded. “He’s also a part of some kind of welcome committee for supernaturals in the world and Ordinary in particular. Government agency.”
“Huh. That explains some things.”
“Like what?”
“Like why he came back here.”
“Couldn’t it just be because he likes the town he grew up in and wanted to come back?”
