by Erin R Flynn
Enough other traumas had happened since then to distract me after all.
“Fair warning, the council is very interested in knowing how long until we can purchase from your endeavor here,” Enzo muttered as we headed to the building.
“I handle none of this,” I answered. My head snapped up when he jerked me and for a moment I thought he was pissed I wasn’t giving him my full attention, but then I realized he’d yanked me out of the way of hitting something. “Thanks.”
“I have a feeling that happens to you often,” he mocked.
“You’d be right,” I admitted, shrugging when there were several snorts or chuckles. I could admit when I wasn’t perfect or an idiot. “And we’re not against selling internationally; however, we’re not about the idea of customs problems so we’re only going to be testing the water locally and to covens or areas we know are having problems with their blood supply. That’s the answer for now.”
“Understandable.”
“Which one of you has the most knowledge of explosives?” I asked. “There’s a notation on the report about the trigger that I’m not understanding and isn’t on the other example reports Oswalt sent me.”
“If someone helps me with the English,” one of Enzo’s guys admitted.
“You’re not FBI,” I argued. “Now is not the time to get in trouble for not following protocol and this isn’t a supe case. I’m covering for Brian, and Murray’s eyes will be all over this because he will take over the office. But thanks.”
“That means I’m up,” Sander said, reaching over and taking the tablet from me. He read it and sighed. “Basically they’re saying it was made with low-quality materials, like it wasn’t a high-grade trigger meant to stand up to a lot and would degrade quickly. It’s another factor pointing to a newbie.”
“So it’s not an intentional degrading trigger like setting a fuse to dynamite?” I checked as I took back the tablet.
“No, I understand how you might think that from the way it’s written given this isn’t your field but no bomb maker would risk that. That’s a timer and a controlled feature, not a cartoon kind of lead or controlled demo like you said.”
“Got it. Thanks, that helps.”
“Really? How?”
I smirked at him as I tucked the tablet away in my bag as we entered the facility. “It probably means the files I requested from the FBI are going to be a bust because it’s this guy’s first rodeo, but at least it can maybe give me something to reference or things to look for.”
“Your dedication is admirable,” one of the guest ancients commended.
“Thanks. Chicago’s far from perfect and we’ve got a lot of work we need to do, but unlike a lot of places… We know that. We embrace that. We have a dark history and we embrace that too. We’ve rebelled, we’ve led, and we’ve fallen. We might be up top with murders this year but next year we could be the top with something awesome. That’s just how Chicago is and it’s worth fighting for.”
“If it would just lower the fucking taxes a bit,” Emilio grumbled, shaking his head.
“Yeah, we tax the shit out of everything,” I agreed, knowing we were one of the worst in the country. “How else do you think we pay for all our corruption?” I laughed when they all shot me an array of looks. It was a running dark humor joke among Chicagoans. Again, we knew we weren’t perfect by any stretch of the term.
But maybe tomorrow we could be a bit better.
“Why did we circle back?” one of them asked.
“We’ll head back to Highland Park but this facility had to actually be within Cook County as that’s where the license is and the mayor had clout and all of that,” I explained. “Basically the blood license we had was federal, but to bottle and sell it besides at the club, they added a county one and Cook County is the first to do it so we had to be in the county limits. Which is also why we’re not doing the alcoholic mixes.”
“That could invite liquor license inspectors and nosy people,” Enzo surmised, eyeing over the large vats.
“Yes, that was what we all agreed would be the outcome,” I confirmed. “So we have the five blends we have at the club that do well. The consensus is it’s better than human blood, not as bland as regular wolf blood, and while not as refined of vintage as rabbit shifter blood or wild like tiger blood, the blending is—”
“Un-fucking-real to have access to,” Nikos groaned. “And even if you blend it with human blood of your favorite type—or I like a glass of blend with Sera’s blood after drinking from a young female donor. It just—the array this has opened up is amazing. And they’re expanding.”
“Maybe. Maybe,” I cut in.
“Maybe?” Enzo pushed, raising an eyebrow at me that he wanted an answer.
The problem was I wasn’t sure how to answer without sounding weak or too soft.
“She doesn’t want the prey shifters to get the wrong idea of what this pack or coven is,” Carter answered. “There are those still pushing the rumors that the APA is a mob organization. Her adopted brothers donate and everyone knows this, some running their mouths that they do it to buy their safety with her. The balance is delicate as more and more refer to her as the Queen of the Midwest.”
“Ahh, yes, always that finicky balance of what is too far and what is not far enough,” he agreed, giving a pointed look to Absolon, who was still completely enthralled with me and not giving a shit that he was without all ten fingers.
Yeah, that finicky balance thing. Reminding me of him, I warned them not to give him any of the blends with my blood until my allure wore off. The results wouldn’t be good.
The shit we learned over time that could scar us.
“So for now, we’ve got more than enough with five blends and getting more wolf blood or stable groups to donate without covens pressuring them,” I said, bringing us back around. “Because there was some of that going on. Now we shield them and Carter and the guys enjoy threatening to eat bad vampires if they risk our freedoms in this country or make us look bad. Maybe later we can add labels.”
“It’s always wise to have a solid foundation before branching out so one does not spread themselves too thin,” Enzo commended.
I swallowed a flinch, knowing Phobie had said that to me many times as we’d worked on building my foundations. Even Simone as she was the one who’d said originally my foundations were shit. Was he reading my mind? Poking at me?
No, he didn’t want me afraid of him. He liked me spunky. Besides, that wasn’t an uncommon idea. I was just a bit paranoid with Murray and all the new—and all the recurring—crazy.
We were nice and let them have a sampling since the facility was closed for the day and we weren’t bothering anyone. After they were done we moved on to everything else we had to protect or cover.
“Their pack cannot seriously own all of this? Hasn’t she only been Alpha for less than two years?” one of the guys asked his friend.
“No, it’s not all mine or the pack’s,” I clarified, gesturing out the window. “Those townhouses are Queen Laila’s for fairy refugees. But they have pack protection and we have an alliance with her, meaning they could absolutely be a target or a pawn to Murray.”
“You speak French,” Enzo practically purred, giving me a dangerous look like he thought I should have mentioned that before.
“Not much,” I confessed. “I’ve gotten better since Jacqueline came to our pack but I wouldn’t say more than conversationally. Mostly cooking or baking vernacular is where I’ve improved.”
“Just so I’m clear going forward, what languages do you speak, dear Seraphine?”
“Are you asking for you or the council?”
He didn’t answer at first. “My own curiosity. I heard Chief Sands brag in New York you knew a fair few. I want to hear it from your lips.”
“As long as it stays between us, because I find people not knowing has saved my ass a lot.” I waited until he nodded. “Fluently I know English, German, Japanese, Spanish, Farsi, Russian, Mand
arin, Arabic, and Malay. Conversationally I know French, Hindustani, Punjabi, and Portuguese. I’m picking up Greek and Hausa when I have time, which is next to never, so I know only cursing mostly from Alena.”
He blinked at me for several moments. “You might as well speak globally like your fairy husband. However did you learn all of that?”
I shrugged. “They just come naturally to me. Ever since I went to a private high school that a benefactor paid for and flew through Spanish I just had a knack for it. I mean, I would have graduated much earlier than I did if I didn’t keep getting bounced around foster families and houses.”
“That’s astounding, truly. That must have served you well in your career.”
“Yeah, except when everyone in a large office knows you speak all those languages and are lazy fucks who give you piles of their shit to translate or dictate for other offices for them,” I grumbled, the lingering resentment forever there. The Navy pulled that shit on me too, which was how so many noticed me when we worked with the CIA.
And that ended so well for me, after all.
Carter spent the ride out to the seafood farm explaining the original deal how I bought the farm for the elf family since they couldn’t as sponsored supe immigrants. A year later when they became citizens, they purchased it back from me for only the interest I would have made on that money if it had been in the bank.
And the silkworm farm.
And the mulberry and pine trees farm… Well, that one was mine. It was a gift from Goran when I became the Mistress of his coven and took it under my umbrella so I never let the fairies who ran the farm buy it. The wolves who lived there and protected them were pack and got paid, but again, it was mine.
“But you have more than this pack,” Enzo hedged, looking around and taking it all in. “This requires a lot of business knowledge and balance.”
“I just approve it all,” I joked. “And a lot was done while I was gone.” I cleared my throat and looked away from their piercing gazes. “But yes, the Alphas under my umbrella weren’t idle.” I gave him a serious look. “Again, this is for you, not the council.” I waited until he nodded and pulled my tablet out of my bag, knowing Hestia had just sent me something.
Unfortunately, it took me a moment to find it and it was cold out.
“Right, here it is,” I muttered, tapping the email. “She sent me a progress update since the year anniversary of when that douche tried to invade me and I took over just happened. They had a huge party and she sent us video and the outline of all they’ve achieved.”
“I’ve not seen this yet,” Carter admitted.
“No one has,” I confessed. “It’s a year today, but they partied last night since it was a Saturday. I’ve not even watched the video yet or read it the email.” I turned the tablet and summarized what I was looking at. “The Alpha had old family money but the pack was fairly poor, hence why they wanted to take us over after the club was a hit and everything I got from Igor.”
“Of course,” Enzo agreed, giving a gentle push when I cleared my throat nervously.
“They had one failing dairy farm that humans wouldn’t buy from, a local garage no one went to unless desperate, and others basically took part-time jobs and were in hiding. We cleaned up the area, handled a lot of the bullshit of bogus warrants, and enforced the laws that protected them so all of that stopped. From there we invested in the dairy farm to update and expand it.
“Laila and I put in greenhouses for the same deal we have here and the wholesale flower supplier. Four wolf families from the Middle East who have vast knowledge of their regional cheeses were screened by Alena and wanted safety, not power, were allowed visas and joined the pack. The dairy farm was expanded to down the road buying a whole new facility for sheep and goats and making Middle Eastern cheeses.”
“They’re ridiculously good and sell like crazy,” Emilio praised.
“They are,” I agreed. “The wool they sell to Laila and a family of refugee elves also helps on the farms. While I was gone, Hestia asked Alena to invest in expanding in more land, buying two, four-hundred-acre foreclosed farms for grazing and also put in two hundred wind turbines on each or will finish in the spring.
“Plus they planted apple groves on the outskirts of the farms where the turbines can’t be that the fairies grow.” I glanced at Carter. “Make sure Hestia gets the presentation from yesterday about the solar farms. That would be a good idea for them to add in to what they’ve got.”
“Yeah, it would be,” he agreed, pulling out his phone and writing himself a message. “How did the apple harvest go?”
“Right,” I muttered, focused back on my tablet. “Fantastic, it seems. Wow, the fairies really got those toddler trees to grow in a year. Shit. Right, so the other investment was in a wine facility. Hestia spoke with Alena and Laila and proposed starting an iced cider or apple iced wine to piggyback off the popularity of the fairy nectar.”
“And you’re fine they did this while you were abducted?” Enzo asked carefully.
I nodded. “Life went on. I was gone for months. I would have been crushed under the guilt everyone’s lives and progress was on hold because of what happened to me. It took me a while to even start dealing with the pain it caused the ones I loved. I’m glad people kept working towards our shared goals. No one tried to fill my place or take over, just kept pushing forward. I’m proud of Hestia.”
“You are a bigger person than most would be, Seraphine,” he muttered, giving me a curious look.
I shrugged. “I’m not in it for the glory. I want people to be happy and have better lives.” I looked back at the tablet. “So far the first batches are going well and they’re sending us cases to try. Apparently it went over well at the party. Hestia’s asking if we’d consider expanding the mulberry farm so they can do mulberry wine.”
“Laila would be all about expanding the silkworm farm and getting more leaves,” Carter said with a snicker. “I’ll let Alok know to make it happen. What about housing?”
I scrolled down a bit and got to the punchline and why Hestia was sending me that email so fast. I threw back my head and laughed. I laughed so hard I almost dropped the tablet as I curled over and grabbed my stomach.
“What’s so funny?” Emilio asked, his eyes dancing with amusement.
“She did it. The wench actually did it,” I said, wiping under my eyes. I smiled brightly at the ancients who knew me. “I made a deal with Hestia and Linus that if they got their packs up to a point where the tithes came in high enough by the end of the year that their Betas were making six figures like mine were my first year, I’d handle their housing problems and in a big way.” I handed over the tablet.
Carter’s eyes went wide. “Well damn. They’ve really been selling that fucking cheese and paying back on that investment from Alena still. Well, you, it was your money Alena took possession of, but the terms were fair. Still, this is astounding even if Alena was generous and allowed it to be a thirty-year loan.” He handed over the tablet. “What will you do? Part of the problem is people won’t sell to the pack.”
I snorted, taking the tablet and tapping it a few times to find what I wanted before holding it out to him with a smirk. “I’ll do exactly what I do when the locals don’t want the feds in their business or in their area. Which is part of the problem there and in Grand Rapids. The locals aren’t fans of actual oversight or the laws protecting supes being upheld, just the extra ones we have.”
“Which is what?” someone asked, referring to the first part of what I said.
I rolled my neck and smirked at the guy. “Not give a shit.”
It was Carter’s turn to burst out laughing. He handed the tablet to Sander, who had about the same reaction. A few more and Enzo snatched it away, out of patience for our antics and wanting answers.
“This is a subdivision map?” he muttered, his eyebrows creased together. “You found a place to sell to your wolves?”
“No, I bought two hundred acres right on the
edge of development in a suburb of Milwaukee in a great school district near all the farms and supe businesses. I bought it under a shell LLC that looks like a human developer that builds fancy, luxury gated communities and drives up property values. And the pack in New York has a huge construction company that built their pack building and this one.
“They’re going to build this subdivision there for the pack and our people. The humans want to shut us out and not even rent us apartments? Fuck them. I’m going to build a private subdivision with houses they’ll fucking drool over. We have all the permits and everything already done. They won’t know it’s for us until we’re done and move in.
“It’s all privately funded and it won’t be local real estate agents getting banks involved or building loans. They’re prebuilt and preordered, hush, hush according to the locals who are salivating at the idea of people who can afford those kinds of houses moving in. We’ve done the same thing in Grand Rapids. As soon as it’s warm enough to start we will. Fuck them.”
Enzo’s eyes flashed shock as he turned the tablet and scrolled down, clicking on one of the house designs. “Yes, this would make most humans jealous, especially when you pull the wool over their eyes. You will upset people.”
“People were already upset. It’s time to show them now and again that we’ll push back but we’ll do it legally so they better start doing the same because people are watching.”
“Hestia’s going to freak when she sees that,” Sander said with a smile.
“Yeah, especially if Linus didn’t hit the goal. She’ll get it first. I’ll still do it for Grand Rapids. I was always going to. I mean, I know the situation is bad and people packed into houses like clowns in cars, but I was just poking them to get the fire under them going.”
“Clearly it worked,” Enzo commented, sounding like he was praising me.
Yeah, clearly it did.
When we had plotted out the tour, Carter had made the change with Nina to make one of the last stops her shop in Wrigleyville instead of being first thing in the morning as originally planned. I doubted I was the only one who was pretty wiped after a full day of this and ready for dinner and it to be over. We’d started pretty early, after all.
