A couple people groaned.
I answered a few more questions. No, there wasn’t any known pattern with regard to the victims. This wasn’t like Victor Aubrey’s murders in which he’d targeted a certain type of woman vanity addict. And no, so far the Gryphons had no theories about motive.
Before I left, I wrote my name and phone number on one of the tablets I found by the coffeepot. “If anyone has information they’d rather share anonymously, here’s where you can find me. I’m especially interested in talking to Shawna if she’s here.”
The woman I thought was Shawna hadn’t said a damn thing. Maybe she’d do it over the phone.
I thanked Justin again and left, frustrated. Between the travel to get here and back, and talking to people without learning anything, this had been a colossal waste of almost two hours. It wasn’t just two of my hours gone either. It was two hours slipping out of Eric’s hourglass of unknown duration. Bridget had set a minimum of five days. Tonight marked day four. I did not want to be there in person when I told Steph our leads were turning into dead ends.
Halfway to the exit, a door down the hall opened and heels clacked on the linoleum. I thought nothing of it, then a woman’s voice called out to me.
Keeping my hope in check, I turned around. “Shawna?”
“Yeah. Hi.” She pulled her long hair off her neck, twisting it into a facsimile of a ponytail. She had a good several inches on me, willowy and delicate, and she dressed to show off her lithe frame. Her shirt merely grazed the waist of her low-cut jeans, and the jeans themselves could have been painted on. No wonder Jenny described her as looking like a model. “You said you wanted to talk to me?”
“You’re friends with Eric, right?” I asked.
Shawna continued wrapping her hair around her hand. “Sort of. We’ve spent some time together, but I wouldn’t say I knew him well. Did he mention me? Is that how you knew my name?”
Vanity addict. She’d like to hear that Eric had been talking about her. Yet even if I lied and said yes, it wouldn’t make her feel all that great. The sylph Shawna answered to had seen to that. Just as I couldn’t sense her emotions because of her addict bond, Shawna’s ego couldn’t be appeased by anyone except her master.
So I hedged. She might be more likely to say something useful if she thought herself important. “Sort of. I wanted to talk to you because it seemed like, of all the people at these meetings, Eric was closest to you. I was hoping he might have mentioned the name of the goblin who addicted him.”
Shawna’s face fell. “I wish I could help, but I can’t. We talked about other things, you know? Our careers and art and, you know, fun stuff. We tried to leave the heavy topics at the meeting.”
“Did he ever mention anything about the goblin at all?”
“No. We weren’t really supposed to talk about them. It’s part of the group rules to help people chill. I knew he was a goblin’s addict, but that’s it. This is so upsetting, you know. He was such a great guy and so talented.”
Shit. I studied Shawna carefully. The way she played with her hair was like the way she’d played with her rings. It could simply be a quirk, or it could a nervous tic. My gut told me she knew more than she was sharing, but there could be a hundred reasons for that. Without being able to read her emotions, I was out of luck.
“Okay, well, thanks for that. But it’s really important, so I’d appreciate if you would continue to think on it. If Eric ever said anything that could point us in the right direction, it would be a help. Not just for him, but for you. Two sylphs’ addicts were attacked. You could be in more danger than most people.”
That did seem to register with her because she let go of her hair and wrapped her arms around herself. “I will. Do you want to give me your information again?”
Shawna handed me a piece of scrap paper from her purse, and I rewrote my name and number. “Thanks, and be careful.”
Maybe that wasn’t a total waste of time, I told myself as I left. But I didn’t easily believe it.
Deflated, I stopped by The Lair on the way home to see Lucen, but the place was more crowded than usual for a Thursday. He gave me a heart-stoppingly hot kiss behind the bar, and that improved my mood significantly until he let go of me and I saw one of his addicts staring at us.
Mood. Killed. I left and told him I’d see him tomorrow.
Since it had been a long day, I made dinner, had a glass of wine and typed up my notes from my conversations with Gunthra and Shawna so I could share them tomorrow with Bridget. Then I treated myself to more of Eric’s latest book and went to bed late because I couldn’t stop reading.
When my phone rang at six thirty the next morning, I was prepared to curse Bridget for it, but it wasn’t her voice I heard. It was Lucen’s.
“Check the news,” he told me before I could finish with hello. “Buenos Aires is the new Boston. This is bad.”
I threw off my blanket. “Why are you awake? What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about war. Check the news, little siren, and you’ll figure it out. Then can you be here at eleven? Dezzi’s calling a council meeting.”
Chapter Sixteen
I started coffee, and while the water boiled, I dragged my laptop to my bed. Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I brought up the news.
By the time the page finished loading, I was awake and alert. It was impossible not to be. The coffee water boiled, but I made no move to get it, too engrossed and horrified by the photos and the story I was reading.
The city was a war zone. Like Boston and most major metropolitan areas, Buenos Aires was home to a sizable pred population. And last night, relations between the various pred groups had turned violent. Very violent. None of the stories suggested what had spawned the fighting, but it was clear that race had turned on race. Addicts had been dragged in, naturally, and the fighting had spread from the pred-dominated areas and to the city itself. Curse grenades had taken out buildings, and salamander fires had destroyed entire blocks.
The number of missing or dead humans caught in the middle was not pretty, and it was likely to keep on rising. Although the worst of the fighting seemed to have died down by morning, salamanders remained on the loose, as well as other magical nasties, and violence continued to flare up. Fury addicts ran wild, attacking anyone and everyone they encountered, “like they were dosed up on some sort of magic steroid” in the words of one Buenos Aires-based Gryphon.
Unfortunately, that was all too possible.
Buenos Aires had its own Gryphon office that was working to control the damage, but it wasn’t enough. Nearby offices were flying in reinforcements to deal with the salamanders and more. Vaguely, I wondered how this would affect our office, and I checked my email but found nothing. I was sure the local Gryphons were as freaked out about this as Lucen, but unlike the satyrs, they were leaving me out of it.
Surely that was a sign of who trusted me more?
To hell with it though. What happened in Buenos Aires was all too much like what could have happened in Boston last month. But that was all the more reason why I should focus on the situation at hand, and not on who was more interested in buying my loyalties.
Apparently, I was the only person thinking that way. When I got to The Lair, Dezzi was already there, clutching a gigantic, steaming mug of tea and looking surprisingly alert for someone who should have been dead asleep at this time of day. Lucen had the coffee maker going, and a cup was put in front of me without me asking. It was just the three of us, although I was ten minutes late.
“I thought there was a council meeting.” Sensing a trap, I held the coffee cup like a shield.
“They are coming.” Dezzi checked the clock. “Soon. We have a lot to discuss. I want you to be a part of those discussions, but for me to bring you to a council meeting, you must be part of the council. I asked you to come early so I might get your decision and fill y
ou in on your responsibilities.”
My decision and my responsibilities. Because naturally I’d say yes. If I were a normal satyr, I supposed I would.
Never had I been normal. “I haven’t made a decision.”
Lucen hid his disappointment by turning his back on me while he moved tables around, but Dezzi closed her eyes in a long-suffering sort of way.
She inhaled deeply of the steam from her tea. I hoped it soothed her. “What I’m offering you is an honor.”
“I’m conscious of that, and I do appreciate it.” And I needed to tread carefully here so I stayed on her good side. “But under the circumstances, I don’t think I can make the best decision. There’s a lot I don’t understand about how or why the Gryphons—”
“Really, Jess?” Lucen slammed a chair into the table. “About why they fucked you up when you were a kid? Why they took your choice from you? How they lied to you? Why do you care?”
Because Olef told me cities were going to burn in salamander fire and I’d be in the middle of them.
Dragon shit on toast, I did not want to think about Olef’s visions coming to pass. Not now. And yet, how could I ignore those visions when another city had burned?
“I need to know,” I told Lucen. “I need closure. I thought knowing what was done to me would give me that, but this is nothing like what I thought had been done. The people who did this had reasons. Seriously fucked-up ones, but reasons.”
Lucen grabbed the chair he’d pushed around and sat. His eyes glowed that fierce blue-green they got when he was angry, a sure sign he was throwing off a lot of power, and it made me long for him more than I usually did.
Heat crept over me as my gaze traveled down the curve of his biceps from where they left his sleeves, to his strong forearms wrapped around the chairback. A slim patch of skin showed through the rip in the knee of his jeans, and I wanted to wiggle my finger through it. I wanted to…
Okay, suddenly I was having a hard time concentrating on my screwed-up origins or Buenos Aires or anything else important for that matter, and I took a long drink of coffee.
Lucen locked my eyes over the mug, and now I could feel him touching me. His hands squeezing my hips. His tongue parting my lips.
Stop it! My command reasserted my willpower, and the sensation vanished.
Across the room, Lucen flinched but continued to glare heatedly at me. “Fucked-up reasons are not good reasons for hanging around with the people who by your own admission ruined your life. Let go of your past.”
“Like you did?”
“Exactly. You’re angry they didn’t give you a choice. So now you can make the choice to tell them to fuck off. What’s the problem?”
“The problem is…” I snapped my mouth shut as I put it together—not my problem, but his. “This isn’t a choice between you and the Gryphons. Whether I say no now or later to being on Dezzi’s council has nothing to do with you. I’m not choosing Team Human over Team Lucen. For now, I’m choosing Team Jess, and Jess has questions she wants answers to before she decides anything. But I’m not leaving you for a Gryphon.”
“You’re impossible. You get something in your head and you can’t let go.”
Dezzi set down her tea with a laugh, and I remembered Lucen and I weren’t alone. “You mean she is like you then.”
“I am nowhere near as stubborn as she is.” His smoldering intensity was gone. He sounded like a chastised teenager.
Dezzi clucked her tongue. “No, you only followed her around for ten years until you got her. You deserve each other.”
When Dezzi acted like that, it was hard to tell her no about the council. She might be the only one here with her head on straight. I nursed my coffee to hide my amusement, and my phone chose that moment to ring.
It was Bridget, so I let it go to voicemail. I should go in to the office though. I didn’t need her to tell me that. Buenos Aires aside, we had business to discuss.
Afraid of meeting Lucen’s eyes, I turned to Dezzi. “When you were protecting me from the sylphs, I sat in on council meetings. I could do that again, couldn’t I?”
She shook her head. “That was an exception because you were the reason for those meetings. We needed your information. Buenos Aires doesn’t concern you.”
Hopefully not, but Olef wouldn’t be so sure.
I shivered as though untouched by my mug’s warmth. “I need to go to work then. I’m still trying to retrieve Eric Marshall’s soul, and the sooner that’s done, the sooner I can tell the Gryphons to fuck off, as someone suggested to me.”
Dezzi waved her hand. “Leave then. It’s all right, Jessica. I need you to be fully committed to us and the council should you choose to join. If you can’t be that, then it is no good. Take more time, but not too much more.”
Lucen said nothing, but he followed me outside and grabbed my arm on the patio. I started to ask what he wanted, but he pulled me close before I could form the words and kissed me.
The last traces of my annoyance faded as I sank into him, wrapping my arms around his waist. His hands slipped under my hair, and his palm warmed the back of my neck. Gentle but possessive, he pressed me closer.
I’m not losing you, his body seemed to say.
I’m not leaving, I tried to respond back.
I couldn’t tell if his brain understood me, but his body did. His breaths quickened with mine, and I could feel his arousal growing. My hands slid under his waistband, searching for bare skin, until I remembered we were outside on one of the main roads running through Shadowtown.
Breathing hard, I pulled away, but instead of letting me go, Lucen pushed me back into one of the patio tables, spreading my legs apart with his own. His lips found mine again, insistent. “You can’t leave yet. We haven’t finished the best part of a fight.”
“Not here.”
“It’s okay,” came a familiar voice. “We don’t mind.”
Swearing, I pushed Lucen away and snapped my head to the right. Coming down the patio steps was Devon with two other satyrs from Dezzi’s council. He smirked at me.
I felt my cheeks turn bright red. “I’m off to work.”
Lucen must have known better than to protest. The other satyrs moved aside so I could climb up to the street, but Devon stayed where he was so I had to push by his laughing face as I left.
Jerk, I thought as I hurried to the T station. Lucen used to do that sort of thing with me too. Stand in my way to try to make me touch him. No wonder he and Devon got along so well. No wonder I…
I bit my lip. Shut up and think of Buenos Aires.
Gryphon headquarters buzzed with serious anxiety, and it didn’t take a genius to guess why. Outwardly, all seemed the same, but the strong spearmint of everyone’s unrest had hit me before I entered the building. Inside, it was worse.
It didn’t do good things for my nerves. Jittery from all that unfocused energy I couldn’t block, I stomped to my desk, my hands rubbing my arms like I could brush off the tension.
What I found in my inbox didn’t make me feel any better. Olivia Lee had sent me an email. Come see me when you get in.
That didn’t sound promising.
At last I checked Bridget’s message and returned it with one to let her know I’d arrived. Then I took a deep breath and went to see what the good director wanted of me.
Olivia Lee’s secretary buzzed me right in this time, and I entered her enormous office prepared for the worst. I discovered her standing over a cardboard box on her desk. “I don’t suppose I’m lucky enough that you’re giving me the box so I can clear out my things and be escorted from the building?”
“Funny.” She didn’t look amused. “Even if I wanted to hand you a proverbial pink slip, Jessica, it seems it’s out of my hands. Other people in the organization want to keep you around. Why is that?”
Wasn’t this interesting. Whil
e everyone else in the building was one giant stomachache of nerves over what was happening in Buenos Aires, Olivia barely registered anxiety. She was more like a blowtorch of suppressed wrath, and I was clearly in her line of fire.
“I don’t mind pissing people off. It can be fun. But I don’t like being the target of people’s rage unless I did something to deserve it. You want to know why? I’m not the one you should be asking. Take it up with Tom Kassin, and if you want to punch him for it, I’ve got your back.”
My answer surprised her, which—frankly—surprised me. After all, she knew he was the reason I’d stormed out of the building not that long ago. “I was under the impression you and Kassin were getting along these days.”
“I don’t know what could have given you that idea.”
Olivia pulled a piece of paper from the box and handed it to me. “This is a good start.”
Confused, I took it and read.
Jessica,
The events in BA necessitated my immediate return to France, but I still expect to meet with you when I return from World. In the meantime, please read these books and keep this information to yourself. I trust you’ll follow these instructions and know what to make of the information. I’ll be in touch as soon as I return. I’m depending on you.
-Tom
Trust I’d do what he’d tell me, did he? Depending on me, was he? This note reeked of manipulation. He wanted me to feel important, to return his trust in me with trust in him, and buy into more of whatever messed-up bullshit his fraternity was spewing for justifying why they had screwed me over.
And yet you’re there, Jess. I could hear Lucen’s voice in my head. You’re at Gryphon headquarters, and you haven’t told Tom to fuck off.
My hand clenched, crumpling the note. When I looked up, Olivia’s dark eyes were demanding answers.
Too bad I only had questions. “If he left this crap for me, how did you get it?” And just what sort of crap was it?
I peered into the box. Tom had given me three more books. Peachy.
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