by Amos Cassidy
“Of course you are, baby.”
Sighing, she slumped back in her seat. “Honestly, I would never have started to hang around with Catherine if I had anticipated how much Rose would dislike her. Then when I found out, well, I wasn’t about to abandon a new friend just to pacify an old one.” She crossed her arms across her chest.
“Did Rose ask you to do that?” he asked disbelievingly.
Rose may have rubbed him up the wrong way a couple of times but he couldn’t help but harbour a grudging respect for the woman– her adjustment to the werewolves and her own nature and then her desire to help find Thistle all demanded respect. He didn’t want to believe she could be this petty.
In answer to his question Faye shook her head and he relaxed. “But then I don’t see the problem.”
“The problem is I have to choose between the two, and when I choose Catherine then Rose goes off with Thistle.”
“You’re worried that she’ll grow closer to Thistle.”
She nodded miserably and he resisted the urge to tell her that he didn’t think that Thistle would pose a threat anymore. No, he reminded himself, there was still hope that they would find Thistle. He had to believe that. “You two are best friends and that’s not something that just disappears. You just need to make sure you make time for each other.”
“I asked her out tonight, remember? And she blew me off, said she had a migraine coming.”
Something niggled at the back of Harold’s mind, some tidbit of info that he couldn’t quite grasp but that he knew with certainty was important.
“Yeah, the thought of coming out with me makes her ill.” Faye looked suddenly miserable.
Harold reached for her hand giving it a reassuring squeeze. “Or she could really have a migraine.”
“Oh.” Faye looked stumped. “I never thought of that.”
Harold smiled, still trying to grasp that elusive thought running amok inside his mind.
Faye summoned the maitre’d by catching his eye and arching her brow ever so slightly. He always marvelled at her ability to do that.
The reed-thin man approached the table, smiling fawningly at Faye. “Madam would like dessert?”
Faye looked questioningly at Harold.
Personally, he would have loved dessert, but time was getting on and Damon would be calling soon, he didn’t want to run out during the meal. “Not for me, thanks.”
Faye smiled warmly at the maitre’d. “Just the bill, please.”
“Yes, madam.” He nodded, and slipped away.
Stepping out into the cold air, Faye wrapped like a beautiful parcel in a long beige cashmere coat that clung to her curves becomingly, the lovers linked arms. Faye huddled closer to Harold who withdrew his arm, using it to pull her closer against his side where his natural animal heat could seep into her.
He still had an hour before patrol. “So what do you want to do now?” he whispered into her hair.
“Can we just walk for a while?”
“Sure, where do you want to go?”
“Richmond Park is just round the corner, we could go there. It’s beautiful.” She sighed happily.
And then the thought he had been struggling to grasp suddenly popped willingly into his head. Richmond Park was where Rose and Roman would be searching for clues to Thistle’s whereabouts.
Shit.
He needed to act fast– he couldn’t allow Faye to see them there and begin to ask questions. Although, what kind of questions could she ask? She’d probably just think they were on a date or something. But Rose and Roman weren’t together like that and was it fair to let Faye assume they were? Wouldn’t it put Rose under more pressure? Not to mention Roman would be really fucked off. As much as Harold liked to rile him, this wasn’t one of those times. The best thing would be to avoid the park.
He thought fast. “You know what, I fancy a drink.”
“We can go for a drink after.” Faye pointed out. “Please.” She batted her eyelashes.
He sighed. What could he do? He would just have to hope they wouldn’t bump into Roman and Rose. The park was a big enough place, plus he had his animal senses to keep alert for them. “Anything for you, baby.”
They headed for the park.
Roman put his phone into his pocket, having reported their findings to Raven. Their job in the park was now done. Raven had ordered Roman to go home and get some rest. Maxwell would be sent to the scene to collect any evidence and the vampires would be informed. He heard, in his Beta’s voice, the belief that Thistle was dead. Even though he knew logic dictated this, even though his mind accepted this, his heart refused to follow suit.
“Roman…you okay?” Rose reached out tentatively to touch his shoulder.
They were leaving the park, damp and dishevelled. The rain, thankfully, had stopped.
Roman shook off his thoughts and turned to her. “I should be asking you that question. That was pretty impressive what you did.”
Rose shook her head. “I…I don’t even know what I did, or how.”
“There must have been something that prompted it?”
“I suppose…I was thinking about Thistle. I mean, really visualising her, and then…” she rubbed her forehead. “Urgh, it’s all fuzzy and my head hurts.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll figure it out tomorrow. Maxwell might be able to help. What we need now is food and sleep.”
“Even though I don’t feel hungry up here,” she tapped her head, “my stomach seems to think otherwise.” As if on cue her stomach let out a loud rumble of dissatisfaction.
“Yeah, I know exactly what you mean.” Roman smiled sadly. “I’m glad you’re here, Rose…thanks.” His eyes were filled with an emotion she couldn’t identify and then he dropped his head and continued walking.
Rose did the same.
“Rose!”
Rose’s head snapped up, her body tensing, she knew that voice.
“Rose, is that you?”
Faye.
“No time to hide.” Roman whispered.
“But I told her I had a migraine and couldn’t go out with her tonight.”
“Just say we were on a date.”
“What? Are you crazy?”
“You got any other bright ideas?”
She bit her lip. Damn! And then there was no more time to think because Faye was upon them.
“Fancy meeting you here.” Faye said snidely. “Migraine all gone?” she asked with an arched brow. She took in Rose’s dishevelled appearance with a frown.
“Um…I…” Rose blushed. She was a terrible liar.
Roman came to her rescue, placing an arm proprietarily about her shoulders. “I told you, you should have just told her the truth. No point hiding it. People are going to find out soon enough.” He squeezed her, a gesture meant to look, to the casual observer, like a sign of affection, but its real purpose to shake Rose out of her verbal fugue. It worked.
Rose attempted a bashful expression. “I’m sorry, Faye. I just wasn’t ready to go public.” She gently extricated herself from Roman’s grasp. The feel of his body so close to hers, even in pretence, was playing havoc with her pulse. She blushed.
Faye studied her for a moment as if deciding whether to let her off the hook or not and Rose waited with bated breath. Her friendship meant a lot to her and she crossed her fingers that Faye would decide to play the understanding friend. As it turned out, her luck was in because Faye’s face broke into an impish smile.
“Well judging by the looks of you both the date got a little heated.” She giggled and then lifted her boots for Rose’s inspection– they were caked with mud. “Not exactly the best night to make out in the park is it. I didn’t realise it would be so muddy.” She grinned as another thought occurred to her. “This is great, it really is. Now we can double date and stuff.”
Beside them, the two men let out a collective groan which she chose to ignore. A second later, Roman and Harold moved away slightly, on the pretext of giving the girls some space, bu
t really wanting to trade information.
Rose smiled hoping that the action looked genuine. “Yeah, that sounds fun.”
Faye pouted. “You know, I thought you didn’t want to spend time with me anymore. But now it all makes sense, you had this thing with Roman going on. Believe me, I know how time consuming love can be.” She glanced over her shoulder at Harold who was wreathed in shadow as he listened to Roman, who was speaking in urgent hushed tones. “What’s that all about?”
Rose thought quickly. “Oh, he’s probably telling Harold not to say anything to anyone else.”
“Why?”
“Well, because…because of Thistle.” She swallowed hard around Thistle’s name, feeling guilty for using it in a lie.
“Oh my God! Of course! He’s with Thistle.” She stared at Rose appraisingly. “You naughty, naughty girl! I didn’t think you had it in you.”
Rose shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. Great, now she was a boyfriend thief too. “It’s complicated.” And that was the truth.
“Well, I’m all ears. I love complicated.” Faye rubbed her hands together with glee. “And here I was thinking you and Thistle were friends.” She laughed. “I know you would never do that to me,” she said with certainty.
“Of course not!” Rose’s temper flared, she didn’t like this, didn’t like her friend thinking of her this way. “Roman and Thistle have an open relationship, they see other people.”
Faye frowned. “Oh…so him and you…”
“Yeah, it’s just a…thing.” It sounded lame even to her own ears and she resisted the urge to roll her eyes– this was getting messier by the minute.
Please hurry up, she sent a mental plea to Roman. I need to get out of here before I dig a deeper hole.
Behind Faye, Roman’s head snapped up as if he had actually heard her. Breaking away from Harold, he joined them once more. “Sorry to interrupt, ladies. But I’m going to steal Rose away from you.” He addressed Faye. “I’m sure you can catch up on all the gossip soon.” He smiled charmingly.
“Of course.” Faye smiled, winking at Rose.
“Come on, baby. It’s getting chillier. Let’s get a drink.” Harold put his arm around Faye, drawing her away. She went willingly.
“See you soon, Rose.” She called over her shoulder.
Rose waved goodbye. Suddenly gripped by the magnitude of her deception she turned to Roman. “We’ll have to break up.”
“Of course.” He looked drawn, pale and tired but when his eyes met hers she saw a familiar spark of mischief. “After the first double date.”
She smacked him on the arm and walked away.
36.
TEARS FOR HIM
Flo had prepared a huge meal. There were burgers, sausages, steaks, chips, roasted potatoes, salad and fresh bread rolls. There was plenty to go around. And bearing in mind the pack’s usual appetite, she didn’t anticipate leftovers.
Raven, Damon, Kris, Harold and Maxwell had been invited round for dinner.
After Roman and Rose’s findings in Richmond Park, Raven had felt that it would be useful to discuss the recent events. Flo had in turn offered a venue and to provide the brain food. The council was conducting their own investigation, but the more heads the merrier, and it wasn’t inconceivable that they may stumble across a theory or idea that the council may have overlooked. It was a long shot, but it was better than the inactivity they were now faced with as the senior officials took over.
With Erin packed off on a sleepover at a friend’s, they could talk openly about what had happened.
“Okay, everyone, eat up. We can discuss things after. I want full stomachs. I know I always think better with grub in me belly.” Flo instructed as she piled plates of food onto the already overloaded kitchen table.
Raven nodded, eyeing the steaks. “We eat first and then we talk.”
“Over coffee?” Maxwell asked. “I feel like I’ve pulled a double shift. I’m exhausted.” He rubbed his eyes as if to illustrate. Going from work at The Whisper straight to Richmond Park had meant that it had been the early hours before his head had hit the pillow. Then with four hours sleep he had been back at work for a nine hour shift. He was definitely feeling it.
“Of course, luv.” Flo smiled warmly at him. “Get some grub in you first, though.”
They all ate, making polite small talk, each of them eager to get to the real reason for the gathering.
Roman ate stoically, shovelling food into his mouth like an automaton, his eyes fixed on some point ahead of him.
Upon his return from the park the night before, despite his assertion that he would eat, he had barely swallowed two or three mouthfuls before making his excuses and retiring for the night. The tiny flash of humour he had exhibited at the park had been extinguished and he had retreated back into a shell of his own making.
Rose had found that she herself had little appetite and had followed his example by calling it a night.
This morning had dawned bright and chilly. Despite the urge to snuggle back under the covers and forget the world, she had forced herself out of bed and to work. Putting everything else on hold had been hard for her. She couldn’t imagine how Roman had got through the day. Looking at him now she could take a pretty solid guess. He had his shell and that was keeping him going…for now.
After dinner they all retired to the living room.
“It’ll be more comfortable in here.” Flo advised. “I’ll bring in the coffee.”
“May I have some tea?” Damon asked tentatively.
“Of course you can, luv. I’ve got some lovely PG Tips.”
Damon wrinkled his nose.
Flo chuckled. “Don’t worry, luv, I’ve stashed some Earl Grey away just for you.” Damon looked mortified. “I...I didn’t mean any offence. PG Tips will be fine,” he said earnestly.
“It’s alright, luv. I prefer Nescafe to Maxwell House me self. We all have our own tastes.” She turned and headed to the kitchen for the drinks. Raven followed to assist her.
Once everyone had arranged themselves comfortably in the living room, and Flo had handed out the requested beverages, an uncomfortable silence ensued. Not so strangely, it was Roman who broke it first, turning penetrating eyes on Maxwell. “Okay, tell me. What’s the verdict?”
Maxwell took a sip of his coffee, unfazed by Roman’s intense regard, and then carefully placed the mug on the coffee table before him. “Blood and mucus.” His mouth turned down. “Thistle’s blood and…the mucus, not from any creature we have on record.”
“Demon?” Kris asked.
Maxwell nodded. “It’s the most probable answer. Although they are still doing tests on the sample I gathered.”
“Resident or not?” Harold asked.
“Not certain in this case. I didn’t recognise the signature so I’m thinking probably not.”
Rose found her head snapping from one person to the other as the conversation continued around her. What the hell were they on about? Resident or not? They could at least have the decency to explain. She looked around the room. Everyone else, including Flo, looked completely up to speed. Was she the only one floundering? It hardly seemed fair considering none of them had been attacked in the last few weeks, let alone twice! She deserved explanations and a little consideration. At that thought she found, surprisingly, that she was suddenly pretty pissed off. She revelled in the feeling for a moment.
Baby, I’ve missed you, she thought.
It sure beat the hell out of feeling scared, or miserable– two emotions that had been hogging her psyche these past few days. “Don’t mind me,” she drawled sarcastically, rudely interrupting the conversation but not caring an iota. “I’m sure I’ll be receiving my ‘Guide to the Supernatural World’ in the post shortly.” She smiled faux-sweetly, levelling her cool gaze on Maxwell.
Maxwell opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, frowning as if unsure as to the reason of her outburst. Then his brow cleared. “I’m sorry. I keep forgetting you haven’t
been filled in on all the intricate workings of the supernatural world. With everything going on…we were going to assign you a mentor…” he trailed off, looking uncomfortable.
Rose sighed, her annoyance vanishing almost as soon as quickly as it had arisen. It wasn’t Maxwell’s fault she wasn’t up to date on how things worked in this new reality. She knew that. And she knew if things were different, she would probably know what she was by now. But life, even in the supernatural world, could be a bitch, and from the sequence of events that had occurred, even more so. “It’s okay, forget it. Please continue. I’ll try to keep up.” She waved him to go on. “I’m just feeling a little bleugh.”
“No, let me explain a little about demons. I’d like to.” He smiled tentatively as if to ask if they were still friends.
Rose nodded, returning the smile.
“Demons aren’t ruled by anything but greed and occasionally power. They’re very egocentric beings and the demons that do exist on this plane are relatively harmless.”
Rose didn’t even attempt to disguise her scepticism. “I wouldn’t call the one that attacked me harmless by any stretch of the imagination.”
“No, because the one that attacked you wasn’t a resident of this plane.” He leant forward. “From what you and Thistle described, we were able to identify that particular demon as a higher level demon. To get here, it would have needed to be summoned.”
“Huh?”
Raven stepped in to explain. “Higher level demons can only enter our reality if summoned by a summoner.”
“Supernatural beings like you and me but with the power to bring forth and command demons,” Maxwell added.
“So there have always been demons in this reality?” Rose asked incredulously.
Maxwell nodded, shooting her a half smile. “They mostly like to mess humans around. You know, hide out in old houses and throw shit around the place, make thumping sounds. Human perception is different to ours, they don’t see things the way we do.”
“Poltergeists?”
“Yeah, you could call them that.”
