“I’m fine,” he ground out. “Considering the woman I love is dumping me.”
“You don’t look fine. You look like you’re going to wolf out any second.”
He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. His skin had changed, because I could see it returning to its normal tan. I took a step back, and Nick spoke without opening his eyes. “I’m not going to shift, Cordi.”
“Okay.” But I was going to stay out of reach in case he was wrong.
His eyes were still gold when he opened them. “I scared you. I’m sorry.”
No, he hadn’t. Worried me a bit yes, but it wasn’t worth pointing out. “I’m sorry I’ve hurt you. I never meant to.”
“We don’t have to break up.”
Oh yeah, we did, especially after this. “I care about you, Nick, but we’re not going to work out. There’s too many things we don’t agree on.”
His lips tightened. “There’s compromises we could make.”
I hadn’t had this much trouble breaking up with a guy before, and really, really wanted to be done. “I doubt either of us will budge on some important things.”
“So you get to decide we’re over and it doesn’t matter what I think?”
For the love of little fishies. I took a breath and blew it out. “I get to decide for me.”
“But you’re deciding for me too.”
“Yeah, and I’m pretty sure you’re going to be a lot better off without me around, pissing you off all the time.” I felt like screaming. “It’s late, and I need to get home.”
“I’ll drive you. I want to talk some more.”
I shook my head. “No, I have my car.”
“Come on, Cordi.”
“Nick, for God’s sake, back off. We’re done here, okay? I’m not your girlfriend anymore. I don’t want to keep explaining why, and I’m going home now. Good-bye.” I stepped forward, snatched up my purse and phone, and teleported out to the parking lot. While digging for my keys, I called Leglin, who’d been napping in my office.
“Everything okay?”
I whirled around, nearly falling over my hound, to see Soames standing by the rear of my car. “Holy crap, dude. Don’t sneak up on me.”
“Sorry.”
Leglin licked my hand. I opened the door so that he could climb in. “Your ride’s not here yet?”
Soames hitched one shoulder upward, glancing toward the street. “I, ah, haven’t called. Wanted to make sure things were okay before I left.”
“Oh. Could you hear us?” I hoped not.
“No, but I would’ve heard someone breaking things. You know, if you tossed Nick into a wall or something.”
Or if Nick had done something and I had screamed. I appreciated that he hadn’t said that. “Thanks. Get in, and we’ll drive you home.”
He looked at the building. “Is he okay?”
“Mad, but breathing.”
“All right.”
As we pulled away, I spotted Nick leaving the office. Head down, he slowly crossed to his truck.
I felt really bad at that point, watching him, but knew I’d made the right choice.
Eleven
At the first stoplight, Soames cleared his throat. “Should I stay quiet, or is it okay to talk?”
“A distraction would be nice.”
“What he said back there, about us keeping our mouths shut? That’s not entirely true. I mean, I won’t volunteer the information to anyone. Not right now, but when the case is over,” he shrugged. “Unless Lord Whitehaven specifically tells me to keep quiet, I won’t. I’ll tell my Queen and Logan.”
“Why them? Why not the police?”
“We’re clan. What each of us does affects us all. Something like that will explode—Nick’s right about it spilling over to everyone who isn’t human. I can’t make the decision to put the clan into jeopardy over it.”
I nodded, understanding even if it frustrated me. “It’s not right to leave them hidden.”
“No,” he agreed. “And I’m almost certain Terra and Logan will decide I should tell someone, or back you when you do. It’s the right thing to do, and besides, Logan’s mother disappeared. They never found her body.”
“Oh.” I tried to imagine my mom disappearing and never finding her. The idea squeezed my heart and brought tears to my eyes. “That’s horrible.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have told you about it, but I want you to know we’ll probably have your back over those poor people.” Soames fidgeted, picking at a non-existent thread on his jeans. “Things are better than they were, right after the Melding, but we’ve learned our lessons on how dangerous humans are when they’re scared and angry.”
“Yeah.” In some places, supes had been rounded up and placed in “camps” under military guard. Santo Trueno hadn’t been one of those places, and those camps hadn’t lasted for long. The elves had had a lot to do with calming things down and working out solutions. But people from both groups had still died, before supes were granted full citizenship in most countries.
“Is it hard, living in the Palisades?”
Soames chuckled. “It sucks in oh, so many ways, but we were outcasts, just like most of the humans who live there. They’ve mostly accepted us.”
Not exactly what I expected to hear, after years of news reports detailing how awful and violent that area was. Then again, they were shifters and could take care of themselves. At least as long as a big, organized group didn’t go after them, intending to wipe them out. “Well, that’s good.”
I arrived home a few minutes after four AM, and dropped into bed as soon as possible. It felt as though my eyes had barely closed when my fairy godfather, Sal, decided to pay a visit.
The darkness became a lush, tropical garden. I could feel the warmth of the sun, and a hint of coolness as a breeze rustled leaves around me.
Peaceful place, until a voice spoke from behind me. “What is it with you, child? Do you truly enjoy flinging yourself headlong into danger?”
Turning, I studied him. Sal looked like a short, elderly Native American man, his face a mass of deep wrinkles, and his long hair a silvery white. His dark eyes were clear, and I knew he had a set of strong, white chompers hidden behind his thin lips.
“Well?”
“I like your outfit.” He wore buckskins, plain except for fringing down the side of each leg, and a touch of beadwork at the neck of the long-sleeved tunic. The beadwork didn’t look Native American to me, not that I was an expert or anything.
“Thank you, but a compliment isn’t an answer to my question.”
“I like doing my job and solving cases.”
“Commendable.”
“You sound like Mr. Whitehaven.”
Sal ignored that. “Once again, you’re in grave danger.”
“Duh. I know where the vampires hid the bodies.”
He rolled his eyes. “Not that, but yes, you are in immediate danger from vampires. You really should choose your enemies more carefully.”
I snorted. “Right.”
“However, you are improving in the area of choosing friends.”
Was he talking about Nick? My eyes narrowed. How did he know so damn much about what went on in my life? “Are you a god?”
“Took you long enough to figure that out.”
My turn to ignore something. Yippee. “Which god are you?”
Sal chuckled. “For me to know, and you to find out.”
Hm, maybe Loki, the Trickster? I really needed to find out more about gods in general. Logan had told me that gods considered people investments of sorts. “Is there something you want me to do?”
“Absolutely. I want you to survive. No, not just survive, but to thrive.” He grinned, showing off his pearly whites.
“Color me suspicious of a god who says that’s all he wants. The other two I’ve met weren’t exactly nice guys. One treated me like an interesting bug he’d found, and the other tried to eat me.”
“Yes, well, the years haven’t been kind to Apep. He’s gone a
bit,” Sal twirled his forefinger beside his head. “And Cernunnos isn’t a bad fellow, but he does lack a decent bedside manner.” He leaned forward to whisper, “He hangs out with animals more than people, you know.”
“Uh huh. But you, you’re friendly and only concerned with my well-being. Right.” I crossed my arms and stared at him.
“Of course. You’re one of the cool kids, handed a bushel of powerful toys to play with. I’m interested in what you’ll do with those toys.”
“I’ve already decided: I use my abilities to help people.”
Sal cocked his head, an impish grin playing about his lips as he squinted at me. “Ah, but is that what you’ll always do? The world’s a steaming cesspool, and living in it affects everyone differently. In a manner of speaking, it refines them down to their basic components.”
He was getting too deep for me. “And?”
“In ten years, assuming you live that long, will you still be little Miss Helpful, concerned for others? How about in twenty years?” Sal moved closer, his dark gaze intent and his grin gone. “When you have years of witnessing the evil people are capable of, the pettiness that can drive them, their glorious depravity, will you still feel a desire to play this small part? To continue helping people?”
I let my arms fall. “Going Dark Side isn’t on my agenda, if that’s what you’re asking. The world does suck a lot, but there’s good people in it. I want to be one of them.”
Sal stepped back, his lips pursed. “I’m eager to see what happens with you, Discordia. You’re an interesting little girl.”
“Gee, thanks.”
He laughed. “Try to stay alive, child.”
“Now that is on my agenda. Right up at number one.”
“Good.” He faded away, the garden going with him.
My eyes opened. “Freakin’ gods.”
I stumbled into the kitchen around noon to make coffee, only to discover Mom had set up the coffeemaker for me. She’d also left a plate of blackberry muffins, with a note that they were my breakfast, and she’d taken Red to work with her.
Dogs gathered around as I leaned against the counter, pulling the plastic wrap off the plate. “I’m not awake enough to share.”
“We really like muffins,” Bone said, watching while I pulled the paper baking cup off the first muffin.
“There’s only six.”
“You’re going to hog them all?”
I looked down. “You guys had breakfast. You’re all going to get fat if we keep giving you treats.”
“We’re dogs, genius. We don’t care about being fat.” Diablo jumped up, resting his paws on the edge of the counter, and eyed the plate. “That many is six?”
“With this one.” I took a bite, wishing the coffee would hurry up and finish brewing. “Red really likes my mom, huh?”
“We all do. You know, the little ones go crazy stupid when they get sweet stuff. It’s pretty funny.” Bone let his tongue loll out when an indignant chorus rose. Squishy felt particularly miffed, and began chewing on one of Bone’s front legs.
“Hey, no biting.” I bent to pull her away, and Diablo stole one of my muffins. “Dude!”
“Mm.” He licked his lips, muffin gone, paper and all.
“Crap.” Now I had to let everyone have a bite to be fair. By the time I’d parceled the treats out, there were only two muffins left. “Thanks a lot, Diablo.”
The black pit bull grinned, still licking his chops. I pushed the plate away from the countertop’s edge before pouring myself a cup of coffee. “By the way, Nick won’t be coming over anymore. We broke up last night.”
Diablo was the first to respond, with a grunted “Good.”
His opinion reflected the general doggy consensus, leaving me rather huffy. Even dogs wanted to weigh in on my damn choices. “Thanks a lot, guys. This has been an awesome start to my day.”
Dread over seeing Nick again so soon after breaking up caused me to drag my feet. I didn’t reach the office until after three, only to see his truck wasn’t in the parking lot.
Tabitha greeted me with a bright smile and “Mr. Whitehaven wants to see you in his office.”
She wore a black headband with fuzzy, fake tiger ears and a black and white sweater set over a black skirt, with orange and black striped socks to complete the ensemble. I needed to step up my game. Mr. Whitehaven wouldn’t be out of place on the cover of a men’s fashion magazine, while Kate, and now Tabitha, could be poster girls for cool. Me, I was in well-worn jeans, black running shoes, and plain, dark blue sweatshirt. I looked like a couch potato. “Okay, thanks. Cute ears.”
Wondering if Nick had called in sick, and silently berating myself for the relief I felt that he wasn’t there, I dropped off my purse in my office before going to see the boss. “Hi. What’s up?”
He looked up from the file he was reading. “Good afternoon, Discordia. Please, have a seat.”
“Sure.” I dropped onto the couch while he set the file aside.
“Nicholas was in early this morning, and requested a leave of absence.”
“Oh.” Well, more guilt for me. Perfect addition to my day. “I kind of broke up with him last night.”
“I see. I granted his request, though that does leave us short-handed on your current case.”
And that was why office romances were a bad idea. “We can manage. There may not be much case left to work on.” I filled him in on the events of last night, including finding all the bodies and discovering that Stone was a dhampyr, and Derrick’s son. “I think Soames and I can handle the rest okay, with Leglin and Stone, if Derrick leaves him on loan to us.”
“If you’re certain?” When I nodded, he glanced at the file. “It sounds as though the case is going well.”
“Pretty well. Um, Nick said some vampire might decide to keep me from talking, you know, about finding those bodies. Like, permanently.”
Mr. Whitehaven smiled. “I wouldn’t worry overmuch on that score. Most will realize that you’d inform me of your findings. Removing you wouldn’t solve their problem.”
Well, duh. Why hadn’t we thought of that? “That’s a relief.”
“I did say ‘most’. Don’t allow your guard to drop.”
“Right.” I picked at the hem of my sweatshirt. “What do you think Derrick will do about them?”
“Whatever he can that will generate good will and press for his people.”
How would that even be possible? “Can’t wait to see how he manages that.”
“I’m rather interested, myself.”
We traded a smile, and I stood. “Guess I’d better get to work.”
“Very well. Have a good evening.”
“You too.” I left for the War Room, and once there, realized I wanted someone to bounce ideas off of. Someone with more experience as a detective.
Fortunately, I knew just who to call.
Twelve
While waiting for Damian to arrive, I called Soames to see if he was ready, and teleported to bring him to the office rather than fight traffic.
Once we’d arrived, Soames asked, “What are we doing today?”
“Haven’t heard from our client about the witnesses yet. I’ve called Damian. Have you met him?”
“Sort of. He’s the police detective who did that time-lapse spell, right?”
I nodded. “I want to run what we know so far by him, plus some ideas about what our next steps should be. But let’s not mention last night’s big discovery, okay?”
“The bodies, yeah. Okay. I’ll get the photos down.” Soames did that while I went to fetch us some drinks from the break room. He’d finished by time I returned, the photos tucked into the case folder we were keeping on hand. “Why do you want a second opinion?”
I waved at the table and as we sat down, hid the case folder under my purse. “Because I’m not relying on my psychic abilities for this case. Can’t, since they’re not exactly being helpful. We’re having to do this old school, and I don’t have loads of experie
nce solving cases that way.”
“Huh.” He sat back, glancing at the white boards. “Could’ve fooled me. Not that I know a lot about it, but I think you’ve made pretty good progress.”
A warm glow of pleasure enveloped me. “That’s ‘we’, dude. We’re a team.”
He smiled. “Okay, we’ve made pretty good progress.”
“Damian has a few years of experience on us, and I trust him to point out stuff we may not think of.”
“All right, makes sense. So what are your ideas about our next steps?”
I shrugged, wanting to see what sort of ideas he’d toss out first, and if any of them would line up with my ideas. “You tell me. Pretend you’ve just come into the case. What pops up?”
Soames propped his arm on the table and rubbed his chin. “Uh...what about trying to find more connections between the murder victims? We know three weren’t really on board the Don’t Kill Humans train. But Esme and family were, so how do they fit in with those three? Or do they at all? Are we looking for one killer, or two?”
“Good.” He was coming up with the same questions. “Any other ideas?”
Brow furrowing, he thought about it for a minute before shaking his head. “None that I can think of right now.”
“Cool. I’m guessing we’re probably on the right track, because you have the same questions I do.” We heard Tabitha greeting someone, and when she received a response, I said, “Damian’s here.”
After I’d introduced the two men, I spread my arms out. “Ta-dah. Our case wall. How’d we do?”
Damian walked down to look over the first section. “Why are there so many vics here?”
“All members of the same family.”
He nodded and looked over the other sections. “No related vics with these?”
“None that we currently know about.” It wasn’t an actual lie, considering the context of his question.
Damian stared at Merriven’s photo. “Isn’t this the vamp who turned your friend?”
“Yup.”
“Did you celebrate his demise?”
I laughed. “Haven’t had time to yet.”
Save the Last Vamp for Me (Discord Jones Book 3) Page 9
