Thrall

by Jennifer Blackstream

  “The ghost.”

  “Spirit.”

  He shrugged. “So, you think Scath is somehow connected to…” He trailed off, refusing to say her name. “The queen?” he finished finally.

  Even though it wasn’t quite four o’ clock, and there was still a decent amount of sunlight in the sky, I hated to talk about the fey Queen of Air and Darkness. Even thinking about the insane monarch sent chills down my spine, filled me with a certainty that somehow she knew I was thinking of her.

  “All I know is that a lot of people react oddly to Scath. More so than you’d expect. Especially Morgan. And the oracle was clear that Morgan wanted more information on Scath, and the reason the oracle wouldn’t give her that information was for fear of…her reaction.”

  Liam turned onto my street. Before I could forget, I added, “Just so you know, Scath and I had a conversation about her helping me. I told her I wasn’t comfortable accepting help for nothing.”

  “Always something to avoid with the fey,” Liam agreed.

  “Exactly. So now we have a deal. I let her live with me and help me with cases, and she provides bodyguard services along with help on said cases.”

  Liam parked in an empty space and nodded. “Even trade, sounds good.”

  I pulled my cell phone out of the side pocket of my waist pouch and texted Scath.

  Liam raised his eyebrows. “She has a cell phone now?”

  “I bought her a cheap one, something that won’t be a huge loss if she loses it. She’s been trying to stay in human form for longer periods of time. I think she spent so much time in cat form that being human is difficult for her now.”

  “Considering we didn’t even know she had a human form at first, I’d buy that.” Liam paused. “How long do you think she was in cat form?”

  “I have no idea. But based on what her voice sounded like initially, and how awkwardly she moved on two legs those first few weeks, I have to assume it was significant.” I nodded when Scath texted me back. “She’s coming down.”

  I don’t know what Liam was expecting from Scath. He’d only seen her briefly as a human, right after his call had pulled her out of her beast against her will. His Shade hiatus had begun right after that, so this was, in many respects, his first real encounter with the sidhe.

  I don’t think he was expecting the small pouch hanging from a long strap criss-crossed over her body.

  Or the kitten tucked into said pouch.

  Scath walked out of the building with the intensity of a soldier stepping onto a battlefield, expecting to be shot at from any direction. Her hair, though much longer than it had originally been thanks to shifting back and forth from human to cat, was still too short to style. It stuck out from her head in spikes that reminded me of a character from an anime. She wore a black tunic-style shirt and black leggings with a pair of beat up soft leather boots.

  “I don’t know why she’s bringing him,” Peasblossom complained. “He’s probably going to summon an elephant right here in the back seat.”

  I rolled my eyes. “It’ll be fine. Scath was right, if I give him opportunities to…let off steam, he doesn’t ‘go off’ quite so randomly.”

  It was mostly true. I didn’t think there was any need to go into detail about how Majesty still wasn’t quite magically housebroken. The chance he’d shrink Liam down to halfing size was minimal—hardly worth mentioning.

  Scath climbed into the backseat and nodded a greeting to Liam. I knew her well enough by now to know she didn’t appreciate small talk, so I got right to it and explained what we knew so far and where we were going.

  “Kylie is the ghoul, yes?” she asked.

  Her voice had smoothed out a little now that she’d started staying in human form for longer periods of time. But there was still something about her tone that made me think of a stranger holding a discreet, but deadly blade. Or maybe I was just paranoid.

  “No, she’s a half-ghoul,” Liam corrected her.

  “So she hasn’t eaten the flesh of the dead. Yet.”

  “No, she hasn’t,” I confirmed. “And she’s trying very hard to keep it that way.”

  And I really hoped she’d keep it that way.

  Scath narrowed her green eyes. “You sound funny. Is there more?”

  “Shade promised Kylie she’d kill her if she went full on ghoul,” Peasblossom told her.

  Scath’s eyebrows twitched up at that. I slumped in my seat. Nothing made a car ride quite as uncomfortable as the reminder that you have a murder pact with the friend and colleague you’re about to visit.

  The drive seemed to take twice as long as it should have, as did the walk through the coroner’s building to see Kylie. Unlike the image most people got when they thought of a morgue, the Cuyahoga County Morgue was on the top floor of a building in the center of Cleveland. Walls of windows provided a flood of natural light that was almost enough to take away the heavy feeling that came with being around the dead.

  Almost.

  As we came down the long hallway, a man’s voice bellowed from behind the closed door of the morgue. Liam stiffened just outside the door, listening. But you didn’t need a shifter’s sensitive hearing to catch the man’s next words.

  “I want to know what killed her. And don’t pretend it was some random coyote or an escaped circus animal. I know what you are, and we both know what did this. It was a werewolf, wasn’t it?”

  Liam threw the door open with the force of someone who’s recognized the antagonist and is ready for a showdown. I followed quickly behind him, sweeping my attention over the room. There were only two people inside the morgue. Well, two living people.

  The first was Kylie. The morgue technician stood with her feet planted shoulder width apart, holding onto a clipboard as if fighting the urge to brain her companion with it. The man shouting at her was her polar opposite, black hair circling a bald head to her blonde, and barrel-chested to her thin frame. He whirled when Liam entered the room, and if his flinch was any indication, he recognized the werewolf.

  “What’s going on?” Liam demanded, his voice cold. “Detective Stafford, is there a reason you’re shouting at Ms. Rose?”

  “Yeah, there is.” Detective Stafford jabbed a finger at Kylie. “She’s withholding information I need to solve my case.”

  “And what information might that be?” Liam asked.

  Detective Stafford pressed his lips together, then puffed his chest out in open defiance. “That werewolves killed Jamila Samaha.”

  Kylie didn’t say anything, just kept boring holes through the loud detective with that dead-eyed stare. I hesitated before breaking into the conversation, distracted by the half-ghoul. She looked…different. Paler maybe. No, not paler. Grey. She had the pallor of a dead woman.

  I shared a look with Scath. The sidhe sniffed the air, a considering look on her face. Kylie noticed, and she scowled.

  “I know what you are,” Detective Stafford told Liam. “And if you’ve come here to cover this up, it won’t work. Werewolves killed this woman, and they’re not going to get away with it.”

  “If you know who I am, then you know I’m the head of the Wild Animal Task Force,” Liam said evenly. “This,” he pointed at the body lying on the table, “was declared an animal attack. That makes it my case. If you don’t like it, you can take it up with the mayor.”

  The detective bristled, but seemed to have nothing to say to that. “And who are you?” he demanded, refocusing his ire to me.

  “My name is Shade Renard. Mother Renard. And I’m consulting with Detective Sergeant Osbourne.” I gestured to Scath. “This is my bodyguard, Ms. Scath.”

  The word bodyguard gave the detective pause. He studied Scath with a wariness any Other showed when they realized someone else in the room wasn’t human, and they didn’t know exactly what flavor of non-human they were.

  “If you don’t mind, I have an investigation to get on with,” Liam prompted him.

  Detective Stafford tensed, his eyes darting from
side to side. I’d seen that sort of look before. It was the look of someone about to be excluded, someone who was desperate to think of some way to stay involved. Suddenly he brightened. “Wait. You need me on this case with you.”

  “Do I?” Liam asked. His tone made his opinion of the matter clear.

  “Yeah, you do. Unless of course you know where Jamila worked?” He crossed his arms, or tried to. Despite a slight gut, the man obviously worked out, and a muscled chest wasn’t any more conducive to crossed arms than big breasts were, so it didn’t quite work out. “She was an illegal. Not exactly easy to pull up those kind of employment records.”

  “Don’t call her that,” I said automatically. “She’s a person, not a thing.”

  He ignored me. Behind my neck, I felt Peasblossom start scooting her slippered feet back and forth over the collar of my shirt.

  “I’ll bet you didn’t even know her name, did you?” Stafford pressed. He jabbed a finger at the file Liam held at his side. “It wasn’t in the report.”

  “Actually, I knew her name,” I said evenly.

  Stafford’s shoulders fell, but only for a second. “But do you know where she worked? Because I do. And if you keep me on the case, I’ll take you there.”

  Liam studied him for a long minute. I didn’t know how hard it would be for him to find out where Jamila had worked, but I’d bet he recognized that Detective Stafford already possessing that information was a problem. If we kicked him off the case now, there was nothing to stop him from going ahead to Jamila’s place of business and muddying the waters. There were all kinds of ways for a man to ruin an investigation, even if he were trying to “help.”

  “Fine,” Liam said finally. “You can come with us to interview her employer.”

  Detective Stafford smirked.

  Peasblossom leapt off my neck. I felt an electrical tug when she lifted off, and rubbed my neck to get rid of the sensation. A second later, Detective Stafford yelped and slapped a hand over his cheek. Peasblossom snickered as she flew past my ear.

  “Something just bit me!”

  Kylie turned to Liam without a hint of a smile, her expression cool and professional. “The injuries on Jamila’s body are consistent with a werewolf attack, and the saliva samples I analyzed confirm what Vincent’s spell already told us at the scene. A werewolf killed Jamila.”

  She frowned. “I still can’t explain why she didn’t try to defend herself. The tox screen came back negative. That’s our tox screen, not the official one, that one won’t be back for weeks. Our screen tests for a lot more though, so there’s no reason to wait.”

  I waited to see if Liam would mention what I’d told him about Jamila’s astral self being pulled out of her body before the attack. If it had been just Kylie, I’d have told her myself. But I wasn’t sure Liam wanted Detective Stafford to have that information.

  “I knew it,” the detective said. He stepped closer to Kylie, invading her personal space. “I want the DNA from that saliva tested and run through the system.”

  “I will take care of the DNA comparisons,” Liam interrupted. “You’re not coming into my pack and—”

  “I have no intention of testing your pack,” Detective Stafford told him. “I don’t think they had anything to do with it.”

  “Then why do you want the DNA results?” I asked.

  The man started to say something, but changed his mind at the last minute. “You’re right,” he said finally. “I’ll leave that to you, Detective Sergeant Osbourne.”

  I didn’t like the way he said it, and Liam didn’t seem to care for it either.

  “There’s something else.” Kylie grasped Jamila’s shoulder and pushed, turning the body enough to reveal a section of her back just behind her right shoulder. “The werewolf that did this bit a big chunk out of her body behind the right shoulder. I didn’t find any flesh on the ground near the rest of the body.”

  “They ate it.” My stomach rolled.

  Kylie nodded. “But the strange thing is, they didn’t eat any other body parts. Her organs are all accounted for, and as far as I can tell, there are no other areas missing enough flesh to suggest feeding.”

  “Maybe the wolf jumped her and that’s where they took the first bite?” Stafford suggested.

  “If that were true, someone would have heard her scream,” I pointed out.

  “They didn’t hear her scream when the rest of this happened,” Stafford argued, gesturing at the body.

  I wasn’t ready to tell him about Jamila being pulled to the astral plane, so I didn’t say anything. But if the separation of her mind and body was the reason no one heard her scream during her murder, then it would not explain why no one had heard her scream from the bite, if the bite were taken when her assailants first caught up to her as Stafford suggested.

  “You’re right,” I said finally. “I have no explanation for that.”

  “How about people are lying?” Stafford said sarcastically. “Maybe they did hear the screams, and now they’re too ashamed to admit they heard someone in trouble but couldn’t be bothered to help.”

  “I hate to say it, but it’s a possibility,” I admitted. “It’s not unusual for people in big cities to hesitate before getting involved in things like that.”

  “You said you know who Jamila worked for?” Liam reminded Stafford.

  The detective nodded, already heading for the door. “Indeed I do. And no one can say I’m not a man of my word, so if you’ll follow me…”

  He didn’t wait for an answer before marching out of the room.

  “I hate that man,” Kylie said under her breath.

  “Everyone hates him,” Liam answered, keeping his voice low. “He’s a degenerate gambler, and a glory hog.”

  “What is he?” I asked. “He knows about the Otherworld.”

  “He’s a clairvoyant that specializes in psychometry,” Liam answered. “He’ll touch something and get a flash of insight. As far as I can tell, he doesn’t have a lot of control over it, and he doesn’t get much information. Usually just enough to point him in the right direction. Enough that I know a few cops that have asked him to come in and touch something on the off chance he’ll be able to give them a fresh lead.”

  “Sounds helpful,” I said carefully.

  Liam rolled his shoulders. “It has been. But he worked with Blake on a case last year, a drug operation some genius decided to operate on the reservation. Stafford touched one of the plants and got a vision of the person who’d planted it. But instead of telling Blake, he decided to blackmail the grower instead.”

  “And he’s still on the force?” I asked.

  “His victim refused to testify,” Liam said, his frustration clear in the vein bulging in his temple. “But suffice to say, I view all his help as suspect.”

  “Want me to shock him again?” Peasblossom waved one slippered foot in offering.

  Liam’s mouth quirked at the corner, but he shook his head. “No. For now we need him. After he takes us to Jamila’s employer, we’ll shake him loose.”

  Kylie waved goodbye and turned back to the body. I hesitated by the doorway after Liam and Scath left.

  “Are you all right?” I asked.

  “It’s not time for you to kill me yet, if that’s what you’re asking,” Kylie said shortly.

  I didn’t flinch. I didn’t know Kylie well, but I knew her enough to know that she was generally curt, but calm. She’d lashed out just then, sarcasm instead of her usual forthrightness. Something was definitely wrong.

  “Shade?” Liam called.

  I swore to myself and followed him out, making a mental note to come back and talk to Kylie soon.

  “Something wrong?” he asked.

  I glanced ahead to make sure Detective Stafford wasn’t within earshot. “Does Kylie seem off to you?”

  “She smells off.”

  I stopped walking, unease rolling in a chill down my spine. “In what way?”

  “Don’t stop, we can’t let him ge
t so far ahead of us that he can say he lost us by accident.”

  I frowned, but picked up the pace to meet Liam at his vehicle. “What do you mean she smells off?”

  Liam climbed into the driver’s seat and waited for me to close my door before he answered. “Put plainly, she’s starting to smell more like a dead body. She always smells like death, not just because of what she is, but because of where she works. But that smell is stronger now, and there’s less… I don’t know how to put it. Less life to cover the odor.”

  “You think she’s turning.” My stomach rolled.

  “I think I’ll be having a chat with her about it soon enough,” Liam said grimly.

  Chapter 4

  “I really thought he’d speed off and try to lose us,” I said, watching the taillights of Detective Stafford’s official vehicle as he dutifully stopped at a yellow light.

  “So did I.” Liam eased on the brake, glancing at me when the truck came to a complete stop. “Why do you think he’s so concerned about his victims talking to Arianne? She turned Jamila down, whoever this guy is, he must have known that. But he killed her anyway, so obviously keeping his other victims away from Arianne was worth losing whatever he’d invested in Jamila.”

  “I don’t know. It could be as simple as he’s mistreating Syrian refugees, and he’s afraid of what Arianne might do if she found out. She might not want to get involved, but if she found out someone was out there targeting Syrian women, maybe he figures that’s something she wouldn’t let slide?”

  “She seems pretty angry,” Scath agreed.

  “Angry Jamila was killed, or angry because her name was mentioned, and she’s very touchy about any conflict that might affect her organization?” Liam asked.

  “Maybe both?” I let my head fall back against my seat. “Arianne is scary, maybe he just doesn’t want her to notice him at all.”

  Detective Stafford’s turn signal blinked at us as he pulled into the driveway of a Shaker Heights home. I followed the immaculate cement pathway up to a Mediterranean style white brick house with large double front doors tucked beneath a second floor balcony. A two car garage sat perpendicular to the front of the house with three Palladian windows on the side facing the street.