“Dude. It’s Thursday. Why were you out in the middle of the night? First patrol wasn’t till almost dawn. I mean Marcus, sure. Makes sense, but you need to sleep sometime, you know,” Sebastian said. Kai just shook his head and huffed out a breath. He was about to answer when a steaming drink was put in front of him.
“Better not to even ask at this point, man,” the waiter said, cutting off the question before it even formed. “Mom said bring it to you so here you are.”
“Right. As much as my brother will argue about it, I do know what’s good for me, and annoying your mother is not it.” Kai nodded at the waiter’s parting smirk and picked up the cup. “As I was about to say, it’s my responsibility to make sure everyone’s safe. I have to patrol around to make sure that neither that jerk with the mask or any hunters are out there lurking in the dark. Not to mention the vandals that still haven’t been caught.” He set his empty cup back on the table and started spinning it in neat turns on the paper placemat in front of him.
“Kai, you’re only one man,” Sebastian said.
“I got an email from that reporter. She wants permission to come wander around and pry into everyone’s privacy,” Kai said.
“Man. Persistent, isn’t she? What did you say?” Sebastian frowned.
“Told her to call the police if she wants a comment or hit the library if she wants a bedtime story.” Kai shrugged. “Honestly, I can handle hunters, but that reporter is making me nervous.”
“Yeah.” Sebastian fell silent and they both sat there, deep in thought for a few minutes. The waiter brought the soup out and they both nodded their thanks before falling on their meals like starving men. Kai’s soup was especially fragrant, and he wondered what sort of cure had been added to it. It made him grin to wonder. Every grandmother on Earth worthy of the title had some incontestable cure for anything that ailed a body. Kai was grateful to his good luck that Sebastian came here often enough to have been practically adopted into the restaurant’s family.
“So, what should we do about her?” Sebastian broke the silence after they had made significant inroads into their meals. Kai signed and leaned back in his chair.
“I honestly don’t know. Keep her off the property is all I can really think of. I mean, that wolf man lunatic is a genuine story, I can’t argue that.”
“I’m glad you agree with me,” said an amused female voice from behind him. Kai saw Seb’s eyes widen when he glanced up and felt his own jaw tighten before he turned around himself.
“Miss Jones,” Kai said.
“Mister Russell.” She matched his tone perfectly.
“I hope you’re having a good day,” Kai said. He may be stressed, exhausted, and irritated with the woman, but he still had his manners to fall back on at least. “I’m curious. How did you find my email address? I don’t remember giving it to you.”
“I’m a reporter, Mister Russell. Finding things out is what I do. You said you were the manager for the Village at Rancho San Calafia. It wasn’t very difficult information to get.” She smiled at Sebastian and stretched out her hand. “Nicole Jones. I’m doing a story on the monster attacks.”
“Monster. Attacks.” Sebastian’s voice was tight and Kai knew that this woman was unintentionally treading into a sensitive area.
“I know, I know. It’s a bit ridiculous to say it out loud.” Nicole shrugged and flashed him a flirty, self-deprecating grin. “Still, it’s a decent headline. Fun and grabs attention. Nobody has been actually hurt yet, just assaulted and frightened, so fun is still an option. The historical stories angle is pure fun but might be what inspired this guy.”
“Well we wish you luck with your story. The police seem to be perfectly competent and will no doubt give you excellent interviews.” Kai stood. He caught the eye of the waiter by the cash register and just reached over to hand off his card.
“I really want to get some interviews with victims or witnesses. And anyone who has a good monster sighting story. It seems that about half of them live in your apartments,” she said. She stared at him, waiting for his answer to the unspoken request, and he ignored it. Instead he simply stared back, careful to not let his reactions start giving him away. The waiter handing him the card back and he broke eye contact to sign the slip.
“I would really like to come interview some of them. Perhaps you could arrange something in a neutral place? Like your office, maybe?” she suggested. Kai had to admit, it was a reasonable offer. She would stop trying to get into the apartment and could still conduct the interviews. Nevertheless…
“I’m sorry,” he said, stepping away from the table. “You can ask them directly if you are inclined, and if you are not on private property, but I won’t help you. The residents look to me to protect their best interests as far as who is allowed access for non-social purposes. I can’t imagine having a reporter harass them would be deemed acceptable.” He stepped away from her, following his brother to the door.
“I hear you had some trouble with vandals recently. Do you think that’s related? Think this monster managed to get in and do some damage?” she asked. Kai’s teeth ground together again and he had to consciously relax his jaw.
“Miss Jones,” He turned back to her. Sebastian stopped in the door and turned to watch, silently. Kai could feel his brother’s energy get wilder the longer they stood there and hoped that they could get away from this reporter with their control left intact. “I have nothing to say to you on the record aside from ‘go away.’ But you may certainly quote me on that, for whatever it is worth to you. I would, however, like to thank you for interrupting my meal and driving business away from a family-owned restaurant. I’m sure that the owner would love to discuss it with you.”
“But…” her voice was cut off by the closing door and he and Sebastian both breathed a sigh of relief. They shared a glance and wordlessly turned towards The Apothecary. Doc and Sarah would be able to help them calm their tempers after the encounter. Maybe they had some good ideas for dealing with the press, too.
16
Two more wolf man sightings and one assault. It seemed that guy really was targeting the area around the Village. Kai leaned back in his desk chair and scrubbed his hand over his head. He glanced at the window, open to catch the springtime breeze and thought that maybe he should pack up and take his work out to the Green. At least then he could sit in the sun and warm up a bit.
He glanced back at the screen and scanned back down the article. Nicole Jones was like a dog with a bone on this story. She quoted several police sources, a college student that had been mugged on her way to the bus from a friend’s house and had provided both an artist’s sketch of what the suspect looked like— a fairly accurate image he had to admit—and a small map showing locations for several of the attacks. They weren’t exactly centered on the Village, but Kai wasn’t foolish enough to ignore the pattern. He should call another damn Council meeting for tonight and go over options.
He stretched and was rubbing his eyes when his computer chimed softly. A new email. Hopefully not more decisions needing to be made about the new clubhouse design. He was tired of going over it and just wanted the damn thing finished already.
Kai pulled up his inbox and frowned. Not from anyone involved with the renovations. Not anyone he knew, in fact. The sender’s address was a random string of letters and numbers that meant nothing to Kai, and was clearly a throwaway address— one of those free accounts that anyone could get, and Kai was sure it had been sent from a library or somewhere else public. Probably a spammer. The subject line was bizarre, but something about it made Kai pause and consider rather than just deleting the mail outright.
Payback’s a bitch, isn’t it?
What the hell did that mean? Kai reached forward and opened the mail.
Nice article in the Mercury News this morning, wasn’t it? It wasn’t any work at all to get a reporter snooping after you, and my employer is fairly satisfied for the moment, knowing that it’s driving you nuts. I won’t preten
d that I’m not also enjoying watching you sweat, after what you did to my wights.
Before, it was just a job. But you pissed me off, destroying all my hard work in that cave, so now I’m really motivated. I’m coming for you and your brother, and that damn witch, and this time there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop me.
No signature. Not that it mattered, Kai knew perfectly well who sent it. He dug his cell phone from his pocket.
“Seb? Get Sarah and get over here. We’ve got bigger problems than we thought.”
“So you think that the Los Gatos Werewolf and the reporter are both working for that warlock guy from last month?” Sarah shivered. Sebastian reached over and rubbed her back gently, and she leaned into him. Kai felt his heart squeeze, remembering just how close Sebastian had been to oblivion. If it hadn’t been for Sarah, if he’d lost his brother…
“I doubt that the reporter is working for him,” Jennifer shook her head and tapped the printout of the email that Kai had provided everyone. “This says that it wasn’t any work to get her snooping, so he probably just called in a tip and enticed her to do his dirty work for him. I believe him that it was easy, it’s a decent enough story. Actual crime reporting with a weird twist to it. It’s a good hook for a local paper.”
“And it’s a distraction for us,” Alex nodded. “If we’re all worrying about the reporter digging up more than crime statistics, then he’s free to work his scheme all but unimpeded.” Beside her Nick was nodding.
“But then why would he warn us? It seems like he’s giving away his advantage there by telling us about the connection?” Jennifer frowned at the printout.
“The guy was super arrogant,” Sarah said. “Totally full of himself. He probably couldn’t stand not getting credit for this mess.”
“He was bragging, you think?” Jennifer asked. Sarah nodded.
“So what now?” Kai stopped pacing and slumped into his own seat.
“Well, I’ll call the police and see what I can find out,” Jennifer said. “We’ll see if this pattern is real or if the attacks highlighted have been cherry picked.” She tapped the map that accompanied the article.
“And we know that this warlock is up to something,” Nick added. “The wolf man must be related to him and whatever his plot is. Which actually means we’re don’t need to add anything to what we’re already doing, just expand the scope of what we’re watching out for.”
“And we know that the warlock is both still on the last job and is personally invested. So whoever hired him last month besides my mother is still in play here,” Sarah added.
“Do you have any idea who would be out to get you?” Eric was sitting in a chair near the end of the table, having followed them all into the conference room as they’d arrived. Nobody had said anything so he’d pulled up a chair like everyone else but had till now stayed silent.
“I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head,” Kai slumped back in his chair. “I’ll have to think harder though. Anyone else?” A quiet rumble of negatives rolled around the table.
“It’s a good point though. Why would someone target you?” Sarah asked, “And we know it’s you personally that they’re after.”
“We do?” Eric asked. He was frowning slightly and there was a dark gleam in his expression that Kai couldn’t quite put a name to.
“Yeah, we do. When that warlock kidnapped me last month, he was on the phone when I woke up. I heard part of his conversation. It seems that whoever his employer is has a major grudge against Kai, specifically. He was going to use hurting Sebastian to drive me back to New York and my mother, and to hurt Kai where it would do the most damage. His family,” Sara said. Eric’s frown deepened into a small scowl.
“I agree. He’s after you, Kai, of some reason we haven’t figured out yet. So, I think you should be extra careful.” Jennifer turned to him. “You’re the real target, whatever happens.”
“And these guys already know that the best way to hurt him is to hurt us,” Alex said. She pointed at Eric, Sebastian, and Sarah. “You three are the closest to him, so you need to take precautions too.”
“You’re right, Alex.” Kai let his breath out long and slow. “Eric, you’re probably the most vulnerable one of us. It would kill me to see something happen to you because you got caught up in this mess. If you wanted to head home early I wouldn’t blame you.” He met Eric’s dark gaze and something dark flickered in his brother’s eyes even as a grin broke out on his face.
“Are you kidding?” he laughed. “Screw that. I still have two weeks left in my vacation! I’m supposed to go see the Winchester Mystery House and tour Alcatraz next week! I’m not letting some punk drive me away from being a good tourist.”
Kai laughed. Eric had a point. This warlock was trying to intimidate them. Whatever the man wanted, he wouldn’t get. That much Kai wanted to make certain of. He would take care of his family, and his community. This warlock wanted him? The guy could come get him.
“Okay.” Kai nodded after a moment. “But if you want to go out or whatever, be smart about it, okay? Let one of us know where you’re going. Maybe don’t go far on your own. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know it, brother,” Eric said. “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
17
Kai walked out of the conference room with his brothers, Sarah laughing right behind them. They stepped into the afternoon sunshine— one of the distinct advantages to living in Northern California, Kai smiled to himself. Even in the end of February it’s sunny and warm in the afternoon. They headed over to check out the pool which was being resealed and a new deck put in.
“I can’t wait for the hot tub!” Sebastian grinned over at Sarah, who blushed and shoved him in the shoulder.
“You are such a guy sometimes. I am not wearing that thing you found online,” she laughed.
“It’s just a swimsuit! You’d look hot!” Sebastian danced away from another shove and Sarah followed him, laughing harder. Kai raised his brow at Eric who pretended to gag before grinning back. It felt good to just enjoy the moment. He was here, with his brothers, on a beautiful day: all the cheesy stuff— the sun was shining, the birds were singing, there were puffy white clouds drifting through a perfect blue sky— and he loved it. It was home, and it was perfect, even with all the stress and trouble. Something about how fast everyone had responded and banded together immediately had eased his nerves.
Well, almost.
“You’ve settled on a final design then?” Sarah asked as they drew up to the fence around the pool. He was looking towards the clubhouse. They’d reopened access to it— from the side opposite the pool where the crews were still working— but the windows were still boarded up.
“Yeah. Final approval yesterday. They’re going to send some people out next week. No idea when they’re actually going to start working yet, though. I’ll let you know when there’s a firm schedule in place.” Kai nodded.
“Any clues on who did it yet?” Eric asked. Kai shook his head. The police had been through the place like locusts, and then later on, Mr. Young and Doc and Sarah had gone over it again while Kai and Sebastian and a few others ranged around the perimeter and a bit beyond. Tonight, Kai was thinking he should head over to the cave where they had battled the wights last month. Now that he knew that same warlock was involved, he wanted to make certain they’d been thorough. He was sure that they had been, and he’d already checked the place again several times since that fight, but he wasn’t going to take any chances. Not with his people’s lives.
Shaking off the shiver that skittered across his shoulders he turned away from the fence. Eric and Sarah were discussing the merits of tiled pools but he didn’t care much. As long as the pool was filled with water and happy people it didn’t matter to him if it was made of platinum or plastic. He stretched lazily, arms over his head, and started to wonder what to do about dinner— there was some fish in the freezer that could make some amazing tacos— when a woman came stridin
g out from between two buildings following a serene and silent Mr. Young. Kai was heading towards them before he’d finished dropping his arms.
“Sir, are you not concerned about these attacks? They seem to be centered in this area.” Nicole was saying. She was clutching her small recorder to her chest, like she already knew she wasn’t getting a quote from him but was still hoping past reason. Mr. Young caught Kai’s eye when he got close and winked.
“I was hoping to catch you, sir. I have some news you might be interested in,” Kai ducked his head in respect for a moment before turning on the reporter, his voice going cold. “You are trespassing.”
“I am exercising the right of a free press.” Nicole turned to him and glared, daring him to argue. She wanted an argument? She could have one, no problem.
“This is private property. And you are trespassing on it. Unless you are a guest of a resident, which I very sincerely doubt, you have no right to be here at all and a free press doesn’t change any of that,” Kai said.
“I was having a conversation with this gentleman here, and you are interrupting.” She countered. Kai laughed at that, raising his eyebrows at Mr. Young who smiled softly in return.
“You weren’t having a conversation with him,” Kai turned back to her. “You were throwing questions and statements at him and getting nothing at all back. You’d get more quotes from interviewing a rock.” Nicole blinked at him, obviously confused. Kai knew that the others had come up behind him during his comment. He heard Sebastian smother a laugh.
“Wait, she was trying to interview—” Sebastian glanced at Mr. Young. He and Sarah sketched polite bows to him and he nodded gravely back to them. Kai saw the old man’s eyes twinkling behind the serious face however and was reassured that he had not been offended or upset. This reporter had no idea what she was pestering.
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