by E. S. Moore
There were a few coins shoved into his left pants pocket, but nothing else. I checked for a wallet in a back pocket, but it was empty as well. I scanned the ground nearby, thinking it may have fallen out, but if it had, someone had kicked it away. There wasn’t even a key on him to tell me where he might have been staying.
I rose and found the cubby he’d come out of. Lying on a low windowsill near the ground was his briefcase. It stood open and the first thing I noticed was the serrated knife resting front and center. It looked as though he’d taken the time to lay it out so he could brandish it at his victim before using it.
There were at least a dozen syringes and vials snugly placed in foam cutouts inside the case. There was an empty spot where the broken syringe had been and a spot that the knife would fit in. Other than that, nothing else.
I had no idea how long Adrian would take to find the bigger were’s room and get changed. I wasn’t even sure the wolf lived here. Maybe they’d congregated together for a party of some kind. I sort of hoped he came up empty and would have to sneak away, naked. I didn’t want him thinking he could follow me home.
I slipped the knife back into its spot and snapped the briefcase closed. Adrian wasn’t getting this one. I wasn’t even sure I’d take it to Jonathan. Ethan might have better luck figuring out what was in the mixture than Doctor Lei would.
Right. You mean his demon would, don’t you?
Adrian appeared in the doorway just as I turned around. He was wearing a plain black shirt that was just a tad too tight and a pair of jeans that looked as if he’d had to sew himself inside them. He looked me up and down, eyes lingering on the briefcase. The faintest of frowns crept over his face before vanishing like smoke.
“We’ll have to be cautious taking the werewolf back with us,” he said, glancing toward the downed wolf. “We don’t want to draw more attention to ourselves.”
I still had my gun in hand and I wanted more than ever to raise it and shoot him. “No,” I said, angry at him for assuming we were leaving together.
He glanced at me, eyebrows raised. “No?”
“I wanted him alive.” I gestured toward the dead Left Hand man with my gun. “I asked you to do something to help and you just stood there and let her kill him.”
“There was nothing I could do.”
“Bullshit. You didn’t even try.”
“It wasn’t my place to interfere.”
Anger boiled. “If you wanted me to trust you, then maybe you should have made it your place.”
His eyes narrowed. “She would have killed him the moment I moved forward. You were the one with the gun. You should have shot her.”
He had me there. At the time, I’d been afraid of hitting the man. It would have been so much easier if Adrian would have at least distracted her.
“You could have tried to help,” I grumbled.
He shrugged. “Next time, I’ll know what you prefer.”
I laughed. “There will be no next time. I didn’t even want there to be a this time!”
Adrian walked over to the were and turned him over with a foot. “You will need to take your knife so as not to draw the eye of those we would wish to avoid. The blood will not help our cause, but I think we can manage it. Others will have heard the fight and we can tell them we are taking him to get help if someone should ask.”
I very nearly screamed in frustration. It was like he was oblivious to everything but his own concerns.
I stormed over to the injured wolf. I wasn’t going to let Adrian take him in so he could brainwash him into doing his bidding. I didn’t think. I didn’t let myself be swayed by pity.
I walked up right beside Adrian, raised my gun, and put a bullet right between the eyes of the paralyzed wolf.
The sound of the gunshot reverberated off the buildings on either side of the street. Adrian stared down at the now-dead wolf as I drew out my knife and wiped off the blood on his wet fur. I shoved the blade back in its sheath, knowing the remaining blood would cause it to stick later, but not caring.
“Now we’re even,” I said as I turned and walked away.
“Where are you going?” He didn’t sound even the slightest bit put out that I’d killed the wolf he’d planned on recruiting. In fact, I thought I heard respect in his voice.
I didn’t stop walking, though. I knew where I had to go if I wanted to learn more about the Left Hand. I didn’t like it, but I had little choice.
“Your place,” I said, angry at myself for having to stoop to this. “I need to speak to Davin.”
11
Adrian must have beat me to his mansion by at least twenty minutes, thanks to my having to walk all the way back to my motorcycle and find a way to secure the briefcase. By the time I got there, the place was clean and orderly, which surprised me. I doubted a big building full of werewolves stayed this clean. He’d probably called ahead and had them scrub the place down in an effort to impress me.
The hardwood floor sparkled as if it had recently been waxed. The tables just inside the door were free of dust and fresh fruit was set out on them. Even the bullet holes from my last visit had been repaired to the point I couldn’t even tell where they’d been.
I kept my hand on my gun as I strolled inside. A trio of Adrian’s wolves were waiting. Only one of them had the knot of scar tissue that told me he was once a member of the Luna Cult. I didn’t recognize him.
“They’re waiting for you this way,” Scar said with a slight bow of his head.
Okay, I wasn’t expecting that. Then again, I never bothered to see how Adrian actually ran the place. Normally, I’d charge in with guns blazing, not caring what I hit. The wolves would be too busy scrambling around, avoiding my bullets, to show much hospitality.
All three wolves turned and walked toward the staircase leading up into the heights of the mansion. None of them glanced over his shoulder to see if I were following, or perhaps aiming at the backs of their skulls, as I normally would have. I don’t know if they truly trusted me, or if they were trusting in Adrian’s word that I wouldn’t shoot them. I had a feeling they’d been warned to act as if I wasn’t dangerous or else they’d suffer his own brand of punishment.
I followed the wolves up the stairs with a scowl. I really wanted to shoot one of them just to prove I wasn’t one of Adrian’s goons. They should fear me. Just because I was bound to Adrian, didn’t mean I accepted his Little House of Weres.
Of course, if I were to shoot one of them, Adrian would go after someone I cared about. I might not like it, but we were stuck working together as long as he wanted us to. I was sure if I refused him too much, he’d take it out on someone else.
The weres led me down a long, carpeted hallway to a closed door where another pair of wolves waited. They both bowed their heads as we approached, before turning and opening the doors wide enough for me to enter. My guides stepped aside to let me pass—they weren’t going to come in with me.
I hesitated. To walk past them would mean I’d be putting my back to them. If this wasn’t on the up and up, they could be on me before I could react.
But Adrian wanted me to trust him. He wanted me to join his little club and work for him.
And to be his mate. I couldn’t forget that part.
I rested my hand on my sword hilt as I walked past them. I saw one of the wolves tense, but none of them made a move toward me. The doors closed behind me as I entered the room.
I found myself in a sitting room much like Jonathan’s at the Den. There were bookshelves along the wall, but I had a hard time imagining Adrian or Davin actually reading anything. A fireplace separated large windows that looked out over the water out front. A fire had been lit. It crackled serenely, giving the room an air of warmth and comfort.
Adrian was standing at one of the windows, looking out. He’d obviously seen me coming since I hadn’t taken my usual roundabout way to get there. I’d parked in the driveway like a normal person this time, which had been weird in itself. Even though he didn’t turn to face
me, I could tell he’d changed clothes to something more typical of him. He didn’t so much as twitch to acknowledge my entrance.
Davin, on the other hand, stood from a chair the moment he saw me. He smiled his gap-toothed grin and stuck his tongue out through the hole where his incisors had once been. He had a wineglass filled with blood in one hand and held a small electronic device in the other. He set it down and took a sip of blood before greeting me.
“Oh, my Lady Death,” he said, licking his lips. “Time has flown by, has it not?”
“Davin.” I stopped two feet into the room. There was no way I was going to approach either of the two madmen. I wanted my information and I wanted to get the hell out of there.
“How have you been?” Davin asked. He sounded affable, but I could still hear the traces of insanity on his voice. “Have you put to use our gift? Do you know of the power you now possess?”
I scowled at him, not wanting to think about that night. Adrian had dosed me with silver dust, tied me down into his basement, and made me immune to silver at the same time he forced me into the Oath. I wouldn’t call that a gift, though even I had to admit that being immune to silver was damn helpful in my line of work.
Davin watched me with eyes that all but shouted insane. He was doing a good job at sounding like he was normal, but he couldn’t hide those eyes. He was still so thin it was a wonder he hadn’t broken in half from the weight of his own head. His cheekbones protruded from his face like sores. His fingers were long, bony, and were now tipped with fingernails cut to sharp points.
“I’m here to talk about the Left Hand, not chat,” I said. “I’m sure Adrian has filled you in.”
I expected Adrian to nod or perhaps turn and take over the conversation, but he simply stood there. He was so motionless, it was eerie. It was like looking at a breathing statue.
“He has, he has,” Davin said. He went back to his chair and sat down. He drained the glass of blood and set it aside. The red on his lips looked bright against his paleness. “They are a plague, are they not?”
“What can you tell me about them?”
“That they are murderers. They are far worse than anything I would ever have become if left to my own devices.” His fingers went to where his incisors had once been. “Do they know?”
“Does who know what?”
“Your Cult. Do they know where I am?”
I clenched my jaw. I really didn’t want to talk about this with Davin. It reminded me that I was keeping things from Jonathan, things he should know. I had to keep telling myself I was withholding information from him to keep him safe. If he knew Davin was here, or that Adrian’s wolves were immune to silver, or that I was now bound to the former Cult wolf, he’d be here in an instant, ready to kill them all. I couldn’t risk him dying because of me.
“No,” I said. “That’s not what I’m here to talk about.”
Davin giggled. His eyes rolled in a head that was bobbing up and down like a demented bobblehead.
“Good, good,” he said. “I wouldn’t want them to continue their castrations. There are things I wish to keep intact, you know?” His eyes gleamed. “They took only a small part of me, leaving the greater whole. It was a mistake to leave so much of me.”
As insane as he might be, I had to remember that Davin was also extremely dangerous. He was a sorcerer far more powerful than Jonathan. I’d seen him do things. He could stop bullets with a wave of his hand, forming a shield that would not only protect him, but also those around him. He’d been the one to oversee the Oath, had manipulated it so that it bound a vampire to a werewolf instead of the other way around. I could only imagine what other powers he might have locked away in that head of his.
And I didn’t want those powers loosened on me or anyone else I cared about. Sadly, killing him was out, thanks to Adrian.
“I’m just interested in the Left Hand,” I said. I tried to sound as pleasant as possible in the hope it would make him willing to talk. I even managed a smile.
Davin’s giggle turned into a chuckle. “I’ve already told you something of them, have I not? It earned me my freedom, in a way.”
“You have,” I said, ignoring the last. He was free because of the deal I’d struck with him. I didn’t need to be reminded that I was responsible for him being loose. “But I want to know more.”
“Such as?”
“Who are they? Do you have any names? What about descriptions of some of the members so I know who to look for? What about their location? Do you have any idea what sort of places they frequent?”
The questions just spilled out of me. I felt so lost. The more questions I asked, the more I realized how little I really knew. How was I supposed to stop them if I didn’t know the first thing about them?
Davin eyed me a long moment, that damnable grin on his face. “So many questions,” he said. “You ask so much, yet offer so little.”
“People are dying,” I said. I glanced toward Adrian’s back and raised my voice so he knew I was talking to him. “I’m sure yours have been affected.”
He didn’t so much as flinch.
“People die all the time,” Davin said. “They think they are safe in their little homes and then someone comes along and kills each and every one of them. They take them down one by one, ripping out pieces of their soul as they do. It’s a way of life.”
The urge to walk across the room and smack some sense into the vampire was so strong, I actually took a step forward before catching myself.
“Do you know anything that could help me?”
Davin sighed. “I know many things that would help you greatly in many different ways.” He paused and then smiled. “But about the Left Hand—I fear you will not be happy.”
“Just tell me anything you know.” I wanted out of there in the worst way. I knew his madness wasn’t catching, but I felt queasy nonetheless.
Suddenly, he appeared bored. His shoulders slumped and his head drooped down to his chest. He began clicking his fingernails together so they made an annoying snapping sound. He seemed to have completely forgotten about me.
“Davin,” I said. It came out sharp and angry.
He glanced up. There was knowledge behind those eyes. “You will not find them,” he said. “If it were that easy, they’d have been wiped out long ago.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t try.”
“The city is a big place,” he said. “There are many nooks and crannies in which they could conceal themselves from even the most prying of eyes. They could be anywhere.”
“So you have no idea where I might look?”
He shrugged. “Somewhere where they will not draw attention to themselves most likely. But that could be in isolation or in the most public of places. They are but Purebloods, are they not? They don’t need to hide from those that walk the day. In fact, they may revel in it.”
I growled in frustration. As much as I didn’t want to believe it, he was right. The Left Hand looked like anyone and everyone. They’d have an easier time blending in than any vampire or werewolf. They didn’t have to contend with the bloodlust and urge to kill. They didn’t change shape when they became excited. Hell, they could go out under a full moon and walk the streets like any normal, if not slightly insane, person.
Davin was right. They could be virtually anywhere.
“What about a name?” I asked, knowing the answer before I even asked the question.
“I only survived them,” he said. “I did not escape them.”
A headache started to bloom behind my eyes. Coming here had been a total waste of time. Davin didn’t know anything I didn’t already know. Either that, or he wasn’t going to tell me. I was sure if he truly did have important information, he would have used it as a bargaining chip earlier, back when we had him locked away in the Den.
“Thanks,” I said, bitterness marring the word. “I’ll see myself out.”
“There is one thing I do know,” Davin said, sitting up straighter. His eyes
were gleaming again.
I frowned at him and crossed my arms. I wasn’t so sure I believed he’d tell me anything of value. “What is it, Davin?” I sounded tired and frustrated, something I normally wouldn’t have let on, especially to an enemy.
“They have a leader.”
“I assumed as much,” I said.
“Ah, but it is not a leader like you are used to. There are many Denmasters in the Cult. There are many counts and countesses who are willing to step in and take over the moment another has fallen.
“But the Left Hand . . . they have but one—a single person who guides and controls them all. If he were to fall, there would be no one else strong enough to take his place. He is the Left Hand. He travels with them, controls them from within. Find and kill him and you can destroy the group as a whole.”
“Wouldn’t someone else in the Left Hand take over?”
Davin shrugged. “Perhaps. But they would be severely weakened. From what I have learned, he is the sole reason they exist. Without him, they are nothing.”
I nodded, suddenly excited. I had no clue where to look, but if I could somehow find the Left Hand leader, I might very well end their killings without having to eradicate them. Killing Purebloods, even ones who killed on a regular basis, wasn’t something I enjoyed doing.
“Thanks,” I said, this time with much more conviction.
“I live to serve.” Davin bowed his head and then giggled to himself.
I turned to leave, mind whirling. That’s when Adrian finally decided to speak.
“May I have a moment?”
I considered just walking out. I wanted nothing to do with Adrian, but I had to admit, he had helped me. Sure, he’d done nothing to keep the Left Hand man alive when I’d asked, but if I’d gone into that alone, I would have been overwhelmed. He could have barred me from seeing Davin as well, which meant I wouldn’t have gotten that little sliver of information.
“Five minutes,” I said, turning back to him. “No more. I have things to do.”
He was facing the room now and he gave me a nod. “Davin.”
The vampire stood and walked past me. He winked before leaving the room.
