Blue Moon Rising (The Patroness)

by Natalie Herzer

  He winked at me. “That’s a family secret.” Then he frowned and continued with something kin to respect in his voice, “But I can assure you that normally one bullet is enough to take out one of those permanently.”

  That I didn’t doubt. But Kylian was one of the strongest shapeshifters, and the most dominant, I was pretty sure. Well, if it were otherwise he would never have become the Council’s assassin. After pulling the blanket up to his shoulders again I stood. I was exhausted from the day, from my reactions to Kylian, our kiss. God, that kiss. Stop, Maiwenn, don’t think about it now.

  I rubbed a hand over my forehead. “Sorry, but I had quite a day. Time to go to sleep. Wait a sec.” Then I went into my room to gather another blanket and a pillow. Jean had followed me and stood in the doorway. He gave me a dazzling smile. “Since the couch is already taken, may I sleep with you?”

  I returned my best try-and-I-feed-you-your-nuts smile, pushed the bedding in his hands and shut the door in his face.

  The sun hadn’t been up for long yet, as I found myself crouching beside Pauline in the middle of a sea of flowers on the rooftop. Their fresh, sweet scent filled the air, and a strong and bright morning sun warmed our backs. Both of us were armed with a small rake and a hoe, but no gloves, and Pauline was softly singing with a clear and surprisingly powerful voice. I liked the feel of the cool earth on my skin, and listened to the hum of the bees that were eagerly flying from blossom to blossom, and stopped briefly to watch a couple of colorful butterflies flutter wildly and aimlessly as if undecided over their next stop.

  Pauline asked, “So who’s this Chastel guy? Can we trust him?”

  I sighed. “Not yet, but we’ll keep an eye on him and we’ll see. Apart from that, I believe him to be what he said he is. A bounty hunter.”

  “But he’s just a human, right? Nothing else in his blood?”

  “Nope. Human, as far as I know. Why do you ask?”

  She shrugged- “It’s …I don’t know. It kinda surprised me that he was able to knock out Kylian like that. I thought he must be something other. But since he’s not…Kylian should have heard or smelled him. I mean Kylian’s a frigging shapeshifter, and that’s what they normally do.”

  She had a point. I cleared my throat. “Well, he was kind of distracted.”

  Pauline looked up at me, and then cocked her head to the side and as her questioning violet eyes narrowed I actually blushed. She laughed and wiggled her eyebrows excitedly, “Ooh, tell me.”

  “We kissed.”

  “That’s my girl. And how was it?”

  My memory promptly catapulted me back to that blissful and too short moment, leaving me brainless and grinning.

  “That good, uh?”

  I bit my lip and nodded. “But I don’t know what to do about him. Sometimes I can’t even decide whether to strangle or to kiss him. He…he confuses me.”

  “Well, I think that’s perfectly normal. It would have surprised me if it had been otherwise. You’re the Patroness of Paris. You’ve been trained to be a strong, capable and independent woman all of your life. I bet you haven’t met a lot of men stronger than you, have you?”

  I just shrugged and stayed quiet, wanting to know where she’d be going with this.

  “Well, Kylian is strong. And you know it. He would have you flat on your back in seconds if he really wanted to. So on one hand you’re scared, not only of losing your independence, but mostly of being seen as weak and not as an equal.”

  I swallowed. “Wow.” I was puzzled, and strangely enough I felt naked.

  Pauline grinned. “Oh, I can be clever when I want to.” Then she laid a hand on my shoulder. “And compassionate. So here’s my advice. Whenever you’re unsure, just follow your heart, Maiwenn.”

  “Since I don’t want to end up as the next notch on his bedpost, I’d rather not listen to it at all. It’s been not exactly rational lately.”

  “Duh! Sweetie, it’s your heart, of course, it isn’t.”

  “But it’s been before.”

  “Only because you’d been either ignoring it or, like I said before and where’d I put my money on, it’s the first time you met a fine dominant ass like him being able to get under your skin.”

  Though there was an incredible and unsettling logic behind her words, I didn’t give in. “I’d prefer worms crawling there.”

  She shook her head at me and smiled mysteriously as if she knew something that I didn’t. Then her gaze caught at a point over my shoulder and she stood, “Good morning, Kylian.”

  “Morning.”

  She turned to me, “I’ll go downstairs and start making breakfast.” And off she was, leaving me alone with the Killer.

  I finally stood up, too, and turned around. There he was. In his faded jeans and a black shirt, which I had asked Chastel to borrow him.

  He crossed his arms over his chest. His eyes were blue, and looking very unhappy and rather sullen as he came towards me. Like a predator. Hmm…after-effect of the silver or had I pissed him off? That was the question.

  “So, care to explain how the guy who shot me in the back, which he only managed since you were distracting me with your mouth by the way, ended up staying the night?”

  Okay then, pissed off it was.

  I stood my ground and folded my arms over my chest, mimicking his gesture. In no way scared by his flexing muscles, my lips curved into a sweet smile. “Good morning to you, too. To answer your question, kind of the same way an oh-so-mighty shapeshifter ends up knocked out after a few shots – under extraordinary circumstances.”

  “I mean it Maiwenn, I want an explanation,” he barked, now fueling my own anger.

  “Okay, listen tomcat, this is my house and I decide who is welcome here and who’s not. Besides, seeing your extra pounds he was at least kind enough to help me carry you.” Kind of. “This way I could see to your wounds before the silver crawled painfully through your every vein, which, I hate to remind you, would have resulted in your death. So, thanks to him, thanks to me, you’re still alive and bitching around.”

  Kylian growled low in his throat, the sound so feral it gave me goose bumps. “Thanks to him? That guy was the one who shut me in the first place!”

  “Oh, don’t be such a baby. He thought you were attacking me.”

  His voice deep and low, he leaned closer. “Well, he might have been right, it just depends on your definition of attacking. Without him, you wouldn’t have ended up carrying me home, I would have taken you there.”

  A rush of heat went through me, burning me from the inside out. He dipped his head for a kiss but I took an unexpected step back. He cocked his head to the side and looked at me with those piercing blue eyes. Eyes that tugged at me, left me vulnerable and made me wonder whether I could keep a possible affair with him on a purely physical level. I doubted it. “I’m sorry. What happened yesterday between us...we should forget it and keep this professional.”

  “You enjoyed it.”

  Lying to him wasn’t an option. Not only would he have guessed it, but it also would have been immature and pointless. “Yes.”

  “The I-drank-too-much excuse?”

  “Did I mention the alcohol with any word?”

  “Indeed you didn’t.” His lips curved into a mysterious smile, touched with a hint of triumph that made me uneasy.

  “I mean it, Kylian.”

  He straightened up, took a step back and put his hands into his pockets. “Okay then, professional it is.”

  I really tried to ignore the unsaid ‘for now’ dangling clearly in the air between us.

  “So, who the hell is the early-come-off anyway?”

  I relaxed. “His name’s Jean Chastel. Ring any bells?”

  Kylian frowned, and then nodded. “Killed a beast that terrorized southern France in the 18th century.”

  Not bad. “He is, and I quote, ‘Jean Chastel’s great-, great-, whatever, -son’. And every guy in the family took over daddy’s business. Chastel says he’s a bounty hunter.�
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  “Do you believe him?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t trust him. We should be careful with him and keep him close. Might be one of those who can’t, or won’t, make a difference between a rogue and a shapeshifter.”

  “You don’t say.” Kylian ran a hand through his dark hair and continued, his voice a mix of disbelief and a little anger, “First that guy shoots me in the back. Then I can’t even rip his head off for it, since it was my own fault he came close enough, and you let him stay the night. To top it all of he has the audacity to ask me to give him the silver back. Guess what for? New bullets. He even told me so. I swear, this guy must be suicidal. He’s just begging us to help him and I’d really like to do him the favor. But you want to keep him close?”

  “Well, yes.”

  He rubbed a hand down his face. “Damn. Okay. By the way, a boy and a ghost are downstairs.”

  I smiled, as I thought of the unusual friendship. “Mathieu and Philippe.”

  “Mathieu, I smelled him on the second crime scene.”

  “Yes, Philippe was there, too, but of course you couldn’t smell him.”

  “Right. And Mathieu is also the one you called yesterday?”

  “Yes, that’s right.”

  He nodded. “And how do they fit the picture?”

  “Let’s sit down a bit, okay?”

  We walked along the paths towards the middle terrace, the island in the sea of flowers, where Viviane and I had installed some wooden garden furniture a few years back. Since she’d retired, she’d started spending a lot of time here.

  We sat down on the bench, side by side. I tugged my legs up, resting my chin on my knees before I turned my head to look at him. “Three years ago a crazy vampire decided to take care of his personal needs by opening up his own blood bank. He snatched the people right of the streets. Humans, magical creatures, it didn’t matter. Then he stuffed them in his basement and slowly sucked them dry, though he tried to be careful not to kill them too quickly.” I took a deep breath as the memories and feelings came back, the desperation, urgency, the feeling of failure when I strayed without news or leads, and then I continued, “I noticed that there were a lot of missing persons. Relatives came to me, asking for help. So I went out every night trying to find out what had happened to them. Took me a goddamn week to find that basement. There were nineteen, six of them were already dead and Mathieu would probably have been the next. He had no one to turn to. His foster parents lived somewhere in the suburbs and they really didn’t get along. So Viviane and I took him in. When he found out that I was a private detective he wanted to pay me for saving him.” I shook my head, remembering. “Of course, I didn’t want to hear any of it. Shortly after that he got into University and he started to sneak out acid for me as soon as he realized I needed it on the job. Mathieu studies chemistry,” I added.

  “And the ghost?”

  “Philippe. Well, when Mathieu started University he moved into an apartment of his own. One day he called, told me that weird stuff was going on there. I went to check up on him, and found him calmly sitting on the floor and chatting with a ghost. That’s when I knew he had magic in his blood. Humans can’t do that. Some of them might be able to sense a ghost, but not actually to see it. Philippe died in the late 60’s. I don’t know when exactly, he doesn’t like to talk about it.”

  “That explains a lot.”

  I smiled at him, “His clothes?”

  “His whole being.”

  “Yeah, well, he’s a teen forever stuck in the times of flower power. What do you expect? Anyhow, after Philippe had found out that Mathieu could see and hear him, he stopped his pranks and they became friends. They’ve been inseparable ever since.”

  He touched my shoulder. “You love them. They’re your family.”

  “Yes. Maybe not by blood, but in my heart. And that’s all that matters. I would do anything to protect them.”

  He was lost in thoughts for a while, his expression unreadable. Then his face cleared, “And you really have no idea what Mathieu is?”

  I shook my head and grinned. “No. But I can tell you what he’s not. He’s neither faery or a witch, nor shapeshifter or vampire.”

  “Hmm, I guess the Turn will be very fascinating for him then. And for us.”

  “Oh, that’s for sure. I await the Turn with a mix of excitement and fear. Excitement for all those other humans with latent powers just like Mathieu, and fear of the chaos and panic that might go with discovering them.”

  “The Council and we all are trying to make the transition as smooth as possible for all of us. Though we can’t predict how the humans will react, we’re at least preparing their governments and other institutions as best as we can so they will be able to explain things. There might still arise chaos and panic on the streets. But we’re minimizing it.”

  I nodded, but instantly wished I had spoken my agreement out loud since my stomach chose that moment to growl, which made Kylian laugh.

  He stood. “Come on, Patroness, let’s get you something to eat.”

  I followed him and together we went down the stairs.

  There he said, “Thanks for the shirt by the way.”

  “Thank Chastel.”

  He stopped, his eyes dark as he looked at me. I just shrugged and continued downstairs. It had been a question of survival. Get him a new shirt or have him running around near naked. Though the shirt didn’t do any good; all plastered against him and outlining his well-defined ropes of muscle.

  Kylian caught up and we were about to pass the bathroom as the door suddenly flew open and a naked Chastel blocked our way. He turned to me, leaning closer, “Good morning, sweetheart. Did you enjoy the night as much as I did?” And to Kylian he added, “I hope you don’t mind a little competition?” Chastel chuckled, blew me a kiss and returned into the bathroom.

  “You’re right. He’s suicidal.”

  “Told you so.”

  We continued our way towards the kitchen, where Viviane and Pauline had set the table – or rather the counter – and prepared breakfast. The air was sweet, flavored with fresh coffee and warm pastries. Mathieu and Philippe were already sitting, ready to dug in. I went over to them and gave Mathieu a quick kiss on his cheeks. With Philippe being shapeless and nearly transparent I couldn’t greet him that way.

  “Salut, how are you?” Words had to be enough. Sometimes I found that way of living downright cruel. Without touch, taste. Who could allow a being to exist in this kind of non-existence? I really hated the higher powers. Why didn’t he run into that goddamn light? Instead he’d been a ghost for over forty years now.

  “Très bien. And you?”

  I took a calming breath. It was his life, his decision and I knew very well that he didn’t want to talk about it. God knows I’ve tried. “Fine.”

  Chastel came into the kitchen, fully clothed this time. He winked at me, Kylian glared at him and I rolled my eyes.

  Viviane finished slicing a perfumy honeydew melon, gave the cubes into an already brimmed bowl of fruit salad and mixed everything one last time before carrying it to the table. She was lightly tanned, probably the result of spending more time on the rooftop terrace, and looked well-rested. She caught me gazing at her and smiled. “Our little gatherings are getting bigger and bigger it seems. Definitely a change for the better. We might even need a real table.”

  The others laughed and I smiled back at her, and we all settled down. Viviane was right. After freeing Mathieu we’d fast become a little family and tried to meet at least once a week. It had become a tradition that did us all good. Now, instead of our usual four, we were seven trying to fit around the kitchen counter which normally did the job just fine.

  Viviane poured coffee for all of us, and I gave a spoonful of honey in my mug – that was how I liked my coffee the most. Then I explained to Kylian the different kind of pastries I had bought in the bakery early in the morning. I had wanted for him to taste some specialties of different regions of France.

/>   Soon chatter about everyone and the world was in full swing, the noises like a caress and filling my heart with a spreading warmth. But eventually I had to come back to the problem at hand.

  “By the way, did you find or hear anything on campus about what I told you?” I asked Mathieu, who was busy wolfing down his half of a small fruit cake.

  I sighed, “You know, those pointy little things in your mouth? They’re called teeth and could help you to chew your food.”

  He just grinned back at me – or at least he tried to – and swallowed. “Nope, not yet anyway. Yesterday we didn’t make it to the bulletin board. We’ll check it out today.” His university was very big, so I could understand him. “Besides, lectures haven’t started yet, so there aren’t many students on campus. Might be I find nil.”

  “You do whatever you can, and call me when you find something, okay?”

  “Will do.” He looked at his watch, “Shit, we have to go.” Mathieu and Philippe got up and we said good bye. “Thanks for the food. Nice meeting you, Pauline,” he added, giving her a flirtatious smile. Oh no, right what I needed. Please tell me he did not have a crush on my new roommate. Who could blame him, though? She was beautiful and sweet.

  I shrugged mentally and brought them to the door, where I hugged him one last time, and off they went.

  The rest of us helped clearing the counter and washing the dishes. Then it was time for me to head downstairs into the office. I kissed Viviane and Pauline on the cheeks, “See you later,” and grabbed my things and the obligatory last cup of coffee. Kylian was bent on going with me, and so we both headed out.

  Chapter 8

  “What’s on the schedule for today?” Kylian asked as soon as we were downstairs in my office.

  I was sitting at my desk, distracted as I searched through some papers when I answered, “Ah, a case of adultery. Monsieur Lefebre is persuaded that his elfin wife is cheating on him. He wants evidence, so I’ll have to follow Madame and try to get the shot. Lucky for me, she’s supposed to meet with her business partner, the suspect, for lunch today. That happens quite often lately. Those lunches are, according to Madame, very important but informal meetings to do brainstorming and absolutely nothing to worry about.”