by J. L. Ray
Tony frowned. “That explains why Lilith died with a smile on her face. She must have seen Holstrom as a friend and lover, not a threat, right up to the point that it went bad.”
“I gotta know, boss, did Heraphina know why Lilith’s and Engstrom’s feet were cut up? And why did she kill her sister?”
“Heraphina told me that the sister was not part of the plan. She dropped by to visit and saw too much. In both cases, the vampire made from Holstrom showed reluctance to attack the women, her lover and her sister. Both murders happened at Holstrom’s apartment. The first was when Lilith came over to meet her lover for a night out and the second when Engstrom came to check on her sister. Serena forced her to attack. Serena took control of the vampire from Heraphina, and to incite its bloodlust, she threw shards of glass on the floor of Holstrom’s appartment. When the women came in and took off their shoes, they walked in the glass and bled.”
“Why did they take off their shoes?” Cal asked.
“Cal, you live in the city and you don’t change outdoor shoes for slippers?” Tony asked him.
“Uh, no?”
Tony shuddered. “I need to talk to B.” She looked back at Azeem, who was using his paws and tongue to clean his whiskers. “Sir, why did Serena poison Heraphina?”
“Heraphina was ready to turn her in. She went along with the plan to turn Holstrom because the Swan Maid was dying anyway. And she apparently disliked her new boss, so she didn’t have a problem killing one of his old lovers.”
Phil cocked one eyebrow and shrugged and added dryly, “I reprimanded her twice for tardiness and slovenly dress. Killing me by way of triggering the Geas seems a bit extreme, however.”
“Witches,” said Cal. “What’re you gonna do?” Then he slapped his hand over his mouth and looked at Tony, bug-eyed.
“Oh man,” she said gleefully, rubbing her hands together. “I am going to get some serious mileage out of being a witchling.” She wiggled her fingers, “Better watch it, Cal, there might be some warts in here!”
Azeem reached in a paw and picked up the ice cream cup from her lap. “No more sugar for you, young Natty.” He turned to Cal, “And you, detective, are going to a diversity training workshop after you get back from paternity leave.” He sat back on his haunches. “Now, where was I?”
“Heraphina had decided to turn Serena in?”
“Ah, yes. She decided to turn Serena in after the murder of Engstrom, but then she noticed odd physical changes and realized that Serena had been poisoning her with magebane.”
“What’s that?” Tony asked.
Azeem told her gravely, “An herb from the Fairie Realms. It absorbs a witch’s magic, soaks it up like a sponge and lessens her power over time. Eventually, the witch has to regurgitate the resulting mass out of her body, and usually it chokes her to death.” He looked a little shame-faced. “It was a common method of controlling the witch population in earlier, less tolerant times. It is illegal now. We don’t advertise its existence. It’s too dangerous.”
“If Heraphina was so ill, why did she end up at the cabin?” Tony asked.
“When she realized that the Being she’d risked going back to prison for, made a vampire for, was trying to kill her, she ran home, to her family cabin. She was ready to die until we showed up, and then she decided revenge made a better option.”
Cal cleared his throat. “Is she gonna make it?”
“Oh yes,” Azeem nodded. “She got treatment before the mass came back up. She has lost a large part of her power, but she’s prepared to make a statement and take her punishment. She’ll go back to Lock Up.”
“And Serena?” Tony asked a little wearily.
Azeem grinned, “Your consultant captured her with a homemade Net-All Super Holder.”
Tony looked over at Phil. “Look at you! All crafty and such! How did you do that?”
“I sampled the net when you and your officers trapped me while trying to trap the vampire,” Phil looked a bit uncomfortable. “I was able to transmute your old t-shirt into a net and hold her long enough for one of the officers to shoot her with a fully-spelled NASH. After that, it was simply a matter of packing up the Changelings and sending them back through the portal.”
I have your report?” Azeem asked Tony.
“I sent it while I was waiting for Phil and Ms. Beaumont to finish the shielding spell for me.”
Azeem looked at Phil, “I’ll need your statement as well to add to the reports of the officers on the scene after Tony collapsed.”
Phil nodded, “Perhaps tomorrow for that?”
Azeem nodded and turned to his other detective, “Detective Kelly, I’ll see you at the office tomorrow to finalize paperwork. Then you’ll take two weeks off to spend with your family and new spawn. Phil, can we give you a ride?”
Phil paused for a moment, then said, “I, ah, have transportation. I may need to check with the, uh, the doctor, before I go.” He pointed to his leg, “You know, bullet hole and all. I may need another check before I go.”
Azeem looked at him for a moment, whiskers twitching. “Don’t let the, uh, doctor, keep you out too late.” He gave both Phil and Tony a stern look. “It has been a very long day.”
He left, dragging Cal with him, and Phil turned back to Tony. “Not my smoothest moment, by any means.”
“I don’t know, looked pretty par for the course to me,” Tony told him.
He shook his head, “Only with you, my sweet, only with you am I like a teenaged boy again.” He walked over to the bed and sat next to her, taking her hand in his again. “I seem to lose my brain around you.”
“About three pounds, gray, and squishy?” she grinned and reached up and put her hand against his face. “I kinda bet it is right behind that gorgeous face of yours.”
He leaned his face into her hand and took a deep breath. “I think it is likely that I will be alive after the next few days pass.”
“I should hope so. We have a confession. I don’t think the Geas is about to do any generic smackings after this report goes in, and knowing the Lieutenant, that’s what he went to do.”
He turned his head and kissed her palm and she felt the tingle all the way down her body, like an electric shock. He turned his head back and looked at her, his dark eyes serious for a change as he took in her face with its halo of sweat curled hair and ice cream smudged lips. “How did you manage to get ice cream on your ear?”
“Pure mess-making, genius-level talent. Or maybe it’s my magic,” she fluttered her fingers at him.
“Your magic is passive, not active.”
“I was joking.”
“I wasn’t. It could have been magic.”
She giggled, and he leaned in and kissed her almond, chocolate, caramel lips, enjoying all that tasted of Tony beneath the sweet creamy additions to her normal flavor.
When he sat back up, she sighed. “I wonder who’s gonna cash in on that office pool?” she pondered, then snorted. “I wish I had thought to bet against myself.”
He sat very still for a moment, then admitted, “I, well, I hope you won’t be upset, but I put 100 dollars down on two days from now. I assumed we would just make the deadline for Geas, and then, well, in the relief of it all...”he trailed off, not wanting to suggest celebration sex.
“Hmmm, so if I go three days without going on a date with you, you lose?”
“If you go just the two days, we both win. Dinner at Birch and Barley?”
“Very tempting, especially if we do the tasting menu with beer. I don’t know, though, that sounds like we’re fixing the bet. Are you even allowed to bet on something that you could decide?”
Phil got serious. “Tony, the power is all in your hands. If you want to see me, it is up to you. I will do whatever you wish.”
She grinned at first, then she got a little melancholy. “Y’know, Phil, four days ago, I didn’t even know you. Four hours ago, I didn’t know I had a sister stolen by the fae. I honestly don’t know what I want right now.”
He sat by her, his face and body very still. He patted her hand and sat it down beside her on the bed. “I understand. You are overwhelmed, and I am pushing you. I will go.” As he started to stand, he felt her grab his arm and pull him back down.
“Hang on there. I’m not done with you, buddy.” She paused and looked at him. “I need to find out about my sister. I need to know why she is in such pain, and I may need to go find her. I at least want to know whether or not she needs help. She may be happy where she is,” Tony’s despairing look said how little she believed that was possible, “but I feel like she needs me.” She looked into his eyes, “I have to do this first.”
“I understand,” he told her. “And I think, if you’re willing, I can help you.”
She smiled. “You know, I’d like that a whole lot, demon. We’re a pretty good team, you and me.”
“You and I.”
“Grammar nerd.”
“Witchling.”
“That’s Detective Witchling to you.”
He looked at the clock above her bed. “I should go.”
For the first time, she looked at little shy. “I guess you should.”
He cocked his head and asked, “Do you want to be alone?”
She shook her head. “You wouldn’t want to sleep on that really comfy visitor’s chair would you?” She pointed at a device found in hospitals all over the country that could be called a chair and folded out like a bed but acted as a torture device.
“For you, dear detective, it would be my pleasure.”
“This doesn’t count as a date.”
“Of course not. Then we would lose the bet.”
“Just checking.”
He pulled the visitor’s chair over and found the lever that made it a recliner. He pushed it open and draped himself on it so he could hold Tony’s hand. “Sweet dreams, Tony.”
She smiled into his eyes, “Should I dream of you?”
“I’m counting on it.”
