“I guess we’re done for the night,” Natalie said, with tired laughter lacing her voice.
“Yup, dismissed.” Alec wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “Come on, soldier, we’ll go to that milkshake place that’s open all night and I’ll buy you any flavor you like.”
Natalie shrugged. “Just nothing red. I never want to see red liquid again.”
“I mean, there were just bottles of it, lined up all along every shelf of the fridge,” Natalie said, resting her chin on her hand. She could see from Alec’s glazed expression that she’d been talking about Drake’s blood supply for too long, but shit! There were things that scarred a person for life . . . a fact she knew more than most.
“Okay, okay,” he finally said as their milkshakes and an appetizer of fried cheese were put in front of them. “I get it. Take a breath.”
She shivered and pushed the marinara sauce away, then grabbed for a gooey, cheesy bite. Thank God for stress eating and a metabolism that allowed her the luxury.
“So did you talk to him about Van Helsing?” she asked as she took a bite.
Alec sucked on his chocolate shake for a second. “Yeah. I asked him how he knew, and it was all artsy-fartsy-feelings shit. ‘I know my enemy, Wolf.’ ”
Natalie smiled as Alec faked Drake’s voice rather perfectly.
“He doesn’t know for sure any more than any of us do.” Alec shrugged.
She sighed. “At least Kai and Rehu are looking into it.”
Alec hesitated as he looked at her closely, and she squirmed under the scrutiny. They had been together for half a year, but they were still figuring out exactly what they were. Monster issues were often very much relationship issues.
“Do we trust them now?” he asked, popping cheese into his mouth with a satisfied grumbling growl she liked way too much.
She pondered that question. She and Kai had an uneasy truce of sorts. Almost a friendship, but not quite. Rehu, on the other hand, and Kai when she was obsessed with Rehu . . . that was more complicated.
“I don’t know,” she admitted after a long pause. “Rehu helped Drake tonight without hesitation. That counts for something. Maybe not much, but something.”
She bit her lip and shoved the plate aside, suddenly not hungry anymore. Alec reached out and covered her hand.
“Babe, don’t get all ‘the people with pitchforks are coming,’ okay? We’re going to work this out.”
“Okay,” she said. “Yeah, okay.”
And it was funny, when he said it, she could almost believe it. Almost.
5
The streets were mostly quiet as Alec and Natalie approached their apartment building an hour later. That was one thing she liked about her monstrous little nightlife. She came home in the morning when there was a side to the city few saw. Something quiet and calm before the storm of the day roared to life and riled everything and everyone up.
But as they reached the door to the building, she could see that the storm was starting early today. Kai and Rehu waited there, pulling their coats closer against the bitter wind and talking under their breath.
“Oh, crap, it’s the Band-Aid-brand twins,” Alec said next to her ear, and she stifled a laugh as she got within earshot of the two.
“Hey,” she called out. “I didn’t expect to see you here. What’s up?”
Kai shifted. “It’s cold. Let’s talk about it inside?”
Natalie nodded, unlocked the door, and led the group of them up the stairs and into their apartment. As she shut the door behind her, she shrugged one shoulder at Alec.
“So do you guys want . . . coffee or something?” she asked.
Kai shook her head. “I avoid caffeine. Dries you out. I’ll have a water.”
Rehu shrugged out of his jacket. “Nothing for me.”
Natalie stepped into the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water. When she came back, the three of them were already sitting at the couch, fiddling with a laptop so fancy that it had to be Kai’s.
“So what did you find out?” Natalie asked, standing behind the couch and peering at the loading screen as she passed the bottle to the Mummy Girl.
“I don’t know much about the stabbing,” Kai said. “The details are vague, so we’ll need to talk to Drake when he’s recovered a bit.”
“He’s okay, right?” Rehu added, shooting a quick look toward Natalie.
The sincerity in his tone surprised her. The guy had never been a huge fan of Drake—of anybody in their group, really—but he actually seemed to give a shit.
“Yeah,” she said with a shrug. “He’s hurting, of course, but he’ll survive. He had more color and was already stronger by the time we left. He’s supposed to text us later to check in.”
“Good,” Rehu said softly.
Kai shrugged. “I knew if we could trigger his healing mechanisms he’d be fine.”
Natalie pursed her lips. Rehu being nice? Kai being cold? Seemed like half of old times, anyway.
“So what did you find?” she asked again, hoping to move the conversation along so she could get back to normal life. And go to bed.
“I thought about what you guys said about social media. I don’t do personal accounts, but I deal with it sometimes for work.” Kai rolled her eyes like she thought the entire idea was utterly stupid. “Anyway, look what’s big on Twitter right now.”
She tapped a few keys on the laptop and Natalie blinked. The page that came up was the Twitter account for Regent’s Pharmaceuticals, the company where Kai worked. Along the side was a list of what was trending in New York.
The fifth line was #monstersinnewyork.
Natalie blinked. “Oh my God.”
“Yeah, and it gets worse,” Kai said, clicking one of the tweets with that hashtag. It took them to a results page with hundreds of posts. Lots of people were talking about and retweeting the now-defunct YouTube video, which had apparently been downloaded and reposted by tons of people. There were monster sightings, jokes about monsters being real, even not-so-much-jokes about monsters being real.
“I’m going to have to move,” Natalie said, staggering away from the back of the couch to find a seat not near the screen. “I’m going to have to go to Alaska or something. Change my name. Live with the caribou. The caribou don’t judge.”
Alec blinked. “Okay, you’re losing it. I’ve heard caribou are very judgmental creatures.”
Kai slammed the laptop lid and glared at them. “You two should break up; you are awful together.”
“I think we’re kind of cute . . .” Alec quipped, with a grin for Natalie. One she couldn’t bring herself to mirror at that moment. Later, maybe.
“The point is we have to focus,” Rehu said, in a tone that was as hard as nails. “I don’t really understand this foolishness. Some of the other things trending above us are Miley Cyrus and something called #whatmyswag. Are those even real words? And who wants to talk about these things? But someone has to have started this discussion, this push. Someone had to have made sure it became so public. So who is it?”
Natalie rubbed her eyes. Her head was starting to pound and her ears were ringing. If she had her way, she’d just go soak in the tub and listen to Adele and pretend none of this had happened.
But it wasn’t going to be her way. It couldn’t be.
“When he came into the room tonight, Drake said Van Helsing,” she said.
Alec shrugged. “He was half delirious.”
Natalie shook her head. “I know you said that earlier, but I don’t know. Drake has never been too quick to speak their name in the past. Besides, since these are clearly targeted attacks on monsters and the trending topics bring attention to monsters, I don’t think we can ignore the fact that he might very well be right about the source.”
Alec seemed to ponder that for a moment, then shrugged a shoulder. “When you’re right, you’re right. So, when should we go talk to Van Helsing?”
“Are we talking to Van Helsing?” Natalie asked, a shot of fear going
through her like a lightning bolt. She ignored the sensation and kept her face very calm. “ ‘Cause that seems like a big ‘walking into a trap’ problem to me.”
“Except that they generally don’t attack in their own living rooms,” Kai pointed out softly.
“Too messy,” Alec agreed.
“You guys are acting like this is a big joke, but we’re at war this time.”
“But there are rules to war, even for Van Helsing,” Alec said, holding her gaze to calm her a little. “Besides, why not go straight to the source? We’ll know for sure if the old man’s involved; the bastard will probably brag about it.”
Natalie tried to think of some argument against that statement, but there wasn’t one. She bowed her head in defeat. “As a wise man once told me, when you’re right, you’re right. I’ve met with the old man before; I’ll do it.”
“Not by yourself, you won’t,” Alec said with a look that said she was crazy.
“No, she’ll take me,” Kai said. “I’ve been in the house, too, remember.”
“You broke in and stole their family book. They may not take too kindly to that,” Natalie pointed out.
Kai laughed. “They don’t know it was me who did it, and they got it back. It’s resolved. We’ll pay a call tonight.”
“I still think it would be better if I came, too,” Alec said, looking at Natalie with puppy dog eyes that were sometimes very hard to resist.
But resist she did. “You have school, you can’t.”
Rehu arched a brow. “And you’re not needed. Natalie and Kai can handle themselves. This isn’t high school.”
Kai sent Rehu a sly, rather sexy smile, and Natalie stared. Wow, as fucked up as their relationship was, they actually kind of got each other. After a couple thousand years together, though . . . how could they not?
“Did you even go to high school?” Alec asked with a glare for Rehu.
Kai sighed. “None of us went to high school.”
“Actually, there’s a video game where we do,” Natalie offered helpfully. “Very popular, nice graphics.”
“How do you know these things?” Rehu asked, partly in awe, partly in disgust.
Natalie blinked. “Um, I research. After the last time the real world came crashing down on us, I think it’s clearer than ever that we have to keep up on how we’re ‘seen’ by humans.”
“We’re getting seen, whether we like it or not,” Kai said as she moved toward the door. “Anyway, I have work today. Want to meet around seven at the old man’s brownstone?”
Natalie nodded. “That’s cool—I’ll be there.”
After they stepped into the hall, Natalie closed the door and leaned against it. “You know the one place I never wanted to visit again?”
“The Museum of Sex on Fifth Ave?” Alec called as he entered the kitchen to find something to make for breakfast.
“No, idiot.” She stopped and pondered that. “Okay, yes. The Museum of Sex is one of the places I don’t really want to visit again. But I’m talking about Van Helsing’s stupid house. That place is so retro-creepy.”
“Retro can be cool,” Alec’s voice came from the other room. She could hear him getting out pans and opening and shutting the fridge.
“Not this kind of retro. Everything was covered with sheets. I felt like I’d stepped into one of our movies.” She flopped down on the couch and grabbed for Alec’s laptop to check her email. “The guy is so . . . decrepit. Even though I know I suggested he might be our man, I doubt he even knows Twitter exists, let alone has an account popular enough to start a trend.”
She typed her password in and her email popped up. Spam, spam, something from her boss about that stupid book club she kept inviting Natalie to, a Groupon for a movie date . . . and then she saw it: [email protected] had sent her a message.
Igor.
She clicked it and began to read:
Natalie,
Good to hear from you. I wondered if you got my messages last year. I understand there is a problem, possibly with another creation. I’ll be there on Friday afternoon at around noon. Meet me at Grand Central and we can talk about it.
Can’t wait to see you,
Igor
Natalie stared at the message. It was dated the previous night, which meant her dad’s old partner in crime would be rolling into town in just a few hours.
“Hey, are you coming in? My sausage is ready,” Alec said, appearing in the passageway between the kitchen and the living room.
He made that joke every time he cooked sausage and she usually made a crack about her eggs, but currently she couldn’t muster the humor. She got up, carrying the laptop in with her. As she sat down at the tiny kitchen table with Alec, she pushed the laptop his way.
“Igor emailed me,” she said, leaning back in her chair without touching her food. “He’s going to be here today.”
Alec wrinkled his brow, eating as he read the message. “Did you invite him?”
“No.” She shook her head. “But he’s just . . . showing up. Like a ghost from the past.”
“Are there ghost monsters?” Alec said, with what could only be described as a weak smile.
“Yes, but those aren’t real. Don’t be silly.” She rubbed her eyes. “Apparently I’m not getting any sleep today at all.”
“Yeah, you will,” Alec reassured her. “You’re going to eat, then we’re going to sleep until we have to go to the station. And after you meet with the guy, you’re going to send him off to his hotel and whatever tourist shit he wants to do and that will be that. No ghosts allowed.”
She smiled. Alec could be irritating sometimes. He could be weird. Sometimes he confused the hell out of her. But damn, he was a good boyfriend when she needed him to be. She patted his cheek.
“Aw, thanks, Peter Venkman.”
Alec laughed. “Now eat.”
With a sigh, Natalie grabbed for a fork and started doing just that. But in the back of her mind, she still mulled over Igor sightings, Dracula stakings, and, of course, Van Helsings.
The train station was busy, but not so busy that when Natalie saw Igor coming toward them she didn’t recognize him. He looked the same as he had hundreds of years ago when they’d first met. She’d been on a table, strapped down, confused, and filled with fear as pain racked her newly awakened body. He had been standing over her, laughing like a hyena because, well . . . that was what he did.
He was a short man, probably no more than five-foot-three, though he was wearing boots with elevated soles to increase his height. He had thin graying hair and a strange Peter Lorre kind of quality to him, but maybe it was just the fact that his eyes popped out rather wildly. The only thing different about him since the last time they met all those years ago was that his hunch was . . . gone.
“Natalie!” he called out from across the station. He dropped his bags and rushed over to her in a display of dramatics that was almost Broadway-like in its impressiveness. He engulfed her in a tiny, tiny, hard hug and looked up and up to smile at her.
“Darling, you look divine,” he said with not a trace of a Transylvanian accent. No, wait, there was an accent there . . . Was it . . . Southern?
“Um, hi,” she said as she gently extracted herself from his bitty-baby hug. “You better get those bags before someone takes them.”
“Oh, fudge!” Igor squealed, and rushed back to get them. He returned with a grin. “I was so pleased to get your message. And who is this handsome brute of a man?”
Natalie shook off her shock and turned toward Alec, who was staring, blinking, blank-faced, at Igor. “Um, this is my boyfriend, Alec. Alec, this is my father’s friend Igor.”
“Boyfriend!” Igor said as he held out a hand. “Well, it is just a pleasure!”
Alec didn’t seem to know how to respond, which was a hilarious rarity in itself, but he shook hands with Igor.
“H-hi,” Alec managed.
Igor leaned forward and seemed to be examining him. “Hmmm, Wolf Man?”
Alec staggered back and swallowed. “How do you know that?”
“As an assistant, it’s my job to know these things. You know, the family business.” He jerked his head toward Natalie with a knowing smile.
She recoiled. “Um, I’m not in the family business.”
“Sure you are—you work at the morgue, don’t you?” Igor grinned.
She blinked. Huh, that was kind of the family business. Yikes, maybe it was time to polish up that résumé or something.
“I don’t mean to be indelicate, but, um, the last time I saw you, you had a . . .” She motioned toward his back.
“Oh, my hunch?” Igor laughed. “The modern miracle of plastic surgery, of course! Divine, isn’t it?” He spun around so they could have the full effect. “I do miss it sometimes, but clothes fit so much better. You know, you could do something about those scars of yours, if you want to.”
Natalie flinched and pulled the sleeve of her jacket down farther. She already did quite a bit about “those scars,” but whenever someone mentioned them, her heart sank. It was like having a FREAK sign around her neck all the time.
Alec pressed a hand to her back for a brief moment and her anxiety faded, just a little.
“Well, we thought we could go to lunch,” Alec said, clearly done with this very strange exchange. “And talk about the . . . situation with the Creature in the video.”
“I’d love to do lunch, but I won’t bring out the records until we’re back at your place, Natalie.” Igor smiled and winked. “Safety concerns, you know.”
Natalie stared in return. “Back at my place?” she repeated.
He nodded. “Sure, I mean, why not do it in the comfort of the place where I’m staying? Then we can spread out all over and you can really pore over those records.”
Natalie jerked her gaze to Alec and he returned the expression of wild freaking out. “Um, wait, you’re staying with us?”
“Of course, and thanks!” Igor pushed his suitcase toward Alec and linked arms with her. As he dragged her toward the Lexington Avenue exit, he laughed. “And I can’t wait to see your place. We have so much to talk about, Natalie!”
The Monsters in Your Neighborhood Page 4
