London Growl

by John P. Logsdon

  “You don’t owe me anything, Harvey,” I countered. “You’re a good officer.” Okay, it was a stretch, but he did have potential, and it could just be that Leland was the perfect partner to bring out the best in Harvey. “I’m sure you’ll do great.”

  As for Leland, he just sat there looking confused. “What do you mean nobody else wants to work with me?”

  Chapter 30

  The Vegas squad was elated at seeing that Rachel had returned. Well, everyone but Lydia. She was a bit miffed regarding the fact that Rachel and I were an item again. I assumed that many people would be, truth be told. Dr. Vernon came to mind, and the valkyries, and this particular succubus who had been making a nice wage from working with me for the last couple of months.

  “The Directors wish to speak with you, Officer Dex,” said Lydia in the same pedantic voice she used with the other officers. “They are waiting.”

  I shut my office door and sighed.

  “Lydia,” I spoke in a calm voice, “you know that while Rachel is my girl in the tactile world, you’ll always be my digital babe.”

  “Really?” she said after a moment’s hesitation.

  “Of course,” I answered. “And Rachel knows it too.”

  She didn’t, but I’d tell her in a few weeks, or possibly never. It wasn’t like I was going to do the naughty with Lydia or anything and Rachel was well aware of my flirtatious nature. That had never been called into question.

  “Well, okay then, sugar plum,” she said sweetly. “Honestly, I couldn’t have held back anyway. You’re just so scrumptious, loverboy.”

  I cracked a smile. “Thanks, baby.”

  “You’d better get to your meeting, puddin’.”

  “Right.”

  I walked through the door at the back of my office and took the chair that sat before the Directors.

  Something seemed off, though. One of the Directors was missing.

  “O?” I questioned, trying to peer through the haze. “Is he not here?”

  “He’s out screwing around with the plot of an author pal of his or something,” EQK answered. “Makes no sense to me, but he sure seemed pretty excited about it. Fucking mages.”

  “Ah, okay.”

  One of the things that always remained a mystery to me was what mages did in their spare time. I assumed they just sat around reading spell books or something, but it seemed they weren’t just relegated to that pastime.

  I knew that Rachel, specifically, would be occupied with me until we got into another colossal fight. Let’s face it, that was bound to happen. Until then, I’d do my best to keep us going. But when that eventuality did occur, she’d be off doing magely things again. I guess I should ask her to bring me along to one of the events at some point. You know, show a little interest in her profession and such. Beyond just work, I mean.

  “We understand that you were able to liberate Officer Cress from her kidnappers,” stated Silver.

  “Yes, sir.” Then, I added, “Officer Smith helped a great deal, too.” His strength had, anyway, so I wanted to give him proper credit.

  Silver then asked, “He’s now part of the London PPD, yes?”

  “Correct, and Officer Cress is back on my squad.” I thought to bring up the fact that we were dating again, but I decided to let it go. They didn’t care what we did as officers as long as it didn’t interfere with our work and as long as I treated her the same way I treated everyone else. “I think it’s for the best, and so does she.”

  “Fine,” Silver said in an I-don’t-really-care voice. “As long as things continue to run efficiently, your crew selections remain yours.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  There was a tension in the air. I wasn’t sure if it had to do with O being out or something else, but it was pretty apparent. Zack hadn’t said anything yet. Maybe he was miffed about something?

  “So, Zack,” EQK started, as if on cue, “I don’t suppose you knew any of the tree-markers who were responsible for kidnapping Officer Cress, do you?”

  “Tree-markers?” Zack replied.

  “You would rather I said hydrant-markers?”

  “I’d rather you not use any derogatory descriptors regarding my people at all, you tiny-winged turd.”

  Wow. Now that was something you didn’t hear from Zack very often. He was usually the peacemaker of the bunch.

  EQK giggled, clearly knowing he’d irked the head of the Vegas Werewolf Pack.

  “Did you know some of them, sir?” I ventured.

  “I don’t have the full list, Mr. Dex,” he replied, “but the few names I’ve seen are familiar to me. They will all be going through a deep reintegration in the Netherworld for their participation in this transgression.”

  I doubted that was necessary after how I’d left things, but supernaturals hated going through deep reintegration. It was annoying and left you numb for weeks. Standard reintegration wasn’t so bad. A day or two of fuzziness was all that came from that, but being put through the deep process…that kind of sucked.

  “I think they’ll be okay now that the uberwolf is dead, sir,” I said, thinking that maybe the rest could just get a standard reintegration. Guys like Steve Austin didn’t deserve more than that. “The uber was the one who really caused all of this. The rest were just stuck under his thumb.”

  “Uberwolf?” Zack coaxed after a moment.

  “Yes,” agreed Silver, “what are you talking about?”

  “Oh, I thought you knew.”

  “Obviously not, numbnuts,” EQK said, “so spill it.”

  I found that strange at first, but I guess because the uber wasn’t in Vegas maybe they didn’t know what was going on. I thought they’d all talked or at least had some network of information. Then again, I had that network of information, but I only paid attention to the parts that were under my jurisdiction.

  “Right,” I said. “Well, the wolf’s name was Rex. He was at least a head taller than the rest of them, and he was very strong. It took a couple of my particular skills in order to defeat the guy. Honestly, for a while there I hadn’t thought that—”

  “You said his name was Rex?” interrupted Zack.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Did he have any unusual markings, by chance?”

  The memory of that Flashes event struck, as did the hand-to-hand combat Rex and I had engaged in.

  “He had a red circle on his shoulder. Kind of looked like a bullseye.”

  “Interesting,” said Silver slowly.

  “That shouldn’t be possible,” noted EQK without the use of foul language. That made his statement ominous at best. “Seriously, that shit shouldn’t be possible.”

  Okay, so a little foul language, but it was still pretty ominous.

  “No,” agreed Zack. “It shouldn’t.”

  “Uh, sirs?” I spoke up after a few moments of silence. “Would you mind letting me in on what it is that shouldn’t be possible, please?”

  “Hmmm? Oh, sorry, Officer Dex.” Zack cleared his throat. “This is nothing for you to worry about. That will be all for today. Thank you for your time.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “He said beat it, you cock socket,” EQK shouted about two seconds before the Directors faded from view.

  I was left seated in a pitch-black room alone, wondering what the hell they had been talking about.

  Chapter 31

  Even though Rachel and I were currently an item, she wasn’t a fan of the Three Angry Wives Pub, and she knew that I always went there for a few drinks after finishing a mission.

  So, I was on my own.

  But this time I wasn’t looking to drown my sorrows. This time I was looking for the mysterious vampire known as Gabe.

  I walked in and saw him seated at a table near the back of the room. While it was interesting that he was here every time I was here, that only spelled that he knew when to expect me. What I never understood was how he knew or why he knew.

  “Gabe,” I said with a nod as I signaled the wa
iter to bring me a drink.

  “Mr. Dex,” he replied in his smooth way. “I trust you are well?”

  “Super. How about you? Having a good day?”

  “It’s been going fine, thank you.”

  “Business going well?”

  He inclined his head slightly. “Business?”

  “Well, I don’t really know what you do for a living, but I assume there’s more to your life than dumping special skills on me and then running off into the night.” I squinted. “At least I hope so because that sounds really boring otherwise.”

  He cracked a smile at that.

  “I have many projects that I’m responsible for, Mr. Dex,” he answered coyly. “Unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to discuss any of them with you.”

  “Of course you’re not.”

  The waiter dropped off my usual, a Rusty Nail on the rocks. I gave him a nod and asked for a quick follow-up as I had the feeling this liquid wasn’t going to last long. I had no intention of getting drunk, but I certainly needed something to take the edge off.

  “I understand that Officer Cress is back with you,” he said with an arrogant smirk. I paused my drinking. “Don’t be so surprised, Mr. Dex. You’re already well aware of the fact that I’ve been providing you with special skills.”

  “Too aware,” I grunted.

  “Surely you’re able to make some basic deductions from that fact alone?”

  “I am,” I replied, “and don’t call me Shirley.”

  I couldn’t resist.

  “Pardon?”

  “Nothing,” I answered after finishing the first Rusty Nail of the night. “What I want to know is who you are working for and what’s in it for you?”

  He took a sip of his Bourbon. At least that’s what I assumed it was, based on the color of the liquid.

  “As for my employer…” He paused and looked up thoughtfully for a moment. “There is nothing I can share with you regarding that, I’m afraid.” He brought his eyes back to mine. “As for what’s in it for me, again there is nothing I can share on the subject.”

  I was feeling a bit more than frustrated with him, but I didn’t want to blow up just yet. The fact was that this guy had been giving me some powerful skills. How he’d been managing it, I had zero idea. I’d ask, but what would be the point? He’d just say he couldn’t tell me anyway.

  “So are you just here to fuck with me?” I said in a defeated tone.

  “Mr. Dex,” he said, his voice the tsk-tsk type, “I told you when we first met that there would be many ubernaturals coming to attack your city, and I have provided you with various means to battle each of them.”

  “Without user manuals,” I pointed out as another Rusty Nail landed on the table. “I’m slowly getting the hang of it, but would a little help with the basics have killed you?”

  His reply was in the way of a sad smile.

  As I picked up my second drink, Gabe began scooting out of his chair.

  “Leaving already?” I said with a laugh. “Could you at least tell me a bit about Rex? He’s already dead, so how could that hurt?” He said nothing, so I pushed forward, hoping for at least some nugget of information. “He was an amalgamite like me, right?”

  “Not like you, no,” he answered.

  “But he was an amalgamite?”

  “Every ubernatural you’ve faced has been, Mr. Dex, but none of them are like you.” He studied the room uncomfortably. “You’re unique.”

  Was this a case of ask the right questions and maybe get an answer? Could be, but it was also clear that my time with Gabe was up for the night. My pain-in-the-ass crystal ball was clearly anxious to get out of here.

  “Seriously, dude, why do you always skedaddle after only a few sentences?”

  He began pulling on his black gloves.

  “Contrary to what you may think, Mr. Dex,” he answered, keeping his voice down, “we are not exactly drinking buddies.”

  “Actually,” I countered, “I’d argue you’re the closest thing I’ve got to a drinking buddy.”

  He stopped pulling at his gloves and glanced up at me with a raised eyebrow.

  “How sad.”

  I frowned.

  “Either way,” Gabe continued, “my purpose is to judge your state of mind after each battle and to provide you with what I believe you’re going to need in order to combat the next in line.”

  I pushed up from the table and glared at him.

  “Look, pal,” I said, taking a risk that he may break if I played it tough, “I’ve about had enough with all these games. Since the first time we met, you’ve obviously known something. But you never share it with me.” I wanted to wring his neck, but I held myself in check. “You obviously knew all of this crap was going to happen. You showed up after that Chippendale’s-looking fucker nearly blew the top off the Excalibur, you gave me that Flashes thing to deal with Shitfaced Fred, you gave me Time to use against Charlotte, and then I got Sniff in order to find Rachel.” I held up a finger. “And note that Rex was in London, not Vegas, so it should have been one of the officers there dealing with that shit, not me.”

  He had his hands behind his back as I faced him. Clearly, he wasn’t worried in the least that I might get physical if he didn’t talk. Guys like him wouldn’t divulge any secrets, even if you threatened to cut off their balls and use them for a game of hacky sack.

  “Obviously you know more than you’re letting on,” I said tightly. “So why the games?”

  The look in his eye said he wanted to tell me more about the situation but he couldn’t.

  “You said you were going to lend me support where you could, Gabe,” I pressed, hoping to appeal to his sense of honor, if he had any, “so help me out here, pal.”

  “I am assisting you greatly, Mr. Dex,” he answered as he pulled at his gloves again. “Believe it or not, I am.”

  We stood staring at each other for a few moments, but I knew this was pointless. He wasn’t going to spill the beans.

  Bastard.

  “Fine,” I said, throwing up my hands in disgust. “Well, what’s the next magic word you’re going to give me that I won’t know how to use?”

  “Words,” he replied.

  “More than one this time, eh?”

  “No,” he said slowly. “The word I’m giving you is ‘Words.’”

  “Oh,” I said as Words locked into my brain. “I see. Any hints on how to use it?”

  His face betrayed no emotion this time. “Sorry.”

  “Is there a limit to the number of uses, like I have with Time?”

  “One.”

  “One use?”

  He nodded and spun on his heel, heading out of the pub, leaving me standing there fuming. The second Rusty Nail disappeared in a flash.

  “Use it wisely, Mr. Dex,” Gabe called back as the door began to close behind him.

  Honestly, I was really starting to hate that guy.

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