“We can’t interrogate him if he’s not conscious,” I said.
“Forget the Sprite.” Olivia cut her furious gaze to me again. “Not only did all of you ditch me last night, and you won’t tell me where you were, but you also allowed this thing to be brought into our office.”
“Sorry.” I winced.
Olivia used her hands as she spoke, which was a sure sign I should consider running away. “Where did you, Ice, Joshua, and Perky here go last night after you decided to take flying lessons out a Vampire’s window?” She narrowed her gaze. “No bullshit.”
“After the Sprites.” I walked past Olivia to my desk and dropped my handbag on the credenza. “We found out that the Vampires were behind all of the chaos—they worked out some kind of deal with the Sprites.” I cocked my head toward Negel. “That’s what he’s here for. To help us fill in the blanks. And there are a lot of blanks.”
Olivia’s exotic features were set as she crossed her arms over her generous chest and leaned her hip against her desk. “Explain.”
“I’ve got to go.” Angel gave her brightest, dingiest smile so that she looked like a brainless wonder. No one would ever have guessed that she was the farthest thing from a bubblehead that you could get. “I have an appointment for a pedicure.”
“You do that, Perky.” Olivia waved her hand toward the door. “Just remember that you bring another one of these things in here and I’m going to shave every one of your curls off and toss them into the Hudson.”
I walked toward the door and opened it. Angel winked at Olivia, then shifted, her body vanishing as she transformed into a blond squirrel. One of Olivia’s erasers almost hit Angel’s little squirrel butt as she darted out the door.
Fae bells jangled as I let the door close and it was just me, Olivia, and a pitiful ugly and unconscious Sprite who might not have long to live if Olivia got her hands on him.
Before Olivia could say anything else after she tossed a rubber band on her desk, I got the first words out. “Something really bad has gone down. We have to talk.”
Olivia crossed her arms over her chest but now she looked more concerned than angry. “All of it. Now.”
With a nod I walked to my desk and leaned against it, facing Olivia. I brushed a few of Kali’s blue hairs from my slacks. She’d only shredded a third of my new panties but had walked through my closet and rubbed up against some of my clothes, leaving blue cat hair on a good portion of my slacks and skirts.
I took a deep breath, then let the words out in a rush. “The Vampires not only have the lists of paranorm races’ weaknesses, but they now have the scientist’s notes from the Werewolf case.”
Olivia stared at me with a stunned expression. “You’d better start explaining. Don’t you dare hold anything back, including why you ditched me last night.”
I closed my eyes, trying to figure out how I was going to explain everything without telling her about the Paranorm Center. Damn the council for not allowing us to tell humans.
When I thought I could get the story out without breaking my vow, I opened my eyes and met Olivia’s gaze.
“No bullshit,” she said. “Not one word. I know you’re holding back and you have been for a long time. I’m not putting up with it a moment longer.” She pointed to the door. “See that sign? That’s my name up there with yours. It’s not going to be there anymore if you keep anything from me. Anything.”
I rubbed both hands through my hair in a frustrated motion, like I had earlier. “You’re right. You should have been told everything from the beginning. The Paranorm Council should never have forced us to withhold any information from you.” So much for not breaking my vow.
Olivia blinked before she slowly said, “Paranorm Council? What in the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m sorry, Olivia.” I began to pace the length of our office as I started to tell her all that I’d been holding back. “The council makes Peacekeepers take an oath that we never speak of them, never disclose the location of the Paranorm Center.”
I continued, “Any paranorm being who learns about the center has their memories altered so that they will not remember it. Anyone who is not a Peacekeeper, guard, or in some form of what you Earth Otherworld beings call ‘management’ can’t know about the center.”
Olivia stared at me with incredulity. “I have been risking my ass day after day for two years for you paranorms and you have the audacity to hold back this kind of information from me? I seem to remember Rodán making me a Tracker, so human or not, I should have been in on this a long time ago.”
I started to speak but I clamped my mouth shut when she started a full-blown rant.
“Adam and I are good enough to die for you paranorms,” she said, her voice rising. “But we’re not good enough to be given all of the facts.”
Olivia’s eyes were so dark they were like pools of black ink. Her silken brown features had taken on a reddish hue. I’d never seen Olivia so angry in the two years we’d been partners.
“You’re right.” I held my hands up, surrendering, placating, anything to get her to calm down. “I’m breaking my vow to the council and I don’t care. I should have talked with Rodán about it. Maybe he could have swayed the council, but I didn’t even try.”
“How could you not try to get the stupid ruling changed?” Olivia clenched her fists. “After everything we’ve been through.”
“You’re right,” I said again. “I was so conflicted. But now I’m going to tell you everything.”
And I did. I told her every little thing all the way back to the time when I’d first been taken to the council and sworn in as a Peacekeeper.
“You do know you’re going to have to explain all of this to Adam, right?” Olivia said when I finished. “You can’t hold this back.”
“I agree, he’s laid his life out as well.” I sighed. “There were so many times I wanted to tell you both, but the rules of no disclosure to humans held me back.” I held up my hand to ask her to hear me through.
“But everything you’re saying is correct,” I went on. “I know I can trust you and I can trust him. And there are times you need to know things, like in this case. I just want him to understand.”
“If you explain it that way, he should understand,” she said, still frowning. “I guess I understand where you’re coming from. Thanks for finally trusting me.” She gave me a long, hard look. “You know I would never let you down.”
“I know you never would,” I said. “And I won’t hold anything back from you again.” I held one hand to my heart like humans do when they make a promise—whether they plan to keep it or not. I planned to keep mine. “Promise.”
“What about that thing?” Olivia pointed to something behind me.
I stared at Negel who had remained unconscious during my and Olivia’s heart-to-heart. His big head drooped and drool ran down one side of his ugly face. His eyes were closed, his body relaxed as he sagged against his bonds.
Kali jumped onto my desk from out of nowhere. The blue Persian stared at the Sprite before she arched her back and hissed.
“If you don’t like the company, then you can leave,” I told my cat.
“Why don’t you visit Nyx’s underwear drawer while you’re at it,” Olivia said as Kali stalked toward our backroom.
“Stay away from my panties,” I called after the cat, then glared at Olivia. “She’s already shredded most of the new ones I bought. At Victoria’s Secret I found some really cute—”
“I don’t need to know about your panty drawer,” Olivia said.
She walked up to the little Sprite and clapped her hands in front of his face. “Wake up, Dog Food.”
At the sound of the clap, the Sprite jerked his head up, his big eyes going wide.
“That’s enough.” I frowned at Olivia. “Negel is going to tell us what he knows.” I looked to Negel. “And that had better be a lot.”
“Sprites stink.” Olivia wrinkled her nose. “The whole place smells like s
omething burned.”
“Are we going to interrogate him or smell him?” I said.
She propped her hands on her hips and looked down at Negel. “Apparently both.”
His huge Adam’s apple bobbed. “I will tell you what I know.”
“Start from the beginning.” I braced my hands on my thighs and leaned close to him. “I want to know every single thing you can possibly think of that has to do with this whole mess. Like the fact the Sprites might have the serum and antiserum to a deadly virus.”
“What are you talking about, Nyx?” Olivia said with shock on her face.
I felt almost frantic as I filled her in on what Rodán told me about the serum and antiserum. I held back only the information that I didn’t want the Sprite to overhear.
When I’d finished telling Olivia what she needed to know, I turned to the Sprite. “We have to find out from Negel exactly where this serum is, if they have it.” I glared at him. “And why he didn’t tell us last night.”
Negel flushed red.
“First, do the Sprites have the serum?” I asked.
Negel lowered his head. His ears flopped forward. “Tobath has it.”
“Tobath has it?” I repeated what Negel said.
He nodded, ears flopping.
The Sprite looked a little green. “Remember that when he was tortured Ecknep told the Vampires about it just for spite. He just didn’t tell you what ‘it’ was. He taunted them with the fact that the Sprites had the serum and antiserum and they would not get it.”
Negel continued, “Ecknep told the Vampires they should not have killed Zith and treated him that way. Told them that they lost a great prize because of that … As if the Vampires could not figure out how to get it from us.”
“Great.” I put my hands on my hips and looked at the ceiling. “Can’t cut us a break, GG, can you.”
Negel continued and I looked back at him as he spoke. “That’s why Ecknep laughed even as he died. The Vampires didn’t get everything.” Negel frowned, the skin on his forehead becoming lumpy lines. “That was idiocy. Now the Vampires will come after my people to find the actual serum.”
I cocked my head. “What’s worse? Sprites having the serum or Vampires?”
“Vampires are intelligent.” Olivia’s nose wrinkled in concentration. “Sprites aren’t.”
Negel looked affronted. “We are so. Intelligent.”
Olivia seemed not to have heard him. “Sprites might get careless and break the whole vial of the stuff. Vampires probably have steadier hands.”
“Vampires are evil.” Negel raised his chin. “Sprites are not.”
“That depends on your interpretation of the word ‘evil,’ ” Olivia said in a dry tone.
“Now tell us the rest,” I said. “I want to know more about this Tobath, too.”
“It is not much more than I told you, but I will tell you all that I do know,” Negel said. “I fear for my people. I fear for my wife and sons.”
From Olivia’s expression, she was having the same experience I’d had earlier—She’d never thought about a Sprite having a family.
“You fear for your people and family, yet you give the Vampires the kind of information that was in those documents?” Olivia looked ready to give him a roundhouse.
“I told Miss Tracker that I did not know about the operation. If I did I would not have gone along with it.” Negel blinked, his eyelids covering his huge eyes for a moment. “I tried to stop them when I learned of it.”
Olivia leaned against her desk again and crossed her arms over her chest. “You sure did a crappy job of that.”
Negel hung his huge head.
I snapped my fingers beneath his nose. “We don’t have time for you two to mess around like this. Keep talking.”
Negel raised his head. Was he ever ugly.
“Tobath is a self-appointed leader over our five Sprite clans.” Negel’s expression showed a twinge of almost terror and a flash of hate before his expression slid back into his current fear of Olivia and me. “He has many followers now who act as his guards and his army.”
“Sprites hate authority,” Olivia said, echoing what I had in the detention center. And they definitely don’t like responsibility.”
“That was true before Tobath,” Negel said. “Our clans are our families and extended families. We argue, fight, but no single Sprite had ever led us.”
I braced my hands on the back of the chair beside Negel and he had to turn his head to look at me. “Why now? Why this Sprite? What makes him different?”
“You should very well know since you are a halfling of the same race,” Negel said. “Tobath’s mother mated with a Drow warrior.”
My eyes widened. “Tobath is half Drow?” The thought of remotely being related to one of the slimy creeps made my skin crawl.
“That explains a lot.” Olivia looked at me. “Does he have purple skin?”
I moved the chair so that I was directly in front of Negel. I kept my hand braced on the back of the chair. “What does he look like? Drow or Sprite? Or does he shift at sunrise and sunset?”
“His skin is gray, like dirty dishwater,” Negel said. “He is very ugly and his ears are more pointed than other Sprites’ ears. With those exceptions he looks like all of our kind.”
“All Sprites are ugly,” Olivia said. “What’s different about that?”
Negel looked insulted. “My race is not ugly.”
Olivia smirked. “Says you.”
“Our females are quite beautiful,” Negel said, his nose in the air.
“Suuuuure,” Olivia said.
Come to think of it, I’d never seen a female Sprite.
I thought about Tobath again and his reign over these Sprites. “Drow males are often arrogant and ambitious.”
“That is Tobath.” Negel nodded. “Arrogant, ambitious, and evil.”
“Not all Dark Elves are evil.” I directed my scowl at him. “Most aren’t.”
“What I want to know is how one of those Drow dudes went after a Sprite.” Olivia gave an almost over-the-top shudder.
I held up my hands. “I don’t want to know.”
No way in all of the Underworlds did I want to find out if I was related to this Tobath, either.
“What I do want to know,” I said as I brought my attention totally to Negel, “is how he managed to make a small army for himself from a bunch of Sprites who don’t like authority.”
“Intimidation,” Negel said. “Fear.”
“Wash the windows and be a little clearer, why don’t you?” Olivia said.
“It was like rolling a booger in the dirt,” Negel said.
Olivia made a face.
I grimaced.
He went on. “It starts out with one grain of dirt and collects more as it rolls.”
I had a feeling part of Negel’s childhood involved rolling boogers in the dirt for entertainment. I didn’t want to know more details about that activity.
“How do booger rolling and Sprite dictatorship relate?” Olivia asked.
“Tobath recruited a group of childhood friends,” Negel said. “He may have threatened them or their families. The first followers gained more followers because of similar threats. Then more and more … Tobath controls most of the five clans now.”
“You said ‘most.’ ” I gripped the back of a chair. “Tell me about the others.”
“Remember what I told you about my brother, Penrod. He organized us. We are but a small group and we meet in private.” Negel said the words in a whisper, like one of Tobath’s followers might be somewhere in the room.
“Don’t worry.” I pointed to the doorway. “Nothing cloaked or otherwise can pass through that doorway without permission. It’s heavily warded and Fae bells sound a warning if any being tries to come in. You’re safe.”
Negel licked his thick lips. His tongue was purple. “One thing we have learned is that Tobath has great might, but lacks in reason and to some extent intelligence.”
&nb
sp; Olivia snorted. “Sprites and intelligence? An oxymoron.”
Negel actually looked hurt, then ignored her and spoke to me. “We have a secret way of communicating and the males meet when we go hunting for our clans,” Negel said.
“Hunting as in rooting through trash barrels?” Olivia said.
“Enough.” I frowned at her. “Keep interrupting and we’ll never get anything out of him.”
Olivia shrugged. “I wonder how much, if any of this, is the truth.”
“I want what is good for my people.” Negel had a note of pleading in his voice. “Nothing more.”
“Go on.” I ignored Olivia. “You go hunting with other Sprites and then what?”
“We discuss ways to rid ourselves of Tobath.” Negel sighed. “Thus far we have failed.”
“Color me surprised,” Olivia said. “So why did you get in on all this hot dog stuffing and statue painting?”
“Most Sprites thought that it was just fun and harmless play. Penrod and our little group went along with it to appear loyal to Tobath.” Negel grimaced. “We didn’t know it was a much larger scheme of Tobath’s.
“But then I spoke with one in our group who is close enough in rank to Tobath that he overhears things.” Negel licked his lips again. “Through him we learned that Tobath had approached the Vampires. He believes we need protection from other races and especially from you.” He tilted his head indicating it was me he was talking about. “You and all other Trackers.”
Negel went on as I considered what he had said. “Tobath and Volod made a pact. Ecknep and Zith told me before we broke out of the cell that our adventures around the city were part of the Vampire plan. Most of us were to distract Trackers by performing mischief and to allow ourselves to be caught and taken to the paranorm jails,” Negel said.
“And they would give you the temporary ability to escape,” I said and he looked surprised. “Once you brought something to them from the archives, they would give all Sprites the permanent power to escape paranorm jails.”
I waved him off when he started to speak. “We know about the file of paranorm weaknesses.”
“Yes.” He nodded. “And Ecknep told me just that night of the mission. I honestly did not know before that. Ecknep said that Vampires want to rule all paranorms. The information would allow them this ability.”
Vampires Not Invited: A Night Tracker Novel Page 10
