Black Werewolves: Books 1–4

by Gaja J. Kos

  “And the other one was clean?” Zarja asked, a frown line running down her forehead. “So if the blood didn’t get poisoned at Sanguine Refreshments, someone had to steal the carton from the bar, lace it with the deadly mix, and then what?”

  Evelin bit her lower lip. “It’s strange, I admit. It almost sounds more like a crime of opportunity than anything else. But from what I witnessed at the theater, the security there is laughingly low. Not to mention that drinking on the job is almost considered to be a rule.”

  “So no security footage and no reliable witnesses?” Tim asked, crossing his arms. “If whoever laced the blood knew what to expect from an opening night, then all of it could have been planned.”

  “Precisely.” Evelin nodded. She unhooked her fingers from around her knee and began pulling her coat from the back of the chair and into her lap. “After putting several accounts of what had transpired that night side by side, there are a few facts we can rely on.”

  The werewolf procured a small brown notepad from her coat pocket and flipped through its pages. “The two cartons of Sanguine Refreshment’s blood were delivered that afternoon. A hostess stocked up the bar an hour and a half prior to the show. No guests were inside the theater at that point.”

  A strand of dark hair fell across Evelin’s face when she lifted her gaze, her eyes traveling across the gathered group. Small dimples appeared as she puckered her lips, framing her mouth.

  “This is when the employees’ began drinking.” She sighed, tucking away the hair. “The details were much harder to put together after that point...”

  Evelin turned the page, resuming her recollection of the timeline. “Only staff members were present until approximately sixty minutes before the performance, followed by around eighty or so spectators. Tomo will get a comprehensive list of employees soon, but the visitors will be a bit harder to account for.”

  “Apparently, the theater doesn’t give a shit who actually comes to see their performances, as long as the box office is doing well,” Mark added in an irritated tone.

  “That’s why we decided to take a different approach.” Evelin nodded. “There were at least three individually contracted photographers present at the event. Tomo is hunting them down as we speak and will try to retrieve all photos taken that evening. Hopefully, we’ll manage to ID most of the guests since they’re either regulars or socialites…”

  “By the sound of it, I guess anybody could have accessed the blood, right?” Rose asked, her eyes fixed wholly on the delicate werewolf; she didn’t want to chance glancing at Sebastian’s gloomy figure sitting opposite her.

  “Yes,” the were sighed in defeat. “Due to the whole let’s-drink-on-the-job thing, the bar was left unsupervised at times. It would have been easy to steal a carton, especially since they store their drinks in plain sight.”

  Jürgen shifted in his seat and ran his hand through the blond strands of his hair. His features were devoid of his usual playfulness, his eyes hard as he leaned on the table.

  “I get that someone could swipe a carton and poison it. But if I’d done it, I would have put the damned thing back on the counter, got it into circulation again. Now, you said the cleaning chick was accused of theft, which means the blood went missing and stayed that way.” He frowned. “Are you implying that whoever did this poured the laced drinks as well?”

  Evelin pursed her lips, exhaling. “It’s a theory.”

  “But why not poison just the drink? Why the whole damn carton?” Tim asked, his eyes sharp.

  “What if the plan didn’t go as expected?” Jens intervened, grabbing the attention of the whole table. “Let’s say it was a visitor, not a staff member. They grabbed the carton, poisoned it, and put it back on the counter. But then the hostess decided to pour the blood that wasn’t spiked first...”

  “Which smoothly ruined the plan.” said. “If the theater ordered only two doses of blood, they couldn’t have expected many vamp guests, meaning the chances of actually tapping into the second carton were slim...”

  Rose sipped on her coffee, listening to the exchange. The invigorating taste cleared her mind, allowing her to push away the thorniness of sitting in Sebastian’s company. And the dreadful feeling of where the weres' theories were headed.

  Jens nodded. “So the perp had to steal the blood again, making sure it reached its mark.”

  “But that would mean that—unless he was the only vamp there aside from his partner, and the murderer had made a miscalculation—Alex was targeted,” Rose added, crossing her arms after she placed her mug on the table. She leaned back into the wooden chair, discomfort creeping up her spine.

  They all knew what it meant, but Evelin was the first to voice it. Her tone was grim, cutting through the silence that had filled the room. “And that Alex probably knew his killer.”

  Chapter 19

  A heavy fall of footsteps echoed behind Rose, following her onto the patio. The crisp air brushed her skin as she swung open the door and maneuvered away just in time to let Frank pass inside, balancing a full plate of empty mugs and glasses on the palm of his hand. The easy, feel-good music playing inside Pri Sojenicah seemed distant once the door shut behind her. Peace filled her senses.

  But she knew the door wouldn’t stay closed for long, and with it she would lose her quiet.

  Drinking in the solitude of the patio, she pulled her pack of cigarettes out of her coat pocket and stuck one between her lips.

  All that was left was wait for what was about to follow.

  She had been glad when the pack called for a short break before tackling the vampire problem; her fingers had been yearning for the sensation of a cigarette between them since the meeting began. But her hopes of having a few minutes to herself evaporated the moment she stalked towards the door.

  Even the cigarette didn’t taste as good.

  The footsteps neared, and Sebastian’s large figure emerged from Pri Sojenicah, accompanied by a short burst of music which quickly quieted down as the door slammed shut.

  Rose glanced casually at the approaching Kresnik and gave her best to keep the negative emotions hidden. However, the teal shade of Sebastian’s eyes revealed that her attempt at behaving cordially didn’t reach its recipient but rather crashed and burned. Brutally. She cursed the gods, being careful to keep her face calm.

  This wouldn’t be a pleasant conversation.

  Sebastian moved in front of her, blocking her view of the patio and the parking lot that stretched beyond it.

  “Well, Rose.” His deep, voluminous voice pushed her farther against the wall. “How has your blood-loss driven life been to you?”

  “Outstanding,” Rose crooned back, squinting her eyes. “But it’s not like you give a fuck. Half a year, Sebastian. You ignore me for half a year, and then you dare come here and talk shit about my life!”

  The Kresnik’s eyes turned an even darker shade of teal, the arrogance all immortal beings shared written bluntly across his face. This Sebastian, she didn’t know.

  “You’ve made your choice.”

  “Oh, now that’s just low, Sebastian,” she growled. “I knew you had a bone to pick, but don’t you think this is pushing it a bit too far? Of all the Chernobog-damned people in this Chernobog-damned world, you should know that I fucking didn’t choose anything; it’s who I bloody am.”

  Sebastian snorted, shaking his head; the golden strands swayed in tune with his movement, shining despite the eerie overcast skies. “If you hadn’t lost your panties at the sight of that sleek, self-absorbed bastard; if you hadn’t become merely a name in the long line of Mokoš’s descendants who spread their legs for some immortal fun, your power would have remained dormant.”

  Rose threw her cigarette on the ground and adamantly crushed it beneath her boot. Golden fire roared through her veins, fueled by her anger.

  Sebastian was being so self-righteous the air reeked of it.

  Any excuses she might have set up for him in her head were now gone. Losing his
ward and fearing for her safety could lead to foolish actions; she had accepted as much. But there were boundaries. And Sebastian was waltzing over them with all the ego befitting an immortal bastard.

  She ground her teeth. Not biting the Kresnik’s head off was proving to be quite a challenge.

  “I went into the underworld to solve the fucking murders! I did it because the victims needed justice, not so that I could get laid,” she hissed through clenched teeth. The power within her flared, echoing her anger like a loudspeaker. She struggled for control; allowing her eyes to glow wouldn’t do her any favors in the given situation. “Tell me, what should I have done? Allowed the wolf-man to carry out Psoglav’s plan to fuck up Veles's realm and bring down the gates between our world and the underworld?

  “You wouldn’t be talking to me right now if I hadn’t done what I did. Even you—in all your fucking immortality—wouldn’t survive that fall.”

  Sebastian stepped closer, diminishing any personal space Rose had held on to. “I’ve known you for a long time now, kid. You’ve done a lot of shit in the twenty-four years of your existence, but blindly trusting someone was never one of your weak points.

  “Do you actually expect me to believe that you allowed a fucking god to transport you into another realm—without any consideration for the consequences it might bring—if you didn’t lust after him? Shit, you’re a werewolf, Rose, not some damn savior!”

  With a snarl tearing from her lips, she shoved Sebastian back. The sudden attack caught the Kresnik by surprise as much as it did Rose. She’d snapped. She hadn’t meant it, but she’d snapped.

  The images of Mračaj were still burned into her memory, the silver body writhing on the ground, and the look in the wolf-man’s eyes as he sent that final rush of power into the simargl. And although the weres had all made it out alive, Rose hadn’t forgotten the fear on Jürgen’s face as his brother went down, the soul-tearing toxin infiltrating his body. She hadn’t forgotten how weak the bond she shared with Jens became. How silent.

  There were memories from that battlefield Rose would carry forever. Sebastian had no right to question her actions.

  She came back to her senses just in time to see the Kresnik’s massive figure nearly stumble to the ground. But Sebastian managed to find his balance after a display of frenzied hands flailing through the air and caught himself just before he went down.

  They stared at each other, bewilderment clear on their faces. Considering the strength Rose had put into the shove, it shouldn’t have done anything more than give her back the personal space Sebastian had taken from her. He was an immortal after all…

  “I see your abilities have improved,” he spat, straightening up into a looming stance.

  Rose wasn’t sure what to say. In a moment of weakness, she wanted to apologize for her lack of control, but quickly thought better of it. Her once good friend and protector treated her like crap and had physically squeezed her into a corner. No, her actions hadn’t been uncalled for. Even if the effect was stronger than she had wanted it to be.

  “Look,” she said in a firm voice, taking a step towards Sebastian’s massive figure. “Do you actually have any useful information on vamps, or did you come here only with the intention to talk shit about me?”

  A fresh cup of coffee waited for Rose when she got back inside; she could pick up its enticing aroma the moment she walked into the bar. Sebastian hadn’t said a word after her last remark, but he also hadn’t chewed her head off; Rose took it as an improvement.

  The discussion the werewolves had been caught up in died down. In silence, they watched Rose approach with the Kresnik following closely on her heels.

  The tension in their secluded corner of Pri Sojenicah began to lessen once it became apparent that Rose and Sebastian’s fallout hadn’t been bad enough to drive away the stout blond immortal. They loved Rose and would side with her in an instant, but Sebastian’s presence was vital. His high rank in the supernatural community meant knowledge, hopefully the kind that would help them close the case before another uproar spouted among the vampires. Enough humans had already been killed.

  “Ready for round two?” Rose asked as she slid out of her coat and into the wooden chair.

  Sebastian observed her with teal eyes, but the voice that came out of his mouth was calm and collected. If she hadn’t known him that well, she might have believed that the immortal didn’t want to chew her life to pieces.

  “I need to know everything that has happened so far.”

  The werewolves obliged, taking turns talking and filling in any details the others had missed. Since the latter wasn’t a rare occurrence, they were glad to have Evelin and her notebook among them. Crime solving wasn’t their forte, and the werewolf’s meticulous note keeping prevented them from drowning in the mass of—at times frustratingly unrelated—information.

  Sebastian’s expression grew grimmer with every passing minute. By the time Evelin closed the small brown pad, the Kresnik looked as if he were on the verge of stomping out the door and strangling the person responsible with his bare hands.

  “What was the final body count from last night?” the Kresnik asked in a strained voice.

  Sirens had already been wailing loudly when Veles gathered the werewolves together and transported them away from the factory, effectively shielding their existence from the approaching police. The vampires were dead, and there were no indications of possible new arrivals. The men in blue were left with nothing but terrified humans to deal with. Although that must had been a strenuous task all on its own.

  Luckily, with Evelin’s connection to Tomo, the officer was able to keep them in the loop despite not being assigned to the case.

  “Twenty-seven dead, eleven in critical condition, and fifteen wounded,” Tim answered quietly, but his words were lined with a lethal undertone.

  Rose fought the bile that splashed at the back of her throat. She had known the situation was bad. She had seen the heaps of what used to be human bodies scattered across the ground, had smelled the sharp metallic scent of blood...

  But hearing the blunt depersonalized numbers leave Tim’s lips made everything much, much worse.

  The weres had saved more than a hundred lives, but the loss still stung. Rose said a silent prayer, hoping the souls had found their peace in Veles’s realm.

  There had been only ten vampires yesterday. Rose, Veles, and the twins slaughtered eight of them, while Tim took care of the two by the front gate. Ten. Rose knew for a fact there was a shitload of traditionals lurking on the outskirts of Ljubljana; nobody knew the exact headcount, but even between different sources, the number never dropped below a hundred.

  If all of them had decided to strike that night, even the lord of the underworld and four werewolves wouldn’t have been able to prevent a catastrophe from happening.

  The immortal power rolled off Sebastian in waves. “And you think this slaughter is somehow related to the march of the twentyfourhourlies?”

  “It would be too big of a coincidence for the two not to be related,” Rose added, risking eye contact with Sebastian.

  Any anger the Kresnik might have had for her was replaced by murderous fury towards the traditionals and the sonovabitch that went after the twentyfourhourlies, causing the whole damned chain of gory events. He nodded at Rose in agreement.

  Tim shifted in his seat, appearing slightly uncomfortable. “I managed to squeeze some information from one of the vamps...”

  The pack fell silent, their gazes falling upon the werewolf one after the other.

  “I didn’t tell you before... I wanted all of us to be together. Besides, without Sebastian’s help, our search would leave us running in circles.”

  His gaze circled scanned the table, slowly gaining nods of approval from his pack members and, finally, Sebastian.

  He sighed. “I had no intention of keeping you in the dark. But since we were all as scattered and knee-deep in shit as we were, I simply didn't want to throw any more ag
itation your way. Not when the lead isn't exactly solid.

  Rose dipped her chin. He had made the right call.

  A night without pondering over more bothersome facts was something they all desperately needed if they wanted to stay efficient.

  “One of the two vamps I had to fend off by the entrance seemed slightly weaker,” Tim explained, rubbing his fingers against his temple. “I killed the first one as fast as I could, then cornered the other. He was a traditional, but he was a young one. After seeing the blood pour out of his older buddy, he became reasonably afraid for his life.”

  Tim paused, catching his breath; the faintest trace of a lethal smile tugged at the corners of his lips before he carried on.

  “Believing that I would spare his pallid hide if he cooperated, words began spilling out of his mouth like a bloody dam had exploded.” Tim smiled, took a sip of his coffee, and cleared his throat. “It came to light that his recently deceased pal had invited him on the hunt for humans, which, naturally, seemed like an opportunity he couldn’t pass up...”

  The anticipation drowned every background sound, the pack and Sebastian intensely waiting for Tim to drop the bomb they knew was coming.

  The werewolf took a deep breath, his eyes turning dark. “Turns out the petty excuse of a vamp was merely a plus one in the whole scheme. But the rest of them... The traditionals didn’t come up with their murderous expedition on their own.”

  “What do you mean?” Sebastian asked, his knuckles white as he clenched his hands into fists.

  “When they woke up for the night,” Tim said in a voice filled with a mixture of distaste and rising bloodlust, “every single one of the vamps that were at that factory yesterday found a note with detailed instructions waiting for them in their lairs.”

  Chapter 20