by Geonn Cannon
Ari clenched her jaw and looked past Dale out the window.
“You know this is the best option. I’m... I’m not just a human. I’m also a hunter.”
“You’re not--”
Dale put her finger on Ari’s lips. “We both know that book did something to me. Just like we both know that I’ve overcome it. But if anyone is going to risk being exposed to hunters, it has to be me. Let me protect you. Let me save our family.”
Ari met Dale’s eyes. “I’ll be there, seconds away, the whole time. If anything happens to you...”
“You’ll swoop in and save me like the perfect wife you are.” She cupped Ari’s face and pulled her in for a kiss. “That’s the only reason I feel brave enough to do it, you know. I’m scared to death. These guys are monsters. The only reason I’m offering to do this is because I have faith in you. My parachute and my safety net.”
“Always,” Ari said.
“Always,” Dale repeated, and kissed Ari again.
Ari put her arms around Dale. “So. First fight as a married couple. Still want to stick with it?”
Dale rested her hands on Ari’s hips. “Well... I do have a backup plan for when we call it quits. A really sexy lady from work made an offer.”
“I knew it was trouble letting my woman work.”
Dale kissed Ari’s cheek. “Let me see what I can find on Roemer and Keech. Maybe I can connect them somehow and find a link that shows us the right place to look.”
“That would be nice.” Ari stepped out of the embrace. “I’m going to go see Eva Cardoso. Maybe there’s a reason the hunters targeted Marin, something that can lead us to where they’re holding her.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Dale said.
“Before I do that, I thought I’d run over and check on Milo. Take her something to eat, see how she’s doing.”
“Oh, good idea. Give her my love.”
“Will do. Call me if you find any dirt, or if anything happens in the video.”
Dale saluted, already back at the laptop.
Ari drove home, making a quick stop to pick up another greasy burger and fries, and let herself into the apartment. She expected to find Milo in their bed but instead she was in the living room, curled up in a ball on the floor next to the couch. She’d made herself a nest out of blankets and pillows, her knees pulled up to her chest, one arm over her head. Ari froze in the doorway, terrified she’d had a relapse.
“Milo...?”
Her shoulders twitched and she lifted her head, staring at Ari until her eyes focused. “Ari,” she said, and the tension faded from Ari’s posture. Milo sat up and stretched. “Your couch sucks.”
“It inspires me to not fight with Dale before bedtime.” She held up the bag of food she’d brought. “Want some lunch?”
Milo growled low in her throat and practically pounced on the bag. Ari let go before she lost a finger and went to the offending couch. Milo took her bounty to the dinner table and sat down, tearing the paper bag to get at the food inside.
“How are you feeling,” Ari said, “other than starving?”
“Bad sleep,” Milo said, then took a bite. She chewed, swallowed. “Weird dreams...”
Ari leaned forward. “Weird how? They could be your memories trying to resurface.”
Milo narrowed her eyes and stared at a fixed spot on the wall. “Dark room. There were flashing lights, and someone was talking to me but I couldn’t see her.”
“Her?” Ari said. “Val?”
“I don’t think so. This was one of the hunters.”
Ari was surprised by that. All the hunters they’d seen so far, or at least the ones she could remember, had been male.
“Pretty sure it was a her, anyway. Everything is kind of jumbled.” Milo rubbed her arms. “I remember being really cold and really hot. Pain.” Her expression hardened, like she was trying to solve a really complicated crossword puzzle, but eventually she shook her head. “I don’t know. I... I don’t think I saw Gwen the entire time we were being held together.”
“But you know she was in the same place? That she was okay?”
Milo nodded. “I felt her there. Even though they kept us apart, I knew she was there.”
Ari gave her a moment with her emotions before she spoke again. “We’re going to get her back. We already have some good leads.”
Milo perked up. “Leads? What do you have? Do you know who took us?”
“Not so fast,” Ari said. “Even if we had an address and map with a big X on it, you wouldn’t be getting anywhere near the place.”
Milo got to her feet. “Ariadne...”
Ari also stood. “Millicent.”
They stared at each other across the room. Milo was breathing hard, her hands balled into fists at her sides. Neither of them spoke, neither moved, but Ari could feel the tension between them.
“We can fight,” Ari said. “You’ll probably kick my ass. Or maybe not, considering you aren’t exactly in top shape. No matter what happens, you’ll still have to convince Dale to let you go along, and there’s no way you’re getting past her. You’re not going to do the prisoners any good by rushing in there when you’re still recovering from your last visit.”
Milo worked her jaw. “If Gwen doesn’t see me there...”
“She’ll know you’re somewhere safe,” Ari said, “and that you were smart enough to let someone else take the first wave. What would you do if she was the one who got away, and you saw her come running in a few days later?”
“I would be relieved!”
Ari glared at her.
“And... I’d be furious at her for being so stupid.” She dropped heavily back into her chair. She looked at the to-go bag and then swatted it away, spilling fries across the floor. “I hate this!” she bellowed, then put her head in her hands, shoulders rising and falling with ragged breaths. Ari sidestepped the spilled food and rubbed Milo’s back. “I hate being useless.”
“You’re not useless. You’re healing. Mom will appreciate you taking care of yourself when she wasn’t around to do it.”
Milo sniffled and wiped her eyes. “Thanks. I’ll, uh, I’ll clean up the floor and vacuum.”
“We’d appreciate that.” She kept rubbing Milo’s shoulders. “How’s the... Have you tried transforming again?”
Milo held up her hand. Her fingers twitched a little. “A couple of times. Still nothing.”
Ari crouched down and laced her fingers with Milo’s. “Whatever’s going on, we’re going to figure it out.”
“How’d you deal with it in prison? And afterward, when you knew you wouldn’t be able to change until the drug was out of your system?”
She remembered those days, the insomnia, feeling the wolf inside of her but knowing it was hibernating and wouldn’t come out no matter how much she tried to force it. She remembered the really bad days, when it felt like she wanted to claw her skin off. Unfortunately the only advice she had to offer, the thing that had gotten her through those sleepless nights and anxious days, was Dale.
“It was having her, wasn’t it?” Milo said, looking up with a wry smile.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t be.” She stood up and clapped her hand on Ari’s shoulder. “I’m going to take a shower and try to sleep again. Thank you for the food. It was just what the doctor ordered.”
Ari said, “Text me if you need anything else. Dale and I are your personal Postmates for the duration of this thing.”
“Appreciated. Can you at least tell me you have a target to go after?”
“We have a couple,” Ari said. “Really good leads. Promising.”
Milo nodded. “Okay. After all the miracles I’ve seen you and Dale pull off over the years, I’d be stupid to start doubting you now. Keep me in the loop.”
“Promise,” Ari said.
Milo went past her to the bathroom, and Ari crouched down to start picking up the fallen fries. Maybe the effort she’d put into convincing Milo there was hope would help convince h
erself of the same thing. Because at the moment, despite the leads they’d already gathered, she felt incredibly daunted by the forces stacked up against them. She couldn’t help but worry that no matter how fast they moved or how much intelligence they gathered, their enemy could just crush them into dust.
Chapter Eight
Once Milo was in the shower and the mess had been cleaned up, Ari left the apartment and went back to where she’d parked. She was almost to her car before a voice from behind her stopped her in her tracks.
“I hope you appreciate the fact that, just by being here, I’ve proven that I could cause all sorts of headaches for you and Miss Duncan.”
Ari slowly turned to watch Isaac Hayden come down off the front porch of the house. He held his hands out to either side to show he was unarmed. He wore a sweater vest over an Oxford shirt, both of them tucked into a pair of dark slacks. Ari kept her guard up. She wasn’t about to be the first person in history killed by someone in a sweater vest. She turned to face him fully.
“I can’t smell you.”
He smiled. “That’s almost like a compliment, but I don’t think you meant it as one.”
“I couldn’t smell those hunters at the waterfront, either. You guys start using a new cologne?”
“Yes, Wolf Blind, by Calvin Klein.” He chuckled. “I was hoping we could talk.”
“Talk?” Ari said. “That’s weird. Because the last time we saw each other was pretty hectic, but I seem to remember you yelling about how you were going to kill me this time.”
Hayden sighed and looked down, the portrait of shame. “Yes, I admit, I allowed my emotions to get the better of me yesterday morning. I hope you can forgive me. It had been a very stressful night and I lost my composure.”
“Yeah, it’s always rough when the women you’re holding prisoner get away from you.”
He pressed his lips together. “I’ve obviously found your home,” he said. “I know Miss Duncan is staying there. I’ve always known where your office is. I came here to demonstrate that I don’t want to be a threat to you.”
“By lurking outside my house? By pointing out you can get to me at any time you want? Some people might consider that a threat in and of itself.”
“You are... the most frustrating woman I’ve ever met.”
“Aw, you’re just saying that.”
Hayden stepped forward but Ari held out a hand to stop him.
“How about we keep this gap, Mr. Non-Threatening? I can hear you just fine from over there.”
“The hunters want to kill you. They want a genocide. All wolves dead, skinned, wiped from the face of the planet. I don’t want that. I don’t want to kill an entire species even if I thought it was possible. Forced extinction is a heinous act. I’m the one who convinced our boss to go with this plan.”
“Kidnapping and torturing a college student?”
Hayden said, “Exposing canidae. Revealing the truth to the world.”
Ari said, “You think that’s a better plan? You think the world would just accept that we exist? There’s centuries of folklore calling us monsters.”
“Vampires were called monsters for centuries, too. Now they’re sex symbols.”
Ari rolled her eyes. “Okay, what do you want, Hayden? Do you want my help? Because you kidnapped my mother and her partner, you’re holding an innocent canidae hostage, you tried to abduct my partner the last time we met. You don’t have a very good track record, bud.”
“I only want...”
A police cruiser pulled up to the curb. Ari stared at it, then turned back to the house when she heard the front door open. Neka Teller, skilled Duwamish boat builder, very understanding landlady, and Ari’s current favorite person in the world, stood on the porch with her phone in her hand, staring daggers at Hayden.
“Everything okay, Ariadne?” she asked.
“Everything’s fine,” Ari said. The officers were coming up the lawn now, and she raised her voice so they could hear. “Mr. Isaac Hayden was just leaving.”
“Mr. Hayden was loitering on my property for most of the morning,” Neka said.
The cops struck their typical hands-on-belt intimidation pose. One of them said, “Sir, why don’t you move along and leave these ladies alone?”
“That sounds like a great idea,” Ari said. “Run along, Mr. Hayden. Isaac Hayden.” She spelled it. One of the cops smirked and ducked his head, wiping his fingers across his lips.
Hayden was already moving toward the curb. “We don’t have to be enemies, Ariadne. Think about what I said. I won’t come back here, and I won’t come to your office, but we will talk again.”
“I look forward to it,” Ari said, waggling her fingers in farewell.
When he was well off the property, the lead cop looked between Ari and Neka. “Everything under control, ladies?”
“Yes, officer. Thank you,” Ari said.
The other officer, the one who was now smiling openly, hooked his finger over his shoulder. “We’re going to follow him for a bit. Make sure he doesn’t just circle back around. You ladies have a good afternoon.”
The police left, and Neka crossed the lawn to stand next to Ari. “Are you okay?”
Ari squeezed Neka’s arm above the elbow. “Yeah. I don’t think I really needed the backup, but I’m really grateful they were here.”
“Who was that guy? Is he dangerous?”
“Not to you,” Ari said. “But if you see him hanging around, you might want to go ahead and call the cops again.”
“In a heartbeat. Take care of yourself. And remember, if it happens on my property, I’m part of it. Whoever that dude is, he’s on my shit list, too.”
Ari smiled. “I appreciate you watching our backs.”
Neka saluted and headed back in the house.
Ari looked down the street, half-expecting to see Hayden doing a slow drive-by. She couldn’t help but wonder about his motives. She didn’t trust him an inch, but he had been right. He got the drop on her, and he could have grabbed her before she even knew he was there. He didn’t. He knew where Milo was, so he could have recaptured her. He didn’t do that, either. She wasn’t naïve enough to believe he was sincere about wanting to help, but he was definitely working an angle that might run counter to what the hunters had in mind.
Whatever he really wanted, Hayden had just confirmed just how dangerous he was. She turned around to go back in the apartment. He could claim all day that he had no intention of taking Milo back into custody, but she wasn’t about to trust his word on that.
***
Eva Cardoso and her sister lived in a condo in Eastlake, comfortably settled between the I-5 and Lake Union. Ari had always liked the neighborhood, though the students and tech gurus who populated it made her feel like a geriatric refugee whenever she risked venturing into its bohemian borders. But it had unbeatable views of the water or downtown, depending on which part of the hill you were on, and some of the streets were bona fide cobblestone. It was a lovely place to visit, spend an afternoon, but if the constant traffic on the I-5 overhead didn’t eventually drive you out, the prices would.
Ari was surprised to see there were no parking spaces available in front of Eva and Marin’s building; she had to park at the end of the block and walk back. When she knocked, the door was almost immediately answered by a very short, very dark woman in a sleeveless dress, her feet planted shoulder-width apart as if she expected Ari to try rushing past her. Her center-parted hair hung down well past her shoulders, long enough that the curled ends might brush the carpet if she bent her knees.
“State your business.”
Ari was taken aback. “Uh. Ariadne Willow. I’m the--”
The woman’s demeanor immediately changed, as if an unseen director had yelled cut. “Oh, the private investigator. You’re okay, she said you can come in.” She stepped aside. “I’m Mickie. Eva’s in here with the rest of us.”
“The rest...?” Ari followed Mickie into the living room and saw canidae in huma
n form taking up every available surface. Two were on the coffee table, three on the hearth, one in each of the armchairs, and two on either side of Eva who was sitting on the couch. The only one standing was a woman at the window, who held up her phone and snapped a picture of Ari.
“You don’t have to do that, Hazel. She’s a friend.”
“As far as we know.” Hazel glared at Ari. “Spell your name for me.”
Ari did. “Eva has my contact numbers, too. I’m happy to be on your suspect list in the interest of completion. Is it everyone who has come by the house since Marin went missing?”
“Yep,” Hazel said.
“I’d like a copy of that, if it’s okay.”
Eva didn’t give Hazel time to answer. “Absolutely. Hazel will email it to you.”
Hazel didn’t look too happy, but turned away and peeked through the curtains at the street. Back on sentry-duty, it seemed.
Eva squeezed the hands of the girls next to her, then stood up and went to Ari. “I assume you’d prefer to speak to me in private?”
“It’s really up to you.”
“Probably be fewer interruptions if it’s just the two of us.” She put a hand on Ari’s shoulder and guided her into the hallway. “Sorry about Hazel and Mickie...”
“I assume their attitude is the main reason they’re on guard duty. I understand.”
Eva nodded. She led Ari into a kitchen, the counter still cluttered with breakfast dishes. She immediately started gathering the plates and glasses, moving them to the sink where she ran water over them. Ari had been around enough people with nervous energy to know it wasn’t really about doing a chore. She found a towel and went to stand next to Eva to help her.
“They’ve probably been keyed up by watching the feed.”
Eva sighed heavily. “One of the boys has been. I ca-- I can’t see her like that. It hurts too much and I just shut down. They tell me if anything happens. There was a woman on the video this morning... a doctor, I think? She looked like she actually cared about Marin. That was a bit of a relief.”
“Dale and I think we know who she is. If we’re right, she’s a prisoner, too.”
