“You said Andy’s corrupted?”
“Yes. He’s with Evelyn and Oksana right now. He didn’t trust himself to go to the racetrack when I questioned the racers. I’d thought for a while it might be Mickey V who shot Raichel, but then I found the SD card.”
Liam wasn’t looking at me now. He grabbed a clean T-shirt out of the closet on the far wall. “So Andy is corrupted, and he really did shoot Raichel. You want to get leverage on Siobhan to make sure she doesn’t execute him for it.”
“Yes.”
He pulled the shirt over his head, then turned to face me. “Can I ask you a question?”
I didn’t want him to, but I nodded anyway.
“How do you feel about the thought that if he gets away with this, he might just keep killing kelpies?”
I curled my hands into fists, then forced myself to relax. “I talked to him, Liam. He’s devastated by the corruption. Terrified. It’s not who he wants to be.”
“Didn’t stop him from shooting Raichel.”
“No, it didn’t. But shooting Raichel made him face the severity of his situation. And after talking to him, I believe he’s ready to ask for help.”
I took a step closer to Liam, meeting his eyes, letting him see the sincerity in my face, hear it in my voice. “I won’t just turn him loose and cross my fingers he doesn’t keep killing people. And even if I were inclined to do that, he wouldn’t let me. He wants help. He wants hope.”
My voice dropped to a whisper, mostly to keep it from breaking when I continued. “I can’t let him die feeling the way he does right now. Like he’s become the monster he’s fought so hard not to be. Lorelei took everything from him when she corrupted him. But I believe he has the strength and the willpower to live with that corruption. I believe he can learn to control it, the same way he’s always controlled his temper. He just needs a different kind of help.”
I took another step, close enough to Liam now that I could feel his aura humming against my skin. “He wants to redeem himself. Not for me, not for anyone else. For himself. I need to make sure he gets that chance.”
Liam slid his arms around my waist and pulled me against him. He leaned down to touch his forehead to mine, then nuzzled the side of my face. It was a werewolf thing, I’d learned. The nuzzling, scenting your partner, being scented in return. It felt good, and some of the tension eased from my shoulders.
“You’re a good friend, Shade Renard,” he murmured.
“Not if I fail him,” I whispered back. “I hate to ask, I know you’re hurt, and that’s my fault too, and—”
“I’ll be fine,” Liam interrupted. “This is what pack does. We pull together when things get tough.” He pressed a kiss to my forehead, then stepped back. “So tell me about this gambler we need to find.”
Chapter 24
“I can’t believe finding him was that easy,” Peasblossom said.
I stared out the window of Liam’s truck, my hand already on the door handle as he made another turn. According to his GPS, we’d be at the casino in seven minutes. Seven minutes until I’d get the answers I needed. Until I hoped I’d get the answers I needed.
“Searching local casinos was a good idea,” Liam said, glancing at me.
“It wasn’t a stretch,” I demurred. “A man whose gambling addiction is strong enough to make him bet everything on one race isn’t going to walk away from it entirely, no matter what the risk. And since he lost everything, it made sense that he’d stay in familiar territory.”
“And most people don’t actually know how to go about getting a fake ID,” Liam added. “I doubt he’d have tried traveling under his own name after killing Gloria.”
“Right.”
“Even for a gambler he took a big chance that the kelpies wouldn’t spot him and eat him, hanging around the city,” Peasblossom chimed in.
“The waterhorses don’t venture this far inland very often,” I said absent-mindedly. “And even if they did see him, the bartender Blake talked to said Gordon doesn’t look much like his picture anymore. He’s living on the street for the most part.”
“And people don’t look too hard at the homeless,” Liam said grimly. “Just a sad fact of life.”
“People experiencing homelessness,” I said automatically. My hand went to my stomach, where my late dinner of steak and fries, eaten while waiting for Liam’s pack to canvas the local casinos with Gordon’s driver’s license photo, weighed heavily.
“You okay?” Liam asked.
“I’m fine.”
“You should be,” Peasblossom scoffed. “At this point, worst case scenario is you go to Siobhan and tell her we have proof that she lied when she said she killed Gordon. We found him, so obviously he wasn’t eaten.”
“No,” I corrected her. “Worst case scenario is that Siobhan decides to face an angry team instead of bargaining with me for Andy’s life. She could just as well say she ate the wrong person—oops—and then lead the charge against Gordon now.”
“Don’t think about the worst case scenario right now. Let’s wait and see what he says.” Liam paused. “Unless that’s not what’s bothering you.”
I couldn’t help it. I glanced toward the back of the truck. Scath reclined in the open metal bed, seemingly unperturbed by the frigid air rushing around her.
Liam’s pack had not been happy to see their alpha get in the same vehicle as the sidhe who’d attacked him—maliciously or not. When Liam had come out of the bedroom looking almost like his old self, the relief among his guards had been palpable. It had also turned quickly to shock and dismay when he’d informed them he’d be leaving with me.
And Scath.
I still thought that if Scath had attempted to get in the cab with Liam instead of riding in the truck bed, Sam would have gotten up the nerve to confront the alpha about what a bad idea it was to let a threat like that stand without investigation.
“I got in Scath’s way,” Liam said calmly. “I know she wasn’t attacking me.”
“Your pack doesn’t feel that way,” I mumbled. “Edwin is the one who convinced them to let me see you at all, and even he looked horrified when you said you were leaving with us. Accident or not, be honest—how long do you think it’s going to take them to feel comfortable around Scath? And by association, me?”
“We’ll have to talk about it,” Liam admitted. “I don’t want you to stress about it right now with everything else that’s going on, but I will need to know the specifics of what Scath’s bite did to me. That was no ordinary wound. If she’s going to be around my pack—including me—then I have a responsibility to find out exactly what I’m dealing with.”
I looked down at his arm and the fresh bandages I’d helped apply before we left. There was no blood, at least he’d healed that much. But there was still a wound, red and angry, like a bad burn.
“I don’t know,” I admitted quietly. “I don’t know much about her at all.” I stared out my window, thinking about Scath and how hard it was to get her to talk about herself. About how much those little tidbits I had learned should scare me.
So why didn’t they? Why did I trust her? Why did I feel, deep down in my witchy gut, that Scath was no threat to me?
“If you think it would be easier for you to talk to her alone, that’s fine. You talk to her, try to get her to open up. And when she’s ready, we’ll talk together.”
I didn’t ask what would happen if Scath refused. What would happen if she opted to stay in beast form as she so often did. I hadn’t even known she had a human form for months after she started following me around. If she didn’t want to talk, she wouldn’t talk.
Liam didn’t mention that possibility either.
I didn’t think either of us wanted to think about it.
Liam’s GPS announced our arrival in a smooth mechanical voice, blessedly breaking the uncomfortable silence.
“A step down from Fortuna’s,” Peasblossom observed.
I had to agree. Gordon Larkin’s new casino of choi
ce was a much smaller establishment than Fortuna’s had been, the sort of place that springs to mind when one hears the phrase “hole in the wall.” The sign over the front door declared “Easy Street” in neon letters that had probably started out as pink, but now looked like a bloody orange.
I got out and headed for the front door without waiting. Scath caught up to me easily, and I noticed that Liam gave her a little more space than before. A pound of prevention, I supposed. We made our way inside, and I wrinkled my nose as the scent of sweat, spilled beer, and the metallic tang of coins surrounded me.
“There he is.”
Liam followed my gesture as I nodded my head to the man sitting at a slot machine. His eyes glowed with the reflection from the brightly lit game, making them dance with unnatural colors. The resemblance to the photo on his driver’s license was fading, but he still had the same brown hair lightened with plenty of grey, and the same scar near his right eye. His spine was bowed, but that wasn’t unusual for someone who spent as much time in a casino as I guessed he did. At least, if that giant bowl of quarters on a stool next to him was any indication.
As he dipped his hand into the quarters, I noticed something amiss. Specifically, a finger. His pinkie on his left hand was gone.
“She claimed she hunted him down and found him on one of those casino boats. Said she ate him.”
I stared at the missing digit. Siobhan had lied, but like most lies from the fey, she had made sure there was just enough truth to sound good. I’d have bet Peasblossom’s favorite sword that Siobhan had eaten Gordon’s finger. All for a bit of truth for a lie of omission.
I hadn’t realized I’d come to a stop until Liam moved around me, heading for Gordon. Just then, the gambler slammed a fist down on the machine, swearing at what I guessed was not his first loss of the night. He turned his head, and a shock jolted through my system as I got a good look at his eyes.
His solid black eyes.
I hissed and reached out to snag Liam by his shirt and haul him back.
He gave me a questioning look.
“His eyes,” I whispered. “Look at his eyes.”
Liam looked again. Tension seized his body, and his aura flared. “He’s corrupted.”
Adrenaline poured through my system, so intense I flashed back to my fight with Raphael earlier. I blinked rapidly, trying to get rid of the ghostly image of those silver eyes boring in to mine, the rush of gooseflesh that rose on my body as it remembered the rush of pure excitement. I shoved those thoughts away, my mind spinning with the situation before me.
Gordon is corrupted.
Each word pulsed in flashing lights in my brain to match the sign outside. I closed my eyes, opted for a calming breath.
“Shade, he’s corrupted just like Andy,” Peasblossom hissed. “And Siobhan had kelpies outside the church—”
“We don’t know there’s a connection,” I said, as much to myself as to her. My heart pounded despite my argument. “We can’t know there’s a connection between Siobhan and Lorelei, not yet.”
Peasblossom narrowed her eyes. “You think it’s a coincidence that corrupted men killed two of her enemies?”
I waved my hands in the air. “Okay, new plan.”
I pulled Liam to the corner of the casino and explained my idea to our group. If it was going to work, we’d need help from New Moon again. It made my stomach roll to think of asking more of his pack so soon after the incident, but Liam didn’t share my qualms. He made the necessary call, and I kept an eye on Gordon.
Corruption wasn’t the same thing as being demonic. Even if Gordon had been mentored or taught himself by trial and error how to use whatever ability he’d inherited with the corruption, he’d be no match for me. Not if I was smart about it.
Flint hadn’t been wrong when he’d told Andy that power was nothing without experience. Unkind, but not wrong.
Liam went outside to wait for his pack members to arrive so he could give them instructions. We both agreed that it would be better if he met them alone, and Scath and I waited inside. By the time he came back in to tell me everyone was ready, I was about to climb the walls. I wanted answers now and I was so close.
“They’re in position,” Liam reported. He glanced at Gordon still glued to the same slot machine. “How far away do you want me?”
“Far enough that he doesn’t see you right away, close enough for crowd control,” I said immediately. I clutched the supplies Bizbee had retrieved from my waist pouch for me to my chest. “Peasblossom, are you ready?”
“Ready.” Her weight lifted off my shoulder and I had a glimpse of a small sack of salt strapped to her back, with a ripcord gripped in one of her tiny hands. Then she blinked out of sight.
“Didn’t you need to cast a spell to make her invisible last time?” Liam asked.
“She grows in power with me,” I said, my eyes on our target.
Liam seemed to get that now wasn’t the time for questions about power or pixie invisibility. He’d remember to ask later, I had no doubt.
“If he’s corrupted, then he’ll have a gift of some kind,” I reminded Liam. “Try to keep the other customers away from him.” I looked down at Scath. “Remember what to do?”
Scath looked up at me, managing to convey impatience even through her German Shepherd service dog glamour.
We were as ready as we’d ever be.
I closed my hand into a fist, feeling my ring of shielding on my finger, allowing the dull hum to provide some comfort as I approached the corrupted gambler. Gordon didn’t take his eyes off the machine, not even when I stood close enough to touch him. The sounds of the slot machines around me jangled against my nerves, and the flickering lights played havoc with my peripheral vision. I drew on my power, forced myself to concentrate.
“Gordon Larkin?” I asked.
He didn’t look up. “You have the wrong guy.”
I glanced down. Peasblossom had started the salt circle. Thank the Goddess the casino wasn’t very busy. The circle had to be big, and I didn’t need anyone breaking it by accident.
“I want to talk to you about Gloria.”
“You have the wrong guy,” he repeated. “And if you don’t leave me alone, you’re going to be sorry. People have a habit of getting very unlucky around me after they piss me off.”
Tough words, but I noticed the way he fisted his hand in the bucket of quarters. Probably grabbing a handful to throw if the need arose.
“That’ll be the demonic corruption then, will it?”
Shock slackened his features as he turned to me. Then a broad grin spread over his face. He released the quarters and turned more fully to face me. “I don’t like you,” he said, still smiling. “And I don’t like your chances of catching me.”
His hand shot forward, reaching for my face.
But it hit the barrier of the circle first.
Pain pinched his face and he drew his hand back, staring at me as if I’d played a dirty trick. “What the hell?”
“I’m guessing the demon that did this to you didn’t explain what would happen if you kept using your ‘gifts,’ did she?” I asked. “You said people get unlucky around you?”
“They do,” Gordon said, trying to sound sinister. It might have worked better if he could quit looking back at the slot machine as if it called to him. Or stopped rubbing his knuckles as if he’d bruised himself on the circle.
“I’ve heard you’re pretty unlucky yourself. Makes me wonder how you got that big bucket of quarters?”
“Payment for not making people unlucky.” He jutted out his chin. “I see someone having more than their fair share of luck, and I ask for a donation. If they don’t give it to me their luck goes away. I mean, it really goes away. I don’t usually have to ask a third time.”
“That must not make you many friends.”
“I don’t need friends.”
There. I heard it in his voice. The lie. Gordon had been a regular at the track, and those sorts of crowds tended to be
close. Lots of familiar faces. Passing tips, commiserating when you lose. And of course, celebrating a win was more fun with friends. As with all corruptions, Gordon’s gift had come at a price. He could extort the money he needed to feed his habit, but it had left him alone. Alone with his habit. The fate of an addict.
“I can help you,” I told him. “Answer my questions. Help me and I’ll help you.”
“I don’t want your help. Go away.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Too bad.” Again his hand shot out, aiming for my face. Again it struck the energy of the circle, but this time, he was ready for it. He strained to push his hand closer to me, but it wouldn’t budge. Frustration dragged a growl from his throat, and he dropped his arm and turned, tried to run.
But he had no luck there either.
The circle held.
“This isn’t necessary,” he said at last, trying to put his grin back in place. “I’m sure we can come to an arrangement.”
“We have an arrangement,” I said simply. “You’re going to answer my questions, or I’m going to take you home with me.”
His eyebrows shot up, and he gave me a once over. “That doesn’t sound so bad.”
“And every day I’ll try something new to cure you of your corruption. You can be my guinea pig.”
“Torture by holy water?” Gordon shook his head. “It feels a little warm against my skin, but nothing horrible. Like bathwater, really.”
“I’ll try holy water, sure. But there are a lot of other holy items much stronger than that. Things that can reach deeper, seek out hints of evil.”
“You don’t strike me as the torturing kind.” He paused. “What do you mean ‘guinea pig,’ lady?”
I let all the emotion drain from my face. All the worry, and pain. All the hope. I stared at Gordon and let him see how close to the precipice I stood. “My friend has been corrupted. And I’m afraid if I can’t find a way to help him, he’ll give up. I can’t let that happen.”
Conviction Page 27
