“Do you need foreplay this time?”
“Just do me already.”
“As you wish.”
38
T he next morning, I opened my curtains feeling deliciously sore and came face to face with an upside-down pointy eared creature. I jumped with fright then groaned and lifted the window sash. One eye peeked open followed by the other.
“Are you going to stay out there all day, Colten?”
The gargoyle smiled and climbed inside. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to watch a stone statue come to life and crawl inside your window, it’s just as weird as it sounds.
A moment later there was a knock at the door.
“Seems I’m popular. Hide!” I mouthed, but without waiting for an answer, in walked my favorite vampire. His faded Zeppelin shirt and converse identifying him as a student.
I hid a smile, trying to look stern instead.
“Boys, boys, boys, how many times do you need to be reminded, you’re not supposed to be wandering around the dormitory. These are the women’s quarters. You have all the wrong parts.”
“Thank God for that,” Zephyr said and handed me a coffee. “If you’re that upset, feel free to call security.” His eyes were bright with mischief.
I stretched up to kiss his cheek, my lips brushing his smooth skin. He smelled of sandalwood soap and I had the urge to lean into him, feel his arms around me. Instead I rolled my eyes. “So, what’s up—besides coffee delivery? Why are you both bursting in right now?”
“Just checking on you. There was a breach in security.”
“A breach?” I turned and looked at Colten. Had he reported me to the rest of the tracker team? He, of course, had every right to do so after what I’d done last night. I was the reason he died. I just thanked the saints I was able to bring him back. He shook his head.
“Oh, I should have been more specific. It has to do with that cloud account and phone you found. We’re expected at the house for a meeting but we need to meet Demas in the headmistress’ office first,” Zephyr said.
“What did you find?” I asked.
“Hey, I love ya, but I’m going to tell this story just once. Get a move on.”
“All right. All right. Let’s go,” I said, walking to the door.
Demas was sitting in one of the chairs angled on the visitor side of the headmistress’ desk when we approached. He waved us in.
“Babs, I need to ask you about your brother, Colin,” Demas said.
“M-my b-brother? You mean my step-brother? He’s a werewolf. I come from a mixed family.” Babs walked over to her beverage cart which had a cozy-covered teapot. “Would you like tea, Demas?”
“Sure, that would be great. With milk and three sugars, please.”
Okay. He must be playing good cop.
Babs poured tea into a dainty white porcelain cup with red symbols and in a large blue-gray crockery mug. I guess she didn’t want Demas’ big paws on her china.
She dropped some sugar cubes in and added milk. “Here’s your tea, Demas,” Babs said as she handed him the mug with steam curling from it. “Would you all like a cup as well?” She asked.
Colten, Zephyr and I all looked at each other and shook our heads no.
Demas swallowed a large gulp. “Back to your brother. Do you know why he would be hiding evidence from Maggie’s murder case?”
Back to bad cop.
Babs gasped. “No. Colin wouldn’t do that. He loves his job at the society.” Steel laced her words. Hmm.
“It just seems odd, don’t you think? I have to consider that there could be a conspiracy going on here. A sibling works at the academy where a murder of a student takes place and the other sibling collects evidence. And magically, some of that evidence disappears,” Demas said as he drained his mug.
Babs sat down with fat tears rolling down her cheeks. She didn’t look much like Cruella at that point.
“He’s been arrested in New Orleans,” Demas said.
“N-no! You can’t. You don’t understand!” She wailed as she wiped her nose on her charcoal cardigan sleeve.
I grabbed tissues from her desk and handed them over.
“T-thank you. He received a note telling him to hide some of the evidence or I would be next. That’s when I found the threat.”
“Where’s the newest threat? Do you have any idea who it is that’s threatening you?”
“How did you know about the other one? I threw it away.”
Demas eyebrow raised.
“The murderer, I’m sure. It’s not my brother’s fault. He’ll be in danger now. If they find out he’s in custody, they’ll find a w-way.” Babs started to cry, ugly cry.
“He’s in solitary. No one can get to him, Babs.”
She sniffled and blew her nose. It honked louder than a gaggle of geese.
We filed out of her office, leaving her to collect herself.
“All right. Let’s head back to the Island and have a quick meeting. We’ve been separated too long over the last few days,” Demas said.
Zephyr’s cell buzzed just as they reached the main hall.
“Hey, Giselle.”
Zephyr clicked on speakerphone. “Help with what? What's wrong?”
“Lennon's been taken. The girls are going crazy up here. Her rooms been torn apart. One of the girls on the floor said she heard howling right before she disappeared.”
I thought of my visit with Maggie. She’d been so upset that the Fae were going to get away with murdering her sister.
“This is Demas Batavian. Did you report it to the police yet?” Demas interjected.
“No. One of the girls sent a message to her family, though,” Giselle said, “I figured you’d know what to do.”
“I hate to say it but I think it was Maggie,” Evie said.
Demas’ phone started ringing. He handed Zephyr’s phone back and turned to answered his own. “Briar? Is everything okay?”
“Mom?” I questioned.
“Keep the girls calm, Giselle,” Zephyr said into his own phone, “I'll text you with any updates.” He ended the call and turned to Demas. “I think Evie’s right. I thought I smelled werewolves when I was fetching Evie.”
Demas put his finger to his lips to shush us. “The Bayou. Sure, I know the place. Okay, thanks. We’ll use the portal and meet you there. Well, of course she’s coming. Do you think I could stop your daughter?”
39
A fter using the portal to get back to the campus in New Orleans, we all piled into the jeep which Eleutian had ready and headed south for the Bayou Loup Garous territory.
Demas spoke to Zephyr in a low voice and then he turned back to the rest of us. “Before we get there, there’s something Zephyr needs to brief you on. Something we were planning to tell you all at the house.”
“Wait! I need to tell you something first.” I broke in.
“Sweetheart, if it’s about Colten’s little Lazarus moment, we already know,” Bodhi said.
“You do? How?”
“We’re connected, remember? We felt it the moment it happened.” Bodhi answered.
“Well, don’t you want to know why it happened? It was my fault. I disobeyed orders and I got him killed.”
“Those fucking Howl wolves were to blame. It was their fault, no one else’s.” Colten interjected. “And anyway, Grimm and I already filled them in.”
All heads swung in my direction and nodded.
“You saved him, now he’s connected as well,” Demas said. He wiped his sweaty brow.
“You all right, boss?” Zephyr asked.
“Is it warm in here? I’m okay, but why don’t you go ahead and tell them?”
Zephyr shook his head. “I found the correct cloud account and hacked it. There was an audio file, based on what we know, the voice belonged to Chloe. On the recording, she explains that she witnessed her mother’s murder at the hands of her father.”
“What?!” I shrieked.
Z nodded. “She was scare
d and must have started recording all interactions, because there was also another recording—the last one.”
“Her murder?” I questioned.
Demas nodded and Zephyr went on. “It starts with Chloe asking her father what he’s doing. He raves about a challenge to his power. Then you can hear her screaming and begging for him to untie her and let her go. She repeatedly tells him she would never challenge him but he insists he knows the truth—knows about some secret plan. That she’s in cahoots with the Fae. He sounds stark raving mad and then you can hear him force-feed her the silver nitrate.” Zephyr shuddered as he finished off the story.
“Oh my God! That’s heart breaking. Her own father. Poor Chloe and … oh, Maggie. She thinks the clique was responsible for what happened to her sister. She’s been framing them, leaving those threats in her room and with the headmistress. She was furious at the thought that the Fae would get away with it.
“Maggie also said that her room was Chloe’s and she requested it. She couldn’t have known about the audio recorder because she’s convinced the Fate Clique is responsible. Her conversations would have been recorded, too. Did you listen to them?”
“No! I didn’t listen after the murder, we had what we needed,” Zephyr said.
I couldn’t help but think of Maggie’s anger—the length of her claws as they’d grown. Just what would she do to poor innocent Lennon? Well, innocent of Chloe’s murder, anyway.
“Turn down that overgrown path!” Demas shouted as Zephyr almost drove by.
“But that’s not a road—”
“Just do it!”
Zephyr made a hard turn and we all fell to the right.
We’d only made it a few feet when the wheels started turning up mud and no amount of gas would get us unstuck.
“I can push us out,” Zephyr said.
“Leave it for after. We’ll have to continue on foot, anyway. They’ll hear us coming,” Demas whispered as he led the way into the trees, pushing Spanish moss that dripped from the branches, out of his face.
“You need to keep your eyes open for snakes. Rattlers, coral snakes and copperheads. They’re all venomous,” Eleutian said.
I looked around my feet. I’d grown up here, that didn’t mean I liked the swamps.
“Uh, Evie. They drop down from the trees, too.” Eleutian winked.
I grimaced. “Where are we?”
“Near one of the hunting shacks this pack used to use for food.”
This place was straight up creepy. There was a skinning knife stabbed into a rickety wooden table and rusty-looking buckets all about, and was that an alligator skin hanging on a line? I shivered a little, imagining the live ones that were probably watching us from the banks of the water surrounding us on three sides. In fact, it looked like an alligator slide a few feet away. It wasn’t all that dark yet but, off in the distance, I could see a shack on stilts. I switched the flashlight button of my cell on to get a better look. It was a literal shack, on stilts, that hung precariously over the bayou. It didn’t look to have too many windows or, if there were any, they were smeared with dirt and mud and quite possibly blood.
“If Maggie or anyone from the pack is holding Lennon, this is where they’d keep her,” Demas whispered. “We need to go inside.”
I nodded and followed the boys around a big, old cypress tree. I looked out to the swamp again, imagining a skiff with a ghostly captain pushing off with a large tree limb, much like the ferryman on the river Styx.
My senses were alert for any sound that might betray the kidnappers. Although I didn’t know how I would hear anything over the cacophony of sound in the swamp. Cicadas loudly buzzing and rubbing their wings together, tree frogs singing and splashes from alligators surrounded us. Demas’ hand found mine and squeezed gently as we crossed the space.
“I’ll protect you,” he said, but his voice was shaky.
There were signs next to the door warning trespassers would be shot on sight. A bullet would be preferable to what I imagined went on here. After climbing ramshackle steps, Grimm pushed the handle down anyway and the door swung open.
I shone the beam of my cell phone’s light inside with my arm outstretched, panning it around the one room shack.
A skittering sound echoed through the space.
I stepped into the room and walked past a long wooden table heading for the shadows at the far end. Demas followed close behind, his breath coming fast. The silence was oppressive, as if the walls of the building were closing in on us, ready to crush us into pieces. I couldn't stand the quiet any longer.
“Lennon,” I called, my voice echoing around the mostly empty room. “Are you here?”
“What about that closet?” Zephyr gestured towards the other door, his face sickly pale in the harsh light. I gulped down my hesitation and yanked it open, ready to face whatever horrors might be within.
A thin figure huddled inside. Iron chains wrapped around her, and her head drooped to one side. Her features were pale with a blueish tinge.
“Get those chains off her! The Fae are allergic to iron.” Demas shouted.
I bent down and touched Lennon, feeling for the pulse at her neck, accidently brushing against one of the chains in the process. I pulled my hand away at the strange tingle. Did iron affect necromancing witches too, or was there something more to these chains. I grabbed her wrist this time. There was a faint beat there, but it was slow and unsteady.
Zephyr used his vampire speed to toss the chains and scooped her unconscious form up.
“I’m going looking for Howl. This ends here and now,” Demas said.
“Not by yourself, Boss!” Zephyr retorted, carrying Lennon down the stairs of the creepy shack
“He’s my problem.” Demas retorted. “I should have done something a long time ago.”
I felt the hairs prickle on the back of her neck—my intuition. “I think we need to get Lennon out of here asap.”
Demas nodded. “Zephyr! Use your speed and get her out of here.”
“No! I’m not leaving you.”
More shouting back and forth, until….
“Are you looking for me?” said a strained, inhuman voice in a low, resonant tone that had the hairs on my arm standing up. We all turned to look at a large, dark man with amber-colored eyes and fangs.
There was no time to process. It appeared he’d already found us—they’d all found us.
There was a crowd surrounding us now—or rather a pack. They’d come from every direction.
A gust of wind whipped through the swamp and I pulled my jacket close about my shoulders. The shack creaked a little and the glass rattled, as an undercurrent of growls took over the swamp.
Razor stood just a few feet away now. He turned at Maggie’s approach.
“Lovely night for revenge, isn’t it?” His eyes shone with malice.
“Razor Howl, you’re under arrest by order of the Supernatural Society,” Demas shouted in front of the pack. Bodhi and Colten both spread out, flanking Demas and the rest of us, but standing furthest away as if ready to take the brunt of the attack.
“For what?” Maggie stepped forward, “Kidnapping? My father has nothing to do with any of this. I kidnapped Lennon because she tortured and murdered my sister and you all were just going to let her get away with it.”
“I’m afraid you’ve been misinformed, Miss Howl,” Demas stated, “But that’s not why we’re arresting your father. We’re arresting him for murder.”
There were whispered gasps from within the crowd.
“I see you’re still the weak, spineless pup you were years ago.” Razor sneered and spat on the ground. “I think I’ll finish your line, Batavian. Once and for all.”
“Like you tried to finish your own?”
Maggie stepped forward. “What are you talking about, Batavian?”
“Maggie!” I shouted, “Come here. Get away from them.”
Maggie looked at her father. “What are they talking about?”
“Yes,
Razor, why don’t you explain to Maggie how you murdered her mother and your own daughter, Clotilde Howl.
Razor shook his head in denial so Zephyr took out his phone. In a matter of seconds, we could hear poor Chloe begging her father for her life.
My gut churned at the sound of Chloe’s pain then it worsened when Razor Howl started transforming. It wasn’t immediate but it was quick. Huge claws that resembled blades came first. Silver hair sprouted along his arms, and across his shoulders. When his clothing ripped apart, I had the urge to run. I’d fought against werewolves before but I’d never seen one transform. Somehow, it made it worse. I swallowed, only shreds of his clothes were left now. They hung loose against his weird half-man-half-wolf body.
Maggie looked at her father with such immense pain that my heart ached for her. “No? Daddy? No?” Tears rolled down her cheeks as the recording of her sister’s tortured screams continued to play
“Are you crying, girl?” Razor’s voice was inhuman now—so low, so deep that it popped and rattled with every word. “Act like the werewolf I raised. Or, I’ll do you, like I done her.”
He took a swipe at Demas who’d approached in order to arrest him. Part of me wanted to rush to his side to pull him away. It was obvious Razor was not going down without a fight. What would happen if he and his pack killed my boys? Sure, they were tied to me but I couldn’t heal them all at once and what about me. What about when the wolves attacked me. We’d all die together.
Demas’ eyes suddenly turned golden too, and his fangs emerged, but for some reason he wasn’t fully transforming like Razor had. One of his claws popped out but then he fell to the ground like that transformation had taken all of his strength.
Razor howled and stalked poor Demas. I could see the boys were growing antsy, ready to jump in and protect their leader at any cost. I glanced in Lennon’s direction hoping maybe she could do something. Her eyes were now open but she looked weak.
At last Demas rolled and stood. His claws were all lengthening now but he was panting, and no hair was sprouting on his body. Something was wrong. He jumped back as Razor leapt at him but the werewolf quickly changed course and caught Demas across the chest with a swipe of his claws. Demas fell and Razor locked his jaws on Demas’s neck.
Sticks & Stones Spell Werewolf Bones: A Why Choose Academy Romance Page 21
