Blind Salvage (9 page)

“Bigger than Dox?” Liam fingered the blades he’d just strapped on.

“Yeah, I think he’s pretty small for an ogre.”

He sat up with a swiftness my eyes struggled to follow. “Seven feet is
small?
”

“For an ogre, yes.”

I Tracked Calliope. The tingling of her emotions spoke of her fear, but she wasn’t hurt. A good start. My mind flickered over the possibilities of what kind of creature could have snagged her. Something from the air, something with talons. Dragons and Harpies were the two obvious choices. A dragon was unlikely; they resided in Europe and Asia for the most part, rarely coming across the water to North America. At least from what I understood.

A Harpy, taking Eve out of the equation, was a good possibility, as there was a running animosity between Harpies and unicorns. But they—Harpies—were territorial too, and I doubted they would go so far out of their own area, even to snatch a foal belonging to their rivals.

“What is going on in that head of yours?” Liam brushed his fingers across my forehead.

I caught his fingers in mine. “Why would anyone want a unicorn foal?”

His jaw flexed and his pale golden eyes grew thoughtful. “They haven’t contacted the crush for ransom, so it isn’t a power trip.”

“Breeding rights, maybe?” She was surely a pretty enough little thing. I leaned across the bed and picked up the pale yellow rotary phone, dialing a number without thinking.

The phone rang four times before a groggy voice came on the line. “You know what time it is here? I need my beauty sleep. I just got back from Europe.”

“
Kyle
, get your ass out of bed and on the computer.”

There was a resounding thump and it sounded like the phone was dropped, then the shuffle of blankets before he came back on. “Shit, Rylee. Sorry, I’m going, just give me half a second.”

“Tell him to put some clothes on,” Liam said.

I put a hand over the receiver. “How do you know he’s naked?”

“I can’t hear the rustle of clothes.”

Shit, I didn’t realize Liam’s hearing was
that
good. “Kyle, throw some shorts on.”

Another rustle and then the sound of bare feet slapping on cheap linoleum floors.

“How did you know I was home?”

I snorted. “Agent Valley told me he sent you home after you nearly crapped your pants when the Beast made his appearance at the police station.”

He cleared his throat and Liam leaned forward. Static, loud and crunchy, filled my ears. I pushed him back. “Too close.” I mouthed at him. Technology and supernaturals never did go hand-in-hand, but with Liam it seemed even worse. Like the combination of werewolf and Guardian made him extra difficult around technology.

“Kyle, have you got all the Arcane Arts files?” I was banking on this actually.

“Um. Yeah. But I’m not supposed—”

“See what we’ve got on unicorns in the Pacific Northwest.” My gut twisted just saying the words. Never in all my years knowing what the supernatural was had I shared so easily with a mere human. Not even with Liam.

The click of fingers on a keyboard. “No, nothing in the Pacific Northwest. Wow, but would you look at—”

“No, don’t look at anything else or you’ll be nothing more than a smear of shit on the wall if Valley catches you.”

“Wait, I thought you were working with him?” Kyle’s voice rose in pitch until it was a mere squeak.

“No, I’m not. But your ass belongs to me, not him.”

His swallow was audible. “Right. Anything else?”

“Can you look up sub-species? Like, if I ask for anything with wings?”

Liam nodded in approval, and then stood and went to the door, opening it. As Kyle searched for me, I turned to see Dox standing in the doorway, a glower on his face, the silver piercings in his lip, eyebrow, and ears standing out even more in the morning light.

Two things happened at once. With a grumble Dox, tossed me his truck keys. “I can’t damn well let you go on your own. But you have to listen to me, when we get there. You have to trust me when it comes to my own kind.”

I gave him a sharp nod and Kyle spoke softly in my ear.

“Rylee, you aren’t going to believe this.”

Contrary to what Kyle thought, I knew that I would believe it. And knowing how the world was when it came to me and mine, whatever ‘it’ was wouldn’t be good.

I was right; it wasn’t good, not by a long fucking shot.

I
hung up the
phone, plans already whirling through my mind. As difficult as it might be, there were going to be no surprises this time around. Just a simple, straightforward salvage. Before I could tell Dox and Liam what Kyle had shared, the phone rang. I scooped it up, thinking the kid had forgotten something.

“What did you forget?”

A low chuckle whispered through the line and I recognized Doran’s charming tones. “Rylee, I need you to swing by my place before you leave on this blind salvage of yours.”

“Doran? What are you talking about? The salvage is on this side of the veil, I don’t need extra help.”

He laughed again, any reluctance he’d shown earlier in the bar completely gone, and more than a hint of his old confidence rolling through the phone line. “Rylee, you need to come see me, because I just found out something rather interesting about you, something you are going to want to know.”

“Yeah, like what?”

The bastard hung up on me. Damn him, he knew me too well for my liking. I hung up the phone and turned to see Dox and Liam waiting on me. Liam spoke first.

“You think he’s bluffing?”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t. We’ll go to him, but we’ll make it quick.”

Dox let me drive, since I was the one Tracking and could make adjustments as we went. That, and he didn’t look to be doing all that well. Much as he’d agreed to come with us, to act as a guide and help, I was pretty sure he’d rather be anywhere else. I glanced over at him, took in the pale tones of his blue skin, not the bright vibrant blue that I was used to at all. Yeah, something was going on with him for sure and I couldn’t help but think about what Doran had said. That Dox had been kicked out for being weak. If that was the case, Dox might be more of a liability than an asset.

Dox stared out the window and scrubbed a hand over his head. “What took the foal, do you know?”

“Kyle said that the only thing with wings big enough to carry the foal, and actually identified as using the Pacific Northwest would be a Roc.” I took the turn onto Shawnee Rd.

The ogre sucked in a sharp breath and turned his face to me, eyes wide with alarm. “Seriously? Please tell me you’re joking.”

I shook my head. Nope, I was not joking, though I wished I was.

Liam lounged in the back seat, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. Of course, he still didn’t have the full understanding of the supernatural to scare the shit out of him. He leaned forward, placing a hand on each of our seats.

“So what is a rock?”

Dox beat me to it. “Spelled R-O-C. Giant bird—”

“Like a Harpy?”

“No, bigger.” I slid my hands over the heated steering wheel, pleased that the truck had started with the three of us in here. Though it had been questionable, the engine managed to turn over. I hadn’t been looking forward to getting into ogre country on my own, or even with just Dox at my side. No way was I leaving Liam behind. Not this time. Not with a Roc and ogre country coming up.

“How big?”

I took a breath, but let Dox tell him. The ogre needed something to do other than fret about his people, who we would invariably run into.

“Dragon size, but without any real intelligence, which makes them easy targets for those who want to control them.” Dox leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. “They don’t resemble a bird other than the fact that they have wings, which is what a lot of the old legends show them as. They’re more like one of those flying dinosaurs the humans dig up.”

Liam’s eyes slid to half-mast. “Pterodactyls. Giant leathery wings?”

“Yeah. And they’re mean bastards. They like to play with their food like a cat. But why the hell there would be a Roc in those mountain ranges bordering ogre territory doesn’t make sense to me.”

I checked my mirrors and changed lanes, scooting the truck around a tiny blue VW Bug. “Why not?”

Dox scratched at his chin. “They love heat, lots and lots of heat. Like a snake. I don’t remember any Roc’s there when I still lived—” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, if there
is
a Roc hanging around, it can’t be good. Someone has to be holding the reins in order for one to fly this far north. They’re native to South America, if I remember correctly.”

Liam snorted. “And that’s all Kyle could find when it came to possible suspects?”

“The only thing in that area that has the strength to pick up a six-month-old unicorn foal and get away with it,
and
has the Pacific Northwest as a home territory, even if that is only a temporary home territory.” I tapped my fingers lightly on the wheel. The fact that the AA division had even that much info on a creature that was not in its home territory … I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Either the AA division was getting better at finding supernaturals or they had someone helping them. I was betting on option number two. Not that it pertained to me and this particular case, but it was a good piece of info to tuck away. For later.

I Tracked the young foal as we drove to Doran’s place. Still alive, her vibrant threads soothed the darkness that had begun to cling to me. The fears that were being dredged up, the uncertainties, and all that fate had been throwing at me lately. A vacation, that’s what I needed after this. Maybe Liam and I could get away somewhere, use the veil to make a jump somewhere warm and cozy. I snorted softly to myself. Yeah, I could hope for that all I wanted, but I had a sinking feeling that ‘trials and tribulation’ were going to be my middle name for a while.

Calliope’s threads hummed through me, stronger now, spreading peace over my worries. A peace that previously I’d only ever found in Liam’s arms.

Holding her threads lightly, I Tracked Pamela and then Alex, and then Eve. Pamela and Alex were in high spirits, laughter dancing along the threads of their lives. I smiled and Liam caught the reflection of it in the rear view mirror. No words were needed. He gave me a wink and smiled back. I didn’t let him see my face as I Tracked Eve. She was terrified, fear coursing through her threads strong enough to bring tears to my eyes. At least she wasn’t hurt. Gods, let Pamela and Alex get there fast. For all that Eve was a Harpy, and deadly dangerous, she was still just a child. A juvenile at best.

Liam surprised me out of my Tracking.

“Tell me about the veil.”

I blinked several times, gathering my thoughts before I answered. We were still a ways from Doran, so I had time to try and explain this to him. “Well, it divides the world. Supernatural on one side, world the humans see on the other.”

“Yeah, I’ve got that, but why don’t all supernaturals reside there then? Why not just stay out of the humans’ way?”

Funny how quickly he put himself separate from the humans. Good too, because he no longer was one of them. I’d seen people fight what they’d become and it had killed them in the end.

Again, Dox beat me to it, twisting in his seat so he could look Liam in the eye. “The veil is a safeguard, somewhere we can go if we need to, but with so few entrances and so little room, it isn’t feasible that all creatures live there. That was why it was created, at least from what I understand.”

I shifted gears. “And it was never meant to be a place to live. Just a help. That’s what Giselle told us. The problem comes when those who would fuck with the rest of it use it as a tool to hide the shit they do.”

Liam took that in, his lips quirking to one side. “And what about the levels of the veil? How many are there?”

Now that was a question I wasn’t sure how to answer. I settled for brutal honesty. “I know that there are at least three because Jack talked about a Tracker named Brin getting dropped into the third level, where apparently a ghost took him. But I don’t know how many veils there are.” I thought about what Agent Valley had said. “If what your ex-boss said has any bearing, then there are possibly seven. But I’m not sure how accurate a human’s understanding of a prophecy would be.”

Dox sucked in a sharp breath. “Shit. I didn’t know that.”

I glanced at him. “I don’t think it’s common knowledge. Giselle never spoke of more than the one veil to us. And anything that slipped out of her mouth about deeper veils I just chalked up to her madness.”

We pulled up to the curb across from Doran’s place and I waved a hand at the empty lot with the scrub brush and garbage floating through it. To the humans, it was nothing but a run down piece of property without even a house. A lone cactus grew on it, looking extremely forlorn. Pitiful. “Perfect example of using the veil to hide yourself.”

“So he’s on the other side of the veil?” Liam frowned out the window, his eyes narrowed.

I shook my head. “No. Not exactly. More like it’s a mirror reflection of the veil he’s using to cover himself up. His home isn’t truly on the other side of the veil, and it isn’t an entrance. Just a ruse to keep the humans at bay. It works pretty well too, by the looks of things.”

Liam gave a slow nod. “Like being able to see the doorways that are hidden that lead through the veil. They aren’t on the other side, just a reflection? Is that how creatures that are as big as Blaz and this Roc go undetected, by using the veil to hide?”

“You got it, wolf boy.” I slid out of the truck, and the sharp winter wind bit at my face. Before I’d crossed the street, Liam had caught up with me. But Dox … I turned around. The ogre sat in the truck, staring straight ahead.

“What’s with him?” Liam grumbled.

“I don’t know. I suppose we’ll find out soon enough. Hell, we’ve got a long enough drive, we’ll need something to talk about.” Oh, boy, not looking forward to that. If Dox was all wound up about going into ogre territory, I should probably have been shitting my pants. Dox was the most mellow, laid back guy I’d known, human or supernatural. For him to be high strung was making my skin itch.

“He’ll tell us when he’s ready,” I said softly.

A laugh wrapped around us. “Don’t count on it, Rylee.”

Liam took a step and put himself just in front of me, a low growl escaping his lips, vibrating through him and into me. Yeah, the whole alpha thing was really going to have to be addressed soon or we were going to have problems. He had to let me do my job, regardless of how he felt about protecting me.

I did not need to add ‘talk with Liam about not being such a pushy alpha’ to my list of things to do. I stepped sideways so I could see Doran. And then I understood why Liam was pissed and I felt like a shit for thinking he was overreacting.

Doran wore an ankle-length wolf pelt that was fully intact, the wolf’s head sitting on top of his. Grey fur dusted with red highlights here and there; it was a beautiful coat, but no doubt he wore it for a reason. As in he wanted to piss off Liam. And it was working.

“What the hell, Doran?” I shook my head at him. “You ask me to come here, and then you pull this shit?”

He grinned widely at me, flashing his fangs. “Whatever do you mean? It’s cold out; I thought I’d wear something toasty and warm. You of all people should know how warm it is to be wrapped up with a wolf.” He gave me a long slow wink and blew a kiss at Liam.

Yeah, welcome back, Doran
. Whatever help he’d been, whatever changes I’d thought I’d seen in him, this was the Doran I’d first met. The shit disturber.

Liam vibrated beside me. “You blood-sucking piece of shit. You might have helped in the past, but we don’t need your scrawny ass.”

Liam grabbed my arm and started to drag me back toward the jeep. I knew what Doran was up to, and I shouldn’t have been surprised that it was working. Liam just wasn’t used to this sort of manipulation. To be fair, the Daywalker had a talent for sure, and he could get me riled up with the best of them. “Liam, let me go.”

He kept dragging me. Damn Doran for this, for forcing this issue. I pried Liam’s fingers off my arm and jerked away from him. “I said, let me go!”

Eyes narrowing, Liam glared at me. Yeah, here we go, revert to past tendencies in three, two, one.

I lifted my hands in the air in mock surrender. “Go sit with Dox, I’ll deal with Doran because apparently you are going to get sucked into his stupid games.”

His face twisted up in a snarl. “Are you … dismissing me?”

Short and sweet. “Yes.” I turned my back on him and walked toward an openly gloating Doran.