Blood's Shadow: The Lycanthropy Files, Book 3 (15 page)

The phone rang, and all three of us looked at it.

“Investigator’s office,” Laura answered. “Oh, hello, Morena.”

I waved my arms to tell her to put Morena off, but it didn’t work.

“Yes, he’s here. I’ll tell him you’re on your way.”

“I can’t meet with her looking like this,” I said and tossed the baseball cap into the corner. “I’m going to shower and change, and then I’ll beard the dragon. David, there’s no reason for you to be here.”

Like Laura, he refused to take the hint. “I’ve got nothing better to do right this moment. Besides, you need someone to stall her so she doesn’t invade your shower.”

“Good point, and horrifying thought.” I walked into my office and slammed the door. Fifteen minutes later, I was ready. As soon as I exited the bathroom, I heard Morena’s voice.

Chapter Sixteen

“I don’t care if he was undercover, over cover, or between covers, he needs to see me immediately!”

“He’s not decent, Lady Morena,” Laura told her, her tone soothing.

“Damn right, he isn’t.” But she sounded somewhat mollified. I debated waiting in my office to hear the fun, but then I remembered they’d be able to tell, either through scent or the sound of my breathing, that I was done. I opened the door.

Morena stood in the center of the room with feet planted and fists curled. The image of a two-year-old fireplug getting warmed up for a tantrum came to mind, which mixed so many metaphors it made my brain hurt. The shower had helped my headache somewhat, likely due to the warm water loosening up my neck tension, but when her gray eyes met my hazel ones, my temple throbbed again.

“What’s the rush, Morena?” I asked as she stalked past me.

David caught my eye and pantomimed that he’d texted me something. I nodded to show I understood and followed the irate Council leader into my office.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit, Morena?” I asked. She stood with her back to me and looked at the fireplace. From her stance, I would guess she glared at it. I took the opportunity to check the text on my now charged mobile:
She’s angry bc worried. Go easy on her.
That made me pause and back down from whatever I was going to challenge her with.

“This.” She spoke in a low voice and held out a piece of paper, a printed email:

We have your Investigator. If you want to see him alive again, release the Institute formula for lycanthropic reversal. Anything experimental is fine. You’re not moving fast enough on it, so we will.

What followed were instructions for how and when to transfer the information to them and a timeline.

“Well, this would have never worked,” I said. “I doubt the process would move that quickly, and where are they going to find a wizard who’ll do blood magic? It’s a good thing they were bluffing.”

She turned, and her red-rimmed eyes surprised me. Had she been crying?

“You can joke all you want, Gabriel,” she told me in that low, even tone that disturbed me even more than her ranting. “I thought it must be a bluff too, but when you didn’t show up to our meeting today…” Her chest heaved with her breath. “And then we couldn’t reach you, and they sent this.” She pulled a folded photograph out of her pocket, a printout of me sitting at a table with a group of people who all faced or turned away from the camera. I stood out in my white sweater and could pick out who was who because I’d been there, but no one else’s face showed up clearly.

“Still not conclusive evidence that they had me. I was out last night in Inverness. Anyone could have taken that picture.”

“So where were you this morning?”

Another wave of fatigue overtook me and knocked my knees from under me. I plopped into my desk chair. “Drugged up at a hot woman’s apartment.”

Her eyebrows shot up her forehead. “Gabriel, you ass. I can’t lose another…” She shook her head. “What happened?”

“It wasn’t recreational drugs that laid me out. I escaped from the group that was going to kidnap me, but they’d already slipped the substance to me in a drink. I was passed out until one o’clock this afternoon.”

She lowered herself into a chair on the other side of the desk. “How could you be so stupid?” she snapped. “You should know better than to put yourself in that kind of position.”

The return of the old Morena dispelled the awkwardness of her concern. I knew better than to smile, though. “It was part of the investigation, and I didn’t think a drink served to me in a bar by a waiter would be contaminated.” I rubbed my eyes. “Obviously I thought wrong, and my thinking has been screwed up since. I need to tell Garou who I was with. I suppose you’ve told him to try and trace the email?”

“He’s been working on it, but it’s been routed through too many servers and hacked addresses, so there isn’t a clear trail.”

“I don’t suppose you had anyone looking for me?”

“David was supposed to have done that.”

“Well, he found me,” I said with a shake of my head. “The old dog didn’t give me any indication something was amiss, either.”

“That’s him.”

“Right.” I leaned back. “Tell me about your visit to the Institute yesterday.” Had it really been only yesterday? It felt like a week had passed.

“It’s a beautiful facility if you ignore the murders and the fact it now reeks of spilled blood. Oh, and your little friend Doctor Rial is lying about something. Or at the very least hiding something.”

“I agree, but I can’t determine what.” I decided to trust Morena since she had been mostly honest with me. “She’s keeping some odd company, an English bloke with a scar on one cheek. Dark hair, squinty eyes.”

Morena smirked. “Does he really have squinty eyes or is that your impression since the young lady is spending time with him, and you’d rather be the one on her calendar? And is this the one who gave you the concussion?”

“You’ve been talking to Garou.”

“Of course I’ve been talking to him. He’s the chief of our police, and he didn’t believe you when you said you couldn’t remember who attacked you.”

“It’s the truth. I didn’t see whoever bonked me on the head, but it happened after I’d followed Scarface into the alley behind the West Port Inn after he met with Selene.”

Morena tapped her fingertips together. “Something is teasing my memory, but it’s not coming out. I’ll think about it.”

“I’d rather you keep this between us,” I told her. “I’m telling you because you’re our leader, and the situation becomes more dangerous by the day, so if something happens to me, you and David will have to carry on without me. I don’t trust any of the others.”

“Don’t be a sentimental fool, Gabriel, and aside from that ninny Cora—how her father talked me into letting her assume his position on the Council once he died is still beyond me—the Council is trustworthy.”

“Is she a full member?” I asked. “Has she come into her identity? She’s not that much older than I am.”

“It’s different for females. We mature faster. As for you, I can tell it’s happening, which is a relief. You never know what will occur with a human-lycanthrope mix.”

“You’ve mentioned that.” I recalled the strange wave of something that had tried to take over at Campbell’s office. “What will it feel like? How do I know it’s happening?”

“It’s unique to everyone, but you will know when the process is complete. You should feel stronger and have more abilities. Now, getting back to your job as Council Investigator, you need to let me or David know whenever you go somewhere so we can follow up if you disappear again.”

“That’s ridiculous.” The words came out before I could stop them. “I’m not a child or a teenager with a curfew.”

“Right, but someone is after you, and I doubt they’ll stop now that you’ve managed to escape. The alternative would be to take you off the case.”

“Fine.” I felt like a bloody adolescent. “Then I’ll let you know I’m going to the Solstice ceilidh tonight with Selene. I’m hoping she’ll slip and reveal some information that will be helpful. I agree with you she’s involved somehow.”

“I never said that, only that she’s hiding something.” With a smug grin, she stood, and I got to my feet. “I’ll have Laura make you some extra strong tea. Then you best go get ready for your date. You can report to me tomorrow.”

When she left, I sat and put my head in my hands. Whatever had tried to possess me at Bartholomew Campbell’s office stirred from my toes to my groin, but it didn’t make it beyond my middle. I was just too damn tired. Still, it felt like a trap tightened around me, and I wasn’t sure who was behind it, the Young Bloods, the Council, or someone else pulling the strings.

With a sigh, I grabbed my spare phone and my keys and left. David wasn’t in the office anymore, and I guessed he’d left with Morena. For the first time in years, I felt like I had parents. Laura looked up from the electric kettle.

“Are you heading out already?” she asked.

“Yes, I have something to do this evening.”

“Be careful,” she told me, and with a very un-Laura like trembling lip, she put her hand on my arm. “We were all worried about you this morning.”

A sense of foreboding followed me all the way down the stairs and out to my car. Their concern was touching, but it seemed extreme for the circumstances. What did they know that I didn’t?

When I got home, I cleared the messages from my machine including one from Jade that she was headed to the coast with the Campbells but wanted to make sure I was okay. I bared my teeth at the sound of the deceitful little bitch’s voice, surprising myself with the depth of my anger. The final one was from Selene, who’d called while I was at Lycan Castle. She said she had errands to run and would just meet me in the village at Marley’s at six-thirty. I texted her that I would be fine with that, and with the extra half hour, I decided to take a nap and try to sleep off the remnants of whatever they’d given me.

I woke to my telephone ringing at five-thirty, having slept through the alarm I’d set for five.

“Gabriel?” asked Lonna after I answered. “Did you get my message earlier?”

“Yours and everyone else’s.”

“Oh, did something happen?”

“Yes and no. What do you need? I’m running late.” I took a deep breath. “Sorry, don’t mean to be snappish.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll make this quick. Has Selene mentioned anything to you about her brother?”

That woke me fully. “Not really. Why?”

“I don’t want to say over the phone, but it would be great if we could meet soon. Are you free for lunch tomorrow? I know it’s a Saturday.”

The uncertainty in her tone convinced me more than her words that something was amiss. We agreed on a time and place for me to meet her and Max for lunch.

I got ready and headed toward Lycan Village. The Summer Solstice Ceilidh drew people from around the village as well as tourists, so I had to park on the outskirts of town and walk, bringing me to Marley’s at six forty-five.

Selene waited for me at the bar with a tall cocktail in front of her. It was clear and bubbled slightly.

“Not a beer drinker?” I asked.

She stood and kissed me on the cheek. “Not really, and their wine list isn’t great. Would you believe I’m a little nervous?”

“Perhaps.” I gestured for her to resume her seat. “I’ll stand since I was either sitting or lying most of the day. Thank you for caring for me last night.”

“You’re welcome. I don’t know you very well, but I could tell something was very wrong.”

I refrained from saying I felt the same at the moment. No need to spook her. Troy the bartender passed me a pint of my favorite brew, and I sipped it, thankful that here, at least, I could trust the staff not to slip something to me.

“Is this your first ceilidh?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I’ve been to ones associated with the Highland Games in Stone Mountain and Culloden, Georgia, but it’s been a while. I’m sure they’re better here.”

“Is your family of Scottish heritage?”

“Yes, and Irish.”

We chitchatted about her family, about which she was deliberately vague.

“What about your brother?” I asked. “You had some of his clothes, so is he here?”

“He’s doing a year abroad here, well, in Stirling, and keeps some stuff at my place for when he visits so he doesn’t have to pack too much. He’s kind of a last-minute guy.”

“I’ll be sure to wash the clothes before I give them back to you.”

She looked down and stirred her cocktail, which she’d hardly touched. “There’s no rush. I don’t expect to see him for a while. So what are you drinking?”

I got the hint that her brother was a sore subject, and I guessed he was probably too engaged in his college life to visit his sister very much, which hurt her feelings. Still, Lonna’s question came to mind, and I made a note to ask her about him again after she’d imbibed and relaxed more.

We agreed to have dinner there since everywhere else would be just as crowded, and she’d already put our name on the list for a table. Soon they seated us in a booth, and we had some privacy, although I was aware the other lycanthropes could listen to us if they desired.

“What are you doing with the Institute being closed?” I asked. “That must be boring.”

“We had today off, so I caught up with house stuff. And woke up with a handsome man in my bed.”

“Ah, yes, it’s a pity he wasn’t more functional for you.”

That blush the color of the inside of seashells came to her cheeks again. “That’s fine. It was nice to have someone to make breakfast for. It’s been a long time.”

If anyone was listening, they were probably very confused or intrigued, so I decided to steer the conversation in another direction. “You’re from Atlanta? You don’t have as much of an accent as I would expect.”

“A lot of us from there don’t. It’s a pretty diverse place with people from all over. Have you ever been?”

“Only through the airport. How did you meet Iain?”

She looked down at the water the server had set in front of her. “I sought him out after the Cabal-Hippocrates case made the news. Of course I was familiar with CLS as a psychological diagnosis, but the more I dug around, the more I came to suspect they weren’t just talking about a disorder of impulsivity.”

“This was after you’d been infected?” I blocked out the surrounding noise so I could hear her low words.

She rolled the straw wrapper into a little cylinder. “Yes. I’d started experiencing symptoms, and I wanted to know if anyone was working on a cure. It was really disruptive.” She met my eyes. “It’s hard, you know, having these limitations, especially for those of us who weren’t raised in a community that could give us support and help with dealing with them.”

“So you didn’t know any others like us?” I kept my words deliberately vague as she had. “Did anyone else in your family have symptoms or signs to indicate you had the genes?”

She looked up at the server, who had just approached with another round of drinks, and the expression on her face said relief. We ordered our food—fish and chips for her, braised brisket sandwich and chips for me—and she excused herself to go to the restroom. I mentally sorted through our conversation and made a note to talk to Iain about both her and LeConte. There had to be a reason why those two had made the cut to work at the Institute.