The Severed Thread (29 page)

“You look a little lost.  I think I can help.”  He glanced over my shoulder at Samantha and smiled before blasting me with a concentrated stream of pheromones.  I felt as if I rocked back into the heels of my shoes even though I logically knew I hadn’t physically moved.  I had only a moment to marvel at Weres and their crazy pheromones before a languid comfort settled into my bones.  The sensation was so powerful that even my berserker sighed contentedly within the confines of her cell. 

“What…?” I started to ask.

“
Shh
” he interrupted in my mind as he placed a quieting finger over my lips.  “
Just move with me.  I’ve got you.
”

He pulled me in close, wrapping his arms around me as he nudged us into the music.  I cannot describe it any better.  It was like we became a part of the very essence of the sound waves themselves as they pulsed in the air around us.  The experience was even more intense than my Sapphire encounter out on the docks just without the overt sexual intent.  This was about comfort and caring, not crazed longing and over-heated bodies.  Was I acting outside my normal comfort zone? 
Absolutely
.  Did I want to end the encounter? 
Hell no
!  I liked to think what was happening was taking place with my full consent because on some primal level I sensed that his intentions were pure.  I could wonder later if this wasn’t some sort of bizarre werewolf compulsion but for right now I was very, very happy to do as he suggested and just move with him.  Hell, I didn’t even know what his name was, but I trusted him, at least with this.

“
Brant,
” his voice was like a sigh in my mind.  As the whisper of his name faded, I marveled at his many gifts – an empath and telepath with what I suspected was some sort of healing ability. 

My ruminations were quickly forgotten as the sounds in the room became quickly shifting colors throbbing in the air.   I could feel Sam at my back, dancing in sync with us, her breath and heartbeat another shimmering mote poised within the vibrant colors of the music.  I glance up at Brant to find him watching me, a knowing smile on his face. 

“
Can you see the colors?
” I asked in awe.

“
Of course,
” he replied simply, as if seeing vibrantly hued music were the norm.  “
Now, just relax,
”
he encouraged, giving me a reassuring squeeze.  “C
lose your eyes and let the beat heal you as much as it is able.
”

I closed my eyes, feeling the music begin to settle into the cracks in my psyche like a salve, healing, repairing.   I really needed to get Brant’s number before the night was over.  This.  Felt.  Awesome.  I sighed and let go a bit further, feeling more buoyant and awash with hope than I had since before Jason’s death.  I don’t know how long we danced but it was cathartic in a way I had not realized possible.  When I was fully engaged in the beat of the music and the movements of my body, I felt rather than heard him chuckle.

“
My work here appears to be done,
” he declared with a smile.  He gave my hand a final squeeze before turning to Samantha and mouthing, “See you at the gym?”

“Definitely,” she pantomimed back with a thumbs-up that was quickly followed by a guilty glance at me as he melted into the crowd.

“
You arranged that?
”
 I asked, mouth agape.

“Me?” she mouthed, her face set in an expression of false innocence.

“
What am I, a charity case?
”
I asked, putting my fists on my hips, elbows out.  I wasn’t really mad but I still didn’t like being circumvented.  She shook her head, looking exasperated as she pulled me off the dance floor to a more quiet area near the hallway that led to the restrooms.

“You’re my friend and your soul needed a little TLC.  Brant has healing skills.  I told him we would be here tonight and asked if he might be able to patch you up a bit.  He wouldn’t make any promises, only saying that he would try if he thought he could help.  He obviously took a look and decided that he could do you some good.  He would never have even approached you otherwise.”

“Thank you.” 

She looked surprised.  “You’re not mad?”

“No, not really.  I mean, how could I be?” I placed my hand on her forearm.  “I feel great.  It just felt a little weird that you had asked him to help me and I didn’t know.”

“Would you have said yes?”

I had the grace to look chagrined and be honest.  “No, probably not.  ”

“Well, at least you can admit it,” she said with a laugh.  “Now, I really need another drink.  How about you?”

“I’m thirsty too but I need to use the restroom first, can you get me something?”

“Sure.  Meet you over near the bar where we were earlier.”

“Got it,” I said, giving her a thumbs-up before I headed down the hall behind me.   When I emerged from the restroom a few minutes later, a familiar figure was waiting for me at the end of the hall. 
Harvey.

I had a momentary pang of regret that he was here even though finding him was what I had set out to do tonight.  Any conversation we had was sure to ruin some of the peace Brant had settled within me.  I braced myself before I reached him at the end of the hall. 

“So, what brings you to my little corner of the world?” he asked.  His normal obsequious demeanor seemed a tad more aggressive than usual.  He was standing confidently, his face portraying an unusual arrogance.

“I didn’t know it was your corner of the world,” I shrugged with a smile.  “But since you’re here, there
is
something I wanted to talk with you about.”

His eyes narrowed for the briefest of seconds before a beatific smile spread across his pug-like features.

“Alright, let’s go up to the VIP area,” he stressed the VIP part, obviously proud he was one.  “We can talk better there.”  I knew we needed to look in that damn VIP area earlier, although I had to admit this worked better.  It seemed less like I was seeking him out.

“Alright...,” I hesitated.  I had told Samantha I would meet her near the bar.  When I looked over there I didn't see her.  “Just let me text Sam.”  I was afraid to rely on telepathy.  She couldn’t reply and I wouldn’t know if she was too far away to hear.  Harvey waited while I slipped out my phone and sent the text – ‘Going to VIP area with Harvey to talk’
.
  I didn’t wait for a reply since it would probably be few minutes after I didn’t show up at the bar before she thought to look at her phone.  And she would definitely not hear the text coming in with the level of noise.

I gave Harvey the best smile I could muster and said, “Lead the way.”  He took my hand, which I didn’t love, and led me through the bar and up the stairs.  The same stony faced giant was still on duty.

“Mr. Keltan,” he said, surprising me with his deference.  I apparently didn’t warrant the same treatment since he just gave me the hairy-eyeball.

“Hi big guy,” I said brightly, causing him to stiffen as I passed.  I guess he didn’t like my little, err… I mean big nickname.

The VIP area was screened from the rest of the balcony by a partition that looked like a wall on the balcony side and a long billowy curtain from the other.  Here, like on the balcony, there were artfully placed chair and sofa groupings with the odd settee thrown in.  The real difference on this side was the number of servers present and the level of noise.  Here you could speak and be heard without yelling and there was an overabundance of staff.

“So, what is it you wanted to talk about?”  Harvey asked as we found a place to sit.  He still had a somewhat proprietary hand on my arm which I looked at pointedly.

“You appeared to be enjoying the attentions of that big oaf you were dancing with a few minutes ago,” he said stiffly as he removed his hand.

“He’s just a friend,” I replied with a wave, even though it was a stretch to say a guy I just met tonight was a friend.  I realized too late the implication of my words.  Harvey’s face darkened.

“And I’m not, is that it?” he hissed.  I wasn’t sure if it was his stance or his expression, but I sensed that there was a barely contained, gleeful violence lurking just out of sight.  I understood in that instant that my previous estimation of him had been way off base.  Before me wasn’t the Harvey that I knew.  This was the real man, the one he kept hidden behind the oily mask of an obsequious toady – someone who was always trying to be noticed and get ahead, no matter who he had to step on along the way.

“Well,” I said slowly as I tried to decide how direct to be with him.  I had a feeling it was going to get ugly no matter what so, in for a penny, in for a pound and all that.  I leaned forward in my seat.

“Maybe I don’t think you are a very
good
friend.  You were supposed to be Jason’s friend, right?” I asked without giving him a chance to answer.  “But I think you know something about who killed him or at least why he was killed.  So what is it Harvey, friend or foe?”  I sat back in my seat, crossing my arms loosely in my lap.  He gave me a calculating look for a few pregnant moments before bursting out laughing.

“You’ve got some nerve for a stuck-up bitch,” he said.  Wow, we had come a long way from the guy who essentially asked to be my date for Jason’s funeral.  “All those years spent trying to get a toe hold into the circles you and your idiotic brother moved in and for what?  To be ridiculed behind my back.  And don’t pretend you don’t know what I’m talking about,” he said, pointing at me angrily before a sly look came over him and he leaned towards me.  “But I finally found my opportunity and from the most unlikely source.  I bet you’ll never guess from whom.”

“I could probably make a decent guess.”

“Oh, I doubt it,” he said meanly.  “And I suggest you stop nosing around, or you might just find out the kind of people you're messing with,” he threatened as he grabbed my arm and wrenched me against his chest.  “And don’t for a moment delude yourself into thinking those wolves watching your door will be enough to protect you.”

“Let go of me,” I said through clenched teeth as he squeezed my arm painfully.  I wasn’t sure what to think about his knowledge of my extra security arrangement with the pack.  Not that I should have been surprised since he was obviously up to his eyeballs in whatever was going on.

“On second thought,” he mused, his liquor laced breath billowing right into my face.  “Keep nosing around.  I’d like to have a little taste of elf before I turn you over to be gutted.”  He suggestively licked his lips, leaving little doubt in my mind as to what type of taste he planned on getting.

“You wormy piece of shit,” I spat at him as I pushed him away roughly.  I’d obviously underestimated him up until now.  You could be damned sure I wouldn’t make that mistake in the future. 

“It will be a cold day in hell before that ever happens!” I shouted as my temper flared.  My berserker, who had over the last few minutes been slowly rousing from the stupor Brant had lulled her into, growled loudly and threw herself against the barrier.  A grating sound slipped from my lips and everything in our immediate vicinity was bathed in the red light coming from my eyes. 

Harvey stood and scrambled backwards so quickly that his chair tipped over.  He visibly made an effort to conquer his fear in the face of the predator staring at him from behind my eyes.  I growled as I stood, leaning towards him to better take in his scent.

“You smell goooood,” I rasped, nostrils flaring at the scent of his fear.  In fact, the smell of his alarm was so heady it was nearly intoxicating.   I watched, somewhat detached, as Harvey looked around to see if there was any help coming.  Most of the adjacent groups had stopped talking to watch our exchange.  I imagined that Andrei and Luca were here somewhere, or maybe one of the giants would step in to help him, but everyone else appeared afraid or unwilling to get involved.

I laughed, and out of my mouth came a low guttural sound that was so foreign, so harsh, that surely it was never meant to cross my lips.  I had the fleeting thought that I might be about to cross a line I could never recover from if I couldn’t pull back from this madness.  The idea of further confinement instantly subdued my berserker.  She stopped banging on the walls and stomped off to a corner of her cell to sit on the floor, her chest heaving in anger and frustration.  “
You fix!
” she screamed at me.  “
You fix this!
”

I staggered as she spoke, dumbstruck.  She had never spoken to me before.  Hell, she had never spoken at
all
before! 

“And here I thought all that talk of elves and berserkers was just fairy tales,” Harvey said, eyeing me warily from beside his fallen chair.  “But you can’t let your crazy beast out can you?” he mocked now that he had regained some of his composure.  “Then you’d have to spend the rest of your life locked up with the rest of the slavering lunatics.  I guess that’s how come Jason didn’t let his out when he was being gutted like a pig.”

I jumped to my feet as another rush of adrenalin hit me but my berserker was having none of it.

“
You fix, you fix,
” she whispered over and over while pitifully rocking herself, arms wrapped tightly around her knees.  I wasn’t sure exactly what she wanted me to fix but she didn’t seem interested in ripping Harvey to shreds, at least not at the moment.

“Is there a problem, Mr. Keltan?”  The stony faced bouncer from the VIP entrance was back.  He looked from the overturned chair, to Harvey, to me. 

“No, no problem Frank but Abigail here was just leaving.” he said.

I nodded my head, not trusting myself to speak.  That my berserker had talked to me had rocked me.  Hard.  I needed some time to digest before I would be able to push Harvey further.  I hadn’t discovered anything that would lead me to whoever ordered Jason’s murder but I still felt I had learned a lot.  Now it was time to cut my losses before my berserker decided to stop playing meek.   As I made my way out of the VIP lounge, I looked back to see that Andrei and Luca were with Harvey and all three were watching me.  Harvey was animatedly talking, his arm making large frustrated gestures.  I couldn’t tell if he was explaining himself or complaining.  Either way, it didn’t bode well for me.