The Shifting Price of Prey (36 page)

She looked at me in silence for a long moment, then said, ‘Did you hit your head when you fainted?’

I huffed. ‘I didn’t faint.’

‘If you say so.’ She grinned then said, ‘Okay. Weretigers, or ailuranthropes to give them their proper name, became extinct’ – she frowned – ‘on 21st
June 1758, in Hunan province in southern China, when the last one went loco and mauled eight teenage girls. The girls died and the locals trapped the weretiger in its animal form and stoned it to
death.’

I blinked. ‘That’s . . . very specific.’

‘Mum was looking at something in the witch archives the other night, to do with weres, proper name, therianthropes.’ Mary’s mother was on the Witches’ Council. ‘It
stuck in my memory.’

The hair on my nape stood on end. ‘Really? That’s a weird coincidence.’

‘Why weird?’

‘Because I asked,’ I said, mulling over how likely it actually was a coincidence, or was the Witches’ Council somehow aware or even involved in what was going on. ‘And
because I was just thinking about werewolves.’

‘Werewolves, proper name, lycanthropes, are the only therianthropes that aren’t extinct,’ Mary said blandly.

‘I know,’ I answered just as blandly. ‘What was the problem your mum had?’

She gave me her cop face. ‘Why do you want to know, Genny?’

I hugged my knees, debating what to tell her, if anything, saved from making a decision when Hugh appeared.

He hunkered down next to me, concern creasing his face and offered me one of the takeaway cups he was carrying. ‘How’re you feeling, Genny?’

‘Good, thanks.’ I wrapped my fingers round the cool cup, inhaled the welcome scent of orange juice. ‘Now I’m awake.’

He patted my shoulder gently. ‘The medic wanted to take you to HOPE’ – the Human and Other Preternatural Ethics clinic where they treated all things magical – ‘but
as your vitals were stable, I thought if you stayed here it would be easier for us to talk.’

‘Yeah, we need to,’ I said, then got to the point. ‘It was the blood on the bodyguard’s kurta. Its scent was the trigger and knocked me into a sort of vision.’

‘The scent knocked you into a vision?’ Interest lit his cloud-grey eyes.

I glanced at Mary listening a few feet away. She was a friend, but she was also a witch, and her mother was on the Witches’ Council. And they’d been looking into wereshifters. My
paranoia hit: I still had a nasty taste from Witch-bitch Helen interfering in my life. I dug a Privacy crystal out, set it, then filled Hugh in on nearly everything; the tarot cards, the ambassador
at the mosque, the werewolves, and Malik’s memory (which I asked Hugh to call a ‘sort of vision’ to respect Malik’s privacy). ‘Only none of that tells us why the
werewolves kidnapped the victims from here,’ I finished. ‘Or where they’re holding them. Or what they gave the ambassador. Or what it all has to do with the fae’s trapped
fertility.’ I gave him a hopeful smile. ‘Any ideas?’

Hugh’s ruddy-coloured face creased with worry. ‘That’s a lot of information, Genny, and I’m not happy that Tavish has involved you with the fae again, or with the
vampires, but what’s done is done. And I can see why you agreed to help.’ He tapped his cup thoughtfully. ‘As for everything else, most of what you’ve told me is
uncorroborated and circumstantial.’ He held his hand up as I started to disagree. ‘But I’ll get the blood on the kurta checked for werewolf identifiers, which will give us
something concrete. And I’ll put an official request to the Oligarch’s office to speak with Malik al-Khan.’

I scowled. ‘Told you, I’ll be talking to him myself, tonight.’

‘You also told me Malik is being difficult.’

I’d actually told Hugh Malik was being an idiotic, irritating vamp, but hey. And Hugh had a point. Despite my ‘blackmailing’ text, Malik might still go all Lone Ranger on me,
but he wouldn’t ignore an official request from the police. And this was about the victims. I nodded. ‘Sure. Whatever works.’

‘Good.’ Hugh said, giving my shoulder a satisfied pat. ‘This is why I wanted you here, Genny. I hoped that with a closer look, your sensitive nose might pick up a recognisable
scent. Which it seems it has. Admittedly, it was a bit of a long shot, but with three victims’ lives at risk . . .’ His mouth split in a smile, pink granite teeth gleaming. ‘No
stone unturned is always a good motto.’

‘Ha ha, Hugh.’ I rolled my eyes at him. ‘But glad I could help, even if it’s not much. Though my “sensitive nose” disappeared yesterday. I’m not sure
why it picked up the blood smell so strongly.’

‘Smells associated with traumatic and/or important events often bring strong memories or flashbacks. Which seems to be the case here, albeit second-hand.’ Anxious red dust puffed
from Hugh’s headridge. ‘But there’s something else that worries me in all this. These tarot cards. For a question dealing with the fae, they seem very focused on getting you
involved with the vampires. Are you sure the cards haven’t been tampered with?’

I raked a hand through my hair. ‘It’s crossed my mind. But Tavish assures me it’s not possible. And I trust him.’

‘Tavish is the
àrd-cheann
, and as such he is the one fae, other than yourself, who has regular dealings with the vampires.’

Right. Tavish’s dealings were with Malik. And I trusted Malik too. Only for the last few months he’d been under the sway of the Autarch, thanks to that icky Jellyfish spell. The only
way I’d trust Bastien was if he was a pile of ash, even then not so much.

‘I’m not saying there is a problem with the cards,’ Hugh continued, ‘but . . .’

‘Be on my guard,’ I finished for him.

‘Yes,’ Hugh agreed. ‘Now, I’d like you to tell Mary about your vision. The event is obviously magical and distinct enough that she may know something that can help,
either you or the kidnap victims.’

‘No stone unturned?’

‘Exactly.’

I laughed, deactivated the Privacy spell and Hugh explained what he wanted to Mary.

Mary looked intrigued. ‘You had a vision? Was that why you fainted?’

‘I don’t faint,’ I grumbled.

She grinned, getting out her notebook. ‘Fell over, then. Or tripped.’ She scratched a note, muttering, ‘Ms Taylor did not faint but tripped, and this enabled her to experience
a vision.’ She looked up and gave me a beatific smile.

I stuck my tongue out.

‘Ladies, please.’ Hugh’s long-suffering sigh was belied by the amused glint in his eyes. We laughed, Mary took notes about the dead man in the snow and the young girl in collar
and chain inside the circle, while I drew what I could remember of the glyphs.

Mary gave me a quizzical look. ‘You know I said Mum was looking into therianthropes in the witch archives? This was the ritual. I can ask her to compare the glyphs to check’ –
she looked at Hugh – ‘if that’s okay with you, sir?’

‘It is,’ Hugh said. And as Mary took photos and emailed them, Hugh handily asked the question I wanted to. ‘Why was your mother looking at this particular ritual?’

‘There was an unauthorised user alarm on the private archives.’

I stiffened. I had a horrible feeling I knew who the ‘unauthorised user’ was— Katie: when she’d done her own werewolf research.

‘Mum was tracking what they’d been looking at,’ Mary carried on, ‘in case it was anything dangerous. There’s some pretty ancient spells in there. This is one of
them.’ She cut me a look. ‘It’s part of that weretiger story I told you about.’

‘What weretiger story?’ Hugh asked, and Mary filled him in.

‘Um. When exactly did the unauthorised user access the archives?’ My question got me piercing stares from Hugh and Mary. I tried not to look guilty on Katie’s behalf, and no
doubt failed.

‘The night of the “Harry Potter” spell in Leicester Square,’ Mary said, her cop gaze pinning me where I sat.

Damn. It had to be Katie. It was too much of a coincidence otherwise. ‘Okay,’ I said, ‘before you start interrogating me, if the ritual I saw of the girl in my
“vision” chained up in the ash circle is the same one that was being looked at in the archives, what’s it for?’ I asked the question, though really I knew; I just wanted to
be sure.

Mary pursed her lips, debating, then blew out a breath. ‘Okay, but if it’s needed for prosecuting someone, you’ll have to get a warrant to ask the Witches’ Council for
permission to view it.’

Hugh gave a slightly insulted rumble. ‘Of course,’ I said, patting him consolingly on the arm; the witches were always a bit close-mouthed about their secrets.

Mary lowered her voice. ‘It’s a ritual for changing a human into a therianthrope.’

I stopped myself from pumping my arm and shouting, ‘Yes!’

‘I take it this isn’t the same ritual that’s in the police manual?’ Hugh’s deep voice rose in question.

‘No,’ Mary agreed. ‘It’s nothing like the Death Bite one. This one has some seriously revolting stuff.’ She shuddered. ‘Well, like your vision, Genny. The
human has to be a virgin, and the whole ritual is barbaric. That last weretiger killed in China? There’s a note in the archives saying they think he was the last pure blood-born weretiger,
and the reason he mauled all those young girls was because he was trying to replicate the ritual, to make himself a mate.’

Which all tracked with Malik’s memory. Young Fur Jacket Girl had called the dead male her mate. And she’d evidently been a virgin.

A pensive frown lined Hugh’s forehead. ‘Werewolves have no more magical ability than a non-magical human, other than their inherent shapeshifting, so there’s still the strange
lack of magic at the kidnapping to be explained.’

‘Which I still maintain looks like when you clean up after the pixies,’ Mary said.

‘But the
àrd-cheann
is adamant that there is no possibility of there being another sidhe fae in London.’ Hugh looked at me. ‘How confident do you think he is
about that, Genny?’

‘I think Tavish is pretty sure—’

My phone rang.

‘Aunty?’ A girl’s high-pitched voice.

My mind did a fast turnabout from werewolves and sidhe to my faeling niece, Freya, and the fact she was calling me in the middle of a school day. Had Ana, her mum, gone into labour?

‘What’s the matter, Freya? Is it your mum? Is the baby coming?’

‘You have to get here quick,’ she shouted. ‘Granddad says they’re coming.’

They’re coming!
I clutched the phone, stuffing my instant panic away. Not Ana, then. ‘Where’s here,’ I said, forcing calmness into my voice, ‘and who are
they?’

‘Home, and I don’t knoooow!’ It was a scared, frustrated whine. ‘He can’t frogging tell me. He just shook me by the scruff and ordered me to phone you.’

Home for Freya was Trafalgar Square. Or at least, that’s where the entrance to her home was, through the left fountain. Which was also the watery abode of her great-grandpops, the
fossegrim, the fountain’s fae guardian. Though why he’d be ordering Freya to phone me was odd; the old water fae wasn’t exactly
compos mentis
during the daytime, nor much
better at night, not to mention we’d hardly spoken more than a couple of times.

A dog growled in the background; a low urgent warning.

My heart stuttered as I realised Freya didn’t mean the fossegrim, but her other granddad. Her vampire granddad. The one who wasn’t supposed to be anywhere near her. Mad Max.

Freya yelped. ‘He wants to know how long, Aunty?’

I looked at Hugh. ‘I need to get to Trafalgar Square. Freya’s in trouble, and Ma—’ Conscious of Freya listening, I stopped myself from saying Mad Max, changing it to,
‘my cousin Maxim is with her. He says they’re coming.’

The same alarm thrumming through my veins etched Hugh’s face, then he went into full DI mode. ‘I’ll get you a car and driver, Genny.’ He lifted his radio. ‘At the
zoo entrance. Should be twenty minutes tops from here, with a siren.’

W
e sped along the morning’s route from the zoo back into the centre of London. I sat hunched in the back of the police car, muscles tense,
hitting Freya’s number on my phone and getting shunted direct to voicemail every time, questions whizzing around my head like a flight of manic garden fairies.

How did Mad Max know they were coming if he didn’t know who they were? Were they the same ‘they’ that the tarot cards warned me were coming? The Emperor’s werewolves? But
why would they come for Freya? And why would Mad Max go to Freya and get her to phone me? If they were dangerous, he’d led them straight to her. And why wasn’t Freya at school, where
she’d be safe? Where was her mother, Ana? Was Ana even okay? And why the hell wasn’t Freya answering her phone? Why was Mad Max there anyway? Why wasn’t he tucked away in his
daytime sleep instead of running round London in his dog shape?

Damn it. I didn’t trust him. Vamps weren’t exactly altruistic to start with but Mad Max took the prize for selfish. He might have ‘helped’ me with his Poultice spell, but
that didn’t mean he wouldn’t sell me out at the drop of a dog biscuit. Never mind that he was the Autarch’s dog and I could be heading into a trap. Not that it would stop me, not
when Freya was involved. And truly, for all Mad Max’s faults, this was Freya, his grandkid, and he was all about protecting her. Which still didn’t mean this wasn’t a trap for me.
Just not for her. Gods, I hoped not anyway.