Wolf Ties (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 2) (6 page)

“And I told you I have my own schedule to keep.”

“I’m doing your kind a favor. I could get into a lot of trouble falsifying data when nonhumans come in.”

I zipped over to him and wrapped an arm about his shoulders, a difficult task given I was slightly shorter. The breeze I stirred disordered his hair, and I stretched out a clawed finger to flick a few strands off his forehead. “You could also be dead, human.”

For some reason, using the “human” description appealed to me when talking to them. In hindsight, it shouldn’t have because it separated me from them with each use. The truth was, I was no longer human whether I sympathized or recalled experiences and emotions from my past or not.

Calvin shivered in my embrace, and all the blood left his visage. He stuttered and shook. I couldn’t imagine why he would be so frightened as I was sure Violet’s temper had led her to bully him on more than one occasion.

“Rue, focus,” she snapped. “Stop threatening him. And as for you, Calvin, you’re being compensated. We’re looking for someone to take over for you who’s not such a pansy.”

I blinked at her. “Wait you can call him a coward, but I can’t threaten to kill him? How is that fair?”

Calvin removed a handkerchief from his pocket and mopped his moist forehead. I let him ease out of my hold, and he inched farther away. “Ladies, please. From now on one nonhuman at a time down here. I can’t deal with more. I’m not going to reveal your secret, and I know what it means if I do. Heck, my second cousin twice removed is a…I can’t remember. I haven’t seen him in twenty years, but I know he’s not exactly human.”

“I know,” Violet said. I glanced from her to Calvin. “Anyway, just show Rue so we can get out of here. I don’t like it any better than her.”

Both Violet and Calvin’s hearts raced, and I let the beats lull me a little as we approached the sheet-covered body. I swallowed, a convulsive action as Calvin lowered the sheet. To avoid my record of the events being too graphic, suffice to say the man who had been Dalton Abbey was long gone. What remained was a mangled mess.

Dalton’s head was missing, and the examiner pointed to the lump on another table. Scratches covered Dalton’s torso, and I hesitated before sniffing to discover the same scent from the house. No new ones. Whoever had done it had probably acted alone.

“A fight?” Violet suggested.

“Not likely,” Calvin said, which matched my observation from the house. “There’s nothing under his fingernails, no defensive wounds.”

“Nathan once told me no one can sneak up on him.” Someone had snuck up on him, but I had deduced later the attacker used a time shift to appear behind Nathan to knock him out. Since that apparent ability no longer existed in New Orleans, I doubted that was the case in this situation.

Violet frowned. “Then the person knew him.”

“You said your two peoples are enemies. Why would Dalton know this c—”

Violet cleared her throat, and I fell silent. The human was okay to keep our secret of existence, but he didn’t need to know everything about us.

“Why all the scratches?” I wondered aloud.

“Rage, hatred?” Violet suggested.

“The scratches were made most likely after he was beheaded,” the examiner said. “That would suggest rage or hatred. He was a werewolf, a very powerful one. This close to the full moon, my guess is he knew his attacker. Otherwise, the killer wouldn’t have been able to get so close.”

Violet spun away and started for the door. “Someone will come soon. If you learn anything else before then, let me know.”

“Fine.”

We almost made it to the door, before he called out again.

“Hey, what did you mean someone else is coming soon? You mean a nonhuman? Do you intend to replace me, because I didn’t get this job from you people. I’m not losing it for any of you.”

I started for him, but Violet extended an arm to block me. She smiled at him, and I was struck that without the habitual scowl, she was a pretty woman. I wondered if she had a boyfriend and would get married one day and have little werepups.

“We’re not getting rid of you, Calvin. Why would we when we…
I
…depend on you so much?”

Wow, even female werewolves had sex appeal. I was quite impressed. Poor Calvin never had a chance as she approached him and laid a hand on his shoulder, standing too close. His heart rate went through the roof, and he mopped his neck with the handkerchief.

“Th-th-thanks,” he croaked and bobbed his head up and down.

Violet let her hand drag over his chest as she turned to walk away, and the man stared at her butt until she reached the exit. From my perspective, I saw Violet’s expression go from charming to raining down the Black Death if only she had the power.

We strode along the hall in silence, and as soon as we were out of the man’s hearing, I started to ask Violet if she intended to keep him on. Before I could speak, she whipped her cell phone out of her pocket and punched out a sequence of numbers that threatened to destroy the new phone.

“Did you find someone?” she snapped.

“I think so,” the voice on the other end of the line said. “He’s vampire, so he should be fine with the hours. Plus he’s one of Silvano’s.”

“You’ve got to be kidding.” Violet slammed a fist against the wall. Something crumbled behind the spot. “Put Silvano’s man in the morgue? That’s asking for trouble.”

“He’s not going to reveal our secret without revealing himself, Violet. He’s all we’ve got.”

She grumbled.

The person tried again. “It’s not like you’re breaking human laws by covering up the fact that an occasional nonhuman lands into the morgue.”

“What planet do you live on?”

“You know what I mean. We don’t cover up the crimes. We just keep part of the truth hidden.”

“And control destruction of the body.”

The man agreed. “All of us understand we must be burned when we die. There’s no questioning that. Hey, you should be happy. You’re a beat cop who gets to play detective every now and then.”

Violet started to punch the wall again and then resisted. “Get the vampire down here as soon as possible. I think Calvin is about to cave. It’s always better to have a nonhuman in the important positions, but we can’t force the few that live here to do it. They get the right to choose their own paths.”

“Well, you’ve got Silvano’s man now, so we’re good.”

Violet uttered a humorless laugh. “Why do I get the feeling we’ve put ourselves into Silvano’s hands, and we won’t ever be free again?”

Violet disconnected the call, and we rode the elevator to the first floor. When I said nothing, she pinned me with a dissatisfied expression. “Aren’t you going to ask me who that was?”

I shrugged. “I assume a person who works on nonhumans’ behalf?”

“He’s a part of a group of nonhumans that have formed to try to get more of us into public office and into law enforcement.”

My eyebrows rose. “To take over the world?”

She scowled. “No, to keep better order. We need systems in place, Rue. You saw what we had to deal with back there, that impudent little… I shouldn’t have to cozy up to a greedy little human just to keep our secret. If a vampire is in that position, the question of revealing ourselves won’t be an issue, which also means we don’t have to find money to pay him.”

“That makes sense,” I acknowledged.

She nodded. “And I can concentrate on upholding the law as I have sworn to do.”

“You really love your job, don’t you? You take it very seriously?”

“Yes, don’t you?”

“I’m a bartender.”

“I thought you were a tracker.”

“It doesn’t pay the bills. The jobs are too few and far between, which reminds me.” I eyed her with meaning. “Who will be paying me?”

She curled her upper lip. “Nathan is your friend, remember?”

“Yes, but I’ve had to take off work twice, and believe me Almonester is not someone you want to cross when it comes to money. He’s my landlord. If I don’t pay rent, I’ll find my butt out on the street.”

“Find somewhere else to live anyway.”

“Why?”

“Just do it. I’ve got to get back to my beat. Give me a report later. Good night.”

Chapter Six

I arrived at the cat shifter’s garage with a stirring of dust only to be met with the very unpleasant stench of motor oil. Knowing where I headed, I had expected it, but still the pungent odor was too much. While I pinched my nose and waited for my eyes to stop watering, a man in a wife beater undershirt and dark work pants that did not disguise the stains of grease strode out of the building to greet me. I say greet when I really mean he stared with open hostility, arms folded over a narrow chest.

So, they sensed my arrival or smelled me coming. I knew I didn’t keep much of a scent, being vampire. Soon another man slid one of the bay doors up and joined his friend. Others strode into view, all equally hostile, all smelling like the scent I identified to be a cat shifter but none the specific one that had killed Dalton. Where was he?

Or she
, I amended when a couple of female shifters appeared. Dalton also might have had a relationship with one of the women. Her boyfriend might have taken offense if he found out. That could explain the mutilation of Dalton’s body.

I stayed where I was, on the opposite side of the street from the cats. The werewolves were strong, and I knew taking on one of them at my skill level would be a real challenge. I didn’t have any data on the cat shifters, but they might have similar strength. Even if they didn’t, there were way more present than I could handle at any one time. However, I wouldn’t back down either.

“I’m not here to fight,” I called out. “I just want to ask you a few questions about a…death.” Lovely. They all laughed at me. I was off to a good start.

The man who appeared first held up a staying hand to the others and walked to the end of the drive. I took that as his intention not to fight, or to keep it between us. Fair enough. I crossed the street to meet him at the edge of his property.

“I’m Rue Darrow,” I offered.

“Vampire.”

I clapped my hands. “Good for you. And you are?”

His eyebrows furrowed. I guess I shouldn’t have made fun of him, but what did he expect? They had all laughed at me. Okay, now I was sounding whiny.

“I’m Hyatt.”

I waited. He said nothing. “Panther shifter?”

“You can’t figure it out? What are you doing here in our territory?”

“Your territory?” I gazed around. As far as I could tell the area was just like any lower middle class one, the garage a bit rundown. I knew for a fact that the werewolves held various jobs and lived in an array of circumstances from those at the low end of the pay scale to the higher end. I hadn’t picked up any significant scents of the cats before reaching the garage, except lingering aromas on public properties like a Winn-Dixie or a convenience store. Did they all work here at the garage? Maybe I was jumping to conclusions.

“Yes, and the only reason why you’re still standing is because Mew got a look at you and said you were cute.”

A small, gray housecat appeared from around the side of the garage and jogged over to Hyatt to tangle between his legs. I squinted at the cat. Wait, I had seen him when I canvased the neighborhood before approaching the garage. This little cat was a shifter too?

Hyatt laughed. “I can almost read your mind, vampire. You’re wondering if he can shift. Well, he can’t. He’s just a regular old house cat.” He tapped his temple. “We speak their language.”

“You meow at them?”

He radiated offense, and I pressed my lips together to keep from smiling.

“We don’t know anything about a death.”

When he started to turn away, I called out to him and moved closer. I wouldn’t be touching him no matter how well it worked for Violet and the medical examiner. “I’m sorry for offending you. A man was killed, a werewolf, and I just want to find the person responsible.”

“You think we did it, that we came all the way over there to kill your werewolf?”

I folded my arms under my chest. He leered without even trying to hide it. “I didn’t say where it took place, and he wasn’t my werewolf.”

“We’re not stupid,” he shot back. “If it was in our backyard, we’d know it.”

Since the witch had sealed the location, they wouldn’t, but I didn’t argue. “I would like you to all show me your claws.”

Again the laughter, and I tensed. While I knew nothing of paw sizes, claw lengths and differences amid their kind, I thought if I could compare all of them, I might get a better idea of the guilty individual.

“Do you have a warrant?” Hyatt demanded.

I knew in an instant I was getting zero participation. “I’m not a cop.”

He turned away. “Then you’re wasting my time. Not that I would have cared if you were the police.”

A chorus of cheers rose from the cat shifters as if Hyatt had made an enlightening statement. All he managed to do was humiliate and frustrate me plus give me a sense of hopelessness when I thought of gaining enough information to ID the killer.

I left the cats behind, deciding I had had more than enough of them for the foreseeable future. When I phoned Violet, she agreed to meet with me, and I waited for her at Café du Monde, pretending to sip coffee. I did miss that hot brew. My favorite was Gloria Jean’s Butter Toffee, which I had enjoyed on a daily basis before I was turned.

Violet pulled up in her squad car and parked then joined me in the café. She dropped into the seat across from me and frowned at my cup. “Did you drink it?”

“I can’t.”

“I didn’t think so.” She nabbed my cup and swallowed the liquid in two gulps.”

I gaped. “That was still pretty hot.”

“We can stand it. My shift doesn’t end until eight tomorrow morning, and I hardly slept last night.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “You should feel lucky. You sleep like the dead.”

“Funny,” I said sourly. “If I was forced to stay awake, I would be more useless than you, and you shouldn’t whine like you have a hard life. Nothing compares to watching the sun rise.”

“Okay, we each have our burdens to bear. What did you find out?”

“Not much. I told them what I was there for and got laughed at for my troubles.”

Violet didn’t appear very sympathetic, and I attempted to sound more useful.

“I did pick up a lingering scent that matched the one at that house and on Dalton, but that person wasn’t among them.”

She perked up at this information. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. The concentration is different, but not like he’d just run off knowing I was coming. More like it had been a couple days, maybe more.”

Violet gazed past my head and then eyed me hard. “You didn’t give the impression we have evidence it was a cat, did you?”

“I think the fact that I questioned them said it.”

“No, it didn’t,” she snapped. “Anyone would think of a cat shifter if a wolf is killed. They have to be questioned. We’re direct enemies.”

“Really? Like house pets?”

She bared her teeth, and I grinned.

“Anyway, did you or didn’t you say anything?”

“No, I’m not that foolish. In any case, they knew one of them was missing from the group, but they weren’t going to give up information. I tried asking to see their claws, but they refused, saying I didn’t have a warrant and I wasn’t a cop. Why don’t you go over there, Violet? They might show you at least a little more respect than I was shown.”

Violet groaned. “I told you why I can’t. Besides, if I harass them, one of them is bound to complain to my boss, and I’ll get into trouble. The only reason I’m getting involved in this case is because of Nathan. I’m not in the homicide division. I’m low on the totem pole, and a detective running this investigation would poop a cow if he knew I was working the case behind his back. If a vampire shows up, it’s not likely the cat leader is going to report it. If I do, you get my meaning?”

“Yes, your hands are tied.”

Violet stood. “I have to go.”

I stood as well and followed her to the counter where she ordered more coffee to go. As we headed outside, I watched her drink, and she quirked an eyebrow at me.

“Why don’t you give it a try?” she asked, amused.

“We can only drink wine, and the last time I did… I’m getting better. I can keep a couple mouthfuls down.” I have no idea why I confessed such an embarrassing fact to her, but Violet smiled.

“Good luck. You’ll get it after while. When I was little, my dad tried to get me to hunt with him and the rest of my family.” She cringed. “I was a city-bred wolf, and the mere thought of it made me sick.”

I almost pounced on her like the pup I imagined her being. “You were little.”

“Of course I was little!”

“No, I mean, sorry, I keep thinking of pups. Wait, don’t get offended. Since I changed, I’m so darn blunt.” I cleared my throat. “You have family here, other werewolves?”

We were both silent as a couple humans strode by. Violet waited until we were alone again to speak. “I have family, but no, they’re not in New Orleans. I’m originally from Virginia, and yes, I was born wolf. My entire family is wolf.”

“Wow, interesting. Born. You give it emphasis as if it’s different.”

She rolled her eyes. “Werewolves can make other werewolves with a bite, but most people will die from our bite, no matter how minor. Humans, I mean. One never knows if a victim will live and turn. All of the survivors are weaker than us who are born this way.”

I loved learning more about her, and I hoped we could be friends. Maybe she would even bend enough to tell me how many brothers and sisters she had and their names. For myself I was an only child, and I had no family except for my fifteen-year-old son, Jake, who lived with his dad. I missed him to pieces, and I had recently set up a schedule to see him. He didn’t want to live with his vampire mom, but I insisted on visiting him, and he accepted it. His dad was still in the dark about the radical changes his ex-wife had undergone.

“So do you have—” I began.

“I’m not going to stand on this corner all night with you, Rue. Go meet the pack. Talk to them and see what they can add to what we already know.”

“Jeez, you’re bossy,” I complained. “We can be friends, too.”

“I’m not looking for a friend. I have enough, and Nathan is one of them. Or have you forgotten?”

“You know I haven’t.”

She made me feel sufficiently guilty for delaying. I left her to return to work, and I needed to get to the bar anyway. Almonester wouldn’t hear of me taking off one more night. I wouldn’t hear of it either, because money was always a need what with sending child support for Jake and saving for his college fund.

The Rusty Ankle, Almonester’s bar, was jam-packed with human customers as usual. I had to squeeze through the bodies to make my way toward the counter. Hands grabbed for me, men tugging to get my attention. I don’t know what it was about me and human men. They were drawn, as the old expression said, bees to honey. Perhaps it was the magic that peppered the air in the bar, all created to part the humans from their money. I don’t know how every one of them didn’t go broke and was too poor to continue to come. Maybe the fae magic caused them to stay away until they made enough to return.

I never bothered to look into the humans’ faces long, hating the thought that I might glamour them just because the atmosphere pushed for it. Apparently, Orin and Pammie, my fae fellow bartenders didn’t have the same convictions. They flashed loaded smiles in every direction, and when they weren’t careful, the humans would climb onto the bar itself to get to them.

When I reached the bar I had to pull one such human woman down, who was determined to offer her body to Orin. I glared at him when I dropped the woman on the floor. “Would you tone it down, Orin?”

He wiped up spilled drinks and made more without missing a beat. “It’s just you and me tonight, baby vamp. Can you handle it?”

I glared. “Where’s Pammie?”

“She’s got something.”

“Got what?”

I didn’t believe he meant she had caught a cold and was lying in bed somewhere. Come to think of it, where did they live? Anyway, I had learned not too long ago, the fae used herbs and such to heal themselves. I wasn’t sure if fae suffered illnesses common to humans, but Pammie wouldn’t have dealt with it long, and Almonester would have insisted she fix it fast and make him more money.

As I waited for Orin to explain, which he seemed loathe to do, Almonester appeared with Pammie behind him. Pammie was nonsocial most of the time, but she could turn on the high-wattage smile the same as Orin. Her long, beautiful hair and deep cleavage had men drooling over her, but her usual outfit at the bar was a simple miniskirt and blouse unbuttoned enough to show off her assets.

Tonight, Pammie dressed in an outfit so skanky, one could hardly call it being clothed at all. The spiky heels could break an ankle should she stumble. She hung her head, lips pressed together, hands clenched before her as if she were being led off to the guillotine. I didn’t think before I zipped ahead of Almonester.

“Where are you going with Pammie? This place is packed, and we can use the help.”

Almonester stared, waves of rage coming off him. He could have killed Dalton, if they walked in the same circles, and not blinked an eye. “Get out of the way, Rue, and do your job!”