1 Dicey Grenor (10 page)

“I showed you the
makeup I used for the scene in these pictures so where’s your probable cause
now? Further questions and searches would be harassment.”

He stepped towards
me. “I don’t need a coon telling me how to do my job,” he spat.

I stepped back. “You’re
trying to bait me.” And it had almost worked. My fangs were threatening to
break through.

Franco walked
around his desk to face Monroe. “Get your bigot ass out of my office before I
call your superiors at VET,
Agent
Monroe.”

Like the bell at
the end of a fight, Monroe’s phone rang. He answered, raised his eyebrows, said
a few uh
huhs
and hung up. “I have to go.”

I tried my best
not to smile. “That’s a shame,” I said, moving closer to him, reaching out my
hand to shake his.
Time to throw some mental interference.
He left my palm hanging, but his eyes were wide open and on me. That’s all I
needed. I focused on his aqua blues and willed him to stare deep into my
hazels. I stared deeper into his…

Wait a damn minute…where
were his fucking pupils! They were so tiny there was barely anything to dilate.
And they wouldn’t budge. That part that opened to his soul was not opening at
all.

“Looking for
something, Ms. Willow?” he sneered.

“Uh…No.
I’m…I was just trying to shake your hand. It’s nice to meet you.” Just as I
tried to step back he grabbed my palm and squeezed.

“Nice
to meet you too.”
He moved in close enough for me to feel his coffee
breath on my face. “I know what you were looking for, I know why, and I know
what you are. We’re done for now, but I’ll be back with marshmallows to roast
your ass.”

Best to kill him
right now…switch to Catholicism, see a confessor, say ten hail
marys
…

“And just so you
know, if I end up missing, you will have a bull’s-eye on your black head. If
you try to get missing, I’ll make sure everyone at this hellhole you call a
club will be brought up on charges for aiding and abetting your escape.” He
dropped my hand, unfolded his walking stick, and left.

I’d be damned.
Monroe was blind.

Swallowing hard, I
turned to Franco whose eyes were as wide as full moons. “You set me up,” I
said.

Chapter 10

“I swear I did
not.”

“Yesterday, no one
here knew what I was and now that you and Punch do, the fucking VET is on my
ass,” I said.

“Pure
coincidence.
Have you forgotten you were attacked last night? Someone
was after you before now.”

“Maybe you set
that up too. You had Punch drive me home. Why? You wanted to see where I live,
right?” I was really getting pissed. Everything was clicking and it all pointed
to Franco and it all stunk. “What? The money from Hades isn’t enough?
You trying
to collect on my head too?” I felt my countenance
change, knew I was looking monstrous when Franco backed into his desk. “You
told me to come to work tonight!” I yelled as I grabbed his throat with one
hand and lifted him from the ground.

He grabbed my arm
with both of his and struggled. I squeezed harder until my hand couldn’t get
any tighter without crushing his windpipe. When I thought he might pass out, my
hand suddenly felt like it was on fire. It got hotter and hotter and spread
down my arm. I dropped him and screamed in pain. I looked at the blisters on my
hand with awe as he fell to the floor coughing and gagging, trying to catch his
breath. I fell to the floor next to him.

As we lay writhing
and nursing our wounds, Franco choked out, “I promise I didn’t set you up. I
wouldn’t do that to you or any supernatural, Willow. You
gotta
trust me.” Moments passed before he kicked his leg out in anger. “FUCK! If you
ever try that shit again, I will fuck you up.”

I believed him. “What
are you?”

“
What
doesn’t
matter.
Only who.”

“Who the
fuck are
you then?”

“Someone
trying to save your ass.
You looking skyward to some god you’ve never
seen while I’m right here in your face trying to keep you alive,” he said in a
stronger voice.

“I died a couple
of years ago.”

“Undead
then.”

“Well, at least I
know you’re mortal. Apparently you can be suffocated, strangled.”

He sat up, rubbing
his neck.
“When I’m in a physical body.”

I looked at him
sharply. “You can leave your body?”

“I don’t have a
body. I’m merely borrowing this one.” He got up from the floor. “I rather like
it though. Do you think I chose wisely?”

I nodded slowly,
still dumfounded, unable to speak.

Upon inspection, I
was relieved to find my hand had returned to normal. His crispy-critter defense
mechanism hadn’t left permanent damage.

“Are you sharing
the body? Is Franco your real name?” I asked once I was able to formulate
thoughts and articulate them.

“The owner of this
body is dead. I made a deal with him to assume his identity in exchange for
something he wanted badly. I held my end of the bargain and now he is holding
his.”

I shook my head.
Did Franco kill him? What was the deal he’d made? What did Franco look like for
real? Was he even male?

“Willow, I know
you must have lots of questions about me, but the point is I am not your enemy.
Humans have waged war against vampires and it will only be a matter of time
before they come after the rest of us. I
wanna
be
ready when they do.
Supernaturals
must stick
together.”

“If you didn’t set
me up, why is all this happening to me now?” I said.

“I don’t know.”

“How can I trust
you? How can I trust anybody?”

“I’d let you suck
my neck and fuck you good to gain your trust, but you don’t want my blood.” I
frowned. I hadn’t met anyone
who’s
blood I didn’t
want. “It’s tainted,” he said, “and sex would bind us too tightly together. Neither
of us wants that.” He looked away. “Willow, I didn’t just find out you’re a
vampire, darling. I’ve always known, ever since your botched attempt to feed on
me. Remember? You fell asleep and I waited around ’til you woke up and offered
you a job.”

I flashed back to
when I’d first come back to Houston. I was hungry and hadn’t honed a system for
procuring meals without getting busted or killing my source. Logistically,
captivation had to come first in case I had a narcoleptic episode while in
pursuit. That way I wouldn’t have to worry about getting staked and lit
afire
in my sleep. Aside from that, I had to catch my
victim alone, bite fast, and disappear before they knew what hit ’
em
. It wasn’t a perfect plan but it had worked twice
before.

It was late and
Franco had been walking alone on the sidewalk. I’d followed him to an empty
parking lot, waited until he’d unlocked his Range Rover and moved in. Falling
asleep hadn’t been part of the plan, but that’s what happened as I reached him.
My last thought had been
oh shit, I’m dead
. When I awakened, I was
surprised to find him nurturing my head in his lap. He’d lifted me to his
backseat and kept me safe.

Ironic,
considering I’d been attacking him.

I immediately
tried to captivate his mind and get on with the business of devouring his blood
when I discovered I was unable to do so. I thought maybe I was just off my
game. When he offered me a job at his club, I figured he’d thought I was trying
to rob him and felt sorry for me. After I nailed the audition, I ordered a
phlebotomy kit off the internet, and the rest was history.

But my version of
history had been inaccurate, hadn’t it.

“You knew?” I
said.

“From the first
moment you started following me. I can sense the presence and nature of all
beings. In fact, I’ve been collecting
supernaturals
…developing
a network. I want Hades to be a haven for us. A revolution is coming and we all
need to be ready.”

This was just too
much.
“So Punch?
Fire?
Cin
?
Everyone here is supernatural?”

“No, but I will
not say who is or isn’t. I will never reveal anyone else’s gift. Everyone’s
story is theirs to tell.”

“So I really can
trust you.”

“Absolutely.”

Whistling all the
way to the dressing room, I felt surprisingly giddy. I could trust Franco. He
wanted to help me, to help all of us, and he had the means to do so. Hades had
felt like home, but I never knew how much it really was. I was surrounded by
others with dark secrets. They weren’t
illegals
like
me, but we had common enemies—humans. For the first time since I’d been turned,
I actually felt God was smiling down on me, sending me a sign that he’d protect
me, that I was all right with him. Yeah, I knew Franco didn’t believe he was
doing God’s work, but whether he believed it or not, Franco was part of God’s
master plan. God could use even the unwilling because he worked in mysterious—

What the…

Ming was leaning
over my table with her arm elbow-deep in my duffle bag.

She turned
abruptly as if she sensed me in the doorway and laughed nervously. “Oh, God, I’m
sorry. I know this looks bad, but I’m really desperate. You wouldn’t happen to
have a tampon or pad, would you? I got a surprise visitor and with all this
white…”

Bullshit. She was
lying through her teeth. If she was bleeding I’d smell it, and the only thing I
smelled was wildflowers and BS. Dumb bitch had been caught rifling through my
bag. “No, I do not,” I said icily.

I didn’t even have
a period anymore, thank God.

“Darn. Well,
thanks anyway.” She walked back to her table and started packing her stuff.
Apparently, she’d forgotten she still needed to protect all that white she was
wearing.

What the hell was
Franco trying to pull?
Oh, trust me, Willow. We
gotta
stick together
yada
yada
.

Was this his
doing? Had he distracted me in his office while his hussy rummaged through my
stuff for evidence? Or was she acting independently? And if so, why was she
targeting me?

There was some
shady business going on around here and I needed to get to the bottom of it.
Resolved to seek counsel from someone I did trust, I gathered my things and headed
to her house.

Chapter 11

I never needed an
appointment to see her, never even knocked on her door. As always, as soon as I
started up the steps,
Saybree’s
front door creaked
opened to a red-lit foyer.

The one-story
house was quiet, with the exception of cats meowing and scratching across
hardwood floors. Declawing them would have been my top priority, but I
suspected they were really humans made pets. Of course, I had no proof…and it
wouldn’t matter to me one way or the other.
So whatever.

Before I was in
good, a strong peppermint, ginger and lemon scent greeted me. She’d either been
ridding the house of evil spirits or trying to boost her mood. I never could be
straight on which scent combos were for aromatherapy and which were for
spell-casting.

“It’s late,
Willow.” Her soft voice came from the kitchen.

“I know. I’m
sorry. I just got off work.” I closed the door behind myself and walked towards
her voice.

She was sitting by
the window at the table, illuminated by a black candle centerpiece.
Looked like she had been waiting for me all night.
Her long
black hair had more gray streaks than last time and her hands were bonier. Even
her usually radiant Indian skin, looked dull and cracked. She’d aged
significantly within just a few months.

“You worked Sunday?
Wow. Things really are evolving for you.” She smiled, but it wasn’t warm, didn’t
reach her eyes. “So you have questions. And what do you have to make offering,
dear?” She was, as usual, straight to the point.

I handed her the
wad of cash I’d made in tips tonight and one vial of blood. I’d enjoyed some on
my way over so I knew she was getting top-quality blood.

She thumbed
through the cash and stuck the vial down her cleavage. Then she smiled
genuinely. It was amazing what a witch could do with human blood.

“Come. Sit.” She
gathered her green sari, scooted further under the table, and waved to the
chair across from her. Several gold bracelets clanked as she moved. “You’ve not
come in awhile, child. It’s good to see you. You have questions about love and
trust. Yes?”

Love?
Well, that was a new one on me. Trust, yes, but love? Hell, no.

I sat down. “Some
weird things have happened over the last few days that have me feeling
vulnerable.” I proceeded to explain it all from the holy water assault to
Monroe the neo-Nazi agent, to Ming the Korean spy, to Franco the lying ass club
owner.

She listened
intently until I was done then stuck out her open palm. I reached in my duffle
bag and got the opal stone she’d given me when I first started seeing her and
placed it in her hand. She closed her fist around it then closed her eyes. We
sat unmoving for eons before she opened her eyes and began speaking.

“Your boss is
honorable. He speaks truth and will do everything he can to keep you safe.”
Tension between my shoulder blades relaxed. I hadn’t even realized it was
there.
A demon actually speaking truth—
s
urprise,
surprise
.
She continued, “You will see your attacker again. He will
not stop until he captures you because his motivation goes beyond the bounty on
your head.” That sounded like a foretelling.
Great
.
“VET will be hot on your tail so you must play it smart, avoid appearances of
your true nature. The blind one has a hundred percent success rate. He will not
accept failure in his duties because it validates him.” Then she gave back the
stone.