Capitol Kidnap: Urban Werewolf Book 1 (10 page)

"Exactly! You must have forgotten to tell him no pranks when you got there, didn't you?" Naomi nodded. "He' s not crazy, exactly… More of a little off. Besides, when he plays a joke on you, it means he likes you."

"T
HE
SMELL
'
S
COMPLETELY
GONE
," N
AOMI
said as she let Officer Jim in.

"After a while, any magic would dissipate, except on the people the spell was actually cast on," Jim said.

"Good to know. You're really good with magic then, right?" Naomi asked eagerly.

"I – oh, I didn't say that."

"What you mean you're – "

"Look, I'm not very powerful, okay? I can do enough to get by, but otherwise…" He shrugged. "There's a reason I don't live under the hill any more." Naomi didn't like the sound of that, but she had nowhere else to go.

"My mom's in my room. The boys are in the spare room. I took the couch, I mean, it's my house and they're company and –"

"Naomi, you're rambling. Let the man do his thing," Mike said. In Naomi's room, Officer Jim knelt beside Naomi's mother. She didn't move when he shook her or slapped her face. When she woke up her face was going to hurt after all that slapping. He held his fingers to her wrist and counted slowly.
 

"Her pulse and breathing's fine," Naomi snapped. "She's just asleep and won't wake up."

"And you're right that it is magic doing it, just – I don't think it's fairy magic." Jim turned to Naomi shaking his head.

"If it's not fairy magic, then what kind of magic is it?"

"Human, I think. Looks like wizardry to me, but I can't be sure. At least, I don't think that it's sorcery."

"Sorcery?" Mikey asked.

"Nasty stuff. Demons, dark magic," Officer Jim said. Naomi hoped it was nothing too bad.

"You can still break it, right?" Naomi asked interrupting the lesson on sorcery.

"I can try." He bit his lip uncertainly. Naomi frowned and he continued, "It's pretty strong though. It might wipe me out and not work on any of them."

"Then what will we do?" Mike asked.

"It's not like you'll be any worse off." Officer Jim shrugged. "So, you want me to wake her up?"

"No," Naomi said at the same time Mike said, "Yes."

"Which is it?" Jim asked.

"It's not that I don't want my mom awake, it's just…" Naomi paused, searching for the right words. Finally, she shook her head. "Jeff in the next room is an investigator. I think he'd be more helpful. Mom's been bulldozing through everyone, but he seems to know how to finesse his way."

"So, I wake him up instead of your mom," Jim said. Naomi nodded and he directed him on what he needed. They moved Jeff into the living room, so that there would be less "interference" from the other sleeping beauties.

"It's best if neither of you are in the room with me," Jim said. "I need to be able to concentrate on the spell."

"I'm not comfortable leaving him alone with someone I just met," Naomi said.

"You invited me here to do dangerous magic. And you won't leave me alone with him?" Jim shook his head. "Do you even understand the risks involved?"
 

"I –" Naomi didn't know what to say. All this magic crap was way over her head.
 

"Because, the way you are acting you don't."

"Then explain it to me," Naomi said, trying to sound like she wasn't so far out of her league.

"Magic is dangerous, okay? When I try to break apart this spell, it could shatter or rebound back on me. I have to concentrate and tease it apart. It's like disarming a bomb. And this spell is strong, someone really strong did this and I'm not that strong, so it might not even work. I asked for privacy for two reasons, one if it rebounds on me, it keeps you two safe, but mostly to keep myself from being too distracted by your auras."

"What happens if it –"

"If it rebounds? It could knock me out too, or just leave me without magic for a week, but I'm not particularly fond of being outed and hunted. I've been there and done that before. Let me tell you, not fun times."

"Before? When? What happened?" Mike asked in a rush.

"I don't think that's any of your business, human."

"Come on Mike, let's just go back and let the man work," Naomi said

Naomi and Mike paced impatiently in the backyard. Finally, what seemed like hours later, but her watch said was only twenty minutes, Jeff emerged with Officer Jim leaning on him. Bags had appeared under the leprechaun's eyes.

"It worked," Mike said, hugging Officer Jim excitedly. Jim did not look happy to be hugged. "Thank you!"

"Yeah, next time, don't call me," Jim said.

"How can we repay you?" Naomi asked.

"Just don't let them start hunting us again." Officer Jim yawned. He moved so slowly to cover it, it was as if he were moving in slow motion. "I'm going home now to sleep for a week. I don't have any more tricks up my sleeve." Jim staggered towards the front of the house. "Oh yeah, make sure he eats," he called over his shoulder before slamming the front door.

"S
MELL
," J
EFF
SAID
AS
HIS
stomach rumbled.

"Smell what?" Naomi grumbled. She hadn't wanted to come to the grocery store, but Jeff had vetoed everything in her cupboards.
 

"Mildewy roses, cinnamon?"

"Dude – cheap flowers, right there and the spice aisle's like two feet away." Naomi pointed to the spices just past the flowers.

"No. Really smell," Jeff insisted. "This smell gives me just a little tickle in my nose – like you described."

Naomi inhaled deeply. At first, she didn't smell anything, then the familiar tickle almost made her sneeze. The cheap flowers almost overwhelmed the subtle smell. She nodded. "You're right."

"Could you find them?" Mike asked.
 

"Just walk around with my nose in the air trying to sniff the kidnappers out?" Naomi hissed, suddenly feeling very visible in the store entrance.

"It's a good idea," Jeff said. "You used those eye drops, right? Go back to the parking lot and look for the Sacto Florist's van and we'll scope out the store."

"The drops didn't work on the cop," Naomi said.

"Maybe that's just what he looks like," Mike said. "They worked on the book though. Get out there."

"But – what should I do?" Naomi asked.

"You really need instructions?" When Naomi nodded, Jeff sighed and rolled his eyes. "Go back out like you're going to the car because you forgot something, then look around stupidly like you forgot where we parked, look slowly."

Naomi sighed and reached into her purse. "Looks like I forgot my wallet," she said loud enough for anyone who might have been listening to hear. She turned back out towards the parking lot and inhaled. Now that she was smelling for it, the smell was more noticeable. Not stronger per se, just more noticeable.

She listened vaguely as Jeff and Mike walked into the store. She stared across the parking lot, keys in her hand, feeling down. She didn't see the flower van anywhere. She focused carefully on all the big vehicles. Maybe the dumb drops had worn off. She trusted her nose instead and took a deep breath, tasting the air for anything out of the ordinary.
 

Mildewy roses and cinnamon were her preferred scent of the day, of course, she couldn't smell that outside. Instead, she just kept skimming over the parking lot, feeling useless. There wasn't even a glimmer of anything that looks weird about any of the cars in the lot.
 

Then, she saw them walking out of the grocery store.
 

Ginger, her husband, and the two kids in tow.
 

Naomi walked quickly towards them. Maybe Ginger had sensed the magic or what if Ginger were the one behind kidnapping? She didn't know about fey, but if Ginger had spent her whole life lying, maybe she could deceive Naomi's sense of smell because she was so used to lying. Or fey bodies could work differently.

"Hey Ginger, never seen you at this store before before," Naomi said. Ginger lived way down in Elk Grove, why would she be up here?
 

"Well, this little rascal here has a soccer game at Cordova High School. So, I just thought that we'd stop in and grab some extra snacks before we made it over there." Ginger smelled faintly of cinnamon and roses, not a hint of that overly powerful rose perfume. Could Ginger really be the kidnapper? Soccer mom and criminal mastermind? It was possible. Not likely, but possible. Why would she kidnap Mac though? Unless, because Naomi had mentioned Mac to her and Ginger had seen Mac is some kind of potential threat to secret. A huge fight had happened in his apartment.

"You play soccer, huh?" Naomi said absently.
 

"That's what the uniforms for." Ginger's daughter rolled her eyes. "Ginger, can we go now? I don't want to be late."

"It's fine. We have plenty of time." Ginger smiled apologetically.

"No Ginger. We need to go now or will be late."

"I guess I'd better let you go," Naomi said trying to sound warm.

"Anyway, it was good seeing you."

Naomi nodded in response. She frowned as she walked back into the store. She found Jeff and Mike in the checkout line.

"What's wrong?" Mike asked.

"Couldn't find it?"

"No, no I found it," Naomi said as she pulled out her wallet. "It's just – you'll never guess who I ran into in the parking lot." She pulled out her card and slipped it into her pocket.

"Well who?" Jeff started loading the groceries onto the belt. Eggs, meat, bacon, not a lot of veggies with these two. "You think the pizza rolls are all right?"

"Pizza rolls you like, but McDonald's is gross?" Naomi asked.

"Who did you see? We saw someone, too, but he's probably still shopping. He would've had to move pretty quickly to get out of the store already."

"Ginger. She said her daughter had a soccer game, but why wouldn't she have gotten snacks down in Elk Grove? You saw someone else?"

"Saw is probably the wrong word," Jeff said leaning closer to Naomi. He lowered his voice so Naomi could barely hear. "I smelled him."

"You what!?"

"Shh. I smelled Mac – it was him. He smelled like cookies, Earl Grey, and the woods," Jeff said, his voice well below the range of human hearing.

"He's here?"

"Oh yeah," Jeff said softly, drawing it out. "We are going to have a talk with him before he leaves."

"How are we going to swing that?"

"First, you make sure I'm not wrong with your magic eyedrops." Jeff shrugged. "You do have a toaster oven, right?" He asked as he leaned away.

"Yeah, why?"

"Perfect!"

Naomi frowned. "What for?"

"Bagel bites. They're better in the oven than the microwave." Jeff pointed at the cashier. She's almost ready. Go swipe your card."

"How come I have to pay?" Naomi asked.

"Really?" Jeff asked.

Naomi's eyes widened at the price. "Over hundred bucks? You're not going to be here that long!"

"Men," the cashier said. "What can you do?"

Jeff tapped the side of his nose as they walked out of the store. He should be getting them right now. Mike, goal of the car."

"Jeff – what if you're wrong?" Naomi asked. Jeff shook his head. "Fine, the nose knows. We'll wait here. If you're wrong though –"

"I'm not wrong," Jeff said.

"You're nuts," Naomi said. "They got him. There's no way he could be in the store right now."

"Smell. Stop running your mouth and tell me you don't smell Mac. Woods and cinnamon cookies, it's kind of a hard smell smell to miss. Jeff walked up to a woman with a baby, while Naomi was still focusing on the scent. She learned to block it a lot outliving in the city. Sometimes it was a little hard to let it all back in. "Excuse me, ma'am, do you have the time?" Jeff asked.

Naomi gasped. She did smell him. This woman smelled remarkably like Mac.

"A quarter after three," the woman said. The more Naomi looked at her, the less the baby looks like a baby and more like a sack of potatoes. The woman looked more and more like a man and her dowdy brown dress looked like red sweats. Naomi blinked that the double image and shook her head. Either that spell had worked, or she was going crazy. After everything that had happened, she was is open to the second as the first.

"Can I help you?" the woman said.

"You look like a girl I went to school with," Naomi said. "Her name is Mac…" The confident look on the woman's face vanished with the last of the doubt from Naomi's mind.

"I think you'd better come with us," Jeff said. The wolves grabbed either arm firmly and push the car towards the van.

"I don't think so," Mac said. He tucked against them. He was strong, but the wolves were much stronger.

"Why did you fake your kidnapping?" Jeff asked.

"I don't need a pack of wolves knowing where I live."

"Tell me the truth. You are coming with us. I have a sinking suspicion that you are the reason I can't wake up my mother."

"I didn't do it," Mac said.

"We can smell it when you lie," Naomi said. "Get in the van now."

"Help!" he shouted.

"Shut up," Naomi said she shoved back into the van prayed no one noticed to shouting.

"Go! Go!" Jeff shouted at Mike.

"Who's this? That's not the old woman –"

"Humans," Jeff said. "Use your damn nose."

"It's him," Naomi said. "Go!" Mike drove off, leaving the crying sack of potatoes in the parking lot.

"Tell us what's going on," Naomi said.

"My baby! I don't know what you're talking about! My baby!"

"Can it, Mac. I made your eyedrops for clarity of vision. I see you and not some woman."

"Fine," he said. Suddenly the feeling of double vision disappeared. "How'd you know it was me?" he said, looking pointedly at Jeff.

"You forgot to hide your smell," Jeff said shrugging. "Now what the hell did you do to me, asshole?"

"And my mom."

"Your mom?" Mac asked confused.