Moon Cursed (30 page)

“That makes no sense,” Kris said.

“What does?” Liam asked, still standing too close to Marty, staring at him like a wolf trembling for a fight. “Clothes, lass, if ye please.”

“Can you two manage not to strangle each other while I’m gone?”

“Maybe,” Marty muttered.

“Doubtful,” Liam returned.

“Then I’ll just stay right here.”

The two sighed and backed away from each other a few paces.

“Go,” Liam ordered. “I willnae touch him unless he touches me first.”

“Me, either,” Marty said, but he was staring at the couch and his face kept getting redder; the bruising beneath his eyes seemed to pulse.

Kris followed his gaze. Her bra lay on the arm, her underwear across the back. She snatched up both as she went into the bedroom, then closed the door.

The murmur of voices from the living room had her throwing on clothes faster than she ever had before. For those two, talking was bad, as evidenced by the steady increase in volume during the short time it took her to don sweatpants and a T-shirt before bursting back out.

“You can leave,” Marty was saying.

“I willnae.”

“What do you think I’m going to do? She’s my sister.”

“Ye’ve hurt her enough already, Yank.”

“Why do foreigners,” Marty considered, then continued, “and southerners, too, for some reason, think that’s an insult? Maybe if you’re a Red Sox fan, but I’m not.”

“I dinnae ken anything about yer American football.”

Marty glanced at Kris. “Are you serious with this guy? He doesn’t even know the difference between football and baseball.”

“Yeah, that’s something I look for in a man.”

Liam frowned. “Really?”

“Sarcasm,” Marty said. “Try to keep up.”

Kris had forgotten just how annoying her brother could be.

“Now get out,” Marty continued.

“No.”

“Kris, tell him I won’t hurt you.”

“He won’t hurt me,” she repeated.

“Dinnae be so sure.” Liam pulled a paper from his pocket and handed it to her.

Kris glanced at the sheet, which appeared to be a random list of dates and places. “What’s this?”

Liam, still staring at Marty as if he expected her brother to break into song and dance, or perhaps just break his nose, lifted his chin. “Ask him.”

Kris handed the list to Marty, who took it, read it, and frowned. “You had me investigated?” Strangely, his voice sounded more impressed than angry.

Liam dipped his chin in assent.

“Why?” Kris asked.

“Ye didnae think it odd he just showed up? After all this time he suddenly wants to bond—in a foreign country no less—with the sister he abandoned.”

“I did not—,” Marty began.

“Ye did. Ye say ye had yer reasons, and we will get to those, but ye left her, and ye didnae come back, and it pains her. So I wondered what brought ye here, and why now? Now, when we have a wee problem of our own.”

Click.
Kris could have sworn she actually heard the puzzle piece slip into place in her mind. “I need that list back.”

Marty handed it over.

“What is it?” Liam asked.

“Hold on.” Kris booted up her computer, accessed her e-mail, and downloaded what Edward had sent her.

The lists matched.

CHAPTER 22

Kris opened what she now thought of as the gun drawer, picked up the weapon, and pointed it at Marty. “Liam, move away from him.”

Kris was shocked that she could point a gun that was no doubt loaded with silver bullets at her brother, who just might be a shape-shifter, and neither her voice nor her hands shook.

Liam came to stand at her side. “Are ye daft?”

“You’re the one who investigated him.”

“I didnae find a shooting offense.”

“I did.” She decided to leave Edward out of it. “The places Marty’s traveled match a list of places where there have been murders that appear to be the work of a local legend.”

Her brother’s lips curved. “Loup-garou outside of Paris. Hyena shifter in Ethiopia. Giant in Tasmania.”

“Thardid Jimbo,” Kris said. “Was it you?”

“No.”

Kris lifted a brow. “You think I’ll just believe that and put away the gun?”

“Ye have not been much for the truth so far,” Liam agreed.

“Did I do a lot of shape-shifting when we were kids?” Marty asked.

“Just because you didn’t shift then doesn’t mean you aren’t doing it now. You could have been…” She paused, remembering what Edward had told her. “Injected. Cursed. Bitten.”

Dear God, had she really said that?

“Got anything silver?” Marty asked.

Kris glanced into the drawer. A box of bullets, but she didn’t want to put the gun down to open it. Instead, she pulled the Celtic cross from beneath her shirt and tossed it.

Marty snatched the icon out of the air with one hand. He didn’t catch fire. For an instant Kris was relieved, until she recalled something else the old man had said.

“Not all shifters react to silver. Sometimes it only pisses them off.”

“You’re right.” Marty threw the cross back, and Kris looped the chain over her head. “Now what?”

Kris had no idea.

“Listen, Squirt, I’m not a supernatural.”

“Then how do ye know so much about them?” Liam asked.

“I hunt them.”

Kris frowned. If Marty was a
Jäger-Sucher,
wouldn’t Edward have mentioned that?”

Liam snorted. “Sure ye do. And that’s why Interpol had a file on ye.”

“Personnel file,” Marty said.

“You work for Interpol?” Kris was almost as surprised by that as she’d been by Marty showing up here in the first place.

Marty reached for his pocket, and Kris lifted the gun. “My ID.” Slowly he pulled it out and threw it to her.

Sure enough. He was with Interpol. Kris set the gun back in the drawer, but she left the drawer open and her hand lingered nearby.

“Why didn’t they just tell us you worked for them?” Liam asked.

“I’m kind of a secret…” He rolled his hand as if searching for a word. “Consultant.”

“Why secret?” Kris asked.

“Investigating the paranormal.” He shrugged. “They don’t like to admit it exists.”

Neither did Kris.

“How did you end up doing that?”

“Remember all the fairy tales Mom used to read to us?”

“Yeah,” Kris said slowly, not sure where he was going or if she wanted to go there.

“I would complain that they were girlie, but you loved them, and, to be honest, so did I. I guess it makes sense that we both ended up in jobs where we chase things that most people believe are fairy tales. You debunking them and me…” He paused.

“What do ye do,” Liam murmured, “that has caused ye to turn up in all the places where people are dyin’?”

Kris felt a trickle of unease. If Marty had been chasing the legends, most likely studying their origins, finding out all he could about them, then he knew enough to imitate them.

“I’ve been traveling from kill site to kill site to investigate,” Marty answered. “But by the time I get there, the kills have stopped and there’s no trace of the creature. At least until I came here.”

“Nessie isn’t the killer,” Kris said.

Liam cast her a quick glance, but she ignored him.

“How you figure?” Marty asked.

“The Loch Ness Monster has avoided detection for centuries. They’ve brought sonar and radar and all kinds of ’ars, trying to catch a reading, a picture, some film. But they’ve got bupkes. The only way for her to stay hidden so well is for Nessie to possess human-level intelligence. And if she’s that damn smart, she’d keep the bodies as hidden as she is.”

Marty appeared intrigued. “If not Nessie, then what?”

“Someone’s been trying to pin the killings on her. Get her killed.”

Marty frowned. “Who’d kill Nessie?”

“You?”

“I don’t kill these things.”

“You said ‘hunt.’”

“As in ‘search for, track, investigate.’” He spread his hands. “All I do is find them.”

“And you let them keep on keepin’ on, piling up the bodies as they go?”

“Of course not. If the creature is harmful, we outsource the killing.”

“Let me guess,” Kris said. “You hire the
Jäger-Suchers.
”

Silence fell over the room. Marty broke it first. “I should have known. All those hoaxes. It was cover for being a hunter.”

“Me?” Kris laughed. “No.”

Marty lifted a brow at Liam.

“I dinnae even know what ye’re talkin’ about.”

Kris glanced at him. There was something more to that; she could hear it in his voice. Was
he
a hunter? He did disappear all the time, wandered around the loch, showed up whenever he was needed. He was either a
Jäger-Sucher
or a superhero. If he wasn’t a shape-shifter.

“Are you a serial killer?” Marty asked.

“Are you?” Liam returned.

“All right,” Kris interrupted, afraid they’d start shoving each other again. “Why do you think we’re dealing with a serial killer and not a super shape-shifter?”

“Maybe we are.” Marty shrugged. “In my experience shifter and serial killer are the same damn thing.”

Kris kept her gaze on Marty’s face. “But you don’t think we’re dealing with a super shifter, or you’d have contacted Edward the instant you got here and discovered the killings were still in progess.”

“Killer creatures don’t stop until someone makes them. But these did.”

“Because we aren’t dealing with killer creatures but a killer human. All the murders on the list might look like they’ve been committed by a supernatural creature but were in fact committed by an unnatural human.”

“How do you know that?” Marty’s gaze narrowed. “You weren’t there. You didn’t see the crime scenes. I’d have been told.”

Kris lifted her brows. “You have someone spying on me?”

”Not spying exactly. I’ve made sure you were safe, happy.” He took a deep breath. “At least until you came here.”

Kris wasn’t sure what to do with that information. Her brother hadn’t deserted her. Not completely. She still thought he could have sent her a card at Christmas.

“And how
did
ye end up here?” Liam asked. “Right when she did?”

Marty flicked Liam a quick glance, but when he answered he spoke to Kris: “Did you ever wonder why you were able to prove so many hoaxes?”

“Because they
were
hoaxes.”

“Not all of them. There were times I got there first, found the creature, and had it eliminated before you arrived. With no monster to find, a hoax is pretty easy to prove.”

“You were helping me?” she asked. And here she’d thought she was just damn good at her job.

“
You
kind of helped
me.
By keeping track of what you were working on, I had a place to start searching for supernaturals. You excel at sniffing them out.”

“Ye say ye were at these other places, yet she never saw ye. Why are we so lucky to be seein’ ye now?” Liam asked.

“Because you grabbed me by the throat and yanked me into the light.”

“You mean if Liam hadn’t caught you, you wouldn’t have…” Kris’s voice drifted off as hurt washed over her once more.

“He wouldnae have even said hello,” Liam finished.

“I couldn’t. This is dangerous, Kris. If any of them find out you’re my sister they will—”

“Knock me over the head and drag me into the loch,” she murmured. Had her relationship with Marty been behind the attacks? Did it even matter?

“No one will hurt her while I am here,” Liam said. “And I will be here. I wouldnae leave her to face danger alone.”

“I’m not leaving.” Marty’s jaw tightened. “Not until I’ve cleared this entire place of everything that doesn’t belong.”

“I’m not a complete incompetent,” Kris pointed out. “I am the one with the gun.”

“And how is that?” Marty’s curious brown gaze flicked around the cottage. “Where’s Edward?”

“Lately, he’s in here.” Kris tapped the computer. “He’ll suddenly be on the screen. I’m not sure how he does it. It’s not Skype or any kind of conference call that I’ve ever heard of. It’s like he’s
in
the computer.”

“Edward always has the best toys,” Marty muttered. “But if you aren’t a
J-S
agent, why are you talking to the old man at all?”

“He paid me to keep him in the loop. Says he’s shorthanded.”

Marty’s brow creased. “There’ve been rumors of a purge. Supernatural creatures banding together and hunting the hunters. Which is how I got pressed into service. The old man’s been sticking to the U.S. for the most part letting me and a few others deal with anything outside its borders. Even asking Interpol to handle certain problems.” He flicked a finger at the computer. “Like the ones on that list. But he keeps fighting back. Using all his resources.” Marty’s frown deepened. “And taking advantage of whatever and whoever he can.”