The Werewolf Whisperer (The Werewolf Whisperer Series Book 1) (8 page)

Almost immediately, Lowell walked back in and scanned the
waiting room.

Xochitl stood. "Looking for these?" She waved the keys
in front of Lowell.

*

"11-54
approaching suspicious vehicle on Cesar Chavez...Pack of large dogs impacting
freeway at the 4-level...11-99 officer requests backup Pershing Square...repeat
11-99..." The police scanner began crackling and braying as soon as Lucy
started the cruiser. The calls came in with such maddening speed, Lucy wanted
to rip the scanner from the dash and hurl it out the window.

Oh,
fuck. I can't believe I just got suspended.

Lucy
looked over at Xochitl.

She sure likes that little phone.

"I'll
take you home now," Lucy said, feeling guilty and awkward. Xochitl's night
had been bad enough without her having to endure a fruitless ride to the
hospital.

"Huh...That's
weird," Xochitl mumbled absently.

"What?"
Lucy perked up.

"I
follow this news site, iLA. Really reliable. They say a 911 call went out from
USC—"

"Busy
night," Lucy interrupted, gesturing to the scanner.

"Yeah,"
Xochitl acknowledged the slew of unpleasantness spewing forth from the police
radio. "But this caller talked about creating a monster...that killed some
dude named Randolph."

"A
monster like..." Lucy flashed on Gabe.

"Maybe
your partner's not alone." Xochitl considered. "There was a whole
lotta craziness goin' on in that ER."

"Crowd
control requested at Alvarado and Clinton," the scanner cut in.

"That's
by my bar!" Xochitl called out.

Increasing
her speed once again, Lucy pointed to the switch on the dash. "Light 'em
up!"

Xochitl
hesitated.

"Might as well have some fun
tonight." Lucy didn't need to encourage Xochitl further. She flicked the
forbidden switch. The siren screamed out, and the lights flashed furiously as
they flew through the empty night toward
Xochitl's Cantina
.

Flames licked
out from beneath the roof of the bar. Dark smoke billowed above, and staggering
heat radiated from the building itself.

Xochitl's
Cantina
was on fire.

"¡Jódame!"
Xochitl nearly jumped out of the moving vehicle.

"Hold
on." Lucy held her back with one arm while screeching the cruiser to a
stop as close to the blaze as she could without blocking the fire trucks.

Ladders
and pumpers from fire station twenty crowded the street. Firefighters in heavy
gear swarmed out of their trucks. Lucy and Xochitl watched helplessly as the
windows of the bar burst from the extreme heat. They heard the pop of bottles
of liquid exploding on the inside due to the high temperature and pressure. The
smoky haze burned in Lucy's nose and throat. The smell of burning plastic and linoleum
made her want to gag.

Hurrying
to the other side of the building, Lucy and Xochitl saw firefighters connecting
hoses to the hydrant on the corner and moving toward the door of the building.
Water ran down the street from leaky connections.

The
hook and ladder delivered two firefighters with chainsaws to the roof of the
building. The fire itself seemed limited to the cantina, which stood
unconnected to the shabby, run-down buildings next door.

"Memo
did this!" Xochitl yelled out. "You let him get away, and he burned
down my bar!"

"You
don't know if..." Lucy countered, looking to see if she could assist but
the crowd had dispersed. A handful of neighbors watched the flames and studied
Xochitl with interest.

"Don't
tell me what I know!" Xochitl shouted, paying no attention to the eyes
watching her. "You don't know shit. Damn him. Memo did this. I know. I
know!" Xochitl screamed in Lucy's face. Xochitl balled her fists but
turned away sharply and stared at the burning building.

More
trucks arrived, brakes squealing and engines huffing to a stop near the side
entrance of the cantina.

Careful
not to get in the firefighters' way, Lucy stood by Xochitl on the sidewalk
across from the ruins of her bar. The neighbors, mostly ladies in hair curlers
and old men in slippers, drew close together and watched in silence.

"Miguel!"
Xochitl snapped out of her daze and turned to the crowd. "¿Dónde está
Miguel?" The neighbors looked at her with pity in their eyes. Some shook
their heads. Xochitl turned to an older lady dressed in a colorful bathrobe and
matching fuzzy slippers. "Señora Vargas. ¿Ha visto a Miguel?"

"No
sé, mija." Señora Vargas shrugged her shoulders.

"My
brother could have come here. What if..." Xochi dashed across the street
shouting, "My brother could be in there! Upstairs in the apartment!"

A
firefighter holding a flashlight and an axe approached her rapidly. Lucy couldn't
hear the words they exchanged until she'd arrived at Xochitl's side.

"If
there's anyone in there, we'll find 'em. But the building seems empty,"
the man said. Xochitl nodded vigorously.

"We
will make any attempt to affect a rescue of human life, miss." He looked
harried. "Until structural collapse is imminent, we will continue
searching."

Without
warning, Xochitl sprang toward the cantina door. Lucy grabbed her arm.

"You'll
just get in the way," Lucy said and attempted to lead Xochitl back across
the street.

"Get
your paws off me!" Xochitl shook Lucy's hand off violently and faced her. "This
is all your damn fault, bruja! I trusted you to help me. I counted on you. They're
right, you chota ruin everything. You and your nasty-ass dogs. Drop dead,
bitch!" Xochitl stomped away and joined the group of neighbors.

The
1960s wood-frame building didn't stand a chance. Within thirty minutes
Xochitl's
Cantina
started to collapsed in on itself. Lucy heard the call to "surround
and drown." Everyone stood in complete silence and watched as the
firefighters sprayed what seemed like endless amounts of water on the pile of
char and embers that had been Xochitl's home.

The
pink sunrise cut through the acrid haze.

Another
beautiful day in L.A
.

Lucy
couldn't help but feel depressed at the night's terrible outcome. She missed
Gabe. He would have gotten through to the devastated woman. Nobody could stay
mad at Gabe. He could get anyone to talk to him. Lucy realized in that moment
how much she'd relied on her partner, maybe even taken his talents for granted.
He'd made her a better cop, but without him she felt adrift.

Determined
to make another effort, Lucy forced herself to walk over to Xochitl. The
neighbor ladies closed in a circle around Xochitl and gave Lucy evil looks.

"The
arson unit will want to talk to you." Lucy searched for something else to
say. "They'll want to know about insurance. And where you've been tonight.
I can walk you over to them and help explain..."

Xochitl
didn't move, didn't turn, didn't speak. Feeling helpless and exposed, Lucy
looked to the neighbor ladies for help. The group glowered at her but stayed
silent. Señora Vargas spat on the ground at Lucy's feet.

Lucy
didn't react outwardly, but held her temper and turned to the building. She
stared at the smoldering shell of
Xochitl's Cantina.

Chapter 5

Today's Lesson, Kiddies

I'm here to tell

Don't believe what they say

Don't buy what they sell

Contagion, Plague, Virus, Wereflu?

The world is ending

Where are you?

The Package delivered

The Message received

The Virus accepted

The Lies believed

The Old has ceased

The World is new

Hound, Feral or Beast

What are you?

So run little Kiddies

You've failed the test

Tell all your friends

I'll tell all the rest

And always remember

Kyon Knows best

Xochitl
leaned back against the red tufted leather booth of the landmark Sunset
Hamburger Hamlet. The rush of adrenaline that had coursed through her body
while escaping the rabid mob at Greystone was waning. Hunger pangs gnawed at
her instead. She watched amused as Lucy fumbled out a text to Hanna.

"How
you doin' there?"

"Shut
up," Lucy said not looking up at Xochitl.

"Maybe
I should text Hanna from now on." Xochitl picked
up her iPhone from the table. She waved
her new acquisition, the latest model, at Lucy.

"Um...no."
Lucy kept typing away on her Trac phone.

"I'd
be super nice," Xochitl said in her best Southern Bell accent. "Dear
Hanna, fuck off and die...Oops. I mean we had to leave Greystone lickety-split.
Talk to you soon. Kisses... Bitch."

"Yes,
that would go over really well." Lucy pressed one last button and tossed
her phone on the tabletop. "There."

"Only
took ten minutes." Xochitl teased, and Lucy flicked a balled-up straw
wrapper at her, hitting her square in the forehead. "Hey!"

"Bull's
eye." Lucy raised her hands in triumph.

"It was a nice shot though," Xochi said as she
noticed a fortyish waitress, Tami Peters, approaching from the kitchen.

Xochitl was happy for the Peters family, who had, a little
over a year ago, won a civil action suit granting them the Hamburger Hamlet,
along with damages in the seven-figure range from the previous owner.

Lucy and Xochi had been at the restaurant the night the
Peters had come in to eat with their Were daughter, Amy — a relatively
tame Feral. The then owner had neither known that nor cared. He'd burst into the
dining area brandishing a gun, threatening the Were child and shouting "No
Weres Allowed!"

Xochitl had immediately jumped in between the Peters and the
owner, triggering Little Amy's fight or flight instinct. She took a vicious swipe
at the owner with her claws.

Not my best idea.

Fortunately for the owner, Lucy had gotten Amy under control
before things had escalated further.

'Course, some pendejo
had to call the cops and the Catchers —
made
it a whole big thing.

The Catchers had taken Amy while Xochitl and Lucy had spent
the night in jail.

Hanna sure was pissed
she had to post bail. She was even more pissed when Lucy had to testify about
Amy.

The courtroom had been a circus the day Lucy had taken the
stand. She testified that Amy was tamable and no danger to society.

And that changed
everything.

The defense lawyers had tried to paint Lucy as a felon on
parole, but the public's paradigm had irrevocably shifted. It had been the
Peters' attorney who had coined the phrase "The Werewolf Whisperer."
The media had had a field day, and the moniker had stuck ever since —
much to Lucy's dismay
.

The Peters' case had been their first unofficial Were-taming
job.

Xochitl sensed Hanna blamed her for Lucy being thrust in the
limelight — even though Hanna was the one capitalizing on the fame. But
Xochi didn't care. It felt good to help the Peters family, and she knew Lucy felt
the same way.

"Plus we get our own private booth
,"
Xochitl
mumbled to herself.

"What?"
Lucy asked.

"Food."
Xochitl nodded to Tami who balanced a tray of dinner plates on her shoulder.

"Here
we are ladies," Tami Peters said, cheerfully placing the first plate in
front of Xochitl. "One bacon and blue burger well done." She set a
large skirt steak with fries, loaded potato skins and a giant bowl of steaming
chili in front of Lucy. "Here's your salad," Tami joked. "On the
house, of course."

"That's
okay, you don't—" Lucy started to say, but Xochitl kicked her under
the table before she could finish.

"Thank
you, Tami," Xochitl interrupted. "As usual, it looks delicioso."

"So,
how's Amy doing?" Lucy asked, rubbing her shin.

"Great!
Looking forward to this year's camp," Tami answered. "Enjoy your
meal!" She bounced gleefully back to the kitchen.

"Ow."
Lucy shot Xochitl an irritated look, then selected a fork and dug in.

"Sorry,
but there are few perks to this job and free food is one of them. Besides, they
want to pay us back. After all, the Peters' wouldn't even own this joint if it
weren't for 'The Werewolf Whisperer.'" Xochitl saw Lucy wince at the name.
"Oh, stop. It's who you are. Get over it." Then she took a bite out
of her burger. "Mmmm..."

"You
know, you should try and get along with Hanna more." Lucy stabbed a piece
of meat with her knife. "After all," she said, pointing her steak
knife at Xochitl, "you wouldn't have that nice designer leather vest
without the cut Hanna gives us." Looking pleased with herself, she stuffed
the steak in her mouth.

"¡Chale,
esa!" Xochitl shot back. "Give, my ass. I earned this bad boy doing
that run down in Palos Verdes."

"Oh,
right." Lucy grinned. "That was a messy job."

"Messy
for me. I seem to recall your behind staying quite clean." Xochitl scowled
at Lucy but couldn't hold it for long, and the two women burst out laughing. "Anyway,
why should I care what Hanna thinks of me? In two years of doing this 'job,' I've
never met the woman face-to-face." She picked up her burger and took a
huge bite.

Lucy
was in mid-bite when they saw her phone vibrate. Undeterred, Xochi continued to
finish off her burger while Lucy checked the message.

"Be
careful what you wish for." Lucy closed her phone with a snap.

"What?"
Xochitl asked, mouth full of burger.

"Hanna
wants us at the ranch."

Xochitl
swallowed her food. "¡Híjole!"

"Excuse
me," a voice next to Xochi said.

"¡Híjole!"
Xochitl reared back startled as two Punk kids, a guy and a girl, suddenly stood
next to their table. "Where the hell did you come from?" Out of the
corner of her eye, Xochi saw Lucy sink a little lower in her seat, trying to
hide.

"There."
The Punk guy pointed to a table across the room.

"Miss Lowell?" The Punk girl holding Lucy's book
Hounds,
and Ferals, and Werebeasts! Oh, My!
squeaked and thrust the book toward Lucy. "Would you sign my book?"

"Um,
sure." Lucy took the book from the girl and opened the front cover.

Xochitl
knew this would take a while, as Lucy never knew what to write. It was kind of
funny to Xochitl. Lucy was great at taming Weres but lousy at PR.

Xochitl
studied Lucy's groupies. The Punk guy was dressed from head to paw in black
— black leather jacket, black T-shirt, black jeans. He sported a Mohawk
of jet black spiked hair that emphasized his pointed ears.

Punk Were!

Xochi
nudged Lucy under the table with her foot and nodded slyly in Punk Were's
direction. Lucy raised one eyebrow as if to say "Oh, I see."

Punk
Were's girlfriend, on the other hand, was not a Were, just a girl. She too was
dressed in black, but Xochi thought she had more style, with her spiked bob
haircut, leather biker jacket, tutu of black tulle and black and white striped
tights peeking out of her thigh-high boots.

"Just
make it out to Megan," Punk Girl Megan said and turned to Xochitl who
noticed the words
Kyon Knows
poking out from under the girl's leather. "You're
Zach-ittle, right?"

Lucy
chuckled.

"It's
So-cheel or So-chee. Take your pick," Xochitl said, exasperated. She pointed
to the words on the girl's T-shirt. "So, what's Kyon Know?"

"Oh...My...God...like...EV...ER...RY...Thing.
He's like the Nostradamus of our time." Punk Girl Megan looked to her
boyfriend. "Me and Troy have been following him...at least I think it's a
him...for like a year now."

Xochitl
watched Were Boy Troy and Punk Girl Megan interact. She obviously did all the
talking, and he just nodded in agreement.

I
wonder if he's a Hound?

"Anyway,"
Punk Girl Megan blathered on, "he's like the K-Day expert or something.
Says the Kyon Virus isn't a virus at all. Says it was some kind of gene thing.
And that the Kyon project was a mistake."

"How
would he know?" Lucy looked up from the book, and Xochi could see all she'd
written was
To Megan,
.

"Well,
at least you got to the comma part," Xochitl said to Lucy who shot her an
evil look.

Smiling,
Xochitl picked up her phone, googled
Kyon Knows
and began scanning
the conspiracy theory website.

"Oh,
Kyon just knows. Says he's gonna tell us what's really going on," Punk
Girl Megan continued. "He posts all the time, though there hasn't been anything
in about two weeks."

"Well,
if he's gonna tell us, why doesn't he?" Lucy asked.

Xochi
knew it was a rhetorical question but Punk Girl Megan apparently did not.

"Well,
Kyon Knows says that all will be revealed when it's time," she replied.

Meaning
he doesn't know shit. Judging by this site, he's loco.

"Hey,
why name the site after the virus?" Lucy crammed an entire stuffed potato
skin in her mouth.

"Kyon's
Greek for wolf," Punk Girl Megan supplied.

"It's
ironical, genius." Xochitl glanced up at Lucy.

"And
you know that, how?" Lucy asked.

"You
see," Xochitl again waved her smartphone in Lucy's direction. "I have
this neat little device that allows me to look stuff up on this thing called
the internet." She nodded at Lucy's out-of-the-box burner phone. "You
could too if you got rid of that ancient piece of crap." Xochitl glanced
back down at her phone satisfied she'd won this round of their on-going
technology war.

"Whatever."
Xochitl heard Lucy mumble and figured she was rolling her eyes at Xochi right
about now.

"Ha!"
Xochitl burst out as she feverishly typed away on her phone.

"What?
Lucy asked.

"Seems
Megan here," Xochitl said, "just tweeted that you're kinda behind the
times." She glanced up at the Punk girl. "You are @KyonKnows751k,
right?"

"Yeah!"
Punk Girl Megan chimed in. "I'm like, number seven hundred and fifty-one
thousand, because I was kinda late to the KK movement..."

Noticing
Lucy looking confused and irritated, Xochitl interrupted Punk Girl Megan. "See
Twitter is..." Xochitl began to explain to Lucy, but then remembered whom
she was addressing and thought the better of it. "Oh, never mind."

Lucy
shot a "watch it" look at Xochitl, and she decided it might be time to
drop the subject.

"You
were saying this Kyon Knows is a movement?" Lucy turned her attention to Punk
Girl Megan and Were Boy Troy.

"Oh,
yeah," the girl replied, looking eager to expound on Kyon Knows'
manifesto. "There's millions of us now. He says the youth are the only
ones that truly see. It's so true..."

Uh,
huh.

As Punk Girl Megan blabbered on about how the youth would
save the world, Xochitl and Lucy began tuning out the girl's ramblings,
until...

"Kyon
talks about you too," Punk Girl Megan said to Lucy.

"He
does?" Lucy asked as both her and Xochitl's interests were piqued.

"Oh,
yeah," the girl continued. "He calls you the missing piece of the
puzzle. Talks about you all the time."

Xochitl
scanned the website again on her phone. "Yep. Here's something."
Xochitl read aloud to the group. "'Not sure how Lucille Lowell figures
into the equation, or how she is able to do the things she can do, but it is
clear that Kyon Knows she is the missing piece of the puzzle.' Well, there you
go." Xochitl looked up at Lucy. "You're a puzzle piece."

"Har.
Har." Lucy feigned like she didn't care, but Xochitl saw concern in her
eyes.

Over
Punk Girl Megan's shoulder, Xochitl noticed a muscular, Armani-clad gentleman
enter the restaurant.