Wolf Ties (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 2) (5 page)

Just inside the entrance, Violet and I had to stop by a guard’s cage. A heavyset man perhaps in his fifties, sat behind a window at least two inches thick. Violet handed him a form, and the guard skimmed it then looked at me. “
You’re
his attorney?”

“I…” My eyes widened, and I glanced at Violet. She gave an imperceptible nod. The darn woman should have told me in the car I was impersonating Nathan’s lawyer. I drew myself up and raised my chin, meeting the guard’s gaze. “Do you have a problem with that?”

His nostrils curled, and he drew his lips back from his teeth. “Don’t get an attitude me, missy. I’m concerned for your safety. I know he has rights, but I can’t let anyone back there. He’s too violent. Once he calms down…”

“You’re going to let us in now,” I said, enunciating carefully. If it meant getting to Nathan, I wasn’t worried about scrambling his brains, but I didn’t try to either.

His eyes turned glassy. “Yes, I will let you in now.”

I didn’t understand why glamouring a person made them repeat what you say almost robot-like. The guard leaned for a switch and buzzed us through. The next station we came to didn’t require me to glamour the guard. He was more willing to cooperate since the first guard had done it, that and I heard something beep beneath his desk. My guess was he played with a handheld game system, and he wanted to return to it. Another guard latched onto our party and escorted us along the hall. I figured I would have to glamour him at some point so I could get into the room where Nathan was being held.

The closer we came to the patients the more shadows flitted here and there. As we neared a doorway, I heard a woman speaking. “Sam, how are you feeling today?”

Whoever Sam was, he wasn’t answering.

“Sam, can you hear me? It’s Dr. Davenport. How do you feel on the new medication? Any more headaches?”

Still nothing.

We passed alongside the opening, and one of the shadows stuck its ugly head out the door. The imp was no more than three feet tall with black skin, curled horns, and naked body. Violet made a noise of disgust.

“Stupid vampire and werewolf,” he muttered.

I curled my hand into fist and brought it down atop his head. Not much force, but it popped him nonetheless. Violet’s hands shot to her nose, and she whimpered like a puppy.

The human guard waved a hand across his face. “Shew. Somebody let one go.”

I looked at him in confusion and then at Violet. She shrugged. Some humans were sensitive, but it was obvious he hadn’t seen the demon. Maybe he had seen it as a shifting shadow. Interesting.

“Sam?” Dr. Davenport was still trying behind us.

“Yes, doctor,” Sam said. “I’m feeling better today.”

At last, we reached the room where they held Nathan. Apparently, they wanted me to talk to him over an intercom system with a thick glass between us so I could observe him. “Observe him? What is he a science experiment?”

The doctor blinked at me. “Ms. Darrow, I’m sure you understand we can’t let you in that room. I’m consulting with colleagues about how we can deal with this situation. By now, most violent patients have worn themselves out enough for us to get medication into them so they can get some rest. Mr. Harris has been tormenting himself for almost forty-eight hours.”

A thought struck me, and I rushed to the window to scan Nathan’s room. Of course there wouldn’t be any demons there. He would have killed it right away.

While I watched, Nathan shouted and roared constantly. He sounded mostly human but with a thickness to his tone that said he was on the edge of both insanity and a change. His eyes rolled, and blood stained the wall and his hands. I imagined the dirt, the blood, and his continual movement hid the fact that his flesh wasn’t torn apart. The humans would notice soon though, and that was a problem.

I had been told the room was sound proof and that even if I pounded on the glass, Nathan wouldn’t hear me. Yet, when I ran to the window, Nathan met me there. He kept shouting, but he stood directly in front of me.

“How?” the doctor wondered. “He can’t see or hear you. This is interesting.”

“There are no cameras in this room?” Violet asked behind me.

“No,” the guard answered. “The camera is aimed at the patient from the ceiling and monitored from this panel.”

That was all I needed to know. I spun around and met the gazes of both the doctor and the guard. In rapid-fire succession, I gave orders to the both of them. “Sleep.”

Violet caught one in each hand and let them slide to the floor. I strode along the window toward the door, and Nathan followed. I tried the doorknob, but it was locked tight.

“I guess I could break it,” I whispered.

“Why are you whispering? No, you can’t break it. There’s a reference to us coming in here, and it’ll be obvious what we did if the lock’s broken.”

“What do you suggest, officer?” I didn’t face her but rather pressed a hand to the glass. Nathan scratched at the spot and then beat it with his fist. I hoped he wouldn’t feel so inclined when I entered the room. I was already expecting a battle.

“I don’t know. Maybe there’s a release button on this panel somewhere. If nothing else, you can wake up the guard and get him to open it.”

“We should have thought of that in the first place. Violet, do you think he can sense me?”

“No, he can smell you. I always thought Nathan has the best sense of smell of all of us. Too bad he can’t control himself.” She ground her teeth.

“He’s had his best friend, his brother, ripped from him. If I lost anyone I loved, I don’t know what I would do. With my power, I think I would tear the world apart.”

I felt her eyes on me, but she said nothing. After a few moments, something clicked, and a mechanism in the door whirred. The door unlocked. I reached for the handle but paused.

“Violet, lock it when I get in.”

“But…”

“Do it. He can’t kill me, but if he gets loose, it would be disastrous, and you know it.”

“You’re not invincible,” she snapped.

I help up my hand and grew out my fingernails, grinning. “Don’t worry. I can give as good as I get.”

I opened the door and slid through the narrow gap. A quick check told me I was now trapped inside the tiny room with a rabid wolf, and he was looking at me like he didn’t know who I was.

Chapter Five

A low rumble started in Nathan’s chest, and with each second that passed, it increased and rose to his throat. He growled like a wolf and ducked his head, hunched shoulders, fingers curled as he readied to attack. I noticed his nails had grown out like mine, sharp and deadly. The doctor couldn’t have seen them and continued to believe he was human, but maybe he had brought them out especially to play with me.

I took a step away from the door, and Nathan’s growl bordered on a bark. Reconsidering, I froze. We stood just feet apart, and I studied my friend. His dark hair had grown longer and lay in damp curls against his head and neck. His jeans were in tatters with holes in random spots and frayed at the ankles. I glanced around the room to find bits of material that must have been his shirt. At least he still wore shoes. When they were ripped apart by his bare hands, there would be no explaining that away.

Nathan’s breathing was heavy and noisy, his barrel chest rising and falling. With his fingers curled so tight, his biceps flexed. I wouldn’t deny my friend was a perfect specimen of manhood, but he appeared so different than he was when I last saw him a week ago. I sensed his torment and his pain. The emotion overwhelmed me. Nathan had taken Dalton’s loss at his weakest and his strongest time, near the full moon. The wounded beast cornered itself and snapped at all who came near.

However, Nathan wasn’t just any wounded beast. He was a werewolf, and he wasn’t staying in the corner. With a howl of rage, he started for me. I braced for impact, raising my hands to catch him. Then for no reason at all, silly words came to mind.

“Who’s a good puppy? There’s a good puppy.”

Nathan froze. His wild eyes widened further. He waggled his head side-to-side, confused.

I went with it and patted both hands on my thighs. “Come here, puppy. That’s a good boy.”

“N-not…” He panted, struggling. “Not a dog!”

I grew serious. “Then stop behaving like one. Nathan, you know me. It’s Rue.”

“Rue.” The anguish in his voice pierced my dead heart.

“I know, Nathan. It’s going to be all right.”

He launched himself at me growling but stopped just short and spun away. A series of punches against the wall made me wince at the sound of his bones breaking. I knew they would mend, but he was hurting himself on purpose, and I couldn’t bear it. I stepped behind him and wrapped my arms around his waist. He fought to get me off, but I pressed my face to his back and kissed his hot skin.

Hands flat on the wall, he stilled, and I reached to trace my fingers over his. From the curved claws to the bloodied knuckles up to his wrists, I caressed him. “I will find the person responsible, Nathan. You just have to be strong for me. It’s hard, and I know you’re hurting.”

He sank to the floor, and I slipped down with him. When he put his back against the wall, I curled up at his side and stroked the rugged jaw. Nathan was still hurting, and I sensed the intense rage stirring beneath the surface. Anything could set him off again, and I considered it a miracle that I had gotten through so quickly.

“S-stay.” He was still having trouble forming words.

“I can’t stay if I’m going to find that person.” I avoided giving voice to what the person had done. Nathan knew, and I suspected if I said, “the person who killed Dalton,” it would intensify the vision that must be in his head. If I thought it would work, I would glamour him to give him peace. Nathan bordered on losing his mind, and in such a precarious state, he was more vulnerable than a human. I wouldn’t risk it.

Nathan grasped my hand and threaded his long fingers between mine. His claws hadn’t receded, but I retracted my own. He moved carefully not to cut my skin, and we sat that way for a while, hip to hip, hands clasped.

“I didn’t…hurt you?” he said.

I scoffed. “Hurt me? Are you kidding? I’m stronger than you.”

“No.”

I chuckled.

“Rue.”

“Yes, Nathan?”

“I…love…you.”

“I love you, too.” I said it without hesitation because it was true, but I didn’t qualify my feelings the way they were, those for my friend. I assumed Nathan was saying he loved me as a friend, but I also knew he was attracted to me. He hadn’t ceased to stop asking me out since I met him, and I had never said yes.

After our little exchange, I began to hope Violet wasn’t listening by way of the intercom and had overheard our confession. She might jump to the wrong conclusion. I could tell Nathan for her benefit that he was my best friend, but I chose not to.

“Nathan, I have to go. Will you be strong for me?”

He appeared much calmer. “I don’t want to stay in here, Rue. I need to get out and help you.”

“I know, but right now you’re not in the frame of mind to do it. Please, do me a favor and stay. How about this? I’ll get you out in two days, no matter what happens.”

He stared into my eyes, and I looked back, unwavering. I meant what I said. The humans wouldn’t stop me, and if I had to smuggle him out of New Orleans, I would do it. He wouldn’t rot in this facility.

“Two days, no more?”

I nodded. “That’s right. Only forty-eight hours. Can you hang on until then?”

He considered it while I chewed my lip, hoping. At last he agreed, and relief washed over me. I thought I would have to struggle to get my hand back, but he helped me to my feet, hugged me enough to crack my back, and then released me. I moved to the door, and when I tried the knob, I found it unlocked.

“I’ll be back, Nathan. I promise.”

I slipped out of the room, and Violet locked the door. We both stood at the window watching Nathan pace. He appeared ready to smash a fist into the wall a couple times, but in each instance, he drew away. After a while, he strode to a corner of the room and slid to the floor.

“You shouldn’t have said that,” Violet said.

We were headed out of the facility after I glamoured the guard and the doctor. As a bonus, I explained to the doctor that she needed to ignore Nathan for the next two days except to meet his basic needs.

“I shouldn’t have said what?” I glanced at Violet. If anyone was wound tight, it was her. “It’s better if they leave him alone and not try to diagnose or treat him. Plus they won’t try to drug him, which I’m sure you’ll agree will just set him off again.”

“That’s not what I meant!”

We reached her car, and she climbed into the driver side. I refused to ride along, so I leaned against her window to see what all the fuss was about. If Violet glared at me with dislike before, she did more so now. I would have thought she would be grateful. None of her people could get Nathan to stop raging.

“You shouldn’t have said—” She stopped, annoyance coloring her expression. “You shouldn’t have said you would get him out in two days. We don’t know if he’ll be released. Sure, you could glamour the doctor again to sign the papers and get a judge to approve, but his mind might not be able to handle it.”

“The alternative is to leave him locked up during a full moon, Violet?”

“You could calm him so he doesn’t change.”

“I’m not a miracle worker! Why are you so dependent on me, Violet? You’re wolf. You know your people better than I do. Surely you could have done what I did.”

She flicked a fingernail against the ring of keys hanging from the ignition and used the movement as an excuse not to look at me.

“Speak what’s on your mind, wolf.”

She growled. “He’s alpha.”

“I know. You told me. Dalton was the alpha of the pack.”

Violet ground her teeth. “
Nathan
is alpha, too.”

I gaped.

“An alpha wolf can control other wolves, especially the ones in his pack. Even if a wolf isn’t in his pack, he can influence them. I’m not alpha. If I go into that room while Nathan is the way he is, he will sense his power over me and use it against me. It had to be you.”

“Wow.”

I heard the resentment in her tone. She hated admitting all of this to me. I recalled an incident when Nathan snapped at her, and she did as he asked. At the time, I thought it interesting that the big bad cop would let a nobody like Nathan push her around, but I’d thought it had to do with him being her friend. My guess was Nathan didn’t force her to do anything, but maybe he forgot his power sometimes. Did he know he was alpha? Then again, how could he not know after all this time?

“An alpha living with another one?” I said. “Wouldn’t they clash?”

“They would if Dalton or Nathan liked to throw around their weight. They are, or rather were in Dalton’s case, very unique for our kind.”

I patted Violet’s shoulder and grinned at her. She flared her nostrils at me.

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of him. If I have to take him away and keep him with me until he gets his head together, I will.”

“Because you love him.” She bit her tongue, amusing me all the more. The female werewolf didn’t like the thought of a vampire dating her kind. I had mercy on her.

“It’s not like that. When I left my hometown, I left behind my best friend. In her mind, she doesn’t know me that well after Ian glamoured her.
I
remember. She was my sister even if we didn’t share blood. Nathan has been a friend from the day I met him. We formed a bond because we were both cut off. However, it is just friendship and nothing more.”

My speech didn’t ring completely true to me, but I dared not examine the reason. Violet started the car. “Well keep it that way.  Life will be much simpler for both of you.”

I straightened. “A simple life? I left that behind a long time ago.”

* * * *

“Are you ready for this?” Violet asked, her hand on the doorknob.

I frowned. “I don’t have a squeamish stomach if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“A lot of people freak out when they come in to identify a dead body, even if it was their loved one. I’m just warning you in case you make a fool of yourself.”

I brushed her hand aside and opened the door. “I get the feeling that was your experience the first time.”

Her face reddened. Oh how wonderful it was not to have that problem.

“Let’s go in.”

What Violet didn’t know was that I had seen dead bodies, too many times. The smallest inkling of nerves stirred in my belly, but I didn’t expect to be shocked. I had asked her to see Dalton’s body, to check his wounds and see if I could pick up any more clues as to who murdered him. During the time I had spent talking with Silvano, I had learned all vampires develop various gifts. One never knew when a particular ability would appear. He had named many, including flying.

I thought back to the time Ian had saved my best friend’s life. I had watched him propel upward from a lake’s surface to the bridge above. I wavered between thinking it was a fantastic leap and that he flew. Ian had never suggested he could fly, but wouldn’t it be amazing? Not for me, mind you. The thought of me hurtling through the air with nothing beneath my feet but miles of space gave me the willies.

Not all vampires could fly, Silvano had told me. Anyway, his advice was for me to stay receptive to whatever might develop. So I went with Violet to see Dalton’s body in the hope that I might discover some new side of myself, which could shed more light on the case.

The morgue was a cold and lonely place. In keeping with my TV drawn assumptions, not much light illuminated the lower floor. I had the feeling it had to do with the time of night more than anything else. I couldn’t come by during the day when more workers occupied the building. The graveyard shift staff was in attendance, which meant one or two live bodies.

When Violet strode into the examiner’s domain, I shivered and rubbed my arms. Looking around at the sparse and clinical venue, I drew into myself. The metal table, the instruments, bottles and jars, beyond which were refrigerators I knew hid bodies, gave me the heebie-jeebies. You’re thinking how ridiculous my reaction was given I was dead, but I remind you—or inform you, whichever the case may be—I didn’t die or awaken in such an impersonal setting. Ian had rented a small out of the way cabin just outside of New Orleans. I had died and was reborn as a vampire there, in the comfort of a soft bed.

Violet glanced at me with a knowing expression. “Surely you don’t get goose bumps. You’re dead.”

“No,” I agreed. “It’s a mental thing.”

“You’re late.” A rotund man about late thirties with thinning hair, thick glasses, and wearing a white lab coat walked toward us. I thought he looked familiar and identified his scent right away.

“You’re related to Zander.”

The man snorted. “Zander. What is this, a sci-fi adventure? I wonder when my cousin will get over that stupid crap and come out into the real world?”

“Ah, your cousin.” I nodded. “What’s his real name?”

“Walter.”

So not the same, poor fellow. I didn’t blame him for taking on a cooler persona. Okay
name
, because “cool persona” was the last description I would use for Nathan’s downstairs neighbor.

The examiner stuck his hand out toward me. “You’re the vampire, I assume. I’m Calvin Partain. I’ll have the body right here, but I told you, Violet, I wanted you to get here by ten.”