I was on the way to a job site when I got the call that something was up, Adam told me. Ive got to get back.
No worries, I said. Ill lock up. I dont think Ill be doing anything more here today.
He opened his door, and stopped with his head turned away from me. Im sorry about your counter.
I took a couple of steps forward until my nose pressed against his back and wrapped my arms around him. Im sorry about a lot of things. But Im glad I have you.
He hugged my arms. Me, too.
Get a room, said Ben from inside the truck.
Stuff it. Adam turned around, kissed me, and hopped in the truck.
Sam and I watched him drive away.
* * *
I STOPPED AT A SANDWICH SHOP AND BOUGHT TEN subs with double meat and cheese. Then I drove the Rabbit to the park on the Kennewick side of the river to eat. There wasnt any snow yet, but it was a cold and dreary day so, other than some distant joggers and a serious-looking biker, we had the place to ourselves. I ate half a sandwich and drank a bottle of water. Sam ate the rest.
Well, Sam, I asked, when we were both finished, what do you want to do today?
He looked at me with interest, which didnt help much.
We could go run, I told him as I threw our garbage into a can next to where Id parked the Rabbit.
He shook his head with emphasis.
Hunting not a good idea? I asked. Id think it would help you to relax.
He lifted his lips to display his fangs, then snapped his teeth five times, each snap faster, more savage, than the one previous to it. When he stopped, he was perfectly calmexcept that I could see that he was breathing harder, and there was a deep hunger in his eyes even though hed just eaten nine and a half feet of loaded submarine sandwiches.
Okay, I said after a pause to make sure my voice wasnt shaking, hunting is a bad idea. I get it. Something peaceful.
I opened the passenger door to let him in and saw the towel-wrapped bundle on the backseat.
Want to help me return a book? I asked.
* * *
THE UPTOWN WAS BUSTLING WITH SATURDAY SHOPPERS, and I had to park a good distance away from the bookstore. I opened the door for Sam. He hopped out, then froze. After a second, he dropped his nose to the groundbut whatever he was looking for he didnt find because he stopped and drew in a deep breath of air.
My nose is better than a normal humans, if not as good as it is in my coyote shape. I took in a deep breath, too, but there were too many people, too many cars, for me to figure out what had set Sam off.
He shook himself, gave me a look I couldnt fathom, and hopped back into the Rabbit. He flattened himself on the seat, stretching across the gap between and lowered his muzzle to the drivers side seat.
Youre staying here, I take it? I asked. It must not be anything dangerous, or he wouldnt let me go on my ownSam with his wolf ascendant had always been even more protective of me than Samuel himself had.
Maybe one of the other werewolves was nearby. It would make sense for Sam to avoid them. I took another deep breath. I still didnt scent anyone I recognized, but Samuels nose was better than mine outside of coyote shape.
I moved his tail out of danger and shut his car door. I opened the back door to get the bookand reconsidered. Phins neighbor might have been fae and faintly creepy, but that didnt mean there was anything wrong. But there could be, and with Sam in the car, the book was just as safe here. If Phin was at the bookstore, Id just come back and get it. If his neighbor or someone other than Phin was around instead, Id regroup.
Im going to leave the book in the backseat, I told Sam. I should be right back.
In the short time since wed left the park, the temperature had dropped, and the wind had picked up. My light jacket wasnt quite up to the wind and the damp. I gave the gray skies a good lookif it rained tonight and the temperature dropped much from here, we might have a good, hard freezing rain. Montana may have steep, windy roads that are nasty when covered with snow and ice, but those are nothing compared to the Tri-Cities when the freezing rain turns the pavement into a polished ice-skating rink.
I trotted through the parking lot and narrowly avoided getting run over by a Subaru that was backing out without looking. I kept an eye out for other idiots, and so it wasnt until I stepped onto the sidewalk and looked up into the window of the bookstore that I saw a gray-haired woman behind the counter. I felt a frizzle of relief: she wasnt the creepy neighbor.
I reached for the door and saw that the closed sign was still upwith an addition. Someone had taped a piece of white paper with UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE printed in thick black Sharpie.
While I hesitated, the woman inside gave me a cheery smile and walked up to the door, turning the dead bolt so she could open it. Her movements were surprisingly brisk and sprightly for a woman of her grandmotherly roundness and wrinkles.
Hello, dear, she said. Im afraid were closed today. Did you need something?
She was fae. I could smell it on herearth and forest and magic with a touch of something burning, air and salt water. Id never smelled the like, and Ive met two of the Gray Lords who rule the fae.
Most fae smell to me like one of the elements the old alchemists claimed made up the universeearth, air, fire, and water. Never more than one. Not until this woman.
Her faded hazel eyes smiled into mine.
Is Phin around? I said. Who are you? I havent seen you here before. I wasnt a regular customer; maybe she worked with Phin all the time. But I was betting she didnt. If shed helped often, Id have smelled her in the store the first time Id come here. I would have remembered if Id caught her scent.
Lots of things scare melike vampires, for instance. Since Ive become more intimately acquainted with them, they scare me even more than they used to. I know that they can kill me. But Ive killed one and helped to kill two others.
The fae . . .
In the most terrifying horror films, you never see what is killing people. I know thats because the unknown is far scarier than anything some makeup or special-effects person can come up with. The fae are like that, their true faces concealed behind other formsand designed to blend in with the human race and hide what they truly are.
This sweet-faced person who looked like someones grandmother might be one of those who ate children who were lost in the woods, or drowned young men who trespassed in her forest. Of course, it was possible that she might be one of the lesser or gentler faejust as she looked. But I didnt think so.
Im smarter than Snow White: I wouldnt be eating any apples she gave me.
She ignored my questionsfae dont give out their true namesand said, Are you a friend of his? Youre shivering. I dont suppose it would hurt anything if you came in and sat down a bit to warm up. Im just helping straighten out the books while Phin is gone.
Gone? I wasnt going into that shop alone with her. Instead, I pounded her with the kind of questions any customer . . . okay, any obsessive customer would ask. Where is he? Do you know how I can get in touch with him? Why isnt the store open?
She smiled. I dont know where he is at the moment. Another evasion. She might know that he was in the basement, for instance, but not exactly where he was standing. Hell probably let me know when he gets a chance to call me. Who should I tell him came asking after him?
I looked into her guileless eyes and knew that Tad had been right to be worried. All I had was Phins unresponsive phone, a nasty neighbor, and the store closedbut my instincts were clamoring. Something had happened to Phin, something bad.
I didnt know him well, but I liked him. And, going by the phone call Tad had received, whatever had happened to him was tied to the book hed loaned to me. Which made it my fault. Maybe if I hadnt kept it to read this past month, hed still be safe in his store.
I smiled back at her, a polite smile. Dont worry about it. Ill stop in another time.
She snapped her fingers. Wait just a minute. My grandson told me that hed loaned a nice young woman a rather valuable book that she should be returning soon.
I raised my eyebrows. Right now Im interested in a first British edition of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone. Not really a lie. It would be interesting, and I didnt tell her I was trying to buy one. I dont know if the fae can figure out if someone is lying as well as the werewolves can, but any group that has a prohibition against lying that is as stringent as the faes probably has a method to detect when it happens.
He didnt tell me about anything like that, she said suspiciously, as if he would have normally.
But she had lost the chance to convince me that she was Phins assistant when she allowed my comment that she was a stranger to his store to stand.
I suspect itll take him a while, I told her. I just stopped by to check in with him. Ill come back another time. I stopped the thanks that was on the tip of my tongue and substituted Bye, now and a casual wave.
I felt her eyes on my back until I was hidden behind rows of cars, and I was glad Id parked the car a long way from the mall. Sam moved his head off my seat without raising any part of his body enough that he might be seen through the windows. He was hiding.
I looked at him and glanced at the bookstore as I cruised past it on the way out of the parking lot. The woman was back behind the counter going over something that looked like an account book.
Coincidences happen a lot less often in real life than they do in the movies.
Sam, I said, are you staying out of sight of a fae? One that smells like all the elements at once?
He raised his chin and dropped it.
Is she one of the good guys? I asked.
He made a gesture that was neither yes nor no.
Trouble?
He snorted affirmative.
Damn it.
I pulled over at a gas station, parked the car, and called Warren, Adams third in the pack and my friend.
Hey, Warren, I said when he answered. Does Kyle have a safe in that monstrosity he lives in? I could put the book in Adams safeand if it werent fae who were looking for it, Id feel relatively confident with it hidden and surrounded by werewolves. But Warrens human boyfriends house would be a much less likely spot to leave it and nearly as safe.
Several. Warrens voice was dry. Im sure hed be delighted to loan you one. You storin blackmail material now, Mercy? There were noises in the background of his phone, people and the kind of echoing you get in a really big building.
Wouldnt that be something, I said. How much do you suppose Adam would pay to keep an X-rated video of him off the Internet?
Warren laughed.
Yeah, I said sadly, thats what I think, too. So no riches in my future, and no blackmail either. Can you or Kyle meet Sam and me at Kyles house sometime soon?
Im on guard duty right now, but I bet Kyle is home. He doesnt always answer the house phone. Do you have his cell number?
Warren worked for his boyfriendI know, its an awkward thing, but Warren hadnt exactly been making rent at the Stop and Rob hed worked at before. Kyled shaken a few trees, bribed a few officials (probably) and maybe blackmailed more, and gotten Warren a private detectives license. Warren guarded clients and did quiet investigations for Kyles law firm.
I have it, I told him. Are you at Wal-Mart?
Nope, grocery store. Wal-Mart was an hour ago.
Poor baby, I said sympathetically.
Nope, he said, his voice soft. Im doin something useful. This lady deserves to feel safethough lots of folks seem to think Im responsible for her black eye.
Youre tough, I said unsympathetically. You can handle a few nasty looks. Being a gay werewolf for a hundred years gave Warren a skin so thick it might as well be armor. Not much ruffled his feathers except for Kyle.
Im kinda hoping her soon-to-be-ex shows up, he said softly; I thought so she wouldnt hear him. Id like to get the opportunity to introduce myself to him.
* * *
KYLE BROOKSS HOUSE IS IN THE WEST RICHLAND HILLS, where the rich folks live. Huge and yet somehow delicately designed, it settles in among its neighbors like a sly cat among poodles. The size is right, but its more graceful and comfortable in the desert light than the rest of them. Divorce lawyering, at least in Kyles case, pays very well.
I parked the Rabbit on the street, let Sam out, and got the book . . . and the walking stick that was lying beside it.
Hello, I told it. It didnt do anything magical or warm in my hands, but somehow, it felt smug.
I bumped the Rabbits door closed with a hip and trotted all the way up to Kyles front door. The significance of the book had just entered a whole new dimension, once the old woman at the bookstore had mentioned it. So I held it with both hands and tucked the walking stick under my arm.
When I got to the front door, I couldnt ring the bell.
Sam saw my dilemma and caught the doorbell with a gentle nudge of one claw. Kyle must have been right by the door, as hed promised when we talked, because when he opened the door, he was face-to-fang with Sam.
He didnt even flinch. Instead, he cocked a hip, made a kissy face, then smiled seductively, turning an ordinary pair of jeans and a purple wifebeater into brothel-wear.
Hey, darling, he told Sam. I bet youre gorgeous in man shape, hmm?
Its Sam, I told Kyle dryly. And even though I knew it would just stir up trouble, I had to warn him again because I really liked him. You need to be careful about whom you flirt with among the wolvesyou might get more than you bargain for.
Kyle could sometimes have a real chip on his shouldergetting disinherited, then living in a conservative community has had that effect on more than one gay manand Kyle could take flaming (and bitchy) to an art form when he thought it would make someone who disapproved of him uncomfortable. Luckily, he chose to take my warning in the spirit it was offered.
In an entirely different kind of voice, he said, Love you, too, Mercy. He dropped the flirtatious act with a speed and completeness that many an Oscar winner would envy. Hey, Samuel. Sorry, didnt recognize you with all the fur. He looked at what I held. You want to put a towel in my safe?