Vengeance: A Knight World Novel (Fireborn Wolves Book 3) Page 3

  “During daylight hours?”

  “Yeah. That’s not even the weirdest part.”

  “What’s the weird part?”

  “The stab marks… the flesh around the entry points is singed as if they stabbed her with a hot poker.”

  Silas swallowed hard. “In the parking lot?”

  “Right. And there was a substance injected into her body. I’m not sure what it is yet, but I took a sample, and let’s just say it made Nightshade light up like a laser beam.” Nightshade was Grateful’s sword, a magical blade that served as a supernatural lie detector, sniffing out evil intent in both supernatural creatures and enchanted objects.

  “What do you think it is?”

  “I’m not sure, but I’ll find out. As soon as I know what it is, I’ll do whatever it takes to heal Laina. But Silas, the stab wounds… they weren’t random.” She pulled out her phone and slid her finger across the screen to bring up a picture.

  “The letter A,” Silas said grimly. “Alex did this. I got too close last night. This is his warning to me. He wants me to back off.”

  “You saw Alex last night?”

  “Yeah. Almost shot his ass. He was collecting bones at a crime scene I was investigating.”

  “Bones?”

  Silas shrugged. “I have no idea what he plans to do with them.”

  Grateful shook her head. “Doesn’t matter anyway. Alex couldn’t have done this. The stabbing occurred in the parking lot of Four Paws. Gerty and I have had a protective ward around the place for months. The same one we put around Rivergate. Nothing supernatural can get in there without our knowledge. It’s sealed so tight that Laina has to call me if a witch or fae wants to bring their dog in for an exam. And, before you ask, she hasn’t added any new clients recently.”

  Silas closed his eyes tightly. “So Alex got a human to do his dirty work.”

  “That’s what I’m thinking.”

  “Fuck. Does Kyle know?”

  She nodded. “We called him first. He’s waiting outside of surgery.”

  “Tell me the truth, Grateful. What’s the expected outcome here? Don’t sugarcoat it. What’s going to happen to my sister?”

  Grateful’s entire body seemed to sag, and she slipped her hands into the pockets of her scrubs. “Honestly, if she were human she’d already be dead. But she’s not human. Her heart is still beating, and Gerty is asking permission of the fae council to bring fire lily juice here. I’m going to make a healing potion based on what I determine was on the blade. She’s not out of the woods, but she’s got some powerful people pulling for her.”

  Silas choked back tears. “Thank you. Just do your best.”

  Smoothing a loose strand of blond hair back into her ponytail, Grateful frowned. “There’s one more thing I need to tell you.”

  “Go ahead and say it.” Silas scratched his jaw. “Nothing can make this situation worse.”

  “They ran her blood work before surgery.”

  “Yeah? And?”

  Grateful ran a hand over the mound of her abdomen. “Laina’s pregnant.”

  The steady beep of the machines in Laina’s room was almost hypnotic. Even though her surgery had gone as expected, for still unknown reasons, she hadn’t woken up. All the human doctors were calling it a coma. Grateful quietly declared it a curse.

  “She’s going to be all right,” Silas said to Kyle. “Grateful will figure out the nature of what’s doing this to Laina, and she’ll undo it.”

  “I called Jason,” Kyle said. “He and Selene are flying back from Italy. They’ll be here tomorrow.”

  “Good. Laina needs all the support she can get right now.”

  The men sat in silence, Silas on Laina’s right, Kyle on her left. She looked small in the bed, small and thin. He thought of the way she’d packed away the burger at Valentine’s and wondered if it was because of the baby. Goddess, he was going to kill Alex for this. For this and for everything else the bastard had done to their family.

  “Did Grateful tell you?” Kyle asked eventually. “About what they found when they tested her blood?”

  What should he say? Congratulations seemed inappropriate, given the circumstances. Silas decided a nod would be enough.

  “They say the baby is about seven weeks along. We didn’t even know.” He looked at Laina. “I guess she still doesn’t know.”

  “She’ll be so excited, Kyle. The entire pack will be.”

  “I hope so.”

  Silas ran a hand through his hair. Too long and bushy, it caught in his fingers, but who had time for haircuts when you were hunting down your mortal enemy?

  “We’ve got to find him,” Kyle said, his voice low and threatening. “Alex needs to pay for this.”

  “I won’t stop until he does,” Silas said.

  “What’s taking so long? Jason said Alex was so weak he could hardly use the amulet. That was weeks ago.”

  “I know. Alex has to be working with a healer. Has to be.” Silas rubbed the back of his knuckles against the stubble on his chin. “I’m getting closer. I’m staking out a new place tonight.”

  Kyle rose from his wife’s side and paced the room. “Maybe. Maybe you got too close and that was why he targeted Laina.”

  “Yeah. I was thinking the same thing.”

  “So, what are you going to do about it?” Kyle’s voice rose in pitch. “You have a Hecate on your side, a best friend who’s a caretaker. Fuck we’ve got a fairy godmother in Gerty, for Pete’s sake. Stop trying to do this on your own and get it done.”

  Silas was pondering how to respond without losing his shit, when Meredith stumbled into the room, panting and doubled over. She looked like hell. Half her red hair spilled from her ponytail, her clothing was disheveled, and her eyes bulged.

  She grabbed Silas by the collar and shook him. “You… you left me there. Why did you leave me there?”

  “I… Uh….” Goddess, he felt like an asshole for leaving without her. But he’d had no choice.

  “Do you know what cupping is?” Her voice was quiet but held a tinge of venom.

  Slowly, he shook his head.

  “After you left, Dr. Lucky Charms decided the therapy I needed involved suctioning heated glass cups to my skin.” She pulled the neck of her blouse aside to reveal an angry red welt. “Not only did it hurt like hell, he charged me five hundred dollars!”

  “We’ll submit that to the department for reimbursement,” Silas mumbled.

  “And then… And then…” She shook him harder. “By the time I left, my invented condition was a real one. I feel like I’ve been hit by a frickin’ truck. You abandoned me. I had to call for an Uber. An Uber, Silas! I could barely sit down.”

  “Did he do that to your butt too?”

  Meredith scowled. “My entire backside from neck to ankle looks like an infection of megasized adult acne.”

  Kyle snorted, then broke into a full-out laugh despite himself.

  Meredith raised her head, seeming to notice Laina in the bed and Kyle by her side for the first time.

  “My sister,” Silas said. “She was stabbed today. We think it was Alex. I had to leave unexpectedly. I’m sorry.”

  Lips parting, Meredith shoved against his collarbones and staggered backward, glancing between him and Kyle. “Manahan said you were here for your sister. I had no idea.”

  “Who is this person?” Kyle asked Silas.

  “Meredith.” She held out her hand in Kyle’s direction. “I’m Silas’s new partner.”

  “She’s not really my partner,” Silas said. “Well, technically she is, but temporarily... and not really.”

  Kyle raised his eyebrows. “I’m Silas’s brother-in-law, Kyle.”

  Meredith took a moment to process the family dynamic, then said, “I’m sorry.”

  With a grim smile, Kyle turned back to Silas. “You were saying something about a stakeout?”

  “I’m going to stake out Dr. Copper’s office. He said his partner specialized in werewolves, and th
ere was a room off the office that could potentially be a small apartment.” Silas took a deep breath.

  “I’ll tell you one thing, Dr. Copper has some secrets,” Meredith said.

  Silas peered at her expectantly. “Yeah?”

  “Look how he signed my take-home instructions.” She pulled a folded paper from her back pocket and handed it to him.

  “Dr. Herald?” Silas squinted at the signature.

  “There was only one desk, one examination table, one set of equipment, and one nameplate I could find anywhere. Copper Herald. One name.” Meredith rested her hands on her hips. “I think Dr. Copper started my exam and Dr. Herald finished it.”

  “So…”

  “He’s both men, a Jekyll and Hyde, and you know what else? After my exam, I barged through that door behind his desk, and you were right.” She gave Silas a knowing grin. “I’m not sure it’s Alex, but someone is living there. Someone with a pair of muddy boots.”

  Chapter 4

  Silas slipped his key into the lock of his tiny brick bungalow, gaze sweeping up and down the street for lookie-loos before pushing inside. It was a relatively safe neighborhood. Mostly parents with young children and retired folks. But old habits died hard. It was always best to change up your routine, make sure you weren’t being watched coming and going.

  He’d barely closed the door behind him when something flew at his knees. He caught the brown-and-white blur by the head. “Now that’s a welcome home,” he said, scratching the mutt behind the ears. “How’s my Maggie girl? You hungry?”

  The medium-sized fuzz ball panted up at him, tongue lolling out the corner of her mouth. With one last ear-flapping rub of her head, he moved for the kitchen to fill her bowl. He’d bent over to pull the kibble from the lower cupboard when a rustle outside the window above the sink caught his attention. A streak of black moved past the glass. He finished filling Maggie’s bowl and set it on her placemat, then stayed low, out of sight of the window.

  He reached above his head to dig in the silverware drawer, feeling for the large knife he used to carve the Thanksgiving turkey. He’d have much preferred his Glock, but he’d left it locked in his glove compartment when visiting Laina in the hospital. His other gun was in the safe in his bedroom at the back of the house. No time for that one either. Anything that moved as fast as what he’d seen was an immediate threat. He skimmed along the wall, jogging past the breakfast nook, and flattened himself next to a front-facing window.

  Knock. Knock. Knock. Maggie woofed once at the door, then ran for her favorite hiding place under the bed.

  “Traitor,” Silas whispered. With two fingers, he moved the curtains a fraction of an inch, but there was no one on the front stoop. He frowned. “Fuck!” A column of black smoke filtered under the door. Silas tossed the knife toward the body forming in his foyer, knowing damn well the steel blade would barely damage anything that moved like that. He’d started for his gun when the black mist morphed into his best friend, Logan.

  “Well, this is a fine how-do-you-do,” Logan said, staring down at the carving knife protruding from his sternum. He grabbed the hilt and tugged it from his flesh with a grunt. There was a spurt of blood, and then the wound healed itself. It was a good thing Silas’s formerly human friend had become a caretaker last year or his mistake might have been fatal.

  “Sorry,” Silas said. “But what the hell are you thinking breaking into my house like that? Alex is still at large. My sister was almost killed today.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m here. Polina suggested you’d be at the hospital and I should feed Maggie dinner. I knocked. When you didn’t answer the door, I assumed you weren’t here.”

  “Oh. Thanks. I stopped home for dinner and a shower. I’m working tonight. Stakeout. I think I have a lead on Alex.” Silas gestured toward the kitchen where he resumed filling Maggie’s water bowl.

  “Did Soleil’s list finally pan out?”

  “Maybe. We’ll know tonight.”

  “I talked to Polina. Alex’s amulet is blocking her from seeing his future. But she thinks she can do a locator spell if you have something of his. Something he’s touched recently. The more important to him the better.”

  “Should be easy enough. Alex lent me his shampoo yesterday, and tonight we’re reading each other’s diaries.”

  Tossing the bloody knife in the sink, Logan said, “Cynicism is a sign of an addled mind.”

  “It’s not that I don’t appreciate your offer, and believe me, if I come across something of his, you’ll be the first to know. It’s just the guy is a fucking ghost. I’d like to think I’m an above-average detective. I’ve done the footwork. I keep coming up empty-handed. Last night, I had him. He was right in front of me—”

  “You saw him? Where?”

  “In the country, off of Route 9. He was digging up bones at a crime scene. I shot him, but he dematerialized. I have a lead, though. A healer.”

  Logan leaned a shoulder against the kitchen doorframe, his face twisting and his gaze drifting toward the floor. “The list of healers you’re working off of, it came from Soleil and the bordello?”

  Silas shrugged. “Yeah.”

  “Hmm.”

  “What do you want to say, Logan?”

  Logan scratched behind his ear. “I saw her with someone.”

  Silas crossed his arms over his chest, a weighty silence making his kitchen feel small and stuffy. He forced himself to shrug. “We’re not a couple anymore. It’s none of my business.”

  “It is if the guy she was with might influence the accuracy of the information she’s giving you.”

  “Who was it?”

  “I don’t know who. I didn’t get a good look at his face. But I do know what. He was a demon, Silas. I could smell him across the restaurant. Soleil came into Valentine’s for lunch with a demon, and they were mighty cozy.”

  “Just because she’s dating a demon, doesn’t mean she’s misleading me about Alex. This latest lead seems to be panning out.”

  “You’re right. It doesn’t. But, I thought you should know.”

  Silas turned toward the window, letting his eyes drift with his thoughts. “She was never fully monogamous, not even when we were together.”

  “No. She wasn’t.”

  “I need to let it go. I need to let her go.”

  “But you don’t want to.” Logan frowned. “You told me you wanted to marry her.”

  “I did, once. I think I’m over it.”

  “I’m sorry, man. That’s some tough stuff.”

  If he only knew the half of it. How much he’d thought about her when they’d first split. The extent of his sleeplessness. How the very idea that she was with another guy had made his skin crawl. Only, he was over it now. He wasn’t sure what had changed exactly, or when, but life was too short. It was time to move on. “I’ll finish investigating her list. If I come up empty, I’ll entertain the idea that she’s not a reliable source.”

  “And then you’ll work with Polina?”

  “I still won’t have anything of Alex’s to use to find him, but yeah, I’ll pursue other options. Plus, after what happened today to Laina, maybe it’s time she put a refresher on the enchantment around this place.”

  Logan pulled him into a one-armed hug, smearing his blood across Silas’s shirt. “Oh, sorry.”

  “I guess I deserved that, considering I was the one who stabbed you.”

  “I should be going.” Logan glanced at the darkening window. “Almost time for Polina and me to get to work slaying the bad guys. Stay safe my friend.”

  As he watched Logan dematerialize from his kitchen, he desperately hoped that he would not be safe tonight. He hoped he’d come face-to-face with Alex. And there was nothing safe about that.

  Every stakeout was a game of hide-and-seek. The goal was to be close enough to see without being seen, to hear without being heard. Tonight, Silas had picked out a Ford Transit in prisoner-of-suburbia blue from the department’s fleet of unmarked cars. He
parked on the street outside of Starbucks and moved into the windowless back, relying on surveillance equipment connected to his laptop for a visual. The tiny, but high-powered microphone and camera were expertly hidden in the grill of the van. Donning his headphones, he leaned back and adjusted the camera to zoom in on Copper Herald Health & Wellness.

  A sudden knock on the passenger’s side door made him jump. He whipped his headphones off and drew his gun, training it on the door.

  “Silas!” came a loud, female whisper. “Let me in.”

  Rolling his eyes toward the roof of the van, Silas cursed. “By the goddess.” He leaned across the seat and unlocked the door for Meredith.

  “I brought coffee and blueberry scones.” She ducked inside, pulling the door shut behind her and locking it. “I prefer maple walnut, but the blueberry is healthier because of the fruit.” She climbed into the back and plunked down on the seat beside him. “I’m trying to eat healthier, you know, because I drink like six cups of coffee a day. And it’s not only the caffeine but the cream and sugar. Plus, oh my goddess, I do not ever want to see a healer again, I’ll tell you that.”

  “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Waiting for Alex.” She looked at him in confusion. “The stakeout. Staking. Out. Copper Herald. The muddy boots? Alex?”

  “This isn’t your job, Meredith. I thought I explained this all to you last night—”

  “Alex Bloodright killed your parents. He killed other members of the Lycanthropic Society too, almost wiped out an entire pack, and came very close to taking your life. I know who he is, and I know why we’re here.” Meredith leaned forward to remove her leather blazer and started unbuttoning her blouse. “I need to show you something.”

  A rush of blood flowed due south in Silas’s anatomy, and he shifted uneasily in his seat. His inner wolf paced and whimpered. But Silas knew better than to become involved with a fellow detective. “Stop. Meredith. What are you doing?” He shielded his eyes.

  “Relax, this isn’t what you think.”

  He lowered his hand. She’d pulled the neck of her blouse halfway down her right shoulder. A tattoo of a crescent moon with a five-pointed star in its hollow was in residence there.