“Stop fucking with me, man,” Crow Shadow said, frowning when Bear Shadow smiled. “I don’t see why we can’t just go find a wolf strip club, man-or find out where the real ladies are tonight?” Crow Shadow looked around the bar wistfully.
“Because,” Bear Shadow said, his eyes on his target, “Buchanan’s operation is a sure place to get jumped without backup… All the non-working ladies of interest are in hiding until the party. Now, I don’t know about you, but three moons is a long time, brother.”
“You ain’t never lied,” Crow Shadow said, pounding Bear’s fist. “Which one you want, man… the blond or the brunette?”
“Flip a coin, heads it’s the blond, and tails… ummph, ummph, ummph, it’s the brunette.”
“Don’t howl up in here, Bear, man… Human females don’t understand it.”
“Says who?” Bear Shadow looked completely undone. “You obviously haven’t been with one-you just told on yourself, because if you had you’d know that after you’ve gone downtown, or knocked the backboard out, I guarantee you she’ll appreciate the sentiment. Some things cross all cultures.”
“Just let ’er rip, a full-moon howl, just like that-and she won’t call the police?”
Bear laughed. “Not if you’ve earned the right to release the call of the wild. That, I can’t coach you on or help you with-you’re on your own.” Bear Shadow tossed back his Jack Daniels and set the glass down with a wince. “They’re hot; sex scent is at 100 percent panty saturation point. I’m going in. Cover me.”
“Man… how do you do that shit?” Crow Shadow murmured in awe, looking at the women who gave him and Bear Shadow a little wave.
“The blond is sure,” Bear said, standing, his gaze straight ahead. “Her girlfriend is a little skittish, but they both want to run with the big dogs tonight.” Bear shook his head and rubbed the nape of his neck. “So, I’m sending them another round of drinks, we’re going to get these beautiful, delicate creatures whatever they want to eat, and then see if they might be willing to let a couple of big bad wolves huff and puff and blow down their houses.”
“What a fabulous turn of events.” Baron Montague strode through the crowd at Finnegan’s Wake, careful to stay far away from the Shadow Wolves and Sasha’s familiars. He subtly disappeared behind a server and took on his vapor form with several females in his misty retinue. “It seems every male that would have fought beside her is otherwise indisposed; even the Werewolves have lost their focus and have sought the pleasures of the flesh… And the boy, if he leaves the house, he’s mine.”
“They still have that barrier to us at Dugan’s Bed & Breakfast?” a willowy, pale platinum blond murmured through her fangs. “Drat! Geoff, let’s play with them tonight. There are two humans upstairs copulating, and the boy is on the sofa, bored, watching television. We could easily run all three of them out into the night. Sasha would come home to ashes. We could just burn it down.”
“Yes, yes, can we, and then we could feed on Sasha’s humans?” her flame-haired companion begged. “That would twist that bitch’s gizzards with guilt when she came back to find her three cherished, defenseless humans sucked bone dry.”
“The old man is also by himself-her father,” another said pulling on Geoff’s arm. She flung her silky black hair over her shoulders, giggling as they passed unsuspecting patrons that only noticed them as a chill. “He may have that dreaded, tainted Shadow Wolf blood in him, but we could snap his neck and leave him for dead… Maybe just savage him so it looks like a wolf did it.”
“But all of those delicious options would involve us directly, mes cheries.”
“Oh, poo,” the blond said, nipping his neck. “You’re no fun.”
“That’s not what you said a little while ago.” He whacked her on her backside as they giggled and left by way of the open windows. “Patience is a virtue, and when you live forever, you can afford to exploit as much of that natural resource as required. Besides, Dugan’s B &B is valuable real estate, love. Firebombing is so pedestrian, so yesterday.”
Sasha’s hair was still wet from the shower when she got behind the wheel. Sir Rodney’s top advisor had called and asked her to go look again at where the bodies had been. She couldn’t blame them for not wanting to be outside of the Sidhe at night, especially with their magick waning. And even though she wasn’t sure what they were after, she’d gladly gone along with their request-she had needed space and had needed to get Shogun’s scent off her, drop her clothes in the laundry, and get the hell out of there. Listening to Clarissa hit high notes and Bradley bottom out in bass notes was not how she was going to spend her night. There was an investigation to conclude, even if she was laboring under the influence of a jacked-up spell.
Doc might have been irrational, giving in to some Father Knows Best rerun playing in his head due to the dark magick, but he did have a point-they had to find out more information and get ahead of the spell reactions before anything else crazy happened. That would have led her back to the last place she probably should have been, even if Garth hadn’t called: Ethan’s Fair Lady.
Police crime-scene tape barred the entrance as she drove by. Okay, made sense; somebody heard the shotgun blast, no doubt, called in the authorities; they saw the hole in the ceiling, maybe even Fae arrows and scorched walls from Dragon blasts, and now the authorities couldn’t find the owners on what should have been a bustling business night. Not good.
Sasha parked her jeep two blocks away and tucked her Glock into the back of her jeans’ waistband, covering it up as best she could with her tank top. She slipped around the back of the building, avoiding the shadows, not wanting to escape into one and accidentally bump into Hunter and Silver Hawk-she was not ready for that yet. But there had to be something in that cellar that she hadn’t seen before. Without any male triggers to create a diversion and in there alone, maybe she’d get to the bottom of it.
She kicked in the back door after listening to be sure there were no human authorities still snooping around, and slipped inside, her wolf night vision helping her to stay concealed in the darkness.
Hesitating for a moment, she stood at the top of the cellar steps. She could still smell the ash and added trace of human sweat. “Aw, man…” Sasha let out a hard breath. Humans had been down there mucking around in a supernatural crime scene. Something still drew her, pulled at her, and she crept down the steps on guard.
“Shit!” The humans had left boot prints everywhere, as well as their scent layer. Now any hope of going back to examine a fairly intact crime scene was shot.
Sasha stooped down to where the victim had been and stared at the eerie impression of the body that was left. Crouching closer, she stared at the floor and then began brushing away the slight film of remaining ash. Beneath it a strange series of new symbols became visible. They were totally different from the ones that had been on the actual Phoenix’s body ash. Why had Desidera’s body been lying right on top of this larger sigil, hiding it?
The images burned into her mind’s eye. Sasha stood up quickly, bolted up the stairs to find Ethan’s office. She needed paper and pencil, had to copy it down exactly as she found it. Yanking out drawers, she finally ran to the copier and snatched a stack of pages, swiping a pen from the desk on her way out.
But as she returned to the ashy spot, there was nothing there except unintelligible soot.
CHAPTER 13
Hunter entered the bed-and-breakfast with Silver Hawk. Both men stopped and just stared for a moment. Winters was sprawled out on the sofa amid pizza boxes, beer bottles, and a blaring TV tuned to the Sci Fi channel. They paused, tilted their heads, and then stared at each other.