It felt like it took forever. My stomach was doing uneasy flip-flops as I watched him. He didn’t do anything overtly ominous, but the words of wisdom that had been imparted to me by Arnold made me leery of trusting that he was going to let us out of here without doing something to make us pay for our freedom. Reminding myself that I was doing this on Analie’s behalf and to be less of a shit-stain of a human being wasn’t helping much. That thought seemed so very farfetched and out of place now that I was in the presence of a Goliath. His shirtless back was like a map to nowhere, traced out in a pattern of scars from battles long past.
Being around other werewolves hadn’t prepared me for this. He had no qualms with making a show of his Other nature. He’d very nearly shifted right on his front lawn. Maybe because he had mistaken me for something other than human.
Unless he thought by my scent that I wasn’t human anymore. Which was an unhappy thought I was going to stick with all that other crap in the back of my mind that I was not going to think about right then, like what my bills and credit must look like, and what my landlord might have done with the stuff in my apartment.
Analie damned well better appreciate this.
He turned back to us a few minutes later with a small stack of notepad paper, each page filled margin to margin with his scrawl. Shoving the papers at Sara, he looked back and forth between us.
“You’ll make sure she gets this?”
“Absolutely. We’ll put it in her hands as soon as we get back,” Sara promised.
“Good,” he replied. “If you don’t, and I find out about it later, I will hunt you both down. You understand?”
Sara’s eyes went wide and round, so you could see the whites all the way around.
A touch to my arm made me jump, and I banged my knees on the underside of the table. Grimacing and rubbing what would no doubt be a bruise later, I twisted around to face Jo-Jo, who was holding a grubby piece of thick, crayon-covered paper and looking up at me with wide golden eyes. There was something strange about these werewolves, even beyond the obvious. I had never heard of any type of Were pack where the children could show signs of their Other nature before hitting puberty.
Even so, his expression betrayed a fear and nervousness that tugged at my heartstrings. What must he have heard about vampires and the people who worked for them to look at me that way?
“Can you give this to Analie?” He held out the paper to me.
Gavin “ahem”-ed, and Jo-Jo tilted his head the other way, looking up at his caretaker. Gavin’s tone was all patience, even and steady, nothing like how he had addressed Sara or me. “What do we say?”
Jo-Jo had to think about it. “Please and thank you?”
“Not to me.”
Jo-Jo turned back to me and held up the paper, earnest and clearly worried that he’d offended us. “Please and thank you?” he repeated.
I had to suppress a laugh. Other or not, he was adorable. I took the paper and set it aside, then nudged my plate of cookies closer to him. “You’re welcome. Don’t worry; I’ll make sure she gets it. You want one, kid?”
His whole face lit up, and the gold flooded out of his eyes in a weird spiraling motion, like it was sinking down the drain of his pupils, to be replaced with a more natural pale blue color. He grabbed a handful and shoved a full one in his mouth.
“Manners, Jo-Jo.”
The kid choked a bit on the cookie and offered me another mumbled “thank you” before rushing off with the rest somewhere deeper into the house, a door slamming behind him.
Gavin smiled after the kid, the expression betraying a softness I was barely able to reconcile with the fearsome warrior who had very nearly given me a heart attack less than half an hour ago.
Then he reminded me why I should be scared when his heavy gaze slid back to meet mine again. The humorless grin, showing a row of pearly, pointy teeth, wasn’t needed for emphasis, but that didn’t stop him from showcasing growing fangs for our benefit. “You’ve done me a great favor by bringing me this. You’ll do me a bigger one by leaving now and staying out of Goliath territory for the rest of your stay. Yes?”
I gave him a jerky nod, pushing my chair back. Sara was far braver than I was, holding out a pleading hand.
“Please, before we go, have you heard anything about a necromancer in town?”
Gavin’s grin faded, replaced by a scowl. “Yes. We had to destroy quite a few of his creations before he realized we weren’t going to let him hide in our part of town. The stink of those abominations is still in the air just a few blocks from here. Why do you ask?”
Sara looked to me expectantly. Gavin soon did the same. He didn’t appear ready to tear my throat out just yet, but telling this werewolf we were working for vampires might get us eaten. Then again, we were bringing Analie his letter, so maybe he wouldn’t. Without a doubt, lying to him would be worse. From what I had gleaned from Chaz and Royce, most Others could smell a lie at ten paces. Also, he was the closest thing we had to a lead right now, and risking pissing him off was a bit better than upsetting the guy who was giving us a place to hide.
“Well,” I hedged, choosing my words carefully, “we have a client who is trying to find him. The guy’s been doing some bad stuff around town, and the person who hired us wants it to stop. If you can point us in the right direction, you won’t ever have to deal with him again.”
“Let me guess. Your client is Clyde Seabreeze.”
There wasn’t any way around it. I nodded, bracing myself for his reaction.
He considered us, rubbing the stubble on his chin. The mixture of irritation and disgust was apparent, but he wasn’t as peeved as I had expected.
“I suppose it’s a little late to warn you ladies about putting your trust in, or working for, the Shadow Men. I want you to stay alive long enough to get my message to Analie. If you mess with a necromancer, that probably won’t happen.”
“Oh,” Sara said, “we’re not planning on tangling with him directly. We’re just supposed to find his hideout and let Clyde take care of the rest.”
Gavin growled, the sound a thick rumble that rattled the dishes on the table. “Don’t believe that for a minute. He’ll find a way to make you do his dirty work. They always do. You really think a leech is going to willingly put himself into spelling distance of a mage who controls the dead?”
I hadn’t thought of that. Now that Gavin mentioned it, I wasn’t going to be able to stop thinking about it, either.
Shit.
“Normally I would say to hell with the Shadow Men, but I have the feeling this mage is even worse. This probably won’t help much, but check the towns along the 210 freeway between Sylmar and Sunland. Pay attention to the more rural, back-road homes up in the hills. There’s a stench that follows him, and he might be trying to hide it. If you have a Shadow Man with you, he or she will probably be able to scent it out once you’re in the right area.”
This was far more than I had been expecting. “Thank you so much, Gavin. For everything.” I held out my hand, offering a parting shake, but he looked at it like I was trying to give him a dead rat. My cheeks burned with embarrassment, but I was determined not to let his rudeness get to me. Much. “We’ll make sure Analie gets your letters.”
He gave us a sparse nod, then hooked a thumb in the direction of the front door. “I’m sure you two can see yourselves out.”
Man. And he’d reminded Jo-Jo of his manners.
Sara and I had a lot to think about on our way to Jimmy Thrane’s place.
Chapter 15
“Ma’am, I really don’t think we should be here.”
“Your objection is duly noted,” I said, not bothering to look back over my shoulder at Trinity. This time she had decided to leave the car to follow us into the alley that was supposed to lead to the entrance to this Thrane guy’s hideout.