Blood Bonds (8 page)

The rumors, glares, and ugly whispers would pass. They always did. At least here she had purpose.

Farley held onto her hand, and she looked down at him and smiled.

She pulled away, went to her desk and sat down. Haley pulled up her email. When she looked at Farley he was sitting on the edge of the couch watching her. “You work tonight?”

“Actually, I’m off. I was thinking about a movie.”

A movie was a great idea. Just like cell phones, Haley had no idea how anyone ever lived without them.

She scanned her inbox. “Sounds like fun. What are we going to watch?”

“Um ... that’s kinda what I wanted to talk to you about...”

When she looked at him he was digging the toe of his boot into the industrial carpet and staring at it like he might find a lost gold nugget or something equally impressive.

“Don’t tell me--”

Farley held up his hands. “It’s her birthday.”

Haley rolled her eyes. Farley just couldn’t seem to get it. He was playing with fire when it came to screwing around with the office help.

Farley peeled himself from the sofa and eased across the floor. It was hard not to watch him move. By nature all Kin moved with liquid grace, but Farley was downright breath taking. He slid onto the edge of her desk and stroked her arm as she hammered in her password.

“You’re mad.” It wasn’t a question.

“No, I’m not.”

“Then why are you abusing that keyboard?”

She stopped typing and looked up at him. His face was a careful picture of blank beauty.

Talk about a poker face.

She frowned. “I’m not mad.”

“Jealous?”

Yeah, he’d enjoy that. Another Human hang up he could pick at her about. If only it were that simple.

Haley caught Farley’s hand and made him quit petting her. “You’re going to break Claire’s heart.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.” She finished hammering in her password and opened her inbox. “You’ll break her heart just like you have all the other office help. And then they’ll come to me, all boo-hooing and blubbering, wanting to know what aspect of Kin culture they got wrong. And I’ll tell them, same thing I always say...”

“It’s not you, it’s him,” finished Farley.

Haley glared at him, totally unamused. “And if I’m lucky, she won’t have some jilted ex-lover who seems to think by trying to beat the living hell out of you, they can win back”--she put the back of her hand to her forehead and pulled a Scarlett O’Hara--“the love of their life.”

Farley waggled a finger at her. “Hey, you’re pretty good at that. Maybe you should consider acting.”

She ignored him and continued, “Or a pissed off big brother who’s bent on revenge because you broke his little baby sister’s heart.”

Farley snapped his fingers. “Don’t forget the psycho, tire-slashing, stalker chick who thinks you’re ‘standing in the way…’” He even made air quotes.

“Trust me. Four sets of tires are not that easy to forget.”

“And I still plan on paying you back for those.”

“Riiight.”

“No seriously, I’m working on it.” Farley petted her arm again as she opened her mail.

“I just worry you’re going to wind up losing your job because you keep sleeping with all the office help.”

“Just the women...” Farley poked around on her desk. “Where’s that jar of candy?”

Haley lifted the corner of a paper stack so he could see it.

Farley rescued the jar, then picked through the various colored wrappers.“Did you eat all the green ones?”

“They’re on the bottom.”

He made short work of the wrapper and popped the candy into his mouth.

“Seriously, Farley, you really need to stop.”

He shrugged. “I can’t help it if they find me attractive.”

Haley shook her head. It was more than that. As Food, he’d survived the hatching grounds by turning the hunger of others to something he could control, something that made him more interesting than a snack.

Pleasure. Sex.

For him it was a natural as breathing.

Four hundred years was more than enough time to perfect technique. No wonder every time he slept with a woman she wanted to
keep
him.

Haley sighed and went back to reading her mail. There wasn’t much. Just a few internal memos, some spam mail, and one from an unknown sender. She clicked on it.

Beside her, Farley said, “Look, I’ll talk to Claire.”

“You need to break up with her now before it goes too far. Before she wants you to go with her to pick out drapes. Good grief, look at how messed up Deshi’s life is.”

Farley made a face.

“You know I’m right.” Her eyes were still on the email. She read it a few times trying to take it in.

“Unlike Deshi, I’m not delusional. Besides, if I break up with Claire, I won’t be able to tell you all the juicy stuff when we go out on movie night.”

Haley rolled her eyes. “Trust me. I can live without hearing your imitations of the sounds she makes when you ... hey ... when did Medan get email?”

Farley turned to look at the screen. “She’s had it ever since she put the Pit online. It has Wi-Fi now and everything.”

Haley read the email for the third time, but her brain flat out refused to process the words. “Seems like she wants me to meet with her.” She leaned back in her seat. That couldn’t be right. Not leave-forever-or-die Medan.

“Damn...” Farley whistled.

That was the understatement of the year. Even if Haley wanted to go--which she didn’t--she couldn’t. Because of her sensitive position with the Center she was forbidden from the Dens.

As in, her loyalties could be seriously compromised. Queens were notorious for head games, and they could really screw up a person’s brain matter, Female or not.

“Email her back and tell her you can’t,” Farley suggested.

Haley waved a hand at the screen. “I can’t. There’s no return address.”

“She’s clever, I’ll give her that.”

Yeah, in order to tell Medan she couldn’t meet her request, Haley would have to show up in person. Which put her right where the she-bitch would want her to be.

Haley bit her lip. “Maybe I could call her?”

“Good luck. Only time there’s anyone around to answer the phone is during club hours, and then the place is so loud you can’t hear it ring.” Farley gave her a pat on her shoulder. “You have my sympathies.”

“Gee, thanks.” Haley stared at the email a little longer. Maybe she could get Ken in IT to do a trace on the IP. And if all else failed there was always snail-mail.

Someone knocked on her door. Farley hopped off her desk and crammed his hands in his pockets. Human sensitivity training at its best.

“Come in,” Haley called.

The door opened and she didn’t need to look up to know who it was.

Speak of the devil. Claire Patterson. Her ears must have been on fire.

“Hi, there.” Claire’s voice was way too sticky sweet to be addressing anyone but Farley. “Did I interrupt?” Her cornflower blue eyes did a lap around the room.

So polite. Hard to imagine such dirty little things coming out of that mouth. Haley stared harder at her screen, not reading any of it.

“Um ... no. We were just talking about Agent stuff.” Farley inched closer. His fists made lumps in his pockets. No doubt, he was just dying to reach out and touch someone. But of course that would have broken ten thousand Human sexual harassment rules.

Thank you God of Man, those kinds of Taboos didn’t exist for Kin.

“I can...” Her hands made little butterfly motions. “I can come back later if you want. Becky said she saw you come in and...”

Haley glanced at the woman from over her monitor.

“Naw ... no way. I was ... I was just coming to find you.” The expression on Farley’s face was a cross between adoration and innocence.

“Yup, he sure was.” Haley grinned wide, hoping it looked as painful as it felt.

Farley threw a glare in her direction and she shrugged.

He turned back to Claire, all smiles and bedroom eyes. “Hey look, I’ve got tickets to the movies tonight. I was hoping you’d want to go with me.” Good one. Buy the tickets first, then ask. ‘Cause if she did have any plans she’d feel guilty that he wasted part of his measly paycheck. “And I made reservations at that little Italian place you like so much.”

Whoa, no wonder he didn’t have the cash to pay for Haley’s tires.

Claire smiled. “That’s so sweet. Dinner and a movie. I’d love to.”

Haley popped her head around the monitor and said, “I hear that new hack and slash is good ...
Friday the Thirteenth
, I think? Lots of T and A, if you get my drift.” The suggestion earned her another searing glare from Farley.

She had to give him credit. He was getting good at the stink eye look. He gave her his back. Haley rolled her eyes and went back to not reading her email while Farley eased in for the kill. He slipped an arm around Claire’s shoulders and walked her to the door. And Haley didn’t fail to notice how he angled the Human on the other side so Claire wouldn’t be able to catch any of the disgusted stares she might toss her way.

The door clicked shut and Farley’s shadow rained all over her desk again.

“I think you’re jealous.” His tone suggested he was excited by the concept.

“No, I’m not jealous.”

“Not even a little?” He pinched his fingers together.

Haley sighed and propped her chin on her hand. “Would it be a turn on if I was?”

“Yes” He eased a little closer to her desk.

“Then no.”

Farley leaned in and raked his teeth across her cheek. “Don’t wait up.”

Haley growled as he sauntered out of the room laughing.

Damn him. Farley was going to wind up in some serious shit one day. He had no idea how possessive Human women could be. The thing was, it was never him they went after. It was almost always her.

Her door opened.

“I’m still not jealous, so you can take your happy ass--”

She snapped her mouth shut. It was Detective Bauer. The man leveled

his dark eyes on her. She said, “Sorry, I thought you were--”

“Are you busy?” That’s Bauer, right down to business.

“Um, no. What can I do for you?’ Haley stood up and straightened her jacket.

“You sure? I know you had a bit of a rough start this morning.”

Great. He’d probably been down in the common room watching it on the flat screen with the rest of the uniforms. The Center didn’t have a common room; it had a break room, equipped with four vinyl chairs that had escaped from the sixties, and a half-working coffee maker.

“Yeah. About that...” Damn, how did she go about explaining this one? Especially to Bauer? “Nice suit.” Oh great, that was brilliant.

Bauer smiled and touched the dark coffee jacket like he was still taking in all the new and shiny it was giving out. His large, equally dark hands adjusted the already perfect lapels. “The wife picked it out.”

She’d done a good job. Haley had never met the woman, but she knew how to dress her man.

“It looks nice on you.” An awkward silence lingered for too long.

Bauer cleared his throat. “Look, I’ve got a lawyer downstairs in the Tank with a busted nose screaming lawsuit. His supposed-to-be client is in interrogation room six, licking the blood off his fingers like he’s just gone to KFC. So, I couldn’t give a rat’s ass what those idiot reporters blabber all over the news on things they know nothing about. And those boys at the PD know you keep their asses out of the hospital on a daily basis, so they won’t dare talk smack about anything.” He crossed his arms, uncrossed them, and then scrubbed a hand over his half inch brush cut.

Haley tried to knock the stupid grin off her face but it wasn’t going anywhere. “Interrogation room six?”

“Yeah...”

She motioned to the door. “Lead the way, Detective. Lead the way.”

Detective Bauer gave Haley the stats on the detainee as they walked down the stairs and across the underground breezeway connecting the CFKR building and the Atlanta PD.

“His name is Creyal. Young, fifty years tops. Vice has been working tips on a new gang that just moved into the city.”

“What’s the name?” Names said a lot about a gang. Like whether or not they were Folk, Kin and what they were involved with. Faeries usually specialized in weapons (technological and magical), plant extracts, and sometimes endangered beasts or their parts. Kin usually dealt with illegal flesh trading, domestic slavery, and drugs. There wasn’t much Haley could do about Folk because they were free Agents. However, Kin could be pressured by involving the Queen. More than likely, Medan was the biggest source of illegal activity, but she liked to keep that kind of business at an arm’s length. If the problem people started attracting attention to her club, she usually made them disappear.

And that train didn’t have a return track.

“No name,” Bauer said.

That was unusual.

They came to the stairwell. Bauer pushed the door open and held it for Haley.

They headed down the stairs. He said, “We think they may be involved with a new kind of drug trade.” At the next door leading into the Tank, he paused and pulled a vial from his pocket.

Haley took it and held it up to the light. The contents looked like liquefied gold.

“Temporal fluid?” That’s what it looked like to her. She’d seen enough of the stuff from her own temporal glands. She used it to Roll Farley when they
fed
. It opened the lines for metaphysical contact. Farley wasn’t strong enough to endure the exchange without it.

“That’s what the lab boys thought until they tested it.” Bauer pushed the door open.

“What is it then?”

“A synthetic.” Bauer shrugged. “Seems like it’s close enough to the real deal to give the desired high.”

With Humans everything was a “high”. The effects of metaphysics or Alchemy were rarely as simple as a “high.”

Haley said, “Uh, temporal fluid doesn’t make you high. Not like your normal street crud.”

“Then what do they use it for? They’re obviously injecting it intravenously. That Kin down there has track marks all over his arms.”

If he wasn’t healing needle holes, it meant Alchemy was involved.