Flight from Mayhem (9 page)

Alex clapped his hands. “Hot damn, you're right. And so were the others. This has to be the answer.” But then he glanced over at Roman, his glee quickly slipping from his face. “Oh hell. That means . . .”

Roman gave him a short nod. “Yes, it does present a problem.”

“What? What is it?” Whatever they were thinking was lost on me.

Alex turned to me. “Think about it for a moment. We have a doppelgänger running around. A creature with psychopathic tendencies who can change shape at will. A mutable serial killer.” The glee over discovering the answer rapidly drained
away. “See what this means? He . . . she . . .
it
 . . . could be anywhere. We have no clue who to look for. We don't know what its natural form is, and chances are the creature won't be running around in its birthday suit, anyway. Not if it's smart, and we can be sure that it's fiendishly intelligent.”

As the thought settled in—a killer who could change shape at will, who was targeting its victims with a conscious, thoughtful methodology, I began to understand their reaction. “How can we stop it?”

“That's the million-dollar question, love. Roman, if you suspect any vamps of being targeted, let me know, will you?”

Roman stood and ushered us to the door. “Of course. And I'll have my men keep their ears open.”

As Alex and I headed out, my thoughts ran to what we were facing. If we were right, not only did this leave us with no clue as to where to look, but at this moment, the creature could be targeting its next victim, ready to begin wooing them to an early death.

W
e were too
close to sunrise to do much else, so Alex drove me home.

As we sat in the Range Rover in front of my house, he reached out and took my hand. “Shimmer, I want you to know that I'm not going to press you on the question I asked tonight. I just want you to realize how much you already mean to me.” He lifted my fingers to his lips and slowly kissed them, one by one. “But I know that you aren't used to this. I understand that you're not sure what you're getting into. And I never want you to feel that—because of the situation—I expect anything out of you. If you were to say to me, ‘Alex, back the hell off,' I would.” He turned toward me, his gaze searching my face. “You know that, don't you?”

I let out a long breath. “Yes, I do. And thank you. I promise, I'll be straight with you. I'll think about it . . . I just don't want to rush things. I don't want to hurt you, in case I realize I'm not cut out to be anybody's girlfriend. I have no clue who I really am, Alex. Not over here. Back in the Dragon Reaches,
I knew my place. It sucked, but at least there, I knew who I was. Here? There are suddenly so many possibilities.” Very softly, I voiced a thought I hadn't wanted to even say aloud. “I don't know if I'm going to
want
to go home after being here. I think . . . I think I could get used to being respected and liked for who I am. I don't feel . . . thrown away . . . here.”

He leaned in, his lips touching mine for a long, luxurious kiss. “I know, love. And I realize just how confusing this is for you. I don't want to complicate matters. So, take your time. Answer now, or answer next year. I'll be fine either way.” And with that, he stroked my cheek, and I slid out of the car, watching as he drove off. My heart told me to make him smile, agree to be exclusive. My head told me to wait, to not take a chance on hurting him if I realized I couldn't be the person he hoped I could.

As I entered the house, Snookums came running, with Chai right behind him. The cat had something in his mouth and I realized it was one of my favorite scarves. As I watched, Snookums leaped over the back of the sofa, catching Chai off guard. The djinn twisted to keep from barreling into it, tripped, and landed at my feet. My mood shifted and I laughed, reaching over the back of the couch to scoop up the cat, who was kneading a seat cushion while purring and looking mighty proud of himself.

“You're home early. How did it go at the Seattle Vampire Nexus?” Chai rolled over on his side, still on the floor, propping himself up on an elbow.

“Frustrating. We're getting nowhere pretty damned fast, but at least we have an idea. I'll tell you about it while I eat. Any messages?” I headed for the kitchen and Chai leaped to his feet, following behind me.

“You mean did Stacy call? Yeah, her cold has morphed into bronchitis and she's down for the count. I took her a bowl of soup.” Stacy had finally met Chai and she knew what he was. Even though she was leery of a lot of the Fae,
she had taken to him. People generally did—Chai was a pretty likable guy. But then, all djinns could be charming. That was part of their danger.

“Wonderful, not.” I rummaged in the refrigerator, finally coming up with some leftover pizza. I stuck four slices in the microwave and, while they were nuking, I munched on a couple of brownies that had escaped Chai's notice. “So, any clues about the whereabouts of the salamander?”

“Nope. Not at the moment. But I'm working on it. You look tired, Shimmer. What else happened?”

I didn't feel like telling him about Alex's request—that we be exclusive. Chai was protective and he was also on the side of
sleeping with the boss is a bad thing
. He liked Alex, but he hadn't come around to approving of our relationship yet.

“We think we're facing a doppelgänger, and that makes everything just so much worse.” Before he could speak, the microwave beeped and I held up my hand. “I'm just tired. Maybe I need some extra sleep. I think I'll take my pizza and go to bed early, for once.” Under Chai's watchful eyes, I gathered up my food and a bottle of water and headed toward my bedroom. Surprisingly, I did exactly what I had said I was going to. I polished off the pizza, then slid under the covers and crashed hard.

*   *   *

B
ette called and
told me to meet her outside early. When she showed up, she hustled me into the car. “Alex called. He said we're to get into the office pronto. No dawdling or stopping for doughnuts. You can bet that something's going on.”

By the time we reached the agency, Alex was waiting by Bette's desk, car keys in hand. “We have to get out to the U-District. That salamander has been causing havoc there, and if the FH-CSI is called out on it, Lydia could find herself in trouble. Bette, hold down the fort. Ralph is in his office,
trying to figure out some sort of triangulation of coordinates or some such thing. I have no clue, so don't ask.” He impatiently glanced at his watch, then at the door leading to Ralph's computer sanctum. We jokingly referred to it as his cyber-fortress.

“I'm going to call Chai. Give me the address and I can send him directly there. He'll be able to help us and he knows enough that I won't have to ask.” I grabbed the slip of paper from Alex and stepped to the side. Chai picked up immediately.

“Salamander is on the loose.” I cleared my throat. “We're heading out.”

“What's the address? I'll meet you there.”

I gave him directions. “Be careful. We don't know how strong that thing is.” As I hung up and turned back, Alex was halfway to the door.

“He'd better not go and stir up things. Come on, we'll have to take the Range Rover. Get Ralph up here
now
, would you, Bette? We don't have any more time to wait. What the hell do you use to fight a salamander, anyway?” He patted his thigh, then frowned. “Oh bother. Hold on, I need to get Juanita.” His voice trailed off as he stomped toward his office to fetch his knife. Juanita was a wicked bowie knife. I wasn't sure if the blade was magical or not, but Alex loved her dearly.

“Chai can probably figure out something to do with the critter.” Bette cackled, her cigarette hanging off her lip as she slipped behind the receptionist's desk and punched a button on the intercom. “Wolfie, get your hackles up here. Alex wants to get on the road. Don't forget your jacket—it's chilly out there.”

I snickered. Bette teased everybody as much as she mother-henned us, and we all loved it. She was the one constant in this job, and she made coming to work a lot more fun than it would have been otherwise. I leaned over the counter and swiped one of the chocolate Kisses she kept there,
popping it in my mouth as I crinkled the foil wrapper between my fingers.

“Earthside has a lot of pluses to be said for it.” I grinned. “Candy being one of them.”

“I thought you weren't big on sweets.” She handed me another.

“I wasn't, but chocolate is growing on me. Alex keeps buying me boxes of it—what's that all about anyway?” I wasn't sure what chocolate had to do with relationships, but he seemed to show up with a box every few weeks.

“Chocolate is to romance, at least among humans, as what . . . oh . . . I have no idea what you dragons do. There's a saying among humans.
Sweets for the sweet.
Chocolate's considered an aphrodisiac, a way to make up for an argument, a mood soother—especially for women. It cures what ails you.” She leaned back, puffing on the cig. “I know you've never had much of a relationship before—except with the half-Titan . . . and gods help me, even
I
can't imagine having a go at
him
. You are braver than I, my girl. But seriously, you need to learn about the cultural mores. Have you given Alex any special gifts?”

I frowned. “I'm supposed to give gifts for no reason?” The thought made sense, though it wasn't something I would have thought of on my own. Hell, I didn't even know all the cultural mores of
my own
society, let alone one alien to me.

“Yeah, see, it's kind of a thing here. Tell you what.” She leaned in close, lowering her voice. “I happen to know Alex's weak spot. Since he can't eat food or drink, he's developed a weakness for crossword puzzles. He keeps it hidden—doesn't think it's manly, I guess. But truth is, he loves them. Buy him a couple of crossword puzzle books. You'll see.”

“Won't he think I've been talking to you?” I still wasn't getting the idea of how a random gift was going to help.

“Not if you tell him you saw them at the bottom of his underwear drawer. That's where he keeps them.” She
laughed. “
And
that way, he'll think you cared enough to sneak a peek through his things. Alex is an odd duck. He may seem independent, but he's really not all that happy being on his own.”

I frowned, thinking about our conversation earlier. “Bette, he asked me if I would consider being exclusive . . . I told him I thought it was too early.”

Bette shrugged. “For you, you're probably right. But I'm not surprised he asked. And, he'll probably ask again in a few weeks if you haven't answered. I warn you—eventually, he's going to want to hear a yes. So make up your mind one way or another. But please, don't tell him what he wants to hear just for the sake of shutting him up. Alex has been hurt a lot. If you can't fully give yourself over to the relationship, do the right thing and back out. I don't want to see you break his heart.”

I nodded, silently thinking over what she said. She knew Alex better than anyone, and I realized that even though he said he could handle it if I needed to wait, he might be fooling himself.

At that moment, Ralph appeared, jacket in hand. Bette returned to her paperwork, and I grabbed another fistful of Kisses from the bowl. She smacked my hand lightly and I dropped them back onto the counter as she rummaged through a drawer and handed me half a bag.

“Here, take my stash.” She glanced up as Alex entered the room.

“Ready to go?” He held up his keys.

“So, we're off to see the Wizard?” Ralph slipped on his jacket.

“Yeah, and the yellow brick road leads directly to a big bad salamander. Let's just hope we can work a little magic that isn't illusion and ship it back to the Elemental plane of Fire before Lydia's blunder goes all Godzilla on the U-District. Chai is on the way there.”

And with that, Alex led us out the door, into the night.

*   *   *

T
he U-District was
so named because it comprised the vast swath of city where the University of Washington sprawled. Composed of sixteen actual colleges and schools, the UW—pronounced “U-Dub”—was also the home of the Huskies, western Washington's beloved favorite college football team. With a massive number of buildings spreading out over block after block of the city, the UW was commonly called one of the “public ivies”—a public version of the Ivy Leagues.

I didn't fully understand the hierarchy of education among humans, but I knew the University of Washington was considered an excellent university, and that they had an incredible medical college. In fact, it was widely accepted that the best place in the world to have a heart attack—and survive—was Seattle. Whether it was the EMTs or the medical facilities, I didn't know, but the city had a good reputation, and the school an even better one.

But a salamander the size of a large, magical Komodo galloping through a bunch of college students wasn't exactly in the same risk category. In fact, it was one of the worst ideas ever. Images of Godzilla—which I'd recently been exposed to thanks to Stacy and her love of old movies—raced through my mind.

As we wound our way into the U-District, my phone rang, startling me. I didn't know many people. Who could be calling me? I glanced at the Caller ID. Tonya? Surprised, but pleased, I answered.

“Hey, good to hear from you!” I poked Alex in the arm as he drove and mouthed,
Tonya
. He nodded back.

“I'll be in town tonight—well, late night, early morning. I thought I'd drop by and say hello.” She sounded tired, her voice strained.

“Are you staying long?” I had to admit, after working with her on the peninsula to cope with ghosts and forest
wights and all sorts of nasties, I had a newfound respect for humans who worked magic. Plus, I just really liked the woman.

“I'll be there for a couple of days. At least through the week. I have some . . . well, I'll tell you about it when I see you.” She sounded even more depressed. My empathy took over. Something was seriously wrong—it echoed through her voice.

“Tonya, are you okay?” I narrowed my brow. “I can tell something's happened.”

“You're right, but wait till I get there. I'm coming in on the last ferry, so I'll be in Seattle by around two
A.M.
I have to find a hotel, but I can meet you for breakfast, if you have the time.”