Hunted By The Others (15 page)

“Well, I didn’t think you’d be bringing another boy over,” she said defensively. “I was starting to worry about you. Spending all your time with Sara makes people wonder, honey. I just want the best for you.”

It felt like my cheeks had suddenly caught fire. My face must have looked about as red as my hair. Even my mom thought I was into girls now? This was getting well and truly embarrassing, not to mention annoying.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. I
date
, Mom, I just don’t usually bring men over! The minute you start talking grandkids, you know they’re going to run for the hills.”

She gave me a pitying look and I remembered again why I never brought boys over to the house. “It’s okay, I believe you. Just remember, you’re not getting any younger and neither are me or your dad. We want to see you safe and happy with a family of your own, that’s all.”

Safe? With a werewolf? I remembered guiltily that I hadn’t told her that part about the breakup, and it made me feel even worse since I couldn’t say anything about it now. She’d have conniptions if she found out there was a Were in the house. My parents aren’t so déclassé as to be White Hats or part of the less vocal, but just as obnoxious, Concerned Human Citizens. However, they aren’t exactly supportive of the equal rights movement for the Others either. As long as none of them moved into the neighborhood and they stayed out in the city, my parents would tolerate them, but that was about it.

“Yeah, well, Arnold’s a great guy, too. He’s looking out for me.”

I truly hoped I wasn’t digging myself a deeper hole by telling her this. If she somehow found out later that Arnold was a mage, she’d kill me. Probably not so much because he could do magic but because, even if we somehow ended up together, the chances of us having kids was slim to none. Not that I was considering
actually
dating him. Yikes.

“You should let him take care of you, then. Your line of work is dangerous, honey. Dealing with monsters should be left to the experts, like the police. That stunt last month almost gave your dad a heart attack.”

That made me cringe. I hadn’t realized they knew about the thing at the Embassy.

She continued, “The last thing we want is to see you or Sara get hurt.”

I reached over to grab one of the beers, feeling more than shitty about having to hide what was really going on in my life. I just couldn’t see a way around it; the truth really
would
give my parents a stroke. Especially if they found out about Royce and the papers. My dad would probably try to stake Royce himself if he found out. Who knows what my mom might do.

Keeping my gaze off her own, I held the cold beer to my forehead for a few seconds, hoping to cool the burning heat of embarrassment while I also tried to swallow down the guilt and think of something useful to say. That’s when I remembered I was supposed to leave my car here and had a cover story to match.

“That’s part of why I’m going out of town. We’re going to take a vacation in the Hamptons for a week.” God, I was so going to burn for this later, I just knew it. “Look, I know my job is dangerous but it
is
my job, and I can’t just fob off the dangerous stuff on someone else. I won’t ask Sara to take the dangerous stints for me.”

She frowned, busying herself with the cans and bottles again. “I don’t want you to give all the dangerous jobs to Sara either, I want you to give them to the cops where they belong.”

I threw my free hand up, trying to convey my exasperation. “The cops won’t take the jobs we take, Ma. That isn’t what cops do. We track people down and do surveillance, not arrest them. Most of the time I never even talk to the people I’m tailing. It’s not as bad as you think.”

Most of the time. Except when dealing with magi, Weres, and vamps, it wasn’t that dangerous at all.

“All right, all right. No need to get in a huff about it.” Finally, she was backing down. “I only bug you about it because I care about you.”

Twisting the cap off the beer, I took a swig and stared out the window. There was a fat squirrel on the bird feeder in the elm tree, stuffing itself silly on stolen birdseed.

“Can I leave my car here in the garage until I get back? I don’t want someone breaking in again.”

That much was true, at least. I had just spent a ridiculous sum fixing the broken window and replacing the stolen radio and would hate to have to go through that hassle again.

“Sure, that’s fine. I just wish you’d think about a career change. You know your dad and I would be more than happy to help put you back through school if you want to do something different.”

“I like my line of work, Ma. I’m going to stick with it.” Turning my gaze back to her, I smiled to soften the blow I knew those words were trying to make light of it. “At least I’m not a cop, right?”

She laughed, obviously heartily amused by the thought. Yeah. Funny.

I felt really bad about hiding things from her, especially how dangerous my job had actually become in the last few days, but at least she was nodding agreement now instead of badgering me about my love life.

“You always were headstrong, doing things your own way.” Her wry grin of amusement dragged one out of me in return. “Got it from me, you know.”

I chuckled, feeling another pang of guilt, fear, and heartache that I wished more than ever I could share with her. Especially since, after next Monday night, I might never see her again. Tears stung in my eyes, and I turned away so she wouldn’t see.

“Yeah, Mom, I know.”

Chapter 21

Throughout the rest of the day, things settled down into an uneasy peace. Chaz and Arnold threw a few verbal salvos at each other, but never outright clashed or degenerated into anything physical. They were actually civil to each other over dinner on the deck, sitting across from one another at the picnic table. I wasn’t sure if it was for my sake, or for the sake of blending in with my family. Probably the latter, since the survival of the Others had depended upon their ability to pass for human prior to their announcing their existence to the world. Hard to believe that happened less than ten years ago.

Once Angela woke up and joined us, she had, as predicted, chattered up a cheerful storm about the case her boss had won against Mikey. He groaned and complained and tried to get her to shut up about it, smiling the whole time. She also took a keen interest in Arnold and managed to glean some interesting tidbits from him, like the fact that he had graduated from a very upper-crusty institute of technology, was from a well-to-do family from Seattle, moved to New York just over a year ago, and was overly fond of cheese fries.

Fortunately, he didn’t say anything about magic or dice or Dungeon Quest or whatever the heck it was he played.

Damien cracked up over the movie when he unwrapped it, and I promised to come over and watch it with him soon. Once the cake was eaten and the last of the presents unwrapped, I said it was time for us to go back to Sara’s.

Chaz was the only one who protested, though only mildly. I think he knew he was pushing my buttons by hanging around tonight. The good-byes were quick and relatively painless, my dad making it a point to invite Arnold over to watch the game on the big screen the next Sunday with him and my brothers.

Weirded out by the strain and awkwardness of the day, I slid into the back seat of Arnold’s car and shut my eyes, too tired and drained by two nights of almost no sleep to think anymore. Sara offered to put my car in the garage and grab my stuff, and I was quick to take her up on it.

A few minutes later, she tossed the bag into my lap, waking me from my stupor as she slid into the front passenger seat. Arnold had already started the car, and the faint sound of rock music drifted out of the speakers. I shifted around as much as I could to get comfortable, closing my eyes again as he pulled out.

“So, Shia,” he said, “that was remarkably awkward. You dated a Were?”

I growled a curse under my breath before answering. “Yes, I did. Not that it’s any of your business.”

“Your life is my business right now. Anything else like that I’m going to have to field if I’m hanging around you the next few days?”

Sara cut me off before I could speak. “Of course there is. This is Shia we’re talking about.”

I flipped her off, not that she could see it. “There is a lot I need to tell you. But you promised to tell me something once we got in the car. You go first. Spill it.”

His grip tightened on the wheel so hard I could hear the leather squeak. Touchy.

“Okay. Veronica asked you to find an object called a focus, which grants powers to the holder. Depending on what type of creature is using it, the powers it grants are different. It’s never been in the hands of magi so far as I know, but when a Were uses it, he can summon and force the transformation on other Weres around them. It augments the strength of the pack in possession of it, and can actually bind other packs temporarily into one much larger force, all working toward whatever the holder’s goal may be. When a vampire uses it, he or she can also summon, control, and force transformation on a Were. However, it doesn’t do much else for vamps and they have a harder time calling more than a few Weres at a time.

“This thing was supposedly destroyed before World War One. I have no idea how Royce found it, but we got a tip that he was using it about four months ago. Veronica was in Acquisitions. She was assigned to get it from Royce at any cost, but quietly and discreetly. Before she got in touch with you, she had tried contacting Royce directly. When he refused to sell, she sent someone in to steal it.”

He muttered a faint curse, coming to a smooth stop at a light and once more throwing me a quick glance.

“The focus was hidden and the mage who tried to get it was killed. It was hushed up and a directive came down that Veronica needed to find a way to smooth things over with Royce and a different method of locating it and getting her hands on it without any more losses to the coven. Hence her hiring you. I’m assuming Royce found out somehow that you were working for us, and that he’s the one responsible for Vero’s death.”

Though I’d been on the verge of falling asleep when he started speaking, by the end of his little speech I was bolt upright in the cramped back seat. What he’d just said meant that spilling my guts to Royce about working for The Circle effectively sealed Veronica’s death warrant. I don’t think it was possible for me to feel more heartsick or guilty than I did at that moment.

Knowing it would come out sooner or later, I gritted my teeth and just said it. “I was the one who told him I was working for The Circle. He knew about it before I said anything, but I confirmed it. Some girl named Allison came in, the one who works reception at your office. She told him about the belt you gave me and after that he thought I was sent by The Circle to kill him. I didn’t go in there intending to tell him anything, but when he looked like he was about to go for my throat, I couldn’t help it. I spilled and told him what I was really there for.”

Arnold didn’t move and didn’t look back at me. His gaze seemed faraway and his attention elsewhere, because the light had turned green and he hadn’t taken his foot off the brake. Since we were still in the ’burbs, no one was behind him honking for him to get a move on yet. Eventually he came back to the present, flooring it and jolting me back.

“He knew before you even came to his office? That you were working for us? You just confirmed it for him.”

“Yeah. And let us not forget Miss Bitchy Receptionist of the Year who came in and blew my cover story out of the water.”

Irritation cut through his voice. “I heard what you said. I knew Allison was up to something with Royce’s business, but I didn’t think she had a direct line in to him. Two-timing corporate whore. I told the CEO to fire her months ago.”

Sara actually laughed at that, though it was more incredulous than amused. “You knew she was a mole?”

“Well, yeah. She was kind of hard to miss. For some reason people don’t listen to me in that place. I mean, I told them we needed a better screening process ages ago, but that never went anywhere. I was lucky to get them to update the security system on our vaults. They never do anything until something actually happens and they have no choice.”

Recalling that “security system,” I shivered and pressed on. “Anyway, you need to hear the rest of this. I already told you I’m banned from working with The Circle now. Royce wants me to sign papers and get them to him by Monday night.”

He cursed, eyes glued to the road and thoughts obviously racing. “And turn over the belt, right? Well, you know what, he has to purchase it from you. It was gifted, so it belongs to you. And if you put it on, he can’t take it from you anyway.”

“What does that mean, exactly?” Sara asked, quicker than I to ask the question.

“Once the belt is put on, the wearer can’t remove it until the next sunrise. It also gives the hunter an edge, granting things like strength, speed, stamina, and heightened senses to put the wearer on par with the things they’re hunting. We’ve since lost the spelling instructions on how to make them, but The Circle was gifted with a couple of them a few years ago in payment from another coven for services rendered. Courtesy of a very pissed-off mage who lost a family member to a vamp ages ago.”