Night Howls (8 page)

“Two guesses whom they are from,” he replies after getting a good look at them.

“No one important,” I say making my way into my office. I am here to do research, not worry about flowers.

I sit down and start my computer. I want to get a look at what the Collective has on Candace. I hope there is more information on her than there was Ben. After I hack into the system, I am rewarded with a more thorough biography.

Name: Candace

Race: Demon

Subspecies: Succubus

Summoning name: Krindlecane

Background: Candace is a mid-level succubus that is well known for keeping her victims in her web until they are dead. She prefers male targets, but has been known to go after exceptionally strong female prey. She can be protected against with a simple charm that any low level witch can cast.

Current location: Emerald Town

Aliases: Candy and CeCe

Associates: Unknown

Distinguishing features: She is able to change her appearance, but tends to take the guise of a tall blonde. She has the mark of a raven just above her belly button.

I don’t really like the raven being involved. That is Ben’s symbol and if she is one of his minions, I am going to be extremely pissed at him.

“You have a visitor approaching at a fast clip,” Jake announces to snap me out of my rapidly approaching fit.

I look up and can see Will walking in the door. I don’t want to know how he found me. “I think you made a wrong turn somewhere, mortal.” I glance down to see if Clyde is going to sic the human for me, but he is fast asleep. He can be a lazy little jerk some days.

“I asked around for you and was told you would be here. Did you get my flowers?” he asks walking straight into my office. He looks around and, like most people, his eyes keep trained on my weapons wall.

“If they were purple roses, yes, they were waiting for me when I got here. I am sure they are very nice. Now that you have assured yourself a hoodlum didn’t come by and steal them, you can go about your business elsewhere.”

“I am guessing the news hasn’t reached you, but our leading lady was found dead this morning in her trailer. I was hoping I could convince you to reconsider being in the movie. We don’t really have time to find someone else without getting way behind in shooting,” he says settling in one of the chairs I reserve for customers.

“Jake?” I ask wondering if he has heard anything since he saw her just last night.

“News to me. She was definitely breathing the last time I saw her.”

“I am sorry for your loss, but I don’t act,” I inform Will. He doesn’t seem broken up at all by his costar’s death.

“What can I do to convince you otherwise? I think it is a role you would be perfect for. There is a little bit of fighting you can do when you get kidnapped and you look the epitome of a damsel in distress.” I know we haven’t spent very much time together, but does he seriously think that statement is going to make me change my mind?

“Look, Will, you seem like a nice guy, but I can tell you right now that you probably should not be sitting where you are at this moment if you want to keep your dick,” Jake says from the other room.

“He is referring to the fact that I have a crossbow trained on your privates as we speak,” I say cluing the guy in. “I think I proved to you yesterday that I am anything other than a damsel in distress. I believe my demonstration should have also made the point that I don’t play well with others.”

“I did get that vibe from you, but we are in a bind. I think having a non-human in the movie will also earn some publicity that we are in need of for this movie. The series is starting to get a little played out, but if we can advertise that our leading lady is a paranorm, we might be able to give it a boost,” he says trying to plead his case.

I should have hit him harder in his head yesterday. It might have knocked some sense into him. “Still not happening. Now, if you don’t mind, I do actually have a lot of work to get done today. I have my own problems and to me they are more important than you needing to find a replacement girl.”

“Arm up, Sweetie. We have one of those bigger problems getting ready to enter the building,” Walt says and I leap over my desk and Will to get to the waiting room immediately.

“Holy shit,” I hear Will mumble.

I look out the window to take inventory of our trouble and see Frank and a group of other Collective agents heading towards my door.

“Fuck.” There really isn’t anything else to say. I pull out my Beretta and wait for them to enter. I don’t think taking this meeting out to the street is a wise move on my part.

Frank enters and signals for the rest of his crew to wait outside. “Hello, Nyx. You haven’t stopped by for our weekly dinners for a while now,” he says as he stares down my barrel.

He looks no different than he did when I last saw him a couple of months ago. He is in his seventies, but doesn’t look any older than Will, who I am guessing is in his late twenties. Frank is 6’2” with a fair complexion, not as light as mine, but pretty close. He has short blond hair and moss green eyes. His nose is bent slightly out of shape from not being properly set after a mark hit him with a brick.

“When I found out you had been lying to me my entire life, I decided to take them off my calendar. What are you doing here?”

“There seems to have been an incident with one of the human females in town. One of your flunkies has been seen spending a lot of time with her and we are here to bring him in for questioning. You are welcome to come along. You have been greatly missed at the Collective.”

I glance over to Jake to see how he takes Frank’s statement. I know he didn’t have anything to do with the girl’s death, so as far as I am concerned, he isn’t going anywhere. Jake rolls his eyes and shakes his head.

“What evidence do you have that indicates Jake was involved?” I ask turning back to Frank. My gun has remained trained on his chest. “All I have heard you claim is based on hearsay, probably from humans, so it doesn’t prove anything.”

“She was attacked by a wolf. There is no questioning that fact. The witnesses are not only humans. We have had Collective people watching the humans closely to try to make sure the filming goes smoothly. Jake has been seen frequenting the trailer the woman’s body was found in. Someone even stated he was there just last night. I think those facts indicate he needs to have a little sit down with us, if nothing else to prove his innocence.”

“And I say your witnesses are full of it. When was she killed? Jake was home by midnight. He was not freshly showered and wasn’t covered in blood, nor did he carry the smell of death.” For me, I have found the recently departed smell of fish guts. In my line of work, it can be hard to avoid the smell and I am happy that it hasn't always been there for me.

“The signs indicate that she was killed just after dawn, but I still would like to have a chat with him. He might have seen something that will help us with our investigation.”

“You can ask him your questions here. You don’t have to take him back to your dungeon. I have seen how you have worked over suspects before and I am not allowing that to happen to one of my people,” I assert.

“I prefer not to, but for now you can have it your way. If I decide later that I have more questions, I will bring him in.” Over my dead body, I think to myself.

“Will, you should probably be on your way. Things might get a little uncivil and I would hate for you to get a bad impression of paranorms,” I say wanting him out of here as soon as possible. There are no assurances guns won’t eventually be fired.

“Yeah, I was just thinking the same thing. You know where to find me if you change your mind about what we discussed,” he replies scurrying to get around Frank and out the door. It seems he isn't totally stupid.

“You can have a seat if you would like,” I tell Frank still refusing to lower my gun.

“I am guessing you are not going to join me, so I will stand. Jake can you tell us about your evening last night?”

“Sure. I will go over all of my movements from yesterday, just to prove I am cooperating. I woke up around six at night. Jonas and Walt were already awake, so we had a quick meal together. Nyx, Sebastian, and Alex woke up not much later and joined us. Around eight or so, Nyx got a delivery from Tango Charlie. The order was messed up and she threw one of her usual fits. We went down to the movie set in time for her to exchange orders with them before anyone got hurt. We went back to her place and wished Sebastian farewell as he set off for a business trip.

“After he left, I got bored and ticked everyone off enough that they gave me a few hours of free time. I headed over to Stacy's and engaged in some mildly boring coitus. When I was spent, I didn't hang around any longer than needed and went back to Nyx's, where I remained the rest of the night. I believe Nyx was correct in saying that I arrived before midnight. I am sure the security tapes will show me entering around 11:45,” Jake says finishing off his long ramble.

“And you noticed nothing suspicious when you left Ms. Lehman's?”

“No. Everything was pretty quiet. The humans seem to keep daytime hours for their shooting schedule, so I think most of them were already asleep.”

“Can I get you to come in so we can take some DNA samples and bite imprints?” Frank asks still trying to get Jake on Collective property.

“Screw you, Frank,” I say answering for Jake. “You know damn well that you already have his DNA on file. With that, you don't need to do any teeth measurements.”

“He is still our number one suspect. He could have left your place any time before dawn and you may not have noticed it.”

“If you aren't going to do the job you are pretending to do, then I will get you a better suspect. I will hand the real killer over to you within two days,” I say ready to just shoot him for being a dick. He knows Jake isn't involved, but is messing with us anyway.

“Really? You think you can solve this case before I can?”

“Sure. I figured out where Nathaniel Rogers was within a month of being outside the Collective. I bet you still haven't found him.” It is a low blow, but he deserves it.

He gives me his badass stare. It doesn't impress me and I let that show on my face. “I wasn't aware you knew of that name.”

“I didn't know it. It just goes to prove what a charmed life I live.”

“You wouldn't happen to want to tell me where I can find Mr. Rogers?”

“”No, I think I will keep that information to myself. I do hear it tends to be a beautiful day in his neighborhood, though.” I don't watch TV now, but as a kid, it was force fed to me at times when they couldn't find anyone to babysit me. That might be part of the reasoning behind my disdain.

Frank chuckles softly. “Cute. I will give you your two days to try to uncover a better suspect. If you cannot do it within that time, I am coming back for Jake. If that happens, my friends won't wait outside,” he says and then turns to leave. “Oh, if you still have Tommy lying around somewhere, I wouldn’t mind getting him back. He showed a lot of potential.”

Potential of being a psychopath. Sadly, I do still have Tommy sitting down in my dungeon. Alex and Sebastian are not satisfied with the information he has provided, so far, and they are keeping him from me. I think if they would just let me do half of the things I have planned for him, he would be singing like a canary.

“I think you better bring more people if you want to get out of here alive,” I inform him, but he doesn't take the bait and comment back. He leaves the building and his minions follow in his wake. I guess he figured out my thoughts on handing Tommy over.

“That was a little too much fun,” Jake says sarcastically. I don't think any of us are worried about me not meeting the deadline. They have both seen me in action and know I am quick to get to the bottom of things.

“Not as much fun as we are going to have. I think I am going to have to take Will up on his offer and you can just imagine the kind of mood that is going to put me in,” I reply and finally put my gun back in my holster. “Let's head to the set. Maybe by the time I get there I will be ready for my close-up.”

Chapter 10

Making a deal with human devils

We had to run home to pick up the Suburban before we could complete our odyssey. There was no way I was walking clear to the south side of town. I could have flown, but Clyde isn’t comfortable in the air.

I park in the same spot I did yesterday, when we reach the gates of Hell. I have a feeling that Hell is what this place is going to feel like after only spending a few minutes here. I cannot believe I am actually considering going through with this.

If I didn’t think I would be able to get my best intel by being a part of the action, this wouldn’t be happening. I thought about just doing the fight coordinating deal, but I figured I would probably kill or severely injure too many of them to find out any useful information.

“Nyx, you have changed your mind already?” Will says immediately seeing me as I walk towards the group of people. I still don’t see a single one of them mourning over the loss of their female star. Hollywood must really be heartless.

“Can I speak to you and your director alone somewhere for a couple of minutes?” I ask. I know that a wolf is supposedly who attacked the woman, but that doesn’t mean someone of the human variety didn’t set it up to happen.

“Sure. Gene, we need to have a conference in my trailer real quick,” he shouts and leads me away from the crowd.

“I take it everything went okay with the scary man that showed up at your place,” he says opening a door on a very high-end looking trailer.

When we enter, I find myself looking at a compact mansion. Mansion is the wrong word, but this is not what I imagined. There is a top of the line mini kitchen to our right, complete with stainless steel appliances and a wine bar. There is a nice size entertaining area that includes a fireplace of some sort and a black leather sectional. I doubt the fireplace is a wood burner, but it is probably gas and not just a digital image. I can see a divider that is currently closed, which I am guessing leads to his sleeping quarters.