Tales Of The Sazi 02 - Moon's Web (20 page)

"They can." Lucas mused. "But Nikoli would know if there was a bear in his territory. I don't suppose he mentioned any visitors to you, Bobby?"

I think the hiss behind me was supposed to be laughter. His scent was bitter oranges. "Hardly. You know Nikoli— cards always close to his ever-present vest. But I haven't smelled any since I've been here." I stepped forward, squeezing my way past Lucas. I started to dig sideways to open the space more so that all of us could stand, albeit closely. "Okay, for the moment, let's leave the how alone. Maybe uncovering the body will give us the who and the why."

Lucas nodded and likewise starting his front feet moving to open more territory. Dirt flew between our legs to disappear behind.

"Watch it, people." exclaimed Bobby. I heard him spitting. "Some of us are at ground level here."

"Maybe you should wait outside until we clear more space."

"Nah, I've got a better idea." I saw a flash of green from the corner of my eye. I turned my head to see that Bobby was back in human form. His dark skin blended almost perfectly with the rich earth. He moved his upper body forward so that he was between me and Lucas. He was very careful not to touch me at all, which made him crowd the big white wolf. "I'll start to uncover the body. It'll be faster." By working together, we opened a much larger space. Bobby could now kneel easily without touching us. He had succeeded in carefully removing dirt around the body. Actually, it was a skeleton, and badly desiccated. Bobby's eyes worked really well in the dark. "Look at these bones. They're almost dust. It's got to have been here a couple of centuries, at least, I think your nose needs a tune-up, Boss." He reached forward and pressed on a portion of the skull. It cracked easily and a few small pieces fell to the dirt underfoot. I eased forward and used the light radiating from he and Lucas to look more closely. "Nope. I have to agree with Lucas." I knew they wouldn't be able to see it, but I could. "The dirt is still loose and fluffy inside the rib cage. It's not compacted as though it's been here years. And feel how easy it's been to open this hole? It should be tearing up your fingernails. This has been dug up recently. I won't say that the skeleton's not old, though."

"Hey! I just found something." Bobby said. His finger pulled back sharply. Lucas stopped digging and we both came over to watch.

"I can't see a damn thing down here. It smells like silver, though." Lucas complained. "Tony, what is it?" I reached my nose forward and stared at the object Bobby had uncovered. It was a small medallion on a chain. It was around the skeleton's neck and was buried slightly in the soil between the ribs. I nudged it with my nose and jerked back when the metal burned. It must be why Bobby pulled back, too.

"Ow. It is silver. Bobby, if you reach forward and down, you can unhook the chain without touching the medallion. The chain's just regular steel. Let's get a better look at it. It looks like there's a symbol or letter on it. I'm not up on Russian, but it looks Cyrillic."

Bobby hesitated. He smelled nervous. "I don't like this, guys. Grave robbing isn't a very reputable activity in my culture, either."

"This is a murder investigation, gentlemen." Lucas's voice was firm. "Let's just do our job and try to be as respectful as possible."

He was right. I moved closer. "We'll have to get the body fully out if we're going to see what it died of. We can't even tell if it's male or female yet. There might be other clues, as well. Look, Bobby, if you don't want to, I'll do it. I don't have any particular religious convictions. Someone will have to turn me back human, though, if that's possible."

Lucas shook his head. "I don't recommend the process. You'd be regretting it for days. No, I think that we should get the medallion out for Asri to look at. She might be able to get a scent from the chain or metal. She's been with Nikoli over fifty years. She should recognize a scent if the person was a local." Bobby reluctantly allowed me to guide him to the necklace clasp. As we opened the body, I started to notice a growing odor in the cave.

"Do you smell that? Bobby, isn't that— "

He sneezed at the same moment. "Aw, man. That's that same scent from Carmine's house. Man, that's nasty. Let's not dig in any further unless we have to."

Lucas's face took on a wary look, but he smelled confused. "You smelled this scent at Carmine's?"

"Yeah." I had to turn my nose away from the hole. "God, what is that stuff?" Lucas's eyes narrowed and he stared at the hole while sniffing the air. "Something about that scent… "

"You recognize it?" Bobby asked with interest.

"It's… Where did I smell it? And under what circumstance?" He shook his head in annoyance. "I'll have to work on it. All I remember is that it was a long time ago."

It took a little tugging, but finally the medallion dropped to the floor of the cave.

"It's encased in leather," I commented. "The whole back side of the silver is covered."

"If a Sazi wore it as a necklace, that would make sense," Lucas replied. "Do you get anything off it now that it's out of the ground?"

Bobby picked up the necklace easily. I guess once it was out of the grave, he had no problems. I saw a small wisp of smoke and a hissing sound as he touched one finger to the metal front. "Definitely silver— nearly pure."

"So, what? You can tell the silver content somehow?"

He shrugged dismissively. "Sure. It's like telling whether you're eating a bell pepper or a habanero. How bad it burns tells you how potent it is." He turned over the necklace and reached out his tongue. "I almost hate to do this. The taste of that stuff is worse than the smell. But… that's the life of a Wolven agent." He touched his tongue repeatedly to the dirt-encrusted leather backing in tiny little movements. He did the whole swaying thing with his upper body again— like a cobra in front of the flute. "Definitely female. Wolf. Long hair."

"Whoa, whoa." laughed Lucas. "You can tell the hair length from your tongue? Give me a break, Bobby." Bobby gave him a withering look. "No, I can tell the hair length because one caught in the chain got wrapped around my tongue."

He reached up to remove it when Lucas nudged him with his head. "Hang on to it, Bobby. It might not be the victim's hair."

Bobby stopped short and carefully unwound the hair from his tongue. He gripped it tight in his hand. "Let's get topside so I can see what we've got."

Lucas and I headed back up the path, single-file, with Bobby taking the rear. He had to remain in human form to hold the necklace, so it took many minutes for him to wiggle his way up without using his hands. By the time he was out in the cold with us, he was moving really slow. Each step seemed an effort. Asri had dug into her pile of dirt but poked out her head enough to see us exit the hole. Lucas turned human in a flash of blue-white light and took the chain and hair from Bobby.

"Go get dressed, Agent. You need to warm up." Bobby nodded slowly, like cold molasses pouring. He was even too cold to shiver. His skin had a faint blue hue that was even darker than normal. He needed to warm up pretty quick, all right.

He held out the medallion to Asri. "Do you recognize this?"

She was moving nearly as slowly as he was. The flashes of her tongue only came about once every half minute. She moved her head a little further out of her burrow and stared at the necklace. A burst of fear accompanied her frenzied flight out of the hole. She turned human in a flash and stood naked in the cold. She didn't seem to notice it. She had grabbed the necklace from Lucas's hand and was staring at in horror. Fear approaching panic, along with a sudden burst of anger, made the air heavy with scent.

"But this… it's not possible!"

"You recognize it, then?"

She ignored his question that darted into the sloping hole. When she returned to the surface, she was pale and shaking. No more burnt coffee. There was only ammonia-laden hot and sour soup drifting from her.

"Do you recognize the body, Asri?" Lucas had taken the opportunity to step behind a tree and slip into the illusion of a pair of jeans and a sweater. Or maybe there was one hidden back there. I wasn't about to go up and check to see if there was cloth between my nose and his skin. Lucas asked the question to the shaken woman very slowly.

"It's Mila," she whispered. "But it can't be Mila. She's only been gone— what is it, Tony? Less than two weeks?" She turned to me for confirmation, but I didn't know what she meant. Then something sparked my memory. The first day I'd arrived, Nikoli was saying his good-byes to a lovely woman with long black hair who was, if I remember, leaving to visit family in Russia. Was her name Mila?

"Was she the woman I met when I was just arriving? Nikoli's wife?"

"Mistress," corrected Asri, "But yes— Ludmila Symslova was the woman you probably met. She went to visit her family outside of Murmansk. She can't have wound up as a crumbling skeleton in the woods in two weeks!" She looked to Lucas with a frantic plea. "Can she?"

« ^ »

It was nearly dawn when we arrived back at my apartment building. Asri had been forced to go sit in the running car with Bobby while Lucas and I had re-buried the body. Fortunately, it started to snow hard about half way through, so any sign of our presence was erased by the time we left. All four of us were exhausted, but none more than Bobby. He was sacked out in the back seat by the time we'd gotten to the car. I wasn't surprised. He'd used a lot of juice on me at Carmine's and had been going all day long. I had just hopped in the seat when I suddenly changed back to human form. It was a little early—

being before dawn, but the rules seem to be different every month. I gratefully put on my clothes. I couldn't even wake Bobby up to put on his seatbelt, so I did it for him. Icy roads with no seat belts might test even a Sazi's ability to heal.

"Alpha Santiago," Asri asked as we approached the stockyards, "Will you be accompanying me back to the hotel to meet with Nikoli?" She was slurring her words slightly, and her face was drawn with exhaustion. She must be beat from all the digging and the stress of knowing the deceased.

Lucas had been sitting quietly for most of the trip. He occasionally tapped his finger on the dashboard or made small hand gestures that told me he was thinking hard. The hot metal smell of determination drifted over the seat with the warm air from the heater. He shook his head. "I think we'd all better get some rest first. Nikoli will want answers, and I don't have any yet. I also don't have a tribute, which won't be appreciated. If you would be so kind, Ms. Kho, please give my apologies to Nikoli and tell him that I will come by in the late morning."

She double-parked the car at the curb by the door to my apartment. Both Lucas and I had to help Bobby up the steps. I hadn't realized that the cold made him this bad, but Lucas didn't seem alarmed, so I guess it was normal.

Sue opened the door when she saw us coming. She waved as Asri drove away, but I don't think the dragon noticed.

"I'm so glad you're home. I was getting worried. The weatherman said we're in for a bad storm." She looked at Bobby closely. "Is he okay? He looks sick."

"Just cold. He's a reptile— cold weather doesn't agree with him," said Lucas. We moved Bobby to the couch and put his legs up. He mumbled his thanks and turned to face the wall. He was snoring before Sue found a blanket to cover him.

Lucas had collapsed into the chair where I normally sit, so I pulled up a kitchen chair and gathered Sue into my lap to snuggle. I raised my head because a delightful odor was wafting from the kitchen. "Do I smell frying eggs?"

"I was starting some breakfast. I got a call from Nikoli while you were gone. He's sending a car to pick me up at seven o'clock so I can interview for the job at his restaurant."

It occurred to me that the shield was still in place. I should have known about the interview. "Lucas? Would you mind?"

I saw him open his eyes briefly and see me point at my own head. "Oh. Sure, sorry." He flipped a finger, and my mind was suddenly awash with colors and sound and motion. I smiled tiredly as I felt Sue's happiness and nervousness about the interview.

"You'll do fine." I pulled her close against me. Her hair tickled my nose. She looked at me and smiled. "You always have faith in me. How do you do that?" Lucas's nose suddenly raised as though he had just come to. "Did you say food?" He looked at Sue pathetically. "Is there any chance… ? I haven't had a bite since yesterday." Okay, now I knew that he lied about the rabbit "nest." But why would he give me his dinner?

He owed you damages, Tony. I furrowed my brow at Sue's mental comment and glanced at her. He didn't realize he hurt you holding back the moon. The rabbit was an apology. Don't make a big deal about it, though.

Ah, I understood pride. I stood. "Let's see if we can't find you some dinner." Sue stood up and ran a slow finger down my cheek. The wash of warmth and pleasure made me gasp and fight not to pull her back into my arms. She jerked back her hand when she felt the same thing.

"No. You just sit, Tony. I've got just the perfect thing for Lucas." She returned in a moment. A dinner plate covered with foil was in her hands. On top was a sandwich on white bread. She put a finger to her lips when I shot her a questioning look. With a flourish, she held the sandwich over Lucas's shoulder so it was in front of his face.

His nose found it first, and his eyes opened slowly. A smile and a chuckle followed, and he reached out a hand to grab the sandwich.

"Bologna on white bread with ketchup. You remembered." He sank his teeth into the thick sandwich happily. It must have been the entire package for as much meat as there was. If he had still been a wolf, he would be wagging. Sue was grinning from ear to ear. The room was suddenly rife with with oranges and tangerines. Citrus and bologna. Weird.

"I can't believe you like bologna," I commented with a grimace. "Yecch."

"Acquired taste." He licked the ketchup from his fingers. "It's amazing what you'll eat when you're starved. Sometimes it sticks with you."

He turned and looked up at Sue warmly. "You're a doll, Sue. Got another under that foil?"

"Actually," she said with chagrin. "The sandwich was sort of a joke. I just picked up one pack to be funny. I figured you'd laugh and then I'd throw it out." She held out the plate covered with foil. "This is actually your dinner. I didn't have any gift wrap to make it an actual present. I only found out you'd be coming before most of the shops closed."

He took the plate from her curiously and thick antifreeze joined the citrus. He lifted up one corner of the foil and sniffed delicately. His face took on an enraptured look and something close to lust filled the air.

"Ohhhh," he said huskily, "Is this what I think it is?"

Sue nodded happily. "Buffalo rump roast. I remember someone in Boulder saying it was your favorite. I had to go to four meat stores before I found one. Is it okay? I left it out so it would be at room temperature, but I can toss it in the oven if you want."

He held up one hand sharply. "No. This is fine. This is wonderful!" He stood in one fluid movement and folded the foil back under. "But I'd better eat it at the table. If I open it now, I'd get blood all over your furniture. Care to join me, Tony? Ever had buffalo?"

I shook my head and stood to follow. I leaned over Bobby to ask if he wanted to join us, but he was out cold. Well, maybe later.

Lucas was already digging in when I swung open the door to the kitchen. He was using a large carving knife to cut massive slices from the roast. Then he used the same knife to cut the meat into strips before plopping them in his mouth with the fork. He chewed slowly, savoring the meat.

I sat down and Sue grabbed another plate and a fork. I'd reached across to stab one of the slices when a low growl stopped me. I looked across to see Lucas's eyes glazed slightly. His teeth bared in a an angry snarl and magic filled the room. Sue gasped and I froze in place. I could feel my heart slow and my breath still as I waited. I'd been in this situation plenty of times— where a dangerous person hovers on the brink of being deadly. His scent turned to burning coffee and adrenaline. I continued to stare calmly, but all the while planning what I would do if he pounced. I understood blood lust. It was his kill and he'd fight to keep it. Been there, done that. I guess sometimes even the big dogs can't fight down the animal inside. We stared at each other for what seemed like an hour, but was probably only a few seconds. Then Lucas shook his head as if to clear it, and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the glow was gone and he seemed in control. He shivered involuntarily and took another bite of buffalo. Ozone filled the air to blend with the blood on the plate.

"Wow. Sorry, guys. It's been awhile since that's happened. Guess I'm a little more stressed than I thought." I slowly moved back my hand, leaving the fork in the meat on his plate. I tried to act nonchalant, but it was a lie. I wasn't up to a battle with this guy without some major weaponry, and I knew it.

"No problem. It happens to the best of us," I said quietly.

He glanced down to see that I had left the slice on his plate, and gave an exasperated sigh. "I invited you to join me, Tony— the moon notwithstanding." He picked up the fork, still stabbed in the meat, and put the slice on my plate.

I eyed the bleeding meat hungrily but warily. "You're sure! You're not going to go all wolf and pounce on me when I take a bite, are you? 'Cause I can eat something else."

He waved off my objections and shook his head, but didn't respond because he was chewing. I decided to take him at his word. I picked up the whole slice and rolled it into a tube before biting into it. Oh, man. Now I understood why he'd growled.

The taste was heavy and gamey, but sweet and sultry all at once. I chewed with the same rapture as Lucas, while Sue looked on with a smile. I licked off my fingers and hoped I could steal another bite.

"I take it that I should add buffalo to our menu options?" she asked with a wry smile "It's pretty pricey."

"Oh, stock up on this all right. Cost be damned."

Lucas held up a piece on his fork before sticking it in his mouth. "It used to be that you could hunt down one big bull and have it feed the whole pack for all three days of the moon. But they're federally protected now, so we switched to deer and elk. Pity— you should taste the wild ones. It's like night and day. But this is good, don't get me wrong."

He glanced at my raised brows and hopeful expression, and nodded. "Go ahead and have another bite. I get the rest, though. You already had a couple of rabbits, remember?"

I glanced at the rapidly diminishing roast. Discretion, Tony, I ordered myself. I shook my head. "Nah. But Bobby should try this. Let me go drag his lazy ass off the couch."

Lucas nodded. "I'll save him a slice— for a few minutes. If he snoozes too long, though… " I walked into the next room. Bobby hadn't moved from where he lay, facing the wall. I slowed as I reached him, listening. I couldn't hear him snoring. Hell, I couldn't even hear him breathing, and his scent was all wrong. What the— ?

I took the last two steps at high speed, and turned him over. His eyes were closed, and his jaw slack. I put a finger on the artery in his neck. He barely had a pulse. I opened one eyelid to find that his pupil was fully dilated, and it wasn't the contact lens. Shit!

"Lucas!" I yelled. "We've got trouble!"

Lucas came racing from the kitchen, with Sue on his heels. He was still wearing a napkin tucked into the front of his sweater. I guess there really were clothes on him.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Something's wrong with Bobby. He's barely breathing."

He moved closer to the couch and I let him take my place. He did all the same things, except he also opened his mouth to reveal a swollen and black tongue.

"What the hell did that?" I exclaimed.

"Must be whatever was on that medallion. Where is it, anyway?"

I checked my pockets and then Bobby's coat. "Still in the car, I guess. Is it some sort of poison?" Lucas shook his head. His frustration and fear beat at my nose. "Poison has no effect on Bobby. He's immune to practically everything."

"Not this," I said wryly. "Should I call the lair? Lelya helped heal Sue earlier today."

"Nikoli's mother? No. She's not up to this sort of thing. We need a real healer." He snapped his fingers suddenly. "My wife is going to be at a medical conference downtown." He checked his watch. "They should just be sitting down to the opening breakfast. It's at the McCormick Place Conference Center. Do you know how to get there, Tony?"

I furrowed my brow. "Why send me? I've never even met your wife."

"Because I have to stay here with Bobby. I'm not a healer, but I've got a lot of power. I can feed some magic into him to keep him alive for a bit. You can't." He removed his wallet from a back pocket and withdrew a photo. A stunning woman in her twenties stared out at me. Her silver-blonde hair was long and loose and the blue eyes were sultry. A cupid's bow mouth smiled warmly out from her slender face. While her features were similar to Linda, she looked nothing like her. This was a woman who was supermodel quality. Either Lucas was robbing the cradle, or the picture was decades old. It was useless.

He must have caught my disbelieving look, or maybe my scent. I can't smell my own emotions worth a damn. I could smell his, however. He smelled of cinnamon and baking bread, along with oranges. It was obvious he was smitten with her, and was amused by my reaction.

"This is Tatya— Dr. Tatiana Santiago. No, it's not an old picture. She really is still this gorgeous after thirty years and a half dozen children. She'll be easy to spot— especially for you."

"You've only been married for thirty years, and you're how old?"

He chortled. "None of your damn business. I wasn't the marrying kind, but you don't get much of a choice when you meet your mate. Do you?"

I grinned. Yep, he had me there. I looked at the picture, memorizing the face. I wondered about the

"especially for you" comment, until it occurred to me that she was Sazi. I would be able to see her glow. There couldn't be many glowing women at a medical conference. He was right that he needed to stay here with Bobby, and Sue had her interview to attend.

I'm not leaving Bobby. I heard Sue exclaim in my head.

"You have to, Sue," I replied out loud. Lucas seemed to know what was being discussed, so he ignored us.

"There's nothing you can do here, and we don't want to piss off Nikoli again, do we?" I looked at her strongly, willing her to remember the events of just a day ago. She started and then stared at me with understanding.

She paled slightly and her reply was quiet. "No, we don't. I think I should probably keep my appointment after all."

She pulled her purse from a dining room chair and removed a set of keys. She wound off a pair of car keys from the ring. "There's a white Honda out front. It's old, but it runs. Alena dropped it by while you were out. She said it was a gift from the parents of the kids for taking advantage of me. I tried to object, but she insisted. She said Nikoli ordered them to give it to me. I guess I'm stuck with it." A Honda. Gee, how… suburban. Oh, well. Any car was better than none. But I would be buying something more suitable with the gold very soon. I glanced at my watch. It was almost seven. "You need to get ready, Sue. The car will be here for you soon. Sure you don't need anything, Lucas?" He shook his head. He'd gotten a washcloth from the bathroom and was wiping Bobby's face down with steaming hot water. The water, and the massive surge of power that lit up the whole side of the room, seemed to be helping a bit. Bobby was moving now, writhing in obvious pain, but even that was better than comatose. "No, just hurry back with Tatya. I have it on reliable authority that she has a green aura." On the way out the door, I spotted a small object on the table. I picked up the cell phone and tucked it in my pocket. The drive would give me a chance to get another problem out of the way. Once I was stopped at the next light, I turned on the cell and glanced at the screen as the phone number of the unit flashed. I wrote down the area code and prefix on a scrap of paper from my wallet. Scotty had already given me the last four on his note.