Gods and Mortals: Fourteen Free Urban Fantasy & Paranormal Novels Featuring Thor, Loki, Greek Gods, Native American Spirits, Vampires, Werewolves, & More (142 page)

F
irst things first
: I needed a home for Mr. Mouse.

There was an old ten-gallon aquarium in the basement from one of my brother’s childhood pets. I brought it up to the kitchen and shredded some newspaper for the bottom. I added a little bowl of water and a slice of bread. Then I carefully scooped the sleeping mouse out of my collar and settled him in a corner of the tank. I put a couple heavy books over the top, leaving some cracks for air.

I made myself a quick sandwich, then went and knocked on Mrs. Gunderson’s door and asked if I could borrow her car to run an errand. I would’ve asked Suzanne, but I knew she’d never be satisfied with the explanation that I’d loaned mine to a friend. She’d want details, and I’d end up lying and getting caught.

Mrs. Gunderson, on the other hand, was getting a little vague. She was happy to loan me her car, no questions asked, so long as I picked up a few things for her at the supermarket while I was out. That was no problem — I did that for her most weeks, anyway.

There was a pet store in Frederick, and it was open on Sundays. I got a lid for the aquarium, a water bottle, some rodent kibble, a tiny bowl, a little wooden house, and a wheel. I also got a bag of paper bedding — I’d hate for the little guy’s nice golden fur to get all newsprinty.

After dropping off Mrs. Gunderson’s groceries, I went and got the mouse out of his tank. He was awake by that point and seemed glad to see me. He ran up my arm again and snuggled in my hair while I dumped out the newspaper and arranged his new home. When I put him back in the tank, he ran around sniffing everything and quickly settled on the food bowl as the most interesting item. I left him holding a kibble in his cute little pink hands and nibbling away.

I made a cup of tea and settled on the couch in the den to think about Graham.

That kiss had been really nice, but his attention confused me. I just didn’t understand why he would be interested in me.

He was older than me — thirty or thirty-five, maybe — and seemed so sophisticated. He didn’t speak like I did, didn’t dress like I did.

I was a young, uneducated small-town girl. In fact, I had barely been outside Wisconsin. I couldn’t see that my personality was the big attraction. I was nice enough, but I wasn’t vivacious or incredibly funny. Similarly, I was smart enough, but smarts don’t make up for ignorance. If I’d turned up with some amazing ability, like flying, maybe that would draw his interest, but that hadn’t happened either.

I wasn’t trying to be down on myself, just realistic. I thought I was reasonably attractive — not stand-out beautiful, but pretty enough. But no way was I attractive enough to overcome what would undoubtedly be a lot of deficits in the eyes of a worldly older man.

I realized I was overanalyzing Graham, probably because it was titillating to keep thinking about him. The long and the short of it was that I didn’t trust his motives, and it wasn’t the time to be getting involved with someone, anyway. I needed to draw a firmer line the next time I saw him. Hopefully I could do it without having to say something directly, since that would make things uncomfortable.

The phone rang. I thought about letting the machine pick up — I didn’t much feel like getting off the couch, which was now nicely warm. It rang again. With a sigh, I unfolded myself and climbed the stairs to answer it.

“Beth?”

It was Ben. He sounded distracted and annoyed.

“Ben. What’s wrong?”

“It’s Tiffany — she’s run off. We’re at the mall. I know she’s in here somewhere, but I can’t find her. The mall people are looking for her, and they’ve called the cops, too. Can you come and pick the rest of the kids up and take them home?”

I was relieved. It didn’t sound like a serious situation, just the kind of minor rebellion an upset kid would stage. Tiff was probably hiding in a dressing room somewhere, starting to feel silly.

“Yeah, of course. Tell me where to meet you.”

“We’re at security. It’s by the Younkers.”

“Okay, I’ll get there as soon as I can.”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks, Beth.”

The mall was south of Eau Claire, more than an hour’s drive. I grabbed my wallet and coat and headed back to Mrs. Gunderson’s. I explained that I needed her car again for a family emergency. She didn’t mind, though she did ask me to go to the grocery store for her on the way home. Along with the keys, she handed me the same list she’d given me earlier that afternoon. She didn’t seem to have noticed that all the items on it were crossed out. I didn’t bother mentioning it, just pocketed the list and started driving.

I made it to the mall. I didn’t make it inside. Just as I was getting out of the car, the van I’d parked beside opened up, and someone pulled me in. I bet you can guess who it was. I struggled, but it didn’t help. I ended up bound and gagged on the floor.

Williams shifted to the driver’s seat, and we pulled out. Kara leaned over me worriedly. I tried to put my outrage into my stare, but she didn’t seem interested in what I was feeling. Something else was worrying her. Maybe it was Graham. I had a moment of satisfaction, but then I remembered Graham didn’t know where I’d gone.
Shit
.

W
e drove
for about half an hour, then pulled off onto a dirt road. After a few more minutes, the van lurched to a stop. It all seemed sickeningly familiar. At least we hadn’t gone far enough to have reached the old mill. Not unless we’d gone twice the speed limit.

Williams went around and opened the back door. He grabbed my feet and hauled me out. Kara held my head so that it didn’t bounce along the metal floor on the way. Maybe they were setting up a good-cop, bad-cop routine.

I was surprised when I heard the passenger door close, and Callie appeared. Her eyes widened when she saw me.

“Beth! Are you all right?”

She knelt down beside me and reached for the gag.

“Callie, please get back in the van,” Williams said.

She looked up at him, clearly torn.

“She’s frightened. Why did you have to frighten her?”

God, what an innocent
, I thought. She seemed to have no idea what sort of people she was involved with.

Williams was looking at her with an expression that suggested he might be thinking the same thing. It was probably the only time we’d ever be on the same page. He bent, helped her up, and walked her around the van, speaking quietly.

I took a look at my surroundings. We weren’t on a farmer’s access road, this time. I found that only marginally reassuring. Williams could have corpse piles scattered all over the Upper Midwest, for all I knew.

We seemed to have pulled into an abandoned homestead overgrown with trees and bushes. A ways to the left stood the ruins of a small house, and behind that a pile of warped wood that might once have been a shed or lean-to. Lone fence posts stuck up here and there, and the ground was littered with rusted pieces of metal. We were completely out of sight of any road. The sun was touching the line of trees on the horizon. It would be dark in less than an hour.

I heard the van door shut again, and Williams came back alone. I guessed he’d convinced Callie to hang tight in the front seat. That brought a surge of fear — Callie’s gentle presence might’ve restrained the man’s violence.

He lifted me up and set me down on a stump. Cold moisture from the wood immediately started seeping through the seat of my jeans. I cringed away from him, but he didn’t seem to notice — just looked at Kara and nodded, then backed off a little ways and sat down to watch.

I was mystified. What was Kara going to do to me? She didn’t look like she had it in her to beat me, physically. She was quite short, and though she wasn’t delicate, like Callie, her mass came from a curvy figure, not muscle. Then again, who knows what havoc she could wreak with her ability — maybe healing was only the positive side of what she could do.

Surprisingly, what she seemed to want to do was talk to me. A whole lot.

“We brought you out here because we need to explain some things to you,” she said. “I’m sorry it went down like that. We had to make it fast, and it had to happen out of Graham’s range. Callie sensed an opportunity, and we thought it might be our only chance to reach you. We figured you wouldn’t come willingly.”

She’d figured right. I just stared back at her, which she seemed to find a little unnerving. She shot a glance over at Williams, but I could’ve told her he wasn’t going to help her out with this. The guy wasn’t much of a talker.

Kara took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. She looked sad. She also looked a lot older than her years, sort of worn out.

“Graham trained me too,” she said. “He told me that we protect the world from dangerous Seconds. Sound familiar? It’s not true. Our job is to keep humans from finding out about the S-Em. He also told me that we have the support and protection of some powerful Seconds. That’s misleading. The real story is they control us. Totally. We’re basically slaves. The Seconds tell us what to do, who to fight, who to kill. We don’t have any choices.”

I felt my body go still, like the world had stopped, but only I realized it.

“They don’t care if humans are killed, so long as it’s kept quiet. I’ve never been sent on a mission that was supposed to protect humans. The only thing we protect is the secret. I’ve been sent to kill Seconds that were as harmless as kittens just because they slipped up once, and someone might’ve seen something funny. And I know of one back in New York who kills a human every couple weeks, but they leave her alone because she’s discreet.”

I thought about it. Had Graham ever actually said his organization protected humans? Maybe not. He’d said some Seconds were dangerous to humans and some weren’t. Maybe I’d jumped to conclusions.

“He tell you about the open strait?” Kara said.

I nodded.

“I bet he gave you the idea we were trying to keep something dangerous from coming through. That’s not true. The only thing that matters is getting the thing closed. A fire that can’t be put out is too weird — it might lead to discovery.”

“You know, they don’t even think we’re human,” she said.

Now that she’d gotten going, the words just kept coming. Every time I thought she’d reached a conclusion, something new spilled out.

“They call us ‘Nolanders’ because we don’t belong in either world. They used to actually hunt us. We moved up from game animals to slaves because they realized that humans pose a threat, and that we could be useful on that front. They use us until we fail at some task they give us. Then they figure we’re not useful anymore, and we die.”

She took a few shaky breaths. I honestly didn’t know what to think. If she was making this stuff up, she was a great actress. But maybe that’s what she was. If this group included receptionists, why not actresses, too?

“I bet he’s been coming on to you. Yes? That’s what he did with me. I was so stupid. Probably stupider than you are. I mean, I was fifteen fucking years old. Why would some hotshot older guy want me? I was so cocky, I couldn’t see how absurd it was.” She laughed bitterly. “That’s how he works. Gets you all starry-eyed and pumps you full of bullshit, then uses you to get ahead. Makes you do the most fucked-up shit, then takes all the credit. By the time you realize he’s using you, he’s ready to move on to his next mark.”

She stopped.

I sat there, staring at her. My fear had faded. Kara and Williams weren’t going to kill me. They were trying to recruit me.

The fear was replaced by frustration. Now I had two versions of things that were completely different. I was supposed to be confronting my new reality instead of being a passive victim. But how could I do that if I couldn’t get a handle on what was actually going on?

How the hell was I supposed to decide who was right? I had nothing to go on except what two different people had said.

I risked a glance over at Williams. He had his elbows on his knees and was looking at his hands. No help there — I couldn’t even see his face. Callie wouldn’t be any help either. I already knew her version of things, and it didn’t match Kara’s or Graham’s.

I wanted to believe what Graham had told me. It was neater, simpler, nicer. He hadn’t made it sound like I’d be a slave, subject to the death penalty if I couldn’t get something done. Plus, he’d made it sound like we did something noble, protecting humanity from monsters.

But maybe his story was too good to be true. Shouldn’t I be more suspicious of the nice story than the horrible one? And just a couple hours ago, I’d decided I didn’t trust Graham’s romantic interest. That resonated with what Kara said.

Jesus, had he really seduced her when she was fifteen? That would be rape.

But suspicion of Graham was one thing. Throwing in with these people was another. Especially Williams. My tendency was to think that any side he was on was the wrong one. At least Graham had never hurt me.

But had he hurt Kara? It seemed like something had damaged her. The hair, tats, and piercings said “badass,” but her body language said “broken.” She reminded me of Callie, in a way, even though one woman was a conservative Christian adult and the other was a rebellious teen.

I looked down at the long, weedy grass in front of me.

I wasn’t sure. I just wasn’t sure.

I made a noise to attract Kara’s attention, then jerked my head, trying to tell her I wanted the gag removed. She looked at Williams.

He said, “No screaming or running, Ryder,” without looking up.

Nervously, Kara came over and cut the gag off me.

“I don’t know who to believe.”

“Yeah, I know,” she said, looking discouraged.

“Do you have any evidence? Anything concrete?”

Kara shook her head, looking miserable.

Williams said, “Ryzik put the hit out on Bob.”

I turned to look at him. He was still studying his hands.

“Abominable snowman Bob?” I said. “At the cemetery?”

Bob who was pining after a girl.

“Yup.”

I felt cold. “Why would Graham want to kill Bob? He’s so nice.”

Then Williams did look at me. His stare was icy. “Dozens of humans saw his foot. Think you were there.”