Natural Consequences (41 page)

“If it’s about you, then yeah. Even if it involves Lorelei or Rachel,” Molly nodded. She gently drew his hand out of her pants then, letting out a heavy breath as she cooled down.

“Do you think either of them have a problem with you talking to us about anything?” Onyx pressed. “They don’t seem terribly inhibited.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Right now? Nothing. Anything,” shrugged Molly. “
Tell us ne of those things you’ve been carrying around that you’re afraid to talk about. Something about Lorelei’s money bothers you. Tell us.”

He knew she just wanted him to answer the question for himself. His eyes came to hers, and then to Onyx. “Depending how you look at it, it’s my money. It’s my apartment, and Lorelei’s driving my car.”

“What, you mean like it’s all legally in your name?” Molly asked.

“No,” Onyx answered quietly before Alex spoke. “No, it goes deeper than that, doesn’t it?”

“It’s been part of us since the beginning,” he shrugged. “I’m not even sure how to say it, ‘cause honestly, I’m kind of ashamed. More than kind of. I feel like I should object more or something, but Lorelei gets talking, and she’s always perfectly comfortable with it, but even so…” He looked at the floor, frowning and trying to come up with the right words. “This is one of those things I’m afraid will make you think I’m a total creep.”

Onyx smirked. “I didn’t think you were a creep when you told me you had a girlfriend
who’s okay with you sleeping with other women. We both kind of figured things would only get weirder when we found out your girlfriend’s also a demon.”

“Yeah, but we’re not just boyfriend and girlfriend,” Alex said. “We’re master and s
ervant. Or slave, if you want to get blunt.” He let it hang there for a moment, waiting for the pair to look at him in disgust. They did not.

“
It’s not just the ritual bond,” he explained. “She says it’s part of being a demon. They’ve all got masters. And Lorelei loves it, at least with me. She doesn’t go there when other people are around, but when it’s just her and I—and Rachel, a lot of the time—she calls me ‘master.’ We go back and forth on this a lot, and she says she has all the freedom she could ever want with me. She’s… kind of built to get off on this, but she could never let go and enjoy that before now ‘cause everyone else she’s been with before me was complete scum. It used to be humiliating. It’s not with me.”

“Then why does it bother you?” Onyx wondered.

“Because it’s wrong, isn’t it? Shouldn’t I be trying to fix that somehow? Give her
real
freedom? I mean, I don’t treat her like a slave. I don’t order her around or humiliate her or anything like that, but it’s still there, and last night… last night we both got really into it. Truth is, I like it. And I know I shouldn’t.”

“Part of you is turned on just thinking about it right now, aren’t you?”

Alex nodded. He looked at the two again. “Like I said. Creepy.”

“Sounds like informed consent to me,” Molly shrugged. “Everyone has their kinks. I
can appreciate that one.”

“
We’re not gonna judge you on it,” said Onyx.

“How could you not?” asked Alex.

“Do you expect all your relationships to be like that?” nudged Molly.

“No, of course not.”

“Does Rachel have a problem with it?”

He snorted. “No, of course not.”

“And you never treat her like that around other people?”

“Never.”

“Then I think it’s pretty hot,” Molly grinned, “and I’d love to hear all about it. Slowly,” she teased.

Alex blanched. As he cooled down, he became increasingly aware of his surroundings again. “Not here?”

“No, not here,” Onyx said, poking Molly. “But are you willing to tell us?”

“It’s not even so much the knowing as the openness,” elaborated Molly. “Even if you don’t give us all the salacious details, it’ll make the same difference if you’re just genuinely willing to tell us.” Then she bit her lip, fighting a grin. “Although the best way to cross that bridge is to actually tell us.”    

*   *   *

“I went into Jason’s apartment with him to make sure
it was safe,” Amber told her team. They sat or stood around her in a semicircle while she leaned forward in a large plush chair. “I hung around a bit and we talked, but I told him I needed to go home and check on things. Then I came right back here.”

Silence hung over the group as they considered her words. Amber sat waiting for the hammer to fall. “And you don’t think they suspect you of being up to anything at all?” Hauser asked in a thoughtful tone.

“Oh, I think Lorelei suspects
something
,” Amber shrugged, “but I can’t tell exactly what. Jason still thinks I’m legit. Alex, too, I think. And I have no clue what Rachel thinks. She seems kind of removed from the group as a whole. I think she mostly only talks to Lorelei and Alex and keeps everyone else at arm’s length. Friendly, but distant, I guess.”

“And you’re sure you were sober and sound all night?” Colleen spoke up. She had her poker face on, betraying neither anger nor concern. “No chance anything was slipped into your drink?”

“I’m as sure as I can be. I can’t guarantee nobody used any sort of magic on me, ‘cause I wouldn’t know in the first place, right?” Amber looked to Doug Bridger.

Snapped from his thoughts,
Doug shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t,” he said, “but I can’t find any residual energy on you. That doesn’t mean nothing happened. I’m already sure those two ‘witches’ you talked about are the real deal, and they’re better than I am. But as far as I can tell, you’re clean.”

“Right. So no guarantees,” Amber sighed. “No guarantee I’m not just ready for the loony bin, either.”

“Could all of that angel business have been faked with magic?” wondered Hauser. Like Colleen, his eyes turned to Doug.

“
Someone could have cast spells on Amber to make her
think
she’d seen all this, sure. I don’t see any evidence of that, but it could happen. But as for actually creating all those effects at once? Going toe-to-toe with werewolves physically, and being able to fly and blast out all that fire? Plus all the other effects she described?” The occult expert shook his head. “There’s a lot about magic I just don’t know, but all that added together goes so far off any scale I’m familiar with that I’ve gotta say no.”

“And Lorelei?”

“She’s another matter. So far all Amber has described is some illusory magic. I couldn’t do that, but there are plenty of people who can.”

“Agent Maddox,” Hauser said, “what’s your read on what they do next? The whole group?”

“I dunno,” she shrugged, “probably find a way to get the vampires and the werewolves off their backs and then go about their lives.” She had forced herself to look Hauser in the eye when she told him how far things had gone with Jason, but had stared mostly at the floor since then. Only now did she look up once more. “Like I said, I think we had this whole group pegged wrong from the beginning. Jason, Alex, even Lorelei… they’re the good guys.”

Hauser snorted. “By her own admission, this Lorelei woman is a murderer. It doesn’t matter who she’s sleeping with now or how much she claims she
’s changed her stripes. She’s a criminal. End of story.”

“Demons aren’t exactly part of our mandate, Joe,” Keeley pointed out.

“No? How aren’t they? We’re here to handle crimes committed by creatures that science doesn’t even know exist. Seems like she fits the bill to me.

“Jones and Reinhardt murdered a man in a parking lot in full view of Bureau agents
. Amber saw Carlisle and Cohen commit felony assault and kidnapping.”

“Sir,” Amber said, “they can’t exactly dial 911 and say vampires are trying to kill them.”

“Nobody gets to play vigilante, either,” Hauser scowled. “And nobody gets to turn an American city into their own little warzone.”

“What were they supposed to do?” asked Amber.

“These are
crimes
, Agent Maddox. If they wanna prove they’re the good guys, they’ll get their chance. Lanier,” he said, shifting his attention. “We need a better place to hold our prisoners. And we need to get a tac support team up here as soon as possible.”

“Joe, I think we’ve got something else to work out first,” reminded Paul.

“What’s that?”

Paul nodded toward Amber. “She’s compromised the whole case, Joe.”

“No, she hasn’t,” Hauser frowned.

“Joe, she got romantically involved with a suspect in an investigation!” snapped Colleen. “The case is blown! We can’t bring any of this to a prosecutor, let alone in front of a judge.”

“We’re not the regular FBI, Agent Nguyen,” Hauser replied flatly. His eyes turned back to Amber, ignoring the shocked looks on everyone’s faces. “Agent Maddox, did you have sex with him?”

“Wait, what?” Amber blinked. “No! But—”

“Did you offer him sexual favors in exchange for information? Was any of this foreplay done on a
quid pro quo
basis? Did he intimidate or blackmail you?”

Her jaw fell open. “No, of course not. This all just spiraled away from me. I started to tell you this could happen two days ago, but I couldn’t get clear guidelines out of you. That’s no excuse, though, and I know it. I should’ve been more explicit. I accept full responsibility for what I did, and I’ll face whatever consequences—“

Hauser held up a hand to stop her. “I’m not suggesting anything like that. This is not a problem for our case. That’s my point.”

“The hell it
isn’t!” objected Colleen.

“That’s enough, Agent Nguyen!” Hauser barked. “We are
not
under standard FBI regulations. Agent Maddox improvised and came through with information and evidence we may never have gotten through any other approach. I wouldn’t give a damn if she
did
fuck him. That’s her call. We are not going to close the investigation, we are not going to go home, and we are not going to turn a blind eye to the laws that have been broken here.

“Agent Maddox? Are you still with us?”

“Sir?” she blinked, still in complete shock.

“Cohen is only one of the people at risk here. He might get off with a plea deal when this is all over, but we’ve gotta see it through to make that happen—unless we want to just abandon this whole matter and let him and his friends and God only knows who else die at the hands of two different groups of supernatural criminals loose in this city. Do you want that?”

“No, sir. Of course not.”

“Then we need you to stick with this.
You need to stay on Cohen. Go back to his place and try to steer him away from looking for Jones and Reinhardt.” He turned from her then, pacing across the small living room as he thought. He seemed completely oblivious to the shocked looks he got from Amber, Colleen and the others on the task force. Nor did he notice the discomfort as they looked at one another.

“Lorelei and Carlisle are the keys here,” he said
. “We’ll need a lot of leverage on her. But everything we’ve seen points to Carlisle being a stand-up guy and a boy scout…” He scratched his chin and frowned. “We’re just gonna have to put that to the test. Lanier.”

“Yeah?”

“I need to see Carlisle’s class schedule again. And a map of the campus.” He sat down on the couch beside Matt, looking over his shoulder as the agent typed away on the laptop. Then he looked over at Amber. “Like I said, we need you to stay on Cohen. Get on it, Agent.”

Still shocked to have her job, Amber rose and slowly walked out. She made it halfway down the hall before she heard the door open and shut again.

“You know you screwed up, right?” Colleen asked her without venom but also without pulling any punches. “Doesn’t matter what Hauser thinks of it. This is flat-out bad.”

Amber shook her head. “I know, Colleen. I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say other than that. I screwed up bad and I’m sorry and maybe I
should
lose my job.”

“That’s obviously not happening now,” Colleen shrugged, “and as mad as I am at this, I knew it was way too soon to put you on an undercover assignment. There are agencies who probably wouldn’t bat an eye at this, but they don’t handle domestic law enforcement.” Her face held its frown of displeasure. “Do you think you could’ve gotten this info without going about it the way you did?”

“Yeah. Probably. I don’t know… Jason would still have been interested in me, but I probably could’ve held it to ‘just friends’ if I’d really tried.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

She feared the question would come up in front of everyone. Alone in the hallway with Colleen, it seemed no less daunting. “Because I like him. Probably more than any guy I’ve ever met. But I should be able to keep all those feelings separate from the job, so… maybe that means I’m not fit for it.” She took a deep breath. “But that’s where we are, and we gotta follow through, so how do I make this right?”

Colleen’s frown turned to a scowl as she looked over her shoulder toward the closed door. “At least you’re owning your bad calls. You’re not the one I’m worried about right now.”