Natural Consequences (59 page)

“I might’ve thought before this week that a demon would be beyond me.”

“Do you plan to subdue her with the great power of your Christian faith?”

“Motherfucker,” Rachel muttered. “He wants me to help him deal with all the vampires and bullshit.” Her eyes turned to Donald. “That’s what all this is, right? Just a chance to get me to intervene here, make your guy look good, and I take a fall for getting hip-deep in mortal bullshit?”

“One could argue that you are already far deeper than that,” said Donald sourly, “but as I recall, you didn’t want me to speak.”

“We can talk of the monsters you hunt for some time,” said Lorelei. “We can speak of their organizations and their habits and weaknesses. I can explain what transpired here in Seattle that led us to this current debacle. Will you let us all go in exchange?”

“It’s a start.”

“What more do you want?”

“He wants all the monsters,” Rachel said, looking to Lorelei meaningfully. “All of them. Including you.”

Hauser reached for the papers on the manila folder and turned over the top sheet. He revealed an autopsy photo of a young, fit black man and an accompanying report. “This guy look familiar to you at all? His name is Damon Demetrius Bell. You murdered him just last January.”

Lorelei glanced down at the papers only once. “What proof do you have?”

“Mostly circumstantial evidence. I’ve got witnesses that can put you with Bell shortly before he died
. Given what I know about you now I can construct a plausible story. It won’t be good enough for a conviction, but I don’t need anything more if you make a full confession.”

“He wants to get you away from Alex for good,” Rachel grimaced. “Because
someone
told him it was the right thing to do.”

“And then?” asked Lorelei.

“And then Alex and his buddies can go free. No charges.”

“What if I do not?”

“Then I put you and everyone else away on the stuff that
will
hold up in court and I move on to the next bad guy while you
all
rot in prison.”

“You do not offer a compelling bargain,” Lorelei replied dryly.

“It’s the one you get. I’m not leaving that kid in your hands regardless. He’s better off in prison than with you.”

“I somehow doubt that he will agree. Agent Hauser, you have me here now only because Alex wanted to give you a chance,” Lorelei explained. “You used force against me in spite of his cooperation.
Do you sincerely believe you will have his trust now?”

“I doubt he’ll be so interested in
you
anymore after what he saw,” snorted Hauser. “He’s a twenty-year-old kid and you’ve led him around by his dick for a month. Maybe he’ll wise up now that he’s seen what a fuck-ugly hag you are underneath your magical illusions or however it is you create that face. If he talks and you don’t, then I’ve got no reason to give you any breaks at all.”

Lorelei smiled.
Hauser didn’t like it. “What?” he asked.

“You mock and deride me for my appearance. You presume to split lovers apart because you do not approve of their relationship. You bargain with the freedom of others to serve your ambitions. Perhaps you have not considered this, but to wear the righteous armor of faith, one must actually
be
righteous.

“Bring forth your little trinket and pray at me again, o’ mortal man. Let us see if you still wield the same power you did mere minutes ago… or if you have already cracked that armor you wore so confidently.”

She gazed intently at him as she spoke, watching his face for any sort of tick or tell, and then she saw it: his narrowed eyes twitched just a bit with sudden realization.

“Tell me, Agent Hauser,” Lorelei asked in tones that might have been soothing in another context, “do any other sins weigh upon your conscience?”

Rachel gave her shoulder a slight squeeze. “You’re good,” she breathed.

“
Uh-huh. Guess we’re already at an impasse,” Hauser sighed. “It’s natural for a suspect to get combative once she realizes she’s cornered. I’ll let you chew on this for a bit.” He rose from the table. “Think it through. There’s no way I could let you go even if I wanted to, but if you cooperate we can make all this easier on you.”

He opened the door to leave, with Nguyen and
Bridger following in his wake. The pair of angels beside them also withdrew. Sergio’s gaze stayed on Donald rather than Rachel or Lorelei.

“He blinked,” grinned Rachel.

“He did,” nodded Lorelei, “and he did not. He knew I would not crack in his first attempt. Leaving me here to think on his offer was always part of his plan.”

Rachel came around to face her. “What’s wrong?”

“It is as he said. I never wanted either of you to see me like that.”

“You know I don’t give a damn.”

“No,” Lorelei nodded quietly. “Not you.”

* * *

Outside in the hall, with the doors secured and several paces away, Hauser and his team regrouped. Keeley appeared from another room to meet with them. “The mics picked up just fine,” he said. “Nothing seemed distorted. I’ll have to listen again to be sure it recorded, but I don’t think we had any interference.”

“She didn’t pull any magical tricks on us, either,”
Bridger nodded. “Nothing that I could spot, anyway. And now that I know to look, I can still see the wings and the horns and such. And the tail. I don’t know how we can secure a tail, but I don’t think she can reach anything useful in there with it and even so I don’t know how prehensile it—“

“Yeah, good,” Hauser grunted. He rubbed the bridge of his nose and then his eyes. “I figure that went about as well as could be expected.”

“You okay?” asked Nguyen.

“Fine. Just irritated. First those two punks, then I thought I was getting somewhere with Carlisle, and now…” He jerked his thumb at Lorelei’s room. “We’ll break her. I don’t care if she’s a demon or if she’s from Mars. We’ll get there. Anyway, how’s Maddox? She
holding it together?”

“Just
making a written report while it’s still fresh,” nodded Keeley. “Why?”

“We need to put all four of those guys in a room and confront them together, Paul. I need you to do that.”

The other agents looked at one another with obvious surprise. “Uh, Joe,” Keeley said, “none of them have actually confessed. Why would we put them in the same room where they can—?”

“Look, I told Carlisle that he could see them,” interrupted Hauser irritably. “If she’s right, and I think she is, I gotta make good on that. Otherwise I’m lying and that might be a weakness if I flash the rosary again.”

“Joe, where did you even get that thing?” asked Nguyen. “Why didn’t you tell us? What do you know that we don’t?”

“I knew we’d be facing a demon, so I went to a church,” Hauser snapped. “You need to know more than that? Is it time for us all to have a sit-down chat about our religions? I had an idea and it worked. What more to you need to know?”

Keeley and Nguyen frowned, both glancing at Bridger. The occultist shrugged. “It’s possible Lorelei’s right. Confidence is a huge factor in matters of magic and… well, faith. If Hauser doubts his ability to keep Lorelei in check, then he won’t be able to do it. Even if she’s lying,” he added pointedly.

“Joe, this is a bad idea,” Keeley pressed. “Jones has been a brick wall and Reinhardt just treats all this like it’s a game. You put the two of them together with the others and it could be a disaster.”

“So don’t let it happen!” snapped Hauser. “They’re all loyal to each other, right? Use that.”

“You don’t want to be in the room to do it?”

“No. I’ll watch. I’m in no shape to do a second interrogation right now. We’ll have Amber with me so she can corroborate anything they say, but it has to be you.” With that, he stomped off down the hallway.

Nguyen threw Keeley an uncomfortable look. “At least he
knows his limits,” Keeley shrugged.

They sat Alex down in a new chair and a larger room with a large conference table at its center. Like the rest of the building, Alex saw signs of disrepair and age. Someone had drawn the curtains back from the window, allowing for some natural light and a view of the trees. That alone made the room nicer than his improvised cell, which was little more than a cot in a locked closet.

Getting handcuffed to yet another chair wasn’t so nice.

They left him in the room with a single agent, who sat at one end of the conference table with his laptop open. His jacket hung from the back of the chair. His tie, loosened but still hanging from his open collar, looked like a hated nuisance. Alex watched him. The man didn’t look up from his work.

“Please tell me you’re writing an angry blog post about how my civil rights are being violated,” Alex said.

“Mm-hm,” the agent murmured.

The door opened. A uniformed guard came through, leading
in two familiar faces and a couple more men in suits.

“Hey, guys,” Alex sighed grimly.

“Oh, man, I plead the Fifth on anything this fool says,” Drew announced as he stepped through. He still wore the same suit from the party, minus the tie. His hands were cuffed behind his back.

“Your mom pleads the Fifth on anything I say,” replied Alex.

Drew paused and blinked. The guard behind him pushed him along as Drew muttered, “Can’t believe you finally got me.”

“Aw, y’all wanna have us a group discussion now?” said the other prisoner. Like Drew,
Wade still had his Halloween clothes on, though the gears had been stripped from his outfit and his hat and belt were gone. Also like Drew, he was still cuffed.

“Hi, Wade,” Alex said.

“Alex.” He looked over his shoulder. “Hey, if y’all’re gonna do ‘im like that, you oughta go all the way an’ get him one a’ them leather masks. He’s a biter.”

“Just sit down, all of you,” said the agent at his computer. He gestured to seats at the table, to which the guards guided their prisoners. With the group seated, the agent who had led them in found himself a spot at the end of the table.

“You guys okay?” asked Alex.

“Wondered when someone was gonna realize we were gone,” Drew frowned.

Alex scowled. “Yeah, well, we all thought we had texted back and forth with you a few times already,” he said.

“Shit, really?”

“Wouldn’t make that one up,” shrugged Alex.

Drew turned his gaze on the agent. “Hey, so for the twentieth time: does my family know I’ve been arrested?”

“Nope,” the agent shook his head. “Sorry. National security trump card.”

“Is that why we ain’t actually been charged with nothin’ yet?”

“We’re about to get to all that,” the agent said. There was a knock on the door. “C’mon in,” he called out.

The door opened again
. Jason was led in, handcuffed like the rest, by Nguyen and another agent. As his eyes swept the room, he let out heavy breath. “Sorry, guys.”

“What’re y’all sorry for?” asked Wade.

“Turns out Amber’s an undercover Fed.”

Drew shot the other agents a glare. “You sent someone in to play him like that? Man, that’s just
low
.”

“They’re pretty good at going for the low blow,” said Alex.

“Yeah, I can’t blame you guys for being mad,” sighed the other agent. “These are Agents Lanier and Nguyen,” he said, gesturing to each in turn, “and I’m Agent Keeley. We’re with the task force that has been investigating your group and your shenanigans.”

“Is this everyone? Where’s Lorelei?” demanded Alex. “Where’d you put her?”

“Woah, they got her, too?” asked Wade.

“Shit,” Jason winced.

“These assholes hauled me out of class this morning. She came in here to get us out and I tried to talk her down, ‘cause I
thought
these might be the good guys,” Alex said, glancing resentfully at the other agents. “Then the asshole in charge took her down with some magic bullshit and they carted her off. She looked completely fucked up and I don’t know where she is.”

“Lorelei’s in custody and she’s fine,” Keeley nodded. “Alex, guys, I gotta tell you: I don’t think you’ve been able to see her objectively. Her face is back to the way you’re used to it, but what you saw out there is the real deal. She looks like that naturally. I mean, she’s a demon, right?”

Alex glared at Keeley, trying to control his anger. “That’s your plan? Sweep in here, arrest and fuck up everyone I care about and then tell me I don’t understand my own life?”

“Hey, hey, dial it back, Alex,” Keeley said, holding up his hands. “We don’t have to be enemies here. Like we’ve been trying to tell you, we’re not the bad guys. You’re in a lot of trouble.
We want to help you out of it.

“Now, normally we wouldn’t let a group like this all see each other like you’re doing now. We’ve been watching you, though, and the more we piece things together, the more we think we can give you this chance. And you’ve all been pretty firm about protecting one another. Alex, Jason, these are some tough friends you have here,” Keeley continued, waving his pen at the other two young men. “Been here about thirty-six hours, interviewed three times—“

“Interrogated,” Wade corrected.

“—and they haven’t cracked
.”

“You seem pretty cheerful about all this,” observed Drew.

“I don’t take this personally. My boss might, of course. But I don’t see any reason to bluster or get mad. Just a waste of energy. Gets me stressed for no good reason. Anyhoo,” he shrugged mildly, “this whole deal isn’t about me, right? It’s about you.

“And the first thing we’ve gotta do is make sure we’re all on the same page so we can drop all the denials and the diversions and move on.” He turned his eyes to Alex. “Look, I get that you’re mad. If I saw something like that happen to my significant other, I’d be pretty pissed, too. But you gotta understand, we can’t take any chances. And, well,” Keeley shrugged again, “you saw her with your own eyes, buddy. She
never told you about her face, did she? Doesn’t it make you wonder what else she hasn’t told you?”

Jason watched Alex carefully, noting the building anger in his friend’s eyes and his breath. “What is it you guys actually want?” he asked, remembering Alex’s rage in the bus tunnel. He didn’t want Alex to
explode.

“Full depositions, for starters. We need answers. A whole lot of answers. And they’ll be better when they’re corroborated by other witnesses and participants,” he said, gesturing around the table.

“About what?” asked Drew.

“Everything. Lorelei, Rachel, your pool hall, your witch friends,
and especially the night you guys apparently blew up most of the vampires in Seattle. We’ve got everything Jason told Amber, but we need to know more. We’d like to hear it from all of you.”

“I’d like to hear from our lawyers,” Drew scowled.

“Yeah. I hear that,” Keeley nodded with feigned sympathy. “Turns out we’ve only got one lawyer for this case, and he’s both out of town and down with the flu. We don’t have anyone else to spare just yet. National security rules, guys. Sorry. But if you don’t want to talk, you can wait for him in your rooms. Alone.

“Listen, guys, we already know, right? We know everything Jason told Amber and we already know everything she saw, from Rachel right down to your two witch friends doing their thing in Alex’s apartment—and they’re gonna have to talk to us before this is all over, too.”

“’Doing their thing?’” asked Jason. “You mean Amber saw two girls redecorate an apartment in the middle of the night? When did that become illegal?”

Keeley frowned. “That’s for later. Let’s start with Rachel: what’s her deal?”

“No,” Alex answered flatly. “Not a subject we’ll discuss.”

“I can’t play it that way, guys. I’m sorry.”

“Too bad.”

Keeley looked to the others. “Is she really an angel?”

“Couldn’t tell you,” Drew shrugged.

“I ain’t sure who you’re talkin’ about,” replied Wade.

Keeley tried again with Alex. “Does she come to your rescue when you’re in trouble?”

He looked around the room. “Don’t see anyone rescuing me right now.”

“Rachel who?” pressed Jason. “I’ve known a bunch of Rachels.”

“Even if this is the make or break issue?” Keeley asked. “Even if it could keep you out of
going to prison for the rest of your life?”

“Yep,” nodded Alex.

“Can you tell me why you won’t talk about Rachel?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“Can’t tell you. Sorry.”

“Okay,” Keeley sighed. “What about the rest of you?”

“Y’all ain’t even told us what we’re in for,” said Wade.

“Ah. Right,” Keeley nodded. “For you two, we’re looking at assault and battery on several individuals also in custody—“

“Self-defense,” Wade and Drew intoned simultaneously.

“—you think that’ll hold up?”

“We didn’ go out there with any weapons. Ah’m bettin’ those assholes got criminal records longer’n any paper I ever wrote in school. Drew an’ I ain’t got nothin’ worse’n a couple parkin’ tickets between us.
An y’all claim you saw the whole thing. That means y’all saw them hit first. How’s that not self-defense?”

“You also committed murder in that fight, Wade. Of a vampire, no less, which is kinda hard to do without premeditation.”

“A vampire,” Jason repeated.

“Yeah.
Guys, Amber saw an angel fight monsters. We’ve got a demon in custody. We can drop the denials, okay? You admitted to an undercover agent that they exist, and you’ve both seen and fought them in person.”

“Doesn’t mean there was one in the fight with Drew and Wade,” said Jason. “You got a body?”

“Jason,” Keeley said, “I know you want to defend your friends here—“

“You got a body?”

“—but you weren’t even there, so how about you not make speculations about it that won’t make any difference in court?”

“You got a body?”

Keeley frowned. “Do vampires leave bodies, Jason?”

“Not to my knowledge,” Jason said, “they just leave ashes.”

“Right. And we’ve got that.”

“Right. And do you know the chemical composition of dead vampire ashes?” He paused, calmly waiting for Keeley to answer. “Do you know how to prove in court that those ashes are vampire ashes? Or from any kind of person at all?” Again, he waited a beat for a reply. “Do you know what vampire ashes look like under a microscope, Agent Keeley? ‘
cause I do, and I know that you can’t prove to anyone that those ashes came from anything organic.”

Keeley blinked.

“Say it with me,” Jason deadpanned: “Oh, snap.”

* * *

She wanted to cheer.

Before that moment, she wanted to crawl under a rock and die. She sat beside her silent boss in a mostly empty office, watching the interrogation unfold on a computer screen as the camera on
Lanier’s laptop relayed it. Aside from a curt query regarding her well-being, Hauser said nothing to her. They sat forward in their chairs, listened and watched with growing trepidation.

They had a solid case against the crew. They had physical evidence, they had surveillance and an airtight timeline. Hauser planned to offer the guys immunity in exchange for depositions and testimony.
The guys were all smart enough to know it was their only way out.

Amber
also knew how far Alex had already gone to protect Lorelei, more than once, and how far Jason had gone to protect them both. Her heart sank ever further as she watched Jason endure the conversation, knowing he understood just how ugly this would get. Every time Amber felt like she couldn’t feel more guilt, she found herself proven wrong.

And then, in
that brief flurry of words, Jason tore the whole thing apart.

Hauser sat beside her. He leaned further forward. She leaned back, hoping he wouldn’t turn his eyes to look at her as she bit down on her fist to prevent
herself from laughing or crying out.

Does Hauser
even understand?
Amber wondered. She looked at the back of Hauser’s head as he watched. Her eyes turned to the screen again. She caught sight of Keeley’s face.
He gets it
, she realized.
Keeley gets it. He won’t tell them, but… Oh my god. Jason.

Minutes later, the ill-conceived group interrogation broke up. Hauser rose and stalked out of the room without a word. That suited
Amber just fine.

She turned off the video, stared at the blank screen, and wished she could high-five the guy who would probably never speak to her again.

* * *

Hauser found his agents standing at the end of the hallway. Nguyen looked out the window, arms folded across her chest.
Lanier had his back to a wall, his head tilted up to the ceiling. Keeley had his hands up on the back of his head as he looked at the floor, walking in something between a circle and a strange pacing motion.