Tooth and Claw (The Harry Russo Diaries Book 2) (8 page)

The next couple of days were pretty quiet. Nash didn’t stay
for the movie, which was just as well, because it probably would have been
awkward when his sister, Christina, arrived for a ‘cooking date’ with Isaac.
There was definitely something going on between those two, although so
far the relationship had been strictly culinary, at least as far as I cared to
know.

It had been a relief to just have a quiet evening in after
the last couple of nights, not to mention the fact that we gorged ourselves on
Coquilles Saint-Jacques - trust me you’ve never really eaten scallops until
you’ve tried them this way - and Duck Confit. Living with a ‘foodie’
vampire has its perks.

Tess nearly busted a gut when I told her about my visit from
the Conclave Elders and what I had done to Elder Marshall. Christina had long
since gone home and Tess and I were just finishing up the dishes. It was only fair
since Isaac and Christina had done all the cooking.

“Ohmigod! I wish I could have seen the look on his face
when you dragged him across the room,” Tess guffawed, slapping her thigh.

Isaac on the other hand was flabbergasted. “You mean you
pushed him several feet across the floor
and
lifted him out the door?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say I
lifted
him. It was a lot
harder than I thought and I couldn’t get him off the ground, but I gave him a
big enough push that it got him over the threshold.” I shrugged. I didn’t see
the problem. Isaac
had
told me to practice every day. “What’s the big
deal?”

“The
big deal
, Harry, is that you shouldn’t be able
to move an object or a person of that size.” Isaac still looked a little
shocked. “Tomas has been practicing his entire lifetime and can, at most, lift
a large hardcover book.”

Now it was my turn to be a little
shocked. “Well, you never told me I shouldn’t try to move big things.”

“It seems it was a good thing that I didn’t,” Isaac said,
deep in thought. He was probably wondering just how many other ways I could be
a total freak. Good thing he didn’t know about the vampire lie detector yet.

Just before Tess and I turned in for the night, Bryce chimed
in saying he had found a match to the sigil on the mystery man’s ring.

“
Ever heard of Count Saint-Germaine or the Marquis de
Montferrat?
”

“No. Should I have? Who were they and what do they have to
do with the ring?” I asked impatiently. I was tired and wanted to go to bed.

“
Not they, but he. They’re the same person. He was also believed to be a Prince
of Transylvania, or that was the rumour in 1779,
” Bryce replied, modulating his voice
on the word Transylvania so he sounded like a bad B-movie vampire.

“So wait a minute, are you saying that Harry’s mystery man
is supposed to be some ancient Prince?” Tess asked. “Is he a vampire?” She
looked at Isaac who put his hands up, signalling he was at a loss.

Isaac had missed hearing about the mystery man earlier when
Nash was here, so I quickly filled him in. “But, this guy wasn’t a vampire,” I
added. “I’m sure of that.” And I would know since I have a built-in vampire
detector.

“
I didn’t say he was. If you would quit interrupting me….
”
Just how you make a computer generated voice sound snippy, I don’t know, but
Bryce managed it.

“Okay, okay. Astound us, oh Font of Information.” I bowed
with a little flourish of my hand to the computer, which was a wasted gesture
now that I think of it because Bryce couldn’t see us, not unless he had a
webcam set up somewhere. Actually, I wouldn’t put it past him; he’d become a
real voyeur since shedding the old mortal coil.

“
All right then. Prepare to be astounded
.” The
monitor suddenly displayed a black and white reproduction of a portrait of a
man. It looked like it could have been something from the 1700’s. The man in
the portrait reminded me of George Washington.

“
The Count Saint-Germaine was a philosopher and occultist
believed to have been born in the late 1600s. Later, when he was in his late
80’s and still looked like he was in his 30’s, he claimed to be over five
hundred years old. He is believed to have been known by many of the most
famous figures of European history: Voltaire, Casanova, Madame de Pompadour,
Catherine the Great and King Louis XV, Anton Mesmer; they are all said to have
been linked to the Count.
”

Bryce’s male Siri voice droned on while several other
pictures flashed on the screen.

“
It was believed at the time that Saint-Germaine had discovered
the ‘elixir of life’ and he capitalized on that belief by seeking benefactors
in order to set up a laboratory to reproduce the elixir. He was eventually
bank-rolled by a German royal named Prince Charles of Hesse-Kassel who was
known for his interest in mysticism and was a member of several secret
societies.
”

“So the perfect patsy for his con,” Tess mused.

“
More than likely
,” Bryce replied. “
Hesse-Kassel
set Saint-Germaine up with a laboratory somewhere in the Schleswig region of
Germany. Saint-Germaine managed to bilk the Prince out of a good portion of
the family inheritance before disappearing in a mysterious explosion that
destroyed his laboratory. He was never seen again
,
or at least not
until 1970 when some guy named Richard Chanfray appeared on French television
claiming to be Saint-Germaine.
”

“But what does that have to do with my mystery man? Is he
this Chanfray guy? Are you suggesting that he’s Saint-Germaine?” I asked.

“
Chanfray disappeared in 1983. Apparently he committed
suicide but the body was never found
,” replied Bryce.

Another series of pictures flashed on the screen, including
a picture of the ring I had seen the mystery man wearing.

“Hey, that’s the ring!” I said excitedly.

“
It is worn by members of the Society of Montferrat.
Supposedly, they are a secret fraternity of men who believe Saint-Germaine’s
claims and have dedicated themselves to re-discovering his elixir.”

“But Saint-Germaine was more than likely a fraud.” Tess
shook her head. “Where did you find all this?”

“
Mostly on the regular old web, but I found some
legitimate chatter about the Society on the Deepnet,”
Bryce replied,
referring to the Dark Net or hidden criminal side of the internet.
“These
guys are for real,”
Bryce continued.
“They have chapters all around the
world. But wait, I haven’t got to the best part yet.
” Another picture, a
much more modern portrait this time, appeared on the screen.

“Hey, that’s him. That’s the man I saw at the funeral.”

“
This is Douglas Bellemare, President and CEO of
Bellemare Industries. He’s also Grand Master of the Society of Montferrat and he claims to be a descendant
of Count Saint-Germaine
.”

“Wow, good job Bryce. This is incredible.” He had given me
a lot to think about. Like what a secret society had to do with missing
werewolves and whether there was a connection to the death of two young,
apparently healthy, men.

***

The next day I called Nash to give him the information that
Bryce had uncovered. He seemed interested enough in the stuff about Count
Saint-Germaine, but the name of the mystery man was old news to him.

“I found out the man’s name last night,” he said.

“You did? How?”

“By doing my job,” he replied impatiently. “The nurse from
yesterday is employed by Bellemare Industries. Listen, I thought you were
going to leave the investigating to me?”

“I never said that.”

“Harry,” Nash warned. “You stay away from Bellemare. We
don’t even know if he’s involved and if he is, he could be dangerous.”

“He has to be involved, why else would the wolf hate him so
much? I had more dreams last night.” They had been the worst ones yet.

“I’m sorry, I know they’re rough on you.” Nash’s voice lost
some of its stern tone. “Were they the same as the other night?”

“Similar, but they were mainly about the white room. It
looked like a hospital room or maybe some sort of research facility. There
were men and women in dark blue lab coats. They had a patch over the breast
pocket with a flower or a star or something. I couldn’t really see it all that
well.” I shuddered, thinking about the dreams. “And there was a cage, a
silver cage. There were men fighting and then there were wolves fighting.
There was blood everywhere. Everything is kind of jumbled together. But it
was awful.”

Thinking about the dreams was freaking me out all over again.
I had woken up feeling terrified and confused. The wolf had been sitting
beside my bed and, as if sensing my distress or maybe it was in apology, he put
his head on my lap. After a minute or two he stood up and then howled
mournfully before disappearing. The dreams must have been his way to
communicate with me, since he was in wolf form and couldn’t speak. What I
really wanted to know though, is why he
was
in wolf form and not his
human form. I don’t know how, but I knew that he was a werewolf and not just
an ordinary wolf. If the man was dead, why didn’t he appear to me as a man?
Why was he stuck in his wolf form?

“Are you okay Harry?” Nash’s voice was concerned. I guess
I had been quiet too long.

“Yeah, I’m fine. The dreams are just bothering me.” I
sighed. “I’ve been meaning to ask you, why do you think the ghost is a wolf?
I mean, since he’s a werewolf, why isn’t he appearing in his human form? He’d
be able to talk to me then, instead of haunting my dreams.”

“I don’t know Harry. Sometimes, when a man spends too long
as a wolf, he loses himself to the form. He becomes more wolf than man. We
call them wildlings. Maybe he’s one of them.”

“Are any of the missing werewolves wildlings?”

“It could very well be, but we have no way of knowing for
sure. Wildlings are loners. They’re no longer part of the pack. They spend
all their time running wild in the forest. Who would notice if they were
missing?” He paused and I could imagine him running a hand through his hair,
like he does when thinking or frustrated. “Listen Harry, I’ve got to go.
Promise me if you learn anything else you will call me first
before
you
do anything reckless. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“You don’t or your wolf?” Damn! I just couldn’t leave it
alone.

“Me, Harry. The wolf isn’t in charge, I am.” With that, he
hung up.

Huh. Why did I have to ask that? And what did his answer
mean? Did it mean I was growing on him?

My promise to Nash - although technically he hung up on me
before I had made any promises - was put to the test the next day.

“Hey Russo, I have some information that may be of interest
to you,” Tomas’s voice sounded smug. It always sounded smug. He also always
tended to call me by my last name. I think he had a problem with calling me
Harry.

“I highly doubt that,” I replied.

“Russo, you wound me.”

“That’s nothing compared to what I would like to do to
you.” Tomas and I hadn’t hit it off all that well.

“Look,” he said, “I think we got off on the wrong foot when
we met.”

Now
that
was an understatement. “You mean when you thought I was a
worthless human?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

“Or are you referring to the time you tied me up and threatened
to bite my neck and feast on my fear?” I continued, ignoring Tomas’s reply.

“Come on Russo, you know that was just for show.”

“Ha! Not at the time I didn’t.”

“Consider this my way of making it up to you. You
were very impressive the other night and I think I may have underestimated
you.”

“You wouldn’t be the first,” I replied, thinking of another
male I wanted to strangle half the time. “Listen Tomas, what do you want?”

“It has been brought to my attention that there is a very
exclusive, underground fight club operating in the city. It holds events by
invitation only for select guests.”

“And this interests me how?”

“The rumour is that the combatants are mutts,” he replied,
using the vampire’s derogatory term for werewolves. “And, that they are being
coerced somehow to fight against their will.”

“What? Where did you hear that?”

“I have my sources.”

“So why are you telling me? The Magister should be told
about this. He should put a stop to it. He’s responsible for the werewolves
too.”

“Who did you think told me to tell you?” So much for Tomas
doing this for me out of a genuine desire to make amends.

“Me? Why me?”

“The Magister thought that perhaps you would like to accompany
me on a little information gathering trip, since you seem to have some sort of
affinity to the mutts.”

“Does Nash know?” I asked, thinking about my unspoken
promise.

“You can tell him if you wish,” he replied with a sound of
exasperation.

“Tell me more about this club.”

It turned out that Tomas didn’t really know all that much,
other than that there was a rumour that the underground club existed. Our
little informational field trip was to visit Ares, a Cimmerian approved fight
club, where the fighters were human - it turns out vampires got a kick out of
watching norms beat the crap out of one another - to see if we could get
ourselves invited to the top-secret one.

“I’ll pick you up tonight, nine o’clock,” Tomas said.

“That’s fine, but Isaac will want to come with us.”

“Whatever, but he can make his own way there. And Russo,”
Tomas deadpanned before hanging up, “wear something sexy.”

***

“No. Absolutely not. It’s a bad idea.” Nash prowled back
and forth across the living room.

I had asked him over so I could tell him about the secret fight
club. Of course he was being his usual stubborn alpha-self about the whole
idea.

“I should definitely go with you,” Tess said.

“No.” Both Nash and I replied at the same time.

“Look Tess, I’m sorry. But I think it would be a really bad
idea for you to go when we don’t know what’s going on. You’re a werewolf,” I
said, stating the obvious, but I think it had to be said, “and these people are
kidnapping and doing who the hell knows what to werewolves. I don’t want
anything to happen to you.”

Nash gave me an exasperated look to which I replied, “I’m
not a werewolf.” I let out a deep breath. “Look, Isaac is going to be there
and I doubt if Tomas would let anything happen to me, if for no other reason
than he wouldn’t want to piss off Salvador.” At least I hoped that was the
case.

“You don’t understand what you’re getting yourself into,”
Nash growled. “Ares makes Dante’s look like a PTA meeting.”

Okay, so that made me pause for a second. Dante’s ranked
pretty high on the depravity scale. It was the local hangout for blood whores
and fang-bangers and positively reeked of blood and sex. Still, if going would
help get information that could solve the missing werewolf mystery, I’d do it.

“I can take care of myself,” I insisted stubbornly, hoping I
sounded more confident than I felt.

“I will ensure Harry’s safety,” Isaac, who had been sitting
quietly observing our argument, added. “No harm will come to her.”

Nash stopped his pacing and stared at Isaac. A silent
conversation seemed to take place between the two men. Finally Nash threw his
hands up in defeat. “All right. Fine.” He stomped over to me, grabbing me by
the elbow. “But you had better listen to Isaac. If he says jump, you jump.”
He shook his finger at me, scolding. I frowned and pulled my arm from his
grasp. “I mean it, Harry,” he growled.

“Okay, okay. I promise.” I scowled at Nash and then
flopped down on the couch beside Tess to join her in her sulk. Damn pushy
alpha male always trying to control my life. Why did I have to find it so
attractive?

***

We finally hashed out a plan, although Nash still wasn’t
happy with my part in it. I would go with Tomas, and Isaac would meet us there
and act as a bodyguard. As Salvador’s second, it was expected that Tomas would
travel with an entourage.

Nash agreed to hang back and wait outside the club. He was
too well known as a cop to try and sneak in without stirring up attention. Bryce
was busy hacking into the building’s security cameras, so he could route any
security feeds to Nash’s laptop. I thought he should just stay at the
firehall and watch the feeds with Tess, but Nash insisted that he wanted to be
close by in case we needed back-up. The ‘we’ really being ‘me’. I doubt if he
cared if Tomas needed help.

With a plan in place, I disappeared upstairs with Tess
to try and find something to wear. We must have done a good job, because Nash
almost blew his top when I came back downstairs later.

“You’re wearing that?” He ogled me up and down.

“Va-va-voom Harry. That dress looks freakin’ fantastic on
you. I knew it would,” Tess gushed.

Tomas had wanted sexy, I was giving him sexy. Now hopefully,
I didn’t topple over on the sky-high stiletto pumps I was wearing and ruin the
effect. I had bought them online months ago on a whim and had never actually
worn them, except to prance around my room. The dress was Tess’s. It was a
body-hugging bandage dress in fiery red. Because Tess was shorter than me, it
was a rather mini, mini-dress, leaving little to the imagination. The cut-out,
cross-over straps and deep-V plunge upped the sexy factor by ten. The funny
thing is, it wasn’t the dress that left me feeling naked, but rather the fact
that I wasn’t wearing my katana. Tomas had warned that there would be pat-down
security. My little ‘no-see-me’ spell wouldn’t stand up to that sort of
scrutiny, so the blade would have to stay at home.

“My, my, you do look ravishing in that dress Harry,” Isaac
added his two cents worth, earning a growl from Nash.

“I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “You’re not going.”

“I’m not having this argument with you again,” I replied. I
put out my hand. “Do you have the bug?” Nash had insisted that I wear a small
listening device. It would give him audio to go with whatever video Bryce was able
to get.

He looked at me skeptically. “I don’t know where you are
going to put it.”

“Just give me the damn thing. I’ll figure it out.” The
device was small, the size of a penny but the thickness of about a stack of
five of them. Nash was right, damn him. There was no place I could safely put
it that it didn’t show up in this form fitting, rather revealing dress.

“I’ll just get Tomas to carry it. I’ll be with him so
you’ll know where I am.”

“And if you get separated?” asked Nash.

“Isaac can just hone in on her like he did before,” Tess
answered.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible now,” replied Isaac. “The
ability to locate someone is a result of a sharing of blood and, if
blood is no longer shared, it wears off.”

Nash looked at me in surprise. “So you’re not…” He pointed
his finger from me to Isaac and back again.

“No, of course not, Isaac gets his meals elsewhere,” I
replied feeling defensive for some reason. I crossed my arms in front of me.
For all I knew, Isaac was now getting his meals from Christina, but it would
have been spiteful, not to mention unfair to Christina and Isaac, to tell Nash
that.

“So just give Isaac some of your blood Harry. Then if
anything happens, he’ll be able to find you,” Tess suggested. The idea of blood
sharing obviously didn’t bother her. I wasn’t sure how I felt though.

“It would be a beneficial precaution,” agreed Isaac. “If we
are separated and you are in distress, I will know.”

Yeah, I remembered that part as well. I hadn’t particularly
liked that Isaac was able to feel my emotions after our last little blood
exchange. Still, it was only for a short period, and it had certainly saved my
life last time. “Okay, let’s do it.”

I held my wrist out to Isaac. Nash growled and grabbed my
arm, tugging me a few feet away from Isaac. “Are you crazy?”

“No, it’s perfectly safe. I trust Isaac. He would never do
anything to hurt me. Besides, I can’t wear the bug and you were worried about
not having a tracker on me. This is the perfect solution.” I pushed past Nash
and went and stood in front of Isaac.

“You better sit, Harry,” Isaac said, taking my wrist and
leading me to one of the kitchen stools. “I only need a sip, but I can prevent
the pain this time, unlike the last time.”

“Sure, whatever you think is best.” I may have sounded
casual about the whole thing, but really I was nervous. I sat on the stool and
held my wrist out to Isaac again.

Isaac grasped my arm gently. He leaned over the inside of
my wrist and his fangs descended. I tensed expecting the stabbing pain I had
felt the last time Isaac had taken my blood, but instead I felt nothing but
calm. When Isaac’s fangs pierced my skin, Nash growled. I looked over at him.
He was standing by the dining table, the back of a chair grasped in a
white-knuckled grip. He was taking slow, steady breaths like he was trying to
force himself to remain calm. I felt the pull at my wrist as Isaac sucked
deeply and I closed my eyes, my head tipping back as the euphoria swept over
me. Holy crap, no wonder blood whores were addicted to being bitten. It felt incredible.
A warm tingle started to form in my core, like sexual arousal.

“Omigod!” I exclaimed, my hand flying to my mouth in shock
as my fangs descended.

Isaac stopped sucking and lapped once at the wound, closing
the two small holes he had made. He chuckled and said, “It’s okay Harry. It
can happen.” There was a crash and the chair Nash had been strangling toppled
over.

“What the hell just happened?” Nash demanded striding over
to stand beside me.

“Nothing,” I protested, my hand still hovering in front of
my mouth. “Nothing ith…IS wrong.” I concentrated for a moment and my fangs
retracted.

“Harry got a fang hard-on,” Tess laughed.

“Not funny Tess.” I scowled at her.

“Relax, Detective,” Isaac said. “It’s nothing to worry
about. Blood exchange can be a very sensual experience. Harry was just
reacting to it and has yet to master full control over her responses.”

“Yeah, Harry’s just a baby vamp after all.”

“Not helping Tess,” I grumbled.

***

Further conversation had been thankfully brought to an end
by Tomas’s arrival. He came to the door which was more than I had expected.
He struck me more as a lean-on-the-horn, wait-in-the-car kind of guy. He took
about two steps into the room then stopped, his eyes widening. “Nice job,
Russo,” he said, nodding his head in approval. I guess I passed inspection.

Tomas looked over at Nash and Isaac who were still eyeing
each other. “What’s their deal?”

“Nothing to worry about,” I said.

Tomas grabbed me by the waist, pulling me up against
himself. “Come on Russo, we don’t want to be late.”

At the sight of Tomas’s hands on me, Nash growled and took a
step towards us.

Tomas laughed, letting go of me, holding his hands up in
surrender. “It’s like that is it? Down boy,” he said to Nash.

I leaned into Tomas, making a show of smoothing his lapels
and straightening his tie. He had a pocket square, not matching mind you, I
think
GQ
would have said it was complementary. I gave it a little tug
and slipped the tracking device into his pocket. “Let’s go,” I said. “Oh, and
Tomas, if your hand ever strays any lower, I’ll break your thumb.”