Undeniable (The Druids Book 1) (4 page)

Chapter Nine

Of the open restaurants in Waterford, London had picked one that balanced her need to put some distance between Granger and the fey, and put some food in her stomach before the lightheadedness morphed into nausea. To be honest though, not even sitting down with a latte in front of her and a turkey sandwich with extra pickle spears on the side was taking the edge off her headache.

Granger sitting across from her, with those scrutinizing cop-eyes, wasn’t helping matters, that was for certain. Supporting the side of her head in her hand, London dipped the pickle into the side of honey mustard and focused all her attention on eating it.

“That’s just gross. What? Are you pregnant?” Granger teased, stirring sugar into the coffee that was the only thing he ordered.

“Don’t even joke,” she murmured, although she was a hundred percent positive that she wasn’t. Not unless there was some immaculate conception clause in the druid handbook that she’d overlooked. “So, vampires. You didn’t even bat an eye at the fangs. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised Interpol knows about them. Not much gets past you guys, huh?” Best to steer the direction of this conversation where she wanted it to go, which was as far away from the topic of fey as possible.

“We’re a clever lot,” Granger agreed. “We always get to the bottom of things, even when people try to hide it.”

“Mmm,” she made a sound that could have been interpreted as agreement, or just an appreciation of the pickle.

“You want to see something?” Granger pulled his phone from his pocket and cued up a video. He slid the phone closer to London, and when she was done wiping her hand on a napkin and gave the device her attention, he tapped the glass to start the playback.

There, bigger than life, was a close-up of her and Malcolm plunging out of the Brightner Building just as it was crashing down.

Granger tapped the screen to pause it. “That’s you, isn’t it? Great cheekbones, by the way. I think your eyeliner was a bit smudged there, though.”

Not so much compliments as pointing out the clarity of the image.

He pointed to Malcolm’s face, which was equally as defined. “This guy we’ve not identified yet.”

With another tap, the video played once more, through the part where the two of them just vanished before they could hit the ground and be buried under the building toppling over them.

“So, I know the guy’s not a vampire. Vampires can’t teleport.” He slid the phone back towards himself. “And neither can you, unless I’m missing something.”

“Huh, that is weird,” she agreed. Her palm crushed down on the pulsing in her right temple. “So, what are the prevailing theories? You sure that wasn’t an alien abduction? Maybe the planet Venus was glaring off some swamp gas, or something freaky like that.”

“The prevailing theory is that your savior is a demon.” Granger dropped this casually, as he stirred his coffee.

London almost looked up at him in surprise. And if she had, it would have been a dead giveaway that she knew that wasn’t true. Even the fraction of a second of hesitation before she grunted another, “Huh,” that was supposed to sound like she was confused but thinking about the possibility, probably didn’t fool him. Picking up her sandwich, London pushed the conversation again, seeking any misdirection that volunteered itself. She’d rat out vampires, and even demons, if it protected the fey. “What does Interpol know about demons?”

And in truth, she really didn’t think they’d have put stock into anything supernatural.

“Usually, most large-scale, supernatural incidents can be linked to some demonic cause. Sometimes, they just like to stir things up, but more often it is infighting that triggers it.” Granger slid his phone back into his inside suit jacket pocket. “I spend most of my time hunting down these demons and eliminating the threat.”

“Eliminating the threat. Doesn’t sound too cuddly. I don’t suppose these demons get a trial.” She bit into her sandwich and chewed as she finally made eye contact, finding him entirely serious in all that he was saying.

“Have you ever tried to cuddle a demon?” He quirked up a half smirk.

“Can’t say that I have,” she admitted. “So how does one generally go about hunting for a demon?”

“Well, generally,” he nodded to her, as he stole her word, “we pick up the signature of their demonic residue, and use that to track them down. Only,” he pulled the spoon from his cup, tapped off a lingering drop, and set it aside on the saucer as he lifted the cup towards his mouth, “this time there was no residue. Not a single iota of it.”

“Huh,” she said again, like she didn’t have a clue what to make of that. “Weird.” This was definitely an extra-pickle conversation. Some people turned to chocolate, London found her comfort food in the form of pickles. She picked up the next one and speared it into the honey mustard.

“So, if he’s not a vampire, and he’s not a demon, then what is he?” Granger asked, relaxing back in his chair, done with his little presentation and ready for London to fill in his blanks for him.

This was why people didn’t like coppers. Especially clever ones.

London turned towards the waitress, lifting a finger to get her attention. “More pickles?”

“Pickles are not going to get you out of this one.” He glanced up as the waitress delivered a plate with pickles and more honey mustard. “Are you sure you’re not pregnant?”

Once the plate arrived, London proceeded to eat as if just sitting across from an old mate. Granger meant to put her on the spot, but she’d faced down slicker foes than him before. What wouldn’t work in this case was going on the defensive, or coming up with elaborate lies that could be quickly disproved. “Agent Granger, you seem like a genuinely good guy. You want to help people, right? Protect them from the monsters of the world, like those demons you were talking about?”

“That is my goal, yes.” He sipped at his coffee, one arm stretched across the back of the bench seat of the booth they shared, his expression interested and attentive. Clearly, he wasn’t going to just buy anything she shoveled in his direction, but he was open to hearing whatever story she was going to tell.

“I was only in the Brightner Building a couple times, like I said, but I can tell you with complete honesty that those people were evil. Like on the order of Nazi Germany and the concentration camps kind of evil. You found the cages, I presume.” It was her turn to fix him with her gaze.

It took him only a fraction of a second before he admitted, “We did.”

“There were people in those cages. Not lab animals, which in my book isn’t any better, but actual people. People that they were mutilating for God-knows what reasons.”

She had his undivided attention now.

“I saw those cages for the first time just after the breakout started. I don’t know what I would have done if it hadn’t. Maybe come to you guys, I don’t know. All I knew was in that moment when the chaos started was that I had to do whatever I could to let those people free.” She knew her eyes must have glazed over as she remembered that day. Granger would be able to tell that she was accessing memories and not imagination by the movement of her eyes, and she meant for him to see that. “I let as many of them out as I could and they were helping each other, too. So much noise. So much chaos. There was gunfire and explosions, then the sprinkler system went off and the building toppled over.”

She paused. Her heart was racing, just remembering the adrenaline rush as she and Malcolm were thrown out the window.

“I honestly can’t tell you what brought the building down. I honestly can’t tell you how it is that I survived. All I know is that those people running that company were pure evil, and I can only hope that all of the captives made it out alive.” London poked her sandwich with her pickle, shaking her head. “I know a little about vampires. I know a little about werewolves. Those people running that company were neither, but they were more monstrous than anything I’d ever come across before. And that’s a fact.”

And, for what it was worth, it was the truth. At least in every way that mattered.

Granger watched her for a moment longer, his hand still around his coffee cup as it sat on the table. “Thank you for that, Miss Eyer.” Leaning forward he collected the handkerchief that he’d loaned to her, and that was just sitting on the table, and pocketed it. Then, to her surprise, he got up from the table and left enough money to pay both their tabs. “If I have any further questions, I’ll be in touch.”

As he turned from her, she called, “Hey, Granger. How did you know where to find me?” She’d taken precautions; he shouldn’t have been able to just show up like that.

Granger turned back, flashed a smirk, and a cheeky wink, and then walked out to the sound of the jingle bells tinkling on the door.

Chapter Ten

“What are you working on?” Kieran’s voice slid over Riley’s awareness drawing him out of the computer screen he’d been staring into for the better part of four hours. He leaned back in his chair at the kitchen table to stretch his back. “I’m just trying to do a little research on this forum. I was able to catch some activity about some werewolves hunting the fey and we were able to stop them. I just know there’s more here that we can stop, if I can just get into the community or hack into the server.” He ran the fingers of both hands through his hair and then pulled as if that might release the tension in his scalp from having stared for so hard, for so long. The tension had his whole body aching and it was only now that he was moving that he realized it.

Riley glanced back, just as Kieran took one of the other kitchen chairs and pulled it up half behind his. Kieran’s long legs angled, one alongside of Riley’s right leg, and the other straddled around behind so his foot rested on the crossbar of Riley’s chair. Kieran wrapped his arms around the back of the chair, and Riley at the same time, and then leaned in to rest his chin on Riley’s shoulder. He looked at the screen as if he might be able to figure out what it was that had Riley so worked up. “I heard about you guys, and those werewolves. I’m not happy about the idea of my druid putting himself into danger like that.”

Riley leaned back so that his cheek rested against the side of Kieran’s head. He loved how casually affectionate his patron was with him, how touchy-feely he could be. Riley placed his hand on Kieran’s bare knee, just below the bottom hem of his soccer shorts. Kieran had great legs; muscular, defined, and well-tanned from the time in the sun. Riley’s fingers gently scratched back and forth along the thigh muscle as he glanced back at Kieran. Joe kept reminding him not to fall in love with his patron, and that was something Riley couldn’t quite comprehend. Of the four Sidhe that had touched him in his life, he’d fallen in love with three of them. Even Lugh, who’d only given him the Touch one time, and that was probably more about getting information from Riley than actual compassion. Even though it had felt very much like compassion at the time. “It’s the druid’s job to protect their patron,” Riley said.

“Who told you that?” Kieran drew away enough to try and get a better look into Riley’s eyes. “I don’t remember that being a part of the vows; that you’re supposed to take a sword for me. You are to be the sword at my side, not the sword acting out on his own.”

“You and the other Sidhe have enough to do without having to fight every little skirmish. The werewolves, vampires, they’re always going to be trouble. We can stop them; Joe, London, and I. You have bigger fish to fry. Besides, you’re supposed to be deep into studying or something, aren’t you?”

“Oh, Lugh’s beating my butt every day, but that’s not going to change anytime soon. He’s been Champion for, like, ten thousand years. I have had that job for less than a month. It’s gonna take a lot more training, but that doesn’t mean that I’m going to shirk responsibility to my druid.” Kieran glided his fingers up under Riley’s hair and fisted, giving his head a playful tug. “Are you hearing what I’m saying? I want you to call me next time something’s going on.”

“We totally had it handled. I promise you, if it gets bad enough, I’ll call you.” And even as he said it, Riley wasn’t sure that it was true. Anything that he couldn’t handle might be too much of a danger to Kieran. When it came right down to it, it was more important for him to protect Kieran, than to put him at risk. Maybe he did love him. Or maybe this was just the way it was for a patron that he respected and needed. Human lives were short, just a blink of an eye in the lives of the Sidhe. It just seemed like protecting Kieran meant protecting something bigger than himself. Protecting the future, and the future of the fey. Kieran had just admitted that he had a long way to go before he would be prepared to take up the role of Champion, and be able to fight all the battles that the fey would need of him. It would be ridiculous for him to get taken out by a bunch of drooling werewolves.

Not while Riley could do anything about it.

Chapter Eleven

It had been one of those nights where London just wanted to go someplace familiar and be with a friend. The Satin Club always called to her, more like home than the flat where she crashed. After the encounter with Derek, and then Granger, that familiar ‘home’ seemed like a good place to be.

As London pushed through the front door, Mike, the vampire bouncer on duty, didn’t immediately get out of her way. His initial scowl took a moment to step down a notch, as recognition seemed slow to worm its way into his mind.

“Long night?” London asked, flattening her palm to his chest and moving him aside.

The usual commotion, with the usual pairings, seemed to quiet more than necessary as she entered the main lounge. Something had them on edge and London felt the uncomfortable focus of their attention. She slipped onto a stool and leaned in to whisper to Jason behind the bar. “What’s got everyone worked up?”

Jason quirked up a questioning brow. “You have to ask?”

From the circular booth in the back corner, Selena glided away from her guests and strolled over with the smooth, liquid grace of a vampire on the hunt. “London, I wouldn’t have thought you would come here.” The vampire mistress drew a possessive arm around London and guided her towards the open stairway to the second floor.

“What’s going on?” London hazard the whisper. Rarely did Selena require such privacy that she would usher London to her bedroom. Usually, the office in the back of the club was private enough.

Once in the bedroom, London hugged herself. Not often did she get the creeps, especially around vampires. This entire night seemed cursed, though. Maybe her stars were out of alignment. Whatever it was, everything felt off.

Selena locked the bedroom door, and then strolled close enough to tug at London’s collar. “You come to my club smelling of blood and fey magic? What were you thinking?”

Her hand covered Selena’s. “I didn’t realize I’d gotten any on me. It was that vampire that came in from the States a few weeks ago. Derek, I think his name was. He said there is a price on my blood. Do you know about this?”

Selena glided her fingers under the bloodied collar and leaned closer to the bite marks. “He bit you deeply. I imagine you bled a lot.”

“Yes. It didn’t stop right away.” From the corner of her eye, London watched the slow track of Selena’s tongue across her upper lip. When her tongue disappeared inside once more, the hint of Selena’s fangs still peeked through her parted lips as she inhaled the scent.

London remained very, very still; just watching her friend. Any sudden move could tip even a well-controlled predator into hunter-mode. Controlling the speed of her heart against the trickle of adrenaline slipping into her blood stream wasn’t as easy.

The scent of the edge of her fear must have reached Selena’s sensitive nose. Her gaze flicked up from London’s neck and their eyes locked. The moment stretched between them, as the vampire’s grip on London’s collar tightened.

And then it released. The animal hunger cloaked behind the civilized veil of Selena’s control. Her focus glided down London’s figure, before finally slipping away completely. With a casual grace, Selena turned her back towards London, and then she opened a miniature refrigerator to select a bottle of blood. London never bothered to learn the code of symbols that Selena used to mark her stash, but she knew the twisted shape wasn’t one for human blood.

“Lugh doesn’t visit as much as he once did, and he’s left a number of us wanting.” Selena’s voice mingled with equal parts sensual purr and hungry hiss. “London, you’ve been welcome here, and protected, since your uncle first started bringing you around. Many of us have delighted in watching you blossom from precocious child into a capable and beautiful woman, but you are changed. Life has changed with you. In your veins is the blood of prey, and instincts and hunger can only be diverted for so long.”

“What are you saying?” London could only whisper through the pain. “I’m not welcome here anymore?”

“I would never want to say that to you.” But then she didn’t say anything else.

London hugged herself and turned away. Her hands gripped the insides of her elbows. What more could she say? This wasn’t choice, it was circumstance. It wasn’t about what either of them wanted; it was about the reality they faced. “I’ll leave.”

“Use the fire escape, or you will be followed.” Selena ruled within her club, but once outside all bets were off.

London circled the bed to go to the back window, aching too much to linger a minute longer.

“London,” Selena’s voice warned.

She glanced back over her shoulder, hands gripping the handles of the window.

“Leave your bloody shirt behind. They will smell the blood and assume you are still in here with me.”

London stripped out of her jacket, shoulder holster, and shirt, and then tossed them onto Selena’s bed. The chill of her skin, standing only in her bra, couldn’t melt through the heat of her hurt.

The vampire mistress circled the bed, gathering a white silk robe from her vanity as she approached. She handed it to London. “I don’t know anything about Derek’s business, but I’ll make some inquiries and text you.”

London couldn’t meet her best friend’s eyes. This was the beginning of the end for them; it had to be, even if Selena’s gestures seem to indicate that the sense of futility wasn’t mutual. The holster was the only thing she put on again, before London pulled on the robe and belted it. It was a summer robe; the sleeves only reached her elbows and the hem just reached her upper thighs. It was modest enough to get her home.

The stroke of Selena’s fingers through her hair made her gaze up at her. The graceful curve of her palm cupped London’s head, as she leaned in to kiss her, possibly for the last time. The touch of lips lingered.

And the sting of tears began.

When their mouths parted, Selena whispered against her lips. “Be safe. Go quickly, and don’t hesitate to kill any vampire that approaches you. Tonight, or in the future.”

London gave the barest of nods.

Selena opened the window and held it until London crouched on the fire escape.

She glanced back, but the window was already closed and the curtains drawn.