Shadow Hunt Page 5

  “This isn’t a dream,” he scoffed. “I feel hunger, thirst.” Lightly, he smacked the back of his hand against a shelf, getting a quick flare of pain in response. “I can even get hurt.”

  “This isn’t a normal dream, no. This is one that I twisted for you, using a piece of my magic. You should feel special. I don’t do this spell for just anyone.”

  “Seriously?” He crossed his arms over his chest. “And this is your best shot at me? Miles of shelves? Wow. You sure showed me.”

  Her smile just widened. She stepped closer to him, seeming to grow taller with each step, until she didn’t have to look up to meet his eyes. “Ah, but the tedium is the whole point. You’re a man of action, but here there’s nothing for you to do.” She spread her arms, indicating the endless rows. “There are no dragons to slay—or vampires, for that matter. And no way to get yourself out. You can walk, or run, or climb the shelves. You can lay down and wait to die. It doesn’t matter. Nothing you do will matter.”

  Jesse felt it then: the hopelessness, the futility. Despite his bravado, his shoulders slumped. “Why? Why are you doing this to me?”

  “Where is Scarlett Bernard?”

  “I. Don’t. Know,” he said, enunciating each word.

  She studied him for another moment, then sighed. “You are telling the truth. That is unfortunate. But we will see if you have other information we can use. Killian has some ideas.”

  They could get information from him? That meant Jesse had to be careful. He imagined building a wall to block off the most recent information he’d received about Scarlett. He didn’t even let himself think about what it was.

  “What do you want from Scarlett?” he said to the woman. “You’ve got Shadow.”

  Sabine hesitated for a moment, then shrugged, as if realizing it didn’t matter what she told Jesse at this point. “Los Angeles needs to be taught a lesson,” she said calmly. “Taking back our bargest isn’t enough. Don’t worry, you’ll be dead very soon. It won’t matter for you.”

  Well, that wasn’t going to get him anywhere. Jesse thought of Killian’s earlier questions. “You were tracking Scarlett’s van, and Molly’s car.”

  The corners of Sabine’s lips turned down in a “whatever” expression. “To her credit, she has become good at examining her vehicle for tracking devices. But we are better.”

  “And yet she left town without you knowing.”

  Sabine bared her teeth. “She’ll come back. Especially if someone finds your body.”

  Fear threatened to overwhelm him then, but he wasn’t going to let himself freak out in front of this witch. “So you’re going to kill me.”

  She edged even closer to him, and Jesse could feel her hot breath on his face. How could this possibly be a dream? “I am killing you now. The twisted slumber is a fever dream, emphasis on the fever. Even now, your body temperature is rising past what a human being can survive. A day, maybe two, and your organs will begin to shut down from dehydration.” She clucked her tongue. “So sad. But the null will return when she learns you’re missing, and we will be waiting for her. There is enough time.”

  “That makes it sound like you’re in a hurry,” Jesse guessed. “Why? What’s coming?”

  This time Sabine frowned. As quickly as she had appeared, she blinked away again.

  Interesting. But now he was alone, with infinite miles of shelves on all sides. Nothing to do, nowhere to go, just like Sabine had said.

  Jesse felt panic rising in his chest, and he resolutely began to walk again, trying to think this through. The Luparii wanted Scarlett, obviously, but why? There were plenty of horrible things you could do with a null, including assassinating powerful vampires. But if all they wanted was to kidnap Scarlett and take her back to France, they could have done that anytime. Scarlett didn’t take Shadow everywhere; there would have been opportunities to snatch her away.

  And the same went for killing Scarlett. If they’d been tracking her, they’d been watching for long enough to just shoot her when no one expected it. No, timing was definitely a factor here . . . which made it likely that Killian and Sabine had been watching in anticipation of something: a signal, maybe, or a certain date. Scarlett had thrown them off by skipping town.

  His thoughts kept going in circles, although they seemed to end up in the same place: was his body really dying? He certainly wouldn’t put it past Sabine to lie to him, but he was thirsty and hungry . . . it was worrisome. On the other hand, if he was dying anyway, why hadn’t they just shot him?

  Killian had specifically mentioned wanting to know more about Jesse. But how would the fake LAPD station help them learn about him? Unless . . .

  He grabbed the closest box and looked inside. To his surprise, the top layer was hardcover copies of Wunderkind, the nonfiction book he’d co-written. Jesse hadn’t been able to interact with the contents of the boxes, so he didn’t bother touching the book itself. Instead, he tipped the entire box sideways onto the floor. Many more copies of the book spilled out, along with a small gold band. A wedding ring. Jesse crouched down for a closer look. It was his wedding ring, from his brief marriage to the book’s ghostwriter.

  It was like a fog clearing. The textbooks were his textbooks. The Glock was his first gun, and the ticket stubs were from concerts he’d seen.

  He looked in another box, and this one held plastic claws and giant wolf paws made from plaster. This was the evidence he’d planted to frame the Luparii witch for Henry Remus’s murder.

  Excited, he grabbed at the next box—the charred remains of a human body, with a silver Rolex still clinging to the wrist. Lex’s sister, Sam, whom he’d helped Scarlett cremate. The faint stink of charred flesh was still rising from it.

  Jesse yanked his hand back from the box, looking around him. This wasn’t just his deep history, at least not anymore.

  These were his sins.

  Jesse looked up at the mundane ceiling, raising his voice. “This isn’t a dream,” he accused. “It’s a raid. You’re going through my memories. What are you looking for?”

  There was no answer. Of course.

  Chapter 8

  Molly and I spent the afternoon exploring Boulder, which was kind of a cool little town once you got past its intense and all-encompassing animosity toward gluten. Molly quizzed the restaurant hostess on the best places to visit, and an hour later we were boarding a converted school bus for Banjo Billy’s Bus Tour, which was much less cheesy than the name implies. We got a pretty good overview of the town’s history, and by the time the bus returned, Molly knew exactly where she wanted to go next. She dragged me up and down Pearl Street, into shops that ran the gamut from quirky kitchen supplies to extreme-sports gear.

  The whole time, Molly kept forcing small amounts of bland food on me, and I had to admit, it helped: the nausea abated enough for us to get a big lunch at a taco place, where I made Molly move outside so they wouldn’t kick us out from her moans of ecstasy. The food was pretty good. In the early afternoon, I tried to check in with Jesse, but he didn’t answer either his phone or the Batphone. I frowned and checked my watch. Could he be napping? Or maybe he took Shadow for a run? I made a mental note to try again later. And we were off to another store.

  I may have complained a little—okay, a lot—about the shopping, but it really was nice to spend a few hours on just another weird shopping adventure with Molly. I stopped thinking about the pregnancy and just enjoyed myself.

  And then it was time to go meet Lex’s vampire boyfriend.

  She lived well outside the Boulder city limits, in a little cabin in the middle of nowhere. It was neat and unadorned, at least on the outside. I suspected the lack of decoration was more Lex being guarded than Lex being boring.

  As soon as Molly and I climbed out of Eleanor, I could hear the barking of what sounded like an entire pack of dogs. She and I exchanged a look and shrugged.

  “Nice house,” Molly commented, knocking on the door. “Can you feel the boyfriend yet?”

&nbs
p; “That would be impolite,” I informed her. I was reining in my radius a bit so I wouldn’t turn the boyfriend—Quinn—human until Lex was ready.

  She opened the door, looking a little breathless. Her hair was loose and slightly damp, and she’d changed into nice jeans and a long black top that was pulled in at her waist with straps that tied around the back. She’d even put on a little makeup. It was probably the most dressed up I’d ever seen her. “I should have asked if you were okay with animals,” she shouted over the barking, but Molly and I had both already crouched down to greet the four dogs, which included a couple of Lab mixes, a tiny and sort of vacant-looking Yorkie, and a slightly calmer mixed breed who hung back a little, protecting his mistress. That was what I noticed, anyway, before one of the Labs knocked me over so he could better reach my face for licking. I lost my grip on my radius, but wherever Quinn was, it wasn’t close enough for me to turn him human yet.

  “Cody!” Lex admonished, looking scandalized, but I laughed, rolling away and climbing to my feet. “I’m sorry,” Lex said, and she actually looked kind of guilty. “They’re a little . . . exuberant. They don’t meet new people very often. Come on in.”

  When they realized we were coming inside, where they would have even better access to us, the dogs calmed down and trotted happily alongside us as Lex led the way to a large, high-ceilinged space that served as a combination dining room and living room.

  Lex turned around, looking at me a little nervously. It was strange to see her look uncertain. “So . . . how does this work?”

  “I’m kind of assuming Quinn has been around your niece before?” I asked.

  She nodded. “Usually just at evening family functions, though, when it’s natural for them to be together. We keep it as normal as possible. I don’t ever want Charlie thinking we only love her for what she can do for Quinn.”

  It was a good attitude. I cleared my throat. “Okay, well, if he knows what a null feels like, this should be pretty simple.” I pointed to a couch. “Molly and I will sit here, and you can go be physically near him. I’ll expand my radius, and when he wakes up, you can explain what’s going on. Take whatever time you need.”

  Lex was wringing her hands. “And you’re sure he’ll be okay?” She glanced at Molly, then back to me. “I mean, I know you’ve done this before, but can you really keep more than one vampire in your radius at a time, during the day?”

  I blinked, surprised. “You . . . don’t know a whole lot about nulls, huh?”

  She started to look defensive, and I shook my head. “Sorry, forget that. If you’re used to witch magic, and Charlie’s a little kid, I can see where this would be confusing. Look, neutralizing magic doesn’t affect me. It can’t tire me out, and as long as they stay within my radius, there’s no limit to the number of people I can . . .” I flapped a hand, looking for the right word. “Nullify, I guess. Like Molly said earlier, I can expand my radius to keep both of them in it. The only way Quinn could get hurt is if he, like, took off at a dead sprint when my back was turned, so I didn’t know to widen my area.”

  Lex nodded, looking pacified. “Okay. Let’s do this.” She disappeared down a hallway, and I heard a door open and close, probably to the basement. I counted to ten before pushing out my radius until I could feel a second vampire. He was below us, deeper into the house. Some kind of basement hidey-hole, probably.

  Ten minutes went by, and then I heard footsteps on the stairs.

  Lex emerged, trailed by a tall vampire who looked to be in his late thirties, wearing worn-looking jeans and a fitted gray tee shirt. He was handsome, with blond hair and the kind of craggy face that would age well—if, that is, he could age. He started over to us, hand outstretched, but got distracted by the sunshine pouring in through the window behind me. “Whoa,” he breathed.

  Molly grinned, jumping up from her chair. “I know, right? Hi, I’m Molly.”

  “Quinn,” the man said absently. He had stopped just short of where the sunbeam hit the floor. Lex hung back, watching him with a little smile. Quinn looked over at me. “And you’re Scarlett. Can I . . .”

  I waved him on. “Go ahead. It can’t hurt you.”

  Impulsively, he turned and grabbed Lex’s hand, pulling her with him into the sunlight. She put her arms around his neck, laughing, and I looked away, feeling an ache in the pit of my stomach. They were so obviously in love. Molly reached over and squeezed my hand.

  “So,” Quinn said, turning so Lex’s back rested against his chest. His arms were still wrapped around her. “I hear there’s a party.”

  Chapter 9

  Half an hour later, the four of us were climbing out of Lex’s Subaru in front of a very large house in a very nice neighborhood. I didn’t know anything about architectural styles or whatever, but it was brick and there were arches and Molly muttered the word tony, so I figured Lex’s parents were rich. That was interesting. She had never given off a “spoiled rich kid” vibe.

  Molly and I let Lex lead us in, and she gave me a wink over her shoulder. Okay, she had been right: this was fascinating.

  Inside, the noise hit me first, followed by the food smells. We went through a small foyer into a huge dining/kitchen area, where dozens of people were milling around, talking and laughing. As the door closed behind us, the number of people in the room instantly made me nervous. I wasn’t claustrophobic, but I hadn’t grown up with any extended family around. Even when my parents were alive, there were never more than four Bernards in a room. This was taking “family birthday party” to a level I hadn’t experienced.

  The Luthers all had that fresh-faced look I had learned to associate with Boulder, and even if I hadn’t known that many of them were related, I probably could have guessed by their similar features: honey-blonde hair, brown eyes, high cheekbones. It was like walking into a commercial for multivitamins. It made me want to drink a gallon of diet soda and eat a whole gas station pizza.

  A couple of them looked up as we came in, waved, and went back to talking. An older woman with silver hair and a stout figure came bustling over to hug Lex. “Hi, honey. Oh, Quinn, you made it. That’s wonderful.” She smiled up at him, and then her eyes turned to Molly and me. “And you must be Sashi’s friends. I’m Lex’s mom, Christy.”

  Molly nudged me, and I stepped forward to shake hands and introduce myself.

  Lex got pulled into a conversation with a short-haired woman, but before I could even feel uncertain of myself, Christy Luther reached out and snagged the arm of a passing girl holding a loaded appetizer plate. She was college age, with olive skin, thick dark hair, and Sashi’s features. I felt a jolt of recognition. She might have looked like her mother, but the confident stance and capable broad shoulders—those were purely from her father.

  From Will.

  Not many people knew that Will Carling, the alpha werewolf of Los Angeles, had a daughter. In fact, I was pretty sure Will himself didn’t know. I’d only stumbled onto the secret by mistake, and now I felt myself gaping at her.

  “Oh, have you already met Grace?” Christy said. “She goes to CU, and she’s an honorary Luther.”

  The girl turned toward us, her expression friendly and open, but held up a finger as she finished chewing something. “Sorry,” she said after swallowing, laughing at herself a little. “Hi, I’m Grace.”

  The laugh was eerily familiar. I wasn’t imagining that: out of the corner of my eye, I saw Molly’s eyes narrow slightly, her head tilting a little. She looked like she was trying to remember the name of a song stuck in her head. “Hi!” I said, way too loudly. I cleared my throat and shook the girl’s hand. “I mean, it’s nice to meet you.”

  “This is Scarlett and Molly,” Christy went on. “Scarlett is friends with your mom.” Her voice was gentle, but Grace’s face instantly froze over, and she took her hand back without shaking Molly’s.

  “Oh,” she said coolly. “How do you know Sashi?”

  Whoa. Calling her mother by her first name? “Through mutual friends,” I
said noncommittally. “I was just at your house a few weeks ago, in Las Vegas. She has pictures of you everywhere.”

  “Yeah. Well.” The girl looked down at her plate, which still had a pile of chips and salsa. “Excuse me, I think I need more salsa.”

  After she’d departed, Christy sighed. “I’m sorry about that. I was hoping drawing her into a conversation about her mom might help.”

  “They’re . . . estranged?” I asked. I didn’t want to blow my “friends with Sashi” cover, but I couldn’t help myself. “Sashi didn’t mention anything.”

  “No, she wouldn’t,” Christy said wryly. “Sashi and my former son-in-law, John, dated for a few years, but it didn’t work out. Grace took the breakup hard.”

  “Oh,” I said stupidly, as pieces of information fell into place. When I was in Vegas, Sashi had told me she’d tried—and failed—to move on from Will. Grace Brighton wasn’t a witch, which meant Sashi had also kept that part of her life away from her daughter.

  Jesus. I knew more about these people than they did.

  The conversation moved on. Christy introduced us to several other people, but even as I shook hands, I knew I had no hope of remembering all their names. I did take note of John, Lex’s brother-in-law and Charlie’s dad. He was . . . noteworthy. Very handsome, with bronze Native American coloring and an easy, likable demeanor that made me inwardly cringe with guilt. He was friendly enough, asking questions about the places we’d visited in Boulder, but I had trouble concentrating on the conversation. In the back of my mind, I couldn’t stop seeing his wife’s dead body as it went into the furnace.

  Suddenly this wasn’t so fun.

  Molly, who’d been quietly working her way through a plate of food, saw the look on my face after John excused himself. She knew what I’d done to Samantha Wheaton’s corpse, and reached out to squeeze my hand. I shot her a smile, but I was a little rattled at the emotional overload. Goddamned baby hormones.

  After introductions, Christy encouraged us to go get food, and I was grateful for the excuse to get away. As we approached the buffet table, however, the smell of cooked meat hit me wrong. Molly saw the look on my face and winced. “Bathroom?” she asked in a low voice. I nodded, struggling to keep down the contents of my stomach. “Go. I’ll cover for you.”