Part 16 (2/2)
I rocked back on my heels. ”s.h.i.+t.”
Dmitri pulled me up and away from the body, giving Irina a terse, ”Wait for us in the car.” He guided me out of the dining room and held my shoulders, forcing me to look up at him. ”What the Hex was that?”
Under his touch, I realized I was shaking. ”I think we both know what that was, Dmitri.”
He tilted his head back and closed his eyes. I didn't want to deal with the truth any more than he did-that what we'd seen Joubert do to himself could only be daemon magick, something human witches weren't supposed to be able to use.
Of course, Alistair Duncan had proved that wasn't always the case.
”Has to be a blood witch, right?” said Dmitri, falling into his old role of asking me questions until I answered my way to the truth.
”Right,” I said. What I didn't say was that the Black-burns killing Joubert didn't make any sense. They could barely afford to buy cup noodles, never mind patronize an exclusive fetish club to the point where they'd be ripe for blackmail. Hex it, what would you blackmail them for? Their jars of blood and black leather pants? Unless Joubert had been the one to dose Vincent-and he struck me as the kind of guy who only went after small, helpless things in a violent manner-they had no motives.
”Let's toss the house,” I said, pus.h.i.+ng my half-baked collection of bad hunches to the back of my mind. ”Try to find out who the other partner in the club is.”
”Never thought I'd actually be saying this, but shouldn't we call the cops?” Dmitri asked.
I turned my back on Joubert's body and the sick stink of were blood, and went into what turned out to be the kitchen. It smelled bad in there too, but it was bearable. ”Not yet,” I said. ”I don't want my captain busting in just now.” Under stress, I have this unfortunate tendency to get rude and hostile and sometimes kick people in the s.h.i.+ns, none of which I thought Morgan would appreciate.
”Fair enough,” said Dmitri. He opened the fridge and winced, his nose wrinkling. ”Hex me. Somebody needs to deal with the science experiments in here.”
”At least it's not heads. Or fingers. Or-”
Dmitri held up a hand. ”I get it.”
”Why did you take Irina as a mate?” I blurted. ”How could you not know what it would do to me?”
Dmitri sighed, his back to me, leaning against the closed door of the fridge. ”We've been over this, Luna.”
”I know, I know.” My voice took on a bitter edge I hadn't known I was capable of. ”You have to do what your pack says. Wouldn't want to get put on a choke chain.”
He hit the fridge hard, with a closed fist, and I jumped. ”You think I like like this?” he snarled, turning around. His eyes were ink-stained again, black overtaking the green in the s.p.a.ce of a heartbeat. ”You think I woke up one day after a night of wrestling with this thing and said 'Gee, I wonder how badly I can hurt Luna today?' Is that what you think I did?” this?” he snarled, turning around. His eyes were ink-stained again, black overtaking the green in the s.p.a.ce of a heartbeat. ”You think I woke up one day after a night of wrestling with this thing and said 'Gee, I wonder how badly I can hurt Luna today?' Is that what you think I did?”
”I don't know,” I said, sticking my chin out. ”But I think getting to screw Irina out of s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g me must have been a definite perk.”
I was p.i.s.sed off, and I didn't care anymore what Dmitri thought. He'd stomped on me just like any other pack were, and like any plain human a.s.shole guy, he'd traded up for a newer, s.l.u.ttier model.
Dmitri growled and came at me around the kitchen table, backing me up against the sink.
”Get off me,” I snapped, pus.h.i.+ng at his chest with the flat of my hands. ”Go wait in the car with your wh.o.r.e.”
He roared and pinned my arms down at my sides, squeezing my wrists so tightly I felt the bones s.h.i.+ver.
”Don't call her a wh.o.r.e,” he whispered.
”Then what should I call her?” I struggled against him, refusing to allow the dominate I could feel rolling off his smoky gaze to take hold. ”What is she to you, Dmitri? Your one true love?” I bit off the last three words and spat them.
Dmitri slammed his hips into mine, my wriggling having aroused his attention. His face was an inch away, his scent seeping into my every pore. I wanted to rage at him and I wanted to sob. I wanted Dmitri, no matter how c.r.a.ppily our last time together had ended. I hadn't ached this badly for Trevor or any of my plain human boyfriends.
I hadn't even needed Joshua this badly.
”What is she?” I whispered again, tears working down my cheeks.
Dmitri dipped his head into the curve of my neck just behind my ear, and scented me with a deep shuddering breath that mimicked my heartbeat. ”She's not you,” he said.
He looked like he wanted to say more, but I grabbed the back of his neck and pulled our mouths together, kissing him so hard I cut my lip on my bottom teeth. Dmitri licked up my blood, his hands sliding around my waist and pulling me flush with his whole length. I moaned as he broke off and trailed down my neck, nipping at the skin in ways I never imagined could feel so spectacular.
”What in seven h.e.l.ls h.e.l.ls is going on?” Irina demanded from the doorway. is going on?” Irina demanded from the doorway.
Dmitri stepped back abruptly, putting an arm's length between us. ”I told you to wait in the car.”
”You took a long time,” said Irina, her bottom lip trembling. ”And now, I tell you that you can walk back to our f.u.c.king apartment.” She turned on her heel and strode out, the fury on her face compounded when she slammed the front door hard enough to knock objects off the kitchen shelves.
I straightened my s.h.i.+rt and smoothed out my hair. Nothing to be done about the flush on my face. Dmitri hung his head, scuffing the linoleum with his boot. ”I think she forgot we came in your car.”
”Sorry,” I said, even though I didn't really mean it. The small, nasty part of me was gratified to see the same hurt I'd felt written on Irina's face. That part whispered the b.i.t.c.h had it coming. More of me just felt foolish for falling into the trap of my instincts yet again. Way to go, Luna. Way to stay professional and keep your cool.
”Don't worry about it,” said Dmitri. ”My fault as much as yours.”
”I'm almost done here,” I said neutrally. Don't look at Dmitri. Don't think about what almost happened. Don't you Don't look at Dmitri. Don't think about what almost happened. Don't you dare dare think this changes anything. think this changes anything.
While lecturing myself, I quickly glanced into each of Joubert's myriad drawers. Most held oddments of flatware or food. I found a snub-nosed .38 revolver in the drawer nearest the sink. An old rotary-style phone sat on the counter above it, and an address book was open to the C's.
”Finally,” I muttered. In reality, suspects rarely hide their good secrets inside clever cubbyholes or a box of Cap'n Crunch from 1986. Most of the time, they're just as dumb and obvious as the rest of us and leave things lying around in plain sight. The page held only two entries-a place called Cat's that I a.s.sumed was a strip club or a brothel and a smudged number where Joubert had scribbled Carrie-Koffe Kart # Carrie-Koffe Kart # next to it in handwriting that would make a nun weep. next to it in handwriting that would make a nun weep.
The Koffe Kart was the lobby restaurant in the O'Halloran Building. Coincidence, I might have believed before I got Vincent's autopsy results. Now this was something incriminating. Besides, it was fun to imagine one of those prissy caster witches cozying up to Joubert.
I tore the page out of the book and shoved it in my pocket, nudging Dmitri. ”Let's go.”
Once we'd gotten out of the hushed house, I called in the suicide and then turned to Dmitri. ”Need a ride back to downtown?” I was hoping he'd say no, because being in a car with him would be the most awkward thing in the world right now.
”Can you just drop me in Waterfront?” he asked. Waterfront was his old pack territory, and belonged to whoever the new pack leader of the Redbacks was now. Going there was practically begging for an a.s.s-beating.
I started to say no, then thought of Irina and the way Dmitri had shoved me away when she came in. ”Sure,” I said. ”Hop in.”
CHAPTER 19.
I left Dmitri standing on the sidewalk on Cannery Street and I can't say I felt bad about it. Traffic was bad, so I parked at the precinct and walked down Highlands, letting myself stare at the skysc.r.a.pers of downtown and think about the O'Hallorans.
No caster witch I knew of was capable of using black magick, no matter how much they wanted it. They couldn't use their own blood as a focus, and by its very nature their magick focused toward positive outcomes. Sure, they were as b.i.t.c.hy and insular as the next group of magick users, but as sure as I was that an O'Halloran had killed Vincent and Joubert, I couldn't for the life of me glean how, and it was giving me a headache.
Seeing the snarled knot of honking cabs and p.i.s.sed-off civilians on foot ahead, I turned onto Devere. Nocturne University loomed at me, black bricks gloomy even in the sun. A hobo with a shopping cart shoved it toward me. ”Got any change? Anything at all?”
I handed him a dollar and he s.n.a.t.c.hed it away, tucking it into his coat pocket. I s.h.i.+vered. Cold wind always seemed to whip down Devere, an east-west street lined with narrow old buildings. ”Thanks,” said the b.u.m. ”Wouldn't need no money, 'cept Wylie ripped off my bottle earlier today. Said he needed it more on account of fall bringin' out his arthritis. d.a.m.n fool.”
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