Part 11 (1/2)
”But, Governor, what about the two civilians founda””
”We cannot comment further on an ongoing investigation.” The governor turned to Colonel Madison. ”Thank you for your time today, Colonel. The people of the great state of Louisiana appreciate your service to our country.”
Russell pushed back from the table with disgust. It was the worst cover-up he'd ever seen, and he'd seen plenty. He fingered the Blood Oasis members.h.i.+p card in his khaki pocket. Vampires were as good as bloodhounds. They hated Werewolves probably as much as he did, and could lead him to their dens.
Sasha nodded and turned away from the bar television mounted at The Fair Lady. ”d.a.m.n, he's good.” She was surprised when Hunter quietly agreed with her.
”Is that the colonel who was giving you a ration of dung?” Sir Rodney asked frowning.
”One and the same,” Hunter muttered.
”Well, either the man is blind or he's a quick study,” Shogun said carefully, glancing between Sasha and Hunter. ”Which is it?”
”He's a quick study,” Sasha said, oddly feeling protective of the colonel now that she knew him a little better. ”He's a good man .. . just got screwed up by the fear. But he's cool now.”
Hunter cleared his throat. Shogun just sat back.
” 'Fraid you're selling to a tough crowd. I take it that wolves don't get a bad scent out of their noses easily, especially if their noses have been put out of joint.”
”So I've noticed,” Sasha said with a hard sigh and then quirked a half smile. ”But gotta love 'em anyway, Sir Rod.”
”Ah ... the forgiving heart of a lady,” he said with a small bow from where he sat.
Sasha laughed. ”Chauvinist to the end.”
”Too old to change my ways,” Sir Rodney said with a casual shrug. ”But I'm not generalizing about the female species. Remember, I was married to one who had held a grudge for at least two hundred years with no end in sight. So, la.s.sie, you are speciala”one of the good ones.”
Sir Rodney's wry comment finally made Shogun laugh and brought a smile out on Hunter's face. The more he fought it, the wider it got, until he stopped being so morose and just gave in and laughed.
”See, I could be like her,” Sasha said, raising an eyebrow.
”Okay, okay,” Hunter said, waving her off. ”I can live with you forgiving Madison.”
”Thank you,” she said, ”Sheesh, you guys are rough.” Then she looked at Sir Rodney. ”Thanks so much for having Garth make sure Clarissa was all right.”
”Aye, now how could I allow an innocent who is like family to you remain bewitched by an Unseelie spell? That would be unfair.”
Sasha leaned over and hugged Sir Rodney. ”I won't ever complain about public displays of chivalry again.”
Bodies relaxed, smiles merged with Fae ale and more burgers, and sudden peace came over Sasha, Even though she knew there was a tough few weeks ahead of her, the camaraderie that permeated the small table of leaders soaked into her bones. For just this moment in time, there was no conflict between her dual roles as a military person and a wolf. There was no conflict between rival brothers, and Shogun looked good ... his eyes were merry and his color was good; he didn't seem like a man wallowing in what could have been. Hunter had eased up at the table and wasn't on guard, tensing at his brother's presence and listening too hard to every inflection in every comment Shogun threw her way. And Sir Rodney was Sir Rodneya”funny, droll, an Old World trip.
Stuffed and sated, she pushed her clean burger basket away from her and then stretched. ”All right, so we're all good on the plan? We've got like three hours until it gets dark, when you two head back to the sidhe.”
Shogun nodded. ”I'm good with that. It also makes sense that I cover ground in the Asian community ... it's very closed to outsiders, in general, and I think I can break through faster if they think I'm a Korean American cop or FBI guy that can speak the various languages in that community. My father, before he died, insisted that his children learn as many regional languages as possiblea”Mandarin being one of them. If I know my aunt, she probably s.n.a.t.c.hed a young Chinese girl. . . and if she's coed-age with all that's going on, they haven't even taken a missing persons report on her yet.”
”This is where a little Fae glamour can help.” Sir Rodney discreetly summoned several books of matches from the bar to their table with a wide smile, folded them into his hand, and began distributing FBI badges.
”Where were you when I was in high school?” Sasha said, laughing.
Sir Rodney bowed and then wagged his finger at her with a broad grin. ”I would not have been party to corrupting the morals of a minor, even if it was just to get her a fake ID.”
”What can ya do?” Sasha said, marveling at her badge. ”This is really pretty cool.”
”Fades at midnight, as most quickie Faery charms do . . . but on the morrow, I can make more.”
One day she'd have to ask Sir Rodney if Cinderella was truth or legend, but she needed to stay focused.
”I've got Tulane,” Sasha said. ”It'd probably be better if a female cop or FBI type went in there and checked around the dorms looking for any students who've gone missing. One of the victims was a student, so it's likely Shogun's aunt got a body and then fed from the same hunting sourcea”the university.”
”Sounds like a plan,” Sir Rodney said, polis.h.i.+ng off the last of his Fae ale. ”But I won't be needing a badge for where I'm going. Visiting the local ladies of witchery by definition requires that one be anythin' but a human cop.”
”No argument there,” Hunter said, glancing around the establishment. ”While you charm the ladies, Rodney, I'll just hug the shadows out by the baron's old burned-out manor house. If she attacked out in the bayou and the military went in there full-force, she'll find a safe fallback position . . . one heavily guarded by Vampires, if that's who she's allied with now. Their human helpers by day are no problem to evade. I'll be out of there before any Vamps wake up and take issue with me snooping around on the premises.”
”I'm not so much worried about Vampires as I am worried about her,” Sasha admitted, now staring at Hunter without a smile. ”We're still within that couple-of-days window where the moon is full enough for a Were transformation, and if Lady Jung Suk is trailing sulfur, then that means she's demon-infected. So, just be careful.”
”Demon-infected?” Shogun leaned forward and gave Hunter a glance. ”When we went to the location of the second victim in the bayou, there was no sulfur trail.”
”That's true,” Hunter said, dropping his voice even lower as he sat forward at the table, leaning on his forearms.
”Yeah, but we picked it up out there in the bayou,” Sasha said, sending her gaze around the group. ”It was thick inside the old Bayou House, as well as out by the kill locations.”
”But it definitely wasn't at the site of the second victim or even near where the first one was thrown in the alley in the French Quarter,” Hunter insisted.
”Maybe the sulfur you guys picked up at the Bayou House was from the past and not fresh. There was all sorts of insanity going on at that housea”and you said yourselves that humans had mucked up the scent trail.” Sir Rodney glanced around the table to see if his theory had any takers, then pressed on. ”What if an infected Were came out of the demon doors through that house during all the hullaballoo that took place out there before or something?”
”It could have been old scents that lingered from a time past,” Hunter said. ”The scent was so mild, so dissipated, I couldn't tell.”
”Neither could I,” Sasha admitted. ”If it was a brand-new Were who'd just come through the demon doors, I'd still be tasting sulfur at the back of my throat.”
Shogun nodded. ”It takes days to get that pungent sickness out of our sinuses, Rodney. If my aunt was recently infected, she would have left a reeking trail, not a faint one. That had to be old.”
”All right,” Sir Rodney conceded. ”But we do know for a fact that, based on what you guys sniffed, Lady Jung Suk killed those first two humans. My curiosity is that she actually ate her victimsa”two females and four men.” He glanced at Shogun and held his gaze. 'I thought Weres of any kind abhorred human flesh unless they were infected?”
Shogun nodded and let out a long breath before pus.h.i.+ng back from the table. ”Normally, we do. But my aunt is Old World and enjoys forbidden things ... to her human flesh is probably a delicacya”not to mention that she's one really twisted b.i.t.c.h.”
”Aw, come on Esmeralda, have a heart.” Sir Rodney leaned against the living room arch and smiled at the distraught woman before him.
Esmeralda was gorgeous, and it was hard to separate his mission to get information from her voluptuous form and Creole face. Her hair was a natural, stunning auburn: a lush thicket of deep red tresses that seemed so satiny, men yearned to touch it. She'd formed her kissable pink mouth into a defiant pout and had folded her graceful arms over her ample b.r.e.a.s.t.s. Not giving an inch, her hazel eyes stared at him directly as she spoke in a hushed, sensual southern drawl.
”I am so not about to get in between anything going on with the Vampires, Rodney, you know that. Why would you even try to put me in a position like that?”
”Because you're my favorite girl,” he said smiling, pus.h.i.+ng off the wall of her antebellum town house. ”And because you are the best at what you do.”