Inked. Part 33

He took the shirt from her. "Here, I'll get rid of it. You and two uniformed officers kept an imp outbreak contained?"

"It wasn't an outbreak," she said, heading for the bathroom. The row house had been built in the nineteen-teens, way before people routinely put in master baths, so there was a single bathroom on each floor. But the bathroom on this floor was the one thing she'd miss when she finally finished her training and went home...marble floor, granite-topped counter with vessel sinks, a gla.s.s-walled shower stall, and a huge tub.

No time for that tub now. She reached into the shower stall and turned on the hot water. "Five of the nasty little creatures don't const.i.tute an outbreak-just a huge pain in the a.s.s. Good thing Gan's idea about baiting them with blood worked."

She fell silent. Gan-a former demon who'd become a friend in the most unlikely way-was missing. So was Lily's boss. So were two even dearer friends, Cynna Weaver and Cullen Seabourne. They'd been kidnapped, along with a few others-like a special a.s.sistant to the president and a trigger-happy FBI agent Lily had worked with. Not just kidnapped, either, but s.n.a.t.c.hed into another realm. There was no saying if or when they'd return.

Lily was not naturally an optimist. What cop was? But she was determined to believe they were okay. All of them. They were okay, and sooner or later they'd find a way to come home. She refused to consider other possibilities-at least for six months. That's the deal she'd made with herself. For six months she'd a.s.sume the best instead of the worst.

Rule took her shoulder, turned her to face him, and kissed her gently on the lips. "They'll be fine, Lily. Even your obnoxious orange friend."

She found a smile. "I think it's my turn to say that."

"Nope." He skimmed her lips with his again. "Mine. As often as I want it to be."

Somehow she and Rule had managed to trade off worry periods. When anxiety about their friends started to choke her, he was feeling steady. When he was hurting, she'd been able to summon enough confidence to rea.s.sure or distract him. The thing was, their missing friends mattered to her, but one of them-Cullen Seabourne-mattered hugely to Rule. They were lifelong friends, heart friends, the kind you'd risk your life for...but there was no risk Rule could take that would bring Cullen back.

So Lily smiled and agreed. "They'll be back, safe and sound. But worrying is my hobby, remember? Speaking of which...maybe you should call the restaurant, make sure they won't cancel our reservation?"

This time his kiss suggested he'd just as soon be even later, but he straightened without following through. "They'll hold our table. Knowing how unpredictable your job can be, I made it clear they were to hold it if we were late."

"Okay, then."

"I'm going to take this"-he wiggled the shirt he still held-"to the Dumpster outside. The smell...bothers me."

"Because of the blood? Or because it's my blood?"

He smiled. "Yes."

The shower felt good, if hasty. The EMT had applied a gauze bandage she was supposed to keep dry, so that was a pain, but at least she could lather up and rinse the rest of her. She hadn't gotten anything nasty in her hair, thank goodness, so she could skip the wash and blow-dry bit.

When she got out and wrapped up in a towel warmed by the heated towel rack-she loved loved this bathroom-Rule was downstairs. She heard him talking, probably on the phone. Maybe he'd decided to make sure about the restaurant after all. She hummed quietly as she hurried from the bath to the master bedroom. this bathroom-Rule was downstairs. She heard him talking, probably on the phone. Maybe he'd decided to make sure about the restaurant after all. She hummed quietly as she hurried from the bath to the master bedroom.

Lily liked things tidy. Her socks were rolled, her bras folded and lined up in a disciplined row, and her jackets all hung together in a color-coded closet. It took only a second to pull out the black silk dress she planned to wear, another second to retrieve hose and bra.

For some reason, her pa.s.sion for order did not extend to panties. They did all land in the same drawer-but that drawer was a colorful mess. Lily had a lot of panties, in all sorts of colors, fabrics, and styles. Back in her desperately broke days, a new pair of panties had been the one treat she could almost always afford. She still shopped carefully, sensibly...except when it came to panties.

So maybe she shouldn't have noticed the new ones right away-they were jumbled up with the rest-but she did. First she tugged out a silky leopard print bikini. The midnight blue she didn't recognize turned out to be boy-cut hipsters. There were a couple more bikinis, one in multicolored polka dots, the other an eye-popping chartreuse. Then she spotted a sc.r.a.p of raspberry lace.

A thong, she saw, pulling it out.

Her eyebrows shot up. Ordinarily she didn't like thongs. But why not? Just for tonight, why not? He'd gotten them for her, tucked them away here as the sneakiest of surprise presents. She'd give him a treat, too.

She had on her bra and the new thong when she felt Rule coming up the stairs. She didn't hear him, but then, she seldom did. He moved as quietly as if his alter ego were feline instead of lupine. She paused with the dress over her arm and turned toward the doorway, smiling with pleasure and a touch of mischief.

His expression wiped out both. It was that d.a.m.ned closed-down, locked-up look she hated. Something was wrong. "What is it?"

"My father called," he said quietly. "A friend of mine is dead. No one you've met, I think. Steve Hilliard. He's...he was Nokolai."

"I'm so sorry." Instinctively she went to him, but something in his face kept her from doing more than touch his arm. "I'm so sorry, Rule."

He put his hand over hers. His face was tight, his eyes hooded. "There's more."

She nodded.

"Steve's throat was cut. The police have arrested another Nokolai, Jason Chance. They plan to charge Jason with the murder." Rule's jaw tightened. "It's an easy out for them. No need to look for a killer-just charge the nearest lupus with the crime and forget about it."

"I take it Steve wasn't killed while in wolf form." Or else the authorities wouldn't have any interest in the death. Killing a lupus was only illegal when he looked human. "You don't believe this Jason guy did it?"

"No. Neither does my father. I have to go home."

"Of course." And this was the downside of the mate bond-the sheer inconvenience. Rule couldn't go unless Lily did, too. The mate bond didn't allow them to be far apart. Not that they knew exactly what distance would trigger the dizziness, because it changed. Without warning, without any pattern she could spot, it changed. d.a.m.ned whimsical bond.

"I'm sorry to drag you away. You're almost finished at Quantico."

She shrugged. Her training-necessary since she'd been a homicide cop, not an FBI agent, until recently-had been interrupted constantly ever since the Turning hit in December. With the uptick in ambient magic, the FBI Unit she belonged to, which dealt with magical crimes and crises, was stretched thin. "Another delay hardly matters, and I'm not working a case right now. I'll have to clear it with Croft, but he'll be cool with it. He understands my situation."

With Ruben gone, Martin Croft was running the Unit. He was one of the few humans who were aware of the existence of the bond that, in rare cases, formed between a human woman and a lupus. Of course, according to the lupi, the bond didn't form-it was bestowed on them by their Lady. Who, in Lily's opinion, wasn't nearly as mythological as she ought to be.

"Steve was killed in Del Cielo-or at least his body was found within city limits, and the Del Cielo police claim jurisdiction."

She frowned. The town sounded familiar, but she couldn't remember why. "That's north of Nokolai Clanhome, right? In the mountains."

"Yes. It's the home of Robert Friar."

Her breath sucked in. "s.h.i.t. The rat b.a.s.t.a.r.d who's started that stupid Humans First organization."

"Prejudice in Del Cielo isn't confined to Robert Friar. I've had...encounters with the police there, and I'm not the only one. Lily, those cops aren't like you. They won't find Steve's killer, and Jason may well stand trial for a murder he did not commit. I need you to take over the investigation."

Unconsciously her hand tightened on his arm. "I can't. Rule, you know that. I don't have any authority over a regular homicide. Only if magic is involved. You said his throat was cut. If there's any suggestion this was a ritual murder, a sacrifice, then I could check it out, but-"

"No. I..." He inhaled sharply, pulled away, and paced a few steps before stopping. "I'm not explaining well. I think...From what my father said, it's possible a federal crime did occur."

Her throat ached. He was hurting. "The Unit doesn't handle hate crimes. Croft's not going to give me a green light to investigate one, but if that's what this was, there are other agencies that might be pulled in, both state and federal. I'll see what I can do." Which might not be all that much, she was afraid. Prosecutors weren't lining up to prosecute hate crimes against lupi.

"Not that." He waved it away with an abrupt gesture. "I'm talking about the law against the use or manufacture of gado."

"Gado?"

Impatiently he said, "It's what they used to use to keep us from Changing."

"I know that, but why do you think gado was involved?"

"The tattoo. Steve's killer decorated his throat before cutting it."

2.

LILY was about forty thousand feet over Ohio when she closed her laptop and reached in her purse for the final gift Rule had given her: a new iPhone. was about forty thousand feet over Ohio when she closed her laptop and reached in her purse for the final gift Rule had given her: a new iPhone.

He'd been almost apologetic about it. A phone wasn't romantic-and besides, he'd bought one for himself, too. But he'd covered the romance base just fine with the earrings and the panties; this was one very cool new toy.

She glanced up the aisle, frowning slightly, as she took out the phone. Rule was headed for the lavatory. He'd undoubtedly go another time or two or three, and not because he had a bladder problem. All lupi experienced some degree of claustrophobia, but however much he preferred to pretend otherwise, Rule suffered from it more than most. Moving around in the plane helped, especially with a long flight.

The stress of being closed up in a flying steel cage would probably be worse than usual. Grief made everything harder to bear. Then, too, they were in economy this time. Rule normally paid for the additional s.p.a.ce of first cla.s.s, but first cla.s.s was full on this flight and he hadn't wanted to wait for another one.

Lily was just guessing about his feelings, though. When she'd asked Rule, he'd told her he'd be fine.

He'd said that pleasantly enough. Ever since they woke up at an unG.o.dly hour this morning to make their flight, he'd been unbearably, d.a.m.nably pleasant. It made her want to shake him. If only he'd scowl or snap or weep...

Grimly she turned her attention to something she could control and touched Nettie Two Horse's name in her contact list.

She had a permit for using the phone. The FAA clung to the idea that cell phone usage on a plane was potentially dangerous, but immediately after the Turning it had granted Unit agents a blanket exemption to the rule. That had been handy for the agents who'd crisscrossed the country dealing with various emergencies, but the FAA hadn't done it to help them out. They'd wanted to stop the crashes.

Magic gives computers indigestion.

For about a week after the Turning, with magic still belching from nodes in unpredictable bursts, the tech in planes hadn't worked consistently. Only one large pa.s.senger plane had crashed in the United States, but there had been several smaller crashes and dozens of close calls. Even after the Turning, problems occurred. The nodes were still leaking, after all, even if they'd stopped burping. And they leaked at a higher rate than they used to, creating higher levels of ambient magic.

Ambient magic was free magic-magic that hadn't been absorbed by earth or water. In the past, the leakage from nodes had been small enough that almost all of it had been soaked up quickly. But after the realms shifted, nodes leaked more magic than earth and water could soak up. The ambient magic level was higher than it had been in a couple centuries...and still rising. Rising faster in some places than others.

Ruben Brooks, Lily's boss, had had a hunch shortly after the Turning. Since he was an off-the-scale precog with the president's ear, the FAA had listened. Brooks suspected that anyone with a Gift soaked up magic in a small way-not like dragons, of course, who were enormous magical sponges. But enough to make a difference to delicate equipment-especially if they were trained.

Unit agents were almost all Gifted, almost all trained in one of the many magical disciplines. They now flew for free on every major airline...and were allowed to use their phones.

That was a perk that might not last much longer. The airlines no longer flew over the noisiest nodes, so incidents of computer malfunction were down, and silk casings on computerized equipment did offer some shielding. But the FAA was quietly investigating whether the flights that did experience a brief malfunction were those without any Gifted on board.

Quietly, because there was still a lot of distrust for the Gifted.

Lily was an exception in one way. She was Gifted, but not trained; her Gift was essentially untrainable. As a sensitive, she felt magic tactilely, but couldn't be affected by it. Or work it.

She didn't feel guilty about taking advantage of a privilege she might or might not be earning. She was using her phone to protect and serve, not to chat about personal matters...though there was an uncomfortable overlap between the professional and the personal in this case.

When Nettie answered, Lily began with the words she'd used too often, professionally. "Nettie, I'm calling about Steve Hilliard. I'm sorry for your loss."

"So am I." Nettie's voice was gruffer than usual. "Are you going to handle the case yourself?"

"I don't know yet. Are you up to a consult?"

Nettie Two-Horses-a ritually trained shaman as well as a Harvard-trained physician-was Nokolai, as Steve Hilliard had been. Nettie must have known Hilliard, might have played with him as a child. She was close to Rule's age, Lily thought, though the years looked different on her than they did on him.

Nettie was clan, but she was female. Female clan weren't lupus. They aged normally.

"If I can help, I want to. Training and disposition mean I can't go kill the b.a.s.t.a.r.d who did it myself, but I want him caught."

"Good enough. You know that someone applied a tattoo to his neck?"

"I've talked to Isen. Yes, I know about that."

"Okay. My first question's about gado. I've read up about it some." Not the full, need-to-know cla.s.sified doc.u.ment, but an abridged version. She could probably get more if she had to, but she'd have to jump through some hoops first. "I've got a rough idea of its effects and a partial ingredients list. Apparently gadolinium and wolfbane are two of the key ingredients. I'm having purchases of gadolinium checked, but wolfbane is not regulated. What can you tell me about it?"

"Actually, gado uses a solution of an organic gadolinium complex-Gadopentetate dimeglumine, or Gd-DTPA-rather than pure gadolinium. Presumably the agency that tracks gadolinium sales is aware of this."

"I'll check. Can you spell it for me?"

"I'd rather you didn't. The various agencies that take note of such things are unaware of how much I know about gado, and I'd prefer them to remain ignorant. I did considerable private research on the subject when the government was using gado on the lupi they caught."

"Right." Lily considered asking just how much Nettie knew about the manufacture of gado. Best not, she decided. Best if she didn't actually know.

"Wolfbane, of course, can't be tracked," Nettie said. "It's far too common."

Wolfbane, aka monkshood, devil's helmet, or aconite, was a member of the b.u.t.tercup family scientifically known as aconitum. Lily was an amateur gardener, but she'd looked this particular plant up. "It's not native to the San Diego area, I think."

"Not that we know of. It generally prefers wetlands, but one species-Columbian monkshood-is found in many parts of California. Also, the flowers are pretty enough that some landscapers use it, despite the toxicity."

"It's a neurotoxin, right? And it interferes with a lupus's healing."

"It does. If you're wondering whether wolfbane could account for the tattoo-"

"I am. The government used gado to tattoo registered lupi, but what I read suggests wolfbane might work, too. I'm also wondering about the fatal wound. Would a lupus heal that before bleeding out without the application of some agent like wolfbane or gado?"

"There's no way to answer your second question. Lupi healing varies, and I don't know enough about the wound. What structures were involved? Was the trachea severed as well as the exterior jugular vein? What about the carotid artery?"

Lily grimaced. So far, everything she knew about the case came from Rule's father and a single newspaper article. The local police had to send the FBI requested material, but if they felt uncooperative, it could take an amazingly long time to process a request. "I don't know."

"Until you do, I can't discuss that meaningfully. As for your other question...hmm." She considered that a moment. "Are you talking about topical woflbane, or ingested?"

"Either. Both."

"Applied topically, both wolfbane and gado r.e.t.a.r.d healing in a lupus, but the mechanism and the duration is very different. Wolfbane's effects are quite brief."

"Define brief."

"That would depend on the lupus and the dosage, but most lupi rid themselves of it in two to four minutes. Some, like Rule, are almost unaffected by topical bane."

"He's been given bane, then."

"Certainly. Most clans expose young lupi to it so they'll recognize the effects. Rule has unusually strong healing, so his system throws off topical wolfbane almost immediately. The ingested bane made him as miserable as any other lupus, though for a briefer time than some."

"So eating wolfbane works differently than rubbing it on?"

"Oh, yes. With ingested bane, the effects are stronger, more unpleasant, and last longer."

"An hour? A day?"