That didn’t keep me from driving my blade in deep, his momentum causing him to skewer himself even more. A canine yelp of agony filled the parking garage. As he backed away, I lunged after him and swung Chopper again. This time, I hit him in the side of the head with the flat of the blade, willing its magic to knock him out.
A surge of power seemed to well up from deep inside me and race through the blade as if it were an electrical conduit. Blue light flashed, and the werewolf flew backward and skidded across the cement. He crashed into the side of another parked car and didn’t move.
Surprised, I almost missed seeing the other werewolf pull out his gun. Before he could point it at me, I flicked Chopper and cracked his knuckles with the flat of the blade. He dropped the gun as I rushed closer, grabbing him and spinning him into the side of the Jeep. I drove my booted heel into the back of his knee, and he crumpled. I pushed him to his stomach, pulled his arms behind his back, and pinned him with my knee.
“Tell me everything you know about the missing vampires,” I said.
“You took them,” he hissed, his cheek smashed to the cement floor.
“That’s what you believe?”
“That’s what everybody believes. Zoltan charged you a bunch of money, you didn’t want to pay, and you kidnapped him. And the others that tried to help Zoltan.”
“Let’s pretend it wasn’t me.” I hoped I could get more information out of these guys than I had from the female shifter in the store. “Who else is on your suspect list? And why would someone want vampires? It’s not like you can sell their organs on the black market.”
He growled and twisted, trying to bite my ankle. I calmly moved that leg away from his head and pressed Chopper’s blade into his neck deep enough to draw blood.
“You go for my ankle again, and I’ll tag you with the nickname Chihuahua. After I lop off your other ear.”
“You’re the only one who hates everyone magical and wants us all dead.”
“That can’t be true. And I don’t hate everyone. Ask the goblins.”
The wrinkled-lip glower he gave me seemed more puzzled than enlightened. So much for thinking that helping a few goblins would improve my reputation among the other races.
“Are they dead?” came Amber’s wary voice from behind us. She was holding the shopping bags and a box of cupcakes and had stopped about thirty feet away. One of the bear shifters Sindari had dealt with was slumped unconscious, and the werewolf I’d knocked out hadn’t stirred either.
“No. I only kill people I was hired to kill and diehard enemies who won’t leave me alone.”
“These, uhm, people don’t qualify?”
“They’ll get bumped into that category if they try to kill me again.” I gave the one I’d pinned my best baleful look. “I am lenient with first-time offenders.”
The roar of a bear echoed through the parking garage, followed by the louder roar of a tiger. Sindari was chasing his other target around the parking garage, heading her off and not letting her escape.
Let her go, Sindari, I called silently. We only need one to question.
And I was afraid I’d already gotten what little I could out of these guys.
My pinned werewolf tried to press his palms to the ground to rise. I leaned into him harder and reminded him of the blade pressed to his throat. His buddy groaned—he’d shifted back into human form—but he didn’t try to rise.
With my free hand, I opened the back of the Jeep and pulled a coil of rope out of my camping supplies. Mundane rope wouldn’t keep powerful shifters immobilized for long, but now that Amber was back, all I needed was time to get out of the parking garage.
Sindari trotted past Amber, making her jump in surprise, and came over to sit on the more alert werewolf so I could focus on tying him.
“You can’t take on the whole magical community,” he growled. “We protect our own. And we know where you live.”
“That’s good to know. I’d hate to think I needed to install a flashing neon sign outside my apartment so you could come fall on my sword.” I walked over to tie the other werewolf. “But maybe you should do a little research and find out who really kidnapped the vampires. And let me know, would you? I need Zoltan back so he can stock my friend’s coffee shop with breakable jars to entertain the ogres while they drink.”
That earned me a confused frown.
Did you ask them if they know the werewolves who attacked your new employer? Sindari asked.
No, but I will now. “You guys know a Bernard Weber? He said some werewolves roughed him up recently.”
“I don’t know who that is,” the werewolf said.
“What territory does your pack claim?” I assumed Weber had been attacked in the vicinity of his house, though he hadn’t said. “Bellevue? You have any contacts in Seattle?”
“None of your business.”
I thought about threatening to lop his ear off again, but Amber was watching all of this with wide eyes. Wide eyes that glanced from the blood on the floor under the werewolf to his mangled ear. She hadn’t seen them lounging against the Jeep ready to ambush me, so I probably looked like a bully.
“Guess not.” I sheathed my sword.
It was doubtful I would get anything from him anyway. There were a number of werewolf packs in the Seattle area, so it was possible he truly had no idea about who was being hunted across the water and why.
I walked up to Amber and waved for her to open the cupcake box. She gave me an are-you-crazy look but lifted the lid. There were more cupcakes than expected for the money I’d given her.
“I chipped in and got a couple for Dad.”
“And Shauna?”
“She can have one of those.” Amber waved at a row of plastic-wrapped cupcakes that didn’t look as fresh. “I asked if they had any day-old ones. No way am I spending five dollars a piece on her.”
I plucked out three of the wrapped cupcakes. “I’ll pay you back.”
I set them in front of the noses of each of the downed shifters. There. An overture of friendship. Maybe Amber would think her mom was a reasonable woman only acting in self-defense, not a bully pummeling helpless people.
Judging by the look I got, she mostly thought it was weird to tie people up and leave them with cupcakes.
12
My date was either a fast healer or he was wearing a lot of makeup.
As requested, I met him in his driveway, where I would leave my Jeep and a limo would take us to the yacht club. When the driver held the door open for us, I got close enough to Weber to see the foundation powder on his face and had my answer. Not a fast healer. Just a man with bruise-concealing makeup.
I removed Chopper so I could sit without a sword scabbard digging into my back—and without worrying about scratching the white leather upholstery. Weber, dressed in a tux for the event despite the warm muggy August evening, eyed it with bemusement when it appeared on the floor next to the black purse Amber had promised went with my emerald green dress. He hadn’t presumed to sit beside me, which I appreciated. I would walk in on his arm and play the part of his date for him, but the windows were tinted, so there was no reason for the charade on the ride over.
“I ran into some werewolves today.” I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to chitchat with him, but I wouldn’t mind getting some more information out of him.
Just because Willard’s research hadn’t come up with his supposed up-and-coming tracker app didn’t mean it didn’t exist, but her people were good at finding stuff, so I couldn’t help but wonder if Weber had lied to me. And if so, why? He could have said he was doing almost anything with computers, and I wouldn’t know any better.
“Sounds painful,” he said.
“More so for them than me, but I do have a few bruises.” My dress lacked sleeves, so I showed him a whopper on my elbow.
“I don’t suppose they were the ones who beat me up?”
“I asked if they knew you, but they didn’t recognize your name.” I watched him for reactions as I spoke. “This was over in Bellevue though. Where were you attacked?”
“Right at home. That’s what prompted me to upgrade the security system.”
“You got a lot installed quickly. Judging by your split lip, the attack didn’t happen that long ago.”
“Is it still visible?” Weber touched his mouth. “I had the cleaning lady help me cover everything up with makeup.”
“It’s fine.”
“Good.”
“Do you always defer to your cleaning lady for makeup advice?”
“She’s the only woman who comes to my house on a regular basis. Women have better advice when it comes to treating and concealing wounds. One of my male friends suggested I throw a raw steak over the eye.”
“It worked for Fred Flintstone, I guess.”
Weber looked out the window as we drove along the water, the evening sun still out and glittering on the surface. End of conversation? He’d deflected my probe about how quickly he’d upgraded his security. Not that I was known for being a subtle or talented interrogator. Since he was my employer for now, I decided not to press him.
“You and I have been dating for six weeks,” he informed me as we rolled onto the yacht club’s grounds. “That’s not so long that people will think it odd that I haven’t introduced you to my friends.”
“Glad you’ve got it worked out.”
“I don’t have much time for dating, and everyone knows that. So we met through Tinder.”
Tinder? I was vaguely aware that was a dating app and only because Nin had mentioned it once. “I don’t think anyone over thirty uses stuff like that.”
He blinked at me. “Are you over thirty?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m thirty-two.”
“I’m not.”
“You don’t look that old.”
“My teenage daughter picked out this dress for me.”