only four stories left after this one^_^
Oct. 17th, 2005 06:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
maderrAnd they're all anywhere from 1/3-3/4 done!
332: Breaking Rules
“You’re either a brave or a stupid werewolf to come around here these days,” Chris said. He watched the werewolf sitting in the middle of the room idly.
Though he was far from idle. Doug barely kept himself from snorting in amusement. More than a few would-be customers had misinterpreted Chris’s laidback manner, which combined with his blue eyes and blonde hair could, if he chose, give him a very sleepy, distracted air. A spoiled consort playing at detective.
The last one to fall for it, a particularly nasty goblin, Doug had literally thrown out of the building while Chris laughed and Phil cleaned up broken glass while she scolded both of them.
“How about desperate?” the werewolf asked, no small amount of bitterness in her voice. Werewolves were at the least forthright, more often outright aggressive. But this one only looked at her hands, white where she clutched a small, pink beaded purse.
Chris conceded the point with a nod. Doug jotted down a few notes, exchanging a look with Phil across the room. It looked like they would probably be taking the case, though the ramifications of working for a werewolf after the Stolen Hearts case were not good.
Stifling a sigh, Doug made himself pay closer attention. If he missed a single thing, Chris would give him hell for a month straight.
“Start at the beginning,” Chris said, leaning back in his chair and steepling his fingers. “Tell me everything, no matter how silly or inconsequential the detail.”
The werewolf nodded. “My name is Myra. When I was young, I was involved in an accident that left me incapable of bearing children.” She looked up then, showing a quiet pride that until then had not been apparent. It was a pride born of endurance; pride of those who had little else. “As you can imagine, this has not endeared me to the pack.”
Chris nodded. Doug’s pen flew. “But I met someone who didn’t care about that. Three nights ago he was murdered.”
Doug’s pen faltered.
“You were having an affair with Second Candidate Vale?”
Myra nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m impressed,” Chris said with a smirk that was reminiscent of his lover. “He really was a rarity among werewolves.”
Again she nodded. “He should have been First Candidate.”
“His views on vampires kept him from it,” Doug said. “Right?”
“Yes. He was hoping to put an end to the feuding with at least one clan. The night before he died, he told me he was getting close to the first step toward that.” She lowered her head, and Doug could see her chest rising and falling in the manner of those who were consciously taking deep, calming breaths. When she looked up again, her face was as composed as ever. “I would like you to determine the vampire family with which he was communicating. His murder is no mystery; I am more afraid that his hard work will die with him. He would want someone to continue what he began. But Vale was careful to keep the matter private; he would not tell even me. If there is any way you can determine the identity of those vampires, I will be in your debt so long as I live.”
Chris was silent for several minutes. Myra and his assistant were equally still, waiting for what he might say. Doug smirked slightly, sharing another look with Phil, who rolled her eyes and fed her pixie a bit of fruit.
“Very well,” Chris said at last. “We’ll accept the case. But I’ll warn you now that we could figure it out quickly, or it could take us several months if not more.”
Myra nodded. “Of course. I thank you. You’ve only to name your fee.”
“That will be decided upon completion of the case,” Chris said. “Is there anything else you can tell us?”
“I’m afraid not. When Vale wanted to keep a secret, he kept a secret. Even from me.”
“All right. You are welcome to stay within Sable’s territory for the duration of the investigation, however none of your kin will be welcome no matter the motive for their visit.”
Myra looked startled, then bowed her head gratefully. “Thank you. And I highly doubt any of my kin will come looking…at least not for any good reason.”
Chris nodded. “Phil, take her to the Seventh Circle. Then hit the peasants downtown, see what rumors you can dig up about vampires and werewolves who aren’t fighting.”
Phil nodded and stood up. On her shoulder, the pixie lifted itself into the air until she was standing, then resettled himself to ride while she walked. Phil reached up briefly to touch the small bite marks just below her right ear, where Jester had bitten her several months ago. The Pixie Bite gave her immunity to such things as the beauty of vampires, allowing her to do a great deal more than she would otherwise be capable.
“Doug,” Chris looked at him. Doug waited, not certain what to make of the barely-there smirk on his face. “Speak with the families closet to Sable’s territory.” Doug felt his heat begin to beat faster. That was why Chris was smirking. “Start with the DeLovely, as we’re friends with them. If they’re not the family we’re looking for, they’ll be more than happy to gain you access to other families in the area.” His smirk became more obvious. “Don’t get too distracted.”
Muttering under his breath, Doug nodded and fetched his coat and scarf. “Meet back here when?”
“Tomorrow,” Chris said. “I’m going to do some investigating on the murder itself, see if I can’t find the source by working backwards from there. We’ll all be busy for the day, so we’ll meet back here this time tomorrow. Actually, make that the Seven Circle. I don’t want Myra more exposed than absolutely necessary.”
Phil and Doug nodded, and in minutes the office was empty.
The DeLovely Estate was everything the word Estate implied. Sable was fond of his towering, flashy hotels and everything that went with them. The Estate was the sort of place made for candlelight, women in long dresses and men in waistcoats and cravats.
But the door was opened by a woman in a long denim skirt and a shirt that, for all that it was flowy and lacey and delicate, was clearly of modern design. She smiled pleasantly. Doug blinked, surprised to see another imp. “My name is Douglas, I’m with the White Detective Agency. I was hoping to speak with the DeLovely.”
“Come on in,” the imp said pleasantly. She continued to smile at him as she led the way through the lavish house. He was amused to note that while the house had electricity, it was arranged to look as much like candle and oil-lamp light as possible. “I’ve never met another free-working imp,” she said suddenly. “I was only hired a couple of weeks ago. It’s different; I keep expecting to have a binding cast.”
Douglas smiled. “I was bound for decades; being free is a nice change. You’re the only other free imp I’ve met. And your glamour is excellent.”
“Thank you,” she said simply. “My name is Maria, by the way. If you need anything, just ring. The Dracula and Lady are out right now, but I believe the Alucard and Lady Rosette are upstairs. I’ll notify them at once.”
Doug nodded and looked around the blue salon in which he waited, not really seeing it. Sternly he told himself to focus on the case, but his attention was lost.
It had been three months since their last case. He’d heard not a word, waiting for some sign that it would okay to do something. Though he was still trying to figure out what that something should be.
The door opened.
Zach was as beautiful as ever. His blue-black hair was everywhere, as if he’d been running. Doug wondered if he dared hope. Pale green eyes, drawn out by a shirt of similar shade, stared at him as though he were a specter. “Doug?” Zach asked, sounding as though he had in fact been running. “What are you doing here?”
Nervousness got the better of him. “I’m on a case.”
“Oh,” Zach said levelly. But his eyes dimmed, just a bit.
Doug wanted to smack himself. “I mean—oh, hell.” Taking a page from Sable’s book, tearing it out quickly before he could think about it too long, Doug crossed the room in two quick strides, grabbed Zach’s shoulders and tugged the vampire close enough to kiss him. It was better than anything he’d imagined. Zach tasted like dark chocolate and just the slightest bit coppery.
“Oh,” Zach said again, this time dazedly. “I was…ah…I’ve been…It’s…” He frowned.
Laughing, feeling so light it was a wonder his feet were on the ground, Doug leaned in and kissed him again. “I am on a case,” he said at last. “But that’s not the only reason I came. It was more just a good excuse.”
“I’d resigned myself to it being entirely one sided.” Zach leaned in close, arms tightening around Doug’s waist. “I’m glad I was wrong.”
Doug felt the last of his worries drain away. “Me too.”
“You’re hard to read. The whole time—I could barely stop looking at you when you first walked in.” Zach didn’t look at him as he spoke, content to rest his head on Doug’s chest and stare somewhere between the wall and floor. “At the restaurant, I mean. And then with the werewolves—but I didn’t know what to do or say. And my parents…”
The reality of the situation dimmed Doug’s mood a bit. “Did you talk to them? Finally work things out?”
“Yes,” Zach replied. “We’re still working things out, but they know. Though I didn’t tell them about you specifically, just because I wasn’t sure…” He dared a look up, smiling shyly. “But I guess I can tell them now.”
Doug ducked his head to taste that smile. “It’s still a wonder to me you want anything to do with an imp.”
“Are you ever going to drop your glamour?” Zach asked. “Speaking of you being an imp, I mean.”
“If you want.” Doug said it faintly, disbelievingly.
Zach burrowed against his chest again. “I like your real form. I’ve never seen a mature imp – even Maria is still immature, though she’s almost a hundred.”
“That’s because her horns were cut for so long. Give it twenty years or so. Why did your family hire an imp?”
“So…” Zach pressed closer, as if hoping by doing so he’d feel braver. “I didn’t know much about imps. I wanted to learn.”
Doug held him tighter than ever, not certain what to say.
“I, uh…I guess if you’re on a case…I should ask why you’re here?” Zach attempted a more businesslike tone but made no move to step out of Doug’s embrace.
But the words reminded Doug that he was supposed to be working. “Unfortunately.” He pulled away a bit. “’We’ve been hired by a werewolf,” he began, ignoring Zach’s frown and explaining the case.
“Wow.” Zach said when he finished. “Every vampire I know, myself included, would be happier to never see another werewolf. Werewolves, especially the pack from which Vale hales, are responsible for killing at least thirty of my blood kin. Given that vampires can only have one child…by the same token, my ancestors are responsible for at least that many werewolf deaths. My father killed one when he dared to assault my mother’s carriage when she first journeyed here to meet her betrothed. Similar stories abound between vampires families and werewolf packs.”
Doug sighed. “I can see ferreting out those who would change things will take time. What about you? If someone proposed a truce to you, what would you do?”
“Wonder when the werewolves were going to stab me in the back,” Zach said. “I’ve seen what they do all my life. And I won’t forget that those stupid mongrels tried to kill you.” He looked away from Doug’s frown, resting his cheek against his chest again. “It would take a long, long time for me to begin to trust werewolves.”
“At least you’d be willing.”
Zach’s fingers tightened in his sweater. “It would be nice to walk around the city with you and not worry about being assaulted.”
“We can do that now,” Doug said. “The Alpha Sandalio won’t be so quick to piss off Sable again, not after what happened last time.”
“…What happened?”
Doug smirked. “They made Sable mad, and when Sable is mad Chris is mad. Let’s just leave it at that.” Doug winked and stole a quick kiss before finally disentangling himself. “So it’s unlikely your family was the one working with Second Candidate Vale?”
“My parents can keep secrets, but that wouldn’t be one. So I highly doubt they were involved.”
“What about the other families in the area? Any ideas come to mind?”
Zach shook his head. “No. Rosette’s family is the same as mine. I don’t know the other families as well, so I suppose something is possible…but I just can’t picture any of them sneaking off to secretly rendezvous with a werewolf – especially one who was a Candidate for Alpha.
A frantic knock at the door startled them both, before Maria burst into the room. “Alucard! Your parents. Rossette! Front hall!”
“What?” Zach asked, taking in the anxious expression on her face. But as he spoke he was moving toward and out the door, dragging Doug along by the hand.
A crowd of people were standing in the front hall. Doug’s eyes went wide to see that Chris and Phil were amongst them. Reluctantly letting go of Zach’s hand, he approached. “What’s going on?” He noticed that a young woman was sobbing into an older woman’s arms – they must be Rosette and Zach’s mother.
Chris looked troubled. “Dracula Farshire and his wife were found murdered this morning. DeLovely came to see me only an hour after we parted ways. Werewolves did it.”
Dracula DeLovely nodded, leaning more heavily on his cane than usual. “We had gone to visit Rosette’s parents…” he glanced at his son. “To discuss certain matters. We found them dead. I went to fetch Chris, and then we returned home.”
Doug pulled out his notebook and began to fill pages at lightning speed. He looked toward Chris. “Related to our present case?”
“Most likely. The murders have details in common. There’s an impression of warning about them.” He hesitated, looking unhappily at the sobbing girl. “I suspect at least one of her parent’s was a contact.”
A broken voice spoke up, muffled at first by the silk of Lady DeLovely’s dress. “No,” Rosette said. She sniffled and wiped her eyes, but the tears kept falling. “I was talking to Vale. My parents had nothing to do with it. Neither did anyone here.” She refused to look at the DeLovely family, though Zach’s mother still held comforting arms around her. “V-Vale and I met a few months ago…in…in church. The old cathedral down the way. W-w-we got to be friends. And started talking about how things would be better…” she dissolved into tears again. At first she stiffened as Lady DeLovely pulled her back into an embrace, guilt warring with her need for comfort, but then she collapsed entirely, her sobs worse than ever.
The group stood in grim silence. “Let me handle things here,” Phil said at last. “Jester and I can handle whatever problems might crop up. You and Doug should go back to the house and see what you can learn.”
Chris smiled at her, proud of his newest assistant despite everything. “That will work. Notify us immediately if something should occur.” He scowled at the pixie. “And make sure that rat with wings behaves.”
Phil stuck her tongue out. “Be nice.”
“No.” Chris motioned to Doug. “Let’s go before more problems crop up.” And Doug was the only one who caught his whisper of a smirk, and the flitting of his eyes to where Doug and Zach had been holding hands before they’d reached the crowd.
They vanished a moment later, reappearing in front of a house as lavish as the one they’d left, but darker and more severe. Rosette’s family home was as austere as Zach’s had been warm.
It was also swarming with werewolves. Chris swore and his diamond ring sparkled as he loosed the power he typically preferred to keep banked.
The ripple of power did not go unnoticed. In the house and in front of the house before them the assembled werewolves froze. From amongst them one stepped forward, clear of the pack.
“Sandalio,” Chris said. “What in the fucking hell do you think you’re doing?”
The Alpha grinned, and every inch of him was wolf despite the fact that he was in human form. His eyes were the color of dried blood. A long scar, more new than old, cut through one eyes, across his nose and down the opposite cheek. From when he’d gotten rather pissed at the message Chris had delivered on Sable’s behalf. “ The demon’s whore. This has nothing to do with you.”
“Anything that affects the DeLovely family affects Sable. We warned you once not to mess with our friends.”
“This is werewolf business, devil slut.”
Chris tensed as the anger in the air grew. Beside him Doug resumed his natural shape. “This goes beyond killing a werewolf and vampires for daring to attempt a truce.”
“That is none of your business, demon—“
“If you call me a name one more time, you won’t live to do it a fourth.” The ring on his hand shimmered, seemed to glow. “Didn’t we already have this chat, Alpha? When are you going to stop being stupid?”
The Alpha snarled, the wolf in him barely beneath the surface of his skin. That he wore a pale gray, hand-made suit seemed both absurd and surreal. A sheep skin. “Tell your demon and his vampire lackeys that we have every right to kill those who attempt to intrude on our space.”
“Except that you killed the wrong people. And one of your own to boot.”
“It’s none of your affair, human.”
“I was hired to do two jobs. You are interfering in both my cases. And this house does not belong to you. Why is your pack in it?”
The Alpha grinned, baring teeth that even in human form looked as though they would gladly tear Chris to pieces. “It’s ours now. Would you like to kick us out, human whore of a sniveling demon?”
Chris’s reply was a laugh. Cold and loud, echoing across the yard and stilling the werewolves that shifted impatiently behind their leader. His ring flashed bright. “I warned you, Alpha. But because I’m not a murdering scumbag, I’ll warn you one more time. Do. Not. Call. Me. Names. Nor will I tolerate your deriding of my demon. Shut your mouth and get off this land.”
“It is my land now, and if I want to call you a whore and that demon a sniveling coward—“
He didn’t get the chance to finish, but fell howling in pain to the ground, his face dripping blood from a gash inflicted by magic. For a moment, everything froze.
Then the scent of their Alpha’s blood drove the werewolves into a frenzy, mongrels and purebreds mingling as they all succumbed to their wolf forms.
“Fuck!” Chris said.
Doug glared at him even as he cast protective spells to reduce the amount of damage he would take. “You could have just ignored him.”
“Shut up.” Chris’s earrings shimmered and a barrage of magic hit the nearest three wolves. They yelped, faltered, but did not back down. “We can’t stay.”
“But the house!”
“To hell with it. Something is going on here that we—” Chris lashed out with a spell that left one werewolf on the ground, bleeding profusely. “Don’t understand.”
Doug swore as a werewolf bit his arm – the same arm he’d injured not too long ago in a similar battle. He threw himself toward Chris as the other man spoke the words that teleported them away.
An hour later everyone was assembled in Sable’s living room. The demon clung possessively to Chris, who for once didn’t look on the verge of knocking him upside the head.
“All right. I’m confused.” Doug said into the silence. “This started out as a case to figure out which vampire wanted to work things out with werewolves. Somewhere in there Chris was hired to also figure out who murdered the Farshire.” He looked briefly at Rosette, who sat curled up against Zach. Doug looked away. “How did this turn into what feels like a war against werewolves?”
DeLovely glowered at the crackling fire casting warmth on them. “The werewolves have been itching for a fight for some time. It is in no small part why I was terrified when Zach ran off a few months ago. I do not know why; for all that we keep tabs on the werewolf packs, we seldom are privy to their inner workings.”
“It…” a voice spoke hesitantly from the door. “It’s because of the Alpha wars,” a young woman said. Every vampire looked up, a mixture of anger, dislike and uncertainty in their faces. Except Rosette, who did not look up at all.
Myra pressed on, having only just arrived to join them. There was no small amount of trepidation in her voice. “Alpha Sandalio is the only purebred Alpha for miles around. Every other pack in the southeast has some amount of mongrel blood in him. Mongrel blood is…less stable than pureblood.” She hovered in the door way, hands fisted at her side. “They’ve been fighting a great deal. Alpha Sandalio is working to take over all the southeast packs – but he can’t do it if the territories are spread out. So he wants to eliminate the vampires that are in his way. And really any excuse to hurt vampires…” she looked at the floor.
“So what are you?” Rosette asked, her voice eerily cold. Zach recoiled, stunned to hear a girl who was normally warm and sweet and sisterly, sound more like the wolves that had tried to kill Doug three month ago. “A spy? Sent to get rid of the demon that protects the DeLovely? Because of course the second largest pack in the region lies to the east of DeLovely land, right beyond the Freelands. Have you come to play your card now?” She stood and strode over to the werewolf. “Trying to kill us all now?”
Myra frowned, hands clenching – but not in fear. “No. I know you don’t like me. I wouldn’t expect you to. But I loved Vale, and Vale wanted peace so that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Peace? After they tore my parents into little pieces? Forget it. Maybe Vale had me convinced it was possible, but I can see now it was nothing but madness.”
“No it wasn’t!” Myra snapped, growing angry rather than afraid. “Don’t you dare dishonor him like that! He died because he was talking to you! He believed in you enough to risk that! To leave me alone! Don’t you dare give up now, you spoiled little brat!”
Rosette slapped her. “How dare you!”
Myra glared murder, then punched Rosette hard.
Sable started laughing, but it was abruptly cut off by an elbow to his gut. With a grumble of complaint and a brief motion, he stopped the two women. “Promise to behave and I’ll release you.” He laughed again at the epithets hurled his way. “Then stay that way awhile.”
“So what do we do?”
“There’s nothing we can do, at the moment. We could try to take back the land the werewolves have stolen, but that would esculate skirmish into a full fledged war.” Sable held Chris close as he spoke; it was clear the presence of his consort kept the demon calm.
Doug fought the urge to join Zach on the couch. He still had a fiancé, and while his parents might be more tolerant of Zach’s preferences than most Doug was still willing to bet they wouldn’t be too thrilled about their son wanting an imp. “So we let them have Farshire property?
“For now,” Sable said. “There is nothing to be gained by picking a fight with what amounts to every pack in the area. The Farshire are dead, save Rosette. And she is safer with the DeLovely.” He looked at Myra. “And will you continue to stand with us? Be an ally?”
“Yes,” Myra managed. “I’ve no love for most of my kind. Vale was all that ever mattered to me.”
Sable released her. “Rosette?”
“Rose…” Zach said softly.
Rosette began to cry, and fell to the ground as Sable released her. Braced for a resumption of hostilities, the group instead watched as the two girls embraced and cried together. Lady DeLovely and Phil escorted them from the room.
“So we’re at a stalemate,” DeLovely said. “We let the werewolves have their way.”
“For now,” Sable reiterated. “Demons and vampires in the area will not take kindly to such uncouth behavior. Perhaps we lost the Farshire, but the werewolves will be put in their place soon enough. None of us are dumb enough to allow Alpha Sandalio to take control of every pack in the area.”
Chris shook his head against Sable’s chest. “Whatever’s going on, it’s not going to end well.”
“Well I’d call this night over and done with.” Doug sighed and pulled away from the window he’d been leaning against. “I’m going home to my bed.” He resisted the urge to look at Zach. There were enough problems with the vampires without forcing Rosette to give up her fiancé as well. And there was a host of other problems that came with an Alucard wanting a male imp for a lover. He also ignored the looks Sable and Chris were giving him, hunching his shoulders as he left. “See you tomorrow.” If he’d been in his true form, his wings would have been hiding him from view.
Instead of down, Doug went up, itching suddenly with the need to fly. But on the roof, he hesitated. He could fly all night and it wouldn’t solve anything. His tale lashed with indecision, discontent.
“Why are you avoiding me?” Zach asked from behind him.
Doug spun around, dropping his wings to avoid the wind. “Zach?” It came out rough, and he cleared his throat. “I’m not avoiding you.”
“Yes, you are.”
“I’m not…it’s not because I want to. It just…didn’t seem right. Not with…everything.” His wings came down, wrapping around him like a blanket. “And this a bit different than that little room, isn’t it? There are ramifications…”
Zach frowned. “I didn’t think you cared about what other people thought.”
“I don’t,” Doug said tightly. He clenched his hands into fists to keep from reaching out. “But I care about you. And it doesn’t seem right to throw my mess right into the middle of everything that’s going on. Rosette and you and your parents have enough to deal with.”
The wind snatched at Zach’s hair, sending it flying everywhere. Futilely the vampire snatched at, but he wasn’t able to get control of it until the wind died down. Leaving it in a tangled, haphazard mess obscuring his face.
Doug laughed softly and stepped forward to help him set it back to rights, claws carefully combing his hair back into order…and lingering there. “It doesn’t seem right to steal you away.”
“Technically you wouldn’t be,” Zach said. “I never got a chance to tell you what my parents have been doing.”
“Which is?” Doug stood still.
Zach smiled. “They’re disowning me.”
“Why are you smiling about that?”
Laughing, Zach explained. “When you arrived this morning, my parents had gone to talk to the Farshire about Rosette. DeLovely is a more powerful family than Farshire, which is why they wanted their daughter to marry me. But for obvious reasons, I can’t in good conscience marry Rose. My parents figured if we were breaking one rule, we may as well keep breaking them until everything evened out. In apology for the broken betrothal, my parents wanted to adopt Rosette and make her the Alucard.”
“Women can’t be Alucards.”
“Like I said,” Zach replied. “My parents were going to break rules until everything came back around to level. If the Farshire said no, they would have just found a vampire somewhere of adequate blood to adopt. My parents want the name to continue, the blood itself doesn’t mean as much.”
Doug shook his head. “Your parents are a rarity among vampires. Bloodline is everything amongst the nobility.”
Zach shrugged. “My parents always said there are more important things.” He smiled shyly at Doug. “It just wasn’t until I met you that I was willing to start believing them. And they’re not literally disowning me – it’s more just a stripping of the Alucard title. Beginning tomorrow I’ll simply be Zachariah DeLovely. And Rosette, if she decides she still wants to do it, will become the Alucard DeLovely. Though I’m sure plenty will be fighting the move if they’re not too busy with the werewolves.” He looked anxiously at Doug. “So…”
Doug held out a clawed, dark gray hand. On the roof even the lights of the hotel didn’t reach them, and he looked like little more than a large, winged shadow, though his mismatched green and yellow eyes glowed ever so faintly. “It really doesn’t bother you I’m am imp? You’ll be harassed the rest of your life for having an imp as your lover.”
“I think you’re beautiful,” Zach replied, and ignored Doug’s hand to step forward and throw his arms up around his neck. When Doug was in human shape, they were nearly matched in height. As an imp, Doug was several inches taller. Zach kissed him hard, as if hoping by doing so he would overcome his shyness.
Startled into stillness, Doug rapidly recovered himself and began to return the kiss. “You can’t be real,” he said softly against Zach’s mouth.
“I can if you can,” Zach replied.
Doug laughed. “That sounds fair.”
332: Breaking Rules
“You’re either a brave or a stupid werewolf to come around here these days,” Chris said. He watched the werewolf sitting in the middle of the room idly.
Though he was far from idle. Doug barely kept himself from snorting in amusement. More than a few would-be customers had misinterpreted Chris’s laidback manner, which combined with his blue eyes and blonde hair could, if he chose, give him a very sleepy, distracted air. A spoiled consort playing at detective.
The last one to fall for it, a particularly nasty goblin, Doug had literally thrown out of the building while Chris laughed and Phil cleaned up broken glass while she scolded both of them.
“How about desperate?” the werewolf asked, no small amount of bitterness in her voice. Werewolves were at the least forthright, more often outright aggressive. But this one only looked at her hands, white where she clutched a small, pink beaded purse.
Chris conceded the point with a nod. Doug jotted down a few notes, exchanging a look with Phil across the room. It looked like they would probably be taking the case, though the ramifications of working for a werewolf after the Stolen Hearts case were not good.
Stifling a sigh, Doug made himself pay closer attention. If he missed a single thing, Chris would give him hell for a month straight.
“Start at the beginning,” Chris said, leaning back in his chair and steepling his fingers. “Tell me everything, no matter how silly or inconsequential the detail.”
The werewolf nodded. “My name is Myra. When I was young, I was involved in an accident that left me incapable of bearing children.” She looked up then, showing a quiet pride that until then had not been apparent. It was a pride born of endurance; pride of those who had little else. “As you can imagine, this has not endeared me to the pack.”
Chris nodded. Doug’s pen flew. “But I met someone who didn’t care about that. Three nights ago he was murdered.”
Doug’s pen faltered.
“You were having an affair with Second Candidate Vale?”
Myra nodded. “Yes.”
“I’m impressed,” Chris said with a smirk that was reminiscent of his lover. “He really was a rarity among werewolves.”
Again she nodded. “He should have been First Candidate.”
“His views on vampires kept him from it,” Doug said. “Right?”
“Yes. He was hoping to put an end to the feuding with at least one clan. The night before he died, he told me he was getting close to the first step toward that.” She lowered her head, and Doug could see her chest rising and falling in the manner of those who were consciously taking deep, calming breaths. When she looked up again, her face was as composed as ever. “I would like you to determine the vampire family with which he was communicating. His murder is no mystery; I am more afraid that his hard work will die with him. He would want someone to continue what he began. But Vale was careful to keep the matter private; he would not tell even me. If there is any way you can determine the identity of those vampires, I will be in your debt so long as I live.”
Chris was silent for several minutes. Myra and his assistant were equally still, waiting for what he might say. Doug smirked slightly, sharing another look with Phil, who rolled her eyes and fed her pixie a bit of fruit.
“Very well,” Chris said at last. “We’ll accept the case. But I’ll warn you now that we could figure it out quickly, or it could take us several months if not more.”
Myra nodded. “Of course. I thank you. You’ve only to name your fee.”
“That will be decided upon completion of the case,” Chris said. “Is there anything else you can tell us?”
“I’m afraid not. When Vale wanted to keep a secret, he kept a secret. Even from me.”
“All right. You are welcome to stay within Sable’s territory for the duration of the investigation, however none of your kin will be welcome no matter the motive for their visit.”
Myra looked startled, then bowed her head gratefully. “Thank you. And I highly doubt any of my kin will come looking…at least not for any good reason.”
Chris nodded. “Phil, take her to the Seventh Circle. Then hit the peasants downtown, see what rumors you can dig up about vampires and werewolves who aren’t fighting.”
Phil nodded and stood up. On her shoulder, the pixie lifted itself into the air until she was standing, then resettled himself to ride while she walked. Phil reached up briefly to touch the small bite marks just below her right ear, where Jester had bitten her several months ago. The Pixie Bite gave her immunity to such things as the beauty of vampires, allowing her to do a great deal more than she would otherwise be capable.
“Doug,” Chris looked at him. Doug waited, not certain what to make of the barely-there smirk on his face. “Speak with the families closet to Sable’s territory.” Doug felt his heat begin to beat faster. That was why Chris was smirking. “Start with the DeLovely, as we’re friends with them. If they’re not the family we’re looking for, they’ll be more than happy to gain you access to other families in the area.” His smirk became more obvious. “Don’t get too distracted.”
Muttering under his breath, Doug nodded and fetched his coat and scarf. “Meet back here when?”
“Tomorrow,” Chris said. “I’m going to do some investigating on the murder itself, see if I can’t find the source by working backwards from there. We’ll all be busy for the day, so we’ll meet back here this time tomorrow. Actually, make that the Seven Circle. I don’t want Myra more exposed than absolutely necessary.”
Phil and Doug nodded, and in minutes the office was empty.
The DeLovely Estate was everything the word Estate implied. Sable was fond of his towering, flashy hotels and everything that went with them. The Estate was the sort of place made for candlelight, women in long dresses and men in waistcoats and cravats.
But the door was opened by a woman in a long denim skirt and a shirt that, for all that it was flowy and lacey and delicate, was clearly of modern design. She smiled pleasantly. Doug blinked, surprised to see another imp. “My name is Douglas, I’m with the White Detective Agency. I was hoping to speak with the DeLovely.”
“Come on in,” the imp said pleasantly. She continued to smile at him as she led the way through the lavish house. He was amused to note that while the house had electricity, it was arranged to look as much like candle and oil-lamp light as possible. “I’ve never met another free-working imp,” she said suddenly. “I was only hired a couple of weeks ago. It’s different; I keep expecting to have a binding cast.”
Douglas smiled. “I was bound for decades; being free is a nice change. You’re the only other free imp I’ve met. And your glamour is excellent.”
“Thank you,” she said simply. “My name is Maria, by the way. If you need anything, just ring. The Dracula and Lady are out right now, but I believe the Alucard and Lady Rosette are upstairs. I’ll notify them at once.”
Doug nodded and looked around the blue salon in which he waited, not really seeing it. Sternly he told himself to focus on the case, but his attention was lost.
It had been three months since their last case. He’d heard not a word, waiting for some sign that it would okay to do something. Though he was still trying to figure out what that something should be.
The door opened.
Zach was as beautiful as ever. His blue-black hair was everywhere, as if he’d been running. Doug wondered if he dared hope. Pale green eyes, drawn out by a shirt of similar shade, stared at him as though he were a specter. “Doug?” Zach asked, sounding as though he had in fact been running. “What are you doing here?”
Nervousness got the better of him. “I’m on a case.”
“Oh,” Zach said levelly. But his eyes dimmed, just a bit.
Doug wanted to smack himself. “I mean—oh, hell.” Taking a page from Sable’s book, tearing it out quickly before he could think about it too long, Doug crossed the room in two quick strides, grabbed Zach’s shoulders and tugged the vampire close enough to kiss him. It was better than anything he’d imagined. Zach tasted like dark chocolate and just the slightest bit coppery.
“Oh,” Zach said again, this time dazedly. “I was…ah…I’ve been…It’s…” He frowned.
Laughing, feeling so light it was a wonder his feet were on the ground, Doug leaned in and kissed him again. “I am on a case,” he said at last. “But that’s not the only reason I came. It was more just a good excuse.”
“I’d resigned myself to it being entirely one sided.” Zach leaned in close, arms tightening around Doug’s waist. “I’m glad I was wrong.”
Doug felt the last of his worries drain away. “Me too.”
“You’re hard to read. The whole time—I could barely stop looking at you when you first walked in.” Zach didn’t look at him as he spoke, content to rest his head on Doug’s chest and stare somewhere between the wall and floor. “At the restaurant, I mean. And then with the werewolves—but I didn’t know what to do or say. And my parents…”
The reality of the situation dimmed Doug’s mood a bit. “Did you talk to them? Finally work things out?”
“Yes,” Zach replied. “We’re still working things out, but they know. Though I didn’t tell them about you specifically, just because I wasn’t sure…” He dared a look up, smiling shyly. “But I guess I can tell them now.”
Doug ducked his head to taste that smile. “It’s still a wonder to me you want anything to do with an imp.”
“Are you ever going to drop your glamour?” Zach asked. “Speaking of you being an imp, I mean.”
“If you want.” Doug said it faintly, disbelievingly.
Zach burrowed against his chest again. “I like your real form. I’ve never seen a mature imp – even Maria is still immature, though she’s almost a hundred.”
“That’s because her horns were cut for so long. Give it twenty years or so. Why did your family hire an imp?”
“So…” Zach pressed closer, as if hoping by doing so he’d feel braver. “I didn’t know much about imps. I wanted to learn.”
Doug held him tighter than ever, not certain what to say.
“I, uh…I guess if you’re on a case…I should ask why you’re here?” Zach attempted a more businesslike tone but made no move to step out of Doug’s embrace.
But the words reminded Doug that he was supposed to be working. “Unfortunately.” He pulled away a bit. “’We’ve been hired by a werewolf,” he began, ignoring Zach’s frown and explaining the case.
“Wow.” Zach said when he finished. “Every vampire I know, myself included, would be happier to never see another werewolf. Werewolves, especially the pack from which Vale hales, are responsible for killing at least thirty of my blood kin. Given that vampires can only have one child…by the same token, my ancestors are responsible for at least that many werewolf deaths. My father killed one when he dared to assault my mother’s carriage when she first journeyed here to meet her betrothed. Similar stories abound between vampires families and werewolf packs.”
Doug sighed. “I can see ferreting out those who would change things will take time. What about you? If someone proposed a truce to you, what would you do?”
“Wonder when the werewolves were going to stab me in the back,” Zach said. “I’ve seen what they do all my life. And I won’t forget that those stupid mongrels tried to kill you.” He looked away from Doug’s frown, resting his cheek against his chest again. “It would take a long, long time for me to begin to trust werewolves.”
“At least you’d be willing.”
Zach’s fingers tightened in his sweater. “It would be nice to walk around the city with you and not worry about being assaulted.”
“We can do that now,” Doug said. “The Alpha Sandalio won’t be so quick to piss off Sable again, not after what happened last time.”
“…What happened?”
Doug smirked. “They made Sable mad, and when Sable is mad Chris is mad. Let’s just leave it at that.” Doug winked and stole a quick kiss before finally disentangling himself. “So it’s unlikely your family was the one working with Second Candidate Vale?”
“My parents can keep secrets, but that wouldn’t be one. So I highly doubt they were involved.”
“What about the other families in the area? Any ideas come to mind?”
Zach shook his head. “No. Rosette’s family is the same as mine. I don’t know the other families as well, so I suppose something is possible…but I just can’t picture any of them sneaking off to secretly rendezvous with a werewolf – especially one who was a Candidate for Alpha.
A frantic knock at the door startled them both, before Maria burst into the room. “Alucard! Your parents. Rossette! Front hall!”
“What?” Zach asked, taking in the anxious expression on her face. But as he spoke he was moving toward and out the door, dragging Doug along by the hand.
A crowd of people were standing in the front hall. Doug’s eyes went wide to see that Chris and Phil were amongst them. Reluctantly letting go of Zach’s hand, he approached. “What’s going on?” He noticed that a young woman was sobbing into an older woman’s arms – they must be Rosette and Zach’s mother.
Chris looked troubled. “Dracula Farshire and his wife were found murdered this morning. DeLovely came to see me only an hour after we parted ways. Werewolves did it.”
Dracula DeLovely nodded, leaning more heavily on his cane than usual. “We had gone to visit Rosette’s parents…” he glanced at his son. “To discuss certain matters. We found them dead. I went to fetch Chris, and then we returned home.”
Doug pulled out his notebook and began to fill pages at lightning speed. He looked toward Chris. “Related to our present case?”
“Most likely. The murders have details in common. There’s an impression of warning about them.” He hesitated, looking unhappily at the sobbing girl. “I suspect at least one of her parent’s was a contact.”
A broken voice spoke up, muffled at first by the silk of Lady DeLovely’s dress. “No,” Rosette said. She sniffled and wiped her eyes, but the tears kept falling. “I was talking to Vale. My parents had nothing to do with it. Neither did anyone here.” She refused to look at the DeLovely family, though Zach’s mother still held comforting arms around her. “V-Vale and I met a few months ago…in…in church. The old cathedral down the way. W-w-we got to be friends. And started talking about how things would be better…” she dissolved into tears again. At first she stiffened as Lady DeLovely pulled her back into an embrace, guilt warring with her need for comfort, but then she collapsed entirely, her sobs worse than ever.
The group stood in grim silence. “Let me handle things here,” Phil said at last. “Jester and I can handle whatever problems might crop up. You and Doug should go back to the house and see what you can learn.”
Chris smiled at her, proud of his newest assistant despite everything. “That will work. Notify us immediately if something should occur.” He scowled at the pixie. “And make sure that rat with wings behaves.”
Phil stuck her tongue out. “Be nice.”
“No.” Chris motioned to Doug. “Let’s go before more problems crop up.” And Doug was the only one who caught his whisper of a smirk, and the flitting of his eyes to where Doug and Zach had been holding hands before they’d reached the crowd.
They vanished a moment later, reappearing in front of a house as lavish as the one they’d left, but darker and more severe. Rosette’s family home was as austere as Zach’s had been warm.
It was also swarming with werewolves. Chris swore and his diamond ring sparkled as he loosed the power he typically preferred to keep banked.
The ripple of power did not go unnoticed. In the house and in front of the house before them the assembled werewolves froze. From amongst them one stepped forward, clear of the pack.
“Sandalio,” Chris said. “What in the fucking hell do you think you’re doing?”
The Alpha grinned, and every inch of him was wolf despite the fact that he was in human form. His eyes were the color of dried blood. A long scar, more new than old, cut through one eyes, across his nose and down the opposite cheek. From when he’d gotten rather pissed at the message Chris had delivered on Sable’s behalf. “ The demon’s whore. This has nothing to do with you.”
“Anything that affects the DeLovely family affects Sable. We warned you once not to mess with our friends.”
“This is werewolf business, devil slut.”
Chris tensed as the anger in the air grew. Beside him Doug resumed his natural shape. “This goes beyond killing a werewolf and vampires for daring to attempt a truce.”
“That is none of your business, demon—“
“If you call me a name one more time, you won’t live to do it a fourth.” The ring on his hand shimmered, seemed to glow. “Didn’t we already have this chat, Alpha? When are you going to stop being stupid?”
The Alpha snarled, the wolf in him barely beneath the surface of his skin. That he wore a pale gray, hand-made suit seemed both absurd and surreal. A sheep skin. “Tell your demon and his vampire lackeys that we have every right to kill those who attempt to intrude on our space.”
“Except that you killed the wrong people. And one of your own to boot.”
“It’s none of your affair, human.”
“I was hired to do two jobs. You are interfering in both my cases. And this house does not belong to you. Why is your pack in it?”
The Alpha grinned, baring teeth that even in human form looked as though they would gladly tear Chris to pieces. “It’s ours now. Would you like to kick us out, human whore of a sniveling demon?”
Chris’s reply was a laugh. Cold and loud, echoing across the yard and stilling the werewolves that shifted impatiently behind their leader. His ring flashed bright. “I warned you, Alpha. But because I’m not a murdering scumbag, I’ll warn you one more time. Do. Not. Call. Me. Names. Nor will I tolerate your deriding of my demon. Shut your mouth and get off this land.”
“It is my land now, and if I want to call you a whore and that demon a sniveling coward—“
He didn’t get the chance to finish, but fell howling in pain to the ground, his face dripping blood from a gash inflicted by magic. For a moment, everything froze.
Then the scent of their Alpha’s blood drove the werewolves into a frenzy, mongrels and purebreds mingling as they all succumbed to their wolf forms.
“Fuck!” Chris said.
Doug glared at him even as he cast protective spells to reduce the amount of damage he would take. “You could have just ignored him.”
“Shut up.” Chris’s earrings shimmered and a barrage of magic hit the nearest three wolves. They yelped, faltered, but did not back down. “We can’t stay.”
“But the house!”
“To hell with it. Something is going on here that we—” Chris lashed out with a spell that left one werewolf on the ground, bleeding profusely. “Don’t understand.”
Doug swore as a werewolf bit his arm – the same arm he’d injured not too long ago in a similar battle. He threw himself toward Chris as the other man spoke the words that teleported them away.
An hour later everyone was assembled in Sable’s living room. The demon clung possessively to Chris, who for once didn’t look on the verge of knocking him upside the head.
“All right. I’m confused.” Doug said into the silence. “This started out as a case to figure out which vampire wanted to work things out with werewolves. Somewhere in there Chris was hired to also figure out who murdered the Farshire.” He looked briefly at Rosette, who sat curled up against Zach. Doug looked away. “How did this turn into what feels like a war against werewolves?”
DeLovely glowered at the crackling fire casting warmth on them. “The werewolves have been itching for a fight for some time. It is in no small part why I was terrified when Zach ran off a few months ago. I do not know why; for all that we keep tabs on the werewolf packs, we seldom are privy to their inner workings.”
“It…” a voice spoke hesitantly from the door. “It’s because of the Alpha wars,” a young woman said. Every vampire looked up, a mixture of anger, dislike and uncertainty in their faces. Except Rosette, who did not look up at all.
Myra pressed on, having only just arrived to join them. There was no small amount of trepidation in her voice. “Alpha Sandalio is the only purebred Alpha for miles around. Every other pack in the southeast has some amount of mongrel blood in him. Mongrel blood is…less stable than pureblood.” She hovered in the door way, hands fisted at her side. “They’ve been fighting a great deal. Alpha Sandalio is working to take over all the southeast packs – but he can’t do it if the territories are spread out. So he wants to eliminate the vampires that are in his way. And really any excuse to hurt vampires…” she looked at the floor.
“So what are you?” Rosette asked, her voice eerily cold. Zach recoiled, stunned to hear a girl who was normally warm and sweet and sisterly, sound more like the wolves that had tried to kill Doug three month ago. “A spy? Sent to get rid of the demon that protects the DeLovely? Because of course the second largest pack in the region lies to the east of DeLovely land, right beyond the Freelands. Have you come to play your card now?” She stood and strode over to the werewolf. “Trying to kill us all now?”
Myra frowned, hands clenching – but not in fear. “No. I know you don’t like me. I wouldn’t expect you to. But I loved Vale, and Vale wanted peace so that’s what I’m going to do.”
“Peace? After they tore my parents into little pieces? Forget it. Maybe Vale had me convinced it was possible, but I can see now it was nothing but madness.”
“No it wasn’t!” Myra snapped, growing angry rather than afraid. “Don’t you dare dishonor him like that! He died because he was talking to you! He believed in you enough to risk that! To leave me alone! Don’t you dare give up now, you spoiled little brat!”
Rosette slapped her. “How dare you!”
Myra glared murder, then punched Rosette hard.
Sable started laughing, but it was abruptly cut off by an elbow to his gut. With a grumble of complaint and a brief motion, he stopped the two women. “Promise to behave and I’ll release you.” He laughed again at the epithets hurled his way. “Then stay that way awhile.”
“So what do we do?”
“There’s nothing we can do, at the moment. We could try to take back the land the werewolves have stolen, but that would esculate skirmish into a full fledged war.” Sable held Chris close as he spoke; it was clear the presence of his consort kept the demon calm.
Doug fought the urge to join Zach on the couch. He still had a fiancé, and while his parents might be more tolerant of Zach’s preferences than most Doug was still willing to bet they wouldn’t be too thrilled about their son wanting an imp. “So we let them have Farshire property?
“For now,” Sable said. “There is nothing to be gained by picking a fight with what amounts to every pack in the area. The Farshire are dead, save Rosette. And she is safer with the DeLovely.” He looked at Myra. “And will you continue to stand with us? Be an ally?”
“Yes,” Myra managed. “I’ve no love for most of my kind. Vale was all that ever mattered to me.”
Sable released her. “Rosette?”
“Rose…” Zach said softly.
Rosette began to cry, and fell to the ground as Sable released her. Braced for a resumption of hostilities, the group instead watched as the two girls embraced and cried together. Lady DeLovely and Phil escorted them from the room.
“So we’re at a stalemate,” DeLovely said. “We let the werewolves have their way.”
“For now,” Sable reiterated. “Demons and vampires in the area will not take kindly to such uncouth behavior. Perhaps we lost the Farshire, but the werewolves will be put in their place soon enough. None of us are dumb enough to allow Alpha Sandalio to take control of every pack in the area.”
Chris shook his head against Sable’s chest. “Whatever’s going on, it’s not going to end well.”
“Well I’d call this night over and done with.” Doug sighed and pulled away from the window he’d been leaning against. “I’m going home to my bed.” He resisted the urge to look at Zach. There were enough problems with the vampires without forcing Rosette to give up her fiancé as well. And there was a host of other problems that came with an Alucard wanting a male imp for a lover. He also ignored the looks Sable and Chris were giving him, hunching his shoulders as he left. “See you tomorrow.” If he’d been in his true form, his wings would have been hiding him from view.
Instead of down, Doug went up, itching suddenly with the need to fly. But on the roof, he hesitated. He could fly all night and it wouldn’t solve anything. His tale lashed with indecision, discontent.
“Why are you avoiding me?” Zach asked from behind him.
Doug spun around, dropping his wings to avoid the wind. “Zach?” It came out rough, and he cleared his throat. “I’m not avoiding you.”
“Yes, you are.”
“I’m not…it’s not because I want to. It just…didn’t seem right. Not with…everything.” His wings came down, wrapping around him like a blanket. “And this a bit different than that little room, isn’t it? There are ramifications…”
Zach frowned. “I didn’t think you cared about what other people thought.”
“I don’t,” Doug said tightly. He clenched his hands into fists to keep from reaching out. “But I care about you. And it doesn’t seem right to throw my mess right into the middle of everything that’s going on. Rosette and you and your parents have enough to deal with.”
The wind snatched at Zach’s hair, sending it flying everywhere. Futilely the vampire snatched at, but he wasn’t able to get control of it until the wind died down. Leaving it in a tangled, haphazard mess obscuring his face.
Doug laughed softly and stepped forward to help him set it back to rights, claws carefully combing his hair back into order…and lingering there. “It doesn’t seem right to steal you away.”
“Technically you wouldn’t be,” Zach said. “I never got a chance to tell you what my parents have been doing.”
“Which is?” Doug stood still.
Zach smiled. “They’re disowning me.”
“Why are you smiling about that?”
Laughing, Zach explained. “When you arrived this morning, my parents had gone to talk to the Farshire about Rosette. DeLovely is a more powerful family than Farshire, which is why they wanted their daughter to marry me. But for obvious reasons, I can’t in good conscience marry Rose. My parents figured if we were breaking one rule, we may as well keep breaking them until everything evened out. In apology for the broken betrothal, my parents wanted to adopt Rosette and make her the Alucard.”
“Women can’t be Alucards.”
“Like I said,” Zach replied. “My parents were going to break rules until everything came back around to level. If the Farshire said no, they would have just found a vampire somewhere of adequate blood to adopt. My parents want the name to continue, the blood itself doesn’t mean as much.”
Doug shook his head. “Your parents are a rarity among vampires. Bloodline is everything amongst the nobility.”
Zach shrugged. “My parents always said there are more important things.” He smiled shyly at Doug. “It just wasn’t until I met you that I was willing to start believing them. And they’re not literally disowning me – it’s more just a stripping of the Alucard title. Beginning tomorrow I’ll simply be Zachariah DeLovely. And Rosette, if she decides she still wants to do it, will become the Alucard DeLovely. Though I’m sure plenty will be fighting the move if they’re not too busy with the werewolves.” He looked anxiously at Doug. “So…”
Doug held out a clawed, dark gray hand. On the roof even the lights of the hotel didn’t reach them, and he looked like little more than a large, winged shadow, though his mismatched green and yellow eyes glowed ever so faintly. “It really doesn’t bother you I’m am imp? You’ll be harassed the rest of your life for having an imp as your lover.”
“I think you’re beautiful,” Zach replied, and ignored Doug’s hand to step forward and throw his arms up around his neck. When Doug was in human shape, they were nearly matched in height. As an imp, Doug was several inches taller. Zach kissed him hard, as if hoping by doing so he would overcome his shyness.
Startled into stillness, Doug rapidly recovered himself and began to return the kiss. “You can’t be real,” he said softly against Zach’s mouth.
“I can if you can,” Zach replied.
Doug laughed. “That sounds fair.”
