Magaestra: Loyalties: An urban fantasy series Read online

  They were just cleaning up the plates and cups, getting ready to head upstairs when Marc knocked on the door and came in without waiting.

  "Tamika and Aldric found Goldfangs at your cabin. He's been wounded. Again."

  Faith sucked in a breath. "How badly? Is Tamika okay?"

  Marc's expression was grim and his eyes were hard. "Tamika is bringing him back and Madeline is on her way. They say he'll be fine, but it was bad enough that she's bringing her sutures and an extra blood pack in case. I've got the kids in the den watching cartoons with Kenya and Ori, your place is being cleaned out by sentries, and Rod's taking some more to patrol our borders."

  Faith closed her eyes and let the news settle into her. At her side, Kenneth was growling quietly.

  "And what happened to the attackers?" he asked.

  Marc ignored the detective's tone and answered. "The one who almost gutted Aldric is dead, as are several others. But we have two to question, and Tamika says she thinks one of them will have some very interesting news for us. Would you like to join us?"

  "I'm not leaving here without answers. That's for damned sure."

  Faith was glad that the men were facing off against each other. After using so much of her magic and her brain all morning, she wasn't sure that she could handle one more curveball on her own right now.

  11

  Aldric sighed and tried to keep his hands away from where the stitches lay under his clothes. His cousin had laid into him for needing to be patched up again for the second time in a month, and then Faith had added her opinion as well. Essentially, it seemed, he was a reckless fool who enjoyed traumatizing his friends and family.

  "Don't be reckless," Madeline had sighed as she packed up her things. "We need you here, remember? Not your corpse. What would Marc do without you? Or Faith and Kaylee, hmm? Do you want them to attend your funeral pyre? I don't want to be visiting you in the Enforcer's Grove after they spread your ashes, you hear me?"

  She was not wrong, and Aldric sighed again, a sound that alerted the humans in the room to his presence as he trudged into the kitchen. Madeline would wound him herself if she knew he was out of bed.

  "Great. He's back," Detective Lincoln grumbled. He hunched over his coffee and glared around the room.

  "Aldric! You're out of bed!" Marc turned from the stove where he was stirring a sauce of some sort. "Sit, don't overtax yourself. I know you've got stitches in, Madeline made sure we knew before she headed out. She made sure we knew a great many things, and if she finds out you're up, I'm going to hide in my office."

  "Faith said something about 'stupid, idiotic, suicidal morons that call themselves men,' as well. Then what was it she asked you?" Ori turned to his wife who grinned.

  "She asked if it was all men that were this stupid or just vampires," Kenya said. She smirked at him. "I told her that if you get jumped by wolves one more time I'm staging a coup and putting Tamika in your office. She offered to help."

  "If you make an accounting, you will find that the world is relieved of a number of Goldfang Stalker wolves, and not any Frostwalker vampires, thank you. Injuries notwithstanding." Aldric glared at her and took a seat at the table. Marc dropped a plate with an omelet in front of him and turned away without comment, but Aldric could see his shoulders bounce with silent laughter.

  "You're not going to go eat someone and fix that right up?" Detective Lincoln growled.

  "Faith was kind enough to bring me a bag of blood, thank you," Aldric answered. He was not going to let this man's attempt to bait him succeed. "Otherwise I simply have to wait and let my body heal, just like anyone else."

  "We– shifters and vampires, that is. We do heal faster than humans, but that is entirely thanks to the magic that makes our existence possible," Marc added. "I'm fairly sure that you heal faster than normal humans as well, though perhaps not as fast as we do since your magic is manipulatable and ours is not."

  Detective Lincoln just grunted.

  "So, have our prisoners said anything?" Aldric asked, changing the subject.

  Kenya and Ori shook their heads. "We haven't talked to them yet. Our good detective suggested letting them sweat for a bit, and since he has more experience than we do, we took his advice. They're in the cells right now, cooling their heels,"

  Aldric nodded. "It is usually wise to heed the advice of those with more experience." An olive branch couldn't hurt.

  Detective Lincoln just grunted.

  "Have you the day off?" Aldric asked. Kenya smirked and Ori cleared his throat and took another sip of coffee. They often found him amusing when he was at his stuffiest, as they put it. He would like to see how warm and cheerful they felt after being nearly disemboweled.

  "Yeah. Since I've been working a bit of overtime trying to find Crissy Latham and dealing with random bodies that seem to be covered in wild animal injuries. Of course, now I know she was kidnapped by vampires, I'd guess she's already dead, as well."

  "And you got news on Greg Honeyford yesterday, I understand?" Marc sat down with the last omelet in front of himself.

  "That's one reason why I was here, the yesterday, yeah," Detective Latham nodded. He seemed to give his cooperation grudgingly, but at least it was something. "Greg Honeyford disappeared after he left the school where he worked last Friday, and he hasn't turned up since. His boss called in for a welfare check when he didn't come to work two days in a row without calling in, which he is apparently religious about when he's sick. Doesn't want the kids to catch anything, she told the officer who took the statement."

  "And it was determined that he did not simply leave on his own?" Aldric asked. He pushed the empty plate away and frowned at the detective.

  "When the local cops got to the guy's apartment it looked like a truck had plowed through it. The back door was off the hinges, the furniture was wrecked, and there was enough blood to indicate either a murder or some serious injuries. Now, knowing the guy's a werewolf, he probably lived, but there's no evidence one way or the other,” Lincoln said. "Since I had been the one to send inquiries about him, they called me to let me know and see if there was a connection. Which was when I came to see Faith."

  "He was just telling me about it when those jerks attacked," Faith said, joining them. She pulled up a chair beside Aldric and sat heavily in it, and turned a glare on him. "Why are you not in bed, resting?"

  "I was hungry. I just finished eating lunch and as I was here, I was determined to catch up on the current information," Aldric answered. He tried to look as innocent as he could. Across the table, he heard Ori snicker.

  "Man, the innocent act never works," he said. Kenya smacked him.

  "Shush, you. I want to see how this plays out."

  "And since when is sitting at the kitchen table, planning shit an acceptable method of healing? Hmm?" Faith glared at him. "Did you drink the whole packet? Do I need to call Madeline back?"

  "Oh, shit!" Ori seemed to be exulting in this exchange.

  "I drank it all, Faith," he assured her. "I am also sitting quietly, rather than going down to the cells to handle the prisoners, or going out to track down this camp they mentioned before we confronted them. I am healing. I swear to you I won't do anything foolish."

  "Don't go making any promises you can't keep," she huffed, and turned to the rest of the group. Aldric followed her gaze and found Ori, eyes sparking with glee, restrained only by Kenya's hand over his mouth. Detective Lincoln was staring at Faith, his expression unreadable.

  "So, what's the plan?" Faith asked, plowing on despite the reactions to her scolding. "Since Aldric is incapable of staying quiet and healing from almost being killed. Again. I suppose we might as well talk about it. The kids are safely out of the way and out of earshot. I hope. They have three sentries with them, and a video game turned up. I didn't want Kaylee to hear about this if it was bad."

  "Well, we don't know anything, yet," Marc said. "We were just discussing what to do, actually. Detective Lincoln advised waiting a bit before we start ask
ing the new prisoners any questions."

  "The two we overheard were discussing the population of what sounded like a large camp of some sort. It seems that Alpha Molin is there with a number of wolves, as well as a group of vampires with blighthounds. It also sounds as if they have a prisoner," Aldric said. "Tamika and I listened for as long as we could stomach before we took our advantage. The man was a hateful bigot and the world is a better place without him,"

  Faith grabbed his arm. "Crissy?" Her eyes were wide and hopeful.

  "We don't know," he answered her.

  "Might be this other Honeyford. Greg. Or some other poor jerk that got in their way,” Lincoln said with a growl

  "We still don't know exactly what happened between Mr. Greg and his brother and Kaylee," Faith growled back at him.

  "Okay," Marc interrupted before the detective could respond. "What we really need to know here, if we can get that information, is this. Where this camp is, how many wolves, vampires, and blighthounds are there, and who's being held prisoner. If it is Crissy, then we absolutely need to form a rescue as quickly as possible. If it's this Mr. Greg, then we should try to get him out as well, so he can answer our questions, but as horrible as it is to say it, he is less of a priority than Crissy is. Either way, it sounds like this camp is a threat to our safety here, which means we need to deal with it."

  "I think the weaseley one will talk first. The one that Tamika said wasn't sure he wanted to be there in the first place," Kenya said with a vicious smirk. "Give me five minutes with the guy."

  "Kenya, we are better than that," Marc said. He had what Aldric thought of as his 'father face' on, and as usually happened, his clanmates ducked their heads and looked like repentant teens. Marc had perfected that look long before Jake came along.

  "I think we should start with him, though," Marc conceded after a moment. "Detective Lincoln. Would you like to conduct this questioning? You not only have experience with this sort of thing, but also are less likely to get overly emotional during the conversation. We are all, understandably, deeply and personally invested in this situation"

  Lincoln glared around the table. "You think I'm not invested? Just because you haven't locked us up in cages to sell to the highest bidder yet doesn't mean I trust any of you. But I also think that these Goldfang people are just one step closer to me and Faith being chained up and drained dry. I'll interrogate this guy."

  Marc blinked at Lincoln's implications and Aldric narrowed his eyes at the man. He sat here, at their table, eating and drinking with them, and then dared to insult them like this? Did the man have no manners whatsoever?

  Faith laid a hand on his arm and the warmth of her palm soaked into his skin, stalling the angry words that had been simmering in his mind. He glanced over and met her gaze, understanding and calm, and sat back in his chair with a small sigh. He noticed Lincoln's eyes narrow at the exchange.

  "At any rate," Marc said slowly, his gaze drifting at Kenya and Ori who were watching the exchange and shooting speculative glances at Lincoln. "Once we're all done here and cleaned up, we can use the meeting room for the interrogation. Detective Lincoln can take the lead, but Kenya and I will both be there to provide support and backup as needed."

  "I have no doubt that you can handle a single shifter on your own, should the need arise, but I think you would prefer not to allow anyone who doesn't already know your capabilities to learn of them, even if they were to be returned to a cell after," Aldric said. Kenya and Ori frowned and exchanged a speaking glance. "I would prefer to be the one in the interrogation room. It may go a long way toward loosening their tongues to see that I am already on my feet."

  Lincoln just huffed out an irritated breath and grunted his acceptance, but there was a short argument between Faith, Marc, an Aldric, but on this point he would not bend. It was important to him that he be closely involved in protecting Faith and Kaylee, and in finding her sister. He did not wish to give her any further reason to doubt his determination on these points.

  Finally, they stood from the table to prepare for the interrogation. Aldric found himself glared at by Faith as he tried to stand and help clean up after lunch. She made him sit down until they were done and Kenya and Ori had gone to move the prisoner and Lincoln to arrange the room they would use.

  "I don't like that you're going to put yourself in harm's way immediately after almost being gutted," she huffed.

  Aldric hid his smile and cleared his throat. "I am healing quickly."

  "And as much as I hate to agree with him on this, it could be very useful for the Goldfangs who saw his wounds to believe him fully healed. In case they somehow communicate with their camp," Marc said. "It could give us an advantage, perhaps."

  "I don't see how," she grumbled. "Give you a disadvantage, maybe, as they all gang up on Aldric to kill him faster and deader."

  He reached out and pulled her into a hug, wrapping his arms tight around her. "Thank you for worrying about me." He said the words into her hair and had the thought that he had never quite enjoyed the scent of shampoo as much as he did hers.

  She just grumbled incoherently and hugged him back gently.

  "If you two are done, we can get this over with." Detective Lincoln was glaring at Aldric. Wherever the man's animosity sprung from, it was very pointedly directed at Aldric first, then the werewolves around them. He didn't mind much, so long as Lincoln was ultimately on their side of this fight.

  Aldric sighed and stood, and took his plate to put in the dishwasher before following Marc down the stairs into the basement.

  12

  Aldric leaned back against the wall and watched the wolf who hunched over the table. This was the one who had been arguing with their group's leader when Aldric and Tamika stumbled upon them. He wasn't very big, and looked honestly like he could use a good meal or two. He looked miserable and terrified, cowering in his chair, and confused as the Alpha of the Frostwalkers took up a guard position and an ordinary human-- so far as this wolf knew-- sat in the seat across the table from him.

  A wolf of low status, one who in a pack like the Goldfang Stalkers was most likely kept around for menial labor. Aldric mused silently, keeping his face blank. He was likely dragged along to the cabin specifically to cook and clean up after the rest.

  Marc stood on the other side of the doorway, the only way out of this particular room. Aldric tried to remain relaxed and casual, as if getting nearly disemboweled happened to him all the time, and was thus not worth his concern. Truthfully, he was beginning to ache, and was looking forward to this being over so he could go lie down.

  Faith would be smug if she knew it. Maybe he could convince her to keep him company while he napped after this. That would be worth hearing her point out that she had, in fact, told him so.

  "Well now, Matthias?" Detective Lincoln glanced up from the notes Leo had managed to pull together for them.

  It had been fascinating to watch the man put on his professional persona. Aldric could tell that Lincoln had considered which approach to take as they watched the wolf walk past them into this makeshift interrogation room. They had a camera set up in the corner and Leo was watching as well, a text box open on a tablet at Detective Lincoln's elbow in case Leo found anything else while he was watching.

  "Want to tell us what you were doing in Miss Latham's cabin?" Lincoln asked, his voice calm as he put the paper down and leaned forward on his elbows. He looked like the tired, rumpled detective from TV, with his jacket slung over the back of the chair and his sleeves rolled up. He had clearly chosen to go the friendly, sympathetic cop route.

  "Sammy was tired of the camp, so we were going to stay there for a bit. He didn't like all the vampires, mostly," Matthias said. He was hunched down in his chair, shooting glances at Marc's knees, as if looking at his face was too much.

  "Vampires?" Lincoln prodded.

  Matthias nodded. "Yeah. Alpha Molin brought a whole squad with us when we came to set up camp. They're..." The wolf shot Aldric a terrified gla
nce. "They're not very nice." His words were barely whispered.

  "If they're not very nice, why would your Alpha bring them with you?" Lincoln asked. His voice was softer, kinder now. Less cop, more friend.

  Matthias shrugged. "I don't know. I just do what I'm told, and they said I was part of Sammy's team, and Sammy decided that he didn't want to stay in the main camp and somehow convinced them to let him come stay here. He said he was going to spy on everyone here, but I don't think he was going to try very hard. He was probably going to make me go on my own. Usually they just make me cook, but this time they've been making me do all kinds of things. Sammy still made me cook though."

  The wolf looked like if he could disappear into the chair, he would do so. As it was, he hunched over further and Aldric could hear his heart racing. Next to him the door popped open, startling everyone, and Faith came in with a tray full of drinks.

  "Here, guys. I thought you might want something to drink while you chatted," she said, setting the things down on the table. She looked at Matthias. "I wasn't sure what you wanted, so I brought a soda and a water bottle for you, and here's a coffee for you, Ken." She handed the drinks out and even passed water bottles to Aldric and Marc.

  "Thank you," Lincoln said with a tired smile as he picked up the mug.

  Matthias just clutched at the soda, but didn't open it. "Why are you being nice to me?" His voice was strained, as if he couldn't believe someone would bring him a drink.

  "Because you're a person? Bringing you something to drink isn't that nice, really, considering we're keeping you prisoner," Faith said. Her words were blunt, but her voice was soft and kind. "We would like some answers, and you have them. Keeping you hydrated is the absolute least we can do to move that process along."

  Mathias didn't say anything, just clung to the soda. Faith stood there a moment longer, waiting to see if he wanted to continue, then shrugged, picked up the tray, and turned away. She stood up on tiptoe and pecked Aldric on the cheek before leaving, and there was nothing he could do to stop the grin from spreading across his face. Marc smirked at him, but didn't say anything.