AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"I do," she said. "The past couple of months, I've spent a lot of time rereading old magical texts." She gave me a worn-out look. "I figured they'd come in handy, so I had Iris pick up some titles for me on one of her trips back to OW."
Her face clouded with worry, she glanced at Zach. He was staring at the body. She lowered her voice and continued, "One of the texts has to do with the Demonkin. This sigil is the mark of a Degath Squad. Trenyth was right; we've got a new batch of Hell Scouts to contend with. And the stench of Demonkin is strong on this shield. Shadow Wing's hand is in this, and it's my guess he's connected himself to the werespiders."
"Who the hell is Shadow Wing, and what's a Degath Squad?" Zach paused, then looked at us sharply. Hell, his hearing was as good as mine. "You said werespiders? Are you talking about the Hunters Moon Clan?"
I tried to gauge how much we should tell him. "So you've heard of the group?"
His face went dark. "Yeah, all too much. You think they're behind this?"
"Yeah, we think so," I said slowly. "Listen to me. When was the last skirmish between the Hunters Moon Clan and the Puma Pride? And it would help if we knew why you guys are feuding."
He closed his eyes, thinking. After a moment, he said, "I don't really know. Last time there was an attack was… well, the last actual attack was when I was a boy. We routed them off our land when we found a small nest in the woods. But that was over twenty years ago. As to why we're enemies, I have no idea. Nobody ever mentions the Hunters Moon Clan unless absolutely necessary. We're taught from birth to listen and obey and to keep our mouths shut. I can try to find out for you, though, but it may take a little prodding."
"Do that. Meanwhile, maybe you should tell us why you were fighting with Geph von Spynne a couple years ago." I leaned forward, holding his gaze.
"You know about that?" His shoulders tensed. "We had a brawl, true, but it didn't lead to anything more than a few broken bones."
With a glance at Menolly and Camille, I nodded. "Yes, we know—and don't ask how. What happened?"
Zach winced. "He attacked one of our women, tried to rape her. I was assigned to administer punishment, but he was stronger than I thought. Wiry and thin, but strong. He knifed me, but I managed to get in some pretty nasty blows. He disappeared shortly after that. I thought maybe I'd managed to kill him." He gave the body on the sofa a sideways glance. "So you're saying that the Hunters Moon Clan is mixing it up with a bunch of demons?"
I let out a long sigh. "We aren't sure, but it's looking more and more like that might be the case. Don't tell anybody, though. Not yet. We don't want to cause a panic if we're wrong, and we've been known to be wrong a lot."
"Yeah, sure." Zach pressed his lips together, as if he were mulling over what we'd said. "It wouldn't surprise me if they are in cahoots with a bunch of demons. They're a freakish bunch. I was taught from the time I was little to be careful of them. I guess my father was right; they're up to no good."
"Well, don't go around stirring up trouble until we're certain of what we're dealing with, okay?"
"But why would the demons get involved with the Hunters Moon Clan?" he asked, looking confused. "Granted, they're a bunch of freaks and weirdos, but aren't demons rare? What could they possibly get from the Hunters Moon Clan to make it worth their while?"
"That's the million-dollar question," Menolly said.
I glanced at Camille. "Looks like you'll be talking to Smoky after all," I muttered. She jerked her head toward Zach, warning me not to say too much. She was right, I thought. We really didn't know enough about him and his people to fully place our trust in them. I gave her a slight nod, then turned back to Zach. "Listen, until we make sense of this whole, mess, I highly suggest that your people avoid the woodlands. Don't go out unless you're in groups of at least three, armed to the teeth. We'll see what we can find out and call you back." I stood up, brushing off my jeans.
Menolly drifted over to join us. "I suggest you summon your shaman and ask if he recognizes who this man might have been." She pointed to the body on the sofa.
Zachary brushed past me. After he'd left the room, Morio held his finger to his lips and sidled a look-see toward a corner in the room. We glanced over in the direction in which he had nodded. Sure enough, there behind a vase of flowers, I could barely make out a surveillance camera.
We kept quiet until Zach returned with Venus the Moon Child, who examined the body. After a moment, Venus stood up and began to pace back and forth. "This is the guy we hired to inspect the pumping station near the stream," he said.
"Where we pump the water from in order to irrigate the orchards."
"An FBH?" Camille said. "That complicates matters."
"That's the understatement of the century," I said. If it had been a Supe, we could have taken care of this quietly, without bringing anybody else into it. But a human had been killed, and that made everything problematic.
"We have to tell Chase," I said. "We can't cover this up. This man might have a family who's looking for him. If he had the compound's name or address written on his schedule, then the cops are going to come looking for him. I think you'd better let us contact the Faerie-Human CSI team."
"She's right. When did he arrive?" Morio asked.
From Venus's expression, it was clear he understood precisely what danger the Puma Pride was facing. Exposure, for certain. Possibly worse. "He was scheduled to arrive around three this afternoon. I showed him the main orchard, but I never dreamed he'd wander off the path. He must have followed the pipes to the stream. I thought he'd finished his inspection and left."
Camille did a quick calculation. "So you have a couple more hours, one night at best, before the cops come knocking at your door. And even if you say he never showed, you know they'll come back. Do you really want this getting out to the population at large?"
She could be persuasive, that was for sure.
With a shake of the head, Venus said, "Call in whoever you need to. We can't have it spread around the community that a human was killed on our land. More importantly, we can't have it get out that we're Weres. Especially considering the shape he's in. Damn it, this mess is hip deep in shit and getting worse. I wish we'd called for help when Sheila died," he added.
Zachary grunted. "If you had backed me up in Council, we would have, and everybody else might still be alive. Including my sister and my cousin."
