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I handed them over, and he limped gracefully over to an all-in-one machine on his desk. As he copied the documents, I watched him, trying to figure out what the hell he was and why he was helping us. One look at Vanzir told me that if he knew, he wasn’t going to volunteer the information. We could make him tell us, and if needed, we would, but later, and only if necessary. Those with great power needed to use it wisely, or it turned into abuse. And we had the power of life and death over Vanzir.
Carter returned with a packet of papers. “Here. Take them and use them however you need to. Be cautious. Evil walks in many guises, and not all that seems evil is out to kill you. But paranoia is your best friend right now.”
Vanzir, as if heeding an unspoken comment, rose. “I think that’s all we can do here.”
“Do we have everything we need? How do we identify some of these creatures mentioned in the reports?” I flipped through them, unable to decipher half the creatures that had been reported by name.
“Do you need to know more than the fact that demon activity over that particular neighborhood has been the highest of any area in Seattle on a consistent basis for almost a hundred years? I advise you to check your missing person reports over the years and see how many women headed out for a walk in nearby neighborhoods and never made it home during those decades. Use your wits,” Carter said, standing. “Sometimes all you need to know is that something is happening, rather than the details.”
He escorted us to the door, and we found ourselves on the sidewalk again, politely but swiftly dismissed.
I turned to Vanzir. He raised his chin slightly, daring me to ask what I wanted to ask. As I glanced around the streets, a cool breeze washed through, and I heard the murmur of whispers caught in it. There were eyes and ears in the night, and not all of them friendly.
“Let’s head out,” I said. “We’ll meet at the bar to discuss what we’ve found.”
Without a word, we split up and drove off, but Carter stuck in my mind for a long time after that.
As we gathered in my office at the Wayfarer, Luke knocked at the door. I motioned everyone to be quiet as I called him in. Werewolves had extraordinary hearing. He didn’t need to find himself privy to what we were discussing. The bar rag hung at a lazy angle over his shoulder, but I could tell he was on edge. He must be feeling the pull of the Moon as she rode toward full, too.
“What’s up?” Luke wasn’t in the habit of interrupting me if he thought I was busy, so something must have happened.
“Trouble, boss.” He motioned toward the front of the bar. “Freedom’s Angels out there, harassing the Faerie Maids.”
Oh shit. The last thing I needed was a group of self-appointed moral watchdogs in my bar hounding my customers. I turned to Camille. “Call Chase and get him over here.” As I followed Luke out to the bar, I could hear the arguments in progress.
There were three of them. They looked a lot like bikers at first glance, but the leather jackets were Value-Mart specials, the blue jeans were new and hadn’t been broken in yet, and the stubble on their faces was about ten hours old. The smell of paper dust and toner and stale office air clung to them like a cloud of old cigar smoke. These men weren’t thugs, but they wanted people to think they were. They might have seen a few scuffles, but I’d bet my right fang that none of them had been in an outright fight. Yet.
The group was hassling two of the Faerie Maids who were drinking at one of the tables up front. The girls might be dressed to attract, but that wasn’t a crime. At least not in my bar. And while the Faerie Maids were notoriously stingy with their orders and were lousy tippers, they were still my regulars.
“Have we got a problem here, gentlemen?” I sauntered up to the trio and insinuated myself between them and the girls. “Because I’d hate to see anybody in my bar feel threatened.”
One of the men—apparently the leader—stepped forward, leaning down so that he was breathing stale beer breath in my face. Apparently they hadn’t heard that a vampire owned the Wayfarer, because otherwise he wouldn’t have been so stupid.
Luke immediately shoved him back, then folded his arms as he stood beside me. I could feel him quivering, and the scent of wolf lingered directly beneath the surface. We were close enough to the full Moon that the stress was taxing him. Werewolves were generally hotheads, anyway. I glanced at him.
“Luke, you need to go home for the night. I can take care of this myself.”
“I’m not leaving you—” His eyes flashed dangerously and began shifting color.
“Yes, you will. I’m your boss; I’m ordering you to go home.” I unmasked my glamour and stared at the werewolf. Luke stared back, but only for a second. I was alpha in the bar. I was his boss.
He lowered his eyes. “Okay, but I don’t like this.” Stalking over to the bar, he slapped the rag on the counter and strode toward the back. I assumed he was leaving by the back exit to avoid bumping into the Freedom’s Angels and setting off a fight. The moment he was out of sight, I turned back to the men.
“What the hell do you want?”
“Listen, little lady, maybe you should think about finding a job somewhere else. Hanging out with this riffraff can’t be good for your . . .” He stopped and gave me the once-over. “Wait, did you say you’re the owner?” With a glance at the others, he shook his head. “No, that can’t be right. I heard the owner is a—”
I opened my mouth, letting my fangs extend, and gave him a wickedly gleeful grin. “What? A vampire, perhaps? You got that right, bud. Now what the fuck do you want in my bar, and why are you bothering these women? Or do I even need to ask?”
Mr. Tough Guy straightened his shoulders and stuck his thumbs through the belt loops on his jeans, giving me a patronizing look. “You’re a vampire? But you’re just an ittybitty thing. We’re here to stake a claim for the Earthborn and lead the stray sheep back to clarity. This is our city and our world, and we’re determined to keep it that way.”
“Holy crap. Do you really believe the garbage you’re spouting?” Camille’s voice echoed from the door to my office, and I realized that Luke had clued them in on what was going down.
“I can take care of this,” I said, but before I could say another word, Rozurial and Vanzir were flanking me, with Morio, Camille, and Delilah spreading out to form a semicircle.
“Got an idea,” I said, jabbing my finger into the leader’s chest and sending him stumbling back against his buddies with one tiny shove. “You get your sorry asses out of here before I throw you out. And if I ever see you near my bar again, I’ll have you arrested. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll pay a visit to you in the middle of the night when you’re asleep and make sure you leave my bar alone.”
Eyes wide, he and his buddies backed up. His voice took on a threatening tone. “You are a freak. You and all your kind. And we don’t like freaks.”
