Murder of Crows

Blair headed back to the Utilities Complex while Simon continued trotting toward the business district.

Becoming too human was always a danger to terra indigene who worked in the Courtyards and kept careful watch over the clever meat. He should go to the wild country for a couple of weeks this summer. He could stay in Wolf form for days at a time and regain his sense of who he was, what he was.

But he already knew he wouldn’t go to the wild country. Too much unrest rippled throughout Thaisia, as well as right here in Lakeside. Until they figured out who was making the drugs that had reached his piece of the world, there was too much uncertainty.

And there was too much need to stay close to Meg.

Trying to figure that out confused him, and being confused made him angry.

It was unfortunate for the four-footed bunny that it chose that moment to bolt from its hiding place.

Four young men stood across the street from A Little Bite. Tess watched them crowd Merri Lee when she stood at the corner, waiting for the light to change, jostling her until she almost stumbled in front of a car. When she crossed the street and hurried to the coffee shop, the men stayed on the other side, the human side. Tess hadn’t heard what they said to the girl, but she saw the look on Merri Lee’s face—a look that was quickly hidden behind a cheerful mask.

An hour later, they were still there, watching. And Merri Lee watched them while she went about her work.

And Tess, being one of Namid’s most ferocious predators, knew the difference between a hunter watching and prey watching.

“Do you know them?” Tess asked, tipping her head to indicate the men across the street.

“Not really,” Merri Lee replied. “They go to Lakeside University. I think I’ve had a class with a couple of them.” As she wiped off the tables near the windows, the men shouted something.

Tess asked the Crows who were perched on the roof. They, too, were watching.

Jake replied.

Jenni said. A pause.

Tess said firmly. Simon’s relationship with Meg was too complex for anything as simple as sex.

No response from the Crows. She didn’t expect one. They might be willing to poke at a Wolf and say something to get a reaction, but they wouldn’t say anything to upset the blood prophet who had saved their lives.

Tess turned her attention back to Merri Lee. “Those men. Do you know their names?”

Merri Lee shook her head. “It’s nothing.”

Tess let it go. Except for Meg, Merri Lee and Heather were the only humans left who worked in the businesses open to the public. Lorne Kates ran the Three Ps, but the print shop was for Courtyard residents only; Elizabeth Bennefeld, the massage therapist, was an independent contractor who worked in her Market Square office two days a week; and despite some concerns expressed by the administrators of Lakeside Hospital, Dominic Lorenzo was going ahead with his plans to provide care for Courtyard residents and employees. The other humans who worked for some of the Market Square businesses had been calling in sick a lot over the past couple of weeks, and some of them had stopped calling. Even the consulate had lost its human employees.

All of it was a backlash from the storm in early Febros and not unexpected. But it only proved the fleeting nature of human memory. The humans who quit had forgotten that working in the Courtyard was the only thing that made them not edible.

“Why don’t you check the storeroom?” Tess told Merri Lee. “See if we’re running low on anything.”

She waited until the girl was in the back before she walked out the front door. Nothing between her and those four men except pavement. But still too much distance to reveal her true nature. Too much chance of other people looking upon her. If many people became ill while driving past the Courtyard, there would be questions she didn’t want asked because she had no intention of letting anyone with answers survive.

At least, no one human. She had revealed her true nature when she killed Asia Crane, the human female who had participated in the attempted abduction of Sam and Meg. Afterward she wondered if Henry or Simon had suspected what kind of terra indigene she was, but neither of them said anything. She valued their unspoken acceptance enough that she wouldn’t deliberately bring trouble to the Courtyard without good reason.

“See something you like?” Nyx joined her.

Tess glanced toward the Courtyard’s customer parking lot. How many Sanguinati were watching from the shadows? “I see a pack of two-legged nuisances.”

“Hmm. I see takeout.”

Tess laughed, which seemed to enrage the men. One of them pulled a small container out of his coat pocket and waved it at them.

“Come on, then!” he shouted. “Bitch in a jar!”

Nyx’s smile didn’t change, but Tess’s hair turned red with black streaks. Black. The death color. So tempting to let her true nature show when she could feel the effort Nyx was making not to attack.

But in the end, the men weren’t tempting enough. Yet.

She went back into the shop. A moment later, still smiling at the men, Nyx went into Howling Good Reads.

Had to make a decision soon. She’d already checked her stockroom and knew what she had to order. It wasn’t going to take Merri Lee much more time.

It wasn’t the terra indigene’s place to protect humans—at least not when they were beyond the Courtyard’s boundaries. But she knew one human who would be interested in keeping Merri Lee from harm.

She dialed the number for HGR’s office. “Vlad? Tell Simon I want to be at the meeting when he talks to the police.”

“You’re out of the beef flavored? What about the chicken?” Meg listened to the blustering manager of the Pet Palace and bared her teeth in a smile. She’d read a magazine article the other day about how maintaining a positive attitude produced better results when dealing with someone who forgot the service in customer service.

Unfortunately, Wolves were much better at discerning attitude than humans. As soon as she bared her teeth, Nathan hurried over, flopped his forelegs on the counter, and pricked his ears to hear the other side of the conversation.

Since she was trying to order more boxes of dog cookies, she was surprised he’d resisted butting in for as long as he had.

“What about the puppy cookies?” Meg asked. “Completely sold out of those too. I see. When do you expect …? Oh. No longer being made? Yes. I’m sure you are sorry.”

“Arrooo?” Nathan queried softly.

She hung up a little more forcefully than required just as the office door opened and Nathan twisted around to see who was coming in.

Harry from Everywhere Delivery hesitated in the doorway. Then he came in and set his packages on the end of the counter farthest away from them.

“Guess I don’t have to ask if you two are having a good morning,” he said.

“Arrooo!”

Meg blew out a breath and picked up her pen and clipboard. Harry was a darling who chatted about his wife and showed her pictures of his grandchildren. It wasn’t fair to be grumpy with him.

“Sorry, Harry. I’m having some trouble getting an order delivered.” She began filling out the information on the packages he’d brought.

“Oh? What kind of trouble?” When she didn’t answer, he looked at Nathan. “Guess you can’t tell me?”

The Wolf leaped over the counter and through the Private doorway into the sorting room.

“Do not shift unless you’re going to put on clothes!” Meg yelled when she heard Nathan rummaging around.

He returned with a box of dog cookies and dropped it on the counter.

Harry looked at the package, then raised his eyebrows at Meg.

She sighed. “I called the Pet Palace to have them deliver more boxes of cookies. The manager informed me that they were out of stock, all flavors, all sizes.”

“It does happen, Miz Meg,” Harry said. “You go into stores the day before the next delivery, and you’ll find plenty of empty shelves. And with seasonal items, stores just plain run out for the year.”

“I understand that,” Meg said. “But that doesn’t explain why, when I called Hot Crust yesterday to have a pizza delivered, they told me they didn’t make deliveries anymore, and a few minutes later I saw their delivery car drive by!” Since Nathan was crowding her to the point of stepping on her foot, she put her hands over his ears and whispered, “And Julia Hawkgard told me that when the Courtyard bus went to the plaza last Firesday, there were signs in some of the store windows that said Humans Only.”

She let go of Nathan’s ears in order to dig her fingers through the weave of her sweater and scratch at the pins-and-needles feeling that suddenly filled her right arm.

“Damn fools,” Harry muttered. He picked up the box of dog cookies. “This what you want?”

“Yes, but—”

“Don’t carry much money on me, but I can swing by that store during my lunch break and pick up a box or two—unless they’re telling the truth about being out of stock.”

“I have money,” Simon said, stepping up to the counter.

She hadn’t heard him come in. Nathan squeezed behind her to crowd her on the other side, wedging her between a Wolf in Wolf form and a Wolf in human form. It made her very aware that she was a short human—and it made her aware that the pins-and-needles feeling was quickly fading.

Simon put two twenty-dollar bills on the counter. “People might ask questions if you buy too many. A box of each flavor will be sufficient.”

“Fair enough.” Harry pocketed the bills. “I’ll see what I can do.” He tapped a finger to the brim of his cap and left.

“Watch the counter,” Simon said, then took Meg by the arm, hauled her into the sorting room, and closed the Private door.

“Nathan can’t sign for packages unless he shifts,” Meg protested. “And a naked Wolf is not going to make deliverymen feel easy.”

“This will only take a minute. Why are you scratching your arm?”

“It prickled.” When she reached for her right arm again, he grabbed both her wrists and held her hands apart. “Simon!”

“Your skin hasn’t been prickling all week. Not here, not at home. And you haven’t needed to cut.”

He was being careful not to hurt her, so she didn’t struggle—especially when she realized he was right about the pins-and-needles feeling. And he was right about the cutting, up to a point. Some days she wanted to cut, desperately wanted to feel the euphoria, but she didn’t need to cut. While everyday activities couldn’t match the orgasmic release that came from cutting, they did blunt the need. And being surrounded by neighbors who had a wickedly keen sense of smell meant you couldn’t hide even the smallest cut.

“I don’t understand,” Meg said.

“When I went to that meeting on Great Island? Steve Ferryman said that Intuits live in small communities in order to become attuned with the place where they live and the people around them.”

“I’ve never heard of Intuits.”

He looked uncomfortable. “They’re a between kind of human.”

“Between what?”

“Between a human like Lieutenant Montgomery and a human like you. Most of the Intuits can’t see prophecies, but they get feelings about things, for good or bad.”

“Most of them?” Meg’s heart jumped. “But some of them do see visions, speak prophecies?”

Fur sprang out on Simon’s cheeks and hands, then retreated and returned. Involuntary shifting was a sure sign of strong emotions in the Others.

“The cassandra sangue originally came from the Intuits,” Simon admitted. “At least, that’s what I was told.”

He didn’t want to tell me that, Meg thought. So why is he telling me now?

But the wonder of it! Her friend Jean had insisted that girls like them could live outside in the world. Jean had come from a family that had lived outside the control of people who became richer with every scar a girl acquired.

Jean.

Meg cried out and tried to claw at her arms, but Simon still held her wrists.

“Meg!”

Couldn’t cut now. Not with Simon holding on to her and Nathan howling in the front room in response to whatever he was sensing. And if Nathan didn’t shut up, there would be Wolves and Bears and Sanguinati crowding in and wanting to know what was wrong.

“I’m okay,” she gasped. “I’m okay.”

“I’ll send him away,” Simon growled. “I don’t care if he wants to meet you. I won’t allow him to enter the Courtyard.”

“Who? What?” Had to regain control. Couldn’t think about Jean or the compound. Concentrate on something new. Intuits. Could they help her understand how to live in the outside world?

“Steve Ferryman,” Simon snapped. “He’s not even here yet and he upset you!”

“No, he didn’t. I was thinking about my friend Jean. You can’t blame Mr. Ferryman for that. And I would like to meet him.”

“Why? Have you seen him?”

She hadn’t known he existed until Simon mentioned him, so where would she see …?

Of course. She could have seen this man in a vision—just as she’d first seen Simon in a vision. But she hadn’t seen Steve Ferryman, hadn’t known anything about him or humans who were called Intuits.

Did the Controller know about these people?

Focus on Simon. “You said Intuits live in small communities. If blood prophets started out as Intuits, maybe that’s also an important thing to know about people like me.”

The fur receded from Simon’s cheeks. The fingernails were still claws, but he was being careful not to damage her.

“I did wonder if it might be the same for you,” Simon said. “Maybe your skin isn’t prickling all the time because you’ve gotten used to us.”

She thought about the routine of her days. She opened the Liaison’s Office and mostly had Nathan, and sometimes Jake Crowgard, snoozing in the front room in between deliveries. All the deliverymen were people she saw a couple of times a week. She went to the Quiet Mind class with Merri Lee, Heather, and Ruth Stuart. At the Green Complex, she came in daily contact with Henry, Tess, Vlad, Julia Hawkgard, Jester Coyotegard, and Jenni Crowgard and her sisters. And Simon.

There had been little prickles—like the time when Ruth misplaced her keys after class—but she was learning that small things could be dealt with in mundane ways, like having your friends help you look for the keys, so little prickles could be ignored.

“I’ll have to think about this some more, pay more attention,” she said.

“You haven’t been scratching at your skin until today.”

“Is something happening today?”

He growled, and she watched his canines lengthen.

“Maybe you need to go outside and run around for a while.”

“Did that.”

Meg sighed. When she tried to tug her wrists out of his hold, he released her. “Simon, go to your meeting. Try not to bite anyone. And after work, you and Sam and I can go for a walk.”

“Okay. Yeah. All right.”

He sounded unhappy. He arranged this meeting, so why would he be unhappy? Unless it had something to do with her?

“If it really bothers you, I don’t have to meet Mr. Ferryman,” she said, trying to interpret his body language and expression.

“You should meet him. Just … don’t like him too much.” He looked toward the front room. “Nathan says the police are here for the meeting, and another car pulled in too.”

“Then you should go.”

He hesitated, then gave her cheek a quick lick before rushing into the back room and out the door.

Meg stood there trying to sort through it all as she recalled training images of men’s faces showing various expressions and emotions. Then she shook her head and opened the Private door to keep Nathan from fretting.

When she spotted The Dimwit’s Guide to Dating, which she’d left on the counter, she closed her eyes and tried to imagine a series of images that could fit.

Simon coming into the office, thinking about this meeting and having a strange human—Steve Ferryman—in the Courtyard. Simon seeing the book that she’d hidden until now because she didn’t want to explain that she was reading a book about humans dating humans in an effort to understand him. Simon now wondering about her interest in Steve Ferryman and Ferryman’s interest in her. And last, Meg and Simon having this odd conversation.

She had to be mistaken, had to be interpreting the past few minutes incorrectly. After all, this was Simon, who was a terra indigene Wolf.

But if he’d been human, she would have said he was jealous.

Simon paused outside the Business Association’s meeting room and took stock.

Hands? Human. Ears? Human shaped and not furry. Teeth? He growled, “Close enough,” and walked into the room.

He’d expected Vlad and Henry to sit in on this meeting even though it didn’t have anything to do with the Lakeside Courtyard. But Tess’s being there, with her hair red and curling, was an unwelcome surprise.

he asked her.

she replied.

Steve Ferryman was there, of course. He might know things Meg wanted to learn, but he would never be as thorough about cleaning the salt and butter off her hands after movie night.

Picturing Ferryman licking Meg’s hands surprised a growl out of Simon. That made everyone else sit up—except Ferryman, who made an effort to look smaller.

Henry asked. Or warned.

Simon blew out a breath and turned toward the other humans in the room. Sitting between Captain Burke and Lieutenant Montgomery was a male he didn’t know.

Roger Czerneda was medium height with blond hair and blue eyes. Nothing challenging or aggressive in his demeanor, which would lessen friction when he had to deal with the Others on Great Island. And still healing from the wound he’d received in Jerzy. If the pack was hunting and Roger was in a crowd of humans, they would try to separate him from the rest because he’d be vulnerable and easier to bring down.

An invited guest is not edible, Simon reminded himself as he took a seat. The look Henry gave him had him running his tongue over his teeth to confirm they were still close enough to human.

“We appreciate your hosting this meeting,” Captain Burke said, addressing the remark to Simon but managing to include the other three terra indigene in the room. “And we appreciate Mr. Ferryman driving down to Lakeside to meet Roger.”

“I’m glad to have an opportunity to visit the Lakeside Courtyard,” Steve Ferryman said. “And Officer Czerneda should know some things about Ferryman’s Landing before he makes a decision.” No longer needing to show the Courtyard leader he wasn’t issuing a challenge, he leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs at the ankles. “The way things work on Great Island isn’t unique in Thaisia, but it’s one of the most visible communities where terra indigene, Simple Life folks, and Intuits divide tasks between the groups so that all the parts make up the whole. Nobody has a lot in terms of wealth and material goods, but everyone has enough.”

Since the outcome didn’t affect the Courtyard one way or the other, Simon didn’t pay much attention to the “blah, blah, blah” about how the different groups worked together. Ferryman’s Landing wasn’t the only “human” village that belonged to the terra indigene. There were a couple of Intuit and Simple Life communities in the Addirondak Mountains, where products of interest to the Others were made in exchange for the use of land and natural resources. Not that different from other human towns and cities—except Courtyards were surrounded by a city and the humans who lived there, whereas small human settlements were surrounded by the wild country and the terra indigene who lived there. That meant the Intuits didn’t forget that their survival was, always, dependent on what the Others considered a fair exchange.

And the Others in the wild country didn’t forget that humans weren’t terra indigene and get tangled up in a friendship with one and start caring.

Vlad said.

“Well,” Burke said, shifting in his chair. “I think that concludes—”

“No,” Tess said. “There’s something you all need to know.” She looked at Vlad. “Unless you want to tell them?”

“Tell them what?” Vlad sounded puzzled.

As he listened to Tess’s account of the men who were watching Merri Lee, Simon studied Burke and Montgomery. Anger and concern, respectively. The Wolf-lover remark wasn’t a surprise to Burke. The question was which group—police or terra indigene—was going to curb the trouble before it turned into a full fight. Seeing the look in Vlad’s eyes when Tess mentioned the “bitch in a jar” remark, he didn’t think the police would have much time to act once Erebus Sanguinati decided how his people would respond.

“I’ll have a word with the patrol captain in the university district,” Burke said.

“It’s not just Lakeside,” Ferryman said. “We’ve heard rumblings about trouble brewing in Talulah Falls. A couple of demonstrations near the Courtyard there, some speeches at the colleges.” He paused, then added, “And we had an incident a few nights ago. It’s a big reason why we decided to adjust the village budget to hire an official police officer.”

“What happened?” Roger asked, looking pale.

“A boat landed on the north end of the island, where most of the Simple Life folks have their farms. Someone tried to set fire to a barn.”

“Tried?” Simon said.

“We had a sudden downpour that lasted a couple of hours. The rain put out the fire before the farmer could report it. About the same time the rain started, a heavy fog covered the river. You couldn’t have seen your own hand out on the water.”

Ah, Simon thought. Water must have been riding Fog that night. Not even the rest of the terra indigene knew how the Elementals divided the world into territories or even how many of them there were. But he was fairly certain that the Elementals who touched Great Island and Talulah Falls were the ladies who lived in the Lakeside Courtyard.

“Did the police have any luck finding the person responsible?” Burke asked.

Ferryman gave the captain an odd smile. “Thick fog and a fast river leading right to the falls. The morning after the fire, a broken boat and two bodies were pulled from the river.”

“Were the bodies drained of blood?” Vlad asked. “I know the Sanguinati who live on the island have been interested in the shore for the past few days. Such interest usually means an incursion of humans who might cause trouble for the island’s residents.”

Ferryman shrugged. “Those men went over the falls. If they were dead when they went over, the Sanguinati did them a favor.”

“Anything else?” Simon asked. When his only answer was several headshakes, he stood.

“Come up to the village whenever you’re ready and we’ll get you settled in,” Ferryman told Roger.

“Mr. Wolfgard,” Montgomery said. “If I could have a minute?”

“A minute,” Simon agreed.

“I’ll wait outside,” Ferryman said.

“Why don’t I give our guests a quick tour of the Market Square?” Vlad said.

When everyone else left the room, Simon studied Montgomery. Not sick, but the dark skin didn’t look as healthy as usual.

“Something wrong with you?” Simon asked.

Montgomery smiled. “Too many sleepless nights lately.”

A Wolf would curl up and take a nap, but humans were rarely as sensible.

“I understand a few of your human employees have left recently,” Montgomery said.

“Most, actually. Why?”

“Officer MacDonald’s cousin is looking for work. She has secretarial and business skills that might be useful to Dr. Lorenzo, if he hasn’t already hired someone for the office here.”

“Why would she want to work in the Courtyard?”

Montgomery looked uncomfortable. “Theral got out of an abusive relationship a few months ago. She’s had two jobs since then and was fired from both of them because her ex-partner showed up at her place of work, making threats and causing trouble. She moved back to Lakeside because she has family here. When Officer MacDonald mentioned that Theral was looking for work, I offered to broach the subject with you, in case you were looking for new employees. If you’re interested, she can call and make an appointment for an interview.”

Simon scratched behind one ear to give himself a moment to figure out what Montgomery was really trying to tell him. “You think this man will follow her to Lakeside and cause trouble?”

“I hope not.”

“But you want us to eat him if he does show up?”

“No, no, nothing like that.”

Despite the words, Simon didn’t think Montgomery would be too upset if he had to fill out a DLU form for this male who threatened a member of MacDonald’s family. “I’ll talk to the other members of the Business Association.”

“Thank you.”

He walked out with Montgomery and wished that Ferryman, who was standing near the back of the Liaison’s Office, would make some lame excuse about needing to get home and not having time to meet Meg.

They didn’t speak until the police drove away, Henry went back to his studio, and Vlad and Tess went back to their stores. Then Ferryman studied him for a moment. “When you walked into the meeting, I had a feeling that you really didn’t want me in your Courtyard. But it’s not the whole Courtyard, is it? It’s this office.”

Simon didn’t answer.

“Do you want me to make an excuse and leave?”

“No.” That’s exactly what he wanted, but he couldn’t figure out how to explain Ferryman’s departure to Meg. Besides, it was possible Ferryman could help her.

“Do all terra indigene react this way to a cassandra sangue?” Steve asked.

Simon just opened the back door and walked in. Hearing Nathan’s growl, he hurried into the sorting room with Ferryman on his heels.

“Give it back,” Meg said, pulling on one end of a catalog as hard as she could while Nathan pulled on the other end. “Give … it … back!”

“Stop,” Simon said.

Nathan replied. He stopped pulling but didn’t let go of his end of the catalog.