Under Suspicion

Chapter Fourteen

In my imagination I am Sophie Lawson, Badass Investigator, Paranormal Specialist. I wear black leather, like a second skin; I wield a sexy, jeweled sword; I have the kind of hair that flies in gorgeous wisps over my naked, carved shoulders.

In real life I was crouching behind a Dumpster, sputtering and making snot bubbles; my skin was pasty white and “I’ll hit the gym tomorrow” jiggly.

“Someone’s hunting werewolves?” I finally bellowed; my voice was choked with tears and terror. “Does someone think I’m a werewolf?” I pointed to my own chest and then focused on my index finger. “Have I always had hair on my fingers? Oh, holy lord, I’m becoming a werewolf, and someone is trying to kill me!”

Will grabbed my halfway-to-a-paw hand and pushed it to my side. “I don’t think anyone thinks you’re a werewolf, love.”

I shook my head. “What’s going on, Will?”

He gathered up the last of the silver bullet casings and slipped them in his pocket.

“Are you okay?”

I gave myself a mental pat down and a short scan for bullet holes. Other than a bladder that was suddenly, shamefully empty, I was unharmed. “I think I’m okay,” I said, my voice a cracked whisper. “Are you?”

Will nodded coolly as though a shower of bullets was a common occurrence in his English life; then he helped me to stand.

He brushed little bits of gravel from my shirt and frowned. “I think Bettina was right. Someone is definitely out to eradicate their kind.”

My stomach quivered, gooseflesh breaking out all over my arms. “Oh my God.”

“This guy might be after anyone mythical.”

I licked my lips in a vain attempt to stop them from trembling. “So not VERM? Not just vampire defense.”

Will shot me a noncommittal glance. “I’m not sure any of this is a coincidence anymore.”

I slowly began to process what Will was suggesting—a serial killer of mythical creatures?—when I heard a gruff wince coming from the street. My whole body went hot again; the hair on the back of my neck pricked up. My legs trembled like Jell-O and I thanked God that my bladder was empty.

“What was that?”

Will pushed me behind him again and my inner Gloria Steinem was stomped out by my overwhelming girlie desire to climb up on his shoulders and bury my head in his neck.

Will picked his way across the wet sidewalk to where the wincing was coming from; the collapsible iron gate that locked the storefront next door was gaping open, and there was a dark shape hulking inside.

“Hello?” Will asked. “Sir, do you need help?”

Though I trusted Will implicitly, a large part of me considered taking off, running—if only to get help for the downed stranger. To get help and possibly to crawl under a bed somewhere and scream bloody murder until everything was calm again.

Instead, I stayed glued to Will, certain that my thundering heart would bash through my rib cage and kill us both.

I could make out the shape of a large man lying on his side against the brick wall. He made a sound, somewhere between a grunt and a growl, and I stiffened.

“Is he hurt?”

Will shrugged me off. “Sir, I’m an EMT and a fireman. I’m not going to hurt you, but I’m going to come in and check on you. Again, are you hurt?”

“No,” came the gasping reply. “Don’t come in here. Just leave me alone.” A painful breath punctuated every word, and I narrowed my eyes, peering deeper into the shadows. I could make out the man’s rumpled coat; the hem dipped into a shard of streetlight and I noticed that the stitching was even and hand done, the luxurious gray silk lining exposed.

“I think he’s a businessman,” I whispered to Will. “Ask him if he’s a businessman.”

Will glared over his shoulder at me and took another step toward the man, who shifted and lurched. The man jumped out of the darkness and his face was thrust into the light, teeth bared, upper lip snarled. Though he remained crouched, I could see the guy was huge, with biceps the size of melons and a chest at least three feet across, smeared with blood. A vein bulged in the man’s neck, and his dark skin was stretched tight. His brown eyes were wild, and sweat stood out above his eyebrows and lips.

“I don’t need any help,” the man snarled.

“You need a doctor,” Will said. His full body was tensed and seemingly ready to pummel the man.

“I don’t.” The man doubled over and crumbled before he could finish. I whipped around Will and knelt down, just a few inches from the man’s face.

“Sophie!” Will yelled.

I felt Will’s fingers brush past my shoulder as I put my hands on the man’s chest. His head railed against my palm and his breathing came in sharp, fast breaths.

“I’m calling an ambulance.”

“He doesn’t need an ambulance,” I told Will. “He needs to come home with us.”

“What?”

I looked into the man’s dark eyes, which were now hooded and weary. “He’s a werewolf.”

The man started to shake his head and I steadied him. “It’s okay. I recognize you from the UDA, but I don’t remember your name.”

“Sergio,” his dry lips whispered. “My name is Sergio.”

Will’s eyes went wide. “Werewolf?”

I had a hot, sinking feeling in my belly. On a daily basis I surround myself with immortals, angels, and the occasional fire-breathing dragon. From time to time, having that kind of posse tends to make me feel rather invincible, but coming face-to-face with the kind of firepower that could take down a werewolf—let alone turn me into a runny hunk of Swiss cheese—had the uncanny ability to turn me into jelly.

I blinked at the velvety bubble of black-red blood as it made its way out of Sergio’s wound. I felt hot bile rise in my throat. “I don’t feel so good.”

I felt Sergio’s baseball mitt–sized paws holding my shoulder, guiding me softly to the concrete. Will pressed his palm to my forehead.

“Is she going to be okay?” Sergio asked.

I blinked and gulped down a lungful of stale, urine-scented air; then I gagged and coughed.

“Yeah, she’s fine.”

I tried to glare at Will, but I was feeling a little barfy. I swung my head out of the vestibule and sucked in some semiclean air.

Will crouched down next to me. “So, do ... these guys ... bleed out like normal humans?”

I looked back to where Sergio was holding his wound and nodded. “Yeah.”

“Then we need to stop the bleeding or we’re going to lose him.” Will gently pushed Sergio’s arm aside and Sergio let him. “Looks like he was shot in the chest.”

Sergio shook his head again. “Shoulder. It’s the upper shoulder. Not a big deal.”

“Let’s get him home.”

We helped Sergio up and I was astonished to see that he was almost a full head taller than Will; but Will wielded Sergio as if he weighed nothing.

I stared into the street, frowning. “Should we get a cab?”

Sergio shook his head with concentrated effort. “My car is right over there.” He dug in his pocket and dropped a shiny set of keys in Will’s hand. “Do you mind?”

Will shook his head silently, continued to guide Sergio and me toward the car. We helped Sergio lay down in the back of his SUV, then drove home in near silence. The only sounds were Sergio’s occasional groans and ragged whooshes of air. I glanced over at Will, noticing his own arm lying limp in his lap, covered with blood. He was slowly flexing and unflexing his fist.

“You okay?” I wanted to know.

I watched the muscle twitch in Will’s jaw. I saw the pink tip of his tongue slide across his lower lip. He leaned over to me.

“What does it take to make a person ...” His eyes flicked from the windshield to his blood-covered forearm.

“Into a werewolf?” I finished for him.

Another whoosh of air from the backseat and Sergio pushed himself up. “Don’t worry, man. You’re fine. I didn’t nick you, did I?”

My eyes went wide. “He didn’t nick you, did he?”

Will wagged his head and I let out a tiny, relieved breath. “You’re fine,” I said. “It’s only a bite, a really significant scratch, or drinking from his footprint.”

Will knitted his brows. “Drinking from a footprint?”

I shrugged. “I’m just the messenger.”

We rounded a corner and Sergio winced again; I angled myself over the back of my seat. “You’re going to be okay, Sergio. We’re almost back to my apartment.” I eyed the man and his well-tailored suit—that gorgeous coat now glistening with a growing sheen of wet blood. “Do you know what happened? Do you know who did this?”

Sergio shook his big head. “I don’t really know. I was walking home from the office and I heard tires squeal. I didn’t really pay attention because, you know, downtown San Francisco.”

We all nodded knowingly, used to the constant honks, tire squeals, and inarticulate shouting from the downtown residents and tourists.

“Then I heard the first pop. Naturally, I ducked, but I didn’t think it had anything to do with me.”

“Gangbangers?” I asked.

“Something like that. I really try and keep to myself mostly. There are a lot of thugs out there, a lot of bad elements. I like to keep my business clean.”

I socked Will on the shoulder. “See? I told you.”

“Good guess,” he said without looking back at me.

“I felt the first shot whiz by me, so I dove into that doorway. I wasn’t too worried because”—Sergio’s dark eyes glanced from Will to me—“well ...”

“Werewolf,” I finished. “Yeah, we get it.”

For the first time Sergio seemed to brighten. “You too?”

“No”—I pointed to Will—“Vessel Guardian.” Then I jabbed a thumb at my chest. “Supernatural Tupperware.”

Sergio grinned, his teeth practically glowing white in the dim car. “Vessel Guardian. You don’t say! I thought that was all just a bunch of religious mumbo jumbo.”

Will stepped on the gas and easily maneuvered us through an intersection, finding a space just in front of my building. “You don’t say,” Will mumbled.

“And Tupperware? What’s that like—”

“Vessel of Souls,” I confirmed, shrugging nonchalantly.

Sergio’s eyes went wide, and Will cut his eyes to me. “Way to keep that one under wraps.”

Will put the car in park and we helped Sergio up to my apartment. He was groaning less and starting to stand up a little straighter by the time we reached the third floor. You gotta love that supernatural healing power.

I sank the key into my lock and kicked the front door open. Vlad, seated on the couch, snapped his head toward us; his nostrils flared, and his brow furrowed.

“Vlad, this is Sergio,” I said. “Sergio, take off your coat. Let me have a look at the wound.” I nodded to Will. “Go grab the emergency kit underneath the bathroom sink. And there’s extra Bactine in the medicine cabinet.”

I would like to say that I kept a fully stocked emergency kit and a Costco-sized bottle of antiseptic just for Florence Nightingale situations like these, but, the truth was, I had a tendency to walk into things. Or fall off them. But I was still feeling very much like a lifesaving battlefront nurse, until Will returned with a heap of bandages and Bactine. I turned back to Sergio, who was now down to his white shirt, the blood soaking through to his collar and all the way down his breast pocket.

There was a lot of blood.

But I was used to blood in copious amounts—when it came from a blood bag and wasn’t attached to an actual bleeding person.

That was the last thing I thought before the room started to spin... .

I felt ice-cold fingers pressed to my cheeks. When I blinked, Nina was hovering over me. “She’s awake. She’s going to be okay.”

“Are you sure she doesn’t have a concussion?” It was a gruff, unfamiliar voice and I struggled to sit up, but Nina held me down, fingertips pressed against my shoulders, surprisingly strong.

“What’s your name?” Nina asked.

“Let me up, Nina.”

“Answer the question,” she commanded.

“Sophie Annemarie Lawson. And you’re Nina LaShay.” I pointed. “That’s Will Sherman and ... I have no idea who you are.”

“Sergio, remember?” Sergio grinned at me and I cocked my head, remembering. “Nice shirt,” I said finally.

He had traded in his bloodstained button-up for a borrowed shirt from Vlad. It was three sizes too small, emphasized Sergio’s bubbly muscles, and the VERM logo was stretched unmercifully across his huge chest. Sergio smoothed it, grinned, and patted the two inches of exposed belly under the hem of the shirt. “It’s the best we could do.”

“Whatever,” Vlad mumbled.

I sat up and smiled at Sergio. “You’re okay.” I pointed to my own shoulder. “The gunshot?”

Sergio blushed, his dark skin tinged a deep red. “Your Will is quite the nurse.”

Will’s eyebrows disappeared in his bangs. “Hey! No, it must be the werewolf-healing thing.” He snapped his fingers. “Quick. I had nothing to do with it.”

I stood up and brushed off my pants. “I’m glad. But I thought the silver bullet would, you know ...”

Sergio wagged his head. “No, only through the heart.”

“Oh,” I said, “like vampires. But with the stake.”

“Not like vampires,” Vlad said, taking his seat behind his laptop.

Will leaned in to me. “They’re not going to start the whole werewolf-vampire arm wrestling thing, are they?”

I looked from Sergio to Vlad, narrowing my eyes on the scowling century-old sixteen-year-old. “No, they’re not. Besides, the whole vampire versus werewolf thing has mainly been fabricated by the media.”

“That sounds very VERM.”

“We DON’T shorten it!” Vlad groaned.

Sergio clapped his hands together. “So, now that this is all sorted out, I should probably be on my way.”

I grabbed him by his ham-hock bicep. “You can’t go. You’ve just been shot. You need to relax and we need to figure out what’s going on. Your shoulder might be healed, but you’re probably still a little weak, right?”

Sergio frowned and rubbed his flat belly. “A little, I guess.”

“Can I get you something? Crackers or something?”

“No, thanks.” Sergio wagged his head. “Do you have anything with protein?”

“Oh,” I said, “because you’re a werewolf.”

“Actually, it’s because I’m gluten intolerant.”

Will followed me into the kitchen while I pulled open the fridge, willing a turkey breast and a hunk of Brie to magically appear. My powers of astroprojection being nil, I was greeted with the usual selection of blood bags, condiments, and a carton of vanilla soy milk.

I shook the carton, then upended it in a glass.

Will winced. “Is it supposed to be chunky?”

I tossed the carton in the trash. “Do you think I could pass it off as chocolate chip?” I blew out a sigh. “Hey, Sergio, what do you like on your pizza?”

We were all sitting around the dining-room table—Vlad, glowering at Sergio; Sergio, oblivious, enjoying his fourth piece of Veggie Madness on a gluten-free crust; Nina, working a bag of AB negative and typing away on my Mac; and Will and I trading uneasy glances between a half-decimated all-meat, extra-cheese pizza.

I wiped my grease-soaked fingers on my napkin and pushed away from the table. “Okay! So, are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?”

Nina raised her eyebrows. “Sophie, you may have put on a few pounds, but I wouldn’t call you an elephant.”

“I think she is talking about him.” Vlad’s dark eyes went to Sergio, who popped his last bit of pizza in his mouth and wiped his hands on a napkin. Sergio’s back stiffened, and his eyes held Vlad’s.

“What about me?”

“I thought you said there wasn’t an issue between vampires and werewolves?” Will asked.

“Hey, before you guys start comparing incisors, and before I completely kick Nina’s ass for calling me an elephant—”

Nina held up a single finger without looking up from my laptop. “I called you not an elephant.”

“I’m talking about the fact that Sergio was shot with silver bullets. Kale was plowed over in an intersection. Bettina was hammered in the streets. Someone tried to drive a stake through my heart. What else needs to happen for you to believe that someone is out there? We’re seriously being Van Helsinged, and no one is paying attention.”

“Who has it in for demons?” Will asked.

I huffed. “Who doesn’t?”

Will’s eyebrows went up and Nina sighed. “There is always someone hunting vampires. Buffy wasn’t exactly an original idea.”

“There’s always been people after us,” Sergio said.

“Yeah. They’re called dogcatchers!” Vlad snorted.

“Guys!” I shouted.

Nina finally looked up from the laptop, clicking it closed. “Okay, if someone is out for demon blood, what are we supposed to do about it?”

“Um, maybe find out who wants you dead and why. If this guy knew that Sergio was a werewolf , and that silver bullets would actually kill him—”

“Then he’s probably got a pretty decent foothold in the Underworld,” Will finished.

“Right. Because most people just pretty much assume the whole werewolf-silver-bullet thing is legend,” I said.

Vlad blew out an exhausted sigh. “Still more trouble in Gotham.”

“We were shot at.” I thought yelling and stamping my foot with each word would get the weight of the issue across, but Vlad just straightened his ascot to Thurston Howell-perfect—quite a feat since the man had no reflection to check—and looked at me.

“I’m really sorry about your incident, Sophie, but I fail to recognize how this affects me. Or”—his eyes cut to Nina—“us.”

Nina frowned. “Are you sure it wasn’t gangbangers? Maybe they picked up the bullets by mistake.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest and narrowed her coal black eyes. “Bastard gangbangers. We could do the city a real service if the UDA would just lift their ban and let us eat them.”

Vlad wrinkled his nose. “Ew. I don’t like gangbangers. They’re usually so thin and stringy.”

“It wasn’t gangbangers.” I dug in my pocket and picked out the one shell casing I had nicked from Will’s stash. “This bullet isn’t something you inadvertently pick up at Walmart.”

Vlad examined the shell casing and gave it a small sniff.

“Anything?” I asked.

He narrowed his eyes. “I’m not a dog.” Then, “Do you keep Skittles in that pocket, too?”

Nina leapt off the couch and snatched the casing from Vlad’s fingers. “A silver bullet. How odd. Maybe one of my characters gets shot with a silver bullet!”

Sergio leaned over, flashed a big grin. “You’re a writer?”

“Novelist, actually,” Nina said, oozing pride. “I’ll read you something later.”

“Hello!” I sprang up from the couch. “My clients go missing, a banshee is bashed up with the message about eradicating ‘her kind,’ and now someone shoots at me and Will with silver bullets. Don’t you get it? Someone is trying to clean up. Someone knows about the Underworld and is trying to clean up.”

No one seemed to register the amount of shock and awe that my proclamation required, and I huffed. “Hello? Guys? There is a serial killer out there and you’re what he’s looking for.”

Nina bit her lip. “I don’t know, Sophie. Demon hunters can’t exist. Have you read Harley’s book?”

I was sputtering. “Wh-what? Harley’s book? Nina, Harley’s stupid book says you don’t exist! You’re in love with a man who has mathematically proven that you”—I jumped forward and batted her on the shoulder, to show how corporeal she was—“don’t exist. Yet, here you are, standing in our living room, looking at me like that.”

“Like what?”

“Like you think I’m completely Looney Tunes for suggesting that we might be in danger.”

Sergio leaned over to Will. “What book is this?”

Vlad patted my shoulder in an effort to placate me. “It’s not that we think you’re Looney Tunes, but look at the facts. Someone shot at you and Will with silver bullets—silver bullets that only kill werewolves.”

I held up a single finger. “And can make a hell of a dent in your everyday average human.”

“You’re not everyday,” Will put in.

“Or average,” Nina chimed in.

“But I’m still human, and I was still shot at. And, Nina, I swear to God, if you say that being mistaken for a werewolf is proof positive I need to wax in the winter, I will drive a stake through your heart myself.”

Nina crossed her arms in front of her chest and jutted out a hip. “You said it, not me.”

“You guys, this is serious. Can’t you see?”

I looked into the unconcerned faces surrounding me: Nina, surreptitiously eyeing my winter-hairy legs; Vlad, dark eyes cutting from the clock to the front door; Sergio, intently flipping through the promotional copy of Harley’s book, which Will handed him.

This was going to be harder than I thought.

I looked around, feeling my eyes widen while my stomach dropped. “What if this is another fallen angel?”

Nina blinked at me. “If it were, don’t you think they’d toss out the middle man and kill you directly? I mean, no offense.”

“I don’t know.” I looked at Will. “Maybe they’re playing—trying to get me nervous or something?”

Will rubbed his chin. “There has been no information on any fallen angels coming into town. As for them playing with you? Nina is kind of right. Fallen angels don’t play. If they’re after you, it’s pretty direct.”

“And frankly,” Vlad stated, eyes glued to his screen,

“everything that has happened so far has been pretty coincidental. Kale got hit by a car—a hundred cars run through that intersection every day. It was bound to happen.”

I put my hands on my hips. “And Bettina and Mrs. Henderson and the centaur and me getting staked?”

“Muggings, break-ins—they happen. The economy is tanking, breathers get desperate. Unfortunately, both of those can end in murder.”

I tried to shoot a questioning glance at Will, but he was fully immersed in the last piece of pizza. I cleared my throat; and when he looked up, he opened his mouth, looking as though he was about to agree with Vlad. I pinned him with a glare and he snapped his mouth shut.

“The guy said he was going to eradicate her kind, Vlad. Do you really think that was just your average thug?”

Vlad shrugged. “I got mugged in New Orleans by a guy who told me he was mugging for Christ. It takes all kinds.”

Sergio stood up, dropping his napkin onto his plate. “Look, everyone, I appreciate your concern, and even more so appreciate the hospitality, but I really should get running.”

I felt hysteria rising in my chest. “But someone just tried to kill you!”

Sergio patted me on the shoulder and smiled at me kindly. “Again, I appreciate everything, but I’ll be fine.”

I watched Sergio walk out the door; then Will gave me a quick hug and turned to go, too, but not before telling me, “I’ll keep an eye out—poke around and see if there is anything that seems a little”—his eyes cut left and right—“angelically abnormal. But you never know, Sophie. Vlad could be right and this could all be a chain of coincidences.”

Will stiffened, and I sensed he could feel the ice-cold waves of disbelief wafting from me.

He tried an unconvincing smile. “Besides, why would someone want to attack the Underworld?”

I dug my teeth into my lower lip. If anyone is going to save the Underworld, I thought, it’s going to have to be me.