Touch of Darkness, page 23
part #3 of The Thrall Series
I let Tom lead. I wouldn't have been able to fit past him anyhow. The kitchen was a mess, half the food would be wasted. It didn't matter. I wasn't hungry anymore anyway. I could clean it later. Who knows, maybe I'd even have a girl/girl bonding session with Elaine doing the dishes. I doubted it, but stranger things have happened.
It took a few minutes to set everything up. I had to move one of the chairs and the coffee table to the side of the room to make enough space for the both of us, but I managed it without making too much noise. I could tell because the snoring hadn't diminished. If anything, it had increased in volume. Whether that meant she was sleeping more or less deeply I didn't have a clue.
I spread the mat on the floor. The blue nylon cover looked bright and cheerful against the hardwood. I set pillar candles at each of the front two corners. I was glad Dusty had chosen white, according to the books it symbolized protection, and I wanted all that I could get.
The incense burner was brass. Shaped like Aladdin's lamp, it had been intricately cut with a lace-like pattern of holes. I flipped open the hinge lid, dropping in two small cones of sandalwood incense. I used one of those trigger-style lighters to make sure it was burning steadily before flipping the lid closed. I knelt on the mat a little to the left of center and signaled for Tom to join me. When he was lying down comfortably, I lit the candles and settled next to him, sitting cross-legged, my left hand resting palm up on my knee, my right buried deep in the fur of his ruff.
I expected to have time to relax, to focus my mind. I didn't. The vision came in a rush of sensation so real I would have sworn I was standing there, rather than sitting quietly in my living room.
It was Bernardo's Pool Hall. I recognized it immediately. The large, mostly open room was filled with pool tables, each with enough room to move comfortably around. Fluorescent lights hung above the individual tables, creating a spotlight effect. There were probably forty or fifty individual pools of light above tables with green felt. The rest of the room, however, was dimly lit.
There weren't many patrons at this time of day. Most everybody had left shortly after last call. But there was a big money game being played at the center table. A few of the regulars sat at nearby tables, or had turned their bar stools around to watch as they sipped cups of steaming coffee.
Leo, the night barman and someone I like to call friend, was washing dishes, his shaved head gleaming in neon colors from the beer light hanging from chains above his head.
It felt as though there should be stale cigarette smoke swirling in air moved in lazy circles by the overhead fans. There wasn't. The city had passed a complete smoking ban not too long ago. I considered it excessive, but knew just as many people who were relieved to be able to go out without having to deal with other people's nicotine habit.
I glanced around, looking for someone with a watch. In the perpetual gloom of the pool hall it wasn't easy to tell what time it was. Hours could pass, even most of a day, without the patrons realizing it. It was good for business since the tables were rented by the hour. It had to be sometime between 2:00 and 7:00 when first call rolled around and liquor could be served, but other than that I didn't have a clue.
I turned at the sound of familiar voices coming through the front doors.
Bryan was at the front of the group. His reddish-blond hair gleamed like burnished gold. He was laughing, his walk a little unsteady. I could see the bandage at his neck. So this was probably the present or the very near future.
I sighed inwardly. He was drunk. Coming in behind him were a pair of girls I knew by sight if not necessarily by name. I felt my body tense in anger. They'd been part of the crowd he'd hung out with back when he'd done drugs. Maybe they'd even been the ones to dump him on the street when he got the bad Eden. Maybe not. Bryan swore he didn't remember. I'd never know. But his being with them meant he was running with that crowd again, and that thought filled me with such fury that I almost lost control of the vision. I felt Tom move beneath my hand as the picture wavered, felt him giving me his strength, his calm. I took a minute to control my breathing, to still my emotions, letting my anger drain into the ground. The vision steadied, becoming clear once more.
"You're sure Toby said he'd meet us here?" Bryan seemed a little worried. "He's been avoiding me the past couple of weeks."
The shorter girl was a pretty brunette wearing a cropped red top that showed a flat, tanned abdomen in the middle of winter. A piercing winked at her navel, and her denim skirt barely qualified as decent. She'd dressed for sex rather than the weather. She took Bryan by the arm, leaning into his body so that he could get a good look at her cleavage if he wanted. He did. "That's what he said." She dragged a blood red nail across the skin of his chest where the neck of his black dress shirt was unbuttoned. "But I think it's time the two of you made up. Besides, we don't want Laurie to be lonely, do we? And I don't share." She stood on her tippy toes to kiss him. It was one hell of a kiss. She was practically eating him alive, face down. His body reacted predictably and she pulled away with a laugh. "Later, tiger." She dragged her hand down the front of his body, deliberately stopping just above the bulge in his trousers. He groaned, and she laughed again, a wicked, possessive sound that just irritated the hell out of me.
She led him by the hand up to the counter. He registered for a table, giving his ID to Leo, who was giving him a studiously blank expression.
I recognized that look. That was his blank bouncer face. He knew this girl, knew she was trouble. Terrific.
Bryan missed the hint. No surprise. He wasn't thinking with the big head at the moment. The brunette led him by the hand toward a table in the far corner of the hall, as far away from everyone as she could get. Laurie followed the two of them, carrying the rack of billiard balls. She watched Bryan as he moved, her eyes glittering with malice. I realized then that the real threat to my brother wasn't the brunette.
They were playing eight-ball when Toby arrived at the front counter. I saw him walk in the door and stop, letting his eyes adjust. It had gotten light outside, he had to take off the dark sunglasses he'd been wearing. The money game was over. Leo was busy cleaning up the place and was away from the counter, so that Toby had to wait. He turned, his eyes scanning the room. When he saw Bryan his expression changed to one of horror and panic. I could see the pulse throbbing in his throat.
He moved, taking a quick step backward, but he wasn't quite fast enough. Laurie saw him. Their eyes locked. I watched as sweat beaded on his skin, his body taken with a fine trembling. God help him, he was trying to fight, but his own body wasn't his any more. She was controlling him, moving him like a sock puppet. I knew how that felt. Monica Mica had taken over my arm, making it move of its own volition, in an effort to get me to claw out my own eyes when I'd offended her.
He made her work for it. Each step forward was an individual battle. You could see the effort, and the rage, on her face. Bryan had been lining up a shot when he saw it.
"What the fu—?" He set his cue down and turned to stare, first at Laurie and then across the room to where Toby stood.
"Toby, buddy, what's wrong?"
"I… won't… do…thisss." The last word had a hissing lisp. I shuddered, thinking I knew what that meant. Bryan either knew or guessed.
"You didn't. You're not—" he stared, his expression horrified.
"You will do what I tell you. Kill him, or die." Laurie's face shifted, the illusion and mind tricks falling away as more and more energy was being used against Toby. She became taller, the soft female curves hardening and flattening into a body I knew all too well. So did Bryan.
Dylan.
"No!" Toby threw back his head, shouting the word at the ceiling, his voice changing. I watched the bones begin moving beneath his skin, heard the familiar popping and breaking as his body began to shift. The word changed, becoming a long, mournful howl that somehow perfectly captured both his rage and despair.
The ring of a telephone snapped me back into the present so abruptly it was almost painful.
Tom was lying on the floor panting. He was hurt? How in the hell had that happened? I blinked in the kind of confusion that comes from returning too suddenly to the here and now. It was like being woken from a particularly vivid dream, in those first few instants when you can't quite tell which is reality.
"Tom, are you all right?" I said it with both mouth and mind.
"Just tired. I tried to help him fight. But I wasn't there, wasn't touching him. So it drained me more than I thought it would."
I shifted positions until I was kneeling and blew out the candles. "If you can change back I can help you back to the bedroom."
He gave a small whimper, but I felt his magic rise. It took longer than usual, but his body reversed the earlier changes until he lay human and naked beside me.
It took effort, but we managed to get him onto his feet. He was practically dead weight dragging me down as I hauled him bodily down the hallway. We made it to the edge of the bed before the last of his energy gave out and he collapsed, falling sideways on top of the covers. The mattress squeaked in protest, but the bed held.
Too tired to move, he lay passive as I tugged the covers out from under him and rearranged his body into a more normal position. I tucked the pillow under his head, running my fingers through his soft brown curls. "I love you, Tom Bishop." I whispered the words to him and was rewarded with an inarticulate grunt that was supposed to be a response. "I can't believe you actually tried to send your power through a vision that might not even be in the here and now. And you say I'm impulsive." He gave another grunt that might, or might not, have been "stupid." Shaking my head, I bent down and kissed him tenderly on the mouth. "Yeah, well, I'm proud of you. It was generous and brave, even if it was really, seriously dumb. Now get some rest."
He was snoring softly seconds later when I left the room. The sound was oddly comforting. He was a werewolf. I knew that given enough time he could heal almost any injury. But it seriously scared me to see him like this. Nor was he the only one I was frightened for at the moment. I'd told him that the vision might not be in real time; and it might not. But it had felt real; real enough that I wanted to talk to my baby brother.
The last time I'd seen my cell phone it was on the kitchen counter, plugged in to recharge. Evidently Tom had gotten it from the hospital staff. I was glad. I would hate to lose it. The screen showed a missed call. I hit the button and it displayed Mary's cell phone number. I'd call her in a minute. Before I did, I wanted to check on Bryan.
I dialed the number of his cell phone without luck. Either he'd turned it off or had chosen not to answer. I left a voice-mail asking him to call me as soon as he could and then hung up. I thought I still remembered the number for Bernardo's from back when I was more of a regular. I dialed, hoping I had it right. A familiar voice answered on the third ring. Not Leo, but Stevie. "Bernardo's Pool Hall. Can I help you?"
"Steve, it's Kate…Kate Reilly. Is Leo on shift?"
"Nope. It's his night off." Not tonight then. Which means Tom exhausted himself for nothing. But, there's still time.
"Is my brother Bryan there?"
"Nope. Haven't seen him for a couple weeks. Shame too. I can usually take him for a couple of bucks when he's had a few beers."
I didn't answer that. It was none of my business if Bryan wanted to throw away his money. As long as his bills were paid and he wasn't mooching off family to get by, it was his life.
"Well, if he comes in, have him give me a call."
"Sure. Is that it?"
"Yeah."
"Should I tell Leo you called?"
I thought about it for a minute as I grabbed the mug of cold coffee from the table and dumped its contents into the sink. "Nah. I'll check back later. Thanks, though."
"No problema."
He hung up without saying good-bye, but I was okay with that. Steve has his issues, but he's dependable enough in his own way. He'd give Bryan the message, but he'd expect me to buy him a beer and a shot the next time I was in, as payment. Seemed a fair price to pay.
I hit the series of numbers that would ring back the last person who called me and tucked the phone between my shoulder and ear. It was uncomfortable, but it left my hands free to run dishwater in the sink and start cleaning up the breakfast mess. I was sliding the biscuits into a zipper-top plastic bag when she picked up the line.
"Good morning, Kate."
"Morning. What're you doing up and about so bright and early?" I glanced up at the clock. It wasn't even 5:00 yet.
"I could ask you the same thing," she sighed. Just those few short words, and I could tell she was not only tired, but weary. There's a difference, at least to my mind. Tired is a physical state that comes from overwork or lack of sleep. Weariness is usually the result of stress and frustration. Tired I get by itself sometimes. Weariness almost never travels alone.
"So?"
"I'm at the hospital. Ruby had the baby. She's a girl. Eight pounds three ounces with thick brown hair and a set of lungs you wouldn't believe."
I was grinning as I threw the bag of biscuits in the refrigerator.
"Are they okay?"
"Mostly. It was a hard delivery. Ruby will need to stay in the hospital for a day or two, and the baby's a little jaundiced, so they're going to put her under the bilirubin lights."
"That's not serious, is it?"
"Nah, not really. Lots of kids are jaundiced at birth. For a werewolf delivery it actually went pretty well. They're both going to be fine."
I grabbed Tom's plate and began scraping the uneaten portion of his food into the trash. "Then what's wrong?"
"Nothing really. I'm just tired. But before I get caught up in the day I wanted to give you a call, see if you and Tom would stop by the hospital during visiting hours. Ruby wants to talk to the two of you."
That seemed a little odd to me, but the kid had been lonely since Jake died, and we had started getting more friendly in Las Vegas. "Okay. No problem. It's going to be a couple of hours before we can manage it, though. Which hospital is she at?"
"St. E's." Mary gave me the room number.
"Cool. I'll bring flowers."
"That'd be nice. She'll like that."
There was an odd inflection in Mary's voice. I couldn't quite pinpoint what the problem was. She'd said Ruby was fine, that the baby was fine. So why wasn't she happy? The pack had been desperate for babies. Both surrogates had now delivered; a boy and a girl. She should be practically delirious. She obviously wasn't.
Mary, can you hear me? I sent a thread of thought in her direction. She might or might not be psychic. I'd found out after Jake's death that most of the wolves are connected to each other through the pack. It's a bond and it's psychic, but it's not as direct or concrete as what I have and the hive mentality the Thrall used. They might not know when a fellow pack member was in trouble, but they felt the absence if one died, and sometimes strong emotions could bleed over from one to the other. I'd never seen it, but I've been told that watching a tight-knit pack hunt or fight as a unit was impressive as hell.
"What are you doing, Kate?" She sounded suspicious.
"Oh, just cleaning up from breakfast," is what I said out loud. Mind to mind I said something entirely different. We need to talk. There are things I need to tell you that we can't discuss on the phone. Can you come to the house? It's important.
"Breakfast sounds pretty damned good about now. I haven't eaten since lunch yesterday." Fine, Reilly. But it better be important. I've got dignitaries arriving all day, security measures to take care of, and last-minute crap to deal with at the convention center. I do not need anything more on my plate.
I kept my voice light and cheerful, despite the worry in my mind. "Well, drive on over then and I'll feed you some fresh biscuits."
That's fine, Mary, but don't talk about anything important over the phone.
I'd never heard a growl in my mind before. But there it was as she replied psychically. Why not?
Your home phone's been bugged. They may have done your cell phone too.
"WHAT!?" She shouted it out loud. I flinched, and the phone popped out from between shoulder and ear to clatter against the edge of the sink. I had to bat at it with my hands to keep it from falling into the soapy water.
"What in the hell are you talking about?" I could hear her clearly, even though the phone had fallen to the floor. She was snarling, and there was a guttural quality to her voice that I didn't like hearing at all. She'd been a long time without sleep or food. Her control over her beast might not be at its best. But hopefully, if her phone was being tapped, those listening would just think I'd suggested doing something kinky with biscuits that outraged her, rather than getting suspicious.
I picked up the cell phone and spoke lightly, my voice utterly bland, but tinged with a bit of faked embarrassment. "Gosh, I didn't mean it like that, Mary. I just think we need to have a little chat about some things a friend of ours told me yesterday. I would've called you sooner, but I wound up with a migraine."
Mary! Stop. You need to separate what you think from what you say. I know it's a shock to find out, but I think we can use it to our advantage. That's one of the things I want to talk about. Just don't let on that you know about the tap until after we've had a chance to talk, okay?
I heard her let out a slow breath and when she replied, she chuckled lightly. It definitely sounded forced, but that was better than angry. "Actually, Joe wanted to bring by a present for you anyway. Think you could whip us both up some breakfast if we stop by?"
Her thoughts brushing mine were horrified and filled with fear. I didn't blame her. Saints preserve us, Kate. I've made all of our plans for the conference from the house. All our security measures, everything was discussed on that phone. This is a disaster.
I was afraid of that. Trust me. Please. At least long enough to hear me out. "Sure, come on over. I'll put the coffee on."
"We'll be there just as soon as I can haul Joseph out of bed. And yes, coffee sounds wonderful."
"Bye then."
She paused and her voice sounded distracted as she replied. "Bye."
