As I dressed, I had to wonder why no one had called in the peculiar situation at Leo’s. Was the stasis spell strong enough to take all the blood-servants and -slaves over? Maybe it was combined with a keep-away spell. I wondered how much a spell like that might cost. But mostly, I was hungry. Ravenously hungry. And I remembered the boudin balls and the peanut bar—because chocolate would melt—the chips—for starting a fire, not that I needed one—and bottled water in the saddlebags. I ate everything and drank all the water, relieved myself, and dug out my GPS cell phone. I dialed Bruiser and he picked it up on the first ring.
“Why haven’t you returned my calls!” he ground out. I could almost see his teeth gnash.
Been busy being ambushed, shot, shifting into a mountain lion, and taking a nap, didn’t sound like a smart thing to say. And if Bruiser had access to the GPS tracking on the phone, he’d know I was lying if I said I’d lost the signal. “I was ambushed by some werewolves on the way to Leo’s and got shot at. Furry little yappers are awful shots. All they got was a nick along my ribs. Get out here, and bring me a change of clothes, would you? Jeans, T-shirt, undies.”
Bruiser swore softly and the anger dropped from his tone. “Pawing around in your lingerie drawer would sound interesting if you hadn’t just said you’d been shot.”
“It’s not bad. Looks worse than it is.”Which was a lie, though I looked okay right now; not like the shot had nearly killed me. “Anyway, I got away, and went in through the woods.” I filled him in quickly about the scene in the clan home. “You need to get out here, because we’ll need to call the cops.”
“It will be dark soon. Leo and Tyler can handle it,” he said. I could hear the faintest tang of bitterness in his words. Why should he help his former boss and his replacement?
“According to the security monitor, Leo is injured and Tyler”—I thought back to the people gathered inside—“isn’t there. I think he’s involved with all the problems. Involved as in responsible for. And responsible for framing you for murder.”
“Sod it all,” he cursed. “I’ll be there, with our lawyer, in an hour.”
“Bring me some food. A half dozen burgers. I’m hungry.”
“A half—”
“And make it fast.” I hit the END button and tucked away the cell. There was something very satisfying in ordering the MOC’s prime blood-servant around. Remembering the bite marks on the blood-servants gathered in Leo’s, I called Gee; left a message on his voice mail. “I know you’ve been trying to bring the wolves and the vamps together. But the wolves attacked Leo’s today. He’s hurt. He might need the Mercy Blade.” I closed the cell. I didn’t know if Gee was taking my calls, not after I’d accidentally stabbed him while trying to break his hide-me spell, but it was worth the shot.
I picked up Bitsa. She seemed little the worse for the bullet clawfang-based contretemps. Her paint was scarred and a wheel spoke was bent and coated with werewolf blood, but I could get that fixed with a little side trip to Bitsa’s maker in Charlotte, North Carolina, when I went back to the mountains. For now, she was roadworthy and that was what counted.
I motored through the deepening dusk to Leo’s. When I got there, the place was still shut down under the stasis spell, though the evening security lights had come on.
I down-clutched and rode through the twilight light into the azaleas, where I parked Bitsa and waited in the shadows for Bruiser.
CHAPTER 22
Dry Cleaning Bills Are Outrageous in My Line of Work
Bruiser didn’t come alone. He had Evangelina in the car with him and a second car followed behind with two people in it, headlights casting bright beams across the drive and landscaping. They parked and all four got out, slamming doors. Two lawyer types were wearing suits, ties, and polished shoes. Bruiser and Evangelina were wearing jeans, boots, and white T-shirts, almost as if they had planned to look like the Bobbsey Twins. Something green and pointy twisted deep inside.
Keeping my bloody clothes out of the headlights’ glare, I met them at the bottom of the steps, our shadows going in all directions depending on how the spotlights in the shrubbery hit us. Taking the bag full of hamburgers and the bag of my clothes from Bruiser, I rolled the food bag open as we climbed to the front door. The smell was greasy and wonderful and I tore into the first burger instantly, standing aside, chewing, as Bruiser leaned in through the open front door and flicked on a light. Stasis spells don’t always stop electricity from working. Good to know.
Bruiser shook his head. Evangelina nodded to Nettie and said, “She’s under a stasis spell.” Well duh. But I kept that to myself. No need to antagonize the witch who was going to make it all go away without something exploding. She studied the room, seeing the spell from different angles. “The whole first floor is under a series of them, and they overlap like soap bubbles in a tub. This was not a cheap undertaking. Give me a minute to study it.”
“Wait,” I said, focusing on Evangelina and swallowing the bite I hadn’t finished chewing. It stuck midway down but I talked around it. “Leo’s under a hedge of thorns, a silver-tipped stake, one of mine, on the floor beside him, and he’s bleeding.” When I said it was one of mine, Bruiser turned at a slight angle to me, which freed up his right arm and positioned his body for an offensive strike. It was an unconscious move, but one that said he was primed for violence in defense of Leo. Which put me in my place, and said as much as anything where his loyalties lay. He might want to sleep with me, but he’d never put me or my needs in front of Leo. I could have told him that the stake was lost, but why bother? He should have figured that out for himself. I shoved my reaction to that down deep inside with all the other stuff I didn’t want to look at too closely. “There’s a hand showing at the edge of the security screen.”