Poison Fruit (42 page)

“Nope.” I watched the mingling tribes fill their plates. Stephanie headed over toward us, a plate in either hand.

“I brought you a steak,” she said to Cody, setting the plates down on a picnic table beside us. “Liaison, can I get you anything? A beer?”

“I’ll get it,” Cody said before I could answer. “I’ll get beer for all of us. I’m supposed to be one of the hosts here. Daisy, can I bring you a plate?”

“No, thanks.” Even if I’d had an appetite, which I didn’t, I wasn’t a big fan of werewolf grilling techniques. “Beer’s fine.” I didn’t really want a beer, either, but I didn’t want to be rude.

Actually, that wasn’t true. I was in a shitty mood, too. Right now, I was angry at the world. But it wasn’t the fault of our visitors, including the fresh-faced werewolf Stephanie taking a seat at the picnic table, so I shoved my anger into a padlocked trunk and sealed it away.

“You work with Cody, right?” Stephanie said when I sat opposite her.

“Sometimes,” I said. “Just on cases with an eldritch angle.”

She glanced toward the keg, where he was filling a cup. “He’s different than I expected from chatting online.”

“Oh?”

Stephanie sawed off a big chunk of exceedingly rare steak. “Moodier, I guess.”

“He’s got a lot on his mind,” I said. “Everyone does. The town’s facing a big lawsuit.”

“I heard.” She paused, fork in hand. “Are you worried about the outcome?”

I wanted to say hell yes, I was worried about the outcome—and worse, I was worried about what happened if we lost. I was scared and worried and pissed off and jealous, and I didn’t want to be sitting at a picnic table in Cody’s uncle’s backyard in the middle of January, feeling like a visiting diplomat in my red wool coat with the faux-fur collar while a bunch of werewolves in casual sportswear gorged on half-cooked meat and got to know one another.

The padlocked trunk in my mind rattled with the force of my suppressed emotions. I reinforced it with a couple of steel bands.

“I’m concerned,” I said in a level tone. “But we can always appeal it.”

Cody returned, carefully carrying three red Solo cups full of beer. “All right, here we are.”

Stephanie took one and hoisted it with a cheerful smile. “To new friends!”

Great. Now I felt guilty, too.

Over the course of the next half hour, I learned what Stephanie did for a living—for the record, she was a phlebotomy technician and worked at a hospital in Seattle. I learned that
phlebotomy technician
was the official medical term for the person who draws your blood. I learned that the Yama King who presided over Seattle’s underworld was one of eight, or possibly ten, infernal Chinese deities, several of whom had emigrated to the United States. I learned that most of the older, married, or mated members of the Fairfax clan weren’t at the mixer today because they were on sentry duty in the woods, making sure the gathering was undisturbed and scouting for signs of game. I learned that yes, it was customary to gorge before a hunt, especially at a mingling of the clans, since there was no guarantee that a kill would be made, and if it was, it would be shared by everyone, even if it was just a rabbit.

Throughout it all, I managed to keep a pleasant smile on my face, tending to the rattling trunk in my mind.

As the sun sank toward the tree line, the mood of the gathering began to change. Playful banter gave way to a charged excitement. All those gleaming white teeth took on a menacing edge.

The hunt was nigh and there was bloodlust in the air, and it affected all of them. I saw Cody and Stephanie exchange fierce grins. Oh, Cody might not be entirely happy about this whole mixer, but right now he was filled with heady exhilaration, looking forward to shedding his cares, shedding his clothes, shedding his humanity, and plunging into the snowy woods, where he and oh-so-suitable mate Stephanie from Seattle, Clan Hawthorne, would roam the territory side by side in the hope of bringing down a deer, or at least a rabbit.

God, I envied them. If I could turn into a wolf, forget everything, and just hunt beneath the moon for the night, I would.

Over by the grill, Elijah Fairfax, clan patriarch, gave me a grim smile and a faint nod, as if to say,
Now you understand. Now you see why you and my nephew could never be together
.

I fought the urge to flip him off.

Tree shadows stretched long and stark across the trampled snow.
Here and there, the younger werewolves began to strip off their clothes and shift in preparation for the hunt, milling eagerly.

“I should go.” I extricated myself from the picnic table. “Good night and . . . good hunting.”

Cody rose. “I’ll walk you to your car.”

I shook my head at him. “No, be a good host and stay. I’ll see myself out.” I raised one gloved hand to Stephanie. “It was nice to meet all of you.”

She smiled brightly at me with too many teeth, her eyes flashing that eerie hue of green. “Give our thanks to Hel for her hospitality.”

“I will.”

I should have gone home, or to my mom’s, or to Jen and Sinclair’s place. Hell, I should have grabbed a six-pack and headed out to the abandoned Presbyterian camp to play another game of
Battleship
with Skrrzzzt the bogle, listening for the faint sound of wolves howling in the distance.

What I
shouldn’t
have done was go to the Wheelhouse to see Stefan, which is exactly what I did.

Forty

I
t’s not like I had a plan. I didn’t. I parked in the Wheelhouse’s lot without thinking and entered the place, my pent-up emotions ticking inside me like a time bomb.

Bad idea.

The atmosphere took on an immediate charge, the Outcast clientele responding to my presence faster than werewolves anticipating a hunt. And why not? After all, their prey had come to them. At least I had the presence of mind to kindle a shield as I made my way across the bar.

“Daisy.” Stefan abandoned the conversation he was having with his lieutenants Cooper and Rafe, grabbed me by the arm and steered me into his office, closing the door behind us. “What is it? Did something happen at the clan gathering to upset you?”

“No, nothing
happened
.” On impulse, I dropped my shield. “I want you to take it away.”

He blinked at me. “I beg your pardon?”

“These feelings.” I gestured at myself. “These fucking feelings! I don’t want them! It’s too much.”

Stefan’s expression changed. “Ah. Your feelings for Officer Fairfax.”

“It’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” I asked him. “You said you could help me. Well, I’m coming to you for help, Stefan.”

“No.” He shook his head. “Not this way.”

“Why not?” It fueled the anger I was barely keeping in check. “Hell, you don’t have any problems doing it on
your
terms! There’s too much at stake. I can’t afford to be knotted up with jealousy over some stupid school-girl crush right now, so I’m asking you to
take it away
!”

The overhead lights in Stefan’s office flickered. “No,” he said in a steely tone. “Even if it could be done in a lasting manner, if you and I are going to be together, it will be because you chose me over the wolf, Daisy. Not because I tampered with your emotions.”

Daughter
—my father’s voice rumbled in my mind—
there is another way. All that you desire could be yours. You have but to ask.

Oh, God, not this, not now. A rill of fury ran through me. I pressed my knuckles against my temples. “Shut up! Go away! This isn’t fair!”

“Daisy, you’re being unreasonable,” Stefan said in a calmer tone. “You can’t ask me—”

The padlocked trunk I’d envisioned was straining at the seams, ready to burst. I hurled it at Stefan like a soldier lobbing a live grenade, shouting at him. “In that case, I’m not asking!”

His pupils snapped open.
Fully
open.

It happened so fast, there should have been a sound—an explosion, a thunderclap. Instead there was only silence as Stefan went from controlled to ravening in the space of a single heartbeat. For a split second, I wasn’t afraid. Purged of the roiling emotions I’d locked away, for a split second I felt peaceful and empty.

It didn’t last.

Stefan’s eyes were like black holes, all trace of iris swallowed by his immense pupils. I thought I’d looked into the abyss before, but I was wrong. Dead wrong.
This
was the abyss. This was Stefan with all his humanity stripped away, until nothing was left but the endless hunger.

“Oh, you stupid, stupid girl,” he said in a soft, terrifying voice, slamming me bodily against the door to his office. “Look at what you’ve done.”

And then the fear came: great, crashing waves of fear rushing in to fill the emptiness. Holding me in place, Stefan drank it in with parted lips, wave upon wave. The earth tilted on its axis and I was falling into him, falling into the blackness of that bottomless void. Deeper and deeper, with every pulse of fear, every surge of helpless rage, feeling myself emptied into him, an awful hollowness blossoming inside of me. The vacant faces of the father and daughter that Cooper had
drained on Halloween flashed before my eyes, creating a fresh wave of terror.

It didn’t matter. Whatever I felt, it only fed Stefan. The more I struggled, the blood pounding in my ears, the stronger he grew. Belatedly, I tried to raise a shield, but I’d waited too long. I was weak and couldn’t focus. My fingers scrabbled ineffectually at my messenger bag, trying in vain to unbuckle it and reach for
dauda-dagr
, but I might as well have been reaching for the moon.

Stefan was right. I was a stupid, stupid girl.

And he was going to drain me. The thought made me feel sick with fear . . . and then that passed, too.

“Stop it,” I whispered. “Stefan, please!”

He pressed closer against me, his face looming above mine, and smiled a terrible smile. “I can’t.”

I closed my eyes. I couldn’t bear to watch him do it. And then that emotion vanished like the others, the hollowness inside me growing.

If Cooper hadn’t yanked open Stefan’s office door, uttering a steady stream of Irish-accented invective, I don’t know what would have happened. A pair of wiry arms grabbed me from behind as I fell, hauling me backward. Opening my eyes, I saw Stefan’s gaze shift off me. It felt like I’d been released from the gravitational pull of a black hole seconds before crossing the point of no return.

“Cooper.” Stefan’s eyes glittered ominously. “Get out.”

“You’ll thank me for this in the morning, big man,” Cooper retorted. “At least I sure as feckin’ hell hope so. Rafe!”

I didn’t actually see what happened when Stefan’s second lieutenant pushed past Cooper and me, but I heard the distinctive crackling sound
of a Taser, accompanied by a furious bellow of pain, more crackling, a
thud, and then the sound of a door being slammed shut and a chair wedged under the doorknob.

“Get her the fuck out of here!” Rafe shouted.

“Go.” Cooper spun me around and shoved me in the direction of the exit. “Move it, Daisy! Before you set the whole lot of us off!”

If any of the Outcast in the Wheelhouse had attacked me, I would have been easy prey. It took all my concentration to move my feet, putting one in front of the other, stumbling toward the far door. I might as well have been a hamstrung deer, leaving a trail of blood spoor behind me. Beside me, Cooper exhorted me with curses, his voice filled with fear.

The other ghouls watched with avid eyes, but no one attacked. Maybe due to fear of Stefan’s wrath, or maybe I’d gone past the point of being easy prey. Maybe I was little more than a picked-over carcass by now.

Outside, I slumped against the hood of my Honda and gazed up at the sky. Nightfall came quickly in winter. It was almost fully dark and the stars were beginning to emerge between a scattering of clouds.

Closing the door to the bar behind him, Cooper shuddered with relief. “What the fuck was that all about, Miss Daisy?”

“I was angry,” I murmured. “And I did something stupid.”

“Do you reckon?” Cooper regarded me with dilated pupils, his breath frosting in the cold air. “You were lucky.
Damned
lucky. Rafe only brought that stun gun in today after last night’s fracas. If we hadn’t had it . . .” He let his words trail off. “Well, you were lucky. Don’t you ever try anything like it again, hear me? The big man won’t let us get the jump on him twice.”

There were words I should say, but I couldn’t think of what they were. I clutched my battered leather messenger bag to my chest. Cody had made it for me. Cody. I’d been angry at Cody.

Why? It didn’t seem important now.

I tried to string the evening’s events together in my mind. Yes, I’d been mad at Cody. I’d provoked Stefan, and Stefan had attacked me. Stefan had attacked me, and Cooper had rescued me.

Oh, and there had been Rafe with the Taser, too. I hoped Stefan was okay. It hadn’t been his fault.

“I’m sorry,” I said carefully, thinking, yes, those were the right words. “Thank you?”

Cooper sighed. “Can you drive?”

Drive? I looked around for my car.

“Never mind.” He jerked open the passenger door. “Get inside.” Oh, right. I was leaning on my car. I got in obediently, looking up at Cooper. “I’ll call someone,” he said. “I’d drive you myself, but . . .” He glanced toward the bar. “It’s going to take some doing to restrain himself in a fit of ravening. Can you wait here like a good girl?”

I could do that. “Yes.”

“All right, then.” Cooper paused, his eyes gleaming in the light of the beer signs that adorned the Wheelhouse’s windows, filled with neon and regret. He looked older, much older, than the seventeen years he’d been when he was made Outcast. “And here I thought you and the big man would be good for each other.”

“I’m sorry,” I repeated.

“Stay here.” He closed the passenger door. “Wait.”

Staring straight ahead, I waited.

It was probably ten minutes later that Lurine’s sleek black Town Car glided into the parking lot and pulled into a space beside my Honda, though it could have been longer. It could have been an hour or hours. I wouldn’t have known the difference or cared. The here and now was all that mattered. There was some kind of ruckus going on inside the bar, but I didn’t care about that, either. Cooper had told me to wait, so I waited, clutching my bag in my lap.