Seizing Darkness (Fur, Fangs, and Fairies)

Published by

Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC.

Novi, Michigan 48374

The right of Mariana Thorn
to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him/her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it was published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Cover Design by

Rue Volley

Edited by

Elizabeth A. Lance

Copyright©
2013, 2014 Marianna Thorn

All rights reserved

Published by

Crushing Hearts and Black Butterfly Publishing, LLC.

Novi, Michigan 48374

This book is dedicated to my rocking support team. You know who you are. Love you.

Chapter One 

I need a drink – or ten,
I thought as I pushed open the heavy oak door. A human bar was out; they played their music too loud and wore too much perfume, making my sensitive nose twitch. I nodded to the troll that served as bouncer as I entered the Gamut. The scent of all the creatures in here could be overpowering, but on some level it was also comforting.

Scanning for an open seat, I made my way past other creatures, ducking under the arm of a drunken werewolf as I planted myself in the furthest corner of the bar. It takes a lot of alcohol to get most of these creatures drunk, but the hint of Faerie wine I caught explained the werewolf’s intoxication.

“Hey Natalya! What can I get ya?” Wendell the werewolf bartender called.

“The driest martini that you can make. So dry I will think I’m drinking a barren desert,” I told him. I didn’t want to get drunk, so I had decided against having any Faerie wine. I knew I needed to drive home later and there was no way I was calling anyone. Not that I had anyone to call. That was almost a depressing thought. But my aloneness was my own doing.

He smiled in sympathy. “That bad of a day, huh?”

“Bad week,” I told him, leaning my elbows on the bar and supporting my head with my hands. The noise and smells had faded into the background now. All I wanted was to sit here and have a drink.

“One extra dry martini, coming right up,” he said, and he was back almost instantly with my drink.

I took the first sip and almost groaned out loud in pleasure. The alcohol had yet to drown out my week. My thoughts turned back to my problems.
 

I worked for the Paranormal Investigation Bureau, better known as the PIB. It’s the equivalent of the FBI for all the non-human creatures and beings in the United States. There had been another body earlier today, my boss was on the other side of the country doing the political thing, and my partner still wasn’t up, since the sun hadn’t yet sunk below the horizon. With him being a vampire, we usually only worked nights. We were short-handed so I’d had to do the investigation alone today.

But work was over for now. I had turned in my paperwork and left the office. I had the next two days off, and I had a drink. What else could a girl want? 

Just as I began to relax, I sensed someone approaching. He smelled of briny seawater and rotting fish. Since he looked human at the moment, I was guessing he was a selkie. Just my luck, I thought, I get to be bothered by Flipper. Maybe I should have just gone home to drink. But I had a rule about drinking alone – I just don’t do it. However, it was looking like coming here had been a bad idea.

“Hey kitty cat, can I buy you a drink?” he said. I’m surprised he got that much out with the amount of Faerie wine I could smell on his wretched breath.

“Shove off, Flipper. I’m not interested,” I growled, not bothering to be polite. I knew his kind and I wanted nothing to do with it.

“Is this one bugging you, Natalya?” Wendell asked, setting a second drink in front of me.

I shook my head. “It’s nothing that I can’t handle,” I told him, glaring at Flipper as I spoke. I picked up my drink and gulped it down as he wandered away. The alcohol burned going down my throat, but it felt good. The muscles in my shoulders started to relax.

“All right. Just let me know if you need anything. Would you like me to keep them coming?” he asked.

I nodded. It would take a lot of alcohol to get the sight of the bodies out of my head. In the last week alone, three agents had been found slaughtered, counting the one earlier today. We were lacking suspects because they’d each been killed by someone – or something – different. There had to be a connection, but I couldn’t figure it out. It was unusual even in the non-human world.

I was deep into my fourth or fifth drink when Flipper came stumbling back. This time he grabbed my ass.

I reacted without thinking.

I wrenched his hand up, and as I kept twisting with my right, I used my left palm to strike his elbow. I felt his arm snap. Then my right elbow came up and hit him in the jaw – another bone cracked. Finally, I punched him in the sternum, sending him flying into a table of gremlins, which were nasty little creatures. They, in turn, took exception to a large seal in human clothing spilling their drinks all over them.

Inevitably, a fight broke out. Chairs were flying, people were yelling. I saw a few creatures shift. A couple of pixies were running around with forks, stabbing people in the feet. There were a couple of nymphs in the corner squealing and smashing people on the head with beer bottles. It was truly a mess.

Val, my boss, was going to have my hide nailed to his office wall for this, I thought as I ducked under the bar to avoid a flying chair. Or maybe he would just declaw me or turn my hide into a carpet.

The bouncers were throwing people out the door. I knew it was time to leave. I threw some money on the bar and got my tail out of there.

The unusually frigid air hit me, taking the breath from my lungs. I zipped up my thick winter ski jacket and put my fur-lined gloves on. It wasn’t supposed to be this cold in western Washington. I wished I could shift; with my thick, warm fur I wouldn’t be as cold. As soon as that thought went through my mind, my phone rang. It was Val’s special ring. I groaned. How did he know already?

“Sorry to disturb you at this late hour.” His deep voice sounded tired.

“Will this week ever end?”

“Well, glad we can be pleasant. There’s another dead body and I have no one else that I can send over there right now.”

“I’ve been drinking,” I protested. I really didn’t want to go to another scene. I had a feeling that my night of running through the forest on four paws was not going to happen. I had been looking forward to some good venison. Maybe I should have skipped the drink and just gone out to the forest.

“As long as it wasn’t Faerie wine, you’re fine. Grab some coffee and I’ll send the address to your phone. I need you to go and check it out. Where are you at, anyway?” he said, suspicion creeping into his tone.

I was reluctant to answer, and I hesitated before saying, “I’m at the Gamut.” There was a very good chance he had already heard about the fight.

“I just got a call about a brawl there. You weren’t involved in that, were you?” I heard him sigh.

“I wouldn’t have been, but Flipper wouldn’t keep his fins to himself,” I grumbled.

Val’s laugh came over the line, soothing my ruffled fur. “I’ll handle things with Madon and Gregory. Just get to the scene.”

“Yeah, sure. First I get accosted by a slippery, stinking seal, and now I have to go out in this damn cold weather to look at a body.” 

He chuckled. “Go and see what you can find out. Question any witnesses. I’m sending the rest of the team to assist, but they might be a while. I need you to just get the basics. Think you could manage that?”

“Sure, go ahead and send the address to my phone. Is Dante going to meet me there or do I need to pick him up?” The sun had set since I had gone into the club.

“Thank you. Dante is running an errand for me, then going to another scene. There were two bodies found tonight. He’ll be there as soon as he can.” He hung up. I really hated it when he did that. He never said goodbye, he just hung up on everyone. I never had asked him why.

I was staring at my phone when the fur on the back of my neck started to stand on end. That was a sure sign that someone was watching me. Again. I glanced around the dark parking lot. There were people leaving the club or getting thrown out. I didn’t see anyone looking in my direction. My night vision is excellent and I should’ve seen who it was, but I couldn’t. I inhaled deeply. The air was so thick with the smell of alcohol, sweat and other creatures that I couldn’t detect who or what it was.

I shrugged it off and headed to my car. There weren’t many creatures out there that had much of a chance against me, anyway. At least not tonight, I thought, glancing at the last sliver of the moon. Tomorrow night was a whole different story.

I was on edge the whole twenty steps it took me to get to my car. I hit unlock on my key fob and jumped in. I revved the engine, blasted the heat, and hooked my phone up to the navigation system.

There was no way I was going to be functioning without my venti extra-shot peppermint mocha, so I made a quick stop at the twenty-four hour coffee shop, and then I was on my way. I was there in about twenty minutes. The police cars were everywhere. Oh joy, I thought, human cops.

After parking, I dug around in my purse for my badge. I opened the trunk and grabbed a small kit with gloves and other essentials that I rarely used. I think I was just required to have them because the case looked official. I locked up my car and made my way to the scene.

At the crime scene tape I was stopped by a uniformed cop. Seriously, I thought, what could he do to me? I sighed inwardly; I just wanted this night to end.

“ID, ma’am,” he said in a bored voice.

He wasn’t much to look at and smelled like a gym bag. Didn’t he realize that taking a shower once in a while might just be a good idea? I tried to hold my breath while I dealt with him. I would rather smell the rotting corpse than this human. I handed him my identification, then began to get insulted as he looked between it and me several times.

“Are you going to let me through, or do I need to call your boss?” I asked.

He sent me a nasty look, but motioned me through. I rolled my eyes and let out my breath. The body did smell better than him, but not by much. I could smell the dead werewolf stench from here. There were two men standing nea
r the body. As I stalked toward them, they turned.

“You must be from the PIB,” the short, bald and smelly one said with a sneer, his eyes roaming over me trying to decide who – or what – I was.

On a night like tonight, I shouldn’t have expected anything less than attitude from the humans. But really, didn’t they understand that I was the bigger predator here?

I took a deep breath and ordered myself to behave. I was already in enough potential trouble for the bar fight. Once I was under control, I said, “Yes, I’m Special Agent Natalya Ignatiev. What do we have?” My head was beginning to hurt. Even weretigers get headaches. Especially when dealing with uncooperative humans and stupid drunk creatures.

“A dead werewolf. That’s why we called you guys. So do whatever it is that you do so we can get out of here.” That was the short, fat one that smelled of cigarettes, donuts and greasy fast food again.

He was one of those cliché human cops. It almost made me laugh. His attitude needed some adjustment, though, and that just pissed me off. The other one wore too much cologne, but he was keeping silent, so he was beneath my notice at the moment.

“Well since you put it so nicely,” I said, trying to keep the growl from my voice.

Taking another drink of my coffee to prevent me from saying something that would get me in trouble with Val, I leaned down next to the body. I took a good sniff. This was so not what I wanted to be doing tonight. Setting my coffee cup on the ground, I took off my warm gloves and put on the rubber ones from my kit. The earthy, musky and distinct canine smell was definitely werewolf. He had been mangled beyond recognition. The head was barely connected to the
body. Reaching down, I probed the wound carefully. The moldy stench of vampire was also strong. A vampire could definitely have done this damage, but they usually didn’t do it to this extent.

This was similar to the other bodies we’d found lately. I would bet money that this was an agent, but I didn’t recognize the wolf or the scent of the vampire. I knew who to ask. I took off my gloves and grabbed my coffee. Then I took out my phone and dialed. He answered on the third ring.

“Well if it isn’t Natalya calling me in the middle of the night.” That was the sexy Irish voice of Madon, the local werewolf alpha. “Are you done tearing up my club?”

I couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at my lips in reaction to his voice. “For the moment. And for the record, if Flipper had kept his fins to himself, there wouldn’t have been any trouble. I called for a different reason though. I’m staring at a mutilated wolf.” I added sweetly, “I don’t think it’s one of yours.”

Madon and I had formed a teasing friendship over the past year. He was nice to look at with his black hair and deep green eyes. He had the lean build of most werecreatures and stood about six feet while human. I hadn’t had much chance to see him as a wolf. He had half the female population panting after him, both human and non-human. I wasn’t one of them, of course. But even I can appreciate a good-looking creature when I see one.

“Yes, I heard. Val called me. I’m already on the way.”

“I see.” I took another drink of my coffee. The hot liquid was soothing and warmed me from the inside out.

“Val didn’t say that I would have the pleasure of your company tonight though,” he said.

“I’m sure he didn’t. I’ll see you when you get here. I have other calls to make.” I hung up. Then I made the second phone call, not really looking forward to it.

“Well, well
, kitten. To what do I owe the pleasure of this phone call?” came the haughty voice of Gregory, the vampire master of the area. “Calling to apologize for the incident at the club?”