Shifty Magic (6 page)

"Did you know he had other women?" I asked,
hoping to shake her out of any false loyalty. I didn't know for
sure that he had, but I knew vamps. If he was loyal to this
delicate mouse of a girl, he would have been the first in the
history of his race.

Marla swallowed and her eyes brightened with
tears, confirming my theory that she'd known.

"That's what you mostly fought about, wasn't
it?" I guessed.

"Do the police think I did it?" she
asked.

"Should they?"

Her shoulders tightened with alarm and her
gaze flew to mine. "No, of course not. Danny was good to me. I had
no reason to—" Marla's eyes widened and she bit down on her bottom
lip as the scarf twisting intensified. "You can't tell anyone.
Promise you won't."

Where had I heard that name before, I
wondered. Recently I was sure, but I couldn't quite place it. "I
don't work with the police or the FBI," I dodged. "But telling me
the truth is the best way to keep yourself out of it."

"He gave me this place. Credit units to
spend," she said in a rush as if spilling the vamp's name had
opened a flood gate of sharing. "Whatever I wanted. Now that he's
gone, I'll lose everything."

"What can you tell me about him? That might
be a good place to start."

"He was someone important. He told me that
if anyone knew he was here, I'd be in danger."

"Then he had enemies. People who'd want him
dead?"

Her gaze shifted to the potted tomato plant
on the balcony, but I could tell her thoughts were focused on
memories only she could see. "I'm sorry he attacked you," she said
in a small, quiet voice. "Danny didn't like to be told no."

A slick change of subject. She might be
young, but she wasn't stupid. "But he could be gentle and kind
sometimes," I prodded, countering with a more sympathetic tact.

She nodded as the tears spilled out of her
eyes and down her dark cheeks. "At the beginning, mostly."

"Did you know he was a renegade? Not part of
the Church?"

"Yes. We were...that's why he said he could
marry me," she whispered.

My eyes widened.
"
Had
he married
you, or did he just tell you he would?"

"He promised to turn me on my twenty-fifth
birthday and then we'd get married."

"You were willing to risk dying to be with
him, even knowing that he cheated on you?" I said, a little of my
outrage slipping through.

She snapped her head around, her sad, exotic
face turning fierce with a surge of protectiveness. "Danny was
troubled. He didn't wanted to be...what he was, but his family
didn't give him a choice."

I leaned forward, the picture of contrite
sympathy. "I'm sorry. I should have realized."

"His uncle took him away from his parents
and raised him to be a vampire," she continued, her indignation
building. "After Danny was turned, he ran away. But he was lonely.
Hurt. Sometimes he needed some space, you know? But none of the
others were anything serious. I was the only one."

Hoo boy. What a line she'd fallen for. "Are
there any names you can give me? Maybe one of them got tired of
playing second fiddle and decided that if she couldn't have him no
one would."

She glared at me. "Danny never threw
his...other friends in my face. He loved me."

I looked pointedly at the stain on the
carpet, my patience with her thinning as my temper expanded. "He
had a strange way of showing it."

Marla's shoulders tightened and she stood
up. "You need to leave now."

"Despite your delusional victimhood, I'd
think that you'd want to know who killed Danny so you could see
justice done," I commented as I got to my feet.

A fresh wave of tears welled up in Marla's
brown eyes. "Justice? There's no such thing," she choked out.
"Danny always said the Church protects its own interests and
everyone else it destroys. That's what they did. They destroyed
Danny."

I thanked her for her time and left. I had a
hard time believing that anyone could be that loyal to a monster
who'd consistently abused her, especially now that he was dead.
Over the months, anger and hatred would have built and festered
inside of her. It always did.

The cops didn't see how she could have done
it. There were no records of her leaving the building and besides,
she never could have overpowered a vampire like that. But after
being a belligerent, resentful teen going through the system, there
was one thing I knew from first-hand experience—

If you wanted something bad enough, you
found a way to get it.

CHAPTER THREE

After leaving the Magical Gardens apartments, I
grabbed the next southbound hoverbus and headed for my favorite
pub. It had been a long time since breakfast and my stomach was
letting me know that I'd better do something to rectify
that.

Hoverbuses were one of the best benefits of
the paranormals making themselves known to humans. Gliding in the
air about fifteen feet above traffic in large cities all over the
world, the efficient, bus-like tubes mysteriously combined
hovercraft technology and magic in ways only their inventor
understood. Not that many people cared how. It was good enough that
the mass transit invention didn't pollute, was nearly silent, and
ran on time.

I settled into one of the padded vinyl seats
that lined the curved walls of the bus and mulled over the case I'd
been roped into. There was a remote possibility that the Church had
orchestrated the murder and was only using me to cover their butts.
Vampires didn't see the world the way normal people did. When an
acolyte accepted the blood change, they became a whole new species,
one with its own world view, philosophy and laws.

Vamps were manipulative, haughty, sneaky and
violent. They loved to put on sophisticated airs and then send
others out to do their dirty work. The way they had forced me to
hunt down Danny's murderer was a perfect example and it pissed me
off.

Unfortunately, there were two problems with
my theory. One, I wasn't important enough for them to go to so much
trouble just to inconvenience me, even for a little revenge. And
two, it didn't make any sense for the Church to kill Danny in such
a way, despite what his abused girlfriend claimed. The Church hated
to be cheated of its entertainments. A fairly quick death in an
alley would never be the preferred method of punishment for a
renegade.

The hoverbus glided to a stop, and I got off
with a half dozen other passengers. Clambering down the platform
steps, I headed for the Duck and Fire a few shops down the
sidewalk. The name alone was a good enough reason to make it one of
my favorite spots to grab a meal, but it also happened to be the
best place to ferret out information and gossip that wasn't for the
ears of law enforcement.

I strolled into the cool interior of the pub
and pushed my way through the crowded tables to the bar. As I slid
onto the last free stool, my mind continued to roll around in the
muck of nothing useful that Marla had handed me.

A thin, gray-haired man with a broad,
patient face and intelligent hazel eyes stood behind the bar drying
glasses. He looked up and smiled when he saw me. "Addison! Where've
you been keeping yourself?" he asked, sliding a bowl of pretzels
toward me.

"Hiya, Talli. Got any corned beef on rye
left?"

"For you, anything," he said, sincere
pleasure sending out a fan of creases around his mouth. As the
kitchen door swung closed behind him, I heard his booming voice
hustling the staff to get my order started.

It had been like this for two years, though
I tried not to abuse my advantage over the other customers too
often. Nothing like accidentally walking in on a robbery and
kicking butt to get you in good with a business owner.

I propped my arms on the polished wood
surface of the bar and contently munched on pretzels while I
thought over my next move.

Talli had just enough practitioner in him to
keep him from being classified as human, but not quite enough to do
much more than a few minor spells. What his trickle of para talent
did get him was trusted standing in both the paranormal and human
communities. It didn't hurt that he also made the best corned beef
sandwiches in Charlotte, was active with several charities and
generally one heck of a guy. If anything odd was going on in the
city, Talli would know about it, or know someone who did.

He came back from the kitchen, shook his
head when I offered him my credit unit for deduction, and bustled
off to the other end of the bar to wait on another customer. A
young guy I hadn't seen before ambled in behind the bar, and after
consulting with Talli, placed a large glass of iced Dr. Pepper in
front of me. Not long after that, a hot corned beef on toasted rye
with a side of homemade potato chips joined the party. I was in
heaven.

After about forty minutes, the crowd thinned
out, the businessmen next to me toddled back to their offices, and
I continued to nurse my third refill while I waited for Talli to
have a spare moment.

All through my meal, I'd mulled over the
fact that Marla had more than enough motivation to kill the
renegade vamp. How she might have managed what I'd seen in the
alley was what stumped me. Subduing a vampire was beyond a human's
abilities, not without swinging the odds in your favor like I did
with my Browning. In order to do it, she would have to have
paranormal accomplices. But who?

Like I'd told Cooper, three or more fairly
skilled practitioners might be able to manage it. So could a few
Weres. Vamps too, though I'd never heard of them draining each
other. The problem with that scenario was that a fight like that
would inevitably draw in a few witnesses, and no one had heard or
seen a thing. At least, not that they were telling. That's where I
hoped Talli could help me.

But the piece nagging me the most was the
name Marla had given me. I'd realized about halfway through my
second Dr. Pepper that it was the same name Bellmonte had thrown
around when he nearly lost his temper with the Jamaican renegade.
Apparently Marla's boyfriend was important to the Regent.

Whether a coincidence or a significant clue,
I had no idea. Was Marla's vamp just pretending to be the one
Bellmonte wanted so desperately to retrieve, or was he it? Either
way, why? Whenever a vamp broke from the fold, their best course of
action was to keep a low profile. If Danny was a hot commodity, why
would he hang around? And why use the name that would be known?

Was he so vain that he thought he was
invincible? I remembered how quickly he'd taken off after I shot
him. A vamp with a superiority complex wouldn't have done that. His
pride would have driven him to go after me again.

"That serious face you got going on bodes
poorly for someone," Talli observed as he settled onto the stool
next to me. "Digging for answers?"

I smiled at the older man. "You know me too
well."

He shrugged. "What's up?"

"Know anything about the excitement by the
Bone and Bat last night?"

"Besides Ramiro trying to copy my specialty
sandwich recipe?"

"Even bigger than that."

Talli snagged a pretzel from the bottom of
the bowl in front of me and popped it into his mouth. "I heard a
dried up vamp was found in the alley."

"Anyone know how he got there?"

"Only that the Church has some interest in
the case beyond their usual snoopiness." He narrowed his gaze at
me. "You involved?"

I took a sip of my soda.

"Don't be. The Parishes are backing away
from this faster than cockroaches when the light goes on. Worse
than that, they're nervous. More like scared, but you didn't hear
it from me."

"Frightened outlying parishes don't concern
me."

"They should. Vamps is vamps." He grabbed
another couple of pretzels.

I slid the bowl in front of him. "Any word
about illegal blood trafficking?" I asked in a low voice.

Talli's hand froze above the bowl, and he
gave me a sharp look. "You're the second person to ask that."

I used the straw in my glass to jab at the
melting ice as if I had all the time in the world, and we were
chatting about the weather. "Who?" I asked under my breath.

Talli leaned across me to snag a napkin.
"Little gal a few days ago. Sat at the bar near on to three hours
buying drinks for any para who came in. After she chatted them up a
bit, she'd ask if they'd like to make some easy money."

"Blood donations?"

He nodded. "I told her she was killing
business and asked her to leave."

"What'd she look like?"

"Pretty enough with straight blonde hair and
tinted glasses that hid her eyes. Human though. Didn't look like
the type that could manage a vamp kill." He gave me pointed
look.

"The FBI cleared me, Talli. You can
relax."

He made a non-committal grunt.

"You think she was a runner for someone?" I
asked, interested in getting the conversation back on track.

"Maybe." He casually wiped the bar in front
of him as he slid off his stool. "There was something not quite
right. Had an ugly vibe coming off of her."

He unexpectedly gave me a look that I
imagined fathers gave their daughters when the boyfriend they
disapproved of was back in town. "A good-looking Were guy was in
here yesterday. Said he was FBI."

My breath caught in my throat.

"Asked about the Banagher case."

"The Were killing during the V raid last
year?" Vampire venom was the hottest street drug on the market. The
Church forbade its people to provide it, making the drug extremely
rare, expensive and sought after.