Mixed Feelings (Empathy in the PPNW Book 1) (14 page)

“
You
’
re crazy, stop!
”

“
No,
really!” I said, pressing as close to the group as I could. One of the
kids, as teenagers in this day and age do, had pulled his phone out, aimed it
my way. I pointed spastically toward Blondie. “Look! Look at him! Any second
now he’
s
—”

Blondie
spun stiffly
, crossed the street without another word, and
hustled away. I stayed huddled next to the lead
girl,
who was still trying to shove me back. Despite the
fact that she was slapping and pushing at me, I stayed close as I made sure
Blondie was really leaving, letting my breath catch up to me. One of the bigger
boys finally decided he’d had enough and grabbed my arm, yanking me hard.

“Jesus, lady! Take the hint!”

I let his friend go, grabbed
my bag off the ground
,
and made a mad dash for my
car before the kids and their phone cameras were out of range. I was cool with
ending up all over the internet by morning. It was certainly better than ending
up in Blondie’
s stomach.

***

I was sitting in my house, in
the dark, all alone, a handful of gummy treats pressed close to my mouth as I
inhaled them like a squirrel. I couldn’t stop fidgeting, too scared to turn on
anything that would draw attention to me. Sonny was happily snacking,
occasionally ringing his bells or making tiny, curious
noises
. He was probably wondering why I was acting so
strangely, but he at least had the tact not to ask about it.

How had Blondie
found
me? Would he be back? Would I be safe if he showed up at my home? Would Laurel
and Hardy’s promise of coming to me when I needed them—which hadn’t been
true the first time I’
d seen
Blondie
—come
through? Would the candy thief protect me?

Despite my mood, I snorted
into the empty living room. At most, the little bastard would probably leave a
sticky note with a sad face on my mangled corpse. Then it'd eat all the
delicious food I'd just bought.

Cramming the last of the
candy into my mouth, I got up, padding as silently as I could down the hall to
my office. I dialed Mel’s number, staying out of sight of the window as I did.
I’d seen enough action movies to know the danger there.

“
Gwen?
” Mel answered after only two
rings.

“Can vampires just come into
your home, or do they have to be invited?”

“What?”
he
asked after a beat.

“Vampires! Could one walk
into my home without an invitation?”

“
If
…
if
they’re even healthy enough
to walk, sure. What are you talking about? Did something happen?”

“Almost! I went to the store
to get—” I faltered, fearing briefly that Chloe might get wind of what
I’d bought and make me throw it all away and replace it with rutabagas and
seaweed. “Supplies. The thing from Bellevue just
showed up!
I barely
made it out of there alive!”

“
I
’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Here? My house here? You
don’
t
—”

“
Yep.
Where else?” Mel hung up, not giving me the chance to
argue. I blinked down at the phone, desperately torn between glee at the fact
that someone would soon be around to protect me from any attacking creatures of
the night and irritation over that someone being Mel. I consoled myself with
chocolate.

I had no idea where Mel had
been, but it took him around a half hour to arrive. I stayed
huddled
on my couch under a blanket with my candy, staring
through the bars of Sonny’s massive cage and out the front window. It was hard
to miss
Mel
’s SUV as it pulled up along
the curb, taking up half my tiny street. I jumped and sprinted to the door,
yanking
it open before he even made it up my walkway. He
stopped just inside the door, looking around. I could see the cord of Merrin’s
necklace poking out of his collar and I realized I hadn’t even considered how
miserable I would have been had he not still been wearing it.

“Why aren’t there any lights
on?”

“I was scared,” I said,
shutting the door.

“Of me seeing how bad you
look in that outfit? Because darkness won’
t stop
that, sweetheart.”

I scoffed, scowled, and
flipped on the light. I
t
wasn
’
t
that
bad, I thought. My clothes were a bit stained, the pants
baggy around the crotch, but I hadn’t dribbled any food on my shirt for once. I
mean, not tonight, anyway.

“
Shut up,
” I said after a few seconds
, glaring at him
.

“So, will we be sharing a
bed?” he asked, waving a hand towards the hall.

“Who says you’
re sleeping over?
”

“
It
’s late. You need protection.” He glanced back at me,
waggling
his brows. “And you really
should take any chance you get to take off those clothes.”

“You know, I’m going to just
go stay at Chloe’s instead. Get out.”

Mel laughed.
“What do you think she’s
going to do to keep you safe? She’s not a werewolf.”

“Which means she’s not an
insufferable ass. I’m better off—”

“
Relax, I
’ll sleep in the guest room. Unless your extra rooms
are just filled to the brim with cases and pallets of Hostess cupcakes?”

“I wish,” I said, taking a
second to genuinely fantasize about the idea. I didn’t let the reality of the
candy thief intrude, either; I just pictured myself rolling around in piles of
spongy sugar and frosting like Scrooge McDuck in his money vault. Mel shook his
head at me and strolled across the living room to take a seat in the center of
the couch, draping his arms along the back. “Tell me more about what happened
, w
hat this thing looked like.”

“It just looked human. It
definitely wasn’t, but you couldn’t tell by looking at it. He just looked like…
you know, a man. Except for the fangs.”

“That doesn’t narrow things
down. Plenty of non-human creatures look human. Except those of us who,” Mel
gestured broadly to his body, lifting one brow, “look like gods.”

“Get out,” I said again. Mel
laughed,
settling
his arm back across the
couch.

“Tell me everything he did,
everything he said. What happe
ned?
”

Sighing, I gave in,
sitting down as far from him
as I could before recounting my entire near-death experience. Mel listened
patiently
; he
didn’t make any smart
remarks or ask to get me naked again. It wasn’t as bad as I expected.

“So he didn’
t get c
lose to you?” Mel asked as I
finished.

“Nope. Only people who did
were the kids. Why?”

“Because if he grabbed you or
rubbed up against you, I might have been able to pick up a scent, tell you if I
recognize what he is. As things are now, we still have no i
dea.
”
Mel
’s face went tight with
thought, the fingers of his left hand drumming twice along the couch. “Can you
get ahold of your fairy contacts? What were you calling them? Harpo and Chico?”

“Laurel and Hardy. No, they
didn’t give me a way to contact them. They said they’d show up when I need
them, but that hasn’t worked out so far
.
”

“For the fae, the definition
of ‘
need
’ can vary wildly.
Look, I
’ll hang with you for the
next few days, until this gets sorted out. Make sure you don’t get smacked
around again.”

“And what do I have to give
you in return?”

Mel shrugged.
“
Don
’t worry about it. You can
owe me something later.”

“
No.
” I held up both hands. “You either do this out of the goodness of your
heart—assuming you have one—
or I
’
ll
…
I don
’t know. Buy a gun or
something. I’m not
owing you
anything. Besides, we don’t even know if
this thing wants to hurt me. He didn’t exactly leap on my skull and rip out my
spine earlier. He kind of seemed like he wanted to talk.”

“Maybe he wanted to talk
about how he was going to leap onto your spine and rip your skull out.”

“
I
’m not owing you anything,”
I
repeated,
refusing to give into the fear that he might have been right. We squared off
for a bit before Mel broke, laughing as he put a hand up.

“Okay. Anything you say. This
is your show. In fact, to that end, what’s our next move?”

“What do you mean?”

“Do you want to go with me to
meet the parents of the other missing children? Do you think you learned enough
to go it on your own?”

“
I don
’t know anything.”

“Yes, but that’s nothing new.”

“I mean—
dammit.
” I propped my elbow up on my knee,
resting
my chin in my hand as I considered what had happened
so far. I
’d been hired to find some missing children for
an ugly pair of fairies. I’d stopped a kidnapping—or at least, I hoped I
had. I realized I’
d
never actually asked if that
had worked out.

“
Hey.
” I sat up straight again. “We stopped Blondie from kidnapping that kid,
right? He didn’t leave me for dead to nab the little one and bolt?”

“Right. I had Amy make sure
after I dropped you off at Chloe’
s.
”

“Oh, thank god. At least that
went right. We should talk to Merrin again, see if she can give us another
hint. If you’re sticking to my side until this is done, then I won’t be alone
when she calls again. You and I can get to the place before Blondie does and
you can wolf out and take him down.”

Mel regarded me for a moment,
then nodded once. “Not a bad plan, assuming Merrin can actually help.”

“
We
’ll go see her first thing tom—ah, shit. I have appointments in
the morning.”
I bit my lip
, thinking of Loraine
. I
’d give her a free session next week if necessary, but
I figured keeping Seattle’s children safe was going to have to take precedence.
“This is more important, I think
.
I
’ll have Chloe
reschedule my earlier clients for, what do you think? Monday?”

“Optimistic. I like it.”

“All right. I’m gonna call
her and then go to bed.” At his look, I clarified. “
Alone
. I don
’t
care what you do, but do it quietly. We’ll go see Merrin first thing.”

“
Aye, aye, Boss.
”

I rolled my eyes, wishing
there had been any other way at all to ensure my safety.

Chapter Eleven

I woke to Chloe sitting on
the edge of my bed, brushing my hair off my face and saying my name. Cracking
one eye open within the sea of my pillows, I grunted. Chloe laughed, pressed down
the pillow that was puffed around my face
,
and
leaned down to look into my eyes.

“How is it possible you’re not
suffocating?”

I grunted again, forcing my
heavy body to roll over. Perking up when I noticed that Chloe held a reusable
cup from The Internets in her hand, I got my elbows under me and sat up. “That
hot chocolate? For me?”

“Only if you get up!” Chloe pushed
to her feet, yanked the covers off my
body,
and
headed for the hall. I whined, dropped back down onto the pillow
,
and figured sleep was the cure for the common
morning. “
I
’ll send Mel in to wake you
up if I don’t hear the shower in five minutes!” Chloe called.

Dammit.

After I was cleaned and
dressed, I headed out to the kitchen and found that Chloe had made herself at
home while I was busy. My kitchen looked… used. I was unaware such a thing was
possible.

“
I don
’
t understand. What
’s that thing on the other thing? Why does the first
thing have food in it?” I asked from the doorway.

“
Tofu scramble,
” Chloe said, reaching into a
bowl of sliced apple and bringing a piece up to her shoulder, where it
disappeared. I peered around her and caught sight of Sonny chewing happily on
his breakfast. Just for a second, I worried that she was trying to seduce him
away from me.

“That sounds gooey,” I said
finally.

She laughed and pulled the
pan off the stove, dumping the whole thing onto a plate to her right. Despite my
opinion on the merits of a mix of vegetables and tofu, I was pleased to see
that she’d at least thought to prepare a bunch of potatoes to go with it. I
could probably pick those out of the rest if necessary.

“If you don’t love it, I’ll
eat Sonny.”

I frowned at that. “
I don
’t think I like that ultimatum.”

“
Don
’
t
worry,
” she
said, sliding the plate onto my dining table next to the cup she’d used to lure
me out of bed. “
You
’ll love it.”

I discovered somewhere around
the fourth forkful that I did love it. There was some blend of spices in there
that I wasn’t even sure I had in the house, and the addition of carbs made it
impossible not to enjoy. I’ll give vegans one thing: they love their carbs
almost as much as I do. Once I was as conscious as possible, given the godawful
hour, I jerked my chin at Chloe, remembering for once to swallow before
speaking.

“Where’
s Mel?
”

“Out running around.”

“I didn’t know werewolves had
to exercise,”
I said.

Chloe shook her head,
chuckling
.
“
No, he
’
s
—”

The front door squeaked an
announcement that someone had arrived and I had to assume from the lack of
emotion it was Mel. I took the opportunity to stuff my face some more as
Chloe leaned back in her chair, looked down the long kitchen
,
and gave him a little wave.

“
She
’s up, almost ready. We’ll head to Merrin’s in five.”

Mel approached, his gaze
darting between the two of us.
“You didn’t make me anything?”

“
Here.
”
Ch
loe handed him her half-empty plate and got to her feet. “
I
’m going to try to call Jeremy one more time to
reschedule. He didn’t answer when I called earlier.” Digging her phone out of
her pocket, she headed out into the living room. Mel hunkered down and we ate
quickly in silence together. It was a photo finish and Mel, still chewing,
grabbed my plate and carried both to the sink.

I watched him as he gave them
a quick rinse, loaded them into the dishwasher, and then turned to me. I
couldn’t quite get over the fact that the man I despised most in the world was
standing in my kitchen, acting borderline domestic.

“Ready?”

“
I guess,
”
I
said
, wondering
if I was going to have to reconsider my opinion of him. He continued to
surprise me by being decent and, honestly, I was kind of starting to dig it.

We were on our way to
Merrin’s before long, Mel driving, Chloe in the front seat of his SUV. I sat in
the middle of the second row, deciding to feel like I was being chauffeured
instead of protected like the president's daughter or something.

“
Did yo
u find anything earlier?”
Chloe asked Mel.

He shook his head.
“
Nope.
Gwen
’s neighborhood
smells like any other.”

“You sniffed my neighborhood?”
I asked. I suddenly wasn’t sure which was weirder: having Mel in my kitchen or
knowing that he’d been playing bloodhound.

Mel caught my eye in the
rearview mirror and tapped his nose.
“I mean I didn’t sniff out
any suspicious human-looking monsters roaming around, aiming to rip you limb
from limb. You’ve got a family of werewolves living a few streets over, but I’m
sure they’re harmless.”

“Werewolves? You sniffed my
neighborhood and found werewolves?” I swiveled my head, inspecting the houses
passing by as we drove. I didn’t really expect to find a banner with, “Werewolves
inside! Welcome!” but it seemed suddenly strange that all the houses looked so
normal. Mel’s emotions were impossible to miss; how had I not realized an
entire family of his kind were so close?

Mel pressed on, turning to
Chloe. “If Merrin has something, will you be joining us in our attempt to
thwart another kidnapping?”

She hesitated
for a moment,
then gave a slow nod. “
You
’re the muscle. If you think I’ll be safe, I’ll go
with.”

He was quiet, the silence
between them saying something I couldn’
t quite decipher.
“
You
’ll be fine. I’m confident
whatever this thing is, it won’t be much of a threat.”

“How do you know?”
Chloe asked.

“It hasn’t killed Gwen and
it’s seen her twice now. It looks human and didn’t bother to approach her as
something other than what it is, so we know it’s not something that has glamour
or the ability to shape-shift.”

“I take it you don’t mean the
magazine
,
”
Chloe
said.

Mel
glanced her way and they shared another look that said
they both knew something I didn’
t.
Before I could ask, he
caught my gaze in the rearview as if making sure I felt included.

“Not the magazine.
It
—
certain
fae can make you
believe you’re seeing something you’re not, or not seeing something you are, as
the case may be.”

“What if he looks not-human,
but did this magazine thing and showed up looking like a man, instead?” I
asked. “Or is that now how that works?”

“Point,” Mel said, going
quiet for a second. “He could have six eyes and horns normally, but he flashed
teeth, right?”

“I think that’s what it was
doing. It looked like a bad TV movie, actually, the way his lips pulled back
and he flashed those—well, they weren’t pearly white, but same idea.”

“Then he probably looks just
like what you saw last night. If he was trying to scare you and he could look
scarier, he probably would have. If he was just trying to talk, why not hide
the teeth?”

“But what if—“

“Gwen,” Chloe interrupted,
reaching back to pat my knee gently. “If we’re gonna go over absolutely every
possibility, we’ll just run out of time. Mel’s just picking the most likely
scenario. If he’s wrong, you can punish him later, okay?”

“You can spank me,” Mel
offered, winking. I wrinkled my nose and made a sound of disgust. Mel chuckled.

“
Right. So we
’re sticking with assuming it
can
’t change its appearance, so
what does that leave?” Chloe asked. “What do you know of that looks human and
would take children with magical abilities?”

“
It
’s gotta be something that can crawl inside my head and wreck up the
place, too. Amy said something was in my brain when she found me.”

“Shit, yeah,”
Chloe
pointed at me over her
shoulder. “That, too.”

“Not many things come to
mind,” Mel said thoughtfully. “
Succubi look human, werewolves
—but Gwen would have
recognized that, I’m guessing?”

“
Yep.
”

“
Plus, we don
’t have any sort of mental
powers.” Catching my eye in the mirror , Mel winked. “
We
’re all physical.”

“
Ugh,
”
I groaned, again.

Mel pressed on as if I hadn’t
made a sound.
“Demons look human, sirens
too; it could be a—”

“Vampire?” I asked.

“Stop with that
,
” Mel ordered, instantly agitated.

“
I saw fangs!
”

“That doesn’t mean vampire,”
he said, his tone final.

“
You
’
re sure?
” Chloe asked. Mel threw her
a hard glare and she held her hands up. “Got it. So we’re looking at a variety
of things, but you’re sure you can take down any one of them if we run afoul of
it tonight?”

“
I am.
” Mel was quiet for a few moments before he said
petulantly, “
It
’s not a vampire.”

Chloe did her best to hold
back a snort.

***

Merrin was standing just
inside her open door when we approached. Her gaze went straight to me and I
felt distress flap within her like a flag in heavy wind.

“
Hey, Merrin,
”
I
said.

Before I could continue,
Evadne called to us from inside.
“She was expecting you, but
we must take our leave soon.”

“
We
’ll be quick,” Chloe said, stepping in as soon as Merrin moved to let us
pass.

“You have five minutes,” the
fairy
said
briskly
. She was dressed this time,
sitting on the couch, legs crossed, fingers linked on her knee. I looked her
over, probing to get a sense of what she was feeling about the situation
,
but she only smiled at me. Her eyes met mine and her
expression said she could tell what I was trying. “I wouldn’
t.
”

“
Sorry,
” I mumbled.

Mel shut the door and then
turned, his entire stance shifting when he noticed Evadne. He took one step
toward her and the fairy’s body language changed. She was no longer concerned
with me or my empathy and that was a very bad thing for Mel. Before he could
even get a word out, she pointed at him.

“Halfling, you will not speak
unless spoken to.” Her tone was mild but the meaning behind it clearly wasn’t.
Mel froze, his eyes going wide as he looked down at himself. His skin seemed to
pale and when he breathed out, the air from his lips was foggy.

Evadne had made her point;
Mel said nothing for the rest of the meeting.

“
Merrin, we
’re hoping you can tell us
some more about—”

“Who’s your friend?” Stepping
close, she tipped her head, gaze on the front of my jacket.

“You mean Mel?” I asked,
pointing. Merrin ignored my question, reaching out to unzip my coat. I looked
to Chloe for guidance but she just shrugged. Without asking, Merrin tucked a
hand into my inner breast pocket and pulled out a yellow square of paper that I
hadn’t known was there. I caught sight of the candy thief’s familiar scrawl,
but I couldn’t make out any actual words.

“Not again,”
I moaned
. Merrin stared at the paper, read it over without
showing it to me
,
and then turned, walking
dreamily over to Evadne. She stood still, her gaze aimless, and said nothing.