Chapter Nine
Taliyah
As far as my officers were concerned, I’d come down with a case of food poisoning.
It was the best explanation I could think up—one that would get the department off my back long enough to solve Haven Hollow’s latest disaster. I deserved a larger paycheck than I was getting, considering the scale and breadth of problems that went on in this town.
After breakfast was eaten, and my absence explained away, I passed out on the couch with Maverick. I hadn’t intended to end up sprawled in a loose tangle of limbs on top of him. The light slanting through the curtains was the buttery yellow of mid-afternoon. When Maverick finally hauled himself off the couch an hour after I had, he looked mussed and utterly kissable.
Maverick propped himself on the doorway, watching me piece together the folder’s contents like a jigsaw. I’d never been able to get a complete picture of a crime scene without spreading out the evidence to get an overhead view.
“Need some red string?” he offered with a wry grin. “I think Wanda might have some. Though she’s probably ready to crucify me for skipping out on work.”
“Sorry,” I muttered under my breath. “This should still be here later if you want to clock in. I don’t want to cause trouble with your family.”
Maverick waved a hand, as if batting the very notion out of the air. “I’ve already paid back the debt I owed Wanda. Anything I do now is voluntary. I’m just an employee, and I have paid time off. She can complain, but it doesn’t change the facts. I’m staying here to help. If she doesn’t like it, she can fire me and hire someone else. But if she does, there goes half the revenue stream.”
“Because you’re an enormous flirt and you flatter all the customers, so they keep coming back to see you,” I said sourly.
He laughed. “Don’t tell me that makes you jealous. Flattery is easy. Feelings are hard.”
Boy did I know it. There’d been a moment when I woke where I felt absolutely no tension. My head had been pillowed on Mav’s chest, my body was only half-covered in a blanket, and there was a crick in my neck, but none of it had mattered. Because he was here. Because he’d cared enough to stay. I knew anything coming for me or my boys would have to go through him first.
I chewed my lip, guilt churning in my stomach. Maverick wanted to come off as aloof, but I’d seen the seedy underbelly of his life. He craved approval the way a plant craved water. He’d been starved of affection his entire life, and now he had a family. He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that intentionally. The only person who mattered more to him was... me.
“Are you sure?”
Maverick pulled out a chair and sat, giving me a hard look.
I sighed. “Okay, you’re sure, but I’m still not convinced that this is a good idea.”
“We’re tracking down a murderer with enough balls to murder the daughter and heir apparent of one of the most powerful high witches in Europe. Of course it isn’t a good idea. If we were smart, we’d find a nice hole to cozy up in and pull it in with us.”
“Touche,” I said with a sigh. “Okay, let’s look through this. I think Aurea mentioned an address at some point. That would be a good place to start.”
It took around five minutes of shuffling papers to find where Aurea had scrawled an address. I checked it against the maps on my phone and, to my surprise, it came up with ease. The street view was of a three-story McMansion on a tree-lined avenue. It punctuated the looping cul-de-sac like an exclamation point. The exterior had been remodeled, but if you looked closely, you could still see the fire damage on the far side. I exited out of the search quickly, turning the screen off.
Maverick noted the hasty backtrack and raised an eyebrow. “Find something?”
“Maybe,” I hedged. “It might be nothing. We shouldn’t get too excited about it.”
His eyes narrowed on my face, and he scooted closer to me, leaning in to get in my space. The kiss came without warning and was so sweet and intoxicating that he was able to pluck the phone from my fumbling fingers.
“Mav, don’t,” I protested weakly. “I don’t want to upset you. Besides, you don’t know the code.”
“It’s Cain’s birthday,” he said without looking up. “December 16, 1973.”
I opened my mouth, closed it, and then contented myself with a scowl. “You were spying on me.”
“No, I watch you sometimes. There’s a difference.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked. “What’s the difference?”
“I observe you in order to find ways to make your life easier. Spying implies I’m poking my nose into things you don’t want me to know. But you’ve unlocked your phone dozens of times in front of me, so I don’t think this one counts.”
A fluttery feeling went through my belly at his casual admission. He was taking this husband thing a hell of a lot more seriously than Jonathan ever had. I’d never had someone who wanted to take trouble off my plate, instead of shoveling it on.
Maverick went very still when my phone opened to the search. His face blanched, and his hand tightened around my phone until the case creaked in protest. He managed to let it fall from his fingers with a visible effort and closed his eyes, sucking in deep lungfuls of air.
“Rupert’s mansion,” he hissed. “Fuck...”
“It’s not Rupert’s mansion anymore. You killed him,” I corrected. “Someone else is in charge and I need to get in contact with them. I want to feel out the room. It’s possible that this has been done without the new leader’s knowledge.”
“Unlikely,” Maverick muttered.
“I’ll try to be the optimist in the room. We’ll give them a call and see if we can schedule a meeting. I’ll update Aurea somehow, and that might appease her itchy trigger finger.”
It wasn’t a guarantee of safety, but it was a better plan than I’d had twenty-four hours ago. I just had to talk down a group of murderous vampires who’d already attempted to kill two people I was sworn to protect and indirectly caused my brother’s death.
Happy thoughts, Tally, I thought.
But the only one I could come up with was the whole place burning down to the ground with the bloodthirsty psychos trapped inside. I could roast marshmallows around the bonfire with my kids when the screams died down. There was a happy thought. Homicidal, but still happy.
Maverick switched to the keypad and began to dial a number, signaling me to wait when I asked who he was calling. When the phone began to ring, he turned on the speakerphone and set it down between us. A few moments later, an annoyed woman’s voice answered.
“You have some nerve calling me at this hour,” Wanda said, trying to growl the words. They came out thick with sleep, ending up closer to a throaty purr. Wanda had been forced to pretend she was a full vampire for a while now. “Taliyah, you’re a friend, but I swear to the goddess...”
“Tally didn’t call you, cousin mine. I did. I need to speak to Lorcan.”
That succeeded in shutting her up. If she’d been present, she probably would have stared. I know I was. Maverick requesting Lorcan’s presence was unheard of. Wanda’s beau tolerated Maverick’s presence in the coven. Maverick only refrained from hexing Lorcan because he was teaching Astrid the finer points of being a vampire.
“I’m sorry, I think I might be having a fever dream,” Wanda said eventually. “Did you ask for Lorcan?”
“Yes, kick him awake. I need to talk to him.”
Wanda paused, then said, “Okay. I’ll be right back. He’s in the basement and there’s not a lot of signal down there. I don’t want to drop the call. This is one that I just have to hear.”
“Fine,” I said, cutting across Maverick before he could lob a sharp retort at Wanda. “We’ll wait.”
There was a stretch of empty air. I almost hung up after five minutes of air whooshing past the receiver. Then, at last, the phone on the other end rattled and Lorcan’s Irish brogue came through the speakers.
“You need me, hmm?” Lorcan said, with an edge of amusement in his tone. “I’m sorry to have to disappoint you, but I am a one-woman vampire, warlock. You’ll have to keep your pining to yourself.”
Maverick let out the rough approximation of a growl. “Don’t flatter yourself, Lorcan. Even if I were so inclined, I’d do better than you.”
Lorcan laughed, a sound so infectious that it made me smile in spite of our current predicament. “Alas, I have been rebuffed by a Depraysie yet again. What seems to be the problem? And is it really so urgent you had to wake me from a death sleep to have this conversation?”
“You bet your ass it’s urgent.”
“Explain.”
“Tally has a case of a murdered young woman on her desk. Jane Doe was killed by a vampire, and all signs point to someone in your former clan as the responsible party. You still have contacts there, so I need you to get Tally a meeting.”
Everything he’d said was technically true, if you squinted. Vivian had been killed by a vampire and Aurea’s spells pointed toward the Portland vampire clan. Maverick had left a lot of the story open to interpretation, which would put anyone we interviewed off the scent of what we were trying to solve. I didn’t like playing with my cards so close to my chest, but for my kids’ sake, I’d do it.
Lorcan sucked in air through his teeth. “My, that is a predicament. I regret to inform you that I’ve burned most of my bridges with my former clan, but I might be able to find someone who would take pity on me. I will call when I wake for the night. Is that acceptable?”
Maverick looked unhappy, but he eventually nodded. “That’s fine. Text this number with the date, time, and location of whatever meeting you can get us.”
“Taliyah’s number and not yours?” Lorcan asked.
“I doubt they want someone like me in their stronghold after magic nearly burned the whole thing down.”
“Indeed not,” Lorcan said with a chuckle. “I’ll keep you informed as things progress. For now, I am going back to bed.”
“Fine,” Maverick said, and punched the ‘end call’ button before I could thank Lorcan for his help.
Maverick didn’t say anything for a moment. I took his hand, feeling fine tremors running through his fingers. He was keeping it off his face, but I knew he was scared.
“You’re not coming with me,” I said gently.
He looked over at me then. “Like hell I’m not.”
“Mav, you’ve taken care of me during this debacle. It’s my turn. Stay here and protect my kids. I’ll be able to rest easy if I know you’re here.”
“Tally.”
“Please,” I stopped the argument that was ready on his tongue. “I’m asking you to do this one favor for me.”
He breathed in deeply. “I...” he trailed off, expression hopelessly lost. His eyes bored into mine, trying to communicate the sentiment without words.
“I know,” I said, a small, sad smile touching my mouth. “Me too.”
We didn’t say the words. We didn’t have to.
We already knew.