Chapter 6
Chapter Six
Wolf shifters, vegan vampires, and more
Gideon
We stood there for a minute and watched as Grady drove off with Elwood in the back of his car. Anyone who knew Elwood knew he wouldn’t kill anyone—at least not without a good reason. Sadly, being a pompous prick wasn’t a good reason for murder. If it was, Winston would’ve met his demise ages ago.
“What should I do?” Declan looked up at me. “Do I need to call a lawyer? Do you know any lawyers? I don’t. Or should I go to the police station to wait for him? Will they just let him go, or will he need to be bailed out? I have some savings, so I can probably come up with bail if I need to—”
“Take a breath, Declan. Your grandfather will be fine. Grady’s a good sheriff, and he was only doing his job, and he’ll make sure Elwood gets home.”
“I don’t see how anyone could think he did this.”
“I’m sure Grady doesn’t, but the murder weapon came from his shop, and thanks to Leon, he has no alibi. Grady has to at least question him.”
Declan glared across the street where Leon had retreated to stand outside his shop. “What’s his problem anyway? Why would he put the blame on my grandfather?”
“Probably because, with as much as he has complained about Winston ruining his festival, he has the best motive. Why don’t you come with me to the pub and have a drink? I’m sure you’re shaken up after seeing that.”
He let out a breath and nodded. “Yeah, okay. If you’re sure I don’t need to go down there.”
“You don’t. Grady will call me if that changes.” His eyes widened at the thought, so I hurried to add, “But I’m sure it won’t. Elwood will be fine.”
We walked the short distance to the pub, and I pushed the door open and stepped back to let Declan go inside.
“Is the pub even open?” he asked as he went by me to go inside.
“Not yet. We’ll be opening for lunch in about half an hour. Are you hungry? I bet Alvin could throw something together for you real quick.”
He scrunched up his face and shook his head. “No, I don’t think I could eat right now. I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee if you have any, though. I spilled mine when… well, over there.” He motioned toward the building where we’d found Winston’s body.
“I’m sure I can manage a cup. Alvin usually makes a fresh pot when he gets here. It won’t be peanut butter and jelly or seaweed dulce de leche, but it’ll taste like coffee.”
“Seaweed dulce de leche?” he asked.
“That was Lily’s flavor of the week before the peanut butter one. The theory was, it would taste like salted caramel but be healthier.”
“And how did that one go over?”
“Didn’t see it on the menu, did ya?” I asked.
He chuckled, but his smile didn’t reach his eyes.
Understandable, since he’d just watched while a stranger hauled his grandfather off in a police car.
Honestly, I wasn’t too crazy about it either.
I understood that Grady had to do things a certain way to keep the human population of Ravenstone from getting suspicious, but I also thought the way humans did things was overly complicated.
Grady didn’t believe Elwood was guilty any more than I did, so why waste time for appearance’s sake?
Why not just solve the stupid murder and appropriately punish the guilty party?
“Have a seat right here at the bar, Declan, and I’ll get you a cup of coffee. Then we can talk.”
I’d seen his face when Elwood had told him Winston was a vampire.
I had no idea what his life had been like away from Ravenstone, but I didn’t understand how he could be Elwood’s grandson and not know the magic world was real.
More than that, I didn’t understand why I could smell his magic on him if he didn’t realize it existed.
I went through to the kitchen, and sure enough, Alvin was there getting all his prep work done for lunch.
“Hey, boss, where have you been?”
“I went to return Winston Wilcox’s jacket and found him dead.” I walked over to find a full pot of hot coffee sitting off to the side, as expected. I grabbed a cup and poured one for Declan.
“Dead? Really?”
“Yep. Staked through the heart with a crystal point.”
It might’ve been my imagination, but I swear I thought his veggie chopping got a little more vigorous. “I’m not surprised. He rubbed a lot of people wrong.”
I tilted my head to one side. “Really? Did he rub you wrong, Alvin?”
“Me? Nah. But I heard rumors that some of the guys on Jim Walton’s crew didn’t receive their paycheck because Winston hadn’t paid his latest installment on the project. They were pissed about it. Of course, I guess none of them will be getting paid now, huh?”
I tucked that info away for later as I grabbed a container of sugar and some cream. I didn’t know how Declan took his coffee, but if he was willing to drink something as horrible-sounding as a PB & Jinx, he was bound to want to add stuff to his coffee.
“I don’t know what will happen with the project. I assume when they settle his estate, they’ll get paid if there’s anything left to pay them with. I’ll be out front if you need me.”
I pushed through the door back into the front. Declan was sitting where I’d left him, folding a napkin. From the looks of it, he had been folding and unfolding it for as long as it took me to get his coffee.
“Here you go. I brought you some sugar and cream. I wasn’t sure how you took it.”
“Thanks.” He pulled the coffee close and then reached for both the sugar and the cream. I watched as he poured ridiculous amounts of both into the cup and then stirred. “So, if my grandfather didn’t kill Winston—and we both know he didn’t—who did?”
“Huh.”
“What?”
“I thought you’d have a different question for me, honestly. Something about magic, maybe?”
Declan’s cheeks flushed, and his hand trembled.
“I… Yes. Magic. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that, I think.
I feel… I don’t know, maybe a little lightheaded at the idea?
Like, it’s too fantastical to be real? Does that make sense?
I mean, this is huge. It’s magic, but not the kind you pull out of a top hat.
How’s that even a thing?” He let out a shaky breath.
“But right now, Elwood’s been hauled away. That seems more pressing.”
I was a little disappointed by his answer for some reason.
Maybe because of the doubt and disbelief in his tone.
But I understood why he’d want to concentrate on Elwood’s situation first. It wouldn’t be healthy for him to put off acknowledging magic for too long, though.
Denial never helped anyone. But for now, I’d let it slide.
“I don’t know who killed Winston. So many people have traipsed through that building, it’s hard to parse out the different scents.
” Of course, if I could’ve shifted, my wolf would’ve been able to, but that wasn’t an option.
Grady might pick something up, though since a bear’s sense of smell was even better than a wolf’s.
“I didn’t smell anything at all.” He looked so confused, but of course he did. He had no idea I was a shifter.
I didn’t want to lie to him, but I wasn’t sure how much to tell him and how much to leave for Elwood to explain.
Maybe the shriveled-up vampire lying there dead with a stake through his heart opened his eyes so he would actually listen when Elwood talked.
“You wouldn’t have. I have an abnormally strong sense of smell, though. ”
I figured that was the truth without me saying, oh, by the way, it’s not just vampires that are real.
He eyed me suspiciously, but he didn’t say anything. He took a long drink of his coffee. I swear I could see the wheels turning in his mind as he tried to piece it all together.
“Okay, we’ll come back to that. Right now, what I want to know is who killed the… uh… v-word,” he whispered that last bit, “so they’ll let my grandfather go free.”
I let out a sigh. “Elwood will be fine.”
When Grady asked Elwood where he’d been, he’d said he couldn’t say, which meant there was some supernatural creature who’d been in trouble and sent for Elwood to come help. He had an alibi. He would just need to get permission from said alibi to reveal his whereabouts.
“You don’t know that, so we need to figure out who did it.”
“Oh, do we?” Grady was good at keeping the peace, but he wasn’t exactly experienced at solving murder, since we rarely had one here in Ravenstone, so I didn’t disagree. But I wasn’t sure Elwood would appreciate my getting his grandson involved.
“Yes, we do. It was easy to tell from the meeting last night that a lot of people didn’t like him much.
Maybe one of them found out he was a… you know what—” He paused to bare his blunt little human teeth.
“And got scared, and staked him.” A look of—was it excitement?
I didn’t know him well enough to be sure—flashed across his face.
“Or maybe he tried to gnaw on someone, and it was self-defense. Did you think about that?”
“Declan, vampires don’t go around biting people anymore. It isn’t necessary. There are blood banks available for those who choose to drink blood, and other alternatives for those who choose a more… vegan route.”
“Wait. Did you say vegan?”
“I did. They aren’t common, but we have one right here in Ravenstone. I’m sure you’ll meet him if you stay around. His name is Mellgren. Just don’t ask him too many questions about it. It’s a sore subject. Also, you know you can use the word vampire, right?”
“Okay, I have so many questions. But not right now. Right now, I need to focus on Elwood. So, self-defense is out. How about someone finding out and thinking killing a vampire was a noble thing to do? I mean, people have hunted those… uh… vampires for centuries, right?”
He was so cute.
“First off, I didn’t say self-defense was out, just that it wouldn’t be because he tried to bite them. Second of all, you’ve watched way too many horror movies. Ravenstone is a safe haven for people like Winston, so no one here would stake him for being a vampire.”
“Wait a minute. Ravenstone is a safe haven for them? Really?”
“Vampires and other such creatures.” Maybe if I used the word vampire enough, it’d normalize it for him. “I think you need to talk to your grandfather about that. I’m sure he’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.”
“Hold on, he called Tulip a mermaid. Is she actually a mermaid? Like, a for-real mermaid?”
“Yes, she is.”
“Wow. That explains so much. All these years he’s been talking about all these different mythical creatures and types of magic. None of us believed him. My mom called him eccentric, and my dad said he was off his rocker, but no one thought he was serious.”
“I can see why you would think that if you didn’t know.”
“It all just seemed like a story he was making up. He talked about a hedge witch who ran a flower shop and a Fae who ran a café. He laughed about that one because he said they always tell you not to take food from the Fae, but how her personal code forbids magical manipulation of her customers.” His eyes widened, and he licked his lips nervously.
“And a werewolf who owned the pub next door. That’s you, right?
That’s why you said you had an above-average sense of smell. ”
I could tell he was trying to decide whether he should stay or run. He picked up the napkin he’d been folding earlier and twisted it in his hands.
I nodded. “Yes, Declan, that’s me. But I’m a wolf shifter, not a werewolf.”
“What’s the difference?” He stared at my mouth like he was trying to gauge the size of my canines.
“Well, wolf shifters are real, and werewolves are stories humans made up to try to explain what they didn’t understand.
When in their animal forms, shifters aren’t mindless animals.
They’re still themselves for the most part, just in a different form.
Also, shifters don’t feel compelled to shift on the full moon, although it’s one of their favorite times to run in their animal forms.”
“You say they and we like that doesn’t apply to you.” Now he was looking me in the eye. Of course he was, because he was confronting me with something I’d hoped he hadn’t noticed.
I winced and blew out a breath. I never liked talking about my failures, but I really didn’t want to reveal my failures to Declan. I wasn’t sure why, but I wanted him to see me as strong and capable—not weak and pathetic, the way my family saw me.
“I don’t have the ability to shift.” I shrugged. “Most wolf shifters shift for the first time when they go through puberty, but I didn’t. I can feel my wolf. He’s in there, and he wants out—badly. Always has. For some unknown reason, it doesn’t happen.”
I fought back memories of that horrible night.
Thankfully, I only remembered part of it.
We’d always known there was a problem with my wolf.
Most shifters had their first shift as a young child, but not me.
I was fourteen before my wolf came forward.
The feeling of my bones cracking and my body growing and growing.
The pain had been excruciating as my body tried to rearrange itself to allow my form to shift and my wolf to surface.
One glorious moment where everything was more vivid—the smells, the colors, the sounds…
and then nothing. I had no memory of what else happened that night.
My parents hadn’t been there, but they said our alpha told them I hadn’t been able to complete the shift.
That I’d gone almost feral in a half-shifted state, and the healers had been forced to use their magic to force me back to my human state.
They’d been so disappointed—not that they said so, but I could tell.
Everything I’d told him was true. I wasn’t able to shift forms, and shifters didn’t feel compelled by the moon, but I didn’t tell him that, for some reason, I would swear I could feel my wolf right near the surface, like he might burst free every single full moon, almost like the legends of old did hold weight of some kind.
Of course they didn’t, and my wolf had never been able to complete the shift.
“That must be terrible for you,” Declan said, his voice so sincere it pulled me back to the present, away from the past.
“It’s bad for me. It’s horrible for my wolf. Anyway, let’s get back to the murder.” Maybe he wasn’t the only one who had to deal with denial.
I didn’t know if it was the shock of learning that his grandfather had been telling the truth all along, if he could tell I didn’t want to talk about my wolf, or if he just wanted to get back on track, but he didn’t push for me to talk about it any further.
“Okay. No one was surprised Winston was a vampire so that means it must’ve been his winning personality that got him killed. So, the question is… who wanted him dead?”