Chapter 15
I pulled out the laptop and logged in, planning to rewatch the interviews with my headset on and ensure Ivan went to sleep.
Since it was almost eleven, I’d have to rest myself, but not until I knew Ivan wasn’t going to run again.
I ordered triple the amount of groceries, my grocery budget for the month crying, but it was necessary, as I had a shifter to feed.
Nikki promised to watch for the delivery and help Ivan get everything put away.
Did the kid know how to cook anything? I’d ordered cereal, milk, and a handful of snacks.
A new email appeared in my box from Merrill, introducing himself as another SV in our office, and he looked forward to meeting me.
At least someone did. Maybe he could answer some questions I had about SVs.
I sent him a reply asking about any books I could read that gave specific information on my ability while being as vague about my variant as possible.
A message appeared on the side of my screen:
Workaholic.
It had Angel’s avatar next to it.
Look who’s talking.
A picture of a piece of cake appeared in the text box.
Is that from the bakery?
Of course.
Fuck, I needed to find that place.
Asshole. Not sharing cake with me.
He sent back a laughing emoji. A link popped up below with an encoded database search engine to paranormal species.
Nice.
I took a picture of Peanut Butter, who curled up beside me, and sent it back.
Peanut Butter and I thank you.
You really are a cat lover.
I am.
Do you have any recommendations on books about variant shifters?
Why?
Do I need a reason? Maybe I’d like to know more about the guy I’m partnered with?
He sent me a wide-eyed emoji.
Just ask.
My little brother is variant, I sent. And staying with me.
Shifter?
Yeah.
But I would also like to know more about my new partner. He’s got this adorable cat form that loves scratches and eats my sandwiches without asking.
Sounds like your partner is a jerk.
I swallowed a laugh.
And he’s not adorable.
He’s fierce.
Very fierce,
–ly adorable.
Two links appeared in our chat for eBooks on shifters.
Basics, but good info.
I downloaded them.
Thanks.
He sent a thumbs up emoji.
I put the chat aside to watch through the first two interviews again, reading over my notes, and Ezra’s, of anything he scented.
Since they were from the two female employees, the stories matched and nothing really stood out about either of them.
But neither had been close enough to the victim to see what happened.
The only interesting thing I noted about the conversation with them was that neither of them had seen a child enter. And since the death happened in the middle of a school day, they would have noticed.
Why did Ezra ask about children? He’d noted the low angle of the blood spray.
I really needed to meet the guy. His observations were on point. Angel added a link to my recount of hearing a child giggle and following something that looked like a kid, which led me across a new tear.
I stared at that notation and it brought me back to that moment of standing there with the sense of doom looming behind me.
Want to play with me? Replayed in my mind, the noise shifting to the cackle that chilled me to the core. My gut flipped over as I remembered seeing my grandmother’s ghost. How could I tell the difference? What if she’d been the thing that had been pretending to be a kid?
I saw my grandmother’s ghost today.
I confessed to Angel in our chat. I don’t know why I told him, only that I needed to tell someone and worried Ivan or Grandpa would be upset.
My phone rang, and I scrambled to pick it up to keep from waking Ivan.
“Tell me about it,” Angel said, voice soft rather than the demand I expected.
I let out a long breath to steady myself.
“I went to my parent’s house after work.
Was worried about Ivan. I guess, for good reason.
The place was surrounded by cops. When I went up, they called him a monster.
He’s not a monster. He’s just a kid; teenager, but still a kid…
and his shifter form is this tiny, adorable cat with black feet and anime eyes. ”
“A black-footed cat?”
“Yes. He has black feet in that form.”
“I mean, that’s the species. Felis nigripes, deadliest animal on the planet. They have a sixty percent kill rate. Mostly birds, snakes, and mice, but they are deadly accurate hunters.”
“No way. He’s adorable.”
“I’m sure he is. But cops, in fact most humans, treat shifters as monsters. All variants, really, but shifters get the worst of it. I won’t tell you all the hate media we get about how we are soulless beasts.”
“I’m sorry people suck.”
“Yeah, me too. But you went to help your brother? That’s great. Your grandmother’s ghost was there? You saw her?”
“She looked like I expected a ghost to,” I confessed.
“Like her, only younger and sort of transparent. No one else noticed her. You don’t think she was that shadow thing, do you?
Following me or something?” I wondered if the apartment was safe.
Should I take Ivan to a hotel? Was anywhere safe if I had some shadow supernatural following me?
“Did you get the same sense of unease from her that you got from the shadow thing?”
Had I? “No. Not at all. She asked me to take care of Ivan, then faded.”
“Sounds like it was her, then. Maybe she was waiting to cross until someone took him in hand.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I swallowed hard, suddenly unable to speak. What would Grandpa think if he knew I’d seen her? What would Ivan think?
“Jude?” Angel’s voice asked a thousand things I couldn’t form the words to answer. He let the silence hang between us for a few seconds, then added, “Sounds like she said all she needed to, and that she trusts you to be able to take care of Ivan.”
“I don’t even know where to start,” I said.
“Giving him a safe place is a good start. It’s more than a lot of people would do.”
“But shifters and necromancers don’t mix.” Everyone said that I would turn on him, use him in a spell I didn’t know how to do, or something equally horrible. Did that mean I was the monster?
“Does your power snap and sizzle when he gets close?”
No. I hadn’t felt any of that. Or his magic at all. Maybe because Xavier had been overwhelming my senses? “No?”
“Why is that a question?”
“There were some NHVs there.”
“Did they hurt you?”
“No. But they wanted Ivan.”
Angel sighed. “You’ll find a lot of HVs and NHVs find shifters useful. Your brother will have to learn to protect himself. You said something about teaching self-defense classes. Maybe show your brother some of that.”
“I can do that. Once he heals,” I said, then silently cursed. “I think my dad hit him. He has a giant bruise on his face. Or maybe it was my mom. It could have been a slap.”
Angel went quiet for a long, few seconds again, before gently asking, “How often did they hit you?”
I cleared my throat, unwilling to answer that question. “I should get some sleep.”
“Sure. That means turning off the computer.” Angel deftly allowed the subject change, for which I was grateful.
“And my brain,” I said with a sigh.
“That’s the hard part,” Angel agreed. “Count cake slices.”
My stomach grumbled at the thought of more cake. “That cake was divine.”
“Now I know what to bribe you with.”
“Sweets are high on my list.”
“What’s number one?” Angel asked.
“Food stuffs?”
“Stuff to bribe you with. You said you like dolls.”
“Just the Asian Ball Joint ones. I have only male dolls, which is rare in doll terms.”
“Expensive taste.”
“I’m surprised you know what they are.”
“I have a friend who collects them. Though, she only has girls. What tops your list of must-have things?”
Love, affection, hope—but I didn’t say any of that. “Coffee?”
“Another question. I thought it was your list, shouldn’t you know what’s on it? Coffee and cake, I can do.”
“Sounds good to me. What do you like?”
“Scratches and sandwiches,” he said.
I laughed, covering my mouth to muffle the sound.
“Have a good night, Jude. Try to get some sleep. See you tomorrow.”
I hung up and put the phone and computer away, thinking maybe it really was going to be an okay night. Ivan was safe. Angel and I got along. My world was expanding, but I’d seen my grandma and she looked happy. Maybe this new variant thing wasn’t the total nightmare I’d feared it would be.