Partners in Crime
Delores
“Do you think they’re okay?” I ask as I sip my Dr. Pupper and pretend I’m not worried.
Felix gives me a knowing look. “Princess, they’re fine. Yes, we all need to be cautious, and I worry as well, but if I did not believe they would be okay, I would have insisted on them taking Sparky and my hyper twin along.”
I grin a little as both Aubrey and Fitz bristle a bit.
“Yeah, I know. Being trapped in this small space without escape routes that involve leaping from a fast-moving vehicle is making me edgier than it did on the way. It’s because of the new information and our possible shadows, but it’s hard to rein in the anxiety. ”
“Snacksize, you simply need to focus on other things.” The dragon hands me part of a newspaper and looks over his glasses at me sternly. “Search these pages for anything that feels off. It doesn’t matter what it is; trust your instincts if they tell you we should all see it.”
I nod, taking the papers from him gratefully. “Thanks, big guy. Something to occupy my brain is probably just what I need.”
“I, however, am going to make use of the fantastically speedy signal we have outside of that compound,” Fitz says as he leans back in his chair and pulls out his phone.
“I can’t do as much as I would be able to at home, but I can check in with my systems and see if anything juicy came through my spiderwebs. ”
His older brother huffs, but I know he’s pleased with that.
Felix is adjusting back to his ‘pre-vacation’ stuffiness; I can tell.
When we’re not hidden in a magical gargoyle village, it’s harder for him to ignore the dangers that could come from every direction.
I don’t blame him, but I also want to help him figure out how to be just a wee bit more vacation tiger when we’re alone with our family and not abroad.
Smiling to myself as I look through the first page of the paper Aubrey handed me, I concentrate on the ads.
He gave the personals and the want ads, which is a bit strange, but I suppose it’s a great place for spy-type stuff because movies love to use them for codes.
I don’t know how many people really read printed media anymore—which is sort of sad—but I’d bet this section isn’t as popular as online stuff for true listings.
“What’s so funny?” Felix asks as I snicker to myself.
My eyes flick up to meet his, and I shrug. “I thought that I really doubted that many people who aren’t doing something sketchy actually read these things in print now. It sort of defeats the purpose of subterfuge if only spies and baddies are placing them, right?”
Fitz snickers too, bumping me with his shoulder. “Not-so-secret-squirrel, huh?”
I laugh and show him one personal that reads like gibberish. “I really doubt this is someone looking for a love connection, don’t you?”
His brows furrow as he tries to decipher it. “Shit, Baby Girl. I can sort of untwist it, but even I’m not good enough to totally figure it out. It’s either actual code or some sort of made-up language two serial killers are using to brag about their kills.”
“Fitz!” I hiss as I smack his arm. “That’s not—” My eyes drift to the other guys, and they’re not laughing, which makes me stop. “Oh. You’re not joking. Well, isn’t that just fucking terrible? Okay, back to the weirdness.”
Aubrey chuckles as he flicks his paper. “Lunchable, I forget how sheltered you are sometimes. Spies are not the only creeps who find creative ways to communicate in plain sight.”
“You know, finding all this stuff out makes it really hard not to jump at every shadow,” I mutter as I continue scanning my page.
“I mean, I probably don’t get half of this stuff on the page, but I’m just trying to see if anything tweaks my gut.
I might not get it, but I can tell you if it makes me feel weird. ”
“Princess, you’re very capable now, and none of us will let the nasty folks get close,” Felix says softly. “You don’t need to fret about it.”
“Uh, maybe so, but that Fae chick who’s obsessed with Rennie and me has tricks you guys can’t counter.
We know she’s out for blood and vengeance—both from him and from preds in general.
” My nose wrinkles as I keep looking at the tiny print, hoping for something to jump out at me.
“And she’s got a lot of friends, as we saw at the Yule Ball and the last Pred Game.
Plus, who knows what the goddamn hell all her real enemies are plotting? ”
Lucille and the leaders of the suspected Society families aren’t to be trifled with, either.
“Truthfully,” Felix begins, and I look up to listen.
“I am surprised that your mother has gone quiet for this long. Killing your ‘father’ was certainly a long-term goal, and maybe she intended to when you went to college, anyway. Your emerging as prey may have delayed something she had already planned.”
“That’s how our asshat dad would have done it,” Fitz mumbles, not looking up from his phone. “But he wouldn’t have made it so public. The target would just disappear into the wilds of Bloodstone like our mothers or Chessie’s parents or… well, a lot of people.”
“Very true.” Felix strokes his chin as he thinks for a moment. “So perhaps Lucille needed his death to be public knowledge and her location when it happened to be public as well. Have we checked to see if Bruno had close calls in the past, Fitz?”
“Nope. On it now, bro.”
I blink. “You guys think she might have tried to off him before?”
“Maybe many times since you were born, Snacksize,” Aubrey interjects.
“She had to know that when you came of age, her little gambit to have an heir would be revealed. The likelihood of your turning out to be a leopard with zero other anomalies was very small. She must have developed quite a few ways to rid herself of the proof without being implicated by his powerful family.”
“But why… oh. She wanted the Drew holdings, and without a legitimate heir, they'd probably go back to the family in their marriage contracts or whatever.” I frown, looking annoyed as I blow a huff of air out to calm myself.
“Fucking rich people's shit, and once she was trapped by my rebellion, she realized she could ditch Bruno now.”
“Which means she definitely has plans for you,” Aubrey says.
“You’re still the heir as far as anyone knows, and all your anomalies haven’t been proven to come from anyone not Bruno.
I bet she destroyed everything he owned the second that plane took off.
It will keep people from using it for evidence in any court claims.”
“You know what?” I grit out. “I don’t give a fuck about their shipping shit, and she can fucking have it. Bruno’s mother can have it. They can battle it out in a goddamn bayou for all I care. The only thing I want to do is protect Mattie—she’s the only one who tried to help before I emerged.”
Felix blinks, rolling his eyes to the ceiling. “Fuck, she’s got at least one hostage she knows you care about, Princess. That’s why she’s quiet; when the time comes, she’ll use the bird as leverage.”
My eyes narrow as I glare. “I’ll kill her my goddamn self and bathe in her blood to keep my skin soft.”
“Not really how blood—”
“Shut up, Spicy Salamander. Not the time for pedantry,” Fitz growls as he keeps working on his phone. “She knows blood doesn’t do that.”
“I do, but thanks, babe.” I lean in and kiss his cheek before I arch a brow at the dragon. “I know you’re just using that to cover up the fact that it worries you. And yes, Lucille having leverage we didn’t consider is not good because I would do dumb shit to save Mattie. But…”
“But, what?” Felix asks curiously. “Tell us.”
I straighten in my seat as I say, “We don’t have to do everything ourselves. We have allies and friends, which means we can ask them to help us get Mattie out of harm’s way.”
The elder twin beams widely as he claps.
“Very, very good, Princess! No need for desperate acts yet because we haven’t tapped our allies for help.
Between the prey, the McCoys, your friends, and others we’ve befriended?
We might get her out while being nowhere near the event, just like your mother did with Bruno. ”
“It would be better if she didn’t think I was involved,” I admit. “That might keep her from sending people to recover Mattie just to have the leverage again. Plus, if she knows that we figured out her game, she’ll find someone else to grab—like Luc or Clotilda or fuck knows who else.”
Fitz finally looks up. “The important thing to remember about that is that she’s in tight with the Raj. He has a network of skilled motherfuckers all over the globe. We don’t know who’s running the vamps, and we have no idea what your grandpapa has up his sleeve, either.”
“Not feeling better,” I grumble as I lean back in my seat. “But yes.”
My eyes skate to Chessie over at the bar, watching him for a minute before I murmur, “I don’t want my friends or anyone else to get hurt by that pissy magical bitch or my psycho mother.”
“We can’t keep everyone pristine if a war starts, nibblet.
” Aubrey puts his paper down and leans on his forearms as he looks at me.
“You know that. The previous incidents with the Fae have clarified that their efforts are not set up to prevent innocents from being harmed or killed. They don’t care who is in the line of fire. ”
“I disagree,” I say quietly. “I think they seem specifically aimed at purposefully hurting or killing as many people as possible. It feels like they’re aiming to even the score in some sort of numbers game, and we don’t know what that is.”
Aubrey thinks about that for a moment and nods. “You may be correct, but unless we find whatever atrocity she’s looking to avenge, we won’t know how bad it is going to get.”
“I think finding out for sure what the fuck she’s doing with all the kidnapped people is necessary,” Fitz remarks as he shakes his head. “Because we don’t know enough about magic to speculate what she’s using them for. If it were death, she’d just leave a trail of bodies and be done with it.”
“He’s doing fine, Princess,” Felix says as he catches me watching Chessie work to bait the Duchess as he chats up the bartender. “Focus here so no one sees you looking at him.”
“Fine,” I sigh as I go back to my paper again.
“But Fitz isn’t wrong. I don’t want any of the Heathers or Todd back in the fray, but they don’t deserve to be a magical whatever for some chick on a revenge tear.
Their families should get them back—that’s punishment enough for them—and they can live out their lives as vapid, baby-making fools if they want. ”
Felix snorts, almost spitting his scotch out. “Warn us before you get saucy about your ex-friends. I almost fucking choked.”
Sniffing delicately, I keep my eyes on my second page as I say, “I’m all the warning you get, buster. Put that in the bank.”
“Cute, Princess, but—”
I wave my hand as I see something that makes my intuition go haywire. “Shhh, shhh. Not now. I think I found something!”
Aubrey holds his hand out, and I hand him the paper to see for himself. My feline twins stop what they’re doing as the dragon checks it out, and I grin when his expression goes from curious to proud. “Lunchable, I think you might have found something.”
Fuck yeah—Dolly Drew for the motherfucking win.