Joyce & Jim Lavene - Taxi for the Dead 02 - Dead Girl Blues (16 page)

Too crazy.

A werewolf had killed Jacob. I couldn’t even say it out loud.

“Will you keep an eye on him?” I asked Lucas after realizing that I had left my phone in the van. “I’m going to check the full moon schedule.”

“Certainly.”

I ran back to the van and pulled out my phone, flipping through the internet until I found a page that had a listing for every full moon for the last hundred years.

There was the date that Jacob was killed. I skipped forward. There was the date that Julie had died.

My breath was strangled in my chest. I’d been so focused on bringing Jacob’s killer to justice. Now there was no justice—only a sudden, extreme urge for vengeance.

I could kill a werewolf. That wasn’t the same as killing another human being who could go to prison for his crimes.

Another thought occurred to me. Had Abe known about the werewolf? He’d had one in his employ previously. Was that why he hadn’t wanted me to look into Jacob’s death? Had he known all along and not told me?

I had to force myself to back up.

One theory at a time, even though the question of Abe’s possible involvement burned in me. The first thing I had to do was find proof. Even if it was a werewolf, there had to be some way to prove what had happened. And then we’d have to locate the werewolf, if such a thing was possible.

Looking at the moon calendar, I saw that we were in the middle of a full moon cycle. Was it possible to capture a werewolf? If so, we could compare its DNA to blood samples taken from Jacob and Julie.

Was that the wrong approach? Should I be out buying a weapon to kill the beast? If so, what kind of weapon?

I remembered what a tough fight it had been getting Terry into the van last night. He wasn’t a werewolf—still not quite sure what he was—but I had to imagine a wolf would be smarter and stronger.

I saw Lucas and Gerald coming out of the woods toward the van and jumped out to see if Gerald had found anything useful.

“Do you believe this werewolf thing?” Gerald was openly skeptical.

“I don’t know what to believe,” I admitted. “I’m not well-versed in werewolves or vampires. Not much of a supernatural person. What about you?”

He held up the one thing he had found in the trees. “I might have to get some books.”

In his hand was a large, dark claw that still had dried blood on it.

Chapter Twenty

“If you think a werewolf killed Julie, I’ll meet you back here,” he said. “It’s gonna take me a while to get drunk enough to deal with it and then get sober again.”

“Yeah.” I waited until a fast-moving cement truck passed us on the road. “Me too.”

“Why are we taking Lucas’s word for this?” Gerald whispered. “How does he know?”

“He studies supernatural things.” It seemed the best way to interpret it without sounding completely insane.

“Okay.” He shrugged. “I’ll be here.”

We made sure Gerald left the woods before us. I figured I’d probably need his help to pull this off. We both needed to think about it, maybe look things up.

“So how do you kill a werewolf?” I asked Lucas as we left the wooded area.

 “You should think about hunting the werewolf first. And that you should do when it is in its human form. Much easier to kill. Your plan to meet Gerald here after the creature would have changed is folly.”

“Folly, huh?”

He nodded. “Stupid. Ridiculous. You have to discover who the wolf is.”

“And how would we do that? I don’t think we can knock on doors in the area and ask.”

“No. The creature would be very secretive. Only members of their pack would know their human names. The beast is vulnerable, especially in its human form. You might have to track the beast after it has hunted and fed to learn its human identity.”

“I can’t let someone else die so we can figure it out.” I told him my possible theory about Abe knowing that the werewolf was out here. “But if I tell him, he’ll know I was going against his orders not to look for Jacob’s killer.”

“Abe’s opinion of you may not matter any longer, Skye. His magic may not be sustaining your life. You may not be tied to him.”

“But you don’t know that for sure, right?” I glanced at him. “And I can’t ask him without giving the whole thing away. If I’m still tied to him and if he doesn’t like your mark on my foot, that could be it for me. He probably doesn’t want me to threaten his werewolf either.”

Lucas didn’t respond. I knew it was because his magic was still uncertain. I had no doubt that he would free me from Abe if he could. And maybe that was exactly what he’d done. But I had no way to verify it. I was still stuck with Abe even though the tattoo on my foot had an L on it now.

We’d reached Apple Betty’s Inn when I got a text from Abe. There was another report of a zombie turning into a ghost.

“I have to go. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

Lucas got out of the van. “I think I’ll trim the trees along the path in the woods today. That will make it easier for you to walk when you are worried.”

I watched him go into the inn. He always seemed to know exactly where I was and what I was doing—and that was before he’d put his mark on me. I wondered if it worked the same for Abe.

Debbie wasn’t in any condition to go with me. I didn’t tell Abe she wouldn’t be there until I got to the house in Nashville where the call had come from. I was surprised to see that Abe was there with Morris and another bodyguard. Brandon was there too.

Abe rarely went into the field himself to see what was going on. The personal attack on him, the effects of his magic being drained—those were good reasons to stretch his legs. Maybe he was checking up on his new sorcerer.

I got out of the van and walked over to Abe’s shiny Lincoln. Morris hadn’t turned off the engine while they waited. Was he worried about making a quick getaway?

“Where is your partner?” Abe asked. “Where is Debbie?”

“At home, resting up after her husband shapeshifted into something that almost killed her and her kids last night. I helped her tie him up and lock him in the basement, but you can imagine that it was a difficult night for them. She needed the day off.”

“And you made this decision for her?”

“Yes. I’m sure you would’ve made the same decision for her benefit if you’d known.” I smiled, reminding him that he had to keep his eyes on the prize if he really wanted to be with Debbie.

I didn’t think it was going to happen, but as long as he did, he’d probably be generous.

“How long has he been changing?”

“Since last year when Debbie became my partner. She told you once. She’s afraid to tell you again.”

“Ridiculous. I doubt I could help, but she shouldn’t fear me.”

I pushed the limit further. “Why can’t you help? He’s your creation. Your zombie.”

Brandon smirked but covered it quickly.

Abe ignored him. “Please, Skye. You know I hate that term. Terry and Debbie are part of my family—just as you are. Sometimes things happen. Difficulties occur. Nothing is ever without its problems.”

“So sometimes you give someone an extra twenty years, and they turn into some kind of creature. Is that what you’re saying?”

“It happens.” Brandon leaned his head around Abe’s so I could see him. “Some of them have to be put down.”

“Does this ever include werewolves, by any chance?” My heart was racing, but I couldn’t stop myself from asking.

Abe removed his sunglasses and stared at me with his dead, white eyes. “I have never seen a werewolf, have you, Skye?”

“There was that one pick up—”

“I know you said you thought he’d changed. But when I saw him at the mortuary, he was a man.”

“Oh, come on, Abe. You know what I mean.”

He replaced his sunglasses and nodded toward the house behind me. “You and Artemis should go in now. Already I feel my magic waning. My family is in jeopardy.”

“Shall we?” Artemis was abruptly standing close to me. I jumped, angry because he saw it.

As we walked toward the house, he told me that he’d found an early warning system that would allow him to know when one of Abe’s people was about to become a ghost. “This will enable us to reach the person before the loss.”

I saw his smug expression and decided that I wasn’t going to tell him how Lucas had managed to save me from being a ghost. He was so smart—let him figure it out.

Artemis stood back while I knocked at the front door. There was no response from within. Recalling how I was unable to speak, I took out my Beretta and shot the lock off the door.

“After you, sorcerer.”

He went in slowly, his head swiveling from side to side as he searched for the LEP who lived here. I kept my eyes on the ceiling since that was where Mr. Benton and I had both drifted.

We found her in the kitchen, still wearing a pink fluffy robe and curlers in her dark brown hair.

“Help me,” Her voice was barely audible. “Please. What’s wrong with me?”

“Calm down, ma’am.” I tried to assuage her fear even though I knew what she was going through was terrifying.

“Can you help me? I don’t know how much longer I can hang on this way.”

Artemis watched her clinging to a small chandelier over the kitchen table that still held the remains of her breakfast. He didn’t say anything—just observed her like she was a fly caught in a spider web.

“Can you do something or not?” I hoped that would nudge him into action.

“Of course.” He blinked as though he’d been far away in his thoughts and it had surprised him to have me speak to him. “Excuse me. It takes time to get the proper magic together.”

By this time, the woman was barely visible. She couldn’t hang on to the ceiling fixture any longer and was against the white tiles. Her voice was gone, but I could still see her wide, frightened eyes. I was sorry I hadn’t told him about needing a ghost to be inside of her so he could save her. The words almost sprang from my lips as I watched her suffer.

Then Artemis set up a red hazy perimeter around her, the way Lucas had set the green one around me. The woman slowly came back down to the tile floor. He approached her, putting his hand on her head and closing his eyes. She was enveloped in the heavy red mist until he stepped back from her and the mist evaporated.

“Oh my lord!” the woman exclaimed in a normal voice. “You saved me. I don’t know how you did it, but you made me whole again.”

She dropped to the floor at his feet, thanking him and crying. I couldn’t tell what she was saying since she was sobbing so hard. But I noticed that the mark on her foot—the A in a circle—had turned red instead of blue. It had changed slightly too. The circle wasn’t complete as it had been. Space under the A was left open.

The same thing had basically happened to me when Lucas changed my tattoo green. The tattoos had changed color and form. A thought flitted through my mind that the woman now belonged to Artemis. But I had no proof of that. I didn’t even know if the change in my tattoo meant anything.

Artemis took a deep breath and smiled. “You may summon Abe and tell him that my plan to save his people has triumphed.”

I was happy to do it. For some reason, he hadn’t needed a ghost inside a ghost to work his magic. Maybe it was because Lucas either wasn’t at full power or had forgotten how to do the spell without that extra step.

Abe came into the house, looking larger than life as always. His black silk suit was perfect as was the white scarf he wore around his neck. The woman ran to embrace him and sobbed against him for a few minutes.

“Check her tattoo,” Abe instructed Brandon in a soft voice.

Brandon got on the floor and lifted the woman’s foot. “Looks fine. The magic is still intact.”

Abe grinned at Artemis. “Pay him, Morris. Good work, sorcerer. I know my people are safe now.”

As the rejoicing continued and Morris gave Artemis a velvet bag that sounded as though it contained gold coins, I pulled Brandon to the side of the room.

“What does it mean that the tattoo has turned red?” I asked him.

His clear blue eyes looked worried. “What? I didn’t see that. Did it change?”

He got back on the floor and checked the woman’s heel again.

“It’s not red,” he told me. “It’s what I like to call ‘Abe’ blue.”

I took another look too. The tattoo was still bright red.

“I don’t know what’s going on,” I whispered to him. “But it looks red to me. It turned red after he did his magic. His magic color seems to be red—like Abe’s is blue—and Lucas’s is green. It’s red, Brandon. And it’s not quite the same mark. Why can’t you see it?”

He dropped to the floor again, but this time the excitement was nearly over and Abe had noticed him looking at the woman’s foot again.

“Is something wrong?” Abe’s deep voice filled the small room.

Brandon glanced at me. “No. Just looking at it again. Nothing’s wrong.”

Artemis looked up, too, but didn’t say anything. He was busy playing with his ring and counting his money.

Brandon came back and stood beside me. “You’re tripping, Skye. The tattoo is as blue as my eyes. You’ve been through a lot, sweetie. Maybe Debbie isn’t the only one who needs a day off.”

I didn’t understand why we both saw different things. Would my new tattoo look blue to Brandon as well? Was it him? Or was it me? Maybe this was one of those things Lucas had warned would be different about me.

I realized that I wouldn’t gain anything by questioning Artemis’s magic. If I was right and he was somehow cheating Abe of his power, I had to find a way to expose him before everyone who was part of Abe’s
family
became Artemis’s property.

My job was done. I told everyone I was leaving and headed out to the van. Maybe Lucas would have some idea about how to stop Artemis, if it came down to it.

Artemis followed me—again. “Leaving so soon, Skye? I’m sure there will be a celebration following this. You’ll want to take part.”

“I don’t think so. I’m glad you were able to solve the problem. Now I’m going home. Abe has my number if he needs me.”

He came up close and laid a hand on either side of my face. “You are such a lovely young woman. I’m so sorry this has happened to you.”