To Hunt a Wolf (Afterlife Book 11) Page 2

  "That's true," Alec said.

  "Was Ileana a witch?" Harper asked Alec.

  Alec shook his head. "No. But she was friends with a lot of gypsies that were. So, I knew a lot of them. They kind of go hand in hand. Ileana just never had the interest."

  "Hmm," Harper said. "Well, I do. I want to be able to help more if someone like Bartholomew shows up again. And against Akain, of course."

  Alec frowned. "If we go after Akain. Don't forget, he saved your lives. All of your lives."

  Brittney shrugged. "Only because he forced us to risk them in the first place. The guy has earned no good will from me."

  Chloe nodded her agreement. "I'm with Brittney. If he hadn't blackmailed us into attacking Bartholomew, then we never would have needed him to save us."

  "Perhaps not," Alec agreed. He let the subject drop. "Now, about this new job." He picked up a remote and turned on one of the screens. A man appeared; he was about thirty, with graying hair, and a strong chin. He was classical handsome, with broad shoulders and a fit physique. "This is who we're helping. His name is Brandon Corrison. He's a werewolf."

  Harper gasped. When Alec turned toward her, she gave an embarrassed shrug. "Sorry. I just didn't know that werewolves were real."

  "Really?" Alec said. "You can accept vampires and all other things supernatural, but a werewolf surprises you?"

  "Yes, it does," Harper said.

  "Alright," Alec said. He turned back to the screen. "Even with Harper's astonishing surprise, Brandon is very real, and he has brought a very frightening problem to light. Werewolves are being hunted."

  Sarah came out from underneath the table and transformed into her human form. "What? Why?"

  "I don't know why," Alec said. "And we have no leads on who, either. We just have the information that Brandon has provided us, and that's that several known werewolves in the area have gone missing over the last few full moons."

  "So we don't even know for sure that they're being hunted," Chloe pointed out. "All we know is that they're missing."

  Alec nodded. "That's true, but this wouldn't be the first time some amateur werewolf hunter has popped up. They're not popular creatures."

  "Why not?" Brittney asked.

  "Because they're not supernatural during the rest of the month," Conner supplied. He knew a bit about werewolves. "They only transform during their cycle, which is during the full moon. Cliche, I know, but true. During that time, they have no control over who they are or what they do. They hunt indiscriminately. Then they go back to normal. This has led to a lot of the supernatural world ostracizing them for not being truly a part of their world."

  "That's ridiculous," Harper said. "And sort of racist, I guess. I mean, they can't help when they become supernatural. Making them feel bad because it's not all the time..."

  "Yes, well, werewolf rights aside, we need to find out who's hunting them and put a stop to it," Alec said. "You're right; they can't help themselves. Killing them is not the answer. Harper, Brittney, I want the two of you to go to the police. Check out missing persons' reports during the last few full moons and follow up on them. See who could be a werewolf."

  "And the rest of us?" Sarah asked.

  "I want Conner to go to the underground. See if any demons have been talking about werewolves lately. Sarah, go hit the gym and see if you can find anything out."

  Conner and Sarah both nodded.

  "What about me?" Chloe asked.

  "You're going to interview Brandon with me again later tonight," Alec said. "Make sure I didn't miss anything during the initial consult."

  "Can do," Chloe said.

  "So everyone knows their jobs?" Alec asked. "Good. Alright guys. Let's go put a stop to this before more innocent people pay with their lives."

  Everyone stood up, preparing to go do their jobs. Conner felt a flood of happiness go through him. Despite what had happened with Harper, he was glad to be back with the team. This is where he belonged, after all.

  FOUR

  Brittney hopped in her SUV and followed Harper to the station. Normally, they would have rode together but they were trying to do things a little more independently these days. They were best friends but they both know it was inevitable that eventually they would go their separate ways. They would work together and hang out together but their lives wouldn't be nearly as connected.

  The idea made Brittney a little sad, but a little excited as well. It meant they were growing up. Already, they had Chloe living with them. Soon enough, Harper would find her own love, and would move out, and then Peter would find his own place, and it would just be her and Chloe.

  That idea was also exciting, but a little terrifying. Would she enjoy being with just Chloe for the rest of her life? She loved her, of course, but did that mean she wanted to spend all her free time with the other woman? Already, they spent every night in the same room and the same bed. That part was easy but what happened when they decided to get married and start a family?

  Brittney had given it a lot of thought and hoped she'd make a good mother someday. What if she didn't, though? What if her and Chloe permanently screwed up some kids because they wanted to play house? And was it even safe to have a family? With their line of work, nobody was ever certain that they'd make it to the next day.

  Bartholomew was a good example of that. According to Alec, he'd killed them all, and Akain had brought them back to life. The idea of that made her feel a little queasy; what if he hadn't been able to resurrect them? What if they'd stayed dead?

  She pulled into the police station and stopped her car, got out, and joined Harper. She was glad she was wearing her slacks and a nice shirt; unlike Harper, who was dressed down in jeans and a t-shirt. They could pass it off as her getting called in on her day off. Brittney was glad she looked the part, though.

  "Alright," Harper said. "You want to do the talking?"

  "Sure," Brittney said. She usually did; that was the roles they'd adopted when they'd first started coming in as FBI agents. Brittney was the talkative one, whereas Harper stood back and gathered information. It worked well for them.

  They went in and those who knew them waved and called out greetings. Brittney returned them with nods and smiles. They went back to Ryan Moore's desk but found it abandoned. She frowned. That was unusual. She waved over one of the officers working.

  Brittney flashed her FBI badge at the girl. "We were hoping to speak with Detective Moore."

  "Oh," she said. "Detective Moore is out right now. He took a month off to vacation with his wife. He won't be back for another two weeks."

  "Nice of him to let us know," Brittney said, a little grumpily. She was used to working with Ryan whenever they had to get involved with the police. He knew about the supernatural and was always worth talking to about open cases. She sighed. "Fine, can you see if you can call Detective Grady over here?"

  "Sure," the girl said. She went to one of the desks and picked up a phone. She talked to someone on the other end for a few minutes and then shook her head at the two of them. "Sorry, ma'am. He's out on paternity leave."

  Brittney let out a low curse. She glanced at Harper, who shrugged, and then back to the intern. "Alright. That's fine. What about Detective Livingston?"

  "Yes," the girl said. She picked the phone back up and made another quick call. "She's on her way over."

  "Thanks," Brittney said. "Can we use one of the conference rooms to talk to her?"

  "Yes ma'am," the girl said. She led Brittney and Harper into one of the smaller of the conference rooms and quickly made her goodbyes. "I'll let her know where you're at," she promised before leaving.

  Brittney looked over at Harper. "Great, we're stuck with Marcia. You know how she feels about us."

  "You would have thought her opinion would have changed after the fight with Bartholomew," Harper said. The fight with the demon had included Marcia, George, and Ryan. The three of them had shown up and done their best to help out. They'd all gotten injured during the fight, b
ut Akain had taken care of their injuries. Like Harper, Brittney had hoped it would change Marcia's attitude toward them.

  No such luck. She still treated them like they weren't to be trusted.

  After about fifteen minutes, Marcia arrived. She entered the room haughtily. "So it's you two who dragged me away from an important case I was working on. I should have known."

  "We're sorry about that," Brittney said, trying not to let too much sarcasm show through in her voice. "But we're working an important case too, and we need your help. You're one of the only people around here who knows what we do. That makes you an invaluable asset."

  Marcia eyed Brittney for a moment and then sat down at the table. "Alright, what is it you're working on? I wanted credited on this case, by the way. I'm looking for a promotion and I need anything that can help."

  "You're supposed to help us out of the kindness of your heart," Harper said. "And, of course, because you love the people of the city. Serve and protect, right?"

  Marcia made as though she were going to stand and leave.

  "Alright," Brittney said. "We'll make sure everyone knows you helped with it once it's solved, alright? We're looking into missing persons reports."

  "Who's missing?" Marcia asked curiously.

  "We don't know yet," Brittney said. "That's what we're looking into. We need to know who went missing around the time of the full moons for the last couple of months."

  "Wait," Marcia said hesitantly. "Around the full moons? You're not suggesting--"

  "That werewolves are real?" Harper asked. "I had the same reaction. Well, they're real, and it looks like someone is hunting them because they've started to disappear. We know a few of them, but the others have kept a low profile. We need to see who fits the profile of a werewolf."

  Marcia nodded. "I can get the case files for you," she said. "But if someone's hunting werewolves... well, isn't that a good thing? Aren't they vicious killers?"

  Brittney shrugged. "Perhaps in the movies. But these men and women can't control when they change and they have no control over what they do when they're cycling. So we want to make sure they're offered our protection, same as any other innocent civilian out there."

  "I see," Marcia said. "Let me get a laptop and we'll put up the records." She ran off to retrieve the computer and returned a few minutes later with it. The three of them studied the cases from the last three months.

  "Make sure you put in dates that would have been reported up to three days after the full moon," Harper said to Brittney, who was looking up the files. "We want to make sure we get everyone. People might not have been reported right away."

  There were fifty names, not taking into account their current status. After filtering those who'd already been found, they came up with five people who seemed to have disappeared around the full moon. Harper wrote down the names of their families and their addresses. "Alright, thanks, Detective."

  "What now?" Marcia asked.

  "Now we go and interview the families," Brittney said. "We find out if any of them have been open about their condition or tend to disappear once a month for a night, at the least. Once we have that, we'll know who is a werewolf and who is simply an unfortunate coincidence."

  "Do you want me to come?" Marcia asked.

  "No," Harper and Brittney said at once. Marcia looked offended. Brittney cleared her throat. "We don't want to take too many people. Two is sufficient to investigate a missing person. Any more and we might alarm the families unnecessarily."

  "I see," Marcia said. "But I told you that I wanted in on this."

  "We'll let you know how you can help," Harper said.

  "Right," Brittney agreed.

  Marcia nodded, though she still looked a little upset at getting shut out. "I expect regular updates on the cases," she said. "I want to know who is and isn't a werewolf and then what we do with that information."

  Brittney gave a nod of consent. "Sure. We'll keep you updated. We'll start the interviews tomorrow. It's already getting pretty late today. We'll take these home and research them in the meantime."

  "Sounds good," Harper said, standing up. "Thank you again, Detective."

  "No problem," Marcia said. "Just remember that I'm not here to be your gopher."

  "Oh, trust me," Brittney said as she stood as well. She gathered together the case files they'd printed off. "We'll remember."

  FIVE

  "Are you going to cook for me or not?" Chloe asked as she stretched out on Alec's couch and waited for their interviewee to arrive. "We have plenty of time before Brandon gets here and I'm hungry."

  Alec rolled his eyes and Chloe flashed him a grin. She couldn't help it; she loved Alec. She also loved his cooking. That was something Brittney could do, but chose not to. Most of time, they went out to eat or ordered food. That would have to change someday.

  She wondered what else would have to change in their relationship if they were going to make it long-term. Neither of them were homemakers. Their place was constantly a mess, and their bedroom... well, it's a good thing nobody else went in it. It would scare anyone off. Chloe often wondered if she should clean more, but she hated cleaning.

  If they wanted a family, though...

  Did they want a family? Chloe thought she did. She imagined raising children sometimes and the idea filled her with warmth. But with Brittney? She had no idea what kind of parent the other woman would make. And on top of that, did they really want to bring kids into a lesbian household? Would the children get made fun of for having two moms?

  They'd just have to avoid religious schools. That was alright; Las Vegas had some pretty nice private nonsectarian schools. They definitely wouldn't be putting their kids in the public school system. It was too flaky.

  Chloe reminded herself for the thousandth time to stop worrying about marriage and kids. She and Brittney had only just moved in together; it was far too soon to start thinking about what came next. Right?

  "What do you want to eat?" Alec asked.

  "I don't know," Chloe said. "Surprise me."

  Alec went to the kitchen and rummaged through the refrigerator and cupboards. "You know, Chloe. If you really want to start eating good meals, you could learn to cook. I could teach you."

  "Please," Chloe said. "That's the last thing I want to do."

  Alec shrugged. "Just saying."

  Chloe threw an arm over her eyes and yawned. "You know, maybe someday you can teach me. Just not tonight, alright?"

  "Sure," Alec said.

  "So, when are you going to start dating, Alec?" Chloe said.

  Alec looked over at her, completely caught off-guard by this question. "I'm not."

  "Come on," Chloe said. "When was the last time you got laid?" She looked over at him in time to see some emotion flash across his face, only to be replaced by a blank scowl the next moment. "Three years is my guess."

  "That's none of your business," Alec said.

  "I'm just saying that it's not healthy to go so long," Chloe said.

  "Said the thirty year old fairy who'd never gotten any until she met Brittney," Alec said with a raise of his eyebrows.

  Chloe made a show of wincing. "Ouch, the truth hurts. Alright, I'll give you that one. But now that I am, I know how detrimental it would be to go without."

  "Okay," Alec said. "I'll humor you. Let's say that I wanted to date. Who would I even date, Chloe? And don't say Harper. You know my views on vampires dating human women. It doesn't work out."

  Chloe shrugged. "Then date another vampire. There have to be more out there that are good, like you. Like everyone from Phoenix."

  Alec shook his head as he began cooking. "I'm not dating anyone from Phoenix. It's too far away. I'd never be able to maintain a stable relationship that far. I'm not good at long-distance."

  "You're not good at short-distance," Chloe said dryly.

  Alec rolled his eyes.

  Chloe sat up. "Come on, I have an idea. We'll take you to see a cupid." Brittney had rubbed off on Chlo
e.

  "Absolutely not," Alec said.

  "Why not?"

  "Because I'm not the sort of person who needs a love fairy to point me in the right direction," Alec said. "If I wanted to find someone, I would. Has it ever occurred to you that I like my life like it is? I'm happy with the way things are. I don't need them to change."

  Chloe snapped her fingers, as if coming to a revelation. "I know. What about that vampire that lives with the fey? Annabelle? She doesn't feed, and she's local."

  Alec shook his head. "She's not my type."

  "Well then what is your type?" Chloe said.

  Alec frowned and went back to his cooking. Chloe made a point of dramatically sighing, and then closed her eyes again, listening to the sound of Alec making food. Soon the smell of seasonings filled the house and she relaxed a little more.

  She wasn't the best matchmaker out there, but she wanted to see Alec happy. She was happy with Brittney and Conner was happy with Janice. Everyone else should be happy too. Even Sarah. Even though Sarah was seeing Peter. Chloe found that extremely strange. They weren't exactly the match she would have envisioned. He was so... young.

  Who was she too judge, though? Sarah was only twenty-six. That was only a four year gap. There was a five year gap between her and Brittney. As her mind turned back to Brittney, she let out a groan.

  "What?" Alec asked.

  "It's just... how do you know two people are supposed to be together?" Chloe asked. "Even if they're in love, and they work well together, how do you know they're meant to be?"

  "Are you having second thoughts about you and Brittney?" Alec asked, as though reading her mind. "Don't. You and Brittney get along so well. Why would you be doubting your relationship with her?"

  "Because I want a family," Chloe said. "I know it sounds silly, given what we do, but I do. I want kids and a house in the suburbs, and the the whole nine yards. I'm not sure I'll ever have that with Brittney. I'm not sure she's the marrying kind."

  "Have you brought this up with her?" Alec said.