“They might have more than one set of keys.”
“That had occurred to me.”
Fire looked at Air. Then he looked at Ilya and smiled. “We will assist.”
“Your help would be appreciated.” It was the only safe thing to say.
Even for other terra indigene, receiving help—or any attention—from Elementals was not without its risks, but like some of the Elders, they found The Jumble, as it was run by Victoria, to be a variety show of entertainment. They participated when it suited them, and he wondered why it suited them now.
And he wondered what the Elementals knew about the terra indigene visitor that had been watching him and Grimshaw collect the bits and pieces of a foolish prankster. If something had come to The Jumble to hunt, would the other Elders object? Or was this unfamiliar form something even the Elders who resided around Lake Silence would avoid?
Shifting back to smoke form, Ilya and Boris returned to Silence Lodge. Natasha had left a message that she was going to stay with Victoria tonight and keep an eye on things. That meant she wouldn’t be traveling across the lake, in the dark, alone.
He suspected that decision had more to do with his emotional adjustments to having a mate than any real need for one of the Sanguinati to remain at The Jumble, but he was grateful that she had allowed him that comfort tonight.
He was even more grateful after he placed a call to the Sanguinati in Lakeside and talked to Vlad.
Jack-o’-lantern. Bones. Black feathers. Rattlesnake tail. Coffin.
The warning wouldn’t have changed anything, even if he’d known about it earlier, but he wondered what else might be headed their way.
CHAPTER 9
Julian
Windsday, Grau 31
Has the feel of The Jumble changed?
Since Vicki was still under the table, and her employees were either traumatized or protecting the traumatized, Julian checked on the human guests. The almost newlyweds had the Do Not Disturb sign on their door, so Julian didn’t anticipate seeing them until breakfast. Jenna McKay was in the library, browsing through Vicki’s selection of books.
“Alan Wolfgard,” Jenna muttered as she studied a book cover. “I wonder if he’s . . . ?”
“He is,” Julian said, walking toward her. He looked at the title. “I have a couple copies of that one at the bookstore, if you decide you want to finish reading the story.”
Jenna smiled. “That’s the place with the funny name. What time do you open?”
“Later than usual tomorrow. I have to assist the police in their inquiries.”
“I don’t check out until Firesday morning. I could go to the village for lunch tomorrow and visit the bookstore after that.” She grinned at Julian. “I’m doing the donkey-cart tour in the morning.”
“I haven’t done the tour, but I’ve heard it’s an adventure.”
Jenna selected two books from the shelves and moved her hands up and down as if weight could indicate content. “I can’t decide which to take back to the cabin. Scary or romance?”
“Take both,” he suggested. “When it comes to books, better to have too many than not enough.”
“I like the way you think.”
Unable to decide if she was flirting with him or if she was just an enthusiastic booklover, Julian was about to make a reasonable excuse to escape when Natasha walked into the library.
“Since Ilya is dealing with the guests at the Mill Creek Cabins, Conan is escorting Victoria’s male guests to their cabin,” Natasha said. “If the female is ready to leave, they can all go together.”
Jenna grabbed a couple more books, grinned at Julian, and said, “Sampling before a bookstore spree.”
Since the books she’d chosen were by Intuit or terra indigene authors and not likely books she would find in human-controlled cities, he had a feeling “spree” might be an accurate word.
Once the cabin guests were on their way, Julian took the Reserved sign off the poolroom door and left Ben Malacki and David Shuman to resume their interrupted game. Then he fetched an old issue of Sproing Weekly, helped Vicki crawl out from under the kitchen table, and covered the floor with the paper while Vicki filled a bowl with water so the Crows would have something to drink.
When Conan returned, he brought Eddie into the kitchen and settled him under the table with Aggie and Jozi before returning to the porch, shifting into Bear form, and going to sleep in front of the porch door.
Julian went around the main house with Vicki, locking doors, turning out lights, and making sure everyone inside was as secure and safe as they could be.
Vicki hesitated, clearly uncertain about what to do with him. Her apartment didn’t have a guest room or a couch long enough for a man to sleep on, and her guest suites were booked. His thoughts leaned toward romance and had for a while, and he thought she entertained similar thoughts at least some of the time, but decisions like this left her skittish.
He solved her internal struggle by saying, “If you don’t mind, I’ll watch some TV and then sack out on the couch down here.”
Her smiled wobbled with relief, but he couldn’t say if it was relief because he was staying or because he wasn’t pushing. “Okay. Sure. Help yourself to the food. There’s plenty.”
“I will stay with Victoria tonight,” Natasha said as she joined them. “We will enjoy . . . girl talk.”
For a moment he wondered what a newly mated vampire and a human woman with serious trust issues would talk about—and then decided he did not want to know. But he might, out of male solidarity, warn Ilya when he saw him tomorrow.
Julian opened a bottle of beer and warmed up a couple of slices of pizza in the wave-cooker. Then he went into the TV room, found a channel that was showing a marathon of old horror movies for Trickster Night, and felt the house settle around him.
He sensed no change in The Jumble, despite the evening’s frights—and whatever Ilya and Wayne had found in the dark. If there was some kind of malevolence infecting Sproing and Lake Silence, it hadn’t been here long enough to change the feel of the place. With luck, it would move on or the police would uncover it and deal with it.
Julian focused on the movie and refused to think of what might happen if the police, and the rest of the humans around here, weren’t lucky.
CHAPTER 10
Grimshaw
Windsday, Grau 31
Grimshaw helped Samuel Ames lift the body bag from the gurney onto the table in the mortuary’s preparation room. He opened the bag, put on some gloves, then pulled out the bottle of bleach and set it aside. He’d take it to the station and dust it for prints. He didn’t think it would help him identify the individual, but he would follow procedure.