“Since we aren’t doing anything else,” Marcus said. “Do you mind if we continue the conversation about the Factions?”
“Sure,” I replied. “Ask away.” We’d been on the road for ten minutes, heading toward Chatfield. Martin had checked the directions I’d indicate, more or less south, and it was the closest one. It had been ten minutes of uncomfortable silence from the back. More than once I’d heard Zee take a breath, and I expected him to say something, but he hadn’t.
“How many Factions are there?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been told about a few of them, but my sister is the first person from another Faction I’ve met.”
“So there isn’t much interactions between groups?”
“Not as far as I know. Our Gods’ influences don’t really overlap, so we have little to do with each other.”
“But the killer is after members of your groups isn’t she?”
“What do you mean?”
“Zee, maybe you want to tell him?”
Zikabar sighed. “Please understand, Denton, I was angry at you when I started, then I was worried for your safety.”
I turned in my seat to look at him, not that I saw more than vague shapes. “What did you do?”
“I did a search on your new friends through the nation’s database.”
“Damn it Zee.”
“I thought it peculiar their entire families, those in the country at least, had a complete lack of legal infractions. That simply does not happen. Not with families as large as them. Even the best behaved child goes through a rebellion phase. Statistically, there should have been at least one person with an arrest, yet I found nothing. So I continued looking, and I ended up in the basement.”
“What’s there?”
“The unexplained Phenomenon,” Marcus answered. “The weird stuff.”
“I have had the people there continue to look, and it didn’t take them long to some across more families with unusually clean histories. I have close to twenty names right now.”
“If they’re so clean, how come their in your files?”
“The files weren’t about them, but they were involved in whatever incident was being investigated. Although some of them do—”
The car jerked and I grabbed the armrest. “What happened?”
“I just had to pass an idiot,” Tom said. “I wish you didn’t drive this fast.”
“I’m only doing five able the limit, Dent.”
Not being able to see was worse than just being in the passenger seat, especially when I had no idea how crazy of a driver Tom was.
“Dent, could you be careful with your claws? It’s genuine leather.”
I forced my hand on my lap.
“What do you do for a living, Mister Small?” Zee asked.
“It’s Marrows, and I’m in insurance.”
“Of course, my apologies. Sales, or claims?”
“Sales. I’ve been based out of Tucson for the last ten years or so, but I got fed up with the heat, so I came back here. We’ve actually met before.”
“Have we?”
“Yeah, back when me and Spotty butt fucked regularly. We went to dinner the four of us, Me, him, you, and I think you were with a wolf, russet fur if I remember right.”
“I can’t say I remember.”
“It was ten years ago, I guess those nights weren’t as memorable for you as they were for me.” “Tom,” I warned.
“What? It’s true. You are without a doubt the best top I’ve ever had.”
I snorted. “There are plenty of them more skilled than me.”
“Okay, I’ll grant you that, but none are as energetic. I mean, being fucked seven times in five hours. I’ve never had one guy be able to do that in all my years away.”
“If you befriend any of them, you’ll experience it a lot more. Anyone in the Society can do that.”
“Really?” His tone was specilative.
“Why did you leave?” Zee asked. “If Denton was so great?”
“Work is more important than sex. And to be honest I was worried that if I’d stayed, one of us would have ended up having to make a difficult decision.”
“You seem rather enthusiastic about going after a killer.”
The car jerked, then slowed abruptly before speeding up.
“Really, asshole?” Tom grumbled. “You’re suppose to match the speed, not speed up and slam the breaks on.” The car’s speed smoothed. “You are so fucking lucky I have passengers. But hey,” His tone jovial again. “Whatever’s needed to help out Dent, right?”
“I would have expected a man such as you to be at least nervous at the prospect of confronting a killer.”
Tom laughed. “You think I haven’t dealt with killers before? You try convincing a CEO that he’s being robbed by his current insurer, and then you come and tell me I haven’t dealt with killers.”
“I’m sure you think they are quite dangerous, but this isn’t the same. We—”
“Hun, please drop it,” Marcus said. “Whatever Mister
Marrows history is, Denton trusts him to help us.”
By the movement and contented sigh I figured Marcus had pulled Zee against him. We were silent for a time. It was Hell trying to keep track of time when I couldn’t check my phone.
We slowed, drifted into a turn. “Where are we?”
“We’re getting on the 470, that’s the way to Chatfield.”
I looked around. “She isn’t there. Luis is further to the south.”
“How far?”
“A ways. I can’t tell distances.”
He was silent for a moment.
“Yes?” a woman said, then I realized it was Magdalene.
“We need to grab the next exit and get back on the 75. Dent said our killer’s further south. I don’t have the number for the other car. Have one of your passengers tell them.” “I will,” Fred said.
How had Tom gotten Magdee’s number?
We drove for half hour, then had to get off the highway. Luis was to our west. We zigzagged on smaller and smaller streets, often having to turn around, as Tom tried to follow my directions. I needed to come up with a better way to track people.
“Why did you stop?” I asked. “He’s further ahead, straight ahead.”
“We’ve run out of roads. This is a parking lot for hikers.”
“There aren’t any other car,” Marcus said. “She didn’t use this entrance to the park.”
“How far is he?” Tom asked.
“Closer, a lot closer than before.”
“Then I think the best thing to do is continue on foot. We should have enough daylight for two hours or so. I don’t think we want to search by flashlight, we’ll be giving our positions away.”
“We have to find him tonight. He isn’t going to be alive after that.”
The other cars parked next to us and we got out. I told them about Luis being somewhere in the forest before us.
“Give me five minutes,” Magdalene said, and then started to walk away.
“Magdee,” I called after her. “What are you going to do?”
She came back, took my arm, and lead me away from the others. “I’m going to ask the forest where she is.” She kept her voice low.
“You can do that?”
“I can ask, getting a response isn’t certain.”
“I thought all you could do was body stuff, like grow claws.”
“That’s my strongest affinity, but I can also talk to the fauna and flora. The problem is that if she told the forest not to reveal where she is, I won’t be able to get the information out. She’s a lot more powerful than I am when it comes to flora.”
I heard her hand rub against bark. “Okay, she’s here. And she didn’t prevent the forest from revealing where.”
“So you know where they are?”
“Not yet, the forest doesn’t know what distances are. I’m going to have to talk with it for a bit to work it out. But I’ll have something.”
I sighed in relief and let go of Luis’ energy. My vision immediately cleared. Magdee’s hand was on a spruce. There was a few of them around as well as pines and others I didn’t know. I wasn’t much of a tree person.
I looked back to the others and headed to Zee and Tom before these two came to blows. Marcus was next to his husband and both still calm, as Tom opened the trunk of his car, but if I let Zee continue to prod the badger, one of them was going to end up bloody.
“I have a hunting permit,” Tom was saying as I came in range.
“And do you have one for the piece at the small of your back?” Zee asked.
Tom pulled a card from his wallet.
“This is a joke,” Zee said. “What is the assocciation of recreationist?”
“We’re a group who meet up to recreate events out of history. Mine focuses on late twentieth century events, so we have permits to carry and use guns that use bullets.”
“If you expect me to—”
“Tom, that’s enough,” I interrupted Zee. I had no idea if what Tom was saying was true, but it didn’t matter.”
“Hey, Spotty butt, you’re ambulatory.”
Zee looked at me. “You can see?”
“Yeah, I let go of Luis’ energy.”
He grabbed my head and moved it this way and that, looking at my eyes. “And there are no lingering effects?”
“No, I told you Zee, it was going to be fine.”
“You had no way of knowing that.”
I took the deer’s hands, pulled them away, and kissed them before letting them go. “I’m fine.” I looked him in the eyes.
“Zee, I’m reminding you that you can’t talk about any of this.” Zee nodded.
“Tom really is a mob hitman.”
The badger stared at me. What do you know, I’d managed to take him by surprise.
“I’m not. I’m a hired killer,” the surprise didn’t last long. “The mob just happened to pay well.”
Zee looked at him, then me. “How can you ask me not to bring him in.”
“Because I need him.”
“He’s a killer.”
“Not anymore.”
Tom’s ears went straight. Zee looked at me quizzically.
“That’s the price Tom. I need you at my side, but I can’t have you killing anymore.”
“Denton, he has killed at least twenty people.” Tom snorted.
“Zee, you need to understand something. You’re no longer in a world of black, white and bright colors. My world is one of grays, a whole lot of shades of gray. The reason you couldn't find anything on all those families is that they can’t afford to have anyone looking at them, because it could get back to our enemies.”
Zee searched my face for a long moment. “You are really asking me to live in a world where pewter, flint and fossil are the colors I have to look forward to?”
I didn’t manage to keep the smile from forming. “Damn it, Zee, I hate you and your color sense. But yes. From now on, bright colors and contrast will be what you wear, not how you think.”
He nodded. “If it’s what it takes to keep you safe.”
I hugged him.
“Tom, I need your word. If you can’t promise me that, once this is over, we go our separate ways.”
He didn’t make a joke about how my cock was worth it. He looked thoughtful. “When my past catches up with me, you’re going to have to be there to help me deal with it, if you don’t want there to be a body count.”
“I’ll be at your side, and I’ll have plenty of trick the people you used to deal with won’t see coming.”
He nodded. “Alright. I’m in. No more killing unless you’re the one pointing at the target.”
I wanted to tell him that was never going to happen, I didn’t want it to happen. Except, we were going up against a magical serial killer. Society families had been willing to kill to get to my briefcase. I had no idea who was going to come at me, with what or why.
It was entirely possible I’d have to give the kill order one day.
