Bone Coven (Winter Wayne Book 2) Read online

  “I’m so sorry,” I said to Bender though I still couldn’t meet his eyes.

  “Don’t be. You didn’t start the fire,” he said, but his heart wasn’t in it.

  “But they did this because of me.” And I’d thought I was so badass to tell them to stop coming after me. Naive little fool.

  “Do you know who they are?” Bender asked through gritted teeth.

  “Not right now, but I will find out soon,” I said as James’s face came in front of my eyes. That little rat had told on me, and he was going to pay for it. Better yet, he was going to wish I’d let those vampires kill him that night in the alley.

  “We should leave,” he said with a tired sigh.

  “But your things…”

  Nothing was going to make it out of that fire unharmed. Nothing at all.

  “All those documents. The folders, the reports.”

  The guilt fueled my anger, and before I knew it, my beads buzzed around my fingers and my hand was itching for the handle of my gun.

  “I’ve got them all stored right here,” Bender said, and I imagined he touched his temple because I was still too embarrassed to look at him. “Come on. The ECU should be here any minute now.”

  “They’re going to know the fire is enhanced.”

  “And they’re going to pretend they don’t,” Bender said. “They’ll probably file a report for the archives, but that’s it. If they see us, there are going to be questions.”

  “Yeah…” Questions we didn’t want to answer just yet.

  “You’re not moving, Wayne. Come on.”

  Bender wrapped his fingers around my arm and dragged me back towards Turtle. I didn’t even remember how I got out of the neighborhood and headed back to Manhattan. It was all a blur caused by the guilt. I’d cost the man his home and everything in it. How the hell was I ever going to make it up to him?

  “Look, you can stay at my place for as long as you want.” It was a good start—if I still had ‘a place’. “The room is pretty small but the couch makes for a comfortable bed.”

  Through the corner of my eye, I could see Bender smiling. “That’s okay.”

  “I really am sorry. I had no idea they were going to come back.” If I had, I would’ve stayed back and let Bender go see Ammic alone.

  “But they did. That could only mean one thing,” he said and I nodded.

  “That ring is very important.”

  “Where is it?”

  Biting my lip, I tried to think of where I’d put the old thing. It didn’t matter anyway.

  “Probably with them. I left it back at the office.”

  “You think they did the same thing there?”

  “Can’t say for sure. My office is in a very populated area. Almost everyone in my neighborhood is a paranormal. Depends on how much they are willing to risk.”

  If they cared if someone saw them, they wouldn’t have dared set fire to the building. If they didn’t, we were both in deep shit. There was no way I would take Bender to Amelia’s house. Not after what happened the last time I went there with Julian.

  “Let’s just find them,” Bender said through gritted teeth.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea anymore. I’ll pay for a hotel room for you somewhere. It’s not going to take me—”

  “Absolutely not. They burned down my house. I want to repay the favor.”

  A bit surprised, I looked at him through the corner of my eye. He’d struck me as a peaceful guy. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but can you fight?”

  Bender turned towards me with his whole body. He was definitely surprised. I bit my tongue.

  “Yes,” he said with a dumbfounded smile on his face, then leaned back on his seat.

  Turtle wouldn’t go faster than eighty, and it was driving me nuts. As soon as I got the rest of the money from Peterson, I was going to save it all for a new car—a much faster one. Bender didn’t say anything else, and neither did I. The guilt wouldn’t let me even joke with him every time I thought of something funny. It only made the road seem longer.

  Good thing we’d eaten some lousy burgers on the way back from Ammic’s, so we didn’t need to waste time before going to Dirty Joe’s bar. James had found me there, so that was the only place I could start to search for him. Joe—or anyone else who would know him—would be willing to tell me all I needed to know for the gold coin I was about to give away.

  “I think you should wait in the car for me,” I said to Bender when I parked Turtle down the street from the bar. He was a fresh face, and fresh faces didn’t fare well in that place.

  “Don’t take too long,” Bender said and lowered his seat. Then, he folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes. He sure wasn’t going to insist.

  Reluctantly, I got out of the car. The place didn’t have very good memories for me. The last time I was in that neighborhood, Ralph Martinez was dragging me toward the bar to kill me. It was the last day I’d been just a Bone witch.

  Shaking my head to clear the thoughts away, I mentally prepared for the bullshit that was waiting for me at Dirty Joe’s. There would be a crowd in there at this time, and they weren’t going to be able to help themselves. The worst part was, I was going to have to ignore it, because I was already hurt. The vampire bite on my shoulder still stung a bit, and who knew when those assholes would find me again? Or I found them.

  Repeating to myself that I had to stay cool over and over again, I walked into the bar. The smell of alcohol and cigarette smoke was a thousand times stronger in there than it was in Bender’s house. Once, I’d gotten so used to it, I barely even noticed, but now that I hadn’t been there in months, it made me sick to my stomach.

  Alvin was behind the bar. Still the smallest werewolf I’d ever seen. When he saw me come in, he narrowed his grey brows and reached for something under the countertop, probably his rifle. I refrained from rolling my eyes. He knew exactly who I was. Once upon a time, I had been the only one willing to listen to him bitching about his crazy wife.

  “You’re not welcome here, fairy,” he said before I even made it to the counter, trying to ignore the eight other people sitting around the tables.

  “Knock it off, Alvin. I’m not here to stay.” The other customers weren’t people I knew, so he was going to have to help me. Or Joe. He was probably holed up in the back doing crack.

  “Just get out. We don’t want any trouble,” Alvin insisted, his eyes on my hands to see if I would reach for my weapons. I wasn’t about to, and not just because I didn’t need to—I had my beads—but because I didn’t want trouble, either.

  “Let’s just pretend I’m the witch you used to talk to for hours. No ears, no nothing. Just plain old Winter. Can you do that?” He opened his mouth to protest but I didn’t let him. “I’ve got a gold coin to give for very little information.”

  Before he could think about it too hard, I took the gold coin from my pocket and showed it to him. Alvin’s brown eyes sparkled. Everybody loved gold. It was one thing you could always count on.

  “I’m not doing business with a fairy,” he spit, but his heart wasn’t into it. And when he started to look back at the customers, who were probably watching us, I knew he was bluffing.

  “Come on, Alvin. Just one little favor. I promise I won’t tell anyone,” I said, grinning, because I knew I already had him—or the gold coin already had him.

  “I’m gonna have to throw you out myself,” he called.

  Had I not spoken to the man often, I wouldn’t have guessed that he was playing pretend. When he showed me his rifle, he widened his eyes at me just slightly. Follow my lead, that meant, or I thought so. I waited for him as he got out from around the counter and walked over to me.

  “Come on, out with you.”

  He tried to grab me by the arm, but that would be crossing my line. I looked at his hand with a raised brow. We did not want to go there. The gesture made sense to him. Alvin put his hand down and nodded at the door.

  “Out!”
r />   Rolling my eyes, I led the way. The old werewolf was so obvious, it was sad. Everybody with a good head on their shoulders could figure out what was going on, but as long as it worked in my favor, I wasn’t complaining.

  “Speak fast,” he hissed at me when we were in front of the entrance door.

  “The vampire that I spoke to a couple of months ago, the one who cornered me at the bar. His name was James,” I said and hoped he remembered. He’d been there that night.

  “What do you need him for?”

  “What do you need this pretty thing for?”

  I showed him the gold coin. Alvin clenched his jaw.

  “Down on 7th, there’s a thrift store. You’ll find him in the basement,” the werewolf said reluctantly. “Put it in my pocket.”

  “Thank you, Alvin,” I whispered and slipped the gold coin in the pocket of his faded denim jacket.

  “Get out, I said!” he shouted.

  I managed to keep from laughing until I closed the door behind me and was in the street again.

  The thrift store he was talking about was just four blocks away. In this traffic, we would be there faster by walking, so when I got to Turtle, I just knocked on the windshield. Bender was probably expecting me because he wasn’t startled. I waved for him to come out.

  “Did you find him?”

  “Yep. He’s four blocks away. We’ll get there faster on foot.”

  “Great. I need to stretch,” he said. I thought he was going to keep silent the whole way, but he surprised me again. “I was thinking just now, what if we’re wrong about the dates?”

  Shivers washed over my back. I’d tried not to think about the same thing. “We’re not.”

  “But if we are, shouldn’t we warn someone? The families?”

  “Who’s going to believe us? Are you willing to let the Bone secret out and tell people what happened?” I was, but I had no sense of coven or witch community, so I couldn’t be allowed to make that decision.

  “If that’s what it took,” Bender said. “I would have appreciated a warning for my niece, that’s all.”

  My heart broke for the guy. I knew what it’s like to lose someone you love.

  “I don’t know anyone we could tell without getting into trouble with the ECU. When they say get off a case, they mean get off a case.” I’d worked with them before, and he had, too. They weren’t people you wanted to kid around with.

  “What about the guy who hired you?”

  Peterson’s face came to my mind. “I guess I could give him a call after we’re done with James, see what he says.”

  I wasn’t going to like it, but Bender was right. We had to warn someone. But the phone call would have to wait. When I saw the thrift store, my blood boiled with anger. Bender’s house enveloped in flames drew itself in front of my eyes. I hurried my steps to cross the street, hands pulled up in fists.

  The person working in the store was a twenty-something human. He looked very confused when he saw us.

  “Don’t mind us, we’re just looking,” I said.

  I nodded at Bender to hide behind one of the three aisles filled with old clothes. All we had to do was wait for a minute, then slip…where? I couldn’t see a back door. “Uh, excuse me? Where can I find the basement?”

  The human seemed even more confused than before. “Th-through the alley?”

  “Thanks,” I offered him a smile, but it did nothing to smooth his narrowed brows as he watched us walk out of the store again.

  The alley behind the store was wide and full of light. Clean, too. Not something you saw often in Manhattan. There were three doors on the left, and if Alvin hadn’t bullshitted me, the first one was where James would be. For his sake, I really hoped he hadn’t.

  “You’re just going to knock on the door?” Bender asked.

  That was exactly what I did. The maroon-colored metal door bent a little under my fist. I still didn’t stop until I heard someone on the other side turning the lock. The words were at the tip of my tongue. I was going to use every curse word in the book, but then, I had to clamp my mouth shut.

  What stopped me was the little girl with wide brown eyes and freckles all over her cheeks, looking up at me.

  Shit. All the curse words went back down my throat, and I swallowed hard.

  “Um…hi.” I was almost a hundred percent sure that Alvin had pulled one on me. A little girl had no business being in the same place as a grown vampire.

  “Hello,” the girl said and smiled to show envy-worthy white teeth. She was so cute, I almost hugged her.

  I looked at Bender. The little girl was still looking right at us. She didn’t seem confused. She didn’t seem phased by our presence at all.

  “We’re looking for James?” I said, unsure of whether I should have mentioned the name at all or not.

  “Are you his friends?” the girl said and looked at Bender. Holy shit. This girl knew James. A witch, I thought. She had to be a witch. Definitely not human.

  “Yes, we are. And who are you?”

  Bender squatted down so she could see him better. Damn. I wish I’d thought of that.

  “I’m Princess Melissa,” the girl said. “My daddy can’t come to the door. Do you want to come in?”

  Daddy? What the fuck?

  “James is your daddy?” I asked.

  Bender widened his eyes at me. I must have sounded worse than I thought because the smile disappeared from the little girl’s face.

  “If it’s okay, Princess Melissa, we’d love to come see your daddy. We have something important to tell him,” Bender said.

  The girl smiled again, but when she looked up at me, she wasn’t so happy. Great. I managed to scare a little girl.

  “Okay,” the little girl said and turned to the door.

  “Bender,” I hissed and stepped back, nodding for him to follow. “I can’t do this. He has a daughter. I can’t…” How the hell was I supposed to beat and kill a guy in front of his kid? I wouldn’t. Not in a million years.

  “I know, but you can talk to him. Let’s just ask him who those vampires are,” Bender said. “And don’t worry, I won’t do anything stupid.” He walked to the door where little Melissa was waiting.

  “I wasn’t worried!” I cried. “Should I be? Because now I am. A little.” Why would he even say something like that?

  Bender didn’t reply. He disappeared behind the maroon door, and I had no choice but to follow. Cursing under my breath, I dragged my feet and closed the door behind me. The stairway was narrow and only a small light burned in the ceiling. I could barely see where I was going, but I just followed Bender’s shadow.

  “Who was it, honey?” a man said. A man who sounded exactly like James. “What the…”

  He’d probably already seen Bender. By the time I made it inside the only door in the narrow corridor and the dead smell of vampire filled my nose, James was on his feet, a kitchen knife in his hand.

  “Damn it, James, your daughter’s here,” I hissed, but Bender had already put his hand in front of little Melissa’s eyes.

  “My wife is coming home soon. She’ll call for backup if you don’t leave.”

  James looked as scared as the last time I saw him. I walked around Bender and to where the vampire was standing. He pushed his arm forward—probably to try and stab me—and I grabbed the kitchen knife from his hand in one motion.

  “Daddy, they’re your friends,” little Melissa said.

  Bender had taken his hand from in front of her face, and she looked at James with the most adorable puppy eyes.

  “Yes, little princess. We’re friends. Why don’t you go play, okay? We need to talk to your daddy,” Bender said.

  She immediately nodded and ran to the door on the right.

  “Are you out of your fucking mind? You have a kid?!” I hissed at James. It sucked that I couldn’t even yell at him. Damn it, I had been looking forward to knocking his teeth out all during the drive to Manhattan.

  “Yeah…”

 
“Is your wife a witch, too?” If she were, we needed to be careful when she came back.

  “No! My wife’s human. My daughter’s human, too.”

  I almost laughed. “She looked right at us.” Humans rarely did that, and even when they did, they forgot all about it as soon as they looked away.

  “She knew me before I turned into a vampire. Just like my wife. They have no trouble seeing paranormals because they’re used to me.”

  My jaw almost hit the floor. I’d never heard of anything like it before. I never knew if it was even possible. I looked at Bender, but he seemed as confused as I was. The fact that he wasn’t calling bullshit on James’s words told me that maybe this could happen. I would have loved to know more, but for now, more important issues were at hand.

  “I’m going to cut your head off,” I hissed at James.

  “Please, Winter, I didn’t mean to. They were going to kill me,” he said.

  He knew exactly what I was there for. It was beyond me why he hadn’t run away, but then again, looking at where he lived, at the old sofa and the very old carpet, maybe this was the best he could afford.

  Was I seriously feeling bad for the vampire who ratted on me? You’re pathetic, I said to myself.

  “Didn’t it occur to you that I would kill you, too?” He already knew I would go to any lengths to find him.

  “I’m so sorry. I know you saved my life, but they threatened my daughter and my wife. I couldn’t let them die because of me,” James said.

  “Excuse me just a moment, I'm just very curious about this,” Bender said. “How long after Melissa’s birth did you turn into a vampire?”

  Was he kidding? Couldn’t he see I was talking to James?

  “Six months after,” James said. “I wanted to provide a better life for her.”

  “Sorry to tell you this, buddy, but you’ve kind of failed.”

  “Bender!” I hissed.

  The witch shrugged like he really didn’t get it. “What?”

  Rolling my eyes, I turned to James again.