Bite Me

CHAPTER 19

Livy hugged her cousin Jake. She was so glad to see him. Last she’d heard, he’d been in Belgium. But here he was.

And so was nearly everyone else.

The only ones who hadn’t made the trip so far were the family cubs and a parent to watch out for them, as well as older family members who were too tired or sick to travel. Except great aunt Li-Li, of course. She may be old, but not too old to find out what was going on with her family. Livy also guessed those currently in prison wouldn’t be showing, nor would the ones who were currently on the run from law enforcement so they wouldn’t go to prison.

Yet even without all those Kowalskis, the living room of her friends’ rental house was packed with Livy’s family, all waiting to hear what she had to say.

It was a strange moment for Livy. When she’d sent out the vague text to the Kowalskis ordering them to New York, she’d expected only a few to show up. But within twenty-four hours . . . here they all were. For her.

“You all right?” Jake asked her.

“Yeah.”

He leaned in and whispered, “I see Auntie Joan and the Sisters Grimm with her. She does not look happy. Oooh. And your great-aunt Li-Li with her big, disturbing throat scar that freaks me out. I keep expecting it to start talking to me.”

“Stop.”

“Good luck with that, cuz. Unless, of course, you will need me to protect you from them with my overt manliness?”

Livy snorted and playfully pushed her cousin’s head away.

“You should see your place now, Livy,” Jocelyn told her, offering a bite of the Danish she’d picked up from the spread that Kyle had put out. Yes, Kyle. It seemed that like most torturers, Kyle was also a wonderful host.

Livy waved the pastry away. “Did Melly come with you?”

“Yeah. She’s out in the back, though. On the phone.”

“On the phone with who?” When Jocelyn raised an eyebrow, Livy sighed. “Tell me she’s not on the phone with anyone who has a restraining order on her.”

“Does her ex-boyfriend have a restraining order on her?”

“Several.”

“Oh. Then I can’t tell you that.”

Livy, unwilling to deal with more than one tragedy at a time, focused instead on Kyle. He was talking to her mother, and based on the expression on Joan’s face, he was trying to convince her to pose for him. With as little clothing as possible.

“Coop?” she said, and pointed.

Cooper, busy catching up with Jake, followed where Livy was pointing. His eyes crossed and he promised, “I’ll handle it.”

“Thanks.”

Coop walked over to Kyle and grabbed his brother by the scruff of his T-shirt, dragging him out of the room.

“Don’t give me an answer yet!” Kyle begged Joan. “Think on it! Your beauty must be captured for all time!”

Jocelyn laughed. “I love that kid.”

“You would.”

“Olivia,” her uncle Otto called out. “One of those hockey players you take pictures of is here to see you.”

Livy looked over at the living room archway to see Vic and Shen standing there with large duffel bags and computer cases. She’d guess there was more equipment out in Vic’s SUV.

“I am not,” Vic growled at Otto, “a hockey player.”

“American football then?” Otto asked.

“Uncle Otto,” Livy cut in before Vic could start roaring, “these are my friends Vic and Shen. They’re going to be helping me.”

“Helping you with what, Olivia?” her uncle Balt asked. “You have us here. Now tell us what you need.”

Livy looked at Vic and he motioned to the stairs with a nod of his head. He and Shen headed upstairs to get situated while Livy faced her family.

She walked to the front of the room and looked over all their faces. Livy had silently rehearsed how she planned to discuss this. Starting off by thanking those who’d made the trip before carefully explaining everything she’d learned since she’d discovered her father’s body.

Yet after all that rehearsing what came out was, “My father’s dead.”

The honey badgers stared at her for several long seconds until Jake gently said, “We know, hon. We were at his funeral.”

Livy shook her head. “No. That wasn’t him in the casket. My mother put some other guy in there. Right, Ma?”

All heads turned toward Livy’s mother, and Joan threw up her hands. “Can’t even trust my own daughter to keep her mouth shut!”

“You whore!” Aunt Teddy accused, one finger pointing at Joan. “What did you do to my dear brother?”

“I didn’t do anything to him. I didn’t kill him. I was just sure he was dead.”

“But you couldn’t get his insurance without the body. So who did you kill? One of the many lovers you cheated on my dear brother with? You disgust me,” Teddy sneered.

“I don’t care.”

“Stop it,” Livy calmly cut in, not in the mood to fight or watch others fight. “This isn’t about my mother. This isn’t about insurance. This is about who killed my father.”

“I loved my brother,” Balt said, his eyes sad, “but he probably died in some bar. Or over woman.”

“No,” Livy said. “My father was hunted down. For entertainment. For sport.”

The room became silent as her family tried to understand what she was telling them.

“How do you know this, little Olivia?” Balt asked. “How do you know this is true?”

“Because I found my father’s honey badger form stuffed and on display in a woman’s apartment. My father’s death wasn’t over a woman. It didn’t happen during a bar fight. My father was murdered. Not because he was an asshole—as we all know he was—but because he was a shifter. Because he made good sport. And, as Damon Kowalski’s daughter, I’m not letting that go. I’ll never let that go.”

The family remained silent. There was no rallying cry. Nor was there dismissal of what she’d said. Instead, Livy saw sly glances passed between siblings, cousins, spouses.

Balt studied Livy a moment before he asked, “What do you need from us, Olivia?”

That was simple. “I plan to rain down vengeance on the man who did this to my father and anyone protecting or helping him. And you trifling band of miscreant felons are going to help me.”

Balt slowly stood and stalked over to where Livy was standing. They stared at each other for several seconds before Balt threw open his arms and wrapped them around Livy.

“My little Olivia! You make us all so proud!”

Livy looked over at Jake and Jocelyn, but both quickly turned away before they started laughing hysterically.

“We will make the ones who did this to our brother pay and pay and pay until there is nothing left.” He finally released her from the hug, but he still kept one arm around her as he faced the rest of the family. “Now the world bleeds—”

“Or,” Livy emphatically cut in, “we can just go after the ones who did this. Rather than taking it out on the entire world. That seems excessive.”

“If you’re sure.”

“Yes, Uncle Balt.” She patted his ridiculously broad shoulder. “I’m sure.”

Vic helped Shen plug in all his equipment. They’d found a room in the enormous house with a desk and chair, so they made the executive decision that it would be their office.

When Vic had gone back to his house to pick up his stuff, he’d found Shen still there, watching the History Channel while sitting on Vic’s couch and munching away on long stalks of bamboo.

At first, Vic had been really annoyed. He didn’t want a roommate. He especially didn’t want Shen as a roommate. But as soon as Vic told Shen what Livy had found in Allison Whitlan’s apartment, the giant panda’s whole attitude had changed. Vic didn’t even have to ask Shen for help, Shen just assumed he would be helping. He’d gotten off the couch and packed his equipment. And while packing, he’d asked, several times, how Livy was holding up, true concern in his voice.

That had meant a lot to Vic because Livy meant a lot to him. And getting her through this wouldn’t be easy.

“How tall are you?”

Crouching beside the desk, Vic had to lift his head to see who’d spoken to him. It was Kyle Jean-Louis Parker, which was strange. Why was he here? Weren’t most kids in school?

Deciding it was none of his business—and he didn’t really care one way or the other—Vic went back to his work and replied, “Seven-one.”

“Really?”

Vic realized he was missing one of the cables, and he again raised his head to ask Shen to hand it to him, but he found that Kyle was now leaning over the desk and right next to Vic’s face.

Jerking back, Vic snapped, “What are you doing?”

“You have amazing bone structure. Such dramatic lines. Are you of Slavic descent?”

Vic frowned. “You don’t recognize me, do you, Kyle?”

“Should I?”

“I helped save your brother from a cult last year.”

“Which brother?”

“You’ve had more than one brother kidnapped by a cult?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t really pay attention to what the rest of my siblings do. Their lives bore me.”

Shen, who’d been wiring the other side of the room, suddenly stood so he could get a good look at the person Vic was talking to. And as soon as he saw twelve-year-old Kyle, he widened his eyes at Vic.

“So,” Kyle went on, “have you ever modeled before?”

“No. And I don’t plan to start now.”

“You’d be foolish to throw away this opportunity.”

“What opportunity?”

“To be immortalized by me.”

Vic had no idea how to respond to that. He’d never met a child with so much arrogance.

“You don’t mind being naked, do you?”

“Livy!” Vic yelled out, not willing to continue this conversation. It could only end badly for him. Very, very badly.

“Believe it or not,” Kyle said, “Livy understands me better than most. She’s an artist. At least as much an artist as anyone who uses a camera. But she has an excellent grasp of my sensibilities. My needs. Which is considerably more than the rest of my family understands.”

Kyle’s older brother appeared in the doorway and Vic was so relieved to see the man.

“Did he ask you to pose naked?” Cooper demanded.

“Unlike you,” Kyle sneered, “I’m not constrained by society’s ridiculous norms. Nor have I sold my soul for record deals and an easy career. I believe that challenge is what brings out true artistic genius!”

Cooper stepped up behind his brother, dropping his hands on the boy’s shoulders. “Take your brilliance and wait in your room until Livy is done.”

Turning the boy around, Cooper shoved Kyle, but he missed the open doorway and rammed the boy into the wall next to it.

“Sorry, little brother. Total accident.”

Hands over his nose and mouth, the boy glared at his brother. “Liar,” he snarled before walking out of the room.

Cooper faced Vic. “Sorry about my brother.”

“No problem.”

“You guys here to help Livy?”

“Yeah. Cooper, this is Shen Li.”

“His business partner,” Shen volunteered.

“You are not my business partner.”

“Well, not until the contracts are signed.”

Vic decided not to argue with the man now. It was too much trouble.

Cooper closed the office door and asked, “How’s Livy holding up? Really?”

With a shrug, Vic admitted, “At first, she just took off, and the next thing I know, she’s in jail for hitting a cop.”

Cooper grinned. “You could call that Livy’s five stages of grief. Avoidance, followed by indescribable rage, followed by three more stages of avoidance.”

“Not this time,” Vic replied, grabbing one of the duffel bags and pulling out the needed cables. “Now she’s running right into the fray.”

“Look”—Cooper stepped closer, lowered his voice—“we’ll have to watch out for her. Livy’s family doesn’t always have her best interests at heart. Especially when it comes to getting even with people.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to her.”

The jackal stared up at him. He looked just like Toni—except for the hair. Hers was kind of a wild curly mess, but Cooper’s was just slightly wavy.

“I’m glad she has someone like you watching her back,” Cooper said. “Livy needs that. She can get in over her head sometimes, hurt innocent people while getting out of that trouble, and although she’d never admit it, end up feeling a little guilty about it all.” Cooper opened the door and stepped into the hallway. “And I’m sure none of us wants to deal with a feeling-guilty Livy, now do we?”

Vic stared at the doorway long after Cooper had walked off, until Shen came up beside him and asked, “Problem with the kid?”

“Which one?”

“The one you’re still scowling after.”

“No. No problem.”

“Uh-huh.”

“You think they ever dated?” Vic asked.

“Who?”

“Cooper and Livy? He seems awfully . . . familiar.”

“Doesn’t she consider Toni’s family her family?”

“Yeah. I guess.”

Shen pulled out a short bamboo stalk from his back pocket. “He is good-looking, though,” he said as he chomped. “For a dude. The kind of good-looking that girls like.”

Vic glared at the panda. “You’re just pissed that Kyle didn’t ask you to pose for him.”

“I may not have your cheekbones, but I do have these adorable dimples!”

Livy sat down at the smaller wooden table in the kitchen, right by the window that looked out over the large—for a city—backyard. Melly was still out there and still on the phone.

Her uncle Bart walked in. “Yes,” he said to Livy. “You need to sit. I get us drinks.”

“I don’t need a drink, Uncle Bart.”

“You need drink. We drink in your father’s honor.”

“You know,” Livy had to admit, “his death doesn’t make him less of a bastard.”

Bart chuckled. “Yes. He was that. Just like our father. Another bastard.”

Bart placed two glasses on the table and poured vodka into both. He dropped his substantial bulk into the chair across from Livy. He was not a fat man. Like most honey badgers, his power was in his shoulders and chest. If he were taller, he’d appear less cumbersome, but because of his height, he lumbered when human.

Tapping one knuckle on the table, Bart said, “I know he never say . . . but your father was very proud of you.”

“He thought my being a photographer was stupid.”

“True. You have brains to manage this family. And the ones who manage the family get a cut of the jobs even when they risk nothing. But you, little Olivia, were always . . .”

“Difficult?”

“We are all difficult. We are badger. But you were different. Always went your own way. As a baby, you used to watch everyone. Everything. Even then . . . always plotting.” He chuckled again. “Plotting to get out. Get away. Which is okay.”

“It is?”

“Not everyone can live this life. Not everyone should. Some of us have no choice. This . . . it is all we know. All we want to know. And some of us . . .” He gestured out the window and Livy watched Melly hysterically scream, “Why won’t you love me, you son of a bitch?” into her cell phone. “Some of us have exactly what we deserve.”

“I didn’t get far away, though. I’m right back with all of you.”

“Do not be foolish, girl. You are not back. You will never be back. But we are still family. And when you need us, you call. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Now”—he reached into his jacket and pulled out a pack of cigarettes—“what happened to your father—”

“There’s no smoking in this house, Uncle Bart.”

The cigarette now dangling from his lips, Bart glared at Livy. “A little smoke does not harm us. We are badger.”

“It isn’t about us. No smoking. I also don’t want any snakes in this house, either. Absolutely nothing poisonous, and nothing bigger than a garter snake, for snack purposes only. And only if that garter snake is dead before it hits the front door.”

“But—”

“I’m just borrowing this house from friends. So please don’t ruin their home.”

“Do not worry. We treat this house like we treat your grandma’s house.”

“You only treat Grandma Kowalski’s house well because she’d shoot her own children in the back with her crossbow.”

“Yes. She would. And we still think she’s more tolerant than you, little Olivia.”

Livy snorted at that—since her uncle was right—and reached for the glass of vodka he’d poured for her. She didn’t drink, just held it in her hand.

Her uncle Bart, however, downed his in one gulp, and poured himself another. “Now, this is what we have planned so far . . . me and your uncles, we stay here. So will Jake and Jocelyn, since you like them.”

“Aunt Teddy?”

“She likes Ritz Hotel, so she will stay there.”

“The Ritz is letting her back in?”

“Jake has given her new identity so that will not be problem.”

“Unless the staff remembers her . . . and something tells me they will.”

“Not our problem.”

Livy agreed. It wasn’t as if her aunt didn’t know how to take care of herself.

“You know,” Livy felt the need to point out, “it won’t be easy finding Frankie Whitlan. The BPC, KZS, and The Group have all tried and failed.”

Bart stared at her. “Who?”

“The bears, the cats, and the rest of ’em.”

“Oh, them. That is because they all have their rules. Honey badgers . . . we have no rules. We will find this Whitlan . . . and we will find anyone who helped him.” He finished off another shot of vodka and poured one more. “You do know, little Olivia, that your father never trusted full-humans. Ever.”

“I know.”

“He only met with them face-to-face when one or all of us, his brothers, could go with him. He said full-humans were traitors to their own, so how could they not be traitors to us?”

“He used to tell me that when I was still in the high chair.”

“And he was right, which is why I know truth.”

“Truth? What truth?”

“Shot in drive-by, thrown out window, found castrated behind strip joint . . .” Bart shrugged. “We would bury Damon’s body again and go about our day. But killed like this . . . hunted . . . like this? That would never have happened to your father.”

Livy leaned back in her chair. “What are you saying?”

“I think it was shifter. Shifter lured your father . . . then human killed him.”

“We don’t know that, Uncle Bart. And I don’t want us distracted.”

“Distracted?”

“We are out for Whitlan. And only Whitlan.”

“Someone is hiding him. Helping him.”

“And they’ll suffer. But this isn’t an excuse for the Kowalskis to go on a killing spree. You guys get the information, and we get Whitlan. If, and only if, someone tries to stop us from getting Whitlan, then they pay the price. Understand me?”

Bart smirked, nodded. “Strong-willed. Like your father. You would have made great boss.”

Livy didn’t reply to the compliment. Instead, she looked out the window in time to see Melly screaming, “I will track you down! I will track you down and make you love me!”

“Don’t worry, little Olivia,” Bart said, patting her hand. “I make sure your aunt Teddy takes little Melly with her.”

Livy smiled at her uncle Bart. “Thank you.”