Crowbones

CHAPTER 46

Ilya

Watersday, Novembros 3

Why these four youngsters? Why send them here? Why now? How does their presence connect with a being the Elders around Lake Silence refer to as a Hunter?

Thoughts about the fosterlings in his care kept circling as Ilya helped Victoria unpack the shopping bags and box that Coyote and Bobcat had brought up to the house.

“Not even one eyeball?” Jozi said plaintively. “The dead human doesn’t need it.”

“Couldn’t have any of the meat either,” Coyote growled. “Grimshaw Chief traded bags of food for the meat. Does he always trade food for dead meat?” This was spoken on a hopeful note.

Ilya ignored the question, not wanting to encourage the idea of terra indigene dragging dead humans to the police station with the expectation of receiving a bag of groceries. Taking recently dead from the funeral home to trade for other kinds of food would be just as upsetting to Sproing’s residents as having someone deliver freshly dead to the police—especially if there had been some nibbling before delivery.

“Dead human doesn’t taste as good as rabbit or vole,” Bobcat said. “But they are easier to catch.”

Seeing the way Victoria’s hands trembled and hearing the change in her breathing, Ilya said,

The three shifters looked abashed to have forgotten that Victoria was the same species as the meat under discussion.

“What are those?” Kira asked.

Ilya had the impression the girl would have stood closer to Victoria and asked more questions if he hadn’t been in the kitchen with them. With him present, she was trying to balance curiosity with respectful distance from the human to avoid instinctively shifting a hand to partial smoke and doing some unintentional feeding.

If he hadn’t been there, would the feeding have been unintentional? Was there something calculated about her interactions with Victoria—and with him—or was he forgetting how females that age presented themselves? Was there something about Kira that pricked at his predatory instincts, or was he reacting to the uneasiness about the girl felt by the Sterns? Or was he suspicious and on edge about everything because of the pressure to find answers and end the contamination that had brought a Hunter into his territory?

Victoria held out the container from the diner. “These are deep-fried potato sticks. They’re usually served hot, or at least warm, and you can dip them in ketchup or some other condiment.”

After Kira took two potato sticks, Victoria offered the food to the shifters in the kitchen, who followed Kira’s example and took two sticks. Ilya shook his head when Victoria offered the . . . food . . . to him, but he felt some relief when she ate a couple of pieces before setting the container on the table.

“They are . . . interesting,” Kira said.

Victoria smiled. “I don’t think they’ll be a mainstay of the Sanguinati diet, but humans like to eat them with hamburgers or sandwiches. Helen makes the best potato sticks, and Ineke makes these deep-fried potato rounds that taste amazing.”

“Don’t need that,” Bobcat said, pointing to a bottle of wine. “We just eat the buzzy grapes.”

Victoria frowned. “Buzzy grapes?”

“Naturally fermented grapes,” Ilya explained.

“So you get buzzed on fermented fruit?” she asked.

Coyote, Bobcat, and Crow smiled at her.

“Our buzzy fruit ends up in a bottle.”

The three shifters exchanged a look. Then Bobcat nudged the wine bottle closer to Victoria and said, “You should have the buzzy.”

“Thank you.” Victoria set the wine bottle in front of her.

While everyone else had been distracted—or were doing their best to distract Victoria from the humans’ upsetting behavior—Ilya efficiently divided the sandwiches and other foods that he thought the shifters would actually eat. He set the raw carrot sticks aside and looked at Coyote, who returned his look and nodded to acknowledge that he knew which residents in The Jumble should be offered that treat.

Not knowing what Victoria might have available to eat—and he would ask Dr. Wallace what a human who had had a bad shock should be fed—he kept one of the sandwiches, intending to slip up to Victoria’s apartment and place it in her small fridge. Now that she had regular guests spending time at The Jumble, she had purchased a few kitchen appliances for her apartment so that she could eat a solitary meal whenever she needed some peace.

Having four fosterlings in his care, he realized he hadn’t appreciated the solitude and peace of Silence Lodge enough when he’d had it.

Coyote and Bobcat headed out with their bags of food, Kira wandered off to join Viktor and Karol in the library, and Jozi let out a big sigh before leaving to find Aggie and Eddie. Maybe she realized that Grimshaw had done them all a favor by protecting the dead body. Three Crows plus two eyeballs equaled a squabble. Better for all of them to avoid more excitement tonight.

“If you would like to go up to your apartment and rest, Mr. Farrow and I can look after things,” Ilya said. He preferred to have her out of the way by the time Grimshaw returned and began questioning the humans to find out who had told Lynchfield about the private showing of books.

Victoria shook her head. “My place, my guests.”

But that was the answer he expected.

He turned toward the front of the house. “Chief Grimshaw, Dr. Wallace, and the EMTs are here.” He glanced at the six-pack of beer that was still on the table unclaimed. “You should put those in the refrigerator for the EMTs.”

Victoria sighed. “I liked them. The Five. I don’t want to know what they did to the man who tried to take their picture.”

He heard the plea in her voice. Because of the position she held as the bridge between terra indigene settlement and human village, it was better for all of them if Victoria didn’t know some things about the beings she dealt with.

“You don’t have to know,” Ilya soothed. “I’ll make sure of it.”

Ilya?>

She hesitated.