Frostbound

Chapter 25

“Detective Baines,” she said, her voice tight.

“Talia Rostova,” he returned. The detective looked tired and cold, but there was triumph in his expression. “I was looking for Lore in hopes that he could tell me where you were. This is even better.”

He’s going to try to arrest me for murder. How do I play this?

Mina gave a low growl and blocked him from moving a step farther into the kitchen. Baines pulled his police ID out of his coat pocket, holding it in plain view. “This is police business. I suggest you stand aside.”

“This is my home. No place for humans.”

The old woman’s vehemence warmed Talia’s heart, even if it was for Lore’s sake.

“Then perhaps Ms. Rostova would like to come with me onto neutral ground, like down to the station.”

“Talia is our Madhyor’s guest. I look after her. You not taking her.”

It didn’t take a genius to see that this wasn’t going to end well. She wasn’t going to accept Lore’s protection if that meant getting the pack grannies arrested. “Osan Mina,” Talia interrupted. “It’s all right.”

Mina gave the detective a look that should have flayed the skin from his flesh, but she stood to one side. “I get Lore.”

Talia gripped the back of the kitchen chair. “That would be a good idea.”

Pulling herself to her full height, Mina strode out in a swirl of skirts. When the front door slammed, Talia felt the tension in the room spike. She was alone with the cop, and he smelled warmly human. Hunger began to toy with her self-control, a cat flicking at its feathery dinner.

Baines pulled out one of the kitchen chairs and sat down. The gesture reminded Talia of her father carrying the chairs of his wife and then his daughter to the oblivion of the garage. The table was the battleground for who had the right to eat, much like a lion’s pride crowding in for a share of the kill.

There was no issue of permission as far as Baines was concerned. He apparently took whatever chair he liked. In his own way, he was an Alpha, too.

“Sit down,” he said, meeting Talia’s eyes for a microsecond before they slid away. Despite his confident pose, he was wary of her vampire abilities. She was too new to be expert at hypnosis, but he couldn’t know that.

Talia sat. She was stronger and faster, but she still had butterflies. Baines’s confidence was a weapon all its own. The one thing that comforted her was the conversation she’d overheard when they’d taken away Michelle’s body. Baines had been more open-minded than the others.

“It was brave of you to come into Spookytown alone,” she said.

“How do you know that I don’t have backup?” As if to even the score, he took out his firearm and placed it on the table, his hand resting on the silver-plated grips. Silver to indicate it had vamp-killer bullets.

“An educated guess. It’s too cold to leave someone standing outside, and I doubt too many humans would like to stand on the street in the dark in the middle of monster territory. Not unless they had a SWAT team handy.”

He made a good imitation of a chuckle. “You’re a smart woman.”

“It’s just logic. What do you want?”

“I thought if I could get you alone, you might talk to me.”

“Isn’t that a bit naive?”

“That depends on whether or not you answer my questions.” He leaned back in the chair, completely casual except for the weapon. “That’s all I want for now.”

“Do I get a lawyer?”

“No. The law hasn’t gone that far for nonhumans. At least, not yet. Did you kill your cousin?”

She’d seen the question coming, but hadn’t expected it so soon. “No.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“There’s evidence that the timeline doesn’t work. I got home too late.”

“What evidence?”

“Perry Baker has it.” Talia suddenly realized it was an illegal surveillance tape. She could be getting Perry into trouble. The worst part was that Perry might never wake up to care.

“Baker’s in the hospital unconscious and flirting with organ failure. Where is this evidence? What is it?”

Talia shook her head. “If I tell you, you’ll send your men to find it. I know what they think of nonhumans. They’d like to shoot us on sight. Do you think I’m going to turn my safety over to their goodwill and professionalism?”

Baines gave her a long look. His heart rate was quick, but steady. Alert, but not afraid.

Talia picked up the teapot. “Thirsty?”

“No, thank you.”

She warmed up her own tea. Not that she wanted it, but she was determined to look as cool and collected as the detective.

Baines cleared his throat. “You’re looking for guarantees.”

“I’m looking for fair play.” Talia’s mind felt clear, almost detached. It was the zone she fell into when trying to make a difficult shot, or to teach a class a difficult concept. She could see everything, action and reaction, how each choice would change the pattern of what came next.

Baines watched her, not moving. “What does fair play look like to you?”

“If you agree to my terms, I’ll do my best to give you the evidence so that your department can forget about me and move on to finding the real killer. If you don’t want to play ball, leave here now, but you leave alone. If you try to take me with you, you won’t make it out alive. I don’t want to sound ruthless, but you’ve backed me into a corner.”

“Who is the real killer?”

“Belenos, King of the East.”

“Your old sire?”

“There’s good circumstantial evidence.” Perry had found surveillance tape with Belenos on it, and it had been at the university. If the tape with her arrival back at the condo was in the same place, everything she wanted was in his office at the U.

“What’s Belenos doing here?” Baines asked. “Is he nuts? This is Omara’s territory.”

“He is frigging crazy,” Talia agreed.

“What’s between you two, anyway?”

Talia looked down at her hands, picking at her chipped nail polish. Memories felt like heartburn, hot and bitter.

“About a year after I was Turned, Belenos came out here on some harebrained scheme. Omara took Belenos captive for a few months. The high-level vamps are always fighting, but he must have really ticked her off because she played with him in a bad way. When he came back he was crazier than ever. She’d broken his body, but she’d done something to his mind, too.”

Talia took a breath, trying to steady her stomach. “He slaughtered half his court the day after his return.”

She closed her eyes, replaying the scene in her head. “His house has this white stone floor. The blood soaked in. Apparently it takes some kind of super-industrial cleaner to get it out, but he won’t let anyone do it. He likes to walk on the stains where he tore their heads right off their bodies and the blood sprayed all over his feet. And over the rest of us who were still standing there, waiting to be next. Anyone who tried to run was next.”

Her body remembered the moment just as well as her brain, and nausea rose in a sweaty tide.

“What set him off?”

“It hurts him that he’s not beautiful anymore. He thought we were mocking him.”

“Were you?”

She gave a single, low bark of laughter. “No way. We were terrified. The only good part is that there weren’t enough guards left to cover all the exits from Belenos’s house of horrors. That gave me an opening to beat feet. I bolted and never looked back.” With a suitcase full of cash.

Baines was chewing his lip. Humans never understood that monsters were people, but also monsters. They were misunderstood, just not in the way the dogooders thought.

Talia cleared her throat. “Now, do you want the evidence or not?”

He paled a degree. “I go with you. Otherwise it will be useless in court.”

“Agreed.”

“Am I safe?”

She looked pointedly at his gun. “As long as I am.”

There was every chance Baines could turn on her. He might even have a whole detachment waiting just outside the Spookytown border. She couldn’t know—but this was the best shot she had of getting justice for Michelle and freedom for herself. If she could help nail Belenos’s ass to the wall, so much the better. Humans might be useless against necromancy, but they had the weight of law and bureaucracy on their side. That had its own kind of relentless horror.

Baines nodded. “When we’re done, we’ll talk about that guy who jumped through the wall.”

Talia felt a pang, but if this was her night to set things straight, she couldn’t falter. It would break her heart, but she knew she’d have to make Max accountable for what he’d done. He was human. Baines was the human police. “I’ll tell you what I can. In a place of my choosing.”

The moment she said it, she felt like she was going to throw up.

“Are you all right?” he asked, real concern in his voice.

“Let’s just go before Lore gets back.” She cast another glance at the gun.

If things went south, she didn’t want him in the way.

This was her risk to take. He had a pack that needed him.