Mixed Feelings (Empathy in the PPNW Book 1) Read online

  “Did you find anything earlier?” Chloe asked Mel.

  He shook his head. “Nope. Gwen’s neighborhood smells like any other.”

  “You sniffed my neighborhood?” I asked. I suddenly wasn’t sure which was weirder: having Mel in my kitchen or knowing that he’d been playing bloodhound.

  Mel caught my eye in the rearview mirror and tapped his nose. “I mean I didn’t sniff out any suspicious human-looking monsters roaming around, aiming to rip you limb from limb. You’ve got a family of werewolves living a few streets over, but I’m sure they’re harmless.”

  “Werewolves? You sniffed my neighborhood and found werewolves?” I swiveled my head, inspecting the houses passing by as we drove. I didn’t really expect to find a banner with, “Werewolves inside! Welcome!” but it seemed suddenly strange that all the houses looked so normal. Mel’s emotions were impossible to miss; how had I not realized an entire family of his kind were so close?

  Mel pressed on, turning to Chloe. “If Merrin has something, will you be joining us in our attempt to thwart another kidnapping?”

  She hesitated for a moment, then gave a slow nod. “You’re the muscle. If you think I’ll be safe, I’ll go with.”

  He was quiet, the silence between them saying something I couldn’t quite decipher. “You’ll be fine. I’m confident whatever this thing is, it won’t be much of a threat.”

  “How do you know?” Chloe asked.

  “It hasn’t killed Gwen and it’s seen her twice now. It looks human and didn’t bother to approach her as something other than what it is, so we know it’s not something that has glamour or the ability to shape-shift.”

  “I take it you don’t mean the magazine,” Chloe said.

  Mel glanced her way and they shared another look that said they both knew something I didn’t. Before I could ask, he caught my gaze in the rearview as if making sure I felt included.

  “Not the magazine. It—certain fae can make you believe you’re seeing something you’re not, or not seeing something you are, as the case may be.”

  “What if he looks not-human, but did this magazine thing and showed up looking like a man, instead?” I asked. “Or is that now how that works?”

  “Point,” Mel said, going quiet for a second. “He could have six eyes and horns normally, but he flashed teeth, right?”

  “I think that’s what it was doing. It looked like a bad TV movie, actually, the way his lips pulled back and he flashed those—well, they weren’t pearly white, but same idea.”

  “Then he probably looks just like what you saw last night. If he was trying to scare you and he could look scarier, he probably would have. If he was just trying to talk, why not hide the teeth?”

  “But what if—“

  “Gwen,” Chloe interrupted, reaching back to pat my knee gently. “If we’re gonna go over absolutely every possibility, we’ll just run out of time. Mel’s just picking the most likely scenario. If he’s wrong, you can punish him later, okay?”

  “You can spank me,” Mel offered, winking. I wrinkled my nose and made a sound of disgust. Mel chuckled.

  “Right. So we’re sticking with assuming it can’t change its appearance, so what does that leave?” Chloe asked. “What do you know of that looks human and would take children with magical abilities?”

  “It’s gotta be something that can crawl inside my head and wreck up the place, too. Amy said something was in my brain when she found me.”

  “Shit, yeah,” Chloe pointed at me over her shoulder. “That, too.”

  “Not many things come to mind,” Mel said thoughtfully. “Succubi look human, werewolves—but Gwen would have recognized that, I’m guessing?”

  “Yep.”

  “Plus, we don’t have any sort of mental powers.” Catching my eye in the mirror , Mel winked. “We’re all physical.”

  “Ugh,” I groaned, again.

  Mel pressed on as if I hadn’t made a sound. “Demons look human, sirens too; it could be a—”

  “Vampire?” I asked.

  “Stop with that,” Mel ordered, instantly agitated.

  “I saw fangs!”

  “That doesn’t mean vampire,” he said, his tone final.

  “You’re sure?” Chloe asked. Mel threw her a hard glare and she held her hands up. “Got it. So we’re looking at a variety of things, but you’re sure you can take down any one of them if we run afoul of it tonight?”

  “I am.” Mel was quiet for a few moments before he said petulantly, “It’s not a vampire.”

  Chloe did her best to hold back a snort.

  ***

  Merrin was standing just inside her open door when we approached. Her gaze went straight to me and I felt distress flap within her like a flag in heavy wind.

  “Hey, Merrin,” I said.

  Before I could continue, Evadne called to us from inside. “She was expecting you, but we must take our leave soon.”

  “We’ll be quick,” Chloe said, stepping in as soon as Merrin moved to let us pass.

  “You have five minutes,” the fairy said briskly. She was dressed this time, sitting on the couch, legs crossed, fingers linked on her knee. I looked her over, probing to get a sense of what she was feeling about the situation, but she only smiled at me. Her eyes met mine and her expression said she could tell what I was trying. “I wouldn’t.”

  “Sorry,” I mumbled.

  Mel shut the door and then turned, his entire stance shifting when he noticed Evadne. He took one step toward her and the fairy’s body language changed. She was no longer concerned with me or my empathy and that was a very bad thing for Mel. Before he could even get a word out, she pointed at him.

  “Halfling, you will not speak unless spoken to.” Her tone was mild but the meaning behind it clearly wasn’t. Mel froze, his eyes going wide as he looked down at himself. His skin seemed to pale and when he breathed out, the air from his lips was foggy.

  Evadne had made her point; Mel said nothing for the rest of the meeting.

  “Merrin, we’re hoping you can tell us some more about—”

  “Who’s your friend?” Stepping close, she tipped her head, gaze on the front of my jacket.

  “You mean Mel?” I asked, pointing. Merrin ignored my question, reaching out to unzip my coat. I looked to Chloe for guidance but she just shrugged. Without asking, Merrin tucked a hand into my inner breast pocket and pulled out a yellow square of paper that I hadn’t known was there. I caught sight of the candy thief’s familiar scrawl, but I couldn’t make out any actual words.

  “Not again,” I moaned. Merrin stared at the paper, read it over without showing it to me, and then turned, walking dreamily over to Evadne. She stood still, her gaze aimless, and said nothing.

  “What’s this, pet?”

  Merrin handed the paper over and Evadne looked at it, her lips curving. The temperature in the room dropped abruptly and I let out a little yelp. Before I could ask what had happened, Evadne threw back her head and laughed. Merrin stayed still, head tilted, staring out the window above the couch, unaffected. Mel inched away, but Chloe stayed where she was, watching with fascination as Evadne chuckled, crumpled up the piece of paper in her hand, and then squeezed her fist around it. Like magic—or maybe, not just like magic—her fingers uncurled to reveal that the paper had disappeared.

  “It seems you are in a predicament,” she said, pushing to her feet. “We will help, free of charge this time. You seek foresight, yes?” Evadne was focused directly on me, so I gave a minute nod. I had no idea what had changed the game, but her sudden cooperation made me nervous.

  “Yeah, we’re hoping to find out where else our bad guy is going to strike.” An idea occurred to me and I decided to go for it. “Do you know what’s been kidnapping children? Do you know how to stop it?”

  “Not my place,” Evadne sighed, disinterested in the question, as her gaze dropped to Merrin. “Pet, are you able to see the answer to their query? I’ll give you a treat.”

  “I like tr
eats,” Merrin said, her eyes rolling upward until she was staring at the ceiling. Her hands lifted, her fingers wiggling gracefully in the air like a hula dancer miming waves. She turned her face to me, but her gaze remained upward. “The maiden will leave you at the tea party. Be careful of the bugs.”

  “Is… Are we going to—”

  “Don’t mind that,” Evadne said, running her hand gently over Merrin’s long red hair. “Pet, concentrate. What do you see in the here and soon?”

  “I can.” Merrin gave a small nod, turned her hands upward and put them together, cupping them like she’d scoop water to her lips. “You must save a little boy. Car. Red sedan. He’s in the back seat when the woman grabs him. There’s another. He is quite well. Don’t look into the woman’s eyes.”

  Merrin went quiet, reaching up to put her hand over her eyes. She stayed still for a few moments as we all watched her. When she finally dropped her hand, she looked directly at me, realization leaking in. I felt a tinge of confusion in her.

  “Gwen, are you looking for the demon?”

  “Demon?” I cried. “There’s a demon?”

  “She’s ugly, though you will not see her real face. I can get you to her.” Merrin’s voice went lyrical as she crossed the room toward the tiny kitchen. “She comes soon.”

  “How soon?”

  Merrin didn’t answer me, just took a pen and a notepad from off the bar between the kitchen and the living area and started writing.

  “We really appreciate this,” Chloe said. I turned to find her looking directly at Evadne. “I can’t say how much.”

  Evadne tipped her head at Chloe.

  “Of course.”

  “Here you go,” Merrin said, handing me the slip of paper. “You’ll find them there. I’d like my treat now.”

  “Of course, pet.” Evadne didn’t bother with politeness, just moved to wrap her arm around Merrin and lead her toward the bedroom. “Your five minutes are up. See yourselves out.”

  ***

  It felt wrong to spend the rest of my day as we would any other, but we didn’t really have any other options. We didn’t know enough about this creature to seek it out before it struck again—which wouldn’t be until the next day—and we had no other leads. So Chloe and I went into the office as we normally would and I saw the clients I counseled every Friday afternoon. We figured Blondie wouldn’t attack me with so many people around, so Mel headed up to his office to get some work of his own done.

  The day passed slowly, ending after my last client at six. Chloe had gone downstairs and grabbed us lunch from The Internets earlier, but I still hadn’t eaten for several hours. My stomach was definitely letting me know how it felt about that.

  “What are we getting for dinner?” I asked as Chloe turned off the last of the lights and pulled her jacket off the hook.

  “You and Mel? I have no idea. I have some things to take care of, though.”

  “Like what?”

  “Unlike you, I have an actual life. Besides, we can’t do much of anything right now, can we? We’ve got no leads except Merrin’s note and that says we don’t have to be in Everett to stop a kidnapping until tomorrow.” She patted my shoulder and ushered me through the door. “You’ll be fine. Make him buy you dinner.”

  “Then he’ll think it’s a date.”

  “So starve.” She locked the door, hooked her arm around mine, and led us down the stairwell to the first floor. Mel was waiting there, leaning against the wall across from the windows to The Internets. With his leather jacket and perfectly coiffed hair, he looked like he’d strolled off the set of Grease. Chloe swung around in front of me, grabbing my hand and folding a square of paper into it.

  “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!” Without giving me a chance for a snappy comeback, she headed out the side door. I watched her go and sighed after her, annoyed that she’d just leave me in such a situation. Forget the missing kids and mistaken identity; now I was expected to spend an entire evening—and night—alone with Mel? It was too early to avoid him by going to bed like I’d done the night before and I was too hungry to take that road anyway. As well as we’d been getting along, as decent as he’d been, I was no longer in the mood to ignore a whole year of experience telling me that Mel was Mel and that it wouldn’t last.

  “What’s that?” Mel asked, stepping uncomfortably close. I lifted my hand, finding that Chloe had pressed a hundred-dollar bill into my palm.

  “Cash.”

  “I think Chloe means for you to pay me for sex.”

  “What if she’s paying me for sex?”

  “Then I’ll pay you to watch.”

  “Because you figure she’s better than you are at pleasing a woman and you want tips?”

  “Exactly. I can videotape the whole thing and watch it later for research.”

  “Research, my ass—no!” I hopped back, knowing in an instant I’d said exactly the wrong thing. “Don’t even think about it!”

  Mel laughed and gestured toward the front door. “Come on. You’re probably hungry.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “You’re always hungry.”

  “Ah,” I said, falling into step with him. “That.”

  Chapter Twelve

  “I am beginning to think you’re kidnapping me for my kidneys.”

  “Nonsense. I can kill a deer if I’m craving organ meat.”

  I made a vomiting sound, which wasn’t uncommon around Mel. Sometimes it just comes out at the sight of him. We’d been on the road for a while and the small talk had veered away from the supernatural problems we shared; you can only say so many ways that you have no new ideas or suggestions.

  Mel was horrified by my lack of musical obsession and I was a little sad that he seemed mostly unaware of the internet. We learned we had practically no interests in common, except that we both loved pizza.

  “Seriously, this is ridiculous. There hasn’t been a house or driveway for—oh, speak of the devil.”

  Mel slowed and the headlights of his car lit up a loose collection of gravel that could have been considered a driveway if you were feeling generous. As the car turned off the paved road onto the death trap, I noticed a dilapidated sign that threatened trespassers with death.

  I shifted in my seat, suddenly wondering if I should rip Merrin’s necklace off Mel to see what his emotions were saying and if they would tell a different story than this horror movie cliché into which I was being driven.

  “Mel?”

  “One sec,” he said, pulling over and fiddling with something on the driver’s side door. As the car slowed, out of line of sight from the main road, I considered my options. The smart money was on trusting that I’d known Mel for over a year and he’d never shown signs of wanting to hurt anyone. Besides, despite irritatingly bragging about being a massive slut, he’d never lit up my lizard brain with feelings of, “Danger! Danger!”

  After a moment, the car began to move again, turning onto the path. Within seconds, our ride changed dramatically. We’d transitioned onto another well-paved road far enough back from the main road that it wouldn’t be seen.

  “We’re not going to a restaurant, are we?” I asked. Mel grinned at me and it was shark-like, all big teeth and taut lips. Sighing, I crossed my arms over my chest.

  “Hey, if you were really bothered, you’d’ve asked more questions. You’re just hungry and clearly you trust my superior pizza instincts.”

  “We’ll see how superior your instincts are,” I said, instantly annoyed that he had a point. I hadn’t asked any questions because once it was clear food was imminent, I’d gone mostly on autopilot. But we were far enough away from my car and civilization that I was effectively trapped unless I wanted to spend a fortune on a taxi.

  I considered the money Chloe had given me and it bolstered my mood slightly. If something really went wrong—for instance, if Mel tried to feed me something healthy—I had my escape. The road curved and then the forest opened up on a small home that looked m
uch too modern for its location. Mel pulled in under a high awning and lights burst to life as we came to a stop. Turning off the car, he angled himself to give me an excited look. Whatever we were in for, he was pretty happy about it.

  “Come on!” Without waiting for me, he climbed out of the car, strutting up a stone walkway along the side of the house. I sat in the quiet car, staring at his closed door and wondering if I wanted to go inside and see what he had planned.

  With a shrug, I mumbled, “What the hell,” and followed Mel. I saw light come through an open doorway and I followed it, noting that the recent snow was still clumped around the grounds.

  I have no idea if I had any preconceived notions about what I’d find when entering Mel’s home but if I did, they were probably similar to what I saw when I got there.

  The interior was a lot of deep colors, red woods, granite countertops. A state-of-the-art entertainment and sound system made the living room look high-tech, while a closed laptop sat alone on a desk in an alcove to the right. The kitchen was huge and looked professional-grade. From the layout of the place, it seemed the door we’d come through was meant to be at the back of the house. Between me and an ornate glass and wood front door were the impressive kitchen and heavily furnished living room.

  As I shut the door—and my dropped jaw—I noticed Mel had already gotten to work in the kitchen. He was laying opaque glass dishes on the gigantic black granite island, leaving the refrigerator door open as he bustled around. An incredible brick oven had been built into the left wall just past the stove and fridge; its metal doors were open, revealing a low flame. Wood was stacked in the storage alcove underneath and Mel pulled out three more logs and set to building the flame in the oven.

  “Whoa,” was all I could say.

  “Best pizza you’ve ever had. Take a seat.” Throwing a look back at me, he gestured with his elbow toward the living room. “Or put on music if you think you can figure out what that is.”

  “I don’t know if I want to risk it. You’ve probably got Barry White queued up to lull a woman’s underpants right off.”