Page 16 of The Mermaid’s Bubble Lounge (Sam Quinn #8)

SIXTEEN

Don’t Mess with My Dog

A chill ran down my spine. I breathed in deeply, a fake smile on my face. “He’s just protective.” Whatever this was, the scent was all wrong. It was neither human nor vampire. He’s here and he’s glamoured himself to look like you.

He beckoned us forward. “He probably smells the dog treats I keep in my stand. Come around back and I’ll get him one.”

Fergus backed up until his quivering butt was touching my legs. He didn’t want me going to the Clive look-alike. I patted his flank. We were on the same page.

“No thank you.”

The fake Clive was suddenly in front of me, his hand clamping Fergus’ snout closed like a muzzle. He leaned in, leering, and then his nose scrunched up in distaste. “What have you been—”

My claws slid through the wrist of the hand holding my dog. Fergus yelped and shook off the severed hand still wrapped around his nose. The killer’s eyes went wide and then swirled in black and gold. Fae.

Staring at his forehead to avoid being mesmerized, I reached for my axe.

His stump went for my arm before he remembered he had lost his hand.

While he worked through his new reality, I plunged my claws into his chest. He leapt back instantly, his head turning toward where I felt Clive approaching.

Snarling at me, he spun and raced down the pier.

The real Clive ripped the axe out of my hand and gave chase. I dropped to my knees to check on Fergus. While I held him, I scanned the wooden planks we were on, looking for the severed hand. It wasn’t here. Perhaps it had just appeared in Faerie.

When I tried to touch Fergus’ snout, he whined and pulled his head away. “I’m sorry, little man. I’m so sorry he hurt you.” He leaned into me, his body quivering. I scratched behind his ears. “You were so brave, trying to protect me.”

He sat, and I rubbed my hands up and down his sides until the shaking subsided. I felt Clive moving up behind me and then my axe was being returned to its sheath.

“I lost him.” He rested his left hand on Fergus’ head. The pup flinched, sniffed his hand, and then leaned in to Clive’s touch.

I felt Clive’s hurt, that his own dog had been taught not to trust him. I pulled Clive down where Fergus could sniff his face and hair and then I reached for the right hand he was holding behind his back.

“It’s nothing. You know I heal quickly.”

I sighed. He was right, but I hated that he was in pain and hiding it. My axe was fae made and vampires couldn’t touch fae metal. It burned their skin.

“What happened?” Benvair’s voice made me jump. Dragons were every bit as quiet as vampires.

Clive and I stood and walked to Benvair and Alec, who waited on the sidewalk. I explained what had happened and Alec went to the churros stand, sniffing around the back.

He came back a moment later, shaking his head. “I don’t smell anything recent, just the humans who work here or visited, and some mice.”

I kept a hand on Fergus’s shoulder as he leaned into me. “Can he mimic scents the way he mimics faces? Is that why we aren’t finding him?”

Benvair and Alec’s gaze cut to the side. She patted her grandson’s arm, but she was staring into my eyes. “I’ll check. Perhaps I’ll find a familiar scent.” The lightness of her voice didn’t match the severity of her stare.

When I started to turn to see where Benvair was going, Alec grabbed my hand and kept me where I was. Clive stilled, but neither of us turned. There was something behind us.

“I’m sorry you missed dinner tonight,” Alec said to Clive, though he seemed to be focused over Clive’s shoulder.

“Yes,” I said, not wanting Clive to speak. “I was sorry about that as well. It was a lovely dinner.” If he hasn’t heard your voice yet, he won’t be able to mimic it.

I understand.

“Perhaps another time,” I said to Alec. “Our friends made lasagna, asparagus, and garlic bread. It was all delicious.” If this thing was human, he’d know something was up because this conversation was so blandly stilted, it was painful. “Our friend here also made us dessert, which was amazing.”

Alec’s gaze returned to me for a moment, one side of his mouth kicking up.

He understood I didn’t want to use his name if we were being overheard.

He lifted his head and inhaled deeply and then, staring over our shoulders, shook his head.

“Next time you’ll have to tell me what your favorite dessert is so I can make it for you. ”

A ball of fire erupted behind us. Before I could react, Clive had Fergus and me across the street, away from the weak glow from a distant streetlight. We watched the pier where we’d been standing. A few minutes later, Alec and Benvair crossed the street to us.

Voice so low, even I had trouble hearing, Alec said, “He can mimic animal shapes as well. There was a cat slinking up the side of the pier building. It ignored a rat that ran right past it.”

“Yes,” Benvair said. “That’s what caught my attention as well. I feigned interest in the food stand so I could get closer to him. He didn’t smell like a cat.” She thought a moment. “More like a rat, actually, though it was quite faint.”

“Wait,” I interrupted. “When Fergus was pulling me toward the stand, a rat ran past us and Fergus didn’t even turn his head. Maybe he was slinking around, looking for his next victim as a rat and when Fergus and I showed up, he turned himself into one of the last people he’d studied: Clive.”

“I was, perhaps, thirty feet from him,” Benvair said, “when he turned to watch me. As I didn’t want a killer wandering around town with my face, I burned him,” she said.

“Unfortunately, though, I didn’t kill him.

He ran, his body scorched. He was fluctuating between shapes and then he just disappeared.

I hurt him—I know that—but I didn’t kill him. ”

“Better than I did,” Clive grumbled. “I chased him but, as with you, he disappeared.”

“The cat,” I murmured.

Clive nodded. “Yes. I just realized that as well. When I went on the roof of The Bubble Lounge, I saw a small cat hiding behind the air conditioning unit. He was up there, watching us last night.”

“If he can appear to be anyone or anything, how will we ever catch him?” It felt like we were farther from an answer than when we started.

“We can’t sniff the entire city until we find a cat or maybe a rat or—Oh.

That’s how he disappeared. He probably shifted into a cockroach or something and dropped between the wooden planks of the pier. ”

Clive rubbed a hand up and down my arm. “We’ll figure it out.”

“We’re going to go home now,” Benvair said. “If you think of a way we can help, let us know. I, too, will put out feelers. Someone has to know what it is and how to kill it.”

“He’s fae. His eyes swirled black and gold when he was trying to mesmer—wait,” I said, grabbing Clive’s arm. “Blood. Did you see blood on him? I cut off one of his hands and buried my claws in his chest.”

Clive lifted my hand to study it. The claws were gone, but I still had some blood under my fingernails. “We need to preserve this. Dave may be able to find him through the blood.”

I glanced down at Fergus. “I was so worried about him being hurt or my needing to comfort him, I was petting him and probably rubbed off the blood on my hands. Stupid.”

Clive kissed my forehead. “Stop. One thing you are not is stupid.”

“But the blood, the injury.” I glanced between Benvair and Alec. “You both scented him. Did you smell blood?”

They both shook their heads. “And the cat wasn’t missing a paw,” Benvair informed us.

I blew out a breath. “So, he heals when he shifts? Shit.”

“But,” Alec said, “you cut off his hand and made him bleed. If he bleeds, he can be killed.”

“Indeed,” Clive agreed. He turned to me. “Where did you park?”

“Stheno’s place.”

Clive took the leash from me. “I’ll drive you home. Try not to touch anything. We’ll call Dave in the car.” He turned to Benvair and Alec. “Thank you for coming out tonight. We’ll keep you informed. And Alec, you’re looking quite hale. It’s good to see.”

Alec tipped his head to Clive and then he and his grandmother walked in the opposite direction, back to their own car.

We started to walk, Fergus’ leash in Clive’s left hand.

“Can I see?”

He knew what I wanted, so he lifted his right hand. It was still red, with small sections of skin missing. “By the time we get home, it’ll be back to normal. Not to worry, love.”

“My neck is just sitting over here, doing nothing.”

The look he gave me made my knees weak. He leaned in, brushed his nose against my temple, breathing me in, and then kissed my neck. When his fangs slid in, my eyelids drifted closed. Each draw inflamed my body. When I felt his tongue, I knew he was closing the bite wound.

“Thank you, darling.”

I reached for his hand. The redness was mostly gone. Only the spots where new skin was coming in still looked tender.

He held my hand and pulled me along. “I’m fine and I don’t like leaving you here exposed longer than necessary. You hurt him. You and Benvair are the only ones who have accomplished that. I want you out of this area.”

We jogged back, made it to the car quickly, and then Clive tapped the in-dash screen to call Dave.

“What?” Dave sounded especially snarly, which made sense. We’d probably woken him up. He got up early now to bake.

“Sorry if I woke you,” Clive responded.

There was pause and then Dave asked, “Why are you calling me on Sam’s phone? Where is she?”

“Here with me,” Clive told him.

I leaned forward. No idea why. “Hi, Dave. My phone is the one paired with this car.”

“Okay,” he grumbled.

Who knew Dave didn’t trust Clive? That was a new one. “Remember that thing killing people we talked about?”

“Yeah.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s fae. He has the swirling eyes they do, and he can shift between people and animals.”

“Sam stabbed him, so she has some of his blood under her nails,” Clive informed him. “We’re hoping you can use that blood to track him.”

We heard grumbling and the sound of movement before the call clicked off.

“I assume that means he’s coming.” I held my hands fingers up in my lap as Clive drove us home. “We need to make sure it’s Dave before we open the door to him.”

“I was thinking the same,” Clive said. “We’ll need to impose security questions on our friends.”

I thought about it a moment. “We need to text them the question when they’re at the door. We don’t want them giving out private info when a grasshopper could be overhearing. Which reminds me.” I lifted my right hand and spoke into the queen’s ring on my pinky.

“Hello. It’s me. Sam. We’re having a problem.

There’s a person here who is killing innocents.

He’s doing it in a way that looks like a vampire, but he’s not one.

He has swirly fae eyes—black and gold—and he can shape-shift into people he sees or into animals.

We don’t know what he is or how to stop him.

Any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated.

” I dropped my hand and then quickly lifted it again. “Thank you. Over and out.”

Clive shook his head on a grin.