Page 9 of Woodland Web

She grimaced. “Delightful. All right, call me for whatever assistance you need.” She glanced at me. “I should temporarily deputize one of you, so I can assign officers to help you if need be.”

I shook my head. “Nope, don’t pick me, please. If I get a sudden migraine and have to duck out, you want somebody here who can still run the show.”

“Hank,” Tad said. “Deputize Hank.”

Hank rolled his eyes. He liked being classified and labeled as much as he liked tech that was twenty years out of date. But he just cleared his throat and nodded. “I’ll do it.”

“All right. That will give my men someone to answer to. I’ll put Tyson and Cece on call. They’re both good at keeping their mouths shut, and they’re seasoned. Cece can take the lead. She’s led a number of investigations. I’ll tell them it’s on an NDA unless I give the go-ahead.” She stared at the pictures we had dug up. “That’s one nasty-looking beast.”

“I’m not even sure what its vulnerabilities are. I’m supposed to meet Briar on Sunday. If we haven’t caught this thing by then—I’ll press him for more information, as long as it doesn’t create another deal. With the ERS, this, and the Crow Man, I feel like my life isn’t my own anymore. At least the shadow man’s off my back now.”

“That was hard enough,” Tad said. “All right, let’s get back to work. See if you can find any references to what it might be vulnerable to—fire, maybe? Water? Anything that might give us a leg up on the critter.”

With that, Millie said her goodbyes and left. I slid right back into work mode and, after changing my password on my work computer—we changed them every few months and Tad had a database of new and old passwords—I brought up a screen and dove into what I could find out about the sluagh. But in the back of my mind, I was thinking about what was at stake, and why we had to keep this quiet. I hated keeping things from my grandmother, but this time, it was necessary. The question was: could we discover this creature, take it down, and fulfill my favor to Briar without her finding out?

CHAPTER FIVE

“Here it is!” I jumped up, pointing to my screen. I’d been searching for about two hours and had finally found a reference to someone in 1871 who had managed to kill one of the sluagh.

The sluagh attacked a farmer who happened to have an iron pitchfork with him. He managed to stab it, and not only did he pierce it in the center, between the eye and the legs, but the iron sizzled as it touched the sluagh and burned it so badly, he was able to kill it. The farmer hurried to the doctor, then, after getting his wounds tended, he took a group of friends out there to collect the body, and to figure out what it was, but by then the creature turned into a mass of goo and soaked into the ground. While they found sludge where it had fallen, there was nothing to prove the farmer had actually fought what he said he did.

“So iron will burn it, which is typically anathema against the Fae. And it can be damaged with a regular weapon, since the pitchfork apparently wounded it.” Tad jotted down a few notes. “You said that Briar wants this creature dead?”

I nodded. “As a doornail. He specifically instructed me to destroy it. In other words, I’m charged with getting rid of the evidence.” I frowned. “As to finding out where it is, we at least have some place to start, given the attacks happened in Devil’s Gulch.”

Hank nodded. “I can help there,” he said. “I’ve got a number of friends who hang out on the…shadow side…of the world. There are two of them here in town. They keep track of things that might escape the police’s notice. Some beefs and disagreements run below the surface and are better kept out of the light. They might know if something’s hanging out in the Gulch.”

“Speaking of shadows, I wonder if Val Slater might know anything about this. He’s almost always got his finger on the pulse of the town.”

It had been a while since I’d talked to Val. He had stuck to his promise to leave Killian and me alone. The godfather of vampires, at least in this area, Val had developed an oddball crush on me early on when I returned to Moonshadow Bay, and he had taken delight in needling Killian.

After I confronted him, he backed off, and I had to say, he’d been good to his word about it. But Val had another side. He quietly and unobtrusively shored up several charities, and he had sunk a lot of money into helping the disadvantaged in town. Val was also known for having his finger on the pulse of what Hank had called the “underground” and if anybody knew the whereabouts of the sluagh, it would likely be Val.

I put in a call to Val’s assistant. Daniel Ashante spoke for Val during the day, as well as acting as his personal secretary. I’d never call him a friend, but he was definitely an acquaintance, given the years we’d known each other.

“Daniel, this is January Jaxson. I need to talk to Val about something. Can you have him call me tonight? I’ll be home all evening.”

“Will do. Val will be glad to hear from you,” he added. “Is your number the same?”

“Yeah, it is.” I thanked him and hung up. “Well, I think I’m going to go home and rest a bit. I don’t have a migraine, but I don’t want to aggravate the ERS by working too hard at first. But it sure feels good to be back,” I added.

“It’s good to have you back,” Tad said. “We’ve missed you. You belong here, January, even if you are writing a book.”

I nodded. “I think working with all of you is going to help make that book actually happen. I’m not that good at being my own boss,” I added, grinning. “Not everybody’s cut out for the nine-to-five, but it helps me focus. Okay, I’ll see you Monday!” And with that, I transferred the research I’d done to my tablet so I could think about it at home, gathered my things, and headed for the door.

* * *

I stopped by the nearest Papa Monroe’s Pizza-to-Go and picked up a couple pies, one Hawaiian, and one sausage, pepperoni, extra cheese, and pineapple. Both Killian and I liked fruit on our pizzas, though pineapple was our only real choice. After filling up my car with gas and stopping by the grocery store for whole bean coffee and berries for dessert, I eased into the driveway and set the pizza on the landing at the top of the side stairs. A quick dash to the mailbox to collect the mail, and I was ready to go in.

I glanced over at my old house. I missed it in some ways. I’d grown up there with my parents. Ari and I had sequestered ourselves in my bedroom, talking about boys and school and our plans for the future. Those walls held so many memories, though not all of them pleasant. But now, the memories weren’t all mine. With my in-laws living there, they would create new ones with my sister-in-law’s children. And the ears of the house would listen and remember.

I picked up the pizzas and was trying to balance both them and the mail while fishing out my key.

“Can I help?”

I turned around. Serena stood there, a wide smile on her face. She and William had welcomed me in like one of their own. I had to admit, shifters—especially the wolves—adopted people into their families, and there was never any doubt of whether you belonged. If they loved you, you knew.

“Yes, please,” I said, handing her the pizzas. I found my keys and unlocked the door, ushering her inside before I followed. She carried the pizzas to the table and set them there.

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