Inked

“Young lupi don’t precisely rebel, but they do need to test themselves. They’re allowed, even encouraged, to do so. You don’t learn much by avoiding all risk. Unfortunately, young lupi don’t always have any more sense than young humans. Some of them became too involved in Adele Blanco’s causes—and Adele was more interested in publicity than I liked.”

“You want to control the clan’s PR yourself.”

“Of course. But also, Adele’s ideas aren’t always sensible. I disbanded the lupus portion of her clique after she decided it would be a great notion to infiltrate Humans First. She persuaded one of Mariah’s friends, a human boy, to join the organization. At the time, he was sixteen.”

“Shit. Sixteen? If he’s a local, they would have found out pretty quickly he’d been hanging out with what they consider the wrong crowd. What happened?”

“Fortunately, Steve told me what was going on before anything went seriously wrong. I went to the boy and explained that the clan appreciated his courage, but I believed Adele had misjudged her opponent, and his input wouldn’t be helpful. He agreed to drop the project.”

“Before anyone beat him up, then.”

“I suspect Friar is too ca

She retrieved her notebook. “What’s this boy’s name?”

He glanced at her, smiling. “Dotting your i’s?”

“I never know what I’m going to need to know.”

“His full name is Keoni Akana. He’s Hawaiian. He lived here for a year with a cousin of his mother’s while his parents were in Uruguay—they work for some alphabet-soup scientific foundation. Something about insects—I don’t recall what. He’s back in the islands now attending college.”

“That was clear, concise, and useful. Do that for me with Adele Blanco and Mariah Friar.”

“Not Robert Friar?”

“Later, maybe. I read up on him on the plane, but the Bureau doesn’t have files for the others.”

“I…didn’t realize the FBI had a file on Friar.”

“Of course it does. He started a hate group.”

Emotions slid through his face, quick and subtle, impossible to read in the gathering darkness. “I hadn’t realized that a group formed to brand us as beasts would be classified as a hate group.”

“Humans First wants to kick out or keep out everyone who isn’t an officially designated human, not just lupi. But yeah, your people are the main focus. Of course we’re watching them. Not very closely,” she admitted. There was too much going on of greater urgency. “But we have a file on Friar and a few of the others in his group.”

“That’s oddly disconcerting.”

“I guess you’re more used to having the government persecute you.” And the government’s policies toward lupi were still a mixed bag, but they were trending toward fair these days. “Now, about Adele…?”

“Yes. Well. Adele would be forty-four or-five now, I think. She was born in Sacramento to an English mother and Hispanic father, who divorced when she was in high school. She moved here with her father at that time, left for college after graduating from Del Cielo High, then returned without getting her degree when her father was paralyzed in an auto accident. He has since died.”

Her eyebrows lifted. That was pretty complete. “Her mother?”

“Returned to England after the divorce. She helped Adele financially, I believe, when she was younger, but they aren’t close.”

“Speaking of finances, how does Adele get hers?”

“She owns a small store here—Practikal Magik, spelled with k’s instead of c’s—where she sells what Cullen considers crap.”

That made her smile. “Define crap.”

“In this case it’s popular books on witchcraft, voodoo, and less well-known traditions, as well as astrology and numerology. She also sells crystals, cauldrons, herbs, and other spell ingredients. The quality of those ingredients, again according to Cullen, varies widely. He didn’t think much of her, ah, professional qualities after checking out her shop, but he said she has an unusual Gift.”

“What kind?”

“I’m trying to remember. Earth, I think.”

“Guess I’ll find out when I talk to her.” Most Gifts were associated with an element, yet were talent-specific. For example, precognition was associated with Fire, but a precog had no special power over fires. Clairvoyants were associated with water, but didn’t control the waves.

Now and then, though, a Gift was strongly rooted in one of the elements, yet didn’t bring with it a specific magical talent. Like Cullen. He could call fire with a flick of his little finger, but his hunches weren’t any more reliable than anyone else’s.

But those with elemental Gifts sometimes became strong spell-casters, if they could find training. Lily drummed her fingers on her thigh.

They’d left the lights of Del Cielo behind about the same time the last of the light fled from the sky, and were winding along a narrow paved road. She couldn’t see much to either side—hills, mostly, with some kind of scruffy growth. Ahead was more curvy road. Empty road, no headlights. The darkness was punctuated by lights from houses here and there along the road, but she didn’t see any headlights.

It was u

“Idealistic, damaged, emotional.”

“Does she have a Gift?”

“I don’t know. I don’t think Cullen ever met her, and I wouldn’t have any way of telling.”

“She lives with her father?”

“No. She moved out when she was seventeen—or was kicked out. The story varies. She’d be twenty now. She dropped out of school and has worked a variety of jobs since, some of them probably intended to get her father’s attention, much as Jason said. She was working as a pole dancer, for example, the last time I saw her. But my impressions are a couple years old. I don’t know where she’s working now.”

“Boyfriends?” If Steve wasn’t her baby’s father, someone else was.

“In the plural, generally. Mariah is quite pretty, with a fragile air that many men find appealing.”

“You don’t.”

“No.” He shot her a grin as he slowed. She couldn’t see anything to slow down for, but she trusted that he had a reason. “I prefer warriors.”

A warrior? Was that how he thought of her? Lily decided she liked that. “Give me your take on Robert Friar.”

“Lupe was right. He hates. But he hates with patience and intelligence. He’s gregarious, but on his own terms—likes to entertain, but always with a goal in mind. He likes to stay in control, both of himself and others. And he likes to win.”

“You’ve met him?”

“We’ve been at a few parties. Political bashes—state, not national.”

“Has Cullen met him?”

“Not precisely met, no. If you want to know if Friar has a Gift, Cullen couldn’t read him.”

“What?” Her head jerked to look at him. “What does that mean?”

“Apparently Friar has some sort of natural shield. Cullen says that may indicate a blocked Gift of the psychic sort—telepathy, empathy, that sort of thing. There was something unusual about Friar’s shield, something that puzzled Cullen. He wasn’t able to explain what that was.”

She frowned, considering. “I need to shake the man’s hand. According to his file, his wife died eight years ago. He’s never remarried. He likes women?”

“He likes them compliant and well-endowed, from what I’ve seen. I believe sex is his weakness.”

“What do you mean? Shit. Hold on a minute.”

Her phone was chiming. It was the ringtone she’d assigned to Martin Croft, who was ru

“Yes, I am. And you’ve got to stop answering your phone that way. It brings out the worst in me.” Croft’s voice was smooth, but the humor seemed strained. “Have you listened to the news this afternoon?”