and live together, life
would be better for everyone.
For the longest time she had felt that
life had kicked the races in the ass. Courts who had knowledge of
the race had forced marriages, bonds, couples-everything. The past
couple of years, officials had been noticing strange things near
her pacchetto , things that
even worried the humans who unknowingly were surrounded by
animals.
Mary has been searching, trying to find
pieces to fix this, and every time she had come up empty, it had
tore her to bits and then some. Missing persons, missing things,
missing lives. . . The killing had come as a shock to her more than
anything else. Yeah, her people were aggressive and dangerous, but
only when it came right down to it. If one was murdered, the
murderer was either put down or exiled.
All she wanted to do at that moment was go
down to her room and black out for the next decade.
Unfortunately, though, her phone was set on
keeping her busy. The ringing only made her groan internally.
She answered the call. “It’s Waters.”
“Hey, mind coming into the station at like
three? It’s Romero,” he said in clarification.
“Sure,” she said, sighing. “Might I ask why?”
Mary moved to the couch and took a seat, forgetting about her
salad.
“Questioning. We have an out-of-town officer
who wants to have a word with you. About Jared, I think. Did you
hear about the accident?” The deep Mexican drawl that came through
the line made her grimace.
“Yeah, I did.”
“Ah, well I hope you know that in a couple of
days, he’ll be out again. . .” There was a warning in his voice,
and it made her scowl more pronounced.
“I think it’s obvious that you don’t need to
keep an eye on him, Romero. He risked his life for another woman,
none of the crimes have been connected to him, and he is as clean
as my tail. I really don’t think. . .”
“Hun, you know why we have to. Stop playing
hero with the bad guys, alright? Remember what happened last time?
You were out of it for weeks, all because you had misjudged the man
that you had thought to be as innocent as an angel.”
Mary could have hissed. “Romero,” she
warned.
“You know I’m right.”
“I don’t care—”
“Well you should! It’s your life at stake—and
you know how your brother gets. I don’t need him coming over to my
house and bitching about his sister getting her panties in a bunch
over a convict.”
“Oh, my god, are we still on that?” she
asked, incredulous. She would never hear the end of it, would she?
One time, just one time , her
brother had complained to Romero about everything , drunk off his ass.
Ulrich and Romero had been best friends since
grade school. The relationship had been stoic—each knew the meaning
of survival and trust, so they rarely shared deep secrets or
complained about anything.
The one time that Mary really gets into trouble, Romero is
brought in and things only got worse. She could still remember the loud curses that had come
right before the pain. . .
Mary heard a frustrated sigh on the other
line, then the sound of rustling paper. “I’ll make sure to have the
men waiting at the door when you get here. I hear that this guy is.
. .ruthless, and I don’t need no brother getting his jock strap in
a twist.”
Her eyes crossed. “Fine, whatever. Meet you
in thirty. I have a lunch appointment that I have to get to.”
“Just be there on time, gringa .” The line dropped.
Chapter 7
Acutos.
Strong fierce, and scary. Mainly feline,
although you occasionally had the stray bear or wolf. Their powers
rooted from the moon, stronger and more keen at night than in day.
Acutos were known to be nightly, sleeping during the day and
hunting throughout the night.
All of the Acutos that Mary knew worked at
the club downtown, and she rarely walked into a grocery store to
find the scent of the animals. The intake on their life? Easy to
the point of stupid, which they thought everyone generally was.
Arrogant,
Carol Wallace, Bill Wallance
Vic Ghidalia and Roger Elwood (editors)