Page 38 of Blood and Bone

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Page 38 of Blood and Bone

Ari smiled, holding up his cup which bore the logo, angry with himself for forgetting to buy them cups as they’d planned to. “Next time we’ll bring some for you guys. It really is the best.”

“Don’t I know it,” Uwaite said. “The owner, Marilyn, is my cousin. High Place is one of the original names for Lake Tahoe.”

Ari smiled. A second later, he heard a shout from the back of the station and he looked up, spotting Two Trees walking toward them, coffee mug in hand.

“Come on back or the boss won’t let me hear the end of it,” Uwaite said, walking to the end of the counter where there was a half door. He glanced over at the clerk sitting behind a computer screen and nodded. A second later, there was a buzz indicating the lock disengaging, and Ari and Eoghan followed Uwaite back.

“What’s happening?” Two Trees asked as he caught up to them and shook hands. “I thought you two were headed home.” His expression was serious as he glanced down at his watch before looking up again with a puzzled expression on his face. “Riversong is due here shortly. She and the kids are being escorted. Do we have unfinished business regarding her?”

“No. No.” Eoghan reassured him. “This is a totally different thing that came up while we were driving home. We turned around when we decided you and your clan might be of help.” He glanced around. “Is there somewhere we can talk privately?”

“Yeah, of course,” he said. “Why don’t you come back to my office?” He frowned at Eoghan before flicking his gaze between Alo and him. “Should Alo join our conversation?”

“Definitely,” Eoghan said, clapping the deputy on the back.

“Good enough. Follow me.” He led them to a large office in the back corner of the station and offered them seating in front of his desk. The three of them pulled up chairs, while the chief took his desk chair.

Ari could feel Eoghan practically bristling as he took a seat beside him. Handing over power to the tribal chief of police when they were there to pretty much beg for help wasn’t great but they really had no choice. They’d come this far and didn’t know any other way to do this.

“So, tell me, what’s so important that you drove all the way back here?” Two Trees asked, holding out his hands. “You know we’re in your debt, so please, ask.”

Eoghan exchanged a glance with Ari before leaning forward in the chair. “I’m afraid you’re not going to like this but I’m going to ask anyway,” he began. “There’s a vampire clan in Flagstaff, Arizona which is in terrible trouble.”

Two Trees held up his hand. “If you’re about to ask if we can help you, frankly, that’s probably ouronlydealbreaker with the I.S.R. I just can’t ask our clan to help.” He shook his head. “I’m sincerely sorry.”

Eoghan pulled out his phone and set it on the desk. The chief looked down at it and pointed. “What is that?”

“That’s a Faraday cage and the phone is turned off,” Eoghan replied. He glanced at Ari before looking back at Two Trees and pointing to the phone. “We have to talk on burners to our chief about the vampire clan because we have a mole.”

“Who has a mole?”

“Someone bugged the chief’s home and office which means it has to be someone in the I.S.R. They’re listening in and we know whoever it is, probably works for the Agency.”

“What do you mean? Why would someone from the Agency do that?” he asked, sitting back even as he shifted his gaze down to the device and stared at it for a few seconds.

“Let me give you a quick overview of what we’re dealing with because it might affect your clan as well as all the people who reside here on the rez,” Eoghan said. “Would that be okay with you?”

He crossed his arms over his broad chest before shooting a glance at Uwaite who had his signature frown back in place. Ari almost felt bad for them because if someone at the Agency was in cahoots with Bradshaw, there was a very good possibility that they were either working with other clans or had plans to do so.

“Please, tell me what’s going on,” Two Trees said, sounding more receptive than before. He uncrossed his arms and interlaced his fingers over his stomach.

“King John Townsend of the Flagstaff vampire clan escaped torture and captivity,” Eoghan said. “He ran to Los Angeles where I caught him and brought him back to theI.S.R. He’d been reported as a fugitive by the new leadership who claimed he was a criminal who’d run from clan justice. Anyway, after interviewing him prior to turning him over to their representatives, he claimed that his whole family had been wiped out along with everyone loyal to him. He said the killer was a newly-turned vampire named Tillis Bradshaw. We didn’t take that statement at face value. When we looked into this Bradshaw character, we learned that he’s a member of a vicious, outlaw biker club who are into narcotics distribution and a whole host of other criminal activities.”

“Okay, so this vampire clan is now run by a criminal,” Two Trees said. “A lot of them are. Most vamps can’t distinguish the difference between right and wrong which is because they’redead. They’re cold-blooded killers.”

“They’re monsters, plain and simple,” Uwaite added with the growl back in his voice. “Why should we care about them or even entertain helping this Townsend guy? He’s probably just coming to you with some story anyway.”

Ari sucked in a breath when he saw Eoghan go bright red. Eoghan turned in his chair and directed his remarks right at the deputy. “Alo…listen. I told you that I caught this guy when he came to L.A. He was so slow from malnutrition, that I was able to subdue him with a dart even though he should have been able to avoid it. With normal vampire speed, he would have been able to sneak up on me so fast, I would never have gotten off a shot.

“When we finally got a good look at him, he was so underweight, we knew he’d been starved. I should know. I’m the one who carried his skinny ass seven blocks through the sewers that night. That kind of emaciation only happens when a vampire isn’t feeding regularly. He went through several crates of synthetic blood while we had him caged, waiting on his escorts that first day. That’s no story, Deputy, that’s real.We saw how starved he was. He could have eaten me before I put him down, but he didn’t. He begged us for help to save his people.”

“That’s a sad story,” Two Trees said. “If he really is a decent guy, which I doubt, I hope he gets his throne back, but we can’t help him and why would you think we would, Marshals?”

“Look, this all happened in Flagstaff,” Eoghan replied. “King Townsend came all the way to L.A. because he knew not to stop in Vegas. He said there were already spies there. He was praying they weren’t already there in Los Angeles.”

“It means Bradshaw’s poison has spread off the reservation,” Ari added. “He’s either developed or is possibly piggybacking on an established distribution route for the drug running business. We know whatever he’s doing, it has a long reach. That means his drugs and along with them, an army of vampires, will eventually turn up here in Tahoe. It’s only a matter of time.”

For the first time in the last few minutes, Ari noticed Two Trees squirming in his chair as he glanced over at his deputy and then back at Eoghan. He sighed.


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