"What
do we do with the soap? Flush it?" Seth asked.
"And
release it in the environment?" Rafaela shook her head. "I
don't know yet. I'll figure out something. I can't believe Claudette
would try to poison me. She made that bubble bath herself. Werewolves
hate that stuff. I can't see her ever handling it."
"How
about vampires?" Seth asked Dirk. "You guys like that
stuff?"
"Not
a lot. Our reaction is mild in comparison, but that was a strong
concentration. I imagine it would be enough to slow me down."
"I'll
take it," Seth said. "I'm sure I could find a use or two
for it." He stood, intending to go to the bathroom.
Dirk
beat him to the door, disappearing and reappearing with an audible
poof. "Don't even think about it. I won't allow you to
have that powerful a weapon against my people. It would be more
dangerous for you in any case. You're not quite as close to undead as
you'd like to think."
Seth
backed away, heading for the door. "You can do this without me,"
he told Rafaela. "I'll bring the globe over before you leave."
"Seth,
mi querido hijo. Please. . . ."
He
turned around, his hand on the doorknob. "You haven't called me
your darling son in a long time, Auntie. Not since Miri."
"Then
you weren't listening. You'll always be my dear one. I need you on
this. Let's work as a team like we did before."
"You're
asking me to work with a vampire," he protested.
"I'm
asking you to work with my friend," she countered.
"Probably the only true friend I have."
"He's
one of them, Auntie."
"He's
one of us, Nephew. He's agreed to help us kill his own kind.
That has to count for something."
"You're
right, Rafaela. Dirk." He held out his hand.
The
two men shook hands, indulging in a short pissing contest as they
tightened their grips. Rafaela rolled her eyes in disgust.
"Fine,
get it out of your systems. But if you hurt each other, don't expect
me to have any sympathy."
Rafaela
crawled to her side of the bed, snuggled up in the blanket and fell
asleep. The men gave up trying to impress one another and went to the
kitchen. Seth fixed a pot of coffee while Dirk went through Rafaela's
things, checking to see if there was wolfsbane in anything else. He
also detected some in her shampoo, making it no accident. Someone had
deliberately tried to kill or incapacitate her.
"The
question is, who had access to her stuff?" Dirk asked.
He
spoke as if they were in the middle of a conversation, not twenty
minutes after it, but Seth understood his thought process.
"Claudette's
family, the guests, any staff at the B&B. A stranger on the
street?"
"Obviously
not a stranger," Dirk said, shaking his head. "This was
thought out and deliberate."
"How
did it affect her? You said she hadn't gotten in the tub yet."
"Rafe
always pours the bubble bath in her hand, then stirs it in the tub.
That way, it doesn't over bubble."
"So,
maybe the assailant knew this?"
"Or
maybe it was purely bad luck. I think we can rule out Claudette and
her family as suspects. Wolves hate this stuff—hence the name,
wolf's bane. It's like the opposite of catnip. It makes them crazy in
ways we can only imagine. A dose this concentrated would have made
them all wacko."
"Leaving
staff and guests."
Dirk
nodded. "I'll be back soon," he said, standing abruptly.
"Where
are you going?"
"To
track this down. If there's a traitor in that household, we need to
eliminate the threat. Rafe uses that as a refuge. If she's not safe
there—"
"She's
not safe anywhere," Seth replied. "Do you really think it's
worth tracking down now? It doesn't have anything to do with the
vampire lord and his offspring."
"I
suppose." He sat down, fuming.
"I
know," Seth said. "You want to exact justice, bring the
guilty party under the gun. Maybe rip out a throat or two."
Dirk
shrugged, his laugh bitter. "Yeah. For all the good it would
do."
"When
this job is over, I will personally help you track down the culprit
and I'll even hold the bastard while you rip his throat out."
Eyeing
the younger man with a new respect, Dirk smiled. "We might turn
you into a fanger's friend yet."
Seth
scowled. "Don't count on it. I'm working with you for Rafe's
sake. I don't give two shits for you."
"That's
okay," Dirk replied as he headed to the bedroom. "I don't
give even one for you." He waved. "Nighters, Nephew."
©
Dellani Oakes 2017
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