Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)(71)
To make the world see I was worth seeing. I existed, and I was a good person. When I wasn’t a giant snake, that is.
Hurrying, I changed into slacks and a nice button-down top, then brushed my hair back from my face.
“You can do this,” I whispered to the mirror. “Don’t hesitate, don’t cringe. You are worth this.”
I nodded at myself, then ran back downstairs to find Remo standing where I’d left him, a frown on his face.
He nodded and leaned back against the wall. “Alena, you have to know this is a trap. No courthouse calls someone personally to tell you your hearing has been delayed. Ever. And certainly not that they will wait for you to arrive.”
A sour twist developed in my belly, like I’d eaten a whole bushel of crab apples, and the hope that had been growing withered on the vine like a rotten tomato. “A trap.”
“Pretty sure.” He nodded, picked the phone back up, and dialed out. I listened to the ringing. No one picked up, and he tried another number. And another. After the fourth call going into empty space, he turned and faced me. “Santos has my people.”
Chills swept through me, thinking of Beth, Sandy, Tad, and Dahlia on his side. Even Yaya had said she was going to be at the courthouse. “And we know that Theseus has mine.” The setup was too perfect; no matter what we wanted to think, we were on our own, unless . . . “There is someone I can talk to. I think he’ll help.”
Remo raised an eyebrow, but there was no jealousy flashing in his eyes. “Who?”
“Come on, I don’t have a number. But I know where he is.” I ran upstairs and changed out of my nice clothes, trading them in for jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. I slipped on a pair of running shoes and was once more ready to go. I met Remo at the front door, and he waved me through.
We climbed into his muscle car, and I directed him to the Supernatural Division of Mounted Police. I climbed out and ran to the door, thumping on it. “Smithy, we need to talk.”
The door opened, but it wasn’t Smithy who grimaced at me. It was Oberfluffel.
“Snake girl. What do you want?”
“I need to speak to Captain Smithy.”
“He’s been let go of his position.” He flipped a picture at me. A picture of me slumped in Smithy’s arms at Zeus’s pool party. My face flamed bright red.
“Look. It wasn’t how it looked. They gave me some sort of juice that made me tipsy. Oberfluffel, where did he go? I need his help.”
His face purpled, and tiny veins popped out all over the edges. “OBERFALL. And I don’t give a blue harpy’s shit where Smithy went. He was fired, his wife is divorcing him because of this”—he shook the picture at me, and Remo took it—“and here you are thinking Smithy would help you?”
I took a step back. “He said he was my friend.”
Remo handed the picture back to Oberfluffel, but he spoke to me. “I take it there are no other options?”
My shoulder’s drooped. “No.”
“Then we go to the courthouse alone.” He took my hand and led me back to the car. We drove out the exit of the Wall, and once more the protestors cheered us on. I waved at a few of them; the girl I’d saved from the werewolf was still there. She held up a sign that read, “We Are All the Same.”
“Well, that’s a crock of pig poo,” I muttered. Remo looked across at me and nodded.
“Maybe they need to believe it isn’t, though. To believe that fear is just false evidence of something appearing to be real. Humans are funny that way. It’s easier for them to pretend they aren’t afraid. When deep down they know the truth. That they could be chewed up and spit out by any single Supe out there.”
He stared out the windshield, calm as could be.
“You aren’t mad about the picture?” I blurted out, unable to wonder any longer.
He laughed. “No. That is the price of being with a beautiful woman. Men will always be drawn to you, try to steal you away from me. And it will happen if I let it get to me, if I don’t treat you right.”
That seemed far too rational to me. Then again, it wasn’t like he was really only thirty years old, even if that was what he looked to be.
“What is your plan when we get there?” he asked, forcing my mind away from him and to the task at hand.
“I need room to maneuver if I’m going to shift. I think . . . I think if I can go in and draw them outside, that would be best.”
“And then?”
“I guess I fight whoever is there. There really isn’t any other option.”
Like it was going to be that easy. I knew it wasn’t. Remo knew it wasn’t. We had no help; no one was going to stand by us in this. Remo had to get his vampires back, and we had to get my friends back while somehow incapacitating Theseus.
We pulled onto the street where the courthouse stood, and Remo pulled the muscle car over. Scattered here and there were vans and a few trucks. It seemed too busy for a January evening at the courthouse, but what did I know?
From where we sat, the courthouse was lit up like ten thousand candles burning bright, every light in every window on.
“I think I should go in, act like I don’t know that there is a trap,” I said. I gathered up the papers sitting between us and clasped them to my chest. “If I act dumb, I’ll get further.”