Witches for Hire (Odd Jobs #1)(58)

“Sit up straight,” Delaware’s pack leader ordered. “You have no right to hide your face in shame.”

The traitor reluctantly pushed his elbows out and held his head higher.

“Why did you take the job?” Clive asked. Dennis stood right behind him, and Clive tried to ignore the large amount of energy coming off the man. He could be a lifetime buffet to an energy vamp if draining from creatures with souls attached to animals didn’t cause insanity.

“I got fired recently, and the guy’s ad promised easy money. I’d seen a similar ad from the guy last year, and the werewolf who answered it just bought a new car.”

“Who else answered it?”

“Stephen, but he’s probably back at the hotel healing after that Amazon broke him,” the traitor muttered as he rubbed the front of his neck. “Energy vamps say healing is a waste on us when we fuck up.”

Mark threw down a notebook next to the traitor. “Write down every name you’ve heard since you’ve been slumming, and you might make it out of this alive.”

“Does my momma know?” the traitor whispered, picking up the pen and opening the notebook.

“If you were concerned about her, you shouldn’t have taken the job,” Mark said.

“What were your orders?” Simone asked.

“Follow you around and steal anything that looked interesting.” The traitor scribbled on paper as he glanced at her. “And I was supposed to take you or the other witch if I could get you alone.”

Like a snake crawling on Clive’s spine, a murderous concentration of thought emanated from Jeremy.

“What were they going to do with us once they had us?” Jeremy asked softly, a slight gleam in his eyes.

The traitor shifted as if he was changing the position of his legs to get comfortable, but he managed to turn so only his back was to Jeremy. “I don’t know. I was doing what I was told.”

“Kidnapping a person from another pack and possibly starting a war for money?” Simone shook her head in disbelief. “You’re a dumb fuck if I ever saw one.”

“What were your other orders?” Clive asked as deadly intent began leaking from Simone too. He would clearly be the only one not for killing the traitor after questioning.

“Not much, but the other werewolf was asked to watch Desmond.”

“Did he see anything while following him?”

“No, he got lost,” the traitor said, putting down the pad.

Mark growled. “How the fuck did he get lost? Are you both so pathetic that you can’t track one witch?”

“It wasn’t lost like that! I think he got caught in a curse that kept making him go in circles. The vamps weren’t happy about that, which is why we really needed to get Gulley’s body.”

What a strange thing to be prideful about when facing, at the least, banishment, Clive thought. “How did you know what we were carrying?”

“The vamps have contacts in the Great Mother’s camp, so they knew when and where it was going.”

Which meant Clive had to withhold information from Mia and Raj if he didn’t want their movements being shared with the wrong people.

“I need a stronger reason to let you live,” Mark said.

The traitor stared at his hands as if contemplating whether he really wanted to live.

“Do you want to die a traitor?”

Clive raised his hand. “I have more questions before we discuss dying.” He turned to the prisoner. “Does the name Levi mean anything to you?”

“That’s the guy whose old apartment we ransacked. We didn’t find anything. But I remember when I was outside Desmond’s building, one of the vamps, Perry, I think—he said into a phone that they’ll make him pay for what he did to her. He was really pissed off about it, and he said her the way I would address an elder.”

Mark glared at Clive. “Are you satisfied?”

Clive nodded. The prisoner didn’t know anything useful about Levi, and they had plenty on the energy vamps’ motives toward Desmond. Unlike the Great Mother, it wasn’t a power play but a more personal grievance. Desmond had either cursed this mysterious leader of theirs or been in close enough proximity to cause insult. As for the energy vamps, he didn’t give a damn about their vengeance when their actions harmed innocent people.

Dennis motioned for the traitor to rise. “I heard no lies, so you have displayed some honor.” He looked at Clive. “You and your people can leave first. We’ve inconvenienced you enough.”

“If you give me his clothes, I can make a tracking spell on the other werewolf if he’s not at the hotel,” Simone said.

“I’ll give you what you need,” Dennis assured her. He patiently stood by as the Witches for Hire employees walked past him toward the door, which opened to a ladder leading outside the concrete bunker.

It was a steep climb in the hall lit by only one halogen light, but Clive eagerly waited for the others to reach the hatch so he could have sunlight again. As Edarra’s feet moved up for Clive to grab the first bar, a loud squishing with a series of sharp pops sounded behind him. Without looking, his memory conjured up the answer to the familiar noise that Clive thought he would never hear again in this new world. He swiveled to look over his shoulder, and he saw the largest lupine claws he had ever seen completely surrounding the area where the traitor’s head had once rested. Dennis stood emotionless. His body was mostly human, except for the part of his arm that had shifted into a paw that was covered in fur and dripping with the traitor’s blood. The traitor’s body fell without a head, and Dennis unclenched his grotesque fist. Crushed beyond any semblance of bone structure or an idea of what form it used to be, the traitor’s head clumped down to the floor in chunks and strings of skin.