25
LUC
Dalziel was definitelyin better form after a nap, and by the look of the faintest hint of a blush in his cheeks, a feed, than he’d been earlier. Dressed casually in jeans and what looked like a cashmere sweater, he was relaxed and friendly as he sat on an edge of the library desk to grill us over our combined discoveries.
Charley was keen to play up Rosie’s hard work on the transcribing of the text she’d found. She passed the paper over to him and we all watched anxiously to hear his verdict.
“…He who is of the wingèd fair folk…blah blah blah…shalle he disapere as he wisheth, to seeke sanctuarie between the realms.More superstitious ramblings, thenFear him for he shalle be a trickster, and not of goode harte nor intention.”
Dalziel’s thick eyebrows rose as he swept the room to encompass us all. “This seems to back up what I suspected. I think, Charley, we have the answer to why you can’t be seen on the security footage. The text isn’t exactly favourable, but that makes it even more likely to be reliable. It was written down as a warning. The cute and fluffy faerie stories came much later, when people forgot how to listen, and see.” He suddenly sounded as old as he was, and weighed down by the years that had passed. No doubt he’d seen some sketchy shit in his time.
Charley’s eyes bugged wide. “Seriously, I can what, go invisible? For real?” He stared at Dalziel, then me, then Eleanor, so many questions in his blue gaze. “This is mad. Rosie, what d’you think?”
Rosie gave him a smile of infinite tenderness. “You were here as we transcribed it, Charley. I’ve no reason to think it’s untrue. Your sire definitely thinks it’s kosher.” Ahh, she’d got her wires twisted as to their connection, but she’d worked out there was one. I figured she would have; there were no flies on Rosie.
Dalziel nodded. “I suspect in your case, Charley, it would be your levels of anxiety at any point that could trigger invisibility, rather than a deliberate decision, although that’s not to say you couldn’t learn to control it. To my knowledge, there’s never been a vampire who can do this, so your mixed blood adds a note of unpredictability to that learning. But yes, it makes sense. In more ways than one.” He glanced sideways at Rosie, deliberating. Then he must have made the decision she was trustworthy, as he continued, “Evidently Malin has more Fae blood than I had imagined, and possibly even royal blood. It would explain how there’s so much magic in you, even after it’s been diluted.”
I waited, counting in my head, as I watched Rosie process what he’d not said. Three, four, five, six—
“Oh mygod!”Eyes like saucers, she rounded on Dalziel. “You’re no his sire, you’re his father!? Holy crap…” She paced the library carpet on her high heels, then darted in front of Charley and hauled him to stand next to Dalziel. “I’m so daft,” she whined, slapping a hand against her forehead. “A blind man coulda seen the likeness. What was Ithinkin’?”
Eleanor said kindly, “You’ve had quite a lot of excitement, to be fair. And nobody would imagine what you now know, not really. Not if they knew anything about vampires.”
“I guess…” But her shoulders dipped, and she evidently felt bad at missing what was obvious, but only when, as Eleanor said, you omitted what you knew about usual vampire behaviour. Nobody sane who knew about vamps would think Dalziel had fathered a child. I was still surprised Dalziel himself had accepted it so quickly. But then maybe he’d had his suspicions about this Malin woman from the start.
I said what had been uppermost on my mind from the moment outside Charley’s parents’ house when I’d decided to offer him an escape route. “So how does this help Charley prove his innocence?”
Everyone focused their attention on me. I held up my hands. “It’s a reasonable question. Sure, it’s good to know why Charley can vanish…” I grinned at him to show him I meant it, and really, it was very cool, “…but it doesn’t solve getting the club off his back. Far as I can tell, we’re no further forward with that. If I was on better terms with my pack, I’d ask them to pay a visit en masse and scare the shit out of the members, but, well, yeah, I’m only sort of tolerated.” I fizzled out, embarrassed to be so open about my pack status, and fuming with myself for still being butthurt about it. I was a regular beta, and as such had no sway in pack policy, but to know I was only allowed to exist simply because of who my grandfather was? That was a bitter taste in my mouth no amount of sugar, real or emotional, would remove.
Dalziel frowned. “Your pack are homophobic?”
I scoffed. “Just a bit. I’m surprised you don’t know this. It’s the standard shifter model; be a good pup, don’t make trouble with humans, grow up and make more pups with a woman we approve of, to prove your rampant heterosexuality. Blergh. Anyway,” I reflected his frown back at him, “I’m not gay. I’m pan. Not that it matters in this instance.”
“But it matters to you, and I will remember. Sexuality is a very personal thing. You are right to correct me about this. Thank you, Lucien.”
I had to work hard to keep my jaw from clanging to the floor. Did a senior, make thatthesenior vampire in the whole of the British Isles, just thank me for correcting him? I swallowed the sudden lump in my throat and shot him a grateful smile that was probably a grimace, but whatever. He couldn’t throw something like that at me, and not expect me to flail-react. Hell, I was having trouble resisting the urge to roll on the floor and show him my belly. My wolf was wagging his tail and grinning.Shut your face,I told him sharply.
“Right,” Dalziel went on, as if he hadn’t just rocked my world with his casual acceptance of both my sexuality and my poor social standing. “I have been busy putting out feelers regarding this exact issue. I have contacts getting back to me about the best options, especially my technical friends.” He shifted his position on the desk, bracing his arms behind him. “Much as I would prefer to clear your name officially, Charley, I fear this might not be the simplest way to deal with the problem.”
Charley began chewing his lip again. “Because..?” he ventured.
“Because it would require manpower we simply don’t have. ‘Losing’” — He put quote marks around the word — “the security footage is doable, but it would bring suspicion down on your head anyway, due to the top brass of the biker club not being your biggest fans to begin with. Plus, I imagine it is, or will shortly become, a police matter too. I’m not against bare-faced lying to the police, but I’d rather not if we can avoid it. The only sensible option to go with losing the data is to wipe the memory of anyone who knows, and frankly, like I said, we don’t have the numbers to do that in a short enough time frame to make it stick.”
The lip chewing intensified. “Well that sucks.” I couldn’t disagree with him.
“But you have a better idea?” I was curious to know what he had up his sleeve.
“Potentially. But I’ll speak with you and Charley privately later.” Well, that was a clear signal it was above Rosie’s clearance. She knew it too, as she got to her feet, and clasped her hands respectfully in front of her.
“Mr Millar? Might I ask if I could head home soon? I’ve got to get to Aldi for my weekly shop and…” She tailed off with an apologetic wince.
Dalziel stood up. “Of course, Miss Anderson. Perhaps you’d be kind enough to leave all your contact details with Eleanor, and if my earlier shameful lack of finesse hasn’t put you off, perhaps you would consider returning soon as our formally-invited guest, as opposed to the circumstances under which you arrived this time.” His eyes twinkled at her,again,making me think he might even fancy Rosie, as he added, “I think your qualifications could even be a welcome addition to the Council, if you’d consider learning more about how we operate.”
Rosie’s wasn’t the only mouth that gaped this time. Eleanor had evidently been briefed by Dalziel, but Charley looked as stunned as I felt. Because he had no filter, he just blurted out, “What the hell is Rosie, that she’s suddenly one of us? No offence, Rosie.”
“Eh, none taken, laddie.” Her fingers twisting around each other, she took a noticeable deep breath. “Er, why exactly is it that you think I’d be of use to your Council, sir?” The ‘sir’ came out breathy and eager.
Dalziel hoiked an eyebrow in Eleanor’s direction. She shook her head. “She really doesn’t know, sir.”
