Page 85 of Death and Donuts

“Just a few minutes,” Mrs. Hunter said distractedly.

I would bet anything she didn’t even register who came into the room or why I told them to take a break.

I slowly slid the plate under her nose, stopping her. Her startled gaze snapped to me.

“Oh. When did you get here, dear?”

“Just now. It’s time to take a break and eat something before I have to get Vena to intervene.”

“You can put the plate down. I’ll eat while I work. Thank you for bringing it.”

“If I leave and come back in an hour, I’ll find sweaty cheese and brown apples. Eat.” You too, Mr. H.”

He mumbled something.

I shoved a slice of apple at him. He took it and slid it into his mouth, not looking away from the map.

Sighing, I put down the plate to confiscate the map and laptop.

“Eat, and I’ll give you your things back,” I said.

“I don’t remember her being this bossy,” Mr. Hunter said.

“That’s because Vena normally does it,” I said. “Eat. And while you’re eating, you can tell us if you’ve discovered anything.”

“We’ve discovered a lot of dead-ends,” Mrs. Hunter said, accepting the plate from Shepard. “Oh, and we heard from your parents. They are having a marvelous time. Your grandma took a selfie with a handsome young man. She said she would bring him back for you.”

“Not necessary,” Shepard said.

Mrs. Hunter smiled at him. “Good to hear.”

I poked Mr. Hunter’s arm when he picked up a book. “You’re not done eating.”

He sighed. “I concede. My wife was right, though. We’ve reached a lot of dead-ends. But…” He scooted from the chair and hurried over to the bed to weed through a pile of papers.Pulling out something that looked horrifically similar to the sheep scrotum map, he opened it.

“This might explain how a vampire can turn into a cat.”

Shepard accepted the nasty, weathered scrap. I peered around his arm to see there was writing on it.

“Is this fae?” I asked.

“Yes. Old fae. I was able to translate it loosely. Basically, it’s saying that a powerful fae, and I’m talking really powerful, would have the ability to turn humans into shifters. Since vampires were once human, I suspect it would be the same principle.”

“And that’s how Adriel is different?” I asked. “A fae made him into a shifter?”

Mr. Hunter scratched his head. “I’m not fully convinced. Power like this is nearly unheard of, and who of the fae would grant such a gift to a vampire? Especially one as twisted as I’ve heard Adriel is? I need to research some more to make sense of this.”

“Maybe Adriel coerced someone to give him shifting power,” I said.

“It’s a possibility,” Mrs. Hunter said, even as Shepard said it was impossible.

“A vampire can’t control a fae.”

“A deal then, perhaps?” Mr. Hunter said.

Mrs. Hunter shook her head. “The fae are stingy unless it benefits them. I can’t see Adriel having anything that would entice a powerful fae to give such a gift.”

Mr. Hunter sighed. “We’ll keep researching.”

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