Page 22 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

Jonathan shook his head in disgust, grinning slightly as he leaned back in his chair, showing off the fitted graphic T-shirt he had on under his designer black blazer. The shirt had a set of vampire fangs on it with writing that said, “I’ve seen bigger.”

Leo grinned. “I think you’re offending the boss—again.”

Reggie shoved the rest of the donut in his mouth and mumbled something that sounded like “sorry.”

One by one, more of the Van Helsing slayers filed into the room. They all went to the food table first before taking seats at the conference table.

Leo dusted off his hands and went to the corkboard. “One of my informants reached out with another possible lead. I’m meeting with them tomorrow night.”

“Did they hint at what the lead might be?” asked Jonathan.

Leo swallowed hard. “Hold on to your asses. This one might be hard to swallow.”

Reggie grunted. “The donuts were to soften the blow, weren’t they?”

Leo nodded. “We already know something bigger than territory disputes has been going down around here, right?”

The slayers nodded.

Jonathan merely observed, wishing they’d wait to start the meeting again until his right-hand man was back from break, but since the Van Helsings were a hard group to wrangle and get to focus, he let it slide.

“Anyone else find it amazing that Leo can meet with a C.I. and still stop by a donut shop in thirty minutes?” asked another.

“Not really. He’s always been like a fart in a windstorm,” added yet another.

Jonathan wasn’t sure he wanted the expression broken down for him.

Leo pulled something from his back pocket and tossed it to Reggie, who caught it with ease.

“What is it?” asked one of the other men.

Reggie paled as he examined the small object. He swallowed hard. “A coin with the Murray slayer line’s emblem on it.”

Another of the men took a seat at the conference table and shrugged. “So? There was a point when they were always here in our territory, helping out. It’s not like Toledo is that far from Detroit. I don’t understand the significance.”

Leo eyed the man. “It’s not the first one I’ve seen in the last two weeks. One was recovered from an incident that happened near the airport right after Jonathan’s arrival.”

Jonathan jerked. Had Leo seen the coin?

Leo met his gaze and nodded as if understanding the unspoken question.

“Where was this one found?” asked Reggie.

“Apparently, one of the dead shifters had this in his pocket,” said Leo.

“And it didn’t end up in evidence?” asked another man. “Nah. We combed over that crime scene ourselves. Had it been there, we’d have logged it and processed it.”

“Not if someone took it from the body before we got there,” stated Reggie, who was now polishing off a powdered donut. “We weren’t the first wave of responders.”

“No,” said Leo, his jaw setting. “The first wave left two of our own dead and four more seriously injured. We’ve not been able to question them yet, so we don’t know all the facts. Listen, I don’t want to say this because none of us want to think of being betrayed by our own kind, but what if the shifters weren’t responsible for the shitstorm that we had here two weeks ago? What if the rash of violence that led up to the showdown wasn’t instigated by them? What if…?”

Reggie dropped what was left of the powdered donut, and it struck the table, not the napkin he’d yet to touch. “You aren’t accusing another slayer line of this, are you?”

One of the other men glanced nervously around the room. “We all know the Murray line isn’t what it used to be. When Alvin died, it went to shit fast. Helen is off her rocker. Shemightbe capable of this.”

Another of the men in the room sighed, shaking his head. “Dammit, it would fit. Autopsy reports showed some discrepancies that were inconsistent with kills from shifters.”

“Listen, I don’t have details, and I don’t want to condemn fellow slayers before we have all the facts, but…”

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