More Than Flesh & Bone

Chapter 16

SEXY LIES

I glared at him in the review mirror of Zed's car, trying hard not to kick the purse at my feet as I crossed my legs.

Bucky the fuckface glared in return from the backseat.

All I could see when I looked at him was my brother's killer and everything that was wrong with the brotherhood.

"You're awfully hostile for a girl who's supposed to just be fucking him," he commented.

Zed's hands tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles going white. His full lips pressed into a thin line, but his eyes stayed on the road.

"Maybe because the first time we met, you were slinking around outside the cemetery, a place I had every right to be, might I add," I replied. "And then you had the bright idea to be a dick to someone grieving," I added.

Something crossed his face, almost like regret. It was gone in an instant as the car came to a halt. I turned my eyes from the mirror to the building before me.

Town Hall.

How… basic.

I don't know why, but when you hear about some infamous supernatural council, the meeting doesn't exactly scream Town Hall. More like a hidden basement beneath the university houses with fingerprint access pads and spelled booby traps.

This was downright boring by comparison, but the familiarity of it settled some of the knots in my stomach and the panic that had been slowly starting to creep up on me.

"Time to see what you know, Wells," Bucky said, the backdoor slamming shut as he got out. I took a deep breath and followed. On the other side of the half-empty lot, an SUV was parked. Lumberjack got out first, and Bree followed, arms still behind her back in a way that didn't look comfortable. She gave me a weak smile that I knew was meant to reassure me more than anything. I gave her one back, and then the lumberjack shoved her shoulder.

"Get walking," he said.

"Hey!" I snapped, "She's half your size, dick-head…"

"Addie…" Zed said in warning.

"So now I'm Addie?" I said, flashing him a hard look, despite the warm tingles spreading through my body.

He gave me a smirk that made those tingles turn into flames.

I quickly shook my head and tried to refocus. "Who the fuck put him in charge where he treats her like some kind of convict?"

"Because she is," Lumberjack muttered under his breath. My fists tightened, and I started for him, wishing we'd taken my car so I could grab the bat out of it and beat his ass.

A hand grabbed my forearm.

I wheeled around, ready to swing if it was Bucky.

Much to my disappointment, it wasn't.

"You need to calm down," Zed whispered in my ear. His cool breath fanned across my ear. I shivered, and Bree let out a whoop despite the hands holding her back.

"Get it girl!" she called out, throwing her head back in a laugh as she was urged forward.

I turned my head a fraction to meet his eyes. "They're not treating her right."

What I saw shining back at me was understanding. "No, they're not. But they won't seriously hurt her before she's brought to the Council. Her mom's on it. They're just throwing their weight around because they want to see how much you know."

I opened and closed my mouth. "Oh."

"Yeah, so chill. In fact, if you can avoid talking as much as possible that would probably be best right now."

I glared at him, mouth opening to hurl another comeback, but I snapped it closed at the pointed lift of his brows.

Zed gave my arm another squeeze, the warmth of his touch seeping through me and reminding me that even though I was about to be surrounded by a room of potential enemies, I was not alone.

We moved up the steps and through the surprisingly empty lobby. It was still late afternoon. There should have been people milling about, but our footsteps were the only ones echoing through the building. Our small group strode past a couple of elevators, moving instead to the back corner of the main lobby.

The door we were heading toward read "Restricted Access" but was otherwise unremarkable. At least it was until Bucky's hands curled around the doorknob.

Electric energy arced down my skin, and it was a struggle not to move away from it. Beside me, Bree let out a low moan, her discomfort looking like it bordered on pain.

My eyes snapped to Zed over my shoulder. "What the hell?" I mouthed.

"Magic ward," he answered, breathing it into my ear.

Apparently, this place just looked basic. Good to know.

Bucky led us down a hallway, my eyes trained on one flickering light at the far end of the hall. In every horror movie I'd ever watched, there was always that one struggling light acting as some kind of symbolic warning of what was coming. Almost as if it were the last beacon in the darkness, or whatever.

I snorted as my imagination ran wild with the scenarios of what was about to happen, each version more absurd than the last.

The reality was slightly less colorful.

Bucky knocked on a door about halfway down the hall, opening it before there was any kind of response from inside. We filed into a sort of amphitheater, one curved table set out on the stage, seven people spread out along its length, staring at us with completely unreadable expressions.

I recognized Bree's mom sitting to the left of a man with the same shockingly bright shade of green hair as Zed. Even her expression was frosty, her golden eyes trained on her daughter as her lips curled down in disappointment. Bree wilted a little, some of her defiance draining out of her as she dropped her eyes down to the floor.

If anything, that only fueled my own resolve. I would not give these assholes that kind of power over me.

"Well, Bartholomew," why don't you tell us why we're here," the man I could only assume was Zed's father said, his voice quiet and smooth. It would have been soothing under any other circumstance, but the softness with which he spoke only seemed to underscore the depth of his power.

"As per the bylaws of our house, whenever an alarm or ward has been triggered, all non-members must come before the Council for questioning." Bucky gave his report like a soldier reporting to his commanding officers. His feet were spread shoulder-width apart, his hands clasped behind his back. He spoke clearly, not mincing words as he made references to specific rules that we'd apparently broken. Finally, he finished with, "We caught these two sneaking around after such an incident."

"I see…" Zed's father said, eyeing Bree and me with more interest. "And do you two have anything to say for yourselves before we begin?"

"I was just waiting on Addison and Zed to finish up so we could go grab coffee," Bree said with a straight face.

I swallowed. Aw hell. Were we really using fucking as the cover-up? I wasn't even getting some.

"Finish what?" Zed's father asked. His eyes flicking between Zed and me. The former took a step to the side, further away from me, and it was my turn to wither a little.

Well. If it's going to be like that…

"What do you think?" Bree asked with a delicate lift of her eyebrows.

Her mother's lips twisted in amusement. "You're saying they were having sex."

She didn't ask it like a question, but Bree chose to answer it as one. "Yes, ma'am."

"And you were waiting for them to… finish?" her mother asked.

Bree nodded.

"We found her at the bottom of the stairs," lumberjack zombie interjected, his big meaty face set in a scowl.

All members of the Council eyed her again.

'They were getting it on," Bree said. "I got a little curious since they were taking so long. I wanted to see if they might like a third…"

Oh my God. She did not just… yes, she did.

And now her mom was smiling.

What. The. Fuck?

I couldn't lie for shit, so I really hoped my face didn't betray me right now because I was in next-level shock.

"Interesting story," Bucky said, stepping forward. I didn't notice until now that he wore casual clothes, but casual in the rich person sense. Instead of a three-piece suit, it was a button-down and slacks. He fit right in with the Council as he started to slowly stroll as if drumming up to tell quite the story. "I'd almost believe it, had I not found Addison Wells and Zed in the hallway near the upper level of the Zeta house. Zed claimed they were also in his room, that he came to check the ward, and Addison ventured out to look for him."

Well, it could have been worse. I think.

The Council looked to me.

"Is this true?" another member asked, one that I didn't know who or what they were. Although, she did resemble Not-Morticia a bit. With her tight black dress, just long enough on the skirt to be classy, long sable hair, and red lips… she could have been her mother. At least as far as the ensemble was concerned.

I swallowed, mouth dry. "Yes."

Stick to one-word answers. Harder to get caught in a lie.

"What made you think that he was on the upper floor?" Zed's father asked.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "Just a guess…"

"A guess," the man repeated. I wish I knew his name right about now. "Do you know why you're here…" his attention flicked to Bucky, "Addison, you said?"

Bucky nodded.

I froze. "I… um… well, I thought it was kind of weird how they were all freaking out about some alarm I couldn't hear or see. Now I'm trouble with the city council, and that's really weird…" I said, fumbling over my words. "I mean, why would I be in trouble for walking around? And why do Bree and I have to explain? It's a frat house and, uh, I was just there to hook up. Getting it on like Donkey Kong, you know?"

"I can't tell if she's lying or just nervous," the lady in black said with an exasperated sigh. "Carla, just compel them. If she knows nothing, we wipe her memory, making her forget this ever happened and move on. I'm going to miss my four o'clock feeding at this rate."

I swallowed again, for more than one reason.

One, this broad was a vampire. I was face-to-face with a vampire, and she looked nothing like the ones from Twilight!

Two, this was fixing to get a whole lot messier.

"What… wait a minute… what's this compelling thing mean?" I asked, not faking the quaver that entered my voice.

If they started messing around in my mind, my secret was going to get out. I didn't know much of anything of this supernatural stuff, but I was certain that wasn't going to be something I could hide from them.

Bree's mother stood and gracefully made her way down the stage and over to us. She paused directly in front of me, giving me a friendly smile. Then she leaned forward and sniffed me, her pupils dilating as she leaned back. "She's telling the truth," Bree's mom declared. "I can smell his lust all over her. Sadly, it seems they were interrupted before they reached climax. How tragic."

I could feel the blood rush to my face. It was one thing to get caught dry humping Zed and another thing to have to talk about it in front of his dad and frat brothers. I risked a glance at him, annoyed that he looked entirely unfazed.

Seriously? Am I the only one suffering here?

Huffing, I rolled my eyes. "If someone knew more about female anatomy it might not have taken so long…"

Snickers filled the room as Zed tensed, his eyes shooting daggers at me as he finally looked my way.

I lifted my shoulder in the tiniest shrug. There. Now we were both humiliated.

"I'm sorry to hear that my son disappointed you," Daddy Necrodopolus said, barely hiding his own smile. "Bartholomew, it seems this was all a misunderstanding."

Bucky's face could have been carved from stone. "Sir, I must respectfully disagree. Only a powerful supernatural could have set off those wards. And it wasn't until this one," he gestured to me, "reached the third floor that the second one was triggered. Their story doesn't add up, sir. Not timing-wise, and not with where they were located when we found them mere minutes afterward. I think there's something else at play here."

"If the girl was a supernatural, she would have been registered. The Council has no records of Addison Wells, outside of her birth and relation to Tracey Wells." Zed's father turned to look at the breathtakingly beautiful young woman with wild dark curly hair with just a streak of white framing her face. "Have any of your pack bitten a human recently?"

"No, Zevon," she said in a strong voice. "Any human attacks must be reported within twenty-four hours of occurring to ensure that none have been turned."

"Vanna?" Zed's father asked, turning to the vampire.

"No. We have not turned a human in almost five years."

He nodded as if he'd expected the answer. "Then I suppose we must call upon your services, Sarah."

My eyes turned to the woman on the far right of the table. She was lovely, in that timeless plastic surgery kind of way. Her blonde hair flowed down her back as she stood and made her way down the stage.

"What are you doing?" I asked, glancing sideways at Zed and Bree. Zed's jaw clenched. The muscle ticked. He watched with hard eyes as Sarah came to stand before me. Next to him, Bree looked troubled.

Sarah must not have deemed me worth answering because she reached forward and grabbed my hand. Her fingers were cold as she turned mine over.

"Hey! I asked what you were…" Using her free hand, she jabbed one of her pointed nails into my palm.

Blood welled in the shape of a half-moon. She lifted her nail, now coated with it.

I watched in trepidation as she leaned forward. I half expected her to lick it at this point, but she did something even weirder. She muttered a rush of words I didn't understand and the blood on her finger ran black.

Sarah's eyebrows drew together. She looked confused as she turned and presented her now blackened nail. The Council member's faces turned stricken.

"That's impossible…." Zevon said.

"The blood does not lie," Sarah replied softly.

"Perhaps the spell…"

"There is nothing wrong with the spell," she said with a bite.

"Here," Vanna said, waving her hand towards her. "Let me taste it. I can tell you if the girl is what she seems."

Zevon didn't look happy with this plan of action, and not gonna lie, I wasn't thrilled by it either. However, if it kept them from having Sarah jab me again, I wasn't going to say shit.

Sarah walked up the platform and next to me Bree's mom looked between the witch and me, worry filling her expression. Was she worried for me? Or about their secret? Or was it because they were fixing to know I was a freak of nature?

I still wasn't sure when Sarah extended her hand. Vanna grasped her wrist and brought the other woman's finger to her mouth. She licked it gingerly.

Her eyes flared red.

"The blood does not lie," Vanna repeated, clearly shaken.

"It cannot be," Zevon said, trying to remain staunch in his opinions, though it was clear they were beginning to wane. "We've never had a female."

"Well you do now," Sarah said, taking her seat.

All eyes were on me as Bree's mom, Carla said, "Addison, did you know that you're a reaper?"

There was an odd tone to her voice. The world seemed brighter for a moment. The air fresher. Beyond it, something I couldn't name touched me. Making me speak. I couldn't stop myself, even if I wanted to.

"Yes."