"Filia? Hah Feliar! Her name is supposed to be Feliar now. It's her goddamned 'vampire identity,'" Fox cursed, an ugly expression crossing her otherwise perennially amused features. "Feliar was a demi-god out in New Mexico."
"Where she's from," Stone explained to the rest of the room.
"She's a witch," Fox swore, slamming her fist down on the dining room table. "She didn't need to offer vampirism. She could have sold insurance, and people would be beating down her door."
"Excuse me?" Abby blinked at her. "Details?"
"My brother," Fox snarled, "had a fling with this woman."
"Feliar?"
"Yes."
"You never mentioned her before," Alyssa said, guardedly.
"She wasn't a vampire at the time. She was a handler. Waiting for her turn, I assume. She tricked my brother into offering up my nieces to her master."
"Who's her master?"
Fox shook her head, grinding her teeth. "Never found him. The vamp ripped those girls' throats out and vanished, taking Feliar with."
"Why haven't you been able to find her until now?"
"She knows I'm looking for her." Fox wore an expression that said, quite loudly, that the only reason Feliar was still alive was because Fox didn't know where she was.
"Will she be able to make you if you hit the conference with us?"
"Yes," Fox brushed aside her hair to display the tattoo over her neck. It was a Native American drawing of a fox, tongue hanging out, giving it a demonic, rabid appearance. Beneath the face, it said, simply: Bite Me. "I got this for her when I thought she'd killed my nieces."
"Then you're out," Caulder said, reclining in his chair.
"Not on your life," Fox hissed. "I am going in on this. If she has even the slightest chance of being there, I will be there." Her tone brooked no argument.
"What happened to your brother?" Abby looked at King, surprised. First Stone, now Fox. He usually didn't care why anyone got in the game. Hell, whenever someone asked him about his reasons for joining the Nightstalkers, he made a joke of it. He didn't appear to be joking with Fox.
"He killed himself," Fox whispered, seeming small and girlish for the first time since Abby had met her. "He haunts me, sometimes." She closed her hand over the tattoo on her neck. "When Feliar dies, he will rest easy."
"So, we wait and see what Gidge has," Alyssa concluded. "If she's there, we'll figure something else out. We need to get our people in there, but we're going to have to consider Fox out of the running for now."
"Me, too, maybe," King offered, displeased. Abby swallowed against a nervous lump in her throat as hard looks were cast at him and then, in turn, at her.
"What's your story?" Fox raised an eyebrow at him. King stood, pushing back his chair, all nonchalant and unconcerned. He raised his shirt and hooked his thumb in his pants, dragging them down an couple of inches. There was a collective sharp inhalation around the room; expressions ranged from murderous--Eli, to curious--Fox, to guilty--Alyssa.
"Son of a bitch," Eli grated, fists clenched. Briefly, Abby wondered how they would subdue him if he attacked, but Fox held up a hand in front of him, pushing insistently at his chest.
"Relax, partner. It's just the same placement. The glyph is different." It was strange, the way madness see-sawed between them, Fox level-headed with Eli enraged, and probably swinging back again. For now, though, she'd take it, as Fox looked slightly less inclined to kill King. "Whose?" Fox asked, indicating the glyph just below King's belly button.
"Danica Talos," King said, evenly. The room at large absorbed this information. Eli's face relaxed in a hurry and resumed an expression of professional indifference. Fox still regarded him with a wondrous or, perhaps, wondering, countenance. It chilled Abby, inciting, though she pretended not to notice, a sharp flare of irrational distrust, envy, and suspicion.
"There's a chance," Caulder spoke after a moment, "a small chance, that Alyssa and King would be able to infiltrate the conference undetected." Beside him, his wife shuddered, and Caulder hugged her with one arm. Abby fought the urge to reassure King the way Caulder did his wife. King didn't need it. Whatever he'd been through as Danica's pet, he had come off with a healthy hatred for vampires that deflected most of the psychological trauma--turning a frown upside down, he'd said. Alyssa didn't look as though she'd come through it quite as well.
"Maybe," King shrugged, "but I doubt it. Danica didn't seem surprised to see me when we rescued Blade. I thought she might miss me," he pouted, but Abby could see his jaw muscles tighten.
"I belonged to Quinn, out east," Alyssa said, her words curiously hollow and detached. "He's been gone for nearly seven years." She shook her head, clearing it, and the focus and feeling came back to her next words. "We don't know how well vampires know the glyphs. Or even what they mean, really."
"I wouldn't worry about the vampires. I'm just thinking it would work to get past security, if they're familiars."
"Gidge says not, but that's only the official word. He's still working on cracking the rest of Biomedica's private correspondence," Eli informed them. "He'll have a few friends hack with him to get it, but I think it would be safe to say that Caulder's right. There will be some familiars on staff."
"Mmm," Fox bit her lower lip, still staring at King. By now, he had noticed, and stared right back.
"Fox?"
"Mmm?"
"Something on your mind?"
A toothy grin spread across her face. "I was thinking Caulder has the right idea."
"That's all? Nothing you want to share with us?"
"I was thinking about how far you'd get with Feliar, King."
"Excuse me?" Abby gaped at the woman, but Fox kept her gaze on King. For his part, King didn't flinch.
"You're trying to set me up with an old friend of yours." He mulled it over. "Is she cute?"
"Very."
"Trouble?"
"Very."
"Am I going to regret going out with her?"
"Yes," Fox hissed, barely restraining herself.
"Sounds perfect. When can I meet her?"
"Oh, God, I hope she's here" Fox clapped her hands together. It might have been possible to imagine that she spoke of someone she loved, that her earlier vitriol amounted to nothing but friendly teasing. Only a manic fire in Fox's eyes and the dent she had worried into her lip with her teeth said otherwise.
"Wait, I'm missing something, aren't I?" Eli asked, glancing between his tense partner and the apathetic King. Alyssa and Caulder exchanged a look.
"You want him to seduce this woman?"
"Not really necessary," Fox brushed aside Abby's concern. "You're her type. Just show up, preferably in something…" she fished for the word, "slutty." Abby snorted, King faked disgust.
"Encouraging," King drawled. "And I was looking forward to a long term commitment this time."
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
"Filia," King tried out the word. He looked over at her, beseechingly. She held herself impassive, giving him nothing. "Abby."
"What?"
"You're being quiet, and I'd like to hear your thoughts on this plan."
"What plan? All I'm hearing is Fox's hell bent on revenge. How does it help us? What does Feliar or Filia or whoever have to do with Leung and the conference?"
"Nothing, perhaps," Caulder smirked at King, "but it is no waste of Mr. King's talents to have him dig into it."
"How do we find her?"
"Gidge will get us the details from a tap," Eli suggested. "We can do a reverse directory search, find out where she's been calling the familiar at the bank in L.A. from. Then we'll see that King gets to be friendly."
"Business or pleasure?" Alyssa wondered aloud.
"Neither," King said immediately.
"Show her the glyph," Abby said. "That would get her to trust you."
"Uh-uh," Fox shook her head. "She's the type who might know your handler was dead. Just be a pretty face for her. You can do that, right?" Fox didn't seem like she was entirely sure and so turned to Abby for confirmation. "He does…you know, shut up, on occasion?"
"He has his moments," Abby shrugged.
"That will have to do," Fox rubbed her hands together. "What's next?"
"Hey, do I get a say in this?" King interrupted.
"You did. You said yes."
"Maybe I was joking."
"Maybe you should practice shutting up now."