Liath regarded Mike from where she sat next to her cousin Orion.
Michael was a good man, she knew. She wanted to tell him what she was. He already loved her, of this she was sure, but would he love all of her?
As much as she had been quick to refute Orion's angry words earlier, she feared. She feared that Michael loved only the Liath he knew, the musician, the volunteer, the activist. She feared that when she told him what she was, showed him what she was, that the light of love would vanish from his eyes. She feared that he would grow cold and distant or worse, clutching and possessive as had Linda Gaelan.
Orion had begged her not to tell Mike her secret, not now, and in the end she had promised to wait, as a condition of Orion giving Michael his story. Now she regretted that promise bitterly.
Mike could see the fear in Orion's eyes and the sorrow in Liath's, the same brown liquid gazes, troubled and beautiful.
Mike rose to his feet and reached out his hand to Orion, who after a brief hesitation took it in a short handshake. "Thank you for the information Mr. Gaelan; I appreciate your cooperation. I am going to go back to the station and add this information to my notes. I would like you to keep yourself available for further interviews over the next few of days, if possible."
"Orion will be staying here for the next couple of weeks," Clare said with a quick glance at Orion. "You can get in touch with him at this number."
Mike could not shake the feeling that there was information he was not aware of, passing between those three. Some private communication that he was not privy to and he didn't like it.
He turned to Liath, "Good, I'm going to go then. Liath will you be going to Maxine Beaumont's?" Mike asked. He was worried for Liath, she looks so sad and upset and her eyes are so sorrowful. I wish I could just take her in my arms and…
Liath rose and crossed to Mike, taking him by the arm. "Yes," she said. "Her family will be flying in, in a few hours. I want to go and do what I can for her."
When they reached the door Mike turned and regardless of the eyes upon them, took her into a tender embrace, bending to kiss her and then brushing back the curling flyaway ends of her hair.
"I'll call you in a couple of hours," he said as she released him. Then he was through the door and descending the steps. His phone began to buzz when he was halfway down the front walk. He hauled it out of his pocket, glanced at the number, and flipping it open, brought it to his ear…"Vicki?"
***
Vicki looked at her watch, not quite 2:30 PM; she really wanted a chance to call Mike even though she also really wanted to sleep. Less than five hours a night really doesn't do it for me. She looked longingly at the freshly made bed; the plump pillows looked so inviting. If I just laid down my head for a second…just for a few minutes…
She pulled out her phone and pressed the speed dial then waited as the ringing started. I have a lot that I need to tell Mike; I can't let him go on thinking that this is just a normal murder case. Oh great, now I'm starting to sound like Coreen; next I'll be thinking of everyone who doesn't shape-shift or drink blood as mundane. He needs to know about the Selchies, even though he is going to fucking hate it, and the big guy is no slouch, so I am pretty sure he is going to have a lot of info for me as well. I hate the way we left it last time I called. I need him to know that I've seen Henry and I understand why…why he…
The familiar voice on the other end of the line answered with a gruff question, "Vicki?"
"Hey Mike, where are you, still on the island?" And then without waiting for his response she launched into, "Listen, about the other night…"
She could hear the sigh in his voice. "It's okay Vic. I guess I was a little outa line. It's just that I had just met up with Fang Boy and the thought of you travelling out to Vancouver to see him when I had just seen the state he was in…"
"I've seen Henry," she said abruptly and she could feel her ire rising as Mike spoke. He has no right to tell me who I can and can't…Jeez Nelson, are you a slow learner or what?
"I've seen Henry," she began again, "and we are…talking."
"Yeah, I'll just bet you were talking, Vic. I saw him, remember, and I know…"
Mike started to wind up but she said "I know it was bad, Mike and I want to, I want to make things right."
I fuckin' bet you've seen him the way I saw him, that terrible sorrow, that unremitting isolation, the resonating creeping power of that blood sucking, undead bastard…that poor bastard. Oh that's rich Celluci, he's probably going to eat Vicki's face and here you are feeling sorry for the Vampire Prince.
He was standing on the side walk in front of Liath's house with the cell pressed to his ear.
He looked back at the house and could see Liath standing in the window watching him, concern written on her face. Gaelan was standing behind her and he had the look of a man who was terrified. What the hell could his wife have taken from him that left him this frightened? Mike thought.
Liath grasped Orion's hand as he started to move towards the door. "You have to trust him Orion," she said, though her own eyes followed Michael's tall frame as he began to pace up and down the sidewalk in front of her house under the sun of the afternoon sky.
"Liath, the woman he is talking to this Vic. I think she is the same woman who saw me change form in Stanley Park," Orion said lowly.
"I know," Liath said, her brown eyes full of sadness.
He ran a hand through his blond hair and then scrubbed at his face, willing his anger and confusion away.
"Mike, I got a call from Dave on the Sidorov murder, he sent me the scans of the files, so I know that Orion Gaelan's name is on the POI list, again. I want to pass along some information about him to you." Vicki spoke quickly, her tone businesslike and crisp. She had a lot of information to impart and had very little time to do it. She was pretty sure that Mike wasn't going to like any of it.
"Yeah well you're not the only hot shot in town Vic. As luck would have it, I just finished interviewing Orion Gaelan," Mike told her.
"You know where he is," came her reply. "Good, don't let him disappear before I can get to the Island."
"He's not going anywhere Vicki. I know where he is staying and in fact I am standing in front of the house. I can see him watching me out of the God-damned window." Mike looked up at Liath and Gaelan standing side by side in the window, their liquid brown eyes watching.
He turned away and leaned against his rental car, his attention focused once more on the phone he held in his hand.
"Yeah, well I never got to tell you the last time I called, but his wife told me that he left her because…"
"…because she stole something from him," Mike finished.
"He told you that?" Vicki asked momentarily nonplussed.
"Yeah, he said that, whatever it was that she had taken from him, that she was using it to blackmail him into staying with her," Mike reported. He felt a little smug, that he had already figured out what the great Victoria Nelson, was calling to tell him.
"And did he happen to mention what it was that she had stolen?" Vicki prodded.
"Nope, he didn't say, but I can tell you one thing Vic, the guy is terrified to let her anywhere near him again. He just said that it was personal and that the police wouldn't be able to help him. Why? Do you know what it was?" Mike asked.
"Yeah, and you're not going to like it, Mike. She stole his skin." There was an expectant moment of silence and then…
"Come on Vic, I can still see the guy. He looks just fine to me, in fact there's not a mark on him," Mike said, pushing himself away from the car and beginning to pace again.
"I'm not joking Mike. Orion Gaelan is a selchie and his wife Linda stole his skin and hid it to force him to stay with her."
He stopped dead on the street, the hand that held the phone tightening on the device. "What the fuck is a selchie Vicki and I swear if you tell me that it sucks blood…"
"Don't be an asshole Celluci, when you were growing up didn't you ever hear the legends about the Seal Maiden?"
"Seal Maidens, seal maidens, nope, must have missed that one. Of course if I'd know that every fucking mythological creature from every horror story ever written was going to stop by my life later on, starting with that black-eyed bastard, well maybe I would have paid closer attention," he said, trying for disbelief and failing miserably.
Striving for calm, Vicki continued, "He's a type of shape-shifter, a being who can change from human to seal and back again."
"You have got to be shitting me, turns into a seal rather than a wolf? You've been hanging out with Captain Canine again haven't you?"
"You know what Mike? If you don't believe me that's fine; just don't say that I didn't try to tell you," Vicki said hotly.
Seal Maiden, seal maiden, the image floated through his consciousness. Mike glanced up to see Liath's pale face watching him through the window.
Vicki was speaking again a little more calmly, and he dragged his attention back to the phone. "Look Mike, you can believe me or not, but I saw Orion Gaelan change into a seal with my own eyes on the beach in Stanley park, and I saw a seal change into a man in the rescue pool at the Aquarium in Vancouver and this, none of this, has anything to do with Henry!"
Seal maiden, seal maiden, green waters gliding by, the waving deep green fronds of the kelp forest, flying on flippered wings through an emerald sky…
He glanced at the house again and saw that Orion had resumed his place behind Liath, his hand on her shoulder. Two sets of deep brown eyes watched him intently and he thought, he thought…
Fuck…Liath is Orion's cousin; that was what she had said…Seal maiden.
"Fine, I have to go Vic. I'll call you later okay? After I have written up my notes and seen what's new at the station, I'll call, but…I have to go."
Mike ran a hand through his hair. He desperately didn't want this strangeness to reach out and touch what he had found in Liath. Selchie…Orion Gaelan was some kind of a monster, according to Vicki, a fucking freak just like Henry and Liath, beautiful and gentle Liath, she was his cousin.
***
Vicki looked at the phone in her hand and then looked at Coreen. "He hung up on me, again," she said sourly.
"Maybe he thought that he had left all the freaky stuff," she made air quotes with her fingers when she said freaky stuff, "behind, when you stopped talking to him." Coreen offered. "I mean, you know, Henry was gone and you weren't talking and maybe his life just went back to boring old mundane stuff."
"Yeah, maybe, but I know him, there is something else there that is bothering him." Coreen closed her laptop down.
"You done?" Vicki asked.
Coreen nodded, "Yeah I want to hit the library downtown for a bit and look through the newspaper files. This Fletcher character is really bugging me."
Vick had not told Coreen about Henry's involvement with Gillian, and she would never share what she had seen in Jared's room. Somehow the fact that Henry had trusted her with those parts of his life made them intensely private and personal. Somewhere last night she had made a choice; she would keep his secrets.
"I want to grab a couple hours sleep. Mike said that Orion Gaelan is on the Island and that he knows where he is staying. I want to meet with Henry before we head over to Victoria."
***
Mike dropped the phone in his pocket, and looked back at the house. Liath and Orion still stood in the window.
I should go in, I should go in and confront them, but then they would have to answer and then I would…know.
He turned and opened the car door, throwing himself behind the wheel and turning over the engine. I need time; I need time to think this through before I do anything rash. He could his Nonna's voice admonishing him, "before you do anything Michael; you need to take time to think!"
Without looking back to the figures watching, he drove off. I'll go back to the station, write up my report, send Vic a copy. I'll go back to the station, and it will clear my head.
After a few minutes his phone began to ring. He pulled it from his pocket. It was Liath's number, he knew. He couldn't answer, he couldn't, he listened to it ring until it finally stopped and then he put the cell back in his pocket.
Seal maiden…