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It turned out I was right. Hunting down one boggle in a city full of humans and various displaced supes was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Last month, when I'd hunted the kappa, I could at least sniff him out. Those suckers stank. But the boggle...probably smelled of damp night air and peat moss. Too subtle for my nose to pick it out over the miasma of car exhaust, food, and people. I had an eagle head, after all, not a bloodhound. Oisin could do his fae scrying thing, but he would need a name, which we didn't have.
So we did things the old-fashioned way. We found other supes and asked around.
It wasn't that hard, really, just time consuming.
There were more supes in New Paradise than I originally guessed. As expected, most of them were weirdos. It figured. Most supes preferred to stay near groups of their own kind, either for safety in numbers or because some races, like the fae, had stronger magic that way. If a supe was out here in a human city on their own, the likelihood was that they had done something to get ostracized. I tried not to stereotype or jump to conclusions—after all, my own split with my clan after they took the side of my rapist wasn't that cut and dry—but really, after we spoke with a troll who was selling balloons on the street corner because he liked children—and not to eat—and a fairy who was working in a goth music store...I had the right to make some snap judgments.
"Oh, do stop scowling, darling." A slender arm slid around my waist and Oisin's smell of fresh growing things and danger enveloped me. "I'll buy you coffee."
I sighed. "Sorry. This whole thing is just pissing me off. I feel like I'm chasing my tail out here doing nothing."
He squeezed me tighter in a one-armed hug as he steered me toward calories and caffeine. "And?"
"It doesn't feel right," I growled. "Con said this whole boggle thing fit, but he didn't think it was right."
Oisin gave me a bored look and brushed a strand of long red hair out of his face when the wind kicked up. "These things will work out, eventually. By the way," he said, his expression going feral. "How are you liking that sweet little secretary I chose for you, anyway?"
I rolled my eyes. "You keep flirting with him and I won't have a secretary. He's human, you know. He's not built to weather that degree of fae bullshit."
He released me and reached to pull open the door to our favorite coffee shop. "Oh Gesa, you silly, silly gryphon. The man is not going to run away."
I shook my head. I had no idea what in the world Oisin was up to where Con was concerned, and I really didn't want to know. Mostly. Even if the thought of my deadly little fae taking my studious human apart was incredibly hot. Male gryphons kept prides, females didn't. But somehow, I'd come to think of both men as mine. Maybe that whole "only weirdoes leave their clans and end up in this city" stereotype applied to me after all....
Oisin waved me toward a table while he went to flirt information out of the pixie barista. She was wearing glamour for the benefit of the humans, probably so an employer with the site didn't freak out and fire her, but her magic wasn't as powerful as someone like Oisin. While his pointed ears were completely hidden and his ethereal beauty somewhat dimmed, I could see hints of green skin and iridescent dragonfly wings as she moved about.
Oisin returned to the table in record time, sporting two steaming cups, which he cooled to drinking temperature with a soft breath of magic. "Sometimes," I purred at him as I took my drink, "I'm actually grateful you are an arrogant, magic-using flirt."
He smirked at me and sat, nose up in the air, gesturing at his lean body with a graceful hand. "That's it, go on and shower me in praise."
I snorted. "Did you get anything. Other than coffee and another potential stalker?" I was pretty sure our elderly neighbor came to the dusty old bookshop just to look at his ass. The fae didn't seem to mind.
Oisin grinned. "Violet over there just happens to know a boggle who lost his home when the development happened. A couple other swamp dwellers were displaced too. All of them are as sane as they ever were. The boggle works in the aquatic life section of the local zoo. He loves animals. Not likely to go around killing them and throwing them on doorsteps."
I tapped the table with a finger.
"Don't let it get to you, sweetheart," Oisin said in a strangely caring way. He covered my hand, patting it as if I was a distressed damsel. "I have a wonderful idea to take your mind off the issue."
I snorted. I bet he did. And I bet it involved getting naked somewhere inappropriate.
He knew what I was thinking, if his deepening smirk was any indication. Gods, those lips. "Gesa, please, be serious." He shook his head as if he couldn't believe my obsession with sex. The fiend. "I was thinking we could use that big monstrosity of a TV you insisted on buying. Maybe get our kitchen-inclined friend to make us snacks."
I eyed him suspiciously, even though that sounded really good. "You want to have...a movie night? Like...a date? Are you okay, Oisin? Maybe whatever was bothering you in the bookstore melted that one brain cell you were saving for later."
He laughed, leaning back to sip his coffee, a black, steaming pool of bitterness compared to my triple, caramel, mocha whatever. "We can do normal things together, Gesa. Why do you refuse to believe I enjoy your company?"
I grumbled and chugged my own drink. Gryphon metabolism was no joke. And on top of that, I did workout to keep the muscles I needed to do my job. Oisin smiled. A real smile this time. "It's nice," he said softly. "To have a family again, however long that lasts."
I stared at him in shock. Oisin rarely showed true emotion. He kept everything locked away under that snarky, sarcastic, flippant veneer. He met my eyes, then looked away, as if ashamed he'd been caught being real.
I opened my mouth to say something, anything, to let him know it was okay, that even though I joked right back with him, I could handle his real self too. But just then, my phone started ringing, my ringtone way too loud and obnoxious. I glared. "You changed it again, asshole."
Oisin choked back laughter and pasted a shocked look on his face. "Really, Gesa," he said loudly, so the other patrons could hear him. "How many times do I have to tell you to turn that down? So rude."
I fumbled my phone out of my pocket. "I will murder you in your sleep, fae."
He winked at me. "You wouldn't be the first to try, gryphon girl." His mask slipped for a second, a slip of darkness visible around the edges. He wasn't joking about the attempted murder. He stood. "I'll be outside looking out for squirrel-murdering supes. You better take that."
I watched him walk away as I swiped my screen to answer my phone. Something was up with him. I knew whatever bad blood he had with his clan, it worried him more than he let on. I wondered if I should be worried too. Oisin was strong and he always seemed so unperturbed by everything. But this thing with his clan was secretly causing him to panic, and that was unsettling.
"Yeah?" I answered my phone, knowing it was Oswald by the ringtone.
"We got another dead animal," he said gruffly. "I was the first one called out this time, so if you hurry you can come...sniff things."
I stood. "I'm not a dog, you know."
He huffed. "Close enough." He hung up and texted me an address.
Oisin and I hitched a cab across town, to a pretty Victorian house that had been converted into a flower shop. Oswald was waiting impatiently on the curb by his squad car. "Come on, hurry it up before my human backup gets here."
"Anything unusual? Maybe some clue that a supe lost his shit?" I asked.
Oswald shook his head. "Not that I can see. Just a dead fox. But I don't sniff things."
I wanted to punch him, but I refrained. For now.
Oisin raised a perfectly arched brow at the liaison. "A fox? In the middle of town?"
"I know, it's strange. Maybe the thing came in to dumpster-dive?" Oswald shrugged and gestured around the side of the building. "Here you go, have at it." His tone said he thought we were complete weirdos.
I brushed by Oswald, but paused when I heard Oisin's soft, even tone. "Are you okay, officer?"
I glanced back to see Oisin had paused to peer up into Oswald's face. Now that I was paying attention, I could see what he meant. The banshee was pale, kind of gray around the edges. And his eyes were watery...like he was about to cry. He stared down at Oisin and they had some sort of manly battle of wills. "Fine," he said gruffly. "Rough night."
I turned away to let them bond or whatever. I had dead animals to sniff.
I rounded the side of the building, passing under a trellis to get to the door. The fox was lying on the stoop in a puddle of blood. It had been shot. I drew in a deep breath and dropped to my knees. The lingering traces of magic were so faint, the banshee probably overlooked them. But I could smell it.
Shifter.
I reached out a hand to stroke the soft, dense red fur, wondering who this fox had been. Most shifters stayed in their animal forms if they were wounded, the animal instinct taking over so they could heal, the human parts retreating so they didn't have to feel pain.
I didn't hear Oisin approach, but his hand covered mine, drew it away. "You shouldn't touch her," he said softly. "Just in case someone looks for evidence."
I clenched my hand into a fist. "Do you think the others...?"
He sighed. "Yeah, probably."
All this time, they had never been just animals. People were being killed right under the nose of the human police. And the supes in the department couldn't tell, because there were no shifters on staff. Only magic users. I lifted a hand to rub my temple. "You could tell? But you aren't a shifter."
Oisin stood, pulling me up with him. "I can shift. Most strong fae have an alternate form. And I'm more connected with nature than most supes. I couldn't sniff this out," he said with a grimace of regret. "But being here, so soon after she died, I can sense it. That this fox had dual natures."
I nodded. Anger was starting to seep in around the edges of my shock and sadness. People were being killed and the police weren't even considering this a crime scene. The other bodies probably just got dumped somewhere or incinerated. I wondered if there was family out there, looking for their lost loved ones. Cause, you know, some families cared like that. I think. Oswald rounded the corner of the building and walked straight into my glare.
"You fucking bastard," I said, hands growing talons.
He halted and glanced between me and Oisin, his hand coming up to hover over his holstered gun. "What's your problem, gryphon?"
I growled.
Oisin stepped between us. "Don't mind Gesa," he said, his smooth voice all airy and flippant. "She gets all murdery when people don't do their jobs."
He paced toward the banshee, ignoring the grip the guy had on his gun, little wisps of magic rising from Oisin's skin, belying his calm voice and relaxed posture. If I was that ignorant fucking cop, I would wet my pants and beg to live right about now.
Oswald spread his feet as if bracing himself. He had balls for someone so dickless.
Oisin stopped, his chest only inches from the officer's. "Why have you been crying, banshee?"
Of fucking course. I wanted to facepalm. How stupid could you be?
The officer's face mirrored his confusion and fear. "I... there was death coming," he whispered. "But no one I knew. The connection was too faint. I... couldn’t warn whoever it was."
Oisin lifted a hand and cupped the gruff officer's jaw in his slender fingers. "And did you sing anyway, banshee?" The way Oisin said it made the word sound old and foreign.
The bigger man dropped his hand from his gun, shoulders drooping. "Yes."
"Good boy," Oisin breathed. He whispered something in a language I didn't understand. Something with guttural sounds, old. Gaelic, maybe. Oswald nodded, looking a bit less defeated, but still haunted.
I cleared my throat. "If we are all done male bonding, does someone want to explain to me why there's a dead shifter over here and no one is looking for a murderer?"
Oisin dropped his hand and stepped away from Oswald to give me a fond glare. "So subtle and sensitive, Gesa."
Oswald took a breath and put his man shell back on to hide his shock. "Because I didn't know it was a murder, cat. That fox...the others...they were shifters?"
I growled. "I'm not a fucking cat, you wailing ambulance-chaser. If you'd had a cat, or maybe even a lowly little dog, on your elite team you probably could have saved a few lives."
Oisin calmly re-braided his hair to keep the long strands out of his face. Feeling our glares on him, he finished up and made a "keep going" gesture with one hand. "By all means," he said calmly, "continue insulting each other while there's a body lying here. It's kind of hot, in that necromancy sort of way."
I rolled my eyes. But the tension broke. "You," I said, pointing at Oswald, "need to fix this."
He heaved a sigh and pulled out his phone, tapping away at the screen. "Thank you for your expert opinion, bounty hunter."
I bared my teeth. "Hunter is right," I said as I passed him.
He put the phone to his ear, but glared blue daggers at me. "Don't you fucking do it, gryphon. Thanks for helping with this, but now it's an actual investigation. No more amateur night."
I just grinned at him. He couldn't stop me, and we both knew it.