We drove into an area called Glenmore on the outskirts of the city, a neighborhood that had probably been nice in the mid-twentieth century but now was a weird mix of low-income apartments, the original homes of elderly grandparents, and old houses that had been turned into stores. We were only a couple of blocks from the highway when Talbot pulled the van over near a pawnshop called Second Chances. The first thing I noticed about it was the X of police tape across the doorway, and another one over the shattered storefront window.
Talbot grabbed his large backpack from behind his seat and got out of the van. I followed. He walked right up to the storefront. Talbot looked back and forth along the street and then twisted hard on the door handle. I heard a pop as the door unlocked and opened. Talbot pulled the police tape aside and gestured for me to go inside the shop.
“Um, isn’t that kind of illegal?” I wasn’t exactly big on sneaking into places.
Talbot shrugged. “Sometimes you’ve got to bend the rules in this line of work.”
“What if we get caught?”
Talbot tapped beside his ear. “The place is empty. The security cameras are still disabled. And we’ll be in and out in a matter of minutes. I just want to test something.”
“What?”
“You.”
I looked into his green eyes and cocked my head, but I didn’t say anything.
“Come on, before we lose our chance,” he said.
I hesitated for only a second longer and then ducked under the tape and into the store. Broken glass crunched under my shoes as I did a little circle, inspecting the damage around me. All the display cases had been smashed in, and it looked like all the merchandise was missing.
“This place got hit last night,” Talbot said. “Whoever did it cleared out the entire inventory and walked off with a six-hundred-pound safe in less than the six minutes it took the police to respond to the silent alarm.”
“How do you know all this?”
“It helps to have an in with a detective.”
“Oh. So let me guess, no security camera footage?”
“Nope. I questioned my detective friend this morning about it, and he says it’s the same as all the other supposedly invisible bandit jobs. No fingerprints, no camera footage, everything gone in a matter of minutes.”
“So what are we going to do here?”
“Take a deep breath.”
I gave him a quizzical look.
“Go on. Do it.”
I sucked in a deep breath. Whatever it was that he wanted me to do must be interesting if he thought I needed to practice deep breathing before he told me. The air tasted sour, like too-old milk, and I let the breath out immediately. I looked around for a water fountain so I could rinse out the nasty taste it left in my mouth. When I couldn’t find one, I glanced back at Talbot. “Okay, so what’s up?” I asked tentatively. “Why are we here? What kind of test am I supposed to take?”
Talbot raised an eyebrow. “The deep breath was part of your test. You didn’t taste anything?”
“Well, yeah. It tastes like sour milk in here, but what does that have to do with anything?”
“Hmmm. We have more work to do than I originally thought. I’d assumed you’d have some hunting abilities.”
I felt a rush of embarrassment. “No. I get what you mean now.” I took in another deep breath and held it in the back of my throat. All I could taste was the sour milk, but I forced myself not to exhale the air. I didn’t want to fail in front of Talbot. I didn’t want him to think I wasn’t up to training. I knew that I was probably getting a bit blue in the face by this point and that made me annoyed with myself. I finally exhaled the air through my nose, and as
I did, I caught another scent that I hadn’t noticed before. “I taste sour milk, but I smell something else. Like bad meat, maybe? Something rotting.”
“Good,” Talbot said. “Or bad actually.”
“Well, if I didn’t do it right, then show me how to do it better. You’re supposed to be training me, remember?”
“No training yet. Not until after your test. You did just fine, though. It’s just that sour milk means we’ve got a couple of Gelals on our hands, but the rotting-meat smell means there was at least one Akhkharu here.”
“Akh … a … what?”
“Ahk-hay-roo,” he pronounced for me.
I scrunched my nose and didn’t even try wrapping my mouth around that word again.
“Yeah,” Talbot said. “Just call them Akhs—rhymes with socks. It’s much easier to say. Or some people call them vampires.”
I could feel my eyes go wide. “Seriously?”
“Except they’re not the same as the traditional, I-vant-to-suck-your-blood kind of vamp.” Talbot shrugged. “Let’s get moving before somebody comes back. We’ve got another stop to make as part of your test before I get you to your bus.”
“And that is?”
“Let’s just say it’s a good thing you brought your running shoes.”
Talbot hitched his backpack over both of his shoulders and led me to the end of the block. He stopped at the corner with his nose in the air. The street was empty except for an old woman sitting at a bus stop. “You smell that?” Talbot took in a quick breath.
I did the same. “Yeah, it’s that same sour-milk, rotting-meat odor.”
Talbot nodded with approval. “We’re on their trail.” He took me by the elbow and we crossed the street, Talbot still testing the air. “Yes, this is the way they went. They were on foot.”
“With a six-hundred-pound safe?” My voice held more than just a hint of disbelief.
“Don’t underestimate demons, kid. Those Gelals went down easy the other day. Too easy, if you ask me.”
My stomach did a little flip-flop. That had been easy?
“You ready for the next section of your test?”
“Yeah. Sure. I guess.”
Talbot still had me by the elbow, and he pulled me in close to him, our bodies almost touching. He stooped his head so his face nestled close to my neck, and he took in a long, deep breath. When he let the air out, it tickled across my skin, sending tingling goose bumps down my back.
“Did you just smell my hair?” I asked, my voice sounding far too unstable.
“I’m getting your scent. You should get mine, too, in case we get separated.”
“Get your scent?” I almost laughed, because I couldn’t help thinking of myself as one of those tracking dogs that the police make smell a lost kid’s shirt or something before they set out looking for him.
Talbot pulled me closer, my lips practically skimming his neck. His hand squeezed my elbow tight. I took in a deep breath and held it in the back of my throat. Talbot smelled like mint gum, fresh sawdust, and something else that I probably wouldn’t have been able to pick up without my developing wolf sense. He smelled like my dog Daisy used to when she’d spent the morning lazing in the sun on the back porch. It was a smell that
I’d always found slightly unpleasant in the past—especially when she’d try to nap on my bed smelling like that—but now it made my toes curl with the memory of warm, familiar things.
“You smell like lavender and vanilla,” Talbot said. He was so close I could feel his words, warm like sunlight, against my face. He tugged on one of my dark curls.
I took a step back. I’d let him get too close. “It’s just my shampoo.”
“Well, it’s nice and trackable, in case I need to double back to find you. You got my scent?”
I nodded.
“Now that’s just plan B in case you lose your way. I want you to focus your concentration on the Gelal and Akh scents. But their trail is old and fading, so don’t feel bad if you lose it. My trail will be nice and fresh if we do get separated, so fall back on that.” He smiled, all dimply. “And do at least try to keep up with me. Won’t be any fun if I find them without you.”
