Ivy's face held a silent distain clearly directed at Nick. 'I'd be willing to bet it's whatever the Weres are after. I thought it was his handwriting, but I wasn't sure.'
Very conscious of Nick slurping his shake and reading track titles over Jenks's shoulder, I pulled the package off the table and put it in my lap. My pulse quickened and I made short work of the outer wrapping. Fingers cold, I opened the box and pulled out the heavy drawstring bag. 'It's got lead in it,' I said, feeling the supple weight of the fabric. 'It's wrapped in lead, Ivy. I don't like this.'
She casually leaned forward to block Nick's view. 'Well, what is it?'
Licking my lips, I tugged the opening wider and peered down, deciding it was a figurine. I gingerly touched it, finding it cold. More confident, I drew it out and set it on the table between us. Staring at it, I wiped my hands off on my jeans.
'That is…really ugly,' Ivy said. 'I think it's ugly.' Her brown eyes flicked to me. 'Is it ugly, or just weird?'
Goose bumps rose, and I stifled a shiver. 'I don't know.'
The statue was a yellowish color with stained striations running through it. Bone, I guessed. Very old bone; it had left the cold feeling on my hands that bone does. It stood about four inches high and was about as deep. And it felt alive, like a tree or a plate of moldy cheese.
I furrowed my brow as I tried to figure out what it was a statue of. Touching only the base, I turned it with two fingers. A noise of disgust slipped from me; the other side had a long muzzle twisted as if in pain. 'Is it a head?' I guessed.
Ivy put her elbow on the table. 'I think so. But the teeth…Those are teeth, right?'
I shivered, feeling like someone had walked over my grave. 'Oh,' I whispered, realizing what it reminded me of. 'It looks like Pam when she was in the middle of Wereing.'
Ivy flicked her eyes to mine and back to the statue. As I watched, her face went paler and her eyes went frightened. 'Damn,' she muttered. 'I think I know what it is. Cover it up. We are in deep shit.'
Twenty
I jerked when Nick suddenly appeared at the table. His long face was flushed, angry and frightened all at the same time—a dangerous mix. 'What are you doing?' he hissed at Ivy, snatching the statue up and holding it close. 'You brought it here? I sent it to her so no one would find it. I thought she was dead. They couldn't make me tell who had it if I sent it to a dead woman, and you brought it here? You damned fool vampire!'
'Sit,' Ivy said, her jaw clenched and her eyes shifting to black. 'Give it to me.'
'No.' Nick's grip tensed to a white-knuckled strength. 'Save the aura shit for someone it works on. I'm not afraid of you.'
He was, and Ivy's hand trembled. 'Nicholas. I'm hungry. I'm tired. I don't give a crap about your stupid ass. My partner is in deep shit because of you. Give it to me.'
Adrenaline pulsed, hurting my head. Nick was near panic. The karaoke machine started up with something sad and melancholy. Jenks was watching us, but the rest of the bar hadn't a clue that Ivy was about ready to lose it, pushed to the edge from stress and being far from home.
'Nick,' I soothed. 'It'll be okay. Give it to me. I'll put it away.'
Nick shifted and Ivy jerked, almost reaching for him. Licking his cracked lips, Nick said, 'You'll hold it for me?'
'I'll keep it,' I assured him, fumbling for the lead-lined bag and extending it. 'Here.'
Hollow-cheeked face frightened, he carefully placed it into the pouch. His swollen fingers started curving around it, and I pulled it to me, tightening the drawstrings. It wasn't any magical hold it had on him; it was greed.
Hand shaking, Ivy grabbed her drink and downed it to ice. I kept an eye on her while I put the statue in my bag, then put the bag on my lap. It felt heavy, like a dead thing. From the corner came Jenks singing 'Ballad of the Edmund Fitzgerald.' The skinny guy at the bar was watching him, having turned completely from the game recap. Jenks could sing?
'Sit,' Ivy breathed, and this time Nick did, taking Jenks's spot beside me and putting Jenks's coat on the chair beside Ivy. 'Where did you find that?' she muttered.
'It's mine.'
I shifted in my chair, smelling our food coming. The woman didn't look at anyone as she placed the food down and left. The tension was so thick, even she could sense it. I stared at my plate. There was my fabulous burger, oozing juice, with lettuce, onions, mushrooms, cheese, and, oh God, there was bacon on it too. And I couldn't eat it because we had to argue about Nick's ugly statue first. Well, to hell with that, I thought, removing the top bun and picking the onions off.
Ivy refilled her glass from the pitcher, a growing rim of brown around her pupils. 'I didn't say whose is it. I said, where did you find it?'
Nick pulled his plate closer, clearly wanting to ignore her but making the healthy decision not to. 'I can't believe you brought it here,' he said again, motions jerky as he rearranged his pickles. 'I sent it to Rachel so it would be safe.'
Ivy glared at him. 'If you use smart people in your takes without telling them, don't complain when they do the unexpected and ruin your plans.'
'I thought she was dead,' Nick protested. 'I never expected anyone to come help me.'
I ate one of Jenks's fries. There wasn't any ketchup on the table, but asking for some would get us thrown out. Humans blamed the Turn on tomatoes, but they were the ones who had done the genetic tinkering. 'And why are they willing to pack up to get ahold of it?' I asked.
Nick looked ill. 'I don't have to tell you anything.'
My lips parted in disbelief, and I turned to Ivy. 'He's still running his scam.'
'I'm not.' His eyes were wide in an innocence that couldn't reach me anymore. 'But the Weres can't have it. Don't you know what it is?'
His last words were a hushed whisper, and Ivy glanced past me to the door as three underdressed, giggling women pranced in. Immediately Becky started in with a high-pitched chatter, her eyes tracking to Jenks. I think she had called them about fresh meat.
'I know what it is,' Ivy said, dismissing the women. 'Where did you find it?'
One of the guys at the bar was humming. While we sat hunched over our food and argued, Jenks had some guy at the bar singing about a tanker that had sunk forty-some years ago. Shaking my head in wonder, I returned my attention to Nick. 'We're waiting,' I said, then wrangled my burger to my mouth. My eyes closed as I bit into it. Sweet bliss, it was good.
His eyes stressed, Nick picked up one of his burgers, leaning his elbows on the table. 'Rachel, you saw how there were three packs on that island, didn't you? All working together?'
I scrambled for a napkin. 'It was freaking weird,' I said around my full mouth. 'You should have seen how fast their alpha Wered. And they were nasty too. Like alphas without the restraint. Cocky little bastards…' My words trailed off as I took another bite.
'That's what it does,' Nick said, and Ivy swore under her breath. 'I found it in Detroit.'
'Then it's the focus?' she whispered, and I waved a hand for their attention, fry weaving between the two of them, but they weren't listening to me. 'That thing can't be the focus,' Ivy added. 'It was destroyed five millennia ago. We don't even know if it even really existed. And if it did, it sure as hell wouldn't be in Detroit.'
'That's where I found it,' Nick said, then took a bite. A small moan came from him. 'You can't destroy something that powerful,' he mumbled. 'Not with rocks and sticks. And not with magic.' He swallowed. 'Maybe with a car crusher, but they didn't have them back then.'
'What is it?' I insisted, only marginally aware of the flirting going on across the room between the stanzas of men dying on the waves. Get a clue, Jenks.
Ivy pushed her untouched plate with her burger away. 'It's trouble,' she said. 'I was going to make him give it to the Weres, but now—'
