Brotherhood of Cain (Werewolf/Mafia)

Chapter Fifty: Fight or Fuck

"God seemed to be having a hard time killing him, and he'd be damned if he was going to make the job easy for mere mortals."― Mario Puzo

Chapter Fifty

Ethel's POV

Since this was my second stakeout in a day, I was definitely considering PI work. But I wasn't hunting down a cheating husband or trying to find a pot smoking kid who's parents were sure he was worshipping the devil. No, I happened to be looking for the biggest problem of them all: Draven Cain. And I wasn't about to leave until I knew what the hell had just happened at the castle, what was wrong with Addox, and why Draven thought it was okay to eat all the Double Deluxe Chocolate Chip Cookies.

  "You're absolutely batshit crazy," Tamal said from the passenger seat, rolling his head toward me. He'd changed out of his sweaty clothes from earlier and now donned a sleek black leather jacket and joggers. He looked ready to traipse down a runway sporting what designers would call 'urban chic.'

  I steered the Escalade off the highway, turning down into some bumfuck town with one stoplight. Dense forest lined the street with feeble wire wrapped around it to mark off someone's land. A tractor caution sign came up on the right. Tamal groaned when he saw it, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "Gosh, couldn't Draven have built the stupid graveyard somewhere in the city."

  "Yeah." I scoffed, glancing at him. "Let's just put a massive grave next to Queen of Hearts and the strip club next door." My tone turned defensive. "Also, there's nothing wrong with stalking your boyfriend down and demanding to know why his werewolf arch-enemy drove him to dig up dead bodies." Right, absolutely nothing wrong with that.

  I peeked at the mirror, seeing Tycho's boxy face glaring at Tamal. He hated sitting in the backseat. We'd just been about to drive away when Tamal had come running out of the castle, demanding that he had to come with because Draven had made him my baby sitter. It took about five minutes of him avoiding Tycho's teeth to finally manage to get the front seat. Tycho growled every time Tamal glanced back there.

  "On the way back you can have shotgun, buddy," I promised. His stubby tail wagged.

  "If you think you can kick me to the back just for a dog..." Tamal trailed off, rubbing an annoyed hand over his eyes. "Fuck, why couldn't Draven find someone normal, or, y'know, no one at all. I was happy with the days of him barking orders at me and not having to deal with a midget throwing herself at danger all the time."

  "First of all, call me a midget again and you can catch me outside. Second of all, Tycho and I didn't want you to come. I'm just making sure Draven doesn't go off and do something stupid."

  Tamal looked at me incredulously. "I worry about you more than Draven, you're the queen of stupid."

  I took a hand off the steering wheel, backhanding Tamal's shoulder.

  Twenty minutes and a whole lot of death threats later we came to the gravel road Hollow Capella was built on. The sky seemed to darken slowly, a few shades every time you looked so it made you start questioning time. At some point I imagine the drive must've been beautiful, a relaxing cruise through fresh air and endless land. But, since no one usually visited the graves of psychotic murderers, it had remained untouched.

  Wild grass grew along the vague trail, so thick you couldn't see what the tires were touching. For all I knew I was driving us straight into a hole. I didn't worry too much though. We'd eventually get out and there was a steady enough stream of cars on the main road. I could stick out my thumb or throw myself straight at a car—on second thought, maybe I could throw Tamal in front of a car.