Page 18 of Blood and Bone
“We’d appreciate that very much,” Eoghan said. “Once we’re there, if you don’t mind showing me around, I’d like your first impressions about what happened.”
Two Trees smiled and nodded. “Sure enough. Follow me then.” He turned and got back into their vehicle with his brooding deputy, slamming the door as he and Eoghan did the same. Two minutes later, they were following the truck out of the parking lot, heading toward a tall peak in the distance. The day was beautiful and sunny which was helping to lift Ari’s spirits.
“The chief is nice enough,” Ari said, once they were on the road.
“Yeah, but his deputy sure didn’t appreciate outsiders poking around,” Eoghan replied.
“Yeah. What do you think that was all about?” Ari asked, turning to look at his lover.
Eoghan shrugged, shooting him a glance before turning his eyes back to the road and picking up the tall cup of java they’d picked up from Starbucks on the way to meet the chief of police.
“Many Native American populations pride themselves at being excellent trackers. Combine that with the fact that they’re shifters who have a sense of smell you and I can’t even comprehend, and I might be offended if humans were brought in to help. I don’t know. Maybe it’s something as easy to explain as being territorial or maybe the deputy doesn’t thinkoutsiders have any business helping out on one of their cases. You know how protective some LEOs are about their cases.”
“Yeah, but Two Trees thought it was important enough to bring us in. Is that standard practice? I mean for the I.S.R. to become involved? You said we’re not supposed to be a policing agency. Our purpose is only to act as marshals.”
“True, but remember, I have history with Riversong Wilkins and our duties have always been fluid when it comes to the supernatural world. Oberon and Titania’s missing offspring are a case in point.”
“You’re right. But in this case, Two Trees didn’t know that you were involved in her capture until you told him just now. You never met him.”
“No, I joined the hunt on the trail to Oregon, so I only met with the vamps, but he would have known that the I.S.R. caught Wilkins and Vandross.”
“Yeah, that’s true, I suppose,” Ari said.
“Anyway, like I said, it’s not terribly common for them to call us in except in unusual situations. I’ll bet their trackers followed them until they realized they were on vampire lands which is why they called us in to retrieve them. Generally, shifter populations deal with their own people. It’s not like they aren’t allowed to travel on and off the rez, and though, most shifters prefer not to leave their own reservations, some do it to find work. In California especially, everyone—human and shifter alike—think Native Americans have become wealthy from casino revenue. But the truth is, not all tribes have casinos on their reservations. The Tahoe reservation is one of those who don’t, so their people aren’t terribly wealthy.”
“I’m surprised by that. I would have thought the reservation allows gambling,” Ari said.
“Why?” Eoghan frowned and looked over at him.
“Because Tahoe falls on the California/Nevada border.”
“Oh, I see. Well, unfortunately, that’s exactly why theydon’thave gambling. It’s my understanding that the tribe has been trying to get the permission for years but due to bad blood between Nevada and California when it comes to gaming, they’re not keen on granting gaming licenses to the tribes which spill across borders.”
“I didn’t know there was bad blood,” Ari said.
“It’s not widely known unless you’re part of that world,” Eoghan said. “I only learned about it when we were chasing Riversong the first time around. Our chief talked to Joe Two Trees’ predecessor a lot during that case, and she found out that Nevada did everything in its power to lobby against Indian gaming in California.”
“Well that makes sense but they’ve got the right to open gambling establishments anyway,” Ari said.
“That’s all true. It didn’t make it to all California reservations. Some, like this one, don’t have it. Some shifter reservations just don’t want humans on their lands, gambling revenue or not.”
“And judging by the way Deputy Alo Uwaite acted, he doesn’t want us anywhere near this case.”
“Maybe he just doesn’t like humans. Some shifters don’t,” Eoghan said.
“I think we should keep an eye on that one,” Ari replied, taking a long sip of his coffee. It was so good.
He was silent as Eoghan drove, watching the pretty scenery as they began a gentle climb up farther into the mountains. When the chief’s truck made a turn off the main road and pulled onto a road they would have missed if they hadn’t been following, he was glad the chief and his cantankerous deputy had met them in town. The road had narrowed to a single lane with not much of a shoulder on their right side. Beyond it, Ari saw a significant downward drop. Hewas glad it was daytime and that Eoghan was a good driver. After several more turns, the road widened to two lanes and he realized they’d driven into a small town. Ari breathed a sigh of relief.
“This has to be reservation land,” Eoghan muttered, gaze fixed on the Blazer in front of them.
“It definitely looks like the town,” Ari said, noting several single-story commercial buildings including a hardware store, beauty parlor, used car lot, and a gas station. Several people walked on the sidewalks including two women with baby carriages. To Ari, the place appeared to be a normal small town just like a million others all across America. At first glance, no one would know the shifter reservation was different from any other place.
“I’d say so. By the time Gladys and I got assigned the case, we were focused on finding them on the road to Oregon. Like I said, we did stop in Redding to talk to the vampire clan leader, but only caught up to our fugitive when he poked his head out to buy groceries. You should have seen how upset Gladys was when she heard we were chasing a fugitive who was dragging not only his mate but all their little kids along for the ride.”
Ari nodded. “I bet. That must have been scary.”
“Trust me, it was terrible. Even though there was no sign of violence in Vandross’ past, we couldn’t be sure he wasn’t armed. If we’d had to put him or Riversong down—in front of those kids—the aftermath for them would have been unimaginable.”