dragon sightings will just be hallucinations or maybe large birds or something like that, but it can’t hurt to look.”
“I’ll get on that as soon as the meeting is over, while you and Yutani talk to the new case.” Talia jotted down a few notes.
I looked at Herne’s list again. “All right, let’s see. Oh!” I jerked my head up. “Angel, this is for you. It seems Herne has located where DeWayne is and he’s going to pay a call on him today on his way back from the mayor’s house.”
Angel giggled. “Hopefully, that will be the end of DeWayne bothering DJ and me.”
“I hope so,” I said, glancing back at the list. “Other than that, Herne says he’ll be back around lunchtime and he’s bringing lunch today, so don’t order anything.” I leaned back. “So, Yutani and I went with Herne to see the vampire regent last night. Surprisingly, Dormant Reins jumped on board immediately with the idea of a militia. So we’re waiting for a call from him—he said he’d call on Thursday.”
“How were the Catacombs?” Talia asked.
“Spooky, as usual. Dormant is an efficient man…vamp…I’ll say that much for him.” I glanced at the clock. It was eight-thirty. “Yutani, meet me in Herne’s office a few minutes before ten. Until then, back to work, everybody.” And with that, I ended the meeting and headed back to my office to face the never-ending pile of paperwork that just seemed to grow and grow.
Chapter Eighteen
It felt odd, sitting in Herne’s chair, behind his desk, though I rather liked it. There was definitely a “seat of power” placement to the desk and the chair. Yutani pulled one of the wing chairs over beside the desk and took my usual spot, taking notes while I talked to Henny Jessaphy.
As Henny entered the room, escorted by Angel, I sized her up. She was strong, short, solidly muscled, and by the scent that filled the room, I realized she was a very nervous skunk shifter. She blushed, groaning as she sat down.
“I’m sorry. It’s not my retaliatory scent, but I know it’s still unpleasant.” She didn’t even try to cover up the fact that she was the reason for the pungent odor filling the air.
Angel quietly turned the air cleaner up to high before retreating through the door.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said, standing to hold out my hand to her. “We know it’s just a natural response.” Privately, though, I was wondering how she could hold a job with such an uncontrollable problem. But she answered that, as though she were reading my mind.
“Most skunk shifters have their scent glands altered so they only keep the defensive mode ones. But I chose not to. My scents are part of who I am, and there’s a large movement among younger skunk shifters to keep the glands intact instead of deactivating them.”
“Well, either way, welcome to the Wild Hunt,” I said, sitting back down. Yutani gave her a graceful nod as I glanced over the file that Angel had given me. “You’re here due to…I’m not exactly sure what’s wrong. Why don’t you tell us? And do you mind if I record the meeting, for clarity’s sake?”
She shook her head. “Please, feel free. The problem is that my husband and I run an urban farm. Our whole family works on it, and we make a decent living selling our eggs and honey and artisan goods. However, something’s been messing with our chicken coop and also, we think, our beehives, during the night. I’m not sure what’s going on. The chickens have stopped laying eggs, the bees seem agitated, and we’re worried they’re going to fly off and create a new hive.”
“Problems with the neighbors?” Yutani asked.
She thought for a moment, then said, “No, we haven’t had any squabbles with the neighbors. I can’t find anything that points to what’s going on. No dead birds, no tilled-over flower fields… We had the vet out to check out the chickens and physically, they’re fine. I bought an alarm for the coop. It’s gone off several times, but each time, we can’t find anything there. As far as the bees go, they’ve been testy lately and honeybees are usually sweethearts. They won’t bother you if you don’t hurt them, and we’ve only ever gotten a few stings and those were our fault.”
I frowned. “How long has this been going on?”
“For several weeks now. At first, I thought maybe that it was just something in the air—you know how