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“I haven’t quite gotten that far,” he said. “Although I’m thinking I’m done with stairs for a bit.” He put a hand on mine. “Catcher told me about Ethan. How are you?”
“I’ve been better.”
He nodded. “You’ve been dealing with a lot lately. The riots, now the mayor. I didn’t think she’d actually resort to violence. If I didn’t think another demonically possessed mayor was seriously unlikely, I’d say she was under the control of darker forces.”
“Yeah. It was odd enough when the first mayor split into two. I’m not sure she’s got enough brains to make two.”
“I wish there was something I could do. A call I can make. But she’s pulled this one away from the police department, probably because she knows they have sense and pay attention to rules of evidence. But these terrorism folks?” He shook his head. “They have to justify their existence. Vampires are a new threat? Great. They now have a basis to request a budget for next year.”
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a lot of pieces to play in this one. We can’t use magic against her. She’ll just call us enemies of the state, and we’ll never see the light of day again. Figuratively,” I added. We already were biologically barred.
“You could always ask your father,” my grandfather carefully said, which earned him a look.
I certainly could ask my father to put in a word, to use his significant capital to convince Kowalcyzk to back off. I was sure it wouldn’t be the first time a bribe was offered or taken in Chicago. But I didn’t trust my father’s motives, and I certainly wouldn’t want to owe him a debt.
But my father was still my grandfather’s son, and I actually respected him. So I answered politely. “I don’t think that’s the best option.”
“Well, I’ll tell you one thing,” my grandfather said. “I don’t really care to be in here when this city is falling down around us.”
Unfortunately, being out there wasn’t proving all that helpful, either.
“Is it time for you to think about slowing down?” I asked the question out of obligation, even though I knew the answer—and predicted the flatness of his expression.
“Caroline Merit. You know better than that. I’m a cop. Always was, always will be.” He looked down at his blanket-covered legs. “And it’s going to take more than a bump to make daytime television look good by comparison. Especially when you’re out there. You’re still mine to protect, baby girl.”
I leaned over, pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I love you, Grandpa.”
“I love you, too, Merit. And now that you’ve cleared your conscience,” he said with a grin, “what did you really want to talk about?”
I smiled. He read me better than nearly anyone. “Aline and Niera,” I said, and he nodded.
The librarian and Paige had given him the details. So when he nodded, I gave him an update, telling him about Regan’s involvement, the other disappearances, and the magical attacks.
“We haven’t been able to find her or the carnival.”
“You think there’s a link between her and Dominic Tate?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t really fit what we know about the Messengers and the breakup of the Maleficium.”
He looked at me for a moment. “You’re thinking about finding Tate.”
I blushed. I hadn’t actually considered it as a tactic—why invite trouble?—but I was running out of options. Chicago’s vampires were potential targets, and the longer it took to find Niera, the higher the risk the elves would consider the truce breached. And that was unacceptable to me.
“It’s an idea,” I admitted. “He’d know better than anyone what she is—and how to stop her. What do you think?”
He whistled. “His history was, as you know, inconsistent. I know he’s fashioned himself as a different man after the Maleficium. Do you believe him?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I know Seth Tate, and I knew Dominic Tate. Seth was a different man after the split. Not just personality-wise. He’s still a politician,” I said with a smile. “But magically. Psychically, I guess. You could tell he was different. And he’s the key to this. I’m just not sure how.”
“Sometimes you have to follow your gut.” He smiled a little. “And in this particular case, I’d check with chain of command. Follow your gut, but cover your ass.”
Advice didn’t get any better than that.
I didn’t want to end on such a dark note, so I turned the conversation to something lighter and we chatted a little while longer, sneaking Oreos from the drawer after ensuring the coast—and hallway—was clear. We apparently hadn’t been in Loring Park long enough to miss any important family events. My brother’s wife was still very pregnant, and my father still had money coming out of his ears.
Supernatural events were slightly more interesting. Four of the city’s petite and busty River nymphs had visited my grandfather, bringing jars of “healing” River water that were confiscated and emptied by my grandfather’s nurses—and bringing a fight over which segment of the River had the most beautiful architecture. Apparently there wasn’t much to do during the frozen winter months.
When my grandfather yawned and barely managed to hide it, I decided it was time to go. I gave him a kiss, left the rest of the embargoed cookies in the drawer, and promised to keep him updated if anything interesting happened.
Traffic was an ugly snarl, and Moneypenny and I practically crawled our way north again. The House was quiet when I walked in, the energy tense and subdued. I’d have expected to get a call if Ethan had been released, but the tension in the air was sign enough.
I found Luc, Lindsey, Brody, and Kelley around the table in the Ops Room. Kelley twirled a lock of her straight black hair while staring at the overhead screen, which was once again tuned to an all-news channel.
What would it have been like, I wondered, to have been a vampire in an age before the Internet, twenty-four-hour news channels, social media, text messages? Before technology provided a constant assault of drama, bad news, and Things You Should Be Worrying About.
Tonight, the news showed Diane Kowalcyzk posing in front of a poster propped on an easel. Shots of Ethan, Scott, Morgan, the Masters of the three Chicago Houses, were pictured beneath a headline that read ENEMIES OF CHICAGO?
