Letting in a blast of frigid air, Raccoon slipped from the car. Cautiously, he approached the police car and peered into the windows. He opened a door, the sound of twisted metal carrying on the night. Pulling off a glove, he leaned in, then stretched farther.
He was checking pulses. It had looked like asleepy-timeworking. Had Cousin Wacko killed them?
Pulling on his glove again, he waved Peewee over. Together, they dragged a body from the car, opened the back door, andplaced the bulky shape on the back seat, before laying the one in the passenger seat over. They covered each cop with what looked like jackets. They wouldn’t do that if the officers were dead.
Some of my tension left on an exhale.
Raccoon put the cruiser in gear and let it roll through the next intersection, into a snowbank. He set the vehicle to full battery backup, little red lights on the dash glowing through the windows. The door squealed as he tried to shut it. When Raccoon climbed back into our vehicle, he said, “Hinges look like the jaws of life had a go at ’em. Cops’re okay, no signs of injury,sleepy-timeworking as reported.”
Boots eased through the intersection, passed the cop car, and on down the road. EJ’s vehicle followed a half block behind. I would have words with my dear cousin for using a knockout working on cops, for taking my staff, and my DNA.
“Who you thinking about killing, girl?” Boots asked. “You have a snarl on your face that would curdle milk.”
I smoothed my features but didn’t reply. I readjusted my null cloak, eyes on it, thinking null thoughts.
“Whoever it is,” Boots said, “Grizz has a backhoe. Just saying.”
Despite myself, I chuckled and slanted my eyes at Boots. “That’s your way of saying you have my back?”
“The queen offered our unit this temp gig.” Boots compensated for a slide, still talking. “She said you might keep us on. We’re getting a little old to keep up the pace of HQ and all the young guard brats who think they’re better than us. They have more muscle mass but less brains. Keeping them in their places is wearing us down. So we’re all in for a semiretirement. Spouses and SOs are on board for a move. We like Nooga.Slower pace. Lots of hiking and paddling close by. Housing isn’t outrageous. Good school system.”
A growing sense of shock washed through me.Damn it, Aunt Jane. You planned this whole thing.Planned out, ready, and waiting for the first opportunity to set it in place. She did crap like this to keep her people safe, but it also smothered the people she was protecting. I didn’t know what to say or do, but what came out of my mouth was unexpected.
“I don’t want to be responsible for people.”
Boots chuckled softly. “Dayum, girl. You sound just likeher.”
Just like her. Just likemy aunt.
The car slowed. A shadow slammed into us through the darkness. Landed on the hood with a thump that rocked the car.
I flinched at the noise and shoved against my seat, away from the silhouetted form crouching in front of me, denting the vehicle.
Boots cursed. Hit the brakes. Spun.
The car slid to a diagonal stop, blocking the road. The shadow didn’t shift, one hand gripping the hood, one pressed against the windshield, talons scratching the ice on the glass.
Male. Armored.
Like a wraith, he leaned close, and his gaze stole mine.
Walter. But a Walter I had never seen before. Raw magic wafted off him in wisps of black smoke, leaving trails in the air. He was vamped out. His fangs were nearly three inches long. His eyes, which should be black in the night, pupils wide, the sclera scarlet, were covered by a sheen, a silvered glow of a shadowed magic mist. His brand was a vibrant green, so bright a human could see the glow. And then I saw his sword lying beside his feet on the hood. It was bloody.
The elixir had done something to him. That coughing. And the camera on his gear had pointed to the ground as if he fell.
My three guards leaped from the car, Boots’s and Raccoon’s weapons aimed at him. Peewee stepped into the snow, a shortsword in her offhand. She kicked the car door shut.
Walter chuckled in the back of his throat. It wasn’t a human laugh. It was all predator, part growl, part challenge. His eyes tracked the guards who ringed him.
“Walter,” I said, knowing he would hear me even through the glass and the soft sound of the car.
His eyes swung back to me, dismissing me. I wasn’t a threat, not to his predator eyes. I had no claws, no teeth.
“Walter,” I demanded, putting force into the soft word. When he shifted his body a fraction away from me, I remembered the tone my aunt used to use in the royal receiving room to do…whatever magic she had done to command vampires. I shoved power into my voice. “Walter.Attendme,” I commanded.
His spelled gaze returned to me. He snarled, but he didn’t turn away this time. Didn’t disregard me.
“Your sword drips the blood of your enemies and mine,” I said, pushing with my magic. No working, nothing but power and intent. “Who have you killed?”
