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Chase whirled. “Menol y! Wade! Thank God you’re okay. What happened? We were waiting for you, and then after a while there was this loud explosion and part of the street caved in.”
“We got him.” I looked at Chase, shaking my head. “He was too far gone. There was no chance to stop him other than to kil him. He’s dust. It was Charles Shalimar. He thought he was some sort of martyr, cal ed himself the sword of justice. He also managed to find himself a live hand grenade, and that’s what happened to your street.”
“You guys lived through a grenade?” Chase stared at us, his eyes wide. “Shit. Are you okay?”
I nodded. “We’re hardier than you think. Charles survived it, too, but he couldn’t survive a stake through the heart. The kil ing spree is over, Chase, but now we have to put out the aftermath. You might want to spend a little time in your news conference mentioning that a couple of vampires took care of the problem.”
He caught my intentions. “Yeah, if we show that you guys wil ingly went after one of your own, that might be enough to appease the recent spate of hate crimes against vampires.”
Maybe, but I wasn’t so sure. I had a nasty feeling things were going to explode pretty soon, unless some clear and definite lines were drawn. But I wasn’t going to dampen his optimism. He’d seen too much horror over the past week or two, too many bodies. At least we’d caught our man and taken him down.
“Yeah, maybe you’re right.” I walked over to Iris, who had moved back to stare down into the hole, next to Wade.
“You need to get home. Morning’s not far off.” She glanced up at me—I was barely five one but I was stil more than a foot tal er than she was. “Menol y, things are shifting, aren’t they? Something is on the move . . .”
“Yeah, I can feel it, too.” I stared into the chasm, wondering what we were talking about. But instinctively, I knew. Something big was coming, something big and something bad, and it felt like things were growing more and more chaotic. “Let’s go home.”
Wade gave me a quick hug and headed out for his apartment. I waved to Chase and headed back to my Jag, Iris beside me.
“How did you get down here?” I asked, after a moment.
“I made Vanzir drive me down, then told him to go home. What the hel happened with him? He seems mute, almost. . . docile.”
“You don’t want to know,” I whispered. “But you wil . Soon, Iris. It’s not up to me to tel you.”
And with that, we climbed in my car and headed for home, the silent streets passing by in a blur of snow and concrete.
When we got home, I silently went in to pick up Maggie. She was dead to the world but the minute I lifted her, she woke and gave me a sleepy yawn, then a giggle, and yanked on my braids. I held her close, sitting on the end of Iris’s bed, kissing her downy head and ruffling the calico fur that covered her body. Her wings folded and unfolded with delight, and she wrapped her arms around my neck and went to sleep against my shoulder.
For some reason, my heart felt like it was breaking, and for the first time in a long while, I wanted to cry. I pressed my lips to her head, then her nose, and then rubbed my cheek against the top of her head.
Iris came in, watching me closely. After a few minutes, I felt like I was back in control of my emotions and I softly slid Maggie back into her crib and fol owed Iris out into the kitchen. Shade and Delilah were there, both wearing pajamas. Vanzir was straddling a chair, leaning his arms on the back of it.
“We have a lot to talk about,” I said, sitting down next to Iris. “Can we do tea? I may not be able to drink it, but damn it, I need some feeling of continuity.”
Iris nodded, bustling over to the sink to fil the kettle. Shade offered me a bottle of blood from the fridge, but I wasn’t hungry. I’d drunk deep from Roman and stil felt sated from feeding on him.
Delilah pul ed out Camil e’s steno pad. “Okay, where are we at? And if we’re going to do this, I need cookies.”
“You just want cookies because you have a sweet tooth that won’t quit,” Shade said, grinning as he brushed his fingers down the side of her face.
“And what are you going to do about it?”
“Nothing, because it’s part of you.” He bent to kiss her ful on the lips, and I tried to repress a grin.
“Get a room, you two. Come on, let’s please get a handle on what’s going down.” I waited til Delilah was finished smooching with Shade and paying attention, then said, “Wade and I kil ed the vampire who was murdering hookers. In doing so, we blasted a hole in the middle of the intersection. Or rather, our kil er did. He had a grenade. Grenades go boom when you pul the pin.
Which he did.”
Delilah blinked. “Say what? He was carrying around a grenade?”
“No, he had one in his bedroom down in the tunnels. By the way, there are several things we need to get on the table. Vanzir—I have to tel them. They have to know.” I was talking about the Demon Underground, but apparently he misunderstood.
“Fine, so tel them. Camil e would have to sooner or later. I’ve lost my powers thanks to a big-ass mistake.” He stared at them, and before I could stop him, he added, “I . . . I overpowered your sister in the tunnels when Morio was attacked, and the Moon Mother stripped me of my powers.”
Delilah jumped up, her eyes wide. “You did what?”
“Stop—before you think a single thing.” I stood up and crossed between their line of sight.
