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“So how do we enact damage control? I’ll bet Chase is freaking out right now.” Chase’s department would be the first to face the fire.
“That’s putting it mildly.” Delilah rested her elbows on the table and stared at her food. “He asked us to come down to headquarters when you woke up. Menolly doesn’t know what’s going on—she had to go to bed before this all broke loose, but you can bet, tonight when the vamps wake up, a lot of bloodsuckers are going to be mightily pissed at being lumped together with zombies, let alone being accused of causing the problem. Roman’s going to have something to say about this, too.”
I let out a long sigh. This did not bode well. “Heaven help the reporter who started the rumor. With Roman and Blood Wyne so prominent now, I don’t know what the hell they’ll do. The Crimson Veil works behind the scenes. The idiot journalist may just end up vanishing off the face of the planet. And no one will ever know what happened.”
Roman scared me. He scared Delilah, too—I knew because we’d talked it over out of Menolly’s earshot. Granted, she had no choice, and now he was considered her reborn sire, another twist in the whole mess, but that made the son of the Vampire Queen far too close for comfort to our lives.
“We don’t have any control over Blood Wyne. And neither does the FH-CSI, regardless of what we’d like to think. If she wanted to, she could reach out and take control of this country. I kind of wish she’d stayed in seclusion.” Delilah absently bit into a cookie. “So we head to headquarters in a few minutes?”
“I suppose—” The phone interrupted me. I was sitting nearest, so I grabbed it. And sure enough, it was Chase on the line.
“Camille? You’re awake? Good.”
“We’re getting ready to come down to headquarters now,” I started to say, but he interrupted.
“No. I need you elsewhere. We have an emergency.”
The four little words I dreaded hearing but lately heard all too often. Life seemed to be made up of one emergency after another these days.
“What’s up?”
“You saw the paper, right?” He sounded harried.
I groaned. “Yeah.”
“That’s the tip of the iceberg. I need you guys out here, in full fighting armor. You know the house Fritz and Abby had? That burned to the ground?”
The demonic bloody-wall ghost-filled house had been terrifying. We hadn’t really won the battle, but at least we’d survived.
“Yeah?” I asked warily.
“There’s something on the lot. Something weird that I don’t want my men near until we figure out what it is. And it’s attracting a horde of zombies. I’ve got the entire block cordoned off. The few other houses there that are actually inhabited, I’ve evacuated.”
I cleared my throat. “Something weird as in what? A creature? Structure? Portal? Big-ass pony with wings?”
He snorted. “I wish. If I knew what it was, I’d tell you instead of coming out with a vague description. I’d say, ‘We have a large wheel of cheese cavorting around town’ or ‘There’s a giant snail on the property squirting everybody with slime.’ But I don’t have a clue. I think it’s organic. In other words: alive. But truthfully? I don’t know. And the way I’ve been losing officers lately, I don’t want to take any chances.”
I sobered. Chase was right. He’d lost several good cops, and he was feeling the heat from all sides. “Right. We’ll be there in fifteen to twenty minutes. Don’t let anybody near…whatever the thing is. And Chase?”
“Yeah?” He sounded tired.
“We’ve got your back, dude. Seriously.”
“I know, Camille. And for that, I am eternally grateful.” As he hung up, I turned to the others.
“Let’s roll. Weapons, arms…bring it all. We’re going in blind.” As we hurried to gather everything we could, Iris made up a couple of sacks of sandwiches so we’d have a chance to eat on the run. I told them what Chase had said. Vanzir warned the elfin guards who watched over our property to keep alert, since Trillian and Smoky were still gone. As we headed to the cars, we were all quiet, as a deep sense of apprehension settled in.
We divided up into two vehicles: Morio, Vanzir, and me in my Lexus, and Delilah, Shade, and Roz in her Jeep. The trip didn’t take long, even though we hit noon traffic on one of the main streets. I glanced at the clock. We were still ten minutes out and the more time we took, the more danger Chase and his men were in. I finally saw a side street that I knew would lead to a back route.
“Call Delilah and tell her we’re going down Bay Street.”
Morio punched in her number and, a moment later, I edged over to the right side of the street, nudging in between bumper-to-bumper traffic, with Delilah on my tail. I managed to get into the turn lane right before we hit Bay. A quick, sharp right and we were on our way again.
In another ten minutes, we were on Foster Street, a block and a half out from what had been Fritz and Abby’s house, and we were entering the Greenbelt Park District—the most haunted place in Seattle. Now knowing that Gulakah was fueling the fire made it even more nerve-racking.
The cedars and firs overshadowed the streets, and all the houses around here looked weathered and decrepit. As we neared the intersection, we saw prowl cars blocking the way, along with police tape. Chase had cordoned off the area.
I pulled over to the side and we jumped out, looking for Chase. Delilah and her crew were right behind us. After a moment, I caught sight of him—on crutches and looking frustrated. He motioned for us to join him. Next to him stood Yugi, who seldom went out in the field.
