Page 21 of Hextreme Measures

“Calm down.” He rubbed his hands up and down her arms, hating how rigid her shoulders were. This was supposed to be one of the happiest times of her life. They were getting married in mere days. She should have been pampering herself at spas and laughing it up with Angelique over afternoon cocktails and pedicures. Now she was freaking out that her friend might turn into a banshee. On top of that, members of his unit were hunting Angelique.

It was going to explode. The whole situation was going to explode and there was nothing anybody could do about it. He couldn’t stop what was to come. He could help Ofelia, though. Perhaps they could get ahead of it.

That’s why he was going to the morgue.

“Nobody from our party died,” he assured her, staring deep into her eyes in an effort to calm her. “Two days ago, however, a body was found over by the Voodoo Lounge.”

Ofelia stilled. “The one right by the park?”

“Yes.” He nodded succinctly. “It’s not my case, but I saw the report. The body was found with claw marks on the shoulder area. They looked a lot like the claw marks on Angelique’s arm.”

Ofelia took a moment to run the new information through her head. “Maybe we were wrong, and by ‘we’ I mean me,” she said. “I assumed that somebody at the park last night was the target. What if it wasn’t about the people at the park but the place itself?”

“You mean that banshees have been hunting in that area? That’s what I’m wondering. I’m going to go to the morgue to see what Carl can tell me. He’ll have gotten the body because of the injuries.”

“Do they think it’s a shifter or something?”

“They’re wondering if it’s a creature we haven’t crossed paths with yet,” he replied. “Last time I checked, they weren’t ruling out a shifter, though. I’m going to have to go digging in the assigned detective’s notes to see what I can come up with.”

“If it turns out that the first victim was targeted by the banshees, that might give us a path to follow,” Ofelia mused. “It’s a good idea.”

“Thank you. I love being told I’m good at my job.” He gave her a hip nudge. “What are you going to do?”

Ofelia’s smile was flat. “One guess.”

“Pascal?”

Her shoulders hopped. “I have to start somewhere.”

He gave her a quick kiss. “Keep me updated, huh? Let’s try to meet for lunch.”

“I always enjoy having lunch with you.”

He captured her face in his hands and stared directly into her eyes. “We’re going to have a lifetime of lunches. I promise that. We’ll make sure that Angelique is there to irritate us for a lot of them going forward.”

Ofelia nodded, her throat thick with emotion. “We’ll figure it out,” she said finally.

“We most definitely will.”

PASCAL FONTAINE WAS THE MOST fascinating creature Ofelia had ever met. He was an old vampire — so old she didn’t even know when he’d been born — and he owned a vampire boutique in New Orleans. He wasn’t out and proud, though. He didn’t show his fangs to patrons. No, he sat on an ostentatious throne and allowed people to believe he was a man pretending to be a vampire, when he was really a vampire pretending to be a man pretending to be a vampire.

The whole thing was very convoluted.

Ofelia loved that his protection came in the form of the entire premise being absurd. That’s why she wasn’t surprised when she walked into his store — thankfully, it was currently empty — and found him sitting on his throne, a big book open on his lap. Ofelia was one of the only people who knew there was really a gossip magazine pressed between the pages of the book.

Yes, Pascal loved celebrity gossip. Ofelia was convinced the only reason he had a smartphone was that he would go through withdrawal if he couldn’t read TMZ 10 times a day.

“Don’t just stand there and gape,” Pascal chided without looking up from his magazine. He’d sensed Ofelia when she turned onto his block. “Sit down and tell me why you’re here.”

Ofelia shuffled to the chair that was across from him and sat. “Who are you reading about today?” she asked.

“The tragedy that is Britney Spears.”

Ofelia’s forehead puckered. “You’re back on Britney Spears? She was your obsession a year ago. Why are you back on her? I would think there were plenty of other celebrities you could be focused on.”

Pascal gave her a withering look. “It’s not about newness. It’s about overall trauma.”

“Ah.” Ofelia nodded as if she agreed with what he was saying.