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"No answer," I said quietly.
"No," she said. She turned to the dresser, gathered up her length of chain, and threaded it through the loops of her jeans like a belt, fastening it with a slightly curved piece of dark wood bound with several bands of colored leather, which she slipped through two links.
I opened the door and stuck my head out into the twilight, looking around. I didn't see Thomas anywhere, so I let out a sharp, loud whistle, waved an arm around a little, and ducked back inside, closing the door again.
It didn't take long for Thomas's footsteps to reach the door.
"Harry," Elaine said, mildly alarmed. "The ward."
I held up a forefinger in a one-second kind of gesture, then folded my arms, stared at the door, and waited. The doorknob twitched; there was a heavy thud, a gasp of surprise, and a loud clatter of empty trash cans.
I opened the door and found my brother flat on his back in the parking lot, amidst a moderate amount of spilled garbage. He stared up at the sky for a moment, let out a long-suffering sigh, and then sat up, scowling at me.
"Oh, sorry about that," I said, with all the sincerity of a three-year-old claiming he didn't steal that cookie all over his face. "Maybe I should have told you about a potentially dangerous situation, huh? I mean, that would have been polite of me to warn you, right? And sensible. And intelligent. And respectful. And - "
"I get it, I get it," he growled. He got up and made a doomed effort to brush various bits of unsavory matter off his clothes. "Jesus Christ, Harry. There are days when you can be a total prick."
"Whereas you can apparently be a complete moron for weeks at a time!"
Elaine stepped up beside me and said, "I love to see a good testosterone-laden alpha-male dominance struggle as much as the next woman - but don't you think it would be smarter to do it where half of the city can't see us?"
I scowled at Elaine, but she had a point. I stepped out the door and offered Thomas my hand.
He glowered at me, then deliberately ran his hand through some of the muck and held it out to me without wiping it off. I rolled my eyes and pulled him to his feet, and then the three of us went back into the room.
Thomas leaned his back against the door, folded his arms, and kept his eyes on the floor while I went to the sink and washed off my hands. My coat hung on one of the wire hangers on the bar beside it, as did my shirt. My staff rested in a corner by the light switch, and my other gear was on the counter. I dried off my hands and started suiting up. "Okay, Thomas," I said. "Seriously. What's up with the secrecy? You should have contacted me."
"I couldn't," he said.
"Why not?"
"I promised someone I wouldn't."
I frowned at that, tugging the still-damn black leather glove onto my disfigured left hand, and tried to think. Thomas and I were brothers. He took that every bit as seriously as I did - but he took his promises seriously, too. If he'd made the promise, he had a good reason to do so.
"How much can you tell me?"
Elaine gave me a sharp glance.
"I've already said more than I should have," Thomas said.
"Don't be an idiot. We've obviously got a common enemy here."
Thomas grimaced, gave me a hesitant glance, and then said, "We've got several."
I traded a glance with Elaine, who glanced at Thomas, shrugged, and suggested, "Bruises fade?"
"No," I said. "If he isn't talking he has a good reason for it. Beating him up won't change that."
"Then we should stop wasting time here," Elaine said quietly.
Thomas looked back and forth between us. "What's wrong?"
"We've lost contact with the women Elaine is protecting," I said.
"Dammit." Thomas pushed his hand buck through his hair. "That means..."
I fastened the clasp on the new shield bracelet. "What?"
"Look. You already know Madrigal is around," Thomas said.
"And that he's always sucking up to House Malvora," I said. I frowned. "For the love of God, he's the Passenger." He's the one working with Grey Cloak the Malvora."
"I didn't say that," Thomas said quickly.
"You didn't have to," I growled. "He didn't just happen to show up for some payback while this other stuff was going on. And it all fits. Passenger was talking to Grey Cloak about having the resources to take me out. He obviously decided to take a whack at it with a bunch of ghouls and a machine gun."
"Sounds reasonable," Thomas said. "You already know that there's a Skavis around."
"Yes."
"Time to do some math then, Harry."
"Madrigal and Grey Cloak the Malvora," I murmured. "The genocidal odd couple. Neither of which is a Skavis."
Elaine drew in a sharp breath and said, at the same time I was thinking it, "It means that we aren't talking about one killer."
I completed the thought. "We're talking about three of them. Grey Cloak Malvora, Passenger Madrigal, and Serial Killer Skavis." I frowned at Thomas. "Wait. Are you saying that - "
My brother's expression became strained. "I'm not saying anything," he replied. "Those are all things you already know."
Elaine frowned. "You're trying to maintain deniability," she said. "Why?"
"So I can deny telling you anything, obviously," Thomas snarled, his eyes suddenly flickering several shades of grey lighter as he stared at Elaine.
Elaine drew in a sharp breath. Then she narrowed her eyes a little, unfastened the clasp on her chain, and said, "Stop it, vampire. Now."
Thomas's lips pulled back from his teeth, but he jerked his face away from her and closed his eyes.
I stepped between them as I shrugged into my leather duster. "Elaine, back off. The enemy of my enemy. Okay?"
"I don't like it," Elaine said. "You know what he is, Harry. How do you know you can trust him?"
"I've worked with him before," I said. "He's different."
"How? A lot of vampires feel remorse about their victims. It doesn't stop them from killing over and over. It's what they are."
"I've gazed him," I said quietly. "He's trying to rise above the killer inside him."
Elaine's brows knit into a frown at those words, and she gave me a slow and reluctant nod. "Aren't we all," she murmured. "I'm still not comfortable with the notion of him near my clients. And we need to get moving."
"Go ahead," Thomas said.
