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“I’m going to get Emilio and Harold at the airport, and then I’m hoping we’ll pick up where I left off this afternoon. There’s got to be something at that club I’m missing, and Davos seems pretty invested in getting his mitts on me, which makes me think the cult here will attempt a ceremony of their own sooner rather than later. I’m still not sure about Sig, Ingrid, or the whole thing with a loosed Prince of Hell running around the country unattended, but one thing at a time. And right now, that means getting my pals at the airport. And maybe paying a visit to the police station after that.”
“You have a weird life.”
“What’s on your schedule?” I countered.
“I need to make a plan for next month’s Awakening ceremonies and work with a lawyer to keep battling this moronic movement that wants us to force kids in the pack to wait until they’re eighteen before they can agree to the ceremony.”
I nodded. “See. I’m not the only weird one.”
“Get out of here.” He took another sip of his beer, and the entire time I was at the door getting my jacket on and grabbing my bag and my real sword, which I wasn’t about to leave at home again, I could feel his eyes lingering on me like an extension of him, as if by looking at me long enough he might be able to convince me to stay.
I left, but I had the good sense to glance back and blow him a kiss.
An hour later and a hundred swears directed at New York traffic in general, I pulled my car onto the tarmac of the small private airport where I was meeting Emilio and Harold’s plane. It had already landed, and the two of them were standing near the stairs, each trying to act like the chill wind whipping around them wasn’t making them absolutely miserable.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry.” I hated to show up late for anything, especially when it meant leaving one of my partners alone in the cold spring air with a literal demon.
The two of them seemed to be weathering it well, though. They didn’t even look like they were all that mad at me.
Small blessings.
Neither of them had any luggage to speak of. Emilio carried a big duffle bag that I was ninety percent sure was stuffed full of weapons, and Harold was wearing an assortment of mismatched clothes from our evidence locker at the office. I noticed what he wasn’t wearing was a new collar. I was surprised Tyler would let him out of the lab without one, but maybe he had taken the episode in the alley as evidence that we could trust the demon.
It was still strange seeing Harold in a human body. I knew it was Harold, but the face he was wearing belonged to someone who had very recently tried to kill us, which for obvious reasons made me a little leery of approaching him.
“You look so…evil,” I told him.
“Aw, you’re sweet.”
I was immediately at ease again. He might be a demon, but he was also a huge dork, and in spite of all common sense, I found myself happy he was here.
“The two of you are a sight for sore eyes, let me tell you.” I took the duffle bag from Emilio and slung it over my shoulder. I think had anyone else tried this particular move he would have rejected it and probably broken their arm, but he let me do it without any protest.
“You’re wincing,” he observed.
“Oh yeah, it’s been a bit of a day. You know how it is when demon-worshipping vampires want to turn you into a human sacrifice.”
I was doing my best to pretend I was not in agony, so the fact I was managing to only wince a little meant I might actually be pulling it off.
“I hope you put them in traction.”
“As a matter of fact…” I tossed the bag on the floor in the back and ushered for Harold to follow it. Perhaps this was my blind spot for him showing, but I wasn’t even the slightest bit worried about having a demon in the backseat next to all our guns. At this point I didn’t think this was a long-con scenario Harold was playing. I was fully convinced he wanted to help us.
He also hadn’t shied away from letting us know he could take bodies when and if it suited him, as exhibited by the cult member he was currently wearing, so I think it was safe to say this Harold was the deal we were stuck with for better or for worse.
Emilio got into the passenger side, and soon we were all on the road. I filled them in on the pertinent details of what they’d missed, including Davos taking girls from the vampire bar, the ceremony site at High Line park, and the missing vampire.
“Seems pretty obvious to me they’re planning to use Sig for the ceremony,” Harold announced when I finished my recap.
I almost slammed my car into the cab ahead of me when it braked suddenly.
“What’d you say?” I turned around in my seat to look at him. Behind me a car started to honk so aggressively you would think I took a giant shit on the guy’s lawn that morning.
“I said, it seems pretty obvious they’re planning to use Sig for the ceremony. Right? I mean they used a warden at the last scene.” Harold glanced at Emilio, then back at me, as if this were some sort of test and he wasn’t sure if he was passing.
I flipped off the car behind me and started driving again before he could whip around me in a fit of rage.
“What do you mean they used a warden at the last scene?” A tingling sense of annoyance was competing with my euphoria over this break in the case.
