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Not like they’d tell us grunts.
Still, having someone craft ultra-high-dose silver bullets I could keep at the ready was extra beneficial when I had to go out on regular hunts for rogue vamps and lone wolves who posed a threat to society.
A tenuous acceptance of supernatural creatures had been established for the time being, one that could easily tip towards the dangerous and scary if humankind had any reason to believe supes were a risk to them.
Vampires and werewolves might be tough as nails, but humans still outnumbered them about a hundred thousand to one. The odds weren’t awesome if humankind decided to turn on the supernatural community.
That was our entire job here. Eliminate the threats to that peace. We we
ren’t the only ones doing it either. There was a branch of Scotland Yard following our model, and all over the world special units had been established to help wipe out the dangerous in order to keep humans satisfied that they were safe at night.
It was a job that would likely never end, the same way human police would never stop needing homicide detectives. But we were the ones who had the task, and we were really good at what we did.
Humble brag.
Lily, our head lab tech, approached us with a tight smile on her full lips. Her head was shaved almost completely bald, and her dark skin stood out in contrast to the bright-white lab coat. She was also rocking a vibrant plum lipstick that was giving me some serious jealousy issues.
“You know it would be nice if we could have a little advance warning about the arrival of something like a third-hierarchy demon.”
I slapped Emilio in the arm. “I knew he wasn’t a Prince of Hell. That sneaky liar.”
Tyler gave me a look that reminded me of our discussion upstairs and his primary concern about housing the demon to begin with. We might be able to keep him locked up, but the room couldn’t compel him to tell us the truth.
That was something these guys ought to start working on.
Bevin was our guru with the weapons, so maybe I could mention the idea of a truth serum room to her. The girl had mad chops. If anyone could figure it out, it was her. But she currently seemed fully absorbed in a gun that looked like an AK-47 but also somehow not. Not the most ideal time to bother her.
Teddy, the third of our lab techs, was standing near the demon holding room, staring tentatively through the window. At thirty-five, he was the oldest of the techies, but he also bent to Lily’s will entirely. There was no doubt who was in charge down here.
Right now we were on Lily’s turf, and she was mad.
“You can thank Director McQueen for that,” Tyler said without looking at me.
“Really, we should always be prepared for every eventuality here, shouldn’t we?” I said.
“Are you insinuating I was unprepared?” Lily asked.
Oops. Backpedal, Secret, backpedal. The last thing I wanted was to be on Lily’s bad side. We needed her. She had turned down an opportunity to teach supernatural biology at Oxford to work with us. In the short amount of time supernaturals had been out in the world, she hadn’t balked in fear. Instead she had set to work learning as much as she could about them.
It helped that her fiancé had been outed as a were-panther.
“I’m sorry for the short notice,” I said.
“No notice. There was no notice. Just suddenly an eight-foot-tall demon in the lobby.”
“I had it under control.”
Lily pulled out her phone from her lab coat pocket and aggressively punched something into it, then held up the phone for me to see.
It was a video of me falling off the roof of the Hotel Beverly and landing in the pool.
Son of a bitch, I thought I’d dealt with that when I threw the phone in the pool. I guess more than one person had been filming.
“I did that on purpose.” I crossed my arms over my chest and was glad I’d taken off the wet leather jacket before coming here. “Had to keep him guessing.”
Lily shook her head. “I don’t pretend that I can do what you do, Secret. I know there’s a good reason you got where you are today, and I respect it. I respect you. But I have people here I need to keep safe, and in order to do my job so that you can do your job, I need to be prepared.”
Tyler shot me a look.
