Page 57 of Bent Out of Shade
Eli grabbed the seat belt, his grip tightening as I recounted Yoshi’s warning about Zev going after the Lonestars and any accomplices.
“I thought Ryann was your friend.” Eli dropped his hands into his lap and shot me a look of incredulity.
“She is.” I inched the car into a right turn, cranking my neck back and forth to check for any cyclists barreling down the hill.
“Then you have to give her the heads-up that the vamps will go to war over this.”
A pedestrian cleared the crosswalk and I turned right. “Eli, I realize that you used to babysit Ryann, but you’re underestimating her. That woman, sorry, that head Lonestar, is crazy powerful and incredibly smart. She understands every ramification of going after the rogue vamp, and she’s got all her officers in her corner. She’ll be fine. You, on the other hand, will be a sitting duck. Vamps can’t turn Ohrists like Ryann, but you’re a Sapien. Step away from the job. Please.”
I braced myself for his blustering that he was a trained cop and could handle himself, but he pinched the bridge of his nose with a soft exhale.
“After we survived the Human Race and saved those players, I felt incredible,” he said. “The rush was like beating my all-time track record combined with busting open a months-long investigation. Not only had I survived magic, I’d triumphed over it.” He chuckled. “Not to be too crude, but I got hard just thinking about it.”
“Understandable.” I grinned. “I got lady hard.”
“But just when I thought the ground beneath my feet was solid, magic-wise, I get knocked upside the head with the reminder of how small a fish I am.” His hand dropped to where his gun belt holster would be if he was on duty. “Part of it’s ego, I know, but a bigger part is the strain of bouncing between these extremes of utter confidence and powerlessness.”
Up ahead, the light turned yellow, and I slowed to a stop. “Being a homicide detective isn’t the same?”
“Not really. After all these years, there are patterns. If XYZ, then it’s likely a crime of passion. ABC is a targeted hit. Plus, I never had the problem of murderers coming through my walls.”
“I’m special that way.” I pulled up to the curb outside our duplex and set the parking brake. “Will you resign as liaison?”
He unfastened his seat belt. “Yes. I’ll tell Deputy Chief Constable Esposito that I’m feeling pulled in too many directions.”
Being the mensch that he was, he carried everything from the car into my foyer. “Gotta book. Want to get a jog in before my shift.”
I made the sign of the cross against him. “Begone, fitness freak.”
Once he’d left, I retrieved Giulia’s ring from my underwear drawer where I’d stashed it and headed downtown.
When I reached my destination, I double-checked the address that Harry had given me against the metal numbers on the brick building because this didn’t seem like somewhere a folklorist would hang out. I’d expected the library or some café, but the gargoyle was always reliable, so I shouldered in through the doors and up to the second floor.
The walls not covered in funky mismatched tiles were painted with characters from the game design company’s products. There was no reception area, just a huge open space populated by cool toddlers.
Okay, not fair. The twentysomethings couldn’t help being dewy skinned and brimming with youthful vitality. Nor was it their fault that the characters and slogans on their graphic T-shirts made me feel ancient and uncool, as did their casually revealed tattoos and piercings.
If Nora was one of this bunch, how could she possibly help me?
I swear my back creaked, my spine hunched into crone formation, and a wart grew at the end of my nose as I tried to get the attention of the two men dueling with pool noodles. They were the only ones not wearing headphones, engrossed in their laptops, and sitting at modular desks or on comfy chairs with their feet on low tables made of slabs of wood.
One of the men spun to block the other’s noodle.
The second guy lowered his weapon. His bright orange hair spiked along the crown of his head like stegosaurus spines. “Grayson, dude. How many times can Orion use that move? We’ve got to reblock this sequence.”
Could I train with pool noodles? Fun. I ran a hand over my cardigan. “Excuse me?”
They turned polite faces my way.
“Can I help you, ma’am?” Grayson said.
I winced and refrained from adding a creaky tremor to my voice. “I’m looking for Nora Doyle.”
Orange Hair jerked a thumb to the far back corner. “Boots in the red chair.”
“Will I be disturbing her?”
“No more than we all usually are,” Grayson said. He and his opponent laughed good-naturedly.
