Stunned silence reigns in the interrogation room, the only sound being the slow drip-drip-drip as the pooling blood that’s forming from what remains of Cody Reign’s head starts dripping off the table. Joe gawks, wiping his face as he stares at the body. “What the fuck just happened?”

“What the fuck?” I whisper in an echo, staring at my hands as if they’re snakes. Shock courses through me as I try to comprehend what just happened. He was screaming in my head. I felt like my brain was about to explode, and then . . .

“I . . . I did this.”

Joe’s mouth drops open as he turns to me, his eyes as big as Denny’s Big Breakfast platters as he looks back and forth between the bloody mess and my face. “What are you talking about? Jesus, Eve, talk to me!”

“I–I–I didn’t mean to do it!” I stutter. “He just started screaming at me in his mind and then I—”

Fuck, I don’t even know HOW I did it! Shit! Shit! Shit!

“You’re . . . a Para,” Joe says quietly as his brain starts to work again. “Not a shifter or a vamp. Are you some kind of mutant we don’t know about yet?”

I feel like I’m a mutant. Jean Gray on full Phoenix Force or something. Except she knew what the fuck she was doing. “Joe, please, I—”

I reach for Joe, and he backs away, wiping at his face. “This whole time, I’ve been working beside you, and you never let me know? What the hell, Eve? Did you think I was going to turn you in?”

“Joe, please . . . let me explain,” I reply desperately, trying to get my brain to kick into gear. “Please.”

Joe stops and looks at the camera. He goes over to it and unplugs it, putting it in his pocket. “I’m listening. I’m trying to be a good partner here, Eve. You have two minutes.”

I open my mouth to speak and then close it. How can he possibly understand? How do I explain? That a couple of nights ago, four faerie studs showed up and saved me and told me that I have magical powers?

It doesn’t help that I only told him the half-truth about today. He’s going to think that I’ve been lying to him and that I’m just trying to save my ass now that I’m busted. Still, I have to try. “Okay. First, I didn’t know about any powers until just the other day. And this is going to sound crazy, but . . .”

I hold nothing back, telling Joe everything. My headaches, the buzzing in my head, Blood Boy, the faeries . . . it takes a lot more than two minutes.

The only part I leave out is the faeries’ names, but Joe doesn’t seem to worry about it. Instead, he’s looking at me in an utter mix of shock and a smidgen of disbelief. “Faeries, Eve? And you’re supposedly a . . . what'd they say, a Halfling?”

“I know it’s a lot to take in,” I reply shakily. “And I’ve spent the past forty-eight hours or so wondering if I’m ready for a nice Thorazine vacay. But now, after the captain this morning and now this . . . what the fuck’s going on, Joe?”

He’s sympathetic, at least, rubbing a blood-stained hand through his hair. “I believe you, Eve, but . . .”

“But what?”

“I can’t just delete this,” Joe says, patting his pocket. “A lump on the eye, even a busted rib . . . hell, that happens in police work. But this, this isn’t Old Haven, Eve. I’ve gotta call the coroner. And I’ve got to take you in. The whole thing’s on camera.”

Joe reaches for his handcuffs, and I get up, backing away. “Please, Joe. I didn’t try to kill him. He was killing me. It was my head, it was just . . . screaming. I thought my brain was going to melt.”

Joe sighs, looking at me with a pained expression. “It was all on camera, Eve. What do you want me to do? I need to get someone in here to take care of this kid’s body, and if I let you go, they'll nail my ass for it. Look, we go down to the Precinct, and you can explain it to the captain. There has to be a way we can work this out.” Joe pauses, running his fingers through his hair, and a crazy thought runs through my head. He’s going to need to really shampoo the shit out of all that come tonight. “Don’t get pissed, but I have to ask. This was an accident, right?”

“Of course it was!” I yell, pissed. “How many times do I have to say it, Joe, I didn’t even know I could do that. I just wanted the pain to fucking stop!”

“Fuck. Eve, I’m sorry. You know I have your back, but let’s just see what the captain has to say.”

Joe does me a favor and doesn’t handcuff me. This is a bad fucking idea, but what else can I do? Just run? And then what?

Joe calls the captain himself, having him come down to the building to respond to the call. In the meantime, he calls the coroner, starting the evidence chain while I wait out in the hallway.

As I wait, my brain runs in terrified little circles. Oh, God. I can’t believe it. I look down the hallway, itching to run. I could. Easily. But where would I go? Duh, to the faeries. I’m really wishing I would’ve listened to them right about now.

The biggest thought that keeps going through my head is that the faeries were right. They said I was a danger to myself and others . . . and I didn’t fucking listen to them. Now, a young man is dead. Sure, he was a piece of shit thrall, but he didn’t deserve to have his brains turned to oatmeal and his head exploded.

When the captain gets to the building, he’s got a full crime scene crew with him and two SWAT guys flanking him. “What the fuck is she doing uncuffed?” the captain asks. “You said she killed a suspect.”

Joe looks chagrined as he approaches, but I understand and turn around, letting him cuff me. Joe escorts me outside, where in the alleyway next to the building, Joe and I tell the captain what happened.

It doesn’t go as well as it did with Joe, but I didn’t expect it to.

“You’re telling me that you’re . . . what, some kind of fucking new Para?” the captain asks, his temple vein pulsing as he gets more and more pissed. “So, you were rooting around in my head this morning.”

“Captain, I—”

“Shut it. You fooled everyone, and you fucked up with this just a few days before my ceremony with the Mayor! What were you even . . . fuck!”

One look in his eyes tells me that I can’t tell him everything. Cole, Noah, Jacob, and Tyler might be strange, they might be deadly with their weapons . . . but they’re not bad men who should be locked up, and I know that’s exactly what he’d like to do. At least, I don’t think they are. I square my shoulders, my mouth intentionally pressed in a line, telegraphing that I'm done talking.

“You know what, freak? We’ll just park you down in the holding cell at the 54th, then call DHS. I bet they’ve got a whole crew of lab coats ready to see if they can figure out just how you pulled it off. Get her out of here,” the captain growls at the two SWAT cops nearby. “And if either of you feels even a twinge in your head, shoot her.”

The guys come to pull me away, but I resist, looking at the captain. “You want to know what the most disgusting part of today was? Hearing what you actually think of people.”

The captain’s face turns purplish and he jabs a finger at me. “Get her out of here!”

In the van, the two SWAT watch me carefully. “This was an accident, you guys have to believe me,” I tell them. “The captain . . . he won’t. But you must keep your eyes and ears open. The vamps are moving. Marcus is coming.”

“Shut up,” one of the guys says. “Another word and I’ll Taze you.”

We get to the station, and they drag me through booking, half the cops stopping what they’re doing to watch. “Hey! Look for Marcus!” I yell. “New Haven’s in danger!”

They weren’t lying. I feel the Taser pressed against my back and all my thoughts are obliterated in a scream of pain. When next I can think, I’m being chucked into one of the holding cells specially prepared to deal with Paranormals. Three of the cops are holding their heads, and one of them wipes at his nose offhandedly, where he’s bleeding. Did I do that? Did I somehow hit them again when I was Tazed and nearly kill three cops? What am I becoming?

Once the door is closed, the handcuffs loosen. They’re the new generation that don’t need a key but can be computer-controlled. Small comfort. No bars, just a twenty-square-inch steel grate to communicate, no window to let in sunlight or moonlight.

Now what?