My head hurt. Sometimes lots of weird information being shoved into a brain will do that to a girl. Sometimes finding out that your previously dead father now lived in the soul of a kid I liked will definitely bring on the migraine.

“So when the spell was cast, it went for Lee and not Neil.” I’d been given a whole twenty-minute lecture on energy flow and ley lines and veiled souls, but I kind of thought that was what had happened.

We were all sitting in the living room, the queen having been revived after her brief fainting spell. She was sitting next to her son/my dad. Quinn paced, checking his phone from time to time, and Neil seemed way more interested now that we weren’t talking about him.

“Apparently the magic that holds the old soul in a new body was more interesting to the forces I was channeling than Neil’s magic.” Sarah was shaking her head like she still couldn’t believe what had happened.

“I think it’s because it was faery magic,” Liv interjected. “The spell we used comes from the Fae. It’s a bit similar to lifting the veil so you can see the truth of a thing. I believe the force Sarah was using more readily recognized the magic from Heaven than the magic from Hell.”

“Freaking magic,” Lee said with a shake of his head. He frowned up at Zoey. “I told you to stay away from faery magic. It always gets us in trouble.”

Zoey stared for a moment and then she looked back to Sarah. “How long does the spell last?” She reached over and put a hand on Lee’s shoulder. “Not that I’m unhappy to see you, old friend. It’s just…”

“I want my son back.” Quinn’s whole body was tense.

The queen was a bit more tactful. “You have a soccer game Thursday night and a project due. I’m not sure how the teachers at your school are going to handle something like this.”

Lee pointed to Quinn. “Don’t get your panties in a wad, Quinn. It’s all going to be all right. It can’t last forever, right? But while I’m out, I do want to talk to both of you about your parenting skills. The boy was not lying when he told you he didn’t drink the root beer. It was Rhys. Yes, sweet, everyone-adores-him Rhys drank that root beer, but no one believes me because I’m a kid and I sometimes get into trouble. Next time test his breath. My brother gets away with everything. And while we’re talking, let’s discuss this whole homework thing. I don’t need half the crap they’re teaching. I’ve lived a whole life and do you know what I never once used? Algebra. Cut that shit out now. The boy needs weapons training. And if that little shit wolf from the sixth grade comes after us one more time, I’m going to show him how easily his balls can get shoved up into his body cavity.”

Yeah, those anger issues might have been hereditary.

Quinn stood over Sarah. “I need my sweet son back now. Right now.”

Sarah held up a hand. “I have to research this, Dev. It’s not as simple as doing another spell. I think Liv’s on to something, but I can’t just take it back. This is heavenly magic. This is an old soul in a new body. I’m at a loss.”

“How does he remember the things he’s done as a child this time around?” Zoey asked. “When I visited him in Heaven before I came back to this plane, they told me this was a way to give his soul peace, that he would be able to live another life free of the confines of who he was before.”

“What she’s trying to say is being a lone wolf sucks ass,” Lee added. “The urge to be alone, to not let anyone in, it was always a war in my soul.” He looked up at Zoey. “Forget what I said before, darlin’. I’m cranky about the whole soul thing. You’re a good mom, Zoey. You’re everything I could want and I love Rhys and Evan, too. Hell, I even…I can’t. You’re going to have to figure that part out on your own.”

He loved Quinn. Given their history, I figured that would be hard to say.

“But I’m not at peace,” Lee continued, his eyes darkening. “It’s different, but the war is still…where’s Donovan?”

“Your dad is in the middle of an important meeting. A representative from one of the murdered demon’s family has come and demanded an audience. Marcus finally convinced Daniel he has to meet with him, but he wouldn’t allow the man on this plane. He’s in a neutral place and that means no cell towers,” Quinn explained. It was obvious he wasn’t accepting the fact that a somewhat salty lone wolf had taken over his son’s personality. “He’ll call us when he can. Until then, you should rest and stay in the condo until your Aunt Sarah figures out how to…put you back together properly.”

“I think what Dev is trying to say is we all need to remain calm,” Zoey interjected, throwing husband number two a pointed stare. “Can I talk to you for a moment, dear?”

Quinn turned and strode out, Zoey hard on his heels.

Lee reached up and scratched behind his ear, his hand moving rapidly before he sniffed and sat back, one hand on his belly. “So you’re Kelsey.”

Sarah and Liv went back to the kitchen, already planning their next attempts. Neil wandered in behind them. I was left alone with my father.

“Looks like it.” We kind of stared at each other for a long time, the silence oddly peaceful between us. “You have to dump my mom like that?”

I didn’t ask the question with a ton of bitterness. I was merely curious.

Lee shook his head and shot me a way too old for his nine-year-old body stare. “Your mama left me. She figured out I was a loner and decided I was a bad bet. My own mother had died a couple of years before and I was raising Zack on my own. I believe your mother thought I was trying to find a place to dump Zack so I could roam.”

It was what loners did. Lone wolves didn’t have families. They were a rare type of supernatural creature who was there to maintain balance when needed. A true lone wolf is more powerful than any alpha wolf, but has no need to form a pack or ties, so he can be used to keep powerful alphas in check. A lone wolf, if he happens to knock up some human, can also produce something even rarer.

Me.

“You might have mentioned to her that you were different.” From what I understood, my father truly was different. He’d never left his younger brother behind even though the need to roam must have been overwhelming.

He stood up and walked over to me. He put his hand on my chin and forced me to look into his eyes. “If I’d had even a hint that you existed, I would have come for you. Do you understand that? Even when I’m sleeping inside this new body of mine, I know you. Even though I’m only a child right now, I still come for you, daughter.”

I don’t cry. Well, I rarely do, but something threatened to break inside me and I had to hold it together. Tears shimmered when I thought about the fact that somehow, someway, though we’d been robbed of one relationship, we’d found another. And he did come for me. He crept out of bed and put himself in dangerous situations so he could find me and make sure I was okay.

I shook my head, unwilling to break down. “You can’t do that anymore. You’re human.”

“Am I?” His lips curled into a smile I’d never seen on his face before. “I don’t feel human. Things aren’t always as they seem. You should know that better than anyone else. Tell me why Marcus isn’t here. I don’t smell him anywhere on you.”

He stepped back and suddenly I knew the oddity of having a nine-year-old question my life choices.

“He’s with the king,” I managed to say.

“He’s with the king while we’re in the middle of a murder investigation and we got the heavenly trio up our asses? That’s when he decides to play politics again? I don’t think so. I want to find that vampire and then we’re going to have a talk about how he takes care of you.”

“Drink.” Trent walked out of the kitchen and passed me a beer, saving me for the second time in a twenty-four-hour period. He’d already taken the cap off. While I’d been getting the lowdown on how everything had gone to hell, Trent had found a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt. He sat down beside me and I had to force myself not to lean into him. “So how did the old guy end up coming out again?”

I turned to him. “You’re the only one here who doesn’t seem surprised.”

One broad shoulder shrugged. “Zoey always said Lee was reincarnated as one of her twins. Little Lee smells like old Lee. I’ve been that kid’s bodyguard since the day he was born and he’s always given me hell. Hey, old man, you’re the worst. I mean it. I told your mom she should spank you more.”

Adorable Little Lee’s middle finger came up. “Fuck you, Wilcox.” His mouth turned up in the smirkest grin, one I’d certainly never seen on my young friend. “Damn, it’s good to see you.”

They shook hands, one of those weird manly gestures. Trent leaned back, his arm going around the edge of the couch behind me. “It’s good to see you, too. And Marcus isn’t a bad guy, but her training is almost done. I’m going to take over much of her daily schedule. It’s time she embraced her wolf side.”

I heard the chime of the doorbell and wished Albert wasn’t so quick. I could have rushed to open the door.

“I can understand that somewhat. Let’s move on to you, son,” Lee said, his tone turning serious. “You want to explain why my daughter smells like you but doesn’t have your ring on her finger?”

“You can’t smell him on me.” My whole body had flushed. Like all of it. I could feel that embarrassment down to my toes. “I don’t care that you used to be a lone wolf. Now, you’re a nine-year-old and you have trouble catching a baseball. You do not have supersenses.”

Lee’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t I? You think I can’t tell that he’s been all over you? That I can’t see the way he’s looking at you and how you almost leaned against him when he sat down beside you. There are five chairs in this room, Wilcox. Why don’t you find your own?”

Trent relaxed back, crossing one leg over his knee and generally looking like the cat who ate the canary. “This one fits me so well.” He turned slightly toward me. “Hey, baby, did you talk to Quinn? I couldn’t use a rubber so I wanted to make sure we’re not pregnant.”

Lee stood up, pointing at him. “I swear to god if you get my baby girl knocked up…”

I stood up as well and turned and walked out rather than screaming at the top of my lungs. I was pretty sure every inch of my skin was flaming pink. The day had been shitty and surreal.

I made it to the hallway when I saw Casey coming my way.

He waved a printout. “Hey, boss, I found our girl and she’s a hooker. It’s the Larissa chick. I even found an ad for her services on the Dark Web. Apparently there’s a whole underbelly of supernatural ads and shit there. Very clever, too. Larissa Dymone, erotic artist. Her tagline is Demons do it better. Got her address and everything. I set up an appointment for myself. I thought that might be the way we ensure she talks and all.”

I pulled the paper from his hand and kept on walking.

“Uh, Kels, do you have any cash? I don’t think this is why Henri gave me a Visa.” Casey jogged to keep up with me. “From the looks of this, demon hookers are expensive.”

I kept on walking. Sadly, a little time with a hooker would be the least embarrassing thing to happen to me all day.

 

* * * *

 

“You know a thank you would be nice.” Casey had managed to catch up to me when I’d stopped off at my apartment. “Maybe a ‘good job, Casey. You worked hard and that needs to be appreciated.’”

I’d stopped by my apartment to pick up a couple of guns. I’d known Marcus wouldn’t be there, but I could almost see him standing in the living room, staring out over the city like he did so often.

The apartment had been completely silent, but it was changed utterly. In the few hours I’d been in the queen’s penthouse, someone had moved all of Marcus’s personal items out of our apartment. His clothes and books and toiletries were all gone.

It was as though he’d simply vanished, and I wondered if he even intended to say good-bye.

I hadn’t been able to stay there. I needed a distraction and the best one I could think of was work. I’d headed out then and there, but I hadn’t been able to get rid of Casey.

If only Casey could vanish, then I would be blissfully alone.

“Hey,” he shouted as I turned the Jeep onto the street I needed. “You could also watch the hairpin turns. I don’t need to die twice. What crawled up your butt and died?”

“Not died,” I corrected. “Came back to life.”

I wish I’d have thought to steal Liv. I needed my BFF. My life had gone topsy-turvy and she was my reasonable girl. Liv was the one who listened to me bitch and then consoled me.

“You wanna talk about it?”

I frowned his way. “No, I do not.”

“Okay.”

He fiddled with the radio. He was only satisfied when he’d found some whiny man rock.

“My dad came back.” I have no idea why I said the words. They came out totally of their own accord.

Casey sat up. “Are you serious? Why are we running? We need to go back to the compound. We need to warn everyone. Your dad is a wanted criminal.”

The man who’d raised me had many fans. That’s kind of what happened when you got a name as a ruthless, merciless hunter who didn’t discriminate between dangerous supernaturals and perfectly harmless ones. The man who raised me simply killed them all. “Not John Atwood. As far as I know he was never dead. I’m talking about my bio dad who seems serious about protecting my nonexistent virtue.”

“Ah, he heard about you doing the nasty with Trent, huh?”

“How do you know about that?”

“I heard it from Jan, the witch who runs the coffee shop on the sixth floor, and she heard it from one of the bartenders at Ether, who I’m pretty sure heard it from the bodyguard they put on the room so no one rushed in while Trent was howling and shit.”

“Howling?”

“Yeah, I guess fucking while you’ve got a silver sword shoved through your body hurts and stuff,” Casey said with a shrug. “It got intense and some of the wolves were either worried or amused. It can be hard to tell. Turn right up here. She’s in those apartments.”

The thought of Trent howling in pain made my heart twist. How much had he sacrificed to save me?

“I doubt he was howling in pain,” a familiar voice said.

I nearly screamed as a small body sat up in the backseat of my Jeep.

“Goddamn it, Lee. You cannot do that. You nearly gave me a fucking heart attack,” I yelled and then stared Casey’s way. “You didn’t realize he was hiding in the back?”

“You didn’t either.” Casey had gone a lovely shade of paler than usual.

Lee sat up, unfolding his small body from where he’d been hiding. He held up a tiny leaf. “Magically reinforced herbs. I steal them from the apothecary on twelve. Keep a stash of them in my bedroom. Masks my scent, but only works for twenty minutes or so. You would have caught me soon enough, darlin’. Don’t be upset. I just want to spend some time with you before they find a way to shove me back down deep.”

I tried to focus on the road in front of me. “They’re working on it.”

“Sarah and Liv are,” Lee replied. “I think they’re going to talk to the coven about it. I don’t think this happens often. They’re also trying to figure out how to get Neil to remember, but I don’t think that’s going to work the way they hope it does.”

“Why not?”

“Magic’s a funny thing. A spell like this—a white one—will only really work if the person you’re casting the spell on wants it to work,” my dad explained. “Neil’s will comes into play in a white spell. I think his will could be working against the spell.”

That actually made sense to me. “You don’t think he wants to remember.”

“I know Neil often runs from the things that scare him. He might not even realize it, but I think he doesn’t want to know what happened to him. He doesn’t want to face it. I don’t know that a white spell is going to work.”

“We have to try something,” I replied, attempting to focus on the road again. I wasn’t even all that surprised that my dad had found his way into my Jeep. He didn’t need to be an old soul to do that. Little Lee had been able to do stuff like that all on his own. “How did you know who I was? I get that you retained the memories of your life, but you never met me. You said it yourself. You didn’t know I existed.”

“But I did. I spent time on the Heaven plane. One of the things I saw there was you.” He leaned forward, a small hand on my shoulder. “While I was there I saw many things. It was like my whole life and all its possibilities were all around me. I saw the people I’d been, saw what will happen to me this time. I saw it all in great detail, and I remember how it felt to know. Now it’s all fuzzy, like I know I saw it, know something’s waiting for me, but I can’t remember anything but you. It’s like I held on to that one memory because I didn’t want to forget it. Because even though I knew I would be a child, I wanted so much to be your dad no matter what body I was in.”

Like I could remember those children of mine. Those little monsters jumping on the bed.

“That’s beautiful,” Casey said. “It makes me miss my dad.”

I tried to ignore him, looking at Lee through the rearview mirror. “But you remember the past.”

“Yes,” he replied. “Look, sweetheart, I don’t know how long I have. I kind of hope this wears off at some point and I’m back to being me. There’s a reason I chose to do this and it wasn’t to be the old me in a new body. But if that happens and I go back to not remembering anything, there are some things I need to tell you.”

“There are questions I have, too.” I couldn’t stop thinking about what Marcus had told me. Was I chasing after the wrong revenge? Did my father want revenge at all?

How much time did we have? God, I’d run out of that place like my pants were on fire and all because I was embarrassed. How many people got the chance to talk to their dead fathers?

“This is the apartment complex,” Casey said quietly. He pointed to a nicely kept set of buildings. It looked like Larissa the hooker did pretty well for herself. “Uhm, if you two want to talk, I could go in and question the suspect.”

More likely he would end up using his hour with the hooker for doing what hookers did. I knew Casey. He’s a good kid and he would try, but if Larissa Dymone had half a brain and anything at all to do with killing Lester, she would see right through Casey. She would pull some big old demon eyes on him, maybe show some of her extra bits, and then stab his ass with a stake. And by ass I really mean heart.

The talk with my dad would have to wait. I pulled into the parking lot.

I did have a job to do, after all. “Did she give you a gate code when you set up the appointment?”

“Yeah. She also told me where to park. She’s organized. Pretty too. The pictures on her website are way better than the one we pulled off the security camera,” Casey assured me as he passed me the code.

I pushed it in and the ornate doors began to swing open. “You mean her hooker glamour shots are better than the ones taken on the night she might or might not have killed someone? Shocking.”

Casey frowned my way. “Have you considered that she could be innocent in all of this?”

“She’s a hooker?” Lee asked. “Probably not so innocent.”

I was with Dad on this one. And I should have known Casey would take one look at the pretty hooker and think she was nothing more than an innocent demoness trying to work her way through college.

I pulled into the slot Casey indicated and started to get out. Lee moved behind me.

Casey stopped, putting a hand on my arm. “Uh, I don’t think the king’s baby boy should go and hang with hookers. Like, we could get blamed for corrupting him and stuff.”

“Do you have any idea how many hookers I’ve been around, son? Way more than you by the looks of it.” Lee jumped to the ground and took a look around. “Wonder if she’s got a beer.”

“No beer.” It didn’t matter that his soul was way older than me. His liver was nine and I was returning him to his mother in pristine condition. That was my vow.

“Uh, shouldn’t we be saying no hookers?” Casey asked, eyeing Lee.

I sighed. “If I try to leave him in the car, he’ll find another way in. Did the whole hopping-in-the-Jeep incident not teach you what he’s capable of? Besides, if he’s anything like his current self, he’s probably pretty good at the detecting thing.”

I started toward the townhouse section of the complex. It looked like our erstwhile prostitute had her own party space. It was a nice walk-up, with plants and flowers. It looked like a spot where families would picnic, but then I supposed if she had a neon sign hanging overhead that said get it here, her game would be up.

I rang the doorbell as Casey and Lee joined me on the doorstep.

The door came open and the scent of something super-flowery hit my nose. It was almost sickly sweet and I tried not to cough. Casey, on the other hand, was suddenly smiling like a loon.

Larissa Dymone stood in the doorway wearing a filmy white negligee and nothing else. Her lovely face was soft, her makeup done beautifully. Her hair was on the short side, dark with a single purple streak.

“Hello,” she began in a super-sexy come-hither voice. Until she truly caught sight of us. Then she frowned, her whole body language changing in an instant. “Seriously? I don’t do kids. I don’t know what you’re thinking, but he’s on the young side to be deflowered. Bring him back when he hits actual puberty. Also, my website says no girls allowed.”

She started to slam the door, but I was faster. “The good news is we’re not here for a session.”

I forced my way in, trying to wave off whatever smell was coming from inside.

Larissa huffed and finally stepped aside, letting Lee and Casey walk in.

Casey gave her a grin. “You look so pretty.”

She rolled her brown eyes and strode over to what looked like a humidifier. “I won’t need this now.”

“What is that?” I asked.

“It’s incense,” Lee said, taking a look around. “Think of it as hooker aromatherapy. It’s formulated for species. If she was doing a human, there would be a lot of pheromones and stuff.”

I didn’t want to think about what that would smell like. “Vamps like flowers?”

She shrugged as she reached for a crystal glass. “Go figure. I don’t know. I simply know it makes the vamp easier to deal with. If I were doing a demon, this place would smell like Starbucks. It’s weird. Caffeine smells do it for us. And the blood of the innocent, but I find that can get the cops called in. So a single mom, her kid, and a vamp walk into a brothel. Is this the beginning of a joke?”

“No joke, and we’ll be more than happy to pay you for your time,” I assured her.

Casey was still smiling. “I have a Visa.”

Maybe I needed one of those incense things. Might make the vamps in my life easier to deal with. “Like I said, we’ll pay you for your time, but I need you to answer a few questions about what happened two nights ago.”

Larissa went pale and I saw the moment she started to lose control of her form. Tiny demon horns formed, poking out from her forehead. They were dainty things, as were the claws forming on her hands. The glass she held shook and she took a long drink before setting it down. “You need to leave now.”

That wasn’t going to happen. “Do you deny that you spent the evening with a halfling named Lester, a member of the royal…” I had the name in my notes. It was of those crazy demon names that I’m pretty sure are the only reasons we have the letter x in our alphabet. I glanced down at the notepad I carried in my satchel at all times. Mostly it was doodles and reminders of shit I would still probably forget. I shuffled through it until I found the right page. “Lester, of the royal family Hixalnaxendallixxxba. Yeah, I probably got that wrong, but you get the point.”

Casey smiled and said it perfectly. “It means Bringers of Death and Pain.”

“I know what it means, but I have no idea why you would think I know some halfling.” Larissa seemed to have gotten her moxie back. Though the horns were still poking through and her eyes had gone more black than brown, her hands had stopped shaking.

Lee stared up at her. “Mostly because we have a photo of you leaving the halfling’s home shortly after he was murdered.”

I felt my jaw drop. “How the hell do you know that?”

His shoulders shrugged. “I told you, math is boring. I hate it. But I’m good at hacking into Casey’s system and getting all the files. Murder is way more interesting.”

“You are a menace,” I hissed his way because there were pictures of dead bodies in those files. What the hell was wrong with him?

Besides being a forty-plus lone wolf in a tiny human boy body.

Casey was showing our new hooker friend the picture. “You see, I had to use this software I developed to get rid of all the pixilation, but you look real pretty.”

“You are not getting laid,” I said to Casey as I took over. I pointed to the woman in the picture. “This is you. I have footage from a security camera across the street as well. I’m here from the Council, under the king’s orders and direction, so it would help a lot if you would talk to me.”

She stiffened again. “Are you her?”

“Depends on who ‘her’ is.” Though I knew what she was asking. I softened my voice slightly. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here for some answers. Lester wasn’t the first halfling murdered lately.”

She poured herself another drink. “I know. Believe me, I know. Do you want to know the crazy thing? I was there that night to ask him to get out, to be anywhere but Dallas. I liked Les. He was a good guy.”

“Why did you think he should leave?” Now that I had her attention, I could slow things down. Especially since Lee was prowling around the room now. I was sure it looked like he was checking out the art on the walls, but I knew Lee. He was looking for something. Like I said before, he’s a damn fine detective. “Had you heard a rumor?”

Her head shook slightly. “No rumors, only the truth. The king is killing us. He’s tricking us and we all need to get as far from Dallas as possible.”

Shit. So it was about to get political. “Why do you think it was the king?”

“Do it already.” She faced me, her shoulders back. “You think I don’t know who you are? You’re the Nex Apparatus. You’re the death machine. If you showed up on my doorstep, it’s because you missed me when your team killed Les.”

There was no way to miss how she was breathing, how stiff her limbs were. This chick thought I was about to murder her and she was still standing in front of me, ready to give me hell.

Not all demons are bad. I get that more than most people. I’ve stood in front of the most evil ones and they don’t show a ton of bravery. “You’re a halfling, too, aren’t you?”

Her cheeks flushed, but she didn’t back down. “Yes. Not that it matters to most people. Lester and I grew up together. Needless to say his family is much more powerful than mine. We went to school together.”

“Is there like a Demon Degrassi?” Because that would be cool.

“Something like that,” she allowed. “I’m not royal but my mom has some connections. Les and I were close. He was more than some client. He was…he was a good man. He believed we could all get along. He wanted to avoid a war. That was why he was trying to meet with the king.”

I could hear the conviction in her voice. My only real thought while she was talking was that I could work with her. She might tell me the truth. “I don’t have a single problem with Les. I didn’t know him, but I know someone who thought highly enough of him that he wanted him to sway the king in favor of peace. So now my only job is to find who killed him.”

“And then what? You give him a medal?”

She was a demon with a one-track mind. “Then I bring whoever that person is to justice. And you need to understand that I’m talking about my justice. I’m an eye for an eye girl, and if I can put a little extra pain in there, I will.”

Lee had turned and was giving me the biggest smile. “I’m so proud of you, darlin’.”

Yeah, I wished that didn’t make me feel as good as it did. I tried not to think about it, tried to focus on the issue at hand. “What did you see that night?”

She looked at me, a stubborn tilt to her chin. “Why do you care about what happens to demons?”

I needed to make myself plain. “I don’t. Not to the full breeds. Look, I get you might love your momma and all that, but if she’s a full breed, she can take care of herself. My job on this plane is to deal with the evil demons and protect those who want to live here peaceably. I don’t give a crap about your horns. I don’t care about your profession. I only care about whether or not you’re here to cause trouble.”

“I like your horns.” Casey proved he didn’t need a steady stream of what was likely part vamp aphrodisiac/part sedative. “They’re cute. And she isn’t here to kill you. She’s pretty cool, except when it comes to acknowledging good work. Then she’s shitty. As long as you don’t expect a pat on the back from her when you save her ass, she’s okay. Her best friend, on the other hand… Liv is a beautiful soul.”

Nix the sedative. “What exactly is in that incense?”

“Liv would eat you alive, buddy,” Lee pointed out.

Casey smiled and nodded. “Yes. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

Larissa sighed and finally seemed to relax a bit, as though our antics made her more comfortable. “Like I said, it’s formulated for vampires, though it won’t work on the strongest. He must be young as hell. It’s meant to protect me and enhance the experience for the client. It relaxes the vampire, makes him a bit more horny, and in some cases much more truthful.”

That could come in handy. I might need a stash of that.

Lee came to stand next to me. “Can you tell us what happened to Lester? How much did you see? Also, do you have any beer?”

“No beer,” I said under my breath. “You’re incorrigible.”

“I’m thirsty and all I’ve had for nine freaking years is water, milk, and some weird juice shit in a box,” Lee complained. “Zoey even took away my damn Dr Peppers. I need a beer, woman. Detecting is thirsty work.”

Larissa watched us like she was enjoying a tennis match. “I don’t drink beer. I do have some Scotch.”

“I’ll take…” Lee began.

I put my hand over his mouth, happy I was dealing with the miniature version of him and not the full-grown one. “I’m so going to tell your dads what a pain in the ass you are. How about we skip the refreshments and move on to the storytelling portion?”

“He’s really your dad, dude. He sounds exactly like you,” Casey was saying.

Lee put his hands up and I let him go. “I’ll be good, darlin’.”

“I am so confused,” Larissa said. “I’m starting to wonder if this isn’t a weird dream, so I’m going to go with it. Okay, I went over to Lester’s around nine that night. We spend time together whenever he’s in town.”

“Friendly time or work time?” I had to ask.

She smiled slightly. “Being with Les wasn’t work. I care about…cared about him. It’s so hard to think of him as being gone.”

She wouldn’t have thought of it because Lester should have lived a long life. “He would have been hard to kill.”

Larissa’s eyes glanced away, as though seeing something that wasn’t there. “No. Not at all. In the end, it was simple.”

“The crazy neighbor talked about a white light,” Lee said.

He really did read all my notes. Trent was right. He needed to be spanked more. Or put on the payroll. One of the two. “There were reports of some ground shaking as well as the light.”

“It was terrible. One minute we were happy in bed and the next… well, it was like the world was ending. That light. I don’t know how to describe it. It was more than light. It felt like I was being burned by it. I suppose I felt the ground shake a little, but I was much more concerned with that light. I wondered later on how no one talked about it. How it didn’t make the news.”

I had my theories. “I think it was highly localized. The police thought it was a random electrical event. It didn’t last more than a few seconds, so they’re explaining it away as meteorological.”

“Seconds?” Larissa asked. “It felt like hours. I burned for hours. When I came out of it, I couldn’t believe I was still alive.”

Shit. I knew what she was going to say next. “And when you came out of it, Lester was already dead?”

She shook her head and my hopes rose. “He was fighting something. The light receded and the world went back to normal except there was a man in the room and he had a sword.”

“A man? Not a lizard?” I was kind of hoping for lizard because I worried who that man would be.

“Eww, no lizard,” she affirmed. “But the man was kind of gross, too. He was holding a sword. It was so bright. It was like all the light in the world reflected off that sword. I couldn’t look at it, but I did see that the man holding the sword was injured.”

“His hands,” I prompted.

She nodded. “He was bleeding heavily. You know the funny thing is there was something vaguely reptilian about him. He had claws like a reptile and his eyes. His eyes were weird and old, and I could only think of one word when I saw them. Dragon.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. “Can you describe him?”

She shook her head, that purple piece getting tangled in her horns. “No. Not past that. I ran. I realized Lester was going to die when the man shoved the sword in his heart and I knew I was next so I ran. It was cowardly of me, but I couldn’t help him.”

Something about the way she said it made me wonder. I would have bet she was utterly truthful right up until that moment when she told me she couldn’t describe him.

Why would she be honest about everything except that? Unless this wasn’t a question of description and more one of complete recognition and fear.

I needed to figure out which one. “Why didn’t you call the Council that night? They owe you protection.”

She shook her head. “The king hates our kind. There’s no protection for us. He lumps us all in with the purebreds.”

“He doesn’t,” Lee replied. “Not really. The king talks a good game, but if you met him, you would see. My nanny is a halfling. He’s a treasured part of our family.”

“Well, perhaps if you knew the king before, he’ll let you in, but he doesn’t anymore,” Larissa explained. “We all know that if this comes to a fight, there will be no choosing sides. We’ll have to go in with our full-bred brethren even though no one likes what that will mean. We’ll be cannon fodder on one side or merely slaughtered on the other.”

This was what Donovan needed to hear. This was what Marcus and Gray were attempting to get him to understand.

“Don’t call the Council then.” I fished out my card, handing her several. “You or anyone else who needs help can call me.”

She huffed, but took the card. “You work for the Council.”

“They wish,” my dad said under his breath.

“I’m associated with the Council, but I assure you if a Council member was doing something wrong, I would deal with it and I wouldn’t let politics come into it, and I won’t allow politics to stop me from saving you from some supe who’s trying to kill you.” I had to make my play here and now. “No matter how close he is to the queen.”

Her eyes came up, catching on mine, and I had my answer.

Lee cursed in a way he was only supposed to if he was running from a dinosaur or being eaten by a shark. Maybe his mom would say that having his old soul reemerge was a third exception to the rule.

“What’s going on?” Casey scratched his head as though trying to figure something out. Maybe the aromatherapy was wearing off on him.

“I need you to say it.” I couldn’t take that look on her face as fact. I needed her willing to tell me the truth, willing to be a witness. “Why didn’t you call the Council that night? You know the rules of the plane. You know you were supposed to call.”

Her shoulders went back and her chin came up. “I didn’t call because the queen’s best friend split a hole in reality, somehow managed to imprison me in light, and when I came out of it, I watched as he pierced the heart of one of the best men I’ve ever known. I didn’t call because I figured the king himself had sent an assassin.”

We were in so much trouble if all the halflings were thinking this way. War was unthinkable, but a war where the lines were drawn simply by birth, with no thought to right or wrong, seemed unimaginable to me.

I know crime. I know people, and by people I mean anything living and breathing and making conscious choices. Halflings are considered to be of the Earth plane. Even if Mom was a demon or Daddy came straight from Hell. Do you know why they’re considered Earth planers? Because they won’t truly be accepted by Heaven or Hell. Because we are the plane that accepts the odd, the offbeat, the forbidden. We’re the last place these beings can truly call home.

And I realized that Devinshea Quinn was right.

I am their warrior.

“I think I’m going to need you to come back to the Council with me. I know you’re scared, but you have to tell the king this story.” I kept my tone as calm as possible because the last thing I wanted to do was terrorize her more than she’d already been, but I needed Donovan to hear her story, and not from me.

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

“I’m going to be beside you the whole time. I promise.”

“But he’s there.”

I didn’t have to ask who he was. “Would it shock you to know that he doesn’t remember a thing? Neil Roberts has no idea what he’s doing. He’s being used and manipulated by a high-ranking demon.”

“That makes it worse,” she replied. “Those full breeds might not invite us home for dinner, but they’re quick to punish us if they feel like we’ve betrayed them.”

I wasn’t going to force her to come in. I had the story. I believed she didn’t know much else. I fished out the cash I’d brought. “If you change your mind, you know how to get hold of me. Please call me if you hear anything at all.”

She looked down at the cash I was offering her, and for a second I thought she might refuse to take it. She sighed as though realizing there was no practical reason to turn down the money. “I’ll call you.” She glanced over at Casey. “And next time, come for an actual appointment. I’m incredibly skilled at fellatio.”

Casey perked up. “Hey, I got a Visa.”

Before I could slap the back of his head, there was a knock on the door.

Larissa sighed. “It’s probably my landlord. He’s a massive ass and I swear he lives to block people from parking in perfectly available slots.” She threw open the door and frowned. “Frank, there’s no one in the parking lot at this time of day. If you tow my customers, I’ll come after…”

She didn’t finish the sentence because “Frank” shoved a silver knife through her heart. He moved with super-human speed. One moment he was standing there in the doorway, wearing his stained wife beater, his bloated belly straining against the fabric, and the next he was staring at me, a bloody knife in his hand. Larissa’s body smoked as it started to drop to the floor.

I’d told her I would save her and she was dead. I hadn’t kept my promise long.

“Hello, Kelsey.” The perfect upper-crust and familiar accent chilled my blood. I knew that voice. I’d heard it many times. “So sorry about the mess, but it was unavoidable. I think we should talk. I hear you’ve been looking for me.”

Yes. I had been. I’d been looking to kill him. Nemcox was here and I was ready for battle.