More surprise in Warren’s widened eyes. But he was more than surprised. He was tired. There were lines in his ageless, tanned face that hadn’t been there a few months before, and his silver hair was getting thinner. “How do you know?”
So Jones hadn’t mentioned my involvement. Okay, I’d play along. “I just do. Are they okay?”
Instead of answering right away, he pointed to my hands. “You’re getting burned. Let’s get you out of this sun.”
I crossed my arms over my chest to tuck my hands under my blazer and ease the stinging. The bag thumped against my hip when I did.
I motioned behind us with my head. “My car’s back that—” But he turned away and put a firm hand on my elbow to guide me farther from my sheltered ride. We stepped up to the entrance of an old brick building that looked like it had once been a drugstore, judging by the faded red Rx painted on the wall. Warren unlocked the door and ushered me inside.
I heard muted voices, far below, like in a basement. “Who else is here?”
“Kevin and Amy. You said you wanted to know how they were.” Warren’s voice was harsh, and even in the dim light from the fly-specked windows I could see he was worried. He led me down a creaking wooden staircase that was probably original to the building. But if the upstairs was old, the downstairs was ultra-modern. It contained the latest and greatest in containment units. Two shining silver-steel cells had been installed and John Jones was seated at a control panel, monitoring twin screens that apparently kept watch inside the cells. There was a scent of chemicals in the air.
“Hello, Jones.”
He turned his head in a flash at my voice and then shot an angry look at Warren, who shrugged with mingled annoyance and resignation. “She saw me on the street and chased me. What was I supposed to do? And why the hell didn’t you tell me she was involved, John?”
Jones shook his head and let out a sound that was somewhere between annoyed and amused. “You have some kind of timing, Graves. That’s all I’ll say.” There was a snideness to his tone that made me respond in kind.
“Well, if you hadn’t been so obvious in letting me know you bugged my office, you might have heard I was headed this way. Or maybe I’m here because I bugged you.”
He didn’t turn his head, but I could see his frown, followed by a thoughtful expression, reflected in the monitor.
Rather than ramp up the tension any more, I stepped forward to look at the screens. Amy was lying on a bed in the corner of a room. It was an actual double bed with head- and footboard, rather than an examination table or hospital bed. She was curled under sheets and a comforter, auburn hair tousled in quiet sleep. As far as I could tell, there were no restraints holding her down. “So you finally exorcised her? She looks okay. Why the silver-steel alloy?” Few things had raised the price of precious metals around the world more than the demand for silver steel—a blending of high-tensile steel, titanium, and silver of such purity and strength that it would contain nearly anything demonic.
Warren leaned over the board and sighed. “Looks can be deceiving. She talks, acts, and moves like Amy. But she still sets off the demonic sensors. I don’t know if we’ve got a doppelgäer on our hands or if she was just tainted deeply enough that she has residual energy that’s setting off the detectors. We’ve got her sedated right now while we’re waiting on some more experts.”
“Speaking from experience, demons can dig way down, so you don’t even know they’re there.” I hadn’t known it when I’d been attached to one and I’d passed every sensor with flying colors. “Why not take her to the university lab?”
Warren shook his head. “She’s still a werewolf. We don’t need that kind of attention. A demon-possessed lycanthrope would make national news.”
Should I tell them or not? Well, it hardly mattered anymore after the news report. But there was no reason they had to know it was my doing. “They probably already know. I take it you haven’t been listening to the news.”
Both men turned to me with concern, but it was Warren who spoke: “The news?”
I shrugged as though I was just repeating what the radio had told me. “I heard on KSML that a warrior priest was found dead near the zoo. The local police and the Feds are putting together a task force to go inside.”
Jones pulled out his cell phone with lightning speed and clicked on the Internet icon. His home page had reports scattered all over it, so apparently it was national news now. “What the fuck?” He stood in a huff and bolted up the stairs, the phone to his ear.
I shrugged innocently. “Guess he hadn’t heard.” I sat down on the stool Jones had vacated and looked at the second monitor. Kevin was pacing the cell like an animal in a cage, reminding me so vividly of the people in the zoo that I felt a pang of revulsion, coupled with anger that I hadn’t been able to help those inmates. “Is Kevin having the same problems? Did the demons possess him, too?”
“No,” Warren said with frustration. “It’s not demons. In fact, it’s his own damned fault he’s still in there. He needs his Vaso, but he won’t tell us who he or she is.”
I reared back and looked at El Jefe. “Why not? Is it some sort of secret that they’re not supposed to tell?”
He let out a small growl and the hand that was nearest mine on the desk clenched into a fist. “No. There’s nothing in the societal rules that says it has to be a secret. Normally the wolf tells his or her close family in case they need to contact the Vaso when there’s an emergency. We thought it was you, but if it’s not … well, I don’t know why Kevin won’t tell us. Or at least me.”
Actually, I had a pretty good idea, based on what Edgar had said at the mall. He’d claimed I’d been protected by my status as Kevin’s supposed Vaso, but I was betting it was also because I was usually armed. Whoever Kevin’s Vaso was, he didn’t want to put them in danger. I motioned toward the monitor. “Is there a speaker in there? Can I talk to him?”
Warren nodded and toggled a switch on the board before speaking: “Kevin? Celia’s here. Do you want to talk to her?”
Kevin stopped in mid-stride and turned with unnatural slowness toward the camera set far up on the wall. “Celia?” His voice was low and gravelly, as though he was barely hanging on to his human form. “Get her. Send her here.”
“Who? Your Vaso? I don’t know who she is.”
“At least we know it’s a she now,” Warren said under his breath. “That’s more than we had ten minutes ago.”
Kevin’s eyes were like twin stars of energy, supernovas ready to explode. That couldn’t be healthy. “You’ll know if you think about it. She’s the only logical person. Send her here right away and make sure nobody follows her. Lead them away. Do anything you have to do to keep her safe.”
What? So once again I was bait? I was supposed to think out the solution and risk my neck. I could hear the sound of my own anger when I responded, “Why the hell should I? I don’t even get a thank-you for getting your ass out of the prison and taking a bullet in my shoulder before you’re sending me out again to die? Fuck you both.”
That took some of the starch out of both of them. Kevin reared back in surprise and Warren’s eyes went wide and panicky. “Celia,” Warren began.
“No. Seriously. Who elected me the sacrificial lamb?” All my pent-up hurt and anger came roaring to the surface. Of course, it was getting closer to sunset, which probably didn’t help. And I hadn’t eaten since I woke up. But the words were no less true because of all that. Sudden tears stung my eyes and my words were daggers laced with poison: “I trusted you. Respected you. Hell, I’ve idolized you since college, Warren.” I pushed back the stool so I could stare at Warren’s shocked face. “That night, you betrayed me and destroyed every single warm feeling I ever had for you. I’ve never gotten an ‘I’m sorry,’ a thank-you, or even an acknowledgment that you made a mistake. I don’t know that I can ever forgive you and can’t imagine why I should ever help you—either of you—again. Get yourselves out of this mess.” I stood up and stormed toward the stairs just like Jones had.