It wasn’t suggestive, more teasing, and I hadn’t expected it from the hard-faced cop. I laughed.
“Tell the detective if he continues to flirt with you, I will remove his head from his shoulders.”
My laugh turned into a choked gasp as I turned my head, finding Samael’s eyes narrowed on Nelson.
“Don’t be ridiculous,”I snapped, turning back to Nelson.
I shivered as Samael did something to the bond between us. It felt like a caress. I frowned over my shoulder at him, but he was deep in discussion with Vas again. Insane demon.
Nelson was staring at me curiously and I shrugged. “Look, we don’t yet know who these guys are, or why they attacked us.”
“Chances are high that the attack is connected to the fire at the coven’s house.”
Evie tensed and I squeezed her hand. Nelson shook his head at me. “Come on. I’ve been doing this a while now. Either one or both of you are the targets. Since you’re bothfriendlywith the demons, I’m assuming you won’t want police protection, but whatever is happening, it’s spilling out onto civilians. Human civilians.”
I closed my eyes. “I know. Look, we don’t know why they’re coming after us. All I can tell you is that they tried to get Evie into the car.”
It was likely he’d get his hands on a recording from either the public or one of the cameras in the parking lot, so he’d see that anyway.
“Any idea why?”
“No.”
His attention shifted to Evie. “What about you, have you pissed anyone off recently?”
“No more than usual,” she said wearily. “We don’t know why this is happening.”
I squeezed her hand again. “Samael’s people will take the bodies, and we’ll let you know what we find.”
Nelson opened his mouth and I shook my head. “You don’t want to get in a pissing contest with the demons,” I advised him. “I’ll pass on any information I can.”
His jaw tightened but he nodded. “Fine. Look, I know the demons will want to handle this, but it makes sense for us to collaborate. Too many murderers are getting away with their crimes because humans and paranormals refuse to share information.”
“And you want to change that.” Despite myself, I was impressed. Paranormals were a secretive bunch, and humans typically treated any crimes against them as unimportant, just as paranormals did with most crimes against humans.
“Some cities are creating joint task forces between humans and paranormals. Rates of violent crime are dropping.”
I liked the guy. I dug into my purse and pulled out one of my new business cards. I’d had them printed the day after Keigan gave me his office.
“You can contact me at that number,” I told him. “We’ll be in touch.”
Vas met my gaze as I walked toward Samael. He offered me a grin. “You just can’t stay out of trouble, can you.”
“Ha ha.”
“I just heard from one of the techs at Samael’s lab. We have a print from the lighter.”
It took my brain a moment to understand what he was talking about.
Riona. The metal lighter found at the house she’d been supposed to house sit at.
“Who is it?”
“A guy called Troy Burker. He was in the system thanks to a drunk and disorderly a few years ago, but nothing since.”
“Address?”
He nodded. “I doubt you’re going to find anything there.”
