“Who’s killing them, Rossi?” I asked. “Who has declared war on us?”
Rossi’s eyes were still that terrifying red and black. “A dead man.”
That might have been a threat or might have been the truth. I didn’t have a chance for any follow up questions because the crunch of wheels on wet gravel filled the air, and between one blink and the next, Rossi was gone.
All the other vampires similarly disappeared, fading into mist that was lost to the rain and drizzle.
“He knows who it is, doesn’t he?” Jean asked.
“I think so.”
Myra was watching me. “You have an idea who it is too.”
I nodded.
“How bad?” Jean asked.
“All the bad.”
“Shit,” Myra whispered. “Did you find the god powers?”
Car doors opened and slammed shut. Footsteps coming our way.
“Please tell me we have some kind of win in all this,” she said.
“Yeah, I’ve got them. Jean, do you mind handling Trillium?”
“Sure. Are we going with mugging? Robbery? Drunken brawl?”
“Let’s go with mugging. Nothing Dave would have seen or heard from inside the shop. Oh, and pull the video before she gets hold of it.”
“I’ll get the video,” Ryder said.
I nodded. He might not know about everything that happened in Ordinary, but he knew enough now that I didn’t think he’d do anything to compromise the video.
He jogged to the bait shop, and Myra fell into step next to me as I headed to the Jeep. “Are you okay?”
“Oh, sure. Just another boring day in Ordinary. I need coffee. With a side of coffee with coffee on top.”
Trillium spotted us, but Jean cut her off with a quick greeting. “Trillium, glad you could make it out here. I’d be happy to answer any questions, but can’t let you any closer to the scene of the crime until we’re done gathering evidence. You know the drill....”
Trillium cast one more look over at Myra and me, then focused on Jean.
Myra walked over to my Jeep with me. Her cruiser was parked right next to it, light bar spinning a lazy pattern of reds and blues.
She pressed her hand against my arm, and squeezed tight enough I stopped.
“Why is Ryder the warden? Did Mithra force him to take it? Did he steal it from you? Did you give it to him? Didn’t you warn him what it could do to him? This isn’t good, Delaney. You realize it puts him in a higher position than us.”
Everything—the standoff with Mithra, the deal to get the god powers back, Sven’s death, Jame’s broken body, Ben’s kidnapping—twisted up inside me. I was tired, and tired of not getting ahead of what felt like one disaster after another.
“It doesn’t make him our boss!” That might have come out a little louder than I intended. I toned it down a bit. “Just like none of the gods are our bosses, just like none of the creatures are our bosses.We’reour bosses. We’re still the law here. Both as police officers and as the Reed family. Ryder “the warden”,” and yes, I did the ironic quote fingers, “can just suck it if he thinks he’s going to boss us around.”
“Feel strongly about this do you?”
“Terrifyingly so.” That was so true we both gave each other the “me too” nod.
“So...coffee before the next disaster hits?” she asked.
