“Why is she here now?”
“She used to work with Ryder. I came home, and she was out on the deck giggling and flirting with him.”
“That bitch.”
Gotta love sister loyalty.
“She’s a piece of work. I wouldn’t trust her near my silver.”
“What does Ryder think is going on?”
“We didn’t have much time to talk and didn’t want to let her out in the town on her own. Since she,” I pitched my voice into babytalk, “just wants to catch up with my RyRy.”
“Gag.”
“He took her to have dinner. I’m guessing the Blue Owl, but he didn’t say.”
“Okay, so which part of town do you want me to cover?”
“I’ll call Bertie, and that should take care of half the town right there. But we’ll need to make sure the gods, and all the anti-socials know to keep a low profile.”
“I’ll take south, put Jean on door-to-door east. Where do you want Hatter and Shoe?”
“Give them north. Kelby can door-to-door west. And I’ll talk to Than. See if he wants to pitch in or lay low.”
“Want my vote?” she asked.
“Lay low?”
“Subterranean.”
“I’ll see if I can convince him.”
“Good. Okay, call if you need anything.”
“Will do.”
I needed to call Bertie and have her tap into her massive list of the supernaturals in town who she conscripted for community events. She kept email lists, social media profiles, and good old-fashioned phone trees memorized. Telling Bertie to find people was like asking a fish if it would enjoy a dip in the water.
So I cut a hunk of pie, then dialed our local Valkyrie.
* * *
Bertie gotthe word out so fast, I wasn’t sure any of the rest of us needed to go door-to-door. But the safety of the people in my town wasn’t something I took lightly, so I was out doing my part of the knocking.
I drove up to Old Rossi’s first, knowing he could spread the word to his clan of vampires faster than I’d be able to do it by checking in on each vampire one-at-a-time. I knocked on his door, and was surprised when Rossi himself opened it.
“Delaney. You’re working late.”
Rossi was rangy as a runner or yoga instructor. His dark hair had a streak of silver spreading back from his temple, which was new since he’d been almost killed by Lavius, an ancient evil who had been more-or-less his brother.
He wore a patch made of very soft, probably expensive, material over his left eye which he’d lost in that battle. His right eye was filled with a deep light that brightened the ice-blue of it. With the soft gray pants and loose, cream-colored tunic with embroidery on the cuffs, he looked like a rich retired hippie.
“Your voice sounds better,” I noted.
He leaned his shoulder against the door jam, his glittering eye taking on the growing shadows behind me.
“Thank you. Is this a social visit? At this time of night? What would your fiancé say?”
