“The human was a hunter,” Frankie added. “He was part of the group who invaded our territory.”
“Another stupid face?”
“More like an enemy usurper we marked for future death.”
Ah. My bad.
“Natalia didn’t want to risk a war with their kind so she had us pull back.” Frankie stared at me. “Though we ended up in one anyway.”
I resisted the impulse to squirm, knowing their involvement was my fault.
Her smile bared sharp teeth. “Thanks for that, by the way. We might have missed our chance otherwise.”
“You’re welcome,” I replied in a faint voice, not knowing if that was a good thing or not.
Moving on…
“How did the vampire and human seem to you? What was their relationship like?” I asked.
“They weren’t friends,” Leah said.
Frankie’s face was thoughtful. “More like acquaintances.”
“But they knew each other?”
Both nodded. “Definitely.”
Adrenaline shot through me. That was what we were looking for. Proof of a connection.
“Anything else you can remember?”
“Just that the vampire handed a piece of paper to the hunter and said something like ‘it needs to be done tonight.’ After that, they walked over to your car and the hunter placed something under it.”
Leah glanced at her friend. “We’re not sure what it was.”
They might not be, but I had my suspicions.
Liam was already dialing one of his people when I glanced over at him. I could hear the phone ringing until Nathan answered a second later.
“What’s up, boss man?”
“Are you still at the bar?”
“Unfortunately,” Nathan said, sounding rather put out by that fact. “The djinn was a little irritated at the state of her bar when she finally came out of her office. She insisted we clean up all of the glass Thomas shattered and reimburse her for her lost liquor.”
“Go check under Aileen’s car.”
“No problem, boss man. You wanna tell me why?”
The roof line of the Gargoyle appeared on the horizon.
“What happened after the car?” I asked Frankie and Leah while Nathan was preoccupied.
“A creature killed the vampire and set him on fire,” Leah answered.
“Did it look emaciated? Like a mummy or someone who is all skin and bones,” I explained when they looked confused.
Recognition dawned and they nodded.
