Yummy laughed, the laughter the devil might make while he tortured lost souls. She leaped. At Occam.
ELEVEN
My finger began to squeeze the trigger.
She was illuminated, leaping through the air. A pop of displaced air sounded. And she was gone. Just disappeared. Something thumped on the ground to my side in the dark.
The shock stole my need away. I released the trigger and whipped around, spotting a rolling, hissing, moaningsomethingin the darkness. “What just happened?” I asked the empty space in front of us.
“Lincoln Shaddock happened,” Occam said. “He tackled Yummy into the weeds. Saved our butts.”
I sat down on the ground hard. And just breathed. Mosquitoes buzzed around me. If they had been here before, I hadn’t noticed. I finally holstered my weapon, fighting tears and bloodlust. Occam squatted near me, his knees spread, his hands dangling between them. I could see officers in the dark staring at his scars, but he just looked like Occam to me. He handed me my stake and tapped off his mic. “Good move, Nell, sugar. You okay?”
“I’m just fine and dandy,” I said. The dregs of my bloodlust wriggled deep inside.
“Liar.”
“I am. I totally am.” And I could deal with the comment about Yummy missing the taste of Occam’s blood later. “We need to get into the house and render assistance.”
“Yes, we do.” He offered me a hand and I let him raise me to my feet. “Before I met you,” Occam said to me. “Not since.”
A mishmash of relief and happiness filled my chest and I grinned at my cat-man, who had read my mind. “Good.” Together, we got in his car and sped up the street to Ming’sbattleground. Weapons ready to fire, held in two-hand grips, we jogged into the well-lit yard and drive at Ming’s.
There were two pale humans lying, unmoving, on Ming’s lawn. I provided cover while Occam checked pulse points on both victims. They were bloody and maimed, their throats and wrists and upper arms showing holes from multiple feedings. Naturaleza vampires drank from any pulse point on their cattle and I didn’t want to know what other sites had been bitten as the humans were drained.
I started shaking, my fingers tingling. I was hyperventilating. I fought to slow my breathing, wishing I could touch the ground with a single fingertip. Wishing I could call on Soulwood, reaching through the earth to find calm. But the blood on the ground would be construed as sacrifice. I couldn’t claim the victims and the earth for my own. Secrets. I had secrets to protect.
“Nell?” Occam asked.
“I’m good. Probie nerves,” I lied and Occam knew it.
The front door was open, throwing a wedge of light into the darker yard. A familiar form stood there, slight, Asian. Composed as if he had gunfights on his property all the time. Cai, Ming’s primo. He was wearing a headset and he bowed to us. It was a slight bow, but it was there just the same. I faltered, and followed Occam’s return bow, my head not dipping quite as low as Cai’s had.
“The council chambers of Ming of Glass, Master of the City of Knoxville, are secured,” Cai said. “We have taken two living enemy Mithrans captive to learn what they know, but the human SWAT team will not allow us to interrogate the parasites.”
“Not a problem,” Occam said. “Does PsyLED have permission from the Master of the City to enter and to parley with the SWAT team? This must not be construed as opening diplomatic relations, as I don’t have the authority for that.”
Cai tilted his head slightly. “Your words negate permanent contact and communication between sovereign countries, parley that your Congress has not agreed upon between the United States of America and Mithrans. This is parley for emergency circumstances. Is this correct?”
“Correct,” Rick said into my earbud.
Into the same earbud, FireWind said, “Let me speak to him.”
“Call me on my cell,” I said to my up-line bosses. To Cai, I said, “Ayatas FireWind, PsyLED special agent in charge of the eastern seaboard, is calling you on my cell phone. He is able to parley with you.” My cell rang and I answered, “Ingram here.”
“No,” Cai said. “We will not speak to this wind of fire. Ming will parley at this time only with humans and creatures we know.”
I felt Occam stiffen. In my earbud, Rick muttered. I figured he was talking to FireWind on a private channel. Silence stretched and I was pretty sure that Cai’s face tightened, as if he was ready to hit us or to bolt. We needed him. And we couldn’t wait on an off-site political decision.
“Fine,” I said, speaking into my mic. “Everything is unofficial, then, to be handled only on a local level, with nothing of national or international consequence.”
FireWind said, “Ingram!” He didn’t sound happy. But he wasn’t here, watching Cai.
“Such is acceptable to Ming of Glass and those who serve her,” Cai said instantly.
“Does that put us in charge?” Occam asked.
“Yes. In the future,” FireWind said, his words clipped, “probationary agents are to be seen, not heard.”
