JoJo, however, was ticked off at having to babysit Margot. And Margot, standing at the top of the stairs, was livid. “You will never leave me behind on an op. Do you understand?” she spat at me.
I pointed to FireWind. “Talk to the boss.”
FireWind jutted his chin to the side, indicating Rick’s office. “Some jurisdictional discussion is in order. LaFleur? Join us?”
Margot’s eyes flashed with ire, and I was glad I didn’t have to be part of that discussion. It would be worse than a senior wife laying down the law to a younger one. I had never witnessed it myself, but church gossip suggested that could be unpleasant. They went to the office and FireWind closed the door, and the blinds over the wall windows.
In the conference room with the rest of the team, Tandy poured coffee for us, passing around our mugs and a small tray with sugar, cream, and plastic spoons. We were exhausted and despondent and worried about Rick and demons and crazy, revenge-obsessed witches.
I took my coffee in my leaf-painted metal mug and added both sugar and cream. Occam passed me the box of pizza. Coffee with pizza sounded awful, but I took a cold slice and passed the box on. We ate. Wrote reports in our laptops. No one talked. Loriann had been in the null room for hours. I took her to the ladies room and gave her a cup of coffee, a bottle of water, and a left over barbeque sandwich. Minutes passed.
“Okay,” FireWind said, returning to the conference room, Margot and Rick on his heels. Neither one looked happy, but there was no blood so I figured that things were okay. “Clementine, record,” FireWind said. “Date is—”
My cell dinged. It was Yummy, the screen presenting a photo of the vamp, her head on a sunrise background. I reckoned it to be a vamp joke. I showed the cell to FireWind, who nodded that I should take it, and said, “Speaker.”
I frowned at him. “No. It might be personal.”
“No?”
I had a feeling that few people said no to Mr. Flames and Hot Air. “Ingram. How can I help you, Yummy?”
“You could come feed me, but I have a feeling your blood won’t do me much good. I need human juice to heal, not plant juice.”
“Heal?”
“We’ve been attacked. Again.”
“Okay if I put you on speaker?”
“With who?”
“HQ. The team plus the special agent in charge of the eastern seaboard, Ayatas FireWind.”
“Him, I’d drink from.”
“Going live,” I said, so she wouldn’t say anything over the speakers about my new boss.
“Hey there, FireWind,” Yummy said. “I’ve seen your photos and read your sheet. You interested in a little slap and tickle, you let me know. Your blood should be tasty.”
I wasn’t sure, but judging from the team’s muffled,horrified, and frozen reactions, and FireWind’s amused smile,slap and ticklewas probably about sex. “Thank you for the... proposition,” he said, sounding almost vampire-formal and exceptionally polite. “You are injured?”
“Yes. Not as bad as the last time, but bad enough. Hurts like silver,” she added, using a term I figured was a vampire colloquialism. “Nice strong bloooood would help,” she nearly purred, her Louisiana accent far stronger than usual, “and the werecat is not interested in my... slap and tickle.”
I frowned at the cell. “Yummy, are you blood-drunk?”
“Dreadfully, honey chile. It took the combined offerings of Ming of Glass, the Master of the City of Asheville, and three humans to bring me back. I was nearly cut in half,” she said, sounding far too giggly for the bald statements. “And I’m still hungry.”
“Cut in half,” I said, appalled. “What happened?”
FireWind muted my cell and said softly, “Clementine, cease recording. Jones, pull up the security history at Ming’s. And don’t tell me you can’t. I know about Alex Younger’s security system.” JoJo froze, looking down at her fingers on her keyboard. Her head was bent, her dark-skinned face looking stressed in the screen lights. She reached up and yanked on her earrings as if thinking, and then punched several keys, clacking fast.
I was left wondering what Alex Younger’s security system was all about.
FireWind said, “Clementine, record.”
On the screen overhead, we watched as vampires burst from Ming’s house, pursued by six humans. The humans were carrying stakes and, in what looked like a well-choreographed act, they tackled their own vamps and staked them. The vamps had been spell-called. Stopped by their own humans. Then Cai and Yummy practically flew from the house and down the driveway, out of sight. They were both carrying swords. Ming of Glass and Lincoln Shaddock raced behind them, also armed with swords, and all four vanished, that faster-than-the-eye-can-follow speed of the vampire. There was no audio, just the video, the silence oddly unnerving.
On my cell, Yummy said, “Magiccalledour Mithrans. The local coven had messengered over some protective amulets asan indication of goodwill, but there weren’t enough of them.” Her voice lowered as if to keep others from hearing. “We have important guests.” Her volume returned to normal, “So when the magic began, some of us were wearing amulets but not all of us. Our humans took down the ones who tried to go over. And those of us with amulets raced into the darkness where Mithrans were attacking.”
