“Not quite, but she is walking, which is honestly an achievement considering the number of people willing to carry her.”
Sage and Marek Taylor had wanted charity contributions rather than gifts for their baby shower the other year, but Spencer had sent them a stuffed ocelot anyway. He still had the picture they’d sent of Lillian asleep in her crib, holding on to the ocelot’s tail with the death grip all babies seemed to have. “I’ll need to come visit at some point now that I’m in the country for the foreseeable future.”
“You’re always welcome. And if you need to make inroads with the Seattle god pack for whatever reason, call me. Even if the SOA doesn’t agree to my consulting fee, I’ll still help. I’ll pass along the warning about demons and hunters to other god packs as well.”
“We don’t know if it’s hunters.”
“Same MO as with the Dominion Sect and the mess with Estelle and Youssef. I’m willing to place blame where it most likely belongs.”
“You do that. I’ll keep in touch.”
Spencer ended the call and tossed his phone on the bed. Fatima had gone back to watching her show. He dragged a hand through the sigil for the silence ward, breaking it up. The static disappeared, allowing the faint noise of the city to creep back in through the windows. The curtains were drawn shut and always were because Spencer never liked making it easy to be watched.
Tracked? Well, that was a different problem altogether.
The sitcom was rolling credits when Fatima’s head snapped toward the door. She went still, eyes narrowing. Spencer swung his legs off the bed, hand straying to the pistol still holstered to his belt.
Food, but wrong delivery person, Fatima said.
She didn’t seem overly concerned, so Spencer didn’t summon a mageglobe, but he did keep his hand on the grip of his pistol as he approached the door. Before he even reached it, a familiar voice came through it. “Let me in.”
Spencer sighed. “It’s a shame hotels can’t keep permanent thresholds.”
He opened the door to reveal Takoma’s smirking face, the master vampire holding up a plastic delivery bag, the smell of grease and fries wafting from it. “Since you humans insist on keeping public spaces, you can deal with the consequences.”
“Like you stealing our dinner? How did you even know it was my order?”
“Your name is on the receipt, and the delivery driver didn’t bother to double-check the identity of who he handed it to.”
So much for that. Spencer stepped aside anyway because he didn’t want to have a conversation with the master vampire in the hallway. He stuck his head out to be sure Takoma was alone before shutting the door behind him. “How did you know we were staying here?”
“I had you followed when you left Black Waters.”
“Of course you did.”
Fatima had left the bed for the desk and was impatiently waiting for Takoma to open the bag and set out the food. He acquiesced to her expectant, silent demand with a bemused expression on his face, easily ripping apart the plastic knot to reach the food within. Fatima immediately stuck her nose in one of the bags of fries, making happy noises as she ate.
“Isn’t it early for you? Didn’t the sun just set?” Spencer asked. He honestly didn’t know when sunset had occurred.
“I wake during twilight.”
Spencer frowned at that bit of information, filing it away. Waking at twilight for a vampire who wasn’t a daywalker meant they were oldandpowerful. “And what? Your first stop was here?”
Takoma leaned a hip against the hotel desk and crossed his arms over his chest. Tonight, he was in a pair of dark jeans and a black Henley that pulled tight across his shoulders and chest. Spencer had to remind himself it was impolite to stare at the ridiculously fit way Takoma filled out his clothes.
“You went to see the god pack today,” Takoma said.
Spencer had seen no sign of a tail on his drive there and back. It made him wonder if he’d missed it somehow. “Were you spying on me?”
“I keep watch on the god pack territory because the alphas aren’t always as intelligent as the current pair.”
“So, you what? Have human servants staked out somewhere? You think the werecreatures wouldn’t sniff them out?”
Takoma arched an eyebrow. “I own the land and home directly across from theirs and have since before this area was a city.”
No tail, just a long-term spy. Spencer could grudgingly respect that. “Right. So your human servant reported back about my visit, and now you’re here? Why?”
“Like I said last night.” Takoma tilted his head to the side, eyes half-lidded and gaze assessing. “Entertainment.”
