“Thank you.”
Considine swung around to face me again, his already tall frame straightening in a way that said he was surprised. “For?”
Please don’t regret this. Please!
I took a deep breath. “For being my backup.”
Considine was unnaturally still for several heartbeats until he cracked a smile that I could barely see through the shadows of his hood. “It was my pleasure, Slayer,” he purred. He set off again at a saunter. When he got a block down he waved a hand, then disappeared around the corner.
Only then did I reluctantly holster my gun.
“What was that?” Binx asked.
“Thanking him?” I asked.
“No, him self-appointing himself to cover your back.”
“I don’t know,” I honestly said. “But it was very… odd.”
“He seems like he’s growing fond of you, but there is something else underneath it,” April said. “I hang out with vampires fairly often, and he’s way too… something.”
I checked my gloves but while he’d fiddled with them he hadn’t tugged them off my hands or revealed any of my skin, and I didn’t sense anything magical so he couldn’t have planted a charm. “He’s amused,” I said, my certainty making it easier to talk. “It’s like there’s a good joke and only he knows it.”
“Yeah,” Binx agreed.
“He’s too happy to be thinking emotionally of you,” April agreed. “Vampires—long lived ones—don’t like it when they start getting attached to people. It gives them a weakness.”
“Yes,” I slowly said, reviewing Considine’s conduct.
April was right. Old vampires typically only cared about other vampires and lost interest in humans who they knew they’d lose fast. Considine wasn’t just old, he waslegendary. There was no way he’d randomly taken a liking to me.
Which means there’s something to this that I don’t know. But is it something to do with vampires or is he just playing a cat and mouse game with me?
Conversely, I wasn’t sure if I should be more concerned about him or that my instincts didn’t necessarily see him as a threat anymore. How had that even happened?
Binx eyed the wizard. “You sound like the voice of experience.”
“Not me,” April said. “But my Adept.”
Binx shrugged. “Vampires are weird. They’re not as twisty as fae, but they make everything overly complex and dramatic.” She turned towards me and looked me over from head to toe. “You gonna be okay, Blood?”
“Yes,” I said with a confidence I didn’t have.
This confirms that I should tell Sarge and Captain Reese about Ruin. It might mean I get booted from the force, but with Considine acting like this, I could become a liability to the team.
“Are you sure? This is dangerous,” April said. “I can ask my vampire friends—they might have a few ideas about what’s going on.”
The concern in her voice was enough to break my focus.
Wait. I’m actually talking with them. We’re having a normal conversation—well, normal for supernaturals. They’reworriedabout me! And they aren’t being oddly respectful!
It wasn’t until April widened her stance that I realized I hadn’t answered her. “No—I mean, yes! Thank you. I am okay. I should speak to Sarge about the issue—I could become a danger to our team. I appreciate your concern though. Both of your concerns.” It was awkwardly close to a babble and I must have said something off because both April and Binx snapped to attention, their stances straighter and their expressions serious.
“Of course,” April said. “Let us know if we can do anything to support you.”
Drat. Now they’re both back to that weird differential attitude.
They were respectful—but I didn’t warrant respect. I was a fellow team member not their superior, like Sarge. (If I was ateam leadlike they said, surely Sarge would have explained the role to me and all the necessary protocol. As he hadn’t, I could only work off the knowledge that no such position existed.)
