Page 64 of Peacemaker

He tossed a glare around the room. “Yell if you need help.”

She merely raised an eyebrow, then leaned back against the wall outside his door and crossed her arms.

“I’ll stay with Trinity,” Alejandro said. “I’d rather she didn’t face the mayor alone.”

“She won’t be alone, for God’s sake,” Crawford said. “She’s in a building full of cops, and I’ll be with her.”

“Still,” Al said.

Crawford shrugged. “Fine. The mayor doesn’t have a problem with you.”

“How well do you know Jade?” I asked Crawford, as he walked me into his office.

“Well enough,” he muttered, then, “Mayor, you’ve met Trinity.”

Delaney sat on a battered settee that had been shoved against the wall. He didn’t stand or offer to shake my hand. He peered at me over his glasses, not a bad looking man, not a particularly heinous man, but an asshole, just the same. “Just this morning, actually.”

“Did Frank explain about the rifters?” I asked, taking a seat. “And the demons?” Al stood behind me. Crawford sat down on the sofa beside the mayor, worry in his eyes, though he tried to hide it.

There was another man in the room, but he stood a short distance away, apparently trying to be unobtrusive.

“Straight to the point,” Delaney said, after giving Al a long look. “I like it.”

“I’d rather not waste any more time,” I told him. “Not when so many lives are at stake.”

He leaned forward. “All right. I can get on board with that. So here is how things will go from now on. You’re going to continue doing your job—which is killing monsters—and you’re going to live in town until this nightmare passes. Frank said he has offered you free room and board. I suggest you take him up on that offer.”

I crossed my legs and let him talk.

“You’re not going to interfere with the way I run my city or the way I run my supernaturals. Do you understand me so far?”

I kept my voice bland, unemotional, non-confrontational, even if my words were full of anger, disgust, and emotion. “See, that’s part of your problem. They’re not your supernaturals. And I will not lead my hunters into the city to protect the ones who persecute them.”

I wouldn’t underestimate him. The man was not without power. He held sway with the humans, and he ruled the city. He was dangerous.

He would order our arrests—or our deaths—if he thought it would benefit him. “You have to understand,” Delaney said. “I wasn’t the only one who initiated the city’s new rules and regulations, and I certainly can’t snap my fingers and order them suspended.”

“I’m sure you can do whatever you want to do.”

He shrugged and gave me a tiny, pleased smile. “I don’t singlehandedly run the city, even though it sometimes feels like I do.” He laughed, then sobered quickly when no one laughed with him.

“We’re more than willing to help,” I told him. “We’ll protect you. We’ll protect all the humans. But you need to retract the regulations you put into place and you need to do it before tonight. Trust me—you give us a chance and you won’t have to worry about the city.” I stared him down, stared into his thick, arrogant silence, and I refused to look away. “It’s time for change, Mayor. Just not the changes you want.”

He studied me, his anger at my continued resistance obvious in the tight line of his lips, his narrowed eyes, his clenched hands. “Why should I coddle them, Ms. Sinclair? The nonhumans are attacking our city. Turning people into vampires. Killing people. And you ask me to make things easier for them?” He crossed his arms and sat back. “We’ve allowed them to exist on this land for centuries, and this is how they repay us. Bay Town is theirs.” He pursed his lips, then shot Crawford a quick, angry grin. “Sort of, right? They should be grateful.”

“The vampires attacking the city are not Red Valley vampires,” I said, forcing myself to unclench my jaw. “They’re not even vampires. They’re rifters. Our vampires are dead and gone and these monsters want to take their place.” I leaned toward him. “Believe me when I say that you do not want that to happen.”

“What I want is for my people to be safe. What I want is a city where monsters don’t roam the streets expecting equality. Once they get that shit into their heads, it’s almost impossible to get them back to where they’re satisfied with their lot.”

He was trying to provoke me. I took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “The thing is, if you don’t do as we ask, the city will fall to the rifters. And,” I added, “to the demons. You may not have been touched by the horror yet, Mayor, but you will be.”

The captain didn’t move, but he closed his eyes in a long, slow blink. He said nothing.

Delaney uncrossed his legs and leaned forward. “Are you threatening me, Ms. Sinclair?”

“I’m simply stating the facts.”

“You realize I could have you arrested,” he said.