Part 19 (1/2)
”Then I suppose I'll play vamp outfitter. And I need to call Chuck,” he said, then whipped his cell phone out of his pocket and flipped it open. ”We're supposed to be a diplomatic corps,” he muttered, ”not the Hardy Boys. And you can see how well that's working out for us.”
Mallory rolled her eyes at the mini-tirade. I figured it wasn't the first time she'd heard it. ”I'll get dinner cleaned up,” she offered.
”Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Catcher said, stopping her escape with a hand on her arm. ”Sorry, kid, but you're coming with us.”
”With us?” I repeated, Mallory and I sharing the same deer-in-the-headlights look. I knew he wanted to foster her learning, but I wasn't sure this was the time for that.
”She needs the experience,” Catcher answered, his eyes on Mallory. ”And I want you there with me.
You're my partner, my a.s.set. You can do it.”
There was a tightness around her eyes, but she nodded.
”That's my girl,” he murmured, and pressed his lips to her temple. Then he released her, put the cell up to his ear, and trotted down the hallway toward the back of the house. ”Sullivan,” he called out, ”you owe me one big f.u.c.k of a favor. And Merit, you might want to change your shoes.”
”Noted,” Ethan replied. ”On both counts.”
Mallory and I looked down at my pretty ballet flats. Red or not, I probably didn't want to wear them to investigate a bloodletting.
”I'll grab a pair of boots or something,” she said. ”I know you left some here.” Although I undoubtedly had a better sense of where my remaining clothes were, Mal walked away, leaving me to babysit Ethan.
Not that I could blame her for taking the out.
We stood there silently for a moment, both of us making every effort to avoid looking at each other.
Ethan's gaze lifted to the photographs along the hallway wall, the same wall I'd been pressed up against a couple of hours ago.
”Why me?” I asked him.
He turned back to me, brow arched. ”Excuse me?” His voice was frosty. Apparently, he was fully in Master and Commander mode. Lucky me.
”Why are you here? You knew that I had plans tonight; you saw me leave. Luc was at the House when I left, as were the rest of the guards. They're all more experienced than I am. You could have called one of them. Asked for their help.” And given me a break, I silently added. Given me a chance to get over the training session, to have a break from Celina and my father and vampire drama. To just be me.
”Luc is busy protecting our vampires.””Luc is your bodyguard. He swore an oath to protectyou .”
An irritated shake of his head. ”You're in this already.”
”Luc was there when you explained the raves, helped you plan for my involvement, and I'm sure you've brought him up to speed about what we learned so far. He knows everything that I know.”
”Luc was busy.”
”I was busy.”
”Luc isn't you.”
The words were quick, clipped, and completely dumbfounding. That was twice that he'd surprised me in the span of a few minutes.
Catcher was lumbering down the hall again before I could fathom a response, the mesh strap of a black canvas duffel bag in one hand, the black lacquer sheath of his katana in the other. ”Your grandfather is now in the know,” he said when he reached us, then glanced at Ethan. ”If I'm going, that means we're doing this official-like. I'm looking into this on behalf of the Ombud's office and, therefore, on behalf of the city.”
”So there will be no need to contact additional authorities,” Ethan concluded, and they shared a knowing nod.
I heard Mallory's footsteps on the stairs. She appeared with an old pair of knee-high leather boots in her hands.
”In case there's, you know,fluids ,” she said, handing me the shoes, ”I figured the taller the better.”
”Good call.”
My shoes in hand, I looked at Mallory, who then turned to look at Catcher, her brows lifted. There was stubbornness in the set of her jaw; clearly, she wasn't going to give in as easily as he might have wished.
”It will be good practice,” he told her.
”I have weeks of training to accomplish practice, Catcher. I'm an ad exec-or was, anyway. I have no business running around Chicago in the middle of the night”-she flailed an arm nervously in the air-”cleaning up after vampires. No offense, Merit,” she said, with a quick apologetic glance. I shrugged, knowing better than to argue.
Catcher rubbed his lips together, irritation obviously rising. That irritation was clear in the twitch in his jaw, and the tingle of magic that was beginning to rise, unseen but tangible, in the air. ”I need a partner,”
he said. ”A second opinion.”
”Call Jeff.”
In the years I'd known Mallory, I'm not sure I'd ever seen her this stubborn. Either she wasn't eager to visit the rave site, or she wasn't thrilled about the idea of testing whatever powers Catcher was expecting her to practice. I could sympathize on both counts.
Catcher rubbed his lips together, then dropped the bag on the floor. ”Give us a minute?”
I nodded. ”Come on,” I said to Ethan, taking his hand and ignoring the small spark of contact that tingled my palm as I pulled him toward the front door.
He followed without comment and kept his hand in mine until we reached the front door, until I unlaced our fingers to grab my keys from the table.
The evening was cool when we stepped outside, the fresh air a relief. I sat down on the top step of the stoop and exchanged date shoes for work shoes, then walked to the car, grabbed my sword, and dropped off the flats. When I turned around again, Mallory and Catcher were on the stoop, locking the door behind them. She came down the sidewalk first and stopped when she got to me.
”You good?” I asked her.
When she rolled her eyes in irritation, I knew she'd be okay. ”I love him, Merit, I swear to G.o.d I do, but he is seriously,seriously , an a.s.s.”
I looked around her at Catcher, who gave me a sly smile. He may have been an a.s.s, but he knew how to work our girl out of her fear.
”He has his moments,” I reminded her.
Ethan's car was too small for the four of us. Mine, being bright orange, wasn't exactly suitable for reconwork, so we settled into Catcher's sedan, boys in the front, girls in the back, the katanas across my and Mallory's laps. Catcher drove south and east, and the car was silent until I spoke up.
”So, what should we expect?”
”Blood,” Catcher and Ethan simultaneously answered. ”Worst case,” Catcher added, ”the bodies that accompany it.” He glanced over at Ethan. ”If things are that bad, you know I'll have to call someone,”
Catcher said. ”We can blur the jurisdictional boundaries, but I'll be obligated to report that.”
”Understood,” Ethan said quietly, probably imagining worst-case scenarios.
”Lovely,” Mallory muttered, rubbing a hand nervously across her forehead. ”That's lovely.”
”No one should be there,” Ethan said, a softness in his voice. ”And given that vampires rarely drink their humans to death-”