That hesitancy, I thought, might not be about the biology, but the risk of violence. We weren’t exactly a good risk right now.
“Merit, your father’s in real estate, isn’t he?”
I gave Scott a faux smile, not looking forward to the question I knew was going to follow. Of course I wanted to help Grey House. But being indebted to my father was a bad idea; he always called in his debts. “Yeah, he is.”
“Do you think he’d have any leads, or pull in terms of helping us nail down a location?”
I’ll take this one, Sentinel, Ethan silently said.
“Joshua Merit can be a prickly sort,” Ethan said. “And his prices are usually very, very high. We’ll make inquiries as we can.”
“I’d appreciate that,” Scott said, gesturing toward the food. “I think I’m going to grab a bite. I’m starving.”
“Do that,” Ethan said with a smile, and we watched as Scott joined the rest of the vampires in line.
“I suppose I should have seen that coming.”
“Me, too,” Ethan said. “It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to make an inquiry. Although asking your father for a favor is only going to lead him back to his offer about the House.”
“I hate to break it to you, but he’s going to keep at it regardless of what you say to him in the meantime.”
“I know,” Ethan said. “Recall this isn’t the first business arrangement he’s proposed to me.”
That was a chilling reminder of my father’s last proposal—offering Ethan money to make me a vampire. Ethan declined, and that I’d become one anyway was a perfect bit of irony.
My phone beeped, so I pulled it out. An image of Luc’s face flashed on my screen, his finger waggling. “Time to go outside!” it said. “Time to go outside!”
I tried to silence it, reduce the volume, and turn off the phone, but to no avail. Luc had definitely created a reminder for our outdoor guarding duties—and there was no way to turn it off.
I grimaced at the phone and showed it to Ethan. “We have a monster on our hands.”
“I rue the day I authorized those study-at-night programming classes,” Ethan said. “Perhaps you should get to it.”
I nodded. “On my way,” I said, leaving the vampires to their business.
—
I’d gone to college in California and done grad work in New York City. Both could have nasty weather, but neither city was as temperamental as Chicago.
It felt even colder outside now than it had a few hours ago. Cold enough to make fingers stiff and lungs tight and cramped.
I nodded at Kelley as she headed back into the House, arms crossed and teeth chattering. “Cold” was all she said.
Not exactly pleasant foreshadowing, but at least my phone stopped screaming when I reached the gate. Luc must have managed to tap into the phone’s GPS. Which was just one more reason why his newfound programming skills were disturbing.
Two human guards stood at the gate, and others were posted every twenty feet along the perimeter. The guards at the gate were both men. Both broad-shouldered and tall, both with moustaches that cops and military men seemed to favor. Their clothes were head-to-toe black, thick, and quilted against the cold.
I’d brought out two extra travel mugs of hot chocolate and handed them over. “Thought you could use a drink.”
“Appreciate it,” said the one on the left, whose coveralls were stitched with “Angelo” in the top left-hand corner.
“Ditto,” said the one on the right. He was apparently “Louie.”
“Anything interesting out here tonight?”
“Not even a little,” Angelo said. “Couple of dog walkers. Couple of passersby with cameras. Most of the paparazzi are indoors for the winter.”
We’d been rushed with photographers a few months ago, but the novelty of vampires had worn off. Now we were a threat to public safety.
“The dogs were cute,” Louie said. “Little white thing and some kind of skinny greyhound.”
“It was an Italian greyhound,” Angelo said. “I told you that.”
Louie gave me a downtrodden look. I guessed Angelo and Louie had these conversations often.
“You think rioters will try to hit the House?” I wondered aloud. I was at the limit of my insight, after all. Might as well see what the experts thought.
“The rioters?” Angelo asked. “Hard to say. We’re an obvious target, and they don’t really seem bright enough to hit obvious targets.”
“Right?” I agreed. “I just said the same thing a little while ago.”
“Harder to get in the gate here,” Louie added. “No gate at the other House—what was it? Green?”