Secret of the Wolf(25)

She grimaced. "Now. Give me a second." She motioned for the humans to come over to where she and Dante stood. When they got there, she said, "Is there anything else any of you want to add?"

There came a mumbling in the negative. A couple of the guys kept glancing toward the vampires, whose gazes still threatened retribution. The other humans studiously ignored the vamps, as if hoping the bloodsuckers would disappear.

Dante could see this thing escalating out of control once the police presence was gone. He needed to get these guys away from the vamps. He motioned to a couple of uniformed officers. When they came over, he said, "Take these guys to the station. We'll finish questioning them there."

"Thanks, man," one of the men said, relief and genuine gratitude in his voice.

"You might not thank me once this is all over." Dante gave him his best stern-cop look. "Carrying stakes is like carrying a gun. You have to have a concealed weapon permit. Do you?"

The guy held up his hands. "Wasn't me who staked him, man."

Dante glanced over the group. "Who did?" he asked.

They shifted their feet, didn't meet his eyes, and otherwise seemed disinclined to confess.

"Fine." To the uniforms Dante said, "Take them to the night commander. Fill him in, and once he gets a copy of Piper's report he can finish up with these … gentlemen."

"You got it," one of the officers said. "Come on," he told the group of men.

Dante kept his gaze on them as they trudged away, then asked Piper, "What was it you wanted to talk to me about?"

"How do you deal with all this?"

"All what?" He looked at her. "Preternaturals?"

She shook her head. "I know how to deal with prets. My great-grandfather was taken by an entity when he was in his sixties, well after his kids had started their own families, so we've known about the rift and prets for a long time." In a drier tone she added, "The Petersons are experts at keeping secrets."

"Good to know."

"How do you deal with the violence? I mean, I've been around prets all my life, but it's been in familial surroundings, not … not this." She gestured toward the wounded vamp who was being taken back into the club, the wooden stake still in his shoul c inve to der. Most likely they'd remove the stake and have a willing donor or two standing by so he could regain his strength and heal.

"But you've been a liaison for a few years, yeah?" Dante hooked his thumbs over his belt. He glanced toward Tori and saw her talking to Finn Evnissyen. He ground his jaw at the familiar way the demon leaned toward her. With effort, Dante put his attention back on Piper. "You've seen stuff like this before."

"Stuff like this, yeah. In my other post I usually ended up dealing with minor skirmishes and meaningless squabbles." She sighed. "I'm just not sure I can deal with the tougher cases." Meeting his gaze, she said, "Like that one you had late last year, with the vamp slayings. I don't think I could've handled all that blood and gore." Her eyes darkened. "How do you do it?"

Dante thought about his answer a moment. "Some of it just comes with experience, Piper. I hate to say it, but once you've seen some of this stuff, you become inured to it. You have to in order to be effective. What helps most is keeping your attention on the victim." He drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "We're the voices for those who can no longer speak for themselves."

"I suppose."

"It's really not that different than working any other type of crime." He put a hand on her shoulder and gave a light squeeze. "You focus on finding who did it so the dead can have justice. You can do that." He gave her shoulder another squeeze and then dropped his hand to his side.

Piper nodded. "Yes, thanks." She looked around the scene and sighed. "I guess I'll go file those reports. See ya later."

"See ya." Dante walked back to his truck and sat on the front bumper, waiting for Tori. She was still talking to Evnissyen and some red-haired woman. Even from here Dante could tell she was gorgeous, but he only had eyes for his wolf.

"Finn, stop jerking me around." Tori crossed her arms and glared at the grinning demon. "I know you. It wouldn't surprise me a bit if somehow or another you're mixed up in this mess."

"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you this worked up." Finn leaned closer, his smile as wicked as they came. His voice was a raspy whisper as he said, "I seem to bring out the wildness in you."

"What you bring out is my total lack of tolerance for BS." She heaved a sigh and looked at the auburn-haired woman at his side. She'd introduced herself to Tori, giving her name as Keira O'Brien, and from her scent Tori knew she was an elf. From the faint traces of an accent, she could tell the woman had originally been from Ireland. Tori glanced her way. "I'd rethink my decision to hang out with this guy if I were you."

"Thanks, but I can handle myself." Keira smiled. She seemed nice enough, Tori supposed. Not at all uppity like a lot of fey she ran across.

"Would you please just tell me what you saw tonight?" Tori fixed her gaze on Finn.

He shrugged broad shoulders. "I'm sure it's nothing you don't already know. The pixies started it, really, flirting with the vamps and then backing off and taking up with werewolves." His eyes crinkled at the corners. "I guess the vamps didn't like that too much."

"And the humans?"

"Just a gaggle of drunken idiots."

"Who staked the vamp?" She'd already been told one of the humans had done it, but she wanted to see what these two would say. Knowing Finn, he'd tell her a werewolf had, just to play with her.

"A human did it," Keira chimed in. "But in all fairness, it was in self-defense." When Tori looked her way, the elf added, "But that was all I saw."

"You're sure?" creto hangTori studied her closely.

"Positive."

"All right." Tori looked at Finn again. "Anything else you'd like to share?"

His eyebrows lifted. "Not that I can think of."

Tori narrowed her eyes. He kept an innocent look plastered on his face. She huffed a sigh. "Fine. Thanks." She lifted a hand in farewell and turned back toward the club.

Almost everyone had gone. There were a couple of patrol officers wrapping up witness interviews and several bystanders milled around. The combatants either had been allowed to leave or had been taken into custody. She was glad to see Dante was still there. She walked over and sat beside him on the bumper of his truck. "So, I got a call from Ash early this morning," she said. "There was another attack up in quadrant four."

He looked at her. "A turning?"

"Probably. I haven't heard yet." She heard a rumble of thunder and hopped up. "Why don't we get in your truck where we can actually sit down?" When he hesitated, she added, "Or we can go sit in my car."

He stared at her Mini. "Uh, no, thanks." He fished out his keys and unlocked the doors.

Once they were inside, she told him, "One person was killed in the attack and the other, a woman, was bitten. I thought you'd like to know in case you talk to your counterpart in quadrant four."

"Yeah, thanks." Dante switched on the ignition and fired up the AC. Cool air circulated through the truck from the vents in the dash. He reached out and adjusted the one by the driver's door so that it blew on his face. The hair at the back of his neck curled over his collar, damp with sweat from the heat and humidity.

Staring at the curls, Tori imagined running her fingers through them. She squeezed her hands closed to keep from giving in to her desires. She swallowed hard, trying to control her thoughts.

"When can we get together again to look over that device?" He twisted in his seat to face her, one long arm resting along the upper curve of the steering wheel. He turned away to look through the windshield.

She loved his strong profile. He really was a handsome, masculine man, though his eyelashes were beautiful and long. "Just about any time is good for me. As long as Rand isn't home." A thought struck her, and she said, "Monday night would be good. Rand's planning on being out, and after I take care of a … thing, I'll be available."

His brows dipped and he glanced at her again. "What thing?"

"You remember Barry? From the grocery store?"

"Yeah, I remember. It was just a couple of days ago." His lips twisted in a wry grin. "Senility hasn't quite set in yet."

Tori grimaced good-naturedly. "No need for sarcasm." She brought her left leg up onto the seat, her knee bumping against his thigh. When she met his gaze, she saw his eyes had darkened. She had no doubt that he wanted her and sooner or later he'd realize that love hardly waited for convenience. She hoped it was sooner. "His punishment for biting the human was to be bound in silver for thirty days. He can't shift," she added in explanation when Dante seemed a little bewildered.

"Ah." He gave a nod.

"I promised I'd be with him the night of the full moon." She watched him closely for his reaction.

His eyes narrowed slightly. "You mean you'll be sitting outside his cell, right? You'll still be able to shift."

"Well, that would be downright cruel, wouldn't it? Shapeshifters can control when and how often they shift, but during a full moon it's agonizing if you don't change into your animal form. And I mean agonizing." She closed her eyes briefly, remembering all thos crinng e years ago when she'd been clapped in silver chains, rendered impotent of her shifting abilities. She'd deserved the punishment. Barry didn't. "It's … difficult to get through. Anyway, he turned me down, but I want to check on him before sunset." She couldn't explain to herself why it was so important to make sure this one werewolf was as emotionally prepared as possible to get through this punishment, except that she'd been there. She knew how excruciating an experience it was, and if she could help, she had to.