She knew that from firsthand experience.
"And calling you a mutt started the fight?" She made a few notes.
"Well, no." He shifted and pulled the blanket tighter. "He said my mother was a real bitch." His mouth tightened. "I loved my mother."
"I'm sure you did." Tori held her pen at the ready. "So that's what started the fight? Him insulting your mom?"
"No." Barry straightened. "He said my Wilma was a shitmobile. A shitmobile!"
That seemed a strange insult to deliver to a wife or girlfriend. "I take it Wilma is your … "
"She's a 1965 Mustang convertible." He gave a low growl. "Shitmobile." His face darkened. His gaze on the vamp, he started to get up.
"Barry, sit down. Now." Shooting him a look but not changing the calm tenor of her voice, Tori jotted a few more notes on the incident report. Once Barry had sunk back down onto the seat, she looked at him. "So you let this guy insult you, insult your mom, but when he dissed your car, that's when you let him have it?" She lifted her eyebrows. It made no sense to her, but then she didn't have testicles.
"Wilma can't stand up for herself. He had no business insulting her. I had to make him pay for it." He sent a glare the vampire's way.
Tori glanced over her shoulder to see the vampire completely ignore Barry, though she could tell by the smirk on his face he was well aware the werewolf was glowering at him. The vamp said something and then shook Knox's hand before he walked off.
"They're just letting him leave?" Barry jumped down out of the van, leaving the blanket behind. "What the hell!"
Shocked gasps and then titters from the crowd drifted to Tori. "Oh, for the love of … Barry!" she barked, dropping her calm voice. Barry flashing his junk was not going to garner any points with the locals. "Get your ass back in the van. And cover it up, for crying out loud." When he started past her, she grabbed his arm and whirled him around with a snarl. She held his gaze, the wolf clawing to get out. She was determined to maintain her professionalism, despite the fact that her inner wolf wanted to let loose with teeth and claws. It always wanted to rumble. "You do not want to start something with me. Do you?"
Her voice was no longer the soothing tones she'd been using. It was low with the growl of the wolf. And he took note of it.
"No, macoum">"N'am." He climbed back into the van and draped the blanket over his lap. "Sorry."
Tori drew in a deep, cleansing breath. She made a few more notes on the incident report and then closed her portfolio and tucked it under her arm. She looked at Barry. "You'll have to spend the night at the council jail, and go before the council tomorrow. They'll decide what your punishment will be." The western region Council of Preternaturals, made up of thirteen members representing most of the major clans of prets, handed out swift justice. It wasn't always merciful, though, and Tori hoped Barry got a break.
"Why do I have to spend the night in the pokey but he gets to walk away?" He sat there, shoulders hunched, blanket bunched over his lap, looking like a recalcitrant child, not the vicious killer he had the potential to be. The killer he probably was. Every werewolf she'd ever known had killed at least one person. Some on purpose, some by accident.
It was something you never forgot, that first kill.
Tori pushed back guilt over dark things she herself could never undo. "Pouting on a werewolf is never pretty, Barry." She narrowed her eyes. Referencing a popular board game, she said, "Do not pass Go, do not collect two hundred dollars. You started the fight. You're the one who lost control, not the vamp. Just pray you weren't the one who injured the human, or your punishment will be worse. And if you turned him, against his will … "
Barry heaved a sigh and leaned his elbows on his knees, scrubbing his face with his palms. "Oh, God," he moaned, his voice muffled by his hands. "I am in so much trouble."
"You very well might be." Tori reached in and touched his arm. She remembered a time when she hadn't made the best of choices, so she could certainly feel for him in his current situation. Faced with what he'd done, she knew he'd do anything to turn back the clock, to undo what had happened. "I'll do what I can for you," she murmured.
"Thanks." He rubbed his hands over his face again and then turned his head to look at her. "I won't cause any more trouble." He sounded weary. Defeated.
Sooner or later the wolf broke them all. Then you learned to live with what you were, learned to accept your darker side and the atrocities it was capable of committing.
Tori lifted her chin in acknowledgment and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. After making transportation arrangements for Barry, she put her phone away. Struck by a thought, she looked at the disheartened werewolf. "Barry, you've heard about the attacks in the north quadrant?"
He held up his hands. "Hey, it's not me. I'm not stupid."
She raised her eyebrows in unspoken disagreement. The idiot had taken on a vampire because of an insult to his car.
"Usually," he amended with a sigh. "I'm usually not stupid." He crossed his arms. "And I'm definitely not stupid enough to go turning people into wolves without council sanction."
An accidental turning now and then was usually forgiven, as was an unsanctioned turning out of necessity, done to save someone's life. But in most cases a rogue pret who willy-nilly started making other preternaturals was executed. And one who turned people against their will had no other option than to pay with his own life.
Preternatural law was efficient and deadly.
She studied Barry, saw the honesty in his eyes, smelled the light aroma of his sincerity, yet still, she had to be sure. She ripped a blank piece of paper out of her notebook and handed it to him. "Write down where you were on the fifth, sixth, ninth, and tenth. Account for every minute, Barry." Deciding she wanted the vamp's side of the story, Tori started toward Knox. "Sit tight," she said to Bareee said rry over her shoulder. "Transport should be here in about half an hour."
He gave a nod. Blowing out a breath, he leaned back against the inside of the van.
Tori's long strides covered the distance between her and the vampire liaison quickly, but when a spicy, woodsy scent wafted her way she faltered. She glanced around and saw Dante MacMillan standing at the perimeter of the parking lot, talking to one of the uniformed officers. As she stared at him, her heartbeat picked up speed, setting up a hard thump in the pulse at the base of her throat. Mutant butterflies began doing somersaults in her stomach. Her breathing quickened.
This is ridiculous. She was a hundred and seventy-six years old, for crying out loud. Yet here she was, reacting like a schoolgirl with her first crush. But she'd have to be dead inside to not appreciate that walking advertisement for tall, dark, and sexy.
Dante's head was bent as he listened to the officer, and the sun glinted off his dark hair. As usual, it was brushed back from his forehead, but stubborn strands insisted on falling forward. They made Tori's fingers itch to stroke them off his face just so she could watch them flop down again. He gestured, and her attention was caught by his masculine hands. Long, square-tipped fingers and broad palms.
She'd love to feel those hands on her skin.
Dante must have felt her gaze on him, because he lifted his head and looked right at her. Sexual interest flared in his brown eyes before he turned back to the man beside him.
"Uh, Tori?"
She jerked back to awareness and looked at Knox.
"You okay?" the vampire asked. Blue eyes stared at her with a mixture of concern and bewilderment. "You're just standing there, in the middle of the lot, staring … " His gaze drifted to Dante and he gave a soft grunt. "Ah. Never mind."
Tori felt her cheeks heat. She'd been caught gawking at Dante like a teenager. It was mortifying. She cleared her throat and deliberately turned her back so she wouldn't be tempted to start watching him again. "So, what did your guy have to say? What was he doing here?"
"Picking up a bottle of red wine." Knox pointed toward a broken bottle and the spill of wine near the front door. "He said your wolf-boy attacked him without provocation."
"Oh, come on." She put one hand on her hip. "Barry may be a little impetuous, but even he wouldn't go around jumping vampires without cause. Your guy definitely provoked him."
Knox shrugged lazily. "Eh. A few words about a car. If your wolf got all riled up over a guy with a big mouth, well … " His gaze dared her to defend that. "Besides, wolfie's the one who injured the human."
"You're sure about that?" Tori glanced over at the van to where Barry sat slumped on the seat, blanket still modestly covering his privates. He met her gaze for a second and then looked away. Tori faced Knox again. "It could have been your vamp."
Knox shook his head. "Nope. Wolf-boy is the one who took the human down in his hurry to get to the vampire. Who, by the way, kept his fangs to himself."
Tori sighed and rubbed her forehead. This did not bode well for Barry. "All right. Hopefully, Barry didn't release any pret essence when he hurt the guy. That'll make things easier for him."
"Hmm." Knox glanced over her shoulder. "Heads up. Here comes your boyfriend."