“And now your eyes are yellow rimmed with red.” He straightened. “Should I, ah, be concerned here?”
She dragged her gaze back to Dante. “It takes more than a few sad memories to make me go demon.” That control had been hard won and found largely through trial and error. If nothing else, Tobias’s leaving her had shown her how close she’d been to giving over to her demon. She patted Dante on the arm. “I’m okay. You don’t have to worry about me going demon on your ass, especially not in front of all our colleagues.” She took a few deep breaths to refocus her control and felt the burn leave her eyes. She knew Dante was aware of how she always fought to keep her demon under control. Now he knew why.
He lifted his chin in acknowledgment. “So…the factions?” he asked, bringing them back to his original question. He hooked his thumbs over his belt, his fingers framing the large cowboy belt buckle he always wore.
“They’re not factions per se, Dante. All preternaturals were corporeal, mostly humanoid beings in the other dimension. And, unfortunately, just about all of them were criminals.” She crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall of the building. She glanced at the scene behind him again and noticed that most of the technicians were starting to pack up their things. That spoke volumes to just how little evidence was at the scene. “Some were political prisoners, persecuted for their stand against the authorities on their various worlds, or were denounced as religious heretics. But most of them were undesirables.” She paused, waiting for Dante to process what she’d told him so far. At his nod, she went on. “Tobias is one of the few exceptions. He was kinda like a Secret Service agent and U.S. marshal rolled into one. He came through the rift chasing a criminal who’d assassinated their leader. The assassin was tried and found guilty and was supposed to be executed. But he bribed a few officials and escaped through the rift instead.”
Dante’s eyebrows went up. “I didn’t know that. I just assumed…” He turned to look at Tobias. “I figured he’d been a criminal like the others.” He looked at Nix. “Though I’ll admit, most of the EDs I’ve come into contact with have seemed law abiding for the most part.”
Nix watched Tobias, too. He was talking to one of the criminalists, most likely telling him how to do his job if the way he was pointing toward the scene was anything to go by. She brought her attention back to Dante and nodded. “Many of them see this as a second chance. Most of the worlds they come from don’t practice capital punishment, which is why when the rift was discovered it seemed like an ideal solution. I suppose once the initial outlay of capital for the technology was recouped, they actually save money. No housing prisoners in jails, giving them three squares and time in the library every day.”
“Yeah, the grand solution was to send their criminals to us.” He scowled and hunched his shoulders. “Out of sight, out of mind, right?”
“Well, to be fair, I don’t think they know exactly what’s on the other side. They probably think the incorporeal entities they send through the rift are just…I dunno. Floating around.” She made a vague gesture with one hand. “I’d hate to think they know that the people they exile are, as you say, squatting in other people’s bodies and they just keep right on sending them through anyway.”
“Yeah, well, I wouldn’t put it past ’em to do just that. As long as they get rid of their problems, why should they care what it does to people they don’t even know?” Dante leaned one shoulder against the wall and stared down at her. His dark eyes narrowed a bit. “This is really hard for me to get my head around, you know?”
“I understand.” She shifted her stance to face him. “If I hadn’t grown up around them I’m sure I wouldn’t be so matter-of-fact about it. I mean, when something that only existed in myths and legends is suddenly living right next door, it’s only natural to freak out a little.”
“A little?” He snorted. “People were dousing family members with gasoline and setting them on fire, trying to ‘kill the beast.’” His face hardened with the memories of those early days. “I had to start watching my back because of the witch hunts going on in the department. It’s settled down now, but I don’t think it would take much to make things flare up again. Especially the closer we get to the next Influx.”
“Well, maybe Congress will sign that funding bill.”
“Don’t hold your breath.” Dante scuffed one booted heel against the dirt. “Even if they do free up billions of dollars for research, no one that I’ve heard of has the remotest idea how to stop the rift from happening. We don’t have enough time. Or the right technology.” He paused and blew out a breath. “So, look, about what I didn’t want Tobias to overhear…” He jerked his head toward the vampire and looked at Nix. “I was wondering…that is, I was hoping we could go get a couple of drinks.” When she didn’t respond, he sighed and started to turn away. “Not a good idea, huh? I know you said early on that we should keep things strictly professional, and you’ve turned me down other times I’ve asked, but I’d hoped maybe you’d change your mind.” He glanced at her, disappointment reflected on his face. “Let’s just drop it.”