Cat Adams - Blood Song

was any indication.

“This was their song.” I said it to nobody in particular as Alex began to cry and raised one hand to

touch the cold breeze swirling around her head, stil singing into the mic while sobbing. Emma nodded

and smiled, too. Yeah, this party real y was what Vicki wanted and there was no denying that Jason and

Cassandra’s daughter was having the time of her undead existence. Everybody who’d ever known her

was there. I’d had to real y dig into online records to find everyone she’d listed on the back of the

napkin.

When the song was done, I looked up to see that Bruno was staring hard at something across the

room. I fol owed his gaze to see John Creede sitting on the other side of the bar, next to Cassandra.

They were real y glaring daggers at each other and I nudged Bruno to get his attention. But he was lost

in his own world, so I just shrugged and started to talk to Emma again. It was nice to be able to talk to

her.

I tried to touch on the subject delicately. “Have you heard from Kevin?”

Emma shook her head, her face both concerned and sad. “Not since he resigned from the university.

But”—she reached into her pocket and pul ed something out—“he left this on my desk. I completely

forgot to give it to you.”

It was a plain white envelope with my name printed on the front. I slit it open and looked inside. It held

a yel ow sticky note with two sentences written on it.

Lydia is first, then Erikson. I’ll be back for you.

Kevin

I passed it to Emma to see, because she was twitching so much to know what was going on that she

was about to climb over the table and grab the note anyway. She frowned, but then again, she didn’t

know about Jones’s offer. I was a little worried about the I’ll be back for you part. Was I the third “hard

target” on the list and he was giving me advance warning? Or was it a warm and fuzzy confirmation that

we’d see each other again?

“That’s like Kevin. He thinks he’s tel ing you the whole situation and it’s only in his head.” Emma

shrugged, so I did, too, and then she changed the subject. “So, Matty real y stood up for you in the

hearing? I thought he couldn’t stand you.”

I nodded. “You and me both. He might not like me, but I think he respects me now. That’s something.”

She raised her glass and clinked it with mine. “To respect.” I dipped my head in thanks and thought

about Matteo at the courthouse. He’d seemed genuinely pleased to see me when I showed up, which

surprised me. I doubt it made much impression on their mom, but she’s a tough nut to crack. The

hearts of her babies aren’t to be trifled with. Like I consider either of her boys a trifle.

As if on cue, Bruno touched my arm. “C’mon. We need to talk.” My brows rose at his very serious

expression. Unfor-tunately, there weren’t many places to go where we could be alone. After hurriedly

tel ing Emma to watch our drinks, I stumbled away with Bruno pul ing me forward by the elbow. We

wound up in the ladies’ room, because it was bigger than the men’s.

“So what was al that about? What do you and John Creede have against each other? You were

glaring at each other so hard, I was afraid I was going to have to stand between you like with

preschoolers on the playground.”

He reared back in surprise. “Glaring? We weren’t glaring at each other. He was offering me a job.” At

my confused expression, Bruno tapped his temple. “He’s a telepath, remember?”

Oh. Duh. “But you have a job. Didn’t you submit to a binding oath to them?” Like the confidentiality

oath, the non-compete oath prevented employees from moonlighting or being double agents. Nothing

worse for a firm’s reputation than an employee kil ing the client because he got a better offer from the

bad guys. “Didn’t you tel me once that your fingers would start to burn off before you could finish

signing your name on another deal before the contract term was up?”

He tipped his head rueful y and crossed his arms over his chest, unconsciously hiding his hands from

sight. “That is a point. But my current job is on the East Coast and the term is up at the end of the

quarter. Creede’s offering to make me the head of the L.A. office. It’s less money, but—” He raised his

brows significantly. “It’s just down the road from here. What do you think?”

My jaw dropped far enough to feel cool air on my fangs. “Are you asking my opinion? On your

career?”

He shrugged and started to fiddle with the button on the wal -mounted hand dryer, tracing the edge of

the square over and over before he answered. “I don’t real y know. It just came up and I thought … I

real y didn’t like you facing that demon alone. You were lucky and you know it. And it’s not the only one

out there—”

I took a deep breath and let it out slow. We both knew something big was happening, which was why

the Vatican had been beefing up on warrior priests.

The door opened before I could reply. Dottie walked in and reared back in surprise to see a man in

the bathroom. He blushed as she let out a little squeak. I grabbed Bruno’s arm to push him out of the

room and had started to fol ow, thinking about what to say to his offer, when Dottie tapped me on the

shoulder. Her face showed that she was eager to talk to me, so I said, “Be right out, Bruno. Keep my

drink cold.”

“I’l ask Vicki to spin by the table again. Sure is saving on ice having her here.”

When the door closed and the music faded somewhat, Dottie smiled. “I’m so glad you survived, my

dear. I was very worried when I saw the demon in your future. But I just couldn’t tel you.” She seemed

both embarrassed and afraid.

I gave her a smal smile. “It’s okay, Dottie. I understand. I was friends with Vicki long enough to know

how hard it is for clairvoyants to live with what they see. It doesn’t always come—”

“—true. Precisely. If I told you everything I saw, either you’d not believe me or you’d want to rush it …

or, worse, ignore the signs. But that’s not what I’m here to ask you about.”

I raised my brows and leaned back against the sink. I should have looked first, because I felt cool

water from the last hand washer wet the back of my shirt.

“You know that Mr. Gibson died.”

I nodded. “He was a good man. I’m glad he died in the line of duty. He would’ve wanted it that way.”

She sighed. “There was nothing to be done. I think he probably didn’t move fast enough …

intentional y. But he was taking care of Minnie for me, and now that I’m back in the housing project I

was hoping—”

Minnie the Mouser. I’d forgotten about the cat. Birchwoods al ows pets. I’d even thought about buying

a pup for Vicki at one point but never got around to it.

“I’ve read that cats don’t seem to have the same problems with vampires that dogs do. In fact, I saw

her sitting on your lap in a vision, and you were petting her just the way she likes. Since you haven’t

met her yet, I thought that perhaps—”

A cat. I’ve never considered a cat, but they do purr and I like things that purr. I don’t know why the

words came out of my mouth, but, “I’d be happy to keep her. Provided you visit her from time to time if I

have to go out of town.”

She beamed and promised to cal , then pranced to a stal . I walked out of the room to the happy yel s