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“I suppose that’s possible.” I glanced at my family photo again.

Slayers had resources—ways I could look specific vampire lines up.But I don’t have enough information to make the search reasonable. There are too many possibilities right now.

Even if he was the sole survivor of an extinct Family, there were hundreds of vampire Families that fit the description since I had no idea when he’d been forced to strike out on his own, and history was rife with vampire wars and slayer attacks.

“What’s his case name?” Sunshine asked.

“His what?”

“His case name.” Sunshine tossed her hair over her shoulder when it got in the way and draped across her book. “He’s struck twice, now. Surely someone has given him a nickname.”

“Oh. Uhh, I think processing calls him Ruin.”

Sunshine snorted. “Sounds about right.”

“E-excuse me, O’Neil?” Clarence slowly approached my desk, clutching a manilla folder so tightly his hands shook, and his pale face was blanched with dread as he reluctantly inched closer.

I shifted into what I hoped was a more inviting posture as I tried to smile. I wasn’t sure I succeeded based on the way Clarence cringed. “Yes?”

“C-could you confirm an update for the mantasps case?” He pointed to a whiteboard, which had a printed picture of a mantasp and scribbling from various task force members posted on it.

“Sure. Sorry, Sunshine, I’ll be a minute,” I said.

Sunshine waved her hand as she settled into a new puzzle. “Take your time!”

I scooped up my cellphone and my own report, then followed Clarence over to the whiteboard.

Brody, Grove, and Binx all waited by the whiteboard, each holding their own packet of notes.

“Hey, Blood,” Brody said—apparently the team was done pretending they hadn’t nicknamed me and had moved onto openly calling me by the unfortunate moniker. “Grove, Binx, and I are taking point on the mantasp case to present it to the Commissioner.”

I glanced at Clarence, who shifted nervously under my gaze.

“Clarence is helping,” Binx said.

“You need my report?” I guessed. “I’m sorry—I haven’t yet completed it.”

“No, no.” Brody threw his hands wide. “It’s fine. We just wanted to ask you to include how you defeated the two mantasps you offed.”

Grove rubbed at the tiny glass vial filled with a gold liquid that hung from a chain on his neck. “Be sure to include if you think the use of poison applied to your weapons would have helped fighting them—I already took the liberty of confirming it in my report, but Sarge will give it more stock if you say something.”

Binx, ignoring him, gestured to the pictures of the defeated mantasps. “We’re trying to scale just how difficult these monsters were to defeat.”

“Understood,” I said. “I’ll make sure I detail the defensive and offensive maneuverings and submit the report before the end of our shift. Is there any other way I can help?”

They shook their heads—or at least, Binx and Brody shook their heads. Clarence was tugging at the now flattened ruffles of his cravat, and Grove was sighing at the printed-out pictures of the mantasps.

This clearly was my cue to leave, but I lingered trying to figure out something I could say that would be appropriately friendly.

I should ask them about the progress on this case and compliment them. It’s important to acknowledge your teammate’s hard work.

My dad had always made my siblings and I both compliment and critique each other’s methods when we finished a job so we could improve. I knew enough about teamwork to know that a critique would probably make my reputation worse. The compliment would hopefully show I was also aware of what they did for the team.

“Any—is there any new evidence that would indicate which Court was responsible for the mantasps?” I asked, biding my time while trying to think of the different compliments I could give. “What about the unfamiliar magic you scented out?”

Binx’s expression turned unreadable, Clarence almost strangled himself with his cravat, Grove kept on staring at the mantasps, and Brody flinched.

“We…don’t know,” Brody said. “Nothing conclusive was found about the odd magic—it’s assumed it must have been an artifact of some sort, but we haven’t found any proof so there are no updates on it.”