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“Release the slayer,” Sarge ordered.

Ruin shifted towards me. “It seems like you’re getting away tonight. Good luck with the pig.” He released my arms, then burst away slipping between Medium-Sized Robert and Clarence before they could react.

I breathed a sigh of relief.

I survived an elder vampire. That’s rare.

Elders usually finished off their playthings. But Ruin seemed like he had a few loose screws considering his general lack of a Family.

“Search the area—stay in pairs, and don’t leave my sightline,” Sarge ordered the rest of the squad as he stepped off the sidewalk, joining me in the street. “O’Neil. Are you okay?”

Relief smacked me so hard that my legs actually gave out. My right knee hit the pavement, sending pain shooting up my leg—I was pretty sure I was going to feelthattomorrow, too—but I made myself stand. “Yes, I’m fine, Sir.” I glanced at Clarence, who had huge moon-sized eyes. “No blood injuries.”

“Broken bones?” Sarge asked.

I shifted my weight back and forth, testing my limbs. “No. Just bruised.”

Sarge frowned, his expression stormy—which highlighted the faint gray and blue highlights in his silvery-white hair that reminded me of whitewater rapids. “Do you need Grove?”

Thinking of Grove’s many poisons he kept stocked in his bag, I shook my head. “I’m fine.” I scanned the street looking for my gun. “He tossed my firearm somewhere in the street. I need to retrieve it.”

Sarge stepped in front of me blocking my view. “We’ll find it.” He rubbed his forehead, smoothing out his barely visible scales. “Brody and Binx are with Tetiana’s team. They can smell your gun out.” He paused. “Just how powerful is he?”

“The vamp?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I sifted through what I’d witnessed of him, sorting out his actions and abilities. “He’s older than we thought—his healing is extreme. I’ve seen similar levels before, but rarely.”

“You said previously you thought he was an elder?”

Sweat dripped down my forehead, but I couldn’t wipe it off with my mask on. “Yes.”

Sarge unconsciously fiddled with the radio unit holstered to his belt. “Still think that?”

“Yes, but I still don’t know what Family would let their elder run around like this with none of his offspring around,” I said. “It’s possible he might be high standing in an old, European family and was exiled to America. He speaks multiple languages and he’s aware of tech, so he can’t betooold.” I tried to discreetly flex my knee—it still ached from my fall, but I was pretty sure it was just bruised.

Sarge thought for a moment. “I’ll tell April. She’ll pull the car around and get you to the Cloisters. Get medically checked, then revise your report on him. We could ignore him if he didn’t beat anyone in front of us but attacking a member of the Magic Response Task Force crosses that line.”

“Shouldn’t I stay to help with the boar?” I finally glanced over at the park. The boar was long gone. Medium-Sized Robert and Juggernaut were searching the area trying to pick up the trail.

Sarge folded his arms across his chest. The pose was intimidating but his fae looks with his ruler-straight nose, high cheekbones, and the drops of water that floated around him made him downright dazzling. (That was at least something I could handle. I worked with so many beautiful people you’d think I’d be frequently struck dumb, but I was used to that from hunting vampires.) “No, the squad can cover it.”

Medium-Sized Robert—who was a massive troll despite his misnomer of a name— casually picked up a park bench—which made Juggernaut hop up and down and shout at him for thinking a horse-sized boar would be hiding under a bench.

Sarge abruptly turned and strode away. “O’Neil,” he called.

Sarge used even fewer words to communicate than I did, so—aware my name was a command—I fell in line behind him.

I grimaced behind my mask—my weight balance felt off without my firearm and several of my daggers missing.

“April,” Sarge called. “Car.”

“Yessir.” April saluted him, then tossed the ball of blue flames she’d been holding to light the area up into the air. She had better control than Juggernaut—she belonged to a wizard House that drilled and practiced so much even my dad would be impressed—so the flames stayed there, casting light and hovering midair.

April hurried off, disappearing farther up the street.

“When she pulls up, you leave,” Sarge told me.