Page 6

Angelo

Whiskey was best when drunk, not worn, as law enforcement gleefully informed me while dragging my unconscious self in under the pretext that I’d gotten shitfaced in my car and harmed myself either intentionally or accidentally.

In a bigger, more human-centric town, I would have been stuck in the drunk tank all night. Thankfully, this was a Hollow, and I knew a gal.

Police Chief Taliyah Morgan leaned most of her frame against the wall across from my cell, giving me a pointed glare, as though I’d engineered this entire scenario just to ruin her night. Thankfully, there was no warlock in sight, so I was less likely to be cursed for saying something outrageous. I could recover from frostbite, but blood bolts gave even me pause. The man was touchy when it came to his wife. I’d heard he’d put a very distant cousin of mine through a wall once.

Taliyah could just as easily put my head through a wall but wouldn’t. She took her oath to protect and serve seriously, though it didn’t mean she didn’t gripe about it along the way.

“You’re bleeding,” she said, her eyes dipping to my shirt.

She was right. I looked like I’d starred in a slasher film. Head wounds always gushed blood, and mine was no exception. One of her deputies had been afraid I’d shot myself when his headlights swept over the parking lot, and he found me leaning unconscious against my steering wheel. He’d been less than amused to discover that the blood was sourceless, my wounds having healed by the time he arrived. He’d assumed I was staging some kind of drunken prank.

Taliyah knew better.

“Correction,” I said, slumping onto the single cot in the room. “I was bleeding. Now I’m healed, hungry, and pissed.”

I found myself watching her too intently. My hunger was intense—far greater than it should have been. I wasn’t keeping myself a small, starved thing the way Fifi had for years. I had resources to draw on in emergencies. Granted, I’d had a lot of emergencies since meeting Lydia and hadn’t replenished myself in longer than I could remember. It just seemed excessive for the amount of blood I’d lost. I’d lost a pint at most—not enough to cause this kind of brain fog.

“And you didn’t see who attacked you?” she checked.

A small, frustrated snarl escaped my lips. “I already told you what attacked me.”

“A gray, globby thing,” she said, folding her arms skeptically over her chest.

“Right.”

“That’s not much to go on. In fact, it probably describes a lot of monsters I’ve never met.”

“But none that live in the Hollow,” I said wearily. “That I know of, anyway.”

She nodded and then sighed. “I’ll talk with Mav when I get home. The coven will probably be able to scry something if the situation calls for it. For now, I need to be sure you’re alright. The head wound would have been serious for a human. Are you going to be okay?”

No.

I was struggling with the urge to ask for my one phone call. If Lydia strolled in, I’d take her against the bars. Her scent still clung to me from earlier in the day, so intoxicating I couldn’t think straight. I needed to get out of here and get a meal or two in me. Human food, as well as a trip to see Ty again for a hunger suppressant. I was going to feed on Lydia at some point, but I wouldn’t act like an animal, descending on her like a hungry beast. She deserved better than that from me. I’d take my precautions tonight, sleep, and then consult Fifi first thing in the morning. We had external cameras. With any luck, one of them had caught the thing that hit me.

“Fine,” I gritted out between my teeth. “Just let me out. I don’t want to accidentally seduce anyone in your department.”

Taliyah frowned. “I’m the only woman on the force.”

“Exactly. It’s best for everyone if I go.”

That earned me a wan smile. “You think you can sway my deputies?”

I returned it. “I don’t think—I know.” She gave me a disbelieving look. I shrugged. “I can already tell one is interested in me. It’s a lust thing.”

Taliyah cast a surprised glance over her shoulder. “Really?”

“Really. Are you going to let me out?”

Taliyah shrugged. “In about an hour. It’ll take that long to sort out your paperwork.”

I thumped my head against the bars when I checked the clock. Another hour would put my departure a half-hour before ten. I was already inexcusably late. Lydia had probably turned in by now.

“You should call her,” Taliyah said as if reading my thoughts. “Lydia would want to know what’s going on.”

I shook my head. “It would worry her. Besides, I don’t want to break the news yet. She deserves another Rodney-free day.”

Taliyah shrugged. “It’s your funeral, Angelo.”

Yeah. That’s what I was afraid of. I hadn’t figured out what was happening, and soon it might be the end of us both. I had to find what had attacked me and shake some answers from it.

“Let’s hope not.”

“I need to call someone,” Taliyah continued, her tone softer now. “They think you’re under the influence. It won’t look plausible for you to walk out of here reeking and drive yourself home. Give me a name. Anyone who’ll take you.”

The winter queen looked formed from ice. She was cold, sleekly sculpted, with hair the color of frost. Her eyes were too bleak a blue to capture me, no matter how hungry I was. I was from an infernal realm. Nothing as chilly as a winter queen would be able to satisfy the urges I had.

“Not Lydia,” I insisted. “I don’t want...”

I didn’t want Lydia to worry. If she saw scarlet staining my skin and clothes, she’d fly into a panic. She’d already been scared once today when Vin tried to force his power onto her. I’d nearly been too late to stop him from trying to take her after the injury she’d inflicted on him. I wouldn’t do the same thing to her. She didn’t need to fear me as well. This was my problem, not hers. Going home now was wrong. Cheating.

I’d promised not to cheat at the bargain. And despite the dark thoughts below, I was sticking to that.

Taliyah’s sigh wasn’t one of frustration now. She looked... sad. “Fifi then? Or Roy? You should at least get cleaned up before you go home to Lydia. You look like you tussled with Vorhees.”

I felt like it too. My entire body ached, not just my head. I could feel a migraine coming on, which almost never happened to me. I was convinced that whatever had attacked me had done worse than knock me out. But the only wound that remained was a line of pink scar tissue near my navel. It looked like someone had cut me open, but the incision was too small to remove anything vital. It wasn’t even a good spot to draw blood, being so far from an artery. You’d have to dig deep to find the large vessel that supplies the organs. I would have been far more hurt if someone had been after that. I figured I must have landed on a shard of glass, cutting myself deeper.

“Fifi. She can take me where I need to go. I don’t want to deal with a lecture from Roy tonight.”

Taliyah nodded. “I can do that. Just promise me you’ll tell Lydia what’s going on, eventually. Trust me. She’ll want to understand.”

“I promise.”

I’d tell Lydia soon. After I could guarantee I wouldn’t hurt her without meaning to. Tomorrow morning, at the latest. I had a showing at two, which left a few hours to make it up to her.

Taliyah turned back to me after a moment of hesitation. “Stay safe, Angelo. I don’t want to lose another person under my protection to the bullshit this town comes up with.”

“Amen, Chief,” I said wryly. “A-fucking-men.”