Once Benicio was gone, Lucas walked to the sofa, sat down beside me, and took my hand.
"You okay?" he murmured.
I squeezed his hand and managed a wan smile. "I'll be better when she's here, but I'm okay."
"About this case," he said. "Am I correct in assuming you want it?"
"I want it, but--"
"After what happened tonight, we've moved beyond the luxury of worrying about conflict of interest. Someone needs to investigate this."
"You don't think the Cabals can handle it?"
"Individually, I'd say the Cabals are quite capable of handling the situation. But together? Together they work at a fraction of their capacity."
"Infighting?"
He nodded. "Precisely. It's like two warring countries teaming up against a common enemy. Each will want to lead the attack. Each won't share their information for fear of divulging contacts and techniques. Each will want the other to put their men at risk. A plan of action won't be decided so much as negotiated."
"And in the meantime, more kids will be hurt."
"Collateral damage. I won't say the Cabals don't care; they aren't monsters. But they are structured around profit-making and self-preservation. Those priorities will always come first, intentionally or not."
"But obviously your father foresees this or he wouldn't still be asking you to take the case. Why doesn't he tell the other Cabals, 'Thanks for the offer, but we'll go it alone'?"
Lucas leaned back into the sofa. "Politics. At this level, even my father's hands are tied. If he refuses to cooperate, it'll not only affect his standing with the other Cabals but also cause internal dissent. Understandably, his employees will question why he'd refuse extra help."
"So it's down to us. In that case, then, I definitely want to--" I stopped. "Wait. What about Savannah? I certainly can't let her tag along and--"
"I have a thought on that. Someone who could look after her."
I shook my head. "You know how I am. Either I look after her myself, or I'll go crazy worrying. I don't trust anyone--"
He told me who he had in mind.
"Oh," I said. "That might work."
Benicio called to say that Savannah was on the jet and would arrive in Miami just after six. Lucas told him our decision, that I would take the case, starting immediately. As for Lucas's role, we'd decided on honesty over subterfuge. Of course he'd help me. Yes, this meant working alongside the Cabals, but the cause was right, and he wouldn't cheapen that by hiding his involvement. If Benicio felt he'd won a victory, we had to let him have that satisfaction. Our only defense was that we wouldn't accept a Cabal paycheck for the job. We were doing this on our own, for our own reasons.
With securing Savannah's safety now our top priority, Lucas asked his father for a rain check on breakfast. Instead, Benicio would bring a copy of the case files for me later in the morning, after Lucas was gone and I'd had time to settle Savannah in at the hotel. Benicio promised Lucas that he would help with protection arrangements for Savannah, and Lucas wisely refrained from telling him we'd already done so. While we appreciated Benicio's help, neither of us wanted Savannah in his custody for long, in case he hoped to use the opportunity to pitch to her as a future employee.
We met Savannah at the airport. By "we," I mean Lucas, myself, and Troy. Yes, Troy was still with us, though I had every intention of handing him back to his boss after lunch. Nothing against Troy, but there was something unsettling about a huge half-demon dogging your every step. Savannah, however, took our new shadow in stride, as if there was nothing at all unusual about having a bodyguard/chauffeur--further proof that Cabal royal blood flowed in her veins.
Over breakfast, we answered Savannah's questions about the attacks. She listened with more curiosity than concern. Altruism isn't Savannah's strong suit. I tell myself it's part of being a teenager, but I suspect there's more to it than that.
"Just as long as I don't get kidnapped again," she said. "Twice in one year is enough for anyone. I swear, I must be the most endangered kid on the planet."
"You're special."
She snorted. "Yeah, well, special never seems to bring anything but trouble. Now I know why my mom moved us around so much." She looked up sharply. "We don't have to move again, do we?"
"It's not that kind of problem. All we need to do is find you a safe place to stay while I look for this guy."
"What?" She looked from me to Lucas. "No way. You're kidding, right?"
"Paige can't investigate while worrying about you, Savannah."
Her eyes swung to meet mine. "You wouldn't do this. You wouldn't send me away."
I opened my mouth, but guilt zapped my voice.
"Savannah..." Lucas warned.
Her gaze clung to mine. "Remember the last time? You said you wouldn't leave. Not ever."
"Savannah--" Lucas's voice sharpened.
"We can work the case together. You've got all those new spells. You can protect me better than anyone. I trust you, Paige."
A right hook below the belt. I managed a strangled, "I--we--"
Lucas told her who'd be looking after her.
Savannah blinked, then eased back in her chair. "Well, why didn't you say so?" She took a swig of orange juice. "Hey, does this mean I get to skip school?"
After breakfast we returned to the airport to see Lucas off. As Savannah chatted with Troy, Lucas and I discussed my next steps in the case.
"The boy who was attacked first, Holden," I said. "He called the emergency line, too. Don't you think that's odd? That almost every victim had time to call for help before they were attacked? Jacob, I can see, because he had a cell phone. But the others?"
"I'd strongly consider the possibility that they were permitted to make the call, perhaps by prolonging the chase so they could reach a phone."
"But why?"
"It was already too late for help to arrive, so the killer was probably ensuring that the case remained under Cabal jurisdiction, and the victims weren't found by humans first. However, we should concentrate on facts, rather than interpretation. It's too early for that."
"Speaking of facts, I wish Holden saw his attacker." A thought struck me. "What we need is the eyewitness report of someone who wasn't supposed to escape. We need a necromancer."
Lucas shook his head. "A good idea, but murder victims are very difficult to communicate with so soon after they pass over, and on the rare occasion when a necromancer manages to make contact, the spirits are almost always too traumatized to recall details surrounding their death."
"I don't mean Jacob. I mean Dana. A good necromancer can make contact with someone in a coma."
"You're right, I'd forgotten that. Excellent idea. I have several necromancer contacts, all of whom owe me considerable favors. On the flight, I'll place some calls and see which of them could get to Miami quickest."
Visiting Hour
BEFORE TAKING SAVANNAH TO THE AIRPORT, THE CABAL guards had escorted her to our apartment to get more clothing. Benicio had also asked her to pack suitcases for Lucas and me, since we'd arrived in Miami with only one change of clothing. Considerate of him, I'll admit. I'd been too worried about Savannah to think of that myself. The only downside was that this meant Savannah picked out what she thought we should wear.
Lucas had taken his suitcase straight onto the jet without opening it, probably fearing that the look on his face when he glanced inside might make Savannah feel her efforts were underappreciated. Though Lucas owned very little in the way of casual clothing, I suspected every piece of it was in that bag, and not a single item suitable for court. I only hoped she'd thought to grab him some socks and underwear.
When I unpacked my bag, I saw that lack of undergarments wouldn't be a problem for me.
"What did you do, empty my entire lingerie drawer into the bag?" I said, untangling a web of bras.
"Course not. I don't think they make suitcases that big." She tugged a pair of garter straps from the bra-knot. "Do you actually wear these? Or a
re they just for sex?"
I grabbed the garters. "I wear them."
Of course, when I did wear them it was only because they improved a certain sexual advantage of wearing skirts, one that was very awkward to accomplish with full nylons. That, however, wasn't a tidbit I was sharing with anyone--well, other than Lucas, but he already knew.
"You promised me I'd get stuff like this when I went to high school," she said, lifting a pair of green silk panties.
"I promised no such thing."
"I mentioned it, and you didn't say no. That's the same as promising. Do you know how embarrassing it is changing in a locker room, having the girls see me wearing cotton grannies?"
"All the more reason to keep you wearing them. If it embarrasses you to have girls see them, it'd be even more embarrassing to have guys see them. Like a modern-day chastity belt."
"I hate you." She fell back, spread-eagled onto the bed, then lifted her head. "You know, if you won't get them for me, I might sneak behind your back and buy my own. That'd be bad."
"You gonna start doing laundry, too?"
"As if!"
"Then I'm not worried."
Someone knocked at the door. Savannah vaulted from the bed and was out of the room before I could stuff my handful of lingerie into a drawer. I heard Savannah's shout of greeting and knew who it was.
"Paige is in the bedroom putting away her underwear," Savannah said. "It'll take a while."
I grabbed another handful.
"Shit," said a voice behind me. "She's not kidding. What'd you do, rob a lingerie store?"
There stood the world's only female werewolf, a title that sounds more like it should describe a circus freak show than the blond woman in the doorway. Tall and lean, Elena Michaels had a werewolf's typically athletic build, and the kind of wholesome good looks that cause men to say things like, "Wow, if she dolled herself up, she could be a knockout." Those who dared say such things, though, were more likely to find themselves knocked out.
Today Elena wore a T-shirt, cutoff jean shorts, and sneakers, with her long silver-blond hair tied back in an elastic band and maybe, just maybe, lip gloss...and looked a helluva lot better than I did after hours of grooming. Not that I'm envious or anything. Oh, did I mention she was thirty-two and looked mid-twenties? Or that she can eat a sixteen-ounce porterhouse steak and not gain an ounce? Werewolves get all the goodies: extended youth, extreme metabolism, sharpened senses, and superstrength. And, yeah, I'm envious.
Still, if I can't have a werewolf's gifts, I'll take a werewolf as a friend. Being part wolf makes them extremely loyal and protective...which made Elena the only person to whom I'd entrust Savannah.
Elena surveyed the mess of lingerie scattered across the bed. "I'm not even sure where half that stuff goes."
Savannah zoomed past Elena, jumped on the bed, grabbed a bra, and held it up to her chest.
"This one's mine," Savannah said, grinning. "Can't you tell?"
Elena laughed. "Maybe in a few years."
Savannah snorted. "At the rate I'm going, it'll take a few years plus a few pairs of socks. I'm the only girl in the ninth grade who still wears a training bra."
"I was still wearing one in tenth grade, so I've got you beat." Elena bent down to pick up a negligee I'd dropped. "Expecting to spend a lot of time alone with Lucas, I see."
"I wish," I said. "He's already headed back to Chicago. Savannah packed my clothes, and I do hope there are clothes in this bag somewhere."
"At the bottom," Savannah said.
I shoved the last of the lingerie into a drawer, then stuffed the half-packed suitcase into the closet and turned to Elena. I resisted the urge to hug her. Elena wasn't the hugs-and-kisses type. Even fleeting physical contact, like handshakes, made her vaguely uncomfortable, though nowhere near as uncomfortable as they made someone else...which made me realize someone was missing from this reunion.
"Where's Clay?" I said. "Waiting in the car? Hoping he can avoid saying hello to me?"
"Hello, Paige," came a Southern drawl from the living room.
"Hello, Clayton."
I popped my head around the bedroom door. Elena's partner, Clayton Danvers, was standing by the window, his back to me, likely not an unconscious gesture. Like Elena, Clay was blond-haired, blue-eyed, and well built. While Elena was attractive, Clay was traffic-stopping gorgeous...and had all the charm of a pit viper.
The first time we met, Clay had tossed me a bag containing a severed human head, and things went downhill from there. I don't understand him, he doesn't understand me, and the only thing we have in common is Elena, which causes more problems than it solves.
He finally deigned to face me. "You said Lucas isn't here?"
"He had to zip back to Chicago for his court case."
Clay nodded, clearly disappointed. One could argue that he simply hoped for someone else to talk with, to avoid having to make conversation with me, but the truth was that Clay seemed to genuinely like Lucas, which shocked the hell out of me. Not that Lucas wasn't likable. Just that Clay, well, he didn't much like anybody. His usual reaction to anyone outside his Pack ranged from near-tolerance to outright loathing. I'd landed on the farthest possible end of that scale, though I was slowly inching away from the brink.
"Ready to go?" Clay said, looking behind me at Elena.
"I just got here," she said.
"We have a long drive--"
"And all the time in the world to drive it." Elena walked from the bedroom and looked at me. "We rented a car so we can drive back to New York, take our time, see the sights, make a vacation out of it. If anyone is after Savannah, Jeremy thought it might be wise if we keep on the move for a few days, rather than rush home."
"Good idea. Thank him for me."
She grinned. "Having us out of his hair for a few days is all the thanks he needs."
"Can we stop in Orlando?" Savannah asked.
"You want to go to Disney World?" Elena said.
Savannah rolled her eyes. "Not likely."
I mouthed something to Elena. She grinned.
"Ah, Universal Studios. Sorry. I thought Disney World sounded kind of cool myself, but we could go to Universal, if that's okay with Paige."
"Have fun," I said. "I transferred some money into Savannah's account, so make sure she pays her own way."
From Elena's brief nod, I knew Savannah's money wouldn't be spent on anything but junk food and souvenirs, as it had when I'd given her money for her week with them this summer. I knew better than to argue. Their Alpha, Jeremy Danvers, was very well off, and the three of them shared everything, including bank accounts. If I insisted on paying, I'd insult Jeremy. If he had his way, Savannah wouldn't even be using her own money for candy bars and T-shirts.
"Got your bag packed?" Clay asked Savannah.
"Never unpacked it."
"Good. Grab it and we'll go."
"You two have a nice trip," Elena said, plunking onto the sofa. "I'm visiting Paige."
Clay made a noise in his throat.
"Stop growling," Elena said. "I'm here, and I want to spend some time with Paige before I leave. Unless you'd prefer I stayed here. You know, that might not be such a bad idea. I could stick around, help her out--"
"No."
"Is that an order?"
"Savannah?" I cut in. "There's a Starbucks a few blocks over. Why don't you show Clay where it is, grab us some coffees?" I looked at Clay. "When you get back, you should probably take off. Benicio's stopping by soon, and he made some noises about taking Savannah into protective custody, so I'd rather she wasn't here when he arrives."
Clay nodded, then walked to the door and held it open for Savannah. When it closed behind them, Elena looked at me.
"Taking mediation lessons from Lucas, I see. Sorry about that. I know you have better things to do than listen to us bicker." She shook her head. "We've worked out a lot of things, but he still has trouble with the idea that I need to keep a corner of my life for myself, a corner that doesn't
include him."
I sat in the chair across from her. "He doesn't like me. I understand that."
"No, it's not you." She caught my skeptical look. "Seriously. He just doesn't like me having friends. God, that sounds bad, doesn't it? Sometimes I hear myself saying things like that, and they make perfect sense to me, but then I think of how they must sound to others--" She stopped. "So tell me about this case."
"Ouch. You have to work on your 'steering clear of personal issues' segues."
She laughed. "That obvious, eh?"
"As for Clay not wanting you to have friends, I know he's like that, and I know why, so you don't need to worry about it. I'm not going to mail you brochures for women's shelters. I'll admit, at one time, I was a little concerned. Not that I thought he was abusive or anything, but he's, uh, extremely committed--"
"Obsessive."
"I wasn't going to say it."
She laughed and shifted to recline on the sofa, feet on the coffee table. "Don't worry, I say it all the time. Usually to him. Sometimes shouted. Occasionally accompanied by a flying object. We're working on it, though. He's learning to give me some space, and I'm learning that he's never going to be happy about it. Oh, I told him about that idea we had, for the ski trip this winter? He flipped. Then I said it'd be the four of us, not just you and me, and he simmered down, actually said that sounded okay. That's the trick, I think. Suggest something he'll hate, then offer a less painful alternative."
"If that doesn't work, next time you argue about me, remind him you could befriend Cassandra instead."
Elena whooped a laugh. "Oh, that'd put the fear into him...though he probably wouldn't believe it. Speaking of believing, would you believe she's still calling me?"
"Are you serious?"
"She somehow got my cell phone number."
"I didn't--"
"I know you didn't, that's why I didn't ask. Problem is, now I have to talk to her, at least long enough to say I don't want to talk to her. When she called the house line, Jeremy would say I wasn't home, and Clay--well, Clay never let her get past hello." Elena swung her legs down and twisted around to sit at the opposite end of the sofa, facing me. "I hate to admit this, but I'm spooked. I mean, she can't want us to be buddies, not after what she did, so what does she really want?"
"Honestly? She probably doesn't have an ulterior motive. I think she really wants to get to know you better, and she doesn't see any conflict between that and trying to steal your lover or convince the council to leave you for dead." I shrugged. "She's a vampire. They're different. What can I say?"