“I love the T-shirts, by the way,” Lynn chortled.
“Bite me, Captain Hook,” I told her.
Christian was studying me, a strange look suddenly coming over his face.
“What?” I asked, eyes narrowed.
“Your hair’s not purple anymore. What’s the deal?”
“She doesn’t want to talk about it,” Lynn said, laughter still in her voice.
“That’s right.”
Christian shrugged. “Whatever. It works better with the T-shirt this way anyways. You don’t look so much like an easter egg now.”
I started to respond when I felt a burst of energy behind me. I turned, backing into the tent wall. Four men burst into the room.
They walked in with an air of authority that meant they were either cops, or druids. I was willing to bet druid by the crisp dark gray suits, and the burst of energy that hovered around them like a mist. I didn’t recognize any of them, which was a definite plus.
They barely glanced my way as they studied the dozens of people lounging around the room. The apparent leader of the four stepped forward. He had brown hair and eyes, a hard face, and the tall, brutish build that many of the druids shared. He was also the biggest in the group of men, though not a one of them could be considered small.
“We’re looking for the ones that call themselves Solace and Dustin.”
Lynn merely raised a brow at him, not bothering to even sit up. “And who are you?”
“We’ll be asking all the questions here,” another, auburn haired Druid told her sternly. The second-in-command of the task force, I assumed. Druids were big on rank. Even with just four of them, they would have a clear chain of command.
“Why’s that?” she asked.
“That sounded like another question,” Christian piped in, helpful as always.
“Solace, and Dustin. Tell us where they are.”
“Who?” she asked.
“Are you saying you don’t know them?” This question came from another druid of the group. Number three was the shortest of the group, but built like a truck.
“Huh?” she asked, mocking them obviously enough that even they noticed.
“Lady, you really don’t want to mess with us. If you know something, you’d best tell us now,” number one growled.
She shrugged. I could tell she was already bored with the intruders. “I might know a few by that name. Your turn.”
“We’ve heard some charges against them from some of our informers. We’re here to investigate.”
“What kind of charges?” Her tone was disinterested.
“We aren’t discussing that, especially not in this crowd.”
“Everyone out,” Lynn suddenly addressed the crowd. “I need to speak to these gentlemen. You may all come back in thirty minutes.”
The druids started to block everyone from milling out. “If you want to talk, let them leave us.”
The druids let them pass, all four of them giving Lynn hard stares. Within seconds, all that remained in the room with the druids were myself, Christian, Caleb, and Lynn. I wasn’t well acquainted with Solace or Dustin, but I’d recognized them well enough to note them walking out.
“Both of the ones we mentioned are charged with vampirism outside of our registry. Obviously there were no vampires here, but do you know the whereabouts of Solace and Dustin?”
““Yes,” Lynn replied. “They just walked out.”
CHAPTER TEN
The Coming Storm
The druids braced as if to go after them. Lynn held her hands up to halt them. “As you saw, no one in that crowd was a vampire. Charges disproved. Be on your way, boys.” Lynn, like myself, had always had a hard time with authority figures. Perhaps that was why she was naturally antagonistic when we happened to run into some.
“It doesn’t work that way, lady. We need to interview the suspects. And for that matter, everyone in this room doesn’t exactly strike me as human. We’ll need to interview all of you as well.” All but the leader of the group had gotten very quiet, and they had spaced themselves apart, as though preparing for a fight. Greeaat.
Lynn shrugged. “Interview away.”
“Are any of you going to try to say that you’re human?”
I raised my hand. So did Lynn. Both of the guys didn’t bother. They were listed on the druid roster. Nice and legal. No reason for them to hide. Unless they were in some kind of trouble. They weren’t, that I knew of, but both had the potential for trouble at any given time, so I couldn’t be positive about that. If they hadn’t been hell-raisers themselves, they never would have found themselves friendly with Lynn and I. We were, by nature, perpetual fugitives. Birds of a feather…
The druid in charge nodded his head towards me. I gave him my widest, blankest stare. “You’re human?” he asked dubiously. “What are you doing hanging out with these guys?”
I shrugged. Lynn spoke before I could. “Look at her T-shirt. She’s obviously this slayer’s girlfriend.”
He looked between mine and Christian’s matching shirts, smirking. He nodded at Christian. “You saying you’re a dragonslayer?”
Christian smiled, his friendly, innocent smile. “Yeah. I’m on your roster.”
“We will, of course, be checking you out. Right after we speak to our original targets.” They said the same to Caleb. Lynn claimed to be his girlfriend. They looked skeptical, but didn’t press it. None of them were powerful enough to tell if we were human. Few were, for that matter, if we weren’t actively using some kind of magic. Our kind was the first race, and the hardest to identify.