“Sir . . .”
“I gave you an order, Brennan.”
“I didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Are you going to make me repeat myself again?”
Brennan took a deep breath and stood up a little straighter. “No, sir.”
Donnie was standing up with us now. “I’ll see he gets to medical, sir.”
“Go with her to medical, now.”
“Yes, sir.” He saluted, and after a moment’s hesitation, Nolan saluted him back. Donnie saluted him and then herded Brennan toward the door. He looked back and it was almost hate. I wasn’t sure if it was aimed at Magda or all of us, but either way it wasn’t a good look.
When the door closed behind them, Nolan went closer to inspect the door of the cell that Magda had torn open. “If this had been a real prisoner escaping, could we have used Tasers effectively?”
“They would work, but their effectiveness would depend on the type of lycanthrope,” I said.
“Why does it depend on that?” he asked.
I shrugged. “It’s just like how some humans go down instantly and some need a second or third hit of electricity to stop coming at you.”
“But if a wereanimal keeps coming, you won’t have time to squeeze off three Taser hits,” Edward said.
“What about tranquilizer darts?”
“It might work short term if you could get the right dosage, but all drugs work through their system a lot faster than they do through a human, or the real-animal equivalent. If the lycanthrope is already starting to shift, then their metabolism works even faster, so once they go down you have no way to judge how long until they wake up.”
“Have you ever used tranquilizers on them in your job?”
Edward and I both shook our heads. I said, “The dose needed to make it work also runs the risk of stopping their heart. Heart damage is one of the few ways to kill almost everything, and you don’t want to be in the middle of giving a were-anything CPR when it wakes up angry with you.”
Flannery laughed, but it was more nerves than humor, I think.
“You have something to add?” Nolan asked.
“No, sir . . . I mean, yes, sir.”
“Talk.”
“Maybe there’s a way to use magic to slow down or even contain the supernatural beings.”
“You mean casting spells?” I asked.
He smiled. “Something like that, yes.”
“The witches I know in the United States might be able to do something to help strengthen the door, and I guess you could work a containment spell on vampires not being able to cross the threshold, but it wouldn’t help you against lycanthropes,” I said.
“The more powerful the vampire, the fewer spells that will contain them,” Magda said.
“True,” I said.
“I would like to sit down with all of you who know magic and discuss possibilities,” Flannery said.
“Are you a witch?”
“No.”
“Are you a practitioner of the occult arts?” Edward asked.
Flannery looked at him and smiled. “Yes.”
I looked at Edward. “I’ve never heard anyone call it that outside of books.”
“You haven’t traveled in Europe as much as I have.”
I nodded. “Okay, Flannery, if you aren’t a witch, but you are a practitioner, then what kind of practitioner are you?”
“Here they would call me a Fairy Doctor.”
“You get your power from the Fey, the little people,” I said.
He nodded, smiling wider. “I’m impressed, Marshal. Outside of Ireland, most people don’t know the term.”
“Someone who visited your country explained it to me.”
“Would I recognize the name?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Outside of Ireland, what would they call you?” Socrates asked. It was a good question.
“Not much. My powers are tied to the gentle folk of this land, literally this soil. I have to be in a country long enough to persuade what few Fey remain there to help me. All the local nature spirits are very leery of strangers and strange magic.”
“Have you ever persuaded foreign . . . gentle folk to work with you?” I asked.
“I have, but even with them it didn’t work as well as it does here with my more familiar friends.”
Edward said, “Let’s discuss ways to contain the vampires before they wake up for the night.”
“Good idea,” Nolan said, “though I think, Mort, you should report to medical, too, just in case some of those bruises and scrapes are more serious than you think.”
“I’m fine, sir.”
Nolan just looked at him. Mort grinned. “Yes, sir.”
“The gentle folk may be able to help us contain the vampires,” Flannery said.
“They haven’t helped much up to this point,” Nolan said.
Flannery smiled. “I hadn’t met Marshal Blake and her people. I’ve told my friends enough that they would like to meet face-to-face.”
“What does meeting us have to do with the . . . gentle folk helping with the vampire problem?” I asked.
“If the Fey like you, they may agree to helping more,” Flannery said.
“Do you mean they could have been helping this whole time and have refused?” Edward asked.
“Don’t judge them by human motives. It will just frustrate you,” Nolan said.