A Perfect Blood (The Hollows #10)(54)
Author: Kim Harrison

In the tag? I patted my hip, and then my back where my splat guns were. "Don’t see why not." And by God, they were going to let me, I thought, glancing at Wayde.

The soft popping of gravel under tires became obvious. Ivy, too, looked up, shoving the vest back at Glenn, her posture becoming somewhat hesitant as she took Nina in, evaluating her, perhaps.

"About bloody time. I think they might be ready," I said when the FIB car swung around to park beside Glenn’s, and Nina and I started toward it. "Ivy, have you heard from Jenks?" I asked, and she shook her head, clearly as worried as I was.

"Ahh," Nina said as she gazed at the sleek black car and rubbed her hands together as we walked. "Have you met Teresa Cordova, Ms. Morgan? She’s the woman that Detective Glenn probably told you about. She wants to talk to you. Something about . . . a list?"

My pace bobbled, and Nina smoothly put a hand to the small of my back, propelling me forward. The scent of vampire incense rolled over me, and my pulse hammered as I was reminded of Kisten. "Uh," I said, halting ten feet from the still closed car.

Nina leaned close, laughter in her voice as she said, "That’s what I told her you told me when I brought it up. I don’t trust her any deeper than I can bury her. Watch her face when she realizes who I am. She’s fun."

The car door opened, and Jenks darted out, his dust a bright silver, telling me he was fine. "I could have made better time if I’d flown!" he exclaimed, making bright circles around me. "Tink’s panties, Rache, the guns they got over there! You ready? Seen the plan?"

I held my breath until his dust settled. I had seen the plans – several times, actually. And "fun" wasn’t the right word to describe the older woman getting out of the car.

Impatience colored her motions, making her look jerky as she tugged on her gray business skirt to get rid of the wrinkles. She looked about fifty-something, a very unhappy fifty-something in low heels and hose. It was hard to tell in the dark, but it looked like her hair was an attractive mix of hard black and silver that only a lucky few women get as they grow older. A lined face, narrow chin, and no makeup made her look even more severe. She sent her gaze over the assembled team, her expression looking as if she smelled something bad.

An aide had his head near hers, and the woman’s eyes flicked to mine and held when he said something. Putting a small hand on his arm, she brushed by him, headed for me.

"Watch now," Nina said as she took a deferential step backward to leave me all alone. "She doesn’t know it’s me," she said into my ear, leaning forward to whisper it. "You can’t pay for entertainment like this."

Curious, I thought, feeling vulnerable until Jenks landed on my shoulder. A vampire with a sense of humor? Perhaps the fun-loving, skydiving Nina was rubbing off on him.

"Teresa," Nina said suddenly, her voice pointedly cheerful, "have you had the pleasure of meeting Rachel and her team yet? They’re one of the biggest assets this city has. Look, she brought her own spell pistols. Grand little weapons, those. I wish we’d had them when I was still in the field. They’re powered by compressed air and don’t need to be licensed!"

The woman’s hand extending toward me faltered, and then she grimaced, reaching out to take mine in a firm grip, warm from the glove she was wearing against the chill. "I see you’ve met Felix," she said, her aide standing an irritating three feet behind her, talking into a cell phone.

Nina laughed at her sour expression, and I wondered. Felix? I thought he hadn’t wanted me knowing who he was. "Pleasure," I said, wincing when my band of charmed silver slipped down to thunk into my wrist.

"I’ve explained this, Teresa," Nina said as our hands parted. "Call me Nina now. That is who I am." Leaning conspiratorially to me, she whispered loudly, "Felix was the name of the man I did my daylight work through when we first met. I guess that sort of thing sticks with the living. I miss him," she said, and I leaned away as Jenks buzzed a warning that she was too close. "He was very small, but quick. Died of an infected tooth, poor boy."

"You don’t get out much, huh?" I said as I stood between Cincinnati’s head of the I.S. and the head of the FIB, wondering why they were here. Really. Why were they here?

Nina smiled deviously, and something in me twisted. She looked like a woman, but the arrogant eyes raking over me were very male. "Not that anyone can prove, no."

Lips pressed, Teresa brought her attention back from Glenn, waiting a respectful distance away. "Thank you for your help today, Ms. Morgan," she said, a big "however" in her tone.

From my shoulder, Jenks coughed, saying, "Lame!"

Her eyes tightened at the corners. "And your help in the past as well," she said, her eye twitching as she saw the tattoo fluff visible on my collarbone. "It’s the future that concerns me."

I kept my hands in my pockets as my tension rose. "We get the bad guys and go home. What’s more to know?" This was taking forever. If it had been just Ivy, Jenks, and me, we would have been in and out by now.

The woman sighed, and Nina shifted, smiling as if waiting for the expected punch line. "Ms. Morgan, we would appreciate a list of the magic you can do as a demon," she said, and Jenks made a weird, almost unheard whine. "For your own protection."

"That’s a cap of toad shit!" Jenks said, and I raised my hand as if to cover his mouth.

"Ms. Cordova," I said firmly.

"Doctor, actually."

Well, la-di-da. "Dr. Cordova," I started again. "If you want to know what demons can do, then go to the library and look it up. Then subtract ninety percent of it and you’ll be close. I’m not going to give you a list so you can blame every demonic act on me."

The woman glanced at Nina as if for support, but the vampire was stifling a laugh, badly. Dr. Cordova’s finger and thumb rubbed together, the fabric of her glove scratching, and I thought she ought to lose that particular tell. It made her look like a bad movie villain. "We’re concerned that – "

"No."

Nina made a dramatic sigh. "She won’t give me one, either," she lamented, and I tugged out of her grip when she tried to lay claim to me. What was it with vampires anyway? No sense of personal space.

Dr. Cordova’s eyes squinted, and seeming to give up for the moment, she turned to Glenn. "Detective, I’m anxious to see how you work a team. I suggest you get to it."

Jenks hummed his wings as he stood on my shoulder, whispering a delighted, "Ohh, she’s pissed, Rache. You made her look bad in front of walkie-talkie man."