she couldn’t accidentally kill if they had to interrupt her work. In the meantime, we arcanes in the MCU made it a point to check in with her regularly. A less than ideal stopgap, but it’d have to do.
Sahana had fortunately ditched the corpse she’d been working on when I called and moved to paperwork in her office; just because I didn’t puke at the sight of dead bodies didn’t mean I enjoyed watching autopsies.
“You forget about the meeting already, Sahi?”
She blinked up at me, unfocused eyes slowly clearing as they settled upon mine. “Ah, no. Course not. Though I
am
surprised you called one for tonight. Aren’t you supposed to be over in La-La Land.”
La-La Land.
The pet name some arcanes gave to the Fury slice of the Otherrealms that outsiders so rarely saw. “This has to do with my business there.”
Sahana’s gaze sharpened even further. As caught up as she got with her powers, the woman was no fool. “Spill it then, Riss. What on earth can
I
help you with that touches on Fury business?”
My lips twisted wryly. “You mean what
under
earth can you help me with?” She just looked confused, as did Charlie, but no way was I repeating myself more than necessary. “Come on, our fourth is meeting us in my office. I’ll tell all there. Scout’s honor.” Ignoring the fact I’d never been any kind of Scout.
The PD was relatively quiet at that time of night, though by no means deserted. Mortal officers nodded as we passed, giving a double take at my being dressed in black leather rather than red but being too intimidated to comment out loud. Sahana, however, had no such qualms. She shot me a sidelong glance after the third officer stared as we passed him on the steps leading toward the MCU several floors above the morgue. “I thought something seemed different, but seeing everyone look at you like you’re wearing only underwear just made it click. Black leather and black tats can mean only one thing. You’re in Nemesis mode. No
wonder
you called an emergency meeting.”
Just then one of the last voices I wanted to hear at that moment drawled from the top of the stairs. “Gee, how
nice
of you to call an emergency meeting without me. And here I thought
we
were partners.”
My heart sank, but I forced myself not to show it. “Hey, Trin, thought you’d be home by now.”
She seemed slightly out of breath, as if she’d hurried there from somewhere else. Knowing her, that probably wasn’t far off the truth. “I
was
, but Kale and Mahina called me back for an abduction case. Some idiot pedophile snatched a half-Sidhe girl who looked about fourteen years old.”
I winced. “Mortal, of course.”
“Of course. An arcane perv would have
known
better. The
fourteen-year-old
turned out to be closer to fifty; some vigilante who’d caught the creep snooping in her neighborhood and decided to make an example out of him. Dude’s still alive—barely—but his family’s making noises about charging the
girl
with attempted murder.”
I snickered. “They’re welcome to have his attorney explain to a jury exactly
why
he snatched and tried to molest an apparent fourteen-year-old.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
We’d reached the top of the stairs by then. Her glance slid past me to Sahana, paused briefly upon Charlie, before turning back to me. “Nice new threads.”
I shifted uncomfortably, bracing for the knock-down, drag-out to come. “Hey, Sahi, Charlie, mind waiting for us in my office? Mac should be there.”
Trinity nodded, expression excruciatingly blank. “He is.”
They gave us measuring looks but didn’t argue, clearing the stairwell landing and disappearing down the hall and leaving me to face someone who could be every bit as scary as my mother, mortal or not. She didn’t mincewords, either. “What the hell, Riss? I’ve got to find out you called an
emergency meeting
behind my back by catching your little
Sahana had fortunately ditched the corpse she’d been working on when I called and moved to paperwork in her office; just because I didn’t puke at the sight of dead bodies didn’t mean I enjoyed watching autopsies.
“You forget about the meeting already, Sahi?”
She blinked up at me, unfocused eyes slowly clearing as they settled upon mine. “Ah, no. Course not. Though I
am
surprised you called one for tonight. Aren’t you supposed to be over in La-La Land.”
La-La Land.
The pet name some arcanes gave to the Fury slice of the Otherrealms that outsiders so rarely saw. “This has to do with my business there.”
Sahana’s gaze sharpened even further. As caught up as she got with her powers, the woman was no fool. “Spill it then, Riss. What on earth can
I
help you with that touches on Fury business?”
My lips twisted wryly. “You mean what
under
earth can you help me with?” She just looked confused, as did Charlie, but no way was I repeating myself more than necessary. “Come on, our fourth is meeting us in my office. I’ll tell all there. Scout’s honor.” Ignoring the fact I’d never been any kind of Scout.
The PD was relatively quiet at that time of night, though by no means deserted. Mortal officers nodded as we passed, giving a double take at my being dressed in black leather rather than red but being too intimidated to comment out loud. Sahana, however, had no such qualms. She shot me a sidelong glance after the third officer stared as we passed him on the steps leading toward the MCU several floors above the morgue. “I thought something seemed different, but seeing everyone look at you like you’re wearing only underwear just made it click. Black leather and black tats can mean only one thing. You’re in Nemesis mode. No
wonder
you called an emergency meeting.”
Just then one of the last voices I wanted to hear at that moment drawled from the top of the stairs. “Gee, how
nice
of you to call an emergency meeting without me. And here I thought
we
were partners.”
My heart sank, but I forced myself not to show it. “Hey, Trin, thought you’d be home by now.”
She seemed slightly out of breath, as if she’d hurried there from somewhere else. Knowing her, that probably wasn’t far off the truth. “I
was
, but Kale and Mahina called me back for an abduction case. Some idiot pedophile snatched a half-Sidhe girl who looked about fourteen years old.”
I winced. “Mortal, of course.”
“Of course. An arcane perv would have
known
better. The
fourteen-year-old
turned out to be closer to fifty; some vigilante who’d caught the creep snooping in her neighborhood and decided to make an example out of him. Dude’s still alive—barely—but his family’s making noises about charging the
girl
with attempted murder.”
I snickered. “They’re welcome to have his attorney explain to a jury exactly
why
he snatched and tried to molest an apparent fourteen-year-old.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
We’d reached the top of the stairs by then. Her glance slid past me to Sahana, paused briefly upon Charlie, before turning back to me. “Nice new threads.”
I shifted uncomfortably, bracing for the knock-down, drag-out to come. “Hey, Sahi, Charlie, mind waiting for us in my office? Mac should be there.”
Trinity nodded, expression excruciatingly blank. “He is.”
They gave us measuring looks but didn’t argue, clearing the stairwell landing and disappearing down the hall and leaving me to face someone who could be every bit as scary as my mother, mortal or not. She didn’t mincewords, either. “What the hell, Riss? I’ve got to find out you called an
emergency meeting
behind my back by catching your little
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