A crack of thunder made them jump.

Burke held out his hand. “Good luck, Lieutenant.”

Monty took Burke’s hand and held on tight for a moment. “Good luck, sir.”

He stood in the doorway and watched Burke lumber across the paved area and disappear around the corner to the employee parking lot, where he must have left his car. Then Monty forced the door closed and leaned against it. If he dashed over to the efficiency apartments to look in on Lizzy, would he stir up the children when his mother would have them settled?

He heard footsteps and voices and the rustle of raingear.

The Gresh family smiled at him. “We’re on the Meat-n-Greens team,” Mrs. Gresh said.

“Better hurry.” Monty held the door for them and noticed Kowalski hurrying to catch up.

“Any orders, Lieutenant?” Kowalski asked.

“Stay in touch and keep everyone inside. Wait for the all clear before you go out.”

“Yes, sir. You’ll be staying here?”

“Yes.” Having contact with Simon and Vlad was prudent. And if Lizzy did need him, he’d have a better chance of reaching the apartments from the back door of A Little Bite than from the Market Square.

“Michael is staying here. So is Pete Denby.”

“We’re covered. Now, get going.”

Kowalski ran.

Bloody and terrible, Burke had said. He would pray none of the men he knew would face the bloody and terrible—but he didn’t think that particular prayer would be answered today.

• • •

Tess watched the black sedan drive out of the Courtyard and waited a minute before she unlocked the front door of the Liaison’s Office and stepped outside, pulling up the tight-fitting hood that hid her face and all but two coils of black hair.

“Not a day to be outside,” Nyx said.

Tess turned to her left but kept her eyes directed at the pavement. The human mask was now a transparent veneer that muted the effect of looking at her. Oh, her preys’ organs would blacken and their brains would bleed, but not as fast as when she revealed her true form with no veil to soften it. Too sick to cause trouble, the prey would flee and die elsewhere—which suited her just fine since she would have supped on the best of the life energy.

“Are you out here for a reason?” Nyx persisted.

“To make sure nothing comes here to cause harm,” Tess replied, watching the people hurrying toward the Stag and Hare. It was as good a place as any to wait out this storm since it had plentiful food and drink, but she didn’t think the clientele were the kind of humans who held a neighborly opinion of the Courtyard or its residents.

“You’re talking about humans?”

“They’re included.” She felt Nyx move closer.

“Even your form of terra indigene couldn’t take on one of them.”

“Harvesting that much life, I wouldn’t need to feed for a year,” Tess said dreamily. How long had it been since she’d felt fully sated?

“Not feed for a year?” Nyx sounded disgusted. “What if you got a sour one and then had to wait so long to be hungry again?”

The thought made Tess laugh, and red threads appeared in the black hair. “You should get inside.”

“I’m safe enough from Namid’s teeth and claws. Smoke would just catch in their throats and make them cough. Didn’t you know?” A light touch on Tess’s back as Nyx said more seriously, “Today you aren’t going to hunt humans alone. I’ll keep watch from the back door of the efficiency apartments. That way I can also check the stairs that open on Crowfield Avenue.”

As Nyx flowed along the access way, Tess heard her tell someone to hurry. Looking toward the consulate, she spotted Elliot Wolfgard and looked away quickly when she realized there was a human with him.

“No,” Elliot snapped. “Don’t look. Just get inside.”

<Wolf,> Tess said. <That is good advice. If I were you, I would close the blinds on the windows that look out on the delivery area. I wouldn’t want any harm to come to you unintentionally.>

<I’ll pass that advice on to Henry,> Elliot said.

A gust of wind tugged at the hood, almost revealing her face.

Tess went inside the Liaison’s Office and turned the simple lock to keep the door securely closed.

There were plenty of HFL supporters in the city. Once they had drunk enough courage, a few of them would come here looking for trouble, so she would make herself easy to find.

• • •

Alone in HGR’s office, Simon looked at his mobile phone and almost played the message that he had saved just to hear Meg’s voice. Instead he called the Pony Barn.

“Pony Barn. Meg speaking.”

Hearing her voice delighted him, relieved some unhappiness he hadn’t known he’d felt until it faded. That’s why he growled, “I am going to bite you so hard.”

“No, you’re not.” Her voice sounded prim. He suspected she was laughing at him. “You’re going to give me a large bonus in my next paycheck for not only realizing I needed to get away from all the people who were making my skin prickle but for going to a quiet place where I wouldn’t be alone and you wouldn’t have to worry about me. And if I hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have found Sam and Skippy.”

He couldn’t argue with any of that, but . . .

“I wish you were here too,” Meg said quietly. “I wish we were all curled up in the straw watching the storm. Then you would be safe too.”