matter. All of a sudden, a cold blast came from out of nowhere, as if a door to the outside had been opened—no, wait. The arctic chill was emanating from Wrath’s body, and even Murhder felt his butt pucker in warning.
The Fence of Ferocity broke in the center and parted, the disapproving guards moving away, letting him pass. And as he limped for the open doors, he could feel the stares on his back and decided it was a wonder he wasn’t knocked on his face again just from the death rays.
The second he was through the archway, the dining room’s great wooden panels slammed shut, and that was when he noticed the dog. A golden retriever was cowering behind Wrath, its head lowered, its big body tense as it sought protection from the vampire it was using as a shield.
“Relax, Murhder,” Wrath said dryly as he bent down and picked up the one hundred pounds of blond fur. “You’re freaking out my dog.”
“Me? You’re sure it’s not that private guard of yours?”
Wrath turned in a deliberate way, as if he were orientating himself by memory rather than sight, and then he walked toward the fireplace. As he went, he stroked the dog, who put his front paws on each of the King’s shoulders and nestled his muzzle deep into all that long black hair. The way those kind brown eyes squeezed shut suggested the animal was trying to find his happy place.
Wonder if there’s room for two there, Murhder thought.
The King settled his weight into one of two armchairs, and positioned the dog on his lap. “George doesn’t like me to raise my voice.”
“Then he must be anxious as hell most of the time.”
Wrath let his head rest on the high back of the chair. His hand, the one with the King’s ring, went up and down on the retriever’s flank.
“Tell me why you think any problem of yours is a problem of mine,” he said.
“I need your help.”
“Doesn’t answer my question.”
“It’s the truth.”
“Twenty years, and you show up here with a demand. So like you. I take it you’re back to your old self again.”
“I just have to find this female—”
“Do you have any idea the kind of problems you caused? On the way to your whatever the hell it was—your breakdown?”
Murhder closed his eyes and muttered to himself.
“What was that?” Wrath cut in sharply. “Are you suggesting I’m not allowed to have an opinion, after we cleaned up your fucking mess?”
“I didn’t ask you to do anything for me.”
“Bullshit. You disappeared on us for two months, and then showed up from out of nowhere obsessed with shit that had nothing to do with the war against the Lessening Society.” Wrath leaned to the side and picked a folder up off the floor. “You burned one biomedical firm down. And then went to another and did this.”
With a toss, the King sent the folder and its contents flying, the color photographs inside fanning out in a slide show that ended at Murhder’s feet.
Bodies. Staked to the ground. Their internal organs removed.
He didn’t need to be reminded of the images. He’d seen the massacre up close and personal—which was what happened when you were the one responsible for the carnage.
What he was not responsible for was that fire in the first facility. That had been Xhex going back and taking care of business for herself—and he would never forget the sight of her standing against the backdrop of the flames, vengeance in the flesh. But he had protected her secrets back then and he was still going to protect her now.
If the Brotherhood had it wrong and blamed him? What the hell did he care?
“You’re right, you didn’t technically ask us to clean up the mess,” Wrath said. “But what you did to those humans made Hannibal Lecter look like an amateur. You made things really goddamn complicated on your way to the exit.”
Murhder’s knees popped as he squatted down and gathered up the glossies. “It was less than they deserved—”
“You field dressed seven scientists on the grounds of one of the country’s foremost medical research companies.”
Murhder shoved the eight-by-tens back into the folder. “They were experimenting on our kind, Wrath. On a male and on a pregnant female. What did you expect me to do, leave them a strongly worded letter?”
There was a period of silence. “That wasn’t the way to handle it.”
“I tried to get both of those vampires out.” Murhder cleared his throat as his voice