he was angry. Angel wandered over to the vending machines, searching through her pockets for change. Yutani and I stayed where we were. I rubbed my forehead.
“The big lug. He needs to understand there are some things he can’t solve by running full tilt into the fray.” Viktor was fairly level headed, but in matters of the heart, all bets were off.
“I agree, but that’s not likely to happen. Erica should have waited until he went back to see Sheila before talking to the doctor. Meanwhile, this means we’ll be forced to babysit him because he’s not going to take this lying down. At least he doesn’t know who Erica’s looking for. Any dealer backed by the vamps is going to have an extensive operation. However, given the fact that this Falcon has moved on to slashing throats in his spare time, the vamps may very well consider him a liability.” Yutani pulled out his tablet and began tapping away.
“What are you looking up?”
“Precursory info on Falcon Smith. I have a feeling if I go into the Dark Web I’ll have better luck, though.” Yutani had, a few months ago, stumbled onto a way to get into the Dark Web without being traced. He was always cautious—the Dark Web was a dangerous place in which to roam, but there was so much useful information there that he had worked on building a silent pathway into the underbelly of the internet.
“When you get a chance, do it. The moment Viktor finds out, if the cops haven’t caught Falcon by then, he’s going to go on a rampage.” I glanced over at Viktor, who was quietly listening to Herne and Talia.
“Yeah, and that’s one explosion we’re not going to be able to rein in.”
With that, we returned to the others.
By the time Herne dropped us off at our house, it was three in the morning. I leaned against the driver’s side window. “Sure you don’t want to come in?”
He shook his head. “You need sleep, love. Tomorrow night you’re headed down to Fire & Fang. And as much as I don’t like the thought of it, I want you well rested and alert. We’ll pick up where we left off soon enough.” He leaned out the window and kissed me. “And quit worrying. I love you. All of you.”
I nodded, brushing his hair out of his face. “I can’t believe how lucky I am.” I paused, then added, “We need to watch Viktor. If he finds out that Falcon Smith attacked Sheila, he’s going to go ballistic and hunt the creep down. If the cops don’t find Falcon soon, we might have to intervene. Given the guy’s connection with the vamps, it could go very bad, very quickly. Yutani’s doing some sleuthing on the Dark Web. The more we know about Smith, the better. If we can hand him over to the cops, then Viktor won’t have a reason to go after him. At least not until he gets out of jail.”
“True that. All right, I’ll do some snooping around too. You guys swinging by the office before you go to Fire & Fang? If so, I’ll come in. Otherwise, I thought I’d tackle another problem—a more personal one—that my father dumped in my lap.”
“No, I think we’re actually going to drop in on Charlie to ask if he has any advice for us. Though honestly, as newly turned as Charlie is, I have the feeling that Yutani knows more about the vamps than our clerk.”
“Just call me before you head into the Catacombs, please. Or maybe I’ll drop over to talk to you before then, if I get the chance.” With that, Herne kissed me again and then eased out of the driveway, back onto the road. As I watched him go, I felt suddenly lonely. I loved my own space, I liked having my own house, but the longer Herne and I were together, the harder it was getting to be apart for any length of time.
Overhead, a sudden gust of warm wind came barreling by, and I caught sight of an owl sitting in one of our trees. It stared down at me, then suddenly went gliding off the limb, sailing down to the front yard. I heard one shrill squeak, and the owl pulled up again, a mouse dangling in its feet. As the owl sailed back to its perch, I had a sudden feeling of dread and hurried inside, wanting to be away from the dark with