as tall as Dev, but so thin he probably had to fight for every ounce of muscle and every pound of weight. He was just built lean and willowy. Officer Shrewsbury was barely six feet, built solid, and moved in a tight coil of energy as if he were just waiting for someone to yell, Go! He was also a natural redhead, complete with the pale skin and freckles that usually went with it. Lindell’s nickname was Paris. Shrewsbury’s was Berry, as in Strawberry. No one offered to explain the tall, almost homely Lindell being named after the city of love, and I didn’t ask. I’d learned that nicknames were personal, sometimes very personal, especially among the special teams.
Edward came up to me smiling broadly and radiating his alter ego, Ted.
‘If you didn’t bring your flamethrower, I’m going to be disappointed,’ I said, smiling.
‘It’s in the car, Anita; you know I never tease unless I’m planning to come across.’
I smiled at him and gave a small eye flick behind him. He made the smallest eye-slide to the side Paris was standing on, which meant Paris was the guy who had been giving Edward enough grief about our supposed love affair that he’d begun to play with him.
‘I know you’re always good for anything you promise, Ted.’ I put a smile to go with the teasing tone and looked up in time to see Dev puzzling down at me. I had totally forgotten about promising to help Ted tease someone, so had forgotten to mention it to my guys. Oh, well.
‘Very important, everybody, when the sun goes down I will be having some vampires fly to meet us. They are my close friends and associates; do not shoot them thinking they’re bad guys.’
‘How do we tell one vampire from another?’ Paris asked.
‘Are you saying all vampires look alike?’ I asked.
He frowned at me, then said, ‘I’m saying that our main perp is a vampire, so how are we supposed to know the difference?’
‘The three that are joining us will literally be flying in, as in coming from the sky on their own power. The bad vamp, as far as I know, can’t fly.’
‘I thought flying was just a story. You mean they can really do that?’ he asked.
‘A few master vamps can levitate; actual flight is a lot rarer, but these three can do it.’
‘Who’s coming to play with us?’ Edward asked.
‘Wicked Truth and one you haven’t met yet, Jane.’
‘A vampire named Jane?’ Paris made it a question.
‘Yep,’ I said.
‘I thought all vampires had cool names like Jean-Claude, or what was the other one you just said, Wicked True?’
‘They’re the Wicked Truth, think of it as a paired call sign,’ I said.
‘See, cool.’
I was beginning to think it wasn’t personal with Paris; he just couldn’t stop talking long enough to think things through. Maybe his nickname came from the fact that the mythological Paris had started the Trojan War.
Darkness came, and it wasn’t the fading of the brilliant sunset that let me know, it was the feeling inside me as if a switch had been clicked over. It was as if I could breathe easier in the thin air, or as if I’d been holding some tension inside me all day that finally eased.
I felt Jean-Claude wake for the night. Knew when he opened his eyes and knew that he felt the cool night breeze against my face. I didn’t envy Claudia explaining everything to him. I thought about Wicked and Truth and I could feel them, too. Feel them coming aware to the night and all the possibilities. Claudia would be telling them that they had been volunteered to stand at my back and be my metaphysical battery, and if Seamus showed up they, plus Lisandro, were probably the best chance we had at winning without just shooting him on sight. Since shooting him might kill Jane, too, and she’d done nothing, we’d try not to shoot him, but if we had to, we would.
Badger’s radio crackled and he touched his mic on his vest. ‘Roger that.’ He turned to me. ‘We’re getting reports of packs of zombies.’
‘How big?’
‘Eyewitnesses are reporting anywhere from five to twenty, so probably somewhere in between.’
My phone rang and I knew the ring tone. I picked it up. ‘Jean-Claude,’ I said.
‘Ma petite, what have you done?’
‘My job.’
‘I would stand by your side, you know that.’
‘Claudia and I talked about it, but we learned from some of the older guards that if you are in person