The phone rang.
By the look on her face as she saw the caller ID, he had a good idea of who it was.
Valerius pried the cell phone from her hand and flipped it open. "Tabitha Devereaux," he said quietly.
"Who is this?" the woman sounded a bit frantic.
"I'm..." He hesitated at giving her his full name since she would no doubt register it as the name of an enemy and panic even more. "Val," he said firmly. "I'm a friend of Tabitha's."
"This is her mother. I need to know she's okay."
"Tabitha," he said, gentling his voice as he offered her the phone. "Your mother wants to know if you're okay."
She cleared her throat, but didn't take the phone from his hand. "I'm fine, Mama. Don't worry."
Valerius put the phone back up to his ear. "Mrs. Devereaux-"
"Don't say it," she said, her voice breaking. "I already know and I need my baby girl home with me. I don't want her to be alone. Could you please bring Tabitha here?"
"Yes."
She hung up.
Valerius ended the call, then returned the phone to Tabitha, who slipped it into her pocket.
He felt completely helpless against her grief, and he hated that most of all. It seemed like there should be something that he could say at such a moment and yet he knew from personal experience that there wasn't.
All he could do was hold her.
"Hey, everyone?" Otto's voice called out over the Nextel intercom. "I'm at Nick's house. The front gate was open and something really bad went down here. I need a head count immediately."
Kyr came back right away, as did Talon and Janice. Julian answered in next, followed by Zoe and then Valerius.
They all waited for the next one to check in.
No one did.
"Nick?" Otto called. "You out there, Cajun? Come on, buddy, answer me with something smart-ass."
No answer.
Valerius went cold.
"Jean-Luc?" Otto asked.
Again, nothing.
"Acheron?"
A feeling of severe dread ran through Valerius as Tabitha gave him a panicked look.
They knew the next name before Otto spoke it. "Kyrian? Kassim?" Only static filled the line.
Valerius pulled the Nextel off his belt and pushed for Otto alone. "What happened at Nick's?"
"Cherise is dead and there's no sign of him. I found his gun lying in a pool of blood by his mother's body with one round missing, but it's not what killed Cherise."
Valerius ground his teeth as he understood Otto's meaning. "Daimon attack?"