Well, that explained so much about her coworkers and her own position. So much so that it cut her deeply. "You hired me because I'd lost all my credibility in journalism."
His eyes burned into hers. "No. I hired you because you were one of the few friends I had in college. Without your help, I'd have never graduated, so when you got into trouble, I offered you a hand-up... the fact that no one would ever again take you seriously was just an added bonus."
She glared at him. "Thanks a lot, Leo."
He brushed her anger aside with a wave of his tattooed hand.
"I'm not going to lie to you, Susan. I respect you too much for that."
"Yet you've been lying to me all this time."
He looked offended by that. "When? Have I ever denied that vampires were real?"
"You said it was bullshit."
"No, I said bullshit pays for my Porsche... and it does. I'm the one, as I recall, who kept telling you to embrace the ridiculous. To believe in the unbelievable."
He did have a point now that she thought about it. That had been his rant at her since the day she joined his staff. Sighing, she retook her seat. "So why did you send me after Ravyn if you didn't want me to find out the truth?"
"Because I was hoping it wasn't Ravyn that the student was talking about. I mean, let's face it-there are a lot of Were-Hunters in Seattle, and since they live for centuries, to the uninformed it might seem like they're immortal. I was hoping you'd go, get me a name and address, and then I could clean it up if it were real."
"Why not just go yourself?"
He scoffed at her. "I'm not an investigative reporter. I have all the subtlety of a brick, which is why I'm more of an enforcer. Besides, I knew that even if you found out the truth and saw it with your own eyes, you'd never believe it. Somehow you'd find a logical, legitimate way to explain it all away that I could then use with other people. See?" He looked past her, to the other three, who'd been eerily silent all this time. "Now we have a bit of a problem."
She snorted at Leo. "You have a problem? Try being in my shoes."
Leo rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Yeah, well, you are the problem, Sue."
Her heart stopped beating. "How do you mean?"
"Civilians aren't allowed to know about us," Otto growled from his seat across from her. "Ever."
"Uh-huh," she said slowly. "You know with that sinister tone you should look into working for the IRS. I'm sure they're desperate for people who can cow others with a single growl."
Leo sat forward. "Sue, don't taunt the cobra. He tends to bite."
And by the look on Otto's face she could see that Leo wasn't kidding. She looked back at Leo as Kyl handed him a shiny black folder. He opened it briefly, then set it on the table.
Leo drummed his fingers on it while he addressed her. "Normally, we recruit members who have skills we can use. But sometimes we have unexpected things come up, such as the last twenty-four hours, where innocent bystanders accidentally get caught up by mistake. Those mistakes have to be corrected." His tone was deadly and threatening.
Refusing to be intimidated, she crossed her arms over her chest and gave him an equally withering stare. "And how do you propose to correct me?"
"You have a choice," Kyl spoke at last. "Either you become one of us or..."
She waited. When he didn't finish, she gave him an arch stare. "Or what? You kill me?"
It was the woman who answered. "Yes."
"No," Leo said sternly. He looked back at Susan. "But we can't take the chance that you'll expose us. Do you understand?"
Was he serious? But then all she had to do was look at the doom squad to know that answer.
"And what are you in all this, Leo?" she asked, needing to fully understand what she'd inadvertently been sucked into. "Why do these guys," she indicated the other three at the table with her, "listen to you?"
"Because I'm the Squire Regis for Seattle, since my dad retired. I run the Theti branch which, by default, makes me the head of all the Squire branches in this area."
"Theti?"