Page 179 of White Wolf

Lanny snorted. His expression saidyeah right.

“What, you think Ilikevampires? Tell me about the case so we can help you find him.”

Trina and Lanny shared a look, a fast, silent conversation of raised brows and head shakes.

Finally, Lanny sighed.

Trina turned to them and started talking.

~*~

She couldn’t take a full breath. Telling them about Chad Edwards and the cases from the surrounding precincts felt like sprinting uphill, a weight sitting on her lungs.

She’d expected, after her embarrassing fainting spell, for the shock to slowly fade. Instead, it seemed to wind tighter and tighter, a string pulling taut down her spine, drawing her up straighter in her chair. Her hands wouldn’t stop shaking, so she kept them wrapped tight around her coffee mug.

Her mind kept getting stuck on Nikita. Sasha could growl and was a marvel in his own right, but Nikita was her blood. And he looked younger than she did. She just couldn’t…process it. Maybe it would have helped if he’d looked at her with some softness, or touched her, or acknowledged that they were family. But. He’d lived a hard life, and he was a hard man, and she could feel the coldness coming off of him; he didn’t want to get close, and she guessed she couldn’t blame him.

“…He walked out of the morgue,” she finished, reaching to rub the tight muscles in the back of her neck. She wished now she’d had a drink with the rest of them. “He went in there on a gurney, dead, and walked out on his own two feet.”

“He was turned,” Nikita said grimly, drawing on his cigarette. The smoke had coalesced, a thick gray cloud around their heads, one for which Trina was grateful; she thought it afforded them a little more privacy, and their waiter hadn’t fussed at them about it. “He’s the only one who got back up?”

“As far as we know, yeah.”

“How many of you are there walking around the city?” Lanny asked. He’d been using his Hostile Suspect voice all evening, and Trina was sick of it.

She elbowed him.

Unperturbed, Nikita said, “I don’t know. We don’t keep in touch. More than you’d think. Definitely more than you’d want to know about.” He tapped ash into his empty glass. “But all of them are smart enough not to kill when they feed,” he added with clear disdain. “Whoever did your vic, he’s a fucking idiot.”

“And you don’t have any idea who it might be?” Trina asked.

Nikita and Sasha shared a look.

Nikita said, “No. We don’t see the others.”

“Now why don’t I believe you?” Lanny said.

Nikita stubbed out the last bit of his smoke. “Don’t know. Guess that’s your problem. Sasha,” he said, and then slid out of the booth.

Sasha sent Trina an apologetic look. “We’ll look into it and call you. Okay? Don’t mind him, he’s just–”

“Sasha.”

“Coming.”

“You’re going to let them walk away?” Lanny hissed in her ear.

No, no she wasn’t.

“Let me out.” She shoved at Lanny’s shoulder, putting her feet up in the booth to dodge around him when he didn’t move fast enough.

She caught up with the two immortals outside on the sidewalk. “Wait!”

Sasha braced a shoulder against the façade of the bar, hands in his pockets, looking relieved.

Nikita turned to face her slowly, a fresh cigarette dangling from his lip. He took his time lighting it, eyes on his hands, the lighter, the tip of the cig; everywhere but on her face. “What?” he asked, stowing his lighter.

Trina swallowed and realized her throat ached. Her eyes burned and she was near tears. Her voice shook…but didn’t crack. “Why didn’t anyone ever tell me about you? Dad, or Grandpa. Why not?”

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