“Sure. Sure.” Jamie hesitated. “Meet at your place tonight?”

  “Six?”

  “I’ll see you then.” He hung up.

  Odd. It wasn’t like Jamie to ask to talk and not give me a topic.

  A Nashville Police car pulled up to the curb. The window rolled down, and a woman with red hair leaned out. “I hear you two need a ride.”

  “Yes, thank you.” I took the back seat. “Lunch would be good too.”

  “We can make a stop.” She eyes settled on Wayne’s bandaged arm. “Rough shift?”

  Talk of the dragon and fire dominated the drive. She kindly took us through a drive-through so we could get a belated lunch. I finished eating before we made it to the TBI.

  After all the excitement, I was looking forward to writing my reports. That particular thought didn’t last. I found a note from Smith on my desk. He wanted to see me.

  “Narzel blast.” If he hadn’t heard about the car, I would have tell him. If he had, I could be in for a well-deserved lecture for not notifying him sooner.

  With one longing look at my desk, I headed to Smith’s office. Along the way, I went through a few ways to tell him about the car, all of which sounded bad. I settled on the blunt, factual approach right before knocking on his opened door.

  “Pine, come in.” Smith moved a thick stack of papers off to the side. “Close the door and sit down.”

  I sat, all too aware of how much trouble I could be in.

  “This isn’t about the car.” Even sitting he managed to be sizable, but today his straight posture had been replaced with curved shoulders. “Wayne mentioned it when he reported his injuries. I’ve also spoken to a Captain Kala. Tomorrow, we’ll go over what you need to rebuild your kits, and you’ll be assigned a new car.”

  “Thank you.” My mind raced, trying to figure out what else he’d need to see me about. “Is it Jolly?”

  “Last I heard, the dragon was stable.” Smith looked at me with tired eyes. “Floyd escaped sometime yesterday. It’s under investigation.”

  “He’ll try to kill me again.”

  I’d thought my stalker was a problem, but no, Floyd was the real danger. The first day as my boss, he’d punched me, supposedly to make me manifest a specific type of shield. Then he’d tried to kill me. The man was unhinged.

  “We can assign a protective detail.”

  “So my job takes three agents, not one?” I laughed bitterly. “I’m a witch. I live with a vampire, and my partner is ex-military. If that’s not enough to keep me safe, extra people won’t make a difference.”

  “Think it over. We’ll talk first thing in the morning.”

  “What if magic was used to get him out of jail? Do you need me to check?”

  Smith raised an eyebrow. “It’s been taken care of, and you know you can’t investigate him, not when you’re his most likely target.”

  “That wasn’t… I’m the only witch on police payroll in the state. That’s all.” Unless something had changed in the last week.

  “You aren’t the only witch in the world.” His words carried an edge. “You can’t be part of the investigation. Think about the protective detail, watch your back, and get a shower.”

  “That’s the plan, as soon as I finish today’s reports.”

  Smith got up and opened his office door. “If I get better information about Floyd, I’ll let you know.”

  “Thanks, and I’m sorry about the car.”

  “It happens. Get a shower.”

  “Yes, sir.” I found a change of clothes I’d stashed in my desk for just such an occasion and hit the showers. They lacked the comforts of home, but being smoke- and soot-free was worth it.

  Back at my desk, I worked through the reports as quickly as I could. As I got to the end of my report on the fire, I had one question that needed an answer, and I knew who to call.

  His cell phone went to voicemail, so I tried his office number.

  “Office of the Medical Examiner. Helena speaking.”

  “Agent Kelsey Pine for Nash. It’s urgent.”

  “One moment.”

  After a few seconds of bad hold music, Nash’s smooth tones rolled through the phone. “Pine, to what do I owe this pleasure?”

  “Professional question. Did the remains from the fire end up with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “I need to know if it’s a witch.”

  “How soon?” He was all business now.

  “As soon as you can. It will make a difference in the investigation.” He was the only one who could tell me if the bones belonged to a witch. Well, I could probably tell, but raising people to ask them questions was frowned upon.

  “I’ll prioritize that test. Give me a day or two.”

  “Whenever you get it, let me know.”

  “Of course.” His voice shifted. “Did you get the bruise ointment?”

  “I did. Much appreciated. It fixed me up in no time.” With more than enough left over for next time. I knew there’d be a next time because cases like this always left officers with mementos to remember them by. If bruises were the worst injuries, I’d have done well.

  “Good. I’ll call you as soon as I have those results.” He hung up.

  I finished as much of the report as I could, outlining the options for how the shop could’ve been run. Personally, I hoped the victim was non-magical and had been buying the spells from out of state. The other options weren’t ones I wanted to deal with.

  The case Jolly had been carrying was the one thing I didn’t get to. Between scraping a dragon off the highway and battling a magic-fueled fire, I didn’t have it in me. The case would be tomorrow’s problem.

  By the time I escaped work, it was a few minutes after five. So much for a second shower or food before Jamie came over for his talk.

  I gave Fabian an extra pat as we rolled out of the parking lot. At least Fabian hadn’t gone up in flames today.

  Jamie looked all too dashing, leaning against the bumper of his car, head tipped back, breeze ruffling his sandy blond hair.

  My heart fluttered. Clearly, it didn’t know what was best for me.

  “This isn’t a love story,” I muttered. I parked and gathered my things, including the clothes saturated in smoke I’d left the house wearing this morning.

  “Bad day?” Jamie asked.

  “It wasn’t the best.” And I couldn’t tell him about the weird, maybe raising the dead thing. He didn’t know about my necromancy, and for both our sakes, he never could.

  “Mine wasn’t great either.”

  I locked Fabian and turned to find him holding a large pizza box. “Please tell me…”

  “Black and green olives, mushrooms, and pepperoni.” He grinned.

  “You remembered my favorite.”

  His smile faded. “I remember everything.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that.

  Once, he had been my everything, but he had turned his back on me, shattering a lifetime of promises and trust. I forced a smile. “Let’s eat, and there was something you wanted to talk about.”

  He nodded.

  I opened the building door and led the way up to my apartment. He got out plates while I stuck my clothes in the wash with extra soap. I took a moment to compose myself. Today had been such a rush of things, and some of them I couldn’t share with him no matter how much my heart said he was trustworthy.

  With all my necromancy thoughts and fears locked away, I joined him at the table. “Thanks for the pizza.”

  “Welcome.” He set a slice on my plate.

  Hardly a word was said while we devoured the pizza. Normally he was more talkative than this, but today I didn’t mind. When all the pizza was gone, I couldn’t avoid it anymore. “You said we needed to talk.”

  Jamie pushed his plate away and leaned on the table. “I signed three non-disclosure agreements between last night and this morning. And I’m going to break all of them.”

  “No, you could lose your job or go to jail. It isn’t worth it.” Narzel only knew why I cared so much.

  He ignored me. “They called me in to review Floyd’s escape for magic.”

  For a moment, I couldn’t breathe. “Floyd doesn’t have magic.”

  “But someone with magic helped him.” He locked eyes with me. “Every camera in his cell block went out at the same time, and something blasted a hole through the fence lines. They checked. No explosive residue.”

  I had to swallow before I could speak. “All Smith told me was that Floyd escaped. And, since I’m technically a victim in his crimes, I couldn’t investigate.”

  “They pulled me in because of my government contracts and because I’m the only other witch in the area who wouldn’t charge an obscene rate.” He tapped on the table. “Why doesn’t matter. What does is the magic I found. I don’t know what broke him out, but it gave me a weird feeling. I purified the entire area.”

  “Blood magic?” If he’d had some connection to the last case that would make sense.

  “No. I couldn’t identify it.”

  Witches weren’t the only creatures with magic, but most creatures couldn’t blast holes in walls or cut out video from a distance. “None of the other options are good.”

  “Demons are gone, so it can’t be one of them. Sorcerers usually get their power from demons, so where would one of them even get power? Maybe a few fey could do it. After that it’s truly rare and odd creatures.” He shook his head. “I’ve read about sorcerers. I already told the investigator’s I didn’t think one of them did it, and I still doesn’t. The magic wasn’t right.”

  “So that’s why Smith offered a protective detail.”

  “And you didn’t take it?”

  I shrugged. “At the time I thought he’d slipped out in a laundry truck or something.”

  Jamie leaned forward. “Please take the detail.”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “Who could they assign who could protect me? From magic and from a physical attack? No one.” I pushed away from the table so I could pace. “No one else has magic like me. And Wayne is more than up to the task of protecting me from a physical attack.”

  “You should still take the detail. You don’t know what Floyd will do next.”

  “I can’t.” The words escaped before I could stop them.

  “Why not?” Jamie moved in front of me. “What’s really making you refuse protection?”

  “I just can’t, okay?”

  He raked a hand through his hair. “You still don’t trust me. Fine, I deserve that, but find someone you trust and see what they say because I don’t think this secret is worth your life.”

  I couldn’t hold back a snort. Necromancy that could get me killed vs Floyd who wanted me dead.

  “You think this is funny? A magic user just helped the man who tried to murder you escape from jail.”

  “No, it isn’t funny, but you lost the right to be involved when you dumped me. You aren’t the boy I trusted with my life, but the man I had to trust because my life seems to be conspiring to put us together. Floyd isn’t my only problem right now. Quite frankly, he isn’t even my biggest problem.”

  I know the words world hurt, but I said them anyway. I couldn’t think of another way to get him to stop pushing.

  Jamie took a step back. “Trust me or don’t, I told you the truth. You know how much that risks.”

  His job, maybe his freedom, if they found out he violated the NDAs. Minister Olivia’s wrath if she found out he was giving the government or me extra help. I couldn’t begin to guess how she’d punish him. She could be creative and capricious.

  I sucked in a deep breath. “Can you believe that I’m at greater risk from the protection detail than Floyd?”

  He shook his head. “You didn’t feel the magic.”

  And he didn’t know my secret.

  “If you need anything, call. I’ll always answer.” He picked up his keys and headed for the door. “Be careful, Kelsey.”

  He left.

  “You too.”

  The only one who heard my words was the closed door.

  Chapter Five

  I sat on the sofa wondering how it had all gone so wrong. And not just with Jamie. My entire day had created problem after problem, and I didn’t know how to fix any of them. I didn’t even know where to start.

  Just because Jamie said I could trust him didn’t mean I actually could. Turning in a necromancer could get him a good life in our clan or any other clan. Keeping my secret could end up with him burning next to me. Not many people would risk that fate to keep someone else safe.

  Then there was Floyd. I trusted Jamie’s analysis of the magical residue, but it didn’t mean any more to me than it had to him. Plus, why would Floyd come after me again? It hadn’t worked before. Wouldn’t he run away and start a new life somewhere else? That would be the smart thing to do. Not that I could accuse him of being buff in the brain department.

  Not that I wasn’t feeling particularly bright at the moment either. I had no idea how the Dr. Moria had come back to life. It felt like my necromancy had something to do with it, but I’d never heard of a necromancer being able to heal people. Maybe between my necromancy and the Dr. Lance’s healing, it was one of the magic’s flukes, and I shouldn’t worry about it.

  I snorted. Right. Like I could be that lucky.

  Jamie had been right on one count. There were a few people who knew my secret. I could talk to Wayne in the morning and have an answer before I talked to Smith.

  If Floyd wanted to try to kill me again, tonight was his best chance, though my money would be on my landlord. Randolf did his best to look like a kindly grandfather, but he was still a vampire.

  With that decided, I cleaned up dinner. The soot smell clung to my nose, or maybe me, so I took another shower before I dug a pint of ice cream out of my freezer.

  On my way to the sofa, I stopped by Bubble’s tank. The goldfish had been the first thing I raised. Bubble swam over and bumped the tank. Relaxing my shields, I dropped bits of magic and necromancy into the tank. Bubble went after them like a live fish would food.

  I watched Bubble for another minute before sitting down to unwind and enjoying my ice cream. One episode of Mermaid Shores rolled into another.

  Five minutes into the second episode, someone knocked on my door. Groaning, I pushed myself up and check the peephole.

  Randolf stood on the other side of the door, completely still, but that wasn’t unusual. Vampires did that. Most of them didn’t dress in button-downs, knit vests, and pressed slacks with loafers. That was all Randolf.

  I opened the door. “What can I do for you?”

  He blinked back to, well, not life, but he moved more like a human. “May I come in?”

  I stepped back and motioned for him to enter before softly closing the door behind him.

  He stopped and glanced toward my window. “I saw the flower. The cameras I installed are active. They’ll watch the outside of the building when I cannot.”

  “Please say you didn’t do that because of me and my stalker.” I didn’t want to be the reason he’d spent that money or taken away a little bit of everyone’s privacy.

  “Once, I would’ve had guards to protect those who relied upon me. Today, cameras serve much the same function as guards.” Randolf turned, his eyes dark. “They cannot stop your stalker, but they will act as a deterrent. With as careful as he’s been... he will keep his distance.”

  “I agree, but still...” This wasn’t how I wanted my life to be going. My stalker wasn’t supposed to be able to invade my life like this, to change my thoughts or way of life. Ideally, he shouldn’t exist at all.

  “The rose, it may not appease him.” Randolf’s voice was cold.

  “If it keeps him off my back for a bit, it’s worth it. Besides, I have a bigger problem now.”

  “Oh?”

  I trusted Randolf with my life, but I wasn’t sure I was willing to share this secret. “It can wait. I doubt you came just to talk to me about my stalker.”

  “Correct.” He settled on my couch. “I have a request, one you may not wish to fulfill, but it is my hope that you will consider carefully before you decide.”

  I sat next to him. “I’m listening.”

  He met my gaze. “Understand, I would not ask if the need were not so great.”

  “Okay.” Over the years I’d known Randolf, he’d never asked for a favor.

  Randolf stilled. “Do you remember when we met?”

  “Not something I’m likely to forget,” I said wryly. Sitting at a vampire blood bank, in desperate need of cash and a place to stay other than my dorm room, I had teared up when Randolf told me they couldn’t use my blood. From there, he’d taken me under his wing.

  A slight smile brightened his face. “Then, I was afraid to tell you why you weren’t a suitable donor, but now, I think you know.”

  My mind went blank.

  He tapped his fingers on the arm of the sofa. “You don’t know?”

  I shook my head.

  “Forgive me, but I thought it would be obvious.”

  “Not to me.” I’d never heard of vampires having any taboo against drinking from witches.

  His fingers stilled. “Your necromancy, Kelsey. A sip from you would not be a casual meal to one of us.”

  My eyes went wide.

  He knew, but how? And if he knew, what did he want from me now? He’s been my friend, but now... had it all been a sham? One big con so he could stick close to the poor necromancer?

  “Kelsey, this changes little. I helped you then because I found you interesting, not simply because of your necromancy.” His fingers tapped twice and then stopped. “Ideally, I would have waited for you to tell me, and if you never did, that would be understandable.”

  “But?” I had to ask. One terrible scenario after another played through my head, and I needed to know why this mattered so much and what he needed.

  Randolf looked into my eyes. “You have power, a special power that can do more than you know.”

  “Not news to me.”

  “Your necromancy gives you a connection to all dead, even dead who haven’t stayed in the ground like we should’ve.” He motioned to himself. “Friends of mine need your help, your power.”