anyone’s satisfaction that it was self defense.

Rand knew this. He’d been there, or at least had helped pick up the pieces. But he showed no sign of it now. He just Mirandized me, cuffed me and stuffed me in the back of the cruiser, where I had to wait alone for half an hour until another unit could arrive… for Calaphase.

Calaphase. I couldn’t believe he was really gone. Even though I’d seen him die, had confirmed it, some part of my brain refused to accept it. I just sat there in the car, hands cuffed behind my back, eyes tearing up, face hot and red. Fuck. This sucked.

Rand opened the door and sat down beside me. “Kotie, I-why are you crying?”

“What?” I said, unbelieving. “Rand, I just watched my… my friend die-”

“Your friend? ” Rand said, eyes bugging. He slammed the door. “Oh, hell, I knew it-you hooked up with that fang. ”

“His name,” I said, chest unexpectedly tight, “was Calaphase. ”

“God damn it,” he said, turning away in the seat. “Gibbs, drive. Just-drive.”

“Rand… what the hell is wrong?” I asked, as the car pulled out. “I know you don’t think I did it. You know what happened with Valentine-”

“I know, I know, ” Rand snapped. “Boys… take a virtual walk.”

“Huh? We’re driving,” Horscht said, confused.

“How about them Braves,” Gibbs said, flipping off the video camera.

“I’m a Falcons fan, not a-oh, oh, yeah,” Horscht said. “Virtual. I get it.”

Rand turned to me, apology and anger fighting for control of his face. “This is a conflict of interest. I could get fired, understand?” Rand said. “Your 911 call was incoherent, but we were able to get your location-and your number was flagged with an outstanding warrant.”

“They send the cavalry to arrest me for a paperwork screw up of epic proportions?”

“There is no mistake. Fortunately there are a lot of people on the force who still owe your Dad and remember you. My friends in dispatch put Horscht and Gibbs on it, who pulled me in so we could make this easy on you. But when I find you? You’re crying over a dead vampire. ”

“Rand,” I began, a dozen quick, angry retorts on my breath. But then I realized Rand had just told me that he’d put his career on the line to keep me out of trouble, and had found me in a bigger stew than he’d ever expected. I drew a long, ragged breath, then let it out slowly.

“He is-was a good friend, and he’s just died. Can we let it… him… rest right now?” I said, closing my eyes and trying to refocus on my new problem. “Thanks for coming personally, but… tell me about the warrant. This is bullshit. They can’t prove murder, because it wasn’t.”

“All right,” Rand said. “You know you’re innocent, and I know, but

… a couple of days after you killed Valentine there was an election. The turnover was an earthquake, and your file got dumped on the desk of Paulina Ross, a hot new prosecutor-an import from Birmingham-who decided her new job was to make an example of people who kill with magic.”

“Oh, crap,” I said. “Cops just love people who kill with magic.”

“Oh, crap, exactly,” Rand said. “With all the deaths and disappearances and suspicious fires we’ve had over the last month, everyone on the force is on edge. That’s why I decided to make sure I was the one who picked you up. I wanted you to arrive in one piece.”

“But,” I said, “Misuse of Magic? No one from the DEI said-Philip never said-”

“Your boyfriend can’t help you,” Rand said. His eyes were boring into me, staring at my neck. I reddened-he had to be looking at the bite marks. “Or is that your ex-boyfriend?”

“He is, in fact, my ex-boyfriend,” I said. “We split last week-”

“That’s a shame. You’re going to need all the help you can get,” Rand said. “The murder charge isn’t even the worst of your worries. Your use of magic is on the record.”

“So?” I said. “I was defending myself… ”

“But Misuse of Magic is still a crime-a Federal crime,” Rand said. “So the assistant DA is working with the U.S. Attorney to put you away for Felonious Misuse of Magic. The murder charge is just a way to get to her real agenda. If Ross can’t prove murder, she might go for felony manslaughter-and then the U.S. Attorney can still get you for Felonious Misuse.”

I found I was shivering on top of the churning. Misuse was a Federal charge. I’d spend a minimum of five years in Federal prison, become a felon, and lose the right to vote. Even if I ever did get out of jail, I’d never tattoo again. Not magic, not legally, not in the States.

Worst of all, I’d never get Cinnamon back.

“This sucks,” I said.

Rand opened his mouth, then closed it. “You’re telling me.”

“ I’m telling you? ” I asked. “ I was tied to that table, having to defend myself.”

“That wasn’t your fault, but why were you there in the first place?” Rand said, glaring at me. “What sequence of events led up with that? What crowd were you running with? What were you involved in? You may be in trouble, but I’m the one who has to tell my best friend that I can’t help his little girl, who regularly plays with fire and finally got burned. Speaking of which, stop showing up at magical fires. You’re a whisker away from being brought in for arson.”

I looked away. Only then did I notice the little details cropping up around us: billboards for lawyers, bail bondsman’s offices, and broken looking people. This was a part of downtown I avoided for good reason: we were pulling up in front of the Fulton County Jail. I swallowed.

“I-I don’t remember this,” I said. “I thought we were going to the Atlanta City Jail.”

“You haven’t been arrested in a while, have you?” Gibbs said. Apparently his virtual walk was over. “They’ve been sending state charges to Fulton for years.”

“I’ve never been up on a state charge before,” I countered. “Misdemeanors go to City-”

“Damn it, Kotie,” Rand exploded. “I bounced you on my knee! You had bows in your hair! It was bad enough that you became a tattooed freak with bite marks on your neck, but how did you fall so far that you know where they take you when you’re arrested?”

My mouth hung open. Rand was absolutely enraged. I didn’t want to set him off further-but he’d really stepped over the line there. No matter how much I didn’t want to piss him off, there was no way I could let that stand. Finally I spoke.

“Maybe I’ve done some bad things,” I said, “but defending myself is not one of them.”

Rand just sat there, steaming, until the car pulled to a stop. “I won’t be involved in the investigation,” he said tightly, stepping out as Gibbs opened his door. “Conflict of interest. But I’ll find a lawyer for you, save you a phone call-”

“I have a lawyer,” I said. “Helen Yao of Ellis and Lee.”

Rand froze at the door, eyes glaring back in at me.

“I had to,” I said. “They’re trying to take Cinnamon.”

Rand cursed, leaning his hands on his knees. “Helen Yao, of Ellis and Lee,” he said at last. “I’ll call her. You… you stay safe in there, Kotie.”

“I will,” I said, and then blurted, “Don’t tell my dad.”

Rand glared, then slammed the door.

Gibbs leaned in after Rand left. “Don’t take it too personal, girl,” he said. “He loves you like you were his own daughter.”

“I got that,” I said, shifting uncomfortably. It was nowhere near as fun to ride in handcuffs as I had first thought. “But it still hurts, because I didn’t do anything wrong. ”

“I know,” Gibbs said, rubbing his dark crewcut. “You ready?”

“As I’ll ever be,” I said.

And I let Gibbs help me out of the car-and put me in the pinball machine.

I really haven’t been arrested enough to feel comfortable with it, and all the procedures at Fulton County were different enough from Atlanta City to leave me completely disoriented. They shuffled me from room to room in a careful corral of one-way doors that left prisoners always at the mercy of a man behind a glass controlling the buzzer.

I was interviewed, photographed, fingerprinted, and then dumped in a massive waiting area with chairs that

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