Written in Red

Burke paused and looked at all of them. He was still smiling, but his blue eyes were bright with anger. “So now you know what His Honor wants you to do. I hope you all understand what I want you to do.”

Monty walked out of the assembly, saying nothing. He stopped at his desk long enough to grab his coat, then left the station. Kowalski caught up to him at the patrol car.

“Where to, Lieutenant?” Kowalski asked as he started the car.

Monty released his breath in a sigh. Burke had walked a verbal tightrope to warn the men of a potential conflict with the Others. He hoped his own careful talk would be as successful. “Howling Good Reads.”

Kowalski drove away from the station. “I don’t think HGR is open this early, but A Little Bite should be open by now.”

Monty glanced at the other man before staring out the passenger’s window. “Karl, coffee on the house is one thing, but we can’t accept breakfast sandwiches and pastries every morning. And MacDonald and Debany shouldn’t be going in for free soup every afternoon.”

A quick smile, there and gone. “I don’t think Officer Debany is stopping by for the soup.”

“Oh?” He thought of the human woman who worked for Tess and understood Debany’s interest. “Nevertheless, this constant largesse could be misunderstood, and we might be creating a tab we don’t want to pay.”

“The last time I offered to pay for the food, the owner seemed insulted, and, frankly, Lieutenant, I’m a lot more scared of her than I am of you.”

Tess. Definitely not someone he wanted to insult. “All right. But . . . restraint.” Monty sighed again. “Besides, if I keep eating like this, I’ll have to find a gym.”

Kowalski was suddenly paying the roads an excessive amount of attention. “Ruthie has been making noises about joining a gym or fitness center—specifically, joining Run and Thump, since it’s the closest place to the apartment we’re moving into. All the residents and employees of the Courtyard can use R and T, but there are also a few memberships open for humans who don’t work for them.”

“This might not be the best time for such a membership,” Monty said. “If anything goes wrong . . .”

“I know, but Ruthie thinks giving the Others positive exposure to humans might help us in the long run. She goes into HGR all the time and says she never feels threatened. If she’s polite, the Others are polite.”

“Help who? The police?”

“Help all of us. Isn’t mutual exposure the whole reason Simon Wolfgard opened a few stores to humans?”

Maybe, Monty thought. After a few days of contact with the Others, he didn’t think Wolfgard wanted to be friends with humans any more than the Wolf wanted to be friends with deer, but having a better understanding of one’s prey was useful for all kinds of reasons.

“Just be careful, both of you,” Monty said.

“Count on it.”

When they reached the Courtyard, HGR still had a Closed sign on the door, but A Little Bite was open. Kowalski pulled into the parking lot.

“Wait here.” Monty reached for the door handle, then stopped. Something about the way Burke had worded things when talking about the Courtyard. Something about the way the men suddenly got twitchy.

He sat back. “Karl? Has a shield ever shown up at that cairn in the park?”

“There wasn’t a specific place to look for identification on a DLU until Daphne Wolfgard was murdered two years ago.” Kowalski stared straight ahead. “It hasn’t happened since Captain Burke took over as patrol captain at the Chestnut Street station, but there have been times in the past when an officer was reported missing and the abandoned patrol car and a blood-smeared badge were the only things that were found. There’s some speculation that the chief and the captain have an . . . understanding . . . because if Captain Burke wants anyone transferred out of the Chestnut Street station, that person is gone the next day, no arguments made or questions asked.” A hesitation. “There’s a saying among the officers: it’s better to get transferred than be a DLU.”

“Is the hazard pay for being on this team worth the risk?” Monty asked.

“Lieutenant, if things go really wrong between us and the Others, no amount of pay will be worth the risk. But there also won’t be any place in Lakeside that is safe, so maybe taking those risks is what will make the difference for everyone.”

Since Kowalski didn’t seem inclined to add anything else, Monty got out of the car and went into A Little Bite.

Tess was behind the counter. The smile she gave him made him feel as if someone had sliced his back open, leaving him weak and trembling.

“Lieutenant. Coffee is fresh; the pastries are from yesterday. Everyone seems to be getting a slow start this morning.”

“Coffee would be appreciated,” Monty replied. “But I stopped by to see if I could have a word with Mr. Wolfgard. I noticed Howling Good Reads isn’t open yet, so I wondered if you had a way of getting in touch with him.”

“Regarding?”

“A discussion we had yesterday.”

Black threads suddenly appeared in Tess’s brown hair as it began to coil.

“This way.” Her voice hadn’t been warm before. Now it was brutally chilling.

He followed her to the lattice door that separated the two shops. She opened the door, went into HGR, and said, “Vladimir. Lieutenant Montgomery wants a word.” Turning to Monty, she added, “The members of the Business Association know all about your discussion. Simon isn’t available right now, so you can talk to Vlad.”

She walked back into her shop and closed the lattice door, leaving him with one of the Sanguinati.

Vladimir’s smile was as brutally chilling as Tess’s voice had been a moment before. It took all the courage Monty could gather to approach the book display the vampire was rearranging.

He did not want to tell the Others anything about Meg Corbyn they didn’t already know, but not telling them enough could lead to a slaughter. And maybe—maybe—there was one bit of information that might persuade the terra indigene to let humans deal with humans.

“I wanted Mr. Wolfgard to be aware that the poster I showed him yesterday has been distributed to all the police stations in Lakeside—to all police stations throughout the eastern part of Thaisia, in fact.”

“Is that significant?”

Vlad sounded like he was making an effort to show polite interest, but Monty wondered how long it would take for that tidbit to reach the farthest Courtyard on the eastern seaboard—and what it would mean to the police in those other cities. “I also wanted to make him aware of some details I came across while checking the information on the poster.” He paused to consider his words. “There is a small segment of the human population that is considered at risk. Their deaths are mostly caused by self-inflicted wounds, so a provision was made in human law to allow another person to have a ‘benevolent ownership’ of such an individual.”

“Wouldn’t this benevolence be called slavery if it was forced on any other kind of human?” Vlad asked, now sounding a little puzzled. Before Monty could respond, the vampire continued. “What about the segment of your population that chooses suicide by Wolf? As a defender of your people, you know it happens. Does your law insist on this benevolent ownership for them if they’re stopped before they throw themselves in front of a pack?”

Suicide by Wolf. The phrase chilled Monty—and the vampire noticed.

“No,” Monty said. “Our law has no provision for that.” He didn’t think explaining about the mental wards in city hospitals was a good idea, since he wasn’t sure Vlad would understand—or care—about the difference between being held in such a ward and benevolent ownership.

Vlad looked more and more coldly delighted. “There are always the stronger and the weaker, the leaders and the followers. Don’t you force the weaker among you to accept the scraps that are left when the stronger have eaten their fill? Don’t they wear the worn-out rags instead of warm clothes? Stronger and weaker exist in any group, but you’ve clearly decided some kinds of humans are more important than others. Some kinds of humans are human and other kinds are . . . property? Is that how it works? I didn’t realize you monkeys had such savagery in you. Next you’ll be eating your weak in order to keep the strong healthy.”

“No.”