Black Howl

“Don’t try anything unless you are ninety-five percent sure that it’s going to work,” I said to her, and she looked up. “I can’t ask for a hundred percent. I know that’s not possible. But wait until you’re almost sure.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t mess this up. Besides, everyone here knows about you. I’m not going to want Madeline Black pissed off at me.”

She smiled and winked at me. Maybe she just liked winking. I left the room before she said or did anything else unsettling.

J.B. and Gabriel were waiting for me in the hall.

“Where’s Beezle?” I asked.

“He went with Samiel,” Gabriel said. “He prefers the company of my brother.”

“Because Beezle likes to hear himself talk and Samiel can’t talk back,” I said.

“It’ll be easier to get into the nest with just the three of us, anyway,” J.B. said.

I looked at J.B. “Chloe said something weird. She said that I have some kind of…reputation here.”

J.B. looked amused. “You haven’t been spending very much time in the office. You’ve become something of a legend around here. They talk about you like they do the Retrievers—‘If you do something bad, Madeline Black will come and get you.’”

“Great,” I said. “Awesome. I am now a bogeyman for bad Agents.”

Gabriel laughed. “If they had seen you yesterday, they certainly would have believed you a bogeyman.”

“You’ve been spending too much time around Beezle,” I said crossly. “It’s giving you a smart mouth.”

“I do not want to be the only unarmed member of the family,” Gabriel replied.

“You still have a long way to go,” I said as we walked toward the elevator. “Beezle and I have years of practice on you.”

“And I have years to catch up,” Gabriel said, and took my hand.

J.B., Gabriel and I left the Agency and headed west.

“How did you find out about this nest?” I asked J.B.

His eyes slid away from me. “I asked around.”

“Asked who?” I said suspiciously. Then it dawned on me. “You asked one of the seers to tell you about the death of a human at the hands of vampires, didn’t you? J.B., you actually broke the rules?”

Agents are allowed to know the time and place of a death, but that’s about it. We’re not allowed to know what is going to happen or why or how. I’m pretty sure it’s a measure that’s been put in place to prevent us from trying to stop deaths. Like I’ve said before, it can be difficult to stand back sometimes, to let death happen even when you know that it should.

“I had to break the rules,” J.B. said. “We’ve got to find some way to cure these people. So I hid under a veil and followed a vampire after it killed a person.”

I shook my head. “You’re getting wild in your old age, J.B. One of these days you might forget to fill out a form.”

“That will never happen,” he assured me.

“What do we do if this nest doesn’t have any vampires that are using memories?” I asked.

“It had better,” J.B. said. “I’m not asking another seer for information. I could lose my position if anyone found out.”

“How do you know this particular seer will not betray you?” Gabriel asked.

J.B. was silent, and when I looked at him I saw a faint pink tinge on his cheeks. “She, um, likes me.”

I could think of a million things to say in response to that, but I didn’t. Gabriel turned his head away so J.B. wouldn’t see him smile.

We continued west and south until we hit the Ukrainian Village area. J.B. indicated that we should land, and we touched down on the sidewalk in front of a three-flat apartment building.

The snow was piled high in drifts and the sidewalk had been imperfectly shoveled, leaving lots of icy patches. And of course I promptly slipped on one and landed on my butt in a pile of snow. Since I was still wearing the peacoat, my jeans got soaked almost immediately. Luckily no one could see me except J.B. and Gabriel. As long as my wings were out I was still invisible. J.B. was snorting with laughter. Gabriel knew better.

I stood up, dusted snow off my bottom and gave J.B. an evil glare. “I thought that all the Agents were afraid of my wrath.”

“The Agents are. I’m not,” J.B. said. “I’ve seen you come to work in your slippers.”

“Anyway,” I said, not wanting to rehash one of my least favorite moments, “is this the place?”

“Yes,” J.B. said, sobering. “I didn’t have time to do a lot of reconnaissance, so I’m not certain exactly how many of them are in there.”

“But they are all, presumably, asleep,” Gabriel said. “The sun will not go down for at least two more hours.”

“Yeah, but they could have magical defenses in place in case their home is breached,” I said. “Any smart vampire has them; otherwise their enemies could just waltz in the front door while they were sleeping.”

Vampires and goblins don’t have a protective threshold like other creatures. I’m not sure why. It probably had something to do with the concept of “home.” Humans, faeries, and a lot of other supernatural creatures made permanent homes, and a home is a lot more than a space to rest your head. It takes on the essence of the people who live there, who love and laugh and fight and make memories in that space.