New York: Allie's War, Early Years

Before I turned away entirely, I caught the eyes of the man standing there, the one who'd blocked us from the three men beating on the seer. The one Jon called a cop.

Looking at him, though, I had my doubts. Jon's cop radar was usually pretty good, but I wasn't getting cop when I looked at this guy. Not exactly, anyway.

He was still staring at us, watching us leave.

No, I thought suddenly. He wasn't watching us. He was watching me.

The look on his face was almost an open warning.

For the first time, I really took him in, looking him over so I would remember him, too. He was tall...really tall...and borderline pale, although his forearms seemed to be darker than his face. He had high cheekbones and unevenly cut black hair that managed to work with his angular face. His eyes were lighter than I would have expected with his features, but I couldn't make out the precise color, not from where we stood. Nor could I pinpoint any particular ethnicity. He looked almost like he could be Eurasian, but I couldn't be sure of that, either. He didn't wear a collar. I know, because I checked, if only because of his height, which was tall enough to make me think seer, especially given what was going on.

He seemed to wear the standard ID tats, too, so definitely human.

Whoever he was, he stood perfectly still as he watched us go.

He was kind of cute, I thought, out of nowhere. Well, not cute exactly. Or handsome really, either. But something about him made me notice him in that way. He had a nice body, but I kind of doubted it was that...or just that, anyway. I was more of a face than a body girl. He was definitely on the lean side, but athletic. It suited his narrow face.

He might have worked for, or with, the other three. Maybe he was on the take, too. Still, the tall guy's clothes struck me as a bit odd, even for a plainclothes cop. The jacket he wore looked too expensive, as did the black pants he wore underneath. His narrow mouth pursed in a frown as he glanced at the cuffed seer, who was babbling now, begging the men to let her go.

He didn't seem to like what was happening any more than I did.

The fact that he didn't approve made me like him a little more than the other three, but only a little. Given his clothing, I couldn't help wondering if he worked for the man in the expensive black suit. It made me not like him very much, if he did.