streaming the news to watch.
The bum was sitting against the wall next to a shopping cart. Her tablet was scratched and smeared with stains. Still, it was functional enough to show Rylie’s face, cut into three different segments by the crack that split the screen.
The Alpha continued. “We’re partnering with the Office of Preternatural Affairs to provide round-the-clock defense to the most vulnerable members of our community. Beginning immediately, all state-run schools will be guarded by members of an OPA police force to ensure the safety of our precious children.”
“Innit crap?” asked the homeless woman. She had noticed Deirdre looking over her shoulder. She reeked of body odor, buried under a pile of dirty clothes. “Them kids isn’t in any danger.”
“I don’t know about that,” Deirdre said. “Nobody seems to be safe these days.”
“Waste of money,” she huffed, turning off her tablet. “I need that more than kids who already done got food and shelter.” When she moved her arm, her sleeve slipped down to her elbow.
Unpleasant surprise slithered through Deirdre. The homeless woman wore an intake bracelet. The skin around it was blue-tinted. Shriveled.
Lethe addict.
Deirdre had been about to give one of the dollar bills from Niamh’s lunch to the homeless woman, but now she clutched it in her fist and kept walking.
She followed her mental map of the city to Chelsea, leaving the indigent shifter behind her.
Chelsea was the neighborhood where most of Manhattan’s system-dependent gaeans had been shuttled to after Genesis, giving them decrepit brownstones, abandoned stores, and empty schools.
Nobody needed to use those schools anymore. Not when there were no children to attend.
Unlike Montreal, New York had been settled by far more vampires than shifters. Vampires couldn’t reproduce naturally. There was no such thing as a vampire pregnancy. They could only acquire new members of their species the way werewolves did: by biting them. There was also a fluid exchange involved with vampires, but Deirdre didn’t know the details. She’d made it a habit to avoid vampires aside from Jolene.
No vampire pregnancies meant no vampire children. It was a perpetually adult population.
The streets were eerily quiet without anyone to play in them.
Deirdre lifted her hood to cover her face and jammed her hands into her pockets. Nobody would bother her if they thought she was one of the vampire breeds, so she kept her golden eyes down and pretended that she didn’t like direct sunlight.
Because she was so busy watching the ground, she almost didn’t notice that someone else was tailing her.
This man was good—a lot better than Andrew. She wouldn’t have even noticed him if it hadn’t been for his shoes.
But she heard the faint creak of leather behind her. And when she glanced over her shoulder as she turned a corner, she saw the shifter wearing the square sunglasses and cloak-like jacket again. He had been behind her since leaving No Capes.
He’d pulled off his jacket to expose the hooded sweater underneath, which made him look different. She wouldn’t have recognized him if he hadn’t still been wearing sunglasses that covered half of his face.
When she spotted him, he was all the way on the far end of the block, pretending to be interested in a newspaper. Much too far back for her to recognize him, especially now that he wasn’t wearing that jacket.
There was no mistaking the sunglasses, though.
Deirdre was still being followed.
She was tempted to ditch the meeting. Better to disappoint Brianna by being a no-show than someone realizing that she was meeting with a friend of Rylie’s. Or worse—leading someone who wanted to kill her to the only witch who’d be able to tell Deirdre what she was.
But that was the thing. Brianna was the only person who could tell Deirdre what she was. And who knew when she would be flying back to her office in Las Vegas?
Nothing was going to make her
The bum was sitting against the wall next to a shopping cart. Her tablet was scratched and smeared with stains. Still, it was functional enough to show Rylie’s face, cut into three different segments by the crack that split the screen.
The Alpha continued. “We’re partnering with the Office of Preternatural Affairs to provide round-the-clock defense to the most vulnerable members of our community. Beginning immediately, all state-run schools will be guarded by members of an OPA police force to ensure the safety of our precious children.”
“Innit crap?” asked the homeless woman. She had noticed Deirdre looking over her shoulder. She reeked of body odor, buried under a pile of dirty clothes. “Them kids isn’t in any danger.”
“I don’t know about that,” Deirdre said. “Nobody seems to be safe these days.”
“Waste of money,” she huffed, turning off her tablet. “I need that more than kids who already done got food and shelter.” When she moved her arm, her sleeve slipped down to her elbow.
Unpleasant surprise slithered through Deirdre. The homeless woman wore an intake bracelet. The skin around it was blue-tinted. Shriveled.
Lethe addict.
Deirdre had been about to give one of the dollar bills from Niamh’s lunch to the homeless woman, but now she clutched it in her fist and kept walking.
She followed her mental map of the city to Chelsea, leaving the indigent shifter behind her.
Chelsea was the neighborhood where most of Manhattan’s system-dependent gaeans had been shuttled to after Genesis, giving them decrepit brownstones, abandoned stores, and empty schools.
Nobody needed to use those schools anymore. Not when there were no children to attend.
Unlike Montreal, New York had been settled by far more vampires than shifters. Vampires couldn’t reproduce naturally. There was no such thing as a vampire pregnancy. They could only acquire new members of their species the way werewolves did: by biting them. There was also a fluid exchange involved with vampires, but Deirdre didn’t know the details. She’d made it a habit to avoid vampires aside from Jolene.
No vampire pregnancies meant no vampire children. It was a perpetually adult population.
The streets were eerily quiet without anyone to play in them.
Deirdre lifted her hood to cover her face and jammed her hands into her pockets. Nobody would bother her if they thought she was one of the vampire breeds, so she kept her golden eyes down and pretended that she didn’t like direct sunlight.
Because she was so busy watching the ground, she almost didn’t notice that someone else was tailing her.
This man was good—a lot better than Andrew. She wouldn’t have even noticed him if it hadn’t been for his shoes.
But she heard the faint creak of leather behind her. And when she glanced over her shoulder as she turned a corner, she saw the shifter wearing the square sunglasses and cloak-like jacket again. He had been behind her since leaving No Capes.
He’d pulled off his jacket to expose the hooded sweater underneath, which made him look different. She wouldn’t have recognized him if he hadn’t still been wearing sunglasses that covered half of his face.
When she spotted him, he was all the way on the far end of the block, pretending to be interested in a newspaper. Much too far back for her to recognize him, especially now that he wasn’t wearing that jacket.
There was no mistaking the sunglasses, though.
Deirdre was still being followed.
She was tempted to ditch the meeting. Better to disappoint Brianna by being a no-show than someone realizing that she was meeting with a friend of Rylie’s. Or worse—leading someone who wanted to kill her to the only witch who’d be able to tell Deirdre what she was.
But that was the thing. Brianna was the only person who could tell Deirdre what she was. And who knew when she would be flying back to her office in Las Vegas?
Nothing was going to make her
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