itr

eight

ld of fresh lilies, had soured into something that smelled like wilted flowers and rain-soaked earth. It pe

back of my mind, his claws scraping

cedar and my own agitation. A pile of documents regarding

harp and hesitant. "The police report is in. They're

ntil the plastic barrel snapped, ink bl

es are scavengers, not assassins. They kill for food or territory, not to silence a lon

plied instantly. "I'll

tory on the wall. Someone had walked into my city, slaughtered the moth

stood before my desk in

border into the next county. They had cash-untraceable bills. They admitted to the

est, deep and dangerous. Merc

m to be handed over," Davon co

or. "They will not see the inside of a human court.

To interfere with a human homicide investigation was risky; to take the suspec

tarted, but I cut

o

whining, urging me to go to her. I found myself walking down the ha

e scent of her sorrow was so potent it tasted like ash o

armies. I knew how to break bones. I d

and unfamiliar,

said to the closed door, my voice harsh and devoid

walked away, my footsteps heavy, just as a

sha

and predators. When the guards had "escorted" me from my apartment, I thought I was going t

he guard grunted,

n, and my h

like a doll that had been dropped and forgotten. Her e

na

napped up.

ing her ice-cold hands. "Oh, god. I hea

mbled, her lower lip quivering

ght I would stop breathing. My Elder told me something then." I brushed a stray hair from her face. "He sai

, but it seemed to cut the s

arms around her, rocking her as she screamed her grief into my sho

held onto each other-two girls aga