“You’re gonna take me down?” Colin shook his head. “Another partner tried that. He’s dead, and I’m still here.”
What?
“So how do you feel…knowing all this, Brooks?” McNeal rose and stalked toward them. “Do you think the shifters are evil? The demons are abominations that need to be put down?”
Cara was no abomination. She was beautiful and sensuous and she made him feel better than he’d felt in years.
Ever.
And his partner could be a bastard, but he wasn’t evil…just too furry sometimes. “I feel like a veil has been over my eyes for years, and now I’m finally seeing clearly.” He might not love everything he was seeing, but he wanted to see it all. Good. Bad.
Human. Shifter. Demon.
“There’s a lot more out there than you can imagine. A whole world of supernaturals— the Other. ” McNeal was close now. Barely two feet away. “Vampires. Do you know about them? They’re real. They can drain a human dry, kill with a bite. And the demons…you think you know about them? Do you know about the level-ten demons? The ones who can destroy buildings with a blink of their black eyes? Do you know that level-tens are practically immortal? The older they get, the harder it is to kill ’em. Hell, some can’t even be killed by mortal weapons.”
“So that makes taking them down a real bitch,” Colin added darkly.
McNeal’s words were probably meant to scare him. They didn’t. They just made him more curious. He’d been trying to block Cara from his thoughts as best he could while he talked with Smith, McNeal, and Colin about the case, but the gloves were off now. No more pretending.
They were talking about the creatures that were roaming the city right under the noses of the humans. Cara was one of those creatures. He wanted to know everything he could about this new world and about her. “What else is out there?”
Cara wasn’t a level-ten. She’d said she only had mid-range power. She could make fire. The lady had also said that she could hypnotize humans. Not him, but others.
“Oh, just about any damn thing you can imagine.” McNeal never took his gaze off him. “The nightmares that wake you up late at night, the ones that make you break out into a cold sweat—the things out there, waiting in the shadows just beyond human sight—
they’re worse than your bad dreams. A thousand times worse.”
“Djinn.” Gyth spoke softly. “Witches. Wizards—”
Instinct guided him as he faced McNeal. There was something about the guy’s voice, about the way McNeal eyeballed him. “And just what are you, Captain?”
McNeal’s expression never wavered. “I’m an overworked cop who hadn’t thought he’d have to be dealing with this crap again so soon.”
Not the answer he wanted. That lick of heat powered his blood, the burst of excitement he got when he came close to breaking a case. Or now, breaking his captain. “You aren’t human.” He wouldn’t have really questioned the captain’s humanity before. But that had been before…before he’d watched Colin change. Before he’d kissed a demon and touched a paradise he hadn’t known existed.
“Oh, I’m human. Just with a little something…extra.” A quick glance toward the locked door. “Screw it. If you want to play in the Other world, I’ll put my cards out for you.”
“Captain?” The surprise in Colin’s voice was real.
“He knows, Gyth. No sense denying anything now. Besides, the way this town is overrun with Other gone bad, you’re goin’ to need his backup on these damn monster cases—even wolves can’t go it alone.”
“But will he back me up?” The question was directed at McNeal, but Colin’s gaze was on Todd.
So he answered. “I always have, haven’t I?”
“That was before.” His eyes were guarded.
“Yeah, well, the fact that your ass gets furry doesn’t really change things for me.” A pause. “I’ll still watch your back, just like I expect you to watch mine.”
A hard nod.
“And no more secrets. I’m sick of ’em.”
“Brooks…” Now the captain looked worried. “There aren’t many humans who understand about the paranormals. You can’t just go around talking to anyone—”
What the hell? Did he have “idiot” stamped on his forehead? “I’m learning the rules of this game. It’s gonna take me some time,”
and a whole lot of adjusting, “but I’m learning. And I’ve already figured out most folks are like I used to be. They don’t have God’s first clue what’s happening—and I think most of ’em would like to keep living in the dark.”
“Glad you understand that.”
“Um.” He cocked a brow. “So what are you, captain? A demon? Do your eyes do that cool black trick?”
“Vamps can do that, too,” Colin told him. “Not the whole eye, though, not like a demon’s. A vamp’s eyes change when he goes into hunting mode.”
Good point to know.
“I’m a charmer,” McNeal said.
“What?”
“A charmer.” His lips thinned. “It means I can talk to certain…animals.”
“Uh, just what kind of animals?”
The captain smiled his shark smile once again. “Come with me for a walk sometime, Detective, and I’ll be happy to show you.”
Yeah, he’d put that on his to-do list. Right after he caught a killer. “Rain check, Captain.” He pointed to the file that had been tossed onto the desk. “So what about our killer? What are we dealing with here?”
Colin rubbed his fingers over the bridge of his nose. “Emily had a few ideas on that one.”
Emily? So she was in on this, too?
McNeal must have guessed his thoughts, because he said, “Dr. Drake isn’t exactly who you thought she was, Brooks. She’s human, but gifted.”
“Psychic,” Colin supplied.
Todd tensed.
“Her gift only works with paranormals, so Dr. Drake’s patients are generally…”
Supernaturals. Other. The captain didn’t have to finish his sentence. “I get the picture.”
“Good.” McNeal frowned at Colin. “So just who—what are we facing?”
A hesitation that lasted nearly a minute, then…“According to Em, the most likely suspect is a demon. Based on the body’s appearance and the crime scene, she thinks we might be dealing with a succubus.”