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Even though the glass I could hear the gunfire, but it was sufficiently muffled to hold a conversation. I turned and looked at the badger seated behind the desk. "How is he doing?"

Tom brought up a feed showing a young otter firing until his gun was empty, change magazine and fire again. "He's dealing with having had to kill his first man and learning about magic by fucking any guy who's willing, which in this place is just about every one of them, going to the racetrack to practice his driving and spends the rest of his time shooting of training in hand to hand." He shrugged. "As far as I'm concerned he's handling it quite well." He grinned. "Which probably means he should talk with someone about it. I'm definitely not the one to be used as a barometer of what's a good way to handle death. Have you considered having a therapist on staff?"

"Yeah, but I didn't think I'd need one this early. The new hires weren't supposed to see action for at least another six months. Do you think I was too hasty in offering a place here to Kevin?"

Tom shrugged. "He's four years older than I was when I killed my first man, and I know you had better intentions than my 'father'. Don't ask, no he wasn't my real father. But I'm not going to talk about him. You're not a shrink."

"Do you even talk to a shrink?"

"I'm too well adjusted to need one."

I grinned. "Sure, let's go with that. As for Kevin, the kid sharp. He was in the process of putting things together about magic, even with none of it being gone obviously around him."

"Then he's bright enough to understand the risks that come with the job. Maybe you shouldn't have him drive you around."

"Excuse me? Who told him to be my driver? I'm perfectly capable of driving myself around."

The badger fixed his eyes on me. "Brislow, be realistic here. It's got nothing to do with being capable. You just don't care about getting hurt. I'd say this magic thing's gone to your head, but I remember the kid you were being kind of the same way, except when it came to sex. You could run in traffic without caring about the danger, but the idea of getting caught having sex would freak you out. Never got that about you."

I shrugged. "I was eighteen then, I don't know what went through my head. And I don't put myself at risk, I just know the dangers and accept them."

"Let's go with that," Tom said. "That therapist, do make sure you talk to them too."

I rolled my eyes. "Only if you do too."

"Couple's counseling?"

"I'm hiring a police psychologist, not a marriage counselor, if I can."

"Why do you think you couldn't?"

"They're affiliated with the police. I figure the Church's got their claws into them. But one of them should at least be able to refer me to someone competent. I'll start making calls once I'm back in my office."

"On a different subject, did you hear that Damian's left town?" Tom asked.

"When did that happen?" I pulled out my phone, why hadn't Oscar told me?

"A few hours ago."

I found the mass message Oscar sent to me, Tom, Martin, Fred, Frank, Colby buried among a hundred messages I didn't need to read. The Spam settings had silenced it. I was going to have to look into them. There had to be a way to get some senders to bypass that. I wasn't subjecting myself to all those mass adverts just so I could receive messages from my teams.

The shrill whistle made me lookup. "What?"

"This zoning out thing you do is getting annoying."

"Sorry, I was looking for Oscar's message. I'll go see him after this."

"This is pretty much done, unless you need to add anything about Kevin."

"How are the others doing?"

"Most have the basics, but I wouldn't want them backing me up. A few of them are decent. Chimbo's good enough I've had him help out."

"Who's he? I haven't been able to keep track of their names."

"The Capybara that came in with the latest batch."

"Right, the one who's here to kill me. I already have him on the list of those getting certified to train."

"Kill you?"

"Yeah, if I ever betray his family. Don't worry about it."

"One of your employees openly threatened you, and you ask me not to worry about it. Brislow, do I need to remind you what my job is here?"

"Tom, the employees are definitely off-limits to your form of persuasion. Especially anyone within the Society. I have no doubt you can handle yourself against them, but I don't need a feud. Keep an eye on him if you want, but don't do anything."

The badger eyed me. "You are lucky there's a shortage of towers for sale, Brislow."

"This place is already a fortress, so you should be content with that."

"Not when you let the threats in through the front door and give them a bed to fuck in."

"If I'm fucking them, they can't try to kill me." I exited.

"Brislow," Tom called after me, "You know better than that!" The sound of gunfire and the closed-door cut anything else he might want to add.

* * * * *

I found the margay in the room with Damian's blood in it. The phrase Fred had come up with was comprehensive, taking most of the floor and included an area for Oscar to sit in. On top of keeping anyone from reaching the blood, the phrase allowed the margay to use the blood as an anchor to see Damian without touching it.

"You can talk, you know?" Oscar said.

"I didn't want to disturb you."

"I just see, the ears work fine."

"What's Damian up to?"

"He just took off."

"Any idea where he's heading?"

"Sorry, I don't get sound, and he hasn't been accommodating enough to write the destination down."

"How about his ticket?"

"No ticket. He's in a private jet. The men around him look business-like. One or two might be military, bodyguards possibly."

How did Damian manage to convince someone to let him fly with them? His magic? The sex? "Have you seen him do anything magical?"

"No. They met him at the airport, looked like they already knew each other. He must have arranged this before he agreed to give you his blood."

"Is the lack of sound standard with your ability?"

"It's one sense only. I've never heard of one of us who could hear and see."

"So if I want both I'll have to find someone to work in concert with you?"

Oscar nodded. "I can give you names, but you might have a hard time convincing them to help you."

"Let me guess. I'm a Rasia."

The margay glanced at me. "Yeah, sorry. Even my family isn't happy about me helping you, but I pointed out we owe you for releasing me from Damian, so they didn't stop me."

I sighed. "Is there any chance they'll stop thinking of me as the Society's boogieman?"

Oscar stood and stretched. "You're fighting a lot of history, Dent. None of it is good. You're going to have to be patient with them. I think this is a good start, getting someone from each family here to work together. If nothing else it'll let them see you don't have any hidden agenda. I need to take a break."

"You don't have to spend all your time here watching Damian."

"I want to. I want to catch that bastard when he's going to try something. I had him crawling in my head. I intend to pay him back for that."

"Just don't tire yourself out doing it." I saw the elk standing in the lobby, looking impatient and sighed. "And I need to go put out another fire I think."

Oscar took one look down the hall. "That's the Green Man's Representative, right? You are taking a big risk bringing them in. If the Church finds out, they are not going to be happy."

"Pissing off the Gray Church is kind of my motto at this point. Wait until the Sisters get here, or is one of those ten knives people responds to my office."

Oscar stopped. "Are you serious? Just who are you inviting to work here?"

"Everyone."

"Dent, the other factions, you can't trust them. They have their own agendas."

"And the families don't? Oscar, this thing that's coming, it isn't going to be limited to us. It's going to affect everyone."

The margay looked at me dubious. "Right, that prophecy. Dent, precognition doesn't work that way. Precogs see short-range, a few days, weeks at most. I know you don't want to think of your family that way, but--"

"Oscar, I know the Rasia were hoarders of secrets and blackmailers. That doesn't mean they didn't have their reasons."

"Dent, maybe they believed it, but--"

"You weren't in the forest. The thing that Kidnapped Louis Santiago, it basically said the same thing. War is coming. A war against the faction. That's two unrelated prediction about basically the same thing."

Oscar sighed. "War is always happening, and you'll always have people who use that to justify the horrible things they do. Just be careful it doesn't become an obsession."

"I'm too busy running this place to have obsessions. I need to deal with that before it escalates." I headed to the lobby before Oscar could reply.

The elk saw me. "Your sister is still avoiding me."

"And what am I supposed to do about..." I trailed off as a mottled brown and gray hare entered, looking around nervously. He saw me and forced a smile. He waved, then dropped his hand, growing nervous again.

The elk raised his voice. "Her behavior is unacceptable of--"

"Yeah, yeah. That isn't new. Give me a minute." I headed for the hare. "Bret, what are you doing here?"

"Denton, we have to talk."

"Look, if Alice put you up to this, I'm not playing. Dealing with her is fine, but I'm not--"

"She doesn't know I'm here. Trust me, as God is my witness, she doesn't, but it's about her. Look can we talk somewhere private?"

I let my breath out. I could feel the elk's glare on my back, he wasn't going to be happy with being ignored, but I had to deal with this first.

The problem was, could I trust anything Bret said? What were the odds that Alice's husband, Alice's very religious husband, wasn't also part of the Gray Church? I led him to my office and closed the door behind him. Whatever the answer was, I didn't want witnesses for this conversation.

"Before you start, Bret, I need to know something," I said sitting and frosting the glass. "What was your part in Alice framing me?"

"What are you talking about? What frame? Look. I think all this has caused her to have a mental break or something. She's obsessed with you having betrayed her. I mean I've seen her angry before. You know she's got a temper, but she's never been angry with anyone for this long. Usually after a few boxing matches she's worked it out of her system, but this time it's lingering. And I don't understand why."

He looked at me expectantly.

"What are you hoping I'll say, Bret?"

"A reason for why you two had a falling out would be nice."

"She didn't tell you?"

"She said you betrayed her, but come on, you two were partners for six years. If it was just something about your family being into crime or something, she'd have gotten over it. The way she's behaving you'd have to... I don't know. I can't think of anything you could do to her that she wouldn't solve by getting you in the ring and punching out."

He sounded earnest. If she hadn't given him the details, maybe he wasn't part of the church, past attending every Sunday. If this was a ploy, and he was hoping to record some sort of confession, he's be surprised. The office was wrapped in phrases that made any kind of recording impossible.

That didn't mean I could be careless with what I said. "Bret. I honestly don't know why Alice has gone overboard about this. I didn't think to offer to work it out in the ring, but when she pointed a gun in my face, I figured that wasn't going to help."

"She what?"

"Bret. I tried to explain things to her."

"Explain what? It's not making any sense. Why would your birth family cause her to behave this way?"

I sighed. "Bret, she's going to have to be the one to tell you. I'm sorry, but I'm not going to be the one to bring you into this. I get the feeling you coming here will piss her off." My phone buzzed.

"She doesn't know I'm here."

"She will. She's had my company watched since I've started it. Someone's made a note of your arrival. When she gets it she's going to realize it's you and she isn't going to be happy." I glanced at the display, it was from Marcus. "I need to check this."

I brought up the message.

"Denton. Just a head s up that the twins are--"

I doubled over in pain.

"Denton?" Bret asked. And I felt him next to me.

The pain was all-encompassing, magic, it had to be magic, but that was impossible. The building was shielded, and my office had extra shielding. For someone to get through all that, they'd need a direct line to me, my cum or my-- blood.

The wards.

I forced myself up, I pushed passed the pain. And headed for the door.

"Denton, what are you okay?"

I couldn't answer him, I needed all my strength to make it to the ward and stop whoever was there from destroying Damian's blood.

But as I reached the door, the explosion threw me back.