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Lee nodded "Oh, believedown, he fiddled with his bottle of koht be other ways I could help you, Daisy"

"Oh, yeah?" I was skeptical but curious "Like what? No offense"

Lifting his head, he gave ?"

"Sure"

"Back in a sec" Lee bounded out of the roo a few minutes later wrapped in his black leather duster

I did ht we talked about this, Lee"

"I know, I know But there’s a reason for it this ti the buttons, he opened his duster like a flasher to reveal a square white box strapped to his chest, then thumbed a switch on his belt "Check it out"

A blast of intensive white light blazed forth froh that I shielded !" Lee shouted, as though he needed to raise his voice to be heard over the sound of the light Which didn’tfrom "The kind therapists recommend for people with seasonal depression!" He switched it off "Artificial sunlight, Daisy Think about it! It’s a great weapon to use against vampires"

Damn, that really was kind of brilliant I couldn’t believe no one had thought of it before Or maybe they had, but if so, I’d never heard about it Or it didn’t work, which was also a distinct possibility

"Have you field-tested it?" I asked Lee

"Are you kidding?" He shot ht ht about it and shook my head "I’m pretty sure that would be a violation of protocol"

Lee looked confused "What protocol?"

"Yeah, exactly" I took a deep breath, exhaled "Seeit’s hard to explain, but there’s a set of understood rules that apply to the eldritch community None of them are clear and so theainst what mundane law dictates The House of Shadows is a sort of sovereign territory Going in there ar a firo in arain "That’s like a declaration of war And there’s no war, Lee All of us here in Pe our best toreat idea," I said

"Well, what about me?" he asked "What if I wore it out on patrol with you sometime? I could be your backup Would that be a violation of protocol?"

I bit the inside of my cheek to suppress an involuntary smile "Lee, I don’t want to imply that you watch too much TV, because that would totally be a pot-kettle situation, but I don’t patrol the town That’s what the active-duty police officers do I only get involved if there’s a reason for it"

"Okay, now I feel like an idiot" Lee slipped out of his duster, revealing the harness and battery pack that held the light box in place "It’s justgrowing up in Pemkowet, surrounded by the eldritch community, it’s like I’ve always been in it, but not entirely of it" He unsnapped the buckle on the harness "It’s always there, but you only ever catch sight of it in glimpses, out of the corner of your eye"

"Hello?" I turned h school with me"

"Yeah, but you don’t count" He backtracked "I don’t mean that, I meanyou only ever showed your human side Ahhmostly At least I had the ied "It’s safer that way"

Lee nodded "Okay All I’ht when you took me to Little Niflheim, since I saw Hel herself, I feel like I’m of that world And I like it I don’t want to lose that feeling Does that make sense?"