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She looked atwith unshed tears "Find out who killed her, please Trixie wasn’t the brightest bulb in the socket, but that made her special And…she wasup her desk, we took that as our clue I scooped up the matchbook and put it in my pocket, and we filed out By the ti myself one of her cinnamon rolls The pain on Marion’s face had killed my appetite

Back in the car, Caain She shuddered as I dropped it into her palnize Tregart energy in particular, we’ve run into so lanced over at hiart who had aled his life forever He’d been terrified of them since last year, but now the look in his eyes was borderline dangerous He didn’t so ot Van and Jaycee--I think we can safely say they’re wrapped up in this They’re both sorcerers and Tregarts We’ve got aTelazhar’s ?"

"The kitchen sink?" Caether "Whatever they’re up to, you can bet it’s no good Question: why Trixie? Why use her this way?"

"Because she knows about the coyote shifters Because the Koyanni are out to even the score and they hate their less volatile brethren Because…" A cold sashed over me "Because Marion told us about the Koyanni and they found out, somehow, that she’s the one who outed theht have told theainst someone you hate--kill their faht, but it doesn’t fully account for the up the Supe Community Center And why not just kill Trixie alone, why destroy others?" Chase cleared his throat "I still have a feeling they’re trying to drive a wedge between the FBHs and the Supes Getting Trixie in the mix that was a bonus"

I thought about it for a bit "You ical edge They knoe have a small army, so either theytheir best to psych us out before we uard Make us juain "So what next?"

"We should check on the other two fae, because that seems to be our priear and we headed off to our next victim’s house

By the time we finished up, we hadn’t found any connection between Thoe

Chase dropped us off in the parking lot "Sharah and I’ll see you tonight at seven" He paused "So, you don’t think it’s weird that I’hed "Sharah’s so far removed that you really shouldn’t worry And think of it, dude…you’re related to royalty"

He shook his head, looking a little dazed "I still can’t believe that I’m part elf A very small part, but…"

"Welcome to our world" Camille shook her head "Guess what, you’re part minority now When Andy Ga about you, too Think about that the next ti that pervert’s face I still think I should tell Smoky what he did"

"No! I h to hiood idea" Chase headed back into the building as we climbed into my Jeep

Camille fastened her seat belt "So what do we do about the Energy Exchange?"

"We do ays do Investigate, see e can dig up on it" I eased the Jeep out of the parking lot and we headed toward home "And we ask Menolly to convince Roman to tell us about Bryan In fact, I wouldn’t mind a look at that website Maybe we can find Trixie’s postings online"

"You think Rouy?" Caed "We still don’t know a lot about Roman, or what he eventually wants with Menolly She’s convinced he’s okay and I trust her, but let’s face facts--he’s an ancient vae was, and he’s the son of Blood Wyne, the Queen of the Cri to rat out a fellow vampire"

I’d had my own doubts about Roh Menolly was overtly suspicious of just about everybody, for souard with hi that reason directly involved the outlet he gave her for the sexuality that she couldn’t express with Nerissa Not without putting her lover at risk Vampire bloodlust could be a powerful and persuasive force

"Yeah, we need to check these things out, but tonight is Iris’s wedding and there’s no way I’o hunt down a club But too with us Derrick can handle the bar" I put the car in gear "Now, let’s surprise Iris by getting horumbled as she answered it "Yeah? What now?…Oh, for cripe’s sake! Can’t you handle--no…no…okay, we’ll be there in tenfeeling in"Who are we fighting this tiroup of bikers--Shaarts, but to everybody else they look like a bunch of thugs--are trashing the Davinaka mini-mall Take Aurora Boulevard and turn left onto Alpine And let’s get there as soon as we can--the owners are caught inside Chase will get there as soon as he can"

Cursing all the way, I put the Jeep into gear while Camille called ho, I’d skewer them and toast them over a bonfire

The Davinaka was one main shop surrounded by smaller vendors in an enclosed mini-mall, run by Supes, mostly for Supes The shops contained iteet While the smaller stalls were leased by individuals, the Davinaka itself ned by Jade Thoin Even she didn’t know her background or how she got to be the way she was, but she could shift into several foro

By the tiot there, Sh the Ionyc Seas They were bringing our weapons We swung out of the Jeep just as they appeared in the parking lot, on one of the middle islands near a bare-branched Madroña tree A bench had been built around the trunk

We hurried over to theer hoer

"What have we got?" Sarts?"

"Group of them There’s the prowl car Shamas and his partner are in there" I nodded to the police cruiser over near the door The car bore the mark of the FH-CSI on the doors