“Yeah.”
Jimmy stepped around me, checked for a pulse, even though the slice across Xander’s throat told the tale before Jimmy shook his head. “They trashed everything.” He flicked his finger, stained with Whitelaw’s blood, at the books and papers. “Even if there was info for us, we wouldn’t find it now.”
“I doubt he wrote anything down.”
“Whoever—whatever—got here before us did their best to torture something out of him.”
Jimmy turned the professor’s arm over to reveal burn marks on the skin. Bruises made his face nearly unrecognizable. I thought I might be sick.
“Do you think they got it?” Jimmy asked.
Xander wasn’t a DK. He was just a guy. He might look like a blond Indiana Jones, but he wasn’t Indy. No one was.
“Yes,” I whispered. “They got it.”
“We need to go through his stuff anyway; then we’ll burn the place.”
I nodded. I knew the drill. Leave behind nothing to arouse suspicion, and this— I traced my fingertips over Whitelaw’s shoulder. This was suspicious as hell.
“You take that side.” Jimmy jerked his head to the right. “I’ll take this one.”
We found nothing. I wasn’t surprised. If there’d been any information—written or otherwise—the Nephilim had it now.
We checked every room in the place; then we started a fire in Xander’s office, setting it up to appear as if he’d fallen asleep working and dropped a cigarette onto a pile of ancient books. We’d call 911 once we were on the road. They might save the building, but the office and Xander himself would be gone.
As we walked out, I snatched Xander’s hat—a replica of a familiar battered brown fedora—off the coat rack and took it along.
“What was he?” Jimmy asked as we drove north again.
“Professor of prophecy.”
“I meant breed, fairy, psychic, what?”
“Just a guy.”
Jimmy’s hands jerked, and we nearly drove off the road. “He was human?”
“Yeah.”
“You recruited a human into the federation.”
“He wasn’t in the federation; he was doing research.”
“Are you nuts?” Jimmy shouted. I jumped. He rarely shouted, but when he did, it was always at me. “You can’t let just plain people in on this.”
“I didn’t let him in on anything. He already knew.” Kind of.
Xander had been studying the legends for years. He understood more about revelatory prophecy than just about anyone else. He’d put two and two together. He’d only needed me to come along and agree that it made four.
“Just look where knowing got him,” Jimmy said through his teeth.
“Ruthie was watching him,” I blurted. “She said he was good at his job.”
“But she didn’t ask him to put his neck on the line.” I flinched, remembering the huge hole that had been sliced into Xander’s throat because of me. “She knew better. Only beings with supernatural powers have any chance of living through a meeting with a Nephilim, and not even some of them. Who else have you told about this that isn’t one of us?”
“Nobod—” I froze, my lips still forming the word, but all the breath had left my body.
“Who?” Jimmy demanded.
My horrified gaze met his. I closed my mouth, swallowed, then managed to whisper, “Megan.”
CHAPTER 7
My best friend didn’t answer the phone—not at home and not at the bar.
Since it was around happy hour at Murphy’s, she could easily be snowed with customers. She wouldn’t answer until things settled down. Even if she did, I wouldn’t have been able to accept her assurances that everything was all right. I’m sure there were Nephilim that could mimic a person’s voice and their appearance. The only way I’d know if Megan was okay would be to go to Milwaukee and touch her.
Jimmy pointed Thane’s Navigator toward Wisconsin without my having to ask. “Anyone else in on the secret?”
“No.”
“You’re sure.”
“Yes.”
“You understand what a secret is, don’t you?”
I gave him a glare.
“What were you thinking?” he demanded.
“Megan saw a Nephilim. What was I supposed to do?”
“Lie.”
“That’s what you’re good at. Me, not so much.” Especially to Megan. She was a mom. She could smell a lie before it even took form in my head, let alone came out of my mouth.
“You can’t put human beings in danger like this. Even if they’re aware of the Nephilim, they have no means of defending themselves against them.”
“I had a guard sent to watch over her.”
His forehead creased. “Who?”
“I’m—uh—not sure.”
“Do you know the meaning of ‘sent’?”
I narrowed my eyes and managed to keep my temper. “I asked Summer to send a DK, and she did.” Or so she’d said. I’d been a little too busy to follow up on that.
Jimmy gave me a quick glance, then returned his gaze to the road.