Of course she was. I looked down at my greasy, cheesy, sausage pizza. What with the dead animal on it and everything. “Will it bother you to have it here?” I asked reluctantly. I really, really didn’t want her to say yes.
But she waved a hand. “Oh, no. I don’t expect people around me to live the same way I do, that’s just silly.” I relaxed an inch and swooped up a slice, taking a huge first bite. I was so hungry. “But . . . I guess I don’t really know why I’m here,” she continued, looking almost apologetic.
“Then why’d you come?” I asked, my mouth still full.
Runa gestured helplessly, not sure what to say. I swallowed and said with effort, “I’m sorry, that was rude. What I meant to say was, ‘Thanks for coming.’”
She nodded, her short blonde pigtails bobbing along with her head. I was really having to work hard not to hate her on sight. It wasn’t just that she’d dated Jesse—she was also annoyingly put-together, artistic, and graceful. She gave off a sense of inner peace that I envied much more than her beauty. Lots of people are beautiful, and you don’t live in Los Angeles very long before you notice that, hey, a whole bunch of them congregate here. But Runa also seemed so comfortable in her skin. I, on the other hand, couldn’t even feel comfortable in my sweatpants and ratty T-shirt. I felt a pang of grief for my dad’s Chicago Bears jersey, which Eli had taken away, presumably to destroy.
Focus, Scarlett. “I asked you here,” I began, “because I need to talk to someone about a really big Old World mess, and frankly my options are limited. Very limited.” She smiled a little ruefully, and I liked her for it. “Sorry again,” I added.
“What about Jesse?” she said carefully, keeping her face still. “Can’t he help?”
“Jesse and I are not okay right now,” I answered. No sense tiptoeing around it. “But I’d rather not talk about him.”
Runa nodded again. “I can respect that.”
“Thank you. Please hang on a second while I inhale a little more pizza.” This time she grinned at me, and I finished off the slice and reached for another. “I think my body’s still hungry from being unconscious for a couple of days,” I mumbled.
Runa blinked. “When was this?”
I stilled. “You don’t . . . Kirsten didn’t tell you?”
Her eyes flinched away. “Kirsten and I are not okay right now,” she said softly.
Kirsten was the one who’d sent Runa to get close to Jesse, in hopes of finding out if he was telling Old World secrets to anyone, especially other cops. He’d dumped Runa when he’d found out. I was guessing that this had been what created the rift between Runa and Kirsten, which was interesting, but not really my business. “Fair enough,” I said, shrugging.
“But I don’t mind being a sounding board, if that’s what you need.” She fidgeted for a moment, pushing loose strands of blonde hair behind her ears.
“I guess I’ll start at the beginning then. Stop me if you’ve heard this one.”
So I walked her through the whole thing: the confrontation with Olivia, waking up to Will, getting called back to work, the nova, the investigation with Jesse. She told me about being assigned to the Evergreen crime scene and calling Jesse, after which I picked up the story again. By the time I got to the Luparii, we had moved into the living room, drinking coffee that she’d made. Apparently the coffee Molly bought was already vegan.
I told her everything, except for the parts having to do with changing Eli back into a human. Will had told me to keep that a secret, and it was the least I could do for him. And besides, it wasn’t really connected to the mess with the nova, not anymore.
“So Jesse’s still making calls, but I don’t know how we’re going to find the nova,” I summed up. “And the full moon is tomorrow night.”
Runa sat back in her chair, looking thoughtful. “And you don’t know where the nova is,” she said slowly. “But you think you know where he’s going to be.”
“Right. But even if Jesse’s right, Griffith is too big, and the Luparii scout is still out there too.”
“Hmm.” Runa stared off into space for a moment, considering. “And I suppose it wouldn’t do any good for you and Jesse to split up and go after the nova and the scout separately.”
I shook my head. “Jesse’s a good cop, but he can’t go up against a witch with a lethal dog-monster, or a werewolf in a big natural area.” Griffith wasn’t a clear field where you could see anything coming; it was a dense tangle of brushes, trees, and rocky outcroppings. A werewolf would have no trouble getting the jump on a human, with or without silver bullets.
Sighing, I pushed hair away from my face. I’d taken out my ponytail so I could rest my head comfortably on the couch. “It’d be different if we could track the nova somehow, or know exactly where he’s going to park his car and change. Then we could get him in my radius, let Jesse subdue him, and problem solved.”
A slow smile was spreading over Runa’s gorgeous face. “What?” I asked, confused. “What’d I say?”
Runa leaned forward. “You think you need to find the nova, but technically that’s not true. You just need something that can find him.”
“Isn’t that splitting hairs?” I asked doubtfully.
Then I got it.
I grinned at the gorgeous witch, suddenly fully appreciating what Jesse had seen in her. “Runa Vore, you clever minx.”
Chapter 39
Jesse was having a long night.