No one seemed to register the amount of shock and awe that my proclamation required, and I huffed. “Hello? Guys? There is a serial killer out there and you’re what he’s looking for.”
Nina bit her lip. “I don’t know, Sophie. Demon hunters can’t exist. Have you read Harley’s book?”
I was sputtering. “Wh-what? Harley’s book? Nina, Harley’s stupid book says you don’t exist! You’re in love with a man who has mathematically proven that you”—I jumped forward and batted her on the shoulder, to show how corporeal she was—“don’t exist. Yet, here you are, standing in our living room, looking at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you think I’m completely Looney Tunes for suggesting that we might be in danger.”
Sergio leaned over to Will. “What book is this?”
Vlad patted my shoulder in an effort to placate me. “It’s not that we think you’re Looney Tunes, but look at the facts. Someone shot at you and Will with silver bullets—silver bullets that only kill werewolves.”
I held up a single finger. “And can make a hell of a dent in your everyday average human.”
“You’re not everyday,” Will put in.
“Or average,” Nina chimed in.
“But I’m still human, and I was still shot at. And, Nina, I swear to God, if you say that being mistaken for a werewolf is proof positive I need to wax in the winter, I will drive a stake through your heart myself.”
Nina crossed her arms in front of her chest and jutted out a hip. “You said it, not me.”
“You guys, this is serious. Can’t you see?”
I looked into the unconcerned faces surrounding me: Nina, surreptitiously eyeing my winter-hairy legs; Vlad, dark eyes cutting from the clock to the front door; Sergio, intently flipping through the promotional copy of Harley’s book, which Will handed him.
This was going to be harder than I thought.
I looked around, feeling my eyes widen while my stomach dropped. “What if this is another fallen angel?”
Nina blinked at me. “If it were, don’t you think they’d toss out the middle man and kill you directly? I mean, no offense.”
“I don’t know.” I looked at Will. “Maybe they’re playing—trying to get me nervous or something?”
Will rubbed his chin. “There has been no information on any fallen angels coming into town. As for them playing with you? Nina is kind of right. Fallen angels don’t play. If they’re after you, it’s pretty direct.”
“And frankly,” Vlad stated, eyes glued to his screen,
“everything that has happened so far has been pretty coincidental. Kale got hit by a car—a hundred cars run through that intersection every day. It was bound to happen.”
I put my hands on my hips. “And Bettina and Mrs. Henderson and the centaur and me getting staked?”
“Muggings, breakins—they happen. The economy is tanking, breathers get desperate. Unfortunately, both of those can end in murder.”
I tried to shoot a questioning glance at Will, but he was fully immersed in the last piece of pizza. I cleared my throat; and when he looked up, he opened his mouth, looking as though he was about to agree with Vlad. I pinned him with a glare and he snapped his mouth shut.
“The guy said he was going to eradicate her kind, Vlad. Do you really think that was just your average thug?”
Vlad shrugged. “I got mugged in New Orleans by a guy who told me he was mugging for Christ. It takes all kinds.”
Sergio stood up, dropping his napkin onto his plate. “Look, everyone, I appreciate your concern, and even more so appreciate the hospitality, but I really should get running.”
I felt hysteria rising in my chest. “But someone just tried to kill you!”
Sergio patted me on the shoulder and smiled at me kindly. “Again, I appreciate everything, but I’ll be fine.”
I watched Sergio walk out the door; then Will gave me a quick hug and turned to go, too, but not before telling me, “I’ll keep an eye out—poke around and see if there is anything that seems a little”—his eyes cut left and right—“angelically abnormal. But you never know, Sophie. Vlad could be right and this could all be a chain of coincidences.”
Will stiffened, and I sensed he could feel the ice-cold waves of disbelief wafting from me.
He tried an unconvincing smile. “Besides, why would someone want to attack the Underworld?”
I dug my teeth into my lower lip. If anyone is going to save the Underworld, I thought, it’s going to have to be me.
Chapter Fifteen
I set the pink donut box next to the coffee and tea service on the credenza; then I set a tray of artfully arranged blood bags next to that, trying to make the UDA conference room look welcoming. I was buns to the sky, rooting around in my shoulder bag, when Will’s lilting voice broke the silence.
“I love this country.”
I turned around and shot him an icy glare. “This is serious, Will.”
“Obviously.” Will stared skeptically at the fuzzy purple earmuffs I offered him.