Trisk took one of the jackets and gratefully shrugged into it. “That’s why we need Kal. We can’t let him make an official statement.”
“Way ahead of you.” Pelhan scuffed to a halt at the back door, reaching in a pocket to bring out a metal ring. “God, this is weird,” he said as he pulled the pin from it and a faint glow swelled and then vanished to a little dot that seemed to hang in the air, just off center of the open space. “Daniel, if you ever breathe a word . . .”
“I know.” Daniel stared at it in fascination even as he put on the second jacket. “I say anything, and I’m dead.” He looked up, expression placid. “The threat has lost its meaning, but I’m not very eager to tell anyone now.”
“Don’t worry about Daniel” came Orchid’s voice from under his hat. “I’m his watchdog. I’ll make sure he dies if he ever makes a peep about us,” the pixy said.
Pelhan cocked his head, his amused expression vanishing when Orchid looked out and touched her hip where a sharp spike of metal hung. “I feel safer knowing that,” he said, and she beamed. Daniel rolled his eyes, clearly unaware that the pixy’s threat was real and utterly enforceable.
“So . . . what is it?” Trisk said, and Pelhan’s attention shifted to the ring of metal in his hand
“A tracker. My aunt makes them. We use them with missing persons. Ulbrine had me sensitize it to Kal.” Pelhan shifted it slightly as it lay on Trisk’s palm, and the bright dot moved. “He’s in the streets. I’d say . . . walking.” Pelhan pulled back, his gaze going to the closed door and the night visible beyond the thick glass. “Try not to get caught by the Weres,” he added. “There’s a lot of action on the street, even accounting for the unrest.”
“Thank you,” she said. She knew she had to go, but was suddenly reluctant to leave.
Pelhan shifted from foot to foot, clearly uncomfortable. “I wish I could do more. I’d give you a pass for the Weres, but . . .”
“But then there’d be a paper trail to you,” Daniel said as he peeked out the window at the dark street and the three-story parking structure empty and silent behind it. “Don’t worry about it. We can slip a pack of Weres.” He hesitated. “It looks clear. Ready, Trisk?”
She nodded, and on impulse, she stood on tiptoe and gave Pelhan a chaste kiss on his stubbly, two-days-from-a-razor cheek. “Thank you. I’m glad you found us.”
“Me too. Your advice on how to handle the vamps really helped.” His smile faded and he looked at Daniel. “Sorry about leaving you with the refugees, Doctor. But it did get the word out about how to slow this. You made a difference here, too. Thank you.”
Daniel flushed, making his pixy rash stand out. “You’re welcome.”
Nodding, Captain Pelhan ushered them to the door. “Can you by chance shoot?”
Daniel let go of the door, and it swung shut. “Ah, you mean a gun?” he said, eyes wide.
Pelhan made a pained face. “I guess that means no,” he said, his hand falling from his hip and the pistol holstered there.
“I can,” Trisk said, and Pelhan jerked, surprised. “I minored in security,” she added.
“Dark elf. Right,” the man said, the snap of his holster obvious as he handed the heavy weapon to her. “I want no magic in my streets. Understand? I’d rather you shoot someone.” He hesitated. “In the foot.”
Her face warmed as she recalled what she’d done in the break room. My God, it was as if she were a child. No restraint at all. That it had felt good was a guilty secret. “I’m sorry about the break room,” she said. “But there were no humans to see it, except for Daniel.”
“That’s what they thought in Detroit, too,” he said looming over her in threat. “Promise me, or I’ll lock you up. Right now.”
She frowned up at him. “That’s a dumb thing to say after giving me your gun.”
Pelhan’s brow furrowed right back at her, and finally Trisk heaved a quiet sigh, remembering how his office smelled like a redwood forest, the finding charm he’d made in only a few minutes, and the fact that he was in charge of the only functioning police station she’d seen this side of the Mississippi. “No obvious magic,” she said, and he nodded, satisfied. Unhappy at needing a gun at all, she felt the heft of it, checking the safety before stuffing it into her jacket pocket. It was an odd realization to walk away with: to kill with a handgun was preferred to gently holding with magic. Something was wrong with that.
“Cambri!” Ulbrine shouted from somewhere in the building, and Trisk jumped.
“Scoot.” Pelhan opened the door. “I’m glad to have met you, Dr. Cambri. It’s good to know all elves aren’t tricky, conniving bastards.”
Scoot? she thought as Daniel all but pushed her out into the night. She turned to thank him again, but Pelhan was already gone, his back visible through the glass as he strode away, his returning shout muffled.