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  Darien took a deep breath and seemed to be counting.

  “Did you know that your jaw twitches funny when you grind your teeth?” She asked. “Does that hurt extra because of your fangs or only when they’re extended?”

  He closed his eyes and she could practically see him counting backwards from ten, again, and took several deep breaths before speaking. “Caroline, after everything you’ve been through already, didn’t it occur to you to at least call someone? To let us know what you were doing before you did it?”

  “I did call someone! I called Julia and told her I was going to a party, and she knew where it was and a few of the people I knew would be there. I had my phone on me, and the taser Ollie fixed for me, and all the training that Peaches has given me. I was pretty confident in my ability to fend off drunken college boys.” It was a thin defense and she knew it. She really hoped that he didn’t ask for details about the creep since it pretty much rendered her entire argument invalid.

  “And what about the determined and apparently skilled kidnappers? You think you’re good against them, too?” Darien asked. “And Julia, as much as I love that woman, is not good backup in case of danger.”

  “I didn’t take her advice on how to stay safe. She wanted me to go out and sleep with someone and then come back to tell her all the sordid details,” Caroline admitted. “I didn’t take her advice about what to wear, either, to be perfectly honest. But I did figure that she’d call you guys if I didn’t report back afterwards.”

  Darien sighed.

  “And while Point has, well, a point about letting a stranger walk me home, you know as well as I do that I could have heard any menace in his voice when he offered. He was genuinely worried about my safety,” she said. “And he was a perfect gentleman the whole time. Kept his hands to himself and used his polite words.”

  “That’s true, you would have heard if he’d been thinking about being dangerous. But there are ways around your talent, Caroline. Just because we haven’t found a way around it yet doesn’t mean it’s not out there. Andy can’t just go running off on your own. Please? Don’t be going out on your own into dangerous situations. Even if it’s not an official case or anything, call me. Call Greg. Hell, call Peaches, he’d love a chance to go to a party and he’d probably make friends out of everyone there, scar or not. And when he gets pissed off, that guy scares the shit out of me.” Darien said.

  “Peaches is adorable, and I’ve seen you take on five elves on your own and come out unscathed. Don’t start,” Caroline scoffed.

  Darien shivered. “None of those elves were Peaches. There’s a reason he teaches combat.”

  4

  “This is where Shelly found Janine’s bag. It’s been a week, and I poked around a bit, but didn’t see anything. It’s almost all paved, though, between the sidewalk and the street. Just the shrubbery on this side.” Caroline gestured. She crouched down and pulled a branch back to point at the ground. “This is where Shelly said the purse was. She only saw the corner of it by chance, since it has a bright yellow pattern. She’s got the bag in her room.”

  Darien nodded and crouched beside her. “And it poured down rain on Wednesday.”

  “Those sudden storms still kind of freak me out.” Caroline shivered. “At least that damn horn is in the vault now. Small reassurance, I know. That thing isn’t going to be calling up any new weather anytime soon, but I still get nervous.”

  Darien poked around a bit under the bush, but there really wasn’t anything there to see, so they stood and glared around the street.

  “How far is it from here to the party Janine disappeared from?” Darien asked.

  “About half a block,” Caroline answered, pointing down the street. “You can see the driveway from here, the one with the green Mini Cooper sticking out of it.”

  Darien nodded slowly, thinking. “This hedge is the first thing that really blocks sight lines from that yard.”

  “True.” Caroline followed his gaze. “So, you think this guy lured her out, maybe had some kind of story ready, then grabbed her once they were away from prying eyeballs?”

  “Sounds plausible enough for a working theory. From everything you’ve told me about Janine, it seems like she’s got a sharp mind for her classwork, but maybe not so much for social interactions,” he said. “She might simply have fallen for some line of BS and gone willingly enough with her kidnapper. At least at first.”

  “Then once they got here where there was the start of some privacy… but what about the street side? There’s houses all up and down this street, and it’s wide open. Anyone could have seen them on that side.” Caroline waved out at the empty midday street.

  It was an average college town residential street, nothing much remarkable about it, but Caroline knew for a fact that neighbors around here tended to mind everyone else’s business. Especially the non-students, who were more than happy to call in a noise complaint or other annoyance or infraction. Most people weren’t home right now, either at work or in class, and the empty driveways and handful of cars parked at the curb spoke to that.

  “What if there was something else blocking the view? Say, an SUV or a van parked right about there?” Darien gestured at the empty curb beside them and quirked a brow up.

  “Ugh.” She started to roll her eyes at the obvious solution, but her phone rang. She was still frowning at the empty curb when she answered without looking. “Hello?”

  “Hi, Caroline? It’s Lucas. How are you doing?” His voice was just as pleasant over the phone as it had been in person.

  “I’m good, actually. Thanks for the escort last night.” Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw Darien perk his head up from where he was crouched by the bushes again.

  “My pleasure, you’re fun to talk to and I’d hate to hear you’d vanished, too. So, listen. I’m heading back out tonight to another party, and I wondered if you’d like to come. If you still haven’t found your friend, that is,” Lucas said. Over the phone was a little trickier for Caroline to pick up the subtle undercurrents, and Lucas seemed to be especially hard to read, but he did seem to be earnest. There was some worry, as well, though if it was for her or the missing girls, Caroline wasn’t certain.

  “Where is it?” She asked.

  “Not too far from where we were last night, actually. The Throwdown at the Matchboxes last night seems to have been the kickoff for a whole weekend series of rowdy madness, although I can’t argue with the tradition of starting the weekend on Thursday. Anyway, I guess the game on Saturday is a big deal.” Even his voice shrugged at that statement.

  “Yeah, well. We may not be a major football school, but I guess we do have a dedicated rivalry. Football is serious stuff, you know,” Caroline had to laugh. Darien’s eyes narrowed and a frown started, but she didn’t care. “Well, I’m not entirely sure what my afternoon looks like, so let me find out and get back to you, okay? I talked to my friends at work and I think my boss, Point, called the local precinct, and I’m willing to bet that they’re going to put a bit more work into looking for Janine and Sara now, too.”

  “Oh? This person has some clout?” Lucas asked. Caroline let out an amused snort.

  “Yeah, a little. And even if he didn’t, he’s not a guy you want pissed off and yelling at you,” she said. “I’m actually with my partner right now, looking at where Janine disappeared from. You don’t happen to know where Sara was when she vanished, do you?”

  “I don’t. I’ve managed to find people who’ve seen her up to a few hours before the party she wanted to attend, but I can’t pin down when or where she was when she disappeared. If that makes any sense. Partner? I didn’t know you were seeing someone?” A leading question and obvious digging. Lucas wasn’t trying to be subtle.

  “Too bad. We could head over there next, maybe meet up with you,” Caroline grinned. Who knew flirting was so much fun? She definitely missed out in high school. “And Darien’s my work partner, not my date.”

  Darien growled softly, a
nd Caroline laughed again.

  “Okay, okay. And he’s a good friend.”

  Lucas laughed as well. “And a bit protective, it sounds. I’m glad to know that, considering the circumstances.”

  “Ugh, you have no idea,” she said.

  “Pretty girl like you could be a good target.” Lucas’ voice had a thread of concern twisting through the flirtatious tone, and Caroline felt her cheeks warm. “Stay safe. The buddy system is often a suggestion for a reason.”

  “I’ll be careful, don’t worry. Let me check what’s going on today and I’ll call you back about the party, okay?”

  “Sure, you have my number, so just let me know. I was thinking I’d head over around nine. I’ll text you the details so your partner won’t have to try to follow you around all bodyguard-like. And you can tell him I promise to behave better than a drunken frat boy.”

  Caroline laughed. “You’ve already proved capable of that.”

  They said goodbye and Caroline hung up, a grin stretching across her face.

  “Well, he seems friendly,” Darien grumbled.

  “He is. And he was honestly worried about his own missing friend, and concerned about my safety last night, so be nice.”

  Darien poked at the bottom of the bushes for another moment before he stood up and turned back to her. “Well, let’s go see your friend Shelly, and take a look at Janine’s bag. There might be something there that wasn’t rained all over. All we’ve got here are a few hints of a scuffle from some broken twigs. They could also just be someone tripped and fell over into the hedge or an overexcited dog, so I don’t want to base any conclusions on this.”

  He was being extra cautious about this for some reason. Once in the car, he pulled out onto the road and headed towards campus, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel.

  “What?” Caroline’s patience was wearing thin.

  “What, what?” He answered, and Caroline had to take a slow breath in to avoid snapping.

  “What’s got you so wound up?”

  “What do you mean?” He glanced over his shoulder before he shifted into the turn lane onto the access road to the main visitor parking lot. “I’m not wound up.”

  “God. I don’t even need my weird magic trick to know you’re lying. Anyone would. That was super unconvincing.” Caroline finally gave in to the urge and rolled her eyes.

  Darien scrunched up his face but didn’t answer her while he pulled into a parking space and shut the engine off. He sat there for a long moment before turning and shrugging. “I just don’t like the timing. Your classmate disappears and then suddenly this guy shows up all friendly and offering to help by getting you alone and taking you to parties and playing on your sympathy. It’s too tidy.”

  That made sense. It was reasonable, even, for anyone who didn’t have a built-in lie detector. “I’d know if he was lying to me, D.”

  “I know that, Sunshine, but it’s setting off all my instincts,” he said. “I feel responsible for keeping you safe, you know that.”

  He looked so agitated that Caroline had to sigh. “Yeah, I know. But this is a dangerous job we’re doing, remember? Since I met you half a year ago I’ve been in hospitals and medical suites more often than the previous eighteen years combined.”

  He looked stricken and the blood drained from his face.

  “Hey,” she said, nudging his arm with her shoulder. “You keep looking like that and everyone will know you’re a vampire. Come on, tall, dark, and deadly. Let’s go see a girl about a purse, and maybe I can get a college cutie to flirt with you at the dorms.”

  “No, thank you,” Darien shivered. “I’ve been to college. I do not need to go through that all over again. Although it does sound like I may have to attend a party tonight.” He glared at her.

  “Um, no. If we’re not still working, you are definitely not coming out on my date, too.”

  “Is it a date?” His eyes narrowed and slid over to her face.

  Caroline hoped she wasn’t blushing, but she had a bad feeling that she was. “Probably not a real date, no, but you know what I mean.” She shrugged. “Either way, you’re not going to be following me around it.”

  Because anxious, overprotective Darien was definitely not who she needed at a party. Nobody wanted a brooding vampire scaring their potential witnesses away, and Caroline herself didn’t need one intimidating the first cute guy who’d shown her any real interest, ever.

  Just because she was training to become a badass federal agent didn’t mean she wasn’t still eighteen, after all. Sometimes she just wanted to be a normal girl.

  5

  “Well, kids. I heard you’ve gotten yourselves into some mischief.” Greg strolled into the lab, juggling some brightly colored balls. Darien shot him a glare and Caroline just smothered a grin.

  “If I have told you once, Greg, I have told you daily for the past three years. No juggling in the lab,” Ollie didn’t even look up from his station where he was carefully scraping a corner of Janine’s abandoned bag. The contents lay spread neatly out over a tray and consisted almost exclusively of Janine’s ID, her keys, her phone, and her wallet. There was a little bit of the usual detritus that always seemed to wind up in the bottom of a purse— receipts and coins and such— but they weren’t terribly helpful.

  “Sorry,” Greg stashed the balls in his pocket, keeping the neon yellow one out and rolling it around in his hand. “What’s our progress?”

  “Ollie noticed a funny stain on the corner of the bag. Might be anything from leftover rum and coke to dog poop,” Darien sighed. “Sadly, the bag itself belongs to Shelly, the friend, so it could be completely unrelated.”

  “She did say the purse was almost new, though. How was your case?” Caroline turned to look at Greg.

  “The tip panned out and I rounded up not only the mage I followed who was selling the drugs, but three of his associates too, and the lab was shut down. All in all, a pretty good day,” Greg grinned, then sighed as the smile slid away. “It won’t change a lot in the long run, but at least this guy’s off the street. We’ve got a week or two before someone else steps into his place.”

  “True, but that will be a week or two that you can concentrate on this problem,” Ollie said, straightening and turning to look at the three of them. “The stuff on this bag is a stunning powder.”

  “A stunning powder?” Caroline asked.

  “It’s a magical tranquilizer. A puff of stunning powder can render an average person unconscious if it’s used right.” Darien’s face was grim. He nodded at Greg, “It would definitely slow either of us down, too, if we got hit in the face with enough of it.”

  “Wouldn’t knock us out, maybe,” Greg nodded his agreement. “Someone like, say, Point or a pixie wouldn’t be knocked out, because they have a naturally high resistance to magic influences, but they could be badly disoriented with a full strength blast. It might give someone the edge they need to get away. ” Or worse was left unsaid, but Caroline heard it in her mind anyway.

  “And what would it do to a normal human? Or a weak mage?” She asked.

  “We often talk like mages are a separate species. A human mage without a specific protection against stunning powder is just another human. It would easily knock them out for hours. Plenty long enough to get them transported in a van and secured somewhere else,” Darien said. “An elf mage would probably do a little bit better, be out for less time or maybe just get drowsy. Other paranormals vary.”

  “Why is it that humans are always the weakest species?” Caroline scrunched her face up and glared around the room.

  “It’s not so much that humans are weak,” Greg shrugged. “It’s that they don’t seem to have any natural magical resistances. Some of the most powerful mages in history have been human, remember.”

  “This powder is on the weaker side,” Ollie sat carefully on his specially crafted stool. Turned out it was difficult to get lab equipment suited for use by eleven-foot-tall ogre. “Humans would be subdue
d easily, and elves would likely affected enough to adult one, but I doubt it would knock either of you out, or even disorient you much. Not even if you were hit full in the face by a solid handful of this. It may slow you down a bit, but that might be just as much from having dust in your eyes as any magical effects.”

  “So, this stuff is pretty much designed just for human targets?” Caroline asked. That felt somewhat unfair. And pretty important.

  “That does seem to be a likely theory to work from,” Ollie agreed. “I suggest Point hears about this before I’m finished with my official report. I’ll get the paperwork in as fast as I can, but the sooner we’re moving on this the better.”

  “Because someone is going around campus with stunning powder and grabbing human students,” Caroline said slowly. “And the police are being no help at all, not that it matters much since the stunning powder puts it squarely under FPAA jurisdiction. Good thing Shelly came to find me.”

  “True. This case likely would have ended up in our laps anyway,” Darien pointed at the purse on the workstation behind Ollie. “The regular police aren’t very well prepared to deal with stunning powder in the best of cases, and it implies that paranormals are involved in the bigger picture which the regular cops are definitely not prepared to deal with.”

  Caroline scowled. “Assuming they even bothered trying in the first place. Let’s go fill Point in, then. Thanks Ollie!” She marched through the lab door and headed for Point’s office. The whole case had just gone from being concerned about a classmate to a personal offense. Sure, she knew that there were people out there that saw other people as objects. It took one glance at the news to know that much.

  But the idea that humans specifically were being targeted for some reason? That pissed her off.