Chapter 27
The team arrived in an unmarked van, parking next to us in the designated police spots near the inside ground floor door.
I thought the apartment manager was going to go into shock over the group arriving in their SED vests with their equipment, but Bobby took over, smiling at the lady and speaking calm things to her while Wade made his way to us for more intel.
Ezra kept back, studying the lobby, the handful of occupants, and likely assessing who he might talk to first.
“I’ve got Bobby’s scanner,” Wade said. “We have three new settings to try. You think this is a DV thing? I can call Kerry in. Her nose isn’t good, but she sees Veil shit better than most.”
Angel shook his head. “I’d like to keep it to us right now. Until we have more.” He looked over at me. “Can you describe what you saw to Wade?”
I glanced up, searching for the purple spread I’d first encountered in the lobby when we entered, but it was gone.
Sighing, I tried, “It sort of looked like purple smoke? Or a crack. It didn’t move like smoke, but was puffy like smoke.
” Fuck, how did I describe something that I didn’t understand myself?
“Can we find any of it that might be lingering and see if we can play with the scanner?” Wade offered.
“If we go back to the Thayersons’ floor,” Angel said. “Was it pretty strong there?”
“I saw it in their apartment.” I hesitated, as it had been here in the lobby and then on the wall of the hall upstairs first. “First, it was up toward the light.” I pointed. “But it’s not there now. Then it was on the wall when we exited the elevator, and in their apartment.”
“Did it come from the kid?” Ezra asked, appearing at our side.
“Yeah, and he got really creepy. Spoke and everything,” I said.
“He’s non-verbal,” Ezra said.
“I’m wearing my camera. Check, if you don’t believe me,” I said, irritated. Obviously, Ezra was not going to play nice even if Angel and Wade seemed to like me.
His gaze flicked down to my belt, then back up, going to Angel. He let out a long sigh and stomped away, heading back out to the garage.
“Is it me?” I asked.
Wade shook his head. “Ezra’s guarded, that’s all. He’ll get over it.”
“I’m hoping he went to get his computer,” Angel said. “He can pull up the feeds from both our cameras.” His gaze landed over my head. “Did you get the storage locker code?”
Bobby came up behind us, nodding. “Yep. Is that where you want to start?” He looked at Wade. “Do we have the scanner calibrated?”
“Not yet,” Wade said. “We need to head up and see if the line is still there.”
I worried at my lip that it wouldn’t be, as it had been fading while we traced it through the building.
Angel put his hand on my shoulder, squeezing lightly.
“Let’s head up. Ezra is pulling our video feed from the van for review.
” He showed a text from Ezra on his phone.
“We’ll try not to bother the Thayersons again if we don’t need to. ”
Bobby pulled out one of those scannable visitor badges with the apartment’s logo on it. “Lead the way.” He waved at the elevator.
We all got in and headed up, but the car stopped to let someone else on. My heart sank when the door opened to reveal Brandon Cassidy in uniform. He blinked at the team, then focused on me.
“We’re going up,” Bobby said politely while we all waited for what he would do.
Brandon’s gaze slid over me like ice, but he stepped into the car. “I’m headed up to the roof deck.”
I didn’t even know there was a roof deck.
But he pulled out his card, scanned the reader, and hit a button.
The door closed, and everyone in the car shifted around.
Angel slipped in front of me as Brandon took a few steps in my direction.
The two glared at each other, but said nothing. Brandon turned around to face the door.
We reached our stop first, and the doors opened. Wade and Bobby exited without Brandon moving an inch, making the pair squeeze around him. Angel hesitated to move until I did. But I headed for the door and stepped out, Angel beside me. Brandon caught my arm.
“Want to get drinks with me and the guys this Friday?” he asked. “It’s been too long.”
Drinks was a euphemism for pretending to be straight around a bunch of drunk off duty cops until Brandon led me off to the bathroom for the least romantic round of fucking in the world. We hadn’t done it in months, and I never planned to do it again.
“No thanks,” I said, trying to tug free from his grasp, but his fist tightened enough to make me flinch. “You don’t like variants, remember? Let go.”
“Better than slumming like you are right now.”
“Fuck you, Cassidy,” I said, desperate to get away without making a scene. For a cop who wasn’t out, he was making a public ass of himself.
“It’s a downgrade, isn’t it?” Brandon asked, his gaze skimming over Angel with disgust. “An animal…”
Angel’s rage heated my back. I feared he’d cause a fight that Brandon would use unreasonable force to finish, because why was he fully armed in the middle of his apartment building?
I reacted without thinking. I spun, forcing Cassidy to turn his wrist at an uncomfortable angle, smashed my hand into the bend, which broke his grip, and then shoved him back into the elevator.
My heart raced, as I’d pretty much just attacked a cop.
Even if SED and the police were supposed to be on even footing, I knew it wasn’t true.
“Have a nice day,” I said to Brandon, watching the door close.
He probably wouldn’t come after me, at least not right this minute.
Though, I’d have to watch my back down the road for his buddies doing shit like pulling me over or lying in wait for me at home.
I waited for him to smash the door open button or something, but the elevator went up and I sucked in air.
Angel wrapped his arm around my waist and tugged me away from the door. “I could have taken him.”
I sighed. “And he’s enough of a dick to have filed charges against you.”
“We’re still wearing our cameras,” Angel pointed out.
Fuck, I’d forgotten about that. I’d attacked a cop on camera.
“You were clear that you didn’t want him touching you. It could have been worse.”
“Bobby and I will testify too, if he’s dumb enough to bring anything up,” Wade said from behind us. I glanced back, having forgotten they were there. “Hanna doesn’t like when cops mess with her people.”
Angel let me go, his warmth slipping away, but he stayed in my bubble, letting his magic aura mingle with mine, soothing my anxiety without trying. “Do we need to file charges against him?” he asked.
“No,” I said, too fast, because they all looked at me with wide eyes. “Seriously. Don’t borrow trouble. I’m fine. Let’s see if we can find this mark, okay?” And let me leave my embarrassing sex life in the past.
“Sure,” Bobby said, his gaze on the screen of his scanner. “Do you see that line?” He glanced up, then back to the screen. “Maybe step away from Angel first.”
Was there something wrong about being close to him? We weren’t touching, though I knew neither of them had missed how possessive Angel had been a few seconds ago and in the elevator. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t like it.
“Why?” Angel asked.
“Your aura merges with his,” Bobby said.
“Really?” Wade asked.
“Huh?” I wanted to know.
“Aura?” Angel asked as we all gathered around to peer at his screen.
“When I recalibrated to see those handprints, I noticed anyone else who crossed the feed had a lingering haze of color around them. A little like our armbands,” Bobby said.
He aimed the scanner at Wade, who showed up as a bright yellow-orange.
“I may have over adjusted a bit,” Bobby admitted as he fiddled with the settings to turn the brightness down.
I looked from the scanner to Wade and back. “I don’t see the aura on him right now. You sure that’s how I saw the handprints?”
Bobby shrugged. “The handprints are filed in evidence, clear photos of them with these settings. How you see them, and not this, I don’t know.” He tugged his phone out of his pocket. “Go over there and stand beside Angel. I’ll take pictures of what happens when you merge.”
“Am I muting him somehow?” Angel asked as he tugged me toward a bare wall. Wade stayed beside Bobby, holding the phone and staring at the screen. He snapped a few pictures.
“Fascinating,” Wade said.
“Right?” Bobby glanced up at him.
“Both of you slowly step away from the other. I wonder how far this stretches,” Wade said.
Angel and I stared at each other for a half second, then each took one step away, paused, two, three, four—
“There,” Bobby said. Wade snapped a few more photos. He flipped the phone around to show the most recent picture of us about eight feet apart, Angel with a very orange aura, and mine a deep red that turned black in spots. It looked sort of eerie.
Bobby flipped back a few photos, to us standing close, and the aura that surrounded both Angel and me was sort of a teal.
“Orange and red don’t make teal,” I grumbled, reverting to my kindergarten days.
“Look how it shifts,” Wade said as he slowly paged through the photos of us as we were moving away from each other. The overlap was a muddy brown once we stood four feet apart, and then clarified into our own colors the greater the distance.
“Why would it do that?” I wondered. “Does it happen for you guys too?” I asked.
Wade cleared his throat, his gaze on Angel for a few seconds, then shook his head. “I don’t think so, but let’s try it. Angel, can you take pictures while Jude holds the scanner?”
“Sure.” Angel took Bobby’s phone. I figured the nerdy science guy probably wanted all the details on his device for later investigation.
I grabbed the scanner, having to use two hands to support it as it was heavy and much bigger than the average game controller.
Wade and Bobby made their way to the wall.
Bobby’s glow was more of a green, blue, yellow mix.
Was that a vampire thing? I didn’t ask. But the two started eight feet apart, their colors not blending at all, and as they moved closer, while their auras overlapped, they didn’t mix.
I studied it with a frown. Why were Angel and I different?
Angel snapped pictures and held out the phone for Bobby to take it back and review. “You two don’t blend at all.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Bobby studied the pictures. “I have theories,” he admitted, “but will need further review and testing.”
“Does it mean Angel and I aren’t supposed to work together?”
“No,” Angel snapped.
“No,” Bobby said, raising a brow at Angel. “I don’t think it means that at all. More that you’re meant to mesh, since your magics can blend.”
“Great. My new partner and I have matching friendship bracelets made of magic.”
“Not a bad analogy,” Bobby agreed. “Some magics meld well.”
“Is it because I’m SV and he’s a shifter? I don’t want to be like one of those necromancers in the war.” I’d only started reading the book last night, but had gotten far enough to know the whole thing had been a nightmare.
“Hmm,” Wade said. “How about you and I try?” He pointed at the wall.
Angel growled low in his throat, and I blinked wide eyes at him.
Wade held up his hands. “Just seeing aura, nothing else.”
“Sure,” I agreed, and handed the scanner to Bobby, then made my way to the wall.
While I could sense Wade’s shifter magic, and it didn’t snap at me like Xavier’s had, it wasn’t warm and fuzzy either.
Cooler, like a strong northern wind in January.
I shivered as we stood less than a foot apart, waiting for the photos, then took a few steps away.
“Got those. Let’s do you and me now,” Bobby said. “It’ll be good to have a range with our variances.”
“Okay,” I said, and Wade left the wall to switch with Bobby. Angel stood beside him with his arms crossed over his chest, eyes half lidded, watching me. I met his gaze. “You okay?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said.
I didn’t call out his lie. Years as a homicide detective gave me a really good read on people. But maybe he really didn’t like the idea that our magics interrupted each other? Not that we knew much right now.
Bobby’s magic felt strange. Like I could grab hold of it and coax it to life.
I clenched my hands at my side and stared at Angel, hoping the scanner wasn’t showing my power being an asshole without my permission.
The elevator at the end opened as we were finishing up the pictures of Bobby and me on the scanner.
Ezra stepped out with a confused scowl on his face. “Are we taking selfies like teenage girls?”
“Don’t be jealous, Ezra. We didn’t get to the part where we figure out which aura filter is the most flattering. I think ‘bold glamor’ is right up your alley,” I said, annoyed at his constant picking.
“Aura overlap,” Bobby answered, taking the scanner back. Angel took two giant steps to my side.
“Did my aura mesh with anyone else?” I asked, since Angel had seen the pictures.
“Your aura overtakes mine,” Bobby said. “Mine vanishes completely beneath yours.”
I flinched, as that had been what I felt. But I didn’t feel the same when Angel stood next to me.
“Bobby and Wade will run through theories when we get back to the office,” Angel said. “Let’s see if we can find this purple line you saw.”
“I’m going to go talk to the Thayersons again,” Ezra said, headed for their door.
“Uh…” I hated the idea of bothering them.
“That kid talked,” Ezra said. “He spoke to you. We have it on video. Either they are lying to us, or something else is going on.”