Free Catastrophe by Liz Schulte

in a dangerous situation.
    As annoying as that was, the real part I needed to focus on was how did all of this connect? Had the council set it up as a test, and if so, why? Or was Thomas once again at the heart of this clusterfuck? He knew I was here. Was he reaching out, or was he using the vampires to distract me from the case? Then there was Corbin. Twice, Corbin had helped me on cases that had nothing to do with him. I didn’t want to suspect him, but what choice did I have?
    You know what they say: never trust a vampire.

Chapter 7
     
     
    By the time I made it to the hotel, I was pissed off in general. I needed to talk this out with someone, and all of my usual sounding boards were off-limits. Normally, Sy was my first call, but that was obviously not going to happen again. Next, I would go to Olivia, but since Holden was on the council—and if I told her about it, she wouldn’t be able to resist getting involved—that pretty much meant she was off-limits too. Next in line would have been Baker, but since he was currently in diapers and just being fed solids, I didn’t think he would be much help. Cute, but no help.
    And because fate was a bitch, Dempsey stood outside my hotel room door in his now-wrinkled suit and with five o’clock shadow. He looked like he could use a good meal and a solid night’s sleep, neither of which he was going to find here. I didn’t have time to deal with a human, especially now that I had a vampire problem.
    “It’s not a good time,” I said, as I went past him. After unlocking the door, I went inside and tried to shut it on him, but he stopped the door and came in anyway.
    “I’ve been waiting for over an hour. We’re going to talk now,” he said. His irritated eyes met mine, widening slightly. “What happened to you?”
    Of everyone in the world I could talk to, a human was the last person who would understand. I had to find Amos. He wasn’t the ideal choice, but at least he understood the politics. Even if he was a spy for the council, he was better than a human. “I’m fine. You need to go.”
    “No. You need to tell me what’s happening.”
    I took off the leather coat and let it drop to the floor, not caring that I no longer had a shirt on underneath it. What I really needed was a shower, but the damn human obviously wasn’t leaving unless I physically removed him. The vampire blood, dried and caked over me, was making me itch. I wetted down a washcloth and scrubbed my skin. Dempsey stood in the doorway to the bathroom opening, gawking at me as I slid off my ruined jeans and threw them at the trash can. I glared at him.
    “Sorry.” He held a hand up as he turned around. “That’s too much blood for you to be fine . Were you attacked? Do you need to go to the hospital? Are you hurt? What attacked you?”
    It didn’t escape my notice that he’d asked what and not who . I let out a slow breath. Even so, I didn’t want to get involved with having to explain the Abyss to a human. “I’m fine. It isn’t mine. At least, most of it isn’t.”
    “Whose is it?” he asked, looking back at me.
    I shook my head. “You don’t know them.”
    His mouth creased into a frown and his hand inched inside his jacket. “Have you been in a fight in the past month?”
    “Probably,” I said.
    He pulled his gun and pointed it at me. “Were you scratched? Have you been losing time?”
    I went back to scrubbing the blood from my legs. “I’m not the killer.”
    He didn’t lower his weapon. “I must inform you, if you have been a party to a criminal act, anything you say can and will be used against you.”
    I snorted. He had no idea. Anything I said right now I had a feeling the council would happily use against me. “Are you threatening me? You’re the one who barged into my room. Now you are pointing a gun at me. Get out.”
    “You can talk to me now, or I’ll take you down to the station. One way or the other, you are going to tell me what you know and whose