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watching friend die.)
    As awkward and painful a morning as I could imagine. I signed the statement and looked up to see Officer Lee leading Cinnamon back to me. They were smiling and laughing, but then Cinnamon cussed and tossed her head angrily, as if poked with a cattle prod. Lee took it in stride, but she looked up at me, not angry, just—eyes filled with immense pity.
    “Thanks, Officer,” I said, holding my arms out to Cinnamon, who leapt upon me and squeezed her arms around me in a breath-defying hug. “I appreciate it.”
    “Not a problem,” Lee said. “Your daughter is very observant. And colorful.”
    Cinnamon snorted and twitched her head, but smiled back at Lee.
    Gibbs brought my clothes from his squad car and I gratefully grabbed my turtleneck—I was now freezing. I pulled it on, chanting, “Brr, brr, brr—”
    “Get some fur,” Cinnamon sang.
    “— no thank you,” I finished, as my head popped out.
    Rand was just looking at us, one hand in his pocket, suit frayed but soul unperturbed, a snapshot of a black GQ Kojak right after a fight with a horde of zombies. It was so good to see him back on his game, even after all that horror. “You guys sure are sickeningly sweet.”
    I forced a smile—Cinnamon could get me goofing, but Revy’s death still weighed in my mind. “Just standard procedure,” I said at last, slipping on my leather chaps. “Are we done?”
    “For now,” Rand said. “But, look, we all saw what went down—but not even McGough can explain it, and he’s seen more weird shit than you and me put together. He’s already asked me to pull in the DEI’s experts, and I’ll guess Philip will want you looking into it too.”
    “Fine, that’s all I need, another excuse to talk to Philip,” I said, slipping on my vestcoat. Philip Davidson was my contact at the DEI, the Department of Extraordinary Investigations. We were dating, whenever he could make it to Atlanta. It was an odd match—he was politically right of Attila the Hun and I was an uber-treehugger—but he still drove a Prius when he wasn’t riding to my rescue in a cool black helicopter. “I’ll give my favorite bod in the spook squad a ring.”
    “Also, there’s another thing,” Rand said, kneading his brow. “Dakota, I know this is going to be difficult for you but … could you please inform the Consulate?”
    My smile faded. “The … Vampire Consulate?” I asked, though I knew exactly which consulate he meant. “Why me? I mean, shouldn’t the police do that job?”
    Rand’s face flickered a bit— ah, you caught me —but he persisted, nodding at the collar about my throat. “Normally, yes … but since you were their representative on site …”
    I tugged at my stainless steel collar. It was lined with neoprene to make it comfortable, but it wasn’t coming off. “I’m not their ‘representative,’ I’m just … under their protection.”
    “Whatever,” Rand said. “Dakota … could you break the news to Savannah? I know Revenance was a mutual friend, and she’d probably appreciate hearing it from you.”
    I stared at him. “You suck .”
    “That’s her you’re thinking of,” Rand said, “and to be honest, I find it a bit creepy to think that a girl I once bounced on my knee now drinks blood. Will you tell her?”
    “Yes,” I said, scowling, dialing the next school on my cell. “ After our appointment—”
    “Hello, Clairmont Academy,” a female voice over the phone answered.
    “Hello, this is Dakota Frost,” I said. “We had an appointment for noon.”
    “Oh, yes, well,” the woman said, spluttering a little. “Things are filling up.”
    “I know you have a full schedule,” I said, watching Cinnamon’s eyes grow wide. “I’m sorry, but we were detained by the police—”
    “Got caught speeding?” the woman said, suddenly conspiratorial. “You should give yourself more time to get places, you know. I heard this article in the AJC … ”
    She nattered on a bit. I