“Wondered when someone was gonna realize we were gone,” Drew frowned.
Alex scowled. “Yeah, well, we all thought we had texted back and forth with you a few times already,” he said.
“Shit, really?”
“Wouldn’t make that one up,” shrugged Alex.
Drew turned his gaze on the agent. “Hey, so for the twentieth time: does my family know I’ve been arrested?”
“Nope,” the agent shook his head. “Sorry. National security trump card.”
“Is that why we ain’t actually been charged with nothin’ yet?”
“We’re about to get to all that,” the agent said. There was a knock on the door. “C’mon in,” he called out.
The door opened again. Jason was led in, handcuffed like the rest, by Nguyen and another agent. As his eyes swept the room, he let out heavy breath. “Sorry, guys.”
“What’re y’all sorry for?” asked Wade.
“Turns out Amber’s an undercover Fed.”
Drew shot the other agents a glare. “You sent someone in to play him like that? Man, that’s just low.”
“They’re pretty good at going for the low blow,” said Alex.
“Yeah, I can’t blame you guys for being mad,” sighed the other agent. “These are Agents Lanier and Nguyen,” he said, gesturing to each in turn, “and I’m Agent Keeley. We’re with the task force that has been investigating your group and your shenanigans.”
“Is this everyone? Where’s Lorelei?” demanded Alex. “Where’d you put her?”
“Woah, they got her, too?” asked Wade.
“Shit,” Jason winced.
“These assholes hauled me out of class this morning. She came in here to get us out and I tried to talk her down, ‘cause I thought these might be the good guys,” Alex said, glancing resentfully at the other agents. “Then the asshole in charge took her down with some magic bullshit and they carted her off. She looked completely fucked up and I don’t know where she is.”
“Lorelei’s in custody and she’s fine,” Keeley nodded. “Alex, guys, I gotta tell you: I don’t think you’ve been able to see her objectively. Her face is back to the way you’re used to it, but what you saw out there is the real deal. She looks like that naturally. I mean, she’s a demon, right?”
Alex glared at Keeley, trying to control his anger. “That’s your plan? Sweep in here, arrest and fuck up everyone I care about and then tell me I don’t understand my own life?”
“Hey, hey, dial it back, Alex,” Keeley said, holding up his hands. “We don’t have to be enemies here. Like we’ve been trying to tell you, we’re not the bad guys. You’re in a lot of trouble. We want to help you out of it.
“Now, normally we wouldn’t let a group like this all see each other like you’re doing now. We’ve been watching you, though, and the more we piece things together, the more we think we can give you this chance. And you’ve all been pretty firm about protecting one another. Alex, Jason, these are some tough friends you have here,” Keeley continued, waving his pen at the other two young men. “Been here about thirty-six hours, interviewed three times-“
“Interrogated,” Wade corrected.
“-and they haven’t cracked.”
“You seem pretty cheerful about all this,” observed Drew.
“I don’t take this personally. My boss might, of course. But I don’t see any reason to bluster or get mad. Just a waste of energy. Gets me stressed for no good reason. Anyhoo,” he shrugged mildly, “this whole deal isn’t about me, right? It’s about you.
“And the first thing we’ve gotta do is make sure we’re all on the same page so we can drop all the denials and the diversions and move on.” He turned his eyes to Alex. “Look, I get that you’re mad. If I saw something like that happen to my significant other, I’d be pretty pissed, too. But you gotta understand, we can’t take any chances. And, well,” Keeley shrugged again, “you saw her with your own eyes, buddy. She never told you about her face, did she? Doesn’t it make you wonder what else she hasn’t told you?”
Jason watched Alex carefully, noting the building anger in his friend’s eyes and his breath. “What is it you guys actually want?” he asked, remembering Alex’s rage in the bus tunnel. He didn’t want Alex to explode.
“Full depositions, for starters. We need answers. A whole lot of answers. And they’ll be better when they’re corroborated by other witnesses and participants,” he said, gesturing around the table.
“About what?” asked Drew.
“Everything. Lorelei, Rachel, your pool hall, your witch friends, and especially the night you guys apparently blew up most of the vampires in Seattle. We’ve got everything Jason told Amber, but we need to know more. We’d like to hear it from all of you.”
“I’d like to hear from our lawyers,” Drew scowled.
“Yeah. I hear that,” Keeley nodded with feigned sympathy. “Turns out we’ve only got one lawyer for this case, and he’s both out of town and down with the flu. We don’t have anyone else to spare just yet. National security rules, guys. Sorry. But if you don’t want to talk, you can wait for him in your rooms. Alone.
“Listen, guys, we already know, right? We know everything Jason told Amber and we already know everything she saw, from Rachel right down to your two witch friends doing their thing in Alex’s apartment-and they’re gonna have to talk to us before this is all over, too.”
“’Doing their thing?’” asked Jason. “You mean Amber saw two girls redecorate an apartment in the middle of the night? When did that become illegal?”
Keeley frowned. “That’s for later. Let’s start with Racheclass="underline" what’s her deal?”
“No,” Alex answered flatly. “Not a subject we’ll discuss.”
“I can’t play it that way, guys. I’m sorry.”
“Too bad.”
Keeley looked to the others. “Is she really an angel?”
“Couldn’t tell you,” Drew shrugged.
“I ain’t sure who you’re talkin’ about,” replied Wade.
Keeley tried again with Alex. “Does she come to your rescue when you’re in trouble?”
He looked around the room. “Don’t see anyone rescuing me right now.”
“Rachel who?” pressed Jason. “I’ve known a bunch of Rachels.”
“Even if this is the make or break issue?” Keeley asked. “Even if it could keep you out of going to prison for the rest of your life?”
“Yep,” nodded Alex.
“Can you tell me why you won’t talk about Rachel?”
“Nope.”
“Why not?”
“Can’t tell you. Sorry.”
“Okay,” Keeley sighed. “What about the rest of you?”
“Y’all ain’t even told us what we’re in for,” said Wade.
“Ah. Right,” Keeley nodded. “For you two, we’re looking at assault and battery on several individuals also in custody-“
“Self-defense,” Wade and Drew intoned simultaneously.
“-you think that’ll hold up?”
“We didn’ go out there with any weapons. Ah’m bettin’ those assholes got criminal records longer’n any paper I ever wrote in school. Drew an’ I ain’t got nothin’ worse’n a couple parkin’ tickets between us. An y’all claim you saw the whole thing. That means y’all saw them hit first. How’s that not self-defense?”
“You also committed murder in that fight, Wade. Of a vampire, no less, which is kinda hard to do without premeditation.”
“A vampire,” Jason repeated.
“Yeah. Guys, Amber saw an angel fight monsters. We’ve got a demon in custody. We can drop the denials, okay? You admitted to an undercover agent that they exist, and you’ve both seen and fought them in person.”
“Doesn’t mean there was one in the fight with Drew and Wade,” said Jason. “You got a body?”
“Jason,” Keeley said, “I know you want to defend your friends here-“
“You got a body?”
“-but you weren’t even there, so how about you not make speculations about it that won’t make any difference in court?”
“You got a body?”
Keeley frowned. “Do vampires leave bodies, Jason?”
“Not to my knowledge,” Jason said, “they just leave ashes.”
“Right. And we’ve got that.”
“Right. And do you know the chemical composition of dead vampire ashes?” He paused, calmly waiting for Keeley to answer. “Do you know how to prove in court that those ashes are vampire ashes? Or from any kind of person at all?” Again, he waited a beat for a reply. “Do you know what vampire ashes look like under a microscope, Agent Keeley? ‘cause I do, and I know that you can’t prove to anyone that those ashes came from anything organic.”