Biting Cold: A Chicagoland Vampires Novel (CHICAGOLAND VAMPIRES SERIES)

the closet, but they really had no clue what was going on behind the scenes.
    “Mayor Tate is not here,” Ethan said, and I hoped he was right and Juliet had gotten Seth out in time. I doubted the cops would check the skies to see if a white-winged Seth Tate was flying by overhead. On the other hand, they had seen Dominic.
    Hays gestured toward one of her cops, who passed a couple of folded sheets of paper to Ethan. He looked them over, then handed them to Malik. “Call Fitzhugh and Meyers,” he said. I assumed they were our attorneys. Hays blanched at the name, so the firm must have meant something to her.
    “High-profile lawyers won’t help you here, Mr. Sullivan. We have the authority to search the premises.”
    Ethan held out a hand. “Then do so.”
    There were probably a dozen cops in all. While suited Cadogan vampires looked on, they stormed up the stairs, eager to find evidence that would implicate us all, whatever that might have been.
    “Keep the vampires calm,” Ethan told Luc. “Have the guards get as many as possible onto the first floor in the event we need to make an exit. Tell them not to lock their bedroom doors—there’s no point in giving them an excuse to break the hardware, too.”
    Ethan stood beside the open door, hands on his hips, watching as strangers ripped apart his home and terrorized his family. But his gaze was calculating, recording each wrong move they made, no doubt for recollection to the House’s attorneys later on.
    One way or the other, the city would pay for this.
    Magic erupted in nervous bursts as vampires began to funnel toward the first floor. I pasted on a smile and directed them into the front room.
    “Everything’s under control,” I said, watching to ensure they were settled and wouldn’t—given the rising tensions—make everything worse.
    An hour later, Lieutenant Hays came storming out the front door.
    Ethan followed her but stopped on the threshold. “As I was saying, my attorney looks forward to your call and your explanation about your apparent lack of probable cause.”
    “This isn’t over,” Hays said. “We know you’re behind this, and one way or the other, we’ll prove it.”
    “‘We,’ as in Mayor Kowalcyzk’s misguided administration, or ‘we,’ as in you and whoever else in your office believes harassing citizens is the way to a promotion?”
    She growled. “Just watch yourself,” she said, then marched down the sidewalk again, her cabal of officers behind her.
    We all released a collective breath.
    “It seems we have made another enemy,” Ethan dryly said.
    “We’ll add her to the list,” Malik said, stepping behind Ethan. “But first, let’s get this place cleaned up.”
    I volunteered to help clean up the yard, raking bits of the hacked-away shrubbery into piles and moving furniture back into the House again. It wasn’t glamorous work, and the night air was chilly, but the manual labor was a nice change from the usual. I could lose myself in the rhythm of the work, instead of fretting over the problems I couldn’t solve.
    I’d just raked up the final pile of branches when one of the fairies at the gate approached. I stopped working but kept a hand on my rake just in case.
    “What do you want?”
    His gaze was narrowed, his expression fierce. “Come with me.”
    I gave him an Ethan-esque eyebrow arching. “You may ask me, and I will accept or decline. But you do not dictate where I do or do not go.”
    His lip curled. “She wishes to see you again.”
    Claudia wanted to talk to me? “Why?”
    “She does not share her motivations with us,” he said. “Nevertheless, we understand there has been a falling out of sorts.”
    “Between her and Dominic?”
    He nodded. “You will see her. I believe you will find it . . . enlightening.”
    He gestured toward a black SUV that pulled up to the curb in front of the House. Two fairies already filled the front seats. It was odd to see a mercenary fairy driving a car, probably because I imagined them in different times, perhaps standing in an ancient keep, bow and arrows at the ready.
    “I know where she lives. I can drive myself.”
    “She is not there.”
    “What? I thought she couldn’t leave the tower.”
    “She cannot—not without cost,” he said. “She wanted fresh air and believed the matter worth the risk.”
    I looked back at him. “What’s your name?”
    He looked confused. “My name?”
    “You want me to go with you. I’d like to know your