Blood Debt

it'll break the case."
    "If Tony knows him, he's just lost a friend."
    "And we're in a position to make sure he doesn't lose any more friends!"
    "I didn't know him, and he wasn't a friend! All right?" Elbows on his knees, Tony buried his face in his hands. "I just saw him on the street. That's all. I didn't know him."
    "It's not exactly a unique look." Keeping part of his attention on Vicki, Henry crossed the room and dropped to one knee by Tony's side. So things were changing—had changed—between them; they hadn't changed enough to keep him from offering comfort. "Maybe it wasn't him."
    "It was."
    "You're sure?"
    He was as sure of it as he'd ever been of anything in his life. He wouldn't have been at all surprised had Henry said the skull joined in the screaming. "Yeah, I'm sure. He was saying good-bye to one of his buddies across from the store. They shook hands—that's why I remember. There's not a lot of hands get shook when you're living on the street." He found himself strangely reluctant to tell them about the way the skull had grinned at him. They'd seen stranger things— Hell, they were stranger things —and the odds were good they'd believe him, but it'd been just too weird and he'd had enough weird for one night.
    "Do you think you could find his buddy?" Vicki asked before Henry could speak again.
    "I don't know." He lifted his head. "I guess I'd recognize him if I saw him. You think he knows where it… where the dead guy went?"
    "I think it's worth a shot."
    "If it causes you pain," Henry began, gripping Tony's shoulder, "you don't…"
    "I do." Shifting position on the stool, he looked into Henry's eyes.
    "I have to do something. I can't just sit around and wait for it to go away."
    Vicki felt the fabric of the couch begin to tear under her fingers and hurriedly forced her hand to relax. Henry on his knees had always affected her strongly. Maybe this is why we Hunt alone, she thought, as he stood and lightly touched Tony's cheek. Together there's a constant reminder that the intoxicating intimacy shared before the change is forever after denied you. Every other vampire becomes your ex. "I hate to interrupt," she snarled, looked a little surprised at her tone, and attempted to modulate it, "but the night is short, and we've got a lot to do."
    "Do we?" Henry let his hand fall back to his side.
    "There're almost three million people in this city, Henry. And Tony doesn't have your advantages."
    "I'm going with him."
    "Is that smart?"
    "He shouldn't be alone."
    "Hey! I'm not alone now." Exhaling forcefully, Tony got to his feet and glared at both of them. "And I really hate that arrogant I-know-best-because-I'm-an-undying-creature-of-the-night crap. You can both just fucking chill! I'm going back to my room to change into a look that's more street smart. If you," he jabbed a finger toward Henry, "want to come with me to find the ghost's bud, fine. I can use your help. If not…"
    "We were just concerned about you, Tony."
    He sighed and rolled his eyes. "Fine. Thank you. Did I say you weren't?" Shoulders hunched, hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans, and still muttering, he left the condo.
    An awkward silence followed the closing of the door.
    "Well," Vicki murmured after a long moment, "as one of my old sociology professors used to say, change is constant."
    "Except for us. We don't change."
    "That's bullshit, Henry, and melodramatic bullshit at that. You change, you adapt, or you die."
    Or you die. Territorial imperatives broke through the surface civility they'd managed to maintain. Henry's eyes darkened and his voice grew cold. "Are you threatening me?"
    Vicki could feel herself responding to his challenge. She didn't want to, she wanted to hold onto the tenuous truce that slaughter and sex had evoked; not only because it meant she'd been right all along and vampires could coexist, but because this was Henry, and she wanted him—them—back. I don't give up easily, she warned the world at large. We are going to get along if I have to kill him! Holding his gaze, she slammed an instinctive reaction back under conscious control. "No," she said when she thought she could trust her voice.
    "I'm not threatening you."
    The phone rang.
    "That'll be Celluci checking in. If you'll excuse me." The pencil she still held in her right hand snapped, but she managed to break eye contact and turn to answer the phone. It'd been a close thing, and if Henry pushed, he could go right through the flimsy