Blood Trail

if the glass was distorting them somehow, he cracked open the window enough for the head, but not the shoulders, and kept his finger on the switch in case the beast should lunge.

    Not so much as a whisker crossed the edge of the window, but the wet black nose twitched once, twice as the cool air inside the car flowed out into the night.

    The eyes were strange; it wasn't just the glass. Celluci wasn't quite sure what the difference was but he'd never seen a dog of any kind with eyes that looked so human.

    Suddenly, the big dog whirled and ran barking for the house, its pale form flickering like a negative image against the night.

    Realizing his choice had just been made for him, Celluci shut off the engine. He'd been announced. He might as well go in.

    * * *
    "Vicki. Come on, Vicki. Wake up."

    Vicki tried to ignore both the voice and the hand gently shaking her shoulder but, in spite of her best efforts, her body betrayed her and began losing its hold on sleep. Finally she surrendered, muttered an obscenity, and groped for her glasses. Cool fingers gripped her wrist, guiding her search. She didn't bother opening her eyes until she actually had the glasses in place - not much point when she wouldn't be able to see anything anyway.

    In the dim spill of light from the hallway, she could just barely make out the darker outline of a man. It had to be Henry, not only was he the only adult male in the house who habitually wore clothes, but the temperature of his touch was a dead giveaway.

    "Henry, I'm flattered but I'm exhausted. Get lost."

    She could hear the smile in his reply. "Next time I'll be able to do more of the work. But that wasn't why I woke you. We've got company and I think you'd better get up."

    "What time is it?"

    "11:33."

    Vicki really disliked digital watches, only race horses and defense attorneys needed to time life to the second. "I just got to sleep. Can't it wait until morning?"

    "I don't think so."

    "All right." She sighed and swung her legs out from under the sheet. "Who is it?"

    "Detective-Sergeant Michael Celluci."

    "Say what!"

    "Detec ..."

    "I heard you the first time. Close the door and turn on the light."

    He did as she requested, shielding his eyes against the sudden glare.

    The clothes she'd worn this afternoon would have to do, Celluci had certainly seen her look worse. "Are you sure?"

    "Very. Cloud checked out the car when it first pulled up. She said she could smell a gun, so I took a quick look. It's Michael Celluci. Keeping in mind how we met, I'm not likely to forget him."

    Vicki had very little memory of how Henry and Celluci had met, but considering that she was tired and bleeding and about to become a demonic sacrifice at the time, that was hardly surprising. "What the hell is he doing here?"

    "I don't know." Henry leaned back against the wall and waited while she pulled a T-shirt over her head before he continued. "But I thought you might like to be there when we found out."

    "Be there?" She stuffed her feet into sandals and stood, running both hands through her hair rather than search for a brush. "You couldn't pay me enough to miss this explanation and if something isn't very wrong that I have to know about immediately - and I'll be damned if I can think of what that might be - I'll have a few words to say in return."

    Because Henry had every intention of living for another four hundred and fifty years, he kept his initial response to that clamped firmly behind his teeth.

    "Detective-Sergeant Michael Celluci, ma'am. Is Vicki Nelson here?"

    "Yes, she's here. Henry's gone to wake her."

    "That isn't necessary." Henry must've seen him approaching the house and recognized him.
    He's got eyes like an owl if that's the case. I couldn't see my hand afoot in front of my face out there, cloud cover's got everything blocked off. "It's late. Now I know this is the right place, I can return tomorrow."

    "Nonsense." The woman stepped back out of the way and motioned him into the kitchen.
    "You've driven all the way from Toronto, you might as well wait. She'll be right down."

    If they'd gone to get her up, he didn't really have a choice. The only thing worse than having Vicki dragged out of bed, would be having her dragged out of bed and not staying around to explain why. Slipping his shield and his ID back into his pocket, he followed a gesture into a chair, keeping a wary eye on the huge white dog who watched him from across the room. This is ridiculous. One more