Demon Night

what he had.
    “Drifter?”
    Even the bright sound of Savi’s voice didn’t lift the heavy weight in his gut—but it was joined by surprise. “How the blazes did you figure that?”
    “I’ve recently added ‘omnipotent’ to my growing list of superpowers,” she said. “That, and you’re calling from Charlotte Newcomb’s cell phone to my unregistered number—somehow I doubt that she dialed it by accident. And the security feed from inside the house went dead about forty-five minutes ago, sending up alerts all over the place, so I checked out the exterior video. Two entered, but only you left, and I know Charlotte isn’t calling me from inside the house. She makes a kick-ass margarita, by the way.”
    “Pours a mighty fine whiskey, as well—and Charlie also noticed that your fiancé can’t see how pretty he is.” Vampires could see their reflections, but a curse had robbed Colin of his.
    “Ah.” Savi went quiet for a second. Probably considering that, chewing on her lip, her eyes wide. “Sorry,” she finally said. “We weren’t very careful. Most people don’t pay attention, or they rationalize it away when they do.”
    Just as they did when they saw fangs, or a Guardian’s wings. “Well, it don’t matter much, since she knows more’n that now. We ran into a spot of trouble.”
    “I thought you might have. What do you need?”
    “I’ve had Jake working on Samuels’s data—”
    “But you want me to go deeper.”
    “Yes.”
    “I’ll try. Can you get me something from inside Legion? I haven’t been able to worm my way in. They’ve got a demon Brian Dorsett working for them, or something.”
    Ethan had no idea what that meant, but he gleaned that she hadn’t been able to hack into Legion’s computer network. “I’ll do what I can. It ain’t a matter of waltzing on in.”
    “Yeah, no shit. Anything else you need?”
    “There’s two more I want you to look at: Mark and William Brandt.”
    She confirmed the spelling, then said in some surprise, “The senator? What are you looking for—anything specific?”
    “Anything that don’t feel right.”
    The sound that came through the earpiece sounded an awful lot like a little girl muffling her giggles. After a second, she said, “Sorry. There’s probably going to be quite a bit that doesn’t feel right—he’s been in politics a long time.”
    Ethan smiled slightly. “They ain’t all demons.”
    “No, just the one who’s funding SI.” He could almost see her lips pursing in frustration as she referred to Rael, the demon congressman who had ties to both Special Investigations and Legion—and heard her sigh as she let it go. “Okay. Is that it? Because I’ve got a complaint to lodge against your pupil.”
    “Jake?” Since Hugh Castleford had taken over the novices’ training, Ethan wasn’t officially Jake’s mentor anymore, but everyone still went to Ethan whenever Jake pulled something stupid. “What’s he done?”
    “He kicked me out of the poker game tonight.”
    Ethan scowled. Though her shields were as good as his, Savi’s expression gave away her hand every single deal. She was a terrible player…and rich as a nabob. And whatever the novices won from her in the occasional game she sat in on, Ethan usually cleaned out from them within a week or two. Running Savi off was the most damn fool thing he’d ever heard. Unless—“Were you counting cards?”
    “Maybe.” There wasn’t a hint of apology in her voice. “I’ve dropped twenty thousand on that table in the past three months.”
    “And we surely do appreciate it, Miss Savi.”
    In the background, her partner Colin Ames-Beaumont sounded mighty amused.
    “Stop laughing, you ass,” she said. “Or I’ll use your money next time.” Then Ethan was the one chuckling as the vampire’s laughter pulled up lame. “Anyway, Drifter…I heard about your brother. I wanted to say I was sorry. Is there anything Colin and I can do?”
    Ethan’s throat closed up. Hit from the side, and he hadn’t been expecting it at all. It took him a second, but he finally managed, “I reckon not, Miss Savi.” Hell and damnation, his voice was about as hoarse as Charlie’s had been when she’d told him to go. He closed his eyes and pushed it away. “Aside from you telling me how to sweet-talk the computer running your house.”
    “Oh, god. Don’t tell me you couldn’t get the lights on before you left.”
    “All right.”
    Her laughter sounded again before she