Lupi 06 - Blood Magic

the sorcerer use magic?" she asked Sam. "I don't have authority here unless magic was used in the commission of a felony."
    The sorcerer created the fires magically. He also used magic to disable the hospital's tech and to put a large number of people to sleep so he would not be seen or interfered with when he planted the bomb. Your laws regarding magic vary from the convoluted to the absurd, but these acts seem to fall within the purview of those laws.
    T.J.'s eyes were wide.
    "I guess you heard that," Lily said. "I wish I could tell when Sam's talking just to me and when he's including others in the conversation."
    You could if you learned the basics of mindspeech.
    "The dragon," T.J. said. "He did it again. Talked to me, I mean. In my mind."
    "I know. It's disconcerting at first."
    He snorted. "It's freaky damned weird, is what it is. Cool as hell, but freaky damned weird. What's this about an out-realm perp and a sorcerer?"
    With a jolt, Lily realized she'd mentioned the sorcerer in T.J.'s hearing. Not the Chimei, but she'd been able to refer to the sorcerer. An hour ago, she hadn't been able to do that. "Just a sec, T.J. Sam? How come I could... " talk about the sorcerer, but not the Chimei.
    I do not care to say things twice. Join your mate, dismiss the mud-brained officer, and I will explain to the extent I am able.
    "Dismissing the mud-brained officer may take a while."
    I will wait.
    From the vantage point of the closed-off street, Lily could see the command post up ahead. The fire chief's car was there, along with two cop cars, a fire engine, and too many people. She was far enough from the building to see the roof better, too. And the dark, wedge-shaped head that peered over the edge of it, surveying the scene below him.
    So did lots of others, judging by the noises some of them made. Even some of the cops.
    There is no livestock here. If I am to wait, I wish to eat.
    "Snack later. You're scaring people."
    Fear is a reasonable response, and it may disperse the crowd which worries you.
    "If they don't trample each other trying to get away."
    That could be inconvenient. It is difficult to judge what level of fear is useful, given the unpredictability of those who consider themselves apex predators when confronted by a superior predator. Pack predators such as humans are particularly volatile. Shall I assure them I do not intend to eat them?
    "I don't think that would have the desired effect," she said dryly.
    Sweat trickled between her shoulder blades. Her heartbeat picked up. Rule was close. She knew he lived and wasn't badly hurt - some cuts to one arm, Sam had said. She knew, but she needed to see him.
    To T.J. she said, "I've got two perps. One's out-realm, like I said when I was talking to Sam. The other's human and a sorcerer, the real deal. Capabilities largely unknown, though he has some kind of mental shield and, uh, sometimes he can disguise himself magically. He may be Asian. I think I saw him, and that guy was Asian, five-three or -four, weight one-forty. He's trying to take out a sorcerer who's on our side. Nearly succeeded last night, which is why our guy is at the hospital."
    T.J.'s eyebrows shot up. "This sorcerer was ready to burn down a hospital to kill one man?"
    "So it seems. There's an awful damned lot I don't know yet."
    "Why's the dragon here? He part of this?"
    "The part I can't tell you about."
    "You're sounding like a Fed, Lily."
    "Sorry."
    The closer she got to Rule, the clearer her awareness of him became. It was distinctly sensory, this knowing, but not like any of her other senses. Touch, hearing, vision - they brought her information about everything around her: all the objects that contacted her physically, disturbed the air to create sound waves, or reflected light into shape and shadow. The mate-bond sense perceived only one thing: Rule. It told her nothing about him except where he was... less than thirty feet away now.
    Yet if moonglow were a wind, Lily thought, it might feel like this.
    Up ahead at the command post, Deputy Chief Hennessey - easy to spot in any crowd, even in his rig, because he was only a few inches shy of seven feet and skinny as a teenage boy - appeared to be arguing with a much shorter man in a wrinkled white shirt. When one of his people interrupted he listened briefly, nodded, then left with his man.
    And when he and the other firefighter left, she saw Rule. He lounged against the side of a pumper truck, looking bored. His hands were behind his back,