The Night Beat

way to make sure we’re not…infected?”
    “Should be.” Jude put his hands on the sides of my head. “Nothing unnatural.” I tried not to look relieved, but failed if Jude’s chuckle was any indication. “You’re hard to infect, Victoria. One of the hardest.”
    “Good to know.”
    He moved on to Sexy Cindy. “Impressive. I foresee a good career.” He looked at me. “Keep her with you.”
    “I was planning on it.”
    “Yeah, I know you can spot talent.” Jude moved on to Freddy. “Hmmm, another good one. I know they’ll want to keep him at the University, but like H.P. and Edgar, make sure you keep Frederick on call for active duty.”
    Freddy and Sexy Cindy both looked surprised and pleased by these assessments. I had to remind myself they hadn’t been undead long. I could remember my first days and, like theirs, they were faster-paced than normal. Happily, they were holding up, like I had. I hoped they continued to do so -- we didn’t have time to deal with either one of them cracking under pressure.
    Jude went to Jack now. He didn’t say anything for what seemed like a long time. When he did, he wasn’t speaking to me. “You’re the one at risk. You’ve been warned. The longer you ignore the warnings, the worse things are going to be.”

Chapter 34
     
    Jack pulled away from Jude. “Look, I’m getting tired of all the angelic warnings. You’d think you’d be happy I could handle all of this and instead all I hear is a lot of vague crap about my soul. My soul’s just fine, thanks.”
    Jude turned away. “If you say so.” He looked at me. “Remember -- you aren’t responsible for any soul but your own.”
    This was getting to be an angelic litany, and it didn’t make me feel any better that it was going along with the general angelic consensus that Jack’s soul was in peril. A horrible thought occurred to me.
    Jude shook his head. “No.”
    “No what?” Jack snapped.
    Jude looked over his shoulder. Even though he was in profile to me now, I could see the look of disdain. “No, her becoming romantically involved with you isn’t why your soul is in jeopardy.” He sighed and turned back to me. “He needs time with Edgar, and soon.”
    “We’re sort of in the middle of saving the worlds. Kind of hard to get that one-on-one time with anyone. Besides, Edgar’s part of the team at this point.”
    Jude rubbed his forehead. “You never could find the easy way.”
    “You are such the one to talk.”
    He laughed. “Too true. The hard way is more…challenging. And lasting.”
    Jack looked ready to get into a fistfight with Jude. Sexy Cindy and Freddy were holding him back. Apparently Jack and I weren’t handling anger very well tonight. A different thought occurred.
    “Probably,” Jude said with a wry grin.
    “Stop it with the mind reading! I mean, you can do it, clearly you can’t stop it due to your assignment, but could you pretend that you aren’t?”
    He chuckled. “Now, where’s the fun in that?”
    I remembered why I’d fallen in love with him. He was maddening and attractive, mysterious and wise, all rolled into one. But…like Ken after him, he hadn’t been what I really wanted.
    Jack relaxed, or Sexy Cindy and Freddy lost their hold on him, I wasn’t sure. He walked over to us. “We’re on a case. Tracking a variety of perps who are trying to pull the biggest job ever, right?” Jude nodded. “In which case, a little more cooperation and a whole lot less statements of doom would be appreciated. Unless you can pinpoint where all our quarries are so that we can just round them up and call it a night.”
    Jude’s wry smile was back. “No, I can’t do that. If I could, I already would have. That is why I’m here, after all.” He sighed again. “And I’ve failed, in that sense. Of course, failure can become victory, in the long run.”
    “And if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all,” Jack snapped. “Got it. Thanks a million. The Prosaic City Police appreciate your assistance.” He jerked his head. “Let’s go.”
    Jack stormed out. Sexy Cindy shook her head. “Boy, he’s steamed. Guess he’s having some trouble in the measuring up department.”
    Freddy nodded. “We’ll go stay with him. You won’t be long?”
    How they knew I was going to stay to talk to Jude I didn’t know, but I had a feeling it was because they were looking at my face and body language. Meaning Jack had stormed out in part because he, too, had