Anger flared in those blue eyes. “Toni didn’t cause that. Some asshats kidnapped her. They all died. No one else will kidnap her… even the demon. She’s protected.”

“So this kid lives here, in Burlington? And she’s a target for demons and anyone who wants the God Hammer’s attention? Here?”

He was a twenty-year senior officer, with years of Chicago experience to harden him. Despite that, the words had just slipped out. Images of his family and his quiet, bucolic Vermont city in ruins had overwhelmed all of his training.

The blue eyes went cold, then Schulz realized the room itself was cold, cold enough to see his breath. The lights flickered. The tough deputy sheriff reached carefully to cover one of Declan’s hands with her own, giving Schulz a look sharp enough to cut steel.

The lights stopped fluttering but the room was still cold.

“Toni is protected. Anyone… anyone at all… who tries to get near her will have to go through an entire school of werewolves and witches. Then they’d have to go through me. And if that works? They’d face the wrath of Heaven itself,” Declan said, voice level and quiet. A deadly kind of quiet.

Every hair on the back of his neck was standing straight up and the pit in his stomach was definitely getting deeper. This kid… no, this witch… the person known as The Warlock, was laying down what amounted to a credo. And if Walter Schulz was any judge of character at all, Declan believed every word. Meant every word. He broke eye contact and looked at the other person in the room. The concern in Darci’s eyes and the tension in her body screamed out loud to Schulz.

Declan closed his eyes for a brief moment, then opened them, face relaxing into something akin to remorse.

“Sorry. I’m a bit overprotective of Toni. Kinda like she’s my little sister.”

Schulz looked from the witch to the deputy. She gave him a little nod, then turned to the young man. She said, “It’s a bit chilly, don’t you think, D?”

“Oh. Yeah. I’ll fix that,” he said. He didn’t do anything, not a twitch or a flicker of a finger, but the room warmed appreciably in seconds.

“Detective Schulz, do you have any immediate questions at this time? I’m sure my nephew would be willing to help in any way,” Darci said.

Schulz found his mind blank. Just empty, not questioning, not processing. Stunned.

“Ah, no… not at, the, ah, moment.”

“Then we’ll get going. I’m not sure Declan caught lunch today and he gets a little hangry.”

The kid shot her a look, part sufferance, part embarrassment.

“No, no, go right ahead.”

They both stood up and Darci waved the kid ahead of her.

“Ah, Detective, I’ll call you when Chris gets here. To introduce you to the team,” Declan said.