“I’ve seen pictures, remember? Blond curls, big blue eyes, everything but the goddamn cleft chin. I’d feel really inadequate…if he wasn’t a raging lunatic.”

I shook my head.

“Hey, don’t tell me I’m wrong. I’ve heard the stories. Saw a photo too. You ever seen those pictures?”

“No, but I’ve heard about them.”

“And that’s okay with you? Your boyfriend spent his teen years hacking up people? But hey, high school was rough on all of us. Everyone had his own way of coping.”

I could have set Xavier straight, but wouldn’t risk wiping away the reputation Clay had built for Jeremy’s protection.

Xavier leaned forward. “Sarcasm aside, I’ve seen what you can do, and you don’t need protection from some fucking psychopath like Clayton Danvers—”

He stopped, noticing my gaze. He tilted his head back, saw Clay standing right behind him and disappeared. He reappeared standing at the end of the table.

“You must be—”

“The fucking psychopath,” Clay said.

“Er, right, but I meant that in the most respectful way. I have the utmost regard for, uh…”

“Raging lunatics,” I said.

Xavier shot me a glare.

“Oh, sit down,” I said. “He didn’t bring his chain saw. Clay, this is Xavier, Evanidus half-demon. Specialty? You just got a little demonstration of that.”

“A damned indiscreet demonstration,” Clay said.

“No one saw,” Xavier said. “And even if they did, they’ve already explained it away. You guys could change into wolves right here and you’d only have twenty parents calling the Humane Society to pick up a couple of really big dogs that are definitely violating the leash laws.”

“Speaking of violating leash laws, we want Hargrave. What do you want?”

“You guys ever hear of the From Hell letter?”

“No, and from the sounds of it, I’m not sure I want to.”

“It’s just a letter. Supposedly sent by Jack the Ripper, and stolen by a sorcerer, who still has it.”

“I hope you aren’t going to ask us to steal—”

“You can’t steal stolen goods. What I’m asking is for you to right a very old wrong.”

“And return it to the London Police.”

“Ha-ha. I’m passing it on to a buyer, yes, but he wants to have it analyzed by a team of DNA experts so the world can know once and for all the identity of Jack the Ripper.”

“Damn. That is a righteous cause. Now we can finally catch that murdering bastard and lock him up in prison where he belongs.”

NO HUMANS INVOLVED

NO HUMANS INVOLVED