The Guild would offer no assistance. There was no money involved, and if I as much as squeaked to the Order that some asshole tried to start a war between the Pack and the People and herded two-hundred-year-old vampires to do it, Ted would take me off the case faster than I could exhale. On the other hand, trying to confront a rogue Master of the Dead by myself was suicide. I was homicidal but not stupid.

I became aware that Curran was watching me. “I don’t know,” I said.

“I can solve that problem for you,” he said. He was offering the Pack’s resources. I would be crazy not to take him up on that offer.

I bent an eyebrow at him. “Why?”

“Because I have sixty-three rats who buried their alpha three days ago. They’ve been howling for blood, while I’ve been sitting around with my thumb up my ass.”

“That’s a big risk to take just for the sake of appearances.”

He shrugged. “Power is all about appearances. Besides, who knows? It did snow in May once, so even you could be right.”

I let the barb go. “And if I’m not?”

“Then at least I’ve tried.”

It made sense in an odd way. “Who’ll come?”

“A few people.”

“Jim?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because someone from the Council has to stay behind to hold the Pack together if I die. The alpha-wolf has hurt himself, and Mahon stayed behind the last time. The new alpha-rat doesn’t have enough experience.”

“What happened to the alpha-wolf?”

“LEGOs.”

“Legos?” It sounded Greek but I couldn’t recall anything mythological with that name. Wasn’t it an island?

“He was carrying a load of laundry into the basement and tripped on the old set of LEGOs his kids left on the stairs. Broke two ribs and an ankle. He’ll be out of commission for two weeks.” Curran shook his head. “He picked a hell of a time. If I didn’t need him, I’d kill him.”

I ARRIVED AT THE COCA-COLA BUILDING UNMOLESTED and hid in the shadowy alcove of an abandoned phone booth, half a block from the ruined skyscraper. The logo lay partially buried in the remains of what must have been a magnificent building in its time—even now its skeleton covered the entire block. It had been only ten years old when the flair, a freakishly strong magic fluctuation, took it down.

The shapechangers were nowhere in sight. Across the street a ravaged building careened amidst waist-tall heaps of dusty broken glass. Good place to hide. It took me a minute to find a gap in the crumbling wall. I squeezed through and found fiery eyes glaring at me.