“You’re sending her off hoping she’ll die and for what, so you can clutch onto power for a couple of extra days?” Jim said.

Jennifer raised her chin. “You have something to say, cat, say it.”

“I just did,” Jim told her.

If I didn’t cut this off right now, they would bicker all night. “Enough. Desandra, are you up to it?”

Desandra looked like she’d rather suck on some rotten lemons. “I’d be honored, Consort.”

“Great.” Now I had two wolves in my fun party. My wolf avoidance strategy had so far proved to be an epic fail. “We’ll take the northern evacuation route.”

We’d planned both north and south escape routes, but the northern one ran right past a stable. I’d need a horse to keep up with the shapeshifters. Good that I had already rented one.

“Remember the way d’Ambray was howling about killing anyone caught in the People’s territory?” Jim asked. “For this shit to happen, d’Ambray must’ve made arrangements with the cops. I don’t know if he bribed them, blackmailed them, or what, but he’s done something. Steer clear of the Paranormal Activity Division.”

“Will do,” I said.

“Who’s got the treasure chest?” Desandra asked.

Sage, the other render, went to the left Jeep and popped the hatchback. An assortment of weapons looked back at us: swords, knives, and batons. Nothing elaborate, just simple, functional tools to speed the journey to the afterlife. Derek looked at the smorgasbord for a long moment and fished out a tactical tomahawk. Solid black and about eighteen inches long, it had a six-inch blade on one side of the axe head and a sharp spike on the other. Desandra pulled out a two-foot-long solid metal mace. Its weighted head sported eight sharp flanges. I glanced at Robert.

He smiled. “I’m good. I retrieved my toys from my Jeep before we left.”

I turned to Barabas. “Can I have a word before we go?”

“Of course.” He walked off with me. I put a hundred yards between us and the rest of the shapeshifters, made sure my back was to them, and said, “Barabas, before you leave the city, I need you to stop at a courier and send a few messages. Call in every favor we have with the city and whatever goodwill we have with law enforcement. Use anything we’ve been saving for a rainy day, because the hurricane is here. Please call Evdokia or one of her kids. Tell her what happened.”

Evdokia was one of the prominent witches in the Atlanta Covens and one of the few people who knew my background. The Covens would fight Roland to the end, and letting them know Hugh was on the warpath would buy them time to prepare.

“Will do.”