Henry looked around the room above the Liaison’s Office—a room that had occasionally been used for sex with a human—and wondered what he was supposed to think. More, he wondered why he’d been chosen to provide the answer. Then he looked at Ruthie, Theral, and Eve. They must have considered the members of the Business Association and had decided he was the most approachable right now.

Tess had slipped away from the Courtyard. No one was sure where she was, but he was certain a few members of the Humans First and Last movement were going to die of a mysterious plague that had already struck humans in the city a couple of times over the past few months. Simon had gone off to consider a simple yet difficult question: was Lakeside worth saving, and if it was, how much could their Courtyard save? Vlad and Blair were coordinating the defense of the Courtyard and its property. Wolves were patrolling the boundaries of the Courtyard and guarding the three gates that provided the easiest access. The Sanguinati were guarding the Market Square and the buildings on Crowfield Avenue, making sure no one attacked the Denbys’ apartment or threatened the children. The Crows and Hawks were maintaining a lookout around the buildings, while the Owls glided along the fence line, looking for intruders. Nathan, Erebus, and the Shady Burke were in Meat-n-Greens with Meg and Merri Lee.

And that left him to provide an answer to a question he didn’t understand.

“This isn’t much different from a hotel room,” Ruthie explained. “It has its own bathroom. We gave the room a quick dust and vacuum and put clean sheets on the bed—not that we thought the ones on it had been used, but...” She stopped, then plowed through the thorny words. “Ms. Fallacaro is going to need a place to stay, at least for tonight. She would be alone at a regular hotel.”

“And no one who has been targeted is going to want to be alone,” Eve added.

Now he understood. “You want permission for her to stay here?”

They nodded.

“And we wondered if someone could check on Lorne,” Ruthie said. “He said he would be here for the concert, but he didn’t show up, and he’s not answering his home phone or mobile phone. He doesn’t live far from here.”

“We will try to find him,” Henry promised. He would talk to Vlad about finding Elizabeth Bennefeld and Dominic Lorenzo, the other two humans who provided services to Courtyard residents. “Anything else?”

“Do you have any storage space we humans could use?” Eve asked. “We need to stock up on what we don’t want to do without.”