Earl continued handing out assignments. I knew I’d get my turn soon enough, and soon enough we were the only ones left in this part of the lobby. There was a sudden twinge in my ankle. “Dude, watch it.”

“Sorry,” Trip said. “All done. Five stitches. No biggie.”

I inspected his work. The cut from the chain had almost been shallow enough for super glue. All things considered, I was really lucky. “They’re way prettier when Holly does them.”

“So sue me.”

“Maybe I should, lousy stitching like that. You’ve ruined my chances of becoming a swimsuit model.”

“You can still live your dream. That’s what Photoshop is for.”

“Are you two done screwing around?” Earl asked. Trip gave him a thumbs-up as I rolled my ripped pant leg back down, pulled the armor guard back into place, and cinched it up tight. That stung. Everybody else had been dismissed. “Cody and the smart kids are inspecting the attack scenes, looking for clues about how to beat this damned thing. Get over to the nightclub and brief him on everything you saw. Take the elf with you, see if she can’t…wizard something up. Hell if I know, whatever it is elves do.”

I hadn’t seen my wife in the meeting. “Is Julie with them?”

“I gave her a few more men and sent her back up to the roof,” Earl answered.

“Why?”

“To keep an eye out…” Earl said, strangely defensive. “My call. Got a problem with that?”

Normally I wouldn’t argue with Earl, but this was my wife we were talking about. “Yeah, I do. What’s the deal, Earl? You’ve been weird about her since this started.”

Earl frowned at me and moved his cigarette from one side of his mouth to the other, thinking. I wasn’t about to back down, and he knew me well enough to know it. “Trip, give us a minute alone.”

Trip, looking concerned that I’d just crossed some line with our scary werewolf boss, complied. “I’ll be right out here when you need me.”

Earl glanced around to confirm that nobody was close enough to listen. “I put Julie on the roof because the roof is safer. She’s with solid Hunters in a wide-open space. No civilians with nightmares to raid. And if anything happens she can keep an eye on things for us.”

“As much as I appreciate the sentiment of keeping her out of harm’s way, she’s got to have hated that order.”

“She did. She called me a few choice names and raised holy hell, but as much of a pain in my ass as that stubborn girl has been over the years, she trusts me enough to do what I ask.”