The dog howled again, just as the cop’s beefy fingers closed on his flashlight. His steps were brisk as he hurried away.

Max waited until he heard a car door close, then flopped onto his back with much rustling of shrubbery. Cold sweat trickled down his back, and only when he noticed his whole body shaking did he realize he was afraid.

Mortally terrified, more like it. There wasn’t much he feared, but the police made that short list. They could cuff you, stick you in the back of their car and drive you off someplace where there was no sun-control.

“You can come out now, coward,” a thickly accented voice called.

Max slapped his hands to his face and stretched the skin out of shape. This is really my night.

Trying to extricate himself from the bushes as painlessly as possible, he stumbled onto the broken-asphalt path. The werewolf waited for him, standing in the middle of the trail in an all-leather getup that could have come from a bad action movie.

Or a very good porn movie.

“Ever hear the word inconspicuous?” He brushed off the torn knees of his jeans.

“Have you ever heard the words ‘I do not care’?” She didn’t move as he stepped closer.

“You know, lupins are usually easier to intimidate than this.” He grinned at her outraged curse. “You’re not making my job very easy.”

“I am not a lupin. Filthy traitors!” As she crossed herself and spat, her eyes flashed deadly gold. The pupils narrowed to pinpoints, then flared to encompass the irises.

The effect was unnerving, even after all Max had seen. He stepped back.

“Now who is easily intimidated, vampire?”

Was that humor in her voice? If she hadn’t been such a stone-cold bitch until now, Max would have found it easier to believe. “You scared off the cop?”

She nodded, just once.

“Why?”

She lifted one shoulder in an elegant shrug as she raised her other arm behind her head. Pulling a heavy, medieval-looking crossbow from her back, she looked it over with a critical eye while she answered. “I hate police.”

“We’re on the same page there.” Max scratched his neck and surveyed the area. “So, you think he’s going to revisit the scene of the crime?”

“No.” She popped the bolt from the bow and slung the weapon across her back again. Pulling a scrap of white fabric from her pocket, she gave the air a long sniff. She waved the cloth under her nose a few times and lifted her head. “He hasn’t been here since he killed her.”

Max groaned. “I could have told you that. He’s not a psychopath.”

“No, he is not.” The werewolf frowned and bent to touch the pavement. She lifted her fingers to her nose. “He is not acting as a vampire, either.”