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him.”
    “Crap.”
    “Yup. And guess what she does when she’s not sticking her nose in other people’s business?”
    “Let me guess…”
    “…she watches the news,” they finished together.
    “Fucking spectacular.” He plopped back down on the bed, trying to hold his brain in with one hand against his temple. It had obviously swollen from trying to process the full extent of his friend’s stupidity and was attempting to explode out of his skull.
    He resisted the urge to say I told you so. After Roland’s penthouse had been trashed over the summer, Logan tried to encourage Roland and Karissa to move out of the city. Fewer people to tempt Karissa’s new vampire instincts and fewer enemies to upend the happy couple’s world. But his concerns were overruled. He knew why, of course. The Paladin may have turned their back on Roland long ago, but Roland would not turn his back on them. He’d stay and fight to the end. And Karissa? Well, she wanted to remain close to the only family she had left—her newly discovered half-brother, Logan.
    And you’re not secretly glad to have them both here?
    Logan sighed, letting his hand drop to the mattress. “Why didn’t you just do what everyone else does?”
    “What’s that?”
    “Open the window, crack a can of tuna fish, and set it on the sill.”
    “Tuna fish, huh?”
    Logan mentally chastised himself. They were vampires. Their cupboards weren’t exactly stocked with tuna. And his ill-spoken words had rubbed her nose in the fact that she would never be normal again. “I’m sorry, Karissa. I’m an idiot at times. Forgive me?”
    “Of course,” she replied easily, though he wasn’t fool enough to ignore the tension in her voice. Come to think of it, there was a lot of background noise. More than what could be explained by the TV or an open window. “Karissa, where are you now?”
    There was a shuffle, then Karissa’s voice came across the line, kind of muffled and echoic all at the same time, as if she were cupping the mouthpiece. “Well, see, Roland didn’t know the woman called the police. And when they showed up one of them was, well, different.”
    Different? He hoped to hell she meant another human with diluted Paladin blood and not a merker. Those half-demon bastards of Ganelon’s would have no qualms about sticking a shank in a Paladin’s heart if the chance arose—even a disgraced one like Roland.
    “Roland knew he wouldn’t respond to a thrall and he didn’t want to hurt someone who was only doing his job so he uh…” she trailed off, the background commotion of phone, wailing and bellowed orders telling the rest of her story.
    “You’re at the police station, aren’t you?”
    The phone crackled, like she had shifted, and her voice lowered further. “Don’t suppose you know a good lawyer.”
    Logan was already up, stuffing his legs into a pair of clean jeans. “Hang tight. I’ll see what I can do.”
    ***
    Thirty minutes later Logan pushed through the front doors of the 41st precinct with Alex, the warrior’s shoulder-length hair tamed in a queue, five o’clock shadow gone, and bulging muscles trimmed down by the professionally cut lines of his suit. As soon as they were inside, Alexander took over, his grim expression revealing only professionalism and showing no sign of the fact that he’d been in a fight which had cracked a rib just hours before. A quick flash of a business card and a low-toned conversation with the front desk clerk, and Logan was waved through the metal detectors and into the waiting room, while Alex was ushered through another set of doors.
    As much as Logan would’ve liked to go with Alex to see how Roland was holding up, he didn’t press the issue. Better to let Alex do his thing, and besides, one look at Karissa, hugging her body tight as she sat in the corner, told him he had more than just his friend to worry about.
    Logan worked his way across the room, avoiding two bored kids who were making a game of