Sunglasses at Night (Claws Clause 3)

No time to clean the blade; that would come later. For now? He needed to move the body out of sight until the sun came along and made clean up easier for him.

Come morning, the dispatched vamp would be dust. Until then, Adam needed him hidden. Just because the Claws Clause said he was in the right to take out such a danger to society, he wasn’t so sure his former boys in blue would agree.

Speaking of—

Within a few blocks of where he left the remains of the Nightwalker, Adam caught sight of a cop car in the distance. He slowed his walk, trying like hell to seem like he was just an innocent vamp out for a nightly stroll, but he knew from the moment the door swung outward and the male cop hustled across the street to approach him that he was screwed.

He tried to pretend that he didn’t notice it, stiffening when the cop flagged him down with an authoritative, “Excuse me.”

Adam stopped.

Standing in front of him, the cop’s gaze flickered to the blood spray covering Adam’s side. He frowned but said nothing about it.

That was one good thing about being a Nightwalker. When others saw the blood, they just thought he was a messy eater. It never occurred to them that he might be out hunting his own.

Adam took the opportunity to return the cop’s once-over. He didn’t recognize him. Nameplate said Peabody, but it didn’t ring a bell.

He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or not. On the one hand, he hated running into any of his old crew. But, on the other… he really fucking hated the way Peabody looked him up and down like that.

Adam knew what was coming even before Peabody spit the words out.

“Can I see your P.I.D., sir?”

Was it his imagination, or did Peabody put way more emphasis on sir than he had to?

Swallowing an annoyed sigh, he moved slowly, reaching into his back pocket for his wallet. He knew from experience that, while the gun in Peabody’s holster would be full of silver bullets to put down shifters, he’d also have concentrated holy water spray next to his Mace. Not enough to kill a vamp, but it would burn long enough to put Para-proof cuffs on him.

He wouldn’t give the cop any reason to get violent. Not when he knew how easy it was for the LT’s and sergeants to turn their backs on reports of unnecessary force against Para suspects.

Slowly, slowly, he pulled free his wallet, slipping his paranormal identification card from the slot up front. He handed it to Peabody.

Peabody’s brow furrowed. “Hmm. Did you know that your P.I.D. was expired, Mr. Wright?”

Was it?

Figuring a little performative respect might go a long way with the cop, he hunched a little so that he didn’t seem that much larger than Peabody and said, “No, sir.”

“Only by a few days. It’s June now, you know.”

“I guess I didn’t realize.”

Peabody pursed his lips as he read the card over again. Adam knew what it said. His name, date of birth, and his Para type. Since Nightwalkers were the only type of paranormals who were made, not born, they were the only ones given a provisional identification card. Not that there was any real difference between a provisional P.I.D. and a permanent one. There definitely wasn’t. Why they forced him to get a provisional card at all, he had no clue.

More bureaucratic bullshit, he figured.

Finally, Peabody held the card out again. “I’ll let you go with a warning this time. Someone else catches you with an expired P.I.D., though… I’m sure you know what that’ll mean.”

Adam clenched his jaw, grinding his teeth together, refusing to feel relief that this cop wasn’t going to give him any shit.

Because, yeah. He knew.

Back when he was still a cop, he had to spend a year working at the local Cage. They were magic-free prisons specifically for paranormals, and every cop in the country had to do at least a year’s time working at one to remind them that “Protect and Serve” referred to paranormals, too.

Some of the prisoners inside were there because of the Bond Laws, the clauses in Ordinance 7304 that regulated mates for the paranormals. Some were dangerous for other reasons; so long as there was a chance for rehabilitation, they earned a cell instead of an execution.

But a majority of those inside? Were there because of trumped-up charges, like being a Para with an expired P.I.D. They were there because, no matter what, the humans wanted to remind them who really was in charge.

So, yeah. Adam knew that.