Sunglasses at Night (Claws Clause 3)

“Really?” That was interesting. He understood, though. When Adam was still human, he’d never even heard of them before. “Then how do you know about them at all?”

“Eh, you’ve been around long enough, you pick up on a lot. Then there was my time working the Cage. Believe me, I know more about paranormals than most cops.”

Fair enough. And that was exactly why Adam made that phone call and arranged for this meet.

“Okay. In that case, do you know anything about something called elixir?”

Diaz’s jaw dropped, his mouth falling open. He set his glass down. “Are you asking me about De Vivre?”

Maybe. Was he? Adam didn’t know.

“I heard a rumor”—because it didn’t seem right to mention Deb to the detective—“that there was this stuff I could take that would fix me. You know. Turn me back from this to human.”

He almost expected Diaz to take the out, to shut down the conversation by agreeing that Adam was spot-on, that it was nothing but a rumor. It would be a lie, but obviously talking about the slayers made Diaz twitchy.

That’s why it was such a surprise to him when Diaz didn’t do that.

“The slayers control the elixir.” There was a bite to Diaz’s rough tone when he said that. “You want De Vivre, you go through them.”

Adam peered at Diaz closely, using his mirrored lenses to hide his scrutiny. This was more than just not wanting to talk about the paranormal hunters. This was something else.

“You don’t like slayers, do you?”

“I don’t know any personally, but do I like the idea of them? No. I don’t. Besides, slayers are a Para’s mortal enemy. You shouldn’t like them, either.”

Maybe he was right.

But maybe—

Even though Diaz had tried once before to explain to him that slayers were the fabled hunters that paranormal parents used to frighten their children into behaving, Adam admittedly thought that that might be taking it a little far.

The way he saw it, slayers were like cops: they hunted the bad guys, just like Adam did now with rogue vamps. And while he’d be the first to admit that there were bad cops out there—which meant that all slayers couldn’t be trusted—he thought of the blonde slayer and wondered, What if?

What if she could help him?

What if she knew where he could find the elixir?

Diaz knew what he was thinking before Adam had even made a conscious decision.

“No, Wright, no. Don’t even think about it. Searching out a slayer in your state won’t help you get the elixir. It’s suicide. They’ll stake you before you can get the question out.”

That may be so.

But if his options were to avoid slayers for the rest of his unnaturally long life or confront one in the hopes that he could actually turn back into a human again… no contest.

He knew what he had to do.

And he only hoped that Tabitha didn’t hold a grudge.

7

Three Paras. Tabby talked to three Paras so far that night and learned absolutely nothing as to why Grayson was suddenly a huge paranormal hotspot.

She was determined to figure it out. Since trying to figure out who was hunting Nightwalkers without a license from the Society was pointless when Tabby had decided not to out Adam, she had to focus on the other mystery surrounding Grayson if she wanted to stick around.

Only a couple of years ago, the city was considered human-friendly. Some called it an Ant Farm—a derogatory name for a human’s only set-up similar to the Para-filled Bumptowns—and while a few Paras lived and worked there, humans definitely outnumbered the paranormal races. Nowadays, though? Something was drawing more and more paranormals toward it. Just last year, there was a group of Nightwalkers who moved into Grayson, draining close to a dozen bodies before they were stopped.

Because of the number, the Grayson PD got involved which meant that the Society called off any hunts. Boone still kept his eye on the city, though, because the vast numbers of Paras being drawn there concerned him.