House Rules (Chicagoland Vampires 7)

In the time I'd gotten dressed and come downstairs, they'd been beating the crap out of each other, and they clearly hadn't pulled any punches. Jonah's eye was bruised, and his lip was cut and swollen. Ethan limped, his left foot obviously tender, and his knuckles were bloody and torn.

I walked into the room as Jonah wiped a smear of blood from his jaw. He nudged Ethan, who looked back at me.

I crossed my arms and stared back at him.

"Jonah volunteered for a little sparring practice," Ethan said.

The liar.

But Jonah, who'd worked out the cover story with him, nodded. "The old man picked a fight. I thought it was a good idea, so I went along with it."

I glanced up at the balcony, which was full of well-entertained vampires. "Could you excuse us for a moment?" I asked.

Seeing as I had no authority over them, they all looked at Ethan, who nodded; then they filed out of the room. When it was empty, I looked back at Ethan and unloaded the cannons.

"There's a vampire assassin on the loose in Chicago," I said, "and I could use a little cooperation. What the hell is going on?"

"We needed to clear the air," Ethan said, silver eyes blazing as he stared at Jonah.

Jonah, his expression surprisingly serene, nodded in agreement.

"About what?"

"You," they simultaneously said.

I was completely flabbergasted that two grown men - more than grown, chronologically - would waste their time throwing punches at each other.

"And this was the best way you could do it?"

"Yes," they simultaneously answered.

I put my hands on my hips and closed my eyes. "This is completely ridiculous, and completely insulting."

"It was necessary," Ethan gritted out. "Boundaries needed to be set."

"As if there was any risk of boundaries being breached," Jonah countered, magic rising again, and it was clear they hadn't really settled anything.

"You've deemed yourself her 'partner,'" Ethan said.

"In the RG. You're her romantic partner."

"So I am. Can you remember that?"

Jonah's eyes flattened, not, I thought, because he was jealous, but because Ethan had taken a stab at his honor.

"She is my partner," Jonah said, "because she agreed to fight with me to protect the vampires in this city. If you don't understand that, or can't respect it, you're the one with the problem, not me."

"Hey," I interrupted, "I am not a toy to be fought over." I pointed at Jonah. "I'm his colleague" - I pointed at Ethan - "and his girlfriend. Those are the boundaries, and that's where they'll stay."

"We needed to be sure of it," Ethan said.

"You needed to whip them out and compare notes," I countered. I looked at Jonah. "I'm still learning who you are. And you're my partner, so I appreciate that you're willing to take a punch for me."

I walked to Ethan and glared up at him. "But you know better than this, Ethan Sullivan."

I strode toward the door, then peeked back to watch Ethan reach out his hand. After a moment, Jonah shook it.

God save me from boys.

* * *

While Ethan and Jonah finished their testosterone fest, I went back to the Ops Room to stare at our whiteboard. Unfortunately, no clues had miraculously appeared overnight.

"It looks like you've gotten a lot done," I said to Luc, but the Navarre vampire photos on the projector screen answered the question. Every photograph had been covered with an "X."

"Yeah, but not the kind I prefer. I talked to Will; there's not a single option in the group," Luc said, swiveling around in his chair in a full circle before landing at the head of the table again. "They're either alibied or completely motiveless."

I frowned. "But how is that possible? We know it was a Navarre vampire, right? So it has to be one of them."

Luc ran his hands through his curls. "You'd certainly think so, wouldn't you? But unless Will is lying, which I highly doubt, they're all off the hook."

I grimaced. "Is there any chance Will's the killer?"

"There's a chance of everything you can imagine, Sentinel," Luc said, going philosophical on me. "But that doesn't mean the chance is large."

"What about the biometrics?" Lindsey asked. "Have we heard from Jeff about that?"

"We have not," I said, picking up the phone. "Let's do that now."

Jeff answered the call almost immediately, but there was such a cacophony of music and screeching in the background that I could hardly hear him.

"Turn the music down!" I yelled, holding the speaker away from my ear until the volume was only slightly above bar brawl. "What's going on over there?"

"Nymph birthday party!" he yelled over the remaining musical din.

I rolled my eyes. "Could you maybe go outside?"

"Oh, yeah! Sure!"

A moment later, I heard the slamming of the screen door and the din quieted considerably.

"Sorry. It's a nymph obligation thing. I was going to call you as soon as we were done."

"Got anything on the biometrics?"

"Actually, yeah. Turns out this is pretty state-of-the-art stuff. It's not a scanner for fingerprints or retinas - it scans your blood."

"Your blood? How? And for what?"

"Tiny pinprick," he said. "A little lance pops up and scans the blood. But it's not looking for type or anything - it's looking for vampiric heredity. It only lets in vampires who were made by Celina."

And we had a winner.

"So to get in, you don't have to be a current Navarre vampire - you just have to be one of Celina's vampires."

"Correctamundo."

"Thank you, Jeff. That's great. Have fun at your party."

"Later, Mer."

He hung up the phone, and I did so gratefully, rubbing my ear a bit for good measure. I was pretty sure I'd just heard Rick Astley at eardrum-popping decibels, which wasn't anything I needed to ever experience again. Ever.

"News?"

"One of the nymphs is celebrating, and the biometric scanner at Navarre determines whether you were sired by Celina."

Luc whistled. "That's nice technology. And it gives us suspects." He walked to the whiteboard, scratched out NAVARRE VAMPIRE under the suspect list, and added SIRED BY CELINA.

"Would there be a lot of Celina-sired vampires not in Navarre House right now?"

"I have no clue. Typically, you wouldn't think many, but Celina was an odd duck. There's no telling exactly how she ran her House."