Boundary Crossed (Boundary Magic #1)(25)

“I didn’t ask for that,” I snapped, feeling myself losing control. I had wanted to get a public defender and plead out, but my father insisted on using his lawyers. I finally conceded when he told me he was worried about how my actions would look for the company.

“A lot of veterans have a hard time settling back into civilian life,” Itachi said calmly. “But you do seem to carry a lot of anger, Sergeant Luther.”

I ignored the formal address. He was either too polite to use my given name or he was baiting me. Either way, I wasn’t going to correct him twice.

When I didn’t say anything else, he added in a thoughtful tone, “Although of course it makes sense for you to have some residual anger after losing a twin. And so violently, too.”

I took a deep breath and made a point of relaxing my muscles. I may have a temper, but I know when I’m being goaded. “You’re showing off,” I said calmly. “You want me to know that you can get my police file, that you can dig into my personal life. Understood. Now I’d like to move on.”

A small smile played at the corners of Itachi’s mouth, and for the briefest moment his glance flicked to Maven. “Very well, Sergeant—”

I interrupted him, going on the offensive. “And I would like to know why Victor and Darcy went after my niece,” I said firmly. “One time could have been a coincidence. They might have just wanted a baby for . . . some reason.” I swallowed, forcing my mind away from that line of thought. “But they came after her a second time. They wanted this baby, Charlie, and I’d like to know why.”

Itachi’s eyebrows raised, and he leaned back in his chair. “And what is this information worth to you?” he said casually, like I’d asked him for a stock tip.

I said, “Am I correct in assuming you didn’t order Victor and Darcy to go after my niece?”

For the first time, Itachi looked just the slightest bit uncertain. Again, I saw his eyes flicker toward Maven. Then his expression evened out, and with the same blank-slate detachment I’d seen in Quinn, he said, “That would be correct, yes.”

“Then I exposed a discipline problem you didn’t know you had,” I retorted. “And for services rendered, I’d like some information.” Itachi’s eyes narrowed, but I wasn’t finished. “You must be the person to ask, if you really are in charge of all the supernatural crap in Boulder.”

“In all of Colorado, actually,” Itachi said.

“I wasn’t talking to you,” I replied. I twisted in my seat to look back at Maven.

The young woman—the vampire—lifted her chin, eyes flashing. She had been leaning casually against the wall next to the office door, but when she straightened up, she didn’t look like a spacey barista anymore. When she spoke now, her voice was queenly. “I’m flattered. But I’m here as an advisor only. Itachi is in charge.”

I eyed her. She was practically glowing with something: Charisma? Charm? “Like hell,” I said.

A surprised smile twitched on her face. “It’s true that I have more years than Itachi,” she allowed. “But I assure you, he is in charge of the state.”

I wasn’t sure I believed her—it was strange how Itachi kept glancing at her, and there was some kind of vibe between them I couldn’t get a bead on—but I dropped the subject. “If you’re an advisor, ma’am, would you mind joining us up here so I don’t have to turn to look at you?” And so I don’t have a stranger at my back, I thought.

“Certainly,” Maven said graciously. She stood up and darted to the visitor’s chair next to mine. Her shuffling walk had been supplanted by the same lithe, efficient movements I’d seen in all the vampires I’d met so far.

For his part, the leader of the Colorado Old World simply picked up the conversation where it had left off. “So, Sergeant, Quinn tells me that you were unaware of the Old World until you met Darcy and Victor. Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“And yet you survived two encounters with them,” Maven mused. “Interesting.”

“I had help both times, ma’am,” I said plainly. I wasn’t trying to be modest, but I also didn’t want to claim credit I didn’t deserve.

Something about my choice of words seemed to amuse Maven a little, because the corners of her lips turned up just a little. “More than you know,” she told me. Her eyes cut over to Itachi, like she was cuing him.

He caught it. “Until a few days ago,” he said to me, “I was unaware of your niece. Like you, I initially thought Victor and Darcy had stolen the child for their own needs. It wasn’t until Quinn told me about his encounter with her at John Wheaton’s house that I understood what she is.”

“What is she?”

“Charlotte Wheaton is what’s commonly called a null,” Maven explained. “A human being who nullifies the magic within a certain space around him-or herself. Of the four creatures that remain in the Old World, nulls are the rarest. I have met several before”—her eyes went unfocused and distant for a moment, then snapped back to mine—”but it has been over a century since the last one.”

“Can you elaborate on that definition, please?”

Maven smiled. “Nulls can undo power,” she said simply. “When we are physically close to one, our magic disappears. We are human again until we move away.”