“Mainstream military has nothing to do with the idea, Anita.”

“I know they’re still giving people medical discharges if they catch lycanthropy on the job.”

“But some of the firms that are more private security are very interested.”

“I thought your acquaintance was Irish police.”

“He is, but he wasn’t always.”

“Military?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Private security firm?”

“Yes.”

“I didn’t think the regular military or PD liked you much after you were private security.”

“He’s a native-born son of Ireland come back with new skills and new money to throw at a project that the government wants done.”

“Money. Wait. Is he funding this thing himself?”

“No, but he’s helping outfit it, hoping to prove the worth of the new weapons to the government so they’ll order up his new gadgets.”

“A government contract would be a lot of money down the road,” I said.

“It would be, but that’s down the road. Right now he’s spending a lot of his backers’ money as an investment that may or may not pan out.”

“So it’s a big gamble,” I said.

“Yes.”

“And we’re going to help him win his bet.”

“Yes.”

“Is your . . . I can’t keep calling him your acquaintance.”

“Brian.”

“Brian. Really? How . . . Irish.”

“It’s still his name.”

“Okay, is Brian planning on following us around while we hunt the bad vamps?”

“He’s planning to help us.”

“Can we kill the bad vamps when we find them?”

“I’ve got you in the country armed, Anita—one problem at a time.”

“Wait,” Nathaniel said. “Are you saying that Anita can’t kill the vampires when you find them?”

“We think the vampires that are giving us issues in Dublin are the newly dead. We have some disappearances, but no one has been declared dead, so they’re still legal citizens with all the rights of the living. Irish law doesn’t cover vampires. Doesn’t even mention them.”

“What are we supposed to do when we find the bad guys, Edward, arm-wrestle them?”

“Humans, even ones with vampire bites, are to be treated like regular humans, unless they are actively trying to kill us; then they become targets of opportunity.”

“What about the vampires themselves? Have they made up their minds what they’re going to do when they find them if they don’t kill them?”

“No.”

“That’s insane,” Nathaniel said.

“The Irish cops really want to save the vampires that are murdering their kids?” I asked.

“The Irish are very serious about not taking life.”

“Figure out something lethal before we land, Edward. I’m not bringing over my people to be killed because someone in power flinches.”

“I’ll do my best, but the local police take the whole peacekeeping thing seriously.”

“They can’t have ever seen what vampires are capable of,” Nathaniel said.

“Most of them haven’t, except for Brian.”

“There will be no peaceful end with these killers, Edward.”

“I’m not arguing that, Anita, but your reputation for necromancy isn’t the only thing that the Irish have reservations about.”

“What else don’t they like about me?” I asked.

“Your reputation for violence.”

“Yours isn’t any better.”

“Actually, you’ve still got the highest kill count, so I’m less bloodthirsty than you are.”

“Great, so I’m the big bad whatever.”

“They’re talking about putting a human officer with your preternatural friends while they’re in Ireland.”

“A guard on my guards?”

“Think of it as more a battle buddy. If one of your shapeshifters does something unfortunate, the officer with them will be in trouble, too, so they’ll be motivated to keep everyone on the straight and narrow.”

“The way to heaven is straight and narrow, Edward. We aren’t going that way.”

“Brian’s been to hell, Anita. He’ll be fine.”

“You and he have served together.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Fought together, then.”

“I didn’t say that either.”

“Fine, damn black ops, but if you tell me that you’ve seen Brian handle himself, I’ll believe you.”

“I trust Brian to hold up his end of any operation, but I don’t know his men. I trust him to pick good people, but he’s working with the government.”

“Which means what?” I asked.

“Which means that he may not have been able to pick his entire team, so be careful until we know they’re as good as Brian.”

“I’ll pass that word on to my people here.”

“Do that.”

“I’ll finalize my team here, and tell them the good news that we can bring our guns.”

“No explosives. If we need those, Brian’s people will supply them.”

“I don’t think I’ve ever traveled with explosives; that’s your gig.”