Colin looked up at the cloud-bleary sky then back at me. "Ten minutes at most."

"That's it?" I unholstered my phone. "From the time I got here until this moment?" Just the time I'd been frozen at the sight of the Zombies seemed longer than that. I don't think I've ever felt so off-balance.

"Yep." Colin looked at the uprooted trees, a downed park fence, a smashed garbage can, and the shattered glass that glittered on snow from a smashed light post. "That's the drawback of being so big without much fighting space." He wiped sweat from his face with his hand. "I hope you have plant Healers."

"Seemed so much longer," I said, repeating my thought as I dialed the phone.

I explained the situation to Rodan.

One Soothsayer and one plant Healer on the way.

In the time it took Lulu and Sara to arrive, Colin, Penrod, and I only had time to take a quick inventory of the place. Assorted body parts, a dead man and a dead woman whose bodies were still intact, and an unconscious woman on a park bench. All of the Zombies had been toasted, leaving only piles of black soot on patches of grass where the snow had been melted away.

A few onlookers gathered and cell phones were in hand the moment they'd spotted the devastation.

"Why me?" Lulu's agitated grumble carried through the park at the same time every onlooker froze in place. "And why you?" she said when she came into view and spotted me.

The Manx cat Doppler, Lulu, and I never had gotten along, not since my very first PI case when she'd had to freeze an entire city block because I hadn't called Rodan fast enough. She'd really been put out over that one.

Every other time I'd seen her on a scene over the past two-plus years, she'd looked perfect.

Tonight she looked like a train wreck.

Lulu's tangled hair strung out behind her as she marched toward me, rather than her locks lying over her shoulders in long, glossy blond ringlets. Her lips thinned with anger and looked almost white without her normal bright pink lipstick.

Her face was scrunched into a scowl, her skin Vampire-pale from lack of blusher or foundation.

With no eye makeup and no mascara her eyes looked smaller than they usually did when she glared at me.

Instead of wearing one of her lacy frou-frou dresses she was in a pair of gray sweatpants and a stained T-shirt.

"What are you looking at, Sprite?" Lulu scowled at Penrod before she turned her glare back on me. "Another one of your stupid messes that I have to clean up." She was nearly shouting at me as she marched through the snow in rubber boots that did not complement her sweatpants. "No one else creates the kinds of disasters that you do. I don't have time for-" Then Lulu saw Colin. She came to a stop, her mouth still open. Her cheeks reddened giving her face some color.

She only paused for a moment, staring at Colin, before she turned and fled.

Lulu wasn't Elvin or Fae, so her boots made loud slapping sounds over the ground where the snow had melted. Her steps changed to a muffled crunching sound when she reached a snow drift.

"Did I do something wrong?" Colin looked at me as Lulu ran across the park. "Is that female afraid of Dragons?"

I almost couldn't help it. I wanted to laugh so badly. "Knowing Lulu, she's mortified because she isn't, er, prepared to be seen by a hot guy." I glanced at him and grinned. "No pun intended." Colin smiled. "Who is she?"

"The Soothsayer who froze this scene and who erases the memories of anyone who witnessed what happened here." I gestured around us. "Lulu's good at what she does..." Colin raised his eyebrows in a questioning look as I trailed off from what would obviously a have been a "but" statement.

It wasn't for me to say anything bad about Lulu. It was one thing to talk about the Soothsayer with Olivia who shared in experiencing Lulu's better-than-thou attitude. The three of us had been in enough personal conflicts that it wasn't gossip if Olivia and I shared a few "insights" on Lulu from time to time.

Colin, on the other hand, didn't know Lulu, and he should be allowed to form his own opinion of the Soothsayer without me coloring his judgment. Even if she was a dolt.

Penrod ambled up to us. "I have never seen such strange beings."

"I have," Colin and I said at the same time.

I looked at him in surprise. "You've seen Zombies before?"

"In Otherworld." The Dragon studied me. "Almost a quarter of a century ago." Leave it to a Dragon to talk in centuries.

Memories started bombarding me again. Memories I'd forced away for so many years hit me, one after another.

Me as a little girl.

My only brother.

A Zombie.

"Twenty-two years ago," I said as I tried to maintain my composure. "When I was five."

"Are you all right?" Genuine concern was in Colin's eyes and in the tone of his voice. "What happened?"

No, I wasn't okay. Something inside me was sick, shaken. The black sludge I'd been feeling after my nightmares filled my belly. I still hadn't pieced everything together and I definitely wasn't ready to talk about it.

I gestured to Paranormal Task Force agents who were coming into the park. "We'd better take a look around before the PTF cleans up."

Rodan folded his hands on his Dryad-wood desk and looked at them. He had long tapered fingers. His skin was smooth, soft, golden.

When he looked at me his crystal green eyes appeared darker than normal. Almost emerald in color.

"I am taking you off the case, Nyx." Rodan's features were set, his tone firm, unyielding.

My jaw dropped and I just stared at him. For a moment there was complete silence in his den as I sat across the desk from him.

I clenched the armrests of my chair. "You did not just say that you're taking me off of the Zombie case." I managed not to flinch at the word "Zombie."

"Yes." Rodan leaned back in his chair. "I'll appoint Angel as team leader in your place." My skin began to burn and my face grew hot. If the chair hadn't been made of Dryad wood, the armrests would have broken off as hard as I was gripping them.

"You are too close to this one," Rodan said. "I'd like you to-"

"What do you mean I'm too close?" My voice rose in pitch as I started to rise in my chair.

"You lost a family member." Rodan's features remained calm, neutral. For the first time ever, I wanted to slap him.

"Don't tell me I'm too close to this case to do my job." I stood and clenched my hands into fists at my sides. "I'm damned good at what I do and I'll solve this."

"No." Rodan tilted his head back and studied me. "You compromised yourself tonight when you froze up. You compromised your team."

"Are you saying that I'm unprofessional? That I can't do my job?" So much anger built up inside me that I started to shake with the white heat of it. "If you take me off the team then you might as well consider this my resignation."

Surprise flickered across his features. "Nyx-"

"If you don't respect me, if you think I'm not good enough to lead this team," I said as I jerked my phone out of its holster on my weapons belt, "then I don't belong here anymore." I slammed my phone on his desk. "I won't be needing this to reach you, will I." My eyesight blurred from the strength of my anger. How dare he?

I whirled and headed away from his desk toward the stairs and nearly ran into Rodan. With Elvin speed he'd gotten up from his chair and was now standing in front of me, grasping my upper arms.

"Nyx." His voice was low now, a soft plea that startled me. "It's not about you being unprofessional. You're the best I have. But there is no perfect Tracker who can do it all. You're simply too emotionally involved with this one, Nyx. I-we almost lost you on the last operation. I don't want to take the chance of losing you again."

All my life I'd had someone make the decisions for me before I left Otherworld. My father wouldn't allow me to participate in actual operations because not only am I a princess and his daughter, but Drow males will never work side by side with Drow females.

Here in the Earth Otherworld I'd never been held back like Rodan was trying to do to me now.

And I wasn't about to let it start.

"What about Angel?" I put my palms on his chest and pushed away from him. He let his hands fall to his sides. "Aren't you concerned about her?"

"Of course-"

"And the next op-are you going to decide it's too dangerous, too?" I had to hold back to keep from shouting at him. "Are you going to decide that I'm compromised in some way that will affect my ability to be a Night Tracker?"

"This is different." Rodan took a step toward me, decreasing the distance I'd just put between us. "You saw Zombies devastate your people." His tone was almost fierce with concern. "You lost your brother to them."

"That doesn't mean I can't do my job." My voice was nearly hoarse with anger.

"I told you that you're the best I have," he said. "I just don't think you belong on this op."

"I don't need this." I raised my hands. "You say I'm the best you have, yet you don't respect me enough to keep me as team leader."

"Of course I respect-"

I cut across his words. "When have I ever let you down? When have I ever not come through for you? We lost one of my best friends, Caprice, during the Demon op. Did it compromise my performance? No. If anything it crystallized my resolve to defeat the Demons."

"Listen to me," Rodan said in a way meant to calm me down.

"You listen to me." I don't think I'd ever been so angry as I was at that moment. "As I see it, Rodan, you have two choices."

"Nyx-"

I put my palm up, facing him, telling him to shut up with the movement. "First choice is that things stay the way they are and I lead this operation as a Night Tracker." My hands shook and I clenched them again. "Second choice is I walk away and I'll never track again." My words sounded cold, hard, and that was exactly how I'd meant them. "I'll work on the Zombie case on my own as a PI. Either way I will work on it."

"Wait-"

"I've loved working for you," I said. "I've loved being a Tracker. But I don't need this. I've never been more shocked by one of your decisions. I don't need to work for someone who doesn't have confidence in me." I put my hands on my hips above my weapons belt. "Whatever decision you make right this instant will determine exactly what it is I'm going to do." I clamped my mouth shut to keep myself from saying anything else while I waited for him to speak. My heart thundered and my skin prickled.

"That is no choice." He looked resigned. "I can't lose you. I won't lose you." I raised my chin but some of my anger started to slide away, and my tone calmed a bit. "Rodan, you know I'm the best Tracker to lead this case. You know that. But you're removing me for your personal reasons. A fear for my well being."

Before he could say anything, I continued. "This isn't right. None of this. You're replacing me with Angel, who is a good Tracker but doesn't have the record I do. I'm not the one who's compromised by emotions and personal feelings.

"I understand you care and at some level I appreciate that," I continued, "but it's you who must make decisions for the good of all. You can't make a choice to put someone in charge who's not the very best."

"Perhaps my decision is driven in part by my concern for you," Rodan said. "But Nyx, you did lose a family member to the Zombies and it resulted in your freezing up tonight." Rodan paused. "But I also know that you're right. You have never let me down. You have always come through in the end, have always gotten the job done."

I took a deep breath. "Then what is your answer? Am I a Tracker or not?" Rodan's eyes met and held mine for a long moment. "Everything will remain as it was," he said, his tone quiet. "You will continue to lead this operation." I didn't look away or show how his statement affected me. The relief that poured through me.

"As it should be," Rodan said, "it's up to you and your team to solve this case."

ELEVEN.

Thursday, December 23.

The following morning I was still furious. It didn't matter that Rodan had relented and I was the team leader for the op. What mattered was that he had tried to take me off the case entirely ... that he actually doubted me.

The fact that we now knew Zombies were in the Earth Otherworld didn't help my mood at all.

Fae bells jingled as Olivia pushed the door open then let it close behind her. At once I wondered if we might need to steer clear of one another-if her scowl and her T-shirt were indicative of her mood today.

I HAVE PMS AND A HANDGUN. ANY QUESTIONS?.

Nah. I couldn't let it go. I raised my hand as she tugged off her Mets jacket, then tossed it onto the credenza. "Ma'am," I said. "I have a question." Olivia saw me glance at her chest. "The shirt speaks for itself."

"But it asks if I have a question," I said in a tone of complete innocence. "And I do."

"Shoot." Olivia touched the grip of the Sig in her side holster. "Or I will." It was obvious to me she was struggling to maintain her irritated facade and not laugh.

"Do you have another one of those shirts I can borrow?" I asked. "Except make it one about a boss and a handgun."

Olivia's expression grew serious as she approached me. "What's up? Something between you and Rodan?"

I tried not to scowl. Didn't work. "After our team met with Rodan and went over the Zombie attack last night, Rodan and I had a little talk."

"Yeah." She nodded. "He said he wanted to speak with you alone in his office. So what happened?"

I ground my teeth before I said, "He wanted to take me off this op."

"What?" Her eyes narrowed. "Why the hell would Rodan do that?" Without going into complete detail, I told Olivia what Rodan had said and my own threat to quit if he didn't change his mind.

"Stupid." Olivia shook her head. "I can't believe he'd let his emotions get in the way of his job." She paused and cocked her head. "Come to think of it, I didn't realize Rodan even has emotions." I rolled my eyes at that statement. "It's because of our personal history and because of what happened during the Vampire op."

"I know." She leaned her hip against her desk. "But it's not like him to be so unprofessional."

"Agreed." Just talking about it with Olivia released some of the pressure that had been building inside of me. "This isn't something I'd tell any of the other Trackers."

"Of course not." Olivia folded her arms across her chest. "That's what close friends and partners are for."

I gave a sigh that was still filled with frustration. "Now that I got that off my chest, where are we going to start today?"