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Graham had apparently picked up all the stray glass he could find, because he wiped his fingers on the towel and stood up.

“Graham, you wearing a holy item?” I hoped he’d say no.

“No,” he said.

Relief flooded through me, and I shivered. I was cold from the wet clothes and the reaction to the accident. No, not accident. The Harlequin had tried to kill me. Fuck. I hadn’t understood; even with everyone’s warnings, I hadn’t understood. I was like a kid who’d poked a kitten with a stick and found a tiger staring at me.

“Talk to us, Anita,” Claudia said.

There were so many people in the room that they couldn’t all know about the Harlequin. How to explain without overexplaining? “The bad guys messed with Graham, a lot, and he doesn’t remember it.”

“What are you talking about?” Graham asked. “No one’s messed with me.”

“Ask Clay,” I said. “He saw it, too.”

Claudia hit the radio in her hand and called for Clay to join us when he could. Then she turned to me. “From the top, Anita, all of it.”

“I can’t give you all of it until I talk to Jean-Claude.”

“This cloak-and-dagger shit is getting old.” This from Fredo: slender, not too tall, and dangerous. He was the only wererat who carried a gun sometimes but preferred knives, lots of them.

“For me, too,” I said, “but you guys have to know about Graham now, not later.”

“We’re listening,” Claudia said. She was very serious, almost threatening. She didn’t like the cloak-and-dagger stuff either. I didn’t blame her.

I told them, though I toned it down for Graham’s embarrassment’s sake.

Claudia said, “A vampire, in daylight, from a distance, messed with Graham?”

“Yes,” I said.

“That shouldn’t be possible,” she said.

“Not in daylight, from a distance, no, it shouldn’t be.”

“You’re telling me as a vampire executioner that you’ve never seen anything like this?”

I started to say no, then stopped. “I’ve had a few Masters of the City mess with me from a distance when I was sleeping, and in their territory.”

“But that was at night,” she said.

“True,” I said.

We stared at each other. “Are you saying these guys…” She stopped herself.

I waited for her to finish; when she didn’t, I said, “Holy objects need to be mandatory for everyone.”

“It didn’t help you much just now,” she said.

“It kept them from messing with my head as bad as they messed with Graham’s. He doesn’t even remember.”

“I know you wouldn’t lie,” Graham said, “but because I don’t remember, I don’t believe it.”

“That’s what makes vampire mind tricks so dangerous,” I said. “That very thing. The victim doesn’t remember so it didn’t happen.”

Jake’s voice came with only a slight edge of strain to it. “What did you do to get the cross to do that?”

“It wasn’t the cross,” I said.

There was a flash of blade as Juanito searched Jake’s dark curls for the right spot. Apparently they were going to have to cut some of the glass out. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t let myself do that. Jake had gotten hurt because of me. The least I could do was watch the cleanup.

“What was it, then?” he asked, the last word hissed as the blade cut into his scalp.

“I…I’m not sure how to explain it.”

“Try,” he said, through gritted teeth.

“I tried to fight back with my necromancy and they, he, didn’t like it.”

Juanito shook the piece of glass onto the bloody towel, then turned back to search through the now-bloody curls.

“He?” Claudia asked.

“Yeah, definitely he.”

“Did you see him?” Jake asked, and his breath went out sharp as another piece of glass went on the towel.

“Not exactly see, but I felt him. The energy was definitely male.”

“How was it male?” Jake asked, his voice thin with pain.

I thought about it. “I thought I saw a male figure for an instant, and the…” I almost said mask and stopped myself. “But that could have been illusion. Except that the power felt male.”

“What else did you get?” His body shuddered as Cisco worked on his back, apparently finding more glass he’d missed. Crap.

I answered, though I probably shouldn’t have, but he’d taken my hit. I felt like I