Read Online Bloody Acquisitions (Fred Book 3) by Drew Hayes - Free Book Online

some control of myself. “Even at CalcuCon, there wasn’t this much variety.”
    “The cons are fun, but not everyone can travel easily.” It might have been my imagination, but Arch seemed a bit grumpier than usual, probably because he’d been forbidden from smoking in the sheriff’s truck. “Besides, those only attract parahumans looking to do business or meet up with others like them. They’re little islands of community in a sea of pretending to be human. These people don’t have that need. They’re always connected to the parahuman world.”
    “Yeah, they are.” Albert hadn’t quite reached the point of hanging his head out the window, but I put a hand on his shoulder anyway, just in case. I understood the reaction. Even for beings like us, who could blend in with little effort, the strain of always pretending, always staying careful and aware, was like a weight we carried around.
    As we drove up the road and pulled into the sheriff’s office, I felt that weight lift for the first time in years. This wasn’t a con where walls, tenuous and easily breached, had been erected to keep our secrets safe. Here, the world was truly kept at bay, and in this town, there was no need to pretend. We weren’t the oddities. We were just . . . people.
    Sheriff Thorgood killed the engine and hauled himself out of the car, the rest of us following his lead. The office was a brick building, larger than I’d initially expected. Then I remembered the size of the furry man in gray slacks, and suddenly I could see why space might be important here. We walked inside to find a large central room with three desks, and a row of five cells at the back of the building. None were occupied, though they all had fresh blankets and a pillow resting on them just in case. Near the rear of the room, a small television was tuned into a baseball game on mute. Evidently, we’d caught someone relaxing before we pulled up.
    There were two, and only two, candidates for who might be the baseball fan. Standing in the center of the office area, like they’d been waiting for us, were a man and a woman, both dressed in the same beige uniform as Sheriff Thorgood. The man had dark, spiky hair with what appeared to be red highlights, along with a lean frame and a sharp stare. The woman seemed entirely human, save for her eyes, which were bright yellow and a little too big for her face. Leeroy stepped forward and clapped his hands on both of their shoulders as he made introductions.
    “Folks, I’d like you to meet the rest of the Boarback Sherriff’s Department. The fellow who puts too much mousse in his hair is Deputy Ixen, though you can just call him Nax. And this bright-eyed young woman is Deputy Saunders, though she just goes by Sable. For that matter, I don’t want to hear anyone calling me sheriff. I’m just Leeroy to friends. Nax, I think you’re the only one who has met Agent Jenkins.”
    “Just Krystal, I get enough of that ‘Agent Jenkins’ shit in the field.” Krystal nodded at Nax, who met her gaze for only a brief moment. “Good to see you again, kid. Uniform suits you better than cuffs.”
    “Joining Krystal today is her fellow agent, Arch; her boyfriend Fred; and the pair that came to meet Sable, Neil and Albert.” Leeroy pointed at each of us as he went down the list of names, making sure Nax and Sable knew who was who.
    “So, you’ve got one too.” Sable started forward, coming close to Albert and then walking a bit past him to check out the sword strapped to his back. The black-and-gold scabbard that matched the hilt of his blade rested there, fixed in a harness that Arch had designed himself. Since moving to Winslow, the agent had been training my assistant on proper sword-wielding three evenings a week, and every other weekend. While no one was asking Albert to go out and start picking fights with his blade, it was agreed all around that him being at least somewhat proficient was in everyone’s best