by Rye Brewer
I wasn’t imagining things this time. And it wasn’t the alcohol; I was stone-cold sober.
“I’m leaving now,” I whispered, grabbing my purse.
“You shouldn’t leave on your own.” One of them took my arm, followed by the other.
They started walking me out.
“I can walk myself!” I shouted, trying to fight them off.
That was a waste of time.
They had hands like steel bands. They practically carried me out the door and down the stairs.
I looked around wildly, sure somebody had to notice and wonder what was happening. Somebody had to help me.
“We called a cab for you. You’re obviously unable to drive.” A car with tinted windows rolled up in front of us.
“I’m fine! I can drive! I’m sober!” I tried to make eye contact with anybody at all, but they all looked away.
I realized in the back of my mind that they probably thought I was a hopeless drunk, causing trouble in the club. It probably happened all the time.
One of them opened the back door while I tried to fight them off, and the other shoved me inside and slammed the door behind me.
22
Anissa
I stood out on the balcony, leaning my forearms on the railing. I looked down, down, down. The people on the ground were like ants, except I couldn’t squash them from where I stood.
They rushed around like ants, too. Mindless. Just going from place to place without thinking about it, doing things without thinking about them. Acting. Hurrying. Filling time. None of them knew I was watching them or who I was. What I was. Maybe it was better that way.
I couldn’t stop brooding ever since Jonah got that call from the scientists. There was another elementally skilled hybrid vampire running around someplace without our knowing who they were. Or where they were. Were they just as afraid as my sister? Or did they already know how to control the new powers? If so, how did they know?
I wished Jonah would talk to me, but he was lost in his own world. As usual. He had a lot on his mind, so I couldn’t blame him, but there was no way of getting through to him and letting him know how it felt when he shut me out.
That was just another problem we had that he didn’t understand. I could almost relate to Gage when it came to that.
I barely noticed the buzzing of my phone when a text came through, and I slid it from my pocket only half-heartedly.
The sight of Raze’s name woke me out of my stupor.
It read: Library? Status update?
I smiled softly.
Raze was somebody I could talk to—maybe not about everything going on, but about most of it. I missed being able to connect with him.
I replied: Sure. Be there in ten.
I left a note for Jonah, telling him I was going to the library, but would be back soon. I doubted he would get it—he didn’t tell me where he was going when he went out, and I wasn’t even sure that he deserved that respect from me. It would be good to get away for a little while.
Raze was waiting when I arrived. “We have to find someplace else to meet up,” he murmured when I joined him in the history section. “Unless they decide to make this a twenty-four-hour library.”
I giggled. “We could’ve met at the coffee shop. Those places never close around here.”
“How’s she doing?”
I sat across from him in a leather chair, my hands folded between my knees. “I’m not sure where she is, but I know she’s in good hands. They’re training her to control herself.”
“That’s good. So she’s safe?”
“Very safe.” I gave him a reassuring smile so he would believe me.
His frown eased.
“Hey—do you know anything more about the European clan?”
He shook his head. “They’re being pretty tight-lipped right now, but they’re still around. That much I know.”
“Please keep your ear to the ground on this. I need all the information you can give me.”
“Sure. I’ll do what I can. I’m pretty interested in all of this, too, you know.”
“I know you are.”
He looked down at the floor. “How’s your boyfriend?”
“Raze…”
“It’s an honest question.”
“It’s a rude question. I know you don’t like him.”
“I didn’t say I didn’t like him. I don’t even know him.”
What a crummy answer.
I bit back the sarcastic response I wanted to hurl at him and said, “It’s complicated. That’s the best I can say right now. Besides, we have much bigger issues to deal with.”
“You’re right.”
Still, I could tell he liked hearing that things weren’t exactly perfect between us.
A little smile touched the corners of his mouth even as he tried to hide it.
I looked around for some way to change the subject. “How’s Marcus lately? I haven’t heard anything about him. It’s weird, since so much of my life had to do with him for so long. I still expect him to call for me to see him in his chambers.”
He scowled. “He hasn’t been around much lately, now that you mention it. I haven’t seen him in a while.”
“I wonder why—knowing him, it’s nothing good.”
He looked me up and down with a frown.
I knew that look. He was wondering if he should ask what he wanted to ask. I sighed. “Come out with it. What are you thinking?”
He looked pained. “Are you ever coming back?”
I could see why he didn’t want to say it. “No. I’m sorry. I know that’s not what you want to hear, but I could never live under his leadership ever again. And I don’t trust him enough to even be that near him again.”
“I understand.” He sat back in the chair with a heavy sigh. “I might be looking for a new clan, myself.”
“You’re kidding! Really?”
“Yeah, really.” He shrugged. “There’s nothing to keep me there anymore.”
My heart sank. I knew what he was saying and wished, not for the first time, that I felt about him the way he felt about me. The feelings just weren’t there. And without me in the clan, he didn’t see the reason to stay.
“What about Izzy?” I asked. How was it possible that I hadn’t thought about her in so long? One of my best friends. We used to spend time together and laugh and share secrets—even though I couldn’t share every secret. Like what I did for Marcus. Like why I did it. The more I thought about things, the clearer it was that I had never lived a really honest life. There was always something I had to hold back from somebody.
Raze’s face darkened, and his shoulders slumped. “I never see her anymore. She has her own life. I guess she has a new boyfriend or something. Who knows?”
Which meant he didn’t have anybody anymore. It was always the three of us back in the day. We were all sort of outcasts in our own way, and we liked it. Or so we said. I couldn’t see Raze becoming Mr. Popular overnight.
“It’s funny how things have changed, isn’t it? And so fast.”
He nodded. “I need to feel like I fit in somewhere again. It’s been so long since I felt like I had a place in our world.”
“I know what you mean,” I offered. “I never felt like I had a place, even when I was living with the rest of the Carvers.”
He had that look on his face again, like there was something he wanted to say but didn’t know how to say it. I didn’t need to prompt him this time. “Do you think I could maybe join the Bourkes? I never thought I would ask that question—but like you said, things have changed.”
I wanted to say yes. I knew it was what he wanted me to say, too. But I couldn’t. It would never work. Even I probably couldn’t join their clan—and I didn’t know if I wanted to, either. I hesitated, then shook my head. “I don’t think so.”
“Because of your boyfriend?” he sneered.
“Ex-boyfriend,” I reminded him. “But probably, yes.”
Jonah would n
ever let him join, even if we never got back together. Not when his face did what it did whenever he heard Raze’s name.
“I guess I’d better let you go,” he said after a long silence.
We were usually so comfortable together, too, but that had changed along with everything else.
I wanted to believe it was only the fact that hardly saw each other anymore, but I wasn’t so sure that was true. He couldn’t forgive me for not wanting him the way he wanted me. It would always be a wall between us.
“Yeah, I guess so.” We stood and walked together to the entrance. The library was almost empty by then.
The few girls we saw on our way out looked at Raze with obvious interest. Why couldn’t I see him that way? Why didn’t he notice them instead of me? Either way, it would make life easier.
We hesitated before parting ways. I felt like I should apologize to him, the way I always felt.
Instead of that, I said, “I’ll let you know when I find out anything about Sara.”
“Yeah. Please, do. And I’ll let you know when I hear more about the Euro-vampires.”
“Thank you.” I gave him a brief smile, then turned away.
I had to get back to the high-rise. No matter how uncomfortable things were between me and Jonah, it felt like I belonged there.
“Where were you?” Jonah almost jumped on me the second I walked through the door to the penthouse.
“I left a note,” I stammered, feeling lame.
“Yeah, I know, but you didn’t say why you were there. Don’t you understand that I need to know where you are and why?” He stopped just short of taking me by the arms and shaking me.
“Don’t you know that I’m not a child? You have things to take care of, and so do I. I was trying to get updates on those Euro-vampires.” I left out the fact that the updates, if there were any, would come from Raze.
His expression softened a little. “You should’ve said.”
“You could’ve texted me if it was that big a deal. So? What’s going on? What did I miss?” I had to change the subject before Raze came into the conversation.
His eyes sparkled with excitement. “Our hacker found more information on that laptop.”
I went with him to the desk in the living room, where it was waiting for us.
He pointed to the screen.
“What am I looking at?”
He scowled—like he would know if the hacker hadn’t already told him. “This laptop was used at a hotel in the city. The St. Regis, to be specific. This IP address points to them.”
“Okay. So the person I stole it from stayed at the St. Regis recently.” I shrugged, looking at him. “What’s that mean?”
“While this IP address was in use, this bitcoin transaction took place.” He pulled up a receipt. “There’s no name, but the address linked to the account the bitcoins came from is the same one we pulled from the email.”
It was starting to make sense. “So this laptop was used in the transaction involving the tainted blood, and whoever I took it from is the contact inside the lab which brought the blood in. Meanwhile, we know whoever sold the blood to the lab employee…”
“…was staying at the St. Regis at this time. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”
I nodded. Yes. It all fell in line. “What’s next, then?”
“A trip to the St. Regis, of course.”
“Ooh, I’ve always wanted to stay there. It looks so nice.” I even winked at him.
He winked back. “I was thinking more like a trip to the bar, or maybe the lobby. I’m interested in seeing who comes and goes.”
“You think they’re still staying there?”
“It’s been a matter of weeks. There’s still a chance—especially if this is all linked to the Euro-vampires. If they’re still in town, they might be staying there. It’s a possibility, right?”
“It absolutely is. Let’s go for it.”
“How did I know you would want to go with me?”
I only rolled my eyes in response.
23
Anissa
The lobby itself was enough to make my mouth fall open. I had seen a lot of beautiful, strange, unimaginable things in a very short time, but nothing could beat what I stepped into at the St. Regis.
“Wow,” I whispered, looking at the painting covering the wall behind the marble desk.
It was so beautiful, clouds in a blue sky, framed in gold. Everything was trimmed in gold, actually. Just above me was a huge crystal-and-gold chandelier that sparkled every time a slight vibration shook the hundreds of crystal droplets.
“Come on,” Jonah whispered, taking my arm to keep me moving.
“It’s so beautiful,” I whispered back as he dragged me away. I couldn’t help but look back.
“We don’t want anybody to see us. Come on.”
“The elevator is gold, too!” I couldn’t imagine how much money it would take to build something like that.
I looked down at the marble floor as we walked to the bar, just off the lobby. It was shiny enough for me to see myself in it.
“You look like a tourist,” he grinned.
“Well, I am. Right?” We sat at a small table by the bar entrance which gave us a good view of the lobby. It was dark in there, compared to the blinding white-and-gold lobby, so we had a little bit of cover.
“Do you want something to drink?” he asked.
I only smiled.
He smiled. back. “Yeah, I didn’t think so. But we should try to blend in.”
When a server came to our table, he ordered two glasses of wine and two waters. I would drink the water, at least.
We sat there for one hour, then another.
I started wondering if we weren’t totally off-base—maybe his hacker could get into the hotel records if he was so smart. We could see who was staying at the hotel when the bitcoin transaction went through.
I was just about to suggest it when Jonah went rigid.
I followed his gaze out to the lobby.
“Genevieve,” I whispered under my breath. She was just walking in from outside, wearing a floor-length black dress with a startlingly low-cut back. She was gorgeous, like a model, and all eyes were on her as she glided over the marble floor.
“What is she still doing here?” Jonah whispered back. “She should’ve left weeks ago, after the meeting.”
“Maybe the Euro-vampires are from her clan,” I suggested.
We glanced at each other, and he nodded.
“It makes sense. Wow—I thought this was all an empty theory for a little while, when it didn’t feel like things were going anywhere.”
“Between you and me, I felt the same way,” I admitted.
Genevieve’s presence didn’t prove anything, per se, but it solidified the idea that the Europeans were probably to blame.
“Let’s wait and see if she comes back out,” he suggested. “She might not be staying here. She might be visiting the person who is.”
“I guess you’re right.” So we stalled even longer, but this time we had more to think about.
What was the point of bringing elemental skills to American vampires? What was it supposed to accomplish? Who would put something like that together?
I got my answer when I saw a familiar face maybe an hour after Genevieve disappeared into the golden elevator.
I had to look away. I couldn’t stare at him for too long. Bile rose in my throat as every horrible, despicable thing he had ever done to me—everything he had ever made me do—came back to me in one fell swoop. The way he tipped his head back like he was looking down his nose at everyone around him. That confident stride.
“Marcus,” Jonah snarled. “I should’ve known. They’re in on this together.”
“Don’t jump to conclusions,” I warned in a weak whisper.
“You know it’s true. What are the odds that the two of them happen to be here at the same time? The odds of it being a coincidence, I mean.”
“Raze said he h
asn’t been spending a lot of time at the mansion lately,” I whispered as it all came together.
At the mention of Raze’s name, Jonah let out a strangled snarl which I ignored.
“I guess Raze would know,” he spat.
“Stop,” I said, looking up to meet his gaze. “We don’t have time for this.”
“You’re right.”
“What should we do?” I asked. “Do you think we should go to the League, maybe? We could give them the laptop with the proof.”
“I don’t know if Lucian is the best ally. He’ll never help me or my clan. Remember? I might have believed he would before I found out about his history with my parents. Now? Forget it.”
“Then we need more information.”
“Like what?”
I thought fast. “Like the room Genevieve is staying in, for one thing.”
“How do you plan on getting that?”
“I don’t know. Let me think.”
He checked the time. “It’s coming up on dawn. We have to get out of here before it’s too late. We can always come back tomorrow and stake it out. When she comes back from wherever she goes, we’ll follow her.”
“Or we could just compel the clerk at the desk and have him give us the room number.”
He looked scandalized.
I wasn’t sure whether to shake my head at him or laugh at how surprised he was.
“That’s against the League’s laws. You know it.”
“Sure. Which is why you shouldn’t watch me do it.” I gave him a little smile. “Stay put. I’ll be right back.”
He looked like he wanted to stop me, but only shook his head and watched as I walked away.
I hadn’t compelled anyone in a long, long time. I wondered if the process would come back to me like a reflex, the way my breaking-and-entering skills came back to me when we had to steal the laptop. I didn’t have much time to wonder, since I was at the desk in moments.
The clerk was young, male, and pretty cute. That made it easier to smile at flirt with him.