by Rhys Rowlyn
Rebecca breaks free of Cassie’s grip and resumes pacing. “Okay, let me get this straight. You own a research lab that provides us with bagged blood, and you’re thinking of putting me in charge. I’m more into research and wouldn’t know a thing about how to do the business end of it.”
“We would have to work out the details and discuss it with Giselle, but I like the idea of having someone I know looking out for my food source.” Cassie winks at Rebecca, who grins back.
Tilting her head to the side, Rebecca brushes a strand of hair out of her eyes. “I haven’t thought much about my degree since the turn. I’ve had other things to occupy my time, but it would be nice to feel useful. I guess putting my education to good use would be a good thing.”
A tall, burly man walks up, and I move in front of the two women. “Hi, are you Cassandra? I’m Davis. Hollis called me.”
Cassie steps out from behind me and gives me a narrow-eyed look. “Wow, that was fast, and yes.”
Davis looks from her to me with a grin. “I was only a block away. So what’s going on?”
“A girl was snatched off the street in this area, but the scent is fading.” Rebecca points at the area on the street where the cab was.
Davis scents the air and walks to where the cab was to sniff for himself. “I smell the girl and a male. I also smell something sweet, and damn it’s strong. Which way did he go?”
Cassie points down the street, but the cab is long gone. Only a few cars are around. I doubt he’ll be able to follow the scent very far.
“Why don’t we go back inside and see if we can figure out who’s missing? Give me your number, and I’ll text you her name if we get it.” Rebecca pulls out her phone and takes Davis’s information.
“Sounds good, thanks for the call. Hopefully we can find this bastard.” With a wave, Davis takes off down the street.
Cassie is leaning to the side with her hand on her hip. “Damn, Rebecca, you are just full of surprises.”
Rebecca lets out a short laugh, her cheeks turning pink. “You pick up on a few things, working in a crime lab.”
“After you, ladies.” I wave them up the stairs toward the building. “We need to split up and see if anyone is looking for someone.”
“I’ll check out the bathrooms,” Rebecca says over her shoulder as she disappears into the crowd.
Cassie watches her go, then turns toward me. “And I’ll go find Giselle and Phillipe and let them know what’s going on.”
“I’ll go to the bar,” I say.
My mate has a worried look on her face, and I think I know what’s causing it.
I grab Cassie’s wrist and stop her before she walks away. “Do you think this may have anything to do with Tara’s disappearance?”
“I don’t want to think that way but can’t stop myself from heading in that direction.” Cassie’s chin drops, and her shoulders droop. “I’m still hoping Tara just took off and will be back soon.”
I nod but doubt this is the case. I release her, and she weaves her way toward Giselle. Moving to the right to avoid walking through a group, I make my way to the bar and run into Giles.
“Hey, mate, where’s Cassie? I thought to take her for a spin around the dance floor. Rebecca sucks at any formal dancing. Girl’s got two left feet.” He stands on his toes, looking out over the crowd.
“She’s busy.” I lean on the bar, looking around and trying to listen for anyone who may be looking for someone.
Giles leans on his elbows beside me, frowning. “Sorry, okay, I get it. I’ll leave her alone until you’re properly bonded.”
Now I feel bad for snapping. I know Giles is only a friend, and I let my instincts take over. “I apologize, and it’s not that. Well, it is, but we witnessed a girl getting snatched and were too slow-reacting to stop it. Now we’re trying to find out who she is.”
Giles straightens, and he slaps the bar. “Oh no, what can I do?”
“Just be on the lookout for anyone looking for someone. Hopefully she has friends here, and they’re missing her.”
Before Giles can take his leave, Rebecca rushes up. “I found a girl in the bathroom looking for her friend. I asked, and she said her friend was talking to some guy while she went to get a drink, and when she got back, the girl was gone. The man said she went to the bathroom, but she’s not there. Her name was Megan Tilly.”
“Who was the guy?” I look in the direction Rebecca’s pointing.
“Over there. That’s the girl talking to him now.”
“I’ll go listen in and see if I can pick up on any information.” Moving along the side of the room, I lean against the wall about three feet from the couple and start with surprise when Giles is beside me. He smiles and shrugs.
The man is becoming angry at the woman. I start to intervene, but Giles holds me back.
“I’m telling you, she said she was going to the bathroom. I don’t know what happened after that. I’ve been talking to my friends the whole time.” He tries to rip his arm out of the girl’s grasp, but she holds tight.
Another woman joins them, looking from the man to the upset girl. “Cindy, are you looking for Megan? I saw her at the door. She said she was going back to the hotel and wasn’t feeling well. I’ve been looking for you everywhere so I could tell you.”
The man yanks his arm away from her and straightens his jacket. “See, I told you I didn’t know where she was.” He marches off toward the bar.
I turn toward Giles, and he motions for me to follow him. We join Cassie and Rebecca along with Phillipe and Giselle by the exit.
“This girl, Megan Tilly, has to be the one taken. I’m sure when her friend goes back to the hotel, she’ll notify the police.” I pull Cassie against my chest, wrapping my arms around her.
“Davis texted and said he lost the scent. I’ll let him know what we’ve found out.” Rebecca moves away from us, typing on her phone.
Giselle takes Cassie’s hand in hers, meeting her gaze. “Why are you so worried about this girl? We usually leave these things to the police.”
Cassie leans her head back on my chest, sighing deeply. “I think he may have also taken Tara, and I promised to look out for her. Besides, I have a bad feeling about this, like we’re supposed to be involved.”
Rebecca nods in agreement. “I’m with Cassie, and I saw the girl being taken. I can’t simply turn a blind eye when I can help.”
“So now we’re crime fighters? Hey, I’m up for a little excitement. This babysitting boxes and waiting on cranky old vamps to wake is getting old.” Laughing, Giles gives Rebecca a fist bump.
Rolling her eyes, Cassie takes my hand and leads us outside. “I’m ready to go and get out of these clothes. I believe I’ll make a few calls and try to find out who our drug dealer is so we can try to make some progress.”
I follow her out the door but plan on doing more than search for a criminal once she’s out of those clothes.
Cassie
“Have the wolves found anything?” My gaze meets Rebecca’s as she hangs up the phone from talking with Davis. I glance down at my phone, at the address I just received from one of my contacts. The guy I talked to says this dealer is known as the Date Rape Dealer. I’m disgusted by this.
“No, and Megan has been reported missing, so the cops are involved but are coming up with nothing. Explain to me again why we can’t report this and let them in on what we know.” She plops onto the sofa across from where I’m sitting.
“We try to stay away from civilian cops. Don’t want to be on their radar any more than necessary. Besides, I’m trying to find Tara. Once we do that, we’ll turn him over.” Raising my brows, I smile at her.
She rolls her eyes, letting out a deep sigh. “Fine, what’s our next step?”
“I’ve been looking up companies that sell sevoflurane and can’t find any legit ones that sell to the public. It’s only sold to hospitals. My contact has given me a lead on a guy who I believe is promising.” I stand, rubbing my hands together.
Rebecca pops up off the sofa, clapping her hands. “Oh wow, are we paying him a visit?”
“I’m thinking it’s a good idea.” I lead her from the room but run right into Bram in the hallway.
He grabs my shoulders to steady me, looking from Rebecca to me. “Where are you two going?”
“Oh hi, Bram. Cassie and I are just going to question a drug dealer.” Rebecca winks up at him with a grin and I groan, knowing what’s coming next.
Bram’s face has turned a bright shade of red, and there’s a vein throbbing in his forehead. “You are what?!”
“Come on, Bram. It’s not a big deal. I think I can handle a simple human drug dealer.” I reach up and pat his cheek, narrowing my eyes.
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath, then takes another one. “Is this where I’m supposed to back off?”
“Actually, no. I wouldn’t mind you tagging along, as long as we’re clear I could handle it.” I decide to give him a break. I know it goes against all his protective instincts, but at least he’s trying.
“And if I agree to this, I can go without any fuss?” Bram dips his chin, raising his brows.
“Yep.”
“Then, agreed. You can handle it, and I’m only going for show. I will only jump in as needed.” He bows, waving his arm toward the door.
“Smart boy.” Rebecca pats his shoulder, smirking at him.
“My contact set up a meeting with the guy. We need to be there in half an hour.” I hate dealing with known criminals, but sometimes, such as this, it’s a necessary evil.
I’m supposed to go to a mask shop on the corner of Anthony and Burgundy and ask for Barry but to call the guy Ripped Rick. I roll my eyes at the stupidity of the name. The codes are ridiculous.
I lead them to my truck, and we leave the house. I hope we can get the information we need without too much difficulty, but I’ve learned over the years this isn’t normally the case.
We travel in silence for about five minutes before Rebecca’s face is between the seats looking from Bram to me. “So what’s the plan?”
“Really don’t have one. I think we’ll just go in and question the guy. We can either scare the hell out of him or compel him to tell us what we want to know.” I shrug. I don’t really care how we get the information, as long as we do.
Rebecca grabs the seats and throws her upper body between them. “Wait, we can compel? How come this is the first I’ve heard of this?”
“Maybe because you’re only recently calming down, and it’s not something we do often. It can mess with people’s heads. I only use compulsion when absolutely necessary. If you’re not careful, it can cause them to lose memories they need or cause some damage. I don’t like taking chances unless I have to.” I glance at her and hope I haven’t hurt her feelings, but she’s done nothing but party since she was changed.
“Huh, understood. So how do we do it?” She nods, sitting back.
Bram glances at me and I nod, giving him the go-ahead to instruct her. “You simply look into the person’s eyes and think ‘do as I say,’ then tell them what you want to plant in their mind.”
“It’s that easy? Seems like it should be more complicated.” Rebecca leans forward, biting her lower lip.
“Once you look into their eyes, you’ll know you’re in their mind. It’s hard to explain how, but you do. Then tell them what you want.” Bram laughs at Rebecca’s confused look. “Look at me. You’ll look into their eyes like so and say something like ‘go to the corner of the street, and when you get there, you won’t remember me.’”
“Sorry to cut our lesson short, but we’re here.” I park the truck in front of an upscale-looking shop that has formal dresses and handmade masquerade masks in the windows.
Rebecca steps out of the truck and onto the sidewalk, pointing at the masks. “Wow, this is a nice place. Are you sure this is where he said?”
“Oh, yeah. Sometimes looks can be deceiving.” Nodding, I open the door and enter the shop.
A middle-aged, dark-skinned woman with a colorful turban on her head is sitting behind the counter. She lowers her magazine, looking over the rim of her glasses at us. “May I help you?”
“Here to see Barry.” I cross my arms over my chest and wait, hoping she’ll simply tell us where to find him.
The clerk tilts her head to a beaded curtain in the back. We make our way back and find a black guy with muscles on top of muscles. He’s in the middle of gluing rhinestones on a mask.
I lean forward to see his work, and he is so into what he is doing, I don’t believe he knows we are in the room. “Nice work. Are you Ripped Rick?”
The man jumps slightly but quickly recovers, looking up at us. “Yeah, and you must be Velma and gang.”
He stands and towers over me and Rebecca with his chest bowed out. He is even a bit taller than Bram. Before I can stop him, Bram grabs the guy by the neck and shoves him against the wall, knocking over the table with the mask and scattering rhinestones everywhere.
I narrow my eyes at Bram. He could have given us a minute to question the guy before going all He-Man.
The guy wraps his hands around Bram’s forearm and tries to pry them away. “Hey, I’ve been working on that for hours.”
“Not our problem. We need information, and you’re going to give it to us.” I’m standing off to the side and move in closer, pointing my finger in his face.
His gaze cuts to me, and he tries to shake his head. “I don’t rat out my clients.”
Bram squeezes the guy’s throat, grinning and showing a bit of fang. “We’re not the cops and follow our own rules. Now, the lady is going to ask you a few questions, and you’re going to answer.”
Rick or Barry widens his eyes, nodding.
“Good, now we need to know about a guy who drives a cab that you sold sevoflurane to.” Raising my brows, I step back. We don’t yet know if he actually sold to our guy, but if not, he could lead us in the right direction. If he is our guy, maybe he won’t call my bluff.
Bram lets the guy go but stays in front of him.
Rubbing his neck, Barry’s gaze darts between the three of us. He smiles at Rebecca, who growls, and he immediately sobers. “He went by the name Kinky Kyle, and he always showed up in a cab. The license number was TJX 567. I memorized it in case I needed to find him or he blabbed about where he got his supply.”
“I know you looked him up. Who is he?” It will save us valuable time if he will give me the information, and I know he has it.
“His real name is Kyle Johns, and he lives on Phillip Street, uptown.”
Bram straightens the guy’s shirt and pats his shoulders. “Thank you, Barry. I believe it would be in your best interest to forget about this little encounter and maybe stick to making masks.”
“Consider it forgotten.” Barry watches us leave with wide eyes.
We exit the shop, and Rebecca whispers something to the man, making him pale. After we’re all in the truck, I drive away as Barry watches us from the doorway.
“What did you tell him?” Frowning, I glance at Rebecca in my rearview mirror.
“That if he talked or tried to find us, he would disappear and no one would find him. Also, that he looked mighty tasty.” She waggles her eyebrows, grinning.
“Oh my, that’s funny.” I burst out laughing. In all my years as a vampire, this is the first time I’ve had to do a shakedown, and I kind of liked it. Who knows? Crime fighting may become a new hobby.
Bram tilts his head to the side, smirking. “He did look tasty.”
“Stop it, Bram.” I shove his shoulder and laugh again. “Phillip Street isn’t far from the house. I say let’s go park the truck and go on foot. Hopefully we’ll find our kidnapper and maybe the girls.”
After making record time across town, I park the truck. It’s well after sundown. The streets are empty in this residential area, so we speed along on foot down Phillip Street. Halfway to the other end, we see a cab in the driveway. I nod at the tag
number; it’s the one Barry gave us.
We sneak around the corner of the house and hear voices inside, but the garage is on the opposite side. Moving along the wall, I run to the corner of the garage. Bram and Rebecca are close on my heels.
“Do you hear that?” Rebecca whispers in my ear.
I still, listening closely. “Yeah, it sounds like someone crying.”
Before we can stop her, Rebecca runs into the garage through the side door. We follow and see she’s stopped short at finding a girl in a cage. The girl’s brown hair is hanging in knots around her shoulders, and she’s wearing a dirty, ripped, green evening gown. Rebecca breaks the lock and pulls the girl out, then rips off the tape covering the girl’s mouth and unties her hands and feet.
Rebecca kneels next to the girl and brushes her hair out of her face. “Megan?”
“Yes, how do you know me?” Megan is trembling and hiccups on a sob.
“We’ve been looking for you. Come on, can you walk?” Rebecca helps the girl stand and grabs her when she stumbles a bit.
I rush over and help hold Megan up. “Rebecca, why don’t you help Megan find a police officer and do what we were talking about earlier…”
“You mean the whole, look-into-my-eyes thing?” With two fingers, she points from her eyes to mine. “But what if I mess up?”
Raising my brows, I nod. “You’ll do fine. Only have her forget us, so we can question our kidnapper.”
“He was going to take me somewhere else and mentioned I would be joining his other pets. I think he has others.” Megan’s eyes are wide, and she looks from me to Rebecca.
“Don’t worry. We’ll take care of him and find the others. You go with Rebecca, and she’ll take care of you.” I smile, helping her walk out of the garage.
“If you can walk, we’ll get you out of here.” Talking gently, Rebecca leads her toward the street.
Megan nods, straightening her spine. “I was a little wobbly at first, but I’m better now. I’ll do anything to get away from him.”
Bram and I reenter the garage to wait for our kidnapper to return. Hopefully he won’t be long.