by Amie Gibbons
“You’ve done this before,” Grant said. It wasn’t a question.
Quil smiled. “Only on someone who deserved it.”
“Are you confessing to a murder?”
“None in your jurisdiction.”
“Who was it?”
“No,” Quil said. “Now that your disapproval is noted, can we get back to the case?”
My lips formed into a little O of surprise. No one talks to Grant that way.
Grant leaned forward. “I don’t trust you, and you’re not giving me any reasons to.”
“The feeling isn’t mutual. I trust you.”
Grant blinked.
Ohhhhh, point Quil.
“And you’re trusting us because you need us,” Quil said. “Science and human methods of investigation aren’t going to help you stop these demons or find the summoner.”
Grant didn’t say anything, just kept starin’.
Quil sighed. “If you give us the victims’ clothes, we might be able to track the demon.”
Annnnnnd point Grant.
“Carla is the nest’s best tracker,” Quil said. “If there’s anything of the demon on the clothes, she will be able to sort through the smells.”
“And speaking of smells.” Stephanie pinched her nose, shootin’ me a snide glare.
Don’t ask me how a glare can be snide, it just was.
“You’re not exactly subtle, sweetheart,” she said.
“Excuse me?” I asked.
“Hair back, high collar, perfume. I think you made your point to our Quil quite clear.”
“I’m not tryin’ to make a point,” I said, clenching my fists. “I’m a federal agent and this is a case. I’m doing what I have to to make sure I’m not pushing any buttons.”
I looked her in the eyes and reached for her hand.
She jerked it back faster than a surprised snake and I smirked.
“That was me proving a point,” I said. “Something to hide?”
“I don’t like bitches poking around my brain.”
“Leave this personal shit out,” Grant said.
I jerked and looked at him.
He was staring at Stephanie.
Ohhhh, so that was directed at her, not me.
She met his eyes then looked away.
“What does she contribute?” Grant asked Quil.
“I’m the demolitions expert,” Stephanie said with a wide smile. “Once we track them, I can set up the explosives and we can blow them to hell. We just need to find them first.”
Her big blue eyes landed on me.
“No!” Quil said. “I already told you that’s not going to happen. We’ll track them and use your grenades to kill them. We don’t need to lay a trap, we’re not going to, and that’s final.”
She crossed her arms.
“You want to use me as bait,” I said. “It’s not a bad idea.”
“No,” Grant and Quil said as one.
“Ohhhh, I love the smell of testosterone in the evening,” Stephanie said.
“We shared, it’s your turn,” Quil said to Grant.
“Ryder, you’re up.” Grant waved at me.
“Oh, me, okay,” I said. “Wow, really wish Irish would’ve come with us, but hey. Well, I found some semen on the clothes of the last victim, and we ran them… er, it, and it’s most certainly not human. We, I mean every living thing on the planet, have the double helix; the DNA in the semen we found was a triple. Now, it’s not much, and it’s not like we have something to compare it to, but if you find the demon, we can tell you without a doubt if he’s our guy.”
“So you found it how?” Quil asked.
“Vision,” I said. “Kind of a close up shot.”
His eyes finally found mine and I saw pity behind the beautiful swirls of blue and green.
“How do you do it?” Carla asked and I jerked away from Quil’s stare. “How do you see all that and not go insane?”
I flushed and shrugged. “I see, I tell, I forget the best I can.”
“Wow. God bless you for bearing that burden.”
I glanced at Jet. He stared at Carla, shock naked on his face.
I looked back at Carla and realized he was starin’ at the cross hanging just above her neckline.
“You have the clothes here?” Quil asked.
“In the truck,” Grant said.
“Then what are we waiting for?” Quil jumped up and the other vamps followed suit.
I stood with the guys and met Quil’s eyes again.
He smiled, lickin’ his lips, and my heart jumped up and caught in my throat.
He turned and walked out of the shop. I took a deep breath and followed.
Grant turned off the lights and locked up behind our group.
“Whoa!” Carla breathed when Grant pulled open the door of our big black van. “It’s like CSI or something.”
“Carla and I have a thing for cop shows,” Quil said.
Grant pulled out the evidence bags that held the items of clothing and handed one over to Carla.
“They’ve been processed, you can touch them, but you have to use gloves.” He handed her a pair of gloves and she tugged them on.
I’m the only one allowed to handle evidence without gloves, and even that’s technically against the rules.
Carla pulled out the pants and took a deep breath. “Okay, I’ve got it. There’s three separate smells. One’s the girl, she was wearing perfume, second is some male, but the third’s a trace of something definitely not human.”
“Three?” I asked, then snapped my fingers. “Oh! Could the second be the guy he was impersonating?”
“Possibly,” Carla said. “Do you have anything of his?”
“We ran the clothes he was wearing that night today.” Grant pulled out the bags with the guy’s clothes and handed them to her.
She took a sniff straight from the bag and nodded. “That’s it.”
“He said he hadn’t seen her since the night before, and she’d changed since then,” Jet said. “So unless he was lying, which, why would he, the demon’s outside takes on the scent of the person he’s copying.”
“They also have their fingerprints,” I said. “So outside changes but inside doesn’t?”
“Okay.” Carla nodded. “You get me within a mile of these guys and I will be able to track them.”
“A mile!” I asked.
“They call me the shark.” She grinned. “I can take one scent out of the wind and track it, like a shark with blood in the water.”
“Damn, girl,” Jet said. “Now that is impressive.”
“Best tracker this side of the Atlantic,” Quil said.
“They’re probably looking for their next victim,” I said. “Is the club open tonight?”
“It is,” Len said. “I left it in Joseph’s hands, he’s my assistant manager. You don’t think the demon would go back?”
“You guys are still keeping everyone close, like telling any humans that know about you to stay in, and not to leave with anyone, even their honeys, right?” I asked and he nodded. “Then the demons might go back because it’s the only place to really find anyone outside their homes.”
“To the club in the crime-mobile,” Len said, pointin’ to the van dramatically.
“And why are you here?” Grant asked.
Len pouted. “I’m the comedic relief.”
“Obviously, but this is a real case, not a TV show. We don’t need comedic relief.”
“Special Agent Grant, you, of all people, definitely need comedic relief.”
“He’s staying,” Quil said. “He’s my backup.”
“Meaning?” Grant asked.
“Meaning it’s my job to keep him out of trouble,” Len said, tossin’ me a wink.
What the quack was that for?
Was it some kind of code meaning I was the trouble?
Oh wow, that came out soooo much dirtier than I meant.
“We’ll go in our cars,” Quil said, “and meet you t
here.”
The vamps climbed into two cars on the street, Quil and Len in his convertible, and the two girls into a shiny black BMW.
Snazzy.
We got into our van and drove to the club, Jet and Dan makin’ small talk I could barely hear in the front, Grant staring ahead, gripping the wheel so tight his knuckles were white.
“Sir?” I asked, keeping my voice low so the guys in back hopefully couldn’t hear us.
“What, Ryder?”
“Why are you hurtin’ the steering wheel?”
“Because my dad taught me to never hit a woman.”
My stomach lurched.
“You mean me? Why do you want to hurt me?”
He took a deep breath. “Ever since you came to the Bureau, we have been turned upside down. The rules don’t apply and there’s this little pixy running around without a care in the world.”
“I’m tryin’ to act more professional, sir.”
“I’m. Not. Done. You turned us on our ear, and you are my responsibility. When you’re careless, it’s on me. You could have died. And if you did, it would be on me.”
“No, it wouldn’t, you’re-”
“I am the boss, Ryder. You’re my rookie. If you die, if you get yourself killed being stupid, I will never forgive myself.”
I flinched.
He was starin’ ahead, but he looked… worried?
Maybe even scared.
“I’m sorry, sir. I’m so sorry I ran off on my own.”
“It’s not just that. It’s where you ran to. These people are dangerous, Ariana. They could kill you, me, Kowalski, all before we could pull a weapon. I don’t think you realize that.”
“I do, sir.”
“But?”
“I trust Quil. I don’t know about the others. But I trust him.”
“Yeah, so do I.”
I grinned. Grant was never wrong.
“I don’t like it though,” he said.
“If you trust him, what don’t you like?” I asked.
“You liking him, for one.” His eyebrows went up. “Don’t get any ideas. I’m worried he’ll drag you into dangerous situations, I’m not jealous.”
“Wow.” I blushed, looking down. “We really are just airing this all out, huh?”
“Me ignoring it wasn’t helping.”
Grant pulled into the parking lot and parked next to the building in the loading zone, and turned to me.
“I have a teenage girl. And I’ve seen her through crushes that didn’t pan out. I thought ignoring yours would help. It didn’t. Direct seems best here.”
“I’m not a thirteen year old girl, Grant.”
“No, but you are a twenty-three year old one, and I see you as a child. One I have to protect. I don’t like Quil because he is hundreds of years old, and hitting on a child I see as too young for me at thirty-eight.”
He took my face in his hands and leaned forward and kissed my forehead.
“You are special, Ariana, and not just for your gifts.”
He got out of the van and I took a breath.
I’m so confused.
I really wanted to call Mama right now.
I got out of the van and met the others in a circle near the backdoor.
Carla sniffed around. “They’re not here.”
“It’s early,” I said. “The first two weren’t attacked till near dawn, and the last was around midnight.”
“Maybe they spend the night stalking their victims, so they’ll know how to lure them?” Jet said. “Which is why the first two were attacked in morning, and maybe he just got stuff off the third faster, so he killed her earlier.”
“Makes sense. So then they’d be here stalking,” I said.
“We split up,” Grant said. “One team checks any places your people could be tonight, try to sniff out the demons, and one to stay with Ryder and see if she can get a vision.”
Oh great, no pressure there.
I rolled my eyes.
Quil smiled at me and I wrinkled my nose, shaking it at him.
“Who’s with me?” Carla asked, lookin’ between Quil and Grant.
Ha, she wasn’t sure who was in charge.
“Stephanie,” Quil said. “So if you find them, she can be there as backup. And I’m assuming you want some of your humans on this?” he asked Grant.
“Yes, you three can take Jet and Dan and we’ll take Len,” Grant said.
“I believe,” Quil said, “you mean the girls should take Jet and Dan, because I’m staying here.”
“Why?” Grant asked.
“Because I’ve worked with a few psychics in my day and I can teach Ariana some tricks to open her mind’s eye better. Also, I can track, so if she does get a vision and we go off after the demons before the girls can meet back up with us, you’re going to need someone who can smell them coming.”
“And Len can’t do that?”
“Sorry.” Len shrugged. “I’ve been an entertainer since I was alive. I’ve never really honed my sense of smell past tracking down my next boyfriend, and I know next to nothing about psychic tricks.”
“But the demons don’t smell like demons on the outside,” I said. “Right? Wait, so how do we track them anyway?”
“They aren’t always in a human guise,” Carla said. “And there’s a subtle smell of them under the human smell, I could tell on the girl’s clothes. There was more than just the smell off that tiny dot.”
Grant growled under his breath and whispered something harsh.
“Kowalski, Bridges, enjoy your dates for the evening,” Grant said. “Stay in your group, no one goes anywhere alone, these things could be any of us.” He paused. “How do we know it isn’t? We’ve been around each other all day, and no one’s gone off since sunset, but what about you four?”
“We’ve been together all day at the nest,” Carla said. Quil nodded behind her.
Grant nodded once and waved them goodbye.
“Ladies, we would be honored to escort you,” Dan said, eyein’ Stephanie.
“Bridges,” Grant said, “am I going to have a problem with you too?”
Too? Excuse me? Too! What was that supposed to mean?
Okay, I knew what that was supposed to mean.
“No, sir,” he said.
They left in the BMW, earbuds and guns on so they’d hopefully be ready for anything.
“Okay,” I said with a tight smile once it was just me, my boss, and the two vamps. “If we want me to get a vision, I have to wash this stuff off.”
The perfume could block my powers, especially since I put on so much before we left.
“You don’t go alone,” Grant said.
“I’ve got her,” Len said. “If anything attacks, I can zoom her out of there.”
We all knew why it couldn’t be Quil.
“I don’t know if it’s a good idea to leave those two alone,” I said once we got into the club’s bathroom.
“Oh they’re just guys… yeah, we should probably hurry,” Len said. “You know he likes you.”
I snorted. “Yeah, with his penis.”
“No, he’s just… used to women of your generation being a little more responsive to the direct approach.”
“You mean slutty.”
“He wasn’t trying to insult you… and anyway, I was expecting you to ask me which one.”
He winked at me in the mirror.
“Oh, come on now.” I grabbed some paper towels and wetted them, scrubbin’ my neck. “Grant’s made it clear that’s not how he feels. And Quil… he has like four hundred years on me. And… if he’s that easy, or thinks I am… I don’t… I can’t.”
“He doesn’t. He doesn’t think you’re easy. He likes you. He wants to see where it goes. What happened to you?”
I paused, lookin’ at him in the mirror. “What do you mean?”
“Your reaction when Quil wanted to go home with you wasn’t the reaction of a woman with a guy she likes. It was the reaction of one who has been hurt
.”
I tossed my towels and flapped a hand at him, grabbin’ another bunch of towels to wet down. “It’s nothin’… and so long ago.”
“But someone did crush your heart.”
I scrubbed off my neck one more time. “I was fifteen. Waaaaaay too young.”
“You know in Quil’s day, that was when they married off girls, right?”
I laughed and tossed the bunch of towels. “Yeah, I read Romeo and Juliet. But in my day, it’s too young to be havin’ sex. And I was so broken. I was depressed and… and I swore I’d learn from my mistakes. It’s been almost eight years and I haven’t made that mistake again.”
“And that was?”
“Never sleep with a guy just cuz he says he likes you. Make him wait.”
“Do you want to make him wait?”
I grinned. “No, I don’t, but… I can’t do that again. I can’t.”
“You wouldn’t be. Learn to trust your instincts. Not all guys are looking to use and lose you.”
“What’s it like to be gay? Is it easier? Since you’re the same gender, I mean?”
“Easier to communicate?”
“Yeah.”
He shrugged. “Wouldn’t know. You’ll have to ask a bi person.”
“Ha. Good point.”
We headed back out and Grant and Quil were standin’ across from each other, so stiff backed you could put tick marks on them and use ‘em as rulers. Quil was double fisting it but both drinks were full.
Quil shut up mid-sentence as we walked up.
Why did I have the feeling they were talkin’ about me?
“Um, so what do I do here?” I asked.
“I can help you try to get more helpful visions,” Quil said. “What do you normally do?”
I knelt on my blanket in the spot Jo had been left in, spread her personal effects around me and lit my incense.
Quil took a deep whiff as he sat down next to me. “Sandalwood. Perfect. That was one thing I was going to suggest. The next is this.”
He handed me one of the drinks and I smelled it.
“Whoa!” I jerked back. “That’s strong. What is that?”
“It’s a Cumberland River. Because you’ll want to float down it after you drink one.”
“Haha. What’s in it?”
“Apple vodka, melon liqueur and champagne to top it off.”
Grant made a noise in the back of his throat and Quil shook his head.
“Alcohol opens the mind and lowers inhibitions,” Quil said. “More than a few drinks and they’re useless because of too much input, but one or two good strong drinks should do her.”