by Eve Langlais
“We are scaring her with our territorial antics. I’m sorry, dearest. We have been going about this quite gauchely. Let us recommence with proper introductions. I am Titus.”
“Logan,” grumbled green eyes.
“Adara.” The word was whispered, followed by a bite of her lower lip. She mustered enough breath and courage to say, “I think you should leave.”
“So soon? But we’ve just met.”
Just met, yet they’d managed to freak her out almost instantly. “Please, go.”
“You need not fear us. We are just curious.” Titus smiled at her, but his attempt to look reassuring failed because Adara didn’t trust him, not after hearing his cryptic conversation with Logan.
What do they want with me? Why are they so curious? It’s almost as if they know something about me, which is funny because I don’t even know myself.
“Curious about what?” she found herself asking.
“Who are you, Adara?”
Forsaken. She didn’t blurt out the word. “No one.”
“No.” Titus shook his head, much like a parent with a misbehaving child. “You are definitely someone. Where did you come from?”
“Probably my mother.” The retort shocked her almost as much as it did them.
Logan snorted. “Smartass.”
She almost smiled. Except Titus didn’t appear amused.
“I meant, where did you live before coming to this town?”
The questions made her uncomfortable. The whole situation discomfited. “If you’re not here to buy something, then I think you should leave.” She managed to utter the brave words by digging her nails into her palms to control her shaking.
“A purchase for small talk?” Titus arched a brow. “Very well.” He leaned over without looking and grabbed a handful of comic books, still wrapped in plastic. He tossed several bills on the counter. “Will that buy a few moments of your time?”
These guys were nuts. And persistent. It sparked something in her. “Why are you bugging me? Don’t you see, I’m nobody special.”
“That’s where you are wrong. You are very special. I knew it from the moment I first saw you.”
Which was like sixty seconds ago. She almost asked them if they thought she was gullible enough to fall for that line. “You have me mistaken for someone else.”
“I don’t make mistakes.” At Logan’s snicker, Titus added, “Often.”
“More like you won’t admit to them,” Logan said. “Listen, honey, I know it feels like we’re ganging up on you, and that wasn’t our intent. We noticed you were new in town and thought we’d pop in to say hi.”
“You’ve said hello. And I don’t see why it’s any of your business if I am new or not. You’re both still freaking me out, and I don’t like it.” This spurt of bravery felt good, even if the reason was knee-knocking fear. These two men could easily subdue her. Hurt her. Kill her.
As if reading her mind, Titus shook his head. “We mean you no harm. We are here as friends.” His electric blue eyes snagged hers, and she found herself unable to turn away, mesmerized by the way they appeared to swirl. Stormy seas with an undercurrent to suck her in, urging her to trust. To relax. To spill her secrets.
Some things had to remain hidden. She snapped her gaze away, breaking the staring match. The strange urge to blabber everything about herself vanished.
She grabbed the store phone and dialed nine and one. Her finger paused over the last digit. She eyed them, more boldly than she recalled since waking in the hospital. “I’m no one,” she repeated. “Leave. Now. Or I’m calling the cops.” The words emerged without a hint of the fear trembling within. They hadn’t truly threatened her—yet—but they obviously wanted something from her. Something she wouldn’t give.
Logan was the first to step away. “I’m going, honey. But if you need help, or someone to talk to, call me.” A business card came spinning toward her and slid across the countertop. Adara made no move to touch it.
Titus only shook his head. “Such an enigma, and she doesn’t even know it.” But he, too, stepped away from the counter.
She kept her gaze fixed on them until they exited the store.
Only then did she let go of the breath she’d held. I was so brave there for a second, and even better, they didn’t hurt me.
Maybe things were looking up, after all?
Chapter Eleven
A seething Logan left the shop a step behind Titus. He trailed the vamp up the street, only stopping when they were far enough from the comic store that Adara wouldn’t see them if she happened to look out.
He then whirled on Titus. “What the fuck? You could see I was questioning her. Why the hell did you butt in?”
“Because any idiot with a pea-sized brain could have seen she was terrified,” retorted Titus. Then mockingly, “’Why are you here? Who are you?’ Why not ask her to bare her throat while you’re at it?”
Logan’s beast stirred at the chiding words, but worse, he hated that Titus had assessed the situation correctly. The woman had oozed fear. He didn’t like being the cause. “Yeah, well, you still should have stayed away. You only made it worse when you came in.”
“I know I did. I just couldn’t help myself,” admitted Titus with a sigh, surprising Logan. “She intrigues me. There is something different about her. I’m afraid, in my haste, I didn’t think of how overwhelmed she would be confronted by us both.”
Mollified, Logan calmed down somewhat, even though his beast still paced inside. “Do you think she knows what we are?”
Titus shook his head. “No. I don’t think she has any idea, not on a conscious level.”
“She was scared.”
“Yes, we frightened her because a part of her recognizes what we are. Hunters. Most people instinctively fear us.”
Which was how Logan liked it. “Why didn’t you mojo her for answers?” While it didn’t work on Logan—an alpha advantage—an older vampire could totally mesmerize a person and have them act or, in this case, reply as desired. A truth serum of sorts without any drugging side effects, and the vampire could even make the mojo victim forget anything that happened.
“I tried,” Titus admitted, his jaw tight. “She resisted me.”
“I thought you said she was unaware.”
“She is. I don’t think the blocking was her doing. There are oddities about her aura, her very presence. Everything about her is slightly off.”
Like her scent. It wanted to be human, yet it contained some indefinable quality that ruined that. “Is she wearing a glamour to hide her true nature?”
“If she is, it is sophisticated. And it seems to have extended to the woman herself. I don’t believe even she knows what she is.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Call it instinct. I think someone has gone through a great deal of trouble to conceal her.”
“Why would anyone wrap her in magic?”
At that query, Titus shrugged. “That is the true question, is it not? The puzzle we must unravel.”
“According to Stefan, he didn’t find much.”
“Very little, which in and of itself isn’t unheard of. Sometimes, people fall off the radar, so to speak. Their files get lost. Or they have not yet caught up because they moved a long way.”
Logan’s suspicious nature rose to contribute. “Sometimes, the lack of a past or history is because they’re running from something.”
“Aren’t we all hiding, though, wolf?” Titus’s eyes flashed.
“Say she is hiding from something.” Or someone. “Perhaps poking at her for the truth might cause a problem.” Or bring the shithead to town. Because he’d wager a guy was involved. There always was with women this beautiful—and scared. He couldn’t forget the fear oozing from her.
“Are you suggesting we do nothing? That we leave her alone?”
At the very idea, Logan snorted. “Hell, no. We are only assuming she’s running from a situation. Maybe she can’t remember stuff for
another reason. We found a teen just last year running around the woods, scared to come out because he’d shifted and thought he was contagious. It is not impossible something happened to her, and she wanted to escape it, maybe even blocked it out.”
“Do you believe that?” Titus asked, his blue eyes intent.
No. Because the fear gave it away. “All right, so let’s go with the assumption that she’s some kind of victim here. One with a sketchy background who doesn’t seem to want to answer anything.”
“To strangers,” Titus corrected. “We can’t simply expect her to spill all her secrets. She doesn’t know us, or what we are. If she were outed once before, she’d be doubly careful now.”
“I thought you said she was oblivious?” She seemed so innocent. So benign. He should remember that a dryad looked gentle, too, until she wrapped her boughs around a man, crushed him, and then wrung him over her plot of dirt to fertilize her roots.
“Only time will tell. Eventually, with care, she’ll trust us.”
“If she lives that long,” Logan muttered. He peered up and down the street, noting that all the businesses had closed. The main floors were dark but for one store. “There is something wrong here. Did you see where she lived?” Logan didn’t wait for a reply. “I did. It’s a fucking hole. I mean, it’s past the bottom of the barrel. It’s the moldy ground underneath it. Why would she live there? And then there’s her job.”
“There is an issue with her being employed?” Titus asked.
“Look around you.” He swept a circle with his hand. “It’s the only place that’s open for blocks around, other than the titty bar.”
“Perhaps they are catering to a certain clientele.”
“Even if they are, why use her to work alone in the store?” That was the thing that finally struck Logan. There was no traffic this time of night, not on this street, and he just didn’t see the hordes of customers going in and out that would justify paying an employee. “She is the meekest excuse for a clerk I’ve ever seen. It’s like they wanted her to be robbed.”
“Perhaps they do. Insurance scams are huge in this century.” Every generation had its faults. Of late, they seemed to be multiplying.
“It’s not a scam. I think someone put her in the most dangerous part of town, working at night, on purpose.”
“Bait.” Titus rubbed his chin, his expression distant with thought. “She is tempting.”
“More like a freaking beacon attracting all kinds of scum in this neighborhood.”
“Including us.” A smile ghosted on Titus’s lips.
“Including us.” Logan thumped against the wall, leaning on it, hands shoved into his pockets. “So, what do we do?”
“We could do nothing.”
“If I’d done nothing last night, she would have died twice.”
“Excuse me?”
“Read the report I submitted.” As pack leader, the fact that he’d come across a zombie required a formal report to a few factions. The Summer Court, currently run by the light elves and Queen Danita. The dwarves, more specifically the iron dwarves of the Rocky Mountains. Atlantis, where the merfolk reigned and allowed no outsiders. And finally, the Cabal, a ruling council for the vampires and anyone not claimed by the other main groups. Lycans were one of those and had to abide by the treaties set centuries ago by their ancestors. One of those agreements was all about necromancers and their army of the undead. All zombie sightings had to be reported lest they face a repeat of the Bubonic Uprising again. Taking out the necromancer involved had just about decimated the supernatural ranks. Their fault for letting the dark sorcerer get too strong.
They no longer made that mistake.
“I did not read the report.”
“Too busy running out the door to harass her?” Logan couldn’t help but taunt.
“Says the wolf doing the same thing. What did the report say?”
“A zombie. Last night. In that very store, as a matter of fact.” He pointed.
Titus frowned. “In my town?”
“Our town,” Logan growled. “I managed to incapacitate it just before it got to her.”
“Only one?”
“One is enough.”
“I assume you took care of the evidence?”
“The zombie, yes. Haven’t located the puppeteer yet.”
“It’s not actually too difficult to follow the thread tying them to their creator if you know how to look.”
“Yeah, well, I was kind of busy keeping Adara from getting munched on.”
“Next time, restrain it and contact me.”
“What do you mean, next time?”
“Surely you don’t think the necromancer will stop?” Titus snorted. “They’ve tasted power. A dark river of it that seduces. They will call another body to life. And another. They cannot help themselves.”
Funny how the bloodsucker talked so disparagingly about bringing the dead to life. “You want to come stare at some dead thing, then fine. I’ll save it for you if there’s a next time.”
“Do you think the zombie was directed at her specifically?”
Despite not hinting at it, Titus had homed in and asked the very thing Logan also wondered. “She smells delicious.”
“Which makes her a possible target, especially if the necromancer is practicing in this area.”
He’d better not be, or I will hunt his ass down and stake it for the crows. “We should take turns watching over her.”
“One at a time would certainly prove less daunting to her,” Titus agreed.
“Given we don’t know what she is, I think we should share information. At least until we assess the danger situation.”
Titus gave him a hint of a smile and tilted his head. “I agree wholeheartedly. Now, care to tell me how you found out her name?”
“I overheard it.”
“Overheard where? Stefan said she talked to no one.”
Logan stifled a curse. “She made a phone call while Stefan was nosing around her place. And why do you care?”
A roll of his shoulders as Titus said, “Curiosity. She is quite mysterious, our lady. She has no formal identification. Her apartment was paid for in cash. While she works at the store, she is paid cash, daily. There is no employee record for her. No phone listed for her apartment. Stefan didn’t detect any cellular device when she moved about. A scan of her fingerprints has thus far netted us nothing. But we still have more databases to search. Perhaps they’ll turn up something.”
“You should try hospitals. While Stefan was busy breaking and entering, I overheard her on the phone talking to some doctor. That’s how I found out her name. Adara.”
“The Greek word for beauty,” mused Titus.
“From the gist of what I overheard, she spent some time in a hospital for something.”
“What for?” Titus asked sharply.
“Dunno. They didn’t talk about it. She seemed to just be checking in.”
“A former addict, perhaps?” Titus mused. “It would explain her fragile and skittish nature. Maybe she spent a long period of time in rehabilitation.”
“Whatever the reason, I think we need to locate this doctor and find out what happened to her.” Did someone hurt her? If yes, I will hurt them back.
“How did she call this person? Did you see her using a cellular?”
“She used the payphone right across from her building.”
A clap and Titus rubbed his hands together. “That is a most excellent lead. I will have Stefan follow it. He has access to certain resources.”
In other words, he’d trace the number. “Your turn. You have anything to share? Like maybe how you met her?”
“She has nightmares. Very loud ones. It drew my attention.”
“I saw her first.” Petty, but Logan couldn’t help but claim it.
“Afraid of competition?” Titus smiled, his teeth longer and sharper even than Logan’s as a wolf. “I say we let the best man or beast win.”
Logan might have r
etorted, but with a whispered word, the vamp disappeared. With a swirl of his cape—the loose coat rising in a curtain of fabric—the vamp misted and drifted away. It gave Logan the chills. Doesn’t he worry a strong wind will blow him apart?
It made Logan wonder if he should install fans inside his house. The kind that exhausted noxious fumes outside.
Thinking of the outdoors, he didn’t like his spot. Logan circled around the block and found the alley that ran behind the businesses. Tucking his hands into his pockets and leaning back against the defaced brick wall behind him, Logan settled in to survey the shop’s rear door.
The talk with Titus had proven enlightening and frightening all at once.
First, Logan wasn’t crazy. There was something seriously fucked up about Adara.
Two, Titus, an old dude who was almost Yoda-like with his knowledge, didn’t know what she was. Rare things were usually dangerous. Not because the item itself was a weapon, but because someone always wanted it and would do anything to get it.
Was Adara a form of bait? Was she meant to draw out a certain type of person?
Am I walking into a trap by even being here? For all he knew, someone watched him.
Boring. They should come meet his fist for a chat.
Alas, no one accepted the invitation, which meant he hunkered down alone, green eyes glowing in the gloom, watching.
Waiting.
Hungry.
He should have grabbed a Snickers.
And a steak.
Chapter Twelve
Each step away was a step that seemed to say, “go back.”
Why would Titus do that? There wasn’t any point in watching the woman, not when Logan already guarded for them both.
Let the dog sit outside. Titus would put his time to better use. Armed with the information Logan had given him, he went to find Stefan. While he could use computers, Titus’s skill didn’t go any further than a Google search. He knew his limitations, which was why he hired people like Stefan.
But Stefan mostly worked days. Which meant that he was off duty, and Titus would have to hunt him down.
A good thing he knew his employee’s habits. On his nights off, his man of business enjoyed clubbing, and given a new one had just opened—Devil’s Jig—Titus had a hunch he’d find Stefan there.