Heroines and Hellions: a Limited Edition Urban Fantasy Collection

by Margo Bond Collins

  “Harper’s House of Hotness.”

  “It’s Sami,” she said, not bothering to comment on Harper’s greeting. “They won’t let me into Connor’s room.”

  “What did you tell them?”

  “That he was my boyfriend and I wanted to surprise him.”

  Harper barked out a laugh. “I think you need to get a bit more creative. Did you try to bribe anyone?”

  Of course. The universal language of money. Why hadn’t she thought of that? “No.”

  “Well, I’d start there, Sherlock.”

  Sami glanced at the front desk where the man was helping another customer. “I don’t think I’ll try to bribe the guy I just talked to.”

  “Uh, no. Definitely a bad idea. I heard housekeeping likes tips.”

  “Can you tell me what room he’s in?”

  “I think so. That will be an easy hack. Hang on.”

  Sami waited about thirty seconds, then Harper came back on the line. “Six eighteen.”

  She heard another one of Harper’s phones go off.

  “I’ve got to run, Vampy Vamp. Remember, you have big steely balls!”

  Sami hung up and moved over to the coffee, keeping her eye on the front desk.

  When a line formed with people wanting to check-in and the man began to look overwhelmed and flustered, she pushed all her hair over one shoulder to block her face and kept her head down as she walked toward the elevators and rode up to the sixth floor.

  She found two housekeepers being screamed at by a superior in Spanish. She waited by the vending machines until the manager was done, then walked down the hall to Connor’s room.

  It had a Do Not Disturb sign on the door handle, and she pretended to be going through her bag looking for a key and quickly found a twenty-dollar bill. Hopefully, it would be enough to get her access.

  Making sure the housekeepers had seen her, she dropped her duffel bag in frustration, then looked over at them.

  She gave them a meek smile and walked over. They were both in their thirties, wore the same outfit of black pants and a pink button-down shirt, their hair pulled back away from their faces in a tight bun.

  “I seem to have lost my key.”

  They looked at each other, and then back at her. “Go to front desk.”

  Sami sighed, then handed the woman the bill. “I’d rather not.”

  Their eyes widened as they conferred in Spanish. Sami knew she had them when one of them stuffed the bill into her pocket.

  Sami followed the woman to the room and picked up her bag as she quickly opened it.

  “You find your key,” the housekeeper murmured.

  Sami nodded and stepped inside, dropping her bag by the bathroom. As the door shut behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief. There was no body, blood, or signs of foul play.

  Two double beds resembled the picture she’d seen in the lobby with their crisp white sheets and fluffy pillows and comforters. A dresser sat across from them, a television mounted to the wall above it. A desk with a phone and lamp had been placed next to the dresser.

  A pair of jeans and a shirt lay on the floor, along with some Iron Man boxers. She shook her head and picked them up. After folding them, she set them down on the bed.

  Connor hadn’t unpacked his suitcase, but instead, tossed it on one of the beds, while the other one hadn’t been made, indicating he’d slept in it. She leaned over and picked up the pillow, inhaling deeply, her mouth tilting into a grin at his scent.

  She sat down among the sheets and comforter and gazed around the room while holding the pillow to her chest, unsure of what to do next.

  Obviously, Connor had been here, and now, he wasn’t. Did she wait a bit to see if he showed back up, go to some of the clubs they’d been to before, or did she head north and go to the location of his phone?

  Standing, she walked over to the desk. A pad of paper had her name written on it, along with hearts all around it. He’d also drawn triangles, squares, and circles, as if he he’d been doodling. She could picture him sitting in the chair while on the phone, mindlessly sketching, but it did warm her heart that he had her on his mind.

  She lifted the paper to find a list of clubs, most with their names scratched out, indicating that he’d been to them. On the next page, he’d scribbled Chucanut. There was also a date and time—three days ago.

  Frustration welled within her. She didn’t know whether to stay and talk to some people in the city, or to head north.

  Glancing around the room, she also found another room key. Standing, she picked it up and walked over to the door. It worked, and she sighed in relief. Now, she had a place to stay, and she made a decision.

  Kicking off her boots, she laid down on the bed. She’d catch a few hours’ sleep, then head to the clubs on Connor’s list. Hopefully, she’d find someone who knew something about his whereabouts.

  12

  Sami walked into the nightclub feeling completely underdressed. It looked as if she’d stepped into a fashion shoot, most of the people beautiful beyond words. It was then she realized that she’d discovered the club where Connor had been hit on by a vampire.

  She walked around, not sure what exactly she was looking for. When she reached the bar, she sat down and ordered a cranberry juice and vodka. As the bartender, a handsome man with jet-black hair that sat in perfect waves and green eyes, handed her the drink, she pulled out her phone and brought up a picture of Connor.

  “Have you seen this man?”

  The server looked at her for a moment, then back at the phone. “You a cop?”

  She shook her head. “No. This is my friend. He’s missing.”

  “We have a pretty straight clientele in here,” he said after looking her over for a minute, as if to decide if she told the truth. “Same people night after night, week after week. After a while, I start to notice new faces.”

  She thought she knew the answer, but she had to ask.

  “Was he here?”

  He nodded and pointed to a stunning blonde on the other side of the bar. “Yeah. Brandy over there tried to pick him up right here at the bar. She’s here three times a week. I overheard the conversation, and he said he was heading home to his girlfriend. Turned her down flat.”

  He glanced over his shoulder at the woman who seemed to glow like a lighthouse at sea on a dark night. “And no one turns her down.”

  Sami nodded, completely understanding. There was something almost mythical and magical about the woman.

  “Do you think she’d talk to me?” Sami asked.

  “Sure she would,” he replied. “She’s not only hot, but really friendly and nice.”

  Sami grabbed her drink and made her way around the bar. When she reached the blonde, she tapped her on the shoulder. The woman turned around and smiled.

  “What can I do for you?”

  Sami pulled out her phone again and showed her the picture of Connor. “I understand you saw him.”

  The woman studied the picture for a moment, then nodded. “Yes. It must have been three nights ago? Maybe four or five?”

  “Did he say anything to you that may tell you where he went?”

  Her brow furrowed in confusion. “He said he had an early morning, and that he was headed home to his girlfriend. Are you the special lady?”

  Sami nodded. “Yes. He’s missing, though, and I’m trying to find him.”

  “Oh, honey,” she said, placing her hand on Sami’s forearm. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any other information to tell you other than that.”

  Her shoulders sagged in disappointment, but at least everything the woman said jived with the timeline she knew. The more she considered it, the more she sided on the fact she needed to go to where the phone lay.

  “Thank you for your time,” she said with a smile.

  “Good luck finding him,” the woman replied. “He’s a keeper.”

  After visiting three more nightclubs, she returned back to the hotel. She walked into the room, sat down on the be
d, and kicked off her boots, both frustrated and confused. How in the world could she know for certain that Connor hadn’t come back to the city and gone missing here?

  Standing, she undressed and lay down in Connor’s bed, bringing the pillow to her face. Maybe in the morning, she’d have a clearer view of what direction she should go in, of what her next step should be.

  13

  Sami woke the next morning, an idea to solve her dilemma forefront in her mind. She loved when she went to bed with a problem and the answer presented itself while she slept. As was the case now, she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it sooner.

  She rose from the bed and pulled out the clothing from Connor’s bag. Since she had helped him pack, she knew exactly what he had taken with him. She laid everything out, and realized that there was a pair of jeans that hadn’t been worn yet, along with a pair of boxers and socks.

  “He went on the hike and never came back,” she said, the words sending a chill down her spine. Something had happened to him in the forest, and now that she knew that for sure, her gut twisted with worry and nervousness.

  A glimmer at the bottom of his bag caught her eye. She pulled out the knife, the one that had been used to kill Pedro. Visions of that bloodbath came back to her, and she shivered as a chill ran up her spine. She’d never been so terrified in her life as she had been that night.

  After taking a quick shower, she called Harper and told her she would be going camping and needed the supplies for sure now.

  “Better you than me,” Harper replied. “Start heading toward the mountain, and I’ll text you where to pick up your gear.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Yep. Good luck, Vampy Vamp.”

  Just as she was about to bolt out the door, she remembered the knife.

  She should take it with her.

  Although she highly doubted she’d find any vampires in the forest, her intuition screamed at her to grab it. If anything, it would be used as a tool for chopping wood or gutting fish. God help me if I need to do that to survive.

  She walked back and grabbed the knife, picked up her bag, and left the hotel. Connor was out in the middle of nowhere either hurt, or he’d run into some trouble that he couldn’t handle. What that may be, she had no idea. She couldn’t think of anything horrible out in nature except angry animals.

  Her phone buzzed, indicating a text had arrived. She pulled it out, holding out hope that Connor had found his phone, or would try to get in touch with her through someone else’s. Instead, it was Harper with an address on where to pick up her camping gear.

  She sighed in disappointment. Whether she liked it or not, she was going camping.

  14

  As Sami drove up north, she sighed when the traffic finally broke and she didn’t have to tap the brake pedal every other minute. Now cruising at sixty, she sat back and relaxed, letting her thoughts take her away.

  She didn’t feel any fear as set out to go find Connor in the deep, dense forest of Washington State. Instead, her determination had resolved into something unshakable. She would find Connor, no matter what she had to endure to do so. There simply wouldn’t be any other outcome. For a brief moment, she considered what she’d do if he were dead, but then quickly pushed the deliberations aside. Thinking about such a horrible end would only get her upset and put doubts of her own abilities in her mind. She needed to stay strong and focused.

  “Take the next exit,” her phone commanded.

  She veered off the freeway and followed the directions to a camping store. As she pulled into the parking lot, she eyed the sign with a little trepidation.

  Here goes nothing.

  Taking off her sunglasses, she stepped in the store and hoped that the sun continued to shine during her trip. She’d listened to the news on the way up, and the forecaster had mentioned how odd the weather was for this time of year. If it began raining, then it would only make her trip more difficult.

  “Can I help you?”

  She placed the man behind the counter in his thirties. With his dark, full head of hair hanging down to his shoulders and his trim physique, he definitely looked like the outdoors type.

  “I’m supposed to pick up some equipment.”

  “Yeah! I got your stuff right here. Sami, right?”

  She nodded and approached the counter as he reached down behind it and hauled up a backpack that looked almost as tall as her and probably weighed just a little bit less. Her heart sank at the sight. She’d be lucky to make it out the store; forget hiking into the forest.

  “I’m Joe, by the way,” the clerk said, extending his hand.

  She shook it, the callouses on his palm and fingers only solidifying her previous opinion of him being an outdoorsman.

  “You don’t look like you’re up for any hiking or camping.”

  Glancing down at her attire, she realized she still wore her boots that had just a bit of a heel.

  “I’m going to need some hiking boots, as well, please.”

  He nodded, then crossed his arms over his chest. “You seem a little unsure about everything. You’re looking at the pack like it may reach out and grab you or something.”

  She smiled, but didn’t answer.

  “You haven’t done much of this, right?”

  Maybe if she leveled with him, he’d help her out, or at least give her instructions on how all the stuff operated.

  “No, I’m pretty much a city girl. I-I’m meeting a friend, and we’re going together, and I need to bring my own stuff. He says I’ll love it when I’m finally out with nature.”

  Her cheeks burned at the lie.

  “You want me to go through how all this is set up?”

  “That would be wonderful,” she said with a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

  He walked around to her side of the counter and began to disassemble everything from the pack. She paid close attention to what clips went where.

  “This here is a Nemo Hornet tent. Very light-weight—just over two pounds—easy assembly, and it offers a good amount of room for one person, but is actually categorized as a two-person tent which it doesn’t sound like you’ll need since your friend is bringing his own gear.”

  She nodded as she studied the green and grey material. “Yes. We won’t be sleeping together.”

  He glanced over at her and grinned. “Poor guy.”

  She pretended not to hear him and studied the backpack. If she had her way, she’d be sleeping with Connor very soon.

  An hour later, she felt much more confident in the situation. She’d assembled and disassembled the pack, set up the tent, learned that she had ready-made food packets to eat, a butane lighter to start fires, as well as a compass, a first aid kit, biodegradable toilet paper, a flashlight, a water filtration gadget, a tent repair kit, a portable charger for her phone, and a sleeping bag.

  When Joe hoisted it on her back, she was surprised by how little it weighed.

  “I left some room for a change of clothes and basic toiletries. You’ll probably need a good jacket if you don’t already have one.”

  She purchased the coat and hiking boots, and was ready to roll.

  “Where you headed?” he asked.

  “The Chuckanut Mountains.”

  He furrowed his brow. “Be careful, Sami. There’s been people who have gone missing while up there.”

  His words sent a chill down her spine, and bile rose in her throat. Is that what had happened to Connor? Was there some group of people out there who kidnapped humans? If so, what did they do with them?

  Ugly visions of satanic rituals played through her mind, of people laid out on marble tables, ready to be sacrificed.

  She shook her head, pushing them aside. “I’ll be careful.”

  And I’m going to find my missing marine.

  Forty-five minutes later, she pulled into the parking lot of the trailhead that would lead her to Connor’s phone.

  Just as she stepped out of the car, her own phone rang, and she saw it
was Harper.

  “What’s up?”

  “I don’t know why I didn’t think of this earlier, because I always think of everything, but we never looked into Connor’s car.”

  Sami leaned against the hood and pushed her sunglasses up her nose. The ball of fire sat high in the sky, with barely a cloud in sight. “I’m not following.”

  Harper sighed, obviously annoyed. “Vehicles nowadays all have some sort of tracker in them. It’s annoying as hell if you’re a bad guy, because the police can find you pretty easily. I hacked into the rental car company, and I tracked Connor’s.”

  “Where is it?”

  “Well, let me ask you this. Where are you?”

  “I’m at the trailhead about ready to head to the coordinates you gave me for Connor’s phone.”

  “It’s right there, Sami.”

  She glanced around the lot. Surprisingly, quite a few cars had been parked in the area for a weekday. She hadn’t expected it to be this busy.

  As she began walking around, she asked, “What kind is it?”

  “A gold Chevy.”

  Looking around as Harper recited the license plate, she saw a gold car carrying a fine dusting over it.

  She walked over, her hands shaking as she moved to the back and saw the plate. It matched what Harper had recited.

  “It’s here.”

  “I know that, Sami! I just told you so!”

  He was here, somewhere.

  “That means he’s definitely there, Sami!”

  “Yes, it does. I’ll call you later.”

  She hung up and went back to her own vehicle, pulled out the pack, and slung it on her back. Securing the belt, she started down the trail into the woods, determined to find Connor.

  15

  Connor was once again allowed on solid ground, and he wanted to cry with relief and kiss the rock all at the same time. He let his limbs go limp as he rested on his back against the cool stone.

  “Drink your water,” Tyson commanded as he handed him a canteen, and Connor sat up and obeyed greedily.