“But Detective—”
“No more!” His words were almost a shout and Nadiah jumped at his angry tone. “Look, I’m sorry.” Rast stepped back and pinched the bridge of his nose, as though trying to drive back a headache. “I’m sorry but I don’t have any more time to indulge your fantasies.”
“My fantasies?” Nadiah stared at him in disbelief. “You think I like seeing the things I’ve seen lately? You think I enjoy knowing that he’s going to kill again and the only male who might possibly be able to help won’t listen to me?”
“You do need help.” Rast gave her a pitying look. “But not the kind I can give you. Go home, Nadiah. Back to the Mother ship or wherever.”
Nadiah crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m not leaving until you listen to me.”
“I’ve listened as much as I have time for.” Rast looked suddenly drained. “Now I have to go tell Tabitha’s parents that she’s never coming home. That she’s dead. All right?”
Nadiah wanted to say more but it was clear he wasn’t going to listen. Inside she seethed with impatience and irritation. How could he be so dense? Why was he so set against believing anything she saw with her gift? But as angry as she was, she refused to lower herself any further. Slapping him last time had been a mistake—it only dragged her down to his level. “Fine,” she said tightly. “I’m leaving. Call me when the next girl is taken. Maybe then you’ll believe me.”
Rast gave her a long look and then shook his head. “You’re fucking gorgeous, you know? It’s too damn bad all that pretty has to come with crazy attached to it.”
“Why, you—” Nadiah couldn’t think of anything bad enough to call him—not in English, anyway. She let loose a string of curse words in her native language that made his piercing green eyes widen in surprise.
“I’m guessing that wasn’t a blessing,” he said dryly. “Unfortunately, I don’t have time to stick around for the translation. Goodbye, Nadiah. Take care of yourself.”
Filled with helpless rage, Nadiah watched him walk out the door of the HKR building. Damn him, why was he so willfully blind? So determined not to believe?
Her hands curled into fists at her sides. Well, he was gone. Now there was nothing she could do but wait for the prophecy to come true and pray for the AllFather’s next victim.
Chapter Twenty-five
Luckily for Lauren, her condo at Pelican Point was located less than a mile from Saint Armand’s Circle. The weather was nice—in the mid seventies—so Lauren decided to walk.
By the time she got to the Sweet Spot and let herself in, she was almost regretting the decision. Even in the so called “winter” the humidity in Florida was nothing to sneeze at and she was overheated from her short trek from the condo to the shop.
Since it was still fairly early in the morning, the Circle was mostly deserted with only a few shops occupied by their respective salespeople. Despite herself, Lauren shivered as she let herself into the darkened building. It was too much like the day she’d been abducted by the AllFather for her liking. Maybe she shouldn’t have left Xairn behind, after all. But if she’d let him come with her, the day would have been one long endless stretch of sexual frustration for both of them, and Lauren needed a breather from all that tension.
Get over it, girl, she told herself sternly. Just do what you have to do. This shop isn’t going to run itself.
To prove to herself that she wasn’t afraid and everything was all right, she went straight to the employee bathroom. “See?” she told her reflection as she stood in the exact same spot she’d been abducted from. “Everything is just fine.”
Suddenly a face appeared beside her own in the mirror. “Sure it is,” someone growled in her ear and then she was grabbed from behind.
* * * * *
Xairn wished he hadn’t waited so long before deciding to follow her. After learning about the missing girl who looked disturbingly like Lauren, even the quiet, affluent streets leading up to the shopping area where she worked looked dark and menacing. Though she’d left well before him, he could still smell her sweet, fresh scent lingering in the air. He followed it easily, telling himself not to worry, that everything was fine. But still, he couldn’t shake the sense of unease that had settled over him.
“Never should have let her go to work without me in the first place,” he growled to himself, walking a little faster. “It’s the male’s place to provide for his female, not the other way around.” Not that he minded her working, but he ought to help in any way he could. From the moment they’d come to Lauren’s home planet all he had done was take from her. That was wrong. He needed to give back, to repay her generosity. To—
A muffled scream reached his ears.
Lauren! He would know her voice anywhere. But her shop was still far away. Gods, let me get to her in time! Please!
Xairn put his head down and ran.
* * * * *
Lauren went crazy.
Kicking and screaming, she fought for her life, trying her damndest to get away from her assailant. All she could think was that the AllFather had sent someone after her. He might not be able to transport her with his molecular beam because of her altered DNA, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t get someone else to grab her and take her back to his horrible ship.
“I’m not going back!” she shouted, flailing wildly. “You hear me? Never!”
As suddenly as they had grabbed her, the arms released her. “Jesus, Lauren, take it easy!” said a vaguely familiar voice. “It’s just me.”
“What…? Who…?” Lauren was panting with exertion, her eyes filled with tears of rage and fear.
“It’s me, babe. Lorenzo.”
She turned to see her old assistant standing there, hands up in a “don’t shoot” gesture. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she’d seen him but he still looked the same. With his sleek blond hair and tan good looks he could easily have been a model. He stood around six foot one and Lauren had used to consider him quite tall before she met Xairn. Now he looked puny by comparison.
“God, Lorenzo!” She blotted her eyes hastily on her sleeve and tried to pull herself together. “Why did you grab me like that? Didn’t you know I was abducted?”
“Yeah, your mom said something like that when she stopped by. The police asked me some questions too.” He shrugged. “It’s a good thing for me I got lucky the night before. The girl I brought home from The Green Iguana was still with me in my apartment when you got snatched. So don’t worry, it’s all good.”
Lauren stared at him in disbelief. “No it is not ‘all good.’ You have no idea what I went though, how frightened I was. You can’t go grabbing someone from behind like that—especially someone who went through what I did.”
“Sorry,” he said, looking completely unrepentant. “But you’re back now, right? So all’s well that ends well and all that shit.”
“Fine.” Lauren ran a hand though her hair. Obviously she wasn’t getting through to him. “I guess so, if you want to look at it that way. Why are you here, though? Did my mom tell you I was back?”
“Nope.” He shrugged. “I’m just here for my regular shift. I’ve been coming in every day, turning on the lights and the AC, making sure everybody knows we’re still open.” He grinned. “Aren’t you glad I was here to hold down the fort while you were gone?”
Lauren nearly groaned. On the way over she’d been thinking about all the bills which had accumulated while she’d been gone. Her one consolation had been that the electric bill at the Sweet Spot—which was always pretty big—should be next to nothing since she’d been gone so long. Now Lorenzo was telling her he’d been running the lights and air conditioners for hours every single day, ensuring that her electric bill would be as big as always without any profits to help pay it.
“Why did you do that?” she asked, shaking her head. “Why open the shop when we had nothing to sell?”
“Well because…” Lorenzo looked hurt. “You didn’t want everyone to think we went out of business, did yo
u?”
“No, but you could have put up a sign saying we were on vacation or something like that,” Lauren pointed out. Sighing she walked briskly back to the kitchen area and flipped on the lights. “I mean, not that I don’t appreciate the effort but the electric bill is going to be sky high and—” She stopped short as the room came into view. “What the hell is this?”
Every available space, including the stainless steel counters and the island in the middle of the kitchen, was covered in trash. Empty beer cans, some still leaking beer, half-empty pizza boxes, bottles, bags, and cigarette butts were everywhere. Even worse, everything was coated in a fine layer of white. It looked like someone had gotten into her bin of cake flour and flung it everywhere. One of her two professional grade convection ovens, which had cost an arm and a leg and which she was still paying off, was standing open. When Lauren walked closer, leaving footprints in the flour, she saw that hardened cheese was dripping from all its racks.
“What happened?” She turned to Lorenzo, feeling bewildered and betrayed. “Were we robbed or…or vandalized or something?”
“Oh this?” He shrugged uncomfortably. “Nah, nothing like that. I just had a few buddies over the other night. They wanted to see where I worked, you know? We had a few beers and one of their girlfriends wanted to see how the ovens worked. So we reheated a pizza in that one.” He pointed to the open convention oven. “Came out real nice too—crispy.”
“And the flour?” Lauren demanded. “What happened there?”
Lorenzo had the grace to look slightly sheepish. “Uh, well that was kind of an accident. Some of the guys had too much to drink and started fooling around. Sorry.”
“Sorry?” Lauren turned on him. “You used my shop as your own personal party pad while I was gone and trashed it and all you can say is ‘sorry?’”
“Hey, don’t get so touchy.” Lorenzo frowned. “I said it was an accident. Besides, I’ll help clean it up in a little while. You get started if you want and I’ll man the front. I’ll help you once the morning rush dies down.”
“There is no ‘morning rush’ when we don’t have anything to sell,” Lauren pointed out through gritted teeth. “And forget ‘helping’ me clean up your mess—I’m sure you’re as good at cleaning as you are at everything else.”
“Hey.” Lorenzo’s blond eyebrows drew low on his forehead. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means I want you out. Right now.” Lauren pointed in the direction of the front door. “But first give me your key. You’re fired.”
“Hey now, babe, you don’t really mean that.” Giving her his most ingratiating smile, Lorenzo put an arm around her shoulders. “Come on, we’re a team, aren’t we?”
“Get off me!” Lauren shrugged his arm off and faced him. “I’m not kidding, Lorenzo, I knew you were a flake but I didn’t think you’d do something like this. I want you gone.”
His smile turned into a sulky scowl immediately. “Fine, I’ll go. Just pay me my salary and I’m out of here.”
“Your salary?” Lauren couldn’t believe his nerve.
“Sure, for all the time I worked while you were off.”
Lauren looked at him incredulously. “First of all, stop talking like I took some time off for a cruise or something. I was abducted, Lorenzo. Abducted, got that? I was kept naked in a metal cell and nearly raped several times. I was imprisoned. I was maimed. I was cloned for God’s sake! And after all that I come home and find this.” She pointed at the kitchen. “And you have the nerve to ask me for money? For keeping the shop open when there was no product to sell? Not to mention that you trashed the place while you were at it. I can’t believe you!”
He frowned mulishly. “Facts are facts. You never told me not to come in for my shift. I was just doing my job and I ought to be paid for it.”
“You’re unbelievable.” Lauren shook her head. “Get out. Just get out.”
He took a step forward, looming over her. “I’m not going without my money.”
Lauren crossed her arms over her chest and glared up at him. “I don’t think so, Lorenzo—I’ve dealt with a whole lot scarier than you lately. I don’t give a crap what you say or do, you’re not getting a cent. And if you don’t leave now I’m calling the police and filing charges against you for the damage you did to my shop.”
Lorenzo’s normally handsome but vacuous face turned suddenly ugly. “Listen here, bitch. You’re gonna pay me now and pay me good or I’ll make whatever happened to you when you were snatched look like a walk in the park.” He started toward Lauren, his eyes narrowed menacingly.
She stood her ground, her hands curled into fists. After everything she’d been through, she didn’t intend to let a brainless, arrogant bastard like her former assistant intimidate her. “You can try it,” she said, glaring at him. “But I guarantee you’ll regret it.”
“You certainly will.”
Suddenly Xairn was standing behind her ex-assistant. His eyes were a steady red-on-black and every muscle in his huge body was tight with anger. His hands were balled into fists bigger than Lorenzo’s head and he looked ready to use them.
“What?” Lorenzo turned to see who was speaking. He looked up…and up…and up. “What the hell?” he demanded, staring at Xairn.
“Did he hurt you?” Xairn looked at Lauren, ignoring him. “I heard you scream.”
Lauren shook her head. “He scared me but I’m okay.”
“Hey man, I just threatened her a little,” Lorenzo put in. “I mean, I put in my time—I should get paid, right?”
“Did you do this?” Xairn nodded at the mess.
“Well, yeah. But—”
“Then I will be more than happy to pay you. Both for the damage you’ve done to Lauren’s place of business and for scaring and threatening her.”
“No need to get all upset,” Lorenzo protested. “And who are you, anyway?”
“I am Lauren’s.” Xairn took a step toward him.
Lorenzo, very unwisely Lauren thought, held his ground. “Lauren’s what? Her boyfriend? What?”
“Just Lauren’s. I am hers and she is mine.” Xairn glared down at the smaller man. “And you are leaving, now.”
Still Lorenzo didn’t take the hint. “Dude, what the fuck is wrong with your eyes?” he asked, still staring at Xairn. “I mean, that’s seriously messed up, you know? Are those some kind of contact lenses?”
A low, rumbling sound filled the room and Lauren realized after a moment that it was Xairn—he was growling. There was murder in his red-on-black eyes as he took another step towards Lorenzo.
The small hairs on the back of Lauren’s neck stood up. If she didn’t do something quickly, she was going to have a lot more than flour and beer cans to clean up. “Lorenzo, please just leave,” she pleaded. “Go now while you still can.”
Lorenzo took one more look at Xairn’s large, menacing frame and finally wised up. “Fine, I’ll go,” he said, edging around Xairn and heading for the door. “You can pay me later.” He started to walk out the door.
“Stop,” Xairn roared. The single word seemed to vibrate in the air and Lauren felt her arms break into goosebumps.
Lorenzo froze where he was, one leg raised to take the next step. He looked bizarrely like a kid playing statues.
“Come here,” Xairn ordered in that same, strange voice.
Lorenzo turned stiffly and came to stand in front of the larger man. “What?” he asked, his eyes wide. “What the hell do you want?”
“You and I are going to have a talk.” Xairn beckoned to him. “Come.” He led the way out of the kitchen and Lorenzo followed him, moving in a stiff, jerky fashion as though he was doing something against his will. Something he couldn’t help. Lauren heard the bell on the front door tinkle as the two of them left the shop.
She shook her head. What was going on? Why had Lorenzo obeyed Xairn’s commands like that? Had Xairn compelled him in some way? Or was it simply some kind of machismo—facing off against another male and
not backing down because it would hurt his pride?
Whatever the reason, any kind of confrontation didn’t bode well for Lorenzo. Xairn had looked mad enough to kill her ex-assistant or at least maim him. Then again, looking around at the mess in her once pristine kitchen and food prep area, she was inclined to think Lorenzo deserved a little maiming.
Suddenly everything seemed to come down on her at once. In coming back to work, she was trying to get her life back on track—to get back to normal. But nothing was ever going to be normal again. Not really. For the first time she began to wonder if she ought to get some counseling after all. She’d been through a lot—maybe she hadn’t processed it yet. Maybe she never would.
If only things were going better with Xairn, what Lorenzo had done might not bother her so much. But nothing was working and lately she was wondering if he even wanted to be here with her at all. Maybe he would be happier if she just gave him back the silver O-ring she was wearing and let him go. You were supposed to do that, if you loved someone—give them the freedom to leave. But God, just the thought of it, of Xairn leaving, made her feel like her heart was being ripped out.
“God, what a mess,” she whispered, and she wasn’t talking about the trashed kitchen. Putting a hand to her face, she started to cry, low, wrenching sobs that felt like they were being pulled from her gut. Please, she thought. Please, I just want to make things all right. But I don’t know how…
“Lauren?”
Xairn’s deep voice took her by surprise. She did her best to stop crying and blotted her eyes quickly on her sleeve before she turned around. “Hi,” she said brightly, trying to smile. “Where’s Lorenzo? I hope you didn’t break his legs and leave him in the dumpster.” She was only half kidding—from the look on Xairn’s face when he took after her former assistant, broken legs weren’t the worst Lorenzo could expect if he pissed Xairn off.
“I let him go after I extracted a promise that he will never try to see or talk to you again. He’s lucky he didn’t harm you or I would have killed him.” Xairn frowned and came toward her. “Are you injured after all? I heard you crying.”
Brides of the Kindred Volume One Page 152