Vex: Mythical Ink Series (book 1): An Exotic Ink Novel

by LS Anders

  “Not since we saw you last. After the diner. Why?”

  She didn't want to hear what he said next. Didn't want any more bad news.

  Giving Vex's shoulder a hard shake, he grunted and rolled over. Pillow case creases marked his cheeks, disappearing into the dense hairs on his face.

  Before the angel answered, tears had already begun to well up in her eyes and roll down her cheeks.

  Her demon grumbled next to her, reaching out a blind arm that caught her around the waist as he rolled onto his side.

  “I can't find him anywhere, Alea.” The angel’s voice cracked over the phone. “He's just gone.”

  Shaking Vex harder this time, she tried to reassure Lucian even though panic was alive in her belly. “You saw him home after the café. Maybe, he left after that and just went to a girl's house. You said he's always playing around. Did you try his cell?”

  “Of course I tried his cell,” Lucian sniffed hard. Holy shit, the male was in tears. “He doesn't answer. It just goes to voicemail. No offense, but where the fuck is Vex?”

  She wasn't offended that he needed his friend, but she wanted to help and as upset as Lucian was, she very much doubted Vex was going to take the news any better. Then good luck getting any useful information out of either one of them.

  “Vex, wake up and talk to Lucian,” she all but yelled at him as he snuggled back into her side. “Sevin is missing.”

  That got his attention as he abruptly sat forward, snatching the phone out of her hand.

  “What the do you mean, missing?” he said as much to her as to Lucian.

  She kept quiet as the angel’s muffled voice penetrated the dead silence in the room. His tone high as he rambled out some sort of explanation to Vex.

  “And, you checked his apartment?” Vex asked.

  Swallowing hard, he scrubbed a hand over his face as more muffled words streamed through the tiny speaker of the phone.

  “Where do you want to start looking?” Her demon nodded his head to whatever reply she couldn't hear. “I'm getting dressed right now.”

  Swiping his finger across the screen his eyes met hers, and she did not like the fear she saw there.

  “What’s happened?” She was instantly chilled, the arctic blast coming off her demon was heavy and low as it sunk into her bone marrow.

  “Lucian is on his way here—” A knock sounded on the door cutting him off. “That's him. Get dressed.”

  Scrambling off the bed, she wasted no time grabbing the first garments she came to and rushed for the bathroom. Vex stepped into a pair of jeans, foregoing his usual boxer briefs, and shut the bedroom door as he went out to let the angel in.

  Pulling on her clothes as fast as she could go, she didn't want to miss a word of what was being exchanged between the angel and Vex.

  As soon as she swung open the bedroom door, Vex was walking through, taking long strides to the closet, he barely looked at what he grabbed as the angel followed close behind, listing all the places he'd already searched for the shifter.

  “You should have called me sooner.”

  “And what would you have done, Vex? You would have searched in the same places I already have. There was no need to get both of us riled up if I ran across him at his usual haunts.”

  Lucian spared her a glance and dropped his head into his hands. The angel looked like he'd been to hell and back. The usual light behind his clear blue eyes extinguished with worry. Without a second thought, she rushed to him and pulled him into a hug.

  “It's alright, Lucian, we’ll find him,” she cooed and stroked his long hair.

  “We're gonna need your help,” Vex said. For a moment, she hadn't realized it was her he was speaking to.

  “Anything. Just say the word.” And, she meant it. These three males had become her family and in such a short amount of time, it seemed impossible.

  It was the angel that pulled free first, holding her by the shoulders, he hesitated but a moment before he spoke, “I think he's been hurt. We need you to dream walk and see if you can locate him. If he's unconscious, maybe he can tell you something so we can find him.”

  “Of course, I'll try,” she nodded. “What makes you think he's hurt?”

  “His bed doesn't look slept in and after those purebreds made their appearance, I half-expect he took off after them when I left him at his place,” the angel began as much for her benefit as Vex’s. “I shouldn't have left him alone. I should have stayed. I think that was the last straw for him. Those pricks have been riding him hard lately.”

  “That still doesn't explain why you think he's hurt.” Vex voiced what she was thinking.

  “Because, I did a fly by over the path he normally wanders at night. There were a couple of cop cars parked at the corner of Allen and Delancey like they were taping off an area for a crime scene. I got close enough to overhear the cops talking and it was a hit and run. There was a pool of blood—”

  “So, what?” Vex shouted in shocked disbelief. She could feel the fear wafting off him like a draft. “That doesn't mean a goddamn thing. It could be anybody.”

  “There was a forensic team tweezing up animal hairs from the pavement.”

  “So?” Vex shot back.

  “They were silver, Vex! Do you know anything else on this planet that has silver-fucking-hair?” The angel pushed out through clenched teeth. “He was hit by a goddamn car in wolf form, most likely fleeing for his life from those fucking purebreds. Wherever he is, he's injured or dead.”

  Her demon couldn't argue with that.

  “Can you dream walk now?” Vex asked as he and the angel looked at her.

  “Yes.” Without another thought, she lay on the bed and shut her eyes.

  Trying to focus was difficult. Kat jumped up on the bed and lay at her feet. Lucian and Vex were staring down at her, she could feel their eyes boring into her.

  This was impossible.

  Sitting up, she tried to keep the frustration from her voice. “Guys, I don't have much experience with this, and the two of you hovering isn't helping me. It's been years since I've done this, except for the time I visited Vex.”

  Her demon’s eyes narrowed and in that moment she knew he hadn't been aware she had intruded on his dream.

  Fuck.

  She’d deal with that later.

  “Right now, I need you to leave me alone and take Kat with you. Just give me some space, and I'll do my damnedest to find him,” she promised them.

  The males nodded and Vex reached down to gather Kat in his arms. As they turned to leave Alea didn't like the distance she suddenly felt from Vex.

  “Vex.” She stopped him with her words. “I thought you knew I was in your dream.”

  Clearing his throat, he turned back to her. “I didn't know, but we can talk about it later.”

  He wasn't mean and didn't raise his voice, but the disappointment that etched his words tore at her heart.

  How was she going to explain why she'd intruded on his dream? Surely that wasn't a deal breaker for him.

  Lying back down, she ignored the sweet smell of sex that surrounded her on the bed.

  Concentrating inward, she needed to find Sevin. As her thoughts coalesced to a concentrated point, she could feel her body begin to float above the mattress. Her hearing became preternaturally sharper as the sounds of cat food hitting Kat’s dish in the room beyond and the anguished sigh as Lucian dropped his weight on the loveseat filled her ears.

  Drifting to the ceiling, she was suddenly off with a rush. Shifting through the Realm of Dreams, she searched for the essence that belonged to Sevin. It was a while before she picked up anything on the shifter, but once she did, see zeroed in on him fast.

  There he was! Thank fuck.

  Walking slowly towards him, he was reclining on what looked like a chaise lounge.

  In a whisper as not to startle him awake, she called his name.

  He looked in her direction and smiled a sloppy grin, waving at her as if he were drunk. “Hey, l
ittle fairy girl,” he slurred, then laughed. “Vex isn't gonna like me dreamin’ of you.”

  “Sevin, listen to me,” she spoke softly as to not panic him. “Where are you?”

  “You were right, I do like brunettes.” He ignored her inquiry.

  “Are you hurt, where you are? We need to find you.”

  He frowned at her and lifted the palms of his hands, turning them over and studying the backs before glancing down his body as if he suddenly remembered. “Yeah, I am.”

  “Oh, shit,” she breathed as the bandages began to appear on his now transparent body. He was remembering, and he was fading from the dream fast. “Sevin, do you know where you are?”

  “With the cute brunette…” She thought she heard him say as he faded away completely.

  She rushed back to her body on a nasty curse. Flying off the bed, she didn't wait for her equilibrium to catch up to where she was now. She swung opened the door and stumbled from the room, falling to her knees as Vex hurried to try and catch her fall.

  “I found him.”

  “Where is he?” Both males said at once.

  “He disappeared before he could tell me much of anything.” Her stomach fisted and released as she leaned on Vex and let the nausea roll over her. “He said he was with a cute brunette. Any idea who she could be?”

  The angel cursed and laughed. “The shifter has plowed his way through half the women in this city. I wouldn't even know where to begin to start looking.”

  “What else did he say?” Vex asked.

  “His speech was slurred. And, he had a cast on one leg and there were a few bandages,” she gritted out. “You're right, Lucian, that was his blood on the street.”

  “Please tell me the bandages were on him in real life and that he's being taken care of and not laying in a ditch somewhere,” Vex beseeched.

  She swallowed the bile in the back of her throat and tried to sit up as her head began to clear. “They weren't on him when I first found him, so I would have to say, probably. It was only after I asked him if he was hurt that they appeared. So, it's not inconceivable that he manifested some of his reality into his dream state.”

  “That makes me feel a little better, but if he's gotten medical treatment, he's in danger of being discovered.”

  “Shit.” Lucian burst up out of the loveseat and began to pace. “We need to check all the hospitals and see if he's been admitted.”

  Splitting up the hospitals between them, they were to meet up at Lennox Hill Hospital as their last place to search. So far, no one had seen any sign of him.

  Where the fuck could that shifter be?

  The elevator dinged open onto the second floor. Stepping out, Vex felt like he was dragging ten-thousand pounds of worry with him. Every step a trudge forward, like he was wearing cinder blocks for boots. While his chest cavity was exactly the opposite. Hollowed out by the helplessness that had eaten away every last piece of hope he'd held onto until every place they searched came up empty.

  Alea was waiting outside of Jason’s room. Leaning against the wall, she stood up straight and folded her arms across her chest as he made his way down to her.

  The fairy hit him with an apologetic smile as he made eye contact with her. Ducking her head, he knew she was sorry for dream walking on him uninvited, but that didn't make him feel any less exploited.

  Duped by another female, though Alea wasn't the malicious type, not like the soul that had landed him here, but she'd manipulated him nonetheless. And, he was seven kinds of a fool for letting it happen.

  The biggest question for him was why the hell she had felt the need to invade his dreams to begin with. What bothered him the most was how fucking stupid he appeared to her when he'd all but admitted his ignorance.

  She was a fairy, and he knew what she was capable of. Only a complete idiot wouldn’t be aware their dreamtime sexcapade was an actual visit from her.

  “Have you gone in yet,” he asked her, lifting his chin towards Jason's room.

  “Not yet, Tegan’s in there,” Alea said. “He’s looking pretty strung out. I figured, I'd give him some privacy with his friend.”

  “Hmm...maybe you're learning your lesson about other people’s privacy?” The sheen of tears that turned her whiskey colored eyes glossy was a knife to the center of his chest. A cheap shot fired that he could never take back. She didn't deserve his shitty attitude just because of his own idiocy.

  “Sorry, Vex, if I could go back and do it again, I wouldn't have barged in on your dream,” Alea sniffled. “It never occurred to me that you didn't realize it was really me there with you.”

  “I can't say that I don't feel like you manipulated me—”

  “Vex, I—” she interrupted.

  Placing a long finger across her lips to shush her. “Let me finish, little fairy. I'm not mad at you. I'm more pissed at myself for being such a naïve dumbass. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.”

  “So, you forgive me?”

  “Yes, sweet Alea, I forgive you.”

  “Thanks.” Her dimples made an appearance on each side of her face, and he felt a piece of his puzzle fall into place. While everything else was a damn mess, this one thing had been resolved. His and Alea's first misunderstanding was no more than a speck of nothing much in the scheme of things. “By the way, you're not a dumba…”

  When her voice fell away, he followed the direction her eyes had taken. What was so fascinating about hospital staff making the rounds?

  “Remember the girl in the scrubs?” She looked up at him, but hadn't a clue what she was driving at. “You know, the brunette Sevin was eyeballing when we were all out here waiting for word of Evana?”

  “Barely.”

  “He said something in the dream, but I didn't really think much about it until now.” The twinkle in her eye was a spark of an idea that he hoped would lead them to Sevin. “He said, I was right. That he did like brunettes.”

  “What the hell does that have to do with anything?” Vex glanced away only a moment as Lucian stepped up beside them. “Sevin is always going on about girls—”

  “No.” She adamantly shook her head at him. “Remember the conversation. He was staring at the dark haired girl when he said it.”

  His fairy’s pixie face tilted up to his. An expectancy perched on the tip of her lips, waiting for whatever conclusion she'd come to inside her own head to reach his. It didn't. And, all the talk of brunette girls in scrubs wasn't getting any clearer to him as she continued to stare up at him.

  Thankfully, Lucian was holding on to the same clueless expression.

  “Sorry, I'm not following…”

  “He's with that girl from this hospital!” The answer exploded from her mouth with overwhelming enthusiasm that he didn't feel. “The one that went in the patient's room just down the hall. I think it was the fourth door down from this one.” She indicated Jason’s room. “He repeated back exactly what I said to him during that conversation from the other night when that girl walked in that room.”

  “Alea.” He took her by the shoulders as if he were having to explain the obvious to a child. “We don't know that for sure. It could be any girl”—as she started to protest, he cut her off—“and, we don't even know who the girl was. Can you ID her, if you saw her again?”

  He'd pricked a hole in her theory, the effect like a balloon on a slow deflate. Her shoulders sinking beneath his hands as her idea lost all its footing.

  “No. I don't think I'd recognize her if I saw her again. But, it's something to go on, right?” Her tone turned up a few octaves as she tried to remain hopeful. “She was here just a few hours ago.”

  “More like twenty-four hours ago,” Lucian snorted. “She's most likely long gone by now, and we can't exactly wander around the hospital looking for some dark haired chick in freaking scrubs you saw Sevin drooling over. I mean, you just said you probably wouldn't recognize her again.”

  “Well, at least it's something,” she snapped. “What leads have you
gotten so far?”

  “Let's just calm down, people.” He was the last person to play the diplomat in any given situation, but this was where they were at. “I think the best thing we can do is check on our human friends and head back to my place. If Alea could reach him before, then she can again, and she's the only link we've got to Sevin. If we're gonna have a chance in hell of finding him, it will be through her.”

  “Alright,” Lucian said, pacing and running his hands through that mass of hair of his. He'd taken up the habit sometime around when their adopted shifter had gone through puberty. And, as much trouble as that little shit had been into on a regular basis, it was wonder the angel wasn't going bald.

  This went beyond any run-of-the-mill worries. The male they had raised together was out there, somewhere in the city, hurt and there wasn't a damn thing they could do but hurry up and wait.

  “That’s great news!” Alea couldn’t have been happier as she clutched the shop’s phone tighter to her ear. “I’ll tell them, I know they’re gonna be excited to hear this. See you soon.”

  Twirling around, her exuberance had gained the attention of everyone in the shop. Not that there was a packed house with only Lucian and Vex tattooing but, all eyes were on her. Tattoo machines posed in the air as the males, and the clients they were working on had her full attention.

  “Jason’s awake!” she announced. “Evana said we could come see him tonight, if we want.”

  The good news lit up the room like a fluorescent bulb on the fritz that had finally gained a foothold and surged to life. A welcome light at the end of the tunnel.

  Vex and Lucian exchange glances. The males agreeing to a visit, they were anxious to implement their plan to keep the human close and get him on as a partner, setting some of their concerns of discovery behind them.

  Turning back to the front, the blaring emptiness of the vacant spot where Sevin usually worked sucked some of the happiness out of her like a vacuum.

  So much drama had happened in such a short period of time, she was ready for a break in the action. If they could just locate Sevin.

  She’d managed to catch a few glimpses of him over the past few days, but nothing substantial. She had even seen him in wolf form, frolicking around like a puppy, but she couldn’t get close enough to him to gain any useful information on his whereabouts.