Chapter 9
Hunter
On the outside, I was calm, cool, and definitely not panicking as I sat in the car alongside a sniveling Kinsley – Addison? On the inside, I was a nervous wreck.
I gripped the steering wheel so tight I thought it might snap in my hands. My mind raced, replaying the events outside the club in painful detail. I’d taken down the group of men in the parking lot, no fangs, no transformation – just pure vampiric strength. And God, did it feel good.
But the aftermath was anything but pleasant, and my head buzzed with the consequences of what I'd done. Elves. They were elves. Their language was unmistakable, Elvish was as ear-piercing as it was pretentious.
This was bad. This was – well, politics.
Jordan’s voice echoed in my mind, a reminder of the fragile balance between the supernatural factions. And I’d just snapped it like a twig.
If word got out that a Leyore vampire had attacked a group of elves, on their own turf, it would mean trouble for both factions. It would also leave Jordan’s business venture dead in the water.
“Fuck.” I rattled off a mental checklist as I pressed my forehead to the steering wheel.
I had been careful not to leave any incriminating evidence, careful to cover my tracks. I hadn’t used my fangs, so no bite marks could be traced back to me or my coven. I had wiped their minds after the fight, but even that was hasty. There were no guarantees they wouldn’t remember something . And those talismans they wore? They blocked my powers like a brick wall.
That detail didn’t sit right with me either.
From what I could glean from their minds, an angry elf woman had paid them a lot of money to rough up the dancer her husband had been spending too much time around. Petty jealousy paid well, apparently.
Addison – no, Dr. Moore – had already spilled her tangled web of secrets, and left me with even more questions. But my mind wasn’t clear enough to focus on the bigger picture. Focus on the immediate problem , I told myself.
At my elbow, Kinsley – Addison, whatever she was calling herself these days – was talking, her voice pulling me out of my frantic thoughts.
“Ethan just texted me.”
I lifted my head warily, taking in her expression. Her face was still pale after the attack, and her cheeks were streaked with makeup, wet with tears. But she seemed calmer than before, having expelled all her turmoil over my pristine white shirt. Oh my god, does mascara stain?
“What?” I asked, dazed and exhausted. The night had not gone at all how I had expected it to.
"Ethan said one of the guys we... well, that I was involved with... is friends with the club manager. He’s claiming I helped set them up for a robbery. He’s telling the manager I was bait and that someone jumped them after they tried hitting on me."
I gritted my teeth. Great. I hadn’t wiped enough of their memories after all. My rush had left loose ends, and now it was coming back to bite me in the ass.
“Godammit!” I whacked the steering wheel, leaning back in my seat and trying to think clearly. “I should have just finished them off.”
Addison’s face paled further at the implication of my words. "If they check the security cameras..." she began, her voice trailing off.
My head snapped toward her, tone sharp. "Security cameras?"
Addison nodded, biting her lip. "Yeah, there are cameras out back near the parking lot. They’ll have footage of the whole thing."
I cursed under my breath. "Perfect. Just perfect."
My mind whirled with options. If the footage got into the wrong hands, Addison would be under scrutiny, but there would also be evidence of my involvement – and, by extension, my coven’s. This could easily spark a diplomatic incident between the elves and the vampires.
"We need to get that footage," I said, low and urgent. "Before anyone else does."
"But how?" Addison asked, her voice panicked. "The manager’s going to check it, and if he sees me on there he might want to look into my history. I can’t blow my cover. I’ve been hiding my identity so far but just barely–"
"He won’t," I interjected. "We’re going back to the club. We’ll get the footage before they can review it."
Addison looked at me with wide eyes. " Now you want to take me back?"
"Do you have a better plan?" I snapped.
Addison fell silent, her face twisting in thought. “Why are you worried about being caught?”
I stiffened, and the steering wheel creaked in protest under my grip. “I just – I can’t afford to have people looking into me either, okay? No one can know what I did tonight.”
She opened her mouth to question me further and then promptly shut it, leaning back in her seat with her arms folded. After a beat, she perked up again, eyes shining with renewed life like something just occurred to her.
“There are cameras all over the club. If we can get that footage, there might be record of Penelope on there.”
That right there was the bigger picture I couldn’t afford to think about at the moment. But she had a point, and it was clearly important to her. I shot her a sideways glance. “You want a lead on your missing sister, we need that footage.”
The dancer/doctor/potential secret third thing for all I knew, wiped at her eyes and fixed me with a look reminiscent of the first night I laid eyes on her. Driven, determined, and completely in control. “Let’s do it.”
I started the car again, pulling out of the quiet street and heading back toward the club. “You’re awfully calm for someone who was bawling on my shoulder a few minutes ago.”
“A moment of weakness,” Addison huffed, jutting out her jaw in defiance. “Won’t happen again.”
I kept quiet, but a moment later she spoke up again, softer than before. “Thank you, by the way. For – well, everything.”
I turned a corner, sharper than intended. “No problem.”
Truth be told, I didn’t hate her crying on my shoulder. Her outburst was no different to my violent response to finding her in danger. Emotional overload. And it occurred to me then, that it was the first time I had ever had her in my arms. Despite the dire circumstances, it felt… good. But there was no time to dwell on that just yet.
My mind was churning, calculating my next move. We didn’t have much time, and I couldn’t afford any more mistakes. I just needed to get in, get the footage, and get out.
From the corner of my eye I saw Addison scrutinizing me, a kind of fascinated curiosity in her expression. “Take a picture, it lasts longer.”
"Are you a shifter?" she asked bluntly, as if the idea had just occurred to her.
“What?” I snapped my head in her direction, nearly speeding right into a stop sign at the disruption.
"You know, a shifter. Like a werewolf." Addison repeated. Her eyes were still red and teary, but her tone was oddly casual, like we were discussing the weather.
I could only stare at her and hope like hell there were no turns up ahead.
“I’d forgotten all about it until now.” Addison shrugged at my stupefied expression. "I saw this girl shift during a sleepover when I was a kid. I didn’t believe it at first, thought I was half-asleep and dreaming, but then when I was working in the ER, this guy… super hairy, he went nuts. Destroyed half the ward before security managed to get him. That’s when I realized maybe I wasn’t crazy."
I exhaled, trying to wrap my head around the abrupt change in the conversation. And the fact that Addison-Kinsley-Whateverthefuck was aware of the supernatural to some degree.
"No. I’m not a shifter," I said flatly, too encumbered to add another major concern to my plate.
"Then what are you?" Addison’s voice took on an almost teasing lilt, but there was genuine curiosity behind it. "I mean, you’re obviously something. No normal human can do what you did back there."
I shot her a sideways glance, trying to think of an answer that wouldn’t make things worse. "I’m just... good at fighting," I said lamely.
"Yeah, right," she snorted. "What, did you grow up in a Shaolin temple or something?"
I rolled my eyes, almost – almost regretting ever getting involved with this woman. "Let it go.”
I could already feel the impending headache. And I had no one to blame but myself.
When Micere loomed into view, I parked a little further down the street, pulling into an alley where we wouldn’t be spotted.
"Wait here," I told Addison, already sliding out of my seat.
"Absolutely not," Addison shot back, unbuckling her seatbelt. "I’m coming with you."
I opened my mouth to argue but stopped myself. We were running out of time and we couldn’t afford to waste it bickering. "Fine," I muttered, pushing the car door open. "But stay behind me and keep quiet."
We hurried toward the club, heading for the back door just like before. The back entrance was quieter than the front, but I still kept my senses on high alert as we approached. A few steps from the entrance I spotted Ethan leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette. He raised an eyebrow when he caught sight of us.
"What the hell is going on?" he asked, exhaling a cloud of smoke. "Everyone is up in arms about some grand robbery, and I know you’re involved, Hunter ."
"I’m trying to fix it," I replied curtly, glancing down the hallway behind him. "We need to get into the manager’s office and grab the security footage."
Ethan stared at me for a moment, his expression frosty. If we’d met under different circumstances I would have introduced him to Dylan. They could have a stare-off.
“Are they looking for me?” Addison intercepted our glares, catching Ethan’s attention. “What did you tell them?”
Ethan’s expression softened for her and he smirked. “I told them you’d blown chunks all over the change rooms and had to head home. So long as they don’t catch sight of you, that story holds.”
Addison grimaced, shooting him a withering glare of her own. “Did you have to be so specific?”
"Never mind that. Can you help or not?" I demanded, patience wearing thin.
Ethan sighed, taking one last drag of his cigarette before tossing it aside. "Fine. I’ll distract them, but you two better make this quick. The manager’s not stupid."
Considering my actions of late, I was feeling rather stupid myself.