Chapter Four
I didn’t know what I expected next, but it wasn’t Remy waving at the door. “Go home, Miss Stone. Tell no one about our meeting, and especially don’t mention my non-human status.”
As if I needed that warning. “I won’t. When are we going to try this? I’ll need several safeguards in place first—”
“I’ll handle it,” Remy said with the arrogance of someone used to making all the decisions.
“How, when you don’t even know what I need?” I pressed him.
Remy only waved in a tall, striking man with warm sepia skin and silver threading through his black hair. He also wore a suit and a chauffeur’s cap, which explained what Remy said next.
“Take Miss Stone home.”
The guy actually gave Remy a little bow. “Yes, Warden.”
Remy turned to me, raking me with a long, unreadable look. “Goodbye, Miss Stone. I’ll see you soon.”
The chauffeur held open the door for me, so I left.
I was surprised that that library-like room opened into a long hotel hallway with an elevator at the end of it. Unlike the one in my building, this elevator was state-of-the-art, with a security keypad and a cushioned bench to sit on.
My escort selected “L” and we zoomed downward.
When the doors opened, they revealed a hotel lobby with an elegant bar and parlor.
Muted sunlight streamed in from tinted windows, surprising me.
I’d been kidnapped right after my shift ended at eleven last night.
Now it looked like it was late morning or early afternoon.
“This way,” my escort said, and led me through the hotel’s main doors. The Mercedes was already parked in front.
Once we were outside, I recognized the hotel.
It was a luxurious riverfront: one with a distinctive profile, with the tallest parts at the very front and back, and a long, flatter section in between.
I’d seen it during the few times I drove through the Fells Point area of Baltimore.
Did Remy live here? That library certainly hadn’t been standard hotel issue.
At least I was saving a few bucks, being driven home instead of having to order another Uber. Speaking of going home …
I pressed a button, and the privacy glass separating the driver’s section and the back seat rolled down.
“I need to stop at a convenience store,” I said.
The driver looked at me like I’d just told him to careen off a cliff. “I was only told to bring you home, ma’am.”
Ma’am? He looked in his mid-forties, and I was only twenty-six.
“There’s one near my apartment building.”
“I wasn’t given permission to deviate” was his reply.
I hid my annoyance behind a smile. “I get that you’re just doing your job, and I don’t want to get you in trouble. What if you call Remy and ask? He shouldn’t mind, and if he does, remind him that if he hadn’t kidnapped me last night, I wouldn’t need your help getting more cat food now.”
The driver slid the privacy glass back up. I didn’t hear a thing, but I assumed he was calling Remy. A minute later, the glass barrier came back down.
“Where to?” the driver asked. Guess Remy had said yes.
I gave him directions to the store. Good thing Remy had left my purse in the Benz, or I would have needed to borrow a credit card, too.
As promised, the store was close to my apartment building. The driver waited in front as I ran in and got the cat food. Then he darted in front of me to open my door to the back.
“Thanks,” I said. “What’s your name, by the way?”
“Mandal,” he replied, getting back in the driver’s seat.
Sounded like a last name. Was that how drivers normally referred to themselves? Or, like Remy, was he trying for emotional distance by not having me call him by his first name?
Whatever. “I’m Raine. Nice to meet you, Mandal.”
He nodded. “Pleased to meet you, too, ma’am.”
He was killing me with the “ma’am” stuff.
“Do you chauffeur around former kidnapping victims often?” I teased as we drove away.
He braked a little too hard. Maybe that was a yes?
“No, ma’am,” he finally said. “And I’m sorry about Siphoning you last night.”
I stiffened. “What did you do to me?”
His gaze met mine in the rearview mirror before he looked back at the road. “I drained all your energy with my touch.”
A dozen questions made me sputter before I said, “Explain.”
Mandal glanced at me again. “I’m a Siphon. When I came up behind you and touched your shoulder, I drained your energy until you were unconscious.”
That sounded like the Beast’s power, except with energy instead of violence or life force. I’d certainly dropped like a stone after I felt a hand on me last night. “But you touched my arm helping me into the car before, and nothing happened.”
He shrugged. “I wasn’t using my power on you then.”
“So, Siphons are like energy vampires?”
Mandal frowned. “Vampires don’t exist.”
I snorted. “Beasts, Siphons, snake people, sorcerers, and Wardens do, but nature draws the line at vampires?”
A small smile touched Mandal’s lips. “Apparently.”
“What other species are there?”
Mandal didn’t answer. He pulled up to my building and got out to open my door before I could finish tugging on the handle.
“Enjoy the rest of your day, ma’am.”
I doubted I would. I still had too many unanswered questions. At least now I knew more than I had during the last decade-plus of internet searches.
Remy had superhuman powers. He also claimed to rule other supernaturals. Mandal seemed proof of that. He could drain people’s energy with a single touch, and Mandal treated Remy with deference. Maybe Remy really did know a way to get rid of the Beast without it jumping into someone else.
Hell, maybe I’d even survive it, too.
The thought was so incredible, I could barely process it. I’d offered my deal out of desperation, but could I really be free from the Beast without it hurting anyone else? Could Remy be the solution I’d given up on finding?
It was harder to believe than Wardens, Siphons, Beasts, and snake people, but oh, it felt so good to have hope again. Even if Remy couldn’t deliver, I now knew it was possible, so I’d revel in it. It sure beat all the despair I’d felt for the past eleven years.
I didn’t hear from Remy that night. Or the next, or the next.
I didn’t call or text him, either, even though I still had his number from Brendan’s business card.
If Remy was ghosting me, it must mean he couldn’t hold up his part of our deal.
I’d been wrong to get my hopes up, but at least I’d learned more about other supernaturals. That was something, wasn’t it?
Remy wasn’t the only one avoiding me. My mechanic hadn’t responded to any of my texts or calls this past week. I’d had enough of adding an hour to my commute each way to catch the bus, or draining my paychecks on Uber.
I called the main number for Big Ed’s Body Shop and pretended to be a new customer interested in a quote. That got Ed on the line for once. He’d been “unavailable” every other time I’d said who I really was.
“Hi, Ed,” I said. “It’s Raine Stone, and I need my car.”
“Rainey Day,” Ed said, using the annoying nickname he’d given me. “I was gonna call you. We found a new issue, but another four hundred bucks, and your baby’ll be good as new.”
My teeth clenched. “You said that about the last two issues. I’ve already paid you triple what you first quoted me.”
Ed grunted. “Not my fault that your car’s old. I’m givin’ you the ‘sexy client’ discount, too. An alternator’s normally five hundred bucks, but I’ll let you have it for four.”
I’d seen Ed through the Beast’s eyes once. The deep gray hues in his aura didn’t come from a lifetime of honest quotes.
“I’m not paying for anything else, so give me my car back as-is. I’ll get the repairs done somewhere else.”
Ed laughed. “We already ordered the alternator, so you can pay half for nothing, or pay four hundred for it to get fixed.”
My temper snapped. “I never agreed to that!”
Another laugh. “Ordering all the necessary parts is in the fine print of the contract you signed when you first came in.”
I hadn’t read the fine print. I’d been rushed because I was late for work that day. “I’m taking that contract to a lawyer.”
“Go ahead. It’ll cost you triple what this repair would just to have a lawyer read it.”
He wasn’t wrong, and fuck him anyway. “I’d rather overpay a lawyer than give you another dime,” I snapped, and hung up.
I was still steaming when my phone rang ten minutes later, showing an unfamiliar number. I answered only because I thought it might be Ed, hopefully coming to his senses.
“Hello?”
“Miss Stone.”
Not Ed. I’d know Remy’s velvety voice anywhere.
“Remy, er, Remington,” I amended. As promised, now that I wasn’t kidnapped by him, I’d honor his preference. “What’s up?”
“My driver will pick you up at six tonight.”
No “are you free?” or “is this a good time?” Just a command to be there.
I was tired of being pushed around by people who thought they could get away with it, but I wanted the Beast out of me without it hurting anyone else. If Remy could make that happen, I’d put up with all the arrogance he could dish out.
“Six it is, then.”