Chapter 34
Laurie
Aside from River’s uncharacteristically snippy comments towards Arlon, the day was turning out easier to handle than I initially expected.
Getting out of bed had been rough, and swallowing a few bites of breakfast had been rougher still.
But I’d managed to make it through the morning without sinking to the floor once, so that was a win in my books.
Arlon seemed to be taking the news of the supernatural surprisingly well, though I could tell a part of him was still quietly upset that I hadn’t trusted him with the truth sooner.
The bigger part of him, however—the part that drove him to become a cop in the first place—was determined to get to the bottom of things now that he’d been handed a few more pieces of the puzzle.
Arlon was committed to smoking out the leaders of the organization, and he was willing to work with the Leyore coven to do it. His conviction was impressive.
It had taken me way too long to learn to trust these vampire women, but Arlon was already treating Dylan like his second in command.
The two of them stood together, poring over a detailed map of the city and speculating on the location of the other facilities, while Amara (was that her name?) peered over their shoulders with a furrowed brow.
We’d moved from one office to another after River had filled Arlon in on everything we knew about the supernatural side of the organization so far.
This room was bigger and filled with more faces—some familiar, some I’d never seen before, but every single one of them seemed to have a keen interest in me, because I caught them staring every time I raised my head.
River was speaking to one of them, the drop-dead gorgeous woman I recognized from the incident at the facility.
Hunter. There was another woman, human by the looks of her, hovering at her side.
It took a few minutes of quiet eavesdropping to learn that her name was Addison and that she was, astonishingly enough, Hunter’s fiancée.
A human and a vampire getting together was a possibility I had not considered before.
They weren’t the only odd couple present, either.
I recognized another vampire, short and pretty and incredibly loud for her compact size: Maxine.
She had a human partner too, a lanky woman with her hair scraped back into a tight ponytail, who seemed simultaneously exasperated by her girlfriend’s ear-splitting volume and also completely infatuated with her. An odd pairing, to say the least.
The last couple included Jordan, the redhead who seemed to be the ringleader of this ragtag group, and her wife, Skye, who was quieter than the former but wielded a commanding kind of presence that had the others perking up their ears whenever she spoke.
She was speaking now, nodding at a stack of papers splayed out in front of her on the desk.
“Thanks to Ursula, we’ve got the witches working with us, and they’ve located four additional facilities within the five-borough area.
” She listed the locations on one hand. “Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island.” Her eyes slid to Jordan, who had her fingers laced under her chin where she sat behind the desk.
“But there could be more we don’t know about yet. ”
The flaming redhead was quiet for a beat before she sighed and rubbed at her temple. “Locating the rest of them won’t be easy. Our best bet is to figure out where they’re picking up their victims and following them from there.”
“What about Mr. Mysterious? The vampire who was stealing people from bars?” the blond boy, Ethan, piped up from his perch near the window. “If he shows up again we could follow him.”
“He hasn’t shown up at any of his usual haunts.” It was Arlon who answered him, clearing his throat nervously when all sets of eyes turned his way. “Ever since you guys broke into that facility, that man has been lying low. He’s probably spooked—he knows his method has been compromised.”
“So we’re back at square one—again,” Hunter grumbled and folded her arms, leaning back against a bookcase. “We have no idea how they’re harvesting new victims.”
I straightened up. That was my cue. A chance to be useful.
I cleared my throat. “Actually… I might know where to start.”
Instant silence—Jordan’s level gaze, Hunter’s icy stare, Ethan’s curious head-tilt—all eyes fixated on me. I felt every pupil like a pin prick, and the words jammed in my throat. “I… Uh.”
I faltered, shrinking into myself under the sudden attention. River’s fingers settled on my shoulder, the slightest touch but comforting enough, steadying as a port in a storm.
“You don’t have to do this now,” she murmured, low enough to reach my ears only. Everybody else was watching us, watching me. From the corner of my eye, I saw Dylan raise a curious brow.
“I…” I sucked in a breath, blinking back hazy memories and fighting to keep my head clear. “I want to help.”
It took a full minute of deep breathing and staring at the floor to steady myself, but I finally managed to get the words out, conscious of River’s hand resting lightly near the nape of my neck.
“The organization… They target foster kids. Runaways, too. They send fake caseworkers into group homes, promise scholarships or medical screenings—anything a kid desperate for a break would grab onto.”
A lump climbed up my throat, throttling the rest of my statement. “That’s how they got me. I was taken out of foster care. They used a fake caseworker—papers looked official, signatures checked out. Group-home staff didn’t even blink.”
Jordan’s brows knitted together. “So they’re hunting kids who get lost in the system.”
“Exactly.” I forced the next words through the vice of memory.
“Runaways, wards of the state, chronically ill teens—anyone on the fringe of society, people who won’t be missed.
” I swallowed. “If we want to find the rest of the facilities, we start with the intake stream. Track bogus case files, van pickups near shelters, clinics that suddenly ‘transfer’ terminal patients.”
Jordan was already nodding along, fingers tapping a frantic tempo on the desk. “This could work. I’ll get every faction we have working on that.” Her hand stilled suddenly and she inclined her head toward me, full lips pulling into a warm smile. “Thank you, Laurie.”
I couldn’t help but cringe away from the small kindness, overwhelmed by all the attention and backing up until I bumped into River—who placed a second hand on my other shoulder.
She held me steady like that, stooping low to murmur in my ear, “It’s all right, Jordan doesn’t bite. Often.” She squeezed my shoulders lightly, breath tickling against my neck. “You did good.”
I shuddered under her touch but didn’t flinch away. I leaned into it, feeding on the strength she radiated. Jordan was speaking again, addressing the rest of the room, and I tried to follow the strategy.
“Once we’ve managed to pinpoint the rest of the facilities we’ll need to act quickly.
” Her gaze swept over all of us. “Hitting them one at a time won’t work, they’ll just ramp up their security.
So, we have to strike simultaneously, hit every facility at the same time, with every supernatural faction involved—vampire, witch, shifter, elf.
If we play our cards right, we can cut the head off this organization in one night. ”
She leaned back, sweeping a hand out over the paperwork. “One coordinated hit to end this once and for all.”
It was a good plan, I had to admit. But did they have the manpower to manage the task? If they were to land a hit on every single facility, they needed all the allies they could get…
A memory floated back to me. A dingy nightclub where I’d worked briefly last winter, and a group of hybrid escapees congregating in the alleyway out back. They’d offered me safe houses, weapons, intel. I’d waved them off—too fixated on my solo vendetta.
I swallowed, straightened my spine a little. River’s hands stayed put, a silent encouragement like she knew that I wanted to speak up.
“I—uh—might know some people who can help,” I whispered, quieter than intended, but I caught their attention anyway.
Eyes swung my way again, but the terror was duller this time.
I forced the words out, one decibel louder.
“Other supernaturals. Captives who got out before I did. They’re… organized. They’ll fight with you.”
Truth be told, the group I was referring to didn’t like me all that much, but they liked the organization even less. They would fight if I asked them to. It was just a matter of finding them.
Jordan looked interested, and she cocked her head to the side. “How many are we talking?”
I managed a stiff shrug. “A dozen? Maybe fifteen.” I guessed the number randomly, my memories too hazy for specifics. “Some of them are hybrids. They offered support when I escaped, but I… wasn’t in a place to accept it.”
That was an understatement. They’d offered me allyship and I’d scornfully turned them down, so hellbent on avoiding companionship lest it got in the way of my grand plan.
Look at you now, the small voice in my head muttered, working with a group of vampires when you swore to take on this mission alone. I glanced back at River, who caught the brief eye contact and offered a reassuring smile. Funny how things turned out.
The rest of the room slipped into overlapping chatter, vampire and human debating their next moves.
Plans were put together faster than I could track, but my attention was fixed solely on River.
Her palms radiated a warmth that traveled through layers of button-up, sweater and jacket, rippling across my skin.
When had I started relying on that warmth? Only a few weeks ago I had sworn to keep every potential ally at bay. Partners were a liability, companionship was a trap. Now River fit perfectly at my back like an extra vertebra, holding me upright.
I watched her lean over my shoulder to inspect the map Dylan was holding out, and I fixed my eyes on the bridge of her nose, the sweep of her lashes. I catalogued every minute detail of her face, committing it all to memory.
Strange, I thought, letting my gaze wander over her profile.
I’d dreaded leaning on anyone—terrified that any trust I extended would backfire dramatically.
But River hadn’t demanded my trust from the get-go; she’d offered steadiness and support until stepping toward her felt like breaking through a storm. Like clouds parting overhead.
I had to admit—grudgingly, privately—that it felt good. It felt good knowing that she had my back, and I had hers. It felt good knowing that I wasn't in this alone, for however long it lasted.
She sensed my stare and glanced down at me again, quirking a brow though her lips stayed tugged upward at the corners. “You all right?”
I surprised both of us—but myself, especially—by smiling back. “Yeah.” I didn’t pause to contemplate the weight of my next words, but I knew, wholeheartedly, that they were true. “Better than I have been in a long time.”