Chapter 30 #2
“When I was out running, I overheard someone talking about how a lot of homeless people have died suspiciously lately.”
“And you think it was because of demons?”
“Yeah. It would be really helpful to get the full M.E. reports.”
Xavier slowly inhales, not because he needs the air, but for the dramatics. “I know there is more to this, but this once, I won’t dig. If you want those reports, we should go now.”
“Really?”
“Really,” he says. “I find you interesting, Wren. It’s not every day I find someone other than myself worthy of giving attention to.”
“There might have been a compliment in there hidden beneath the barf-worthy self praise,” I chide, raising an eyebrow. Xavier is confident, but his confidence is earned. He’s poised, controlled, successful in more ways than one.
And an apex predator.
Why deny any of that? Why walk around meek and humble? Are we actually better people if we downplay our strengths? I really don’t know, and I suppose as we’re not going around trying to make others feel bad or less than, it probably is a good thing to know what you have going on and use it.
I get my phone and a sweater for later and then go through the house, meeting Xavier in the garage. He opens the door to the G-Wagon for me and I climb in, pulling my seatbelt down and clicking it into place.
I mess with the radio, flipping through channels as I sigh. “I had some really great Spotify playlists on my phone.” Slightly turning my head, I glance at him. “And it’s not like I can’t figure out how to contact my family with a new phone, you know.”
“I do know.”
“I want my old phone back.”
“I figured you might.” He reaches into his suit pocket and pulls it out. “I’ll be the judge of how great your playlists are.”
Smiling, I eagerly take my phone and immediately go to my texts, certain I had a bunch of missed messages and calls from my family.
I don’t.
It’s gut-wrenching and I don’t understand. I have just a few texts from Antonio the day I was taken, and one from Leo. There’s one standard text from the Order, which is sent out to everyone.
But then nothing after that. Swallowing hard, I open the texts from Antonio.
I’m going to get this figured out. Don’t worry.
Stay safe and stay strong. Leo and I are going to go to HQ tomorrow. Are you okay?
Wren??
I open the text from Leo, debating if I should reply.
Hi, Wren, it’s G. No one will tell me what’s going on. You’re the only one who didn’t lie to me. I miss you.
I go onto Find My Friends and see that everyone stopped sharing their locations with me as well. We always had that enabled for safety reasons. Letting out a breath, I blink away tears and feel rage start to burn deep inside me. The betrayal cuts deep and I’m so fucking pissed.
“Something wrong?” Xavier’s hand lands on my thigh.
“Out of sight, out of mind,” I say quietly and then shake my head. “I’m fine.” I can feel his gaze lingering on mine and I let my eyes fall shut for a minute while I focus on my breathing, trying to clear my head. After a minute or so, I plug in my phone and pull up my favorite K-pop playlist.
“This is what you listen to?” Xavier tips his head at me.
“What? It’s catchy and most of these songs are good to workout to.”
“If you say so.” His lips pull into a smirk. “Music has gone downhill in my opinion.”
“Since when, the 1800s?”
He chuckles. “Add a century and about twenty or so years.”
“You do have this whole 1920s gangster thing going for you.”
His smirk grows. “That was a good time to be a vampire. Granted, there was no bad time to be a vampire.”
“What about now? With vamps being out and all.”
“It has its perks, and there’s nothing forcing us out.”
“I guess that’s true,” I say slowly and look at the dashboard, trying to keep intrusive thoughts away. I was trained to do this, to push my emotions back like a good little solider. But fuck that.
We park in front of the county building and go in.
Xavier has obviously been here before and goes right to the coroner’s office in the lower level.
Kristina Davis isn’t here, but all it takes is one second of eye contact to hold the guy at the desk spellbound.
He gives us a stack of files and we’re on our way.
“That was easy,” I say, flipping through the files as we get back into the elevator. “Usually, I have to make up some sort of story or break in.”
Xavier looks at me for a few seconds and then steps closer as the elevator doors close. I’m well aware I’m in a small space with someone who is basically a multi-century-old serial killer.
“Death doesn’t bother you,” he comments, looking at the photos in the files.
“I guess not.” I shrug. “I’m used to it, maybe.” Shaking my head, I look up at him. “I can’t really do my job if I’m squeamish.”
“Hunting isn’t your job anymore.”
“You know what I mean.”
“You enjoy it,” he says for the second time tonight. He wants me to admit it…to admit that we’re not so different after all.
“I do,” I say and feel a release inside of me. “It’s normal in the social circle I was raised in. Though as you know, even within the Order I was the odd one out.”
“Because they feared you.”
“Yeah.” Our eyes lock and it hits me that he might be the only person who knows exactly what it’s like to be feared, and rightly so. “I never used magic maliciously on anyone in the Order.”
He gives me his trademark cocky grin again. “There’s no time limit on revenge.”
I let out a snort of laughter. “True, and the more time that passes, the more it’ll take them by surprise. But then there’s that whole thing about holding a grudge and how it’s like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies.”
“Indifference can be powerful.”
“Seriously.” I inhale, aware of the way it makes my breasts rise in this dress. I want to surrender to him again, throwing all the files on the ground and widening my legs, welcoming him in between. And by the way he’s looking at me, I know he wants it too.
But then the elevator stops and the doors open. Clearing my throat, I step out first and we get back to the car. I look through the files on the way to Asheville, and there’s no denying that these homeless people were possessed and the demons used their bodies until they burned up.
But why?
Granted, I’ve been out of the loop when it comes to hunting, but usually if demons are using bodies, they’re doing more than just possessing the homeless. I’ll have to do some digging to try and find something to give me a clue to exactly what the demons are up to.
Lower-level demons are capable of possession and they often work for a more powerful demon. And this many deaths have to mean something big is coming. I’m not a hunter anymore, but I can’t just leave this alone. A pending apocalypse kinda affects everyone—vampires and humans alike.
“This place is…quaint,” Xavier says as we get closer to the restaurant. It really is a nostalgic place for me, and the food is good. But there might be one other small reason I wanted to come here.
You have to drive past the Zodiac to get here.
From the outside, Zodiac looks like any other bar and tavern.
I’ve heard people say it’s some sort of exclusive biker bar and that’s why most people get turned away.
It’s a rumor the Order happily leans into, keeping the general public from our safe place where we can hang out and talk about our latest monster killing without worry about sounding insane or having the cops called on us.
I close the files and sit up straighter, knowing we’re about to go past the parking lot. Xavier can hear my heartbeat, and right now it’s starting to speed up.
“It’s a nice place to live,” I reply, voice void of emotion.
I’m struggling to keep calm on the inside, which usually isn’t an issue.
I can freak the fuck out mentally and no one knows, but my vampire husband can sense every little thing about me and it’s an unwelcome invasion of privacy, that’s for sure.
“And it’s weird to be back,” I blurt, hoping that’s a good enough reason to offer for why I’m suddenly jittery.
Inhaling, I count to three and let my breath out.
The lights of Zodiac are ahead of us, and I turn, looking for any cars or trucks in the parking lot that might belong to anyone I know.
Truthfully, I’m hoping to see my family, though I don’t know what seeing them would do.
It’s not like I could ask Xavier to pull over so I can have a few choice words with them.
A black Ford F150 parked in its usual spot makes my heart skip a beat. Because I know who that truck belongs to: Ryder. I lean up a little closer to the window and see him. He’s standing next to the truck, talking to another hunter. He looks up and our eyes lock.
I saw him…and he most definitely saw me, too.