by Zahra Stone
It wasn’t until I was leaving that I caught it. A sharp, intent look from Mrs. B, her brows pulled together in a tight frown before quickly smoothing away. Did the ghoul suspect that I suspected her? This whole thing gave me a headache, and my heart ached for what the future held for Lani. I couldn’t allow this ghoul to continue masquerading as her mom, only right now I was ill-equipped to deal with it. And, let’s be honest, how do you tell your best friend that their mother has been eaten by a ghoul and not come across sounding a total lunatic? You don’t.
I bid them both goodnight with a promise to catch up again soon and drove home thinking about my own mom. On impulse, I punched in her number, connecting the call through the car’s Bluetooth.
“Paige, sweetheart, what’s up?”
“Nothing, Mom. Just driving home from Lani’s and thought I’d give you a call, check-in, you know.”
“Oh, I haven’t seen Lani in ages. How is she?” I spent the rest of the drive home gossiping with my mom, grateful beyond words that I was able to do such a thing.
Chapter Eleven
“Spitfire.” Nate’s voice down the line sent shivers down my spine. Delicious ones. I shrugged the sensation away and focused on the job at hand. I hadn’t wanted to call him, but I was in over my head, and I knew it.
“I think my best friend’s mom is a ghoul,” I blurted.
“You think this why?” he asked. I told him everything about Lani and Mrs. B and then waited, holding my breath. He’d either laugh and tell me I had an overactive imagination, or he’d believe me.
“Give me the address.” His voice was deadly serious. He believed me, which made it even more real, and while I rattled off Mrs. B’s address, tears silently streamed down my cheeks. I didn’t know what he was going to do, didn’t want to know, and I disconnected the call without asking.
To calm my jumbled mind and fraught emotions, I ran a bath. A glance in the mirror confirmed my mascara had run down my face, and I absently ran my fingers under my eyes, smearing it even more. Sad panda, I said to myself. Tying my hair on top of my head, I went through my nightly skincare routine, cleansing my face thoroughly. Without makeup, my freckles were on full display across my nose. I touched my fingers to them. I’d always hated my freckles, the teasing at school, but as an adult, I’d discovered men actually liked them, liked to kiss them. Men, I’d decided, were weird.
Pouring a glass of wine, I sat it on the edge of the bath and stripped, tossing my clothes in the hamper before sliding into the fragrant hot water. Better. Much, much better.
I stayed in the bath until my fingers were prunes and the water was cold. I felt marginally better. Pulling the plug, I wrapped a towel around myself and climbed out, more relaxed than earlier but still worried. Very worried. Smearing myself in my favorite vanilla-scented body lotion, I moisturized my face and pulled on a long silk robe. Too wired for sleep, I fired up my laptop and typed in Stillwater Pharmaceuticals.
“You were right,” a voice suddenly said behind me. I squealed, jumping up so fast I knocked my chair over, a fireball already balanced in the palm of my hand.
“Jesus!” I exclaimed, “Is this how it is with you? No knocking required?”
“Careful, don’t want to burn your apartment down,” Nate warned.
I extinguished the flame in my palm. “Well?” I demanded, wanting details.
Nate righted the chair. “I scouted around Mrs. B’s place, and you are right. A ghoul is occupying the premises.”
“Did you talk to her?”
“Didn’t want to tip her off that we’re on to her.” Nate was shaking his head. “But the scent in and around the car and the front door is definitely ghoul. I caught your scent too, and a human girl.”
“Lani.” I nodded, tightening the belt on my robe and heading into the kitchen. “Want a drink?” I already had the bottle of wine in my hand and was refilling my glass when I thought to offer him one.
“Sure.” Pouring him a glass, I handed it to him before sinking down onto the sofa.
“What’s next then?”
“I want you to check out the house. Tomorrow, when she goes to work.”
“What will you be doing?”
“Staying out of the sun.” His reply was droll, and I shot him a sharp look. “I’ll be researching Stillwater Pharmaceuticals and also the tracking device we put on the car. Run down any leads on Byers,” he added.
“To be clear, you want me to break in? To Mrs. B’s house?”
“Correct.”
“And what am I looking for?”
“Anything out of the ordinary.”
“Well, that narrows it down.” I cradled my wine. “What if I get caught?”
“Tell them you forgot something…left something behind when you went to dinner. Come on, Paige, you know how to do this. You’ve been hunting vampires for weeks.”
“I was luring them to the warehouse and killing them,” I protested, “not breaking into their homes and snooping.”
“Surely the latter is preferable? Less…deadly.” I swear he was laughing under his breath at me. My temper flared, and a fission of electricity buzzed over my skin. Then, just as quickly as it had arrived, it disappeared, and a mischievous impulse surged through me. Placing my glass on the coffee table, I turned to him, splaying my hands across his chest, seeing his eyes widen.
“Let’s dance,” I suggested, reaching for the stereo remote and hitting play.
“What?” He sounded confused, and I smiled. I had him exactly where I wanted him. On the back foot. Let’s see how he liked it for a change.
Standing, I pulled him to his feet and brought him closer until our bodies touched and my breasts rubbed against him. Then I gave a slow twist of my hips against his.
His arms tightened around me, yanking me to him until we were molded together. One hand crept up to tug my head back, and I smiled smugly at him.
“How does it feel not to know what the hell is going on?”
My body was still curled around him, taunting him. This was so unlike me, playing with fire, teasing him in this way. The heat in his eyes should have warned me to quit while I was ahead, but all it did was entice me.
“Playing with fire, Spitfire?” His mouth grazed my cheek as he spoke directly in my ear, his lips warm against my skin. My head spun, my senses reeled, and in reply, my lips pressed against his neck. I felt the shudder that ran through him. Then his body ground into mine, jerking my head back with a thick handful of hair until our eyes locked. What had started out as a game was now an open challenge, as well as a direct threat.
His mouth came down onto mine. It had been so long, so long since I’d kissed someone, and it hadn’t been an act. A trick to lure them in. His tongue caressed my lips before twining around mine and seeking to explore my mouth with a thorough intensity.
He broke away, cupped my face in his hands, and pinned me with eyes afire with passion. “I can’t take much more of this,” he ground out, his eyes dropping to my mouth and then back up to my eyes. “You need to decide if this is what you want because I’m very close to making your mind up for you.”
My body was screaming with lust. There wasn’t a single part of me that didn’t want to throw him to the floor and ravish him—repeatedly.
“Nate…” I couldn’t put it into words, couldn’t voice the need I had for him. He mistook my hesitation and set me away from him with firm hands on my shoulders.
“Get some rest. When you come to me, and you will, it will be willingly.” I opened my mouth to argue, but he was gone. I’d never get used to the speed vampires could move. With his commanding presence removed, reality crashed back in. Now was not the time or place to be indulging in my fantasies over Nate Wilder—never mind the fact I was second-guessing myself at having any feelings at all for a vampire.
But he was right. My body clock was all over the place, working nights with him, days on my business. I was exhausted, and the knowledge that Mrs. B had been eaten by ghouls was eating me
up inside. I needed a clear head to deal with whatever tomorrow had to bring.
And I had a feeling it was going to be a doozy.
Turned out I was wrong.
Heading out to Mrs. B’s house after ten, knowing she usually started her shift as a receptionist at Stillwater Pharmaceuticals at nine, I parked down the street and approached on foot, just in case she was at home unexpectedly. My luck held. Her car wasn’t in the driveway. Using the spare key she’d kept under a flower pot since the days when Lani and I were kids, I let myself in and began the search. I had no clue what I was looking for and didn’t turn up anything out of the ordinary. Everything was the same, just as I’d remembered it growing up. I’d spent hours in this house, playing with Lani as kids, hanging out as teenagers. It was all so familiar, but now I was looking at it with different eyes. Suspicious eyes. I rubbed at the ache in my chest, knowing the real Mrs. B was dead.
With the house search a bust, I returned to my car and pondered what to do next. It was past lunchtime, and Nate would probably be sleeping by now. I had hours to kill, and I couldn’t let this go, couldn’t sit and do nothing while some asshole was walking around in my best friend’s mom’s skin.
Starting the car, I pulled out and headed toward Stillwater Pharmaceuticals. I had no reason to be there and hadn’t come up with a reasonable cover by the time I pulled into the parking lot, so I merely sat in the car and watched. The building was massive. A small modern office at the front, all glass, and sleek white surfaces, then at the rear, towering up over the landscape, were the factory and warehouse. All I knew about the company was that they manufactured a range of drugs here. Not the everyday painkiller type stuff you can buy off the shelf. Specialist drugs. For the treatments of cancers and acute illnesses. I thought I remembered Mrs. B saying that they were branching out into vaccinations, but I couldn’t recall the details. I’d never paid much attention to her work before, and I was kicking myself now because that sort of info would have been invaluable.
Blowing out a breath, I peered at the reception area. The head I could see through the window did not belong to Mrs. B. Someone else was manning the reception desk. Maybe Mrs. B was on a bathroom break or something? I continued to wait and watch. Mrs. B did not put in an appearance. I was about to leave when a door to the right opened, and Mrs. B strode into view. I’d never seen her walk with such confidence, such purpose. She had on a white lab coat, and I frowned. The new Mrs. B clearly wasn’t a receptionist anymore.
With my bladder fit to burst and my stomach growling, I finally called it quits and headed home. Today didn’t feel like such a bust after all. Only I didn’t know what any of it meant—if any of this was relevant at all. Maybe Mrs. B had simply stumbled upon the path of a hungry ghoul, and it was poor misfortunate luck. No conspiracy. Nothing. Urgh, I hated second-guessing myself like this!
After a quick refresh and late lunch, I settled into work, glad of the distraction since I was giving myself a headache trying to guess what on earth was going on in Maxxan. My work held my attention only for so long, and then I found I was mindlessly scrolling through social media, wasting time, when there was a knock at the door.
“So, you do know how to knock.” Holding the door open, I stood to one side to let Nate in. I hadn’t noticed it had grown dark.
“How did the house search go?” he asked.
“Didn’t find a thing. I went out to the factory—”
“What?” he interrupted, and I held up a hand.
“Calm down. I stayed in the car. Mrs. B wasn’t on reception, which is interesting because she was a receptionist before she was a ghoul. Wait, that didn’t come out right.”
“I know what you mean.” He waved a hand to indicate I keep talking.
“I caught sight of her in a lab coat,” I quickly finished.
“Interesting. Get changed.” He settled on my sofa to wait while I stood in the middle of my lounge room and frowned.
“Changed? Into what? Not more hunting!”
“I thought you’d be keen to hunt.” Again, his lips were twitching, and my annoyance skyrocketed.
“Not when I’m distracted. My head has to be in the game for a successful hunt.”
“At least you’re not entirely foolish.” He nodded as if pleased.
“Hey!” I protested at his backhanded compliment.
“We’re breaking into the Stillwater factory. Wear something dark. Flat shoes…if you own any.” His eyes dropped to my stilettoes. These were purple, to match my dress. Another swirly one with pockets.
“Cat burglarish?”
“Purrfect.”
Ignoring his pun, I hurried into my bedroom, firmly closing the door and kicking off my heels. I had one pair of runners. My Nikes. I dug out my black yoga pants and a black tank and braided my hair. Examining myself in the mirror, I nodded and returned to the living room where Nate waited.
“Did you find anything today?” I asked.
“I did. The car Ian had been driving turned up at the factory yesterday and hasn’t moved since.”
“Wow, what a coincidence.” Sarcasm rolled off my tongue, but he ignored it.
“Let’s go.”
At the factory, Nate stopped the car almost a mile back from the gate. “We’ll walk from here.”
Climbing out, I followed him. He kept to a self-made path running parallel to the road—easy to duck behind a tree or bush should anyone drive past.
“It’s still pretty early,” I commented. “Won’t people be around?” It was just past eight o’clock.
“There are always people around in a facility like this. Makes no difference if it’s seven in the evening or two in the morning. The fact is if they’re expecting trouble, they’d expect it in the early hours of the morning.”
“Oh. Makes sense.” I’d never thought of it that way before.
“No more talking. Voices carry.”
We were approaching the parking lot I’d been in earlier. The gates were now closed, and a high chain-link fence surrounding the parking lot and buildings prevented trespassers.
“Here,” Nate whispered, crouched at the base of the fence with his hands cupped together, waiting for my foot. Hesitantly I lifted my leg and placed my foot on his hands. “I’m going to hoist you up—fast. Vault over. Don’t squeal.”
“I don’t squeal,” I protested, clamping my lips together when he frowned at me.
“One. Two.” On three, he shunted me into the air, and I almost screamed. Even though I’d been expecting it, I hadn’t expected to go so high, so fast. The top of the fence was covered in razor wire, so I had to angle my body to clear the top of the fence without touching—which was actually easy since I flew about twenty feet higher than necessary. I landed with a thump, and the air whooshed from my lungs. My feet felt like they’d shattered inside my Nikes, but I didn’t squeal.
Nate landed by my side.
“Okay?”
“Mmmhmmm.” I grimaced, ignoring the pain in my feet. Any broken bones would heal, as would any soft tissue damage.
“Good. Right, we’re heading around the back to the loading dock. I can bypass the security on the door there.”
“You know how to bypass security?”
“Remember when I told you I’d been a soldier, a marine, a navy seal, special ops? I’ve got skills.” Keeping low, he headed across the parking lot, keeping to the shadows and avoiding the scattering of parking lot lights. I followed, a little slower and trying to hide my limp. He noticed.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt?” Swinging me up into his arms before I could so much as open my mouth, he carried me the rest of the way, moving so fast my eyes watered. At the rear of the warehouse, he set me on my feet, frowning.
“Did you sprain your ankle?”
“Broke a few bones, I think,” I muttered, rotating one foot, then the other.
“Both? Fuck.”
“Let me try something. Can you take my shoes off for me? I’m going to try and flame jus
t my feet. Heal them.”
“You can do that?” Dropping to one knee, he lifted my left foot, undid the laces, and carefully slid the shoe off. Blood dripped, and he sucked in a breath.
“That had to have hurt.” There was a rumble in his voice, a growl, and I wondered if my blood was too much of a temptation.
“You’re not going to bite me, are you?” I asked.
“Not without you asking me to.” He busied himself removing my other shoe, then looked up at me, waiting.
“Stand back a bit, so you don’t get burned,” I ordered, then concentrated on calling forth my flame but concentrating solely on my feet. If I flamed all over, my clothes would be ruined, and I really didn’t want to be breaking into anywhere naked.
“Well, look at that.”
It worked. My feet flamed as far as the ankle and stopped. I felt the bones realign, the tendons pull back together, and within seconds I was healed.
Before I could stop him, Nate was kneeling at my feet once more, easing each foot back into its respective shoe. I tried to hide my sudden breathlessness at the touch of his fingers on my skin, the way he gently cradled my foot, which looked incredibly small in the palm of his hand, and eased my shoe back on. I had a very new appreciation for Cinderella.
“I’m sorry you got hurt. That was my fault. I didn’t consider the impact the landing would have on you.” His face was close to mine, and I couldn’t think, just stare into his stormy grey eyes and blink. He smiled and backed away.
“Let’s do this. Stay behind me.” He vaulted up onto a platform behind us, leaned down, and held out his hand to haul me up. As soon as I was next to him, he released me and turned to the keypad on the wall. Within a matter of seconds, there was a buzz, and the light turned green. We were in. Nate Wilder was proving handy to have around.
Chapter Twelve
Slipping inside, I immediately plastered my back to the wall and shuffled along until I could duck behind a shelving unit for cover. It was dark, the only light coming from the glass panel in a doorway directly opposite. Nate pressed in behind me, surveying the area.
