Hayden studied the stranger, noting the spells tattooed on his arms, which is probably why Kevin assumed he was a witch. Squatting down, Hayden studied the tattoos. Hayden had paid a witch good money to tell him about the markings witches used, and that made it easier to identify this witch. “He’s related to the witch I’m looking for. This one,” he began, tapping the symbol on the witch’s forearm, “is a family marking. The other witch had the same mark.”
“You sure know a lot about witches,” Kevin stated in an accusatory tone.
Hayden stood and glared at Kevin. “After the other hunters told me Phoenix would need a witch to help hide her, it seemed like a good idea to do some research.” It wasn’t easy tamping down his anger with these morons.
“Maybe your witch will be coming back here soon,” Reese suggested, oblivious to the tension between him and Kevin. “The sign on the door might just be to stop people from coming in here while this one was being killed.”
That was possible, but something told Hayden the witch he wanted was long gone. “Let’s see what we can find. Search the dead witch first.”
Kevin glared at him. “We don’t take orders from breeders.”
Reese placed a hand on Kevin’s shoulder. “Remember what the elders said.”
Kevin struggled to get his temper under control before nodding.
They all donned gloves before beginning their search of the back room. As much as he wanted to check the front area, it was too risky. Someone walking by could see him and call the police. Then he’d be accused of killing the witch, and that would really suck since he hadn’t even gotten to enjoy the kill. Whoever had done it was an idiot who didn’t know how to savor a good kill. Slitting a throat was such a boring way to end someone’s life.
Reese let out a snort of laughter while checking the dead witch’s wallet. “Looks like our witch has a name—Mitch the witch.”
Kevin snorted. “That’s a stupid name.”
“Guess Mitch the witch will end up in a ditch,” Reese added.
Hayden mentally counted to ten to keep himself from snapping at the idiot hunters as they continued their ridiculous rhyming. “Hand me his phone,” he ordered Reese. When Reese handed it to him, he took it and checked the contacts, hoping to find Phoenix’s number. The phone had been wiped clean—no contacts, no messages, and no call log.
“Why didn’t they just take the phone?” Kevin asked.
Hayden shrugged. “The killer might’ve been afraid the phone could be used to trace them.”
“Now, this is interesting,” Reese mused, staring at a slip of paper he’d pulled from the witch’s wallet.
“What is it?” Hayden demanded.
“Your phone number,” Reese explained. “Looks like Mitch may have been planning to give you a call.”
“I want to burn this place to the ground,” Hayden muttered, overwhelmed with rage. Now, he’d lost the witch who’d tattooed Phoenix, and he had no other leads. Worse than that, someone else had killed the witch who’d planned to betray Phoenix.
“You could end up killing a bunch of innocent humans,” Reese warned, which came as a surprise since Hayden didn’t think Reese liked humans.
Hayden laughed. “No one is innocent.”
Both Kevin and Reese looked shocked by his suggestion, so he decided to play it off. “You know I was kidding. It’s not like I’m going to burn down a building.”
“What now?” Kevin asked Reese, who simply shrugged.
“Can I make a suggestion?” Hayden asked, hating that he had to pretend he wasn’t superior to them.
Reese looked at Kevin, who nodded. “Go ahead,” Reese told him.
“We know the deceitful bitch was in this area,” he began. “Sadly, we don’t know if she was warned about us being here, but I’m guessing the witch who helped her ran shortly after we visited him. It looks to me like this witch was getting ready to tell me where Phoenix is hiding, so she must still be in the area.”
“She might run now that she knows this witch was going to betray her,” Kevin pointed out.
“Yeah, it has to be Phoenix who killed the witch,” Reese agreed.
Arguing this point was harder because Hayden couldn’t exactly tell them. Phoenix wasn’t likely to kill anyone, even to save her own life, not after he’d argued that Phoenix had killed his parents.
“If she killed him, she probably thinks she’s eliminated the threat,” Hayden argued.
Kevin looked thoughtful, and Reese was obviously waiting to see what Kevin would say. “We can stay here another week, but if nothing turns up, we’re off to the next city on the list. Personally, I think we’re wasting our time staying here.”
“There are some other hunters in this area,” Reese began. “We could always contact them to see if they can help us find Phoenix.”
“They might be a good resource,” Kevin agreed.
“I’ve heard the hunters out here are more sympathetic to the idea of freewill. They might actually warn Phoenix we’re looking for her,” Hayden argued. Mostly, he just didn’t want more hunters trying to take charge of the situation and risk missing out on the opportunity to have a little fun with his cousin.
“They aren’t going to put up with her murdering a couple of breeders,” Kevin argued.
“Yeah, they might even take offense to the witch,” Reese added. “I’ve heard they’re soft on the witches out here.”
“There’s no evidence that she committed any murders,” Hayden pointed out. “What if they decide to take her word over ours and offer her sanctuary here?”
Both hunters were quiet as they considered what he’d said. Finally, Kevin nodded. “That’s a good point. We want to bring her back to answer for what she’s done. We’ll search here for another week and then move on.”
“It might be smart to take the phone and see if we can restore any of the deleted information. I think we should also move the body and do a little clean-up so no one will know what happened here. We can’t risk it getting back to Phoenix on the off chance someone else killed this witch. It’s always possible he had another enemy,” Hayden suggested.
“Good idea,” Kevin agreed. “While I’d say your phone number on this guy pretty much proves this has to do with Phoenix, it’s always possible she’s not the killer.”
“I’ll bring the car around to the alley,” Reese said before walking out the backdoor.
Hayden wondered who had killed this witch. While it could be completely unrelated to Phoenix, as he’d suggested, it made him nervous to think there might be someone else involved, someone else hunting Phoenix. Even worse, there might be someone protecting her. Then he smiled as he realized that there was a bright side to all of this. One more person involved meant one more person he could kill.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Phoenix was glad not everyone who’d been in the kitchen lived in this house. While she’d spent plenty of time around Andrew, she was still a little uneasy being surrounded by so many vampires. The difference could be they all knew she was a hunter, while Andrew hadn’t. She’d honestly been surprised that Andrew had known so little about hunters. When she’d first met him, she’d thought he was one of the most obnoxious people in the world, and he was in many ways. The second time she’d met him, they’d bonded over their lives. While neither of them had revealed too many details, they’d both felt trapped by the circumstances of their births.
Neither meeting had been accidental. She’d intentionally sought out Andrew after recognizing him as a vampire, because she’d needed confirmation that vampires were terrible people. Instead of convincing her she should hate all vampires, Andrew had become her friend, something other hunters and breeders would have never understood. She wondered if the vampires were really as accepting of her relationship with Isaiah as they appeared to be.
At the moment, she was tucked away in Isaiah’s room. The place was more like a studio apartment than a bedroom. There was a king-sized bed, a sofa with two matching chairs
, a small table with chairs where one could eat, and a huge computer desk. There was even a small kitchen area with a bar fridge, microwave, and sink.
She’d wanted to go with Isaiah to pick up her clothes, but Roman had sent her to Isaiah’s room, insisting she was overwrought and needed rest. Even after arguing that she was an adult who could decide when she needed a nap, she’d still ended up in Isaiah’s room. Roman Draksel apparently didn’t need any mind control abilities to get people to do what he said.
“I’m not tired,” she grumbled to the empty room, annoyed at how childish she sounded.
There was a knock on the door, and when she opened it, Phoenix found Andrew standing in the hallway, looking tired and sad.
“Roman’s gone, babe,” he told her. “You can come out of your room now.”
“My room?” she asked. “Why does everyone assume I’m sharing a room with Isaiah?”
Drew chuckled. “It’s because you get all wet when he’s around. I’ll bet you finger yourself thinking about him.”
“Andrew!” she shrieked, wondering if he’d always been this bad.
“Actually, I go by Drew,” he corrected her. “I told you my name was Andrew because I wanted to be somebody else around you. Drew’s an asshole and a killer. Andrew was a guy who could have a normal life. I’m sure you understand the need for a new identity sometimes.”
She nodded. “Do you still want to be someone else?”
His hesitation was answer enough, but he pasted a smirk on his face before responding. “Why would I want to be someone else? I’m pretty fucking awesome.”
For now, she’d let it go, but she had every intention of talking about this later. There were some things that were haunting her friend, but she figured he was dealing with enough already without adding more stress.
“Let’s go watch a movie,” he suggested.
“Are you harassing her, Drew?” Trish asked as she approached them.
“Sure am,” he replied with a shrug. “Were you looking for me or Molly?”
“Phoenix,” she corrected him.
“Fine. Were you looking for me or Nixie?” he asked.
Phoenix raised an eyebrow. “Nixie?”
Trish studied her before speaking. “It suits you better than Phoenix. I was actually looking for both of you. Caitlin was worried, so she sent me to check up on you.”
That came as a surprise to Phoenix, and her reaction must have shown on her face.
“Caitlin can feel people’s emotions and read minds sometimes,” Drew explained.
“It’s really annoying,” Trish added. “Life was so much easier before she was a know it all.”
“Caitlin’s also a raging bitch, most days,” Drew added. “It’s funny as hell because she’s always trying to comfort people when they’re upset, but she’s a serious bitch about it. Thankfully, she gets others to do it most of the time. For some reason, she never asks me to comfort anyone.”
Trish snorted. “She’s not that much of a bitch.”
Phoenix’s head was spinning.
“So, how about that movie, Nixie?” Drew asked.
“Sure,” she agreed, and he looped an arm around her shoulders.
“You coming too, babe?” he asked Trish.
“I need to pick Hunter up from Hannah and Noah’s,” Trish told him.
Phoenix felt the tensing of Drew’s muscles. While he was obviously trying to mask his emotions, it was obvious there was a lot bothering him.
“Tell the kid I said hi,” Drew told Trish.
Trish hesitated before moving closer to Drew and tugging on his shirt until he bent down so she could kiss his cheek. “I’m going to call to check on you later.”
“No need for that,” Drew assured her. “I’m fine. It’s not like I was that close to my dad. For him, it was all about my mom, except when he was fucking other women.”
“Stop trying to act like a big bad vampire,” Trish scolded, and Phoenix almost laughed at Drew’s eye roll.
“I don’t have to pretend to be a big bad vampire,” Drew drawled. “I’ve proven time after time that I’m a killer with no remorse.”
“Stop being an ass,” Phoenix said with a huff. “She’s worried about you, and you should appreciate that she cares. You don’t have to push everyone away.”
“I do appreciate her concern, and Trish knows it,” Drew assured her. “I appreciate her being here for me, and I definitely appreciate her for displaying her fantastic boobs in low-cut shirts from time to time. In fact, I think texting me a picture of those boobs is the best way to prove she cares.”
Trish shook her head. “I am not showing you my breasts. Some days, I don’t know why I put up with you.”
“Hey!” he called out when she started walking away. “I helped save your life!”
Trish looked over her shoulder and gave him a warm smile. “That’s one of the reasons I won’t let you push me away.”
“That should be one of the reasons you want to send me a picture of your boobs,” he insisted.
Trish sighed and walked off.
“That was rude,” Phoenix scolded him.
Drew made no effort to hide his appraisal of her chest. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to imply that your boobs aren’t impressive, too, but Trish’s are the kind a guy could suffocate in. Most guys would be begging to die that way.”
“What movie do you want to watch?” she asked, hoping they could stop talking about Trish’s breasts.
“There’s this movie about a teacher who gets caught touching herself in class and the principle has to punish her,” he suggested with a straight face, and she had no idea if he was serious or not. One thing she remembered about Drew was how much he enjoyed all things sexual, especially watching. He might very well suggest watching porn with her.
“Not likely,” she told him.
“Last time I let you pick a movie, we had to watch some crappy film where nobody noticed the hot chick was hot until she dressed differently and took her glasses off. There was no boning and no killing, so what was the point of watching the movie in the first place? And again, how the fuck did they all miss that she was hot just because she had glasses and baggy clothes? No guy is that stupid.”
“I haven’t watched a movie with you in more than four years. How can you possibly remember the last movie we watched?” she asked him.
He shrugged. “I was just guessing since you made me watch a few of those movies. Movies should have boning or killing. It’s best when they have both.”
They’d walked to a large room with sofas and a huge television with several gaming consoles.
“Did you really want to watch a movie, or did you just want to talk?” she asked. “I get that you don’t want people to know how much your father’s murder is bothering you, especially since they weren’t around when you were growing up, but you can talk to me. Despite what you told Trish, I know you were closer to your father than you’re letting on.”
His relationship with his father had definitely been complex, and she already knew his father had been neglectful through much of Drew’s childhood, but she also knew Drew had some treasured memories of his father. That complex mix of emotions would make this even harder.
Drew stepped away from her and ran both hands through his hair, tugging on the ends. “You were my only friend, and then you were just gone. Shortly after you disappeared, I was sent here because my father decided he didn’t want me out killing with my mom anymore. I still have no clue why he suddenly gave a fuck about me. My mom had been taking me on kills since before I could talk. Hell, maybe he didn’t give a fuck about me, and he just sent me away so I wouldn’t take any of my mom’s attention away from him. Even if he was still alive, he probably wouldn’t tell me which it was.”
She flinched. “Why would your mom drag you along on her kills?”
“There wasn’t much killing going on when I was hanging out with you,” he told her, not answering her question. “By that point, my father was starting t
o worry that my uncle, Roman, would order my mom’s death. You’d think he’d have wanted to stop all the killing because his own kid was being trained to be a serial killer, but it wasn’t anything like that. Instead, he was just worried about my mom getting caught. I guess he should have worried more about me being trained as a killer since I ended up being the one who killed her.”
Phoenix walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder. “That couldn’t have been easy for you. I know how much you loved your mom, even if she was pressuring you to live her life.”
Drew hesitated. “It says a lot that the only person who was ever there for me was an evil bitch.”
Phoenix studied Drew. “You’re angry at me for abandoning you.”
“Yeah,” he admitted; Drew wasn’t one to sugar-coat things. “Even though I get your reasons, you left me, and it’s a reminder that no one sticks around in my life.” Before she could answer, he continued. “You were naïve back then. It makes me sad to see so much knowledge in your eyes. I know I’m not much older than you, but I’ve seen and done some serious shit in my life. Sometimes, I hated myself for being with you, because it seemed wrong to taint you the way I was.”
Her phone buzzed before she could respond, and Phoenix pulled it out of the back pocket of her jeans. She didn’t recognize the number, but it was local, so she figured it might be one of her coworkers.
“Hello,” she said.
“Phoenix?”
“Shayla? Where are you?”
“Close by,” Shayla replied. “I just took care of the witch who was going to tell Hayden how to find you.”
“What witch?” Phoenix asked, knowing it couldn’t be Brian.
“Tall and muscular, with a bunch of tattoos,” Shayla replied.
“Mitch,” she breathed out. “Are you sure he was planning to tell Hayden where to find me?”
“He was muttering to himself about you being a selfish bitch for putting his family in danger, so I killed him,” Shayla explained.
“How do you know he planned to tell Hayden where to find me? Shayla, he could have just been upset about Brian running.”
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