“Ari? Aria?” I heard James say. “Are you even listening to me?” Nope, not really, but I couldn’t tell him that. Then I’d really never hear the end of it.
“Yeah, but I’ve got to run. See you at the Compound,” I said, hanging up before he could reply. I shoved my phone in my pocket and ignored it when it began to ring again.
On my way downstairs, I stopped on the second floor and made my way to B6. I knocked on Melody’s apartment door. If someone were out to get me, it was likely that they’d cased my place. While I didn’t advertise where I lived, it wouldn’t be all that difficult to figure it out if someone really wanted to find me. Melody would know if anyone had been by that didn’t look like they belonged.
Dressed in a black-and-pink plaid skirt and a matching black crop top, Melody answered the door looking like a punk rock pixie, her long, jet-black hair braided to one side and her pitch black wings looming behind her.
“Hey, Ari, what’s up?”
I grinned as I took in the whole ensemble. “Did Halloween come again?” I asked, lifting a brow.
Melody laughed, her voice almost lyrical. “Nope, just trying something new. You like?” she asked, doing a twirl in the doorway. Before she’d even stopped, I was already shaking my head.
“What brought this on?”
Melody leaned out of her door, her voice becoming a mock whisper. “Ryan came home the other day with some blond tramp in a mini skirt. I’m just seeing if this will catch his attention.”
I took another sip of my coffee, rolling my eyes over the rim of the cup.
“Mel, you do plenty to catch his attention. You don’t need all of this. Whatever this is,” I said, indicating her attire.
She sighed. “I know. But hey, a girl can try.”
I laughed. Melody had been trying to capture Ryan’s attention ever since he moved into the complex a year ago. Unfortunately for him, he hadn’t realized it yet. Ryan was our very normal and very human neighbor which meant he didn’t understand that Mel’s constant tormenting of him, was her was or flirting. Gotta love the harpy way.
“I know you didn’t come over here to give me fashion advice, Miss I live in yoga pants. What do you need?”
“I do not live in yoga pants,” I said, looking down and realizing that that was exactly what I was wearing.
She folded her arms and gave me a yeah right stare.
Rolling my eyes again, I conceded. Maybe I did wear yoga pants more often than the average person. So what?
“Getting to the point of my visit, have you seen anything suspicious around the apartment complex?”
In a flash, Mel was all business, her eyes growing cold. “What do you mean, suspicious? What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But some fledging vamp attacked me outside of Sanborn Place and had my photograph in his pocket. Keep an eye out, would you, in case anything feels off around here?” She gave me a firm nod.
I knew I could count on her.
Arriving at the Compound, I retrieved a blueberry muffin from the kitchen on the way to my room. The kitchen was teeming with activity. I had to fight off a bear and a leopard for the last muffin, but it was worth it. Kicking off my shoes, I threw my messenger bag on the bed and settled into the space. I curled my toes, the carpet scrunching beneath my bare feet. Before five minutes had passed, there was a knock at the door. Muffin in hand, I answered the door to a man holding a tray piled high with food.
“Can I help you?” I asked.
He was dressed casually: jeans, a white tee, and a pair of Converse sneakers. He looked awkward for a moment before stammering out, “I…umm…I brought this for you. You know, in case you were hungry.” He ran his free hand anxiously through his blonde hair.
I eyed him suspiciously. Why was a shifter, one who I didn’t even know, bringing me food? He fidgeted under my scrutiny.
“Thanks,” I said, “but I’ve got the food thing covered.” I held my muffin up for him to see and took a bite out of it. “See?”
He stood there for several moments, unsure of what to do next.
“Why don’t you take the food and you can eat it yourself?” I suggested. He didn’t seem pleased by the prospect. A small frown marred his features. When he didn’t say anything, I started to close the door.
“Wait,” he said, putting his hand out to stop me from closing the door. “Umm, if you’re not hungry, is there anything I can maybe help you with?”
I quirked a brow. “Like what?”
“Oh, you know, hang pictures, move furniture, fix something that’s broken.” This was getting stranger and stranger by the second.
“Patrick, what are you doing here?” I heard James ask before he filled the remainder of my doorway. My visitor stood up straighter, his expression growing wary.
“I’m being courteous and ensuring Aria is looked after.”
I propped one hand on my hip, the other holding my muffin. I took another bite, the muffin soft and moist, as I watched their exchange with mild interest.
“She doesn’t need you to look after her,” James growled. Oh, so we were getting all growly now, were we?
For a second it looked like Patrick was going to argue, but after opening his mouth, he promptly shut it and turned to leave. Probably the best choice. I watched him retreat much like a dog with his tail between his legs, and for a moment I felt bad for him. That moment didn’t last very long. With him gone, James entered my room as though he owned it.
“Why yes, James, please do come in.”
He grunted but didn’t respond.
“So tell me, why are strange Pack members bringing me food, checking in on me, and going out of their way to see if I need any kind of assistance, regardless of how minor it is, like hanging picture frames. Really? This is the third one this week.”
Again, James made a noncommittal response.
“Seriously, James, what gives?” My patience was running out after the day I’d had.
“They’re trying to court you,” he growled, not sounding thrilled by the notion one bit. Well, he could join the club. I wasn’t thrilled by the idea either.
“Want to run that by me again?”
James shook his head, his brown hair falling in front of his face with the motion. “Look, they’re trying to show you that they can provide for you. That they can keep you warm and safe and comfortable.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said, my laugh filling the room. This was ridiculous. Were they mental or something? “Why are they doing this?”
“You’re a beautiful woman, Ari. You can’t really blame them for trying.” Boy, was he wrong about that one. I could absolutely blame them. What on earth could they possibly be thinking? Did they not realize that, one, I wasn’t a shifter, and two, I was a fairly unstable pyro with a bad attitude? Shallow bastards. Didn’t they understand there was more to a girl than her looks? Boy were they in for a surprise.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I asked. James had a guilty look on his face, which meant he was hiding something from me. He might know me better than most, but I knew him just as well.
“Look, just forget it. Can you explain to me what the hell happened earlier?”
“No, I’m not letting you brush me off that easily. I know you and I know you’re hiding something.”
“I’m not hiding anything!” he practically yelled. Whoa there, someone was having a temper tantrum.
I opened my mouth to needle him further when he shot me a glare that screamed Back off, and his silvery eyes were like pools of liquid mercury.
What was his deal today? He was seriously on edge and I couldn’t think of anything that would get him so bent out of shape. Deciding to just let it go, I took a bite of my muffin and sat in a nearby armchair. James took the hint and threw himself on my bed, lounging comfortably against the headboard.
“Would you at least keep your shoes off the comforter?” I asked.
He kicked his boots off before folding his ar
ms behind his head. Well, at least he took the shoes off.
“So, you going to tell me what happened or should I just ask Declan?”
“Cut the crap James. I know you already spoke to him or you wouldn’t be here.” He shrugged his shoulders. His black tee stretched across his chest, highlighting the muscles hidden underneath. I threw my muffin at his head. He caught it effortlessly, as though the damn thing moved in slow motion. He smiled wide as he took a bite, making a show of enjoying my snack.
Jerk.
“I was attacked by a recently turned vampire. I don’t know why I’m being targeted, but he had my picture.” I handed him the image. He scrutinized the photo, his eyes growing hard and his lips pressed into a thin line.
“This is a recent photograph.”
“I know. It can’t be more than a week or so old. The snow hasn’t been falling very long. When I lost Mike—” I paused as a wave of grief washed over me. I saw the pity in James’s eyes and looked away, trying to push back all of the pain and frustration that was left over from his death.
“When I lost Mike, I thought killing the bastards responsible would end all of this. They’d come for me. I’d killed them. Problem solved. Now someone is still after me and they obviously have vampire connections. The Coven doesn’t make vampires and then throw them away. The vampire that attacked me today was several hours old at least. He was cognizant enough to zero in on me instead of going after much easier prey. He would have survived had someone not put him in my path. Rebecka can be ruthless, but she isn’t stupid. With so few vampires surviving the transition, she wouldn’t have thrown the life away.” I leaned back in my chair, my mind spinning over why I was still being targeted.
“It could have been a rash attempt to get rid of a possible threat. She knows you’re a pyrokinetic, knows that you can be a threat to the Coven. Maybe she was being proactive, trying to eliminate you early on before you became a problem.”
Before he’d even finished, I was shaking my head.
“If she wanted to take me out, she’d be much more calculated and she’d make sure that it was effective. The biggest weakness a vampire has is fire. All I would have had to do is bring my fire out with a simple push. It’s right there, barely below the surface. She knows that. No, if she’d wanted to eliminate me, she wouldn’t have thrown such as easy kill in front of me, basically warning that she was coming for me. It isn’t her style.”
No, her style was much more subtle. If Rebecka decided she wanted me dead, I’d be killed in my sleep, none the wiser.
James was nodding his head. I knew he agreed with me. We both had done a fair amount of research on the Coven—and Rebecka, for that matter—trying to learn what made them tick, though our motivations had been different. I’d looked into the Coven because they were one of three major players in the area and knowledge was power. James had done some digging because despite the truce the two factions had with one another, the vampires were still his enemy.
“You’re right. She wouldn’t have wasted an effort that she knew would fail.” If that were the case, though, who was behind the attack and who was bold enough to create a new vampire and throw them away, knowing it would enrage their Coven leader?
Whoever it was, I hoped I got to them before Rebecka did. If she found out about it and discovered who the culprit was, I’d have no remains to question. They’d be ash long before I could voice my first question. Rebecka would see the act as a threat to her position and authority. No one made vampires without her consent, not in this town. There were protocols you had to follow, approvals you had to receive. Someone was seriously asking for it.
“This is exactly why I wanted to question the vampire that attacked me. I can’t believe Declan killed him.” I balled my hands into fists and brought them down on the arms of the armchair before folding my arms across my chest.
“Ari, what did you expect him to do? Declan said when he came out, the vampire had his fangs buried in you.”
I stood up and paced the floor, my irritation clearly showing. “I expected him to let me handle it. I’m a grown woman. I can take care of myself. Besides, it was just a little flesh wound.”
I heard James growl as he rose from the bed. “He was thinking that you were in trouble and needed help.” He came closer and pulled my on injured arm, exposing the bandage covering my forearm. “Looks like a lot of gauze for just a little flesh wound.”
“It looks worse than it is, and I didn’t need any help.” I folded my arm back across my chest, glaring at James. “What do you care, anyway? Why does it matter to you if I think he behaved like a complete moron without thought or consideration to the situation?” Because clearly he had.
His growl grew deeper and small ripples spread across his arms beneath the surface of his skin. I could almost feel the vibration. “I care because he is my Alpha. You should show some level of respect.”
I scoffed. “Well he isn’t my Alpha, and next time he needs to stay the hell out of my way. Maybe then I can finally get some answers.”
James stormed out of the room, anger evident in his every move. God, were all shifter men such idiots? With him gone, I retrieved my messenger bag and pulled several files from its depths. With Sanborn Place under construction, I needed to make sure the business still had some level of client base. It’d been a month already, and that month could be tragic to the business if I didn’t take some sort of action. Thankfully, I’d kept copies of all of my client files at home. You could never be too careful, and I liked to have information available whenever I needed it. That way of thinking had saved my ass more times than I could count—and it was saving me right now since the fire I’d caused had destroyed all of the files I kept there. The only downside was that I had copies of my files, not all of the company ones.
Pulling them out, I organized the documents into three piles: repeat clients who I thought would hire me again, clients I thought would possibly need my services in the future, and clients that I didn’t need to bother contacting. That last group was made up of people who would likely never need my services again or who I honestly just had no interest in working for again.
Shit. Dropping the papers on the bed, I eyed the single red drop beading on the tip of my finger. I put my finger in my mouth and waited for the sting to go away while I put the last few documents in their respective piles. With that accomplished, I pulled my Pack and Coven directories out. It had been risky bringing the Pack one into the Compound. If Declan found out I had it, I’d be dead meat, but I honestly couldn’t help myself. I’d learned a lot since I’d moved in and I needed to make sure I recorded every detail. It’d be stupid not to.
I hastily wrote down the names and attributes of each Alpha and higher-up shifter I’d come across so far. I took special care to record anything that seemed to be of importance, like the fact that Robert, the Canidae Alpha, was freakishly good-looking but one scary as hell bastard that I avoided at every turn. There was seriously something disturbing about him. My guess, it was due to the fact that he was a coyote. I’d made the assumption when I’d first met him, and I’d been right. He was a tricky bastard.
Just as I was putting everything away, tucking the directories between my mattress and box spring for safe keeping, I heard a faint but familiar buzzing in my head. I jerked my head around the room, looking for the threat. He was here. Dammit. Frantically, my gaze went over every corner of the room, but just as quickly as it had come, the buzzing vanished. Urgh! On the side table was a single rose, a small envelope beside it. I stomped over to the table, my feet making muffled thumps on the carpet.
I hated that he could do that, that he could so easily invade my space with little warning. It made me feel vulnerable and kept me on edge. Sometimes when I slept, I’d wake to the slight buzzing sound in my head and the feeling of being watched. I never saw him, of course, not here at the Compound. For all I knew, it was just a dream, my imagination. But I could never be sure.
I pulled the card from the env
elope, ignoring the rose. I didn’t need his flowers.
I stared at the card for several minutes, debating his words. What they truly meant. A part of me was searching for a double meaning, but I couldn’t find one. What if he did know who was after me? Was it worth the risk? It was, I knew it was. I didn’t want to go into anything blind. I couldn’t take down an opponent if I didn’t know who they were. Whatever information he had, it was worth grabbing at. I looked at the clock on the wall. It was only 4 o’clock; I had five hours to kill. I might as well start making those client calls.
At 8:15 P.M. I was walking the halls of the Compound, doing my best to look anything but interesting. My boots made thunking noises with each step and I inwardly cursed my inability to be as silent as a shifter. I made sure to keep my eyes straight ahead and walk at a normal pace when all I wanted to do was book it and get the hell out of there. Several times I worried that I’d run into James or Declan, but I’d been lucky so far. The Compound was massive, over twenty thousand square feet. I avoided the places where I’d be most likely to run into them, like the common areas, and I avoided the hallways that led to both of their personal quarters, which, thankfully for me, both rested on the third floor. Nowhere near where I was at this moment.
I finally hit the main floor, the exit clearly in sight. Yes! Home free. It was almost too easy. I reached for the door handle, but before my fingers could connect, Declan walked right through the front doors. Shit. I’d been so close. His eyes met mine right away, immediately suspicious. Just my luck. I continued on my forward trek. Hopefully he’d let me pass. He knew I was pissed at him for earlier. If he was like any normal guy, he’d let me go just to avoid a confrontation.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t like every other guy. “Where do you think you’re going?”
“Out,” I said, brushing past him. He reached out for me, his hand firmly grasped around my bicep. He really needed to stop touching me. I turned to face him. A woodsy evergreen scent filled my senses. I started to lean in to him to inhale his scent deeper. I caught myself and jerked my head away. Where the hell had that come from?
blood and magic 02 - kissed by fire Page 3
