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"It was a man called Gautier. Met him last night. Said he needed us to follow you and report back where you went."
Gautier. Was there no getting rid of that prick ? "Was that all he asked you to do?"
"Yes," the driver wheezed.
Rhoan leaned close to the guy's greasy head, and said, "You're lying."
"Trackers. We set them on your car, in case we lost you."
Rhoan tightened his grip until the man's breathing became a desperate gasp. "That all?"
"Yes. For God's sake, yes."
"Where did you have to report back?"
"He gave us a phone number."
"Then give it to me."
The man wheezed out some numbers. Rhoan spun the man around and pushed him toward the car. "You warn your employer about this little episode and I'll make sure I pay you a little visit."
The man caught his balance, then wheezed, "I won't, I won't."
"Good," Rhoan said, voice all mild. "Don't let me see you following me again, or it won't be just your tires my partner shoots out."
The man ran for his car, threw it into reverse, and left - flat tires and all. I shook my head at my brother. "You enjoyed that, didn't you?"
"And you didn't?"
I grinned. "All I need now is another coffee, and my morning will be complete."
Some part of me was scared by that admission. Scared by the fact I did enjoy roughhousing that scumbag. Scared by the fact it would be so easy to let instinct take over completely, to become the one thing I never wanted to be - a hunter as skilled and deadly as my brother.
The possibility was there. It was definitely there.
I shivered and rubbed my arms. "You want to check your side of the car for traveling bugaboos? I'll check this side."
Rhoan nodded. Ten minutes later we had five tracking bugs sitting on the front of the car. "Gautier wasn't taking any chances," I said, picking up one and crushing it under my heel. "What I don't get is why he'd even bother to employ idiots like that. Especially if he can now move around in daylight himself."
"Maybe he still has some restrictions. Maybe whatever magic he's getting from these people is only short-term. Which means he needs outside help to track our movements." Rhoan crushed several more bugs under his heel.
"Gautier mentioned something about coming after me once he gets all that he's been promised." I dropped a bug and stood on it. "I've gut a bad feeling we had better stop him before that happens."
"We will. Neither Jack nor I are about to let anything happen to you, Riley."
Yeah, but my brother was only a dhampire, and Jack was only a vampire. If Gautier's warning was anything to go by, then he was becoming something more. Something deadly and not of this world.
The thought had chills skating across my skin. I ignored them and crushed the last of the bugs, scattering the metal remnants with a toe. "You want me to report the phone number to Jack?"
"Yeah. He'll have it tapped and watched, though I doubt Gautier will be foolish enough to go there. He'll probably have a remote dial-in arrangement."
Most likely. One thing Gautier could never be accused of was dumbness in the line of duty. We got into the car, and I phoned Jack while Rhoan drove on to the hotel.
It was one Quinn and I had been to a few times in the past. I climbed out of the car and looked at the Langham's luxurious foyer, and suddenly wondered how many other women he'd escorted through the marble and crystal opulence.
Not that I minded Quinn having other women. It was just the lies. The saying one thing and doing another. Dishonesty was something I just couldn't forgive.
"Heading in now, Jack," Rhoan said, as he walked around the car and flashed his credentials at the valet people. He glanced at me. "Jack said to stop being a pain in the ass and turn the com-link sound on again."
