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“Another cocktail for me, and a sparkling water for my friend here.”
“Coming right up.”
“Thanks.” Belle glanced over my shoulder. “Don’t look now, but your hot ranger is walking toward us.”
“Probably to interrogate me,” I muttered. “Or to bitch yet again about me being in Castle Rock.”
“I’m thinking it’s something a little more drastic than that,” she said. “He does not look happy.”
“That appears to be a common look for him, especially around me.”
“This is more a ‘something very bad has happened’ expression rather than a mere ‘I hate witches’ one.”
I reluctantly turned and looked. He was walking up the steps from the dance floor, his movements fluid and yet oddly sharp, and his expression as fierce as the flashes of red in his aura.
I held up my hands as he approached. “Whoa, Ranger, I have no idea what you’re about to accuse me of, but I promise, I haven’t done a goddamn thing.”
He stopped several feet away from me and shoved his hands into the pockets of his brown leather jacket. “I’m not here to accuse you of anything. I’m here to ask for your help.”
I couldn’t help a sharp laugh. “I’m sorry, what? Has hell frozen over or something?”
“Obviously.” His gaze flicked past me. “Ms. Kent, I presume?”
“Indeed, but please call me Isabelle.” She stuck out a hand. “Pleasure to finally meet you, Ranger…?”
“Aiden O’Connor, as I’m sure you’re aware.” He briefly shook her hand but his gaze remained on mine. “Well?”
I raised my eyebrows. “You might try saying please. You might also want to explain the sudden urgency for my help when neither you nor your second-in-command have taken my dreams or my psychic skills seriously.”
“This is neither the time nor the place for recriminations,” he bit back, and then took a deep breath, visibly reaching for calm. “You’re right, of course, and I apologize.”
Man, that hurt him, Belle said, her mental tone somber. Hell must have indeed broken loose for him to reach out like this.
I don’t think either of us need to guess what that ‘hell’ might be. To Aiden, I added, “How did you know I was here?”
“You weren’t home, so I checked the hotels and clubs.”
And, as Phillip Banks had noted, there weren’t that many options in Castle Rock. “Did Karen rise, as I predicted?”
“Later than you predicted, but yes.” His voice was grim. “And we have five people dead.”
“Shit.” I rubbed a hand across my eyes. “I’m sorry there’s been such a high toll, but I don’t really understand why you need me there. The people she killed can’t rise as vampires—”
“I’m aware of that,” he cut in. “And if that was all we were dealing with, I wouldn’t be here.”
Ain’t that the truth, Belle commented.
“Then why are you here? Spit it out, Ranger.”
“Karen had help escaping,” he said. “We presume it was the vampire who turned her.”
“I did say that was a possibility.”
“Yes, but there’s more. He left a message.” He paused and then added softly, “For you.”
“No.” Fear spiked within me even as the denial passed my lips.
“Yes.” He reached out as if to grab my arm, then dropped his hand. “Please, I need you to come and see it.”
