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Trying to pick my pocket is a dangerous petty crime to commit, and not one I am willing to let slip by.
“Do you know what I had to do to get this blade?” I seethe through my snarl. “Do you understand how much blood is on my hands? Of all the people to rob, I am the last one you should have chosen.”
The waitress should be panicked. Though she is tall, shapely, and strong, I am tall, strong, and angry. Yet she looks at me with curiosity that’s mingled with approval. “Okay, Avet. You were right. He can hold his own.” Then she angles her chin toward me and brushes her nose across mine, confusing me to no end.
I jerk my head up, fighting the urge to scrub at my nose like a child.
I glance at my friend, taking in Avet’s nonplussed expression. “At ease, Keran. This is Sevan, the trapper I was telling you about. She was vetting you, making sure she’s not wasting her time talking to us.” He takes a long sip of his milkshake, as if this all couldn’t be more normal.
I slide Ch’ar back into her sheath but don’t let go of Sevan’s wrist. “You want to figure me out, then the first thing you should know is that I don’t like being stolen from. Now you get to sit right here with us until I’m convinced all you are is Avet’s contact and not some low-rent pickpocket.” I keep her wrist in my grip as I slide back into my seat, making sure she comes with me and sits at my side in the booth.
“Can’t I be both?” She gives me that beguiling smile again, but this time it only serves to irritate me.
“Talk.”
Sevan swirls her finger in a circle. “Actually, you two get to do the talking. That’s how this works. You need help? I need to know things.”
I glower at Avet, my good mood crashing. “This is your contact? Seriously? She tried to steal Ch’ar. Poorly. She’s offering me zero credentials.” I release Sevan’s wrist. “We don’t need your help.”
“Fine by me,” Sevan replies, making to stand.
Avet holds up his hands, taking the control away from Sevan and me so he can claim it for himself. “Now that introductions are over, we can get on with things. Sev, don’t touch Ch’ar. You know that’s going to set off Keran. You could have picked anything off him, but you chose that?”
Sevan shrugs. “Go big or go home, right?” She waves off my frustration. “I was going to give it back.”
Avet quirks an eyebrow at her obvious lie. “Keran, Sevan already knows that Cher went missing. She helped me tear the heads off of a few vamps last week when I thought I was closing in on my mark.”
I’m still salty about the almost theft. “All that means is that she’s a trapper with sticky fingers. I don’t need someone like that in my life.”
Avet casts me a look that tells me he is tiring of my attitude. “Hello, that description fits both of us perfectly. How many weapons have you stolen?”
I glower at Avet’s laissez-faire demeanor. “Explain to me how I said I didn’t want anyone else brought in on this, yet you hear that I want to be pickpocketed over breakfast while I’m forced to work with someone I don’t know and don’t trust.”
Avet doesn’t address my concerns but slaps his hands together and pulls out Cher’s diary from the spot beside him. “Now that we’re all ready to work together, let’s make a plan for what we’re up against.”
I swear, it’s like I didn’t even speak.
Avet points to the woman beside me. “Sev, you know that my sister was taken by a vampire, but we found out yesterday that Cher also was seduced.”
Sevan stills beside me. “By another trapper?”
Avet shakes his head. “By Andranik—the vampire who took her. I wanted you brought in because you listen to the whole story and you only get involved when you have a solid plan. I need your solid plan, and I really need you to hear me out.”
Sevan grimaces, looking repulsed by the notion of a vampire seducing a human.
At least we can agree on that.
Though I am easily twice the size of Sevan, she takes up half the space on the bench, unperturbed that I have to squish myself into my side and can now barely move my arms.
She reaches across the table and plucks one of Avet’s mini marshmallows off the top of his stack of pancakes, chewing on it while she speaks. “That’s crazy. You know how nuts you sound, right? I’ll listen to whatever theory you have banging around in that pretty and dizzy little head of yours, but there’s no way that’s true. Especially not the sister of a trapper. Cher knows firsthand how dangerous vampires are. She would never do something so horrible, even if a vampire was capable of being around a human without draining her.” She shakes her head. “It’s not possible.”
Avet slides the diary to Sevan. “It’s all right here. My sister’s journal.”
Sevan grimaces at the invasion of privacy but begins skimming the pages of the diary Avet indicates. The only sound I make while she reads is my stomach rumbling, since I know I won’t be eating anytime soon. I grab her notepad and tear off my breakfast order. I have no qualms leaving her to read in peace so I can turn in my meal order to the kitchen. I’m too hungry not to eat, and too picky to consume whatever passes for breakfast at a fast-food place once we get going.
Plus, I don’t prefer being squished in the booth.
After I turn in my order, I make Sevan scoot in so I can have the outside spot. I glare at Avet until my breakfast comes, brought to us by a waitress who isn’t faking that she works here.
