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“Freya Alverona,” Caspian answered for me.
A few beats of silence came from the other end of the line, only the gentle tapping of key strokes. The poor man must be going crazy spending his days in an office. He typed at the speed of an elderly woman and he had to squint at the bright PC screens. It was amusing to watch. “She looks familiar.”
“You would have met her at Club Chaos. Pre memory removal, which would be why you don’t remember who she is other than a faint familiarity.”
He hummed as if he wasn’t sure if that’s what it was. “I’ll see what I can dig up that the techs couldn’t find. Not that this is my specialty, but my contacts might have information.”
“I think it’s time for me to probe one of my contacts, too,” I agreed. “He won’t be cooperative, so I wanted to make sure I had the right questions to ask first.”
“Need me to come?” Caspian asked.
It was hard not to notice the way his gaze strayed down my blood-drenched body to my crotch. He’d been feeding from me more often than was sustainable for me, but Freya gave him a voracious appetite. Not that I could blame him. He would need to feed again tonight after the incident — and especially after our protectiveness had aroused her. Her scent was hard to resist. “You should meet up with Emmett to feed. If that works for you?”
“I’m not going to your little love motel. I bet I’ll be able to smell all the kinky shit you’ve done in that room.” Emmett fake gagged. “Cas, come to headquarters. I’ll work on this until you arrive.”
“Awe, don’t tell me, Em. You’re not going to spank me tonight?” Caspian teased. “Such a bore you are.”
“You get your kink on often enough with Shan. I’m sure you’ll be able to suffer through some vanilla sex with me.”
Our incubus pouted, lower lip puffing out. He thought I didn’t realize he’d had a little crush on Emmett for forever. Just like Em thought I was clueless about him being in love with Caspian. Sure, he played at being grossed out by our escapades, but he didn’t mind when Caspian wanted to be an exhibitionist for him. If it had been anyone else, he really would have been disgusted.
Letting out a sigh, I stepped up to Caspian and kissed the side of his head. The affection drew his attention, but I moved away before he reciprocated. Better if he saved his need for human contact for Em. Gods knew the man needed it after being relegated to office duty for months on end. “I’m going to fly back to the hotel to change; you take the SUV. I’ll check in when I’m done with my contact. If I haven’t checked in by seven in the morning, we have a problem.”
“Where’s your contact located?” Emmett asked.
“Better I don’t tell you. Knoxwell wouldn’t approve of our information coming from a source like this.”
A grunt of disapproval came over the line, but they didn’t question me. Going to an undisclosed location without backup was a terrible idea, but it was better the less they were told. “Make sure you don’t keep Cas up too long,” I said to Emmett in passing as I strode away. “He needs to be ready to follow up on leads first thing in the morning.”
“He’ll sleep like the dead when I’m done with him.”
Well-fucked Cas would be raring to go after a heavy sleep. Perfect.
Caspian called out a ‘goodbye’ from behind me and I waved over my shoulder. Pulling a cloak of light around me (a taxing task in the middle of the night), I extended my wings and took off into the air. None of the Nulls would see me soaring through the sky on white wings, and neither would anyone else. I didn’t soar too high and had to navigate around highrises, but it wasn’t long before I set down in front of the hotel.
Twenty minutes later I’d showered, put on clean clothes, and headed out. The taxi was waiting on the curb and I slid into the backseat, giving him the address of a decrepit building in Westwood. He glanced back at me with a raised eyebrow and I slid a twenty onto the centre console. “I know what I’m doing and I’m going to pay. Drive, please.”
With the bill in his front pocket, he was happy to oblige, pulling off the curb. Getting there didn’t take long and I followed through on my promise, paying the fee in full before stepping out of the vehicle. My cabby was zipping away before any of the riffraff of the area got in.
I hated being here.
It showcased everything that was wrong with humanity, and not because there was a homeless man taking a leak in an alley, or a prostitute stepping up to a stopped car. These people weren’t the issue. The issue was how difficult it was to escape once you were in. Social services did what they could, but they were under-funded. Every time I came to the city, the crowd down here was filled with new people.
Easy pickings for the likes of Kylan Jitara and his groupies.
The human police force hadn’t even recognized there were predators in their midst, not that they could do anything to stop them. Nulls didn’t have any knowledge of our world, while the supernatural community infiltrated theirs. If any officer looked harder into the exorbitant amount of disappearances in this area, a superior would gently remove them from the case, or from service. That was one thing the Next Life Company was good at. Keeping our presence a secret, no matter the cost.
“Hey sugar, are you looking for a date?” A woman stepped up to me, gripping my arm and grinning. She reeked of drugs, needle marks on her arms.
“Not tonight.”
“You sure?”
Shaking her off, I offered a flat smile. “Certain. I’m just here to visit Bloodshed Brewing.”
Her face paled and she jolted back from me. The ratty stiletto heels caught in the cracks of the pavement and she stumbled, but caught herself before she fell. “I don’t want anything to do with that place.”
As quick as she had appeared, she turned tail and jogged off. She was smart. The quick departure drew a few curious glances from the gang members and junkies on the block, but none came up to me. I didn’t look like I belonged here, but at least I looked like someone who shouldn’t be fucked with. Pure bulk and a stony expression did wonders at warding off trouble in these parts.
