Shadow Prophet (Midnight Chronicles Book 1) Page 7

  “Murder?”

  “Yes. We prefer to call them jobs, though.”

  I shifted my position, folding my arms and staring at her. She merely smiled up at me coyly, that ever-flirtatious expression on her face. I wish I could say I intimidated her, but she was one of the few I’d never been able to get there with. Possibly because if I laid hands on her, she would rat me out to the Shadow Prophet. But more likely because if anything happened to her, she’d just come back to life.

  I leaned up against the wall outside my apartment door, refusing to go in. I didn’t want her following me, and I knew she would. “Don’t you have better things to do?”

  “No. You’re all I have to focus on. He set it all up. Nice of him, right? We get to spend as much time together as we want.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I have to work. Go away.”

  “Are you sure, baby? Think of all the fun we could have.” She stepped to me, placing a hand on my chest before tiptoeing to kiss the stubble on my jawline. Then she inhaled deeply. “You always smell so good. What do you use?”

  “I don’t.” I stepped away from her, putting a hand on the doorknob. “Tell him I’ll take care of it soon. Now go away.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay. See you next time.”

  I refused to grant her the satisfaction of knowing I was watching as she sauntered away. Instead, gritting my teeth with irritation, I turned and let myself into the apartment. Had she really gotten a job as manager of the complex? And if so, was she actually doing it? I doubted it. She’d tried to work before, and it never went well. She was way too obsessed with the job the Shadow Prophet had given her. Me.

  Shutting the door behind me, I backed up against it, breathing a sigh of relief. I’d only been there for a couple of days, but already it felt like home. Safe. Comforting. Thank goodness, too. I needed a quiet place to recharge and re-energize.

  My phone rang, and I picked up when I saw that it was Alexander.

  “No one knows why they’re here, but I’m guessing it’s curiosity, just like everyone else. I don’t think they’re here for her, but it would be foolish to act like they aren’t. Keep an eye on her.” He chuckled. “You will—I already know that. Thanks. Regardless of what they’re doing here in terms of Lizzie, I’ve heard they’re causing a lot of problems for city officials. They’re really making a mess of things, seeing as how they’re vampires.”

  I nodded. Those kinds of deaths are hard to explain to an unsuspecting public. Humans were just barely learning that demons and such existed. I knew they had no clue that vampires were real. They couldn’t handle that sort of information just yet.

  Alexander asked how things were going where hound hunting was concerned, and I promised him I planned to get started with Lizzie later that day.

  “Good. They found the body of a person attacked by one near her house. You’ll want to start there, most likely.”

  Then we ended the call.

  Hopefully, Lizzie would be getting that amulet soon. According to Alexander, it was making its way to her, carried by its previous owner. Once she had it, she’d be able to destroy hounds permanently.

  I couldn’t wait for that part of our job to begin.

  16

  The next day, I headed back to the club to see if I could learn anything about the vampires. The bouncer recognized me and let me in, and I hung around the main room, quietly observing and listening. Nothing about vampires was mentioned, and I realized I’d need to be more proactive.

  I scanned the place until I spotted a man I remembered from my last trip to the area. His name was David, and he smiled broadly when I approached, standing to shake my hand.

  “Abel! I thought that was you, skulking around the corners.” He turned to the woman at his side. “This is the guy I was talking about a couple months ago—the one who took care of my flea problem.”

  I raised an eyebrow at that. Sure. We could call it a flea problem.

  The woman smiled, offering a hand, which I shook. “Nice to meet you,” she said.

  The three of us took seats, and I leaned forward, resting my elbows on my knees and clasping my hands. “David,” I started, but he didn’t give me a chance to continue.

  “Let me guess—needing information?” he asked with a smile. “I saw you listening in on conversations.”

  I hadn’t exactly been discreet about it. Sometimes it’s too much work to hide the fact that I’m seeking info, especially when what I want to know isn’t particularly sensitive. Vampires in town would soon become public knowledge in the underground.

  David was a type of warlock. He didn’t have a lot of magic, but what he did have, he used well. I knew, from how he introduced me to his girlfriend, that he wanted to keep that aspect of his life hidden. I’d need to be careful.

  “I’m trying to find information on a couple of visitors who were here yesterday.” It dawned on me just then that I should be talking to the owner of the club, especially when I had such easy access to him. Still, sometimes money passed hands without anyone knowing the reason. It was fine that I’d started with patrons of the club.

  A glint appeared in David’s eye. “I know exactly who you’re talking about. I’ve been asking about them too. The only thing I’ve heard is they’re searching for something—hunting, I guess you could say.”

  “Do you know what they’re looking for?”

  He shook his head. “My guess is a magical object. Their kind tends to be obsessed with power.”

  That didn’t sit exactly right—the impression I’d gotten was that they were interested in learning about earth, not some item. But I’d need to find out for myself if mine or David’s hunches were correct.

  “There’ve also been murders happening. My friend at the police station mentioned it—victims getting—” He glanced at his girlfriend, who was chatting with a woman sitting next to her, then back at me. “—practically drained of blood and burned to a crisp after.”

  Burned to a crisp? I knew exactly what we were dealing with.

  Fire vampires.

  Croents were the most powerful type of vampire that existed. But fire vampires were just below Croents in the hierarchy of power and ability. They borrowed energy from the sun—which was technically a ball of flame—and it enabled them to walk in the sunlight. From what I’d learned years ago, they needed not just blood to survive, but smoke from their victims as well. I hadn’t ever encountered one, so no wonder my tattoo had given me confusing information the day before.

  “Do you have any other info?” I asked.

  “No, sorry. Hey, are you here to stay? If so, are you getting a warehouse in the area?”

  “I’ve already got that started—it opens this weekend.”

  “Fantastic. Add me to your list of clients. I’ll be there.”

  “Good to hear. Thank you for your patronage and the information.”

  “No problem. In fact, if you need anything extra, give me a call. My number hasn’t changed.”

  I told him I would and left the club feeling a bit discouraged. My hunch said the vampires were there for Lizzie, but why hadn’t they approached her house? I would have sensed it if they had.

  And the mess they were leaving . . . Feeding while they were here was to be expected—they couldn’t go forever without blood—but I still didn’t like how this was sitting. I’d need to talk to Lizzie’s neighbor. It was time to check in with Lizzie face-to-face, for that matter, so I decided to head over there.

  The elderly woman wasn’t home, and neither was Lizzie. Using my little spell again, I unlocked her front door, deciding to hang out there until she got back.

  I made sure to lock up behind me. I smiled to myself, wondering how Lizzie would react to the fact that I’d been in her house twice now. I’d definitely be keeping that bit of information to myself.

  I paced her living room for a few minutes, contemplating whether or not I should call her. I decided not to, instead taking a cursory glance around her house to ma
ke sure things were still the way they’d been previously before entering the kitchen and rummaging for food. I found a box of pretzels that had been open who knew how long in the back of the pantry cabinet. I’d loved pretzels as a boy, but had a bad “flu” experience with them when I was ten and hadn’t tried them in years. Maybe they’d be more appealing now.

  I reached out magically—all my spells and alerts were active. I could let myself unwind for a few moments. So, grabbing a glass of water, I retreated to the living room to eat the pretzels and watch a movie. After browsing her huge selection, I chose Jurassic World, popped it in, and sat on the couch to relax until she arrived.

  The pretzels were stale and left a bad aftertaste. I couldn’t tell if my childhood experience was affecting how they tasted now. But I was hungry, and I hadn’t wanted to take her other food—this, I was sure, wasn’t something she’d been saving for a special event.

  I was only about twenty, maybe thirty, minutes into the movie when the door opened and Lizzie stepped in. She shrieked when she saw me sitting on her couch. I glanced at her before turning my attention back to the TV and pretzels.

  My mouth went immediately dry and my hands clammy. I knew I was calm on the outside, but I could no longer remember what movie I’d put on, despite the fact that I was staring at the TV. I woodenly put a pretzel in my mouth, not tasting the bitter, stale flavor as I chewed. My heart did funny things as I waited for her to compose herself.

  “What are you doing here?” she asked, her hand on her throat in the “clutches pearls” position.

  “It’s time to start hunting,” I said, still watching TV. I was proud my voice was so steady.

  Lizzie . . . Will you ever know the effect you have on me?

  Lizzie stepped into the kitchen, getting a can of soda pop before joining me on the couch, making my heart leap straight into my throat. I tried to keep my attention on the movie, the pretzels, the conversation—anything other than the overwhelming urge to pull her into my arms.

  “You know I can’t do that without the Shade Amulet.”

  Do what? Oh, right. Hunt. “Doesn’t matter—we can’t wait for it to arrive. We have to get a head start.”

  “What good will it do if I can’t kill anything we come across?”

  She made a good point. “We won’t attack, then. We’ll learn what we can and return later, when you have the amulet. There’s way too much going on for us to stall anymore.”

  “What’s going on?”

  One glance told me enough—she knew more than she was letting on. Was she testing me? If so, why? “You know what’s out there, Lizzie.”

  I could tell that the tone of my voice or maybe my words—or both—irritated her because she didn’t respond for a couple of moments. I didn’t appreciate people playing dumb with me, especially when we were supposed to be on the same team. Maybe she needed to feel like she could trust me better.

  Ha. Trust me. Bad idea.

  Still, I decided to give her a little more to go on. “The individual who hired me mentioned that someone is wreaking havoc for you and the other city officials.”

  “What do you know?” she asked.

  “Well, for starters, there are two fire vampires involved.”

  Lizzie sat up, turning her full attention to me, soda pop forgotten. “Two? What else? Tell me everything.”

  17

  I put the pretzels on the coffee table before leaning forward, clasping my hands. “They’re hunting something. We don’t know what—and we don’t know why they’re here in the first place.” I grimaced. “My boss doesn’t think they’re coming for you. We can’t be positive about that until we catch and interrogate them, though.”

  Turning more to face her, trying not to get distracted by her full lips and the smooth skin of her neck—vampires on the brain much, Abel?—I said, “Fire vampires aren’t the only thing you’ll be dealing with. There are quite a few demons here now.”

  Lizzie nodded. “That’s what my friend told me.”

  I wondered which friend she was talking about. Obviously, someone who had connections, since I wasn’t aware of many who even recognized there were demons on earth now.

  Most humans thought the demons were still leaving earth alone. Several hundred years ago, our planet used to be full of monsters of all shapes and sizes. They terrorized people until an uprising of humans and Aretes banished them. From what I’d learned, that battle had been horrible, albeit successful.

  Unfortunately, a few years ago, the portal had been reopened, and demons flooded earth again for another epic battle. All of the demons had been killed, or so regular humans thought. That obviously wasn’t the case. The portal opening had only put us back on the map, so to speak, and more and more demons had been visiting since. I knew only too well, given my line of work.

  And apparently, a lot of these demons were attracted to Lizzie.

  Something about the situation with the fire vampires made me nervous. My instincts told me not to discredit them. A small part of me felt insecure where they were concerned, and a need to find comfort popped into my heart. Not for the first time, I wished I had my family near. Or something, someone—anyone—to call home, to bounce my worries and concerns off of, to turn to when I wasn’t sure where to go.

  I closed my eyes. “Something is coming, Lizzie. I can feel it. And I hope I’m ready for whatever happens.”

  “How are you feeling?”

  I glanced at her and shrugged. “Probably would’ve been better if I hadn’t eaten those pretzels.” I knew that wasn’t what she meant, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk about my impending Restart.

  Lizzie bit her lip, and I nearly forgot all about the pretzels as my gaze dropped to her mouth. “Sorry about that. I’d bet they’re stale.”

  I didn’t want her to feel bad, so I said, “After what I’ve eaten in the past few years? They’re practically divine.”

  “How are you feeling where your Restart is concerned?” she asked, obviously thinking a more direct route was needed.

  I sighed inwardly. Couldn’t avoid answering the question now. “I can’t control it. It might happen, and it might not. I might die when it happens, and I might not.”

  She sent me a concerned expression, but I avoided making eye contact with her.

  “How are you doing now, financially?”

  Her tone of voice was hesitant, and it warmed my heart. She cared for me—at least enough to worry that my needs were being seen to.

  “I’ve never been into money too much. As long as I have enough for my needs—which are simple—I’m pretty happy.”

  I’d been that way my whole life, but being enslaved had definitely cemented in the lesson of living frugally.

  “Same,” Lizzie said. She remembered her can of soda and finished the rest of it. “When do you want to go hunting?”

  “As soon as possible.” I glanced at my watch. “How about now?”

  “Sure.” She hesitated. “Should I change my clothes?”

  I looked at her jeans and tee and found myself not wanting her to change. The casual look suited her. “Those should be fine.”

  “Where do we start?”

  “I was planning on asking you that.”

  It wasn’t that I didn’t have ideas—I had plenty. But I’d learned over the years that it’s sometimes better to let other people take the lead. I didn’t need the credit all the time, and others frequently surprised me with something I hadn’t thought of.

  Lizzie shocked me by scoffing. “What could I possibly know that would help us?”

  A little bit of guidance might be needed, then. “You’ve seen hounds at your house, right?”

  She nodded, thinking. “We could check out the place where I saw the first one. It’s a start, anyway. Are you good at tracking?”

  Tracking? “The best.” The fact that I had a tattoo for that purpose definitely had something to do with it.

  My stomach flopped when I remembered I wouldn’t be able to rely o
n my tattoo this time. It didn’t work where the hounds were concerned, and it had been a very long time since I’d needed to use my more traditional skills. Would I remember how?

  Lizzie smiled to herself, and I wondered what she was thinking.

  I froze momentarily, stuck between the desire to touch her and the need to get to work. What would she do if I put the moves on her, so to speak?

  Breaths shortened, heart pounding, I decided to follow through on my desire.

  Slowly, attention on anything but her so she wouldn’t know I’d been thinking about this all along, I got to my feet and took her by the hand, pulling her up too.

  I couldn’t believe how good it felt to make contact with her, even in such a simple way. An urge to do more than just touch her hand sent hot sparks through my body, and I ran my fingers up her arm, stopping on her shoulder.

  Then I looked into her eyes. She’d completely frozen. And not from desire. I intimidated her—I could see it.

  Her rejection made my world fall down around me, crushing my spirit with it.

  I’d built that bed—the intimidation one—and now I had to sleep in it.

  A bitter taste flooded my mouth, and I stepped away from her, running a hand through my hair before motioning to the front door. “Let’s go on foot.”

  It hurt to breathe, to move.

  My disappointment ran deep.

  I ground my teeth. I had to get over her. To find something or someone to fill the void.

  An urge to run, to leave, to ditch both open contracts I had right then nearly overwhelmed me, but I knew running wouldn’t do me any good. No amount of separation from Lizzie would change how I felt about her—as if eight years hadn’t already taught me that—and the Shadow Prophet would find me. He always did.

  We left the house, locking up behind us, and started walking toward the train tracks. It took some effort, but I pushed aside my negative emotions, sensing a familiar thrill overcome me as the hunt began.

  I loved hunting. It was the best part of my job. Despite being rusty with traditional tracking, I knew I’d be fine. And that knowledge left me invigorated. Gave me a rush of energy.