Warrior

Chapter 3-2

The man, who appeared to be the leader of the group, crossed his arms over his chest. “We sent some of our people to check out the disappearances. They couldn’t pick up the vampires’ trail, so we thought they’d moved on.”

“This lot is good at covering their trail…except for the one we followed here,” Chris said.

“You mean the one we followed.” A dark-haired man who couldn’t be much older than twenty sneered at us. “We’ll take care of it from here.”

Ignoring him, I addressed the older man. “You can have the vampire after we ask him a few questions.”

The young one took a step forward. “This is our territory, and we’ll decide how to handle the bloodsucker.”

“Like I said, you can do what you want with him when I’m done.” I couldn’t help but notice the young wolf bore a slight resemblance to Sara’s friend, Roland.

“Listen here. You don’t –”

“That’s enough,” barked the leader, putting an arm out to restrain the hothead.

“But Brendan –”

“I said enough, Francis.” A low growl entered his voice, and the younger man backed off, glaring at us. The older man didn’t act like an Alpha, but he was definitely someone with authority in the pack. The Beta, most likely.

The other two males kept silent, apparently content to let their leader do all the talking. He studied me for a long moment. “What information do you hope to get from the vampire?”

“I hope he can lead me to the vampire who got away from me last night.” I saw no reason to keep anything from them. Mohiri and werewolves were not friends, but we had a common enemy.

The man’s expression told me he knew exactly what vampire I was referring to, but he wouldn’t speak of it. Werewolves were almost as secretive as my own people, and if Sara was a friend of the pack, they would protect her as if she was one of them. Would they feel the same way when they learned what she was?

“We’ll give you thirty minutes with him.”

I nodded. “Fair enough. We’ll send him out the back when we’re done.”

The man stepped aside, despite the muttered objections of his young pack member, and Chris and I walked past them to the entrance of the pool hall. Chris opened the door, and loud music assailed us along with the smell of sweat and beer.

The interior of the club was dimly lit except for the lights hanging over the pool tables. Along one wall ran a long bar that was already crowded, and small tables filled the rest of the floor. It was only nine o’clock and the place was over half-full.

It took me less than thirty seconds to locate our target. He stood at the end of the bar near a dark hallway, talking to a brunette in a low-cut blouse and a short, leather skirt that left little to the imagination. She might as well have rung a dinner bell. The vampire was practically salivating over her.

My eyes met Chris’s in silent communication. He nodded and began to make his way around the room, while I set off in the other direction. Fortunately, the vampire was too wrapped up in procuring his next meal to notice us. He wasn’t a match for either of us, but the less attention we drew, the better.

The vampire looked up when I was six feet away, and something in my expression spooked him. Fear flashed in his eyes, and he took a step back, but Chris came up behind him and grabbed him by the arms.

“Not a word,” I heard Chris whisper to him.

I smiled at the female. “Would you mind giving us a few minutes? We have some business to discuss with our friend.”

She tossed her hair over one shoulder and looked me up and down. “Baby, I’ll give you anything you ask for.”

I slapped on the bar to get the attention of one of the bartenders. He came over, and I handed him a twenty. “Give the lady whatever she wants to drink. Keep the change.”

“Thanks, man.” He turned to the brunette. “What’s your poison?”

She leaned against the bar, putting her breasts on display. “I’d love a White Russian.”

Chris made a noise and smirked at me over the vampire’s shoulder.

My lips curved, and I nodded toward the hallway that led to the restrooms and the back exit. Wordlessly, Chris forced the silently struggling vampire to the end of the hallway.

Once we were away from the humans, I pushed the vampire against the wall, easily holding him there. “I’m going to ask you some questions. Whether or not you walk out of here will depend on how you answer them.”

He swallowed convulsively and nodded.

“Where is Eli?”

“Wh-who?”

I shook my head slowly. “Wrong answer.”

He hissed in pain when a knife suddenly appeared in my hand, the blade pressed lightly against a spot under his ear. It was barely touching him, but the silver made a wisp of smoke rise from his singed skin.

“Let me ask that question again. Where is Eli?”

“I don’t know,” he squeaked, trying to lean away from the knife. I pressed harder and he whimpered. “I’m not lying! I haven’t seen him since last night. No one has.”

“Who is no one? How many of you are here?”

His eyes were fixed on the hand holding the knife. “T-ten.”

Ten vampires was an unusually large group to be travelling together. Something important had drawn them to Maine and had made them willing to risk discovery by the werewolves. There was much better hunting to be found in larger cities like New York and Philadelphia.

I thought of the four missing human girls, and then another face filled my mind. I remembered Sara’s terror as Eli held her against him. If I’d been just a few minutes later, she might have suffered the same fate as those other girls.

The thought of her at Eli’s mercy made my hand tighten on the knife. A thin rivulet of blood ran down the vampire’s throat.

Chris laid a hand on my arm, and I eased the pressure on the knife. A dead vampire could not answer questions. And I had promised the werewolves the kill. As much as I hated letting a vampire walk away, I was a man of my word.

“What are you doing in Portland?” I asked harshly. “Your kind isn’t usually stupid enough to walk into werewolf territory.”

His eyes widened, telling me he had been unaware of that fact. “Eli didn’t tell us why we’re here. We just go where he tells us to go.”

I wasn’t surprised by his answer. Most vampires worked together out of necessity, not loyalty. “How long have you been in Portland? Why are you here?”

“We got here three weeks ago, and we haven’t done much but hide out in the place Eli found for us. He goes out with Joel, but I don’t know what they’re doing. He….”

“He what?”

The vampire cleared his throat. “He brought some human girls back to the house, but he kept them to himself.”

I knew the answer before I asked my next question, but I had to ask it anyway. “Are the girls still alive?”

Terror flashed in his eyes. “No. Eli killed them, not me!”

Experience told me I wasn’t getting anything useful out of this one - except for maybe one thing. “Where are you and your friends holed up?”

The vampire stared at me but didn’t answer. I suspected it was fear for his own life and not loyalty to the other vampires that kept him quiet.

“Here’s the deal, and it’s the only one you’ll get. You tell us where your friends are, and we’ll let you walk out that door. Or you can choose not to answer, which is not in your best interest. Trust me.”

Doubt and hope filled his eyes. “You’ll really let me go?”

I lowered the knife. “I give you my word as a warrior that you’ll walk out that door unharmed. But if I see you again, you won’t fare as well.”

His eyes darted to the door, and he nodded jerkily. “Okay, I’ll tell you. We’re staying in a place on Fletcher Street.” He rattled off an address. “That’s all I know. I swear. Can I go now?”

I released him and stepped back, clearing a path to the exit. “Go.”

The vampire lunged for the door and pulled it open. Without a look back, he ran outside into the alley at the rear of the building. As the door closed behind him, I heard a chorus of growls followed by a muffled scream.

Chris blew out a noisy breath. “Ten vampires?”

“I know. Something is up, and we’re going to get to the bottom of it.”

“We should call in a unit for this one,” Chris said as we headed for the front exit. “Unless you’re in the mood to piss off the Council again.”

I laughed, remembering my last talk with Tristan. “Let’s call Erik. His team is closest.”

Chris made the call. “They’ll be here in two hours.”

We left the building and headed back to our bikes. My mind kept replaying what the vampire had said about Eli and the teenage girls, and the more I dwelled on it, the more I wanted to hit something.

“You want to tell me why you’re in such a black mood tonight?”

I gave Chris a sideways glance. “I’m not in a mood.”

He made a sound suspiciously like a snort. “How long have we known each other? You have the coolest head of any warrior I’ve ever met, but you almost killed that vampire back there. What was that about?”

“I’m mad at myself for letting Eli get away last night. That’s all.” The real reason for my agitation wasn’t something I wanted to discuss, even with Chris. The sooner we dealt with the situation in Portland and sent our people to get Sara, the sooner I could put this behind me.

My Mori growled unhappily. It had been doing that a lot since I’d let Sara drive away with her friends last night. Mori demons were driven by instinct and emotion, and all mine could think about was its mate.

Potential mate, I reminded us both. I couldn’t deny there was something about the girl that drew me in like no one ever had. Was it the innocence I’d seen in her eyes? Or her blind trust in me in that alley?

Or was it because of how right it had felt to hold her in my arms?

It doesn’t matter what it is. There was no place in my life for a mate, no matter what I was feeling. My Mori would just have to get over it.

My phone rang and Dax’s number flashed across the screen.

“Dax, what do you have for me?”

“I traced the license plate to a Judith Greene in New Hastings, which is about an hour north of Portland. She has a son named Roland, who attends St. Patrick High School. I searched the school records and found two girls named Sara. I’m sending you their pictures now.”

A photo appeared on the screen of a blonde girl named Sarah Cummings.

“Not her,” I said.

It took a minute for the second picture to arrive, and I recognized the face immediately. I stared at Sara Grey’s green eyes until Dax spoke.

“Is it her?”

“Yes. Do you have an address for her?”

Dax chuckled. “Do you even have to ask?”

Seconds later, a text arrived with her address. “You need anything else?” he asked.

“No, that’s it. Thanks.”

“Anytime.”

Chris leaned in to look at the face on my phone. “Ah, Dax found your little orphan.”

I closed the picture. “She’s not my orphan,” I grumbled, ignoring my Mori pressing forward insistently. Mine, it growled.

“So, are we going to pick her up?”

I stared down the dark street instead of looking at him. “Since when do you and I bring in orphans?”

“It’s been a few years, but I’ve handled orphans once or twice.” He fell silent for a minute. “Anyway, we’re here and she knows you. You already have a connection with her.”

“Connection?” Was it that obvious?

Chris laughed. “Yes, that happens when you save someone’s life. Look, I can handle the girl if you want me to. Or are you thinking of calling in someone?”

“Paulette has the most experience. I’ll call her tomorrow,” I said as our bikes came into view. The least I could do was give the girl a few days to recover from her ordeal before we sent someone in to turn her world upside down.

Opening the GPS app on my phone, I entered the address for the house on Fletcher Street. I hoped Erik didn’t take too long to get here because, right now, I was in the mood to make a different kind of house call.