Replica(15)

Being hunted was a shitty sensation. I much preferred to be the hunter.

I led the way around the side of the building. A fire escape ladder hung a good twenty feet in the air in a dark narrow alley.

“You can reach that, right?” Rachel asked me, like it was no problem.

“Who do you think I am? The Jolly Green Giant in disguise?” I grinned, though, and ran at the wall. I leapt straight up as I reached the building, scrabbling with my hands and boots to propel me the last few feet. Dangling from the ladder, I jerked my body and the mechanism let loose and dropped to the ground with a grinding screech.

Rachel winced. “I hope none of those fucking dog things are around to hear that.”

“Other things make noise besides us, Rach.”

She lifted both hands as she put a foot on the ladder. “Really? I’m beginning to think they could hear us fart if we let one rip.”

The laugh that burst out of me caught me by surprise. And apparently Rachel too, because she stared at me like I’d sprouted a second head.

“Sorry.”

“No, it’s good. Just...shocked the shit out of me.”

My lips twitched. “Please don’t go there.”

She grinned and started up the stairs. I followed, then pulled the ladder up from the first landing. A single screech, and it was locked back in place. We were at the third floor before we found an unlocked window.

Sliding through, it was easy to see why.

“Rich people always think nothing bad is going to happen to them. Like their money somehow protects them.” Rachel ran a hand through the silk curtains. The place was solid white: floors, ceilings, walls, artwork, curtains, and furniture.

Perhaps it was a bad sign that my first thought was we were probably going to get blood on everything and the cleaning bill was going to be a real bitch.

The thought of blood made my throat tighten. “I need to feed soon after all that exposure to the sun. So let’s hash this shit out.”

Rachel nodded as she moved to the wet bar across the room and poured herself a big glass of water. She downed it, then pulled out a half full bottle of something else. Whiskey aged in oak barrels, judging by the smell.

“Not a word. I need it after the day I’ve had,” she said as she tipped a generous amount into her glass with the last of her water.

I drew the scent in and let it coat my saliva glands. What I wouldn’t give for the burn of a shot of whiskey. Unfortunately, my taste buds wouldn’t pick up the nuances and the alcohol would make me sick.

I moved around the side of the brilliantly white leather couch and sat, leaning into the overstuffed cushions.

“Something bad is coming.” I rubbed a hand across the back of my neck as if to scrub away the sensation of being hunted.

“No shit—” Rachel paused and stared at me over the rim of her glass, “—Sherlock.”

I rolled my eyes. “We’ve pissed off enough people; there’s no way to know what direction the blow will come from. Men in suits today. Vampires tonight. Demon dogs in the morning. Something new by mid-afternoon.”

“You don’t know that.” She put her glass down.

“Just a guess. Who contacted you after the report?”

Her eyes flickered down to her glass and back up. “A creepy-ass scientist. I’m meeting him tonight.”

I raised both eyebrows. “Really? Let me guess, midnight?”

She grunted. “Not real subtle, is it?”

I rubbed a hand over my face. “No. You feel okay about going on your own?”

“Why? What are you going to do?”

The slightest shuffle of cloth at the window had me on my feet and spinning toward it. Ivan grinned at me, already half in through the opening.

“Never going to sneak up on you, am I?”

“How the hell did we not hear the ladder?” Rachel snapped. “Seriously, did you fly your ass in here?”

He grinned at her, but his charm didn’t work on Rachel. She glared back. He let out a sigh. “I jumped. Those ladders are always squeaky.”

Rachel flicked her eyes my way, as if to confirm it was, indeed, possible for him to do that. I gave her the barest of nods.

“Fuck. I’m surrounded by X-Men.” She slugged back her whiskey.

“Is she always this touchy?” He looked at her, then back to me.

Time to lay the ground rules. “You’re going to keep following me, aren’t you?”

“You don’t know it yet—” he stepped through the window and leaned against the frame, “—but you’re going to need me. This goes deeper than vampires, Lea. And to answer you, yes. I’m going to keep following you. Besides, the view is nice.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Rachel moved out from behind the wet bar.