Replica(5)

“I don’t know what to say, Michael. Thanks.”

I heard someone calling his name. “Gotta go, Rach. When this is all done, don’t be a stranger. Come home to visit. And you might want to bring a guy with you to appease Nana. She reminds all of us that you aren’t getting any younger.”

I laughed, suddenly homesick. “Yeah. I’ll see what I can do.” I hadn’t been home since my college graduation. Maybe it was time.

“Go fight the monsters.”

He hung up and the elevator opened a minute later. Thankfully the car was empty. I needed to prepare myself for the stares in the lobby. I was sure everyone was probably talking about my report now. If the investors in the Asclepius Project were this desperate for me to issue a retraction, they must have already set up a campaign to discredit me. And the best way to do that was to make me look like a lunatic.

I’d made it out the lobby and the front doors leading to Rockefeller Center when my phone rang. I checked caller ID, wondering if it was one of my other brothers, but the ID had been blocked.

I considered ignoring it, but worried it might be Lea. She should have been on the plane, about to take off, but what if something had happened? I wasn’t taking chances.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Sambrook?”

My back stiffened. “Yes.”

“I saw your report tonight. The one about the vampires and the monsters.”

I steeled myself, ready to be insulted or threatened. “And?”

He chuckled softly. “I’m about to become your best friend.”





CHAPTER 3





LEA



Ivan grinned down at me. “That is your title, isn’t it?”

“How the hell do you know about Cazadors?” I wanted to take a step toward him, using my body as a threat. But really, getting close to the big wolf was not a good idea.

He shrugged and gave me a wink. “I have my sources.”

I took a few steps back. Obviously he wasn’t going to tell me what I wanted to know. I’d wasted enough time with him. I spun and strode toward the front doors of the TV station. I leaned against the bar in the middle of the glass door. Locked. Sitting at a desk directly across from me, a secretary filed her nails and chewed gum like she was working on her cud.

With the flat of my hand, I smacked the glass. “Open it.”

“You know,” Ivan breathed behind me, far too close to my ear, “if you ask nicely, they’re more likely to do what you want. Humans are all about manners.”

I inhaled slowly to steady myself, to keep my hands on the glass. Better than wrapping them around his neck. He leaned against the door beside me and knocked with one knuckle as he grinned at the secretary.

“That’s not going to work—”

Before I could even finish getting the words out, the door to the left of me pushed open and the secretary peered out. “Is she with you?” She flicked her head my way while batting her eyes at Ivan.

A grin slowly spread across that mouth of his as he looked at me over her head. “I’m not sure.”

Heat flushed through my body, which only pissed me off more. I grabbed the edge of the door and yanked it open. The secretary squeaked as I shoved past her and made my way into the station. I took a long slow breath and picked up Rachel’s unique scent. Even under her perfume, the smell of gun oil lingered.

I couldn’t help but smile. Good girl. Keep you friends close and your weapons closer.

“You can’t go in there!” the secretary yelled after me. I kept moving, following Rachel’s smell deeper into the station without looking back. I pushed through a pair of double doors onto a live set. There was a red light blinking like mad overhead, flashing the words On Air like we wouldn’t otherwise notice the bright red neon.

No one even looked at me.

The anchorwoman smiled into the camera. “Again, we apologize for the previous report. Rachel Sambrook is known for her pranks; we just had no idea our station would be center stage in her biggest stunt to date.” Her eyes tightened, but the smile stayed plastered to her face. “Our station does not condone her choice of jokes, nor do we endorse her lies.”

I couldn’t help myself. I closed the distance between the anchor and me until I was just behind the camera. Her eyes flicked to me, away, and back again.

I grinned at her, wide enough that I knew my fangs were clearly visible. The woman paled and her hand went to her throat as she stuttered a strangled squawk. I turned and ran for the door, spanning the distance in less than a second.

She let out a screech. To her, it must have looked like I’d disappeared into thin air.

“Take that, dumb ass,” I muttered to myself as I slipped out the door.