Replica(6)

“You didn’t like what she had to say?” Ivan was again, rather annoyingly, right there as I started down the hall. I spared him a glance and tried not to notice the curve of his biceps under his shirt. Too tight. His clothes were too tight.

“No.”

“Why? You had to know they would discredit her.”

It took all I had not to hunch my shoulders. I had known. And I’d let Rachel go into it anyway. In fact, I’d encouraged her to do this report.

“Holy shit, you’re using her to flush them out, aren’t you?”

Fuck, if he’d figured it out, Rachel would too. I had to get to her fast and explain.

“Our only way of reaching those who know about Stravinsky and want to help was to go wide. Rachel had that reach. And they had to think I’d left her or they never would have approached her.”

“If this is how you treat your friends, remind me not to get on your bitchy side.”

We turned a corner. At the end of the hall a portly man with thinning hair was pacing and muttering under his breath.

“Rachel, you’re a goddamn idiot. I should never have listened to you.”

That was it, I’d heard enough Rachel-bashing for the day. I strode toward him, thumping my feet into the carpet hard enough for him to hear me coming.

He frowned and pointed at me. “Hey, you don’t belong in here.”

“Don’t I? Didn’t you just do a piece on vampires?”

“Ah, fuck me. Get out of here, you loony tunes. Vampires aren’t real. The piece was a farce. A...political statement clearly hidden under...”

I snarled at him as my fangs descended. “What was that about vampires not being real?”

“Oh. Fuck,” he whispered as he spun. I was on him in a second, yanking him with me down the hall as he squealed like a pig.

Ivan laughed and I glared at him. “What?”

“You really have a way with people, don’t you?”

“Go the hell away, wolf.”

“Not a chance. This is far too interesting.” He followed me as I pushed the human into a tiny room. I flicked on a light and picked up the portly man, pinning him against the wall.

“Rachel isn’t here,” I said.

“No, no, she left. Please don’t kill me,” he whimpered.

I tightened my grip on him and leaned closer. “I haven’t fed today.”

“She’s not here. I swear it!”

He kicked his legs feebly, then let out a groan. The sharp scent of urine wafted up between us. I glanced down at the wet spot on the front of his slacks.

Ivan let out a roar of laughter and slapped his hands on his thighs. “Really, this is how you get information? My beautiful creature of the night, you need lessons.”

Ignoring him, I pulled the man off the wall and slammed him against it once, hard enough to rattle him.

“Where is she?”

“I don’t...” His eyes flicked to mine, then he swallowed hard and shook his head. “No, you’ll kill her.”

Heaven help what was left of my soul. “I’m her friend, dumb fuck. The one who helped her gather the evidence. You’re the one who hung her out to dry, aren’t you?”

The words were as much for me as they were for him. I’d known what would happen, and I’d encouraged her anyway. All on the slim chance it would open the doors we needed to find Stravinsky. I should have come clean with her.

“The Hilton Hotel. On First,” he breathed out. His eyes rolled back and he drooped in my hands. I let him fall to the ground in a puddle of his own piss.

“Good thing your cabbie stuck close, huh?” Ivan held the door open for me. Like we were on a date.

I would not smile at him. But my traitorous lips twitched as I walked past him, and maybe my hips swayed more than they should have. Damn him.

As we passed the receptionist’s desk, the secretary glanced up and held a fluttering piece of paper out to Ivan. “I’m free on Saturday.”

I snatched the paper and tore it in half. “He’s not.”

If Ivan had laughed right then, I would have cut his balls off and roasted them over an open flame. Our eyes met and his smile fell. “Shit, you’re from zero to sixty in less time than it takes to shape shift.”

“The cab.” I pointed and he held the front door for me. And again when we reached the cab. I slid into the backseat and put a hand over my eyes. The early evening sun wouldn’t kill me, but it hurt like a motherfucker, and the longer I was in it, the more of my energy it drained.

“Why did you really take the paper from her? I know I intrigue you—it’s all over your scent. But that’s it, no lust even, and I must say it kinda hurts my feelings that I don’t turn you on when I’m working so hard to make you notice me.”