Torrent(54)

Simon checked his phone. “The tracking device is back outside the Vendome.”
“Tracking device?” Autumn mouthed.
“I believe the rules of stalking say that you’re not supposed to actually let your target know you’re stalking them,” I told Temi. “Asking them out to pizza might give us away.”
“Perhaps so,” she said, “but it would give us a chance to talk to them instead of simply guessing as to their plans and motivations.”
“I didn’t know you’d developed that much of an interest in their plans and motivations,” I said. “Or is this only since you decided the older one is striking?”
“Of course not.” With her dark skin, it was hard to tell when she was blushing, but she did avoid my eyes when she spoke.#p#分页标题#e#
Simon craned his neck around to frown in Temi’s direction.
Lovely. My best friend had a crush on a former pro tennis player, and a former pro tennis player had a crush on an alien. When had my life gotten so odd?
A firm, crisp knock sounded on the door. We all looked at each other.
“Any chance someone ordered a pizza?” I asked.
Three people shook their heads. The curtains were closed, so we couldn’t see outside without alerting our knockers, but I hesitated to hustle over to answer the door. We weren’t expecting anyone, and at this point, I couldn’t imagine anything good finding us.
Temi slid off the bed and headed for the door.
I nudged Simon. “As the man in the room, don’t you think you should go help her?”
“How?” he whispered.
“You could loom threateningly at her shoulder.”
“She’s taller than I am. I don’t think it’s possible to loom threateningly from under a woman’s armpit.”
Temi fastened the chain, then opened the door the couple of inches it allowed. “Yes?” she asked.
I shifted from foot to foot. Short of jumping up on the bed, I couldn’t see past her to who stood out there. Nor could I hear enough of the soft-spoken voice on the other side of the door to guess at the owner’s identity. I scooted forward, thinking that I wasn’t beneath peering underneath her armpit, but she said, “I’ll check,” and closed the door.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“Our interesting men,” Temi said.
“Do they want to punch, strangle, pummel, or otherwise maim us for following them today?” Simon asked.
“No.” Temi gave him a curious look. “They want to hire you.”






 
    Nine by Night: A Multi-Author Urban Fantasy Bundle of Kickass Heroines, Adventure,   Magic
    
 


 

CHAPTER 18

“Erp?” Simon said.
I didn’t say anything, but my response would have been similar. I stared around the bland hotel room, wondering if this was a trick and if we should all be fleeing, but there wasn’t anywhere to go. The bathroom lacked a window. There wasn’t even a closet with proper doors one could hide behind. I hadn’t peeked under the southwest-print bedspreads yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the frames were too low to hide beneath.
For some reason, everyone’s gaze turned toward me. Was I in charge here? We hadn’t decided how much of the business Temi would control yet, but Simon and I were equal partners. Surely we should share such big decisions as whether or not a door should be opened. Autumn waited with her back to the wall, her elbow propped on the television stand. She had the look of someone wishing she had a bowl of popcorn to enjoy while she watched the entertainment.
“Let’s see what they want,” I said.
Temi unchained the door and opened it.
Eleriss and Jakatra, still wearing the same black leather and the same wool caps, stepped inside.
“Good evening,” I said cheerfully—it seemed like a good way to greet people one had been stalking of late. “Can we assist you?”
The riders exchanged long looks, and I sensed there’d been an argument or two as to whether they should come here. Jakatra took a single step to the side of the door, putting his back to the wall, and crossed his arms over his chest. His sleeve shifted enough that a hint of something white came into view. A bandage encircling his wrist? My breath caught. If that was his blood sample and not the monster’s... Dear Lord, they weren’t human, not at all. Even a genetically modified human ought to have A, B, or O blood, right? I glanced at Autumn, but she shrugged, probably not understanding my unspoken question. She hadn’t seen enough, didn’t know all that had happened.
Calm down, I told myself. Just because he was bandaged didn’t mean that had been his blood I collected. The monster might have been wounded too. Except the monster was apparently made of plastic...