Page 9 of Muerte

Diabolus has come for you.

I re-read it, brow pinching in confusion. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

From just over her shoulder, I caught sight of Shana making her way towards us. The second my attention shifted elsewhere, the woman snatched the paper back and stuffed it into her mouth.

Bewildered, I watched as she chewed and swallowed, rendering me speechless. The trepidation morphed into what I could only describe as something that rang of desperation before she turned and walked away without another word.

What in the world?

“What’s with her?” Shana echoed my private thoughts once she reached me, staring after the woman.

“I have no idea.”

She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “I should’ve warned you, some of these people are a bit, er, different.”

I wasn’t sure if that applied to what just happened. Everything about her behavior indicated something was wrong.

I decided right then to keep my mouth shut. If she needed help, maybe this was her way of trying to get it. I wasn’t sure what Shana would do if I told her.

I’d feel terrible if I made a bad situation worse by involving the wrong people. I wanted to find her again without being obvious about it, but first I had to deal with this.

“Did you need me for something?”

“Oh, yes. I need to borrow ya for a moment.”

She took gentle hold of my wrist and led me across the room towards a table that was closer to the dais. Three men and a woman with red hair were sat around it. A nervous flutter went through my stomach as I recognized two right away. Had they lodged a complaint because of earlier?

“Is something wrong?” I questioned, testing the waters.

“Not at all,” Shana replied, flashing me a smile that didn’t match her easygoing tone.

As we closed in on the table, everyone seated turned to look our way. Shana stopped and positioned herself behind me, placing both her hands on my shoulders.

“Here she is.”

The man who walked in on me in his suite was the first to stand. He smiled and it gave him an entirely different aura. Upstairs he’d come off as unapproachable and somewhat cold. His smile morphed that demeanor into one of charm and intrigue. Lord help anyone with ovaries he graced with an actual grin.

This time I couldn’t stop myself from shifting uncomfortably beneath the weight of his unflinching gaze. I looked at Shana, so I didn’t have to hold his stare. “What did you need me for?”

“Mr. Hawthorne wanted to meet you.”

Hawthorne? Where had I heard that name before?

“I was just telling Ms. Dolion how impressed I was by you.”

This had to be some kind of joke. Even his tone was degrees warmer. He came around the table to stand in front of us. He’d changed since earlier. He was now dressed in a black three-piece suit that fit him perfectly. I tried and failed not to notice the way in which it seemed to hug his arms.

“I didn’t do anything other than my job,” I stated evenly, forcing myself to meet his stare.

“She’s always so modest,” Shana gushed, giving me a light squeeze.

Mr. Hawthorne made no attempt to hide his perusal, his gaze traveling over my body from head to toe. The people still sitting were doing the same, albeit a less thorough exam. I suddenly felt very much like one of the objects being brought to the dais.

My hands began to feel clammy from the unwarranted attention.

“You look different with your hair down.” This came from the man who’d made the sly remark upstairs.

Unsure how to take his comment, I forced a smile. At this rate, my face was going to split in half. I’d removed my ponytail and run a quick brush through it after changing into the provided uniform for this event. I hadn’t dared come in here with the mess atop my head that they had been subjected to earlier.

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