Page 42 of Shadow Seeking

“Well, I wouldn’t mind working with your organization, as the need may be. I share my info with you, and then…you throw a few jobs my way.”

Feeling like he wasn’t going to be as easy as Benny was to deal with, I glanced back at Dante and Orik. “What do you think?”

“We could use someone on the inside of the Underground,” Dante said.

“If he gets out of control, we can stake him,” Orik said with a menacing grin.

“Oh cripes, fine. We’ll discuss the details later. Now, tell us everything you know about Letty,” I said. “And I mean, everything.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

“I first metLetty a couple weeks after I saw her post in the forums,” Lazenti said. “You’re right, there’s a certain tone to the posts of the actual members. And there are far too many actual members for comfort. They truly believe in their cause, and the leader of the Brim Fire is charismatic beyond what you’d normally think possible for a human. Anyway, I noticed her posts and I could tell that she didn’t fit the typical profile. In my former life, before I was turned, I was a private investigator?—”

“Wait, you were?” I asked.

“Why do you think I’m interested in working with you? Aside from your charms,” he added, looking me up and down. I couldn’t tell whether he was being sarcastic.

“Well…when were you turned?” I asked.

“1972. I was on a case, investigating a series of vampire kills. Unfortunately, rogue vampires tend to be good at what they do.”

“So, were you in Seattle? What was your name?” Orik asked.

“Oh, you want to do some research onmypast? Just wait. I may—or may not—tell you when we discuss whether I’ll be working with you on a regular basis.” He paused. “By the way, this isn’t as sudden as it seems. I’ve been watching your agency since I first contacted Carson. He’s good, but I’m better.”

“Okay, well…” Dante said, sounding resigned. “We’ll talk about that later. Anyway, so you noticed Letty?”

“Don’t rush me, Wolf,” Lazenti said. “Yes, I noticed Letty. She wasn’t nearly as good as I was at hiding under cover. I knew they were going to find out about her, and decided I’d better warn her.”

“Why? That seems odd for a…” Orik stopped.

“For avampire? Perhaps, yes. But I had my reasons. Anyway, she didn’t hide her name, which is beyond stupid. She had no clue how things work out on the Dark Web.” Lazenti’s eyes were shining with an unnatural light, and he sounded so somber that I really believed that he felt bad about Letty.

“How did you contact her? Not on the Dark Web, I assume?”

“No. It wasn’t that hard to find out where she lived. I contacted her in private. I figured her house might be bugged, so I watched her. One day, when she stopped in at a coffee shop, I conveniently showed up. I glamoured her to let me sit down, calmed her fears, then told her that I knew her from the forums and that I thought she was in danger.” He seemed sincerely concerned.

“What then?” I asked.

“I warned her to steer clear of the forums, of the group, and of the Dark Web. I told her it was dangerous, and I’ll admit, I used my glamour to reinforce it. She wasn’t the kind of woman who should be mucking around with a group like that. But I noticed, partway through our conversation, that she broke out of the glamour. It was like a light going off—a wall slamming up. And I don’t even think she realized that it was happening.” Lazenti leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table. “I think she was under some sort of spell.”

“Spell?Why did you think that?”

“Because when I pressed on the issue, she glazed over. The glamour I used was minor—just enough to get her to talk tome. But the shift she made was like going from…alive to being a zombie.”

“When did that happen during the conversation?” Orik asked. “What were you saying at that moment?”

“Let me think…I warned her that she needed to rethink hanging out in the forums…” He paused, then snapped his fingers. “I remember,” he said. “I asked her how she got involved with the group, and she was about to answer when—it was like everything shut down. The light in her eyes vanished, and she grabbed her purse, then looked at me and said, “Don’t bother me again.Seriously.” And that was that. She left the coffee shop. And when I tried to follow her, I…got lost.”

“What do you mean, you got lost?” I asked.

“I mean,I got lost. It was as though her address drained out of my thoughts. I knew who I was looking for, but I suddenly couldn’t remember why. In fact, every time I thought about her, my thoughts got so jumbled up, that it hurt.”

“Hurt? I didn’t know vampires felt pain,” I said.

“Oh, we can feel pain, but we don’t get sick and wedon’t get headaches. But I got a massive migraine every time I tried to think about visiting Letty after that. And when I tried to engage her on the forums, she refused to answer. I’m on the edge of a migraine right now, since we started talking.”

I wasn’t sure what was happening. It sounded like he was under some sort of curse. But we needed a witch to tell us about magic. “Maybe I should call Penn,” I said.

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