Page 4 of Last Hope
“Savvy,” she called out to him before he went over to do his business. She had obviously startled him because he jumped and turned with a weird expression on his freckled face.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” he demanded in a nasal voice. “This is themen’sroom! Can’t you read the signs?” His face flushed.
“Savvy, I need to talk to you.”
The wire rimmed glasses on the bridge of his nose slid down, he pushed them up and scowled at her. “My name isn’t ‘Savvy,’ okay? Get that through your thick little skull! And get out! This is highly inappropriate!” He crossed his lanky arms over his small chest, as if he were naked and preserving his dignity.
Esmeralda rolled her eyes. “Look, I need to ask you something. It’s really important.”
His face flushed deeper. “Can’t you just wait untilafterI get out of the restroom? This isviolating my privacy!”
“I’m sorry, but it really can’t wait.” The urgency in her voice appeared to have no affect or sympathy on him. He scowled at her but nodded, probably only listening so that she could leave him alone. She inhaled deeply and continued, “What’s going on with Isis? Why are they saying that her brother is alive?”
He made an exasperated sound deep in his throat and Esmeralda was briefly reminded of the time he had basically called Ezzy and Antonio idiots because they didn’t know how he planned to track Isis. The kid was a raging jerk, she decided bitterly, and she was low on patience.
“They’re saying he’s alive, perhaps,because he is alive.”
Ezzy narrowed her eyes at the kid. She didn’t really appreciate his sarcasm or his attitude, for that matter. He was rude and irritating. She wondered if she could choke him a bit…
“What kind of Supernatural are you?” she asked curiously a moment after the thought entered her mind.
“What do you care?” he snapped impatiently.
“I’m just wondering…”
His intense green gaze glided over her body slowly. Strangely enough, she didn’t feel the need to cover her arms over her chest. It wasn’t as if he were judging her, or eating her with his eyes. Even if hehadbeen doing that Esmeralda didn’t think she’d feel repulsed. The kid just seemed so…so…innocentdespite his attitude problem.
“I’m a werewolf…”
Esmeralda raised her eyebrows at him. Savvy? A werewolf? The thought seemed highly unlikely. Every werewolf she’d met had been a security guard at the Santiago mansion and they had been…well…buff. With bulging arms, nice, soft hair and there was always something swift and, well, wolf-like about them and the way they did things; basically, they looked ruthless and Savvy looked, well, like Savvy. There was no other way to describe him.
“Yeah, yeah, I know I don’t look it, but who cares?” Obviously, he did, Ezzy thought, staring at the pink blotches that formed on his cheeks from embarrassment. “Anyway, is that all you wanted to know? I have to pee…”
“I just wanted to know why they need to talk to Isis and what it is they found out about her brother…”
“Look,” he sighed. “I can’t tell you. First of all, Victoria will rip my head from my body if I reveal confidential information to you. Just wait until your friend gets out so she can tell you.” Then, he turned around and, without any embarrassment, unzipped his pants to relieve himself.
Esmeralda groaned and left.Well, that was a complete waste of time,she thought bitterly.
* * *
“Doyou have any idea where he might be hiding?” Victoria asked Isis, for what felt like the billionth time, and Isis’s answer was still the same.
“I thought him to be dead, in all of these years he could be a changed person. I have no idea how he thinks or operates so, I’ll repeat, I have nofuckingidea where he’s at.”
Victoria sighed in exasperation and turned to her partner, Terrance, who eyed Isis, his face an unreadable mask. His eyes were swallowed with blackness for a moment and Isis felt a tug on her mind. It was a small tug, the kind of tug you would feel if a child pulled at the hem of your shirt.
“She’s telling the truth,” Terrance said. And he had said that before. They had been at it for hours and the end result was the same: she didn’t know where Azizi was.
“Here’s the thing, we don’t know anything about your brother. He might have been controlled by Caesareon as you were and now that Caesareon’s dead, Azizi is out there, maybe confused. In any case, he’s either a victim or a suspect and we need to bring him in for questioning.”
Isis tugged on a lock of stray hair and put her face into her hands. There was a growing feeling of dread working its way around her stomach, giving her that weird sensation like she was going to vomit all over their table.
She had thought her brother was dead but they had pictures to prove otherwise. They had showed them to her and she recognized her brother in an instant. It was a face not unlike her own; pretty, with slanted eyes and dark hair. He looked just as she remembered him, except he was a vampire now, and in the pictures they showed her he looked like a savage.
It was still hard to believe.
Azizi was alive.
