Page 73 of White Raven
“I was sitting here eating, and Wren came home. It hit me when she pointed out my appetite.”
“You’re always hungry, partner.”
“Not like this. I’ve eaten a lot before the change, mostly because my body lets me know I need it, but I do get full for a while. I’ve eaten so much today, and my stomach feels fuckingempty, Athan.”
He reigned in his logical sense, and his void reservoir for outwardly showing compassion, and tried to school his face to calm her down. “Why don’t you just wait until you know for sure? Even then, you’ve got options. I understand you’re freaking out, and I get where it’s placed…but either way you’re not by yourself. I told you; I’ve always got your six.”
“My six…” she sniffed, smirking.
“Yeah, if you have a litter? I’ll make sure God Himself can’t find me,” he snorted. At least he got a chuckle out of her.
“I hate you.”
“It’s gonna be fine. No matter what way this goes.” He flicked her chin, and she nodded tearfully, though it took every ounce of his energy to appear unaffected.
“Why are you here? Did you need me?” she asked, finally trashing the snot rag.
“Oh…yeah. I brought you something.” He reached into the inner pocket of his jacket, pulling out an envelope and handing it to her.
“What is this?”
“A lead. To make that frown turn upside down. If you spend any more time with your scandalous new friend, be sure to thank her again for the intel.” He pulled another chair out, plopping into it across from her as she opened up the papers.
“How in the hell did you get this?” she asked, skimming through it.
“Jenkins. You remember how she hid the fact that she ran her own prints? She was in the system. With that information Leigh gave about her going back to Portland,Jenkins was able to get a few snail trails on her before she came to Boston.”
“You know, I was thinking about that. If she's in the system and she’s a vampire? She can’t be very old.” She flipped through the papers, reading more.
“That, or she stole somebody’s identity.”
“I don’t think she did. You remember the day she came to the precinct? I made a dig at her name, and she didn’t seem bothered by it. Said she didn’t pick it, remember? I’m willing to bet itisher real name.”
Athan pointed at the papers in her hand. “What about the rest of her information? You think she’s a thirty-four-year-old vampire? I seriously doubt it.”
Rhaena smoothed the papers out on the table and leaned over them. “No criminal record. There’s an address!”
“Bingo,” Athan said, snapping his fingers.
“Are you gonna go?” she asked, raising her face to look at him.
“I’ve got my own copies to take to Sarah. I figured I’d let you do your thing, and then take these home and let her decide where she wants to start. The other night she said she still wanted to go to Seattle, but then we had some other ideas on things we could look into.”
“Like?”
“Like the Poe museums and exhibits.”
Rhaena lowered her brows and folded her arms as she leaned back in her chair. “Why Poe? I mean, I get that’s a thing between you two, but is there any particular reason?”
“If John Allan is an elder, he’s old. I’ve known a lot of people in my life, Rhaena. However this ties, Poe always seems to be the common denominator. There’s gotta be some clues laid out for us to find in this shit heap. Otherwise…what’s the fucking point? What does he want? A relationship with her?Why not just reach out? Sykes obviously makes contact with him somehow. He could have easily contacted Sarah without sending dead fucking birds to her front door. He’s sending us on a scavenger hunt. He picked me for his daughter. He’s trying to make me work for it.”
“Does that not bother you, Athan? This all seems incredibly sketchy. You don’t know this man. Whether he’s her father, or not…this whole thing feels off. I still find it hard to believe.”
Athan stared at the table, chewing his bottom lip. “Believe what you hear, and only one half that you see…”
Rhaena scoffed. “Whose logic is that?”
He finally met her eyes, smirking. “Poe’s.”
