Page 6 of Dead to Rights
“Reaper.” Noah shrugged. “Kind of an asshole.”
For whatever reason, the description seemed to appease him, and he settled against the back of the booth again. Weird.
“What did he say exactly?”
“Not much. Just that she’s a new vampire and crazy, but he didn’t say why he thinks that.” Linking his fingers together atop the table, Noah leaned forward on his elbows and tilted his head. “There is something off about her, though.”
“How so?”
“Nothing solid. I just get a bad vibe from her.” He stared down at his hands while he searched for the right words. “Intense, I guess. I tried to talk to her, but she didn’t react at all. Then she just took off.”
“She’s in the village?”
Noah met the prince’s gaze and dipped his head. “I don’t know where, but yeah. She’s fast, too.”
“I’ll find her,” Finn offered.
Orrin hesitated, fussing with his robes and tossing his silvery hair over his shoulder. “Maybe that’s not a good idea.”
Technically a fledgling himself, Finn still struggled with impulse control, especially in situations that involved heightened emotions. At the same time, even if he went feral, it wasn’t like souls could die again.
Apart from taking a plunge into the Acheron, or pissing off Hades himself, the dead just regenerated like video game characters. Granted, while he had never experienced it firsthand, he’d heard it wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience.
Apparently, it hurt like the ten shades of hell and took weeks to fully recover from.
Finn typically had a pretty laid-back personality with an easy smile and kind eyes. He spoke slowly, moved with purpose, and never used his size to intimidate. When things went wrong, though, they wentreallywrong, and it happened fast.
As such, he understood Orrin’s concern, but Finn had been doing much better in recent weeks.
“I’ll go with him.”
He wouldn’t be able to stop the cowboy physically, but he might be able to reason with him. Or run for help. Whatever.
“Finn is probably the only one who can catch her,” he reasoned when the prince still looked unconvinced.
Sure, Orrin had magic, and he could teleport, but this mission felt a little below his paygrade. So far, the female hadn’t become a safety concern—that he knew of. They just needed to find her.
“Okay,” Orrin relented after another tense moment. “Hopefully, this is all a misunderstanding, but I’d like to speak to her.”
“We’ll bring her to you.” He glanced sideways for confirmation from Finn.
“I’ll find her,” the cowboy promised. “And I won’t rip her head off.”
Despite his easy smile, a hint of defensiveness threaded his tone. Not that Noah blamed him. It must be exhausting to always be treated like a ticking time bomb.
Sensing the tension simmering beneath Finn’s steady exterior, Noah gave him a reassuring nod and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “Let’s do this.”
Outside, they fell into step together, Noah slowing to match the deliberate rhythm of Finn’s boots against the weathered stones. Circles of orange light bled together to illuminate the street, courtesy of lanterns hung from splintered posts. He appreciated the aesthetics, but honestly, they did little to combat the perpetual twilight.
“Where should we start?” he asked.
“There aren’t too many places for her to go,” Finn reasoned. “Unless she’s tying one on at the tavern, my guess is that she probably went back to the river.”
“Tying what on?”
“Drinking.”
“Got it.” He ducked his head to hide his grin. “Why do you think she’d go back to the river, though?”
