Page 9 of Fanged Embrace
A sudden knock had me jumping in my skin, and Caden poked his head around the door. He looked left and right—and then he looked down, and his brow wrinkled in quiet confusion.
“Hey…?” He slipped inside, looking around like he wasn’t quite sure what he was doing there. “Hunter said you wanted to talk to me?”
“Yeah.” I sighed, pushing up from the plank position I’d been holding on the floor. “I need you to look into someone for me. Name’s Laurie. Early twenties, I think. Not sure. She’s short, dark hair, obviously dealing with something heavy, and I’ve got no last name.” I grimaced. “She’s… interesting.”
Caden raised a brow. “That’s all? Interesting and haunted?”
Poor guy. When Caden retired from his position as a private detective, he was probably looking forward to a life of relaxation, kicking back with his kids and keeping house while his wife went about her witchy business. Instead, he’d been roped into every Leyore coven crisis since he and Hunter became friends.
I shrugged, sitting upright and crossing my legs on my newly acquired yoga mat. “Pretty much. I have reason to believe she’s important. Possibly. She seems human, but if she’s part of the supernatural crowd or connected to it, I need to know.”
Caden was looking a little exasperated, but he knew betterthan to bother putting up much of a fight. “Fine, fine. I’ll do what I can. You got anything else for me to work with, though? Phone number, addresses?”
“I’ll text you her number, and she frequents a bar near Lynwood and Stoneway.” I bounced my knees with a sheepish shrug. “That’s… kinda all I’ve got.”
“That’s not much to go on but I’ll see what I can dig up.” Caden stuck his hands in his pockets, shaking his head with a sigh. “And tell Hunter to stop offering my services to the rest of you. I’m supposed to beretired,goddammit.”
He looked entirely done with me, with the coven, and with life in general. That amused me just enough to muster a smirk.
“I really appreciate it,” I drawled, batting my lashes in mock gratitude. “But, hey, let’s be honest—you like the excitement. Better than whiling away your golden years feeding pigeons, right, old man?”
Caden balked. “Old man?!I’m not even—” He cut himself off, recognizing the futility. “You know what? Not worth it,” he muttered, running a hand through his hair. “Text me that number, and I’ll do my best to find this Rory?—”
“Laurie,” I corrected him and Caden rolled his eyes.
“Laurie, whatever. After that, I’m back to retirement, got it?”
“Sure you are.” I feigned an angelic smile as he stomped back to the door. “You say that every time, but you always end up back here. Must be the charm of the place.”
“Charm, my ass. You lunatics are gonna be the death of me,” Caden groused, stomping out of my office and letting the door slam shut behind him.
A weary sigh escaped me the moment he was gone. Time was ticking down and I barely had any leads to go on—and my future vision, for the time being, was apparently kaput. All I knew was that this mysterious Laurie was the key to preventing disaster, though I had no idea how she slotted into the picture.
Repositioning on the yoga mat, I bent myself into a downward slope, arms trembling just slightly as I exhaled. The hum of the overhead lights provided a dull white noise, and my mind started to drift, searching for that elusive spark that might just show me more.
I had just reached a state of almost-not-uncomfortable when I was rudely interrupted once again.
“River! You busy? Because we’ve got a situation—” Dylan and Amara burst into my office like a gust of wind, then halted when they found me with my ass in the air. “Uh…”
Amara tilted her head at the sight of me, upside-down on my hands and feet, and Dylan gave me a dubious once-over. “What the hell are you doing?”
“New hobby.” Slowly, I lowered my knees to the mat and pushed myself upright, flicking my hair out of my face. “You two have the worst timing.”
Dylan snorted. “We have news.” She eyed the yoga mat, adding, “Why does your new hobby involve downward dog in your office?”
“I think better here than at home!” I hauled myself to my feet and rolled up my yoga mat in a huff. “What’s the news?”
Dylan curled her lip like she was prepping another quip, but Amara elbowed her in the ribs and took over.
She spoke slowly while her hands moved in sync with the words she sounded out. “Newly turned vampires, popping up like weeds. A lot of them.” She paused and tilted her head back when her new fangs poked out from under her lips. “Goddammit. I can’t get these things to retract.”
While Amara struggled to reel in her newfound vampirism, Dylan picked up the slack and continued for her. “It’s getting harder and harder for us to keep it quiet. Hunter has been doing mind wipes all over the place but we just can’t keep up.”
My stomach clenched and I gripped the yoga mat a littletighter. “How many are we talking?” Then I set it aside and used my hands to sign the question for Amara’s sake.
She was still poking and prodding at her fangs, looking rather disgruntled about it, but she managed to grate out a response. “More than we can keep track of. And they’ve been attacking people. We’ve had ten incidents in the last couple of weeks—someone’s turning them at an alarming rate.”
Dylan patted her shoulder and then reached for her chin, tilting her head back and forth to examine her fangs until Amara swatted her away. I watched the two of them for a beat.
