Page 47 of Blood Illusions

He didn’t have to tell me twice. I sank my teeth into the juicy cheeseburger, and I swore nothing had ever tasted so good.

Tim picked up his burger. “Anything important going on down there I should know about?”

Damon swigged his beer and shrugged. “Same old grizzly hunter talk down there. Unfortunately, all the hot chicks stayed home tonight.”

“Damon.” I wiped my hands on the napkin.

Damon chuckled lightly, a roguish twinkle in his eye. “Hey, just keeping the spirits up, Sawyer. In our line of work, a little levity doesn’t hurt.” He took another casual sip of his beer, then looked at her more seriously. “Don’t worry, sis. I know where the line is. Fun’s fun, but the hunt always comes first. You’ve got my word on that.”

I clasped his hand. “I know.”

Tim’s phone buzzed, breaking the momentary silence. He glanced at the screen, his eyes narrowing as he read the message. “Well, this just got more interesting,” he murmured, looking at Damon, then me.

“Dr. Gould and your buddy Justice are waving a flag for a little pow-wow. They’ve stumbled onto something and are itching to see what cards we’re holding.” He locked the phone, his expression a mix of curiosity and caution. “They’re asking to compare notes, but I bet my last silver bullet there’s more to it than swapping ghost stories.”

My heart quickened when he mentioned Justice’s name, and my skin heated up. Why did my body always react like this? He was a vampire and not to be trusted. Luckily, neither Tim nor Damon were watching me. I felt like a traitor sitting in their midst.

Get your game face on, girl.

Damon scoffed, a hint of a smirk on his face. “Fishing for info, huh? Gould and Justice must think we were born yesterday. We’ll bite, but let’s make sure we’re the ones setting the hook. We’ll meet on our turf, our rules. And Tim, let’s play this close to the chest. If they want a peek at our hand, they better be ready to show theirs first.”

I reached for a napkin to wipe the grease from the burger I’d devoured and to hide the flush on my face. “I agree,” I stated between swallows. “If their intel lines up with ours, we can trust them. If not, they’re trying to play us.”

Damon studied me. “Why’s your face red?”

“The burger was hot.”

Such a stupid lie, but no way was I telling him the truth.

Damon gave me a suspicious look before he glanced at Tim’s phone. “When do they want to meet?”

“As soon as possible,” Tim replied, his brows furrowed in concern. “Gould isn’t exactly known for his patience.”

Damon reclined in his chair, studying his partner. “Why the rush?”

Tim set down his half-eaten burger and wiped his hands on a napkin. “He didn’t say, but it must be urgent.”

“We need to find out more about that rock garden before we meet. If we don’t, they could lead us down a false trail,” I remarked.

“Let’s schedule a meeting for tomorrow morning,” Damon suggested.

Tim shifted his gaze back and forth between us, the tension in his face evident. “Where do you want to meet?”

I inhaled deeply before answering. The rose seemed to draw these things to me, but maybe they wouldn’t attack if we were in a crowd. “Someplace public. A neutral location with lots of people.” I thought about it for a minute. “How about the coffee cafe Brewed Awakening on Fifth and Main Street at ten a.m.? It will be crowded tomorrow at that time.”

Tim nodded in agreement as he typed out a response on his phone. “Coffee will definitely be needed tomorrow,” he announced with a grimace. “I have a feeling it’s going to be a long night ahead of us. So get ready to dig through stacks of books before we stroll into our pow-wow tomorrow.”

Damon rolled his eyes at the mention of stacks of books. He flashed a grin. “Ah, research, my old nemesis. I was hoping we could wing it with charm and good looks, but fine, I’ll play librarian for the night. Don’t expect me to enjoy it, though. And Tim, if I have to suffer through a night of bookworming, you’re buying the coffee. Make it strong and keep it coming.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

For the next several hours, we flipped through books, looking for anything that would explain the solubility and heat tests and the other freaky things with these vampires. I could barely keep my eyes open, but I was determined to solve the riddle.

So far, I hadn’t found anything on the fiery ornamental red grass I’d seen in the rock garden.

I slammed a book shut.

Tim lifted an eyebrow. “Frustrated?”

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