I knocked, and Sam answered. She reeked of wine. Not surprising, given that she was clutching a glass of it in her hand.
“Can I help you?”
“My name is Cole. I’m a friend of Eli’s. Is he here?”
She gave me a glassy-eyed stare. “No.”
“Where is he?”
Her eyes narrowed—my only warning before she started to slam the door on me. I caught it one-handed.
Sam stumbled backward, some of her wine sloshing from the glass. I caught her by the shoulders before she could fall.
“Is he at work?”
Mutely, Sam nodded, staring at me with wide eyes.
Relief crashed through me. If he was in a public place, surrounded by coworkers and hospital staff, he was probably safe. But annoyance followed fast on its heels. “He was supposed to have the next several days off.”
He hadn’t left a note, either.
“He got called in, like always.” She managed not to slur her words, though they were soft around the edges. This was far from the first time I’d seen her intoxicated. Not exactly a surprise, given that Eli had written about his sister’s drinking problem—or, more frequently, around it—in his journal. She added, “Let go of me.”
I realized I still had my hands on her shoulders and released her at once.
“What time did he come home?”
“Why are you so interested?” Sam shook her head, her expression hardening. “Look, my brother is complicated. And if he’s giving you ‘no’ signals, do him and yourself both a favor and take them at face value.”
Well, he certainly hadn’t given me any no signals last night, had he?
“I’ll tell him you stopped by.” A colder note entered her voice; the dismissal was impossible to mistake.
Still, I had to respect that she wanted to protect Eli. After all, so did I. For the first time, I wondered if she was in any danger.Perhaps my presence in Eli’s life might put her in the crosshairs as well.
Inwardly sighing in exasperation, I caught her eye. “Hand me your phone.”
She blinked rapidly, startled. Her face didn’t go blank—I hadn’t used enough hypnotic power to put her fully under my spell—just enough that she wanted to do as I asked more than she didn’t.
Frowning, she fished her phone out of her pocket and handed it to me. I noted that vampiric hypnotism seemed to work onher, at least. Whatever strange quirk made Eli immune to me didn’t extend to his sister.
I took her phone and plugged my number into it.
She watched me without comment, her frown deepening.
“I’m making sure you have my phone number,” I said, replying to her unspoken question. I caught her eye again and pushed just a little harder this time. “Sam, listen to me. This is important. If there’s ever a moment when you feel that either you or your brother might be in danger, call me. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are, what time it is, or where you happen to be. I don’t care. I will come, and I will help. Do you understand?”
I stopped pushing and waited.
“Yes.” Her expression went faintly cloudy for an instant but then refocused. She lost her frown, though her face remained puzzled. “Why?”
Alarm jolted through me at her question. Even intoxicated, she wasn’t a pushover. I shuddered to think what our encounter would have looked like had she been sober.
“No reason,” I replied airily, trying not to let her see how shaken I felt.
Then, without another word, I turned to leave. If there was danger, she would let me know. Though everything else felt uncertain, I knew that much to be true.
“He gets off at three,” she called after me before I had taken more than three steps.
