The truck followed me through another turn. The sorcerer shook his arm at me, giving me a furious look. I shook my head. I wouldn’t release him unless there was no other choice.
“I can’t have you getting yourself killed while you’re my responsibility.”
“You’re all heart.”
I slowed down as I approached a green light. I needed to time this carefully. The truck came closer and closer. Almost.
The light turned yellow. I floored it, the wheels spinning and smoking as we shot forward. We cleared the intersection just as the light turned red. The truck stopped. Guess it hadn’t been following us after all.
Peter released the breath he’d been holding and relaxed into his seat, shooting me an unfriendly look.
“Take yourself to Asylum. It’s a club downtown.”
“I know what it is.” Everybody knew what it was. It was popular, but I hadn’t realized it was owned by the vampires. I’d been in there in the past year too. From now on I would have to steer clear of it.
Liam continued, “I’ll have some vampires I trust take you into custody.”
That wasn’t going to happen. Despite the panic the draugr had managed to instill in me, my goals remained the same. Find the people controlling him. Get the items for the sorcerer and free myself from his mark. The inkling of a plan was beginning to develop as to how I could extricate myself from the vampires’ grasp. It wouldn’t happen if I was locked down tight for my own protection.
“I’m thinking that doesn’t really work for me,” I said.
Liam’s voice rumbled in a low bass that I felt in my chest. “This isn’t a request.”
“Whew, that was scary. I bet most people fall right in line when you use that voice.” I don’t know what it was about Brax and Liam that brought out my inner bitch, but I decided to embrace her for now. She made me feel powerful and not like I was shaking in my boots at all the things that could go wrong.
“Aileen.”
“I’m sorry, but no. I have information you don’t, and the fact that it’s my life on the line hasn’t changed. I’ll let you know when I need your help. Until then, pack sand.”
For the fourth time that night, I hung up over the other party’s protests. The sorcerer watched me with a bemused expression as I threw my phone into the cup holder next to my seat.
“What?” I barked.
He shrugged with a feigned nonchalance. “Nothing. Just calculating your life expectancy.”
“Very short if we don’t figure out how to find the draugr’s stuff.”
“I’m thinking with the number of people we pissed off tonight, it’s not going to matter whether you find his keepsakes.”
I ignored that comment as the phone rang again. This time I made sure it said, “Brax calling,” before picking up.
“What?” I snapped.
His words were stiff and formal as he said, “Would you please tell me what you’ve uncovered?”
It wasn’t the apology I wanted, but it would have to do. Grudgingly, I told him about the draugr who used to be Jackson Miller and my theory that there was a mastermind behind all of the attacks.
“Do you have any proof of this mastermind?”
“Not yet. But I’m hoping to track down those items.”
He was distracted as he said, “Until you have more proof, I can’t assume there is a mastermind. I’ll focus on bringing down the draugr itself to stop these attacks.”
“Didn’t you listen to anything I said? The wolves have been the focus of all these attacks. You’ve lost the most people to this thing. Based on the fact that it can take over animals and cause insanity, it would be pure stupidity to go after it directly.”
“My people are more than just animals. I think we can handle this ‘Again-Walker’ as you call it.”
Oh, you foolish, arrogant man. You are going to get yourselves killed or worse.
