That was bullshit, and the man knew it. The Siren enjoyed himself plenty. Twisted fucker.
He glared up at the setting sun through the dense red clouds, cursing out the Siren in his head, because saying it all out loud would lead to being hung up on.
“Tick-tock, Severo, I don’t have all day. Tell me what you want or I’m hanging up.”
“About that…”
Severo walked up to the front desk of the Shellfont Hotel, eyeing the large aquarium that made up one wall of the lobby. The hotel took the wordshellliterally—looking like an underwater palace, with everything shell, beach, or ocean related.
The man at the desk smiled. “Checking in?”
“Not exactly.”
He smiled back, doing his best to not stare at the white pearlescent suit the guy was wearing. At least it matched with the man’s stark white hair, a dye he’d assumed, considering the man was human and looked to be in his twenties.
He pulled out his badge and flashed it. When the guy paled, he quickly said, “The fugitive isn’t dangerous, but I do need to capture him. I need access to your security feeds, and the help of whoever is in charge of monitoring it. I have both a warrant and paperwork requesting the cooperation of the hotel’s staff in this matter.”
“Ah…well…our system is self-monitoring…” He trailed off.
Severo rolled his eyes. Everyone was so quick to try to cut out whoever they could to save money, they forgot how often shit like that failed. “Then the help of one of your security guards is good enough.”
“Right…I’ll call someone?—”
“How about you give me access to whatever room Dorian Landon is in, and then direct me to the security room and the guard can meet me there?”
“Uh…yeah, sure… Can I see that badge again? And the warrant and…paperwork?” He said the last hesitantly as if he’d never seen a piece of paper. Young people…and he supposed…anyone who didn’t work in government.
Severo pulled his badge back out, along with the paperwork, showing the man both the warrant and the document with the cooperation request. The guy pulled a clear tablet out, tapped it on and scanned the code on all three items. His face relaxed as it, no doubt, told him it was all real.
“Right.” The man pressed a button on his desk. A virtual keyboard appeared and he began to type. “Dorian Landon is in room two twenty-five. Hold your eyes wide and stand very still, so I can scan them and register you for the room.”
Severo did as he asked. The man pulled out a retina scanner and he stared blankly into the blinding flash of light, his eyes water.
“All done!” the guy announced brightly as he set it down and pulled out a thin clear tablet with glowing lines that appeared to form the layout of the hotel. “You should be able to find the security room with this.” He handed it over.
“Thank you.”
“I’ll send someone down right away.”
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
Skya let out a squealas Seri tickled her little sock covered feet. Strapped into her baby seat, she was reaching her little hands out for him to pick her up. He tapped her nose lightly, she scrunched it and sneezed before giving him a gummy smile.
“I’ll give you all the cuddles you want in just a bit, my little dewdrop,” Seri cooed. He gave her a little bear shaped teething ring that she loved to gum. “I’ll be right back, okay?” He kissed her nose.
Empty ice bucket in hand, he closed the door behind him with a sigh, shoulders sagging. The sun would be rising soon, but he hadn’t slept yet. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gotten a full night. Constantly being on the move wasn’t great for his sleep, neither were any of the other metal issues he now dealt with. Though, Skya was up at all hours anyway.
His stretch of freedom had come crashing down the moment Severo Ambrose had barged into his apartment. Seri would have called the brief months of freedom peaceful, but he had too many fears to really find any sort of peace, besides the brief moments that he’d been able to reach mental numbness. It was hard to find peace when every shadow, every patch of darkness, looked like a threat.
Damn CEB agent. Damn Preston! What was it going to take for them to leave him the fuck alone? Whatever…tomorrow he’d be off to a new planet… Maybe there he’d find some sort of tranquility.
Shaking his head, he walked down the hallway towards the vending machines and not the ice. Mostly as he could make his own ice, and he was just going to use the bucket to carry stuff. He’d noticed earlier that one of the machines had been full of baby supplies…and he was out of powdered breast milk, and a few other things.
Severo slippedinto the shadows the minute the guard notified him via the communications device in his ear that Seri had left the room without the baby in hand. He’d be letting the guard keep the other half of the device as there was no way in hell he was using it again after it had been in someone else’s ear.
Personally, he was currently questioning the human taking it in the first place, even when Severo offered to just let him text him. Man seemed way too eager to play ‘spy’, or whatever nonsense was going on in the human’s head.
He passed people in the hall, their forms dark indigo with various shades showing their detail and features. Severo almost stopped as he passed Seri on the way to the man’s room, holding back his urge to just grab him. He’d probably be able to restrain him, but…the risk of hurting him just wasn’t worth it. Nor was it worth frightening him.
