go after another dead end, lose more friends, and risk my life.
“I think you don’t have an option anymore,” he whispered, his light grey eyes boring into me. “Do you?”
“There was a name on The Board. I saw it this morning. Five years ago, naga skin bag. Her brother was employed at Mygi,” I answered, swallowing.
Paden shook his head. “You have to let it go, Kaliya. Chasing the answers to those questions is going to get you killed.”
“Easier said than done,” I reminded him. “So, yeah, there’s a tenuous connection between Mygi and my…my personal case. It’s got me sniffing for a better one. Maybe this human knows something.”
“Gods…” Paden groaned. “I should have known you would find some way to connect it to that fucking board of yours, you paranoid bitch.”
“I have to try,” I said, steeling myself for his words.
“If you think Mygi is part of that world, you are in for a battle you cannot win, Kaliya.” Paden shook his head again, hitting his hand on his desk. “How many times has this obsession of yours nearly gotten you killed? Are we going down that road again? I thought it ended five years ago when everything went cold.”
“It never ended,” I snapped. “I’m a patient hunter, and I’ll get what’s due to me in the end, even if it kills me.” I stood up and started for the door. “I’ll look into Mygi. If there’s any information I think you’ll be interested in, I’ll send it to you encrypted.”
I marched out of his office and went to the bar. Henley looked up and sighed, pouring me a scotch before I had to ask. Once I had it in hand, I realized I forgot to ask Paden if he had any idea on who Mygi hired to clean up their human problem. Turning to look at the bar, I realized I didn’t need to ask. He was walking in.
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
Five hundred and thirteen years old, Sinclair was the vampire everyone called when a dirty job had to be done. He lived in and practically ruled Las Vegas but stayed away from Phoenix. I tried to keep him out of Arizona, but that was impossible. He was too good at what he did and too dangerous for most to toy with.
He saw me from the bottom of the stairs, and the cold smile he gave me would have terrified others. For me, it was a daring challenge. He knew he was in my space, in my city, and there was nothing I could do about it. Three times in eighty years, Sinclair had stood in front of the Tribunal and walked away, declared innocent of all crimes. Everyone knew he was a monster. He made no attempt to cover it, but he found loopholes. He exploited situations and let others take the fall for him.
And each time, he laughed in my face as he walked away. There was more than a small rivalry between us. I wanted him dead. He wanted me to know I couldn’t kill him—not legally.
If I did, everyone would know it was me. I would find myself on the same chopping block he walked away from so many times.
“Kaliya,” he crooned, walking toward the bar. “It’s very good to see you.”
“I bet,” I snapped. Of all the faces I wished was on The Board, his was the one I could never find any connection for. Maybe this was finally the chance I had to connect him to everything else.
“Now, now. I’m only here on a short trip. Mygi said the locals weren’t helpful in their pursuit of an errant human.”
“I figured you were the guy they hired,” I said, sipping my scotch. He was taller, but I was never intimidated by Sinclair. I had run into him too many times over the last eighty years to be afraid of him. I knew him, understood him, and he knew and understood me.
“You know, I always wondered why you never go solo, get out of the Tribunal’s grasp. You could probably find this bounty in a few days. You might be an Executioner, but you have the mind of an Investigator. The Tribunal doesn’t know what they’re wasting with you, do they?” He was complimentary, sounding innocent, but the look in his eyes told me otherwise. He was looking to get a rise out of me. He always was.
“I don’t pretend to assume what the Tribunal does or doesn’t know. I think you missed out