Heart of Vengeance (Alice Worth #6) - Lisa Edmonds Page 0,81
him existed and had invited me upstairs “for a bite” while my clothes were in the washer. I had no intention of speaking to my Charles again, but the possibility of seeing him die of sheer horror at such a lame vampire come-on was almost enough to make me change my mind.
I wished I had some way to take a picture of this Charles and Hawthorne’s back to show Sean. He wasn’t likely to believe me otherwise, even if Malcolm supported my story.
“Thank you for the offer,” I said. “That’s very generous, but I think Lucy and I will have to leave immediately before the trail we’re following goes cold.”
“How cold-hearted you are.” Charles’s smile revealed a hint of fang. “I will be doomed to be alone tonight.”
“I rather doubt that.” I had a hard time envisioning any version of Charles who slept alone unless it was by choice.
While we were talking, Ronan and Lucy documented the scene with their phones, recording video and taking photos. Daisy remained fixated on Ronan, watching him as he put his phone away and set to work bagging the wolves’ heads. It was a gruesome chore. I found myself standing near the back door with Malcolm, trying to ignore the activity going on behind me. Meanwhile, Lucy was in her jeep, talking to someone on the radio. Probably reporting the deaths to her superiors.
Malcolm touched my arm. I’m worried about you, he said in my head. That sorcerer magic is black magic, Alice.
My choice was to either use it or get chewed on by a werewolf again, I countered. And since my magic doesn’t work right here, the odds that I’d be able to burn out the werewolf virus are slim to none. I didn’t want to use it, but I didn’t think I had much of a choice.
I know. His cool fingers tightened on my arm. Promise me you will listen to me if I tell you the magic is changing you.
I promise, I told Malcolm. And if I don’t listen to you, you have my permission to do whatever you need to do to save me from the magic, and myself.
He didn’t reply for a long moment. Finally, he said, That could mean something pretty serious.
I know. That’s why I’m telling you this now, while I know I’m thinking clearly. Sean and I made the same promise to each other before I left.
He squeezed my arm again, then let go.
With the wolves’ heads stowed in his saddlebags, Ronan carried their bodies to a fenced-off area on the other end of the roadhouse. That had to be where the incinerator was. Daisy watched him work, her eyes bright. He ignored her pointed stare.
“Daisy,” I said.
She walked around the bloody area to join us near the door. I got down on one knee to bring myself eye level with her, grimacing at the various aches and pains from a rough day. “I don’t think he wants to come with us,” I told her as Ronan disappeared into the fenced enclosure with the last body. “And I’m not sure we want him to. I don’t know what he is.”
Her stare was unblinking. Clearly, my argument had failed to convince her.
Ronan emerged again and shut the gate to the enclosure. Daisy nudged me hard. I sighed and got to my feet.
Charles met Ronan near his Harley. Ronan handed the vampire a roll of cash and said something in an undertone. Charles’s eyebrows rose, but he tucked the money into his pocket. I wondered what the payoff was for: Ronan’s bar tab, or something else?
Ronan swung his right leg over the bike and settled into the seat, raising the kickstand with his boot. With a wink in my direction, Charles went back inside the roadhouse.
Daisy gave me a push that nearly knocked me over. I headed in the bounty hunter’s direction with her at my side.
Surprisingly, even standing next to the saddlebags, I couldn’t tell what was in them. The witchy wards must hide their contents—even the smell.
As he took a pair of black leather gloves from his pockets, I said, “Look, I don’t know how she knows what she knows.” I gestured at Daisy, who stood in front of his bike. “I don’t know how she’s tracking the person we’re after, how she knew where we were headed or that you’d be here, or why she thinks you should come with us.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Sounds like you don’t know much.”