Keeper of the Shadows - By Alexandra Sokoloff Page 0,39

remake. The denizens of our little community are the worst gossips in Hollywood. Why should anyone kill anyone over a remake?”

She answered carefully. “Didn’t the original movie cause a lot of controversy in the community because it came so close to revealing the existence of the Otherworld? Maybe someone felt there was a danger that Mayo—or someone—would go further and actually break the Code with this new film.”

“Utter nonsense,” Darius said. “Mayo didn’t break the Code with Otherworld, and he hasn’t since. He liked to think he was flirting with the edge, but the truth is, he always stayed safely behind the line. He enjoyed the power and prestige of knowing something very few mortals are ever privy to, and he wasn’t about to make that secret common knowledge. The clear proof is he’s had fifteen years since Otherworld with multiple opportunities to expose the Otherworld, and he never has.”

Barrie had to admit Darius had a point.

The agent smiled as if he’d heard her thought, and continued, “My dear, mortals see what they’re comfortable seeing. In the end, it’s nothing but a movie, all sets and makeup and special effects, and we Others go on as we always have—unseen, unsung.”

He sat back and sipped his drink, which left his mouth just a little too red.

“Now, I strongly suggest you leave Mayo’s death to the police. There are ten thousand mortals who would have liked to see Mayo dead. The chances that the killer is one of ours is very slim, and there’s no sense in your getting involved.”

Then you don’t know about Tiger. Or you’re pretending you don’t, Barrie thought.

“I really don’t have any intention of investigating Mayo,” she said.

He raised an eyebrow. “Then, what exactly are we talking about?”

“I’m trying to find Robbie Anderson,” she said. Up until the moment the words left her mouth, she’d had no idea that she was going to say them. But from the startled look on Darius’s face, she realized it had been the right thing to say. It wasn’t easy to catch him off-guard, and yet she’d managed it.

“Well, well,” he said softly, and for a moment his eyes were far away. “Don’t think I haven’t tried. Losing Johnny and Robbie at the same time, and the way we did—that was half my client base at the time, and more talent than I’ve seen before or since.” His business mask had slipped, and the look on his face was something like regret.

“You really have no idea what happened to him?” she asked.

“I think he’s dead.”

He sounded so certain. Barrie felt a chill...and a strange sense of grief. Why? Robbie Anderson was just a childhood fantasy, an abstraction on the screen.

“Why do you say that?” she managed.

“Shifters have a tendency to die badly,” he said. “Something I hardly need to tell you, Keeper.”

He looked straight into her eyes, a compelling, almost hypnotic gaze. “Believe me, my dear, if he were alive on this planet I would have found him and had him back in the business long ago. He could have named his price.”

Barrie found she had to make an effort to pull her eyes from his. Damn mesmerizing vampires. She felt a little weak from the intensity of his stare and reached for her glass of water to give her a moment to recover her balance. Her overwhelming feeling was that Darius was telling the truth, but that was what was so tricky about vampires and Others generally. Under the right circumstances, they could make you believe...anything.

She put her glass down and smiled at him while being sure, this time, not to look directly at him. “Maybe I’ll find him for you,” she said nonchalantly. “I’ll be sure to keep you posted.”

She was shocked at her own audacity, but exhilarated, too.

“You do that,” Darius said, with an edge of wariness, and for a moment she was sure he was going to dismiss her. But then he asked, “Is there anything else?”

“As a matter of fact, there is. I’ve come across the most interesting rumor.” She glanced at him without making eye contact. “Is it true that Johnny Love died on set, before Otherworld even finished shooting?”

Darius looked as shocked as if she’d staked him. “Certainly not. I was on set for the last few days of shooting, and Johnny was most assuredly there. Do you think I wouldn’t have noticed if my own client had dropped dead?”

He sounded truly incredulous.

Instinctively she nodded, as if she completely agreed with him. “That’s what I