Darkness Splintered(84)

 

I will restrain the urge to say that comment makes no sense.

 

Grin growing, I said to Stane, "I was. Someone had to check whether the explosion had destroyed that locker we were interested in."

 

"Which it did." He took a sip of coffee. "So what did the receptionist say that tweaked your radar?"

 

"Not much, just ‘You changed again.'"

 

"As you said, not much."

 

"No. But when she saw me the first time, I'd face-changed. So why would she say something like that when it was actually the first time she'd seen the real me?"

 

"It could have been shock," Stane mused. "Or maybe the person who blew up the place was a vampire. They've been known to play hard and fast with other people's memories when it suits their purposes."

 

"True, but what interest would a vampire have in blowing up that place? And why make the receptionist think it was me going in there?"

 

"It could have been someone from the council," Azriel said. "Perhaps Hunter wanted to know firsthand what we were doing in there."

 

"She has the Cazadors following me around twenty-four seven. Any one of them could have checked astrally rather than physically, and no one would have been the wiser."

 

"But Hunter also has enemies on the council," Azriel noted. "Perhaps Stanford has a desire to discover what lay in that storage unit for himself."

 

"Why would he have someone use my image, though?"

 

"That I cannot tell you."

 

"Whoever this person impersonating you is," Stane commented, "they don't necessarily have to be a face shifter. Actors have been changing the shape of their faces and bodies for years with makeup, padding, and stuff."

 

"True, but in this case, unlikely."