Night Kissed (Chosen Vampire Slayer #1) - Mila Young Page 0,27
of people, but it just meant more help for Dad, as far as I was concerned.”
“Right.” I took a sip of my cocoa and stared into the fire. “And it was probably a huge part of why the boats are doing so well now. Not like he’s going to turn down an opportunity to expand if he thinks it’s viable.”
“Exactly. But one day I was running numbers and I kept having to go back and double check. I thought there must have been a mistake—these guys weren’t getting paid nearly enough. And usually that’s the kind of thing that will start a riot around here, so I called my dad in a panic and told him we were accidentally shorting some of the fishermen.” Her frown deepened slightly. “That was when he told me about the arrangement they made and how he was paying them partially in a percentage of their catch.”
“Has he ever done that before?” I already knew the answer, but I wanted to hear it from her.
Lian shook her head vehemently. “God, no. He would’ve laughed anyone who asked right back out the door. I tried to get him to tell me what was going on at the time. He just said this was a special case, not to worry about it, and to get back to work.” She chuckled. “I mean, you know Dad. Work is his life. I just did what he asked.”
“Was this around when the violence began?” I leaned over to pour more hot cocoa from a massive thermos on the coffee table. The chocolate-scented steam made me think of the couple of holidays I flew back here after I lost Grandma and spent it in the very same place against the quiet backdrop of snow. Those days had never felt more like a dream.
Lian took a deep breath. I could see her sifting through her memories almost like they were physical objects, grains of sand pouring through her fingers. “I think so,” she finally said, although the words were reluctant. “I want to say there had been stories about a crime wave on the news before, but this was when it all started exploding. People in Anchorage were kind of shocked. There are a lot of disappearances up here, but not necessarily outright murder.”
“And where were the vamps while this was all happening?” I was slowly working my way toward what was, for me, the real heart of the issue. If Lian or her family had had dealings with Orion in the past, she didn’t tell me. Would I have done something if I’d known about him sooner?
“I wish I could tell you.” She ran her fingers through her hair. “But I didn’t put two and two together for a pretty long time. Not until our guys started going missing. And even then, who’s to say it had to be vamps? Alaska’s like a three-ring supernatural circus. It could’ve been anything that was just passing through.”
She set her cup on the coffee table, stood up, stretched, and went to poke at the fire. A cloud of sparks kicked up behind the screen.
“Has anyone ever mention anyone named Orion?” That was, at long last, the million-dollar question, and it hung in the air for a minute. Lian glanced over her shoulder at me, trying to read my face.
“Orion?” She spoke the clanmaster’s name like she was trying out a foreign word. “No, I don’t think so.” She looked me in the eye. “Who is he?”
“Good freaking question,” I muttered. “We ran into each other a couple times. He’d like me to assume he’s the one in charge around here.” My fingers drummed along the side of the mug. “Pretty sure he’s murdered at least two people, so…maybe he’s not bluffing.”
Lian bristled visibly. “Don’t tell me he confessed.”
I shook my head, also choosing not to tell her about the humanoid hand I’d seen disappearing below the icy surface of the inlet. “Not in so many words. I think something is brewing in Anchorage.”
“Yeah. That’s what I’ve been afraid of.” We both fell silent for a little while. The grandfather clock in the foyer chimed the hour of six in the evening.
I was the one to speak up first. “How many employees have you lost?”
“Six.” Lian answered so readily I knew she had counted over and over. “Only a couple were ever found, though.” Her lips pressed into a grim line. “They were dead, of course.”