back. Now remove your hand from my shoulder.”
I stared straight in his eyes and let him see I wasn’t fucking around.
The fingers clamped around my shoulder slid away.
“I’m not giving up just yet,” he said softly.
I didn’t dignify that with a response as I followed Nathalie out of the diner, moving past several men I’d once worked with without so much of a hello.
We were a block away when Nathalie decided it was safe to pry.
“So,” she drawled. “Who was that?”
“Old friend.”
“By your own admission, you don’t have friends.”
I snorted. “Old fuck buddy,” I corrected.
“He share that definition of you?” she replied.
“Doesn’t matter. He’s not our problem.”
“That was Flint Daniels. He’s head of human patrol. Been working there for a decade. He rose faster in the ranks than any other member has managed to.”
I glanced at her out of the side of my eye. “You wanna tell me how you know that?”
She tapped her head with her index finger. “I’m a witch with an eidetic memory. More often than not, human patrol traps supes because said supes don’t know who they’re dealing with. They get ambushed thinking they’re taking home some drunk human, and it turns out to be a hunter. Harder to be trapped by one if you know who they are.” She breathed a little harder as the wind blew, whipping the still damp strands of her hair around. “I suppose I should say rose faster than all with the exception of one.”
“So, you do know who I am.”
She shrugged once. “You were the best hunter they had, but you didn’t like to play by the rules. Got your hands dirty too much. Had a knack for hunting witches and warlocks specifically . . .” Her voice trailed. “I assume that has to do with whatever Kenneth did to piss you off.”
“Well, aren’t you a smart witch?” I said sarcastically.
“You disappeared off record a few years ago, but you weren’t reported dead. Given the talk about your boss, I take that to mean you just went to work for someone who didn’t mind you playing a little dirty.”
“Something like that,” I muttered. I wasn’t planning to tell her the actual reason I went after those witches and warlocks had very little to do with hunting Kenneth, and more to do with the reason I needed Kenneth at all. “How do we find Greta?”
I asked, noting that we’d walked several blocks already into a part of the city I was familiar with, but not intimately so. It was a supernatural sector. While humans could come in and out, it was ninety percent supes, if not more. Smart humans knew to avoid this place. Only those truly desperate set foot in this area.
“We don’t,” Nathalie said. “She’s not hiding.”
All at once she came to a stop. I looked up at the building.
Sin.
The letters shone in bright, glowing purple. It was one of the biggest supe clubs, and one of the shadiest places in New Chicago.
“Greta is a little too vain for her own good. Combine that with her power-hungry nature, she comes here looking for a man with enough juice it’s worth her time.”
Aka, she harvested magic. Something that was a crime, not that it was ever enforced unless you did it to the wrong person.
“She’d come here, even after the summoning?” I asked.
“She’d come here because of the summoning. She’s a mid-level black witch. She’s going to need all the power she can get to keep herself alive when it’s every man for themselves.”
I couldn’t argue with that. Nathalie started for the door, and I paused her.
“If this is a trap, I don’t think I have to tell you how sorry—”
“Piper, the fact that I’m aligning with you should say all there is to know about my loyalties. I don’t know you. I just know of you, and I’ve seen what you can do. Believe me when I say, I have no intention of screwing you over. You’re my best chance of staying alive.”
I searched her expression, and while none of the telltale signs of a liar were there, it was still hard to trust her. I motioned with my hand for her to go first, and Nathalie smiled.
I really, really hoped I wasn’t going to regret this.
10
Music and something else pulsed through the air.
Magic. I wrinkled my nose in distaste.
Purple and blue lights strobed over the club as a low, sultry tune called to me. My hackles rose as the rhythm tried to force the stiffness from my