Soul Sucker (6 page)

“Look, I admit that I overstepped the mark, but...”

“Overstepped it? You sunk yourself up to the neck in shit. You don’t waltz into someone’s office and start casting doubts over everyone’s competence!”

Vadim let out a long slow breath. She had a point, but he wasn’t willing to concede even that to her. “Tell me how it felt when you went into the victim’s head.”

She stared at him for a long moment, her brown eyes haunted. “Okay, there was nothing left. No stray fragments, no memories, no
nothing
. It was as if something had come in with a laser and stripped everything away.”

“How hard did you probe?”

“Until my own signal bounced back at me. It was really weird.”

“Did you catch anything at all?”

“As I said in my notes, just a sense of relief, but I can kind of understand that.”

“Why?”

“Because empaths deal with a lot of extra stuff in their heads, and I can imagine that for a second, losing all of that might be...freeing, before you died of it, that is.”

“We don’t know what she died of yet, do we?”

“That’s true, but if there is nothing left of you, of your soul, of your essence, or whatever you want to call it, how can you continue to exist?”

She looked into his eyes and he felt an unexpected connection that he quickly suppressed. Beneath her arrogance was a female who thought deeply about her place in the world and the effect of her gift on others. She was either an exceptional empath or a superb liar. Of course, being an empath she could be both. In his all-too-recent experience they tended to be incredibly selfish, much like the Fae. Maybe that was why he disliked them so much.

He nodded. “Well, thanks for that. It was very illuminating.”

She actually blushed. “It was a load of bullshit. I don’t know what I was thinking about and saying it to you of all people.”

“I’d like to tell you that I’ll keep it to myself, but we both know I’d be lying. It’s going to end up in the Fae-Web.” He stopped to hold the door open for her. She gave him an odd look as if she wasn’t used to men being courteous. “I want to catch this creature as much as you do, Ms. Walsh.”

“I get that.” She paused to look back at him. “The question is, why?”

“Because I believe in justice for all?”

She was still laughing when she walked away from him. He frowned at her back. She wasn’t stupid and like all empaths she was hyper-sensitive. She’d find out what he’d done, and then she’d be back to question him about it, he was sure of that. The only thing he had to decide was how he was going to handle her when she did.

* * *

When Ella got home, the light was blinking on her phone so she checked her messages while she put off thinking about her stressful day. She’d left the office early, sure that Feehan wouldn’t have the balls to face her again. It was strange to be home in the afternoon, but she planned on taking a long nap. There was something about Vadim Morosov that made her tense and she had a terrible headache.

The first message was from her mom inviting her to Sunday lunch. There was a plaintive note in her mom’s voice that made Ella squirm with guilt. Moms were good at that. But she hadn’t been out to the East Bay to see her parents for three months, so she was well due. Perhaps she’d take Liz along as backup. She stared out her window at the sun as she waited for the second message to click through, and then smiled when she heard Laney’s distinctive drawl.

“Hey, call me! I couldn’t get your cell. I’ve been sent the details of Mr. Wonderful and he sounds...interesting.”

“Interesting.” She deleted the message.

That sounded way too positive. She’d almost hoped that Laney would’ve been sent details of some complete dud. She’d never quite understood why any sane male would want to hook up with an empath anyway. She put the phone down and stared at it. Was Laney settling for anything OCOS offered her because she was too afraid of losing it? Was she really that scared? Ella sighed. Hell, she was getting scared. She kept having nightmares about the instructional movies shown at her school of empaths incarcerated in some of the country’s best insane asylums. She and Laney had laughed and vowed to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge hand in hand rather than go nuts or seek the help of Otherworld to find a psychic anchor. Twenty-seven had seemed ancient then. Now it didn’t seem very old at all.

She reached for the phone and then hesitated. Her mother could wait a couple of days, but she wasn’t sure if she was in the right frame of mind to talk to Laney over the phone. Some things were better said face to face. She sent Laney a text and got an immediate answer. Decision made, Ella picked up her backpack and headed toward the door. If she ran, she’d be able to catch the ferry before it turned around and headed back to San Francisco and meet Laney at their favorite hotel bar for a drink.

* * *

“So where does everyone go to enjoy themselves in this town?” Alexei asked Vadim as they walked back to their hotel. Despite the patches of blue sky above the tall buildings, at street level it was dark and rather cold. “It’s deserted at nine in the evening, and there are no taxis anywhere.”

“I have no idea. I’m exhausted and I don’t have your juvenile need to go out and get laid every night.”

“I’m not that young, actually.” Alexei smiled at a tall African-American woman who smiled right back at him. Vadim grabbed his arm and kept him moving. “And you never know, Vadim. With your bloodline, you might live longer than most humans.”

“I hope not.” Vadim didn’t even want to contemplate that horrific thought.

“Just because you want to be one hundred percent human doesn’t make you one.”

“I get that, Dr. Phil.” Vadim looked right and then left before he crossed the complex traffic junction and avoided one of the local trams.

“Who is Dr. Phil?”

“Forget I said it.” Vadim saw the entrance to their hotel and quickened his pace. It was amazing how quickly he was reconnecting with American culture, or lack of culture, depending on how you rated self-help TV shows. “I don’t even know if he’s still around.”

Alexei followed him into the hotel and Vadim felt for his key card.

“I suppose I could ask Liz where she hangs out,” Alexei mused.

“Liz wears a wedding ring. I don’t think her husband will be too keen on her hanging out with you anywhere.” Vadim punched the floor number into the keypad. Jetlag was a bitch. All he wanted was a glass of wine, his bed and oblivion. When had he turned into a cranky old man?

Alexei’s smile grew salacious. “You never know. If her husband is Fae, he might be interested in sharing the love.”

“I forget, you Fae will fuck anything that moves, won’t you?”

“We’re a bit more selective than that, but needs must, you know.”

“Oh yes, I know.” Vadim stepped out onto the brightly colored carpet and turned left. “Whatever you decide to do, leave me out of it.”

Alexei snorted. “As if I’d ask you to go anywhere with me.”

Vadim reached his door and leaned against the frame. “Just make sure you’re ready to go back to work bright and early tomorrow morning, and that you haven’t brought the wrath of Liz’s husband down on you.”

“Sure, boss.” Alexei blew him a kiss. “I’ll meet you in the lobby at eight.”

As soon as he closed the door and locked it, Vadim stripped off his jacket and tie and unbuttoned his shirt. There was no point in getting dressed again as he didn’t intend to remain vertical for long. He poured himself a glass of exceptional Napa Valley chardonnay and turned on the shower.

As he sipped his wine and shed the rest of his clothes, he wondered what Ella Walsh was up to. He pictured her in some cheap bedsit in the city with a gaggle of interchangeable roommates who came and went depending on the current state of their relationships. She still didn’t look to be anywhere near the dangerous age of twenty-seven, but appearances could be deceptive. He finished the chardonnay and headed for the shower. He should’ve told Alexei to call the empath. He had no doubt they both liked to party.

Despite her arrogance, Ella appealed to him at some visceral level he didn’t really want to contemplate at this point. He imagined her waiting in bed for him to come out of the shower, of how soft her body would feel against his hardness, how she’d probably make him laugh...

When he came out of the shower, his cell was lit up and he paused to read the text from Alexei. “Guess who I found in the bar? Our favorite empath and one of her buddies. Come down and say hi.”

“What was that about me cramping his style?” he asked his reflection. He rubbed his wet hair with a towel, and then carefully folded the towel and placed it on a chair. He was too tired to pretend to be charming to anyone, let alone an empath. He’d have to shield all his thoughts and that took energy he just didn’t have.

He stalked into the steamy bathroom, put the bath mat away, and scrubbed at the steam on the mirror. Damn, he looked like shit. That settled it. There was no way he was going anywhere near that bar or that damned empath.

* * *

“He sounds okay, doesn’t he? His name is Peter.”

Ella read the letter from OCOS and then glanced up at Laney. Her redheaded friend was sitting bolt upright on the bar stool, her long legs twined around the central pole. She wore a flowery dress and red shoes with four-inch heels that Ella seriously coveted. They were seated in the recently restored Gold Rush Hotel bar which was awash with crimson, gold and stained glass fixtures and fittings that somehow suited Laney to a T. The bar was getting busy and it was hard to hear above the congenial roar.

“Yeah, he sounds great.” Ella wasn’t lying. The guy chosen for Laney was college educated, had a full time job, coached junior soccer in his spare time and liked a lot of the things Laney liked. His heritage was the minimum requirement for the mating program of one-sixteenth Otherworld, which meant he’d be pretty normal by human standards. “He plays the guitar and loves modern art.”

“I know,” breathed Laney. “He sounds adorable.”

“Are you going to meet up with him then?”

“He lives in Chicago, so we’re going to try and hook up over the internet and take it from there.”

“That’s great.”

Laney grabbed her hand. “You really mean it?”

“If this is what you want, then you should go for it.”

Laney let out her breath, picked up her cocktail glass and toasted Ella. “I’m so glad you approve.”

“You don’t need my approval, hon.”

Laney’s blue eyes filled with tears. “I know but we’ve always done everything together, and we always said we’d go out in a blaze of glory over the side of the Golden Gate Bridge.”

“Things change, Laney. We have to do what we have to do.”

Laney put her glass back down on the bar and fixed her gaze on Ella. “So how about you?”

“I’m not sure yet. I still have some time to think about it.”

“About three and a half weeks by my math. My birthday is less than a month before yours.”

“Okay, then a few weeks.” Ella fidgeted with her coaster. “I don’t know, Laney. I’m not sure I want to keep doing this anyway.”

“So you’d rather go quietly mad?”

Ella finished her cocktail and looked longingly for the bartender. “Don’t push me, hon. I’m happy for you, but let me make my own choice on this, okay?”

“Okay, sweetness, but you know where I am.” Laney turned toward the bar and the bartender appeared instantly. “Two more chocolate martinis please.”

“Coming right up.”

Sometimes she suspected that Laney had Fae in her ancestry. She had the ability to command the attention of bar staff, find parking spots and helpful shop assistants with a mere blink of the eye. It was a skill Ella definitely lacked. She still got asked to show ID to prove she was old enough to drink.

A flash of motion in the mirror behind the bar made her turn in her seat. She nudged Laney. “Are you up for a little company?”

“Sure. Who is it?”

“My favorite Russian.”

“The new guy you mentioned from work?”

“No, his partner, who is far
far
nicer. And, as you are already spoken for, you can let me try my talents on him, deal?” Ella waved at Alexei and his face brightened. He started to walk through the packed table toward them, drawing more than a few admiring glances from both sexes. Like most Fae he projected an effortless glamor that made him seem to glow from within.

He bowed and Laney sucked in an appreciative breath.

“Ella. What a nice surprise!”

Ella gestured at Laney. “Alexei, this is my best friend, Laney Phillips. She works for the SBLE down in San Jose.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Laney.” Alexei brought Laney’s hand to his lips and kissed it. Laney made an
ooh
face at Ella over his bent head. “This is my first visit to San Francisco in a long while. I’m still trying to get my bearings.”

“Oh, when were you last here?” Ella asked, as Alexei pulled up a barstool and perched himself on top of it. His hair hung loose down the back of his dark blue open-necked shirt and he wore a faded pair of jeans.

He frowned. “In the sixties, I think. I came to see the Beatles at Candlestick Park.”

“I suppose you’re waiting for me to say you don’t look old enough,” Ella said.

His smile was charming. “Well, if you want to flatter me, I’m not going to object. I was quite young then, of course.”

“Scarcely more than a baby, I bet,” Laney agreed. “So are you here to help Ella on this case?”

“Yes I am.” Alexei raised an eyebrow at one of the female bar staff and she practically ran down the length of the bar to serve him. Ella pretended not to notice. All she knew was as long as she stuck with Laney and Alexei, she would never run out of alcohol.

Laney shivered. “It’s terrible to see empaths being targeted like this.”

“I agree. Hopefully, now that we’re pooling our resources, we will put an end to this madness.” Alexei held up his bottle of beer, and they all toasted each other. “Did you know Ms. Morehouse, Laney?”

“Ella and I were just talking about her. Despite the fact that she spent three years with us at college, she left very little impression on either of us.”