“I’ll wait outside, where it’s warmer.” I paused. “Does Dani look like her sister?”
He nodded. “They’re identical twins.”
Which might explain our killer’s statement that he’d never come across two such as these before. Identical twins who were also blood-whore-addicted vampires surely had to be a rarity.
Rhoan walked out. I pressed the left ear stud to deactivate the earrings, then headed back across the road to watch the sudden influx of Directorate people from a safe distance.
“Why did you not tell him about the club?” Azriel asked as he sat down beside me.
“Because of Hunter. I’m not going to risk giving him information that may well get him killed.”
“But it may help solve the case.”
“It may. Which is why I’ll ring Hunter myself and ask.” It wasn’t something I really wanted to do, as I was rather enjoying the brief respite from her overbearing presence in my life.
I dragged out my vid-phone, said, “Hunter,” and watched the psychedelic patterns swirl across the screen as the phone made the connection.
“Risa,” she drawled. “What a lovely surprise.”
“Considering you’ve got Cazadors following me around reporting every little twitch, I seriously doubt that it’s either a surprise or lovely.”
Amusement gleamed in her cold green eyes. “They do not report every little twitch—although Markel is more circumspect than some.”
Which wasn’t something I wanted to hear. With some trepidation, I asked, “Just how detailed do the others get?”
She gave me that smile—the one that reminded me of a shark about to consume its prey. My stomach sank. Obviously, they followed where Markel did not—and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it, which was infuriating.>I forced a smile, then walked toward the woman and held out a hand. “I’m sorry to intrude like this, but I’m looking for Vonda Belmore. I don’t suppose you know where she is, do you?”
The woman didn’t shake my hand—she didn’t even look at it. Nor did she immediately respond to my question. She just stared at me in an oddly dead way.
I let my hand drop to my side and stopped just beyond her reach. But it was still close enough that I could smell the wound on her forehead, and it was rank. It was almost as if her flesh had rotted away rather than burned.
My gaze swept the rest of her. She was statuesque, with fine, almost regal features and silvery hair that was cut short but well styled. She was also a vampire, which, when combined with the wound on her forehead, meant this was more than likely Vonda. But I wasn’t about to admit that knowledge. Better to play the game, whatever the hell the game was.
“I do know Vonda,” the woman said eventually. Her voice was whispery and, like her gaze, lacked any sort of life or warmth. “She faces you.”
Vonda might be facing me, but she wasn’t the one forming the words.
He was doing that.
He was in her mind, controlling her. Maybe even seeing what she saw.
It was certainly one way for a blind man to check out his adversary.
Azriel, are you able to get into her thoughts? Can you catch anything about the man we hunt?
I am only able to read the minds of those who are in the same vicinity. She currently has no thoughts of her own, and while he may control her, he does so from a distance.
I guess I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy. I shifted my weight from one foot to the other, and barely resisted the urge to run from this freak show. Or at least run from the freak behind it. The only reason I didn’t was because it wouldn’t help—this was a game and, for whatever reason, it was one he wanted to play with me.
“And why are you here rather than in your own house, Vonda?”
“I knew you were clever. I just wanted to see how observant you were.”
“So I’ve passed the test?”
“Yes and no.”
“Meaning?”