“It won’t help much. I’ll be fine.” He squinted up at me, expression half-mocking. “Isn’t that what you’re constantly telling me?”
It was a rebuke—a gentle one, but a rebuke nonetheless. I smiled, though it felt a little tight. “Yeah. And I’ll keep saying it until you damn well believe it.”
And with that, I left him. There was only so much I could say and do because, in the end, I couldn’t help him win his war. He had to find the strength—and the desire—within himself to stop the elemental from taking over completely.
And, despite what I kept saying, part of me feared he wouldn’t find either.
I walked back through the kitchen and into the café. The place was beginning to fill up again with wolves and a spattering of other non-humans, but we’d rolled into the next shift roster and there were plenty of people to deal with the rush. I couldn’t see anyone obviously standing by themselves, so I poked my head back into the kitchen and said, “Where did you put him?”
“End booth, near the bathrooms,” Rachel replied, without looking up.
“Thanks.”
I headed down to the last booth, only to discover there was no one in it. But there was certainly someone standing in the shadows to the right of the booth. My gaze traveled up the long, lean length of him and clashed with his darkness.
This was no stranger. This was Markel Sanchez, one of the vampires who’d been ordered to not only follow me about astrally, but report my every move back to Hunter.
And as a Cazador, he was one of the most dangerous men I’d ever met.
I stopped abruptly. “Why are you here?”
“I am under orders, as you no doubt suspect.” His voice held neither warmth nor inflection and yet somehow managed to be pleasant.
“So who’s following me about on the gray fields right now?”
“Nick Krogan is currently on duty. Janice Myer shares the task at other times.” He shrugged, the movement elegant. “It is my night off.”
So they had female Cazadors? I guess there was no reason why they shouldn’t, but it surprised me, for some reason. “And yet here you are.”
“Because the wise in this world do not ignore the wishes of Madeline Hunter.”
And yet I baited the bitch. What did that say about me? “Are you here to poke me into action or what?”
Amusement flickered through the darkness of his eyes and briefly warmed the coolness of his expression. “I am not here to poke. I merely deliver.”
“Considering you’re here under orders from Hunter, I’m rather hesitant to ask what, exactly, you’re delivering.”
The amusement was more pronounced, but he merely reached inside his rather classy-looking black trench coat and withdrew a small leather folder. With some trepidation, I took it and opened it up.
It was a badge. According to it, I was now an official investigator for the high vampire council. Talk about the shit-hole getting deeper.
I blew out a breath that did little to ease the tide of tension and shoved my shiny new credentials into the back pocket of my jeans. “Is that it?”
“For now, yes.” He hesitated, his dark gaze flicking past me briefly. Then, more softly, he added, “Tread warily with Hunter on this one, Risa. She is ready to tear someone’s throat out over this loss, and you are already close to pushing her past the limit.”
I stared at him for a moment, then swallowed heavily. “Thanks for the warning.”
“You are most welcome.” A slight smile touched his lips, and just for a moment lent his austere features a surprising warmth. “I actually enjoy this duty. It makes a pleasant change from bloodshed, and you are certainly never boring.”
I half smiled. “You obviously haven’t been following me around for long enough, then.”
“Perhaps not.” He touched my shoulder lightly as he stepped past. “Be respectful. At least until this killer is caught.”
“I will.”
He nodded and walked away. I turned, watching him move through the crowd with ease, wondering how long he’d been a Cazador. He certainly wasn’t the cold-blooded killing machine I’d grown up believing them to be—not on the surface, anyway. Of course, neither was Uncle Quinn, and he’d been a Cazador for centuries.
But that, I knew, was a rare feat. Most either died on the job or were killed by the council after the endless killing sent them insane.