"We'll go," I said.
"I need to make a stop once we're out," Melanie said. "My sister is waiting."
"I'm sure she can take care of herself."
"No," Melanie said. "Actually, she can't."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Melanie led us nearly a half mile along the wharfs until we came to an empty building. As she tugged open a heavy door, I took out my gun.
"Pepper?" she called. "It's me. I brought company." She glanced over at us. "I'm hoping she recognizes you, but if she spooks, I'll have to go after her." She turned back to the dark room. "Hey, Pep? Come on out. I--"
A girl appeared in the circle of my penlight beam. It was the one from my visions--the one who'd chided me to help the lamiae. Yet it wasn't. The girl in my visions had been younger than Melanie, smaller, too, with straight dark hair and a solemn face. All that matched this girl. But her expression wasn't merely solemn. It was empty. And her eyes...She had a snake's eyes, greenish yellow and slitted. She stared at us, unblinking. That empty gaze moved from me to Ricky. Then it landed on Gabriel.
Something flashed in those eyes. Life. Thought. Emotion. Enough to say someone lived behind the serpent's gaze.
She walked toward Gabriel, and I could see him holding himself still, wary. She reached to touch his arm, and as he tensed, I caught h
er hand.
"Pepper, right?" I said.
Her skin was ice-cold and rough, like scales, though I saw only skin. As my fingers touched hers, she let out a sigh, almost a hiss of satisfaction, and her fingers wrapped around mine, her other hand reaching for my bare wrist. I started to pull away, but Melanie said, "Don't! She won't hurt you. It's just...You're warm. She can't regulate her body temperature."
Pepper laid both hands on my skin, her eyes slitting as she shuddered. I motioned for Ricky to take my gun. Then I clasped Pepper's hands to warm them, and she melted against me.
"Pepper," Melanie said, taking her shoulder. "We'll get you warmed up. She doesn't want that."
"It's okay," I said, and awkwardly embraced the girl. As Pepper huddled against me, her one sleeve pushed up and I saw scales. I rubbed my finger over them.
"What's wrong with her?" I asked.
"Her glamour's broken." Melanie hesitated, and her voice cracked. "She's broken."
I rubbed Pepper's shoulders, and she snuggled closer, her body warming as she absorbed my heat.
"What happened to her?" I asked.
"There was a man. A client. She'd been seeing him for a while, and he seemed fine, but I guess he was...what do they call it? Grooming her? He invited her to his place for a night. Promised her a lot of money. Only it wasn't just him, and it wasn't just a night. We didn't find her for a week, and by then...Lamiae can handle a lot. We're used to it. But sometimes..." She walked over and hugged Pepper. "Sometimes even we break."
Melanie backed up, hands going into her hoodie pockets. "Aunika helps with her. We--the others and I--we feed her. We'd never expect her to...She couldn't...Not after that. We can feed her our energy. It's not enough to fix her, though. Nothing's enough." Melanie exhaled. "Anyway, that's Pep. She'd never hurt anyone. But she can be hurt. Easily. With this psycho hunting us, Aunika was trying to figure out a safe place for Pepper. Where he can't find her, and where we won't have to worry about her so we can focus on protecting ourselves until someone catches this guy. That's what you're doing, right? Trying to catch him?"
"Let's get her someplace warm," Ricky said, his first words since we arrived. "Do you guys eat?" He looked at Pepper. "Or I guess public places are out of the question, with those eyes."
"She has contacts. Aunika got them." Melanie squeezed Pepper's shoulder. "Hey, Pep. Can you put in your contacts? We're going someplace warm. Get you some soup, maybe."
Pepper's empty eyes lighted as she dipped her chin in a nod. Then she hurried to a backpack in the corner and riffled through it.
"She doesn't talk, but she understands," Melanie said. "Aunika says she's like a five-year-old. She can follow instructions. She just doesn't always want to." She forced a smile. "Right, Pep?"
The girl was putting in contacts. When she straightened, her eyes were unnaturally dark but close enough to normal.
"Okay, Pepper," I said. "We're going to take you in a special car where even the seats heat up. Does that sound good?"
Her enthusiastic nod said it sounded very good. I mouthed, "Sorry," to Gabriel--in case having lamiae in his Jag wasn't quite what he had in mind--but he only waved for us to head out.
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