Embraced By Darkness (Riley Jenson Guardian 5)

"Yeah, but this more than that. I was moving with vampire speed, and he tracked me. Had his gun on me all the time. That's not normal."

I shrugged and popped another chocolate into my mouth. This one was nutty. Nice. "No, but he's the best for a reason. Maybe he has some sort of psychic gift that allows him to 'feel' where vamps and such are."

"Possibly." He sniffed and reached for another chocolate. "I intend to do a bit more investigation into his past. I've got a feeling we need to know more about him."

"Ah, the family trait of clairvoyance is hitting you, too, huh?"

"No, it's just my nose for trouble. And trust me, that one is." He paused to munch on his chocolate. "So, if it wasn't Patrin or Blake, then who?"

"I don't know. As I said, the only case I'm dealing with now is Adrienne, and that's sort of stalled."

Stalled because I needed to talk to the owners of the club, and hadn't gotten around to it yet. But now that Wilson was contained, I'd have the chance.

But I didn't really think it could be them. I mean, why would they want me dead? They didn't know I'd sprung their little blackmailing operation, and even if they had noticed me at the club, why would they think I was a danger? They couldn't possibly know who I was, and if they had tried to do an identity search on me, it would have come up on the Directorate computers.

Yet that man at the club - the man who had smelled the same as Jared - had appeared to be hunting me after he'd almost sprung me in the camera room. I frowned, and asked, "In your experience, have you ever met two humans who smell the same?"

Rhoan raised an eyebrow. "That's an odd question."

"It's an odd problem." I explained what had happened at the club. "It was the same scent. The exact same scent. But he wasn't Jared."

"Easily explained if he was shapeshifter."

"Jared and the man in the club were both human, not Helki."

"There's no saying Helkis are the only ones who can shift into other human forms. I'm sure there's other nonhumans out there totally capable of shapeshifting. We just don't know about them yet."

"The operative word there is nonhuman. We're talking about humans."

"There's no reason why humans couldn't shift, either."

"They're humans. Humans don't do that sort of thing. It what makes them human, and us nonhuman."

"No, that's DNA. Humans are quite capable of all sorts of psychic skills."

"Shifting isn't a skill. It's part of our DNA pattern."

Rhoan popped another chocolate into his mouth, then said around it, "Were the body shapes similar?"

I hesitated, then nodded. "Why would that make a difference?"

"What if it's not shifting as we know it? What if it's more a gentle remolding? They can alter minor feature characteristics - nose, chin, ears, perhaps even hair - but major things like facial shape and eyes stay the same. It'd be enough to fool others, but it isn't actually a full shift. Not in the way we shift, anyway."

"Possible." Jared and the man in the club certainly had the same color eyes. "If that's true, then we perhaps have our first link between the club and the island."

"But still no link between Adrienne, the other murdered women, and the club. After all, Jared wasn't involved with any of the women, was he?"

"Well, if he's some sort of face-shifter, how would we know? He could have appeared as anyone to them. Besides, Adrienne didn't sleep with anyone up there."

"Have you spoken to the partners or parents of the other women who have disappeared?" Rhoan asked. "Asked them if their daughters mentioned meeting anyone on the island?"

I shook my head. "Haven't really had the time to follow that up."

"I might do it, then. See if a clue shakes loose."

"Ta." I downed another chocolate, then asked, "So, how is Kellen holding up after last night?"

"I was wondering when you'd get around to asking."