“You’ll get no argument from me.”
“So if it wasn’t a Council Hunter guy, who was he?”
“I don’t know.” Marley’s unlocked memory was raising more questions than answers. “But it begs the question of what the hell your parents were into. If she’d seen something accidentally, like you did, it wouldn’t have led to this, so it must’ve been something bigger. More involved.”
Something shifted in Marley’s face, surprise and confusion bursting off her.
“Did you remember something else?”
“No.”
She was holding something back. Ian gauged the likelihood that it had anything to do with their current situation as low, so he didn’t push.
Marley tapped a finger against the sketch. “Is he still a threat?”
“After all these years, I doubt it. If they were going to track you, they’d have done it by now.”
“That’s something, I guess.”
Hating the discouraged expression on her face, Ian shoved back from the table. “C’mon. Let’s head on into town and see to it that no one can be a threat from here on out.”
~*~
Gatlinburg was a tactical nightmare. Bumper to bumper traffic on the two-lane parkway made vehicular escape impossible, and the crowds made spotting a tail exceedingly difficult. The narrow passageways between the kitschy mountain architecture might have been an asset if he’d been at full physical capacity, but with his defective leg, he wouldn’t be able to run in a foot chase. Not that running had ever been his first choice of response. All in all, nothing about this set up was ideal except that Gatlinburg was such a mecca for the weird that the odd Mirus denizen didn’t stand out in the least. And anyway, beggars couldn’t be choosers. This was their only option. The fewer of his deep contacts he had to plumb, the better.
A sudden wave of dizziness sent him stumbling.
Marley’s arm was there in a flash, steadying him. “You okay?”
No. “Fine.” He needed to feed. In Washington he’d been subsisting on the bare minimum his system required. The last time he’d really fed had been the night Marley was attacked. The last time he’d skimmed was a middle of nowhere gas station on the drive to Tennessee, but it had barely been enough to keep his abilities functional, his instincts in check. He couldn’t risk a repeat of what had happened in Detroit. His reflexes were dulling. He’d be no good to her if he didn’t find someone to skim and soon.
Emotion clouded Ian’s vision, a swirling palette of irritation, impatience, and excitement. A fountain of ruby anger had him jerking his attention toward a couple standing outside a souvenir shop. He could smell the acrid tang of fury mixing with the scent of sweat on the breeze. His instincts screamed to follow the trail, urging him to lay hands on them, to absorb the woman’s fury and the man’s embarrassment until this bottomless well of hunger abated…
The blare of a horn had him jerking to a stop, one foot hovering off the curb into parkway traffic. His heart thundered, his chest heaved.
“Did you see something?” Marley’s grip on his arm was tight where she’d started to pull him back. She craned her head to look across the street.
The sudden spike in her anxiety made his senses strain toward her.
Oh this was bad. This was so bad.
Ian struggled to lock down his instincts, to keep from enhancing and absorbing the emotion beating like a drum against his palm. He shouldn’t be touching her. Shouldn’t be anywhere near her in this state.
Closing his eyes, he dug deep for control.
“Ian?”
Her hand on his cheek. Warm, soft. Her touch steadied him. Her sweet floral scent curled around him and soothed the beast, assuaged the insatiable hunger. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough, and that realization sent horror punching through him.
Had he inadvertently fed? Automatically he checked Marley’s vitals, read her emotional grid. Still worried, but about him, not the situation. She had none of the burgeoning anxiety that would result from the parasitic touch of his mind. Somehow, she was still safe, even though he felt at the edge of losing control. He didn’t understand it, but now was not the time to question or analyze.
Ian opened his eyes and mustered a faint smile. “It’s nothing. Just tired. C’mon, Levi’s shop is about another half mile up the strip.”
Marley didn’t return the smile. The shades of her temper made it quite clear she didn’t buy it, but she moved when he did.
It would be fine. No one knew they were here. With luck, Levi would have a cloaking spell. They’d get Marley masked and get the hell off the streets.
They moved at a brisker pace this time, weaving through the crowds.