One week to figure out why the hell I'd come out of retirement and stuck my neck on the chopping block for two women I'd just met.
Sylvie was sitting up. Her eyes had been bright and clear half an hour ago, but now they were heavy-lidded with dark circles beneath. She looked painfully fragile, like she might break in half if I tried to scoop her up again like I had on the street.
Maisey was at her side, talking in low tones that even my enhanced ears couldn't make out.
It blew my mind how quickly Sylvie's condition had deteriorated. One minute, she'd been completely fine, the next she was on the verge of passing out.
"What's the story with that?" Felix asked quietly after everyone settled around the room.
I realized I'd just been staring at Sylvie like a creep, and I quickly tore my eyes away from her, shaking my head. "No story. She's a job. I'd prefer it if my clients didn't try to off themselves with weak immune systems, though. I can't do much about bacteria."
Felix ran a hand across his shaved head. He stared toward her, then looked at me again.
I hated how he made it feel like he was seeing straight through me. "Fuck off," I groaned.
He chuckled. "Let me guess, they didn't sign a contract or agree to pay you before you started protecting them?"
"Not important. They'll pay when they pay."
"The old Riggs would disagree with that sentiment. Remember the guy I tried to help back in Salem? The howler who got tied up with-"
"I remember."
"You nearly tried to gut me for even suggesting we could let him pay us back when he had the money. You made me help him on my own and called me... what was it? A dumb, softhearted bastard who might as well be sucking off his clients?"
"I don't remember using those exact words," I said. Actually, I did, and the memory made me smile. Felix and I had a good run but thinking back on all that was bittersweet. I'd been different before my sister, Kyla, decided to fuck everything up.
Think about something else.
"How'd you wind up with Fang tagging along?" Felix asked.
Fang heard the question, perking up from where he was lounging in a chair at the corner of the room.
I sighed. "Bad luck."
Felix chuckled. "Well, you've got yourself a small army, now. I think these girls might just make it."
Sylvie looked like she'd fallen asleep, and Maisey came to stand in front of us then. The girl looked almost as bad as her sister did. Her skin was pale, and her hair was plastered to her forehead by a thin sheen of sweat. Her eyes looked hollowed out.
I sniffed, feeling a frown deepen my forehead when I picked up a stronger hint of the vampire scent she'd been wearing ever since she got that vamp blood all over her.
Felix tensed beside me, then shot me a questioning look.
"She got vamp blood all over her back at their apartment," I explained.
He relaxed a little. "I see."
A suspicion was forming deep in my chest, and it was one I didn't dare examine. Not now. Not yet. But I could tell Felix was wondering why the smell would be so strong. Why would-
I stood suddenly, towering over Maisey.
"Um," she said, stopping me before I could leave the room. "She needs something to eat. Liquid, preferably. Something easy to keep down."
My nose twitched again, and the wolf inside me started to growl. "Yeah," I said. "Coming right up." I pulled the door open and pushed it closed behind me. I pressed my back against the wood, taking in several deep breaths.
Fuck.
Shit.
I balled up my fist and slammed it against the wall hard enough to shake some dust loose from the rafters overhead.
I could just walk away. I could leave the girls there and maybe Felix and Fang would take the job over.
Or maybe they'd figure out what Maisey was becoming and it'd be a bloodbath in there.
I ran my hands through my hair, walking down toward the bar. I wondered how I could've been blind enough to miss the signs.
I thought back on my first encounters with the women. The vamp heading toward their apartment. The fact that Maisey had some sort of acquaintanceship with one of them. Hell, the cleaners were after them. The vamps whose sole purpose was to hunt down vamps that were created without the sanction of their precious Coven.
And I'd swallowed all the convenient lies despite the truth staring me in the face.
I'd let myself be blind, and why?
The problem was I knew exactly why. The reason was currently inexplicably sick and lying in the bed upstairs. But Sylvie hadn't smelled like vamp once I cleaned them off. The stench had just stuck to her sister, which I'd figured was because she was a lot bloodier when I found them.