Vance nodded. “She
did.”
“What are you doing here, Detective?” Leo asked.
“I told Karli I was coming,” he replied smugly. “What’s wrong, Vampire? She didn’t pass that information along?”
Okay, total dick move! “Excuse me, but if I remember correctly, you were going to wait for my call before hopping across an ocean!”
Vance shrugged. “I forgot.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Oh, you forgot, my ass!”
Leo looked back and forth between our exchanges and scowled. “That didn’t answer my question. Why are you here?”
Vance smirked. “Because you need my help.”
Leo glared. “Help with what, exactly?”
“Karli said these witches are wary of you,” Vance explained. “Rightfully so, considering bloodsuckers practically demolished the Fae population.” Leo looked at me with an expression that could only be described as betrayed. Shit, I would’ve never told Vance that if I knew he’d use it against Leo.
“Your presence is unnecessary,” Leo growled. “We’re doing just fine on our own.”
Vance looked around the lobby and then back to me. “I don’t think this is the best place to discuss this. Karli, why don’t you come back to my hotel and we’ll talk?”
Leo clenched his jaw. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”
Vance looked towards the sun shining through the wall of windows at the front of the lobby. “Well, you’re welcome to join us, but you might get a little crispy on the way.”
I winced. Leo looked homicidal, specifically towards Vance. I knew that he had no way of knowing about Leo’s injuries but Vance’s words brought everything back to the forefront of my mind. I will never forget seeing Leo like that. I was suddenly feeling nauseated and more than a little agitated. I punched the elevator call button and tapped my foot impatiently, waiting for it to arrive. Both men followed me inside as the doors opened. The ride up to our floor was only a matter of seconds but it felt like an eternity. There was entirely too much aggression floating throughout such a small space.
Leo headed straight for the mini bar as I caught Vance up on everything since we’d last spoken. I intentionally left out certain details, but gave him enough to know what we were dealing with.
Leo glared at Vance from across the room. If I wasn’t so irritated, I would’ve found their invisible boundary lines humorous. “I still fail to see why you’re needed.”
I walked over to Leo and took his hand. “Leo, I know this is odd coming from me, but I think we need to be rational here. You already know that Vance is part Fae; the guardians should be able to sense that. He also lived in Faerie for ten years and would be able to help navigate that realm.”
Leo looked bothered but he quickly put his mask in place. “Why didn’t you bring this up earlier?”
I shrugged. “Because I was blinded by emotions. I didn’t want to talk about it because I didn’t want to see the truth behind it. C’mon, Leo, at the very least maybe he can help me get my powers under control so we don’t have another…incident.”
Vance waved his hand. “Hello? You know I’m five feet away from you, right? You don’t need to talk about me like I’m in the other room. Can we please focus on what matters? What incident? You didn’t tell me about an incident.”
Leo nodded in acquiescence. He poured himself another drink as I joined Vance on the couch.
“The other night,” I began, “I channeled sunlight. I don’t exactly know how I did it, but that’s definitely what it was.”
Vance’s brows lifted towards his hairline. “Have you noticed anything else that seemed out of the ordinary?”
I sighed. “Yeah. I sort of turned our previous hotel suite into a wind tunnel and fire came out of my hands. I don’t know how I did that either.”
He contemplated that for a minute. “I can’t believe I didn’t think about this!”
“Think about what?” Leo asked.
Vance ignored Leo as he walked towards the bar. He filled a glass from the tiny sink and brought it back over to the couch. Handing it to me, he said, “Make the water move.”
Huh? “How am I supposed to do that?”