The guy opened the fridge and took out a bottle of vodka.
“Can you tell me your name?”
He removed the cap and took a swig from the bottle. “Vic. Victor. But Vic is fine.” Vic sat on the edge of the bed.
“How did you know Luca?”
Vic’s laugh turned into a sob. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
He took another long swig of vodka. “We had a few beers, played pool.” The expression on his face suggested something far more intimate had occurred. Vic’s hand shook hard enough to slosh the contents of the bottle.
Reese pulled out a chair from the small table near the door and sat. “Will you tell me what you saw?” Because whatever it was shadowed his broken gaze.
“I guess I don’t have to worry about whether or not you’ll believe me, huh?”
“I’ll believe you.”
“You think there’s such a thing as werewolves?” The guy narrowed his eyes as if waiting to be ridiculed.
“Big black dogs, that are the size of a small horse? Black all over. Yellow eyes or green eyes. The front paws look like they could manipulate like hands, and the toes on the back ones are really long.”
Vic chugged more vodka. He came up for air again and hissed between his teeth.
“Please, anything you’re willing to share could help Luca.” Reese wasn’t beneath begging.
“What do you want to know?”
“Everything, how you met Luca anything he said to you, was he alone?”
“We met at the ice machine. I asked him out for a game of pool.”
“Where?”
Vic waved the bottle toward the back of the hotel room. “Across the way. There’s a sports bar. Lot of rednecks but decent food, pool, and beer.”
“And after you came back?”
“I… he…. he went back to his room, but I think he got in a fight with the guy he was with.”
Reese’s heart skipped. “Did you see him? This guy?”
“Yes, but only for a second, maybe even less. A lot was happening. He told me to run, and I did.”
“Can you describe him?”
Vic closed his eyes for a moment. “Big. Not a giant but defiantly tall, muscles. Like someone who worked out. Not with all those veins, you know? But he was way more than your average gym rat. Caucasian with dark hair; I have no idea what color his eyes were. It was dark and those things, they….”
“That’s fine, you did good.” The description matched Nash, but it was still generic enough it could have been anyone. Well, almost anyone. “Did Luca happen to mention the man’s name?”
Vic wrinkled his brow while he stared into the mouth of the bottle. “Nox?” He nodded. “Yeah, Nox, I think.”
“But you’re not sure?”
Vic scrubbed a hand over his mouth. “Kinda hard to remember anything with all the screaming and growling and….” He leaned forward. The bottle hit the ground between his feet. Vodka splashed out of the opening and dribbled on the carpet. Vic ran his trembling hands through his hair. Small, scared sounds ticked from his throat.
He rested his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands.
“Vic, I think you may be in shock. Would you consider letting me get you an ambulance?”