Chapter Ten
Skylar
Elias was tapping away on his phone as we walked back through the bar. Thankfully, the shifters he took out were still passed out but several of them had rolled over or changed positions from when I’d last been in the room.
“Checking in with your boss?” I asked.
“No, my informant,” he said.
“You have an informant in the Clovers?” I was impressed. The Clover Coven was a vampire coven of dubious intent. They often took in the outcasts from the other groups. I’d hunted my share of members of their coven. Enough so that the thought of walking into one of their safe houses or territories made me nervous.
I wasn’t exactly the blending in type and word traveled fast about hunters. I was known in most circles and I was mostly okay with it. Now, I wondered if I should have been more discrete.
We stepped outside into the parking lot into the gray of way too fucking early. It wasn’t like I didn’t see dawn often. In my line of work, I often worked all night. But I hadn’t intended that tonight so I was going on a long stretch without sleep. I handled lack of sleep better than most humans I knew, but I still needed it to be at my sharpest.
“We won’t be able to see them till nightfall,” Elias said.
“While we wait, there’s something I need to do. Alone,” I said.
“You need to get some sleep,” Elias said.
I knew I needed some rest but it would have to wait. I had to find safe storage for the stone. “Soon. But I we have a couple of stops to make.”
“What kind of stops?” he asked.
“First, I need something from my apartment, then I need to drop something off with a friend.”
I stared at him, waiting for him to question me. I didn’t want to give him the details. It was bad enough that he’d know the location we were visiting but I knew better than to ask to go off on my own. Plus, I could use the ride.
The stone had to be stored somewhere away from me. Away from magic detection. There was only one place I could think to hide it, but I was putting a friend in danger.
A human friend.
If anyone found out I involved her and went after her, she wouldn’t be able to defend herself. I felt awful for even considering it, but I couldn’t think of any other options.
“Alright,” he said. “Then sleep.”
I was surprised he didn’t question me but I wasn’t going to push my luck. “Thank you.”
“You going to tell me what happened at the bar?”
He started the engine. “You going to tell me what happened in your one on one with the shifter?”
If I didn’t know better, I’d say there was a touch of jealousy in his tone. Maybe even in the emotional signal he was throwing. Weird. “We got our lead. What else do you want to know?”
“You two looked pretty cozy in there,” he said.
“Maybe that’s how I get information from people,” I said. “Feminine wiles and all that.”
He laughed. “When do I get to see thesewiles?”
“I don’t need anything from you,” I said. “I do want to know how you took out that group of shifters like that.”
“Maybe I have my own tricks,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s clear,” I said. “You know, we’re supposed to be working together on this. Maybe we need to be on the same page.”
“That’s not how this works. You get the time to prove your innocence, I’m your escort.”