Craved (11 page)

It took me a moment to answer Micah
because I was too busy glaring at Aiden. His hips were slowly
grinding into Fiona’s while his hands roamed down her sides
suggestively. Fiona wasn’t as uncomfortable as she should have
been, considering she was practically dry humping my so-called
boyfriend right in front of me. And because Aiden was a cocky shit,
his eyes were on me the entire time with an arrogant smile on his
lips.

Deciding to ignore his show, I turned
my attention back to Micah.

“I think bad guy. I don’t have any
proof except the inner voice in my head telling me something isn’t
right.” No one’s eyes should be able to break through the darkness
of the club. A nagging thought tugged at my memory and then
recollection set in; I had seen those eyes before. When Fiona had
the website pulled up, there had been a pair of electric blue eyes
at the top of the website. I’d never seen vampires’ eyes turn that
color. It left me confused as to what it meant.

Micah spared a glance at his watch and
then leaned closer to speak in my ear again. “We’ve got to meet
Anthony.” I nodded and once we told Aiden and Fiona that we’d only
be about an hour, we headed for the door. I quickly drank the rest
of my mojito and threw the cup away. I spared one more look toward
my best friend and Aiden but was distracted when I saw multiple
sets of blue eyes. They seemed to be in various spots all around
the club and my heart jackhammered against my ribcage.

Micah was holding my hand, pulling me
towards the front door and I desperately hoped that whatever was
going on in Rush, Aiden would be strong enough to resist
it.

Once we were outside, the bouncer dude
gave me an incredulous look. I was guessing that the witches that
went into Rush, didn’t come out.

Micah had called almost every Anthony
he could find that lived in Hemlock. It wasn’t until the tenth one
that he found the Anthony from Amy Harper’s thoughts. We were
meeting him at a restaurant called Fannie’s Flapjacks. Hemlock was
mainly all otherworldly residents but some humans were allowed to
call it home after undergoing a lengthy interview process. Mainly,
they were families of witches or donors for vampires. It turned out
that Anthony was human and also Amy Harper’s brother.

Micah turned down a side street and
then took another couple of turns before we saw a big sign
announcing Fannie’s Flapjacks was just ahead. The parking lot had a
few cars. That was good; we would have some privacy to speak with
Anthony. Micah had been unusually quiet on the short drive and I
didn’t see any reason to start up a conversation. What could I say?
It was awkward being around a guy who dumped me just as I was
beginning to fall in love with him. Everything about him was a
painful reminder to the time my heart was shattered. When Micah had
broken up with me it had crushed me. There weren’t any meds I could
take for the pain I felt. Time was the only thing that eventually
healed me.

I heard the click of a door opening
and noticed Micah was getting out of the car. Tucking my thoughts
back into that dark corner of my mind, I followed suit. The air
felt thick and opaque like someone was breathing down my neck. For
a Friday night, this part of town wasn’t very active. Only the
sound of our feet on the worn parking lot broke the
silence.

Micah held the door open for me and I
stepped inside Fannie’s Flapjacks. It looked like any normal mom
and pop restaurant. Horrid white paneling, fake wood laminate
tables, red vinyl chairs, and black and white tile floor. It looked
like whatever money Fannie made from her fabulous flapjacks wasn’t
being reinvested in upgrading her restaurant.

A guy in his mid-twenties waved at us
from across the room. Assuming he was Anthony, we walked over to
his table. There were evident similarities between Amy and the guy,
but nothing that would warrant the conclusion that they were as
close as brother and sister.

“Anthony Sindle?” Micah asked. I
looked at the man curiously, not expecting him to have a different
last name. Micah saw my confusion and said, “Different fathers.” I
gave Anthony a small smile and nodded my head.

“Yes,” Anthony said with a nervous
look, motioning for us to take the seats in front of him. His hair
was strawberry blonde and neatly styled. His features were
ordinary, as was his clothing.

“Mr. Sindle, I’m Micah; we talked on
the phone. This is Gwen Sparks or Hudson, she works as a consultant
with the FPD.”

Anthony gave both of us a head nod and
then shifted his eyes around the room. There were only three other
people in the restaurant, not enough to trigger anxiety, but he was
nervous about something.

“What can you tell us about your
sister’s attacker?” Micah asked and Anthony brought his eyes back
to the table. I could tell that the magic hadn’t chosen him like it
had his sister. He was one hundred percent human. He began to speak
just as the waitress came over and told us about the specials. We
politely declined and she sauntered over to the next
table.

Anthony gave her one last look before
turning to us and speaking. “I think it was Ben who killed her but
I don’t have any proof,” he said in a voice low enough that I had
to strain to listen.

“What’s the last name?” Micah
asked.

“Crowly.”

“And what makes you think this Ben
Crowly had something to do with Amy’s death?”

Anthony took a drink of his iced
tea.

“He was her boyfriend and also a
vampire. The police said her body had been…drained,” He took a
moment to regain his composure. “Ben’s a roughneck that Amy met a
couple months ago. He constantly drank too much from her and left
her almost passed out. It had to have been him.”

I could tell that Anthony was getting
angry so I reached my hand across the table and put it on his. His
eyes stared at it for a couple seconds before looking up at
me.

“We know this isn’t easy for you but
whatever you tell us could lead to catching the person responsible
for Amy’s death,” I gave him a small smile and pulled my hand away.
He released a heavy sigh and seemed to calm down.

“Was Ben English?” I asked,
remembering that the guy who had stuck the needle into Amy’s arm
had a thick English accent.

Anthony shook his head, “No,
why?”

“I had a vision of an Englishman
around Amy,” I said, not telling him that it had actually been
Amy’s memories that created my vision. I didn’t know if he’d handle
that too well or if he’d want to know every last detail of Amy in
her final moments. Either way, it wouldn’t be a good.

“I don’t think she knew anyone from
England,” he said. Well, darn, it would have been too easy if this
Ben guy were the one with the accent.

“What can you tell us about Mr.
Crowly? Micah asked.

“Besides him being a dirt bag? He’s
from Texas, as far as I know, and was turned vamp only two years
ago. I didn’t care for him so I never got to know much about him,”
Anthony said.

“What does he look like?”

“Brown hair that he keeps buzzed close
to this head. He has brown eyes and is around my height and build.
He dresses in casual clothes, jeans, t-shirt, sneakers or black
boots. He usually wears a gold hoop in his right ear and has a
tattoo of a crow in between his shoulder blades.”

What the hell was Amy Harper doing
with a guy like that? She seemed like a nice girl, the type of girl
that dated the Ivy League types, not ruffians.

“Thank you Mr. Sindle. We’ll look into
contacting Ben Crowly. If there is anything else you think of,
please don’t hesitate to call the FPD,” Micah said, standing up and
offering his hand to Anthony.

Once in the car, Micah and I looked at
each other. Something wasn’t quite right with that guy and we had
both picked up on it.

“He’s not telling us everything,” I
said.

“I agree. He was nervous about
something, maybe whoever killed his sister got to him, made some
threats.” Micah said. I didn’t understand. If it had been my
sister, I wouldn’t let any thugs scare me into not telling the
truth. But Anthony was human and living in an otherworldly city. He
didn’t have magical defenses like I did.

We made our way back to Rush within
ten minutes. The line had shortened but not by much. When we went
to go inside though, the bouncer stopped us.

“We already paid the cover,” I said,
holding up my hand to show the stamp. I looked at Micah’s hand but
the bouncer hadn’t stamped his.

“You can go in, he can’t,” the bouncer
said.

“Bullshit, I know you remember me,”
Micah snarled. The bouncer gave a sly smile worthy of making me
feel uncomfortable. “Ladies only, get lost, dog.” Micah was having
a hard time controlling his anger, his wolf simmered just below the
surface, waiting to break free. I put my hand on his arm and made
him look into my eyes.

“I’ll go in and get Aiden and Fiona;
we’ll meet you out here in ten minutes.” I wasn’t thrilled about
going into a club known to serve brew, but I didn’t have a choice.
I needed to get Aiden and Fiona out of there.

Micah pulled out his FPD badge and
presented it to the bouncer.

“FPD, she doesn’t go in without
me.”

“Your badge isn’t a VIP pass, bucko.
Go chase some deer and let the pretty lady have some fun,” bouncer
guy said as he slid an arm around my waist. My skin crawled when he
wrapped his knobby fingers around my waist.

Micah growled so deeply, that I could
see his shirt vibrate against it. If I didn’t do something, he’d
end up shifting and things would get uglier than they already were.
I called upon my magic and zapped the guy’s hand just enough to
make him let go of me. He drew his hand away and shook it as if to
put out a fire that didn’t exist.

“Whoo, we’ve got a feisty one,
fellas,” he said to two other vamps that had come out of the club
to serve as his backup. They laughed and appraised me
hungrily.

“That’s right, jackass, touch me again
and you’ll lose that hand,” I told him and then turned to head into
the club.

“Gwen, I don’t want you going in there
alone,” Micah protested.

I turned to face him and said, “They
left their cell phones in the car. I have to go in. I can handle
myself and we’ll be back within minutes.” Ignoring Micah’s qualms
about my safety, I proceeded to head into Rush again. I hoped it
would be as simple as I had told Micah it would be.

The techno music had been replaced
with alternative; The Kill was currently playing by 30 Seconds to
Mars. The lights that flashed overhead had been replaced with a red
pulsating light that lent a dangerous feeling to the packed
club.

Trying to find Aiden and Fiona in this
heap of darkness was next to impossible, with only the silhouettes
of bodies visible. Each person I passed looked at me hungrily. I
watched them cautiously but kept moving forward. I felt like I was
being stalked. The vampires were eyeing me like I was covered in
blood.

“Aiden,” I called, hoping he’d be able
to hear me over the loud speakers. I waited ten minutes but he
didn’t show. I moved onto the dance floor and noticed the bodies
that had been gyrating were now swaying slowly with their heads
back and eyes closed. They all moved in sync with each other almost
mechanically. I swiveled my body and absorbed the weirdness that I
was standing in the middle of.

What the hell was going on?

Marilyn Manson’s Sweet Dreams played
and the crowd instantly shifted their movements to rocking, almost
like a shallow head banging.

“Aiden!” I called a little bit louder,
not caring if I drew attention to myself. I could defend myself
with magic but not against this many vamps. Arms wrapped around my
waist and I was instantly flown away from the dance floor and onto
the balcony. I shrieked and struggled but a hand went around my
mouth.

“It’s me, Gwen,” Aiden’s voice said
into my ear. I released the breath that had caught in my throat and
he lowered his hand. He pulled me into a curtained room and I saw
that Fiona was passed out on the black velvet couch that sat
against the wall. A lot of vampire clubs had privacy rooms for
feeding and I didn’t like that Aiden was in one with
Fiona.

I rushed to her side and checked her
neck to see if there were any bite marks, but all I saw was clear
flesh.

“What happened to her?” I asked. Aiden
held a finger to his lips to tell me to be quiet and he peeked
outside the curtain then walked over to where I sat by
Fiona.

“I think her drink was drugged. I
started noticing she was acting funny when we were dancing, but
after she had a second drink she became dizzy and I brought her up
here where she passed out,” Aiden looked at Fiona’s hand and then
at mine and I could tell he noticed something.

“What?”

“You and Fiona were marked,” he said.
I looked at my hand and at Fiona’s; they both had a stamp of an eye
on them. Micah’s hand had no stamp and neither did
Aiden’s.

“Marked for what?” I asked, although I
had an idea.

“Because you guys are witches, I’m
guessing they’re marking you for capture.” Chills broke out along
my skin at the memory of the way the bouncer and every other
vampire had watched me with more interest than necessary. Fiona and
I had been marked like cattle and now we were in the belly of the
slaughterhouse.