We sat in silence for a moment. A corner of a box poked me in the back so I shifted my hips. Something solid pressed against my leg from my pocket. I pulled out the vial of clear blue liquid.
The drug.
It sparkled in the fading sunlight and must have been sitting in my pants on the bedroom floor since the night I stole it from Rurik. I sat bolt upright and startled the guy next to me.
“You alright?” He looked at me askance.
“Where’s my suitcase?”
He pointed toward the back door.
I shoved my way through male flesh and squeezed it open to their protests.
“What are you doin’?”
My purse sat inside. I took out my wallet and slid out a wrinkled card, careful not to tear it. “You said Colby followed a lead about Tane when he disappeared?” I shoved my way back to the front and showed Red the card with just a phone number on it. The one Tane gave me. “Give me your phone. This is our next lead.”
I couldn’t do anything about losing Rurik but I could help find Colby. Then we’d find who was responsible for this murder and destroy each person involved. It made me feel a smidge better and I needed to take what I could right now.
Red gave me his cell phone as he drove. “Who are you callin’?”
I dialed the number and ignored the question since I didn’t feel like discussing my link to Tane.
A sleepy voice answered. “Hello?”
“This is Con-Rabbit. I’d like to leave a message for Tane.” Red’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline.
“Rabbit, nice to hear from you. This is Eric, Tane’s companion.” I remembered him from the jazz club on the A38. They were lovers. “We were wondering if you’d ever call. Guess Tane won this bet.”
“Tell him I have what he wants.”
“I’ll come get it.”
“I don’t think so. I want to speak with him in person.”
His low laughter carried over the phone. It made the hair on my arms stand. “You’re either a ballsy girl or a silly one. No one ever wants to see him.”
I sighed. “Fine, I need to see him.”
“How good are you at following directions?”
“Pretty good.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
My denial and numbness evaded me as I sat in the rowboat on the Danube River. It was a crippling thing, this sensation that my heart had been ripped out of my chest and torn to shreds. I knew it was still there but couldn’t feel it beat. This pain would get better but not tonight, not for a long time. I curled over to press my face to one of the oars and tried to breathe with no lungs. I wanted a drink.
Bad. Captain Morgan and I had a date after this.
I needed to pull it together. To stuff my self-pity and sorrow in a deep dark hole. If things got better, if I survived the night, I could pull it out when I was alone and examine it. My strength would carry me through, I would prevail in some manner.
The pain became manageable.
Colby might be out on the river, in Tane’s yacht. He needed me. I sat up, took a deep breath and started the boat moving again.
Rowing out to a yacht on the Danube River sounded a lot easier on the phone. No matter how I tried I couldn’t coordinate the oars, so a ten minute ride turned into a thirty minute workout.
Red almost spontaneously combusted when I told him my story of Tane’s blackmail. He understood my lies but it still hurt him. Our friendship had a dent now. He only agreed to this plan because it was a lead to Colby. Once more I wore the tracking chip. They worried it would get wet since we met on the water. If Red had his way I would have had to swallow it wrapped in a baggy like a drug mule. I vetoed that idea.
Once I pulled up to the hull of the ship I didn’t see any kind of ladder to climb. You’d think a luxury liner would have a staircase.
“Hey, anyone there? I can use a hand.” I looked at the rail along the deck for signs of life.
“The ladder is at the stern, Rabbit.” Tane’s soft voice carried well over the night.
I rowed a few strokes toward the front of the boat.
“That’s the bow. Turn around and go to back.”
Steam poured from my ears. Did I look like a sailor? I tried to change direction by swinging the oars in opposite directions but only managed to scrape the yacht’s paint.
“Watch the ship.” The curt command shot from above. “You’re late.”
I settled the oars in the water. Even with the gentle lights that hung from the rigging I couldn’t see Tane. “I’m lucky to have made it this far.”
A rope flew over the edge of the yacht to land in my dingy. “Tie it to the boat, I’ll reel you in.”
I wrapped it around the bench and held the end as Tane guided it to the stern with ease.
As I pulled up he jumped in, rocking the row boat enough to make me hang on to the sides. He unwound the rope from the bench while he muttered under his breath then tied a complicated knot to moor it. After he climbed back out he turned and offered his hand. “Welcome aboard, Rabbit.”
I accepted it and stepped onto the back platform beside him.
This time he didn’t hide his origins under a hat. The moonlight gleamed off his smooth, bald head with his pointed ears folded along its side. His tattoo flowed down into the neckline of his pale-blue, button-down shirt and still remained obscure. He brushed some water beads from his dark gray slacks before directing me to the ladder.
It surprised me to see he was barefoot.
“Pay attention to your steps. I don’t want to have to fish you out of the river.”
I stared daggers at him before climbing up the ladder. He didn’t seem to mind throwing me in it the other night.
His chuckle mocked me.
The deck spoke of wealth. White leather couches attached to the rails invited me to snuggle and the dark hard wood floor felt smooth under my feet. A glass pitcher of clear liquid and a full martini glass sat on a table by one of the couches.
Tane brushed past me and sat next to the table. He picked up the glass and sipped. “Would you like one? Eric makes a good dry martini.”
I remained by the ladder. It made me feel safer, even though I couldn’t do much if Tane decided to hurt me. “I don’t drink anymore.” I licked my lips, after this afternoon the pitcher looked tempting. “No olives?”
“We can only take liquids. You should know that.” He sipped again. “Do you have the drug? The one he used on you?”
I pulled the vial out of my pocket. It weighed heavier than before like all my responsibilities sat in it.
He signaled me to bring it closer.
I never had the chance to ask Rurik why he owned it. What good could come from breaking down psychic abilities? I couldn’t help wonder what crimes Tane would commit with it. But I didn’t have any other leverage.
The energy to hold myself together drained my strength. I needed to get this over with. “I want Colby.” It wasn’t courage that had me making demands of a Nosferatu. A certain sense of freedom came with grief. I didn’t have any fear of death, it would just send me to those I loved and missed. How can you be brave if you weren’t afraid?
“Why would you think I have him?”
“He disappeared yesterday while investigating Eric. Only you could take him like that. You said if I got you the drug no harm would come to my people. Here it is. Now, give him back.”
He leaned back into the couch and finished his drink. “The moment you stepped on this ship the drug was mine. You have nothing to bargain with.”
I popped the cap to the vial and poured a little onto the floor. “If I destroy it then neither of us will have what we want.”
Tane’s hand gripped my wrist and restrained me from emptying it. His empty glass sat on the table. It still amazed me how fast a vampire could move. He took the bottle from my grasp. “Why do you have to make things so difficult? I don’t see why Rurik obsesses about you.”