“Woah,” Jason blinked. He’d been at Amber’s side all along, and heard every word. “I didn’t… what did you do?”
“What I had to, Jason,” Lorelei explained. “I do only what I must. She will be fine, but you should see her home.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” murmured Amber. “Is it time to go?”
“It is for us,” Lorelei replied. “I’m sorry to cut this short. Alex is not well. He should not ride. Can either of you follow us on his motorcycle?” she asked Drew and Wade.
“Yeah, I got it,” nodded Drew.
“Ah c’n follow,” Wade spoke up. “Drew hitched a ride here with me anyway.”
“Thank you,” said Lorelei. She kept one hand on Alex’s arm through the brief conversation. “Jason-“
“No, I get it,” he shook his head. “I mean, with him,” he added, gesturing toward Alex.
Lorelei nodded with gratitude, but her controlled urgency remained. “Amber, it was a pleasure, and I hope to see more of you.”
“Um. Sure?” Amber shrugged. She gave just a little wave as the older woman led Alex and his friends toward the exit. Then she turned to Jason, who seemed to be working up some sort of apology. “I like your friends,” she declared happily.
Chapter Three: It’s Worse Than It Looks
“I swear it’s not normally this weird with them,” Jason said as he pulled up outside the apartment building. “Or with me.” He paused. “And by ‘normally,’ I mean frequently. I mean for most of us. Weird shit seems to happen to Alex lately.”
“Hey, I had a good time,” Amber shrugged. “Your friends were all nice. They seem like cool people.” It was honest enough. She saw no reason for him to feel guilty or freaked out. Hell, she was of half a mind to just tell him she was an FBI agent and to ask him point blank about the vampire fangs. Nothing she’d discovered in the last few hours led her to believe there was anything suspicious about Jason or his friends.
“Cool,” Jason nodded. He thought about turning off the car and walking her to her door. Or not. He thought about asking her if he could call her later. Or not. Asking if she wanted to do anything Friday night, or Saturday, or just trying to kiss her right now… or not. How far was too far? How much was too much? If he didn’t do anything to say he was interested in more than just friendship, would he quickly lose any chance of something more?
“Thanks for bringing me along,” said Amber, breaking him from his momentary internal struggle. “I’m glad I came.”
“Cool,” he nodded again.
Amber paused. Regardless of her allayed suspicions, she still had an investigation to run, and had only one lead. No sense risking it floating away. “I’d like to hang out again sometime.”
Jason smiled. “Cool.”
“See you in class?”
“Yup,” he nodded as she stepped out of the car and headed to the front door. Jason waited, waved at her from the car once she had the door open, and pulled away as she closed it behind her.
Amber climbed the stairs to her apartment, opened it and set down her jacket and purse. There wasn’t much to the one-bedroom affair besides a smattering of cheap Ikea furniture. Not a poster or picture decorated the place. It fit in with her “ex-boyfriend trashed all my stuff” story and the task force’s budget. Amber had hardly even seen any of it; Matt and Colleen had handled her move-in for her while she was at school.
She had just enough time to hit the restroom before there was a knock on her door. Amber found Hauser, Colleen and Doug waiting for her. “Hey, I was just coming upstairs to report in.”
Hauser and the others walked inside, closing the door behind them. “What did you find out?” Hauser asked.
“They all seem nice,” she shrugged. “Just a night out. All pretty mellow.”
Hauser’s eyes turned to Doug, who scowled, sniffed her, and then pulled a crystal out of his pocket. He held the crystal up to his eye, muttered something and stared at Amber through it.
Amber gestured to Doug and asked Hauser, “Is he serious with this?”
“Something’s wrong,” Doug grunted. He put the crystal back in his pocket, fished out a tiny leather bag from the same pocket and poured what looked like sea salt crystals from it into his hands.
“What are you doing?” asked Amber. “I mean I get that you’re the cult expert here-“
“Occult expert,” Hauser corrected. “Let him work.”
“Uh,” Amber mumbled. She didn’t resist as Doug took her hand and placed a rounded bit of obsidian in it.
“Close your eyes,” Doug advised.
“…okay?” She did as he asked. She heard and felt the puff of his breath, and the hundred tiny impacts of sea salt crystals on her face. Amber made a face, taking half a step back in reflex, wondering why Doug didn’t just use a whole cream pie… and then blinked. She stared at Doug. The others waited. “Okay, wait,” she said, her eyes not tracking much of anything as her memories of the night became clearer. She remembered details, and suspicions, and emotions.
“Oh hell,” she murmured, “it’s all real.”
* * *
“It is of course wise to be on your guard, but I doubt you have much to fear as yet,” Lorelei emphasized. “It is Alex she wants, not you. At most, if she follows you, it will be as a means to find him.”
“Gotcha,” Wade said. His hand rested on the doorknob. “An’ she really won’t go nuts if somethin’ happens in public? You said she won’t go wolfie or nothin’, but can’t she just pull out a gun and start shootin’? Ah mean, it don’t take bein’ a monster t’ cause a lotta trouble.”
“This is true,” nodded Lorelei, “and there are never guarantees. I have seen their kind fight with weapons in the past, but such is rare. I believe the urge to hunt comes more from the animal within than the man, and thus they eschew using tools for such purposes. But they have human minds, and can think outside such boxes.” Lorelei gave a little shrug. “We shall have to be cautious.”
“We’ll go tell Jason right now,” Drew assured her. “Even if he’s already in bed. We’ll wake his ass up and give him the lowdown.”
“Thank you for everything,” Lorelei said. She hugged them both before they left her apartment, her eyes lingering on them as they walked to the elevator down the hall. Lorelei then returned to the living room, where Alex sat staring off into space on the couch.
“We’re normally in bed by this time,” he observed, “or at least naked somewhere.” His weariness colored his voice, but he simply wasn’t ready to sleep yet. Better to sit up awake than stare at a dark ceiling.
“Do I detect an apology?” she asked with a gentle smile as she curled up against him. “Our habits are driven as much by need as affection, but I can survive without sex. It would appear such things aren’t on your mind right now, either.”
“I wish they were, actually. It means a lot to me. Sometimes I think more than it should. Y’know, curses aside and such. I wasn’t exaggerating yesterday. I really feel like I live for it. Sometimes I wonder if it’s more than just a high sex drive, or your influence, or…” Alex shrugged. “I wonder if I’m not just trying to distract myself.”
“I would know it, if that were the case,” said Lorelei. “I’ve known many with such a motive. The truth is that you and I both long to make up for lost time. Lost lifetimes, even,” she added. “Rachel, too.”
“Do you think this is just my karma?” Alex asked, clearly looking for the right word. “I don’t know how to say it. Maybe that’s just how my life is meant to be?”
“Speaking of Rachel,” Lorelei noted, rolling her eyes a little.
“Oh. Right. ‘Man Was Not Meant to Know’ stuff, huh?”
“It is something she takes seriously.” Lorelei paused. “Alex, I have seen precious little to lead me to believe that anything is ‘meant to be’ in the lives of mortals. Heaven and Hell and forces outside of both might steer individual events or people. Yet I have seen almost three millennia pass, I have encountered many angels and been a closely prized servant of two of the mightiest lords in Hell… and I am no more aware of a single grand design than you or any mortal you know.” She noted the tilt of his head as she spoke. “What is it?”