“I am happy,” I grumbled.
He chuckled and looked around. “How long are you planning to stay this time?”
“Three or four days and then Chris wants to visit Longstone. From there, who knows?”
“Sometimes I envy you, my friend.”
“I keep telling you to come with us. Claire is more than capable of managing Westhorne in your absence.” And the Council would learn to deal with it. They deferred too much to Tristan as it was. The Seven ruled together, but at times they treated him like their unofficial leader.
“One of these days I’ll take you up on that.” He ran his hand through his blond hair. “How would you feel about postponing your trip to Oregon? We’ve received word of a possible vampire problem in Maine, and I was hoping you would look into it.”
“Maine? That’s werewolf territory. Vampires usually avoid that place like the plague.”
“True, but there have been a number of disappearances in Portland in recent weeks. Four human girls have gone missing with no trace, all close to the same age. The authorities there have no evidence or leads. I might have dismissed it if we hadn’t also gotten word of several dead bodies with animal attack listed as the cause of death.”
“Do we have anyone in Portland now?” We didn’t keep a permanent Mohiri presence in Maine because it was usually very quiet there.
“Erik’s team is in Boston and they’ve been monitoring the situation, but they haven’t found anything. We considered the possibility that the deaths could have been caused by a rogue wolf, but the werewolves would have dealt with it by now.”
I rubbed my jaw. “Erik’s good. If he can’t find any leads, what makes you think I can?”
Tristan smiled. “Because you are the best at finding things when no one else can.”
“Now you’re just trying to butter me up.”
“Is it working?”
“Maybe.” He had piqued my curiosity, and he knew it. Mysterious disappearances in a quiet place like Portland, that was the kind of job I couldn’t resist. “I’m sure Chris won’t mind waiting a week or so to visit Longstone.”
“Good.” He clasped his hands together. “Perhaps you should take a team with you, just in case.”
I laughed at his not-so-subtle attempt to get me to comply with the Council’s wishes. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I’m sure this is nothing Chris and I haven’t handled before.”
“Famous last words, my friend.”
The corner of my mouth lifted. “You’ll see. We’ll be in and out of Maine in no time.”
Chapter 2
“Looks quiet here, Nikolas.”
I glanced at Chris and went back to studying the occupants of the club. He was right. This crowd was mostly college students who were more interested in dancing and hooking up than doing something nefarious. But Intel had identified this club as a place of interest because it was close to where the teenage girl had disappeared last Saturday. And our guys were rarely wrong.
“Let’s give it another ten minutes, and then we’ll head out.”
Chris nodded and turned away to do another slow circuit of the room. “I’ll meet you back here in ten.”
I leaned against the wall, ignoring the restlessness plaguing me since we’d arrived at the club an hour ago. Five days in Portland without a lead on the vampires who’d taken those four girls. The vampires were still in the city; of that I was certain. There’d been several other deaths since we’d arrived in town, vagrants who did not make the five o’clock news. These vampires were good at staying out of sight even as they made their presence known. What I wanted to know was what had brought them to Portland, and why were they still here?
My thoughts were interrupted by an attractive blonde who approached me wearing an inviting smile.
“Hi. Want to dance?”
I stared at the girl, not because of her question, but because my demon suddenly stirred as it detected the presence of another Mori. Chris was too far away for it to be him, so that left the blonde girl. But she was young, and there was no way a Mohiri teenager would be out alone in a club. Plus, we had no strongholds in Maine.
The sensation began to fade, and my eyes were drawn instead to a dark-haired girl passing behind the blonde. I could only see the other girl’s back before she entered the ladies’ restroom, but she looked young. I watched the door, waiting for her to reappear.
The blonde girl made a sound, reminding me of her invitation to dance. I declined and went back to watching the restroom, not wanting to miss the dark-haired girl when she came out. As far as I knew, there were no female warriors working in Portland at the moment. So why would one of them be here, partying with human college students? And why was she here without her team, especially with all the vampire activity in the area?
A few minutes later, I frowned when the restroom door opened and the girl came out. She was younger than I’d expected, and pretty. She wore little makeup, and there was something about her expression, a wary innocence that made her look out of place here. She was too young to be a warrior and too old to be an orphan. Obviously human.
Behind the girl, two blondes left the restroom arguing loudly. The brunette shook her head and gave an eye roll that made the corner of my mouth twitch. I was curious about her even though she was not Mohiri as I’d suspected, and I watched her stop to let the other women pass her.
One of the blondes screamed an obscenity and gave her companion a shove just as they moved past the girl. Her friend stumbled backward, flailing her arms and colliding with the dark-haired girl. I took a step away from the wall as the two of them fell. The girl hit the floor hard, and I heard her grunt in pain as the heavier blonde landed on top of her.
I started toward them as a man grabbed the blonde’s arms and lifted her off the girl.
“Is she all right?” someone asked when I reached the girl and looked down at her dazed expression.
I bent and waved a hand in front of her face. “Are you okay?”
She blinked and tried to sit up. “Um, I think so,” she replied in a low, husky voice that made my breath catch.
I reached for her hand to help her up, and as soon as our fingers touched, a warm tingle shot through mine. My Mori quivered with recognition and…excitement? There was no doubt in my mind that the girl was Mohiri. But how was that possible? How was I able to sense her one minute and not in the next? And how could I have gotten this close to her and not sensed anything until we touched? Most importantly, what was she doing here instead of living in a stronghold?
The girl dropped my hand and looked up at me, her cheeks pink and her full lips parted in a timid smile. Her eyes met mine, and I sucked in a sharp breath as I stared into beautiful green eyes framed by long dark lashes. If the eyes truly are the windows to the soul then I knew I was looking at one of the purest souls I had ever seen. I was only dimly aware of my Mori pressing forward and the strange fluttering sensation coming from the demon. All I could focus on was the feeling that I’d somehow met this girl before, even though I knew it was impossible. I never would have forgotten those eyes or that face.
Realizing we were only inches apart, I took a step back. She looked away, and I felt strangely bereft and more than a little confused by my reaction to her. I’d seen thousands of beautiful women in my life, and not one of them had drawn me in the way this slip of a girl did.