Addict (Hunter #2)(53)

Casey smiled slightly. “I would never say this to him, but he’s actually a good guy. I was terrified when I thought that Italian guy was going to be my vampire dad. He scares the crap out of me.”

I shook my head because I didn’t get what was so scary about my guy. “He’s a sweetheart.”

“Maybe if you’re doing him, he is, but otherwise, he’s spooky.” He sat back in his chair and regarded me seriously. “So you’re some kind of superwolf?”

“I’m not a wolf, exactly. I’m also not human. I’m kind of a freaky combo. I’m really good at killing stuff, so here I am.”

Casey’s mouth split into a chagrined expression. “And I’m a vampire who doesn’t want to kill anything.”

The door from the living area opened and Liv walked in, bringing along her unique feminine energy. “I learned some things you might find interesting.”

“Like where Kim Jacobs hides the beer?”

“I don’t think she drinks beer, sweetie,” Liv said with a sympathetic pat on my back.

“I miss beer.” Casey sounded a little morose.

Liv gave him a long stare. “He doesn’t look like he’s old enough to drink.”

Casey sat up straighter as he tossed Liv his best come-hither look. I had to give it to him. He was an optimist. I’d tossed him out of my head not two hours before, but here he was hitting on the first woman to walk in. “I’m a vampire, honey. You can’t judge a vampire by his rugged good looks.”

“He’s a newbie, isn’t he?” Liv shook her head as she gave him a once-over.

“Oh, yeah, he’s like a year old and get this. He’s a pacifist.” I pushed a chair out for my friend. It was good to be back together with Liv. It felt right.

It made me wonder what Nate was doing.

“Oh, that’s so cute,” Liv cooed, much to Casey’s obvious dismay. She dismissed him entirely and turned to me. “So, Alan was sort of in and out of consciousness last night. Kim told me he talked a lot about some clinic. He’d been visiting this clinic, and it sounded strange. Kim thought he might be selling blood or buying blood. She wasn’t sure because he wasn’t terribly coherent.”

Casey had a superior look on his face as he pulled a card out of his back pocket. “Could you be talking about the East Side Clinic on Greenville? I found it in his wallet last night.” He held the card in between his middle and forefinger. When I reached for it, he snatched it away. “Not so fast, sister.”

I growled at the newbie who obviously didn’t understand the order of things. “Casey, I haven’t killed a vampire yet. Would you like to be the first?”

He passed me the card. “Fine. You’re no fun.”

“Liv, what do you say we head over to Greenville?” I asked, eager to get somewhere, anywhere.

“I don’t think that’s such a great idea,” Casey said, standing up. There was a stubborn look in his eyes. “Henri and Hugo went to get some sleep, and your trainer isn’t here. I don’t think you should go out without one of the team.”

“Good news for me then that you happen to be free.”

Casey’s eyes went wide. “Oh, that’s an even worse idea.”

I grabbed my coat. It was time for a field trip.




Twenty minutes later, Casey nudged me awake when the train stopped a couple of blocks from our destination. I yawned as the train doors hissed open and followed Casey and Liv out into the too-bright daylight. The snow on everything made it extremely light outside. Though Marcus was a daywalker, we still were fairly nocturnal. Being awake the last couple of days was making me tired and grumpy. My boots crunched in the snow as we moved down the stairs to the street below.

We started the walk up Mockingbird toward Greenville.

“Does she always fall asleep wherever she’s sitting?” Casey asked Liv.

“It’s her special gift.” Liv shivered as a cold wind whipped through the buildings. She brushed the snow off her gloves, but it kept coming down. We’d taken the train because it seemed easier than trying to drive in this stuff. Texans aren’t the safest drivers during icy conditions. “Have you ever seen anything like this?”

Casey held his gloved hands up. “Don’t look at me. I’m from Austin. This kind of freaks me out.”

“Apparently everything freaks you out.” I gave the vamp a friendly slap on the back.

I actually kind of liked the little wimp. Maybe it was because he was an academic and I was a Hunter, so we kind of naturally fit together. I felt like taking the vamp under my wing, so to speak. However, when we’d gotten ready to go, I hadn’t given him a gun. I thought that was a bad idea. Liv, on the other hand, had a nice semiautomatic with silver ordnance in her coat pocket. I hoped she could hold it since she was wearing thick gloves. This snow crap wreaked havoc on my defense protocols.

“That’s it.” Liv pointed to a building halfway down the block.

The clinic was small and looked neat and antiseptic in that way all medical buildings should look. I want any clinic or hospital I end up in to look like twelve OCD freaks spent the day scrubbing the floors with bleach and a toothbrush.

“It looks closed.” Casey was studying the building carefully. It gave me hope that maybe he would be effective in the field.