Blood Trinity (Belador #1)(96)

His head canted to one side with an odd look of surprise on his face. “No. The records only show the woman listed as your adoptive mother.”

So he didn’t know the woman was her aunt? “What else do you know about me?”

“I know your aura is not human.”

She paused with a forkful of lasagna at her lips. Go on offense when you have no defense. “That wasn’t funny when you said it last night and it’s not funny now, Isak.”

Isak finished chewing and swallowing his last mouthful, then wiped his lips with the linen napkin. “Humans have a pale aqua and sometimes pinkish aura. Yours is silver.”

She felt each heavy thump of her heart in the space between his last three words. She put her fork down and faced him, the muscles in her body tightening to face a possible threat even though Isak’s tone had been one of curiosity more than challenge. “What are you accusing me of being? Something like that Birrn demon?”

He finally looked into her eyes—or seemed to look right through her glasses—then his gaze pulled back, studying her head and shoulders. “I’m not accusing you of anything. I’m curious to know why yours is different.”

How to answer that question? “I don’t know. I can’t see auras. Are you sure about what you’re seeing?”

Or had she misread his charm and he was toying with her?

“Yes, I’m good at reading auras.”

No one had told her she had a silver one, but she lived around nonhumans all the time and couldn’t see auras herself. Chances were they all had strange auras and thought nothing of hers. She had to either convince him she was not a threat or get the hell out of here quick.

But she needed information he had on the Birrn demon and possibly anything else he knew. Asking for that right now would not curb his suspicions. She turned the topic back to him. “I’ve always thought people like psychics saw auras. Are you psychic or something else?”

“Something else.”

“Human?”

“Most definitely.”

She tapped her fingers on the table. “This is pretty one-sided. You yank me in here like a captive and want me to answer questions, but you aren’t sharing a thing. You want to know about me? Who are you? Where’d you come from? Who do you work for? Where’d you get that superblaster gun? How is it you’re human and you can find nonhumans?”

He drew in a deep breath and leaned back as he expelled it. He propped an elbow on the table and rested his chin on his bent fingers, thinking on something. “I was raised in a military family, so I lived everywhere until I joined the army. I left the army last year. All my men are former military of some sort. They all work for Nyght, Inc. I can’t discuss what we do, but we save lives that are threatened. I designed the weapon you saw the other night. And I guess you can say I have a natural gift for finding nonhumans.”

Where was Storm when she needed the human lie detector? She pushed her plate away. “I can’t help but think you brought me here because you think I’m not human.”

He stood up and started clearing the dishes to the sideboard then sat down across from her again. “I haven’t accused you of that. Just want to know a little more about you. Like where you grew up.”

If he had her birth records he had to know some basics, but how much of the records was fabricated if her aunt was listed as an adoptive parent? She wouldn’t tell him anything he didn’t already know.

Since he was being reasonable and she still wanted information, she said, “I grew up in a little town in western Indiana.”

“There’s no school listing for you anywhere.”

“That’s because I didn’t go to school.”

“Your name would show up somewhere even being home schooled.”

“I wasn’t home schooled.”

That stumped him for a moment.

She knew so little about where she came from she’d like to see the file he had on her, but that wasn’t her first concern right now. “Why does my background matter to you?”

He sat down again, arm on the table, as relaxed as a tiger that could pounce at any moment. “I’ll be honest with you. You were on site with that Birrn demon. There have been two more demons in the city besides that one. I’m following every lead on anything unusual. You’re unusual.”

“Unusual? In what way?”

“No one sees you during the day.”

“Who do you mean when you say no one?”

Lifting his hands, he counted off fingers. “The morgue where you work has you listed as nights only, no exceptions. Your bike is only on traffic cameras at night.”

She caught his look of need I go on? “What exactly do you think that makes me?”

“I’d say a vampire if not for your aura. The dead do not have auras.” He’d said that in a joking manner, but she didn’t think this man joked about things like that.

If she didn’t give him a reason he could accept for her nocturnal behavior, he was going to become a problem for her. “I was born with a rare skin disease. Vitamin D is poison to my body. It’s as simple as that.”

“What about the silver aura?”

“I don’t have an answer for you. What else have you encountered that has a silver aura?”