Moonlight's Ambassador (Aileen Travers Book 3)(43)

I arched an eyebrow and shot Inara a considering look. "A pixie queen?"

Yeah, I could see that. She had the air of royalty and certainly treated others with the attitude I'd expect of a queen. And now I owed that queen a favor. When would I learn?

"How did Caroline seem when she left?" I asked, turning the conversation back to what was important at the moment. I'd worry about unnamed favors later. Perhaps when that favor was being called in.

"Upset. Anxious," Niall said. "Her control over her second form is still shaky. We gave her a glamor to help, but it will not last long and won’t keep her from the change in the event of strong emotions."

"Glamor? You're fey?" I didn't know much about the fey, but I seemed to remember that you weren't supposed to say thank you unless you wanted to owe a huge debt they could call in, however they wanted. I tried to remember if those words had crossed my lips tonight.

"Sidth," Cadell snapped, his eyes flashing dangerously.

I held up my hand. "Okay, sidth."

I didn't know the difference between fey and sidth or why he seemed to dislike the first term. I'd always thought fey covered all the categories in their brand of spook. Guess not. That was good to know, if only so I didn't step on any land mines with my customers in the future.

"Your information has been helpful," I said stiffly, trying to express my gratitude while not getting too close to the sentiment.

Niall's eyes flashed with amusement as he hid a small smile. Yeah, yeah, I bet it was funny watching the vampire turn into an awkward idiot because she didn't know the rules of etiquette for the sidth.

"Cadell will see you out so you can continue your search for the mac tire dorcha."

I nodded, letting Cadell pass before beginning the awkward maneuver of turning my bike around in the small place. Inara zipped over to land on my handlebars, perching on them as I wheeled the bike after Cadell. It took only moments to reach the back door.

Cadell went out first, stopping and peering around with eyes that saw much more than any human's. I suspected given the way he looked at the shadows that his night vision was as good as mine.

Inara lifted off the bike as I wheeled it outside. "Be careful with your friend, Aileen. She's different than you remember. Treat her with extreme caution."

For once, Inara seemed serious and without the chip on her shoulder that normally characterized our interactions. I gave her warning the respect it deserved and nodded. Lowen had similar reservations before; it was disturbing to hear her echo the sentiment.

Cadell contented himself with watching the shadows as I wheeled past.

“See you soon, vampire." The words were soft and had an edge of finality to them as the night engulfed me. Had I not been a vampire, I doubted I would have heard the send-off.





CHAPTER TEN

MY FIRST STOP after leaving my neighbors’ apartment was not far, and had me heading to the strip of city lying between Columbus and the edge of Grandview. Columbus was a weird city that had townships woven throughout its border. On a map, it looked like several Pac-Men had eaten away at its edges to carve out individual townships that made up the surrounding area. It's why, although the area I was in was technically Columbus—paying Columbus taxes—to locals, it was considered the less-nice section of Grandview and came with the perk of Grandview schools.

Caroline's mother lived in a townhome there and had since before Caroline and I graduated high school. One of the few good things Mrs. Bradley had done for her daughter was remain in Grandview so Caroline could finish her schooling without having to transfer.

Caroline was closer to her dad, but he had business in Germany and spent a good part of his time there. Her mom was her only family in the area. While I knew Caroline was unlikely to go to her mother's condo, I was hoping Mrs. Bradley would at least have an idea of where Caroline might have gone. My information on Caroline's habits was a few years out of date.

Mrs. Bradley's townhome was in a small building that contained three other townhomes. The complex was sandwiched between Fifth and King, two streets that saw a lot of traffic. Close to the university, she was surrounded by college kids on either side. Her place wasn't quite as rundown as mine and had a spacious backyard to make up for the lack of curb appeal from the front.

I wheeled the bike to a stop against the side of the building, out of sight in case Brax or Liam sent any of their people to do a drive by of the area. I'd spent the last thirty minutes making sure there were no hidden watchers, so I felt reasonably safe walking up to her front door and knocking.

No answer. I waited several seconds and knocked again. "Mrs. Bradley, it's Aileen. I need to ask you about Caroline."

I heard movement inside and stepped back from the door, waiting until it opened. Mrs. Bradley peered through the crack, her eyes red-rimmed and her nose bright red from crying.

"Mrs. Bradley, are you okay?" I asked, concern in my voice.

"Aileen, do you know where my baby is?" she asked, her voice thick. "I know something is wrong."

The smell of booze wafted out, making sense of her state. Mrs. Bradley, for as long as I'd known her, had a bit of a drinking problem. She'd hidden it rather well when we were kids, and the only way we'd known she wasn't like the other moms was because we discovered her stash of empty bottles. After the divorce, she didn't bother hiding it anymore.