Once Bitten (Shadow Guild: The Rebel #1)(25)

Her wares cluttered the shelves, tiny bottles of potions gleaming in the dimness. Fairy lights sparkled near the ceiling of the shop. The raven sat on the shelf behind Eve, silent as always.

Eve glanced up, her expression bored. She froze when her gaze met mine, but she didn’t so much as twitch—that is, except her arching right eyebrow, a clear question. She waited silently. I wondered how sure she was of my past. People whispered of it, but no one knew for sure.

Even I was uncertain after so many years. Visions all clashed in my mind.

I shook away the thoughts. “I’m looking for a woman. You sold her a freezing potion.”

“Confidentiality.”

“I’m sure there’s a way around that.”

She leaned back, crossing her arms over her chest. “There really isn’t. Why are you interested in her?”

I didn’t like the question. Partially because I didn’t want to share, but also because I didn’t want to examine it myself.

Why was I interested? Because something in me recognized her?

I shoved away the thought and sighed, more out of exhaustion than anything else.

She shifted nervously.

“Don’t make me,” I said.

She scowled. “I’m not making you do anything.”

No, she wasn’t. I chose to use my magic against her. Part of me didn’t like it, but a bigger part wanted to find the woman.

I called on the power that had been given to me when I’d been made into a vampire so many hundreds of years ago. Most vampires were born. Turned vampires rarely survived the transition, and when they did, they woke up with insane bloodlust and muted senses, a mimicry of their previous lives. The combination led to them going on killing rampages that were so dangerous they often ended up dead themselves.

But somehow, I’d survived.

Magic swelled within me, dark and fierce, a vortex of power that reached out of me and into Eve. It was easier than it had been with the woman who’d just visited me. She had been impossible to influence.

Eve, however, was not.

She grimaced, her eyes shooting daggers at me.

My magical signatures flared on the air. It was something I normally kept a tight rein on, but I needed it now. I knew my signatures were horrifying. They’d served me well when I’d first been made. Screams of the dying, the icy grip of the reaper. The smell of brimstone and the taste of dirt.

She paled and shrank back, her bravado gone.

The worst I would do to her was force her to tell me what I wanted to know. Perhaps I could refuse to sell her my protection, but she didn’t need to know that. I wouldn't waste time on killing her, not when the witches would jump to take out her shop. She was competition, and that Guild was fierce. I helped Eve stay open to irritate them.

“Tell me what I want to know. Who was the woman to whom you sold the potion?”

“Fine.” Her words were tight, her eyes flashing with anger as my magic forced the truth from lips. “Her name was Carrow. She’s some friend of Mac’s, and she can read objects and people with a touch. That’s all I know.” She gave me a crafty smile. “And I just had my runner deliver a truth serum to her. So, be ready for that. She might even use it on you.”

Interesting. “Thank you. If they visit you again, be sure to let me know.”

She hissed at me, and I just smiled. “Good day.”

If she responded, I didn’t notice. My mind was already on the woman. Carrow. Her name was Carrow.

I strode out of the shop and turned toward Mac’s door. She lived so close that it was worth checking.

What I would do when I found the woman…I wasn’t quite sure. But I was curious, and I hadn’t been curious in years. Finally, something interesting was happening.

The murder itself was only slightly noteworthy. True, I wanted to know who was behind it and what they were planning. Why they’d stolen the dagger from me. But it was Carrow herself who really piqued my interest.

At the green door that led to Mac’s stairs, I used my city key. It opened almost any door in town and was a perk of having as much power as I did. Taking the stairs two at a time, I ascended silently. When I reached Mac’s door on the second level, I knocked. I could have used the key like I had the bottom or even broken the lock, but a streak of conscience tugged at me. It was a rare and awkward feeling, quite frankly, but I heeded it. I definitely had a conscience; it was just well buried.

No one answered the door, and the space within was silent. My hearing was unnaturally good. No one was home. I turned and left, heading back toward my club. The bouncers waited at the front, still and silent. Both shifters had been in my employ for over a decade. Powerful and loyal, the best security was hired from the Shifters’ Guild. Their eyes were cold and dead, but they weren’t monsters.

Not like I was.

I passed them and stopped at Miranda’s desk. My second in command leaned forward expectantly, a half smile on her face. She looked unassuming in her heels and simple black dress, but she could kill someone with a scream. One of the advantages of having a banshee on staff.

“Tell the city spies to let me know when they spot Mac and her friend,” I said. “Immediately.”

Miranda nodded. “Yes, sir.”

I grinned, walking into the club.

If Carrow was in Guild City, she was mine.