Warrior (Relentless #4)(156)

Chris stepped over a severed arm. “It looks like they were taken apart by an angry mob.”

“A mob with swords and crossbows?” I asked absently, bending to examine one of the bodies.

I stood and walked over to the mox demon. She had on a flimsy red dress; the kind people wore to a place like Blue Nyx. I’d lay odds she’d come from there before she was attacked. A place like that was bound to draw vampires looking for an easy meal. Most of Adele’s customers were in a euphoric, drugged-like state when they left the club, easy prey for a vampire. Since vampires couldn’t get past Adele’s ogre security, they’d wait for their meals to come to them.

“Demons?” Chris suggested.

“That’s my guess.” I straightened and looked around the alley. “Who else would come to the aid of a mox demon?”

“Good point.”

Anton called for backup, and we spent the next hour removing the bodies. Once we had all the parts bagged and in the van, the other warriors took them to an industrial park to incinerate in a furnace they used often.

Chris and I resumed our new nightly routine of visiting various underworld clubs in the Los Angeles area. The problem with LA was its size. Without a way to track Sara, it could take weeks to find her. I was afraid we didn’t have weeks with the escalating violence here.

If Sara was here, she wasn’t hiding out in a hotel room. She was out here searching for Madeline. She’d proven she was stronger than we’d thought, but sooner or later, she was going to run into trouble she couldn’t handle.

As the night wore on, I found myself checking my phone and wondering if she was going to call again. Even though she hadn’t spoken when she’d called the last two nights, it eased my mind a little to know that wherever she was, she was thinking about me.

I’d given up on hearing from her when my phone rang just after 3:00 a.m. It was another unknown number, but I knew it was her before I answered.

“Hello?”

Silence.

I walked down the street, away from the were bar I’d just left.

“Sara? Will you talk to me tonight?”

I wasn’t surprised when she didn’t answer, but it didn’t stop the pang of disappointment. Before now, I hadn’t known it was possible to crave the sound of someone’s voice. Part of it was the bond that made me need my mate, but a bigger part was me. I missed her.

“Okay.” I let out a breath. “Tristan said you sounded tired when you called him today. I know you’re not sleeping. You know you can call me anytime, even if you’re not ready to talk yet.”

I looked up at the sky that would start to lighten in a few short hours. “It’s late. You should try to get some sleep. Call me again tomorrow so I know you’re all right. And Sara…I need to hear your voice, too.”

The line was so quiet I thought she’d hung up. Then, I heard a small sound like a muffled sob. “I’m okay.”

I closed my eyes, my shoulders sagging. They were just two whispered words, but they told me she cared and that she was hurting too. She might not be ready to talk things out, but she was reaching out to me.

The silence on the other end of the line told me she was gone. I turned back to the bar with renewed hope warming my chest. Tomorrow, she would call again, and I’d coax a few more words out of her.

If I didn’t find her first.





*


“No luck?”

I shook my head as I walked into the safe house control room. “They were there two days ago. Garrett told me Sara sold him some very nice diamonds in exchange for cash and weapons. Roland was with her.”

Chris spun in his chair to face me. “Where did Sara get diamonds, and how the hell does she know someone like Leo Garrett?”

“I don’t know. I’m almost afraid to find out.”

I sank onto a chair and rubbed my eyes. “Garrett’s main business is gun running, but his hobby is fencing fine art and jewels. He said a mutual business acquaintance introduced him to Sara, and that she was quite the businesswoman. He wouldn’t tell me how much money or diamonds were exchanged, but he said both parties were happy with the deal.”

Chris stared at me. “I don’t even know what to say.”

“You and me both.”

He blew out a puff of air. “I take it Garrett didn’t know where Sara and Roland are.”

“He said he didn’t, but who knows with a man like that. I asked Dax to look into him and see if he can find something to lead us to Sara.”

A phone rang. Wayne, who was sitting at another computer, answered it. He wore a puzzled expression when he came over to us.

“Westhorne just got an anonymous call from someone claiming to be a friend. He told them there is a pretty nasty gulak demon in Los Angeles named Draegan, who is running drugs and human slaves. The guy wouldn’t say how he got our private number, but he said we’d want to check it out.”

Chris and I stood at the same time. If there was one thing we hated more than vampires, it was slavers. It didn’t surprise me to hear that a gulak was involved. I’d dealt with enough of their kind to know they thought of humans as nothing more than chattel.

“Where can we find this demon?” I asked.

Wayne grinned. “I’ll tell you on the way. I’m not missing out on this one.”