Warrior (Relentless #4)(5)
I raised an eyebrow at him. “Careful. You are dangerously close to sounding like my mother.”
My mother had two missions in her life: protecting humanity and seeing me happily settled. After almost two hundred years, you’d think she would let the second one go.
“Irina wants her son to be happy. It’s what every parent wishes for their child.” Sadness flickered in Tristan’s eyes, and I knew he was thinking about Madeline. Over fifty years had passed since she’d left, but she was never far from her father’s thoughts.
“I am happy,” I grumbled.
He chuckled and looked around. “How long are you planning to stay this time?”
“Three or four days and then Chris wants to visit Longstone. From there, who knows?”
“Sometimes I envy you, my friend.”
“I keep telling you to come with us. Claire is more than capable of managing Westhorne in your absence.” And the Council would learn to deal with it. They deferred too much to Tristan as it was. The Seven ruled together, but at times they treated him like their unofficial leader.
“One of these days I’ll take you up on that.” He ran his hand through his blond hair. “How would you feel about postponing your trip to Oregon? We’ve received word of a possible vampire problem in Maine, and I was hoping you would look into it.”
“Maine? That’s werewolf territory. Vampires usually avoid that place like the plague.”
“True, but there have been a number of disappearances in Portland in recent weeks. Four human girls have gone missing with no trace, all close to the same age. The authorities there have no evidence or leads. I might have dismissed it if we hadn’t also gotten word of several dead bodies with animal attack listed as the cause of death.”
“Do we have anyone in Portland now?” We didn’t keep a permanent Mohiri presence in Maine because it was usually very quiet there.
“Erik’s team is in Boston and they’ve been monitoring the situation, but they haven’t found anything. We considered the possibility that the deaths could have been caused by a rogue wolf, but the werewolves would have dealt with it by now.”
I rubbed my jaw. “Erik’s good. If he can’t find any leads, what makes you think I can?”
Tristan smiled. “Because you are the best at finding things when no one else can.”
“Now you’re just trying to butter me up.”
“Is it working?”
“Maybe.” He had piqued my curiosity, and he knew it. Mysterious disappearances in a quiet place like Portland, that was the kind of job I couldn’t resist. “I’m sure Chris won’t mind waiting a week or so to visit Longstone.”
“Good.” He clasped his hands together. “Perhaps you should take a team with you, just in case.”
I laughed at his not-so-subtle attempt to get me to comply with the Council’s wishes. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary. I’m sure this is nothing Chris and I haven’t handled before.”
“Famous last words, my friend.”
The corner of my mouth lifted. “You’ll see. We’ll be in and out of Maine in no time.”
Chapter 2
“Looks quiet here, Nikolas.”
I glanced at Chris and went back to studying the occupants of the club. He was right. This crowd was mostly college students who were more interested in dancing and hooking up than doing something nefarious. But Intel had identified this club as a place of interest because it was close to where the teenage girl had disappeared last Saturday. And our guys were rarely wrong.
“Let’s give it another ten minutes, and then we’ll head out.”
Chris nodded and turned away to do another slow circuit of the room. “I’ll meet you back here in ten.”
I leaned against the wall, ignoring the restlessness plaguing me since we’d arrived at the club an hour ago. Five days in Portland without a lead on the vampires who’d taken those four girls. The vampires were still in the city; of that I was certain. There’d been several other deaths since we’d arrived in town, vagrants who did not make the five o’clock news. These vampires were good at staying out of sight even as they made their presence known. What I wanted to know was what had brought them to Portland, and why were they still here?
My thoughts were interrupted by an attractive blonde who approached me wearing an inviting smile.
“Hi. Want to dance?”
I stared at the girl, not because of her question, but because my demon suddenly stirred as it detected the presence of another Mori. Chris was too far away for it to be him, so that left the blonde girl. But she was young, and there was no way a Mohiri teenager would be out alone in a club. Plus, we had no strongholds in Maine.
The sensation began to fade, and my eyes were drawn instead to a dark-haired girl passing behind the blonde. I could only see the other girl’s back before she entered the ladies’ restroom, but she looked young. I watched the door, waiting for her to reappear.
The blonde girl made a sound, reminding me of her invitation to dance. I declined and went back to watching the restroom, not wanting to miss the dark-haired girl when she came out. As far as I knew, there were no female warriors working in Portland at the moment. So why would one of them be here, partying with human college students? And why was she here without her team, especially with all the vampire activity in the area?