The big door at Hell’s Gate swung open, and Jane glanced over at the entrance. Captain Harris walked in first, and her expression was grimly determined. She came in with her hand locked around the wrist of another woman, a blonde with a short, pixie hair-cut and mascara stained eyes.
“Aidan, Jane,” Vivian murmured in acknowledgement. She shut the door behind her and her guest. “Meet Sharon Lawson, the EMT who was working on Paris the night he died.”
Aidan was sitting at a table in the middle of the club. Jane stood at his side. As Vivian and Sharon approached, Jane could practically smell the human’s fear. Sharon’s gaze darted all around the club’s interior. “Sh-shouldn’t more people be here?” Sharon asked. “I mean, I know it’s early but the other bars on Bourbon Street are already—”
“We’re closed,” Aidan murmured. “The bouncer I have out front won’t let anyone inside, not without my approval.”
Sharon licked her lips. “Are you the ‘friend’ that is supposed to help me remember?”
“I am.” His hands were flat on the table. His claws weren’t out. Jane figured that was a good thing. She was standing and not sitting because…
Because I feel like I need to keep a close eye on him. She wasn’t scared of Aidan, but she also wasn’t sure just how smoothly this little meeting would go.
She wanted to make sure he didn’t cross any lines and, oh, say…hurt a human.
“Come closer,” Aidan ordered.
Sharon looked as if closer was the last place she wanted to go, but when Vivian nudged her, she edged a few steps toward Aidan.
“Have a seat.” Aidan’s voice was calm. That eerie kind of calm that came right before a storm.
Sharon slumped into the chair across from him.
“Vivian told me,” he began, body relaxed, “that you don’t remember exactly what happened on the ambulance.”
Sharon twisted her hands on the table top. “One minute, my patient was alive. The next…” She swallowed. “I was lying sprawled on his chest and my hands were around his neck. I don’t remember hurting him, I swear, I—”
Aidan caught her hands. He stared at them, then he looked up at her. “You will remember.”
“Wh-what?”
A shiver slid down Jane’s spine. His voice wasn’t so calm now. Now…he was more like the storm.
“You will remember what happened on that ambulance. You will tell me exactly what happened to Paris. Every detail. See it in your head right now. Tell it to me.”
Sharon’s hazel eyes seemed to glaze over.
Jane looked at Vivian. Vivian’s focus was on Sharon.
This always makes me so damn uncomfortable. The idea that Aidan could force his way into someone’s mind. That he could control that person completely…
I’m glad he couldn’t control me. She never wanted to give up that kind of power to someone else.
“I was working on the patient,” Sharon said, her unfocused stare seeming to see her past. “He was breathing. His vitals weren’t the best, but I knew he was going to make it. How incredible. I’d just seen him fall from that second story window, but he was going to survive. Other people were still in the building and I had to work on him alone because my partner was needed to tend to the other victims. But then…” A furrow appeared between her brows. “A firefighter came to help me.”
Aidan’s head tilted toward her. “A firefighter?”
“Yes, he said he had training, that he could help.” She gave a hard, negative shake of her head. “I told him I had the patient, I could take care of him, but…” Her hand lifted to her neck. She stopped talking, just touched her neck.
“Tell me what happened next,” Aidan said.
Her eyes had gone wide. “He pulled out a needle and shoved it into my neck.” Her fingers were rubbing along the side of her neck. “I couldn’t even speak! Everything went dark. When I woke up, I was on top of the patient. His neck was broken.”
“And I’m guessing the firefighter was long gone,” Jane said, unable to stay silent any longer.
Sharon nodded.
“What did he look like?” Jane was betting the guy had been no real firefighter. Like her, he’d probably just taken a uniform so that he could hide in plain sight.
Was he watching me that night? Did he see me do the same thing?
Sharon frowned, but didn’t answer Jane’s question.
Jane sighed. “Aidan, keep doing your thing.” She glanced down at him and saw—his claws were coming out. Crap.
“Describe the man,” Aidan instructed flatly.
Sharon nodded. “Big. Wide shoulders. Tall…over six feet, I-I think. He had on his helmet when he came inside the ambulance but…but when he brought that needle toward me, I saw his wrist. H-he had tattoos there.”
Jane stiffened. Tattoos?
“See the tattoos in your mind,” Aidan said. “Tell me exactly what they looked like.”
“A raven.” Sharon’s voice had gone breathless. “He had a raven flying on the inside of his wrist and a snake was reaching up to bite it.”