“Call her,” Blue suggested.
“She left her phone behind.”
Wyatt plopped down in his chair, his thoughts consumed.
Gem rubbed her eye. “Why would she leave her phone behind?”
“She forgot her purse. It wouldn’t be the first time. I thought she took off with some wanker who was hitting on her, but now I’m not so sure.”
“She probably did,” Blue said matter-of-factly. “Raven’s got needs like everyone else, and she’s been cooped up in this house more than anyone. We shouldn’t pry into her affairs.”
“What the clusterfuck is going on in here?” Shepherd grumbled from the door. He didn’t smell like a barn, and since he also didn’t smell like soap, Christian surmised that he must have skipped his nightly workout.
Christian looked over his shoulder. “Have you seen Raven tonight?”
“No.”
With every no, a sinking feeling came over him that something had gone wrong. But with humans? Raven could handle herself just fine. Maybe Boomer had returned and knocked her unconscious.
Wyatt crawled onto the floor and poked his head under the desk.
“Jaysus wept. Raven could be lying in a trunk, and all you can think about is that fecking key.”
When Wyatt sat back, a dust bunny clung to his beanie. “First of all, most modern cars have emergency trunk releases inside them. Ask me how I know this. And secondly, I paid good money for this machine. I don’t want to have to switch out the key because one of you might be hiding it so you can get free food.”
Gem stood up and tightened the belt on her blue kimono robe. She strode over to Wyatt, her purple slippers swishing against the floor. “I wonder if I can pick that lock.”
“Just because you have a talent at picking locks doesn’t give you the right to mess with my stuff.”
“As long as you keep using air quotes to emphasize your words, I’ll mess with whatever I want.”
When she neared the machine, Wyatt pressed his index finger against her forehead and pushed her back.
Gem leaned into him and simpered, an energy ball the size of a marble rolling between her fingers.
His eyes widened, and he jolted back as if he’d just seen a rattlesnake. “That nifty little trick of yours is going to blow us all to smithereens.”
She blew the tip of her finger as if it were a smoking gun, and the light disappeared. “Just remember that the next time you put your finger where it doesn’t belong.”
Shepherd shifted everyone back on topic. “Who was Raven seen with last?” He folded his arms, which emphasized his biceps.
Christian’s jaw set. “A Billy Idol wannabe.”
Viktor suddenly appeared in the doorway in his black silk pajamas. “What’s this all about?”
Confused as to why Viktor had shown up, Christian glanced back at the crew and spotted Blue holding what looked like Wyatt’s phone. She shrugged an apology and tossed it on the couch.
“Raven’s gone AWOL,” Wyatt informed him.
Viktor pointed at the vending machine he hadn’t seen until now. “We’ll talk about that later. Who was the last person to see her?”
Christian raised a finger.
“And does this have to do with your assignment?”
“Aye. She ran into some trouble in the parking lot when we thought we had a lead. Nothing she couldn’t handle. Just a human with bad manners.”
“Has anyone tried calling her?”
“She left her phone behind.”
Viktor’s eyes filled with worry.
Claude wandered in, his grey sweats falling uncomfortably low. By the looks of his messy hair, he must have picked up a strong scent that roused him out of bed.
“Raven’s missing,” Wyatt announced.
Christian stalked forward. “So help me, if you say it one more time—”
“What crawled up your ass and made a nest? I’m not the one who lost my partner.”
When Christian lunged, it took three people to hold him back. Shepherd stood in front of him, hands on his shoulders as he walked him back to the desk chair and made him sit. Christian squeezed the arm of the chair so tight that something beneath the leather cracked.
“Don’t break my chair,” Wyatt warned him.
“Shut your gob.”
Maybe Wyatt could be casual about death because he saw the other side of it, but Christian didn’t want to consider the unthinkable. He’d only taken his eyes off her for one second. And he had his ear on her every moment until…
He covered his mouth and slowly stroked his beard before letting his hand drop to his lap. “I thought the eejit who ran the sound system had taken a smoke break,” he began, everyone giving him a bemused look. “That kind of ear-piercing sound forces a Vampire to muffle his hearing. It hurts too much, like the way the sun makes you shut your eyes when you look at it.”
“What are you saying?” Viktor asked.
Christian cocked his head to the side. “Someone jammed my frequency on purpose.”
Wyatt’s computer chimed, and he hurried over and switched on the monitor. After a few keystrokes, he stood up, just as pale as a ghost. “Now that’s a plot twist I didn’t see coming.”
Christian slowly rose to his feet, his heart slowing down.
“What do you mean?” Viktor snarled. “Give me details.”
Wyatt pointed at Christian. “I posted a request on a Vampire website, pretending I was a buyer who wanted a girl with different-colored eyes. I also put a couple of oddball requests out there so it wouldn’t look obvious. This isn’t the black market site,” he quickly said. “Just some human website where Raven thought a trafficker was hanging out. We found out one of his favorite human clubs, and Raven went to see if he’d take the bait.”
“She had a good plan,” Christian added. “We wouldn’t have trouble spotting a Vampire in there, and I always stayed close, watching and listening.”
Viktor sighed, his grey eyes no longer able to look at Christian. “And yet she’s missing.”
Christian made a fist. “Aye. She’s missing.”
“Not anymore,” Wyatt said.
Christian stared daggers at him.
“I set up my computer to notify me when certain keywords hit the board. There’s a message header with a description that matches Raven.”
Christian shut his eyes. “And what does the message say?”
“The bidding is open.”
Chapter 13
I blinked in confusion as I stared across a table at Chase. In front of me was an open wrapper with a few bites of hamburger left and some onion rings. How could I have eaten without remembering?
“I told you they’re the best burgers,” he said.
I rubbed my temples, a swirl of confusion clearing like a fog. “What’s going on?”
“Life is going on, Raven. You should finish those onion rings before they get cold. I already heated them up in the oven once, but twice will ruin the flavor.”
Did he just call me Raven?