Julian’s gaze ran over the lobby with its white walls and the logo of the hotel on the wall behind the desk. In the dim light, their shadows danced over the tile floor. Power had been restored to the building since they’d left, but the lights in the lobby were lowered for the night. Devon’s light footsteps were the only sound as he walked to the left to examine the hallway stretching past the desk and leading toward more rooms. Julian had expected to encounter the nightshift employees, but no one sat in the chair behind the desk.
“No one down there,” Devon whispered when he stepped closer to them once more.
Julian kept a firm hold on Quinn as he strode behind the empty desk to examine the monitors there. The others all filed in behind the desk and spread out around him. All of the monitors were black; the security system was still down from whatever Devon and Cassie had done to it earlier.
“That’s a good sign,” Devon murmured.
Julian turned his attention to the backroom when he caught a whiff of floral perfume seconds before something clattered to the ground. His eyes narrowed and his fangs extended as he prepared to tear the throat out of whoever was back there. A low moan and grunt reached him when he stepped closer to the door. Beneath the flowery scent, he caught the musky aroma of sex. His fangs retracted as the tension in him eased, and he turned away from the room.
“Guess we know how they pass the time at night,” Luther murmured.
Lou slipped by Devon to pull the chair up to the computer behind the desk. Lou’s nimble fingers flew over the keyboard while he worked to navigate through the hotel’s computer system. Julian glanced away from the screen as a loud cry filtered from the backroom. Dani was beginning to resemble a tomato as she kept her gaze resolutely focused on the screen. Lou remained completely oblivious as he typed.
“Stay here,” Julian said to Quinn and reluctantly released her arm.
He moved closer to the door as the clicking of Lou’s fingers suddenly stopped. Julian kept his ears attuned to the room behind him while he watched Lou. The last thing they needed was for the couple to finish and discover them at the desk. The others all leaned forward, their shoulders brushing together, their heads almost touching as they peered at the screen over Lou’s shoulder.
Julian’s hands fisted as bloodlust pulsed at the back of his brain. This could be it; they could be one step closer to destroying the enemy who had managed to slip away from him today. If they found him in that guest registry, there would be no more hiding for this member of The Commission.
Lou clicked something on the screen and then something else. Luther inhaled a sharp breath before he thrust his finger at the screen. “That one, Herb Canton. He was on The Commission when I worked for them. I never met him, but I remember hearing his name.”
“Why wouldn’t he use a different name?” Quinn asked.
“There aren’t many alive anymore who would have recognized him or his name,” Luther replied. “And even if they did stumble across us and plan to try to separate us earlier, I doubt he expected to run into us today when he checked in. I think we were as much of a surprise to him as he was to us.”
“Karma really is a delightful bitch,” Devon said as he gazed at the screen with his arms folded over his chest.
“Or maybe he thought he’d be able to kill us and didn’t consider trying to hide his name,” Lou said.
“I would say there were only the two of them here today. I think they would have come at us with everyone they had if there were more of them here. There’s no way those two believed they could take us all down,” Dani replied. “Not unless they’re complete idiots.”
“She’s right,” Luther said as he rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “They may have seen us before we saw them and plotted to try to separate us and take out at least a couple of us, but they didn’t know we were here when they checked in.”
Julian took a minute to stabilize his driving urge to kill before he stalked away from the door to the backroom. He stood over Quinn’s shoulder as he stared at the computer. Herb Canton. The man’s name blazed out at him from amidst all the others clustered onto the screen around it. Herb may not know it yet, but he was a dead man walking.
“Address?” Julian inquired.
“Hold on,” Lou said and clicked a button. “Got it.” He pulled his phone from his pocket, typed something into it, and set it on the table beside him. “Let’s see if we recognize the Hunter’s name on here.”
Julian continued to stare at the screen as more names flew by. When he got to the end, Lou sat back in the desk chair and rubbed at his neck. “I don’t recognize anyone else on here.”
“Neither do I,” Luther said, and the two of them looked to Dani.
“No one,” she said, “not even Herb.”
Dani’s gold-flecked hazel eyes lifted to his, and he knew she was waiting for him to question her loyalty. Instead, he turned to look at the computer again. She’d proven herself trustworthy time and again these past two years. He may still want to choke her sometimes, but he wouldn’t question her on this.
“What room was he staying in?” Julian asked. He doubted Herb would have been stupid enough to stick around after everything that had happened today, but if he’d cleared out as hastily as they had, he might have left something behind.