“What did he take from here?” she wondered as Julian released her hand to walk over to the suitcase.
He didn’t hesitate before pulling the clothes from inside. He held them briefly before tossing them onto the floor. No emotion played over his face, but his eyes held a hint of red within their ice-blue depths. The angel tattoo on his arm flexed with his movements. He tossed the last piece of clothing onto the floor and stood staring at the empty suitcase like he was contemplating smashing it.
“Whatever he took from here was important enough for him to chance returning to the room for it,” Luther said from behind her.
Julian grabbed the lid of the suitcase and threw it off the stand before turning to face them. “We have his address. We’ll go there.”
“We’re supposed to be meeting the vamps in Maine in a week,” Quinn reminded him.
“What’s his address, Lou?” Julian demanded.
Lou pulled his phone from his pocket and scrolled through it. “The address he gave is in Burkes, Pennsylvania. He would have shown his license when he checked in, and since he used his real name, it’s probably his actual address.”
They had all handed over fake IDs when they checked in, but Lou was right. If Herb had used his real name, there was a good chance he’d used his real license and address too.
“I can get on the computer and find out more when we leave here,” Lou said.
“Good. We’ll pay Herb a visit in Pennsylvania on our way to Maine,” Julian said.
“Do you think this Burkes, Pennsylvania is like Cedarville was?” Dani asked.
“What is Cedarville?” Quinn inquired.
Red flashed around Julian’s eyes again. “Cedarville was the name of the town in New York where Cassie and I were imprisoned. The Commission used the residents of the town to further their experiments until it became a town full of nothing but Halflings. Those Halflings were monsters trapped somewhere between human and vampire and nothing but mindless killing machines.”
Quinn hugged herself when goose bumps broke out on her flesh. The Commission really was a bunch of monsters. “Do you think Burkes could be like Cedarville?”
What would it do to Julian if the town was another place for vampires and humans to be experimented on?
“No,” Julian said.
“What makes you so certain?” she asked.
“Because there aren’t enough members of The Commission left to pull off something on the level of Cedarville again.”
“How do we know there aren’t many Commission members left?” Dani inquired. “I mean, we know how many of them we took out, and Luther and I had an idea of how many of them were in existence, but do we really believe they told us everything, or even half of their secrets?”
“No, I don’t believe they did.” Julian lifted his hands into the air, drawing all of their eyes to them. “But I glimpsed some of their secrets when I was held by them, and good ole Herb here has revealed some more. I think there’s only a handful of Commission members left, but they are actively recruiting more, and they have at least a dozen Hunters on their side.”
“Great,” Quinn muttered.
“If he’s from Pennsylvania, what is he doing in New Mexico?” Dani asked.
“I’m not entirely sure,” Julian replied.
“Maybe they were having a conference of psychos or something in the area,” Lou suggested.
“Maybe,” Julian murmured. “He may also have been looking for more Hunters or Guardians to recruit to their side. I can see some of his life through his things, but there are a lot of memories in this room, far more than his. The echoes of the others who have stayed here makes it tough to single him out.”
Julian’s gaze ran over the walls before settling on the door to the adjoining room. “There’s a good chance the Hunter was staying next door.”
“We don’t want to break in on someone sleeping,” Dani said. “Screaming is never a good way to go unnoticed.”
“No, it’s not.” Julian walked over to the door and knocked loudly on it.
Quinn bit her lip as he leaned against the door, pressing his ear to the wood. He stood that way for a minute before grabbing the knob and yanking the door open. She jumped as pieces of wood flew away from where he’d torn the deadbolt from the wall. Beyond the first door was another one. Julian didn’t bother to knock on this one before leaning his shoulder against it and shoving on it. The wood groaned for a second before giving way beneath his weight.