Dead Awakenings (22 page)

All eyes went to Evaine. She felt awkward and uncomfortable under their gaze. There were murmurs, both shock and anger played on everyone’s faces.

“The only reason I can think that they would want to see her is because of her extra unique ability,” Nate finished.

Evaine could swear she heard Karen mutter, “She’s not all that special.” But no one else seemed to have the heightened hearing that she did at the moment.

“How would they find out about any of that?” Cami’s voice revealed her concern. “We’re the only ones who knew what Evaine can do.”

“Yeah.” Ronan looked even more upset than Evaine felt. “But who would do that and why?”

“That’s exactly what I want to find out.” Luca’s grip tightened on Evaine’s hand.

“I don’t think we should go pointing fingers.” Abbey looked around the table. “We need to take care of the newborn situation first.”

“Until then,” Nate continued, “it might be best if we have Evaine stay here.”

Evaine’s head snapped up.

“Don’t object. Let me handle it.”

She tried not to look at Luca, but she couldn’t help it.

“I couldn’t agree with you more, Nate.” He spoke with sincerity, and she knew in her heart that he meant it.

Despite promising her that she would be involved, Luca wanted her to stay here and be safe more than anything else in the world. For a moment she worried that he wouldn’t keep his promise, but she had to trust him.

“I think that we should have Evaine work with Ronan on security for a while. It’ll get her acquainted with the layout of the house as well as the grounds. That way if we do have need of her defenses here in the future, it’ll be easy for her.”

Ronan perked up. Nate nodded in approval of the plan. Under the table Luca held onto her hand tightly.

There were a few more subjects covered in the meeting, but Evaine was in her own world. She nibbled at her bottom lip. Why would the Feeders want her? They’d never wanted anyone else who had abilities. She knew hers were stronger than others, but of what use could she be to them?

The meeting ended and everyone started to trickle out. Abbey invited Evaine to stay and order some things online. Evaine had never bought clothes over the Internet before. She’d barely been able to afford used clothing as it was. And when she could it was maybe one or two items at a time on sale, so going online was a waste.

Abbey had handed her a credit card and told her to put anything she wanted on it. Evaine didn’t want to—she felt guilty—but one way or another she was going to be helping the house out, so it was kind of like an advance in payment.

For once Evaine decided finally to do what she had always wanted to, but had never let Tristan do for her. She bought what she wanted and not what was necessarily practical. A few shirts, some jeans, a pair of boots, a pair of sneakers, and a pair of black heels. She bought a long coat and a couple of hats. Underwear and bras along with several pairs of pajamas. Lastly, she bought a nice dress. She wasn’t sure why; she just had to have it. When she was finished she’d spent more money on things for herself than she had in the last five years put together. Pleased, she stood and headed to find Ronan. Time to start paying back all the clothes she had just bought.

* * *

Tristan pulled into the parking lot of the small inn. The tension of driving left his body a little bit. It had been a long drive, especially since he wasn’t used to having to drive himself places. But he didn’t want anyone else in on what he was doing. He ran his plan over and over through his head. Logic told him that it wasn’t the world’s best plan, but he had to try.

He rubbed his face, turned off the engine, and stepped out of the car. Gravel crunched beneath his loafers as he made his way to the black door of the bed and breakfast. A bell tinkled above Tristan’s head as he pushed the door inward. Warm air wafted out from the inside, the smell of apple cider permeated the small entryway. The elderly couple that ran the inn chatted at Tristan as he signed their guestbook.

Elsie gave Tristan the keys to a room on the second floor. Tristan smiled. Sam and Elsie made him think of his own grandparents. That’s how he had envisioned he and Evaine would be someday. Old, wrinkly, and happy. That’s why he was doing this. So they could have that future together.

Tristan dropped his rolling case on the soft bed and opened it. Pulling out his clothes, he tucked his shirts into an antique dresser drawer and hung up his pants. He placed his shoes in the closet and took out his laptop. The old, white desk was just the right size for it and his various other items.

His room was in the front of the house. Tristan looked out the window to the gas station across the street. There was still at least an hour or two until sundown. The graveyard shift would probably start around ten; he’d wait till eleven to go over and see Sean. Sean Baker had no idea what was about to happen, and Tristan wanted to keep it that way. He didn’t need the blogger trying to bolt before he was able to talk to him.

He took a seat at the small desk and opened his laptop. He booted it up, checked his Web site, and emptied his ever growing spam box, and then he felt inspiration to work on the marketing campaign that he had been putting off for too long. Somehow, knowing that she was out there, and that he was close to finding her, gave him new life. It was nearly midnight when he set the work aside.

Tristan pulled his jacket up as he crossed the deserted road. The neon green sign cast an eerie glow around him as he walked under it toward the entrance of the gas station. The fumes and trash gave off a prevalent odor. A young dark-haired man, in his early twenties, with a goatee, stood up from his stool behind the counter as Tristan entered. He closed a laptop and nodded at Tristan. Tristan nodded back, went to the rear of the store, and got a bottle of Coke from a cooler. Browsing through the chips he picked up a bag of Doritos and a couple other miscellaneous sundries. Tristan moved from aisle to aisle, making sure that no one else was in the store. When he was sure they were alone he walked to the front to check out. He set his items on the counter.

“You’re Sean, right?” Tristan asked.

The clerk peered at Tristan closely, through coke bottle glasses. “Do I know you?”

“I’m not from around here. You are Sean though, yes?”

Sean stopped ringing up Tristan’s items and glanced around nervously. “What do you want?”

“I don’t want to hurt you or anything, I just want some information.”

“What kind?” His glance darted outside to the pumping area.

“I want to find out where the White People from your blog live.”

Sean’s eyes went wide. “I…I…how should I know? I don’t know that!”

“Go easy.” Tristan smiled. “I just want to find them. Someone very dear to me has gone missing and I think they have her.”

Sean licked his lips nervously. “I don’t know where they live exactly. I’m always on duty here when I see them. But I suspect it’s somewhere over on Whitehall Lane. But if your girl is with them, I would give up. They’re big, heavily armed and aren’t very social.”

“Look, do me a favor, I’m staying at the inn across the street. If they come in, call me. You don’t have to say anything, call, let it ring twice, then hang up. I’ll look out my window. I can see the station from my room.” Tristan handed Sean a business card.

Sean didn’t appear convinced. Tristan pulled out his wallet. He put five one hundred dollar bills on the counter. “If you call, I’ll give you another five. And if I’m able to find them, I’ll give you another thousand.”

Sean looked at the money and licked his lips. “You won’t say anything about me, right? You won’t tell them about the blog or that I’m watching them or anything? All the money in the world wouldn’t be worth having a pack of angry vamps come after me.”

“Not a word. I promise.”

Sean scooped up the bills and shoved them into his pocket before Tristan could change his mind. “I saw some of them about an hour and a half ago. There were three different SUVs. They filled up and headed south out of town. They usually return right before the end of my shift. I’ll call you if I see them roll in.”

Tristan finished paying for his chips and soda and left the store. His mind buzzed with activity. He couldn’t believe how close he had come in so short a period of time. With the right amount of persistence and connections, you could find anyone.

Tristan awakened to his phone ringing twice. He sat up and rushed to the window in time to see a black SUV with a large tan-skinned man with white hair pumping gas. Grabbing his keys Tristan ran out the door. It wasn’t till he was outside by his car that he realized he had no coat and no shoes on. He started the engine and slowly rolled the car to the edge of the parking lot. The SUV pulled away from the pump and down the road toward town. Tristan waited a pace, turned on his headlights and followed in the same direction.

As they drove Tristan got the feel of the town. There was a diner and a local grocery store. He passed a dollar store and a small strip mall with a few shops. There was a mom-and-pop fast food place on the corner before he turned and headed into a nicer area. Tristan made a mental note of the street name and burger place. The shops were more of the specialty boutique variety on the next street. Tristan slowed as the SUV turned onto a side street. Looking at his GPS he saw that the streets ran parallel. He drove past the SUV and rounded the next corner.

As he approached the first intersection he could barely see the taillights of the SUV one street over go through their small intersection. The whole area was a grid. Tristan stayed out of sight and watched them go through intersections one street south of where he was. He’d been so intent on watching the SUV that he hadn’t been watching his GPS and soon his street came to a dead end. The GPS showed that the street the SUV was on continued into a smaller residential area.

Tristan swung his car around and headed to the nearest cross street. He took a right and then another right. The SUV was nowhere in sight. Tristan sped up. A hint of anxiety crept into his mind. He searched for the SUV, but it had vanished.

* * *

Tristan had to wait a whole day before he received another call from Sean. It was the same as the night before. Two rings and then a hang up. Again he followed the truck, and this time he knew where he was going, so he pulled out before them and went to where he had lost the SUV from the night before and waited. When the truck passed him five minutes later, he sat until he could barely see their taillights and then pulled out and followed. They rounded a bend and stopped at a gate four houses up. Tall trees surrounded the property and the tops of the walls were covered in metal spikes. The only way in was to be let in. As he drove past the house he continued for about another mile, waited a few minutes, and then flipped around and headed to the inn.

As he parked in the parking space he jumped out and ran across the street to talk to Sean. Tristan slapped five hundred dollars on the counter. Sean scooped it up like a ham sandwich in front of a starving man.

“You were right. They live in a house down off Whitehall road.”

“What are you going to do now?”

“I’m not sure. The walls are covered in spikes. There’s cameras and trees everywhere.”

“Well, why don’t you go knock on the door?”

“Uh, do you think they’d let me in?” Tristan laughed.

“Why not?” Sean shrugged.

Tristan stared at him incredulously.

“They don’t want any problems and they don’t want you to draw attention to them, so why wouldn’t they let you in? All you want to do is talk, right? And find your girl. You know where she is now, so your options are to call the cops and try to draw her out through attention or walk up there and tell them that you want to talk to her and you aren’t going to leave till you do.”

It was an idea. Tristan peered at his watch—2:00 a.m.—he’d get some sleep and then decide tomorrow, when he was more level headed.

“Of course, they could just invite you in and then suck all your blood out,” Sean said as an afterthought.

Tristan stared at him for a moment. “Well then, I guess you’ll have to be my backup.”

Chapter Twenty-Two

It was about 10:00 p.m., and some of Evaine’s new things had arrived. She ripped through the boxes like it was Christmas morning. Picking just one outfit to wear was tough, but she finally pulled on a T-shirt and jeans. With a gigantic smile she slipped on the black platforms she had bought. They hugged her calves and made her sing with delight. Standing was awkward at first. She felt as tall as a tree, though she was only four inches taller.

Putting the rest of her things in a drawer she thought about the ache in her chest. Luca had checked in the last two nights from a city near Boston. They had gone to the abandoned building that Nate had sent them to find. In two days they had seen more than a dozen armed men come and go from the location. Men and dogs patrolled the area on eight-hour rotations. At least ten guards were inside at any given time. Security had definitely been beefed up this time around.

Evaine got more anxious the longer he was away. When he’d left she’d started to feel uncomfortable, irritable, like the way she used to feel when she getting ready to start her period. The longer they were apart though, the worse it had gotten. She was starting to feel depressed; it was becoming difficult to bear. She wondered if she would be connected like this to him always. What would happen if she and Luca didn’t work out? What would they do then? It would sure make other relationships hard if they constantly had to be close to each other to deal with the connection.

Since he had been away these last few days she’d had a lot of time to think about Luca. There was no denying it; she did love him. Evaine wanted him, for now and forever. She just couldn’t figure out how she was going to tell him. She had never felt so vulnerable before.

A knock pulled her from her thoughts. When it opened Abbey and Nate stood there. Her smile faded quickly at their grim faces. Panic began to set in.