“For what?” I ask warily.
“Come, sit,” he says and leads me to the sofa, having so far ignored both Devon and Cole.
He nods to them as he sits me down and then sits next to me. Cole sits on the arm of the sofa; I curl my arm around his leg in a possessive gesture as Eloise is eyeing him up like he is a piece of candy that she just has to have.
She licks her lips and greets him seductively, “Hello, Cole. It is so nice to see you again.”
He ignores her to my delight, lacing his fingers through mine, his eyes focusing on CK instead. I can see a simmering rage boiling under the surface, but he keeps it in check as Devon, to his credit, plops himself down on Eloise’s other side and flashes that devastating grin at her, all in preparation for our little plan. I smile inwardly as she glares at him suspiciously, but then, seeing no ulterior motive in his innocent blue eyes, gives him a glorious smile back, preening at the attention.
Whore, I think, wishing I could say it out loud.
I press for more information, “Caution about what? And why did I have to come all the way here, why couldn’t you just warn me over the phone?”
“We need you here to identify someone,” CK says mysteriously.
My eyes flick to Nico, who is staring at me intently. I raise an eyebrow at him, but he focuses on CK instead.
“Okay? Who?” I ask, getting impatient now.
“Liv, the man you saw in Milan and again at JFK that you asked me to look into?” Nico speaks then. I shift uncomfortably at having that knowledge suddenly out there, without the ability to take it back. Cole glares at me as does Devon, since he knows exactly who that man is.
“Yes…” I encourage him to get this show on the road.
“You said his name was Cade?” CK asks, taking my other hand casually.
I glare at Nico and spit out, “No, I said he said to call him Cade.”
Looking unapologetic at his betrayal of my confidence, Nico says, “From what you described to me, he is a very dangerous man, Liv. To your kind.”
“What do you mean? He seemed harmless enough. Rude to be sure, but I didn’t sense a threat.”
“Possibly because he either didn’t know you are a Vampire or maybe, more likely, because he does know, but is damn good at keeping his emotions in check,” Nico says.
“Liv, my sweet, we think this man is a Vampire Hunter,” CK says.
Silence.
I blink at him for a moment, wondering why he called me ‘Liv’. “A what?”
“A Vampire Hunter,” Eloise enunciates each word for me like I am dense. Well, I suppose I did set myself up for that, really.
Ignoring her, I look at CK. “A Hunter? How come I have never heard of them before?”
He sighs and says, “They are humans, but with magick backing. We have kept the information from the public at large so as not to cause panic or for those more inclined to act and to go hunting the Hunters.”
“Oh. I suppose that makes sense in a way, but wouldn’t it have been better if we knew so we could be on an alert for, I don’t know, say, someone trying to kill us?” I snap the last part. Before he has a chance to respond, I continue, knowing I’m stepping into a big pile of crap while I’m at it, “We were talking, having a coffee together and you’re telling me now he could have whipped out some magick device that could have finished me off?”
“I don’t think that would have been likely in a crowded airport, Aefre,” CK says using his ‘you are being irrational, Aefre’ tone with me. “But it does seem that the man you were talking to is Cade Sinclair, the best Vampire Hunter in the history of the Hunters.”
“Holy shit. Well, how can we be certain?”
“You told Nico that he said he lived in New York. So here we are,” CK says as if it is obvious.
“I think what he means is ‘Go Fetch,’” James drawls at me with a chuckle. I look from him to CK with questioning eyes.
CK just shrugs. “You have run into him twice. It doesn’t seem a coincidence, and as a result, you are the only one of us who has seen him.”
“And you want me to what? Wander the streets of Manhattan until I ‘run into’ him again? And then what if I do find him, or he finds me?”