“You look like you are deep in thought.”
“I am. I’m a deep thinker.”
He moved closer to her. “You think too much.”
Aiden leaned in kissing Harley as he did so. Harley was surprised by her reaction. The kiss turned her on. It really turned her on.
He continued to kiss her, pulling her closer. He did not make a move to do anything else. Several minutes later, he broke the kiss and looked deep into her eyes.
Placing a hand on her face, he whispered softly. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Harley watched him go. She didn’t make a move to stop him.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The next morning Harley got up before dawn and headed into the office. She left a note for Aiden and Mrs. Reyes. She needed time to think.
The emails had piled up over the few days she had been busy. She had three hundred that would need to be answered. Several of them were forwarded to one of her partners, or to the junior witches.
She wished she could take care of every case that came her way, but it was impossible. The sheer number some days boggled the mind.
Harley flagged ten of the emails. She would seriously consider taking on the cases. First, she had to solve the case she was on. In theory, she should have been done, the case was up to the investigators.
She was, after all, a witch, not a paranormal investigator. Harley had three emails from the different parents of the students waiting in her inbox when she signed in. She took the time to respond to each of them, sending her condolences and explaining that she was still working on the case.
She referred them to Lieutenant Meyers for official information, making it clear that she could not give out any police information.
She didn’t know how police did it. How could she tell the parents that their children were just in the wrong place at the wrong time? Their deaths meant absolutely nothing to the killers.
Reaching over she turned up her portable satellite radio player. Jamey Johnson’s “You Can’t Cash My Checks” was playing. He had such a soulful voice.
Harley had missed the country lifestyle when she lived in New York City. There was something about the music, the fresh air, the blue jeans, and the boots that were home for her.
A few silent tears rolled down her face for the families who lost loved ones. Pulling up the files Lieutenant Meyers had sent over she quickly scanned the student’s information. The oldest one was only 22.
Such a senseless waste of life. She vowed to find out who the killers were and she knew just where to start. She texted Aiden and asked him for Luc’s phone number.
Aiden texted back immediately asking if she was ok. Several texts later he reluctantly gave her the number she wanted.
She immediately called Luc. Someone else answered. After fifteen minutes of being put on hold, bickering and threatening the person on the other end of the line she got to leave a message. This was beyond frustrating.
She started reviewing the files again. Maybe she could find something she missed while she waited for Luc to call back.
She looked over the bite records several more times. She reviewed all the paranormal entities that remained in humanoid form. It had to be vampires. Nothing else could do that damage.
The big question was, were Luc’s vampires involved or was it another group. She would know more after she talked to him.
Her phone kept dinging. Someone was blowing up her inbox. There were over a dozen new emails from the same person. No subject line.
Normally she wouldn’t bother opening them. Something pricked along her skin as she held the mouse over the last one.
She did a quick spell check. Not the kind that WORD uses, but the kind that checks for magic. There was no magic attached to the emails.
She took a deep breath and opened one. In large font, all caps and bold the message read:
I AM GOING TO KILL YOU.
It wasn’t signed. It didn’t need to be. She received every single one of them after she called and left a message for Luc. It was Zoe. Harley was going to have to deal with her.
She would try to reason with Zoe. She highly doubted that would work. Though Harley wasn’t a slouch in physical combat, she had never gone up against a vampire.
Nearly all vampires had super strength and super speed. They also usually had other powers. Even a baby vampire could lift a small car over its head and throw it. She had doubts that Zoe was new.
Luc didn’t seem like the type to keep a bunch of new vampires around. At least not one that was in charge as Zoe had been when she came to retrieve Harley the first time.
A sudden thought crossed her mind. Aiden. He was a jester. They were not as strong or fast as vampires, but they could hold their own. He also knew Zoe, perhaps he knew if she had a weakness.
Her favorite author Laurell K. Hamilton had always used gun power to deal with vampires. If only she were Anita Blake.
With her mind made up Harley called it quits from the office shortly after noon. Aiden was helping Mrs. Reyes do the dishes when she got in.
“Aiden, are you up for a workout?”
He looked up surprised to see her.
“Sure.”
“Meet you back down here in ten minutes.”
Harley took the stairs two at a time and quickly changed into workout gear. She may be a curvy girl, but she was in great shape.
Aiden was waiting for her when she got back downstairs.
“I have a gym out in the barn.”
He followed her as she led the way to the side of the
