Her Perilous Wolf by Julie Steimle (free e books to read .txt) 📖

were deeper in color, though.

“Who hasn’t,” Vincent murmured, his mind going back to the effect her voice had on him. “She’s beautiful.”

Nodding, Troy carried his mug with him to the sofas, sipping it. He sat on the arm.

Michael chuckled, shaking his head. “Yeah. Beautiful, but dangerous. She’s what? Half sea nymph? She could drown you.”

“I know.” Vincent nodded with a sigh. “I wasn’t going there. Audry didn’t want me to fall for her either…. Or maybe that was Silvia she did not want me to fall for. It could be both.”

Troy nodded again. It could easily be both. Both women were dangerous. Vincent peered up at his drink, wondering what it was.

“Do you want some?” Troy lowered the mug for him to see. “It helps me sleep as well as deal with the cravings.”

“What’s in it?” Vincent sniffed it. It smelled good. He hoped there was no blood. There were brown flecks floating in it.

“Milk, nutmeg, some cinnamon, valerian root powder.”

Sighing, Tommy murmured, “Some women are worth risking your life for.” His mind was still there.

Troy peered over to him. “True. But Selena has to please her grandparents. She has to marry rich or she loses everything. I think that’s why she and Tom broke up. That’s also why she had initially gone after Rick.”

“She had gone after Rick?” Tommy stared at him, surprised. Apparently he had not kept up on the society gossip.

Michael patted him on the back. “Yes. You hadn’t heard? It’s old news.”

“Very old news,” Troy said then looked to Vincent to offer him some of the same warm brew.

Rising, Vincent nodded. An evening warm drink to help him sleep might be just the thing he needed—especially with jet lag. He had adjusted to the west coast time, and he could use a readjustment to the east.

 As Troy mixed up another pot of his milk toddy, Tommy and Michael continued their murmured conversation. It was funny—not in a ‘ha-ha’ sort of way, but head-turning a degree—seeing those two surprisingly very human in their insecurities when it came to women. It made Vincent wonder what Michael was saying. He had been staring too much at his sister.

Troy whispered to Vincent as he heated up the second pot, “If you bump into Rick in your search for Audry, don’t let him know you stayed the night. He’s already upset with me because I met Doug in the flesh.”

That was a little saddening, but Vincent nodded.

“It has taken me a while to see it, but Rick means well.” Yet Troy shook his head. “I have to tell you, since it pertains to you and your cousin, but Rick is scared to death that you, Doug, or Audry might get hurt due to connection to us. If I were you, I’d ask Michael for one of their emergency key fobs. Just in case.”

“Emergency key fob?” Vincent stared at him.

Nodding, Troy dug into his pocket to show him. Vincent had a feeling Troy had brought it downstairs for this very purpose. It looked like a shiny Egyptian souvenir—one of the ankh. 

“Yeah. They make these alert things that go on your key chain. They gave me one when I was forced to be a vampire. You should have one. Rick’s got one. You squeeze it in an emergency, and the Seven are alerted that you are in trouble. They can track you with it. There’s enough of those guys from the Seven in this area, so you’d be well protected. Talk to that guy about it.” He nodded to Michael. “I’m sure he’s got a few. They only give them to select individuals, but I think you now qualify.”

“Do you think Audry would have one?” Vincent asked.

Troy shrugged. “It depends. It depends largely on how much they’ve told her.”

*

Vicky was exhausted when she ended up at Selena’s apartment. They had had their brief talk with Jandra, who had not seen Audry at all that day. And as they drove to Selena’s apartment, Vicky had called her aunt on her cell phone to let her know they would continue their search the following day.

“What did your aunt say?” Selena asked when they walked into the apartment, phone call finished. Her aunt had news.

Vicky explained, “Doug had tracked her down. She had gone to see Jessica. But Doug had just barely missed her. Jessica had told him to tell them not to worry, but my aunt is still worried. Audry has not come back home, and she thinks Audry is losing her mind.”

“I wonder what Audry said while under sedative,” Selena murmured, setting her keys on the hook not far from the door.

Vicky did not answer. Selena really wasn’t asking her.

Vicky had been with Selena several nights, quite happy to hang out with her new friend. To be honest, she was just glad to have a change of pace. And Selena seemed happy to have the company—a friend who didn’t really want anything from her.

“Well now,” Vicky murmured. “That guy, Michael, was pretty intense. He didn’t have time to fully explain what the Seven was. So… why don’t you just tell me about him?”

Kicking off her shoes, Selena shrugged, walking to her couch. She dropped down. “Because, I don’t really know him. I know Jessica well, and she’s one of the Seven. And I’ve met Daniel Smith, and of course Jessica’s husband, Andrew. But the rest of them, I’ve hardly had more than a few words with them, and that was years ago. Admittedly,” she blushed as she said, this, “I did meet Peter McCabe before he was famous. And he kinda liked me.”

“The Witchdoctor?” Vicky drew in a breath.

“The one and the same,” Selena blushed more. Yet she sighed as she said, “But at the time I was dating Tom Brown, and he and Tom totally hit it off, so…. You know. And lately he seems to be married to archaeology and soccer—though he calls it ‘football’ as if he were British. He’s still in Europe right now—I think England.”

Vicky laughed. It was amazing the people Selena knew. It was even more amazing that Audry knew all of them also. Since stepping into this surreal world of New York City ‘ghoulies’ (as Selena called them), Vicky had been introduced in the circle of friends which overlapped with Audry’s weird stories. The only person she had not met yet was this Silvia Lewis, who was now Silvia Spade—the former ‘witch’. Selena was quite frank in her open belief in the supernatural. And though she said Audry wasn’t the type she would talk about this sort of thing with, Selena felt comfortable telling Vicky these things.

“Of course Rick would hate me if I had told her anything,” Selena rolled her eyes.

“What is he really like?” Vicky asked, sitting next to her. “Besides not liking your voice.”

Gazing tiredly at her, Selena shrugged. “Uptight.”

Vicky raised her eyebrows.

Sighing, Selena said, “He worries.”

“And you don’t?” Vicky chuckled.

Selena shook her head. “No.” She then plucked up her cell phone and started to dial. It took a while before anybody picked up. When someone did, Selena brightened. “Hey! Jessica. You’ll never guess who this is?”

The other side answered, but Vicky could not hear it. Selena kept her phone volume always on low.

“You guessed! Well, anyway, I’m sure you know why I am calling.”

 Vicky could tell Jessica had moaned. Something in her wanted to meet this Jessica too. She had a feeling she would like her. Most people Audry liked, she liked. Audry had good taste, and the people she knew were interesting.

“That’s right. I just want to confirm that she visited you.” Selena chuckled. “You might get more phone calls than this. But hey, do you know where she went?”

The response made Selena frown.

“I see. Well, can you find a way to get a hold of her and let her know her family is getting really agitated with her skipping out like that?”

Another simple reply.

Selena nodded. “Sure. I can call tomorrow. You’re right. It’s late. Uh, but before you hang up, can you hand the phone to ghost girl?” She paused, “Yeah I know she hates being called that. But if she is going to date Matthew, I need to make sure she can handle it.”

Another response, then a pause.

Selena changed tone when she spoke to this other one. “Hi, DD—”

Something that ‘Deedee’ said made Selena lurch, stiffening up.

“Ok, fine—Deidre. But for pity’s sake girl, loosen up. I need you to send a message to your boy toy and your cousin. Can you do that for me?”

Something that Deidre said, made the hairs stand up on the back of Selena’s neck. A slightly cold chill whiffed through the apartment, but was soon gone. Vicky had felt it.

“What was that?” Vicky whispered.

Selena shook it off. “Fine! Ok. Just tell Matthew I need to talk to him about job he wanted me for. Oh, and I’m sick of being used for interrogations. I know he needs evidence and all, but for me it feels a degree unethical.”

Something Deidre said upset Selena.

“Of course I want to see justice happen in this case!” Selena flustered. “But me talking people into confessing is… well, I could make them confess to a lie—and that worries me.”

There was a pause. That Deidre replied in such a way that placated Selena.

“Ok then. You’ll tell him?”

The answer came.

“Good. Oh, and by the way, what was your impression of Audry when you met her? Is she being followed by death?”

Deidre’s reply must have come with a huff and an end to the call.

Selena stared at phone, making a face at it.

“Followed by death?” Vicky felt a little freaked.

Shaking her head, Selena sighed. “Don’t worry about it. It happens that she is not being followed by death. In fact, Audry looks to be in the prime of her health. So your aunt really has nothing to worry about.”

“What was all that other stuff about?” Vicky asked, watching Selena carefully.

Selena shrugged. “Just stuff. You see, DD can see ghosts, just like her cousin JJ.”

Vicky rolled her eyes—not about the ghosts, but the nicknames. Selena had told her about Gulinger High and that it was a school for gifted if not cursed people. Rick had gone there because his father basically owned it and the man would be constantly traveling on business and did not think it safe to leave him alone in Massachusetts. But Selena had told her all about her own father being some mysterious European stranger who had a summer fling with her mother when she was vacationing in the Mediterranean. Selena had never met him, but she had taken on a number of his genetic traits—one of which was the ability to convince people to do things they did not intend to do originally. It was a sort of hypnosis, she said. She also said it was a mite supernatural. Selena had already told her about Matthew’s mind-reading, and Tom Brown’s gifts for hearing sneaky thoughts. Vicky had just learned about Troy’s unusual blood condition. Troy also had a hypnotic voice, which was why Selena’s voice did not work on him. It annoyed Selena. Funny thing, Selena had not minded when her voice had no effect on Rick.

“Ghosts.” Vicky glanced at her skeptically. “And I am to believe you?”

Selena grinned. “Your choice. It doesn’t matter if you do or not.” She then got up and went to the kitchen. “Hey, do you want ice cream or cocoa before we go to bed? I am bushed, but I am hungry.”

Getting up also, Vicky followed her in. “It’s too hot for cocoa. Let’s do ice cream.”

Yet as she walked into the kitchen, her cellphone pinged. She peeked at it.

There was another text from Michael.

Biting her lip, Vicky read it then answered it.

“What’s that?” Selena asked, peeking over.

“Oh, just a text.” Vicky grinned, peering over at the ice cream as if the text had got given her shivers of excitement. “What have you got?”

“Well… there’s rocky road, vanilla, and my favorite, turtle ice cream. Do you want just scoops or do we want