Page 18 of Wake the Dream

She watched him straighten, shaking out the kinks in a rather wrinkled black button-up shirt. She rolled her eyes. Nothing she said would convince him otherwise, she realized. Better to play along to see how this panned out.

Illaria held her hands out in front of her in a gesture of, if not goodwill, then a truce. “Fine, we’ll do it your way. For now. And I’m playing whatever music I want in your car while I wait. As loud as I want.”

It took Kieran a moment before he nodded his head. “Fine. But stay there. I mean it. I don’t want to have to come outside and find you waiting there with a machete to injure a civilian.”

“I won’t need a machete. My bare hands will do the job. Oh, and his name is Daniel. Dirtbag Daniel.”

Kieran strode away from her without further comment and disappeared into the restaurant, if one could call it that. Illaria leaned against the side of his car watching him, with her arms crossed over her chest to keep her warmth to herself. Through the grimy front windows of the Frosty King, Kieran walked up to the counter and asked, she could only assume, for the man in question.

She watched the play by play and imagined what the two men, cop and manager, said to each other.

Daniel? Oh, yeah, he’s in the shithole RV behind the place. It sure is an eyesore. What can you do? I let him park there because I have no common sense or care about my customers.

Mind if I pop in to ask him a few questions? I might be an idiot detective but I have a great set of biceps.

Okay, in her mind Kieran still sounded like a butthole, only his voice had risen a few octaves and took on the tone of a television puppet.

He did have some nice muscles, though. She couldn’t deny that very obvious fact. Tall, broad-shouldered, every inch of him screamed red-blooded male.

He paused in a dusty shaft of sunlight, his chestnut hair gleaming, then pushed through the front door minutes later, shooting her a glare and a warning point of his finger. Illaria responded with a wolfish grin before pretending to get in the car. The second he rounded the corner toward the Winnebago, she followed.

She kept her footsteps light and balanced on the tips of her toes, using a push of her magic to have her hovering an inch above the ground. The worn and yellowed siding of the Frosty King building bit into her fingers as she slid around the corner, watching Kieran approach the orange-striped vehicle permanently parked next to a dumpster overflowing with black industrial trash bags.

The scents of food lessened here, but she made out the distinctive smell of rotting meat, along with whatever other horrors lay beneath the lid of the dumpster.

What a smell. What a view. Who would purposely choose to live here and see that day in and day out?

Her face shifted into a scowl when her sister’s boyfriend answered the door, his dark hair pushed to the side like he’d been sleeping. In the middle of the day, sure. It figured.

Daniel stared at the detective as Kieran made the introductions. Just like that, boom, the man went inside, and the door snapped closed behind him.

Illaria took the chance to creep closer. Wanting, needing to hear their conversation and see what kind of bullshit excuses came to light. The sight of Daniel once again raised those feelings of fury inside of her and she was reminded of the energy swirling. The energy she’d fully planned to release with her new bed partner the night Yelena went missing, along with a hearty dose of physical desire.

How delicious it would be to use the energy to get rid of Daniel.

A slow, boiling rage turned her face scarlet. Illaria ground her teeth together, hands trembling. The bastard had something to do with Yelena’s disappearance. She knew it and hated that the piss ant detective had taken the lead instead of letting her follow through with justice. Could she trust him? Absolutely not.

Mouth filled with a bitter tang, she stepped closer and pressed her ear against the tin siding, loving how the material transmitted sound. A small push of her magic created a funnel of air and she heard the conversation with as much clarity as if she’d stood inside.

“I don’t know how I can help you, man. I’mhuman.” Daniel. God, even the guy’s voice made Illaria want to punch him. “I don’t know why you’re here. I haven’t seen Yelena in a long time.”

“But she is your girlfriend, is she not?” Papers rustled. “I have in my notes that you’ve been dating for the last six months?”

Daniel sighed. “Yeah, she’s my girlfriend. Yeah. That doesn’t mean I see her all the time. People have lives. I have a life, man.”

Illaria had to give Kieran credit. He held his own and still managed to sound like one of the good old boys. “I know this is crazy. And I understand you being confused. I just have to make sure I follow through on every available angle. Bosses, am I right? They get a real kick out of breathing down your neck.”

The sound he made gave her the distinct impression that the suppressed groan was not an exaggeration.

“Dude, tell me about it. My boss rides my ass like a horse in the Derby. Gives me shit constantly about keeping my sweet ride parked out here.”

Illaria rolled her eyes again. Did he have to say it with such pride? The moron had exactly three brain cells and had to use them just to sustain a conversation outside ofdo you want fries with that?

“Can you tell me where you were two nights ago?” Kieran asked.

“Sure,” Daniel continued. “I was here cleaning up puke in the lady’s room. Not something you forget. The smell, man, it makes you want to stop eating for a year.”

Kieran scratched something down on his notepad. At least, that’s what it sounded like to Illaria. It impressed her when he remained cool, calm. Collected in a way she knew she could not have been. Perhaps he’d been right to go in alone.

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