Page 15 of Soul Sucker

* * *

Vadim glaredat the female as she sashayed away from him. How dare she criticize his shields? At first he’d taken her for some sort of junior intern. Her long blond braid, fresh face and unkempt clothes screamed college kid, but she had way too much confidence for that. In fact, she’d had way too much confidence period. She’d also caught him at a disadvantage, as he fumbled to remember how to speak English after five years back in Russia.

American teens tended to be more brash and confident than their European peers, but he had to assume she wasn’t a kid. Her quick assessment of the capability and weakness of his shields had been rude but dead on and hinted at hidden talents. If her magic was strong, it might explain why she was here despite her harmless exterior.

“Mr. Morosov?”

He turned to find the head of SBLE beckoning him from a doorway and, with a last glance over his shoulder, Vadim strolled toward him. Alexei was already sitting at the conference table, his long silver hair tied back at the nape of his neck, his interested gaze fixed on the whiteboard at the front of the room. Vadim took the seat beside him and focused his attention on Feehan. Unfortunately, due to the lack of real evidence, it didn’t take long to bring both him and Alexei up to speed.

Feehan sat down and looked hopefully at Vadim. “So, what do you think?”

“I think you have the makings of a serial killer here. However, we need to make absolutely certain he’s not human. Sometimes it can be hard to tell.”

“My empath is convinced the killer is from Otherworld.”

“But empaths can be wrong. We all know that. Especially empaths that are nearing their sell-by date.”

Feehan blanched. “I don’t think you should say that directly to Ella Walsh’s face.”

“Why not? She’s part of the team, isn’t she? She’s not infallible.”

“Well…”

He recognized the faint sheen of apprehension on Feehan’s face all too well. For some reason, empaths seemed to inspire fear in both human and Otherworld species. Due to his recent experiences, he couldn’t say that he was very keen on them himself. But he refused to show any fear. Empaths loved that. They fed off emotion after all.

“Where is your empath?” Vadim looked toward the door. “I’m quite happy to speak to her and get her opinion on the matter.”

Feehan fumbled with the papers on his desk. “I’m not sure if she is available. I intended to gather the whole team together tomorrow morning after you and your associate had settled in.”

What Feehan didn’t need to say was that he hadn’t expected Vadim and Alexei to step off the plane, and come straight into the office. His surprise at their appearance had been all too obvious.

“We’re happy to wait until tomorrow, aren’t we, Vadim?” Alexei looked across at Vadim, his pointed gaze telling him to shut up and play nice. “Perhaps you could have someone take us to our hotel, Mr. Feehan.”

“Sure.” Feehan jumped up. “I’ll get Sam to take you. He’s just started here as an assistant empath and he doesn’t have a heavy workload yet.”

“Miss Walsh doesn’t share well with others, then?”

Feehan halted in his tracks. “Mr. Morosov, Ms. Walsh is an exceptionally talented individual who works well within her capabilities. Of course, due to her age, we are grooming Sam as her replacement just in case anything untoward happens.”

“You mean if she suddenly implodes.”

“I hope to God that doesn’t happen, but I have to be prepared for it. Now let me find Sam and get you settled in your hotel. It’s only a block or two away from here, so you’ll be able to walk back over here in the morning.” Vadim stood and so did Alexei, and Feehan headed out into the open office. Idly, Vadim wondered if the small blond went by the name of Sam, but Feehan had said “he.” She had an empath’s arrogance, and obviously had time to spare to wander about the office picking on defenseless newbies. Not that he was defenseless. If she caught him on another day when he wasn’t suffering from culture shock and jetlag, she might find that out to her cost.

“Do you really think this killer is human?” Alexei asked.

“No, but I’ll be damned if I’ll take the word of an empath.”

Alexei shook his head. “Careful now, Vadim. Your prejudices are showing.”

“Then it’s lucky I have you here to show me the error of my ways in your Fae-Web.”

“I didn’t help you much last time, did I?” For a moment Alexei looked almost stricken.

“But you will this time. You know what happened with Natasha, and you can factor in that data to offset the obvious influence of the empath on this case.”

“Sure Ican, but whether I should is another matter.”

“What do you mean?”

---