Page 31 of Soul Sucker

“Do you need to lie down or something?”

“I’m fine. What I need is half a dozen iced donuts and a chocolate milkshake. I’ll be good to go then.”

Vadim held open the elevator door. “You’d be better off having some protein and complex carbs.”

“You sound like my mother.”

“I’m just saying…” Vadim didn’t get to finish his sentence as Ella stormed off to take the stairs. He sighed as the doors started to close and her untidy yellow braid disappeared around the corner.

“Don’t worry yourself, Vadim. She’s like that with everyone these days.”

He turned to find Feehan watching him and tried to think of something neutral to say. He didn’t want to give the impression that he wasn’t a good team player, or he might get sent back to Russia. He decided to focus on the obvious.

“She doesn’t eat very healthy stuff.”

Feehan snorted. “She lives on the kind of junk food that would send most people to the hospital. I tried to talk to her about her diet when I first arrived here.”

“I assume she didn’t listen?”

“She informed me that she wasn’t planning on living past twenty-seven, so she’d decided to eat whatever she damned well liked.” Feehan paused. “I shut up after that.”

“She doesn’t plan on taking an OCOS mate?”

“She says not. Although, a lot of empaths change their mind as their twenty-seventh birthday approaches.”

“So I’ve heard.” Vadim spotted Alexei waving at him. “If you’ll excuse me, Mr. Feehan?”

“Sure. I have to go and pick up George Ralston from the airport. I’ll let you know when you can interview him, so stick around.”

“I think Alexei got us some lunch so we can eat here while we go over the case notes.”

“Great.” Feehan nodded and went into his office, closing the door behind him. Vadim went over to where Alexei was waiting in the smaller of the conference rooms that had become their temporary office.

“I got you a ham sandwich, okay?” Alexei handed him a wrapped parcel.

He sat down and realized his hands were trembling. If he still felt the effect of the bad atmosphere in the morgue, how the hell was Ella Walsh feeling? He’d seen the debilitating effect it had on her. Had she done it deliberately to remind him of the strain Natasha had been under? He shook his head. No, she’d just sensed a problem and dealt with it as quickly as possible.

“Are you talking to me?” Alexei asked, his sandwich poised in front of his mouth.

“No, I was just thinking about Ella Walsh.”

“She’s interesting, isn’t she? Powerful too.”

Vadim unwrapped his sandwich. “How powerful?”

Alexei shrugged. “Enough to make herself the center of my Fae-Web.”

“In what way?”

“I’m not sure yet, but she will have a profound effect on this case.” Alexei’s silver eyes took on a faraway look.

“Like Natasha?” Suddenly, he didn’t feel hungry anymore. Vadim sipped at his can of jasmine iced tea. “She’s not going to implode is she?”

“She’s not Natasha. She is connected to you, though.”

“We’re on the same team.”

“It’s more than that.”

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