Page 12 of Soul Sucker

“Yes, Madame.” He inclined his head a respectful inch. “When do you want me to leave?”

“Tomorrow morning and take Alexei with you. His knowledge should help add to the overall picture.”

He wanted to ask why the SBLE team in San Francisco didn’t have Fae resources, but decided against it. Alexei was a pain in the ass, but at least he was company, and Vadim knew enough about the Fae not to trust his companion. Alexei would be reporting back to Madame about Vadim’s conduct—he’d bet his life on that. Madame passed a folder of papers across to him. “Read the intel and destroy the file. Alexei has already integrated the information into his Fae-Web, so you’ll have that to work with when you get there, in case you forget anything.”

Vadim stood up. “I won’t forget.”

She fixed him with her cool stare and the feeling of suffocation intensified. Her shields were so good that he had no idea what powers Madame did or didn’t have, but she scared the shit out of him anyway. He wanted to get out of that room more than he wanted to breathe.

“I expect regular reports on your progress, and if you put a foot wrong, or I hear any complaints about you, I’m bringing you back here and firing you. Is that clear?”

“Yes, Madame.”

“Then I wish you a successful trip.”

He managed to smile and stroll casually toward the door as all his instincts screamed at him to run. Something about Madame set all his shapeshifter genes on alert. She was a dangerous woman to cross, and would live up to her promise to fire him if he fucked up again. And then what would he do with himself? Crawl back to Otherworld? He shook his head. It had taken him years to escape from his family, and many scars, not all of them visible. Even if he had to work with an empath again, he’d do it. He reached his office and started gathering up his stuff, a pulse of excitement beating in his heart. He’d rather die than go back. That sounded overdramatic but, in the present circumstances, it might just happen anyway.

* * *

By the timeit was completely dark, Tom was yawning and Ella turned off most of the lights, leaving the room bathed in the glow from the TV screen and a nightlight that illuminated the door. She put her backpack on the bed, and pulled out the remains of the bucket of chicken and various other things, the most important of them being her gun.

Tom’s fingers headed straight for her weapon and Ella smacked them away. “Don’t touch that. It’s loaded.”

“I knew you were going to say that, but I had to try.”

“Look, if you want to help me, you have to do what I say. No independent thinking allowed here.”

“You sound like my teacher at school.”

She sat cross-legged on the bed with him so that she had his full attention. “We want to coax the creature out, so we’re going to use the chicken as bait. If it is what I think it is, it loves eating chicken almost as much as small children.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Not really.” Ella gazed down at her open-mouthed helper. “In the old days this creature often took small children and babies because they were easy prey. Nowadays, because food is so plentiful here, they tend to go for the easy option, which is take-out from the trash bins.”

“Oh, like the seagulls and the pigeons in the park.”

“Exactly.” Ella placed the chicken on the floor beneath the bed. “So, you’re going to lie down and pretend you’ve fallen asleep.”

“And what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to hide under the bed behind the chicken.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No. If it looks like it is getting away from me, I want you to smack it on the head with something heavy.”

“Like my baseball bat?” Tom scrambled off the bed and returned with the sturdy bat in his hand.

“That’s perfect. You can hide it under your covers. But remember, only hit the thing, and not me, okay?”

“Okay.” Tom settled himself back beside her on the bed. “What if I kill it?”

“They have very hard heads, so that’s unlikely, but if the creature hasn’t listened to my warnings it deserves anything you can throw at it.” She patted Tom’s scabbed knee. “Are you ready, then?”

“I suppose so.”

She smiled at him encouragingly. “It will be fine. These things aren’t very brave really, that’s why they pick weaker prey.”

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