Page 41 of Aleko
“These guys attacked your girl?” asked Pellos from the shadow of the balcony.
“As we were coming out of Negosi’s,” said Alex, over his shoulder. “I think they may have tracked her phone.”
“You got her to go to dinner with you! That’s great!”
Alex felt grumpy that Pellos and Sebastian were so enthusiastic for him. Getting a girl to go to dinner didn’t usually warrant congratulations. Of course, it also wasn’t usually that hard.
“Is she staying?” Pellos was trying to sound casual, but Alex heard actual interest in the question.
“She agreed to stay because I want some translating,” Alex admitted.
“You need translating?” asked Pellos, puzzled.
“No, I need her to stay and she wouldn’t do it unless there was an agreement in place.” Alex found himself annoyed all over again.
Pellos chuckled. “She’s going to make you work for it.”
“It isn’t that,” said Alex, irked by the assumption that Eliandra was playing games. “She doesn’t trust us. Me. She doesn’t trust me because I was an asshat.”
“I’m not sure she trusts anyone,” said Sebastian, still looking at the Russians. “But you being an idiot didn’t help.”
“Thank you, Sebastian,” growled Alex.
“This isn’t normal,” said Sebastian.
“I think it is. She was abandoned by her parents. And I watched a guy she works with allthe time suggest that they could come to some sort ofagreementin exchange for his help on her immigration status.”
“Ugh,” said Pellos.
“Yes. So, I feel like not trusting people is normal.”
“Absolutely,” said Sebastian. “But I meant these dead bodies aren’t normal. There aren’t any claw or teeth marks. This wasn’t a wolf. I think they were literally torn to pieces. Like someone just grabbed them and pulled. I think it was some sort of spell.”
“That one head had claw marks,” said Pellos.
“I think that was Lia,” said Alex, craning to look at the head just on the other side of the bed. “She punched him in the throat first.”
“I like her,” said Sebastian, approvingly. “She’s so independent.”
“That is exactly what I don’t like,” complained Alex. “She won’t let me take care of her.”
Pellos laughed again.
“So glad this situation is amusing to you,” growled Alex.
“I think she’s magic. Her talent with languages is way tooextensive,” said Sebastian.
“That’s an interesting thought,” said Pellos.
“Isn’t it, though?” asked Sebastian, leaning out the door to grin at Pellos.
“She does not agree,” said Alex. “Thinks it’s something anyone can do.” Sebastian made a disbelieving noise, but Alex ignored him as he looked around the room—Sebastian was right—the bodies did look torn, but the room had a grimy smell to it.
“What do you think?” asked Alex. “Did the warlocks do this?”
“I’m not sure,” said Sebastian. “It’s got that stink, but this seems kind of big league for a bunch of twerps in pleather.”
Alex took a cautious step into the room. One of the hands had caught his eye. It was holding something. He leaned down and extracted a piece of paper from the clenched fist. It was half a flier for Refugee International and on the bottom had been scrawled phone number that Alex recognized.
