Page 60 of Love Lives
An idea occurred to him. Maybe he couldn't stop Vlad by himself, but there were other paranormals who wanted that particular vampire's head on a stake just as much.
Hadn't Rex said that he'd seen Keepers around? The incubus's words couldn't be trusted of course, but Aldrich didn't think he'd been lying about that part. At this point, it would be a miracle if there weren't a few Keepers in town.
All Aldrich needed to do was find one and try to strike a deal.
Back in the old days, he would have gone to his favorite bar in search of information, but that was a no-go now, so looked at his phone’s contact list instead. Most of these people he'd only ever called once or twice. Many of them he knew from Sparklr, a sort of paranormal dating app in desperate need of a complete overhaul. Too many furries there these days.
Finally, Aldrich found the name he'd been looking for. Rosy. The most gossipy witch he knew. If there wasanythinggoing on downtown, she'd tell him all about it. Hitting the dial button, he hoped the lady wouldn't be too grumpy at being woken late at night.
Worst case scenario, he'd make it up to her. Maybe with a juicy story or two...
There, that waswaymore fun to think about than whatever had transpired before he'd been turned.
* * *
As it turned out, Rosy had indeed seen one 'very handsome' Keeper. She hadn't approached him of course, she wasn't that stupid, but she'd admired the guy from afar. They were investigating, she told Aldrich. Because the vampires were killing witches in satanic rituals. Puppies, too, or that's what people said, anyway. The one she'd seen? A werewolf. Not one of the rowdy types, though.More of a daddy, if you get what I mean, she'd told Aldrich with a wink that couldn't be seen through the phone but that could definitely be heard.
She also told Aldrich that the Empire Hotel would be a good spot to wait if he wanted to see for himself. Apparently the hunky dreamboat went in and out there.
Aldrich only had to camp out on the roof opposite the hotel for an hour or so until he spotted the man Rosy had been talking about. He wasn't the walking ovary-explosive that Rosy had described, but the lady tended to exaggerate anyway. For Aldrich's taste, he was a littletoofit. Too many muscles. But tastes differed. The important part was, the man was definitely a werewolf.
Jumping into action, Aldrich stopped him before he could enter the hotel.
The werewolf didn't say anything, just looked at him with an unreadable expression.
"You a Keeper?" Aldrich asked. He'd heard lots of talk about Keepers, but he'd never actually seen one in person.
"Who wants to know?" the werewolf eyed him critically, though his curiosity probably had a different source. Most paranormals were smart enough to stay out of a Keeper's way, not jump in front of him.
Oh well. Desperate times and all that.
"I might know about the vampire you're looking for," Aldrich said, trying to keep his expression neutral. This was either a brilliant idea or the stupidest thing he'd ever done. There was no reason to stress, though, before he found out which it was.
"You're a vampire yourself," the Keeper observed, his own face as carefully blank as Aldrich's. Aldrich wasn't usually scared of werewolves, but he'd often been told that the skills of a Keeper surpassed those of a regular person. Even if that person was immortal or otherwise paranormally-abled.
"I'm not just a vampire," Aldrich stated. "I'm a concerned citizen with information."
"Something tells me you're implicated in this mess yourself." The Keeper's eyes narrowed. "You must realize that I have a duty to eliminate all threats to paranormal peace."
Aldrich held up one hand. "Promise I haven't killed or harmed any paranormal who was not a vampire." It was the truth too. He might have aided dhampirs in killing non-dhampirs, but he wasn't about to tell the wolf that. "Wouldn't your job be much easier if you could just eliminate the head players? Like that ancient vampire who's uniting the covens under him in order to kill a bunch of witches and dhampirs?"
"The dhampirs are not innocent in all of this."
Aldrich snorted at that. "Nobody's innocent."
The wolf didn't seem to find that as funny as Aldrich did. There was no change in his expression.
Aldrich tried again. "You guys are supposed to be honorable, right?"
"We do what must be done."
"I could tell you where Vlad is going to be tomorrow night."
The wolf's brows furrowed. "And what do you want in exchange for that information?"
"Ten minutes to escape after you arrive."
The wolf considered this. "I'll give you five."
