Page 37 of Blood Magic

I nodded. “Vampires make it a priority to learn early on who their threats are. They’ll know who Remy Simon is, as well.” I squinted at the ceiling, thinking. “I have to get inside.”

“You could wear a disguise.”

“I thought about that, but I’m honestly not sure that’d work. I’m pretty sure they’d scent my—” Oh hell. One of these days, I was going to fuck up and tell the world I was a wolf. “My…particular scent.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “They’d scent your scent?”

My cheeks heated and I busied myself looking in my desk drawer for nothing. “Shut up.”

Max opened my office door and hurried into the room, a little paler than usual. “You have a visitor, Kait, and you’re not going to like who it is.”

“Fuck.” I got to my feet and clutched the handle of my demon blade for comfort. “Remy Simon?”

He nodded. “Remy Simon.” His eyes bulged slightly and he pursed his lips, waving his hands somewhat frantically. “Lucy is currently out there flirting with him?”

“All right,” I said. “Send him in.”

“I’ve got your back,” Joe said. He hurried to stand at the wall behind me. “And I have a gun. I’m not above shooting the son of a bitch if he gets out of line.”

“Thanks, Joe.” I sat back down and waited for the boogeyman to walk into my office. Deep inside, my wolf growled. She had my back, as well.

I’d never been close to Remy. Had never even seen him in person. In my mind, I’d built him up to be this huge presence with an overwhelming ability to make people piss their pants just by looking at them.

I was just a little taken aback—and maybe the tiniest bit deflated—when Simon first walked into my office. He was around six feet tall, had perfectly styled, short brown hair, and a slate-gray smoldering stare that said he was sexy and he knew it. He was dressed in a beat-up brown leather jacket, a dark green shirt left unbuttoned over a black t-shirt, and worn jeans.

He did not look like the boogeyman. He did not feel like the boogeyman.

Relieved and slightly ashamed of myself, I stood and walked toward him, smiling. I held out my hand. “Mr. Simon. I apologize for not returning your…uh…text. Please, have a seat.”

He shook my hand. “Sorry for barging in, Ms. Silver, but I wanted to talk to you about my dead sister.” He returned my smile, and I froze. There was the boogeyman. He’d been hiding, but he couldn’t stay hidden for long. Not from my wolf.

He kept hold of my hand for too long, his smile dimming as he probed my face with his scary stare.

I pulled my fingers from his and returned to my chair, a little less cocky than when I’d left it. “Sit,” I said, no longer smiling. “How can I help you?”

He sprawled in one of the chairs. “Well, seeing as how you anonymously called me up to tell me where my sister was buried and claimed to have talked to her after she died…” He gave a shrug and an exaggerated good ol’ boy grin. “You can see why I might be curious and interested in discussing the situation further.”

I leaned forward. “And I’m sure you can see why I’d want to keep what I do under wraps.”

“You have a sign on your door,” he pointed out.

“Only announcing that I cleanse spirits from houses and investigate the paranormal. It’s how I make my living. If word got out from a reliable source that I legitimately communicated with people who’d passed, my life would be over.”

“You exaggerate. My sister’s life is over—because she’s dead. You might experience some inconvenience.”

Anger surged inside me and I clenched my fists, then forced myself to calm before I spoke again. “Mr. Simon. What do you want? As much as I’d like to waste more time sparring with you, I have work to do.”

“Why did they kill her?” His voice went flat and his eyes darkened, and once again, his façade melted away and I saw the killer inside him.

I considered my options, and I made a snap decision. Maybe I’d regret it later, but I’d rather have Remy Simon as a friend than an enemy, and I knew one way I might achieve that. “That’s one of the things I’m working on. The Clinton County master is a man named Frederick Axton. Most vampires can shade humans, as you know, but this man has somehow figured out how to go beyond that. What he’s doing is…” I shook my head, searching for the right words. “Hypnotizing them. Mind-controlling them. Not just making them forget so he can feed but making them obey his commands. He’s been practicing, and humans are disappearing—and dying. I was hired recently by a man who believes his wife was taken by vampires. I believe Axton is using her to kill humans.” I softened my voice. “Sara was a victim of one of his victims.”

I paused to give him a moment, and when he said nothing, I continued. “She told me the woman he’d forced to kill her was a puppet. She was unaware she was attacking Sara. Your sister told me that it was like the woman wasn’t even there. I think he also gives them extra strength, as hard as that is to believe.”

Abruptly he stood, and I couldn’t help but recoil. He was like a tall, sinister shadow looming over me.

“You want to work together to take his motherfucker down?” he asked.

I blinked. “Yes. I do. I could use the help of another hunter.”