Pixie Dust (Karli Lane #1) (15 page)

“Don’t worry about it.” I said. “Look, I need to find Vance and Leo. Can you do some kind of locator spell to find them for me?”

“Sure baby.” She replied. “All I need is a personal item from either of them. Do you have anything at your house…maybe some underwear that was left behind or a toothbrush in the bathroom?

“No, I don’t have anything like that.” I said. “It’s not like that between us. I haven’t been with either one of them.”

“If you say so sweetie. Well, if you go home and find something let me know. Hey I gotta get back to my tables, okay? Good luck treasure hunting!”

Damn! Why did I have to return that key fob? I could be getting something from Leo’s closet right now! Wait, I know! I’ll just get it back. I went up to the front desk and saw the same lady that I gave the key to in the first place.

I looked at her name tag. “Hi Marcy.” I said in my sweetest tone. “Do you remember me from yesterday? I came down here and returned a little black key fob from penthouse two?

“Yes, I remember you.” Marcy said, suspicion heavy in her voice.

“Great! Well, see Marcy, it turns out that I made a mistake in returning that key. The gentleman who’s staying there is a very close
friend
of mine. I promised him I would be waiting for him when he got back tonight but I have no way of getting up there now. I’d hate to disappoint him so I’m going to need that key back.”

“I’m sorry Ma’am but I can’t do that.” She said.

“Oh sure you can Marcy. I’m sure you wouldn’t want one of your
penthouse
guests to be upset would you? That wouldn’t be good for
you
, would it?” If charm fails, threaten her job security.

She narrowed her eyes at me and said, “Sorry Ma’am but I cannot do that. I would be
more than happy
to call Mr. Markos and explain it to him myself.” Damn, she called my bluff!

 “Ugh! Nevermind!”

I decided trying Erica again. When I told her about my extortion attempt she said, “Well maybe Leo left something here.”

“That’s genius Eri! I knew I kept you around for a reason!” I teased. We looked around the bar but couldn’t find anything! Damn! Damn! Damn!

I hung out at work until closing just in case they returned. No such luck there so I went home and waited by my phone. Feeling completely helpless, I tried watching TV but nothing would take this nagging panic away. I had a feeling deep in my bones that something was horribly wrong. My anxiety must have worn me out because I eventually fell asleep on the couch.

My phone rang around seven in the morning, jolting me out of my slumber. I looked at the caller ID and saw that Leo was on the other end.

“Leo, what’s wrong? What happened? Are you okay?”

He replied, “Yes, my dear. I am fine. It is Vance who had an unfortunate incident with an angry demon last night. He’s in the hospital over on Maryland. I thought you should know.”

“Omigod, what happened? Is he going to be okay?”

“The police had a lead on a suspect so we went to check it out.” He said. “He was attempting to put a stasis spell on the demon so they could collect a DNA sample to check for a match. Vance was……. distracted while he was performing the spell. The demon sensed his magical presence and attacked. He had some internal injuries which required surgery and a minor concussion. They said he’ll be in recovery for a few days. I stayed at the hospital as long as I could before sunrise. He was resting peacefully when I left. I’m calling because I thought you might want to be there with him.”

“Thank you for calling Leo. I really appreciate it.”

Impressed with Leo’s maturity, I drove to the hospital to see Vance. I got to his room and found him sleeping. I quietly pulled up a chair next to his bed and grabbed a hold of his hand. I couldn’t seem to stop the tears from falling. He looked so fragile being hooked up to all those machines. He woke up a short while later and squeezed my hand.

“What are you doing here?” He asked, still a little groggy.

“Leo called and told me what happened. I came as soon as I heard. I wanted to make sure you were okay.” I replied while wiping my tears.

He sat up slowly, wincing in pain. “What exactly did he tell you?”

“Well, I already knew about the stakeout because Roxy told me what was happening.” I replied. “Leo said you were trying to perform a stasis spell on the demon but you got distracted. The demon sensed your presence and attacked. Oh God Vance. I had this horrible feeling all night that something was wrong. I tried finding you but couldn’t. I’m so glad you’re going to be alright.”

He smiled. “Did he tell you
why
I was distracted”

“No. I didn’t think to ask. Why?”

“Because we were arguing about you.”

“About me? What about me?”

“We had a difference in opinion. No surprise there, huh?” He attempted a small laugh but stopped short from the pain.

“An opinion about what exactly?”

“He was telling me that I should stop being so childish and call you. He saw me ignore your call last night and told me I was a fool. He said I didn’t deserve you. I told him that my relationship with you is none of his concern.”

“Your
relationship
with me? Do we have a ……relationship?” I asked timidly.

Sighing, he tightened his grip on my hand. “Karli, honestly I don’t know what we have. We’ve only known each other for a week, yet I feel like I’ve known you my entire life. I think you feel it too. I don’t know how to explain this pull I have towards you. It nearly killed me to see you go off with Leo the other night.”

“Look Vance, I know what you’re probably thinking about the other night. I can---”

“Karli, please let me finish. I need to get this out. When I watched you leave with him, when I thought about how you called
him
to help you, it brought back a lot of really painful memories for me. I felt like I was reliving a very difficult part of my past. I needed some distance to deal with that.”

“I guess I could understand that. I just wish you would let me explain. It’s not what you think.”

 “Karli, there’s a lot we need to discuss.”´He said. “I know you’re apprehensive, but you need to believe that you can trust me. You are obviously carrying a lot of weight on your shoulders, and I honestly think I can help you with that. I feel like I
need
to help you with that. I want to be someone you can lean on.”

“Oh Vance, I---”

He pressed his fingers to my lips. “Please Karli, don’t feel the need to say anything right now. Why don’t we just agree to talk after I get out of here? Can you do that?”

“Yes. I can definitely do that.” I smiled.

Chapter 13

*****************

I’ve been anxiously awaiting Vance’s release from the hospital for the past few days. I found myself warming towards Leo again for helping me with him. We never talked about it, but I could tell he’s keeping his distance from me out of respect. We were relating to one another in a strictly professional manner. His apology was unspoken but obvious all the same.

He filled me in on the case while Vance was in the hospital. Apparently, Leo subdued the demon at the scene after it attacked Vance. They brought the guy into custody and tested his DNA. He was not a match so they let him go with a minor assault charge, since Vance technically did provoke him by attempting to cast a spell on him. They rechecked the demon registration database and found nothing new. The next closest Stryker demon lived somewhere in the Midwest. They were basically back to square one with no suspect and no motive.

Vance was released from the hospital yesterday but I was working when he called. I’m off on Mondays so we agreed to meet at my apartment today. He said it was important that we had no other obligations when we had our conversation. I was terrified, yet excited about seeing him. I was going to lay all my cards out on the table, essentially trusting him with my life. There was going to be no turning back after today.

He had to check in with work so he told me he’d be at my place around noon. I took a shower and selected one of my newest matching bra and panty sets. I’m not planning on getting pelvic with the guy or anything. Sometimes a girl just needs some sexy lingerie under her clothes to feel empowered. I threw on a white sleeveless cotton wrap shirt with twill shorts because I wanted to show off my darkened tan. I spent a little extra time on my hair and makeup. I wanted to look good, but not overly obvious. Shortly after noon, I heard the buzzer. With one last glance in the mirror, I pressed the intercom button.

“Hello, who is it?” I asked.

“Hi Karli. It’s me…Vance.”

“Hi. Come on up.” I said as I buzzed him in.

I opened my door and could hear his footsteps in the stairwell. Was he jogging? He slowed down his pace when he reached the top and saw me peeking down the hall.

With a slightly embarrassed smile, he said, “Hi.” He grabbed both of my hands with his own.

“Hi. Please, come in.” I pressed my lips against his cheek and stepped aside to let him in.

“Can I get you something to drink?” I asked.

“Sure. Anything would be fine.”

I went to my fridge and grabbed two Coronas. I popped the lids and handed one to him. Feeling a little nervous, I took a large swig of my own.

“How was work?” I asked. “You look like you’re healing pretty fast.”

“It’s one of the many advantages of being a warlock. There’s nothing like a little healing spell to speed up the recovery.” He gave me a cocky smile. “Work was fine. I just wanted to get a few things out of the way before I came over. We’re still stuck in the same place. We don’t have any more leads to run on. My team is interviewing some of Leslie and Jordyn’s friends again see if they can find the connection between the two women.”

“So, you don’t think this was an attack on Leo?”

“No. Not at all. As you know, Leo went with me to see the only suspect we had. He’s never met the guy before. Upon looking into his background, we couldn’t find any connection either. The attacks could be random but my gut is telling me they’re not. I’m trying to figure out how they were connected, besides being co-workers. So far, I have nothing.”

“If I think of anything I’ll let you know.” I said.

“Thanks, I appreciate that.” He set his beer on the breakfast bar and moved closer. “Look Karli, you know I didn’t come here to discuss the case. Would you like to sit down?”

“Uh, sure.” He led me by the hand over to the couch. I took another sip of beer before setting it down on the coffee table.