Skin of a Goddess (Goddess Ascension Book 1) (17 page)

“Good idea,” I agree.

“I was thinking of steak for dinner, that good with you?”

I decide to forgive him a little. “I’m in the mood for apple pie.”

“We can pick one of those up too.” He grins, and I know he’s happy because we sound almost like a couple. Or family. Or something dumb like that. Even if we both know it’s a façade.

Chapter 13

I take a nice relaxing bath in the natural spring running through the cave. It’s nice and toasty warm, plus big enough to actually swim around in.

“Peitho?” Hunter walks into the chamber.

I swim over to where he’s standing, arms crossed and not even looking turned on to see me wet and naked. “What is it?”

“I couldn’t find more information about Cammy or Vincent on the computer,” he says with annoyance. “I thought maybe you could call that guy and get some information.”

I smile a little. “You mean you want me to call Dolos? After you told me we wouldn’t need to, and hid the phone?”

He has the decency to look a little embarrassed. “I may have overreacted. Now, can you call him or what? We’re wasting time here.”

I sigh in annoyance. It’s not that he came in here to get a peek at me, or join me, or do anything fun like that. No, he came here and interrupted my lovely bath in order to ask a favor and nag. After he specifically told me—nay, demanded—that I not call Dolos. The nerve of this man!

“Yes, I’ll call him.”

He continues to stand there. “Now a bad time?”

I glare at him. “Lucky for you I’ve already washed and rinsed, or I’d make you wait. Get me a towel.”

Hunter gets the black towel from where I’d flung it across a rock. He holds it out while I get out of the water. Hunter wraps the towel around me, not even copping a feel or anything. Almost makes a girl feel unappreciated, though I see some heat in his eyes. That, at least, is something.

“Can I get dressed?” I ask sarcastically.

“You’ll only get whatever you put on wet. Might as well call while you’re drying off.”

“You want me to call Dolos while naked?” I arch a brow at him.

He quickly frowns at me and retrieves the large black T-shirt I’d set on the rock with the towel. I towel dry my hair and slip on the T-shirt. I allow him to lead me to the main room of the cave, where he pulls out a phone, the one I’m assuming he hid when we first got here, so I couldn’t slip away and make a secret call. The one he’s asking me to make now.

“That’s your phone? It’s, like, ancient,” I say, looking down with distaste at the regrettably old-fashioned phone Hunter’s currently holding out to me.

He looks down in surprise at the spin dial. “Don’t tell me you don’t remember how to use this kind.”

I snatch the phone out of his hands. Honestly, to suggest that sort of thing to me. I’m the one who’s older than him, not the other way around. Hell, I remember when we talked in a series of grunts, not across the country to one another. Just because I’ve gone modern and haven’t stuck to the old ways that were shit to begin with, I’m suddenly a child?

“Of course I know,” I huff.

“Call your ex-boyfriend already,” Hunter tells me, crossing his arms.

“He’s not my ex,” I mutter, starting to dial.

“Well, he’s sure as hell not your current.”

I groan aloud. “Dolos and I have never dated. We’re just friends, as I’ve told you before. I don’t just fuck people if I’m their girlfriend. That would mean I’ve been in—”

“Don’t! I don’t want to know how many,” he says loudly.

“Fine. Just shut up, and don’t embarrass me while I’m on the phone.”

It takes three rings for Dolos to pick up.

“Hey, Dan The Man speaking,” he says cheerfully.

“Cut the shit, it’s Peitho.”

Suddenly his voice becomes deeper and seductive, “Peitho, my little golden goddess, what can I do for you? Or what can we do for each other?”

I feel Hunter rumble beside me, easily able to hear the conversation. I give him a warning glare. “I’m looking for some information, and I was hoping you could help me with it.”

“What are you looking for?”

“No artifacts or anything this time. I was wondering if there’s any word on the streets about shifters. Anything new going on there?”

He’s silent for a moment. “I know you’re at the shifter convention because you were assigned as representatives. Maybe you shouldn’t stick your nose into things that aren’t really your business. I don’t think it’s something you’ll want to deal with. Why don’t you find a nice little werewolf to keep you entertained instead?”

My teeth start to ache from clenching them. “Let me worry about what I want to deal with. Tell me what’s going on.”

Dolos sighs. “You won’t like it. There’s been movement on the human trafficking market. It’s been a pretty small organization so far, but they’re getting more exotic people. I’ve traced things back to England, near the convention, but no specific location.”

“What are they being sold as?”

“Sex slaves. There’s … something else. I guess the leader of the ring isn’t too right in the head. He thinks he’s a vampire or something, though I’m not sure what he is. He tries to drink their blood. He can get a bit rough. Some of the slaves are being sold—” Dolos stops suddenly.

When he doesn’t say anything else, I prompt him with, “Yes?”

“Dead.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, feeling sick, since I’m fairly certain I already know.

“Peitho,” Dolos hesitates but dutifully says, “I guess when he’s had his turn or tried to break them, they haven’t survived it. Some of them have been sold as corpses. I know we all like to think there isn’t a market for that sort of thing, but looks like there is. The ones taken from the convention aren’t the start of this. There are others. It just helps that they’re all there for the picking. Every type.”

I take in a breath and slowly exhale. “He tortures them to death, then sells the corpses to be further mutilated?”

“Most are sold alive but not in the greatest of shapes,” Dolos says. “There aren’t just shifters being sold either. I guess they’re equal opportunists when it comes to supernaturals in general. I’ve heard of at least two sirens who have been sold. From what I understand, some pose opportunities for individuals who use dark magic. You know what some of those spells can take.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone sooner?” I ask.

“I didn’t realize it would affect the convention. I didn’t want to bother you or the other women with it. It’s not something you should have to deal with,” he says.

“Are you doing anything to stop it?” I ask.

“It’s not really something I want to get involved with. I’ve passed along some information about it to people who want to know in order to stop it, but I haven’t gone out of my way to hear anything. It’s not my scene, and you know that.”

Unfortunately, I really do. Some immortals are only about fun or themselves. After everything we’ve seen, we know it can get really fucked up out there whether we help or not. A lot of immortals, if they’re not personally affected by things, don’t give a shit. Which would be Dolos. They might know it’s wrong, or they might not, but either way, they’re not taking the time and energy to step in.

“Yet you’ve managed to pinpoint where they originated from,” I say.

“Not pinpoint, just the general area.”

“Anything else I should know? Besides that it’s near us, but not the actual location, you don’t know who it is, and you don’t know any clients or where they meet?”

“That about covers it. I don’t want to know where they meet or anyone who would be involved in such foul business,” Dolos says with distaste.

“Do you know if most of the clients are supernatural or human?” I ask.

He sighs and says, “I think a mixture of both. Humans who know about us and supernaturals who want to dominate others? Not sure.”

“Are there regulars?” I ask.

“Now, Peitho, I don’t know. I’ve already told you, I don’t know much as far as details. I know that people in the black market who have shown they’d be interested in this kind of service get contacted by the sellers, then they meet for auction. They can request a specific supernatural, which also goes to auction,” Dolos says.

“For someone who doesn’t know much, you’re just full of surprises. Do you know any clients who have gone to an auction?”

“I only know all of that because I know someone who was invited but didn’t go. He didn’t go through enough steps to get an actual meeting location either, so don’t bother asking. There was a rumor that he beat and killed a hooker, which was false, and I’m assuming that’s why he was invited. Plus, he’s known for having good funding,” Dolos says.

“Name?” I ask.

“Not happening,” he replies easily.

Damn him. This is much more important than some dumbass confidentially. What does it matter that he keeps a good name with his clients? It’s not like he can’t find new ones. All the same, I know reasoning with him would be pointless.

“Do you know how many people are involved in the actual organization?”

“At least two. More than that, I’m not sure. I also don’t know if they hire people to get shifters for them, or if they take them themselves. I’m guessing there’s at least five people involved. Most, if not all, of them supernatural,” he says.

“When did you start getting information about the group?”

He thinks for a moment. “Maybe six months ago? A year at most.”

“An entire year,” I mutter to myself, wondering what kind of jackass could just sit around and do nothing while knowing that was going on.

“Or six months. Somewhere in there.”

“Can you let me know if you hear anything else?” I ask.

“I could, but we both know the answer to that one. I’m not going to find out any more information, and even if I do, I’m not going to tell you. It’s not anything personal; you know how it is. Is that all?”

“Yes, that’s fucking all.” I slam the phone down.

I turn to Hunter, and we both just stare at each other for a moment. I’m not sure what he’s thinking, but I’m reenergized about trying to help these people. The convention. More victims could be taken, and at least some of them must still be alive.

“Why won’t he tell you more?” Hunter asks. Maybe he’s wondering how I could know or be friends with someone like that. I can’t justify his behavior.

“Dolos doesn’t want to get involved or put out any feelers for me. It takes time to build contacts. He doesn’t want to risk losing their trust.”

“What kind of … people could do this?” he finally asks in a broken voice.

“Evil ones who are out of their minds.”

He looks at me for a long moment. “You’ve never known people like this, right? Seen or heard of something like this?”

“I wish I could say no, but I have. When you live as long as I have, you see all kinds of evil, but there are good people out there too. It’s just that the bad tend to overshadow the good.”

Hunter suddenly whips his head at me. “Dolos said that the leader of the ring wants to be a vampire. Or thinks he is one.”

“Yes.” I nod.

“The only person we know with strong connections to vampires is Vincent,” Hunter says.

“Yes, but we couldn’t read him. We shouldn’t make a move against him without proof. The person in charge of this sounds very unstable. We don’t want to make any sudden movements against whomever this is if we have any hope of getting some of these women out alive.”

“We could go to the coven leader. They’re connected to their humans, right?”

“Yes,” I affirm.

“He might know if Vincent is involved. He could at least tell us if it’s something that he’s capable of. I don’t want to waste the time to double check, but it would be good to have someone to control him in case it is him,” Hunter says.

“That’s a good idea. Did Vincent ever say where his coven leader is?” I ask.

Hunter shakes his head. “But, his information was listed in the hotel information. I have his name and address. He lives in London. I can fly us there and back quickly. We should go tonight and see if we can get some answers.”

I snort. “It’s getting pretty late. Vampires are big on manners and etiquette.”

“What do you mean? The only time to go would be tonight or tomorrow night, unless you think we should call first.”

“Definitely not. We don’t know if they’re involved in anything as well. We should go tomorrow morning.”

“Won’t they be asleep?” he asks.

“You’re thinking of the human idea of vampires. No, they don’t sleep during the day and suddenly come out at night to stalk and prowl. The sun doesn’t burn them, either, before you think of that. Their eyes are just a bit sensitive to strong light, since they have very good sight.”

“I’m sure if we went tonight they’d understand the urgency.”

“Trust me; we don’t want to start this meeting off on the wrong foot. Better to go tomorrow and request a meeting with the coven leader. They don’t do well with rude,” I say.

“But this is life or death!” he protests.

“That’s why we need to be careful about this, if we expect them to help us. We need to look and act the part. They’re big on the class system”

He shifts a little uncomfortably. “I can dress up, and I have gowns here.”

I raise my brows to him. “What do you mean? I’m not borrowing some past dragoness’s gowns. You do realize how possessive you guys are, right? She’ll come after me like nobody’s business and rip the dress from my cold, dead body, once I can no longer put up a fight!”