think we’ve seen all there is to see here. Let’s go.”
“Where to?” Aidan asked.
I considered. Ray’s apartment had provided no leads. There was only one other place I could think to troll for clues.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe the venue where Thomas was stabbed. Or back to the Factory to talk to people there. See if anyone is harboring a grudge or throwing a celebration now that Thomas is dead.”
I wished I could figure out how someone had gotten into the lab with Ray. I didn’t know Ray well, but I could imagine him trying to capitalize on selling the Cure to fund his own experiments or trying to unload the rest of his Lemondrop stock when Alana refused to touch it. But those were just theories until I had something more solid to go on.
And without any new clues, I was left spinning my wheels, and the Showbox was the only place left to check out.
I gestured to Aidan that we should go and had my hand on the doorknob when someone knocked.
T HE THUMP of the knock startled me and I flinched back. I shot a questioning look at Aidan, who was smirking, amused. Asshole.
I collected myself and peered through the keyhole. A buff guy in a sleeveless t-shirt stood there. He was the size of a small truck and clearly a regular at the gym with muscles like that. One of the best things about being a vampire and having preternatural speed and strength was not having to be scared of big, strong people. That was one of the things I missed most of all.
I took a deep breath and opened the door.
Truck Guy frowned. “You’re not Ray,” he said.
“Nope,” I said, folding my arms over my chest and trying to look like he didn’t intimidate me.
The guy shifted, angling to see into the apartment over my head. He was jittery, his eyes darting back and forth too quickly. I thought maybe he was high, but his pupils weren’t dilated. He looked weirdly familiar, and I strained my mind trying to think of where I might know him from. Maybe he’d been a customer at Le Poisson recently or something.
“Is Ray here?” he asked.
“He’s dead,” I said.
His bloodshot eyes jerked back to me. “No.”
“Yes.”
“Very dead,” Aidan confirmed.
“Fuck.” The guy punched the frame of the door lightly and bowed his head. When he looked back up, his eyes were yellow. Not yellow like they were jaundiced but as if the color of the iris had changed. And the pupil was now a horizontal slit, like a lizard’s. Or a wolf’s. My heart hammered at double speed and my stomach sank as I took a guess at what I was seeing. Ray hadn’t just been working on his werewolf drug in theory. He’d been testing it on people. If Neha knew he’d gotten this far, she sure as heck hadn’t mentioned it.
As if he could read my thoughts, the man growled. It rattled my bones but I stood steady, refusing to show fear. Aidan, however, carefully eased a few steps deeper into the apartment.
“Hey, cut it out.” I snapped my fingers in front of the man’s face. His eyes cleared up and his snarl morphed into a look of surprise. “Let me guess, Ray was running some kind of drug trial with you, yeah?”
He stared, trying (and failing) to look blank at this suggestion.
I sighed. “I can help you. But only if you help me, got it? I have access to his lab and I might be able to get you what you need.” It was a tenuous promise. Ray’s computer had been taken. Even if Neha could find his notes on their shared server and manage to locate samples of this drug that the killer hadn’t run off with, it was hard to say if she’d help this man. She had never been a fan of creating monsters: her goal was always to “Cure” us. But still, it was the only leverage I had.
After a second’s consideration, he said, “You a cop?”
Aidan snorted behind me. I felt much the same, and amused that it was the second time I’d been asked that in a week. “I’m not a cop,” I said. “Just a friend of Ray’s.”
The man considered me before
“Where to?” Aidan asked.
I considered. Ray’s apartment had provided no leads. There was only one other place I could think to troll for clues.
“I don’t know,” I said. “Maybe the venue where Thomas was stabbed. Or back to the Factory to talk to people there. See if anyone is harboring a grudge or throwing a celebration now that Thomas is dead.”
I wished I could figure out how someone had gotten into the lab with Ray. I didn’t know Ray well, but I could imagine him trying to capitalize on selling the Cure to fund his own experiments or trying to unload the rest of his Lemondrop stock when Alana refused to touch it. But those were just theories until I had something more solid to go on.
And without any new clues, I was left spinning my wheels, and the Showbox was the only place left to check out.
I gestured to Aidan that we should go and had my hand on the doorknob when someone knocked.
T HE THUMP of the knock startled me and I flinched back. I shot a questioning look at Aidan, who was smirking, amused. Asshole.
I collected myself and peered through the keyhole. A buff guy in a sleeveless t-shirt stood there. He was the size of a small truck and clearly a regular at the gym with muscles like that. One of the best things about being a vampire and having preternatural speed and strength was not having to be scared of big, strong people. That was one of the things I missed most of all.
I took a deep breath and opened the door.
Truck Guy frowned. “You’re not Ray,” he said.
“Nope,” I said, folding my arms over my chest and trying to look like he didn’t intimidate me.
The guy shifted, angling to see into the apartment over my head. He was jittery, his eyes darting back and forth too quickly. I thought maybe he was high, but his pupils weren’t dilated. He looked weirdly familiar, and I strained my mind trying to think of where I might know him from. Maybe he’d been a customer at Le Poisson recently or something.
“Is Ray here?” he asked.
“He’s dead,” I said.
His bloodshot eyes jerked back to me. “No.”
“Yes.”
“Very dead,” Aidan confirmed.
“Fuck.” The guy punched the frame of the door lightly and bowed his head. When he looked back up, his eyes were yellow. Not yellow like they were jaundiced but as if the color of the iris had changed. And the pupil was now a horizontal slit, like a lizard’s. Or a wolf’s. My heart hammered at double speed and my stomach sank as I took a guess at what I was seeing. Ray hadn’t just been working on his werewolf drug in theory. He’d been testing it on people. If Neha knew he’d gotten this far, she sure as heck hadn’t mentioned it.
As if he could read my thoughts, the man growled. It rattled my bones but I stood steady, refusing to show fear. Aidan, however, carefully eased a few steps deeper into the apartment.
“Hey, cut it out.” I snapped my fingers in front of the man’s face. His eyes cleared up and his snarl morphed into a look of surprise. “Let me guess, Ray was running some kind of drug trial with you, yeah?”
He stared, trying (and failing) to look blank at this suggestion.
I sighed. “I can help you. But only if you help me, got it? I have access to his lab and I might be able to get you what you need.” It was a tenuous promise. Ray’s computer had been taken. Even if Neha could find his notes on their shared server and manage to locate samples of this drug that the killer hadn’t run off with, it was hard to say if she’d help this man. She had never been a fan of creating monsters: her goal was always to “Cure” us. But still, it was the only leverage I had.
After a second’s consideration, he said, “You a cop?”
Aidan snorted behind me. I felt much the same, and amused that it was the second time I’d been asked that in a week. “I’m not a cop,” I said. “Just a friend of Ray’s.”
The man considered me before
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