Kelvin sat at a wide table, handcuffs on his wrists, his expression sullen and angry. Two other agents were already in the room, sitting at the table opposite the prisoner. Kelvin was staring at the tabletop but as soon as he got a whiff of my scent, he drew in a huge breath and stiffened, his dark eyes wide as he lifted them to stare at me. I almost growled at him but held myself in check. No need to show everybody there just what it was I was trying so hard to hide.
"You're afraid of her," Tony said softly to Kelvin, looking from him to me.
"Hmmph," Kelvin lied.
"He's lying," one of the two men at the table looked up at me. I got a good whiff of that agent and the one who was sitting next to him.
"As are you," I said.
"You three, out." Tony gestured to the three who'd been at the bookstore. They left immediately. As soon as the door closed behind them, Tony turned to me. "What do you know," he said softly.
"You think I'd tell you anything?" I scoffed. "How many cameras do you have in this room, Tony?"
"There aren't any in this room," the agent I'd accused of lying said.
"Yeah, like I'd believe that," I grumbled.
"We're part of the FBI—special agents," the other one said. Well, that was a new one on me. "We know of Weldon Harper," that one continued. "And we're now trying to uncover what this one knows." He jerked his head toward Kelvin. "Our division is cooperating with Hancock's here to try and keep everything stable. We don't need the population turning on itself in fear, now do we?" He gave me a grin. For a werewolf, he had a nice smile. I wondered what his wolf looked like.
"Are you crazy?" I stared at Tony. The werewolf's partner was a vampire. FBI special agents? Puhleeze.
"They say they can tell by the scent," Tony said. "They knew right away that a werewolf pulled the trigger and it wasn't anybody that had been in those two hotel rooms where Winkler and Harper were staying. This one's room had the stink all over it, though." Tony was grinning at me.
"Boss," the vampire said to Tony, "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I'm sure you've already figured out that our little girl there is a vampire. What you don't know, however, is how rare they are. There may be a handful, if that, in existence now. This one I haven't heard of, so she's new."
"Little more than a year," Tony nodded. At that point, I sure as hell hoped there weren't any cameras or bugs in the room. These guys were spilling secrets left and right.
"What have you got so far?" Tony asked, nodding toward Kelvin, who was sweating.
"A list of names," vampire agent said.
"And a promise to be a good boy and never do this again," werewolf agent added.
I was growling by that time. "How are you connected to Tate Briggs?" I said to Kelvin, looking him right in the eye and putting the strongest compulsion I had into my voice.
Kelvin whimpered and nearly collapsed on himself. "I can't tell you," he sniffed. That spelled out one thing to me—another vampire had placed compulsion and he was a stronger vampire. An older vampire. I looked over at vampire agent, who looked up at me. "You try," I said. I'd scented him; he was nearly as old as Charles.
"Tell us your connection to Tate Briggs," vampire agent tried his compulsion, only he met with the same results.
"What does that mean?" Tony looked from me to the vampire agent.
"It means an older, stronger vampire placed compulsion for him not to tell," vampire agent sighed.
"Do you remember that?" I asked Kelvin. "Do you remember having someone place compulsion on you?"
Kelvin growled softly. "He said you'd ask. He told me to tell you if you asked that Saxom may be dead but his children are alive and well." After that statement, Kelvin passed out, banging his head on the table as he folded up like a bad hand of cards.
Well, his words didn't mean anything to me and the vampire agent was also shaking his head—he didn't know either.
"Do you have a trace on my cell phone?" I asked, studying Tony's face.
"Not yet," Tony replied enigmatically. Likely, he just hadn't had time to order somebody to do it.
"I don't know whether to trust you or not," I said.
"Use mine, then, it's untraceable," Tony handed his cell over to me. I had no idea if Merrill would answer or not. He certainly wouldn't recognize the number. I still stared at Tony, unsure about all of it.
"It's as he says," vampire agent told me.
"Yeah. Like I trust you, too," I grumbled. I tapped Tony's cell and dialed Merrill's number from memory. Things like that came so easily to me now.
"Hello?" Merrill wasn't sure about the call either.
"Um, hi. This is Lissa."
"Lissa, where have you been? The two who came to get you are nearly frantic."
"Um, can't discuss that, right now," I said. "I have a question and it may be an important one," I added. "Do you know who Saxom was?"
The silence was so long on the other end I was afraid the call had dropped. Finally, after what seemed a very long time, Merrill sighed. "Yes. I know who Saxom was. I assume you cannot mention names at the moment or tell me where you are?"
"No," I said. "But the one who actually killed those employees at the hotel says that a vampire placed compulsion on him and told him that if anybody asked about it, to say that Saxom may be dead but his children are alive and well."
More silence. "This is the worst of news," Merrill said eventually. "Are you safe for the moment?"
"I suppose," I said. "As safe as I can be anywhere, I guess. Tell the two that I'll try to get with them soon."
"I'll pass that on. Lissa, your fiancé is about to have a fit."
"Well, tell him to join the club."
"I will not attempt to contact you," Merrill went on. "I will wait to hear from you, instead."
"I hope you do," I told him and hung up.
Handing the cell back to Tony, I said, "He wasn't happy with that news and knew better than to say anything. Besides, these two could probably hear both sides of the conversation." I nodded to the vamp and werewolf agents.
"You guys can do that?" Tony looked at the special agents. The werewolf just shrugged.
Kelvin was struggling to wake up again. "What happened?" he asked, sitting up.
"You fainted," werewolf agent snorted.