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“It’s not here,” I growled angrily in response to Zagan’s comment on the missing Ferrari, one that was clearly not in the hotel parking lot as I had hoped for. Although, admittedly, I wasn’t surprised that she was long gone, but finding myself furious all the same. But after the receptionist’s comment about not seeing a Ferrari, something from the looks of the place that would have stood out, I now wondered at her still having the vehicle at all.
The moment the chopper was coming into land, doing so in the nearly empty parking lot of the hotel, I had the door open and was jumping the ten feet down not caring who the fuck saw me. I was then striding towards the entrance scowling at the cheap building with a curl of my lip.
I swear that it took all my strength not to rip the door off its hinges before I stepped up to the desk. A woman, whose features barely registered more than the artificial red colour of her hair and heavily made up face, looked up as I approached. Her eyes widened at the sight of me and did a leisurely scan of my physique one that, in this moment, was tensed to the point that had I been just a man my muscles would have ached. But then I knew that until I got her back in my arms once again then my days of relaxing were over. Instead, my body was held taut and at the ready for anything.
“Good afternoon, do you have an...?”
“Silence!” I commanded, knowing that I didn’t have time to waste so I took control of her mind now that I had regained my strength to do so without causing permanent damage. She naturally did as I ordered, becoming that of a willing servant with few thoughts of her own.
“Do you have security cameras?”
“Yes.”
“Good, log in to the computer and bring up the guest information,” I demanded of her, making her do so quickly and efficiently. Then, as Zagan and Takeshi who had been assigned to aid me, walked inside I issued my orders.
“Zagan, the security system should be in the back. Takeshi, re-trace any sense of her outside and see what you can find.” Both nodded and went about their duties without a word.
“I have finished,” the woman said stepping back. So, I walked to her side of the desk and turned the screen my way so I could look for myself, scanning a finger down the list of names.
“Room seven, has it been cleaned?” I asked the moment I saw the name ‘Jane Eyre’ on the system, seeing for myself that she had paid in cash. But of course, she didn’t want to be traced. The question became where she got that money from to begin with. Had she really been reduced to stealing it? That certainly didn’t sound like Amelia, but then again, I knew for myself what the depths of desperation would make a person do.
“No, but it will be shortly.”
“Call the chambermaid and tell her to leave it. Then give me a key to the room,” I told her making her pick up a radio and call the maid to relay my order. Then she picked up a blank card and assigned it a room after swiping it through a reader. I plucked it from her fingers the second it was free from the machine and was striding towards the rooms with determined steps, knowing that I had no time to waste. My only hope was that she had left some clue as to what she was planning next. Or at the very least, clues as to where it was she had come from, that way I may discover her intentions as to where she’d planned to be her destination.
Pip’s earlier question had been what if she had no plans? What if she had simply got in the car and decided to keep going with no destination in mind? But at the time, both Dom and I had dismissed the idea. Because Amelia always had a plan. It was who she was. It was ingrained into the core of her. And I would bet my fangs on the fact that by the time she had made it outside the boundary of Afterlife that she had already started to formulate a plan in her mind.
It was what made her so dangerous. She was one of the smartest people I knew and for that reason alone I knew that hunting her down was going to be no easy feat. But everyone left something behind. And even the most insignificant thing could lead somewhere.
Especially in the age of technology. Everything had a digital fingerprint. Even the packet of a coffee cup could lead a person in the right direction, as everything had a code to chase back to the source. From manufacturer, to buyer, to distribution and then to consumer. It was all breadcrumbs to follow and as smart as my girl was, everyone at one time or another slipped up. Now, my only hope was that she slipped up this early on and behind the door I was now approaching was a slip up made sooner rather than later.
I opened the door and entered, taking a moment to breathe deep, taking in the lingering scent of my Chosen. But doing so ended by finding myself having to fight my demon as he rose to the surface. To the point that I could see the reflection of crimson eyes staring back at me through the mirror in the bathroom as I stepped inside.
I picked up the still damp towel that had been left on top of the counter and brought it to my face so I could take in the new soap she had used, familiarizing myself with it. Then I fisted it angrily, letting the water seep through my hand and drip down my leather glove. I threw it aside with a slap against the tiles and scanned the room for anything more.
Then I frowned as the faint smell of bile reached my nose and I walked closer to the toilet seeing now a tiny speck of vomit at the rim, telling me that she had been sick. I growled angrily as I turned away from the sight, before spinning and putting my fist straight through the glass above the sink, shattering the image of my anger.
I tore it from the mirror letting shards of glass clatter with the song of destruction raining down against the ceramic bowl, before looking down at the blood pooling around the shards that were still embedded in my skin. I calmly pulled them free and in doing so remembered the blood I had seen on her own hands, making me question where it had come from? Had it been left from the cuts I had seen there that I now knew was from her being fooled into opening the vault...or had something else happened to her?
Gods, but if something had then I knew that my vessel would never survive the rage of my demon without him tearing free! I snarled down at myself before I turned my back on the damage and left the bathroom. Instead, I walked back inside the room and took in the hurried array of her actions. I walked to the coffee tray and ran a finger along the selections of teas seeing that nothing looked missing. I looked down and located the trash bin, kicking it back under the desk when seeing it was empty. She hadn’t even been here long enough to drink something.
There wasn’t even a fucking a receipt or food wrapper, nothing. It was as though all she had come here for was nothing more than to stop for sleep and that was it. Gods, but the girl must be running on fumes by now and all I could hope for was that she was at least eating on the road. I hated to think of her not taking care of herself and I swore that when I finally found her, then it had better not be in anything less than the perfect condition I had come used to seeing her in before all this shit began!
And well, from the evidence I had found in the bathroom, then my hope for this outcome was looking less likely by the fucking second! I walked over to the pile of clothes she had left on the floor to see now that it was a uniform...the flight attendant’s uniform to be exact. But of course, she had swapped clothes with her to keep up the ruse and not arouse suspicion when leaving the plane. However, this then made me question what if her clothes weren’t the only thing she had swapped with her?
I knew that she had gone to her room before leaving but hadn’t taken her purse, passport, phone, nothing that could be traced to her, but what if she had taken something after all...
A bargaining chip?
After all, she needed money somehow and I could not imagine that Amelia had just decided to leave it all up to chance. No, she would know that she needed money, if only to fill the tank of a very expensive car that didn’t exactly get the best mileage. So, what if her reasons for arranging the jet weren’t solely to fool us? After all, driving there first had been a risk in itself, for we must have only just missed her being there.
I pulled my phone from my back pocket and made the call.
“You found something?” Dom asked as way of answer.
“Perhaps,” I told him, not surprised that he hadn’t asked if I had found her. Because he knew as well as I did, that she would be long gone from here by the time we arrived.
“Then what do you need?”
“I want you to tell Keira to go to her room. Look again to see what is missing...it would have to be something of value,” I told him, knowing that an explanation wouldn’t be needed.
“You think she would pawn something to fund her escape?” he asked then relayed the message to Keira who didn’t ask questions.
“I think she bribed the flight attendant for more than just the use of her clothes. I didn’t think of it at the time, but her decoy told me she had been paid, yet Amelia’s purse remained in her room. So, it stands to reason she must have paid her with something, and I think Amelia would have bargained for a lot more than just a uniform.” He agreed before giving me what I wanted before needing to ask for it.
“I will have her account checked and have the girl questioned.”
“Good, my only hope is that Amelia slipped up and is still using her card, but I doubt it,” I told him making him agree once more.
“Knowing Fae, clearing her accounts would have been one of the first things she did, but it is worth looking into.”
“Well, knowing how much cash she has will at least give me an idea of the limits set against her...or should I say set against me. Let me know what you find,” I told him.
“Of course.” After his agreement, I hung up and went back to the uniform, hoping to find a receipt or something more in a pocket but what I didn’t expect to find was blood.
Blood...
That wasn’t hers.