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I drummed my fingers on the tabletop and sipped water while I waited for her. It had been thirty minutes and she still wasn’t here. No texts either. Just when I began to think I was being stood up, I spotted a hooded figure open the door to the diner. Breathing a sigh of relief, I waved her over.
She sat across from me, and her familiar rosy citrus smell drifted into my nose. “Hello, sorry I’m late. Couldn’t get an Uber right away. Friday night and all.”
“It’s fine. You don’t have a car?”
She shook her head. “No, I rarely go anywhere that isn’t walking distance. Didn’t see the use in paying for one, along with the insurance and gas. Car services are cheaper in the long run when I do need to get somewhere.”
The server arrived at our table. “Hello, what can I get you?”
“I’ll take a club soda with a lime,” Rocky replied.
“Sure, hon,” the server said, looking at her and doing a double-take before plastering on a fake smile. “Anything to eat?”
“Got a menu?” she asked.
The server used the pen to indicate a pile of menus against the wall at the end of our table and drawled, “They’re over there, hon.”
“Thanks,” Rocky replied, grabbing one and looking it over.
I raised an eyebrow as I watched her silently.
She looked up from the menu. “What?”
“First, take the hood off. Please. Secondly, why are you looking at food? Are you seriously going to eat it?”
She slowly slid the hood down and looked around the café. Her long brown hair was tied to the back in two large braids. Small wisps of loose curls framed her face. I had to refrain from staring at her lips and instead held her green gaze. “No. I have a neighbor, single-mom type, and I bring her food sometimes. I feel bad if I go somewhere and don’t order anything but drinks, unless it’s a bar. So, I just get it to-go.”
“Well, that’s very noble of you. I’ll go ahead and order something too, then. You can bring her mine.” I grabbed a menu. “What does she like?”
She held my gaze for a while and said, “Honestly, I have no idea. I usually just order the special or something that I remember was popular, like spaghetti or meatloaf. It’s been so long since I had food, I really don’t know what humans like to eat.”
“Rocky, how long have you been a vampire?” I asked, setting my menu down after I’d decided what to order.
She also set hers down. “So, my real name is Devon, and you can call me that. I use an alias for obvious reasons when meeting strangers. But if you tell anyone, I’ll probably have to kill you.”
I smiled. “That’s a beautiful name. Thank you for sharing that with me. My lips are sealed though. Go on.”
“Since the nineties, to answer your question.”
I was born in the nineties. So weird. Still trying to get used to the immortality thing. “Thanks. I was just curious.”
“What about you?” she asked.
I took a sip of the water then set it down. “I’m a baby. Only been turned five years. I was twenty-one, and I guess I’ll... always be twenty-one.”
“I was twenty-seven,” she replied.
The server stopped by and asked if we were ready to order.
“Club sandwich, fries, side of ketchup,” I said. “Strawberry cheesecake.”
“Catfish platter with everything.” Devon smiled at her. “And a slice of whatever pie is good.”
“You got it,” the server said, walking away.
“Kathy and the kids are gonna eat good tomorrow,” she said with a grin.
I nodded. “You got that right.”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling. The scars stretched almost painfully-looking across her cheeks, but I quickly diverted my attention to her eyes so she wouldn’t think I was staring too much at them. Or, God forbid, repulsed or in any way scared. “So, what did you want to pick my brain about?”
“I need to maintain access to that website on the Dark Web you told me to avoid. Just wanted to see if you had any ideas what I could do. I thought about using a cheap laptop with regular WiFi so if I got spyware it really wouldn’t be too detrimental.”
She shook her head. “You need a lot of bandwidth to access the D.W., handsome. That won’t work.”
Please tell me she is not going to keep calling me that!
“Since we’re sharing today, I’m Parker, you can call me that if you don’t like my club name.”
“You definitely look like a Parker.” She winked.
I cleared my throat. “Okay, any other ideas? I cannot compromise the club’s network under any circumstances.”
“Why do you need access to that particular site, if you don’t mind me asking?”
I hesitated. “That site is run by human traffickers.”
Her face dropped. “No, it’s not. They just buy and sell illegal things. I’ve, uh, been on it before.”
Is that what she really thinks? “You’re right, they do. People. Mostly underage kids and young women.”
She shifted uncomfortably and said, “Okay, well, what are you going to do about it?”
“They’re not going to make it past New Orleans. In fact, I think they may already be here. We need to be a step ahead of them.”
She cocked her head to the side and glanced around the restaurant. “Really? You’re, what, just gonna kill them?”
“As long as we have proof, most likely. Nighthawks don’t tolerate that shit.”
“Leave it to the cops,” she replied quickly.
The server brought our food and set it down in front of us. Devon and I wrinkled our noses at the smell.
“Should have just told her to bring it in to-go boxes,” I said.
“Too obvious. We have to look like we’re eating. Pick up a French fry and just hold it in your hand.”
I obeyed. It was warm and greasy. She unwrapped her napkin, pulled out the fork, and held it in her hand.
“We did,” I replied. “Sort of. To the supernatural cops. We got a tip on a kidnapping a couple nights ago. They sailed off on a speedboat and there was nothing we could do, so we called the authorities. We don’t normally do that, though.”
“The BSI? Right?”
I nodded. “Yes. There was already an AMBER alert out for the girls so it wasn’t something we could have handled internally anyway.”
“Why didn’t you just call the FBI?” she asked, tapping the bottom of the fork against the catfish.
“Two reasons. One, we have a close professional relationship with the BSI. They visit regularly to check up on us. Two, the anonymous tip we received stated the kidnappers were vampires. The BSI will have to handle it if that’s the case. Though, what I can’t figure out is how the tipster knew they were vamps. Made me wonder if they knew them.”
“You can’t trace the text?” she asked curiously.
I shook my head. “No, it’s set up to be completely anonymous.”
“You should change that,” she replied. “I would.”
“Trust me, after this, I’m strongly considering it, especially since this was damn near a life-or-death situation.”
“Well, unfortunately, unless you want to just keep removing spyware, there’s no other way to access that site without another elaborate setup.”
“How many seconds do you think I have to access the site before the malware worms in?” I asked. I had to keep my eyes on hers to avoid wanting to stare at her beautiful lips.
“The site detects a visitor immediately, so it’ll go to work with the bug right off the bat.” She sat back in the booth and added, “I mean, I assume so.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know?”
“I’m good, but I’m not that good.”
I bet you are.
Realizing I was at a dead end, I made a mental note to do more research on the Dark Web about this stuff, try to beat it at its own game without accessing that site. If I could just get a name of who ran it, I could work backward from there. “Okay, well, thanks for listening.”
“How’s the pregnant wolf lady?” she asked, her eyes sparkling mischievously.
I bit back a grin. “She’s not a wolf, the baby is. A boy, born just a few hours ago in fact.” For whatever reason, I pulled out my phone and showed her the photo.
She made a face. “They sure are ugly little things when they’re born, huh?”
I almost spit out my water. “I don’t think you’re supposed to say things like that.”
“My auntie used to tell me that when she saw an ugly baby, she would say, ‘Oh, isn’t he just the most precious thing you ever did see? Bless his heart.’ Then you’d know she thought it was ugly.”
I chuckled. “Gotta love those Southern aunties and their backhanded compliments.”
She grinned. “You from the South?”
“Yes, grew up in a small town outside of Austin. You?” I asked, happy she was taking an interest in me personally.
“I’m from Alexandria, just north of here. Had to move away for a while, you know. Been back here about five years.”
The server appeared at our table. “Wow, y’all not hungry or what? I was just about to bring the desserts out.”
“Guess we got to talkin’, but I need to go,” Devon said. “Can you box it all up, including the desserts, and I’ll take it with me for later?”
“Sure, hon.”
After she was out of earshot, I looked at Devon. “So, is this what you do for a living? Side jobs for computer help? Or do you have a regular gig?”
She shrugged. “I have a few hustles that pay enough for rent and utilities with enough left over for toys.”
My eyes widened. “What?”
“You know, new servers, maybe a fancy new monitor every once in a while. Gotta replace that chair every year or so as well.”
I snorted. “You don’t get out much, do you?”
Staring hard at me, she shook her head. “No.”
In another bold move, I reached across the table and grabbed her hand. She flinched and looked at me, almost confused. “Thank you for meeting me. You’ve given me some things to think about.”
She looked down at our hands and then back up to me. “Anytime, handsome.”
As I was about to ask her to not call me that, the server set the food boxes down along with the bill. I snatched it up.
“You gotta let me pay for that. I’m taking all this food with me.”
“No,” I said, setting my credit card down on top of it. “I asked you here, I have no problem paying. And if you wanna know a little secret, I don’t get out much either.” I winked at her.