The Tracker's Secret: Sunderverse (Mate Tracker Book 2) by Ingrid Seymour (the gingerbread man read aloud .txt) 📗

leaving them out in the sun, and stabbing them with pointy, wooden things right in the ticker.

Except, Eric wasn’t the kind to joke—that much I knew about him.

Suddenly, I thought of Josh smiling up at Aaron. He carried the same scent. Did that mean he was sick, too? Questions filled my head, climbing on top of each other, trying to jump to the front of the line. I shook my head, scattering them around and chasing away all possible words.

“She’s dying,” he added. “Slowly and painfully.”

“B-but how is that possible?” I finally managed.

“Raybow,” he answered, his eyes fixed on the pitiful creature.

“You mean that shimmering drink you were serving at your party?” I whispered, afraid my question would sound like an accusation.

“I had to serve it. Didn’t really have a choice, but my bartenders had orders to limit it.”

The fact that he had given me an explanation surprised me. He wasn’t the kind to offer much in the way of anything at all, but he was unsettled—I could tell by the way his eyes darted around the room as if searching for answers—and that seemed to have loosened his tongue.

The question was... why would someone like Eric Lone say he “had” to do anything. He didn’t seem like the kind who could be forced into compliance. Though, Damien Ward had forced him into helping me. Maybe Eric just owed a lot of people a lot of favors.

Fearing he would snap out of his shock before he went back to answering in huffs and puffs, I hurried to ask, “What is raybow? The bartender said that it was only for vampires.”

He cracked his neck and glanced in my direction. His blue eyes were full of coldness again. I shivered and figured he wouldn’t answer my question, but to my surprise he did.

“Raybow, spelled R-H-A-B-O, is a new drug that hit the market a couple of months ago. And yes, it’s only intended for vampires. It kills anyone else.”

R-H-A-B-O. So nothing to do with “rainbow” as I’d imagined at first.

“A vampire drug,” I repeated numbly. It sounded impossible. Drugs didn’t quite affect vampires and shifters. The former were dead, and the latter had metabolisms that ran too high to be truly hindered by intoxicants.

The vampire girl stirred and moaned a little. Eric stepped closer, watching her carefully.

I swallowed hard. “And it really kills vampires?”

My thoughts went to Josh again. Was he dying?

Eric nodded. “To them, it’s much more addictive than heroin is to Stales, and a hundred times deadlier. Once you smell that sourness. It’s already too late.”

I gasped. “Oh, no.”

He peered at me curiously for a moment, but then turned away, without another word.

“Where is this drug coming from?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” he said dryly.

Bullshit, he’d been serving the poison right here, helping kill this young vamp, so he had to know the source.

Eric stared at a shaft of sunlight that was quickly inching toward the vamp. There was ill intent in his expression. If the sun hit her, she would disappear in a cloud of ashes that he could later vacuum up with his Roomba, leaving no trace of proof that someone had died here.

“We should call an ambulance,” I snapped. “Maybe the healers can do something for her.”

Eric huffed. “Fat chance.”

He stepped closer to the girl, the same look in his eyes, the look of a cold-blooded murderer.

I had just opened my mouth to say something I would surely regret when Eric slipped his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed three numbers.

“9-1-1 what is your emergency?”

I heard the dispatcher’s voice as if she’d been standing right next to me. My hands jerked to my ears.

What the hell?

Standing frozen, I listened to Eric’s exchange with the operator. I heard every word she said without difficulty, feeling like a sneaky eavesdropper. From this distance, I shouldn’t be privy to what she was saying. Being able to listen to things I wasn’t supposed to seemed like a recipe for trouble. As soon as I had that thought, my ears popped, and suddenly, I could only hear Eric. I tried tuning in the operator again, and there she was saying that an ambulance was on its way.

Wow!

I was still grappling with this new skill, when Eric disconnected the call and said, “You’d better leave. Unless you want to be questioned by the police.”

Leaving felt wrong, but I had things to do at the office, and police reports would only tie me up. More importantly, I didn’t want any record of my involvement with Eric Cross.

“Um, I have a busy schedule today.” I hooked my finger toward the exit and walked backward. “Lots of clients to see and potions to make.”

I grinned like an idiot while he stared, looking annoyed. Dying vampires, illegal drugs, the police. Nope, I have enough with trying to whip Red into shape.

“Toodles.” I wiggled my fingers, turned tail, and ran out of there.

Chapter 19

“HOLY SHIT. THAT SOUNDS intense,” Rosalina said as I finished telling her everything that had happened during my visit with Eric earlier that morning. “I don’t even know what to say.”

I sighed, feeling exhausted. We were at the office, Rosalina at her desk while I sat across from her. After I’d left Eric’s, I’d gone back to her place to shower and change. She’d still been in bed, so I’d avoided any questions until we got in my Camaro and drove here. It took me the length of our commute to tell her everything, sparing no detail. Now, I felt much better, though worry and guilt were building quickly.

“I have to talk to Aaron and Josh. I have to tell them that...” I couldn’t say it.

“Any chance Eric might be wrong?” Rosalina asked.

I shook my head. “No. The man doesn’t talk much, but when he does, he means it.”

“Poor Aaron,” Rosalina said. “He seemed so happy.”

“God, I feel like shit. I mean, Aaron is going to be devastated when Josh...” I couldn’t say it, so I just stopped.

“It’s