It didn’t take me long to find Honey. She was in a club in one of the shadier parts of Budapest, looking for her next snack. Surrounded by a bunch of duds with drinks, Honey was purring over all of them. I didn’t want to stay in her head because I was afraid she’d detect me and get skittish, so I immediately jumped to the guy she was currently talking to.
His name was Daven, and he was nervous, not because he was talking to a Vampire but because his family didn’t know where he was. They thought he was at a friend’s house, playing cards, not out at a club. Certainly not talking to the beautiful female in front of him. His anxiety didn’t get him moving out the door, not even when I shouted into his mind that he should go.
But I couldn’t press too hard. If too many of the fellows Honey was chatting with left all at once, she might be suspicious. I needed to wait until Eliza and her people got into position before I made it too obvious that I was present. I tried to sit back on the periphery, just observing, so that the Vampire wouldn’t be wise that I was on to her.
I needed to figure out exactly where Honey was so I could get that information to Eliza. I couldn’t dig into heads to find it because they’d know I was there—and I don’t speak Hungarian. Looking around, I finally spotted a cocktail napkin that had the name and address of the establishment on it. I took a snapshot of it through my IAC, tricky when you’re in someone else’s head, but doable, I’d learned, and sent that to Eliza. “Be careful. If she turns a bunch of these guys before you get there, you’ll have more than just her to contend with.” I had noticed in some of the other minds I’d infiltrated recently that Honey had a way of Resurrecting her victims quickly.
“We’re pretty sure she has a batch from the last several nights incubating somewhere,” Eliza explained, which should’ve made her nervous but didn’t. She had taken out a whole bunch at once before, so maybe she was confident she could do it again. “Thanks, Cassidy. I appreciate it.”
She did sound grateful, which made me a little embarrassed, so I just said, “Sure.” I could’ve reminded her that I was aware of what she’d done to my sister but didn’t go there.
“You know, I’m happy to tell my boss you’re the one giving me the information, if you want. I just didn’t know if you wanted anyone over there to know you’ve been helping us.”
“No, don’t do that.” My answer came quickly, an even more obvious sign that I was nervous about Aurora and Hannah knowing what I was up to without their permission. I didn’t bother to tell Eliza why I didn’t want her to do that, but I did say, “I don’t need anyone to know. You can take the credit. It’s fine.” How she would explain it, I wasn’t sure, but I supposed I’d find out when she started to tell her boss she had a location.
“Okay, thanks again,” Eliza said, but she didn’t shut me off.
“Yep,” I replied. With her IAC on, I could still jump in when I wanted to, but I wanted to get back to Honey. And I wanted to check on Christian. There was so much going on.
Knocking at my door literally made me jump. At first, I thought maybe Christian was back and had come to yell at me about something, but then I realized it was Brandon. I let out a deep sigh, irritated to be leaving the hunt to go to the door, and shouted, “I’m coming!”
It only took me a second to reach the door, but I needed to calm down before I opened it. So I took a few deep breaths and then pulled it open only to have a bouquet of red roses in my face.
I was confused. “What are these?” I didn’t take them. Only looked at him over the top of the red petals.
“Flowers. Roses. Red ones.” Captain Obvious again.... “Cause I love you.”
“I know that.” I hoped my tone wasn’t as snide to him as it sounded in my own head. “But why are you giving them to me now?” I didn’t feel like I deserved flowers. Maybe a kick in the pants was more in order....
“I thought maybe we could go do something tonight. Maybe watch a movie in a theater or go to dinner.”
I checked the time and was correct in remembering it was late evening, and we didn’t have time for that. My curfew is 11:00, and I’m only allowed to miss it if I’m working. Brandon knows that, too. I tried not to sound too irritated. “Isn’t it a little late for that?”
I could tell he was checking the time. He’s usually pretty good at keeping track of it since he knows I have to be in my apartment by a certain time, but he seemed surprised it was past 9:00. “Well, maybe we could go tomorrow. I know it’s almost your curfew. But you wouldn’t answer my IAC messages.”
My forehead crinkled. It hadn’t been that long ago since he sent the one I remembered getting. “I did answer you.”
“But I think we should talk, and then after we clear the air, we should go do something fun.” He shrugged awkwardly, and I wanted to fold my arms to let him know there was a lot in that sentence that rubbed me the wrong way.
“Not tonight, Brandon. I’m super busy right now.”
He gawked at me. “Busy? With what? There aren’t any hunts going on.”
I was annoyed that he assumed the only way I could be busy was if I was participating in an actual hunt. But since Eliza’s team was moving into position in my head, I ignored that part of his statement and said, “Actually, there is one about to start in a few minutes, and I need to sit in on it.”