Chapter 4

With an hour to go before the evening staff meeting, Remi reclined on her couch and put her feet up on the coffee table. The Café was closed, and they didn’t serve dinner. The downtime allowed the evening staff to come in, open the liquor cabinets, draw the shades, and set up for Serenity After Dark.

“Pretty good rush today.” Caitlyn came in and leaned against the door frame.

“It was a good day.” Remi turned to study her. She had her makeup bag and a towel in her hand. “Are you going out tonight?”

Caitlyn gave her a half-shrug. “Not sure yet. I’m supposed to meet Mel and Alcina downstairs. We’ll decide from there, I guess.”

Remi quickly calculated the moon’s cycle. “Just be careful. It’s getting close to that time again.”

Chuckling, Cait waved her hand around. “I have Allie to watch my back.”

Knowing that did nothing to comfort Remi. Alcina was a witch, but a young and unpredictable one. “I know, but that didn’t help when I had to come and get the three of you at the station a few months ago.”

Gasping, her jaw-dropping in the dramatic way she loved, Caitlyn flung the towel onto her shoulder. “That was all because Randell was being a dick, and you know it. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

Realizing she’d just axed her own downtime by bringing it up, Remi dropped her feet and sat up. “I know. Just be careful, something’s going on, and it’s gnawing away at me.”

Completely disarmed, Cait came over and sat beside her. “Something like what?”

“I don’t know.” She gave her an exaggerated roll of her eyes. “I just… this audit, and the atmosphere is off right now.”

Blowing out a breath, Cait nodded slowly. “Okay. We’ll stay close to home tonight.”

“Thanks, kid.” She glanced at the clock. “You better go get all beautified, or you’ll be late.”

Looking at her phone to check the time, Caitlyn jumped up. “Crap. If I don’t hurry, pretty boy will nab the shower.” She turned and went quickly down the hall.

Pretty boy was Emery, Remi’s other adopted para. Emery was a nineteen-year-old vampire and stayed downstairs in his own room for the most part, but the highlight of his day seemed to include coming upstairs to harass Caitlyn. If she didn’t know better, Remi would swear they actually were siblings. According to Pascal and Attis, the fact that Emery could get up this early in the day was unusual, highly out of the ordinary for a vampire so young. Remi told them he was driven to annoy his adopted sister. They didn’t buy it, and to be honest, she didn’t either, but she hid her worries and was thankful he had, for the most part, adjusted to the fate that had been shoved on him.

Just after Remi had taken in Caitlyn, she’d been attacked by a vampire. The vampire was Emery. He’d been turned and left to fend for himself to figure out what being a vampire was all about. It had been Attis and Pascal who had saved her and would have killed Emery if Remi hadn’t stopped them. There was something in Emery’s pale blue eyes that had called to her, even though he’d just taken a bite out of her neck, coming close to killing her.

Darien hadn’t been happy about her taking in another stray and had ridden Emery hard for months after. Even Doyle had reservations. That had been almost four years ago, which meant Emery was actually twenty-three, and two years younger. Still, she saw him as that nineteen-year-old boy with fluffy blond hair and pale haunted eyes.

“Evening, Mom.”

Grinning, Remi turned and glared at the tall vampire leaning against the doorframe, a cheeky smile on his ashen face. “Em, don’t call me that. I am not old enough to ever be your mother.”

Shrugging, he strode across the room, his long legs making it a short walk. Dropping down beside her, he slumped down and leaned back. “I know, but I love the look of death you give me when I do.” His eyes flashed at her. “How was your day?”

She couldn’t help her smile. His sarcasm always did that to her. “Busy. How was your night?”

With a roll of his shoulders that reminded her that he was forever frozen in a teen’s body, he sighed. “Same old boring.”

She studied him for a moment. He looked tired and possibly even paler than normal. “Have you eaten?”

Grinning wide, he wiggled his eyebrows at her. “You offering?”

He teased her all the time, but they both knew that wasn’t a possibility. “There’s blood in the fridge.”

Sighing, he sat up. “Thanks.” Giving in so quickly wasn’t something Emery usually did.

“Are you all right?”

Nodding, he moved toward the door. “Just peachy.”

She could hear him moving around in the kitchen.

“You still planning on a meeting tonight?” he called back to her.

“It’s not really a meeting, just a reminder. The auditor will be here, and I don’t need any hassles while he’s here.”

Emery came back and leaned in the door with a cup in his hand. “We all know.” His pale eyes moved over her slowly. “You’re pretty worked up about it.”

Trying to shrug it off, she shook her head. “It’s just a pain.”

“Cait texted me the link for that inspector guy. Guess he won’t be bugging us again.”

A chill went down her spine. “Yeah, but it’s a pretty gory way to go.”

With another shrug, he turned. “Maybe he deserved it.”

She opened her mouth to reply, but he’d already moved down the hall to the bathroom, where he began calling out to Caitlyn to get a move on so he could get ready for work. She debated on sitting and doing absolutely nothing or go scrounge up some sort of meal in the kitchen when her phone started to vibrate across the table. She didn’t look to see if it was important, the only people that ever texted her were staff, and whatever the reason, it was important.

Sighing, she grabbed the phone and slid the screensaver off. The text was from Vienna, the evening head waitress. Need you down here. Randell just walked in. If Vienna messaged, she knew it was important. Vie didn’t do dramatics. She jammed the phone in her back pocket and ran her fingers through her hair.

“Where are you off to?” Emery asked from where he leaned against the wall.

“Randell’s downstairs.”

Emery’s eyes flared red so briefly she wasn’t sure they had. “Why doesn’t that asshole leave you alone?”

Patting his arm as she passed, she offered him a smile that she hoped said he didn’t bother her, even though he did. “Probably because he’s a cop in the supernatural division, and I run the biggest hangout for the supernatural community.”

“He should still piss off.”

Not bothering to comment, she moved down the stairs to take the back way into Serenity. She didn’t want to see Randell any more than she wanted to have a double root canal. It still hurt every time she had to look at him. They’d been a couple. A real couple for almost a year, and she thought she had found her happily ever after. He was as normal as she was, yes, he had some sort of para ability, but she’d never been able to figure it out and hadn’t wanted to know in case it took away what normalcy she found with him. When he’d asked her to marry him, she’d floated around on a cloud for weeks, thinking she’d finally been rewarded for all the misery of her short life. He’d taken all that away when he told her she’d have to give up Caitlyn, Emery, and Serenity if she was going to be his wife, leaving nothing but a huge, gaping hole where her heart had once been.

They may not be her own, but Cait and Em were hers. They lived in a part of her that she doubted could have been stronger if she had given birth to them, and to ask a mother, real or not, to give up her children was the lowest of lows. As for walking away from Serenity, that would never happen. Ever.

Things had gotten ugly between Randell and her. For months he’d tried to take his anger out on every member of her staff after she gave him the boot. Her staff had held strong and persevered against him, and it humbled her to know they all had her back. Now, a year later, she could tolerate seeing him, it was never easy, but she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of knowing he still got to her.

Vienna met her in the backroom when she got downstairs. Remi had never been able to tell what species Vie was, only knew that she could do things with her mind that any army would love to do. They had an easy relationship. Neither asked questions they didn’t want to face the answers to. “Any idea why he’s here?” Remi glanced down at her jeans, hoping she didn’t have any food spills or anything on her.

Shaking her head, Vie flipped her black hair back over her shoulder. “Nope. Pascal’s not upstairs yet, so we don’t even have a preview.” She grinned, her dark eyes sparkling. “He brought some guy with him, and I have to tell you he’s not hard to look at…at all.”

“Really?” Knowing that her taste in males was all about cute and sexy, Remi smiled. “Then at least I’ll have something to look at, so I don’t have to look at Dell. I hate the way he looks at me like he owns me.”

Laughing, Vie nodded and turned to head back into the bar. “Just say the word, and I can have him drowning in his own drool.”

The part that scared Remi? She knew Vienna could do that to a person.

One of the Lewis boys met Remi at the door. Baker gave her a somber look. “I could bite him.”

Patting him on the shoulder, she moved past him. “I’ll keep that in mind, Baker. Is Darien up yet?”

“Nope.” He turned and went into the kitchen.

Taking a deep breath, Remi stepped out behind the bar. She knew it was hiding by keeping the counter between them, but it helped to keep busy. Attis nodded to her from his perch at the other end. It only took a glance to know he was less than happy that Randell was here just before they opened, putting a damper on the mood before the night even got started.

Attis she’d never been able to figure out completely. He was a vampire of unknown age and origin. If she had to guess by his sheer size and slightly darker complexion, for a vampire, she would lean towards Greek, and his name seemed Greek to her. He told her he’d never changed his name, as many vampires did from time to time. To her, he looked like a Greek warrior from movies of gladiators and philosophers, which would make him really old. Despite his hulking size, he was very peaceful. Then again, if you could climb inside someone’s head and make them think and do whatever you wanted, there wouldn’t be much reason to project anything but calm. It was Attis’ calm that finally had gotten through to Emery when he’d first come here, and for that, she would always be grateful.

Unable to stall any longer, she moved to lean on the bar across from Randell. He hadn’t gotten ugly and unappealing in the last few months, she thought with dismay. He was still easy on the eyes with his dark hair, and brown eyes that made you think of sleepy Sunday mornings, even with his bad-boy aura. “Dell.” She didn’t pause long enough for him to give her that look, the one that, when they had been together, made her feel cherished but now came across as more proprietary which made her skin crawl. Sitting beside him was a real cutie with blue eyes that gleamed with humor and mischief. He had dirty blond hair that was short enough to be appropriate for appearance’s sake, but it was rough cut and on the messy side, giving him a boyish look.

“Remi. This is Kyran Nelsen. He’s new to my division.”

Remi gave Dell a sideways glance and then held her hand out to the new guy. “Remi Foster.” She ignored the odd look Dell was giving her. He knew it was unusual for her to touch someone voluntarily. If she couldn’t sense what race a being was, sometimes she had to touch. Right now, the Kyran cutie appeared nothing but normal, but she liked to make sure.

“Nice place you have,” Kyran said, squeezing her hand gently.

Releasing his hand, she inclined her head. “Thanks. We like it.” As far as she could tell, he was just a normal human with dimples and pretty blue eyes. Turning away from his playful smile, she met dark disapproving eyes. “So, what brings you here?”

Dell leaned closer, and she had to fight the urge to step back.

“You may have already heard, but one of the city’s inspectors was killed yesterday.” His eyes held hers, waiting for her to panic.

“I heard. What does that have to do with Serenity?” She just wanted him on the other side of the door.

“He wasn’t killed by a normal.”

Remi fought to hold his look without reacting. One thing Dell had never been able to do was read her, and she wasn’t about to let him start now. “How was he killed?”

“Brutally,” he said, glancing around at her staff as if they were suspects.

“I’m afraid you’ll have to be a little more specific.” She tucked her shaking hands into her back pockets, hoping to appear less interested than she was.

“We won’t have the exact details for another hour, but we have a few ideas.”

Glancing at his partner’s face, she thought he seemed uncomfortable when he lowered his eyes to study the counter in front of him. “Is that your way of saying you don’t plan on sharing that information with me?”

“Yes.” He leaned on the bar and looked around the space again, pausing on Bates and Boden Lewis as they moved a few tables back to make room for the small dance floor. “I will tell you it was a para that did it, so...” He turned and pinned her in place with a hard look. “Kyran is going to be helping out around here for the duration of this investigation.

“What do you mean?” She frowned and looked at Kyran. He had an apologetic expression on his face letting her know this was not his idea.

“It means find something for him to do so he has a reason to be around here.”

His demanding tone set every part of her off. She wanted to reach across the counter and smack him. Opening her mouth, she closed it and looked at Kyran again before giving Dell a look. “You want him to pretend he works here every night?”

“Daytime too.”

Sighing, she studied him. How could she seriously have thought she was happy with this man? “I…”

“Remi,” Darien’s voice growled from the kitchen door.

Hiding her relief, she turned back to Dell. “Excuse me.” Quickly she walked into the kitchen. One look at Darien told her he’d barely gotten out of bed, and he wasn’t at all happy.

Letting the door swing closed behind her, he leaned closer. “Why is he here?”

Glancing behind her, she made sure they were alone. “It’s about that inspector’s murder.”

Darien’s brows furrowed. “What does that have to do with you?”

“It was done by a para.”

“Yeah, I gathered that from the pictures.” Resting his hand on her waist, he looked down at her questioningly. “What does that have to do with you?”

“He wants his partner to hang out here day and night. He wants me to give him a job so he has a reason to be here.”

Darien’s jaw clenched a few times. “That the guy sitting beside him?”

Remi nodded.

“What is he?” His tone was quiet, but she could tell he wasn’t pleased.

“Human, completely normal.”

His dark eyes searched hers. “You’re sure?”

She nodded again. “Yes.” Closing her eyes, she let out a soft sigh and then looked back at him. “Can he do that? Just make me give this stranger a job?”

Vienna came out of the back room. “He can. Well, usually, the department makes a formal request for cooperation, but to decline will make it appear you have something to hide.”

Without thinking, Remi might have thought Vie said that only because she thought Kyran was cute, but this is Vie. Her mind gifts are lethal and intelligent. “What do I do with him?”

Darien growled softly, his annoyance clear. “He can help me at night. I want to keep him close. I don’t trust him.” He squeezed her hip lightly. “And I don’t like how he was looking at you.”

Surprised, Remi gave him a puzzled look. “I didn’t notice.”

With a smirk, he shook his head. “You never do.” Hooking his hand in her belt, he moved to the other end of the kitchen, dragging her along with him. Pulling out the cup rack, he grabbed two cups and set them on the counter. Remi glanced out at the two men sitting at her bar. Would it be too much to have one week of her life run smoothly?

“Hey.”

Turning back to Darien, she gave him a look.

“I can crush him into rubble and make it impossible for him to be top cop and macho.”

Rolling her eyes, she shook her head. “Knowing him, he’d find a way.”

Lifting her chin gently with his fingertips, he looked at her gently. “It’s been a year. Either break or move on.”

“I already broke. I just allow my own pity party from time to time.”

He released her chin and shrugged. “I prefer tormenting myself.” Without warning, he pulled her into his solid chest and picked her up until her feet were off the floor. His mouth crushed down on hers in one of his bone-melting kisses, making her glad she didn’t have to stand. When she was as breathless as he was, he lifted his head and set her back down.

Grabbing the front of his t-shirt, she held on until her legs were steady again. “Did that have a purpose?”

He grinned. “A dual one, actually.” With his chin, he motioned in the direction of Randell, looking through the window. “A reminder of what he lost and,” he tucked the hair behind her ear, “because I would cut off my left arm to kiss you.”

Shaking her head, she grinned. “It would probably grow back.” She chanced a glance at the man on the other side of the counter; he had a dark look on his face. “I don’t think he needs a reminder.”

Darien shrugged and reached for the coffee pot. “Then I did it because I can’t resist you.” With a lust-filled look, he studied her for a moment. “Someday, I could ask for more.”

“I’d have to fire you then. You know I don’t believe in mixing work and play.” It was only half truthful; under no circumstance could she ever ask him to leave Serenity. She needed him too much.

Shrugging again, he held out a cup to her. “There are other jobs, Álainn, there’s only one you.” Nodding, he picked up his cup. “I’ll go deal with the jackass. You enjoy your coffee.”

Turning, she watched him walk out of the kitchen.

“Damn, Remi, how do you keep telling that sexy beast no?”

Glancing at the door, she saw Vienna standing there with their other evening waitress, Elise.

“Well, Elise, to be honest,” she shook her head. “I really don’t know.” Darien had always been touchy around her, light hugs, and his arm around her from time to time, but in the last six months, he’d really stepped it up. He seemed to kiss her whenever she least expected it. She wasn’t going to complain, not with the way the guy kissed, but she didn’t know what to do with it either.

Vienna grinned. “I don’t usually go for the dark, brooding alpha types, but,” she sighed dramatically, “he walks with this sexy predator aura that makes my knees go weak.”

Elise nodded enthusiastically. “I would be all over that in a heartbeat if he’d so much as glance in my direction.”

“He’d have to drag his eyes off Remi long enough to notice you, El,” Vie said in a dry tone.

“I take it we’re discussing our favorite wolfman.” Pascal glided up behind the girls.

Remi grinned at him. “They don’t give up.”

Leaning down, he kissed Elise’s cheek. “He’s the only man present that doesn’t notice you, my pretty Elise.”

Elise blushed, which was hard to do to a water nymph, and turned to bat her big blue eyes up at the pale vampire that towered over her. “You’re a complete flirt, Pascal, but thank you.”

He inclined his head to her and then looked at Vienna.

She lifted her hand in his face. “Don’t even think about putting those cold lips on my face. You know I don’t do undead.” Turning, she walked into the bar.

Elise grinned and flipped her long red hair back from her face. “I might consider it someday.” She gave Pascal a lingering look and then pushed through the door.

Pascal turned his pale green eyes back to Remi. “What have I missed? The tension is this place makes it hard to breathe.” He smirked. “If I still needed to breathe.”

“Randell’s here.”

He straightened his large frame and suddenly looked like a man going to battle. With his heavy muscular build, he made her think of a Highlander. The red hair and bone structure backed it up, but he wasn’t one to ever talk about his past, so she had no idea. “Why?”

That one word was spoken with enough venom to send a cold chill down her spine. “The inspector that was here from the city was killed, Randell believes it was done by a para, so he’s planting a spy to work here.”

Surprise flickered in his eyes briefly. “Never a dull a moment, is there?” Tucking a hand into his front pocket, he motioned to the door with a tilt of his head. “I think I’ll go play in some thoughts and see what I can find out.”

“Let me know.”

“Of course.”

She watched him glide through the door. He was a large man, as tall as Darien and Attis, and had a heavy build, yet he always moved with a smooth grace that left Remi feeling awkward and unrefined around him.