Free Soul Sucker by Kate Pearce

much like the Fae. Maybe that was why he disliked them so much.
    He nodded. “Well, thanks for that. It was very illuminating.”
    She actually blushed. “It was a load of bullshit. I don’t know what I was thinking about and saying it to you of all people.”
    “I’d like to tell you that I’ll keep it to myself, but we both know I’d be lying. It’s going to end up in the Fae-Web.” He stopped to hold the door open for her. She gave him an odd look as if she wasn’t used to men being courteous. “I want to catch this creature as much as you do, Ms. Walsh.”
    “I get that.” She paused to look back at him. “The question is, why?”
    “Because I believe in justice for all?”
    She was still laughing when she walked away from him. He frowned at her back. She wasn’t stupid and like all empaths she was hyper-sensitive. She’d find out what he’d done, and then she’d be back to question him about it, he was sure of that. The only thing he had to decide was how he was going to handle her when she did.
    * * *
    When Ella got home, the light was blinking on her phone so she checked her messages while she put off thinking about her stressful day. She’d left the office early, sure that Feehan wouldn’t have the balls to face her again. It was strange to be home in the afternoon, but she planned on taking a long nap. There was something about Vadim Morosov that made her tense and she had a terrible headache.
    The first message was from her mom inviting her to Sunday lunch. There was a plaintive note in her mom’s voice that made Ella squirm with guilt. Moms were good at that. But she hadn’t been out to the East Bay to see her parents for three months, so she was well due. Perhaps she’d take Liz along as backup. She stared out her window at the sun as she waited for the second message to click through, and then smiled when she heard Laney’s distinctive drawl.
    “Hey, call me! I couldn’t get your cell. I’ve been sent the details of Mr. Wonderful and he sounds...interesting.”
    “Interesting.” She deleted the message.
    That sounded way too positive. She’d almost hoped that Laney would’ve been sent details of some complete dud. She’d never quite understood why any sane male would want to hook up with an empath anyway. She put the phone down and stared at it. Was Laney settling for anything OCOS offered her because she was too afraid of losing it? Was she really that scared? Ella sighed. Hell, she was getting scared. She kept having nightmares about the instructional movies shown at her school of empaths incarcerated in some of the country’s best insane asylums. She and Laney had laughed and vowed to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge hand in hand rather than go nuts or seek the help of Otherworld to find a psychic anchor. Twenty-seven had seemed ancient then. Now it didn’t seem very old at all.
    She reached for the phone and then hesitated. Her mother could wait a couple of days, but she wasn’t sure if she was in the right frame of mind to talk to Laney over the phone. Some things were better said face to face. She sent Laney a text and got an immediate answer. Decision made, Ella picked up her backpack and headed toward the door. If she ran, she’d be able to catch the ferry before it turned around and headed back to San Francisco and meet Laney at their favorite hotel bar for a drink.
    * * *
    “So where does everyone go to enjoy themselves in this town?” Alexei asked Vadim as they walked back to their hotel. Despite the patches of blue sky above the tall buildings, at street level it was dark and rather cold. “It’s deserted at nine in the evening, and there are no taxis anywhere.”
    “I have no idea. I’m exhausted and I don’t have your juvenile need to go out and get laid every night.”
    “I’m not that young, actually.” Alexei smiled at a tall African-American woman who smiled right back at him. Vadim grabbed his arm and kept him moving. “And you never know, Vadim.