Free Immortal by V.K. Forrest Page B

looked at her. Like he thought she was sexy. Smart. Like he liked her.
    When he reached her, he leaned down. He was taller than she was now, though he hadn’t been when he’d been reborn the year before. “How’s the ankle?”
    “Fine,” she lied. She’d been ignoring the pain all evening because she wanted to be here, but now she was tired and it was beginning to throb again.
    “Done enough research on human teens for one night?” he asked.
    She could barely hear him over the blare and throb of the Kanye West song. She ran her palm over his chest. “I guess so. I can’t find Katy. I don’t know if she went home or what.”
    “You’re not her keeper. She’s fine. She always is. She probably just went home.”
    Kaleigh glanced around. “I guess you’re right.”
    Rob squeezed by her to head for the door, but she grabbed his arm, stopping him. “You know what’s going on down there?” she asked.
    “Where?” He turned back.
    “The basement.” She pointed to the door across the room. “Mickey’s boyfriend’s been manning the door all night. He’s letting a few people in and a few people out. I think he’s like a bouncer or something.”
    Rob studied Tomboy’s hulking figure.
    “What do you think they’re doing down there?” she whispered.
    Rob shrugged, not all that interested. “I don’t know. Something they shouldn’t be doing, I guess.”
    “Like what?” She glanced around the loud, semidark room in an exaggerated motion. “Underage drinking, gambling, making out on the dance floor. They’re doing that in plain sight. What else could they be doing?”
    Rob grabbed her hand and started for the door again. “Drugs, I guess. Sex. I don’t know. Why do you care?”
    She took one last look in the direction of the basement door as he led her onto the front porch. “I guess I don’t.” The air felt cooler outside and she could breathe again. “Beppe went down.”
    “Who?” Still holding her hand, Rob led Kaleigh down the steps.
    “Beppe. That Italian guy Katy met at the arcade.”
    Rob halted in the driveway. Some HF girl was hunched over a bush at the corner of the house making puking sounds. Rob grimaced. “You think Katy’s with him in the basement? You want me to check?”
    She thought for a minute, wondering where her special powers were when she needed them. If only she could see everything and be everywhere, now that would be some cool powers. “Nah. I saw her and Pete arguing earlier. She probably just went home and didn’t tell me—as usual.” She exhaled. “Let’s go.”
    “You call her?”
    “She lost her cell again.” Kaleigh gave a wave of dismissal, trying not to limp. “She’ll be fine. Let’s go.”
    They walked down the middle of the street, holding hands. Kaleigh could smell the ocean and she breathed deeply. Everyone else in the town still dreamed of their homeland, of Ireland, but she loved Delaware. She loved the ocean. The beach. She loved the hope this new world had brought the sept.
    At the end of the street, they turned for home. The streets were empty. Quiet. It was a quaint town. It was no wonder humans liked it here. They felt comfortable here. Safe.
    She wondered if Colin Meding had felt safe.
    Kaleigh was just turning to Rob to ask him if he’d heard anything more about the murder at the party tonight when she felt someone approaching. Mild panic fluttered in her chest and she immediately took command of her enhanced senses. Her encounter with the werewolf last year had made her less trusting of the world, more aware of her responsibility to others. But the man approaching was not of the genus Canis and not Homo sapiens . It was one of their own.
    “Shit,” she muttered under her breath and took off at a hobbling run.

Chapter 7
    R egan knew what was going to happen before he turned the corner off Bourbon Street onto the quieter St. Philip in the French Quarter, yet he couldn’t stop himself. He couldn’t turn around. It was as if he was