Free Immortal After All (Vampire Hunter Book 3) by S.C. Reynolds Page A

all I could see was a gathering. I could tell there were tons of people there, but nothing else about it was clear.”
    “Then a few days later I realized someone was at the center of it,” Emmett continued. “A short, weasel-y man who seemed to be calling all of the shots.”
    “What do you mean?” Henry asked. “Was it some kind of meeting?”
    Emmett nodded. “This man – I don’t know what he was saying – but it was like everyone there was in a trance.”
    “How can you not know what he was saying?” I asked impatiently. It was so frustrating that Emmett could know everything but one of the most important details!
    Emmett sighed. “I don’t know, Aurora. Usually I don’t have this much trouble when I’m consulting on someone’s case. It’s literally made me exhausted. I barely sleep at night. I’m tossing and turning, haunted by images I can’t understand.”
    Come to think of it, Emmett’s eyes did have huge dark gray circles under them. Ugh, here I am being snotty and poor Emmett is just trying to help us – to help me.
    “I didn’t know it was taking this kind of toll on you,” I said guiltily. In fact, I hadn’t even realized that Henry and Emmett had been talking for the whole of the summer!
    “It’s okay,” Emmett said quickly. “This is my passion. I want to help you. I just wish I could break through what’s blocking my mind.”
    “Please finish what you were telling us,” Henry interjected. “I’m dying to hear what you know about this secret meeting.”
    “What I did figure out is that the guy running the show is getting as many, um, participants as possible.”
    “What do you mean, participants ?” I asked.
    Emmett pushed his glasses up on his nose. He looked perplexed. “I don’t know if everyone at this meeting is actually human. It’s one of the things I can’t see clearly.”
    “Like vampires?” Henry questioned.
    “To start with.” Emmett leaned forward conspiratorially. “ There are a lot of undead things in the world. And some of them even look human.”
    “Right, like vampires,” Henry said again.
    “Not just vampires,” Emmett replied. “There’s also shape shifters, demons, faeries… And not to mention the humanoids with an agenda, like warlocks...”
    I jolted as Emmett’s voice trailed off. He was looking dead at me when he said the word ‘warlocks.’ Does he know about Henry’s father?
    “Anyway, it finally hit me why all these, um, people, were gathering together. This guy is building an army.”
    My mouth dropped open.
    “What for?” Henry asked in alarm.
    “A war,” Emmett said.
    “The one that I’m going to be a part of?” my voice was barely above a whisper.
    “That would be the one,” Emmett replied grimly.
    Henry exhaled slowly and leaned back in his chair. “So is this the good side or the bad side?”
    “It’s just a side,” Emmett said flatly. “I’m not naïve enough to believe that there’s a clear cut line between good and evil. There’s gray area in everything.”
    “Okay,” I said slowly, trying to take in what Emmett was saying. “So what’s Lucas got to do with this?”
    “I wanted to ask him if the name Tobias rings a bell,” Emmett replied.

Chapter 21
    Henry and I looked at each other in horror.
    “What? What do you know about Tobias?” Emmett demanded.
    “More like what do you know about Tobias,” I shot back. “Lucas found the dude’s case file – he was resurrected on the one year anniversary of his death, just like me.”
    “Really?” Emmett’s eyes widened. “So he’s not human? I couldn’t tell.”
    “Yeah,” Henry continued, “but according to what Lucas found, Tobias was a complete ass, promising to heal the sick and perform other miracles in exchange for the life savings of the people in his village.”
    “Did Lucas say what ended up happening?” Emmett asked.
    “He didn’t know,” I replied. “The rest of the case file was missing. Lucas seemed to think he was dead.