Free Vampire Dating Agency III by Rosette Bolter

it.”
    Jason
blinked. “Pardon me?”
    “How … can
you move on…? I heard – I heard your girlfriend died in your arms that night –”
    “Yes.”
    “I heard you
almost died –”
    “It was five
years ago, Nadine.”
    “Don’t you
want to get this guy? He’s still out there.”
    “Sure … I
wanted to get him. After it happened. Once I was out of the hospital, I tried
to involve myself with the investigation as much as I could. But ... it went
nowhere.”
    “Because they
weren’t really looking. Wanted it all swept up under the carpet. Forgotten
about.”
    “Those were dark
times. I wound up in hospital again four months later. Too many pills.”
    “Shit.”
    “Yep. Almost
killed myself over it. But … I had to move on. That was the only way to heal.
To … forgive.”
    “Forgive? Are
you outta your mind?”
    “Myself, I
mean.”
    “Oh.”
    Jason sighed.
“I understand this is your big day. Getting out and all. But you’re better off
just moving on too. There is no positive outcome.”
    “And I
thought time had weakened me.”
    “I’m…”
    “What?”
    Jason tilted
his head forward. “You know, I … I don’t want it to be bad between us. For what
it’s worth. I don’t mind talking to you for a bit. Just … I can’t be a part of
whatever you’re thinking of going forward with.”
    “Why not?”
    “I told you
already. I’m – I’ve moved on –”
    “Seriously,
that’s a bullshit excuse. What’s it going to take for me to convince you? I
need you with me on this – I can’t do it alone. I swear to fucking Christ –”
    “Well, what’s
your first move? Tell me. What crazy scheme have you been brewing on all these
years?”
    Nadine shook
her head. “Our first move is getting the old team together.”
    “Who does
that include then?”
    “Me, you …
Riley. Dino. And … Luna, I guess.”
    “Well, good
luck with that.”
    “What’s that
supposed to mean?”
    Jason
laughed. “I don’t know. As far as I remember, Dino hated your guts. He cut his
ties off from the paranormal police faster than any of us. In other words he
doesn’t give a shit. And – Luna? Isn’t she the reason you went to prison in the
first place?”
    “What about
Riley? Surely you must be friends with her still.”
    “No. No, I
haven’t heard from her in ages. I don’t know where she is. What she’s doing.
She could be anyone by now. With anyone. Doing anything.”
    “So it’ll be
just the two of us then.”
    “Great,”
Jason rolled his eyes. “Look … it’s not happening. The best case scenario I guess
would be to find Haley. Alive. Somewhere, somehow. And then if we decide that
The Count, or Brock or whoever is the killer – someone who hasn’t bothered us
in forever mind you – so we kill them, and then what? Feel good about things.
Justice was served? I mean, come on. I understand that need to latch onto
something. To give your life some purpose. It’s important. But … life doesn’t
work that way. It doesn’t give a fuck about us. Even with two-hundred percent
invested, we’d never get the truth out of it. We’d never find out what really
happened…”
    And then
something stung him.
    Something
crept into his ear.
    He saw her
face again. The ghost that had driven him here.
    “What is it?”
Nadine asked.
    “Nothing,”
Jason muttered. “I just. I see her sometimes. Roxanne. She was trying to tell
me something before she died. I can’t remember properly though. It’s a haze.
But … she knew who it was. She knew who had done this to us.”
    “It was both
of them,” Nadine declared. “Kendra Armistice, and her ex, the Count.”
    “Kendra? What
do you mean?”
    “I saw her
right before I escaped. She wasn’t dead. She’d been turned. She’d rejoined her
old family. I think … I think it was her all along. Passing those files off to
our enemies. She was playing both sides. So … they could destroy us…”
    “Why didn’t I
ever hear about this?”
    “Because