Chapter 3

The filing room I had worked in over the semester was at a different precinct, which meant I didn’t know any of the officers at this precinct. Worse, I was beginning to believe that someone had bent everyone against helping me in any way. Like I was a pariah even though most of the office staff and officers didn’t even know me. After being turned away by a third officer, I finally gave up and went outside to sit on the bench by the bus stop.

It was only when I stepped outside that I learned that I had spent the rest of daylight with the police.

A cold front had moved in during my time with the police and rain threatened to round out my day. The wind was cold, there was a scent of rain in the air, and I spotted lightning far off to the west. I counted seconds between bolts and thunder, tracking as the storm closed in. I knew the bus system wasn’t the best, but the wait really was getting ridiculous.

After a vicious arc of lightning lit up the sky, a motorcycle stopped in front of me. We were about twenty yards from the stop light, and there were no other vehicles blocking the bike’s path. It wasn’t until the rider looked at me that I got the nasty impression that I was being targeted again.

Unsure as to what this motorcycle rider wanted, I sat with my arms crossed, both to fend off the increasing cold and to look surly. I also decided to use my ability to see auras.

I sat there and studied the motorcycle rider’s aura. It was violet-red and screamed with disruption. It wavered as if the light around it wasn’t quite right, and something dark lurked just out of view. I knew those details. I knew to whom they belonged. Yet, I didn’t understand. Why was she here?

“Mr. Sutton!” someone called from behind me.

I was reluctant to take my eyes off the motorcycle rider, but she seemed to look past me and then took off.

I watched, making sure she wasn’t going to double back on me or something, and when she turned down another street and disappeared, I looked back at the person calling my name.

Ms. Frasier stood a few feet away. She glanced up at the sky and said, “Do you need a ride home?”

I only considered her offer for a second. Between the rain and seeing someone I really didn’t want to see, I decided to accept. I nodded and followed her to her car. We climbed in none too soon, as the rain began falling in heavy drops.

The clock on her dashboard said it was past nine pm. I pulled out my phone and checked. I had several messages from Eric and Ellen. I had missed dinner with them, wasting time at the police precinct.

The ride to my apartment was quiet, other than me offering directions. Ms. Frasier and I didn’t seem to have anything to discuss since we had already gone through all the details concerning the attack back in the park. And that thought only made me mad all over again. Finally, I remembered the plans my friends and I had for the weekend. I looked up. “Ms. Frasier, will I be allowed to fly home for the winter holiday?”

“Where’s home?” she asked.

“Virginia,” I said.

She frowned. “If the DA’s office decides to pursue the charges against you, then no.”

“Isn’t it on their shoulders to prove that I did what they claim?”

“Yes, and from what little I’ve seen so far, you have nothing to worry about even if they try to take this to court,” she said.

I shook my head. “Even innocent, I’m still a prisoner.”

“It may seem that way, but at least you’re not locked up in a cell.”

I sighed as we pulled into the parking lot for my apartment complex. I pointed out my building and noticed the motorcycle parked in front of it. It was the same one I spotted earlier, minus the rider.

Ms. Frasier pulled around and parked next to the motorcycle. Her headlights lit up my minuscule porch and a single occupant.

“Is that your girlfriend?” Ms. Frasier asked.

I turned and looked at her with a horrified expression.

She noticed and said, “I guess not.”

I shook my head. “Thank you for bringing me home, Ms. Frasier. I’ll call you if the police return.” Then I climbed out of her car.

I stepped up onto the sidewalk with the counselor’s headlights behind me. I appreciated the light. Something told me that tangling with this one in the dark would be a very different encounter than what I had previously experienced.

On my porch stood a petite, Asian-American by the name of Yaeko Foti. She wore a leather jacket and pants that went along with the design of her motorcycle. She didn’t have her helmet on, but it was tucked under one arm. She turned and looked at me, or at the light now cast upon her. I wasn’t sure she could see me yet.

Why was I so apprehensive about approaching her?

Yaeko Foti was a member of House Vikkor – now called House Leonis – and she was the angriest person I knew. I don’t mean she would fly off the handle, screaming, or throwing things without reason. In fact, I was sure she wasn’t angry when I wasn’t around. She simply didn’t like me and it made her angry to have to interact with me in any way. Since I didn’t contact her or ask her to stop here, her current anger was purely her fault.

Why didn’t she like me? It probably had to do with the fact that I represented a potential danger to House Leonis and was responsible for the apprehension and arrest of her former House Leader, Jacquelyn LaSalle.

Yes, the same Jacquelyn who attempted to kill me and Rachel.

A pang of guilt shot through me, but it was muffled by my own anger with Yaeko. She hadn’t had a hand in taking Rachel hostage that day, but she had come with the person who had been responsible to collect me. I proved that day why she was no match for me. However, her companion, Charlie, proved to be far more dangerous and difficult to subdue. Fortunately, Charlie wasn’t here now, and I wondered why Yaeko was.

I stood there in the rain, staring at her. I was too far away for her to reach easily, but close enough for us to talk without yelling, which was all well and good, especially since I had nothing to say to her.

She regarded me with cool, dark eyes. Thanks to Ms. Frasier’s headlights, Yaeko didn’t fade in and out of view, which her powers would have allowed in the shadows. Regardless, I focused on her aura, which didn’t disappear. “Why stand out in the rain? Don’t you want to go inside?” she asked, a note of amusement in her voice.

I glanced up at the sky, allowing the rain to rinse off my face. It wasn’t a heavy rain, but I suspected it could last most of the night. It felt like that sort of meteorological event. After the day I’d had, I really didn’t care. I looked at her again, shrugged, and remained surly.

Ellen’s ringtone broke through the relative silence. I jumped. It felt like a tense moment because I was expecting Yaeko to do something, but she stood on my porch, laughing.

I pulled out my phone and said, “Hello?”

“Ral! Finally! We’ve been trying to get a hold of you all night.” It was Ellen and she sounded distraught.

“Sorry,” I said, “I was being detained due to an incident earlier.”

“What?” she asked, almost screaming in my ear. “What happened?”

I shook my head and then said, “I can’t talk right now, Ellen. I’ll call you back when I can.” She continued to talk as I hung up the phone and put it away.

Yaeko studied me for a moment and then said, “I need to talk to you, regardless.”

“So, talk,” I said, standing my ground.

She rolled her eyes and waved at my door. “I thought inside, we could talk somewhere less public.”

Her words sent another thought through my mind. The only subject she would want to discuss with me privately had to have something to do with her House.

Dammit.

I took a deep breath, let it out, and stepped toward my apartment.

“Wait!” called a voice behind me.

I turned to find Ms. Frasier standing next to her car looking at me. “Who is that?” she asked.

“Yaeko Foti,” I said and turned back toward my apartment.

I heard the clack of Ms. Frasier’s heels on the concrete as she stepped quickly to catch up. “But what does she want?”

I shrugged and said, “I don’t know. That’s what I’m hoping to find out.”

Ms. Frasier nodded and continued to walk with me as if she had nothing better to do for the night.

I stopped and looked at her. She stopped too, but it took her a second to realize that I was watching her and to look back at me. “Is something wrong?” she asked.

I thumbed toward Yaeko and said, “You do realize that the conversation she and I are going to have will be private, right?”

“Granted, but having a third party present would go a long way in your favor should something transpire between the two of you,” she said.

I stared at her for a moment, considered what she offered, and nodded. Then we turned and continued on toward the porch and Yaeko.

The porch was covered, but small. With all three of us on it, attempting to stay out of the rain, it felt crowded. The women allowed me to the door, since I had the only key, and we all entered without fuss. For the moment, at least.

“What is she doing here?” Yaeko asked.

I flipped on the lights and went straight to my bathroom to grab towels. I gave one to Ms. Frasier, and then said, “Consider her a mediator of sorts. She’s my lawyer.”

Yaeko looked the other woman over, judging her on her appearance alone. Then a thought occurred to her. “Why do you have a lawyer?”

Ms. Frasier shook her head. “Don’t answer that.”

Yaeko looked at me with a huge smile. That statement answered her question. “You’re in trouble with the cops!”

I had to admit, her smile really lit up her face, but the fact that she was smiling at my unfortunate situation didn’t make her any more attractive than her anger did.

I frowned harder. “Why are you here, Yaeko?”

Her smile quickly faded away. “Lady Dianne sent me.”

A couple of months earlier, I learned about the restructuring of House Vikkor. It was now called House Leonis and had a proper House Leader, named Dianne Beasley. Why Yaeko called her Lady Dianne, I didn’t know. Some of the members wanted to maintain relations with me, which I politely turned down. No one else had shown up until now. Yet, while Yaeko had technically answered my question, she hadn’t gotten to the meat of the subject. “Why did she send you?” I asked.

“She would like to speak with you in person,” she said.

Was she doing this on purpose? “She could have come with you to speak to me,” I said. Then I glanced sideways in the direction of Ms. Frasier. “Or maybe not,” I said, thinking about how the House preferred to take care of their own problems and keep all mundane law enforcement out of it. I had a feeling personal defense lawyers were included.