Afterlight - Elle Jasper [96]
I glanced toward the Dumpster. The perv hadn’t budged. “You didn’t kill him, did you?” I asked.
Eli’s face became even more infuriated. “No. But I should.”
I would be lying if I said my heart wasn’t soaring at seeing Eli. It’d only been two days, but it’d felt like forever. Pretty mushy coming from me, and I can promise you—it took some getting used to. I didn’t want to care about him. It made zero sense and made everything much more complicated—especially since Gilles had pretty much given me fair warning to back off.
“He did what?” Eli asked, moving closer.
I turned my back and headed for the door. “Oh my God, Eli—stay out of my head.” No sooner did my hand grasp the metal than Eli was behind me, stopping me, and the memory of our night together, with him crowding my body like he was now, made my head swim, my senses heightened. My heart raced at the thought of him touching me, and my breath quickened at how he had touched me. I didn’t dare move.
“I’m sorry I left, Riley,” he said, close to my ear. “I had no choice.”
I made myself breathe, and steady my voice. “Yeah. I know.”
Just then, Phin entered the alley from the street side; he cast a quick glance at the guy lying against the yellow Dumpster and stared at me. “Why didn’t you call me?”
I shrugged. “I had it. Besides—he led me to believe he knew who I was looking for. I thought it was worth a shot to check out.”
Phin rolled his eyes and threw his hands up. Yes. A vampire rolled his eyes. “Never do that again. Besides—we just spotted three of the kids.” Phin glanced at Eli. “They were with a new kid—a little older, but not more than eighteen. A total badass. They’re headed down to the river. Lots of warehouses down there. Luc’s on them.” His gaze returned to Eli. “Lots of gangs hang out down there, too. Glad you’re back.” He slapped his arm.
“Well, let’s go, then,” I said, and turned up the alley. A steely grip stopped me, and I turned to stare at Eli. “What?” I asked, hiding the thrill that shot through my arm at his touch. He couldn’t possibly read every thought I had.
“You stay with me,” he said flatly.
I could tell there’d be no arguing, despite the fact that being close to him made me want him all the more. I’d have to get over it and deal. “Fine,” I answered. “Then, move your ass. I want to see where my brother’s been hanging out.”
Eli stood there, his face unreadable, and stared. It certainly would be nice to have that mind-reading ability, because he was like a stonewalling poker player. I had no idea what he was thinking. Might be a good thing, now that I thought about it.
“Oh-kay,” Phin said sarcastically. “Let’s go.”
We moved through the shady treelined streets of the historic district, past tourists and locals, then slipped through a chain-link fence into the dregs of the industrial riverfront. Two older guys sat near the river, the embers of their cigarettes dotting the blackness with an occasional orange glow. As we edged closer, they turned their heads and stared but kept to themselves. Probably homeless and harmless. Phin slowed and reached into his pocket, grabbed his vibrating cell, and read the text. “Luc says it’s three warehouses down from here. Nine kids in all including the three that just left the Morgue.”
“If all nine complete the quickening, we’ll have a large vampire problem on our hands,” I whispered. “Damn.”
“They’re not all in the same phase,” Eli said. “But it’s still a problem. Big problem. Their tendencies grow each day, and the last time I faced your brother’s friend, he was damn strong. And fast.”
We crossed a patch of soggy, stinky sod that smelled more like rotting sea creatures than the marsh, and edged close to the building. Yeah, an empty warehouse. Just like in the movies. Nothing good ever came from an empty warehouse.
“There’s Luc,” Phin said, and we made our way to where he was standing. A row of dirty windows stretched from one end of the metal building to the other, and a flicker of light came from an old metal barrel. When I neared the window to get a better