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Scene #4
Quinn had enough for one more act, and had to make it a good one.
She thought "heat" and pointed at the sleeve of the man's denim
jacket. A second later it caught fire. He yelled and slapped at
it, extinguishing the flame almost immediately, but it had done its
job. His eyes were as much white as pupil as he stared at her
and tried to back away. The overturned chair tripped him up and he
stopped. "What are you?" His voice quavered. Quinn felt the
man two feet behind her before she heard his voice, a slight Texas
drawl mellowing the deep rumble that always made her think of a
perfectly tuned muscle car. "She's a goddess." The
drunk's eyes widened even more, this time in terror. "A...goddess?"
Nick Jarrett stepped past Quinn, subtly standing just between
her and the drunk without making it look like he was getting in her
way. "No, a Goddess. Capital G. You wanna keep this up?"
The drunk stumbled toward the door. "That's what I thought."
He swung around to look at her, a hint of a smile on his lips and
welcome in his eyes. "Nice parlor tricks." "The moon's
waning," she shot back, then turned to Rocky. "Catch that guy and
call Charlie to pick him up in his cab, will you?" "Sure."
He pulled out his cell phone and hit the speed dial on his way out.
Everyone else dispersed, leaving Quinn relatively alone with Nick.
"You're early," she observed. "New moon's not until the end
of the month." "Yeah. We've got a problem." He scanned the
room, cataloging her customers and staff, lingering to note her
computer in the far corner and the closed door to her office. His
face tightened. "I know we do," she said. He whipped
his head around, his eyes sharp. "You do?" "Assuming it's
the same problem. Come here." She led him to the table where her
computer slept, its screen dark. "I read this e-mail not five
minutes ago." They sat down and she tapped a key to wake the
computer while Nick signaled Robin for a beer. "You getting a
lot of trouble like that guy?" he asked her while they waited for
the wireless connection to re-establish. "No more than
usual." She glanced at him. "Why? Is someone else?" "Nah."
He stood to pull off his leather coat and handed Robin a five when
she set an amber bottle on their table. She looked at Quinn, who
shook her head, but Nick made a face and dropped the money on
Robin's tray. "Don't listen to her." Quinn didn't bother to
argue. They had the same argument every time he came. Sometimes
she won, sometimes he did. It balanced in the end. Nick sat
back down and took a pull of the beer. "Where's Sam?" "In
the office." She kept her eyes on the computer screen but heard
his small snort of derision. "I had it under control, Nick."
"It's waning, Quinn. I don't care how powerful you are at peak,
you're tapped out by this time—" "Not completely. And I
recharged last night." He froze, the bottle halfway to his
mouth, then set it down. "Anyway, he should be out here. Or you
shouldn't. And I'm not listening to you argue with me. What have
you got?" He turned the computer toward him, ignoring her grin.
He didn't have a right to order her around, but he liked to try.
And she couldn't really complain. It was his nature as well as his
job as protector. Since he was already skimming the e-mail,
she didn't describe it to him. But she twisted to read with him,
still shocked at the words on the screen. "Fuck me," he said
softly. "That's not the problem I was talking about at all."
"What's your problem?" His eyes flicked toward her, then back
to the screen. He scrolled down to read the signature on the
e-mail, then back up to the top. "There's a leech out there. He
hit two goddesses already." Fear twanged deep inside her,
like a plucked cello string. "So when you said ‘we,' you meant
me." His mouth curved on one side. "Well, yeah." He waggled
a finger at the laptop. "This, though, this is definitely ‘we.'"
"Who did he hit?" she asked, and his grin faded. "Tanda and
Chloe." Her heart wept for her friends, but she kept it
inside. "They're on opposite coasts." "I know."
"When?" "Not long ago. Four days apart." That wasn't
much time. Leeching was hard. It took preparation. Travel, of
course, was minimal. Oregon to Rhode Island was still less than a
day, even with layovers. But for someone to have leeched two of
them that close together... "We have to be talking about two
people," she said. Nick shook his head. "They say it was the
same guy. They'd know." They would. It wasn't like murder,
when the only witness is usually the victim. Leeching left the
goddess alive but powerless. "Do you think he's coming here?"
He lifted a shoulder. "No one knows where he's going next.
It's a sure bet he's going somewhere, though." Quinn found
herself grateful that Nick had come to her now. He would never
tell her what she meant to him, but the fact that he was here when
he didn't need to be spoke volumes.
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