Whisper in the Shadows

coincidence

I pulled back up to the house and threw my Jeep in park. I took a couple calming deep breaths, trying to figure out why the events happened the way they did. Mr. Bogdan never called me back, and Miles....I knew I should have listened to Mr. Bogdan. Of course I would think I felt something for a werewolf. This is why I always focused on school and work, I had no time for silly games or being overly emotional because of another person. I was the only person alive that I needed to love.

I grabbed my laptop and started going over list of things I needed to take care of.

First on the list, hire movers to get everything moved out of my apartment. I had no reason to stay there anymore, the drive to the office wouldn't be as hard for me, I was just an associate, I had set hours and the house was paid off. It would be stupid to not move into it.

Second, I needed to once again hire movers to clean out Rumens Condo. He rented it monthly and had very little there, so that would be quick and easy. Sign a little bit of paperwork and have that off my mind.

Third, the reading of his will. I had no idea what was all in it, but I knew he had revised it when my mother passed. Mr. Bogdan had scheduled it to be gone over next Monday, and he and I were the only ones to be present besides the Estate Planner that was highly recommended for ones in the vampire community.

Fourth, when was I going to be able to go back to work? Not that the money mattered, but I would go crazy if I had to sit at home for much longer. I think I will plan on going back after the reading of the will. No sense if delaying it anymore, and the reading was early in the morning. I was just going stir crazy with nothing to do. It would be best to get my mind back on things that matter. The past was just that, no longer relevant.

Satisfied with my to do list, I started working on finding some movers that were highly rated, after I made a couple phone calls, I had dates set up. I called my apartment office and had paperwork emailed over to cancel my lease. The lease on Rumen's place was a lot easier, and I told them I would post them the keys I had for it, and the office manager would let movers in to pack up which took a load off of me.

After feeling accomplished with everything I did, I closed out all the screens on my browser and only Google search was left. I clicked in the search bar and typed in: 'Voror Defense Militia'.

Pages of search results came up. The newest news article was a link from California. I scrolled over it quickly. The next was a link to their website, which I clicked on.

It had all sort of details about why they were formed, how anyone was able to apply, but it was a unit reserved for the top of the top. They had no government affiliations, however the summary I gathered from all the details listed was they regularly rented themselves out to the highest bidder for anything, if you had the right amount of money.

I kept scrolling looking for a link to 'Staff" or "Members" and found nothing.

I finally found a photo gallery from past events, although no names or dates were listed, I started scrolling through the massive collection of images.

Most of the events looked like fun times, most of the soldiers were smiling, standing in front of gorgeous scenery hugging on each other, posing as if they were having so much fun. I rolled my eyes. Finally my eyes found what I was looking for. Miles. Standing front and center on a white sandy beach with miles of ocean behind him. However I wasn't prepared for the moment I recognized the person his arm was slung over. Geri Costel, the new hire at the firm.

I blinked a couple times, but it was absolutely those two. What kind of coincidence was it that the person that was just hired at my father's firm was hanging out with a man that Mr. Bogdan told me to stay away, and was already employed by a company that Mr. Bogdan said he absolutely despised? Miles, who seemed infatuated with me one moment, and then left me standing alone without so much as a 'goodbye'.

My head started coming up with a thousand different possibilities.

Why was he suddenly in New York and was easily able to track me down? Did Geri tell him he had seen me?

He knew I lived here, and I'm sure it was easy to find out information about Rumen and his law firm.

I kept going over my meetings with both men, but none of them made much sense. I decided I would keep it in the back of my mind for the time being. I didn't know Geri, and no point in making him out to be a bad guy just yet.

I added the page to my favorites tab just in case, and put my laptop away and sat my laptop bag back on the table by the front door. I grabbed my purse and started digging in it for the notebook my father gave me, maybe something would make sense now?

I shuffled things around, not able to feel the small leather rectangle.

Panic started sitting in.

I dumped my entire purse on the floor and started sliding things around, knowing the notebook was here. I had put it back in after-.

After the funeral.

After screaming at Dorian to get out of my house.

Not watching him leave.

He was already interested in Rumen's past, what if he knew what the notebook was?

I started sobbing, touching my forehead on the floor, clutching my arms around my torso.

How could I be so stupid. Of course he took it. He already had some sort of agenda against Rumen.

Tears feel out of my eyes and landed on the floor. I was so heartbroken I couldn't even make a sound. Just the salty sorrow leaving my body. I had no idea who this Dorian man was, or where he lived. No way to get the last thing my stepfather gave me, back.

I must have laid on the floor for an hour. Eventually my head was pounding and my eyes had nothing left to cry. I pushed myself up and walked to my bedroom and laid in my bed, feeling more empty than I even imagined was possible.