Midnight Air

11

I nuzzled into Soja's strong arms. His scent burning my lungs with his sweet intoxication. Every fiber of my being didn't want to let him go. The voice in my head screaming at me to keep him here. But, I knew that we'd have to go downstairs soon to see what it was that Tyler was trying to tell us.

I begrudgingly started to unwrap myself from his hold. He pulled me closer. "Stop," he said, his voice soft. 

I looked at him, "You know that Tyler probably has intel that we could use. We have to get down there."

"I know, and we'll go down. But, after a minute. Just give me one minute. For- for stress reasons. I had a really stressful day and your scent is so sweet, it relaxes me."

I just rolled my eyes and smiled. "Calm down there, Tiger. I enjoyed myself just as much as you did and I want nothing more than to just lie back down. But, you know as well as I do that the faster we get this solved, the more lives we can save."

Soja rolled on his back and sighed, "You're right. The more intel we get, the closer we'll be to stopping her. And the faster we'll be able to get you out of this house. I do worry about you. And not just because I'm your superior." His eyes widened a little as he let that last part slip. He sat up and wrapped the towel back around his waiste and started towards his room to change.

Strange, I thought. Though, I had to admit, the more we were intimate, the more I found myself losing my hardened shell around him. I didn't know what it was, but I felt almost possessive over him. Like he was mine and no one else could have him.

I hurridly got dressed and walked down the stairs to find Soja already in the parlor with Tyler.

Tyler turned his head, "You two have got to find a better time to do that. I'm all for a little bit of fun stress relief, but it's not going to pay for my dry cleaning." He turned to Soja, "You should know best how important this is. Maybe you both should wait until after our nightly meetings to conduct personal matters."

Soja spoke, "Thanks for the lecture, Tyler. But, right now we need to be discussing the case. I understand what you're saying and if Purity and I have the urge again, we'll wait. Now, tell me what you found out."

Tyler ruffled through his notes until he found what he was looking for. "Well, we learned her full name. It's Abigael LeAnne Mayford. We don't know when she was turned or even how long she's been doing this. If she had been doing this before now, it must have been isolated."

I felt my heart stop as my jaw opened.

"What is it, Purity?" Soja questioned.

"That's my c-cousin. She would have had to turn around the same time as me, but I don't know how she would have had that done. She lived in New York at the time and we're clearly not in New York now. Fucking hell. She was always a coniving bitch."

Soja and Tyler remained silent as the realization of what we were dealing with hit them both like a ton of bricks.

Soja was the first to speak, "Get the plane here now, we're headed to New York."

"Why are we headed to New York?" Tyler questioned.

I spoke next, "Because she would have gone back to where she's familiar with. She's already been found here so she won't be back here for a while."

"Damn, those stress relievers have really got you two in sync. I'm going to have to find me my Ch-, I mean, lover next."

Soja just looked at him. We didn't have time to debate about what we were to each other. We had to get to New York and we had to get there fast.