Finding Fire

Chapter 10

The next day, Anna slept until well past noon. She let out a moan as she glanced at her bedside clock. If she kept these hours up much longer, she might as well be a vampire.

As she sat up, her back protested, reminding her of the tumble she'd taken the night before. She stumbled into the bathroom and stripped off her shirt, twisting to get a look at the damage. Her back now had some pronounced blue areas. Not the best way to start a day.

She didn't spend too much time dwelling on the previous night. She had a lot of piled up work waiting for her at her office, so she left as soon as possible to start work on it.

Luckily, she only had one night class that day, so she didn't have to get in early, though her schedule was still thrown completely off. Between her backlogged office work and class, she couldn't head home until ten at night. She was bone-tired and her back had been steadily aching all day.

As she loaded her bag up, which was now much heavier with more papers she had to grade, her cell phone went off. She got to it as quickly as possible. It wasn't until she read the words "unknown number" that she realized she'd hoped it was Nicolas calling her.

The only unknown number she'd talked to lately had been Mr. X, and she was in no mood to deal with his bullshit tonight. She wouldn't have answered at all, but for remembering that Nicolas was worried why someone was giving his address to a human.

For that reason only, she flipped her phone open. "This is Anna Roberts speaking."

"Ms. Roberts. It is a pleasure to get a hold of you," a very cheery and familiar voice said over the line. Anna inwardly groaned. She desperately wanted to hang up on Mr. X.

Even though she couldn't hang up, that didn't mean she had to be polite. "What do you want?"

He had the nerve to chuckle. "I'm merely calling to check up on you. Did Nicolas have the answers you seek?"

Instinctively, Anna wanted to lie and say she never talked with Nicolas. But then she remembered that whoever the hell she was talking to had been watching her when she was jogging outside of Nicolas's apartment. No telling what other times he'd watched her. She got creeped out all over again just thinking about it. To avoid getting caught in a lie, she chose not to answer the question. "Do you have the 'answers I seek'?"

"Whatever do you mean?" he said, still using that stupid cheerful tone.

"You know me. You know my group. You know I'm looking for a vampire. It makes me curious about what else you know."

"I don't know everything. What did you and Nicolas talk about?"

He gave himself away. He did know she'd talked to Nicolas...

She could use this. She could try to lure him into a meeting. A nighttime meeting, as Nicolas had suggested. She tried to make her voice sound more vulnerable and added a hint of fear. "I don't feel safe discussing this over the phone. Anyone could be listening."

Let him make something of that.

She was about to bring up the idea of meeting, but before she could, he said, "You're right. We should meet in person to discuss these serious issues."

Anna didn't quite believe this. It almost seemed too easy. Even so, she wasn't about to fight him on it. "That's a great idea. When would be good for you?"

"As soon as possible would be best. We should meet tonight at one. There is a spot in Central Park that I frequent. It is very beautiful at night."

Beautiful? This wasn't a date. Anna shook her head in bewilderment. "You want me to meet you at Central Park at one in the morning? That's not happening." The park was now much safer than it had been in the past, but she wasn't stupid. Going to meet any stranger at one in the morning anywhere would be a bad idea, let alone in a secluded area of his choosing.