Page 4 of The Healer and The Vampire (Bay Harbor Wolves #11)
R emi could feel eyes on him, boring into him, and when he looked around the expansive lobby, he noticed a man sitting at the coffee shop a few yards away, stealing furtive glances at him.
The man looked nervous and awkward, but watchful, very watchful.
He glanced away from Remi as soon as their eyes met and pretended to be focused on his coffee.
“Are you familiar with the young man seated at the table there by the pillar. He’s wearing a blue shirt and jeans, and has blonde hair." He asked Koa, who was standing next to him. Koa looked over and shook his head.
“Never seen him before. Why?” Koa turned back to him.
"Not sure." Remi continued to watch the man, curious as to why he was so aware of this man and his behavior.
"Seems out of place." Then things started to happen.
His attention was drawn to another man who appeared to be in distress, although he was trying to hide it.
Remi saw that the young man had noticed the man as well and was hurrying toward him.
Remi and Koa ran to the man as he passed out and hit the floor. The young man breezed by him, touching him briefly, and then he rushed out the door, being careful not to draw attention to himself, although Remi saw it all. The minute the young man touched him, the man woke up.
Koa and other staff were all over the man in seconds, but he appeared to be okay.
"I'm calling an ambulance anyway," Koa stated after the man tried to talk him out of it.
Remi watched the young man disappear into the crowd and wondered if he saw what he thought he saw, or was it a trick of the eye, or perhaps a simple coincidence.
No, it was real. The young man had healed the stranger.
Remi stood back as the man was checked out and then taken to the hospital. The EMTs seemed concerned, but the man was fighting it until Koa stepped in and asked him to get thoroughly checked out, and the Hotel would cover the cost. Heart attacks were bad for business, apparently.
It wasn’t until about an hour later that Koa came into the security office. Remi was there continuing his review of their security practices and procedures, when he saw Koa standing there looking baffled.
"I think I need to have Sasha check out the Hotel, maybe do a cleanse or a sweep or whatever it is that he does to make sure a place is clean, no magics or shadows hanging about," Koa stated as he took a seat opposite the desk Remi was utilizing.
“What happened?” Remi pushed back in his seat to give Koa his complete attention.
"The report from the hospital came through.
" He began thoughtfully. "They said that the man had a massive heart attack, a deadly heart attack.
They said his heart should not be working, but it is.
They said he should not be alive, but he is.
They're monitoring him closely, and apparently, his heart is healing itself.
" Koa gave a look of exasperation. "It's got to be magic. "
"Did anyone sense magics in the Hotel?" Remi asked, and Koa shook his head. "There are sensors in place to warn of such energy existing within the hotel and another sensor that gauges the exterior of the Hotel, and neither indicated that magic was present."
"If not magic, then what happened here today with that man, and what is happening to him now. His recovery is miraculous." Koa stressed. Remi called up a video feed from the lobby and rolled it back to the time of the incident.
"Come here and take a look at this." He said, and Koa got up and rounded the desk to stand over his right shoulder.
Remi had watched the video several times.
He let it play through once and then rewound it and played it slowly with a circle placed around the young man from the coffee shop.
He saw the realization flash across Koa's countenance.
“He knew something was going to happen. He followed him after he left the coffee shop.” Koa had him rewind and play it again slowly. “That touch on the man’s chest after he went down.”
“It brought him back.” That statement had Koa staring at him silently for a few seconds as everything processed.
“You think he saved him?” Koa asked. “But he seemed to know there was a problem before it happened.”
"You think he caused it?" Remi, in turn, asked.
"I don't think so. Why would he hurt him just to turn around and save him?
Plus, he didn't wait for thanks or recognition, he quickly walked away and blended with the crowd.
Also, it was obvious the man was suffering before he actually went down.
" Koa straightened and walked back to his chair and sat down, still thinking about what had happened and what it meant.
Remi then did a check on the young man in question based on facial recognition and very quickly came up with an interesting background. "His name is Conrad Lowe, age nineteen, from Baton Rouge, Louisiana."
"What's he doing here?" Koa leaned forward, very interested in figuring out this issue before it became a real problem. "Is he paranormal?"
"No, I don't think so. Everything points toward human, and I didn't get the sense that he was anything other than human, did you?" Koa shook his head.
“Although I wasn’t paying him any particular attention.” Koa shook his head.
"Why would he help that man and then just take off unless he's running from someone or hiding?" Remi tossed out his theory.
"If he brought that man back to life and healed his ravaged heart, then we're dealing with someone of considerable power." Koa put it out there clearly.
“We need to know why he is here.” Remi finished the thought for him.
“Exactly.”
"Well, a car registered in his name is currently parked across the street." Remi found his license number and then scanned all parking lots in the city, looking for it, and there it was across the street.
“Let’s go.”
Conrad sat in the Café for as long as he could.
After an hour and a half, he got up and headed out, not sure if he was being followed or if anyone even noticed his involvement back at the Hotel.
It left him anxious and on edge. The last thing he wanted right now was to get on the wrong side of a bunch of paranormals.
He was familiar with the paranormal world, having grown up in Baton Rouge, which held many secrets, as did the surrounding areas. It was a mystical and supernatural landscape, and the rule he learned from an early age was to mind your own business. He was very good at minding his own business.
The pull he'd felt toward the Indigo Hotel had not diminished since he'd been there last. Everything in him was urging him to return.
He was pretty sure it had something to do with the handsome man he saw at the desk.
He was a vampire. Conrad picked that up from his stance, his movements, and especially his eyes.
The man with him was a wolf, which was also obvious considering his build and his habit of tilting his head back to detect scents.
They all had tells if you watch them, and back in Baton Rouge, staying away from the supernatural could keep you alive, so Conrad learned who to fear and who to stay far away from.
The paranormals of Eastport were more socialized and seemed to have blended into society, but Conrad wasn't ready to let down his guard.
He had hoped that saving the guy had been Fate's purpose for pushing him to that location, but clearly, there was something else to be discovered there.
Honestly, Conrad wasn't sure if he had the will or the strength to go back to the Indigo.
The place had been a mad mix of wolf and vampire energies, very powerful and very potent.
He needed to get his car and get out of there for a while until he figured out what this all meant.
The parking lot was quiet, which he appreciated, and he could see his car clearly.
There was no activity, just a cool late afternoon breeze that brushed the hair back from his face and brought with it a soft scent of amber, warm and spicy.
It was one of his favorite scents; it was attractive and relaxing, but he was confused as to where it came from.
He was surrounded by parked cars, no place for the lovely aroma of amber to be hiding.
He took several deep breaths and felt his body calm and his muscles relaxed. The tension of the day had left him stiff and sore. The closer he got to his car, the stronger the scent became, wafting around him on the light breeze, tantalizing him.
Suddenly, he stopped about five feet from the back of his car. Something was off, and he should have noticed when he entered the lot, but he was too eager to get to his car and get out of downtown.
Looking around slowly, he began to back up a step at a time. The air was thick with apprehension, and he feared it was already too late to run. In mere seconds, he was surrounded by large men in expensive suits, all with the aura of the paranormal. His day was officially ruined.
They didn't touch him, they drew closer until he was within a circle, and one of them stepped closer, eyeing him like a specimen of some sort, before finally speaking. His voice was low and deliberate, it was all accusation and no sympathy.
"Conrad Lowe, you will come with us." The statement chilled him to the bone.
He did not want to go anywhere with these people.
If they were anything like those back home, Conrad was in for a very bad experience.
His urge to delay and dissuade took over, and he attempted to back away and looked around the lot seeking someone to intervene.