Page 5 of The Healer and The Vampire (Bay Harbor Wolves #11)

"Why, what have I done?" He barked his frayed nerves on full display, but it was impossible not to be scared.

"You have no right to hold me or make demands of me.

" They stood and silently watched him, not breaking the circle but not touching him either.

They were waiting for him to realize he had no choices left.

Then another, who had been standing back, stepped through and approached him.

This was the handsome man from the lobby.

This man was a vampire, and those surrounding him were a mix of vampires and wolves.

The man looked surprised when he saw him, but quickly covered his response and expression.

"Come with us, Conrad. We just want to speak with you.

" He stood close, and Conrad could smell that amazing amber scent that had been tantalizing him.

He took a deep breath and stared at the man.

He looked to be in his thirties or so, he appeared since vampires could be any age.

“Speak to me here.” Conrad tried to bargain. “I don’t have time, I have to leave.”

"I saw you heal that man." The vampire said without showing judgment or emotion of any kind.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

"Are you going to continue to play this game, or are you going to explain yourself and tell us why you're in Alpha Henrik Vaughn's territory?

" One of the wolves shouted, having picked up on the fact that Conrad knew what they were.

The handsome vampire intervened and stepped in front of the angry wolf.

This was going from seriously bad to unbelievably worse in record time. The paranormal secret was something they would kill to protect, and that fact sent an ice-cold chill through him. The vampire stepped closer, and Conrad stepped back.

"We want to talk with you." The vampire enunciated.

Conrad was aware that that was his last warning or request, and if he did not go with them, he would be forced to go with them.

Not in the mood to be manhandled by these men, he nodded and stepped forward, and the circle spread out, giving him room to walk, and they fell into step beside him and behind him.

"Are you a magic, a caster, a witch?" The wolf snapped at him.

Conrad felt the wolf's anger, and he recoiled despite himself.

He was the same guy who Conrad had seen talking to the vampire at the front desk.

They both saw him, no doubt, when he followed that man.

It was stupid to involve himself in that man's life when it was so important that he stayed hidden, but he couldn't just let him die.

"No." He left it there; further conversation would just lead to more anger and chaotic explanations. Conrad had been down that road many times, and he finally had learned the fewer words, the better.

The vampire moved up close to him, almost in a protective manner, and Conrad didn't know what to make of it.

The others did not hide their distrust of Conrad, which was evident in the side eyes he received and the sneers; they were not happy dealing with him.

But the vampire was curious; he wasn't filled with the same suspicions.

His countenance, although previously hard, was now softening with concern.

"You'll be fine, just answer our questions.

" The vampire told him as they made their way across the street and through the garage entrance on the basement floor.

They didn't take him into the Hotel for all to see; instead, he was being taken to a private room on the garage level.

Conrad suddenly feared for his life, and his heart began to pound out of his chest.

The vampire reached over and gently touched his back.

“No one is going to hurt you, Conrad. My name is Remi Toulouse, and those around you are Koa at your left, behind you are Ivan, Reese, and Thomas.

We just want to talk to you." He removed his hand, and Conrad missed it immediately.

His touch had been comforting, but now, as they approached a metal door with a guard out front, he found his anxiety ratcheting up once again.

"We don't know who you are or what you're capable of, so we take precautions." Koa was the one to explain this time, and some of his anger seemed to have dissipated.

“Yeah, okay, sure.” Conrad was incapable of coherent speech at the moment, with his heart stuck in his throat.

The vampire, Remi, might say he was safe, but experience had taught Conrad that paranormals were not friendly or nice or trustworthy.

The vampire cut a strange glance over to the wolf named Koa, and suddenly the wolves began to hang back.

He opened the metal door, and they walked in just the two of them. He closed the door behind them. Conrad noticed a large mirror on the wall to his right and realized the wolves were behind the mirror, and it was up to the vampire to interrogate him.

"Sit." He said, and Conrad sat down in one of the two metal, straight-back chairs that faced each other.

Remi sat in the other chair. The chairs were the only things in the gray room.

The wolf had said they didn't know what to expect from him, so obviously they brought him somewhere secure, a place where he could do little damage if things went south.

Remi had a computer pad and called up a video of Conrad walking across the lobby behind the man who had a heart attack, and it showed him bending and touching the man.

The man sat up, and Conrad quickly made for the door, trying not to look suspicious as he rushed out the door.

He looked suspicious as hell, no wonder the security people clocked him.

Conrad shook his head and raised his eyes from the pad to look at Remi.

"What do you want me to say?" Conrad asked softly, and the concern was back.

Remi looked at him with dark eyes that searched and pressed to understand.

It was several long minutes of silence that left Conrad crawling in his skin, wishing he were anywhere but here.

Why did he stop at this Hotel? Why didn't he keep running?

His thoughts were getting frantic and useless, he was here and wishing would not change that fact. He had to find a way to survive.

"The truth, I'm asking for the truth. Tell me why you came here to the Indigo, what you did for that man, and tell me what you are." He spoke calmly and casually, but Conrad could easily sense the tension just below the surface.

His presence had ruffled them, and they needed to understand who he was and what kind of threat he presented.

Conrad was beginning to get it, and his fear eased off, but just a little.

Conrad stayed silent as he tried to put together a suitable explanation in his mind, but everything made him look shady and dangerous.

He didn’t know what to tell him that wouldn’t get him killed. They were all trying to be nicer, but he knew that death was still on the table because death was always on the table with the supernatural.

"We know your name is Conrad Lowe, you're nineteen, and you're from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

We also know that you and your brother Patrick have, for the past few years, presented yourselves as fortune tellers of some sort and have developed a small, local following.

You also have other family members involved, an aunt and cousins.

It sounds very much like you've been running a scam.

" That was a lot of information, and Conrad was a little shocked that they could gather so much with just a video image of him.

They were very careful and stayed away from social media. Their means of marketing was strictly word of mouth, and that was why they had a small, local following. How did this guy get so much on him?

"I broke up the band," Conrad said, knowing that his sarcasm was probably misplaced but unable to stop himself. Remi did not comment, and as the silence stretched longer and more painful, Conrad succumbed to the need to talk.

"I left and headed north, looking for a place to settle. We all went our separate ways."

"What was the reason for this breakup?"

"We decided the scam, as you call it, had run its course, and we all wanted different things." That wasn't exactly true, but it was true for Conrad.