Night Light

“Just because I’m a girl doesn’t mean I can’t hold my own,” Kat warned them, then calmly walked out of the room.

All the men in the room cringed when she softly closed the door behind her.

“Damn,” Nick whispered. “I almost wish she’d slammed the door.”

Steven and Quinn hadn’t seen Kat in a few years but they could remember her temper extremely well. A softly closing door behind an angry Kat was ten times worse than storming out. She was angry… no, she was well beyond the angry point. She was pissed.

“I’m going to call Devon and fill him in on what’s happening,” Warren stated and pulled the cell phone from his front pants pocket. He hated to do this to his brother but if he didn’t get his ass home he might not have much of one to come back to. Pressing a number on the speed dial, he walked toward a different door leading to the adjoining bedroom.

Warren waited while the phone on the other end of the call continued to ring. Finally he heard someone pick it up and a muttered curse followed immediately after.

“What the hell do you want?” Devon asked sounding groggy but happy.

Warren quickly conveyed what had happened since Devon and Envy’s departure not more than twenty-four hours prior.

Devon sighed, “Damn, I leave town and everything goes to shit.”

“I’ll give you a few days then you need to be home.” Warren said. “I also need you to do something for me during those few days.”

“What’s that?” Devon asked sounding much more awake.

“I need you to ask Kriss if he will assist us. Tell him Dean has already signed on but we’re probably going to need him, too. If you have to, get Envy to convince Tabatha that we need Kriss here because from what I hear, if she comes back then the fallen will follow.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Devon said. “Kriss is a strange one. He walks to his own beat, you know.”

Warren nodded, “Reminds me of someone else I know.”

Devon chuckled, “Okay big bro, I’m not making any promises though.”

“I’ll see you in a few days.” Warren said and hung up the phone.

*****

Quinn noticed Kat in one of the surveillance monitors on the wall. Since everyone was waiting on Warren to finish his phone call, he stepped closer to the monitors like he was bored. Boredom was not what he felt when looking at Kat.

He’d thought she was beautiful years ago, but he’d underestimated what she would become. Over the years, he had kept watch over Kat from a distance. He’d even hired spies to work here at Moon Dance and report back to him… though the last one he’d sent wound up as one of the latest murder victims.

He tensed when a guy walked straight up to where Kat was standing behind the bar and reached for her arm. With the camera angled perfectly, Quinn could tell the guy wasn’t in a friendly mood.

*****

Trevor strode into Moon Dance not knowing if he wanted to tear the place apart or drown his anger in a couple gallons of alcohol. He’d tried to contact Envy but she was obviously hiding from him. Tabatha and Kriss were probably screening their calls right along with her. When he’d asked the all-knowing brother where the hell Envy was, he’d wanted to rip Chad’s head off for being so vague about her location.

Trevor spotted Kat serving drinks behind the same bar where she always worked. He reached out and gripped her arm to get her attention but the look she swung toward him had him backing off and taking a seat.

“The special on tasers has ended. Can I get you something else? Like a life time membership to one of the other bars?” Kat batted her eyelashes at him innocently. Finally looking him in the eyes and seeing the misery swimming around there she shrugged, “Sorry, my true target is out of reach. What can I get you?”

Trevor rubbed his temples with his fingertips. He’d be damned if he ever figured out the opposite sex. It wasn’t like they made it easy. “Some answers would be nice.”

“Like?” Kat prompted.

“Like where my girlfriend is hiding.” There was a slight raise of an eyebrow as he waited.

“Your girlfriend? Did you replace Envy that fast?” Kat smirked when his gaze turned into a silent glare. “Oh, you’re referring to Envy.”

“You think?” Trevor retorted sarcastically.

“All I know is that your ex-girlfriend and my brother took off on a type of honeymoon.” Kat shrugged knowing it was closer to the truth than Envy would think.

“I thought she was with Tabatha and Kriss?” Trevor felt his blood pressure rise dangerously as he wondered if Chad had lied about that.

Kat quickly poured him a shot of Heat hoping it would tame the anger that was flaring within his eyes. “She is. Tabby and Kriss are with them.” She slid the drink in front of him adding, “It’s on the house.”

Watching him down the shot, her lips parted when she noticed the light above them reveal the unshed tears that were trying to gather in his eyes.

Damn, that sucks. She instantly regretted being such an ass to him. She wished Quinn had felt that way about her. It would be nice if he could show some emotion regarding her or what she’d felt for him. Hell, she’d even be able to live with Quinn blowing her off, if he only had the guts to tell her to her face.

Reaching over, she placed a gentle hand on Trevor’s shoulder then thought of a way to distract him and get her a hunting partner at the same time.

Kat smiled as an idea started to form in her head. He’d all but flat out called her a jaguar the other night, so he obviously hadn’t been lying about being a paranormal investigator. If it was an army the boys wanted, then the least she could do was help recruit… right?

“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go make myself a good target for the vampires that have been leaving bodies on our doorstep.” She went to walk around the bar but Trevor grabbed her wrist so fast she hadn’t even seen him move. She simply cocked an eyebrow at the restraining hand. “Unless you’re going to help me, you might want to let go.”

“You’re serious?” Trevor asked.

He’d also been leaning toward thinking it was vampires for the mere fact that there seemed to be a baby boom of them right now… oh, and the little fact of half-destroyed fang marks. The downside to this was he hadn’t dealt with vampires before… only during training. He needed a reason to stick around until Envy resurfaced, so why not hang around with the competition's sister?

When Kat nodded and slowly pulled her hand away, Trevor shook his head knowing he would regret this, “Are your brothers going with you?”

“Oh, they’re going all right, but in different directions.” She made a pouty face. “It seems no one wanted to team up with the girl.”

As if to prove her point, Steven and Nick chose that moment to come downstairs and head for the door together. Nick gave Kat a hard stare, hoping she would get the message and do what Warren had asked her to do… stay here where it’s safe. He felt a little easier when she gave him a small smile as if all was forgiven.

Glancing back toward the door leading upstairs Kat nodded, “See, its tag teams tonight except for the odd number… aka me.” She flashed Trevor a big smile as if she didn’t mind. “But that’s okay, I don’t mind hunting on my own.”

Trevor smirked and crossed his arms on the bar top. He leaned forward a little signaling Kat to do the same and whispered two words.

“Not alone,” he shook his head.

Quinn and Warren stopped as they came down into the nightclub. Warren knew they were overstaffed tonight so the bar would be covered but that didn’t stop him from issuing a couple of last minute orders.

While he was doing that, Quinn nearly glared a hole in Trevor. He hadn’t missed the monitor, seeing the way Trevor reached out and grabbed Kat’s wrist… or the emotional dance that had followed. How close was Kat to this man? The way they were acting, it was like they shared some secret that the rest of them weren’t allowed to hear and it grated on his nerves.

“Who is that man with Kat?” Quinn asked when Warren was finished with his com-link.

Warren turned to look seeing Envy’s ex-boyfriend. He figured Kat was telling Trevor that Envy was no longer available, which was a good idea because without Trevor's eye-candy hanging out at the bar, maybe the paranormal investigator would go investigate somewhere else.

“That’s just the local masochist that likes to be tasered by attractive women,” Warren smirked at his own joke. When Quinn didn’t smile, it made him suddenly miss teaming up with Michael. He wondered if it was too late to change partners then deleted the thought. Quinn and Kane teamed up together would be a disaster waiting to happen.