I’ve never caught an imprint that was older than two or three days. Henry knows that since he’d rummaged around in my head, taking any and all information he wanted about my gifts. “It’s still worth a try,” he grumbles defensively.
“Right. Sure.” He and I both know I won’t find anything from his missing vampette. “Don’t murder me when I try to help with something I might actually have a chance at seeing.”
Henry’s jaw clenches, but he concedes me this victory with a curt nod. I don’t celebrate. That would be acknowledging the fact that he has control over me. Glancing to Terrance again, I give him a grim smile. “Please show me exactly where your friend was sitting tonight, if you can.”
Terrance scratches his head and looks to Wulf. The werewolf’s eyebrows pull low over his eyes as he thinks about it, and then he walks over toward the bar. “I think it was one of these two seats,” he says. “I remember the girls sitting near the soda dispenser.”
Now we’re getting somewhere.
Sliding onto one of the stools in question, I close my eyes and run my hands over the bar. It’s a long shot, but it’s the only place I have to start.
“What are you doing?” Wulf murmurs. He’s close enough that the sound of his voice startles me. The big guy is really quiet on his feet.
“Trying to concentrate,” I hint.
He smirks and gives me a friendly salute before backing up a step. I wink at him and close my eyes again. At first, I pick up nothing, but if I focus, sometimes I can catch weaker imprints. After a moment, I’m sucked into a memory.
Deafening bass pulses through the club. It’s crowded—every stool at the bar is taken, and a row of customers stands behind them, calling out to Wulf for drinks.
I enter the vision standing next to the seat I’m sitting on back in the real world. A young woman sits there now. She’s not very attractive—tall and bulky, not fat, big in a masculine way—but she’s made effort with her dress and makeup. The girl beside her has similar features, though her face is slightly more appealing.
The girl next to me has one hand wrapped around a mug of dark brown liquid and has the other hand resting flat on the bar—the place I picked up the imprint. She stiffens suddenly as Terrance appears behind the bar, offering to give Wulf a hand. The girl beside her sees her nerves and flashes her a giddy smile. “He’s going to love you, Shandra. I’m sure of it.”
“Nell, you’re his sister and my best friend. Of course you think that. But I’m just a kid compared to him.”
“So am I, and he loves me just fine.”
I smile at Nell’s enthusiasm, but Shandra isn’t as amused. “He hasn’t even come over to say hi yet. Do you think he’s upset that I was sent here? He’s lived on his own for so long. Maybe he doesn’t like the idea of having a mate.”
Nell glances across the bar to where Terrance is pouring a shot for a decent-looking guy with blond hair and huge muscles. “I don’t think so,” she decides, frowning. “It’s just really busy tonight. Terrance is a loner, but no troll wants to go without a family forever. Maybe the clan is trying to push him into motion with this, but I think once he considers it, he’ll like the idea.”
Before Shandra can stop her, Nell waves her hand in the air and calls out to Terrance. His entire face lights up at the sight of her. “Nell! Is that you, baby sis? What are you doing here?”
Giggling, she throws her arm over Shandra’s shoulder and holds up her drink. “I’ve brought your future mate to meet you—clan’s orders—so get your scrawny butt over here!”
Shandra glares at Nell, but Nell doesn’t notice. She’s too busy giggling at the look of shock on Terrance’s face. He’s gaping at Shandra with his jaw on the floor. “I guess the clan elders forgot to mention this whole mating idea to him,” Nell whispers.
Terrance finishes pouring the drink for the hot guy customer who is also staring at the two trolls with a hint of surprise, and slowly makes his way over to his waiting guests. Terrance warily lets his sister introduce him to Shandra, but I don’t pay attention to them. My eyes stay locked on Mr. Muscles across the bar. He hasn’t stopped looking at the girls since the moment they got Terrance’s attention. There’s something about the way he’s watching them that doesn’t sit quite right with me. His gaze is calculating and hungry. He’s clearly not a troll. He’s much too small for that, despite the body builder appearance. So why is he so fascinated by a couple of unattractive troll girls?
I pull myself from the vision, taking a moment to orient myself. I don’t answer all the questions being thrown at me as I head toward the stool Mr. Muscles was sitting on. I don’t want to lose my concentration. Quickly, with Mr. Muscles’ face at the front of my mind, I slide onto his stool and run my hands over the counter he’d been leaning against. The vision comes much quicker this time. It’s a stronger imprint. Whoever the stranger was, he was pretty excited last night.
His hand clenches into a fist on the bar as he watches Terrance talk to Shandra and Nell. It’s clearly an awkward conversation. Poor Terrance looks so frazzled. I feel badly for Shandra, too. Whatever this mate business the girls were talking about was, it had obviously been something she was looking forward to, and Terrance didn’t seem to share her excitement.
Shandra says something to them both and abruptly jumps up. Her eyes are glossy with unshed tears as she heads toward the restrooms. Terrance and Nell automatically begin arguing with one another. I find it fascinating and am dying to know how marriage and family works among troll clans, but I force myself to pay attention to Mr. Muscles. He knocks back the rest of his drink in one gulp and follows after Shandra.
When the vision ends, my head starts to throb—an unfortunate side effect of getting sucked into visions. I’m going to have a killer headache after this, because I’ve got to try and dive into a few more before I can call it a night.
I lean over the bar with a groan, resting my head on the cool counter until the throbbing subsides. Parker and Henry reach my sides first, both calling my name in concern.
“Just give me a second.”
“What’s going on?” Terrance asks as I concentrate on not vomiting.
“Nora, love, what’s wrong?” Henry places his hand softly on my back. “Are you ill?”
His chilly fingers on my back give me the creeps. Squirming out from beneath his touch, I scramble off my stool and glare at the man. “Getting sucked into memories isn’t exactly a picnic, but I’m fine. Stop touching me.”
Ignoring his annoyed frown, I turn to Terrance. “When your sister and Shandra showed up, you were serving a drink to a guy—early twenties, decent looking, blond hair, brown eyes, big arms, thick neck. That’s your guy. That’s who took her. He followed her to the restroom when she left you and Nell to argue. Do you remember him? Did you know him?”
Terrance gasps and his face pales. “How do you know that?”
“Sometimes I can see things. Imprints of the past. Whoever the man you served last night was, he was awfully interested in your sister and her friend.”
“What kind of underworlder was he? What race?” Parker asks while Henry has his own set of questions. “Who was he? What did he want? Why did he take her?”
Ugh. I knew this was going to happen. “How the hell am I supposed to know?”
“You had a vision,” Henry snaps, displeased with my bad attitude.
“Yeah, a vision,” I snark back. “A picture. Imprints are like movies. I can see what’s going on, but I don’t hear what’s going on in their heads.”
“But what was he?” Parker asks again. “Knowing his race will give us a place to start looking.”
“I don’t know.”