"That doesn't sound like an explanation to me. I needed you. You said you'd be at the motel and you weren't here. Why didn't you call me back?"
"Uh… I'm really sorry. I didn't even realize my phone was off until a minute ago. I was hoping you were doing okay."
"Hoping?" She tried not to raise her voice. "Oh, yeah, I'm doing just great."
"Oh, that's good."
She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. No reason to freak out on Lenny. She was fine. He was fine. Everyone was just fine.
Well, except for Quinn, of course.
"I'm at the motel," she said after another moment. "And where are you?"
"Uh… we're around the corner at a place called Tails & Rails. Barkley insisted we stay a bit longer than
I wanted to. Sorry."
She blinked. "You're at a strip club?"
He cleared his throat. "Um. It was Barkley's idea."
She exhaled slowly. "I don't want to know."
"I'm leaving right now. I can meet you in five, maybe ten minutes?"
"No, no, forget it. It's okay. Listen, I've got the map. We'll go get the Eye first thing tomorrow. There's a restaurant attached to the motel here. I'll meet you in the morning at seven-thirty."
"You sound worried. Everything okay?"
"Yeah. Fine. It's just… Quinn's not well."
"So?"
She bit her bottom lip. "Right. Yeah. I don't care. I'll see you tomorrow."
"Good night."
She hung up.
He was right. She shouldn't care about the vampire. Shedidn't care. Besides, you could offer advice and help, but if somebody wouldn't take it, well, then they were just stubborn enough to die.
In agony.
Wounded.
All alone.
In a crappy roadside motel.
Thank God she'd lost her compassion years ago working for the Company. A total burden that would be in her line of work. Start to feel sorry for the monsters and what did that get you?
A whole mess of trouble.
Janie already had enough trouble to deal with.
She'd learned that lesson the hard way. One of her first assignments had been to infiltrate a black magic organization run by a dark wizard. The wizard had been handsome, and much more charming than she would have expected. She'd fallen for the guy and knew that he'd cared for her in return. As soon as her cover was blown, all hell broke loose. The wizard had turned on her and tried to kill her, but she'd killed him first, an act that succeeded in shattering her heart into a million pieces. Which, in the end, worked out fine, because her heart had been more of a liability than an asset. She'd prided herself on her cool, calculated decisions ever since that lapse in judgment.
She wasn't going to make a mistake like that again by caring for the wrong person at the wrong time.
A nice solid night of sleep would do her well.
Yes, sleep. Very good.
And that's exactly what she'd get—right after she dealt with Quinn.
Dammit.
She marched up to his door and knocked. "Quinn? Let me in."
No answer.
She knocked again. "Hello?"
"Go away," came the weak answer.
"Do you want to die?"
"Not really having a problem with that outcome. Go away."
"Quinn, let me in right now, or else."
To that she didn't get any answer at all.
She hissed out a long breath. Instead of getting more worried, she was getting pissed. Since when did her empty threats get so completely ignored?
"I'm giving you to the count of five," she warned the locked door.
It didn't answer.
"One, two…"
She listened.
"Three."
Well, at least he wasn't laughing.