“Very good.” Jordan raised an eyebrow. “I thought the mermaid would throw you off.”
“Is there a point to this?” Rage’s body tensed as his eyes landed on our target.
Mermaids were rare for our world. They kept to the sea and isolated themselves more so than the fae. Anyway, for us to not only find a mermaid but a vampire-mermaid hybrid was mind-blowing.
My eyes followed Rage’s and landed on the girl. Her hair was gorgeous like all the pictures I’d ever seen of mermaids. It was thick, long, and wavy, and even though it looked black, purple undertones stood out. She appeared to be around thirteen which at least made a little sense for her to be hanging out here. She looked like a porcelain doll, her beauty was breathtaking.
“Alright, just like last time, we’ve got to get her to leave with us.” Jordan glanced at each one of us like she was ready for an argument.
I would’ve given her one, too, if we didn’t have Cole, Jess, and Damien waiting on us.
The girl must have sensed us. Her ethereal blue eyes glowed as they met my own.
I forced a smile even though my stomach was twisted into knots. It was uncanny how supernaturals could sense one another even when they weren’t the same race.
“Once again, they pay attention to you.” Jordan huffed and turned toward the arcade. “I’m a freaking vampire. You’d think she’d notice me first.”
“You do realize this isn’t a popularity contest, right?” The corner of Rage’s mouth turned upward, but he maintained an indifferent expression.
“Oh, shut up.” Jordan stomped off and headed straight to the arcade and dinging of games.
“How is it possible that I get on her nerves when I didn’t do anything?” I wasn’t upset, per se, but damn. There was no winning.
“I call it talent.” Rage grabbed my hand and chuckled. “I wish I had the same skill for people like her.”
“No, your talent is with Nate.” Rage rubbed him the wrong way just by breathing. So I guess it was very similar.
“Damn right.” He winked at me and tugged gently on my arm so that we followed after the sulking vampire.
Jordan leaned against the wall, watching some teenage boys with pimples play some shooting game. She positioned herself to keep an eye on the girl and yet look like she was watching the guys.
I had to give her props for her sleuthiness.
For some reason, I didn’t feel as if we should join her. So I headed to the back of the arcade, close to where the girl and her friends were hanging. The entire way, I could feel her eyes drilling into me.
“Do you mind getting the tokens for the games?” Rage was hot and intimidating. I needed him to separate from me for a few minutes to see if the girl would approach me.
“Now?” His brows furrowed together, but he nodded. “Sure. You going to stay here?”
“Yeah.” I headed over to the grab a stuffed animal game and looked at the toys inside. There were a goofy looking squirrel and a few odd things that I couldn’t quite tell what they were.
“Okay.” He turned and headed to the middle of the arcade area where the token machines were.
In just a few moments, her scent grew stronger. I didn’t want to turn around and spook her though.
“Hey?” Her voice was sweet like a melody.
When I pivoted to face her, her beauty hit me hard. Mermaids were also known as sirens in some lore. They were devastatingly beautiful and very alluring. The fact that she was that and a vampire made her a sight to behold. “Hi.” I kept my voice calm and gave her a small smile.
“You seem familiar to me.” She scanned me over as if she was trying to unbury a memory. “But I can’t remember how.”
“Angel, are you coming?” One of her friends waved her hand and pointed over to a room that all of them were entering. There was a huge birthday cake on one of the tables.
“Uh … yeah. I’ll be there in a minute.” She picked at her nails and sighed.
“Raven, where did you go?” Jordan’s snotty voice pierced my ears.
She couldn’t just leave me alone to have a chat with this girl. She had to control the situation.
“I wanted to check out the machine.” Oh and get away from you and Rage. However, that wasn’t going to go over well if I said it out loud.
“Oh, hi.” Jordan held her hand out toward the girl. “I’m Jordan.”
Dear lord, is she trying to shake hands with a twelve-year-old? I smacked her hand away. “And I’m Raven.”
“What the …” Jordan started off, but I didn’t let her finish.
“Are you here for a friend’s birthday?” I pointed to the kids that were now all in the room eating pizza.
“Kind of …” She glanced at them and appeared dazed. “I don’t feel like I fit in though.”
“Tell me about it.” Jordan reached out to touch her arm, but Angel jerked back.
Great, now she was scaring her. “It’s like there is something inside you that you can’t control.” I remembered those days all too well.
“Exactly.” The little girl looked at me and nodded. “Like there is something that shouldn’t be there.”
“But they are supposed to be there.” Gosh, this could have easily been me when I was that age. At least I knew I was a wolf shifter and could identify it. “Where are your parents?”
“Oh, I’m a foster kid.” Her shoulders slumped, and she glanced at the ground. “I don’t even have a clue who they were.”
My heart hurt for her. “What if I could tell you things that might help you?”
“Yes, please.” She was hanging on to my every word, and her face lit with hope.
“Not here though.” Jordan narrowed her eyes at me and pointed to the door. “We need to go somewhere else for that conversation.”
Great, here we go scaring another…
“Hey, babe.” Rage held one of the tokens up. “You want to play?”
“No, we were leaving.” Jordan grabbed the token out of his hands and put it in her jean pockets.
“Are you okay leaving?” At least this time, I knew better than to say, “With me.”
“Actually, yes. If you can give me answers.” She started skating toward the front. “Just let me change into my shoes.”
When she was out of supernatural earshot, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut any longer. “You can’t just take an underage girl. Her foster parents …”
“Don’t give a damn about her.” Jordan stepped into my bubble. “Listen here, pup. Don’t you think I did my research before coming here? Her foster parents ignore her. They are only in it for the check, so don’t give me any shit. They probably won’t report her missing for days.”
“You might have researched, but she’s a young girl.” I couldn’t understand why these kids were such a threat. Each one seemed to be good and not crazed or even a threat to themselves.
Rage placed a hand on my back and gazed at me. “Listen, you know they’re dangerous. We’re here to help them. It’s not like her foster parents can.”
He was right. If I acted out anymore, we were going to lose our advantage. We needed Jordan to know we were on The Elites’ side. “You’re right. I’m sorry. She’s just so young.”