Arcane Solutions Read Online Free Page B

someone?”
    “ Yeah.” You couldn't trust them, but sometimes vamps could be informative.
    He smiled. “Male or female?”
    “ A girl.”
    “ Perhaps I can change your mind?” He moved, a quick blur, and semi-embraced me, pinning my arms while carefully avoiding the cross. He was obviously old and smart enough to know what it could do. Ugh, he wanted a donor. Then he tightened his hold, and it was easy to tell that he'd already fed. Sex was what he had in mind.
    I shuddered in revulsion. “No thanks, bub. I’m not into necrophilia.”
    “ I can give you pleasure you've never dreamed of,” he murmured, voice silky smooth as he stared into my eyes. He was trying to cloud my mind, but wasn’t powerful enough to.
    “ I said no thanks.”
    “ I enjoy challenges.”
    “ Yeah? Enjoy this.” I head butted him, smashing his nose and knocking myself a little cross-eyed. The vampire stumbled backward, before disappearing as Nick grabbed him and threw him clean across the street.
    “ Are you all right?”
    Blinking, I forced a scowl. “I totally had that under control.”
    “ Uh-huh. How many fingers am I holding up?” The shifter raised his hand.
    “ Two?” It was a lucky guess.
    “ I guess your skull's in one piece.” He shook his head. “That wasn't the best...”
    “ We need to get back to work,” I interrupted, not needing a lecture that head butting a vamp was a bad idea. The burgeoning headache was enough information on that subject. “Come on.”
    Grinning, Nick turned me around before I completed my first step. “This way, Jones.”
    “ Hmph.”
     
    ***
     
    The lack of luck in scanning an estate almost made me turn to look through the gates we were walking past. The two vampires standing guard kept me from acting on the impulse. I waited until we reached the end of the block before grabbing Nick's arm. “I couldn’t get anything from this one.”
    “ What do you want to do?” He didn't look around, gaining points in my book.
    “ I need to stay close, but not be obvious, to try again.”
    “ How close?”
    “ Right here is good.” The street wasn't one of the well-traveled ones, so there wasn't much in the way of a crowd to hide in. Just a few couples, pausing at intervals to snap photos. If I'd been alone, stepping around the corner out of sight would've been my first choice.
    But I wasn't alone and that was too far to go.
    Nick's intent gaze was making me nervous. “I have an idea, but it requires touching.”
    Suspicious, I asked, “What is it?”
    He grinned and took a step toward me. I backed away and he followed, until the stone wall blocked further retreat. Placing his hands on it just beside my shoulders, the shifter began lowering his head.
    “What the hell are you doing?” I hissed, hands moving to flatten over his soft blue polo and hard chest muscles.
    “ Providing cover for you to do your thing.” His breath tickled my neck and he sniffed at my hair. “So get busy, Jones.”
    Keeping my hands where they were to preserve the few inches of space between our bodies, I closed my eyes and focused.
    Mmm resonated from Nick. A vague image of a wolf rolling in grass flashed across my mind. The shifter apparently really liked my shampoo, pulling in a deeper breath while burying his nose in my hair.
    Forcing myself to ignore him, I tried scanning again. If Zoe was inside, and held against her will, I could bring in reinforcements. Damian was a detective with the city police, not just a stake-carving warlock.
    If she was there, I couldn't teleport to her without seeing where she was. Taking Nick in with me, then both of them out would be exhausting. I had to be in contact to teleport them, which wasn't a problem where the shifter was concerned.
    His nose was traversing a downward path through my hair. I jumped when his lips brushed my ear, and goose bumps exploded on my arms.
    “Sorry.” It was a mumble.
    Bored . I latched onto the thought. Tracing it back with as light a touch as