Unseen (The Heights, Vol. 1) (33 page)

That might be fun.

Next step: Dawn. Addison hated goodbyes and
didn’t entirely believe one was necessary. It wasn’t as if she’d
never come back. And after seeing Dawn at the party and their weird
talk on the phone, Addison stalled for a while, hoping she would go
away. By nine o’clock, she remembered patience wasn’t in her
skill-set and went outside.

“How long have you been sitting there?” she
asked.

Dawn whirled around, then pointed to the
street. “How did you…?” Then looked at Addison. “I was knocking
forever. Were you in there this entire time?”

“Rhyse dropped me off or phased me in or
whatever.”

“Rhyse, the Prime?” That sounded a little too
judgmental for Addison’s liking. Unfortunately, if she stayed with
Rhyse, Dawn wouldn’t be the only one looking at her differently, so
she’d better get used to it.

“Do you need something, Dawn?”

“I wanted to see if you were okay.”

“I’m fine.” Addison waited. “And so is Logan.
He’s fine, too.”

“Oh, good.” This was, without a doubt, the
most stunted and awkward conversation they’d ever had. “Yeah, I
wasn’t sure what happened to him.”

“He fixed the line of salt and saved a lot of
lives.” While most of the supers did nothing. “Is your warlock
okay?”

“Yeah. He was right by the door when it
started, but I wasn’t. He looked for me everywhere but couldn’t
find me.” The front door had been the first thing to catch on fire.
That’s why there was so much chaos—everyone had tried to get out
the other exit. If the warlock was by the front door, then he must
have run for it right away or he wouldn’t have gotten out that way
at all.

While Rhyse saved Addison and helped save
everyone
else, Dawn’s date ran for it and then lied about it
afterwards. Nice guy. Feeling ultra-defensive, she
almost
said something. But that discussion wouldn’t do anything but make
things even more uncomfortable. If that was possible.

Dawn looked at her watch. “Shit. I gotta go.
Wanna get coffee later?”

“I have some stuff to do, but maybe. Hey, do
you know a seer named Parker?” How many ‘Parkers’ could there be in
the Heights?

“The historian?”

“Yeah.” A historian. That made perfect sense
considering how much she’d known. “Do you know where she
lives?”

“She got pretty banged up at the celebration,
so I’d guess she’s still at the hospital.”

“Duh, of course she would be. My brain hasn’t
functioned properly for…ever. Days seem like weeks here.”

“You mean with the Prime.” It wasn’t a
question, it was a snide comment. If their roles were reversed,
Addison probably would’ve
thought
the same thing, but she’d
never
say
it. As far as Dawn knew, Addison was Rhyse’s toy.
So why say something that would accomplish nothing but making her
feel worse?

“Yeah, I meant with the Prime,” she snapped.
“With all the orgasms he gives me it’s hard to think clearly, you
know?”

Dawn’s eyes grew and her mouth opened. “Okay.
Well, call me…or I’ll call you.” Addison waved at her back as Dawn
rushed off. She’d spent a few hours on the front stoop for a
two-minute conversation about nothing.

Seers are weird
.

Like everyone else, Addison hated hospitals.
Even the people who worked there looked miserable. Busy, focused,
really frigging tired, and miserable. End of shift maybe. She
remembered those.

She stopped in the middle of the lobby,
thinking about her old life. That was gone now. Most of it sucked,
but not all of it. Even with the strongest shield, it was too risky
to put herself in situations where it was called for. Had another
disposal tech already taken over her route? What about her
apartment—was she going to keep it? And what the hell was Rhyse to
her? You can’t call a three-hundred-plus-year-old vampire your
boyfriend. It’s just not right.

Ugh. This is sooo depressing.
This
place and this life. Focus on the less awful one.

She followed the signs to the department she
hoped Parker would be in. She’d gotten pretty busted up, but not
enough to still be in the ER. Addison turned a corner and saw an
angel staring at the closed door in front of him.

Maybe he was here for a seer—a child who died
and came back cursed. The family would be ecstatic because they
didn’t know what the kid’s future held. She backed up, remembering
her shield was no match for an angel’s power. It was best to just
stay away.

The angel turned towards her and said hello.
“There is no need to run away, Seer.” He called her seer. That was
a good indication he didn’t sense more about her, right? And
running away now would seem suspect. Who runs away from an
angel?

“Are you here for a new seer?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“Oh.” She heard sniffling from inside the
room, a murmur of grief from a family already in mourning but still
hoping for a miracle. Not knowing there was an angel just outside,
waiting until it was over.

”And I thought
my
job sucked.”

“At times it does, yes. But not always.” When
he faced her directly, she took a step back, ready to bolt if she
felt him push on her shield. “I saw you at the celebration.
With—”

“I know,” she grumbled. “With the Prime.”

He shook his head. “With an angel.”

Oh shit, did she get Micah in trouble? “Is
that not allowed?”

“It is, although it is uncommon. Have you
seen him recently?”

“M? No. I’ve been…occupied.”

“If he visits you, please tell him S needs to
speak with him.”

“You can’t just call him?”

He stared at her silently.

“Okay, sure,” she said. “I’ll let him know…if
I see him.”

He looked at her for another moment before
turning back to the door and closing his eyes. “I must go.”

“Yeah, okay. Take care.”

“May you have peace.”

“What are the chances of that happening?”

“Very, very slim.”

“Thought so.”

She got Parker’s room number from a highly
caffeinated nurse. Before she went in, she stared at the curtain
for a while. This could be a huge mistake. Huge. And fatal. But she
couldn’t accomplish anything on her own, and Parker could help
her.

“Knock, knock,” she said loudly.

“Who’s there?”

“Um…we met the other night. My name—”

“You totally blew the joke. You’re supposed
to say ‘banana.’” Parker laughed. As soon as she saw Addison, she
stopped laughing. “Addison, right?” Minus a few bruises, a cast on
one arm, and a bandage on her head, she looked great.

“I’m surprised you remember.”

“I remember a lot—some jerk knocking me down,
lots and lots of shoes. I
felt
a bunch of those, too. But
nothing after that. Not until I woke up sitting on a bench outside
the hospital with no idea how I’d gotten there. Very surreal.”

“Good story, though. You’re a historian,
right?”

Parker shook her head. “Assistant historian.
Am I in trouble?”

“No, not at all. I just wanted to talk.”

“About…”

She wet her lips. “Do you ever wonder what it
would be like if we were free?”

Parker widened her eyes and glanced at the
door and then at the window.

“It’s not against the law to
wonder
,”
Addison said.

“Do you go looking for trouble or does it
come looking for you?”

“A few days ago I would’ve said the latter,
and then I’d say I was pretty damn good at avoiding it. Now? Not so
much.”

Parker never relaxed, never stopped looking
around, as if she expected a SWAT team from the Heights to bust
through the windows and come out from under the bed. This much
stress probably wasn’t good for her recovery.

“I should go,” Addison said. “Sorry to bug
you. Hope you’re free soon. To go home, I mean.”

“Can you get me some water?” She pointed to
the jug a few feet out of her reach. Addison filled Parker’s cup.
As she handed it to her, Parker leaned in, keeping her voice low.
“A few friends who were there that night said you got them out of
the room.”

“All I did was unlock a door.”

“They said you screamed at them and shoved
them through it.”

“Yeah,” she said, grimacing. “Tell them I’m
sorry.”

“For saving them?”

“Well, I may have said a few things I didn’t
mean.”

“You saved their lives. I doubt they really
care what you said while you were doing it.”

Save a few, put a whole bunch more in danger.
“I should really go.”

“Thank you.”

“No problem.” She held up the pitcher. “Do
you want a top-off?”

“Not for the water. For getting me out of
there. I know it was you.”

Addison shrugged. “Wasn’t me. You’re small,
but I’m
way
too weak to carry you anywhere, let alone to the
hospital.”

One of my friends told me something weird.
When she was in front of the hospital, she saw a vampire dropping
two seers off. Then she saw the vamp’s face. Can you imagine how
shocked she was to find out I was one of the seers? And that I’d
been dropped off at the hospital by the Prime of the North American
zone? How much you wanna bet that’s never happened before—an
unconscious seer being carried by a vampire, let alone the
Prime?”

“Probably a bunch of times before the Treaty
was signed.” Of course, in that case, the vamp would have
considered the seer takeout.

“Are you still with him?”

Why did Addison let him claim her publicly?
Now everybody wanted to talk about it. “Our relationship is
unorthodox.”

“So you’re not here to speak for him?”

“Hell, no. Or I wouldn’t be using
contractions, and I’d have to sound all proper.”

“Why
are
you here?”

“I need help. And information.”

She hesitated, flicking her head towards the
window while leaving her eyes locked on Addison’s. “About
them?”

Addison nodded.

“Does he know?”

She shook her head.

“Crap.” Parker ran a hand through her hair,
wincing when she got to a bandage. “I think this is the worst
decision in the
history
of decisions. And I would know—I’m a
historian.” She shoved a small pad of paper and pen towards
Addison. “Give me your phone number.”

Addison scribbled her digits down but not her
name. It seemed like a smart thing to do. When was the last time
she’d done that?

“Have you ever heard of something called the
Rising?” Parker asked.

“I’ve heard the words, even said them both a
few times.”

“The Rising is a legend. Although some say
it’s a prophecy only disguised as legend.”

“I hate prophecies. I really, really, really
hate them.”

“Are you human?” she whispered, barely moving
her lips.

Addison leaned forward, as if it would help
her hear something that had already been spoken. When the words
clicked in, she froze, unblinking. Her voice came back to her a few
seconds later. “Yes.”

Parker grimaced. “You need to practice
lying.”

“I’m not lying,” she lied. “It’s just that
Rhyse keeps telling me seers aren’t quite human. So when you asked,
I was thinking about—”

“Yeah.” Another grimace. “A lot of
practice.”

Shit
. Of all the questions in the
universe, why that one? This could be a problem. “Can you
shield?”

Parker nodded, immediately understanding why
Addison asked. “I’m not a full historian yet, but shielding is one
of the first things they teach us. Because we’re information
keepers.”

“That’s comforting,” she said, smiling. “And
I’m a much better liar than you are.”

“Comforting in some ways, and not as much in
others. But I should go. Call me…if you want to.”

Addison beelined out of the hospital and
called Rhyse as soon as she passed through the front door. She
didn’t even get to say hello.

“You are late.”

“By two minutes. Besides, time doesn’t matter
to you.”

“But
you
do.” He paused. “Have you
finished your tasks?”

“I still need to pack and then go by
headquarters to get paid and find out if I’m even
allowed
to
take a leave of absence. By the way, what did you tell my
boss?”

“That you would not be there.”

“Yeah, but what reason did you give?”

“I am the Prime. I do not need reasons.”
And
when none were offered, guess what conclusion everyone
jumped to. Especially after they heard about the PDA before the
Treaty fiasco.

“So they all think we’re fucking. Like,
regularly.”

“I suppose so.”

“Powers, Rhyse! Don’t you think I might not
want everyone to know?”

“Why not?” He didn’t sound offended, just
baffled.

Sure, being kept by the Prime was probably a
great career move. But since she didn’t want to be kept and had no
career
left
, what good would it do her?

“I just don’t want everyone to know. To look
at me weird or treat me differently.”

“They will leave you alone now. All of them.
They understand that to be seen too close to you, they put
themselves in danger. I fail to see a downside.”

“Why would you?
You’re
not the Prime’s
whore.”

“Addison.” His voice held warning.

“I gotta go.”

“Addison! We will speak of this face to face.
I will send someone for you.”

“Who? A demon? No thanks, I’m good.” She
pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’ll see you tonight.”

“You will call me in an hour.”

“Yes, my lord,” she spat before hanging
up.

A few minutes into her cab ride home, her
phone rang again. But it wasn’t him, it was Dawn.

Crap. Think of an excuse.
‘I can’t
meet for coffee because the Prime wants a blowjob.’ Or, ‘I wish I
could, but I’m too busy having absolutely no life and nothing to
do. Rain check?’
Fuck it.
Maybe caffeine would help her calm
down and make her headache go away.