Enigma

Chapter 18

"I'm going to do it," Lillian said, entering the room of people who had probably heard every word of the argument but pretended not to.

The floor shook. A loud cracking sound reached them from downstairs.

"Uh... You sure?" Benjamin asked, his eyes flickering toward the stairway.

"Positive. So what do I need to know?"

And so they made a plan. Lillian ignored the gaping hole in her heart, swallowed down the hurt and the knot in her throat and focused on what they were saying. Thirty minutes later, she was sitting on the couch with Amanda and Benjamin when Noah joined them. His presence pushed against her senses. Her shoulders hunched, tension gripping her body.

Benjamin got up to where Mark, Harvey and Noah were speaking in low voices in one corner of the room.

"Come on," Amanda said, pulling Lillian to her feet. "The clothes are here. Let's get you ready."

Amanda had asked the vampire she knew in town to acquire clothes appropriate for the club, and that could easily conceal the communication devices and the camera they would be putting on Lillian. The two women went to a room down the hallway and closed the door behind them. A couple of bags were near the only chair in the room. They contained clothes, makeup, and ...

"I have to wear a wig?" Lillian asked, eying the auburn colored wig, brows shooting up her forehead.

"Yes. In case anyone recognizes you," Amanda said distractedly while inspecting the clothes. "You know, Harvey's my mate, and he doesn't keep anything from me, so I know about the report he had to do for Noah about you. We don't know if anyone in the club knows your identity since humans had put up missing person announcements for you and the twins in your old town- Hmm, I like this one, what do you think?"

Lillian looked at the short black dress Amanda was holding, but her mind was on Amanda's words.

"Oh...uh... so, you know about the report?" Lillian asked, although she herself had no knowledge Noah had requested any report about her. But she should've expected it, Noah might be grouchy at times, but he cared a lot for his pack. He wouldn't let a human he knew nothing about into his territory.

"Yes, but I don't know what's in it," Amanda said. "Only Harvey and Noah know the contents, I guess."

"Right," Lillian said, picking up the wig and fiddling with it. Her guts twisted in foreboding. Could the report have mentioned that night? "Harvey is good at his job, huh?"

"Yes, he can dig up anything about pretty much anyone. And no offense, but humans have pretty lousy security for their citizens' personal information."

Lillian hoped her smile wasn't as shaky as she felt.

He knew.

After a shower where Lillian scrubbed hard, under Amanda's orders, in order to get rid of Noah's scent, she let the vampire prep her, do her make up, hide her hair beneath the wig that felt odd on Lillian's head, spray a ridiculous amount of perfume on her and push her into the little black skater dress with a sequined bodice.

"Okay, smile for the camera." Amanda said, holding her phone up.

"Why? What is it for?"

"Your ID," she said while snapping the picture. "I'll send it to Harvey, he'll have one ready in no time at all. Okay, shoes... hmm, let's go with these, not too high in case you want to run, but enough heels to do damage. I love high heels, they're very versatile. When people search for weapons they always disregard the heels. That's a great advantage for women, if you know how to use them. But Elle disagrees with me on this one. Although she's an exception since she's deadly with or without weapons."