Part 6

Phoenix didn't particularly want to be there, but she had no choice. She had nowhere else to go, and Aurelia was the one person who might have some answers for her.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?" she asked sourly, folding her arms.

Aurelia just sneered at her. "Why should I?"

Phoenix bit on her tongue and tried to count to ten to keep her temper. The bitch was still as infuriating as ever, and the sooner Phoenix dealt with her, the sooner she could go away.

But first she was going to have to get over her ego. She had only come here for one reason and wasn't particularly proud of herself for sinking to this. "I need your help," she said finally.

Aurelia just laughed. "Why would I want to help you?"

Phoenix glared at her maker. "You owe me," she snapped.

Aurelia snorted in disgust. "I owe you shit," she said, moving to close the door.

Phoenix's arm shot out, stopping her. She shoved past Aurelia into the apartment without being invited. "You abandoned me," she said heatedly, closing the door.

Aurelia's eyes rolled. Phoenix noticed she didn't let go of the gun she was holding. She also seemed to realise Phoenix wasn't going to go away until she got some answers.

"What's your point?" Aurelia's tone was cold.

Phoenix smiled, not a particularly nice smile. She had been expecting this, so a little information digging had been rather handy. "Your first soulmate abandoned you, your sister abandoned you, left you to die by the hand of Night World scum."

Aurelia scowled, her pretty features darkening. Bingo. Phoenix had hit a sore spot. Aurelia folded her arms. "Yeah, but both Adonis and Katalina are very dead." Her lip curled in contempt.

Phoenix shrugged and waited. "Look at it this way, you help me out, and the sooner you do, the sooner I leave."

Aurelia sighed heavily. "You're not going to shut up until I agree, are you?"

Phoenix smiled. "Nope." With that settled she sat down in a white leather arm chair and explained what had been happening. She had learned there were rumours of something going on between Aurelia and Blaine but no one really seemed to be sure as to what it was.

"What'd you do to get an idiot like Blaine hunting you?" Aurelia asked, seeming rather amused. Phoenix didn't see what was so funny.

She shrugged. "I don't know," she admitted. "That's what I need to find out." Before she could say exactly why she needed Aurelia's help for that a door opened and an extremely sexy guy came out with a towel around his waste heading into another room.

Aurelia just looked at her innocently. "What?"

Phoenix frowned. She had seen the guy that night in the bar she had met Blaine. He'd been hanging all over Aurelia and Blaine had been jealous. He had also been there in the shadows when Blaine had tried to attack her.

"Who's he?" she asked, suspicious. He and Blaine might be working together to get rid of her.

"Why don't you ask me?" The guy had come back into the room, fully dressed now in a black sweater and black jeans. His dark hair hung loose to his shoulders. His expression was as cold as everyone else's.

Phoenix turned to glare at him. "Who are you?"

He gave her an unpleasant smile. "Donavon Wolf. You've been naughty, little fire-bird." He turned to Aurelia, his smile gone. "Why do you know her, and what the hell is she doing here?" he demanded.

Aurelia shrugged. "One of my not-so-great creations. She's pissed off enough people to be hunted down by the Council and has also been reduced to even asking for my help."

Phoenix wondered how Aurelia would react if she learned her boyfriend was also in on the mission to kill her. Aurelia turned to Donavon. "Go away Don," she told him. "The sooner I answer her questions, the sooner she leaves."

Donavon turned and walked away, leaving the apartment. Phoenix looked back at Aurelia. Aurelia looked at her evenly. "Any idea where to start?"

Phoenix frowned. "Can you find out if any of your team have a hit on me?"

Aurelia snorted. "Even if they did I wouldn't do anything about it. I'll ask around and see what I can find out."

Phoenix's eyes rolled. Great. Just the type of friend everyone wanted. At least she was starting to get somewhere. She left then, relieved to be out.

Not relieved to know she might be being followed. She wanted some answers, and not having them was staring to drive her crazy.

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