Couldn't Get Her Off His Mind

Anna went to the apartment and installed the software she needed on her cellphone. After one last check, she donned on a pretty dress and decided she looked presentable enough for the fancy restaurant.

On the other side of the town, Ladislas received a message on his normally useless cellphone. It gave him a time and a location. The sender made his blood boil.

As if throwing the phone against the wall wasn't enough, he stepped on it, cracking it using his feet to ensure not one part of it remained functional.

How the hell had the cult people found his contact information? He had already cast a skipping spell on the house, making it impossible for anyone apart from Penelope and him to see through it and find the house.

Though it meant that the deliveries they had booked kept being returned, it was still better than talking to pesky humans who had little more than cow dung for brains. That too was a huge compliment to their non-existent intelligence.

Ladislas had been careful. He wasn't new to evading unwarranted attention. Religious heads from all over the world had at some point or the other taking an interest in him. Taking precautionary measures was like second nature to him. Though he enjoyed a good chase and wreaking havoc, listening to religious mumbo jumbo was not on his list of interesting activities. Still, something passed through his defense. It must have been the Dean who had let this information escape.

'I went too easy on him,' Ladislas grumbled.

Ladislas was irritated.

Yet, he composed himself. There was no use getting angry at what had already been done anyway.

A trip to a fancy restaurant never hurt anyone.

.

Ladislas' eyes roamed around the restaurant before it slightly recognized a face. Ah, of course—the cult had sent the highest-ranking female. How typical.

Looking comfortable in her seat, drinking some red wine, she looked blissfully unaware of how dangerous he was. Maybe they thought that women were easily underestimated and would put him at ease.

Ladislas took the seat across from her, pouring himself a glass of the wine, not bothering to amuse her with pleasantries. There was nothing pleasant about this meeting in the first place.

"Get to the point," he said sharply as he thumbed through the wine specials for the night. He looked up and subtly caught the attention of the waitress. "I don't have much time."

"Over-eager, are we?" the woman let out a teasing yet seductive giggle, swirling the wine glass in her hand as she licked her stained lips for excess. "Usually I would wait for men to dine me before giving them what they want. But for you, Ladislas Forester, I would make an exception."

Ladislas looked at the wine he was holding and furrowed his brow. "I don't understand your intention, but it holds no interest for me. Judging from this absolutely horrific wine choice of yours… you can offer me nothing."

If this was the cult's idea of trying to get Ladislas to do something, they clearly knew nothing of him.

"What do you want?" he asked anyway.

The woman kept her eyes glued on him. "You," she said simply.

Ladislas raised his brow. "Cut the bull," he said expressionlessly, making sure she would not get the satisfaction of eliciting the reaction she wanted from him.

She didn't bother to hide the displeasure on her face as she rolled her eyes at him.

"Well then," she started off. "You have talents that are valuable to us, Ladislas. Despite that slippery hand of yours that took out Robert, we will give you that."

Ladislas ignored that snide remark. He wondered, out of all the places, this weird cult had set their meeting here. Snickering, he continued. "You invited me out because you couldn't find my house, correct?" He tilted his head to the side. "Aren't you afraid of being seen with me? Or is that exactly what that slimy leader of yours wants?" he asked.

"Wow. You clearly think like him." She leaned on the table on her elbows, highlighting the plunging neckline of her dress for the evening.

"No. I know how your organization things. I have been in the business for longer than you can imagine." Unfazed by her flirting, Ladislas once again scanned the room, checking to see if he had missed anything the first time he had done so. "After all, he got baited by my hunting dog once."

The woman gritted her teeth, hiding the offense taken in the guise of a forced smile.

"Maybe you are forgetting something here, Ladislas. We have connections high up within the city. You have no influence over the people here. We could tattle about your… talents. You'll not have a single peaceful day," she replied in a condescending tone, hoping she would trigger the unusually calm man in front of him. "Where does that place you?"

He was silent as he searched for every nook and cranny of the luxurious restaurant.

Only, his eyes stopped at the woman he had met at the club and become fascinated with. Anna Dunn.

He had to do a double-take.

She was clearly on a date, wearing a sinful little blue dress. One that he had never imagined she would wear. Her ivory skin gleamed under the warm but faint light as she generously gave a polite smile to the man in front of her.

He was so used to picturing her in her sloppy clothing that seeing her in that dress made him gulp from the distasteful glass of wine in his hand.

It had never been a problem for him to ignore humans in the past. He had never had a hard time forgetting the countless faces who came and went in his life—in fact, it was his default setting.

But this one. This human… he couldn't get her off his mind.