Unseen (The Heights, Vol. 1) by Lauren Stewart Read Free Book Online Page B

paperwork.
    HQ looked totally normal, nothing that the
human bike messengers or delivery folks would think was different
from the billion other office buildings in the city. The art on the
walls was spelled to look like something it wasn’t, something other than paintings of influential supers from the last few
centuries. The statue of a vamp surrounded by dead bodies—just in
case seers forgot what they kept from happening again—disguised for
non-seer eyes to look like a handsome prince surrounded by admiring
women.
    It all made Addison nauseous. But this was
the only life she had and so she’d live it as long as she could.
After flashing her ID to the security guard, she tucked it into her
pocket and headed towards the row of elevators. It was the only
place outside of her apartment where she could put her ID away.
Inside HQ, everyone was off-limits.
    Smith Street was the center for all North
American seers. Home to the historians, estate lawyers, travel
agents, and all the rest. A one-stop shop for the paranormal.
Disposal was on the fourth floor, on the side of the building with
the crappiest view. Addison went to the call center first.
    “What’s up?” Addison sat halfway on Dawn’s
desk.
    “I was about to call and ask you the same
thing, since your life seems to be a lot more exciting than
mine.”
    “You mean when I called you? It was a false
alarm.” Not surprisingly, her lie got her a look of disbelief. “You
didn’t log it in, did you?”
    Dawn shook her head. “You didn’t call the
main line so I didn’t have to.” She came close enough to whisper.
“What happened?”
    Addison considered telling her the truth, but
all it would do was bring Dawn into an already-dangerous situation.
“Turns out he was just some Goth kid role playing with his friends.
You should’ve seen me freak out when he opened his eyes.”
    “Shit, really?”
    “Yeah. Stupid human. It seems exciting from
the other side of the wall, I guess.”
    “Are you working tomorrow night? I wanna go
out.”
    “Maybe. I haven’t been sleeping well,
though.” And if my luck keeps going the way it has been, I’ll be
spending my night off babysitting a vampire and praying he’ll
die.
    “Is your friend working? The really, really
attractive one?” Dawn shrugged. “What? Just asking.” And it was
totally understandable. Not only was Logan really, really
attractive, he was also a really, really great guy. Not that Dawn
actually knew anything other than the really, really attractive
part.
    “I don’t know—he works a lot.”
    Dawn’s eyes widened at something behind
Addison. “My boss. Go.” She shooed Addison away just as a portly
guy showed up. They all had jobs to do—might as well do them.
    At the disposal desk, she plopped last
night’s paperwork and samples on Rhonda’s desk.
    “This is the first time you’ve been late in
six years, Addison. What’s going on?”
    “I’m training someone and I got a little
distracted by…distracting things.” Thankfully, that last bit of
nonsense came out as an unintelligible mumble. “My trainee asked
what the tally was for an average night, and I didn’t know what to
tell him. What was last night’s tally?” If the vamp who
claimed he was the Prime had phased from a big fight somewhere,
there would be witnesses to him being there, and Addison might get
out of this without dying.
    “City, country, or zone-wide?”
    “Just the city.”
    Rhonda swept her computer mouse around and
clicked a few times. “With your four…seven.” With that seven went
Addison’s theory.
    “Only seven, and we did four?” She knew her
route was busy—wealthy areas meant a higher percentage of supers
lived and died there—but she didn’t know she was the only disposal
tech who actually did anything. “Is that normal?”
    “No. It’s usually less. But a were and a
human were found in an alley. Huge mess. The human police got there
before we did, so Damage Control had to wipe a lot of