Bitten By Regret (Just One Bite #2) (6 page)

Weary, Lizbeth pulled her Nissan into the driveway and just
sat there a moment trying to calm her mood before walking in the front door.
Finally feeling a little more stable she got out, grabbed her briefcase and
walked up the front steps. She opened the door and let herself in and her new
good mood turned to dust as she heard Jonah's laughter mixing with Diandra's
coming from the parlor.

Sighing heavily she strode into the room. "Hey,
sweetheart, what's going on?" she asked with a fake smile plastered across
her face. She walked over and planted a kiss on Diandra's lips before scooping
RaeLynn off the floor. She felt a stab of petty satisfaction at the frown that
briefly crossed Jonah's face as he watched her interact with the family that
was once his.

"Nothing, sweetie.
Jonah was
just reminding me of some silly things that happened back when we were married,
that's all." Even as Diandra smiled warmly at her, Lizbeth's stomach
plummeted. Sneaky bastard- he was giving it a Hell of an effort, taking them
away from her, she thought sourly.

"I'm sorry I'm so late getting home, baby. It's been a
long day and Alexar and I had to put in some overtime," Lizbeth started
explaining.

Jonah cut in. "You and Alexar? Excuse me; I believe
there are some things I haven't gotten caught up on yet." He turned to
Diandra, clearly seeking an explanation.

Diandra rolled her eyes as she filled him in. "There
was a job that needed filling, Jonah. You're dead and buried as far as anyone
knows. Alexar wanted Lizbeth for the job and I talked her into it," she
said with a smile in Lizzie's direction.

"Wow," Jonah said, a hint of anger warming his
voice. "So Lizbeth gets my wife, my daughter and my job. Want my dick,
too?"

Diandra gasped but Lizbeth just shot him a dirty look.
"No thanks," she said dryly. "I have a strap-on upstairs. That
way I can take it off so I don't walk around all day acting like a dick. It's
an advantage women have over you primates."

Jonah stood up and approached Lizbeth menacingly but Diandra
cut in. "I think it's time you leave. We need dinner and then we're going
to bed. I will see you later, but please remember to call that cell phone
number I gave you before coming over. No
need to scare
Margaret by having her see
you." She calmly ushered him towards the
door and returned a moment later. She rounded on Lizbeth. "Must you
provoke him? This is hard enough on us all without you making things
worse."

Scooping RaeLynn from Lizbeth's suddenly limp arms, Diandra
carried the baby upstairs and put her to bed. Lizbeth sat in the parlor waiting
for her to return. Her last thought before curling up on the loveseat and
falling asleep was that Dia never came back down that night.

Chapter
Ten

When the alarm on Lizbeth's watch woke her the next morning
she went upstairs to find Dia and Rae already gone for the day. Fear coated her
throat and she gagged. Where had they gone and when had they left? She knew
Dia's vamp powers made it possible for her to move nearly undetected with
barely a leaf trembling in her wake. Hell, she could even have left through a
window and Lizbeth never would have known.

She trudged upstairs slowly and removed the pantsuit she'd
worn to work yesterday. She heated up the water to the right temperature for
her shower and threw the suit in the hamper to be washed with a grimace of
disgust. She hated wearing clothes to bed, especially when they were clothes
she'd worn to work. It may be silly and superstitious but she felt like if she
wore her work clothes around the house after her shift was over she was keeping
her work day with her like an odor or an aura. Shedding her work clothes when
she got home was more about her mental comfort than the physical. The fact that
she'd slept in them just proved how upset she'd been last night.

Forgoing breakfast, Lizbeth simply filled her travel mug
with coffee and left for work earlier than usual. When she pulled into the
precinct's parking lot she was surprised to see Alexar standing there.
Quickening her pace a bit she hurried over to his side. "Alexar, what are
you doing out here?"

He ran a hand through his thick hair and looked frazzled.
"We have a murder case to investigate. This day started too damned
early."

Saying nothing, Lizbeth turned towards her car and opened
the passenger door for Alexar. As he climbed in she walked around the car again
and got into the driver's seat. Turning the ignition over, she looked at her
boss expectantly. "This is no mere case, is it?" she asked quietly.

"No, it's definitely not." In his sudden silence
she studied him. His face looked haggard and drawn as though he hadn't slept
much the night before. He suddenly looked his age and that worried her above
all else. "No, it's not typical. It's another heroin murder but this
victim was a cop out of your old precinct."

Lizbeth's eyes left the road and locked onto his, startled.
"Who?"
She could already feel the "blue
grief" of the loss of a fellow officer.

"A Sergeant Jason Robbins," Alexar replied as her
breath left her in a loud whoosh of surprise. "I take it you knew him
then."

Lizbeth grimaced. "You could say that." At Alexar's
pointed look she flicked a glance his direction. "He asked me out when I
got out of the academy. When he found out I was a lesbian he stopped asking but
the harassment started." She noticed Alexar looked a bit uncomfortable.
They never discussed her relationship with Diandra. He knew and was happy for
them but they carefully avoided any intimate conversations about it.

"What kind of harassment? There's nothing noted in his
file about this."

Lizbeth shook her head and kept driving to the alley he'd
directed her to. "There wouldn't be. It was a boy's club in that precinct.
I never reported it or I never could have continued working with them. I had no
proof, only supposition. Nothing major- some hate notes in my locker, slashed
tires on the car, that kind of deal." Lizbeth shrugged but Alexar pressed
the issue.

"What else? I know you- there's more."

"I had
an
… altercation with
him yesterday." She filled him in and Alexar was silent while he took it
all in. An uncomfortable silence filled the car until they pulled up to the
crime scene. She reached for the door handle intending to climb out when Alexar
grabbed her arm.

"This scene is ugly- it's not just the heroin. Someone
deliberately injected him but he was beaten first. This may be too hard on
you." He shushed her protests with a raised hand. She fell silent and he
continued, "I mean it, Lizbeth. Just because you didn't get along with the
man doesn't mean this is going to be easy to see. I'm giving you a chance to
back out- I can get another officer on the scene to replace you. Take a look
and tell me if you can work this one, okay?"

Lizbeth nodded slowly and got out of the Nissan. Alexar did
the same on his side. She took a deep breath and entered the alley. The scent
of blood, urine and feces was instant and overwhelming in the confined space.
She reached into her pocket for her menthol rub and applied some to her upper
lip and inhaled deeply before passing the container to Alexar. She took in the
scene- trash, a used hypodermic needle and the body. Steeling herself she
approached the body, repeating the word "body" in her head so she
could distance herself from the remains of a man she despised but pitied
nonetheless.

She stifled a moan as she took in the damage done to the
body of Jason Robbins. His left arm was bent into a very strange position. It
appeared to have been broken in at least two places. His left kneecap was
shattered as was the right femur. The most grievous insult of all was the
damage done to his face. His left eye dangled onto the cheekbone. She knelt to
examine the rest of the destruction although it was not necessary. Carved into
his forehead, apparently prior to death judging by the blood that dripped from
the letters was one word; FAG.

Chapter Eleven

Just another unproductive day at work, Lizbeth thought to
herself as she walked through the front door of her home. She stopped and
listened to the silence- she could have sworn it had an actual sound to it.
Obviously Diandra and RaeLynn weren't home yet. She forced herself to trudge to
the kitchen and eat something even though she wasn't feeling very hungry
anymore. Lizzie knew if she didn't eat something her blood sugar would drop and
she'd be cranky and exhausted. She stared into the fridge and jumped with a
yelp of surprise when something furry brushed up against her legs. She looked
down to find Eamon is his familiar ivory cat form.

"I wish you wouldn't do that," she complained as
he shimmered up into his human form. "All this vampy shit is getting on my
last nerve." Irritably she slammed the fridge shut without taking anything
from it.

"Hey, don't take it out on me. I was just coming around
to see how Diandra was handling things," Eamon said as he backed out of
her way. She stalked past him to the cabinets where she reluctantly grabbed a
box of crackers to nibble on. "Where is Dia anyway?" Eamon
questioned.

Lizbeth ignored him for the moment as she headed for the den
that used to be Jonah's office and was now hers. "I don't know," she
said finally. "She and Rae were gone when I woke up this morning."

Eamon studied her silently. "We don't know each other
well but I feel we're on our way to becoming friends of a sort. How about you
tell me what happened and we'll see what we can figure out."

Lizbeth stared at him a moment before shrugging and filling
him in. Eamon whistled. "Wow, sounds like there's some heavy drama going
on. You're sure stuck in a bad spot, huh?' he said, not without sympathy for
the woman.

"Yeah, it's definitely not much fun around here now
that the asshole has made his grand reappearance." Sarcasm laced her words
but her eyes were full of pain. "I don't know what to do, Eamon. He's
Rae's father, he was Dia's husband until he died and undied or whatever. What's
my place here?"

"I wish I could help answer that question but that is
definitely one you need to figure out for yourself. Let me ask a question of
you in return- do you love them?" Eamon asked, watching her carefully to
judge the truth for himself.

"Of course I do."

"Do you want to leave?"

"No! They've become my world and they're all I
have."

Eamon studied her shrewdly. "Then why are you letting
him
win
?"

Lizbeth's mouth dropped open in surprise. She started to
answer him then closed her mouth without saying anything. "I never thought
of it that way. You're right." Impulsively she hugged him and he stiffened
under the casual embrace before carefully relaxing and patting her back.
"I'm going to call her and see exactly where she is. Help yourself to some
tuna or whatever."

Eamon grinned at her retreating form. "Yeah, sounds
good." He walked off towards the kitchen, whistling happily at the thought
of his favorite meal waiting for him.

*****

Lizbeth was in her den with her untouched paperwork on the
desk in front of her when she heard the front door open. Only a half hour had
passed since she called Diandra and asked her to come home. Eamon had made a
few tuna sandwiches and chatted with her for a few minutes. He finished his
dinner, thanked her solemnly, winked at her and then turned back into his
feline form. Her laughter was still ringing in the air as he darted out of the
room and was gone. She had changed out of her work clothes, slid into a
comfortable pair of shorts and a baggy tee shirt and padded barefoot into the
den with only the papers and a glass of wine for company. Instead of working
she tried to decide what she'd say to Dia and how she'd make her feelings known
but decided to just wing it when she heard the sound of Diandra's heels
clacking up the sidewalk.

"We're home," Diandra called as she shut the front
door behind her. "What's the emergency?"

Lizbeth strolled forward to meet her. She took RaeLynn in
her arms, hugging the child to her as she rained kisses over the baby's face.
Rae giggled and made smacking noises with her lips in return. Lizbeth turned to
head towards the parlor so RaeLynn could play with her toys. She noticed the
look of surprise on Dia's face as she failed to greet her at the door and she
smiled inwardly.

"I never said there was an emergency, Diandra. I merely
said I needed you to come home right away." Lizbeth set the baby on the
floor with a final kiss on her chubby cheek before straightening and facing the
angry vampire.

"You sure made it sound like an emergency. I scooped
RaeLynn up and left Jonah at the restaurant with barely a word. I flew home as
fast as I could and now you tell me there's nothing wrong?" Her voice had
risen to a screech at the end.

Lizbeth sat in the armchair, casually draping her legs over
one of the arms. "I said there is no emergency, not that there's nothing
wrong. Something is definitely wrong and we need to talk about it now before it
gets any worse between the two of us. Are you going to sit?"

Diandra reluctantly walked to the loveseat and sat down
stiffly. She smoothed a rigid hand over the skirt of her stoplight red halter
dress as she searched for something to say. "I don't know what you're
talking about now, Lizbeth. Things are fine between us."

Lizbeth raised her eyebrows. "Oh? I suppose that's why
you never came down last night, why you were gone when I got up this morning
and why you were still gone when I got home?" Diandra flushed before
meeting Lizzie's gave defiantly. "Face it, Dia, there are problems here
and once again you're avoiding them like you usually do."