Blood and Destiny (9 page)

His tone was edged with intensity and I had a moment of suspicion. Was he being especially vehement because he had or was he trying to reassure me of his loyalty? Considering how badly he wanted that transformation, either one was possible. It didn’t bode well for me.

“Did he say what he wanted with me, Dan?” I asked as gently as I could. It was a more abrupt question than I would have liked, but I was afraid I’d lose my moment if I didn’t rush a little. Dan was apparently having one of his better days, but who knew how long it would last?

Dan shook his shaggy hair wolfishly. “He didn’t say, but we think he means to hurt you. You shouldn’t be scampering about even in daylight. We can’t protect you from him. We can’t. You need to go back where someone can look after you. You need protection.”

His voice was beginning to get agitated, so I interrupted. “It’s okay, Dan. I came out because I needed to ask you a question and then I’ll go straight home. I promise. But right now, I need your help.”

That brought a huge grin to his face and his mounting agitation melted away. With careful fingers, I opened the messenger bag and pulled out the photographs. Holding them in one hand, I reached back in and pulled out the folded bills I had tucked in a different pocket.

He wouldn’t take the money if it were offered. Diesel Dan didn’t like charity. I dropped the bills onto the pavement away from the trash bins. His gaze flickered behind me. He’d pick it up after I’d gone. At least, I hoped he’d remember. The key was not to stay too long even on his saner days.

“Have you seen either of these people, Dan?”

He looked at the pictures and frowned. He started to shake his head and reached out and snatched the picture of Betsy Vincent from my hand in a movement faster than it should have been. The move made me question how close his mentor was to bringing him into the world of the undead. I added a note to my mental list to have Marcus talk to this Caroline and reinforce the decision not to observe the rituals regarding the shaggy vagabond.

“I know this woman. She was withhim .”

“Who?”

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“The one in the shadows. She was hisspecial toy.”

So, that answered a couple of questions. My mysterious visitor wasn’t random. Granted, I’d gathered as much from what he’d said, but it was nice to have some things confirmed. Mr. Pink Panther also had Betsy Vincent. Of course, that didn’t tell me why he’d tipped me off about the vampire she had disappeared with.

Gently taking the photograph back, I slid it under the one of Betsy’s lover.

“Thank you. That helps me a lot. Can you look at this guy and tell me if you saw him?”

Dan beamed at the praise and stared at the picture with renewed concentration. He cocked his head yet again and finally shook his head.

“He wasn’t there. I know it.”

Tucking the pictures into the bag, I prayed he was sane enough to be able to answer the question I’d saved for last.

“Where, Dan? Do you remember where you saw the vampire hiding in the shadows with the lady?”

He opened his mouth to answer, but dove for cover behind the dumpster when a car playing far too much base backfired on the street. Just like that, it was over. He cowered and stared at me with a wild expression, gibbering. Mentally cursing old cars, I backed away carefully. At the mouth of the alley, I leaned against the old bricks and loitered while I considered the pieces to the puzzle he had given me.

Now, I knew for certain that my mysterious visitor had Betsy Vincent. Hearing that he was after me made me glad I’d taken the lion up on his offer. Scaring me was a hard thing to do, but this vampire had done it. If he wanted me, there wasn’t much to stop him from trooping in and zapping me into submission. It made a strong argument for not going anywhere alone until this case was over, provided my suspicion that it would be harder to zap more than one person at a time was correct.

There were reasons vampires that old were historically hunted down. Bram Stoker’s “fictional”

diary account was one case in hundreds. Fear was a powerful motivator.

I wasn’t sure how much time had passed before Diesel Dan poked his head out from behind the dumpster, but it was long enough for my paranoia to make me jumpy. He looked out, saw me, and jerked his head back. He didn’t hide as long the second time. He peeked out cautiously before scuttling out on all fours to grab the cash from the pavement and hurrying away without so much as a making eye contact with me.

At least he had enough money to get a hot meal and maybe a bed for the night. With a tired sigh, I pushed away from the building and made my way to my car. The drive home didn’t answer any of my lingering questions. I let myself in downstairs and into my office.

Making notes in the file only took a moment, but it gave me a chance to unwind from my adventure. After locking the notebook securely in the desk drawer, the clock showed there was enough time for a nap before I had to meet with my evening escort. I trotted upstairs for my pajamas and blacked-out bedroom.

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Sleep came fitfully. The toneless beeping of the alarm snapped me awake. It took another shower to bring me back to life and fresh coffee to prepare me for the night to come.

Wandering into my closet, I surveyed my selection of clubbing clothes. When going into a hostile situation, I had two options. I could appear harmless or I could go for fierce. Leather was best for putting together a look that displayed my assets as the huntress I was. Since black was the only shade I had, once I made my choice of attire, I was set.

This look, I could do with my eyes closed. It didn’t say good things about my entertainment choices.

At a quarter to one, I pulled on the boots that went with the pants and chuckled over the low heels.

At least I wouldn’t have to worry about breaking my neck if I made a run for it. Finishing off the outfit with the messenger bag carrying the pictures and my ID, I was ready to go.

Locking the back door and trotting down the steps, I smelled lion a heartbeat before I saw a shadow move away from the wall. Moonlight bathed Luke in a glow and I pulled up short.

Gone was the conservative boy-next-door and in his place stood a species I wasn’t prepared to face. He wore leather pants that weren’t new. Even in the shadows, I could see they clung to his body with loving familiarity. The shirt was silk. Two steps closer revealed them both to be the same deep brown of his hair instead of the black I first thought them.

“Glad to see you packed prepared.”

It sounded waspish, but I meant it to. Anything to cover up the way my body clenched at the sight of him. Maybe it was simple deprivation, but I wanted to get the business of the night over so I could explore the sudden potential wrapped in leather before me. When I’d called him a dead-end candidate earlier, it was only physical distance that made it so. Distance suddenly wasn’t such an obstacle. When he answered, his voice showed a rougher, more edgy growl.

“I never know when I’m going to be invited to visit a hell with a hot lioness in need of taming.”

I laughed as I skipped down the last few stairs. “Dream on, lover boy. Better men than you have thought it and tried.”

“Bettermen . I’m not a man. I’m a lion and you’re beginning to realize there is a difference.”

I tossed a look over my shoulder as I moved to my car only to have his hand stop me with a gentle grasp on my forearm.

“My car is a rental and insured. Something tells me we might need the extra precaution.”

“Sexy, professional man who packs leather for out-of-town weddings and can think in precarious situations. Does your dating profile read like that?”

White flashed as he laughed with me. It softened the tough image enough to make him seem approachable. It also served to remind me exactly what kind of danger I was about to put him in.

We turned toward the street and passed through the alley that doubled as the entrance to our parking area, and the lion was obscured by the shadows once more. By the time we stepped onto

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the sidewalk and were bathed in the artificial light from the street lamps, a hunting lion had replaced the man. His gaze canvassed the area with an experienced air.

The sudden change only added more questions to be asked later.

“Don’t even think about leaving me behind. I’ve shed my Clark Kent persona and turned into Superman for you. If you think to go it alone, I know where you’re going and whom you’re going to meet. I will bring reinforcements.”

His perception stopped me in my tracks, literally. Finally, I shrugged and motioned toward the dark car at the curb. “Then let’s get this done.”

His hand slid along my arm and around my waist. He must have felt the shiver as he handed me into the sedan but had the grace not to comment. The car had seemed roomy and luxurious sitting in the back with Yasmine. Sitting in the front with Luke, it was still luxurious but definitely felt a lot smaller.

The navigation system broke the silence as he drove across town. I wasn’t sure what to say and he seemed to be happy with his attention on the streets. Thankfully, there weren’t many cars on the road.

The street he turned onto wasn’t the kind of place where I thought I’d find something like a blood hell. It was upper middle class, quiet, with cars that screamed of soccer moms. We parked on the curb and walked to the house. I felt somewhat ridiculous until we rang the bell and met the woman who answered the door. She was wearing a flaming scarlet bustier with a pair of striped Spandex pants that left absolutely no doubt about her lack of underwear preferences. She took one look at us and pointed to an open door halfway down the hallway from the foyer.

“Downstairs.”

In the process of checking out the two-story foyer, a tiny face peeked around the open railing on the second floor. Fear and outrage swamped me. What kind of woman hosted vampires with killing binges in her basement while her children slept upstairs?

Luke’s gaze followed mine as his arm locked around my waist. He was right. First things first. I vowed this would be the last time it happened. For the moment, the children were safe. It would be too high profile for someone to prey on the hosts’ family.

I let him steer me to the door and preceded him to the basement. A man sat in a recliner beside a doorway hidden behind a bookshelf that had been pushed aside for the event. He set his book down, straightened his glasses and surveyed us before standing up.

“You’ve not been here before?” He made it a question, but there was a keen intelligence in his gaze that the woman who opened the door had lacked. Obviously, we weren’t going to be able to waltz past this doorman.

“Nope. Nice house. Yours?”

“Thank you and yes. We like it.”

He turned to face me while sliding between the not-so-hidden door and us. The movement made the collar of his rugby drop enough to show not one, but two healing sets of bite marks. So it wasn’t the lady of the house catering to vampires, after all. The realization that the woman who had opened the door had been lacking that telltale mark made me feel a momentary flash of guilt at judging her so harshly.

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Luke slid his hand from my back to my arm and tugged me ever so slightly. He had obviously reached the same conclusion I had.

“Come on, Anne. I knew this was a bust. Just because that vamp gave you a good ride yesterday doesn’t mean we’re going to stroll in for a repeat performance. He obviously was blowing you off.

Let’s go find that lioness he told us about and see if she wants to play.”

I blinked at him and covered it with a glare. Acting was never my favorite element of work, but I gave it a go.

“Harry, you only want to get us both into bed and her into our pride. If you want to wake up sandwiched between us, this is what it’s going to cost. I want another go at that vampire before I have to share my mate with some strange lioness. Especially since you don’t even know if she’s going to want anything to do with you. Come on, she’s living alone. What kind of lioness lives without a pride?”

The man watched our exchange with increasing interest. Subtly, I nearly missed it, he wrinkled his nose and scented us. My first thought was shapeshifter, but he didn’t feel like one. There was absolutely no magic clinging to him. Something flashed in his gaze and I knew that while he might look human, he wasn’t. I didn’t know what he was, but human wasn’t it.

We were obviously into something deeper than the average vampire hell.

“Anne, I’m telling you, he blew you off. This cloak-and-dagger hunt is another way to ditch you.

You’re wasting our vacation on an obsession. If you’re that interested in having another bloody ride, we can find one for you when we get home.”

I used his comment as an excuse to let my magic out a little, as if I were getting angry. It washed over the doorman and sparked absolutely no magical clashes. I wanted to feel him out more, but he spoke up.

“Perhaps, if you can tell me who you’re looking for, I can help? We’re a very tight community and the fact you’re here means that you’re obviously familiar with one of the intimate crowd.”

“We don’t know his name. We met him at the Mystic Vantage last night.” I prayed that whatever he was, he couldn’t hear the lie. He smiled and I added that to my growing list of characteristics to research later.

“Describe him, then.”

I described the vampire from the photos and watched the man’s face as he obviously recognized him. He opened the door and waved us through.

“He’s in the back. The combination to the room is twenty-six, seventy-four, twelve.”

I moved through the door wondering what he meant and found myself at the head of another stairway. While I heard nothing, I put my hand on the wall to steady myself and felt vibrations.