Deadly Liaisons (16 page)

Voltan moved closer. Though the policeman attempted to stand his ground, everyone watched the situation with wariness, but no one else came to the man’s aid. Voltan towered over the guy until he final y lifted a massive shoulder and sat.

Daemon opened the door to the backroom, and four men looked up from a game of cards. Chief O’Mal ey sat at the far side of the table, facing him. More gray seemed to stripe his fiery red hair than the last time Tezra had seen him a few days ago. He glowered at Daemon and Voltan, then he shifted his attention to Tezra.

He motioned to the other men. “Can you give us some privacy for a while?”

“Sure, Chief.”

“Yeah, we’l get a drink.”

Though several half finished and empty bottles of beer sat on the table already, the men moved past the vampires, giving them a wide berth, and the last man winked at Tezra. “Campbel .”

Daemon turned his head so quickly, he looked like he intended to bite the guy.

She squeezed Daemon’s hand, which brought his attention back to her, then the cop shut the door with a jolt.

“Tezra, gentlemen,” Chief O’Mal ey said. “What can I do for you?”

He acted like he’d never cal ed the meeting, and now Tezra wondered if he had.

“Stand outside the room, Voltan,” Daemon said.

Voltan bowed and did as he was told.

“Could you please tel us how you knew Krustalus murdered my parents?” Tezra said, her voice sugar sweet in an attempt to get him to reveal the truth.

The chief’s bushy brows rose. “How would I have known that?”

Wrong answer.

Daemon moved so swiftly Tezra only heard O’Mal ey’s chair crash on its back. In the next instant, Daemon pinned the chief against the wal , his hand around the chief’s throat. “Tel …me…the truth.”

“H-he told me to say he was the one.”

“Why?” Daemon growled.

“H-he said it was a long-running game he had with Ms. Campbel . I had to tel her.”

A game—the bastard
. Tezra’s heart sank. “So you have no evidence. Nothing to prove he was the one. Did he appear before you?”

“Yes, he came to me,” the chief choked out, his eyes bulging.

“And Stevens, how come
he
knew?” she asked.

“Krustalus told him to tel you. I didn’t know he was going to kil Stevens.”

Daemon released the pressure on the chief’s throat, though he didn’t let go.

“So then Krustalus returned and ordered you to tel me the same thing?” Tezra asked.

“No. I mean, he told Stevens in front of me. After you cal ed and said Stevens was dead, I wanted you to catch and…terminate the bastard.”

Wary that this was another of Krustalus’s games, she didn’t trust the chief in the least bit now. “I’m not a huntress.”

“Mandy says you were trained as one before the SCU switched your job. I figured you’d have reason enough to want him dead.”

She sure as hel did, but no one would use her to bring Krustalus down for their own dark purposes.

“What was the connection between your police officers and the kil er?” Daemon asked, his voice as smooth as black velvet but as deadly as the honed edge of a steel blade.

“No…no connection.”

“There had to be a connection,” Tezra insisted. She wanted to mention how Mandy had overheard the police officers talking, then al of them ended up dead, but she thought better of it in case the chief was involved.

“Nothing I could discover,” the chief sputtered.

Not getting the answers she wanted, she focused to read his mind when Voltan relayed,
“Everyone’s clearing out. Looks like
we’re in for some trouble.”

“Krustalus,”
Daemon said, and Tezra sensed him nearby too.

She barely breathed when the number of vampires with him increased by several. “Did you want to meet me here because Krustalus made you cal me?”

“No,” the chief said.

Daemon squeezed the chief’s throat tighter.

O’Mal ey grappled with Daemon’s fingers. “Yes,” he croaked. “He said it was part of the game.”

Daemon released him, then joined Tezra. “We return now.”

“But if Krustalus is here, we could kil him. Wel , I could help if you’d given my swords back.”

“I wouldn’t risk it. There are too many with him.” Daemon telepathical y communicated,
“Voltan, we return home.”

But Voltan was already in a fight to the death and Daemon cursed under his breath.
“Atreides, Maison, send men to Cafferty’s
Tavern. Now!”

Slipping Tezra’s wrist daggers out from underneath his coat, he handed them to her.

Relieved and surprised, she raised her brows, then hurriedly strapped the wrist blades in place.

Daemon yanked the door open and kept Tezra by his side. Krustalus wasn’t in the bar, but several others were and some of them were attacking Voltan. The others waited patiently to get a piece of the action around the perimeter of the melee.

Like a choreographed dancer, the giant swept around, clanking his sword against his attackers’ weapons.

“Stay close,” Daemon said to Tezra, then swung his sword at a vampire. With one swift strike, he severed the vampire’s head from his neck.

Tezra dodged a vampire who tried to grab her wrist. Then she twisted around and hit him in the chest with her dagger. As soon as the blade reached his heart, he dissolved into ashes.

Only five of the vampires remained when Krustalus appeared. At once, she smel ed her father’s cologne on the bastard and knew it was him. But he was tal er than she had imagined, his hair darker, his eyes smal er, and his chin longer with a cleft the size of the Grand Canyon dividing it.

“Sorry,” he said, whipping out his sword, his black eyes sparkling with humor as he shifted his attention from Tezra to Daemon, then back to her again. “I had some other pressing business. Why don’t you come with me, dear Tezra, and Daemon and his friend can live?”

“Seems you and your thugs are outnumbered,” Tezra said as Voltan kil ed another.

Krustalus flexed his muscles and moved toward her with vampiric speed.

Daemon, who’d been fighting with two vampires, kil ed the one and left the other for Voltan, then moved in between Tezra and Krustalus to shield her.

“Why don’t you pick on someone more your own size, Krustalus?” Daemon sliced at the rogue, but Krustalus dodged the strike.

Krustalus’s thin lips turned up slightly, but his eyes remained ice cold while he slid out of the blade’s path again. “You want the huntress for your own, yet she is a dark huntress—a borderline renegade.” He lunged with his sword, but Daemon struck it with his own, knocking it out of his path.

“You have already taken several women for your own and it hasn’t worked out, from what I understand, my prince.”

What was that al about?

Tezra tried to get around the two of them to help, but Daemon effectively kept her behind him. Suddenly, four more vampires appeared and when one came for her and another tried to strike Daemon from behind, she wondered where the hel Daemon’s reinforcements were.

The vampire seized her arm, and she quickly cut it. “Behind you, Daemon,” she screamed.

But because he had to concentrate on the ancient in front of him, the vampire behind him stabbed him in the back.

“No!” Tezra finished off the one who tried to grab her and attacked the backstabber.

“The huntress wil end up like the other women you have mated, Prince Daemon,” Krustalus taunted.

Daemon struck Krustalus’s sword hard with a clank. “So why would you want the lady?”

Tezra stabbed the vampire who’d struck Daemon but missed his heart. She swore under her breath and attacked him again.

“She wil obey me. I’m not as soft as you,” Krustalus promised.

Suddenly, Atreides, Maison and a flurry of other vampires appeared in the bar. Krustalus gave a wicked smile. “Later, Tezra love. You and the others cannot always watch your back.” Then he vanished along with what was left of his vampire minions.

“I’m sorry.” Atreides grabbed Daemon’s arm when he looked ready to col apse. “Your telepathic communication was scrambled by Krustalus’s vampires. We weren’t sure where you were.”

Tezra sheathed her daggers and wrapped her arm around Daemon’s waist. “Are you going to be al right?”

“We go home,” he said in an annoyed tone of voice.

She wasn’t sure why he was mad, whether it was because he’d been injured, his brother and his people hadn’t shown up soon enough, he’d missed taking Krustalus down, or her concern about his welfare. But she was angry too.

She’d have given about anything to see the murderer of her parents turned into a pile of ashes.

“Daemon—” She didn’t get a chance to say anything more as he pul ed her hard against his body and took her into the dark abyss.

***

After sifting through a vortex of blackness, Tezra found herself in the middle of Daemon’s bedroom again, dizzier this time.

Voltan was speaking with Atreides and Maison downstairs, explaining what had happened in the bar.

“You shouldn’t have gone with me, Tezra.” Daemon col apsed on a chair, his look stern but pale.

Before she could respond, a tal , thin man dressed in a tux and carrying a black bag appeared next to him. Daemon greeted him with a bow of his head. “Doc.”

“I understand you’ve been injured, Prince Daemon.” The doctor quickly dispensed with the smal talk and helped Daemon out of the chair, then removed his coat and shirt.

“A mere inconvenience.” Daemon cast an arrogant smile at the doctor.

The man considered the wound and gave his head a slight shake, but hurried to clean it.

“Wil he be al right?” Tezra asked. She assumed Daemon would be wel enough once his vampiric healing abilities took over, though his face was ice white, and he looked ready to crumple.

The physician cast her an inquisitive look, then dismissed her question and said to Daemon, “She’s not one of us. She’s…the huntress?”

“Special Crimes Unit investigator by occupation,” she corrected him.

His mouth curved up a little while he bandaged the wound, stemming the flow of blood. Afterwards, he gave Daemon a bag of blood and bowed his head. “The wound should heal within the next twenty-four hours, but I suggest you stick to much more passive pursuits until then.”

The doctor glanced at Tezra, then vanished.

“Are you al right, Daemon? Do you want to lie down?”

Stil pale as death, he shook his head and sat back on the chair.

“Al right, then.” If he wanted to pretend to be Mr. Macho, fine. She might as wel get on with business. “About this matter with Krustalus—the chief has no proof that he murdered anyone. It’s just the chief’s word that Krustalus told him he was the kil er. The vampire could easily deny it.”

“I assumed as much, but the next time I tel you what to do, you’l do it.” His eyes narrowed and focused on hers.

Tezra ground her teeth and bit back what she wanted to say. Her sister’s dilemma was too important to quibble over whether Daemon thought he could control Tezra’s actions or not.

“One of Krustalus’s men could have spirited you away. I knew it was a setup, and next time I tel you to do something—”

She folded her arms across her chest and disregarded his scolding. “Listen, I don’t believe a perfect solution wil ever avail itself. There’s only one way to deal with this. You have to turn me.”

Daemon shook his head.

Once she made up her mind—damn the consequences—there was nothing stopping her. She was not taking no for an answer from him or anyone else. She was bound to bring her sister out of the darkness—and if it meant being changed, fine. She’d do it. “If changing me doesn’t work, Daemon, there wil be hel to pay.”

Daemon’s lips rose in a slow, lazy smile. Arrogance became him. “You presume too much.” Rising from the chair, he took her hands and kissed her lips, no pressure, gentle, unassuming.

She pul ed away from him and crossed the floor to the patio doors. “You said I had no other option. Why did you bring it up, then?” Taking a settling breath, she looked out at the forest. “I
have
to free Katie from this nightmare.” When Daemon didn’t say anything, she said, “You must have changed dozens of humans before. Why not me?”

His eyes darkened.

She folded her arms. “Okay, you know my past. Tel me what went wrong when you changed a woman.”

With one fluid move, he closed the gap between them. His mouth claimed hers, and his hands caressed her shoulders. She wanted to melt under his touch, but the issue of his turning her needed to be resolved.
Dammit.

Grabbing his strong hands, she stepped back from his kisses. She was certain it was the bloodlust cal ing to him. “Tel me what happened.”

His jaw tightened. Keeping his teeth sheathed, or annoyed she’d question him?

“You have to tel me why you won’t turn me, or let someone else do it.”

He growled something foreign, then straightened his broad shoulders. “When a vampire turns a human, it has to be mutual y agreed upon. The vampire seeks a mate; the human wishes the vampire to be his or her mate in return. The rogue vampire is the exception, turning a human either against her wil or letting her flounder on her own afterwards. That behavior is condemned.

”

He sat back on the chair, but she noticed his color already returning.

“I don’t want to be anyone’s mate. I just want to be turned. Wel , not real y, but I don’t feel I have any choice if I’m to help my sister.”

“Therein lies the problem. As a fledgling, you’d be at the mercy of rogues if you weren’t under a vampire’s protection as his or her mate. But the other difficulty is your reluctance to be turned. No decent vampire would change a human who didn’t wish it.”

She didn’t have a choice. Didn’t she already say so? And she didn’t want a mate! Attempting to get her annoyance under wraps, she drew close to him, crouched and circled one of his shirt buttons with her fingertip. “Not al vampires turn an individual and then make him or her their mate.”

“In those cases, the human pays the ancient vampire for his or her services for some mutual y agreed upon consideration to make the mortal semi-immortal without the tie. They’re a…different class of vampires. Not total y accepted by most.”