Forbidden Passion (22 page)

She had to make a run for it.

Grabbing a towel and covering her mouth with it to keep from inhaling smoke, she kicked the door again, with all her force, and it finally gave. Once in the next room, she pivoted, scanning the room for a way out, but a thick wall of smoke nearly obliterated the doorway at the far side of the room.

Heat scalded her as she raced across the room and vaulted through the burning doorway. Flames engulfed the structure, roaring all around her.

Dear God help her. She was trapped!

Another cabinet filled with supplies exploded behind her. She screamed as the impact threw her to the floor, and heat scorched her face as the flames danced around her. A wall crashed and ceiling titles pitched downward. Smoke thickened, choking her, and she covered her head with her hands.

Debris pelted the back of her skull, and the room spun into darkness.

Hunched on the ground in the woods outside BloodCore, Gerald Daumer rocked himself back and forth, tugging his tattered coat around him. He’d been hiding out for days, living in one cold, ratty cave and then another like some damn wild animal. Horrible creatures lived in those caves.

Evil beings that ate humans and devoured their souls.

He’d escaped one of them, although the monster had taken a chunk out of his leg. The wound was yellow and full of pus and hurt so bad he could barely walk.

He couldn’t go back to those caves.

But he couldn’t turn himself in. His picture was all over the news. Everyone was looking for him.

Because he’d tried to hurt Marlena.

The voices screamed at him again. They were getting worse. Horrible, vile sounds that made him want to die. “Do it,” the voice shouted in his ear. “Kill her. Finish her off.”

“Shut up!” he screeched. He banged his fists on the rocks by the river until blood dripped down his arms. “Leave me alone.”

“You coward. You’re evil. Show Satan that you love him.”

He covered his ears with his bloody hands, screeching to drown out the voice. The evil, twisted images of the dead girls played through his head, taunting him, the bloody scenes driving him insane.

He had to stop it. Put an end to the madness.

Even if he had to die.

Rising from his haunches, he slithered through the woods, sneaking between bushes and trees until he made his way to the service entrance to the lab.

“Kill her,” the voice commanded. “Then you can have eternal life.”

“No,” he muttered. “I know who you are and I’m going to tell her so she can stop you.”

He crawled into the building, hiding in the shadows of the storage room, waiting until footsteps died before he crept into the dark hallway to find the stairs. Marlena had promised to save him.

She had to, before the devil completely swallowed him.

The call about the fire at BloodCore sent Dante running to his SUV He’d been working day and night on the investigation, had been combing the underground tunnels listening to the demons talk, hoping to find Daumer. A couple of times he’d even detected his scent in the caves, had sensed that he’d just missed him, that he might be closing in.

But then he’d escaped.

Darnmit, Marlena was supposed to be safe at the lab. And a fire…

The SUV ate the miles, tires skidding on black ice from the recent ice storm. He shouted for cars to move over, blaring his horn to get drivers to let him pass, then finally turned onto the road leading to BloodCore.

The minute the lab appeared in view, he spotted the smoke curling in the sky. Flames were shooting from the top of the building. The sound of metal and wood crackling mingled with panicked voices and cries as employees poured from the building onto the snow-packed ground.

Frantically he searched the sea of faces for Marlena as he jumped from the SUV and rushed through the crowd.

“How did the fire get started?” someone asked.

“Did you hear that explosion?” a young man said.

“Oh, God, oh, God, I thought I wasn’t going to get out.”

Dante grabbed a lab tech’s arm. “Where’s Dr. Bender?”

“I don’t know,” the young girl screeched.

Dante released her, then pushed through a half-dozen more people, asking each one, but no one had seen her.

An older woman with red hair finally approached him with terror-stricken eyes. “You were asking about Dr. Bender. Her office is down the hail where the fire started.”

His chest tightened. Marlena might be trapped inside.

Rage fueled his blood, and he sprinted to the front door, inching sideways as another employee stumbled out. Behind him, the fire engine roared up and screeched to a stop. Another police car and an ambulance wailed to a stop, lights flashing, and rescue workers jumped into action.

“Everyone get back, clear the area!” one of the firefighters yelled.

Dante ignored them and headed inside the building, yelling Marlena’s name as he scanned the smoky entrance. The front office was ablaze, smoke clogged the hallway, and ceiling bits caved in with a loud crash.

Dragging a handkerchief from his pocket, he crammed it over his mouth and plunged into the smoke-filled hallway. Normally he would have been mesmerized by the flames, sucked in by the heat and the intensity and power of the fire.

But all he cared about was that Marlena was inside.

That she might be dead. Killed by his first love, the fire.

For one brief moment, he suddenly hated it. Wished he had the power to extinguish the flames, not give life to them.

But he didn’t.

Flames licked his jacket, teased his face, and scalded his hands and legs as he forged on. The thick smoke nearly blinded him as he dashed up the stairs, and he blinked to clear his vision.

“Marlena!”

Glass shattered as a window exploded, and he kicked aside burning rubble and wove through a maze of debris. “Marlena!”

Finally he spotted her lying on the floor in the hallway, face-down, the flames licking at her. His pulse pounded, and he jogged over to her, dropped to the floor, and checked her pulse. Seconds ticked by. “Come on, Marlena, you can’t die…”

Finally he felt her chest rise, and her pulse kicked in.

It was faint, but she was alive.

The wall behind him collapsed, splinters of burning wood flying. He snuffed out the sparks on his sleeve, then scooped Marlena into his arms, shielding her with his body as he raced back through the burning building. Another wall crashed, blocking his exit.

He cursed, searching for an escape route. Then he spotted an opening and wove his way back to the stairs. Desperate to get her out, he jogged down the steps, dodging crackling wood and ceiling tiles flailing down.

Marlena moaned in his arms, her breathing labored as he carried her outside. Chaos reined, the lawn crowded with frightened and shaken employees.

“Dante…”

“Shh, I’ve got you,” he murmured.

Paramedics were tending to an older woman, and be hurried toward the ambulance. “Dr. Bender needs medical attention,” he yelled.

One of the medics glanced up, then nodded and retrieved a stretcher from inside the ambulance. Dante carried her to the stretcher and eased her down onto it.

A strangled sound made him jerk his head up, and he glanced sideways and noticed Prudence Puckett standing at the edge of the crowd. She was hunched in her coat, her hair draped down to hide her scar, but the cold way she was staring at him and Marlena made him pause.

Marlena stirred as the medic shoved an oxygen mask over her face, and Dante jerked his attention back to her.

“How did the fife start, Marlena?” Dante asked.

She pushed at the mask with a cough. “I don’t know.”

Rage shot through him as he looked back at the blaze. He’d bet his life it was arson, that the killer had intentionally set the building on fire and was somewhere close by, taking perverse joy in the havoc.

Out of the corner of his eye, a woman’s image caught Dante’s attention. He jerked his head sideways. Prudence Puckett.

A sinister smile curled her lips, then she ducked her head and dashed through the crowd away from the burning lab.

Dante squeezed Marlena’s arm. “I’ll be right back.”

Instincts alert, he jogged after her. Why was Prudence running away? And what was she doing outside Blood-Core?

The crowd had thickened as the news reporters arrived, cameras rolling. Damn, Jebb Bates was right in the thick of things, interviewing employees, asking questions, probably planting suspicion.

Dante darted through the spectators, but Prudence disappeared into one of the side alleys between two other buildings housing other medical offices. The acrid scent of smoke clogged the air as he chased her through a row of parked cars.

She broke into a full run, but his speed kicked in, and a second later, he snagged her arm.

“Let me go,” she said in a shrill tone.

Dante tightened his grip. “What are you doing here, Prudence?”

She tried to jerk away, but he forced her to look at him. “I asked you a question. What were you doing at the lab? Did you set that fire?”

“Of course not. I came to talk to Dr. Bender.” She yanked her arm free. “But when I arrived at the lab, it was already on fire, so I didn’t go inside.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Then why were you running away?”

She stared at the smoke curling into the sky with an odd, faraway expression. “I don’t like fire,” she said, then touched her cheek self-consciously.

“What about Dr. Bender? Do you have a grudge against her?”

 
A bitter laugh escaped her. “Don’t be ridiculous; I’ve been seeing her for therapy.” Prudence rubbed at her wrist

as if he’d hurt her.

Dante studied her for another moment, sensing she was holding back information. “Do you know any of the other doctors here?”

She folded her arms. “Dr. Sneed,” she said icily. “I’m having plastic surgery, and he was giving me therapy to increase my immunity against rejection of skin grafts.” She touched her cheek again with a shaky hand, her fingers lingering over the puckered flesh as if the memory was raw, fresh.

“What kind of therapy?”

She pressed her lips together as if she didn’t intend to answer him.

“Come on, Prudence, tell me, what kind of therapy? Was it some new technique, maybe experimental?”

“He gave me injections to boost my immune system,” she said defensively. “Now let me go. I don’t have to discuss my medical condition with you. It’s private.” With a snort of disgust, she turned and ran from him as fast as she could, the snow swirling around her as she disappeared.

Questions ticked in his head as he watched her go. He still didn’t trust her. She’d been at the scene of the fire, had been watching in the crowd.

How exactly had she been burned? Could she be a pyromaniac?

Adrenaline pumping, he strode back to the lab. One of the firemen met him at the edge of the lawn, tugging at his hat. “Are you the sheriff?”

Dante nodded.

The firefighter crooked a thumb toward the building. “We found a man’s body inside. Poor guy didn’t make it.”

Dammit. Dante followed him to a second ambulance, scanning the crowd, but a sea of faces swam in front of him and no one stood out.

Gritting his teeth, he pulled back the sheet to view the body. Bruises and burns marred the man’s face and hands, and his clothes were torn and ragged. His face had suffered minor burns, but not enough to disfigure him.

“His name is Gerald Daumer’ Dante said tightly. “The police have been looking for him.” He shifted on the balls of his feet. “I want an autopsy performed on this man, and the fire investigator and CSI team to look for evidence of arson.”

“Why do you think arson?” the firefighter asked.

“Because Daumer’s wanted by the police for questioning in the murders of the three women in town.”

“You mean he’s the Torcher?” the fireman muttered.

Dante grimaced. Jebb Bates had dubbed the man with that name. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”

But if he was the serial killer, how had he ended up dead?

He smiled as he watched the chaos on the lawn beside the lab, the frightened lab employees, the rescue workers, the horrified expressions of the spectators, the tears from the terrified and injured.

Valtrez looked stumped as he conferred with the fire chief, and one of the deputies canvassed the crowd asking questions, trying to sort out what had happened.

Firemen dragged hoses and dumped water on the burning building, desperately trying to extinguish the flames. The beautiful flames that spurted into the sky, shooting off brilliant colors; red, yellow, orange, even a faint purple streak from the chemicals stored in the lab.