Luther's Return (Scanguards Vampires Book 10) (6 page)

“How?”

“Eddie and Thomas tested it out on each other. Made sense. Because of their bond, they could immediately sense when the other one would lie and then program the machine accordingly.”

Curious, Katie peered down into the room. Luther appeared calm, as if he’d resigned himself to his fate. As if he didn’t care what happened to him. An odd calmness emanated from him. It was Zen-like. It fascinated her, made her want to know more about him, and find out what went on behind the unreadable façade of his handsome face.

“He said to Samson that he was in prison for twenty years. What for?” she asked, turning to her brother.

“A murder plot.”

At Haven’s short answer, she gasped. “Murder?”

Her brother nodded. “It was before my time, and nobody talks about it much. But apparently he was trying to kill Delilah and Nina. Delilah was pregnant with Isabelle at the time. The attempt was thwarted by Scanguards, and Luther was put away.”

Open-mouthed, she stared down at Luther. “No wonder Samson was so enraged. Do you think Luther came back to finish the job? Maybe kill Isabelle instead?”

Ice shot through her veins at the thought.

“He denies having anything to do with it, and from what I’ve seen so far, I’m inclined to believe him.”

Haven pointed to the monitor to his left, and Katie followed his gaze. An image of a corridor was frozen on the screen. She recognized it. It was the area near the dressing rooms.

“He denies knowing the guy who took Isabelle. And from the partial face we have, so far we haven’t found a match in the databases. We’ll know more after the lie detector test. But no matter what the result is, Luther is dangerous. He’s not like us. He’s a criminal.”

Katie involuntarily shivered at her brother’s assessment. She could blame the air conditioning in the room, but she knew it was her body’s reaction to the man who was being interrogated.

Thomas and Eddie stepped back from Luther, giving her a good view of his scarred torso once more. Her fingers itched with the need to caress the marred skin, to feel for herself the damage that had been done to his body. As if she needed proof that he was somebody she had to stay away from. Somebody she should not find as fascinating as she did.

The phone rang, and Haven answered it. “Yeah?”

In the interrogation room below, Thomas gave Eddie a sign to switch on the machine. Next to Katie, Haven jumped up.

“I’ll be right there.”

She spun her head to him. “What’s wrong?”

“We have a lead. Somebody spotted a woman being dragged into a car not far from the University.” He was already at the door, when he looked over his shoulder. “Stay out of sight and out of trouble.” Then he sighed. “And Katie, I know this whole thing has to be particularly hard on you. But don’t let it drag you back to that dark place. It’s behind you. It’s over.”

She nodded automatically, shuddering at the memories, and watched the door fall shut behind him. Then she turned her eyes back to the window. Though Thomas spoke to Luther, there was no sound. Haven had probably switched off the speakers before leaving the observation room. Not wanting to alert anybody below that she was up here watching them, Katie didn’t dare try any of the buttons on the console to find the right one to listen in on the room below.

Instead, she turned to the computer screen and shifted into Haven’s empty chair. With a click of the mouse, she hit the play button on the screen and watched Isabelle’s abduction unfold.

She strained to get a better look at the kidnapper, but the grainy black-and-white picture and the camera angle didn’t help. Besides, the man kept his head down as if he knew that there was a camera. Isabelle struggled, and it was evident that she was using her vampire strength against the attacker, but the man seemed stronger than she. A vampire or a hybrid himself.

“Oh God, Isabelle,” she murmured to herself. “I’m so sorry.”

She reached for her student’s face on the monitor, wanting to comfort her, to tell her that she would do anything to find her, when she accidentally touched the mouse again, restarting the video from the beginning.

It was almost too much, having to look at it again. Helplessly, she stared at Isabelle, when she noticed her lips move, repeating the same thing over and over again.
Kimberly.
There it was, Katie’s stage name. Was she calling for help?

Katie used the mouse to go back in the video and played it again. This time she only looked at Isabelle’s lips. During her time on the stage, she’d learned to read lips—mostly because at the beginning of her career she’d had a hard time remembering her lines and had often needed the help of a prompter.

I’m not Kimberly.

Katie drew back in her chair. Isabelle hadn’t called for her to help her. She’d told her kidnapper that she wasn’t Kimberly. That she wasn’t the one he was after.

The vampire taking Isabelle had mistaken her for Katie.

“Oh God, no. It
is
my fault.”

“What are you doing in here?”

At the male voice, Katie whirled around and stared at the tall vampire entering the room.

“I’m Haven’s sister…”

“We’re on lockdown. Only Scanguards personnel are allowed.” Not too gently, he grabbed her by the arm.

She tried to pull free, but he was too strong. Furious, she glanced at the badge dangling from his breast pocket and read his name.

“My brother authorized me to be in here, Jake, and I’m sure he won’t be pleased that you’re throwing me out.”

Jake grinned with an air of superiority. “Nice try, lady, but Haven knows better. Let’s go!”

“Goddamn it!” she cursed under her breath. Just as she’d discovered something, some idiot was throwing her out.

Haven was out following the lead they’d gotten; Yvette was probably back at home with her son and daughter, and Wes was nowhere to be seen. Most likely he was still at the university, helping with the interrogation of the students and audience members.

Katie straightened her T-shirt after Jake had unceremoniously deposited her on the sidewalk outside of Mission HQ. For now, there was no way back into Scanguards’ shiny headquarters. But she knew how she could help nevertheless, because the realization that the kidnapper had been after her and not after Isabelle, had reminded her of something she’d tried to forget.

Katie dug for her keys and headed for her car. She would be home in less than ten minutes, traffic permitting, and back here shortly after that. And then Samson and the rest of Scanguards would have to listen to her and accept her help. Because she could find Isabelle.

She knew who’d taken her.

8

Bare-chested, Luther remained chained to the table and floor in the interrogation room. The electrodes had been removed and the polygraph carted out of the room. It had been several minutes since Thomas and Eddie had left him, both with unreadable expressions on their faces.

When the door opened anew, it was none other than Samson who entered. Gabriel followed him. The scar that reached from his ear to his chin gleamed under the harsh neon lights, making it look even more pronounced.

The gazes of his visitors immediately shot to Luther’s disfigured chest and reminded him of the ugliness of his upper body. A strange look crossed Gabriel’s face, and for an instant, Luther thought he noticed his old friend’s scar twitching in brotherly compassion. But it had to be a trick of the light.

Samson stopped in front of the table, looking down at him. The stress of the last hours showed on his face.

“You passed the lie detector test.”

Samson’s words were clipped, his jaw clenched, and it was evident that he hated to make such an admission.

Luther lifted his hands, rattling his chains. “Well, then I guess we won’t need these anymore.”

Samson snarled. “But I don’t trust you. For all I know you managed to beat the machine.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” Luther replied dryly. He paused for effectiveness. “Oh yeah, it’s because you can’t let bygones be bygones!”

The back of Samson’s hand hit him across the cheek. He swallowed the insult and faced him stoically, then slowly and deliberately turned his face to the other side.

“Would you like the other cheek, too?” he mocked.

Before Samson could take him up on the offer, Gabriel jerked his friend back by the shoulders.

“Don’t! He’s just provoking you.” Gabriel tossed him an acid look. “Pushing all the buttons again, are we, Luther?”

Luther lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug. “As long as there are buttons to push.” And by the looks of it, Samson could be more easily provoked than ever before. Was that what having a family did to a man? Turned him into a powder keg?

Samson’s nostrils flared as he visibly tried to get himself under control. “What are you doing in San Francisco, Luther?”

“Like I told Zane already, maybe I was in the mood for a cable car ride. None of your fucking business. Last time I checked this was a free country.”

“We’ll see about that.” Luther watched Samson exchange a look with Gabriel, before his number two nodded.

Samson placed his hands on the table and leaned in. “Here’s what we’ll do now. Gabriel will use his gift on you. And you won’t resist. And if he sees that you had anything to do with the abduction of my daughter, I’m going to rip you to shreds.”

Luther clamped his jaw together. “That’s an invasion of privacy.”

“You have no right to privacy. You forfeited that right when you attempted to kill Delilah and Nina!”

“I paid for that mistake.” Dearly. He even regretted it, but there was no way in hell he’d ever admit that fact to the asshole hovering over him, acting all superior.

“Not nearly long enough,” Samson claimed. “If it had been up to me and Amaury, we would have locked you up and thrown away the key.”

“But it wasn’t up to you.”

“This time it will be. This time I won’t hand you over to the council, but deal with you myself.”

Luther pushed the air out through his nostrils. “Not even you can touch an innocent vampire.”

“We’ll see about how innocent you are.” Samson motioned to Gabriel and stepped back.

Gabriel nodded and approached. “You know the drill. I can dig into your memories, but I’ll only see what you’ve seen and heard. I can’t read your thoughts or—”

“Yeah, yeah,” Luther interrupted him. “Why don’t you just get on with it and don’t pretend you care about my rights? Like I give a shit.”

He watched Gabriel close his eyes and stand in front of him, motionless. Luther felt nothing of the invasion into his memories. It was what made this gift so dangerous: Gabriel could use it without anybody knowing he was doing it.

At the thought of what Gabriel might see, Luther shuddered. He didn’t want him to see the cruelties he’d had to endure in prison, and he hoped that Gabriel wouldn’t go far enough back in time to see how he’d received his scars. He didn’t want anybody’s pity. He’d deserved the punishment.

Instead, Luther concentrated his thoughts on something else. Somebody else: the actress. Wesley, the witch who’d suddenly shown up, had called her Katie and kissed her. There was something about her. Her scent wasn’t entirely human, but just as he’d thought he recognized what it was, the stench of that male witch had polluted the air around them.

She looked familiar. Had he met her somewhere before he’d gone to prison? It was impossible. She wasn’t a vampire. Twenty years ago she would have been a child, not the beautiful woman she was now. It was impossible that he knew her. Maybe she simply reminded him of someone from his past.

“There’s nothing, Samson, he was telling the truth.”

Gabriel’s voice brought him back to reality. Luther lifted his lids to look at the two Scanguards bosses.

“Are you sure?” Samson ran a hand through his hair.

“He’s got nothing to do with Isabelle’s abduction. He met with nobody after he was released from prison last night.”

“What about earlier? He could have planned this long ago.”

Gabriel shook his head. “I went far enough back. There’s nothing.”

Luther caught Gabriel’s sideways glance and wanted to curse. Gabriel had seen more than he wanted him to see.

“You’ve gotta let him go.”

Luther lifted his hands, looking pointedly at the shackles.

Samson sucked in a breath. “You’re free. But that changes nothing. Leave this city! If you ever come back, I will find a reason to kill you. Do you understand that?”

“You’re making yourself perfectly clear.”

Luther recognized a serious threat when he saw one. Samson was volatile. As long as the whereabouts of his daughter were unknown, he would lash out at anybody he had a grudge against. And Luther wasn’t willing to stick around to play scapegoat.

“Unchain him!” Samson turned and marched out of the room, leaving his second-in-command to execute his order.

As Gabriel untied him, he said, “You’d better heed his warning and head out tonight.”

The chains rattled as they dropped to the floor.

Rubbing his wrists, Luther rose from the uncomfortable plastic chair. “I have no reason to stay.” He reached for his shirt and pulled it on, not bothering to button up. He grabbed his jacket.

“Don’t you?”

Luther stabbed his index finger into Gabriel’s chest. “You might have seen my past, but don’t presume to know anything about me. I’m not the man you once knew.”

Gabriel pointed to the door. “You’re free to go. The guard outside the door will escort you out.”

Without a word, Luther walked to the door and opened it. Outside, a vampire with a semi-automatic pistol strapped to his side, motioned him to the left. In silence, Luther walked ahead of him, the maze of corridors reminding him once again of prison. This wasn’t much different, though there was more activity and more noise at Scanguards HQ.

When they reached the lobby, a fancy entry hall with large glass panels on the side that faced the street, the guard stopped at the reception desk for a moment. Luther took the opportunity to let his eyes wander. It was odd that the entrance to Scanguards was made of glass. What did they do during the day when the rays of the sun flooded this area?