Wanton With a Vampire (8 page)

Three men wearing black stood by the tracks.
They were holding up her dad, who was bruised and looked drunk. The
three men appeared to be arguing, but she couldn’t hear them. Then
they pushed her dad and stepped back to watch the train in the
distance. It looked like they were laughing as her father struggled
to get to his knees, only to collapse on the tracks again. One of
the men looked at her, giving her a clear view of his face and the
ugly scar on his cheek. The man’s eyes widened, and he yelled
something before all three men ran toward her. She braced herself
as if they might hit her, but the echoes went straight through her
toward the trees. She felt nothing as they passed through her body.
When she turned, there was a young woman running from the men.

“Someone saw what happened,” Trish gasped,
hoping the woman had gotten away.

“They caught her and strangled her,” Willow
said sadly, still looking at the empty spot.

“She’s here?” Trish asked.

Willow nodded. “Not for long. She just wanted
someone to know. She was a runaway, and her family has no idea what
happened to her.”

Trish shivered. This wasn’t really a world
she wanted to know about, but it was time to put on her big girl
panties and help do the right thing. “I suppose we need to call the
police, but who’s going to believe any of this?”

Ivy pulled out her cell phone. “I have a
friend who can help us.”

Trish wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but it
certainly wasn’t a police detective in paint-splattered
clothes.

“You getting into trouble again?” the
detective asked Ivy. He was handsome with black hair, olive skin,
and dark brown eyes. While he was probably in his forties, he had a
trim muscular build and only a few fine lines around his eyes.

“Thanks for coming out today, Carlos,” Ivy
said with a warm smile.

“This is not my jurisdiction, so I hope you
called me just because you missed seeing my face.”

Ivy blushed prettily, flashing a shy smile.
“That goes without saying, but this is something more serious.
Trish, this is Detective Ramirez. He’s kind of used to dealing with
weird stuff.”

Detective Ramirez waited, tapping one
foot.

“There’s a body buried off the hiking trail
about five miles from here,” Ivy explained.

“And you know this how?” he asked, but didn’t
appear to doubt what Ivy had said in the least.

“I just do,” Ivy replied. “I also need you to
help my friend, Trish. Her father was killed.”

Detective Ramirez gave Trish a sympathetic
look. “I’m very sorry for your loss, ma’am. Have the police already
been notified?”

“Sort of,” Trish said hesitantly. “It
happened twenty-one years ago, and it was ruled a suicide.”

Rather than giving her the placating smile
she’d expected, Detective Ramirez shifted his gaze to Ivy. “Care to
explain how you discovered all of this? Or will this be another
thing you refuse to share with me?”

Ivy smiled at Trish. “You can tell him if you
want. He’s trustworthy. Carlos doesn’t know specifics of what my
family does, but he knows they have unusual talents.”

“I saw it happen,” Trish explained. “Not when
it happened, but I can see things— like echoes. Okay, that didn’t
make any sense, but I can see things from the past.”

Willow chimed in. “The dead girl was a
runaway who kinda stumbled on the whole murder and got killed. Poor
girl is still hanging around, hoping someone will find her
body.”

Detective Ramirez sighed. “How do I end up in
the middle of these messes?”

Ivy gave him a brilliant smile. “Because
you’re the only one I trust.”

“Lucky me,” he grumbled. “I don’t have any
contacts out here, and I’m on vacation. Honestly, I’m not sure I’m
going back to work after this vacation.”

“Why?” Ivy all but gasped.

Detective Ramirez’s eyes landed on Alek. With
his dark sunglasses masking his icy blue eyes and the lighter shade
of his hair, many wouldn’t connect Alek to the Draksel family.
“Draksel, right?” he asked Alek.

Alek nodded. “Aleksandr,” he said.

The detective studied Alek for a long time
before speaking. “We need to have a serious talk, one that doesn’t
involve me pretending I don’t remember what happened or you playing
any mind control games, Mr. Draksel. I also expect this talk won’t
involve any more lies,” he said before pinning Ivy with a pointed
stare.

“My place is only about thirty minutes from
here,” Trish said. “The unit next to me is vacant, and the garage
is right below me, so no one will overhear us.”

Tension radiated from every pore of Alek’s
body, and he hadn’t taken his eyes off of the detective. “What
makes you think someone tried to control your mind, or that I would
try? Hell, what makes you think that sort of thing is even
possible?”

Detective Ramirez threw his hands in the air
and started to storm off. “Screw this. Call me when at least one of
you wants to be honest.”

Ivy raced after him and caught his arm.
“Carlos! Please wait. You just shocked everyone. I’m sorry we
haven’t been totally honest with you.”

The detective looked down at Ivy, his lips
pressed into a thin line. “I haven’t exactly been honest with you
either, but I want that to change.” Before Ivy could respond, the
detective cupped her chin and kissed her. It was a soft brush of
lips, and Trish felt like a voyeur for watching, but she simply
couldn’t look away.

Ivy had trouble maintaining her balance when
the kiss ended. “Oh,” was all she said before pulling away.

“Text me the address, and I’ll meet you
there,” the detective said as he walked away.

Trish went over to Ivy. “Are you okay?”

Ivy was still standing in the same spot, soft
brown eyes wide and mouth slightly open. With a shake of her head,
Ivy pulled herself together. “That was a bit of a surprise.”

Trish giggled and covered her mouth. It was
more of a nervous reaction than a matter of her finding any humor
in the situation. “Which part was a surprise? Was it where he
basically admitted that he knows the vampires tried to use mind
control on him? Or were you just surprised that he kissed you?”

Ivy flashed a shy smile. “Both, I suppose.
He’s always known my family had some extra abilities, and he’s
never freaked out over it. I guess I just never thought about what
that meant. Are
you
okay?”

Trish wanted to say yes, because she always
avoided telling people her problems, but she just couldn’t pull off
carefree at the moment. “I’m not sure,” she admitted. “What I just
saw was . . .” Her voice trailed off.

It was a relief when Alek’s arms wrapped
around her from behind. Leaning into his powerful chest, some of
her tension eased. “It’ll be okay,” he murmured against the top of
her head. “Let’s get this meeting over with.”

“Are you okay with him knowing you aren’t
human?” she asked.

“He doesn’t know that,” Alek said. “He knows
I have extra abilities like you, and there’s no need for him to
know more.”

Trish nodded, but something told her
Detective Ramirez wasn’t going to be satisfied with that answer. He
obviously knew a lot more than anyone had given him credit for.

Trish found the detective waiting on her
front porch when she arrived. “Thank you for agreeing to help us,
Detective Ramirez,” she said.

“I haven’t agreed to help you yet,” he
reminded her before adding, “Call me Carlos.”

Willow and Ivy were right behind her. Trish
was surprised Willow had decided to tag along since she seemed to
dislike Alek and Carlos. Of course, she seemed determined to find
the dead girl’s body. Trish still wasn’t sure what Willow’s deal
was and got the impression there was much more than met the
eye.

Alek tried to take the keys from Trish to let
them in, but she turned her body so he couldn’t reach them.

Carlos laughed and put a hand on Alek’s
shoulder. “You need to understand that these women don’t like
having men take care of them.”

“Actually, it’s just that the lock is
sticking, and I don’t want Alek breaking the key like he almost did
yesterday,” Trish explained. “I hardly think letting a man open the
door is taking care of me.”

Willow let out a little snort. “It always
starts out innocent like that. Before you know it, they’re trying
to give you orders. You should totally not trust this one
especially. The men in his family are way too Neanderthal.”

Trish had no idea why Willow hated Alek so
much, but she didn’t have time to explore that. More importantly,
she didn’t care enough to ponder Willow’s hatred of Alek.

“I’ll start with the honesty part,” Carlos
said as he examined the front room of Trish’s condo. Technically,
it belonged to her friend, Lydia, but Lydia hadn’t lived there in
many months. Carlos took a deep breath and turned to face Trish. “I
knew your father, and I never believed he killed himself.”

Okay, she hadn’t expected that. “How did you
know my father? You aren’t old enough to have worked with him.”

Carlos shook his head and flashed a smile
that made him look much younger than she suspected he was. “Your
dad caught me shoplifting when I was fourteen. That was far from
the worst of what I was doing back then. I was couch hopping at the
time because I’d run away from a group home. My mom couldn’t handle
me anymore, which is how I ended up in a group home to begin with.
Your dad’s the reason I’m not dead or in prison now. He was a good
man, and he’s also the reason I wanted to become a police
officer.”

Trish nodded, a sad smile playing on her
lips. “That sounds like my dad. I was pretty young, so I didn’t
always understand what he was saying, but I remember him talking
about kids who just needed a little guidance. I even remember him
being involved in some special programs with local schools.”
Shaking her head, she pulled herself from her musings and met
Carlos’ eyes. “So, you’ll help us?”

“How about if we finish up with the
full-disclosure part of this conversation first? Your turn to be
honest,” he pushed.

“I died a couple of days ago,” Trish said
with a sweet smile.

“I really wish you wouldn’t say that,” Alek
muttered.

“That’s what happened,” Trish argued. “My
heart stopped, and after I was revived, I started seeing things
from the past.”

“So, you really did witness your dad’s
death?” Carlos asked.

“Sort of. While I can see the past, I can’t
hear anything, so I don’t know what was said,” she explained,
feeling surprisingly calm.

“Christ!” Carlos exclaimed. “That must be
terrifying.”

“Not as much as it was at first,” Trish said.
“I still keep my eyes closed when I’m in the car, but I’m no longer
trying to convince myself it’s just hallucinations.”

“The woman has an amazing way of adapting,”
Alek explained, and Trish did her best to ignore the way her
heartbeat quickened at his praise.

Trish suddenly felt a little overwhelmed as
images of her father’s death flashed through her mind.

Alek’s arms came around her from behind, and
she was grateful for his presence. Later, she’d worry about relying
too much on Alek. For now, she needed the support.

“We all have some special abilities,” Ivy
said. “As you can imagine, we don’t want that getting out because
it could create serious problems for us. Tempest was kidnapped so
she could be used as a lab rat by her ex. I’m sure you can
understand why we don’t just go around sharing what we can do with
the world.”

“I get it,” Carlos said, but he sounded
frustrated, and Trish was pretty sure he didn’t get it. “The thing
that bugs me is that I thought you trusted me. You call me every
time some weird shit happens, and I keep thinking you’ll open up.
Instead, you keep lying to me. I’m going to help with this mess,
but only because it’s personal. From now on, maybe you should find
some other idiot to lie to.”

Ivy’s mouth hung open like she wasn’t quite
sure what to say. Her eyes moved helplessly to Willow, who looked
bored.

Finally, Willow spoke up. “She would, like,
totally have told you everything earlier, but we have rules about
that stuff. I see the ghosts of people who’ve died in horrific
ways. That’s why we sometimes know intimate details about a crime.
They don’t always talk to me, but the dead girl we mentioned
earlier told me where to find her body. She also witnessed Trish’s
dad’s murder.”

Carlos just stared at Willow. “I’m beginning
to understand why none of you share what you can do.”

“Not everyone does stuff like Trish or
Willow,” Ivy said.

“You can manipulate people’s feelings,”
Carlos said and smiled when Ivy’s head snapped up. “Did you think I
wasn’t paying attention to what you do? Unless I missed my guess,
you also read minds sometimes, but it’s hit or miss.”

Ivy nodded. “This day has not gone the way I
expected,” she said softly.

Carlos looked at Alek with a raised
eyebrow.

“I’m not sharing,” Alek said with a hint of
menace in his voice.

Trish was tempted to smack him.

“Yeah, I figured you wouldn’t,” Carlos said
with a sneer. “Guess it’s a good thing you don’t need a favor from
me today.”

“So, what can we do?” Ivy asked in a blatant
attempt to diffuse the tension between Alek and Carlos. Ivy clearly
liked confrontations about as much as Trish did.

Carlos broke eye contact with Alek and
reached a hand back to massage his neck. Trish saw the tension
etched in his face. “Honestly, I don’t know how much we can do. I
have zero authority here and no friends on the force in that area.
I still have access to my department files, but it would be easier
if we could access some other databases. At this point, I’d give my
left nut for a good hacker.”