Читать книгу Immortal Redeemed - Linda Thomas-Sundstrom - Страница 13

Chapter 6

The man spanning the doorway looked like a cop, Kellan decided. It was all there—height, professionally short hair, wiry frame, condemning expression on a good-looking face. The scent of metal—his badge, and a gun hidden under an armpit—accompanied him. Underneath all of that, Kellan detected an almost feral nervousness.

The detective stopped dead in his tracks, trying to see into the darkened room. Once his eyes had adjusted, his focus landed on Kellan. Soon afterward, he flipped the light switch and transferred his gaze to the unmade bed, then to McKenna, who now stood at the window.

“Am I intruding?” he asked no one in particular. There was an explicit warning in his tone.

“Just leaving,” Kellan replied calmly, sweeping his jacket off the floor.

“Good.” The detective’s eyes were still on McKenna. She had donned a sweatshirt in time to avoid being caught half-naked.

“I’ll see you out,” the detective added, facing Kellan.

“No need. I can find my way,” Kellan said.

“Maybe so, but I’d feel better making sure you got to the street.”

McKenna broke in. “Truly, Derek, does he look like he needs help?”

“Which is exactly why I’m offering it,” the detective said.

“He brought me home,” she explained.

“I see that.”

Wanting to avoid more tension, Kellan shrugged into the jacket and zipped it up. After rolling his shoulders, he said to the detective, “See ya.”

“I’ll be back,” the detective told McKenna as he followed Kellan into the hallway. “In the meantime, Mac, maybe you can turn on more lights?”

She offered no remark in return. Her eyes followed Kellan.

Ten steps toward the staircase, with the detective tagging along behind, Kellan stopped abruptly, alerted to a new problem. Looking up, he said to the detective, “You’re going to keep an eye on her?”

“I usually do,” the detective replied.

“That gun’s loaded?”

“Are you wondering if I’ll shoot you for taking liberties with McKenna?”

“I promise you there are far worse things than me around tonight,” Kellan announced truthfully, able to smell the vampire on the roof and sense its bottomless hunger.

“Maybe so,” the detective said. “Yet I think I’ll deal with one thing at a time.”

Kellan didn’t want to leave McKenna and vowed the separation wouldn’t be for long. He just had to take care of the little problem on the roof without this detective’s prying eyes, and then get rid of the detective.

McKenna might wait for him. Then again, maybe she’d lock the door for good since she’d been afforded the chance to regret her actions and her invitation now that their night together had been interrupted.

Still, he’d find a second opportunity.

He had to.

Their footsteps were quiet on the steps. Once on the street, the detective waited with a shoulder against the building’s brick entry for Kellan to reach the Harley. But Kellan couldn’t leave. The fanged bloodsucker was clinging to the side of the building above them like an oversize spider. Really nasty vamps with bad intentions did that in order to peer into windows to locate their next unsuspecting victims. This one didn’t seem to care about the two people below.

If Miller glanced upward, he’d see the danger lurking there. Possibly he’d even believe his eyes. At the moment, though, the detective’s only concern was getting rid of the biker who had fraternized with his old flame. Like most mortals, Miller wouldn’t catch a whiff of the supernatural threat that was almost in his face.

Leaving now was impossible. As soon as he exited the area, the dead fanger might drop, and Miller wouldn’t know what hit him. It also might swing through the window and reach McKenna before Kellan could hit the stairs.

He saw McKenna at the window. The damn vampire was dangling a few feet above her, its white face gleaming with malice.

Kellan knew he could get past Detective Miller easily enough, but if he used his special speed, the cop would know there were things on this earth that lay beyond the realm of the possible. Miller’s gun could slow the rogue vampire down if the detective got off a few rounds, yet those bullets wouldn’t kill the monster, even if Kellan were to point the bloodsucker out.

This was his problem. Taking care of bad guys was what he did.

“Why were you with her? What’s McKenna to you?” Miller asked as Kellan turned toward him.

“Is that your business?” Kellan asked.

“I’ve just made it my business.”

Kellan figured he had a few seconds at most to play along with the detective’s line of questioning.

“I gave her a ride,” he said.

Miller’s dark eyes were almost rudely assessing. “Yes. That’s why the lights were off in her apartment, as well as your jacket. Mac’s gratefulness for that ride being the reason?”

Kellan kept his eyes on the detective so as not to call attention to the monster closing in. He said, “I offered to get her home when she needed help.”

“Mac seldom needs help. So if she did, you have my thanks for that.”

Of course, Miller didn’t mean that about the thanks. Most likely he’d been informed about the call McKenna had made, though, and would know she tried to reach him first.

This was checkmate when there was no need of it. Kellan supposed he would be pressed to honor his vows to the end, as he always did, so that humans wouldn’t panic over seeing what hid in the shadows. He went so far as to think about showing his fangs to this detective, just to get Miller on board.

Turning to the Harley, Kellan peered over his shoulder. The vampire had reached McKenna’s window, where she was standing very close to the glass. Another couple of breaths and the rogue would find its way in.

Kellan considered what might constitute the lesser of two evils. Reveal himself and his abilities to this detective and get to McKenna, or let Miller find out the hard way about one of the world’s darkest secrets.

“I forgot something,” Kellan said, rounding back to where the detective stood.

“I’ll save it for you, whatever it is,” Miller promised sarcastically, pushing off the wall to block the doorway.

“It’s important that I go back up there, Detective.”

Miller gave him a look that more or less translated to over my dead body. But by then the sound of breaking glass filled the night.

* * *

McKenna didn’t know what happened. One minute she was looking at the two men on the sidewalk, and the next minute there were shards of shattered glass in her face.

She stumbled back, caught herself from falling on the bed and sprang sideways with an adrenaline surge as something barreled through the opening that moments ago had been a sturdy dual-paned window.

Intruder.

A shout lodged in her throat, but her police-trained reflexes rallied. She hit the floor and rolled toward where her gun was hidden in a drawer, figuring that timing would be her ally and provide the precious seconds necessary for her to protect herself from attack.

Unfortunately, she didn’t get far. The guy was incredibly fast. Strong hands caught her by the hair and swung her around. Gasping, she was on her back before her next breath, smelling the rancid odor coming from her attacker’s open mouth.

McKenna kicked out. Her bare right foot connected with the man’s shin, but he didn’t seem to feel it. He was a fighter, and superhumanly strong. Although she’d kicked with all her might, being shoeless wasn’t in her favor. Her foot hurt like hell.

He was on top of her in seconds.

No way was she going to give up.

McKenna punched him with both hands and managed to rip the skin from his face with her nails. She struggled, squirmed and fought with an energy born of both fear and anger.

She was against the wall without knowing how she’d got there. The attacker’s face came close—a pasty angular death mask with dark holes for eyes.

“Freak!” she rasped as his hands encircled her throat and began to squeeze.

She got her arms under his and shoved hers upward to break his choke hold. Dropping her weight, she again hit the floor in time to slide out from under him.

He grunted once and again caught her by the hair. With a sickening heave he had her upright and shoved against the same damn wall. His hands returned to her throat.

She groaned as her breath left her and her lids fluttered toward stillness.

* * *

“What the hell?” The detective’s startled shout preceded Kellan’s race to the stairs.

Kellan was beyond caring about vows and secrets now. If anything happened to McKenna, he’d be one sorry immortal.

He was at her door in seconds and through it in less time than it took for Miller to gather himself enough to follow. One quick scan told him that the beast, in a blur of malice and motion, had McKenna by the throat.

Kellan pulled the vampire off her and held the abomination suspended in the air as he spoke McKenna’s name, needing to know he was in time and she was all right. He had never faced the meaning of real fear until she didn’t answer.

The vampire in his grip was young and unaware of beings with greater power. It spit and hissed and fought with the strength of two human men, but was no match for a Blood Knight.

Kellan threw the beast against the same wall McKenna had slid down. Hearing Detective Miller’s approach, and regretful over not having the time to deal the bloodsucker some retribution, he clutched the vampire, moved to the window and tossed the beast out.

“Another time, fiend,” he said, his voice low and threatening. “You’d better hope it’s not anywhere near here.”

“McKenna?” Miller was calling her name, kneeling by McKenna’s side, turning her over. She was on the floor with her head against the legs of a chair. Her eyes were closed.

“McKenna, open your eyes,” Miller directed. “Look at me. You’re going to be okay. Tell me you’re all right.”

Kellan watched, wanting to help, desperate to go to her. Frustrated, he made himself wait, hearing the rapid patter of McKenna’s heartbeat from where he stood and the staccato intake of her ragged breaths.

Miller turned his head. “Where did the bastard go?”

“It exited the same way it got in,” Kellan said, withholding the part about throwing the bloodsucker out and onto its five-year-dead ass.

Miller didn’t seem to notice the it part.

“Help her,” Miller directed, pulling a phone from his pocket to call the incident in. “Jesus, there isn’t a decent place left in this goddamn city to live.”

Kellan relished the chance to get close to McKenna. As the detective barked orders into the phone, he took McKenna in his arms, brushed the hair back from her face and spoke in a soft tone. “You’re not hurt, McKenna. I won’t allow that, and neither will you. Do you hear me?”

He used his power of suggestion to convince her of this, adding, “Open your eyes. See me and believe that what I say is true.”

She obeyed. Her sapphire-blue eyes blinked slowly.

“That’s good,” he said. “Now take a deep breath and push back the fear. It’s over. You’re all right.”

Again she obeyed, taking one steady breath after another. Her face was ashen. So were her lips. “Window,” she said. “He came through the window.”

Kellan nodded. “He probably thought no one was home.”

McKenna coughed as she shook her head. “No. I think he came for me.”

“It’s all right now,” Kellan repeated. “Your cop friend will see to that. And so will I.”

He ran a hand over her throat, noting the red marks where the monster had nearly squeezed the life from her. There were no punctures. No visible bite marks. She’d been reached in time to ward off that rueful fate.

Inwardly, Kellan chastised himself for allowing Detective Miller to keep him occupied on the street. That was what he got for being a good guy in a world gone bad. Any longer of a delay and he might have lost the one thing he needed most. McKenna.

Miller squatted down beside him. “Do we need an ambulance, Mac?”

She shook her head. “An ice pack would be nice. And a stiff drink.”

Miller’s relief was obvious and spoke volumes about the love he had for McKenna, no matter the status of their current relationship. His attention had been on her, and only her. Still, Miller couldn’t protect McKenna if monsters had got wind of a developing relationship between McKenna and a Blood Knight, even if they didn’t understand what a Blood Knight was.

He had to consider the possibility that his presence had played a part in drawing the vampire to McKenna’s apartment, without the vampire realizing it.

Could this be a case of monsters recognizing on some level another monster’s prey? Fang calling to fang, no matter how distant and seriously diluted the connection might be?

Miller offered McKenna a hand and she took it. She didn’t look at Kellan again until she was sitting in a chair.

“Tall. White-skinned. Dark eyes. Black coat and boots. Black thinning hair,” she said. “Maybe thirty years old.” Wincing, she added, “With very bad breath.”

“Good. What else?” Miller said after repeating that list to whoever was on the other end of the phone line he’d kept open.

“I think he might be sick.”

“A junkie, possibly looking for drugs?” Miller asked.

“That’s a good possibility,” McKenna agreed, shifting her questioning gaze to Kellan. “Thanks for coming back in time to get him off me.”

Kellan nodded.

Miller grunted an unintelligible remark, but Kellan searched McKenna’s face for signs that she might know more about this intruder than she was willing to mention to the detective. The puzzled, frightened gleam in her eyes suggested she thought she’d seen a monster and was trying to come to terms with that.

“We’re searching the area now,” Miller said, pocketing the phone. “If the bastard is anywhere around here, we’ll find him. In the meantime, it might be best if you stayed at my place. I’ll drive you there myself. We’ll want to go over this room for clues to this sucker’s identity.”

McKenna continued to study Kellan, as if deep down she was wondering if he had something to do with the attack. Did she believe he had been here to case the place so his accomplice could finish the job once he’d gone?

“No,” he said to her, in case he was right about her thoughts. “Don’t entertain ideas that I could harm you like that.”

Of course, his statement was a half-truth at best, since there was also a chance the vampire had come here for him and had got distracted after sensing McKenna’s tired state. Vampires were too often hard to predict.

Also, since he was pretty certain McKenna was the special being he sought, he had no idea what might happen to her when he opened her up to the hidden soul inside her. Would she survive that opening? If she did, would she wake in a state vulnerable to every kind of predator on the planet?

He had to consider all the options, all the directions of his next moves.

“I can go back to the hospital,” she said to Miller. “There’s no need to put you out.”

Kellan felt Miller’s attention swerve back to McKenna. “I’ll take you wherever you want to go,” Miller said. “But you know you’re always welcome at my place. In fact, I’d feel a lot better if you would take me up on that.”

Kellan stood up. “I guess I’ll take my leave.”

“I’d like a word,” Miller said to him pointedly.

“It might not be a good idea to leave McKenna alone.”

“We can talk in the hallway with the door open. Mac, are you good with that? Just for a minute? Then I’ll get you that ice pack.”

After looking back and forth between Miller and Kellan, McKenna nodded.

Miller gestured for Kellan to precede him out. Kellan withheld a sigh, not liking the part he had to play in order to get along with these mortals. He was anxious to go after that vampire on his own. He needed to lose the biker’s mortal semblance and get down to business with a fledgling vampire too willing to cross the line with someone else’s treasure.

His anger was on the rise. That anger would soon become dangerous enough to burn away his calm exterior.

In the hallway, Miller lowered his voice. “I suppose thanks are in order for helping McKenna again. You ran up those steps like you were superhuman. But thanking you would mean I don’t believe in the possibility of you having something to do with this incident. You do get that?”

“I’m not the bad guy here,” Kellan said.

“I suppose that’s a matter of opinion. So I have to ask some questions. The first one is, who are you?”

“I’m just a guy passing through.”

“And you just happened to meet my...meet McKenna?”

“Yes. Near the hospital. She couldn’t drive and asked me to take her to you.”

That stumped Miller for a minute because he knew this was quite possibly true.

“Why didn’t you leave her with me?” Miller asked.

“The lady changed her mind.”

“So you brought her here.”

“I followed her directions, yes.”

“Maybe you can see how odd it is that this attack happened at the same time?”

“Our return could have interrupted the bastard’s plans. McKenna probably would have been safe as long as I was there with her.”

“It’s entirely possible we have differing definitions of the word safe. You’ve known her for, what? Five minutes?”

“I’ve known her long enough to know I wouldn’t want any harm to come to her.”

“Maybe so, but I don’t like this. I’m going to ask you to stay in the area until we figure things out.”

Staying in the area went right along with Kellan’s plans, though being part of a police investigation was never good. He didn’t need the attention, or anyone scrutinizing his ID. He certainly didn’t intend to play along with this detective for much longer. He had a vampire to catch and the timing was tricky.

He had to use more of his power of persuasion.

“I’ll be going now,” he said, sending the thought straight into the detective’s mind, where it encircled everything else with the force of a command, urging Miller to let this biker go without a fuss.

“Okay.” Miller raised his hands and stepped back. “I’ll be in touch.”

Fat chance of that, Kellan thought, since the cop didn’t even know his name.

Catching a whiff of fetid air, Kellan turned his head for a quick look, able to detect the vamp’s escape route from where he stood as easily as if the bloodsucker had left a trail of bread crumbs.

With one more glance over his shoulder to McKenna’s open doorway, he headed for the street.