Читать книгу Sweet Last Drop - Melody Johnson - Страница 9

I wasn’t good at keeping in touch with people, which made distance impossible, even with people I loved unconditionally, like my parents and Nathan. I had the uncanny ability to not see or speak to friends and family for months, and when we finally did visit one another, pick up right where we’d left off. Other people, so I’m told by frustrated friends and family, normal people, need regular phone calls to replace the physical void that distance creates.

Walker was the second person with whom I’d ever achieved a functional long-distance relationship. The emotional closeness we’d developed while we were physically apart still stunned me.

My little brother was the first.

When I moved to California for those four years of undergrad at Berkeley, my parents had fits about my lack of communication. I didn’t call. I didn’t write. I didn’t email. I texted Nathan, which likely only made my silence toward them even more infuriating, but since they wouldn’t upgrade to texting, which was all the communication I honestly had time for during the week, I didn’t talk to them until I traveled home for Christmas.

On weekends, when I finally had ten or fifteen minutes to breathe between classes, essays, interviews, and a social life, I called the one person I wasn’t angry with, who hadn’t nagged me all week to call because I knew he could hold a conversation without further nagging. I called Nathan.

I talked to him about the freedom of college life, about staying out late without worrying about curfew, having sleepovers without asking for permission, and eating dessert for dinner. I didn’t mention drinking or guys. I just wanted to give him something to cling to in the prison of rules with our parents at home. He talked to me about his budding career as a track star, how he’d medaled at districts and earned a spot in states, how the high school had an assembly for the spring athletes, and he was only one of four students that were presented with plaques directly from Principal Doyle. He didn’t mention grades or his restricted social life. He just wanted to give me enough to miss him and my former life, so I’d return home after undergrad.

He knew I’d planned to stay on the west coast after graduation, and my plans were only solidified after meeting and falling in love with Adam. As fate would have it, however, it was my parents who dragged me back to New York City even after being the driving force that had pushed me across the country.

When they died, I moved back home for Nathan.

Although I’d intended to return to California and Adam, it was no surprise that I hadn’t been able to make the long distance work, and by the time Adam came to New York to drag me back home with him, I’d buried myself in my career to forget the grief and pain of lost time and memories.

I would have given anything for the opportunity to call my parents just one last time, to tell them everything I’d been too busy and selfish to bother communicating while at school. Now I’d give anything for the opportunity to call Nathan, to hear his voice and make him laugh. To listen to the creak of his floorboards to know if he was lying.

I’d never thought to relive the nightmare of losing my loved ones, but now Nathan was beyond my reach, too.

Of all the people I’d give anything to speak to again, I’d give anything not to speak to Dominic, but he was the one impatiently waiting on my call. This time, I’d better make long distance work even if it killed me, because if I didn’t, he just might.

I twisted the knob and shut the bathroom door quietly after Walker left. If Walker was right about anything, it was that the bathroom was the best place to achieve a modicum of privacy in a houseful of strangers. The toilet lid chilled my thighs through my thin dress pants as I lowered myself carefully. I tried to enjoy the relief of weight off my hip and let the icy hot patch perform its magic, but if I was honest with myself, sitting didn’t particularly feel any better than standing.

The phone only rang once before Dominic’s deep, gravelly voice answered. “You’re late.”

I winced. “No, ‘hello’? No, ‘How are you’? You might want to work on your phone etiquette.”

“Is it not etiquette to call promptly when one schedules a phone meeting?”

Even over the phone, my hair stood on end at his tone. The agreement had been two calls a night, one directly after sunset and the second before sunrise. According to Dominic, this schedule would assure him of my safety in his absence, but as most things according to Dominic, it was never quite that simple. I suspected his calls were also a tactic to keep me focused on the true purpose of my visit. Dominic couldn’t bully me in person without risking war with Bex’s coven, so bullying me over the phone was his next best option. The fact that he was able to obtain a phone and a service provider when he technically didn’t exist to the human population was beyond me, but so were so many things Dominic was capable of that I didn’t further question the anomaly.

This was going to be a long conversation if he was already referring to me in the third person. “It’s been a long, stressful, busy day, and I got caught up. I’m sorry that I called later than you demand—er, requested, but I’m here, calling you now.” And regretting it, I thought. I shifted my weight on the toilet seat, and the blazing grind of my hip encompassed my body like a vice.

“Are you well?”

I clenched my teeth against the pain and spoke when I thought I could enunciate clearly and without cursing. “I’m fine.”

Dominic was so silent on his end that I couldn’t even hear him breathing. Assuming he was choosing to breathe.

“Hello? Can you hear me?”

“Did Bex herself harm you or one of her coven?” Dominic asked casually, but I could hear the dangerous undercurrent in his voice.

“Someone woke up on the wrong side of the coffin this morning,” I teased. Vampires slept in beds, not coffins, but apparently, he didn’t find my jab at vampire lore as funny as I did.

“You have yet to answer my question, Cassidy,” Dominic pressed. “Are you well?”

I doubted that he could exert his mind tricks over the phone and without eye contact, but I swore that even without the in-person influence, his voice had a weighty pull as he spoke my name. “I’m as well as I ever am.”

“Elaborate.”

“Bex didn’t hurt me and neither did any of her coven.” Slicing a lock of my hair hadn’t hurt, so that was true enough. “Like I said, it was just a long day.”

Dominic was silent. Normally, I could hold my silence just fine, but with the threat of him blaming Bex or Walker looming between us, I gave in.

“A long day on my feet. My hip quit on me hours ago.”

Dominic was silent a moment longer, but his voice lost its edge when he spoke. “Your pain must be quite severe for you to admit its presence.”

I pursed my lips. “I don’t know if I’d categorize it as ‘severe,’ but yes, it’s worse than usual.” I sighed heavily. “Worse than ever, actually. It’s beginning to affect my daily activities, more than I can ignore for much longer.” I laughed to lighten the mood. “Too bad you can’t just lick my hip and heal me, huh?”

“You think I wouldn’t if I could?” Dominic said, his voice low and thick.

I didn’t know what to say, stunned by the emotion in his words. “I, well—”

“They have surgery now for your condition,” he interrupted. “It can reduce the bone spurs and scar tissue associated with advanced early arthritis after an injury. I’m told that it can delay further symptoms and temporarily relieve pain, especially in young, otherwise healthy patients.”

I gaped for a moment before I could gather my wits enough to respond. I’d never thought of Dominic considering human medicine or of me in that way. “What do you know about my condition?”

“Although painful, your condition is no longer an injury. But there are other options to consider. You don’t have to live with the pain.”

“Bex approached me today,” I said, switching gears. Scary, when vampires become the choice topic of conversation.

Dominic let it go. “As I suspected she would. She enjoys exerting her control. How was her approach?”

I frowned. “How do you mean?”

“Did she threaten you? Did she issue any demands for me through you? I wasn’t sure how receptive she would be to your presence.”

“Bex was friendly compared to the reception I received from your coven,” I said. “No broken bones or bloodshed.”

Dominic snorted.

“She invited me to dinner tomorrow night.”

Silence.

“Hello? Domin—”

“She what?” he asked sharply.

“Um,” I delayed, trying to fathom how my statement could have angered him. “She invited me to dinner?”

“Pack and return home now,” he ordered.

“What? Home to the city?”

“Yes.”

I blinked. “What are you talking about? I just got here.”

“I don’t trust that she has invited you willingly into her coven for a friendly dinner. She shouldn’t trust you. She shouldn’t want you to know where her coven is located or how to infiltrate it. You are to pack your belongings and come home immediately.”

“We had a deal,” I said, livid. “I’d liaise between you and Bex if you’d search for my brother. If this is your way of snaking out, then—”

“You have completed your favor to me, and I will continue to search for Nathan for you. I’m simply relieving you of further debt. Come home.”

I hesitated. “You’ll still search for my brother?”

“Of course.” Dominic sounded offended. “Like you just stated, we had a deal. You have fulfilled yours, and I intend to fulfill mine.”

“I haven’t fulfilled anything! Your strength is deteriorating daily. You need Bex’s alliance to survive the Leveling. You said so yourself.”

Dominic sighed over the phone, and I knew he knew I was right. “We have a couple weeks. We’ll find another way.”

“A couple weeks is nothing. No, we’ll see this through.” I said firmly. “I’m already here, and I’m not leaving until it’s done.”

“DiRocco!” Walker’s voice called from the other room. “Come here. You’ll want to hear this.”

I muffled the phone in my hand. “What is it?” I shouted back to Walker.

“The police scanner.”

I could just barely discern Ronnie’s breathy whisper. “You should wait until sunrise.”

Walker’s voice was smooth and soothing, a tone he’d never wasted on me. “Listen to the police scanner and keep me updated. I’ll call if I need you.”

“You never call unless it’s from the hospital. Lydia’s attack is different, and you know it. Visit the scene in the morning. Please.”

“DiRocco!” he called.

“I’ll be there in a second. Just finishing up here.” To Dominic I said, “I need to go.”

“That’s our Ian Walker’s voice I hear in the background,” Dominic said calmly.

It didn’t matter that Dominic was over three hundred miles away, nor that we were only talking over the phone; the dead chill in his tone still spiked fear through my gut. My heart leapt into my throat, and I imagined that even across such a distance, he could still hear its accelerated pace.

“He doesn’t know you’re speaking to me,” he commented.

I took a calming breath, but my heart still slammed. “I try not to make waves.”

“You’re a reporter. It’s your job to make waves, and I dare say, you’re very good at it.” Dominic paused, and I envisioned him staring at me, cocking his head in that unsettling, bird-like movement of his, as if he could ferret the truth from seeing into my brain.

I shivered.

“Does he know the true motivation of your visit? Does he know about your brother’s disappearance?” He paused again, and I suspected that like everything Dominic did, he paused deliberately – to make me sweat. “Does he know of our deal?”

“It’s not as if I could invite him to dinner with Bex and her coven like a double date.” I lied, fear making me angry. Of course Walker didn’t know. He’d die if he knew I’d made a deal with Dominic. Even I couldn’t deny it was akin to making a deal with the devil.

“I approve of Ian Walker as your backup, but you still need to take precautions against him. Although he is skilled and will probably protect you, he will have no qualms about risking your safety for the chance to kill a vampire, especially Bex,” Dominic said, his tone stern and less terrifying, but I could understand terror from Dominic. This advising, almost parental tone coming from his gravelly, rumbling voice was confusing.

“I know what Walker is capable of,” I said flatly, the memory of Jolene McCall’s buckshot-blasted face still raw in my mind. Strange and random things reminded me of her, like jaunty baker’s hats and fondant. It’s the details that refuse to disappear even after the pain is buried far and deep, undetectably, inside. I hadn’t eaten a cupcake in three weeks.

“You think you know what Walker is capable of, but he has hunted Bex for nearly a decade. His hunger to kill her will surely outweigh any other interest. When it comes to your primary goal as my liaison,” Dominic enunciated, as if I could forget, “you will be on your own.”

I would be more on my own than he realized since Walker had refused Bex’s dinner invitation. I touched the vial of his blood that hung from a chain under my shirt, rubbing the smooth glass with the pad of my thumb. “More than a decade?” I asked, deciding to keep the focus on Walker.

“He hasn’t spoken of his fair Juliet?” Condescension masked the sharp edge in his voice.

“DiRocco! Now or never! I’m leaving in five!” Walker shouted.

I sighed. “I’ve got to go,” I said to Dominic.

“Ask Ian about Julia-Marie Frost, and maybe then you’ll understand the minefield between him and Bex.”

“Maybe you should worry less about Walker’s loyalty and more about your own,” I said hotly. His words reminded me of how little I really knew about Walker and his past, and having Dominic throw that ignorance in my face made my temper boil over. “It’s been weeks since Nathan disappeared, and you have nothing to show for your efforts. Assuming you’ve put forth any effort to find him.”

“If you’re late to call me going forward, I will assume the worst and come for you,” Dominic said, ignoring me. “This is your only warning.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” I whispered. “What about the truce? Bex would consider your presence an act of war, or so you’ve claimed. Isn’t that why I’m here in your stead?”

“The war that will ensue should you force my presence will be on your shoulders,” Dominic hissed. “I expect you to call five minutes before dawn, so I know that you have survived the night without injury.”

“What about Nathan? You remember him—five foot eight, nose ring, my hair, my eyes? It’s been weeks, and you aren’t any closer to finding him than when you started.”

“We made a deal, and if you uphold your end of the bargain, I promise you, I will uphold mine,” Dominic purred. “Have a good night, Cassidy DiRocco. I’ll look forward to your next call.”

“You have no trouble finding me wherever I am,” I said, exasperated. “I don’t see why it should be so difficult for you—”

The phone went dead.

“—to find Nathan.”

I shoved the phone in my right jacket pocket, but remembering the hole, I switched it over to the left with Walker’s borrowed silver nitrate spray. I bit my lip as Dominic burdened my thoughts. He wouldn’t risk breaking the truce with Bex. He’d sent me here deliberately to avoid initiating a war with her, but his words made me wonder. I knew how fast he could move. I knew how fast he could fly. Was the 300-mile distance a false sense of security? If he decided to come for me, could he really?

“I meant five seconds, not five years, DiRocco!”

I opened the bathroom door and caught the barrel-end of his bellow. “Coming, Walker,” I called back. I left the bathroom and walked into the kitchen.

Ronnie looked up at my approach. Her mascara was smeared across her cheeks to her temples from wiping at tears. I raised my eyebrows and glanced at Walker.

His expression was set like molded plaster.

“You still have the silver nitrate spray?” he asked.

I patted my pocket. “Armed and dangerous.”

“Then let’s go.”

“Go where?” I asked.

Ronnie sniffed. I glanced at her and then back at Walker.

“What’s going on?”

Walker glanced at Ronnie, and then he met my eyes, his expression unreadable. “There’s been another animal attack, under the old train overpass on Elm Street.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Under the old train overpass?”

Walker nodded tightly.

“Where we just stopped to speak to Bex?”

“Yes,” he bit out.

Ronnie’s gaze sharpened on Walker. “When did you speak to Bex? The sun just set after you came home.”

“We’ve got to go,” Walker said, ignoring Ronnie.

I nodded slowly, still trying to puzzle together why Ronnie was near hysterical. “Do you know the victim personally?”

“Victims,” Walker said, emphasizing the plural. “John Dunbar and his wife, Priscilla. Sounds like their car was found abandoned on the side of the road, their bodies yards away. And torn apart.”

“Torn apart? Is there any connection between the Dunbars and Lydia?”

Walker shook his head. “I need to research Lydia’s wounds and examine the Dunbars before we assume anything. If the Dunbars have the same injuries, maybe the same animal who attacked Lydia this evening attacked the Dunbars tonight.”

“And maybe they’re both vampire attacks.”

Walker leveled his gaze on me. “We won’t know ‘til we examine the Dunbars. You ready?”

I shook my head. “If country vampires are anything like city vampires, my vote’s with Ronnie. We should wait until sunrise. There’s nothing we can do now that we can’t do in daylight.”

“Berry, Keith, and Riley are expecting me,” Walker said, exasperated. “I’m tracking the animal on this case, remember?”

“I don’t care about Berry, Keith, and Riley,” Ronnie whispered, still sniffing. “I care about you.”

“Berry, Keith, and Riley?” I asked.

“You just met Berry, the coroner. Sheriff Keith Pitston and his deputy, Officer Riley Montgomery, will be at the scene and expecting me,” Walker explained. To Ronnie he said gently, “Bex won’t kill me. You know as well as I do that I’m less at risk than anyone else out after dark.”

“No, she’ll turn you, and then you’ll be as good as dead anyway. Isn’t that what you always say, Ian? That you’d be dead to us?”

“I’ll be fine. I’ll have DiRocco with me,” Walker assured her. “I’ve seen her entrance a vampire as easily and completely as they entrance us. She’s better equipped to protect us than all of my weaponry combined.”

I shook my finger at him. “Don’t put this on me. I came here with specific goals in mind, and none of them involved protecting your coven of night bloods. I’m here to find the facts, not to save lives, and the facts can wait until sunrise.”

“Will they?” Walker stepped closer and tipped his voice in a deep, taunting whisper. “If you don’t come with me tonight to interview witnesses and report tonight’s murders, you know damn well someone else will. You’ll be out-scooped.”

Rage swept like a backdraft through my veins, and I opened my mouth to blast him with its heat. Before I could articulate my anger, he turned his back on me, opened the front door, and left the house.

Since discovering the existence of vampires and my own identity as a night blood, I’d struggled to balance my career and survival, but as Walker had just so accurately stated, I couldn’t interview witnesses and out-scoop my competition while hiding in my apartment. This crime fluctuation feature, in addition to being an excuse to visit Walker, allowed me to trick my boss, Carter Bellisimo, into thinking I was still in the game as a competitive crime reporter. In reality, I was swiftly becoming a hermit obsessed with the sunrise/sunset calendar.

I watched Walker’s back as he strode across the yard, confident and empowered and purposeful, and I ached inside. This was what my experience with vampires had done to me. They’d stripped my ability to live according to my own terms. They’d confined my life according to their schedule, and they’d compromised my abilities as a reporter.

My rage switched targets, and I stepped out of the house into the night.

“You’re going with him?” Ronnie asked, shocked.

I looked back at her. “Did he leave me much choice?”

Ronnie pursed her lips. “Don’t let his demands become your only choices. His goals and intentions are very important, but that doesn’t make yours any less important. I have to remind myself of that every day.”

I considered her words carefully before I spoke. “You didn’t know that Bex could survive in daylight, did you?”

Ronnie shook her head. “I don’t get out much.”

“She just needs to stay confined to the shadows,” I said, “but otherwise, she doesn’t need to wait for sunset to leave her coven.”

“So in the hours between sunrise and sunset, we’re still not entirely safe.”

I opened my mouth, but Ronnie had already turned her back and walked into the house, leaving me on the porch between the two of them, my head safely inside with her and my heart torn somewhere between Walker’s pickup truck and common sense.

* * * *

John Dunbar and his wife, Priscilla, had been sixty-three years old, high school sweethearts, and enjoying dinner with their daughter, Alba. She was attending cake decorating classes at the local bakery, Hot Buns, and her parents had been so impressed by her new fondant skills, they’d stayed later than usual to have a slice of her newest creation—strawberry-vanilla marble cake with chocolate icing and a flip flop-shaped fondant topping. The Dunbars left Alba’s apartment shortly after sunset without taking their extra slice, so she packed the slice in a Tupperware container and drove after them.

Alba only made it five minutes down Elm Street before finding their upturned car on the side of the road. Their bodies had been thrown so far from the car that Alba hadn’t found them until Officer Riley Montgomery and Sheriff Keith Pitston arrived at the scene, which was actually very fortunate considering their injuries. Officer Montgomery removed Alba from eyeshot of her parents’ remains—what little there was left—and brought her to his car to recover. I kept her company while more officers flooded the scene, examined the bodies, and gathered evidence.

Berry had arrived in his van a few minutes ago. Although they wouldn’t move the bodies for several hours, after all evidence had been collected and photography had been captured, he was deep in conversation with Sheriff Pitston. If the Sheriff’s deepening crease between his brows were any indication, I’d need to snatch another interview from Berry. For the moment, until the activity at the scene settled, I contented myself with interviewing Alba.

I leaned on the frame of Officer Montgomery’s cruiser as Alba huddled in the passenger seat. I tried to keep my interview light and unobtrusive, but I didn’t need to ask Alba questions to encourage her story. She couldn’t stop talking about her parents. I listened and wrote some brief notes, but throughout the entire conversation, I couldn’t help but think, dear God, not another baker.

John and Priscilla were the golden couple, according to their daughter, and their love was why she was still single. They’d taught her to never settle because once she found the right love, she’d have the rest of her life to enjoy it. She’d never settled, so she was alone. Now, being an only child, she was completely on her own.

Alba clammed up after that. She covered her mouth with her hand and just shook her head in shock. I didn’t have the words to comfort her—I knew how deep and sharp grief could stab—so I just sat with her in silence until Officer Montgomery returned. He was in his late twenties, like Alba, and from the looks he was shooting her, Alba wasn’t as alone as she felt.

“Is this woman bothering you, Alba?” he asked

Alba shook her head, but she hugged herself a little tighter and started rocking back and forth from her perch on the passenger seat.

Officer Montgomery turned to me. “If you don’t mind, ma’am, I think you’ve done enough here. Please be so kind as to leave the scene and Miss Dunbar to me.”

“Have I done something wrong, Officer?” I asked congenially. I reminded myself that this was not my turf and reined in my temper.

His face flushed. “If you can’t see what’s wrong here, there’s nothing I can do for you, ma’am. You can teach manners, but you can’t teach morals.”

I raised my eyebrows. “I’m not sure what you’re referring to. I’ve been keeping Alba company. Seems to me like she needed it.”

As I’d hoped, Alba’s name sparked her awareness. She glanced up and smiled wanly. “Hi, Riley.”

“Is this woman bothering you?” Officer Montgomery asked again, pointing at me.

“No, not at all,” Alba said, shocked. “She’s been wonderful company. I’ve never met a better listener. I just can’t believe that—” Alba covered her mouth, and her throat made horrible squealing noises as she tried and failed not to cry.

He placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “I’m sure Ms. DiRocco is the best listener,” Officer Montgomery said, glaring at me. “We’re just finishing up at the scene. I’ll stay with Alba, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all,” I said, ignoring the implication that I should leave.

“I’m not askin’ your permission,” Officer Montgomery said, his twang sharpening. “I’m tellin’ you, ma’am. You’ve outstayed your welcome.”

His tone penetrated through Alba fog. She frowned. “You’re being rude, Riley. Why should Cassidy leave? She’s Walker’s friend, and she’s been wonderful company.”

“She’s a reporter, Al.” Officer Montgomery said, as if he were unveiling the man behind the curtain.

Alba nodded. “I know.”

Officer Montgomery frowned. “What do you mean, you know?”

“She told me. She works for The Sun Accord in New York City. Walker brought her here to write a story on crime comparison between country and city life, and she asked if she could sit with me. And that’s what she’s done, just sit with me.”

Officer Montgomery looked back and forth between us, and whatever he saw, he obviously didn’t like. His face flushed a dark crimson in mottled patches across his cheeks. He stepped in close and tipped his voice to a whisper, but in stepping closer to me, he was closer to Alba as well. “I know your type.”

I raised my eyebrows. “My type? I’m not sure you know me well enough to know—“

“I don’t need to know you to know where you’re from. You city hot shots think you’re better than us. You’d do anything for a story. You’re taking advantage of a woman’s grief, but I ain’t gonna let that happen.”

Anger, like hissing steam, flashed through me and heated my face. I opened my mouth to to say something I’d regret when a glint behind Officer Montgomery caught my eye. I hesitated. A glowing orb blinked a few yards into the woods, like a mirror reflecting the moonlight. I knew that glint almost better than I knew my own reflection.

I glanced around to see if anyone else had noticed the vampire watching us from the woods, and another movement caught my gaze. Walker was shaking his head at me. He had joined the conversation between Sheriff Pitston and Berry, but my argument with Officer Montgomery hadn’t been as private as I would have hoped. A few other officers were staring at us, most of their expressions disapproving and aggravated. Walker, however, looked furious.

He was shaking his head at my argument with Officer Montgomery. He hadn’t seen the vampire. No one had.

“You’ve worn out your welcome, Ms. DiRocco,” Officer Montgomery said. “I’m telling, not asking, you to leave Miss Dunbar alone.”

Alba’s mouth dropped open. “Riley! That’s completely uncalled for!”

“It’s all right, Miss Dunbar.” I patted her knee and then held out my hand for Officer Montgomery to help me stand. “He’s right. I’ve worn out my welcome.”

Montgomery hesitated a moment before taking my hand and helping me to my feet. He didn’t trust my easy acquiescence, but he wanted me gone badly enough to accept it without question.

“Before I leave, would you mind giving me a statement?”

Officer Montgomery’s face pinched. “You’ll have to speak with Sheriff Pitston about statements.”

I nodded. “I certainly will. Thank you for your help.”

He returned my nod but eyed me carefully as I walked away. I could feel the heat of his gaze as I walked toward Walker’s truck. Had he been Greta or Officer Harroway or nearly any city cop, I would have cajoled my way into squeezing more information about the case, but I didn’t have the clout or notoriety here that I had in the city. In fact, if Officer Montgomery’s treatment was any indication, I was starting from the very bottom of the totem pole, lower even than when I’d started in the city simply because I was from the city. But if I could write a book about anything, I could fill page after page about how to claw my way back from the bottom.

Walker had rejoined his conversation with Sheriff Pitston and Berry. I waited until Officer Montgomery turned back to Alba. He knelt in front of her, giving her his undivided sympathy and affection. While everyone else was distracted by other conversations, I ducked behind Walker’s truck and into the shadowed overpass toward the police tape. I squinted into the darkness beyond the police parameter, scanned the surrounding trees, and waited.

After a minute, my gaze caught the glint again. My eyes were drawn to it, and I could feel the deep, wrenching pull of its mind connecting with mine. Its strength couldn’t compete with anything I’d experienced with Jillian or Dominic, but nevertheless, it rooted deep inside me, shaping my will. It wanted me to step toward it. I could feel the force of its desire stimulating the synapses in my brain to move my legs, one foot in front of the other, to walk toward it.

The force of its command was light and coaxing. I could resist if I wanted, but if I resisted now, I wouldn’t have the advantage of surprising it with the depth of my own strength. From experience, that slight advantage could make the difference between bleeding and surviving.

Vampires were willing to sacrifice anything, even their own anonymity, to get what they wanted, and at the moment, with dozens of police officers and emergency personnel to choose from, this vampire wanted me. As prejudiced as Officer Montgomery and the rest of Sheriff Pitston’s team might be, they didn’t know the dark like I did. I could talk a good talk to Walker about being here to report the facts, not to save lives, but when faced with the reflective double glint of a vampire’s eyes staring at me, staring into me, I was glad that mine was the life on the line. I didn’t want anyone else getting caught in the kill zone between me and the vampires.

I took one halting step and then another into the woods, away from the illusion of protection that the police provided, and toward the vampire.

* * * *

A heavier, denser darkness lived in the woods compared to the train overpass. Its thickness was like trying to see underwater; just when I thought I’d approached what looked like a boulder or tree branch, I’d reach out to catch my bearings and touch nothing but shadows. The reflective glint was only a dozen yards away now. I stumbled uncertainly, and my heart leapt to pound on my eardrums.

The musk of damp dirt, leaves, and pine thickened the air, and for a moment, I inevitably thought of Dominic. As frightened as I was of his power, influence, strength, and intentions, I realized that his presence in the city had also given me a measure of security. Not one vampire had attacked me in three weeks, and I knew it wasn’t because of my own muscle. Dominic’s loyal protection—albeit motivated by his own selfish desires to control me—ensured that I survived the night. Now that I was facing the creatures that bump in the night alone, I appreciated his ability to bump back. I could feel the void of his protection like a tightrope walker performing without her net.

The glint, which had flashed a few yards to my left, streaked mere feet in front of my face. I stumbled, but before I could fall, my back bumped flush against something tall and bone cold. Arms wrapped around my body, but they were distinctly not human. Its knobby joints protruded under its rough, gray skin, like bat claws. One hand bound around my waist, clamping my back to its front. The other gripped my neck, tipping my head sideways with the unbelievable strength in its fingers. I could feel the cutting pressure of its talons rake against my stomach as it held me, but unfathomably, I also felt its reserve. The talons didn’t slice my skin. Its grip hadn’t torn my muscles or broken my ribs. I was still unharmed and whole.

I was playing the human, a performance that had saved me on previous occasions. I knew I needed to act unaware of anything but the smooth, calming limbo the creature was trying to flood through my mind, but I couldn’t help the deep tremble that shook my chest and vibrated through my body like a swift, deadly undertow.

Lips—if you could call the thin skin stretched over its massive fangs lips—kissed the skin beneath my ear. “Be calm, little one.” He spoke and the growling timbre of his voice belied the meaning behind his words.

The swift boil of my anger at being called “little one” helped douse some of my trembling. I deliberately slowed my breathing, so he would think I was under his influence.

He rubbed his cheek against my cheek. “Hmm,” he murmured on an inhale. I felt a tremble course through his body. His talons tightened just short of breaking the skin as he composed himself. “Lovely.”

The slick slide of his tongue flicked out in a hot swipe over my neck. I almost lost my nerve. I clenched my teeth to stop myself from jerking away when his mouth clamped over my carotid in a punishing, penetrating lock. Fangs pierced through my skin, and my knees gave out as he sucked a long, fiery gulp of blood.

Pleasant, soothing pleasure kneaded my body in pulses. Unlike Dominic’s bite, which could blow my mind in orgasm, and Kaden’s bite, which tore through flesh like a rabid dog gnawing its bone, this bite massaged around my body like a cloud. It wasn’t overwhelming or violent, like the other bites I’d experienced. It soothed my aches and worries. I floated in oblivious bliss, and perhaps this bite was more dangerous for its gentility because despite having kept my will, I didn’t want to pull away.

The vampire released the pressure on my neck, healed the wound with a quick, efficient lick, and stepped back from me after only one swallow. I slumped to the ground. From my prone position, I could finally see the vampire behind me. He hadn’t fed yet besides the one swallow of my own blood, but that one swallow hadn’t been enough to transform him back from his gargoyle-like form. His ears stood at attention. His nose was flat and flared, and although his canine teeth were fanged, every tooth in his mouth came to a sharpened point.

Like all the other vampires I’d seen in this form, his body was slim, nearly skeletal, and his legs, which I had to focus on not seeing, were jointed backwards. Vampires were difficult to differentiate in this form, but I noticed a slight difference in his. This vampire, unlike Dominic and any other vampire I’d known, had webbed fingers.

The vampire stared down at me, incredulous.

“You’re a night blood.”

I blew out a long breath. “What gave me away?” I asked sardonically. The jig was up the moment he’d tasted my blood.

He cocked his head, and after a suspended moment, he shot me a smile. The smile would have been reassuring if not for the rows of needle-sharp teeth.

“Humor,” he said. “It’s been a while.”

I tensed to move from my prone position. The vampire disappeared and was suddenly beside me, scooping me from the ground and carrying me in his arms deeper into the woods. He dodged between trees and flashed over logs and catapulted over what looked like a small river dividing the forest, moving at that nearly invisible speed that they could all move. The few times Dominic had carried me as he moved at that speed, I tried to focus on something central, like the freckle above his collarbone, to keep my bearings, but focusing on this vampire was more sickening than the world warping in a dizzying blur around us. Focusing on him meant staring at the rough grayness of his chest, the five-inch talons curved under my knees, and the glowing amber of his reflective, nocturnal eyes.

His focus shifted at my perusal, and our eyes met.

I stiffened in his arms. “Shouldn’t you watch where you’re going?”

“Does my gaze make you uncomfortable?” he asked, and he deliberately smiled wide enough to showcase every pointed inch of his teeth.

Of all the vampires to attack and abduct me, I’d found the comedian this time. I shouldn’t complain. Last time, I’d found the serial killer.

“It’s not you, it’s me,” I said, and the vampire snorted. “If we crash into a tree at this speed, you’d survive just fine, but I’d be dead.” I gave him a long look. “The police would have another murder to investigate, and the last thing your coven needs with a serial vampire on the loose is more attention.”

The vampire sobered. “We don’t know who’s responsible for the murders, serial vampire or not. Bex will be busy tonight finding out, but despite the murders, I think she’ll make time for you.”

I blinked. “You’re bringing me to Bex?”

“You know Bex?”

I nodded.

“That’s impossible,” he dismissed. “I know every night blood here.”

“I’m not from here.”

A slow smirk widened his lips. “That I believe.”

The wind whipped my hair around us, smacking him in the face. A deep rattle vibrated through his chest as he breathed in my scent. I watched his fangs elongate and his lips thin like a dog with its hackles raised.

He looked away, ignoring me to focus resolutely on the path in front of us.

I gaped. “You haven’t fed yet, but you’re resisting me.”

He didn’t meet my eyes this time when he spoke. “You’re not intended for me. You could be just what my Master needs to find herself again. I can’t take that from her.”

“How could I possibly do that?”

“She hasn’t found a willing night blood in years, not since Walker refused her.” The vampire spat Walker’s name like it was something vile. “She must accept what can’t be hers and be content with finding someone else, anyone else, before it tears us apart.”

I opened my mouth to correct him, to let him know that I wasn’t what Bex needed. I already had a Master, and I wasn’t willing. But it dawned on me that the only thing preventing him from feeding from me was his intention to bring me to Bex.

“What’s your name?” I asked instead.

“You may call me Rene.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Just Rene?” I needed to know his first and last name to have a hope of entrancing him.

“Knowing a vampire’s full name is earned, not given.”

Damn it. “Oh. Why is that?”

He smirked. “Asking to know my full name is tantamount to a man asking to see your breasts on a first date. I don’t know you well enough to reveal all of myself, and it’s rude to ask.”

Rene described it like a social nicety, but I suspected the real reason he wouldn’t give me his last name was survival. Knowing and saying a vampire’s full name increased my hold on its mind when I entranced it. Most night bloods couldn’t entrance vampires, but Rene didn’t know that I wasn’t like most night bloods.

“Sorry,” I muttered. “Far be it for me to be rude while I’m being abducted.”

Rene laughed. “Valid point. My name is Rene Roland. What’s yours?”

“DiRocco,” I murmured, deliberately only giving him my last name and determined not to feel guilty for my deception. I was food to him, nothing but meat and blood with a sence of dry humor that he apparently appreciated, but this piece of meat was not being eaten. Not tonight. “Most people call me DiRocco.”

“It’s lovely to meet you, DiRocco. My apologies that our paths couldn’t cross under more favorable circumstances.”

I couldn’t imagine a favorable circumstance in which we could have met, but I kept my lips sealed and simply nodded, not trusting my smart mouth to remain polite.

We stopped in front of an overgrown cave imbedded on a hillside. Vines spread over the embankment and grew along the edges of the cave’s mouth, blurring exactly where the ground ended and the cave began. Rene set me on my feet, but between the thick, impenetrable darkness of the deep woods and my fear of the coming confrontation with Bex, I could already feel the confines of the cave’s walls closing in around me. I leaned fractionally over its edge, peeking into the abyss. Even as my eyes adjusted, they couldn’t penetrate through to the cave’s bottom. Assuming the cave had a bottom.

Rene pulled me back. “We’re waiting here. Many of our newest coven members still haven’t fed.”

“Is this the entrance to your coven?” I asked, surprised.

Rene nodded. “I don’t want the first human they lay eyes on after waking from their day rest to be a night blood. They wouldn’t be able to resist drinking from you, and once they started, they might not stop. Your blood is like—”

“Like cinnamon and spice and everything nice,” I said, drolly. “Or so I’m told.”

He smirked. “Yes, it is.”

“I appreciate your concern, but if you didn’t want me in harm’s way, why bring me to a coven full of unfed vampires?”

“It’s not you I’m worried about. You would survive, but they wouldn’t.”

I frowned. “I would survive, and they wouldn’t?”

“Bex would never tolerate another vampire in her coven draining a night blood.”

I stared at Rene, incredulous. “Bex would kill a vampire for attacking me?”

“Of course. Night bloods are potential vampires, and the only vampire who can transform a night blood is Bex. An attack against a night blood is considered an attack against Bex herself.”

I nodded. His logic made a strange sort of sense, more sense than how Dominic ruled his coven, and I wondered at the difference. Maybe Bex was more powerful and therefore better able to control her vampires. Maybe Dominic only seemed less powerful because his Leveling was approaching in two weeks. Or maybe Dominic was not as effective a Master—all possibilities worth considering, but I knew better than to utter them aloud, especially the last. Even 300 miles away, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dominic overheard me. I’d regret it, but I wouldn’t be surprised.

“What have you brought home, Rene? I thought I taught you better than to play with your food?”

Bex materialized in front of us. It must have been a trick of the darkness and her own speed and stealth because actually materializing from nothing was impossible, even for a vampire. Then again, so much lately that should be impossible was real; I couldn’t really question what may or may not be possible. I only questioned what occurred: I was alone with Rene one moment, and the next, Bex was in front of us, her reflective, yellow-green irises refracting the moonlight.

I tried to breathe normally, knowing their senses could detect every minute internal change in my body, but I couldn’t help it. My body started to tremble.

“Master.” Rene bowed his head. “I present a new night blood in our territory. She calls herself DiRocco.”

I took a calming breath, but the tremble in my chest worsened. The vial of Dominic’s blood was a hot weight around my neck. I caught myself reaching to touch it and forced my hand to remain at my side.

“DiRocco, I present—”

I waved my hand at Rene dismissively, annoyed at his formality while Bex was frying a laser through my chest with her unwavering, alien eyes. “Yes, I know, you present Bex, the Master Vampire of Erin, New York, from Chemung to Wayne County and everywhere in between.”

Bex grinned. “Walker taught you well.”

“Walker doesn’t speak of you in that way.”

Rene looked between the two of us, weary regret heavy in his expression. “You’ve already met?”

Bex lost the grin. “Why would Lysander concern himself with my expanding territory?”

“Dominic makes everything his concern.”

“That I most certainly believe. What I’m not quite certain I believe is why you were brought here.” Bex shifted her gaze from me to Rene with a flick of her golden-green eyes, and I almost felt bad for Rene. Almost.

Rene cocked his head, not looking particularly worried about being on the business end of that look. “She’s a new night blood in our territory. I wasn’t aware of her presence, and I definitely didn’t know that you were previously acquainted. Upon discovery, why wouldn’t I bring her to you?” Rene narrowed his eyes, and despite his obvious loyalty, returned Bex’s laser look with heat of his own.

Bex lifted her chin defensively. “She might be new to us, but she’s not new to our territory. She’s Lysander’s night blood, and by bringing her to me you risk—”

“When has territory ever stopped you from claiming what’s yours?” Rene interrupted. His chest vibrated in a low, rattling growl, and his lips thinned across his sharpened teeth. “DiRocco is in your territory, and anything in your territory is rightfully yours to take. Lysander knew that when he allowed her to leave his territory. You shouldn’t need me to explain this to you.”

I pursed my lips and wondered if what Rene was saying was accurate. He seemed to be a font of vampire etiquette, and if Bex’s expression was any indication, Dominic had thrown me to the wolves, almost literally. Except wolves might have been preferable.

“She doesn’t want me as her night blood,” I interjected, hoping to turn the heat under someone else. Walker was certainly a subject of contention between them, so I’d play on that. “Or at least, she doesn’t want me enough to risk war with Dominic. The only night blood she’d risk anything for is Walker.”

“By pursuing Walker, she risks everything,” Rene growled.

“Enough,” Bex growled back.

“Other night bloods exist beyond Walker.” Rene continued. “They might not be the night bloods you want, but they’re the night bloods your coven needs. Your love of Walker has blinded you from the destination we’ve worked so hard to reach, and if you continue leading us astray, someone will come along to right our path.”

Bex’s chest rattled. “Is that a threat, Rene?”

“Never, Master. I serve only you, but as your loyal servant, I fear for the stability of our coven.”

“I’ve lived many lives with many covens, and I’ve transformed many night bloods. In all that time, I’ve gained something that I didn’t possess in my former life as a night blood, nor after I was transformed, for many, many years: patience. Walker is my night blood, and when he’s ready, I’ll be there. Looking back years from now at the time it took for him to accept his destiny, you’ll see that the extra time we waited was a mere blink in our existence. Y’all haven’t realized this because you’ve only lived one human life, but when you’ve lived five, ten, one hundred human lifetimes, you’ll understand this inevitability.”

“I understand, Master,” Rene growled through clenched teeth, his tone anything but understanding. “But in the meantime, while you’re exercising patience with Walker, other night bloods are ripe for the transformation.”

“Night bloods must be chosen carefully. If they’re unwilling—”

“Walker is unwilling!” Rene snapped.

“DiRocco isn’t worth the trouble that changing her would stir with Lysander,” Bex finally admitted, and as the words tumbled from her lips, she realized her mistake.

“You fear Lysander and his growing power, despite his approaching Leveling,” Rene accused.

Bex lifted her chin higher, refusing to bend. “I fear nothing.”

“Then if you don’t want the night blood, and you don’t fear Lysander’s wrath, may I drink from her?” Rene asked darkly.

I looked back and forth between Bex and Rene in the sudden, quelling silence. The exchange had escalated so rapidly that I wasn’t sure how their attention had once again shifted to me, but I held my breath as I became the focus of both their honed, targeted gazes.

Bex froze for a moment, her expression like chiseled stone. She’d trapped herself between pride and fear, and my heart sank. In her place, I knew which I’d choose. Quickly, nearly imperceptibly, she nodded.

I didn’t wait to see if Rene would make good on his request. I didn’t care if he just wanted a taste or if he was only proving a point, he wasn’t drinking a single drop from me.

“Rene Roland,” I said, and like butter, my mind melted around his, seeping into the cracks and crevices of his thoughts.

I felt shock and fear sting his heart like bees.

“Rene?” Bex asked sharply.

“Stand in front of me, Rene Roland, and shield me from Bex with your body,” I commanded.

Rene flew in front of me, shielding me from Bex. He didn’t even attempt to reflect my command.

Bex gaped at me. “It’s true.”

I would have smiled at her expression if I hadn’t been so terrified. Bex’s astonishment was my only upper hand. Before she could recover, I hooked my fingers around the vial of Dominic’s blood, snapped the necklace from my neck, and whipped the silver chain around Rene’s throat in a makeshift garrote. The moment the silver touched Rene’s skin, a noxious steam hissed from his burning flesh.

Rene tensed, but because of my command to shield me from Bex with his own body, he couldn’t move.

“You are full of surprises, little night blood,” Rene whispered.

“I’m sorry.”

Rene bared his teeth in a semblance of a smile. “Never apologize for surviving.”

Bex recovered from her shock and released a growling roar. It blasted through us. I felt the compelling urge to bend to her power. Rene trembled to cede to her, but he remained firmly planted in front of me, as per my command. No matter her control over Rene as a member of her coven, I wasn’t hers to control. My grip on his mind was deeply rooted where Bex couldn’t reach, and until I chose to release him, my grip was unbreakable.

I could taste the strength of my bond in the flavors of Rene’s kaleidoscope of emotions. His rage burned through my stomach. His fear spiked through my heart. And a swell of grudging respect filled him painfully, like a Thanksgiving feast. He thought I could be the wedge between Bex and her destructive pursuit of Walker. He hoped I could be his coven’s salvation.

He’d have to get in line.

Bex stepped closer.

“Don’t.” I tightened the necklace around Rene’s throat. His skin gave easier than I would have expected; like a hot spoon through ice cream, I could have scooped the silver straight through to his spine. He hissed, but the sound was gargling and wet. I eased my grip before I decapitated him by mistake.

“You will release Rene,” Bex growled.

“You will step back,” I said. I tugged on the necklace for emphasis and it imbedded a little deeper into Rene’s charred flesh.

Rene trembled. “Master, please.”

Bex didn’t take another step closer, but she didn’t move back either. “You can’t cross into my territory and threaten my vampires without retribution. I thought Lysander wanted to prevent war, not start it.”

“I’m not here to threaten you or your vampires. I’m protecting myself!” I could feel my hands trembling on the cold stillness of Rene’s neck. If I were really Dominic’s night blood in heart and not name alone, I thought, what would I do? I took a long, deep breath and spoke again. “Dominic is the only vampire who may drink from me. You are his ally, but he is my Master. My only Master.”

Something flashed in Bex’s eyes, a bright, burning mix of longing and frustration and jealousy that I knew all too well. I’d looked at other couples that way after my breakup with Adam and felt that impossible, bitter longing for the love they had while simultaneously condemning their love to fail because mine had failed. In that moment, I knew that Dominic had been right about Bex.

She wanted from Walker what she thought Dominic had achieved with me. She wanted a willing and loyal night blood. My relationship with Dominic was mostly illusion—I certainly wasn’t willing and I was only loyal enough to uphold my end of our deal for Nathan’s sake—but I’d delivered the impression Dominic had wanted, and Bex believed it.

Bex crossed her arms. “What do you want?”

“I want your word that my status as Dominic’s night blood will be respected. That means no drinking,” I said, and I directed that last part to Rene by tightening the necklace around his neck.

Rene stiffened. “Got it.”

“I’m here on Dominic’s behalf to mend bridges,” I continued, meeting Bex’s gaze. “I’m here to express Dominic’s sincere regret that Walker suffered in his care, and as a show of good faith, he sent me. As Walker returned to you whole and otherwise not permanently damaged from Dominic’s coven, Dominic is expecting the same courtesy for me.”

Bex pursed her lips. “I’m listening.”

“I accept your dinner invitation for tomorrow night, but only if you ensure my safety. If you’re at all interested in rebuilding a truce with Dominic, you should keep in mind that I report directly to him.”

“Excuse me?”

“The report of my visit thus far won’t speak well of your hospitality.”

Bex narrowed her eyes. “Is that a threat?”

“I’m only reminding you of the reality of our situation and my position, so you can make a choice. If you allow vampires, like our comedian here,” I said, indicating Rene, “to drink from me, Dominic’s attempt to mend fences will stop before it’s even really begun.”

“I don’t need your advice to rule my coven, bless your heart. I’ve survived my enemies, and my vampires have flourished under my rule for longer than you’ve been alive. You think you can cross into my territory and threaten my vampires? You think that you can threaten me?” Bex growled. “You don’t want me as your enemy.”

“No, I don’t. You have a choice to make, a choice that will affect you and your coven as well as mine, and I’m here to make sure you choose correctly.”

Bex’s nostrils pointed, the first slip I’d ever witnessed in her control. “You don’t know shit about choices, little girl.”

“You think on it. I’ll see you tomorrow night for dinner.”

Bex snarled and stepped forward.

“Pick me up and fly me back to the crime scene,” I whispered to Rene. “You will leave me there, fly back here, and not return for me. Now!”

Rene didn’t hesitate. We flew through the air faster than my eyes could track the surrounding woods, so fast that the trees and foliage and blanketing darkness blurred on either side of us. His arms cradled my body. His embrace was strong and secure and without even a twitch to indicate the inner struggle he was surely battling. I remembered my struggles to fight Dominic’s mind games. I’d screamed and fought against him on the inside while physically following his every command on the outside, but I’d never followed them blindly. My struggle was apparent in the nuance of my responses and my trembling hesitation as I battled for control of my body.

Rene wasn’t strong enough to display his struggle, but I could feel it. On the threads of my mind that plucked at his, I could hear him screaming.

My feet abruptly touched the ground. The blur of the surrounding forest shifted into focus, and I lost my purchase on the forest floor before I even knew I’d found it. The world tipped sideways. I fell hard on my side, and pain flared through my hip. Gritting through it, I turned to block Rene’s attack.

But as per my direct command, he was already gone.