Bloodlust by Midnight

by Deanna Chase

  Allcot stood and placed his hands on his desk as he leaned forward, staring me in the eye. “Ms. Kilsen, you and I have worked together before and because of that, I’ve afforded you leeway that I do not extend to others. If you continue to verbally attack me, then I will be forced to revoke those privileges. Are we clear?”

  “I don’t give a crap about your privileges,” I spat out, shrugging Dax off. I knew he was just trying to keep me from burning my bridges with the vampire, but I was too pissed off to care. “Shifters are dying and going insane because someone altered your drug Scarlet. And I want to know what you’re going to do about it.”

  Allcot didn’t say anything for a moment as he appeared to take in that information. Then he glanced at Dax, probably for confirmation.

  “Someone is selling a version of the drug that has a toxin in it that causes shifters to lose control of their wolf,” Dax said evenly. “I think it would behoove you to know that I’ve been injected with this drug, and if we don’t find an antidote, Phoebe has been ordered to put me out of my misery.”

  “I see.” He turned his attention back to me. “That explains your passion at least.”

  He probably had a point. If Dax’s life wasn’t on the line, I’d still be upset, but I wouldn’t have come charging in looking for a fight. I just shrugged.

  Allcot slowly sat back down. He drummed his fingers on the desk, something I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him do before. It was strange to catch him off guard without a tailor-made answer. Sitting back, he glanced up to where I stood. “What do you propose Cryrique do about this situation?”

  “Are you kidding?” I asked. “Isn’t it obvious? Stop manufacturing and selling Scarlet.”

  He nodded, and for a moment I actually thought he was going to give in to my demand. But then he said, “We could, but that horse is already out of the barn. How long do you think it would take for someone else to start flooding the market with it?”

  “But Cryrique is the only corporation authorized to produce and sell it. Don’t you have a patent or something?”

  He shook his head and chuckled. “You think that means anything? Even if the black market didn’t exist, palms will be greased and one of our competitors will be flooding the market within weeks. And there’s no way to tell if they will care about regulated distribution.”

  “So you’re saying it’s better if you sell it rather than give someone else who’s less ethical a chance to take control?” Dax asked, not bothering to hide the skepticism in his tone. “Forgive me if I don’t think your motivations are one hundred percent altruistic.”

  Allcot’s lips twitched, and I wanted to smack the smirk off his face. Unfortunately, when I considered what he’d said, I had to agree he had a fair argument. As much as I hated that the drug even existed, the fact was aside from the independent contractors, Cryrique did heavily control who had access to it. And if someone hadn’t altered it and sold it to shifters, we wouldn’t be having this conversation because it truly was harmless to vampires.

  “I won’t deny that our pharmaceuticals contribute a solid return to our bottom line, but I’m not in the business of killing supernaturals,” he said, his tone suddenly cold. “And I resent that anyone is using our product to harm the citizens of New Orleans.”

  “Then why did you have your guys attack Simone?” I asked.

  Allcot flicked his gaze to me, keeping his expression as cool and calculating as ever. “Simone?”

  “Yeah. Simone. The swamp witch. The one I was supposed to be meeting with when Tanner attacked me.”

  He sat back in his chair and pressed his fingertips together. “You mean when you attacked my employee?”

  “Goddammit, Allcot. Don’t be coy. You know dammed well that Tanner was stalking and taunting me. What did you expect me to do?”

  “I’d expect you to put him in his place. Which you did. I doubt he’ll make that mistake again.” His eyes narrowed as he added, “However, just because one of my vampires was fucking with you doesn’t mean he also attacked a well-respected witch. If you find proof any such incident occurred, I would like to be informed. Until then, I’m going to assume a drifter attacked the swamp witch for reasons we’ll likely never know.”

  Dax and I shared a confused glance. Allcot’s explanation was highly out of the ordinary. It was almost as if he’d put a lot of thought into explaining away the situation. Normally he just dismissed any narrative that didn’t concern him. Why was this different?

  He picked up the phone and pressed a button. A second later he said, “Send Harrison in.”

  Harrison was a vampire on Allcot’s security team. When he was still a human, he’d spent some time protecting my best friend Willow. After he decided he was ready to turn into a vamp, Allcot rewarded him for his service and turned him with no questions asked. A few months later, Willow turned him into a daywalker. I didn’t know if Harrison had asked her or if Allcot had. She’d never said. But the fact was, Harrison was a good guy and I’d worked with him before.

  The tall, nearly seven-foot vampire knocked once, then strode in. He was beautiful with his dark skin and onyx eyes to match. He said hello to Dax and then grinned when he saw me. “Kilsen. It’s good to see you without blood splattered all over your clothes. What brings you to Allcot’s office this fine afternoon?”

  “Just sharing with Allcot that he’s my favorite vamp,” I said sarcastically.

  Dax snorted and Allcot glared at me.

  “She’s here because someone has altered our drug Scarlet and is poisoning shifters, either trying to kill them or turn them insane,” Allcot said. “I want to work with her and the Void to resolve this issue. I’d like you to be my man on the ground. Report back everything you see and hear, and I’ll make some inquiries to see if we can pinpoint who’s at the center of this.”

  “Sure thing,” Harrison said.

  “Is that all?” I asked.

  “All?” Harrison mimicked, pressing a hand to his heart as if he’d been wounded. “And here I thought you liked me.”

  “She does,” Dax assured him. “I think she’s just expecting a little more from her favorite vamp.”

  I rested my fists on my hips and stared Allcot down, waiting for an answer.

  “What else do you expect me to do?” he asked reasonably.

  “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe put your labs and vast resources to work on an antidote.”

  “Done.” He got to his feet again and held his hand out.

  I was so surprised I didn’t reciprocate until Dax nudged my arm. Right. I clutched his cool hand and we shook on the agreement.

  “I just need a sample to give to my researchers.” Allcot leaned one hip against his desk.

  “You got it,” I said, pleased with our negotiations but also mildly unsettled. He’d agreed to help, but the agreement had been easy… maybe too easy. There were good reasons I didn’t completely trust him. It was hard walking away not knowing if he was negotiating in good faith. Unfortunately, we were up against a deadline and I couldn’t afford to turn down the one resource that could actually produce results.

  Allcot’s phone rang, and he dismissed us with a wave of his hand. I led the way back into the steel hallway. After the door clicked closed behind us, I turned to Dax and Harrison. “Do you think he meant it? Will he really look into the antidote?”

  Dax pressed his lips into a thin line and shrugged.

  “Probably,” Harrison said after taking a moment to answer. Then he winked and added, “He doesn’t loan out his best security detail to just anyone.”

  14

  “It’s never going to happen, Kilsen,” the director said in response to my request to send Allcot a sample of the toxic Scarlet. Her blue wings fluttered in agitation as she paced back and forth in front of her desk. “Is there a reason you went to Allcot’s office without informing me of your actions first?”

  Yes. I’d known she wouldn’t like it, but I’d needed to give him a piece of my mind. I shrugged. “I did
n’t think it was that big of a deal. His company manufactures that drug. He has a right to know someone is illegally altering it and distributing it.”

  She scowled at me. “You’re making decisions above your pay grade again.”

  So what if I was? That wasn’t new, and it was the reason I always got the job done.

  “And you, Marrok,” she said, turning her ire on him. “You know better.”

  “I think Kilsen has a point, ma’am.” He stood with his feet shoulder width apart, his hands resting behind his back.

  She let out an irritated huff. “This is why I detest interoffice relationships. You can’t be trusted to keep each other in check.”

  Now that just wasn’t true. If Dax went rogue, I’d take him out myself, and I knew the same was true for him. Both of us were married to the job. Not each other.

  A nagging voice in the back of my mind asked, Are you sure?

  The fact that the voice was even there was enough to tell me I wasn’t. Damn. I glanced at Dax. When had that happened?

  “If I had anyone else in your positions to handle this case, I’d rip it away from you so fast your heads would spin,” the director was saying. “But since I don’t, I have no choice other than to let you see this out. But if I hear of you going to Allcot one more time without my approval, there will be consequences. Understood?”

  “Understood,” Dax and I said together.

  “Good. Now get back to work.” She pointed to the door.

  Dax started to move, but I stayed put. “Is that your final answer on letting Cryrique’s scientists take a crack at the antidote for the tainted Scarlet?”

  “Yes,” she barked. “No is my final answer. There’s no telling what Allcot and his morally compromised scientists would do with it. Our team is talented. We’ll have an antidote anytime now.”

  I left her office shaking my head. How could she be so clueless? Allcot employed only the best and brightest. The Void? We had government workers who never seemed to stick around for the long hours and low pay.

  When we were in the elevator, I turned to Dax. “If I’m going to defy a direct order, do you want to know about it?”

  He pressed his hand to my lower back as he glanced down at me. His dark eyes were full of ire when he said, “Yes.”

  I actually took a step back, breaking our connection. “Who are you angry at? Me or the director?”

  His body was so tense he looked like all it would take was one wrong word for him to lose his shit. “Not you.”

  I certainly couldn’t blame him. The director had shut down one of the possible avenues for finding a cure for the poison still running in Dax’s veins. I nodded. “Okay then. We’re going to find a sample for Allcot no matter what she says.”

  “Damn straight we are.”

  I moved closer to him and wrapped my arms around his waist. Staring up at him and running my fingers over his chiseled jaw, I said, “I won’t stop until you’re cured. You know that, right? If I have to defy a million orders, that’s what I’ll do.”

  He sucked in a sharp breath. “I don’t want you to lose your job over me.”

  Shaking my head, I choked out a laugh. “Do you really think I give a damn about working for the Void when politics get in the way of saving lives? You know I love my job, but I don’t have to work for them to do it.”

  “No, but you want to.”

  “Not if it means losing you,” I said softly. What was that I’d said about living for the job? Yeah, maybe I needed to rethink that.

  The elevator came to a stop, and as the door opened, Dax slipped his hand around mine and we went to find our team.

  Dax and I strode into Talisen’s lab. The fae was going over some notes with Imogen while Leo paced. Harrison was sitting in a folding chair, reading through a magazine. After we’d returned from Allcot’s office, we’d left Harrison with them while we met with the director. Technically he wasn’t working for the Void, so I hadn’t had him sign an NDA. There was no doubt the director would be pissed he was present while we discussed the case, but I’d already decided I was going rogue. This case was too important. All four of them turned to us expectantly.

  “How did it go?” Imogen asked.

  “She’s pissed,” I said, slumping into a chair.

  “About which part?” Talisen asked.

  “All of it. She doesn’t like that we talked to Allcot,” I said.

  “No surprise there.” Talisen’s green eyes flashed with irritation. “The Void has always kept everything close to the vest… even when lives are on the line.”

  “Well, today is no exception,” I added. “She has forbidden us to give Allcot a sample of the tainted Scarlet.”

  Imogen put her pen down and pulled her glasses off. “But Cryrique has all the resources. If they put their best people on this, there’s no telling how fast they can come up with an antidote.”

  “Exactly.” I met Talisen’s eyes and held his gaze. “That’s why we’re going to ignore the order.”

  “Good,” he said without a moment’s hesitation.

  I grinned at him. Of all the people in the room, he was the only one I’d been worried about objecting. He’d just started working at the Void again. Defying orders could jeopardize his job. He knew that as well as I did. The fact that he cared more about saving Dax and the rest of the shifters than he did about his paycheck made me love him even more than I already did.

  “There’s only one problem,” Imogen said. “The Scarlet you brought in with Felix is clean. Which means we don’t have enough tainted product to share.”

  “We’ll just have to find some,” I said.

  “How?” She was frowning as she glanced at her notes. “It’s not like we can just order it online.”

  Dax tapped his fingers on the metal counter. “The only dealer we know about is Strix. And he’s not going to sell to us.”

  “I know how to get it,” Leo said.

  The room went silent as we all turned to stare at him in question.

  He shrugged. “There’s a woman who hangs out at the Swamp. She sometimes sends people to him. That’s why I went to her to find him. We just need someone to be the buyer. Someone he doesn’t know.”

  “That woman wouldn’t happen to go by the name Lexi, would she?” Dax asked.

  Leo leaned against the counter and nodded. “You know her?”

  Dax chuckled. “She’s the one who tipped me off that you were looking for Strix. I have no trouble believing she sends users to him for black market Scarlet.”

  I glanced around the room, then nodded at Leo. “Okay, good. I’ll go with you and be the undercover buyer.” I turned to Dax, feeling better now that we had a plan. “While we’re making our run, can you and Harrison track down the other three shifters on the list? Bring them in and get them tested.”

  “Sure,” Dax said. “What about Felix?”

  “He’s clean,” Imogen said. “Just like his stash.”

  “Good. One less shifter to worry about.” I walked over to Leo and whispered, “Did he give up any more information on his supplier?” I wanted to know just how close the dealer was to Allcot. The vampire hadn’t confirmed or denied using independent contractors, and I wanted proof when I took the issue to the regulatory board.

  “Not yet,” Leo whispered back. “He’s too afraid to say anything.”

  “Fine,” I said. “We’ll just leave him in the basement and give him time to think about it.”

  “Dumb bastard.” Leo shook his head.

  “You can say that again.” I turned to Harrison. “Hey, do you know a vampire named TR? Supposedly he works for Cryrique.”

  He glanced up from his magazine and frowned. “I don’t think so.” Then he shrugged. “Cryrique employs a lot of people. I can make some calls though.”

  “Not yet,” I said. “We don’t want to tip anyone off.”

  “Whatever you say,” he said.

  I nodded to Tal and Imogen. “Keep doing what you’re doing. We’ll b
e back.”

  “You got it, boss,” Tal said while Imogen saluted and went back to studying her notes.

  “Ready?” I asked the rest of them.

  “Ready,” they replied in unison and followed me out of the Void building. Leo and I headed toward my Charger, while Dax and Harrison crossed the street to the Trooper. The sun was low in the sky, indicating it was late afternoon. I glanced at my watch, suddenly feeling like this day had lasted a week. Time to suck it up, I told myself as I glanced over at Dax, taking in his calm yet dominating demeanor. He was my backup, the one I trusted and relied on the most. The thought of losing him to the toxin… It was unthinkable. I could sleep after we found an antidote.

  “Phoebe?” Leo said.

  I tore my gaze from Dax to give the young shifter my full attention. “Yeah?”

  “He’s going to be fine. I won’t lose another person I care about.”

  My heart damn near exploded, and I had to fight the urge to wrap him in a giant hug. The kid was going to need to do some serious grieving when this was all over. The only way he could still be functioning at this point was by channeling all his grief into revenge. Even if he ripped the throat out of the one responsible for Rhea’s death, it wasn’t going to ease his pain. I knew from experience it never worked that way. But I also knew he wouldn’t rest until justice was served. And maybe for now that was just what he needed.

  “You’re absolutely right.” I climbed into the driver’s seat of my car. Once Leo joined me, I turned to him and said, “This mission is a buy only. You are not to go after Strix under any circumstances. Do you understand?”

  His jaw tightened, and that rage I knew he’d been suppressing rose to the surface and flashed in his eyes. “But if—”

  “No.” I stuffed the key in the ignition. “Not this run. This mission is to do recon and to make the purchase. That’s it. Not unless I say otherwise, got it?”

  His expression was pure defiance, but he didn’t say anything.

  “If you can’t promise to control yourself, I’ll make this run alone,” I warned.