Bad Mouth

by Angela McCallister

  He wasn’t recovered? If he was physically compromised now, she couldn’t imagine how strong he’d be at full power. He’d been terrifying enough when he’d gone into a rage and into the throes of a change at Dannon’s house.

  “Kade?” She hesitated at the doorway and glanced over her shoulder at him. “I don’t hate you.” She slipped out the door before he could respond.

  Once she reached the plaza, she couldn’t flag down a cab and get to the VLO fast enough. Her mind raced, and she needed her keyboard under her fingers. First thing after she arrived, she checked a hunch completely unrelated to the bloodings and the deranged transformations.

  And that hunch paid off quickly.

  Kade’s driver, Jerome Wiley, had been a serial rapist. He’d been there, a few feet away, when she’d made love with Kade in the backseat. Her skin crawled; she hoped Kade had been right and the man hadn’t seen or heard anything with the glass separating them.

  She rescinded his application’s approval and then checked the approval signature. Ginger Kowolski. Jerome’s criminal record was blatantly easy to find and the woman should have caught it. Ginger had to have known but disregarded it. Why would she do that?

  Val checked Kade’s most recent, the pedophile. His record was easy to find and his application had Ginger’s signature as well. Val checked back further. Ginger had signed all the applications for the past six months. Those before were signed by Jenna Grier, whose signature went back a year prior to Ginger’s. Val stopped at two years. She would need help getting through the records.

  Before she left for the night, she viewed the approval numbers. They’d increased at a rate of 300 percent over the last four years. The adjuvants were working overtime. Who had authorized the large number of transformations? Vampires lived practically forever. Soon the world would be overrun by them. Her lungs seized, and goose bumps spread over her arms. This wasn’t an oversight. It was intentional.

  Someone was building an army.

  Chapter Nineteen

  His team had left for the night and Kade couldn’t wait for sunrise and the irresistible pull of sleep that came with it. Every beat of his heart ached until he willed it to stop its incessant pounding. It didn’t stop the pain, but he needed to put an end to his self-pity. Val would grow old and die in the bat of his eyelash. She was human. He never should have let himself feel anything for her. As if he could have stopped it.

  He wondered what she’d do about the fake bloodings and the missing deranged the VLO would never find. Maybe she hadn’t decided. He didn’t think her capable of compromising an investigation, and he’d never ask it of her. She was too damned honest, but he loved that about her. He’d had so little truthfulness in his long, long life.

  Last night, Declan had located the Goth Slavers at the old flour mill on Harbor Island and his team had put an end to their branch of the operation. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t put an end to an organization too large for a small team like his. He needed more man power on his side, but he didn’t trust anyone else to bring in. If word reached the Ancients, the world as he knew it would end. If only they could be reasoned with, but they’d lost the ability to be reasonable before he’d been born.

  His goal now narrowed to finding William Parrish. Luc and Guns hadn’t made much progress—it was as if the damned deranged had disappeared off the face of the earth, impossible on his own. Someone was hiding him, restraining him, which sounded like the Slavers’ work, but nothing indicated the Goth group had anything to do with Will or his transformation.

  He’d made it to his bedroom when his cell rang. “What’s up?”

  “Ah, Kade, my never friend. Good to hear your voice.” Ptolomy’s voice cracked over the words, but Kade had enough sense not to laugh at the Ancient’s perpetual pubescence. He could hear one of Ptolomy’s little pretties, as the boy called them, whining in the background.

  “Well, this is a first.”

  “What? I never call? My bad.”

  “To what do I owe this pleasure?”

  “Only a friendly warning.”

  When Ptolomy got that serious tone in his voice, Kade always paid attention. “I’m listening.”

  “Good. It’s come to my attention that new legislation to make transformations illegal has entered the House. Completely illegal, no exceptions. We’ve put down such legislation before, but with the recent bloodings the bill has garnered enough support to put it to a vote, possibly enough to pass.”

  Kade frowned. A nagging suspicion rose in the back of his mind, but he batted it down. “Are they stupid? Don’t they realize this will only increase the bloodings?”

  “They aren’t thinking at all. The human masses are terrified.”

  The nagging thought persisted. “It’s knee-jerk.”

  “That won’t keep it from passing.”

  Kade paced along his bedroom window. He was the worst sort of person to handle this problem. “You know I don’t deal with politics. What can I do?”

  Ptolomy remained silent a moment. “Who do you think wrote that little treasure of a bill?”

  A chill hit the center of him like a frozen ice pick. He didn’t want to give access to that nagging thought, but Ptolomy had just knocked that door down, and Kade had no other choice than to state the obvious. “Val.” She’d detested vampires, still did for all he knew.

  “Of course, but perhaps you could talk her out of supporting it. She seemed to have a pretty big thing for you. Don’t think I didn’t notice.”

  “I may have fucked that up.” An understatement of the century.

  “Then unfuck it. She has considerable influence with the Senate, the House, and the governor’s office. Her parents are very influential people as well.”

  “I can try.”

  “Don’t try. Do. This is about survival. You have no choice. I’m doing what I can, but we need her. To the public, she is the VLO. They’ll listen to her.”

  After the phone call, the chill remained. He called Selene, directing her to use her influence with the wealthy humans she knew. He felt her anxiety through the phone line. She would do what she could.

  That legislation would back the Immortalis into a wall, and the last thing the humans wanted to deal with was a horde of cornered vampires. It seemed like every wall pushed tenaciously for conflict. If the Ancients learned humans were enslaving vampires, there’d be hell to pay. If the humans ended transformations, the result would be no different. In any case, the Dominorum would release the leash on the Legion, a leash Kade was certain would never be regained.

  Val likely hadn’t put any thought to the consequences of that legislation. Humans didn’t need vampires, but vampires certainly needed the cursed humans to survive. A world without transformations would be genocide for his kind. They’d die out, never to exist again.

  But perhaps that’s what she’d been after all along.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Alice, I’m so glad you’re still here.” Val grabbed the woman’s wrist and led the way to her office. She pushed her assistant into the wide leather chair in front of her desk.

  Alice pouted, her plump lips forming a frown. “I have a ton of work to do. A ton, Val. What has gotten into you?”

  “This is more important than what you’re working on.” Val sat at her desk across from Alice and rubbed her hands over her face. She hadn’t gotten more than two hours of sleep, and it was hitting her hard. “I have some things to tell you, and I want you to swear to secrecy. You have to because I really need your help. First of all, where’s Graham?”

  “I thought he’s been with you.”

  “Alice, I haven’t seen Graham in two days.” Suddenly, Val’s stomach dropped. She hadn’t checked up with him. Graham would have wanted to hover over her while she dealt with Kade. “Have you heard from him at least?” Maybe he’d taken the hint that he’d been too heavy-handed with her.

  “No. You?”

  Val shook her head. “Two nights ago I found him here in the office late
. He never did explain why. I’ll call him as soon as we’re done.” Though she wanted to race to Graham’s apartment immediately, she had to speak to Alice. Maybe she was overreacting, but her instincts screamed foul play. Turning her mind to the problem at hand, Val explained everything she’d learned about the shady transformations. Alice’s jaw dropped.

  “How the hell could any of this happen?”

  “I don’t know. But I need you to take someone with you and interrogate Ginger, and if you have time, interrogate Jenna also. I really wanted Graham with you, but I’ll have to track him down. I wonder if he’s working on a private case.”

  “He always tells us when he’s representing someone.” Alice twirled her finger around a dark lock, the hair having fallen around her face again. “This is so unlike him.”

  “I know, and that worries me. I’ll call him. Maybe go by his place.”

  That late night in the office had been the first in a week where she and Graham had been at ease with each other. There’d been none of the tension created by their visit with the Ancients and subsequent meetings with Kade. He hadn’t seemed anxious or stressed, nor had he mentioned any new cases. They’d actually been on good terms when they’d parted, and he hadn’t brought up the topic of taking leave. Or had he? With everything that had happened since then, she honestly couldn’t remember if he’d mentioned a leave of absence or not.

  “Check the hospitals?” Alice cringed as she said those words. Not much else would keep Graham away from work.

  While Alice rounded up an interrogation partner, Val called Graham, but it went to voice mail. She’d half expected that, but it tied her in knots anyway. He hadn’t left any messages for her in her e-mail or in her voice mail. She caught a cab to his apartment, but no one answered there. If only she knew how to pick locks. Instead, she found the landlord. The frail, old man put up resistance, but eventually capitulated and let her into the apartment. It was empty.

  Could Kade have harmed Graham? He’d seemed angry enough with her friend, and soon after his latest bout of anger, Graham had disappeared. The possibility was remote, but she had to be sure.

  The cab ride to Kade’s took too long, and she fidgeted the whole way while calling area hospitals. Nothing. Graham had disappeared with no trail to follow.

  After paying the cabbie, she looked up at the sky. It was early evening, and the sun still lingered. Kade wasn’t likely to be awake at this hour.

  He didn’t answer his door at first. She pounded on it for a good five minutes before it swung open. She pushed past and whirled toward him. He shut the door, but leaned back heavily against it, looking half-dead and drugged with his hair tousled and his eyes at half-mast. He wore only navy sleep pants, barefoot and shirtless.

  “Val.” That was all he said before he slid to the floor, his head lolling back on the door. She’d never seen a vampire afflicted by the sun. She saw now how it could kill a brand-new vampire who wasn’t as strong as Kade.

  “Kade?”

  He didn’t answer. His red eyes were glassy. With a grunt, he tried to stand but ended up rolling onto all fours instead. “Are you all right?” he slurred.

  “No. Are you drunk?”

  “No, but I’ll pass out if I don’t get out of the sun.” He half dragged himself toward the hallway. She bent to get under his arm.

  “Oh, jeez. You’re heavy.” With a heave, she lifted with all her strength. By the time they reached the hallway, which was as far as she could make it, her arms shook with the effort. He sat on the floor while his gaze grew more alert. She leaned against the wall across from him, catching her breath.

  “What happened? Did someone harm you?” The red of his eyes lit the dark.

  “Did you do something to Graham?”

  “Did I—he’s missing?”

  “Don’t act like you don’t know. You threatened him.”

  “Threatening and doing are two different things, and I can’t exactly blame the guy for falling in love with you. Honestly, Val, I haven’t seen the douchebag since we left Ptolomy’s house.”

  “I don’t know if you have an honest bone in your body. Maybe one of your thugs took care of him for you so you could say that without lying.”

  “My thugs?” The red glow brightened. “They’re not mafia hit men. They’re doing their jobs, protecting and serving. I do my own fucking dirty work, and I wouldn’t kill someone, especially that douchebag human, over a fit of jealousy.”

  That stopped Val in her tracks. Jealousy? Wouldn’t that involve love or at least caring? Then again, people got jealous over their possessions, too. With a sigh, she slumped against the wall. She had to admit Kade was the kind of man who’d face an adversary personally rather than send a minion, Wallace being the special case, and he appeared genuinely surprised and affronted by her accusations. So maybe she’d jumped the gates on his guilt, but if he had nothing to do with Graham’s disappearance, she had no other leads.

  “I can’t find him. He’s been missing for two days.” She hadn’t noticed his absence. He could be dying somewhere or dead already.

  Kade must have seen her anguish because he swung his large body across the hallway and settled against the wall next to her. He wrapped his arm behind her shoulders and pulled her against his side. The male scent of him wrapped her up in an envelope of warm spice and memories she did her best to overlook.

  “I’ll help you find him. Did you check the hospitals?” he asked. She nodded against his shoulder. He drove the cold from her chest, and she couldn’t bring herself to pull away from him like she should. “I assume you checked his place already. Was his car there?”

  She lifted her head. “I didn’t think to look.”

  “That’s all right.” He pressed her head back to his shoulder. “That’s what I’m here for. I have resources and training you don’t. I’ll have Luc check Graham’s e-mails and phone calls. If there’s anything to find, he’ll get it. He’s really good at all that tech bullshit. Guns can check if that ass-ugly car’s at the apartment. If it’s not, he can put out an APB on it. Good to have a police officer on the team. It comes in handy.” He absently stroked her hair as he talked. She closed her eyes and took the comfort. Selfish, but she needed him so badly right now. Deep down, she’d known Kade hadn’t been involved in Graham’s disappearance, but it had given her a reason to come to him. “Once night falls, Ezra and I and the Trackers will take over the hunt. No one gets away from the Trackers. We’ll find him, Val. Don’t you worry about that.”

  But in what condition? That tore her up the most. She couldn’t bear it if they found him dead. First Will and now…she couldn’t even continue the thought. “Could it have been those Goth Slavers?” she asked in a strangled voice.

  “No. Declan took care of them night before last. They won’t be kidnapping anyone or feeding humans to anyone anymore.”

  “But Graham was missing before then.”

  “They would’ve had records, and he wasn’t in them. I don’t know how the douche—Graham—would have gotten on their radar in the first place.”

  “He was investigating the bloodings. That’s related.”

  “Trust me, Val. If he was involved in any way, we would know. We would have found him already.” He cupped her cheek and tipped her face up to his. “I know you don’t want to consider this, but is there any chance, however slight, that he wanted to become?”

  She gasped. “No! Not in a million years.”

  “He didn’t like vampires? I know he didn’t like me, but that was a territorial thing. In general, though, he didn’t like us?”

  Graham had spouted lovey-dovey vampire sentiment since meeting the Ancients a few days ago. Before then, she would have ruled it out. Now, she wasn’t so sure. “I think he did, but not enough to transform, especially through illegal means. He knows too well what happens to illegal transformations, and he had no application submitted.”

  “All right. Then we assume he was taken by force.”

  “I don’t k
now which is worse.”

  He slid his hand lazily up and down her arm. “I can’t believe you thought I’d harm the man. Do you think so little of me?”

  “I didn’t know what to think. He doesn’t have enemies that I know of, except for you sort of.” When she looked up at him, his eyes had dimmed, his face still and solemn. Did how she saw him matter that much to him? “I guess I doubted you had anything to do with this, but I had to know.”

  “I know you have a thing against vampires. It’s why you wrote that legislation, isn’t it?”

  She stiffened. “L-legislation?”

  “Yes, I know about that. What I can’t figure out is why you hate us so much that you’d try to destroy my entire race.”

  “It’s not meant to destroy a race. It’s only to protect mine.”

  “To protect humans from their own choices? No one is forced into transformation, not even the illegal ones.”

  “The humans are slaves. You can’t deny that. I’ve seen it myself.” Maybe he was too old and entrenched in his society to see the suffering the subjugates went through before they transformed. Then again, he had so much against humans, he probably didn’t care in the least.

  “Their service isn’t slavery, Val. There’s a purpose for it. They have to follow our laws. They must learn their roles, or they won’t survive. Our society isn’t a democracy. It’s led by royalty, those with a direct bloodline to the original race. If they can’t learn our customs and our governing system, they face execution. We won’t accept someone only to have them end up with that fate.”

  Put that way, it sounded reasonable, but many subjugates waited years for the transformation. Some never got there, dying in their old age before it ever happened for them. Seemed like slavery to her. “How do you explain the ones who wait their entire lives and aren’t transformed?”

  “They have the right to decline transformation at any time. No one is locked in after their application is approved. Some choose to wait but never understand our culture. If they can’t fit in, they’re never scheduled. But always, they’re counseled on their shortcomings and offered a way out.”