He tucked the journal into the inner pocket of his leather jacket. “Can you think of anything else that might help me?”
“No. I gave you the names of her friends, told you where she liked to hang out and the activities she was involved in, but all those were things she liked to do before my husband died; I’m not sure any of them are relevant anymore. I should have paid more attention after he died, but I was so lost. And now, because of me, Julie is too.”
Even after years of dealing with these kinds of situations, Dante still felt awkward handling them. However, he rested his hand on her arm and held her gaze as he spoke. “Don’t blame yourself. Everyone deals with grief in their own way.”
He’d dealt with it by agreeing to end his mortal life and become something more. Whether that something more was man or monster, he still didn’t know.
“Thank you,” she whispered as she wiped the tears from her eyes.
“I’ll be in touch every day to let you know my progress.”
“Thank you,” she said again. “Let me get you a check.”
Chapter Three
It only took him a few hours to read the journal. It started about a month before her dad died and went right until the day she went missing. Julie’s grief and fury over her father’s death were evident in her words and on the tear stains marring some of the pages.
Her handwriting went from being neat and flowing to almost illegible in some passages. On more than a couple of pages were slashes and dents from where she stabbed the pen into the paper.
She used initials instead of names, and it wasn’t until someone labeled as PB entered her life that things changed. That was when she started talking about vampires and an afterlife here on earth. She imagined vamps as beautiful, misunderstood creatures who would help them.
Dante wanted to reach through the pages and shake the girl. Not all of his kind were bad, but Julie was playing with fire. Just like humans, vampires could be violent, soul-crushing monsters who would destroy her. He hoped she hadn’t really stumbled across the truth and was hiding out with this PB somewhere.
Some of the initials in the book matched with the names Mrs. Abbott gave him, but PB entered her life a month after her dad died. Dante hoped some of her friends would know more about the man, but from the way it sounded in her journal, she’d cut ties with most of her old friends before she disappeared.
Mrs. Abbott had told him that she would let Julie’s friends, and their parents, know to expect a call from him. However, he still waited until the next day to make sure she had enough time to notify them before calling her friends.
One of them sat across from him now, sipping her latte and twirling a strand of platinum blonde hair around her perfectly manicured finger. She studied him with a little too much interest for his liking.
“You have to understand,” she said. “After Julie’s dad died, she stopped being Julie. Of course, we tried to stick by her, but there’s only so long you can stand by someone who doesn’t want to be your friend anymore.”
“I understand,” Dante said. “Were you two close before her dad died?”
The girl shrugged. Dante checked his notes for her name before recalling it was Missy.
“Not really.” The tips of Missy’s perfectly manicured, neon green nails flashed in the light as she continued twirling her hair. “Paris was a lot closer to her.”
Dante rechecked his notes and saw he was meeting with Paris tomorrow. “That’s Paris Carter?”
“Yes.”
He’d already surmised that Paris Carter was not the PB from Julie’s journal, mainly because there was already a PC on the pages by the time PB entered Julie’s life. “Paris and Julie were good friends?”
“How good of a friend can you really be with somebody?” Missy asked. “I mean, the only people we ever truly know are ourselves.”
Dante suppressed a groan; God save him from teenagers. But because she was waiting for something from him, he murmured, “So true.”
She grinned as she leaned toward him. “It really is. I mean, think about it, everyone we know is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. They’re all hiding secrets.”
No one knew that better than him and every other vampire on this planet. “Is there anything else you can tell me about Julie?”
Missy released her hair to tap a finger against her bright red lips. “Not that I can think of, but like I said, she was closer to Paris.”
“Thank you for your help.”
Dante started to rise when she rested her hand on his arm and gave him a coy smile. “My parents are away for the weekend.”
Dante’s eyebrows shot up at the same time her words brought him back to a time when he was seventeen. He’d been sitting in the lunchroom with his high school sweetheart, Tiffany Myers, as she spoke those same words to him.
Unlike Missy, who didn’t look at all fazed by her words, Tiffany had stared shyly up at him as her cheeks colored prettily. In his excitement over her words, Dante almost grabbed Tiffany’s hand and ran from the lunchroom with her. But, because he was seventeen, he was too cool to show his excitement.
Instead, he chewed his peanut butter sandwich while trying not to reveal that this was the best news he ever heard. Finally, he swallowed and replied. “Cool.”
Tiffany’s blush deepened while he tried to figure out what to say that wouldn’t blow this. “So, can I come over?” he asked and wondered if he sounded as ridiculous as he felt.
“I’d like that,” Tiffany murmured shyly.
Somehow, he kept himself restrained from jumping up and pumping his fist in the air. “Cool,” he said again, and Tiffany giggled.
Back then, those words were exciting and opened the doorway to a whole new world for him. Now, they made his stomach turn.
“Stay safe while they’re gone,” he said and pulled his arm away before she could reply.
He wound his way through the crowd of the small coffee shop and stepped onto the sidewalk lining Tremont street. Having already sunk behind the buildings, streaks of sun colored the sky. People were heading home to their families, but his night was just beginning.
There were three vampire clubs he planned to check out tonight, one in Southie, one on the Dorchester line, and another in Quincy. He’d been to them a couple of times while searching for other missing people. They were places humans created where they could go to pretend to be vampires. He hadn’t seen any vampires there, but they were a place to start.
Before he could hail a taxi, his gaze went to Adler’s piano bar, a few buildings down and across the street. His chest constricted; he was so close to the woman he could almost smell her.
And then, he realized he did smell cherries on the air. Turning his head, he searched the crowd of people on the sidewalk before spotting her a hundred feet to the left. His heart slammed against his ribs as she weaved expertly in and out of the crowd.
She was about six inches shorter than his six-two height. Her formfitting jeans and blue shirt emphasized her rounded hips and breasts that would fit perfectly in his hands. Her sandy blonde hair flowed around her shoulders in waves. She had high cheekbones, a slender nose with a slight slope at the end, and a red, rosebud mouth that could do many amazing things to a man.
He’d encountered more than a few beautiful women in his lifetime, but they all paled in comparison to this one. And her grace was as mesmerizing as her beauty. He couldn’t look away from her as she flowed across the ground like water over rocks.
She had no idea he was there, but he suddenly felt as excited and awkward as he had in that lunchroom with Tiffany. No, he felt as nervous as he had while standing on Tiffany’s doorstep. He’d smoothed his hair and straightened his shirt a couple of dozen times before finally ringing the bell. Looking back, he realized Tiffany knew he was there the whole time as the door opened almost instantly, but he’d been too anxious to notice at the time.
And he wasn’t the only one who noticed the woman as more than a few heads turned to follow her.
Dante gritted his teeth when unexpected jealousy clawed at his insides. He barely knew her, yet images of beating down every one of the men staring after her filled his head.
Dante turned his attention back to the woman. He felt like an awkward teen all over again, but he couldn’t let this opportunity pass him.
“Mr. Vares? Mr. Vares?”
Dante was about to step off the sidewalk to run across the street when he realized someone was calling him by the fake name he used for his investigations. After using it for ten years, he was adept at responding to it, but it took far longer to penetrate this time than he cared to admit.
Hoping that he hadn’t given something away, Dante tore his gaze from the woman and turned to find Missy hovering at his side. She frowned at him.
“What is it, Missy?” he asked.
“I was calling you for like… a minute.”
He doubted it had been that long, but it might have been. He’d been pretty focused on the woman. “I’m sorry. I was trying to figure out where to go next.”
“Hmm,” she murmured doubtfully. “Anyway, you should talk to Julie’s brother.”
He didn’t have to check his notes to know Mrs. Abbott told him there were no siblings. They were one of the first things he asked about and always a good starting point. Even if they fought constantly, siblings often knew more about each other than they realized. Why had Mrs. Abbott denied the presence of a brother, and where was he in all those perfect family photos?
“Julie has a brother?” he asked.
“Yeah, but her mom doesn’t know about him, so you can’t, like, say anything to her.”
“I won’t,” Dante promised. “How come Mrs. Abbott doesn’t know about him?”
“He contacted Julie after their dad died. Apparently, her dad got some woman pregnant before Julie was born. I don’t know all the details, because honestly, that’s when Julie started getting all freaky. Paris will know more about him.”
He was looking forward to talking to Paris. “Do you know the brother’s name?”
“No.”
“Thank you, Missy.”
“I hope you find her.”
That was the first time Missy revealed any hope for such a thing.
“I mean, she turned into a raging bitch, but I don’t want to see anything bad happen to her.”
And there was the Missy he’d come to know over the past half an hour. “Neither do I.”
Dante turned away in time to see the woman enter Adler’s. He considered following her; she was alone, so now was the time to talk to her, but he suspected he wouldn’t want to leave, and he had to check out those vamp bars.
Chapter Four
Cassidy closed her eyes while the words for “I Will Always Love You” flowed from her as effortlessly as air flowed through her lungs. Joy suffused her as she lost herself in the words, the music, and the freedom singing brought her.
When she was on stage and the song was pouring from her, she felt like she was soaring as high as the birds she spent hours watching. The words and music were a part of her soul; they set her free every time she released them.
She forgot about everyone else in the bar, forgot about any troubles she might have, and only experienced joy. Maybe if she were a terrible singer, she wouldn’t enjoy it so much, but her voice made others happy too. And that happiness was part of the reason she loved this so much.
She was halfway through the song when the faint scent of leather filled her nose on her next inhale. She nearly skipped a note when that scent broke through the thousands of others filling the bar.
Almost afraid to hope, Cassidy opened her eyes and shifted her gaze to the shadows surrounding the front door. She found him instantly. Dante, she recalled him telling her.
Her heart skipped a beat, and sweat beaded on her palms as eyes so deep a brown they were nearly black met hers. It had been two weeks since she last saw him, but she hadn’t imagined how handsome he was with his chiseled jaw, swarthy skin, and straight-edged nose. She’d bet his lean build was solid muscle, and her fingers twitched to find out.
His dark brown hair curled at the edges of his leather jacket as he watched her in a ravenous way that scared and tantalized her. However, there was also a sadness in his eyes, one she recalled from the last time she saw him. She didn’t know what put it there, but she longed to ease it.
Somehow, she managed to keep singing, but her chest was suddenly tight, and she felt completely exposed in a way she never had before. Could everyone in the bar see her intense reaction to him? Could he see it?
Their eyes met for only a second, but it felt as if time slowed and an eternity passed before she finally tore her attention away again. She focused on the words as she resisted her impulse to throw the microphone on the piano and bolt off the stage. She required a few minutes to steady herself; unfortunately, she couldn’t have them right now.
Dante turned his attention away from the beautiful woman on the stage. Normally, when he walked into a place, he assessed the crowd. He learned the exits and the best place to sit in a matter of seconds. However, his attention was drawn to her the instant he stepped through the door.
Now, he took in his surroundings with a critical eye. It was a Wednesday, but a pretty good crowd filled the bar. Most of the people were sitting at the tables and booths near the stage. He didn’t blame them for getting as close as possible to the woman; asleep or awake, her voice had haunted him for the past two weeks. She was like the Pied Piper, mesmerizing them all with her song.
Over the heads of the crowd, he saw a row of women and a couple of guys at the bar. The vampire bartender who was here the last time he came was smiling as he filled drinks, but the vampire couple wasn’t here.
When the bartender looked up, his smile froze before fading. He rested his hands on the bar as his eyes narrowed on Dante. The woman on the stage and the bartender both emanated an aura of power he rarely encountered in vamps. They looked younger than him, but he suspected they were a lot older. Coming back here wasn’t his best idea, but after seeing her on the street today, he couldn’t face the prospect of returning to his studio apartment.
It wasn’t often that being lonely bothered him; he’d gotten used to it over the years. But, after seeing her again, the prospect of being alone in his apartment was too much to bear. He’d sit there, flipping through Julie’s journal until the sun came up and sleep finally claimed him.
He planned to have one drink, or at least that’s what he told himself on the cab ride over, but he wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than talking to her again. He could also use a lot more than one drink after making his way through the three “vamp” bars.
All they’d proven to be was a bunch of humans playing dress up and pretend. He hadn’t seen one other vamp at any of them. He also hadn’t seen Julie or run into anyone who knew her. He hadn’t held out much hope the bars would yield any results, but he didn’t have any other leads.
His attention shifted back to the stage as the last words faded away and the woman closed her eyes as she bent her head. When the audience erupted into applause, she lifted her head to beam at them.
Beneath the gentle light of the stage, she practically glowed as the cheers continued. Dante couldn’t recall ever encountering someone who radiated such life, vitality, and joy. He almost expected her to sprout a halo and wings. As a lapsed Catholic, such a thing would have brought him back into the fold.
Her midnight blue eyes found him again, and they twinkled in a way that reminded him of Christmas lights reflecting across a field of fresh snow. He didn’t think it was true, but he couldn’t help thinking her enchanting smile was just for him.
Then she turned back to the crowd and started singing “Three Little Birds.” By the time Dante started toward the bar, everyone in the crowd was singing with her.
She’s a vampire, he reminded himself as he threaded his way through the crowd and tables. He was aware that a lot of vampires weren’t vicious, murdering bastar
ds, but he wasn’t sure what to make of her, or the vamp behind the bar.
Cassidy watched Dante glide across the floor toward Kyle. She almost shouted at him to stop, but she kept singing. Kyle wouldn’t hurt him, and she didn’t think he would try to harm Kyle, but her brother wouldn’t be welcoming.
Dante didn’t smell like a Savage, but Kyle didn’t like vamps hanging out here. And normally Cassidy didn’t either, but she didn’t want Dante to leave. She’d spent the past two weeks hoping he would come back so she could talk to him again, and now that he was finally here, she would make sure he stayed for a bit.
Cassidy’s unease grew when Kyle stared stone-faced at Dante when he stopped at the end of the bar. The women lining the bar in front of Kyle all turned to look at Dante. Cassidy often referred to the women as the resident cougars, and she could feel their interest as they discovered new prey to hunt.
A burst of jealousy buried Cassidy’s apprehension over what Kyle planned to do as lust exuded from the women. Her hand clenched around her mic as she struggled to find the inner peace singing usually brought her; it wasn’t working.
Dante rested his hands on the bar and stared at the bartender standing close to the other end. The man continued to stare at him for a minute before reluctantly stalking toward him. Brushed back from the angular planes of his face, the man’s hair was a wheat blond color, and his dark blue eyes glimmered with hostility.
“Can I help you with something?” the bartender asked as he stopped before Dante.
“I’d like a whiskey sour,” Dante said.
For a second, Dante thought he was going to refuse to make the drink, but then he turned and walked away. Unfortunately, what the man lacked in hospitality, the women sitting at the bar more than made up for as they edged closer.
Relentless (Vampire Awakenings Book 11) Page 2