by Parker Blue
“In this part of town?”
“Yeah, well, she doesn’t have the best of judgment. That’s why she had to sneak out.”
Jen gave me a dirty look, but was just smart enough to keep her mouth shut.
He didn’t look convinced. “Got any ID?”
“Sure—in the car.” I gestured toward the front of the vehicle to ask permission and he nodded. Shifting position so he could watch both of us, he asked Jen for her ID, too.
I retrieved my backpack and handed my driver’s license to the detective along with Rick’s registration. He glanced at them. “Your last names are different.”
“Yeah—we’re half-sisters. Same mother, different father. We have the same address, see?”
He nodded and took both IDs back to the car to speak to someone on the radio.
“Ohmigod,” Jen said in a hoarse whisper. “What if he finds out there’s a body in the trunk? We’ll go to jail. Mom and Dad will be so pissed.”
“Just relax. Everything should come up clean, so there’s no reason for him to even look.”
Sullivan finished talking on the radio then handed our IDs back.
“Can we go now?” I asked with a smile. “I’d like to get Jen home before Mom finds out she’s gone.”
“Sure,” he said with an answering smile. “Just as soon as you tell me what’s in the trunk.”.
Oh, crap. Busted.
“Nothing,” Jen said hastily, the word ending in a squeak as she backed against the trunk and spread her arms as if to protect it. “Just, you know, junk and stuff. Nothing bad.”
Oh, great. Like that didn’t sound guilty.
Still casual, he asked, “Would you mind opening it for me?”
Yes, I did. Very much. Swiftly, I mentally ran through the options. I couldn’t take him out—I didn’t hurt innocents. Besides, he’d just called in our names so they’d know we were the last to see him. Taking off wasn’t an option, either—he knew who we were and where we lived.
You could take control of him, force him to let you go, a small voice whispered inside me.
Heaven help me, for a moment, I was tempted. But I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t take advantage of humans like that. I’d promised the parents—and myself—that I’d never do it again.
My only choice was to do as he asked and hope he’d give me time to explain. Crap. This was so not going the way I planned.
Gently, I moved Jen aside, unlocked the trunk, and braced for the worst.
He lifted the lid and stared down inside. He didn’t even flinch. Good grief, was the man made of stone? Expressionless, he asked, “Vampire?”
This was so surreal. I relaxed a little, hoping I might even be able to come out of this without getting into major trouble. “Uh, yeah. The bloody fangs are a dead giveaway.”
He gave me a look. The kind that said I wasn’t out of trouble yet and he didn’t appreciate smart-ass comments. “Why did you stake him?”
Why? He was staring down at the dead undead and he wanted to know why?
Jen blurted out, “Because he was drinking some guy’s blood.” She shifted nervously. “I saw it all.”
The cop nodded. “So did I.”
I gaped at him. “You did?”
“Yeah, I was just calling for backup when you waltzed up and tapped him on the shoulder.”
Crap—I’d been so self-involved I hadn’t even noticed the unmarked car. Note to self: pay attention!
“And you didn’t offer to help?”
He shrugged. “Thought about it. Looked like you didn’t need it.”
True, but his earlier words suddenly registered. “Backup?” I repeated. “Since when do you cops even know vampires exist?”
He gave Jen a wary glance. “Why don’t you go sit in the car?”
She looked ticked off, but went to do as he said, and we moved slightly away from the car as he lowered his voice. “The Special Crimes Unit has known for a long time.”
“Special crimes?”
“Yeah, you know . . . supernatural, paranormal, weird. But the policy of the San Antonio Police Department is that these things don’t exist. At least not officially. No sense in panicking the population. That’s why we have the SCU.”
“You’re a member of this Special Crimes Unit?”
He nodded. “But I’m not dumb enough to take one of these guys on by myself.” He gave me a penetrating stare. “Yet you didn’t seem to have any problem at all. What’s up with that?”
I shrugged, not willing to tell him that I was part demon, just in case he might consider me special enough to merit the SCU’s attention. I had enough troubles as it was. “I keep in shape, eat my Wheaties.”
His eyes narrowed. “Cut the crap. How do you do it?”
“Natural ability and lots of training.” When he looked skeptical, I sighed. “Does it matter? There’s one less bloodsucker out there. One less monster for you to worry about.”
“So it wasn’t just a fluke, a lucky kill?”
“I get lucky a lot.”
“Look, I don’t care how you do it, but maybe you could share—”
An ambulance wailed up just then, lights flashing. It stopped in front of the cop’s car. I moved to shut the trunk lid, but Sullivan stopped me. “It’s okay,” he said. “It’s the SCU pick-up unit. They’ll take care of him.”
The pick-up crew gave Jen and me curious looks, but must have been trained to keep their mouths shut, because they didn’t say a word—just efficiently took charge of the body and drove off.
Curious, I asked, “Where are they taking him?”
“To a special morgue designed for the purpose.”
“Really? I just let the sun take them.”
He quirked a smile. “This one has a skylight, but the SCU likes to document these things first. Plus, it’s a bit messy just to leave them lying around on the street.” His eyes strayed to my car. “Or in trunks.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t want to leave him in an alley, and I don’t have some fancy ambulance at my disposal.”
“Do this often, do you?”
“No, not really.” Only when the succubus part of me threatened to get out of control. When Lola lusted for an outlet, she could be appeased by channeling that energy into a vampire kill. For awhile, anyway.
He stared at me for a moment. “If you ever want to share a few of your secrets, just call me.” He handed me a business card.
Not happening. I didn’t need anyone else knowing about the demon inside me. But to get rid of him, I stuck the card in my vest pocket and said, “I’ll do that.”
“All right, you’re free to go.”
I drove home, annoyed at how late it was. I had to get Jen in her bed before our parents learned she was gone. But just as we got out of the car, Mom and Rick came out of the house.
Crap—just what I needed. I groaned and Jen turned as white as the vamp.
We were in for it now. In resignation, I turned toward them, but Jen backed up, trying to hide in the shadows of the garage.
It didn’t work.
“Stop right there, young lady,” Mom ordered. Looking part worried, part pissed, she hurried up the sidewalk. Jen looked like a hybrid of her mother and father—all three Andersons were big-boned, blond, and beautiful. It always surprised people when they could see nothing of my pretty mother in my face. Evidently, my father’s strong demon genes had overwhelmed all my mother’s blond ones.
“Where have you been?” Mom asked Jen. “When we found you missing from your bed, we were so worried.”
“I was helping Val,” Jen said in a tone that was half sulky, half proud. “We staked a vampire.”
We? Yeah, right.
Fury flashed over Mom’s face as she turned on me. “How dare you take her with you!”
Whoa . . . intense much? “I didn’t,” I said, hating how defensive I sounded. “She hid in the car.”
“She wouldn’t let me come,” Jen muttered peevishly.
“Sharon—”
my stepfather began.
But Mom wasn’t about to be appeased or soothed. She turned on Jen. “Go to your room, young lady. We’ll deal with you later. We need to talk to Val. Alone.”
Jen looked stubborn, but her father nodded sternly toward the front door and said, “Go on, now.”
Jen went, but expressed her indignation and reluctance in every movement of her body. I knew how she felt, but right now, I wished I could go to my room and skip this whole scene.
Before Mom could repeat her demand, I said calmly, “She pestered me to come along but I said no. I didn’t know she’d snuck into the back of the car. You know how she is.” She’d always been a willful brat.
“You should have known,” Mom said, her eyes still flashing anger. “You put her in danger.”
Okay, she had a point. I should have checked. Maybe. But the rest was all wrong. Since when was I responsible for Jen’s idiocy? I glanced at my stepfather, Rick, for assistance, but met only an impassive expression. Apparently, he had decided to stay out of the fray. As usual. Though he’d raised me as if I were his own, he let Mom have her way when it came to me. Sometimes he stuck up for me, but it didn’t look like today was going to be one of those days.
“I didn’t put her in danger,” I said in annoyance. “She managed to do that all by herself. Besides, she stayed in the car the whole time.”
“That’s not good enough,” Mom insisted. “I told you before that I don’t want her involved in anything like this.”
A little ticked now, I asked, “Why? You think I’m a bad influence?”
“No, but—”
“Well, if I am, you helped make me this way.”
Mom sighed and visibly calmed herself. I would have appreciated the effort if I didn’t suspect she wanted to pacify me and ensure the big bad demon didn’t get loose.
“It’s three o’clock in the morning,” I said. “Do we really need to do this now?” Night time on the dark streets of San Antonio was my territory. My family belonged in the bright light of day. Mixing the two made me uncomfortable.
“Yes, now,” Mom insisted. She paused, as if searching for just the right words. “For you, hunting vampires is necessary. To take care of . . . that part of you.”
“The demon?” Mom would never say it, as if thinking if she didn’t voice the word, it would disappear somehow. Unfortunately, it was an irrevocable part of me.
“Yes,” Rick said. “The succubus.”
My stepfather wasn’t afraid to say it. And luckily, he understood and respected Lola. He was careful not to let our energy fields overlap, thank heavens. That would be just . . . wrong.
But he was the one who had helped me realize that if I didn’t want to end up insane and suicidal like my father, I had to give in to the demon within occasionally, not fight it. Luckily, the lust of the hunt usually satisfied it enough to keep the other kind of lust from breaking out and breaking men’s wills.
Unfortunately, though only one-eighth of my ancestry was demon, it took all the other seven-eighths of me to control it. Was that what they were still worried about? Trying to be patient, I said, “You taught me how to keep it in line. Now that I let it out periodically, I can control it. I would never hurt Jen.”
“Not physically,” Mom said. “Not deliberately.” And her face was set in stubborn lines that I knew all too well. Mom had more to say and wasn’t going to stop until she had spewed it all.
“What are you saying?” I asked in exasperation. “That my little sister should be afraid of me?”
“Your half-sister,” Mom said. “She doesn’t have the same . . . curse you do.”
As if I needed a reminder. “I know. No one does.” Apparently, I was unique. Lucky me.
Mom’s eyes shifted away from my accusing gaze. “Unfortunately, she looks up to you, wants to be just like you.”
“Yeah, well, she’s obviously not very bright.”
Mom shook her head. “I knew it was a mistake to let your sister grow up knowing how different you are.”
Yeah, right. Like she wouldn’t have noticed. “C’mon, Mom. Jen’s not that stupid—she knows she can’t be like me.” Though Jen’s obsession lately had run to finding out as much about vampires as she could, under the theory that she was helping me by feeding me all the information she picked up.
“Yes, but she’s young and rash. At that age, they all think they’re invincible.”
Not to mention she thought she could help save the world by helping me. It wasn’t flattering, it was annoying, especially since I did nothing to encourage it, knowing how much it bothered Mom. “Okay, so I won’t let her follow me.”
“No, that won’t work. You said it yourself—she’ll find a way to do it anyway, then she’ll get hurt.”
Why was Mom being so unreasonable? “I’ll protect her.” Then ream her butt for following me.
“You can’t protect her and do . . . your thing at the same time. We have to make sure she doesn’t go with you.”
“Fine. I don’t want her along anyway, but how am I going to stop her from following me? That’s your job, isn’t it?”
I’d meant that to sting, but was surprised when Mom took a deep breath and said, “Yes, it is. That’s why we’ve come to a decision.”
Uh-oh. Why did I suddenly have the feeling I wasn’t going to like this? “What decision?”
“For Jen’s sake, it’s better if you move out.”
“How will that help? She’ll still see me at the bookstore.”
Mom’s face set in stubborn lines. “We’d like you to find another job, too.”
My face suddenly turned ice-cold, like someone had just doused me in cold water. Then heat flooded in and nausea followed close behind. I glanced at Rick. He was usually my champion, but in this, his expression showed he sided with his wife. “You’re firing me?” I asked in disbelief. How could they do that? I had never even conceived the possibility I wouldn’t be working in the family’s new age bookstore.
No, that wasn’t exactly true. Subconsciously, I’d been expecting this all my life, knowing I wasn’t like the rest of them, knowing I couldn’t pass, knowing they would one day reject me for it. Apparently, that day was today. My eighteenth birthday. Happy freakin’ birthday, Val.
“Oh, I get it,” I said bitterly, my voice sounding thick with the huge lump in my throat. “You’re kicking me out of the family.”
“Not out of the family,” Mom said. “Just out of the business. Only for a while. If Jen doesn’t see you around for a while, maybe she’ll give up on this unhealthy obsession, or grow out of it.”
I shook my head mutely, afraid to let my many emotions emerge, afraid to let the demon out.
“This is important,” Mom insisted. “It’s the only way to protect her.”
“By throwing me out?” I wailed. How could they do this to me?
“We’re not throwing you anywhere,” Rick said. “We love you.”
Yeah, right. They loved me, but only parts of me—the human parts. The small piece of me that was demon they didn’t even like. Or understand. Unfortunately, I couldn’t rip that bit out . . . or stop it from holding sway over my emotions. I’d tried. Oh, I’d tried.
And I was tired of being made to feel less than human for something I couldn’t help. Shaking my head and trying to keep my pain and fear tightly under wraps, I knew there was nothing I could say. I turned away from their judgmental faces and walked off.
“Val, wait,” Mom called. “We’ll help you—”
Hell no. Ignoring her, I half-walked, half-ran to the motorcycle I had left waiting at the curb. Mom said something else, but I didn’t catch it. I was too busy putting on my helmet, starting the Honda Valkyrie’s engine, and peeling out of there like the fiends of hell were at my heels.
CHAPTER TWO
Demon rage sizzled in my blood, making me want to blow everything out of my mind in a fast, wild ride. But the human part of me felt heartsick, disappointed . . . bereft. For once, my human emotion
s overcame the demonic ones, and I slowed down. Just what I needed now was to be stopped by that suspicious cop . . . or any other cop, for that matter. Not knowing where to go, I headed to my favorite place—the River Walk downtown.
At this time of the early morning, before sunrise, the River Walk was free of the tourists that usually crowded its banks. Twenty feet below street level, the quaint charm of the tree-shaded sidewalk cafes, arched stone bridges, and slow-flowing river made it peaceful, serene.
It was the heart of San Antonio, and I loved the whole city. Spanish colonial architecture combined with pockets of nineteenth century German architecture to give the feeling of a city rich in history—a great backdrop for the city’s many colorful celebrations. But right now, at this time of night, it was all gray . . . matching my mood.
I parked my Valkyrie far from the tourist area, walked down to the concrete bank of the river, and sat to watch the water flow by.
No doubt about it, I was totally screwed. No place to live, no job, very little money. My lips twisted in a bitter smile. I had some saved up to go to college. Looked like that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon.
I scrubbed my damp eyes as a stew of emotions churned inside me. I didn’t know which I hated more right now—the demon part of me that had caused this problem, or the human part that made me feel so damned weak at this moment.
It didn’t matter—the fact was, I’d just lost my family. It felt like something vital had just been ripped from my chest. God, what would I do without them? They were my lifeline to a normal life, the only ones who kept me sane in my demon-ridden world. Could I survive without that touchstone?
This wouldn’t be a problem if I had friends. But when I was younger, Mom and Rick had been afraid people would notice my freak side. They had no idea then when the lust demon would first manifest. To avoid the inevitable questions, they kept me out of the public school system, home-schooling me and keeping me carefully away from other kids. Then later, it hadn’t seemed worth it to make friends. Not close ones, anyway. Explaining the demon side of myself wasn’t an option. So now, I was utterly alone.