“I know that, and you know that.” She gave him a pointed look. The What about everyone else? left unsaid. “Who else smelt his scent on you?”
Jesse ran a hand through his hair, trying to think. “You, Raph . . .” He winced. “And Peter.”
“Arse.”
“Maybe a couple of the others. I just . . . I don’t know. I didn’t try to hide it because I didn’t think I had anything to hide.”
Lys stood and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “I think it’s safe to assume that Raph knows by now. I doubt he’d let on to the VLCD members, so either they don’t know or they’re good at hiding it.”
“Maybe Peter hasn’t run into Jones?”
“Maybe.” She looked doubtful, and yeah, it was a long shot.
If Harper was showing Jones all the vamps, then there was little chance Peter wouldn’t have picked up on the scent.
“Or maybe Peter won’t remember why it’s familiar.”
Lys laughed loudly at that. “Dream on. You know he never forgets anything. Especially when it comes to you.”
Jesse grunted. It was true.
Fucking Peter.
“Well, the one thing you have in your favour is that you only fucked him. And you’ve stopped seeing him now, so . . .”
They lapsed into silence for a moment, and Jesse sat on the floor and thought of all the possible repercussions.
“I haven’t done anything wrong.”
“Technically, no.”
“So they can’t punish me.”
Leaning over the side of the chair, Lys peered down at him. “No. You didn’t break any of the terms of our agreement with the VLCD. But Raph’s going to want to know more about Ian. And possibly some other coven members might be interested. If the VLCD are using members of their unit to try and catch us out or force us into making a mistake, then that’s something to worry about. Especially now we have that meeting to discuss our agreement with them. Fuck.” She gripped the leather so hard, it started to tear. Jesse quickly reached for her hand and peeled her fingers off. “Peter’s going to have a field day with this. He’s going to use it as evidence that the VLCD have gone behind our backs.”
Jesse hadn’t thought of it like that. “How long have they been here?”
Lys pulled her phone out and checked the time. “Almost two hours.”
He wanted to go and see what they were doing now. Being restricted to the fucking library made him want to hit something.
“Hey, calm the fuck down.” Lys gripped his jaw and forced him to look at her. “It’s not the end of the world. They’re probably in with Raph, checking our tracking against their list of crimes. With any luck, they’ll be gone soon. I don’t think anyone’s been stupid enough to break the agreement in the last six months.”
Great. That meant all Raph’s focus would be on him when they left.
“So what do we do in the meantime?”
Lys got up and walked over to the door. “We wait.” She opened the door wide, then mouthed, “And we listen.”
After taking her spot in the chair again, Lys picked up her book.
Jesse stared at her. “How can you just go back to reading?” He wouldn’t be able to concentrate on anything until this mess was sorted out.
She shrugged. “I can still hear what’s going on out there. If anyone mentions your name, or his, I’ll know. Besides,” she tapped the cover of the book. “This book is fascinating. In a disturbing and gross way. People call us monsters, but fuck me, some of the stuff in here is horrifying.”
“We literally eat people.”
“Not these days,” Lys muttered. “But even so, we just drink their blood. We don’t torture them or . . .” She stopped at Jesse’s raised eyebrow. “Well, Peter’s not everyone. Anyway, my point was that it’s disturbing, yet I can’t put it down.” She waved a hand at his book. “Go back to your boring history book. If anything happens out there, we’ll hear it. There’s nothing we can do until they’ve gone.”
Jesse stood and reluctantly went over to where he’d been sitting. He picked his book back up and tried to lose himself in the pages.
AN HOUR AND a half later, the VLCD finally left, and Raph called everyone back into the meeting room. Jesse and Lys were amongst the last to enter, and from the way most of the room turned to look at Jesse, it was fairly obvious Peter had told them.
Raph wouldn’t have breathed a word without talking to Jesse first.
“Thank you for your cooperation,” Raph began, only casting a fleeting glance at Jesse. “The VLCD found everything to their satisfaction and are happy to leave us be for another six months. There were some room inspections—which I supervised—and everything was left as they found it. Although I can’t do much about their scent. So for those affected, I’m sorry about that being all over you room.” A few chuckles met his words, but the tension in the room seemed to grow with each word.
Jesse stared resolutely forward, but he felt like the whole room was looking at him.
Lys pressed her thigh against his in a silent show of support, and he wanted to hug her tight. Covens could be ruthless, even with their own members, but Jesse’s coven had never been all that bad. At least not to his knowledge. And they might not have many, but there were some rules. As far as he was aware, he hadn’t broken any.
Raph seemed to steel himself before asking, “Are there any questions?”
Predictably it was Peter who spoke. Jesse felt his eyes on him like hot pokers burning into his skin.
“I have one.”
Raph’s expression remained neutral. “Go on.”
“How is it that the newest member of the VLCD is covered in the scent of the human Jesse is fucking?”
A couple of murmurs met his declaration, but pretty much no one in the room seemed surprised.
Awesome. Now the whole fucking coven knew his business.
Something like resignation passed over Raph’s face, and he turned his attention to Jesse. “That’s a very good question.” He paused, and Jesse fidgeted under his gaze. “Jesse, do you know Detective Sergeant Jones?”
“No.” Jesse shook his head. “I’d never seen him before tonight.”
Vampires could usually spot a lie. Some people and some vampires were skilled at hiding them, of course, but not Jesse. And Raph knew him far too well to be fooled.
Raph nodded. “It’s possible that this is just a coincid—”
“A coincidence? Really?” Peter was out of his seat. His raised voice directed at Raph caused low hisses around the room. “Apologies, Raphael. I’m just not inclined to brush off a threat to our coven as a coincidence.”
A threat to their lives?
He was such a tosser.
“I don’t think I’d go as far as to say it’s a threat to the coven, but certainly something that warrants further investigation.” Raph motioned for Jesse to stand.
He fucking hated being the centre of attention like this. It felt like he was on trial.
“The human you’re involved with, it ends now,” Raph said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
“Yes, Raph.” If Jesse hadn’t already ended it himself, he’d be gutted. His stomach dropped anyway, because now there was no going back even if he wanted to.
“I wouldn’t normally dictate what you do in your personal life, but as Peter rightly pointed out, this now affects the whole coven.”
“I understand.”
“Could he be a VLCD officer?” Peter asked.
Jesse waited for Raph to answer him.
“As per our agreement. I am to inform the VLCD of any changes to our coven and they are to inform us of any changes to their unit. As far as I’m aware, their only new member is Detective Sergeant Jones.”
“But they could be lying,” Peter suggested, his contempt for the police clear as day.
“They could,” Raph conceded, “but I don’t think they are. I didn’t sense anything duplicitous as they carried out their inspection. Did Jones recognise you, J
esse?”
“No.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely positive.”
Raph leaned against the back of a nearby chair. “As I see it, there are a couple of likely possibilities. Jones knows Jesse’s human acquaintance in some other capacity—lover, friend, family.” He looked at Jesse again. “Are you sure you’ve never encountered Jones’s scent before?”
Jesse had met Ian at the bar where there were so many scents mingling around the place he’d do well to pick out anyone’s. He certainly didn’t remember seeing Jones in there. When they were at Ian’s flat, his mind had been on one thing, and that close to Ian, all he could smell was him and sex. It’s possible he missed it, but . . . “Yes.”
Raph held his gaze a beat longer than Jesse was comfortable with and then looked away. “Another option is that the VLCD lied. If that’s true, then they must be sorely disappointed that whatever they were hoping for didn’t come to fruition.”
“Did your human know what you were?” Peter asked, tone accusatory.
“What?” Jesse frowned. “That I’m a vampire?”
“Yes. Did he give you any indication that he knew about us?” He smirked, but the dark look in his eyes remained. “I know you had other things on your mind at the time, Jesse, but think really hard.”
No. No way did Ian suspect anything. Jesse thought back over their time together, coming to a screeching halt as he remembered them walking Cate to her car. The way she’d constantly looked around as though expecting something to jump out at her any second. He’d checked the news; there’d been no unusual crime activity in that area. So what had her so spooked? Ian hadn’t seemed all that bothered, but Cate . . .
“Jesse?” Raph prompted.
He hesitated a moment too long, and Raph’s eyes narrowed. “Tell me.” Jesse felt the whole room freeze.
Having the coven know about Ian was bad enough, but he didn’t want to draw their attention to Cate. He’d liked what he’d seen of her. Not that he thought anything would happen to her, they still had to stick to the agreement. But there were some in his coven who he didn’t trust. Not if they felt threatened. Secrecy was paramount. For both them and the VLCD. Who knew what the police would do if they found out a civilian knew about them? But he had to give Raph something.
“I don’t think he knows. But I’m not one hundred per cent sure.”
“Explain.”
“He was on edge the last time I met with him. Looking around all the time when we were walking home, as though something might attack him any moment.” It was sort of close to the truth; he hoped like fuck it was enough to get past Raph.
“Shit.” Raph closed his eyes for a moment, and Jesse took the opportunity to glance down at Lys.
“What the fuck?” she mouthed up at him. And yeah, he was going to have some explaining to do there. She’d want to know why he hadn’t told her, and then she’d be furious that he hadn’t told Raph the whole truth. That was something to look forward to.
“Given what you’ve told us. I think this warrants further investigation.”
Jesse straightened, excited at the prospect of seeing Ian again—in any capacity. “You want me to go see him?” They could talk, maybe he could ask the right—
“No. You’ve done enough.” Raph stopped him mid-thought. “I want you to stay as far away from him as possible. Do you understand me?”
Jesse nodded.
“You are to have no further contact with him.”
“Yes, Raph.”
Raph glanced around the room, gaze landing on Peter, and Jesse wanted to groan. Anyone but fucking Peter. Unfortunately Peter was one of them who had a legitimate reason to go into Bristol, and as a result had all his documents and paperwork up to date should he get pulled over. He was also the one Raph usually asked to do stuff like this. A fact that had never bothered Jesse before now.
“The rest of you can go,” Raph said. “Peter, I’d like to see you in my office, please.”
“Of course.” Peter shot Jesse such a smug look. It was only Lys’s grip on his leg that prevented Jesse from leaping over the chairs between them and throttling him.
Naturally Raph caught his murderous look and walked over to him. “I know you didn’t mean for this to happen, Jesse, but the fact is that it has, and we need to look into it.” Jesse looked down at his feet. “I just want to know where we stand. I can’t afford there to be any nasty surprises waiting for us. And I’ll need all the information you’ve got on him. Name, address, phone number. Nothing’s going to happen to the human,” Raph added when Jesse frowned.
Jesse wished he could believe him. He trusted Raph with his life, but what would happen if it turned out Ian did know about them? What then? He wanted to ask but wasn’t sure he was ready to hear the answer.
“Okay.” Grabbing Lys’s hand like a lifeline, he turned and walked out.
CHAPTER NINE
Ian read the email from his boss, heart sinking with each word. For some reason he was exhausted this week, and it was only half over. The absolute last thing he felt like doing was driving down to St Austell for two days, but travel was part of his job description. Normally he’d be happy to go, would’ve probably made a long weekend out of it and stayed till Sunday, but he’d been looking forward to catching up with Blake and Cate tomorrow night. Scratch that, he’d been dying to hear about Blake’s visit to the coven, and Thursday was the only night they were all free for a few hours.
Except now Ian would be in sunny Cornwall.
Bollocks.
He opened their group chat.
Sorry guys, can’t make it tomorrow night. Got to drive to St Austell in the morning. Back Friday night. Hopefully.
Cate was first to reply.
That’s shit. Guess I’ll have to get the gossip from Blake on my own.
As much as it killed him not to be there, he couldn’t very well deprive Cate. Yeah, that’s fine. Just don’t tell me what he says. I want to hear it first-hand.
As if I’d do that to you. We can postpone. It’s fine. How about Sunday afternoon?
Yeah, that’d be great. Ian smiled at his screen. Cate was the best.
Blake replied about twenty minutes later.
Snowed under with work and training info, so that suits me better. See you guys on Sunday.
Sunday it was. A few more days wouldn’t kill him.
Probably.
He was halfway through an episode of Blue Planet when Cate’s name popped up on his phone with a text message.
Hey, got to work later than usual tonight. Any chance you could meet me after?
Ugh, really? Ian sighed when he saw the time. Already half ten. An early night had been in his future. But this was Cate, and he knew how this vampire stuff had affected her.
Yeah, sure, he replied. What time?
About 11.30? Got to clean up a bit after the bar shuts.
Ok. See you later.
Fuck, he was gonna be so knackered in the morning.
After watching the end of his programme, Ian changed back into his jeans and got ready to go out. He set off in plenty of time, not wanting Cate to have to wait for him. A light drizzle had started to fall, and the streets were emptier than Ian was used to. He didn’t normally walk around at this time of night unless it was a Friday or Saturday. The lack of people was unnerving.
For the first time since Blake had told them about his new job, Ian felt uneasy walking out and about on his own.
Every noise had him jumping slightly and casting furtive glances all around him.
Not that he was likely to see it coming if a vampire chose to attack him. The thought sent a chill down his spine.
The truth was, apparently it hadn’t actually sunk in that vampires existed. Yes, he’d believed Blake, but . . . It hadn’t seemed all that real until he’d got out on the streets, on a dark, miserable night where he seemed to be one of the few people out there.
Fuck me, I’m in a scene from a horror movie!
He was the one who ran upstairs instead of out the front door, the one who suggested splitting up was the best idea, the one wearing a red shirt in a Star Trek episode.
Stop it.
He laughed and shook his head.
Jesus, Ian. Get a grip.
To get to Cate’s bar, he could either go the long way round or nip through behind the back of the shops and save about ten minutes. The rain had picked up, and he was wet and miserable, but standing at the mouth to the darkened shortcut, it looked about as appealing as running naked down the street.
Nah.
Rain or not, no way was he walking down there. It was dark, dingy, and screamed Enter and die. Well, maybe not that last part, but Ian’s imagination was on overdrive now.
A noise startled him, coming from somewhere further into the alleyway, and that was it.
Ian turned on his heel, straight into a firm, unforgiving wall of muscle.
“Whoa, fuck. Sorry!” His heart leapt to his throat, beating a mile a minute. Stumbling back, he put his hand to his chest and looked up into amused brown eyes staring back at him. Whoever he’d bumped into was tall, broad shouldered, and kind of hot. “You scared the shit out of me.”
The guy cocked his head to one side, a smirk appearing. “So I see. Your heart’s positively racing.”
Alarm bells went off in Ian’s head. How the fuck would he know that?
He took a step back.
It couldn’t be.
“I didn’t hear you approach.”
“I’m stealthy.” The guy winked, and Ian tried to subtly check his pockets for the spray Blake had given him, just in case he wasn’t fucking crazy.
His other hand curled around his phone.
“Right, then.” He found the spray in his front zip pocket. No chance of sneaking it out of there! Taking another step back, Ian moved to go around him. “Sorry again. I’d better go. I’m late meeting someone.” He tried for a pleasant smile, hoping he didn’t look as terrified as he felt.
“Whoa, there.” The guy put his hand on Ian’s arm to stop him, his grip light for now, but Ian felt the promise in the press of fingers. “Where are you off to?” He closed the distance between them, and Ian swallowed down his rising panic. He needed to keep a clear head. Maybe this guy was just looking to mug him. Maybe he was a creepy robbing wanker and not one of the undead.
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