by Kym Grosso
“Luca, your concern is taken under advisement. Effective immediately, Miss Sydney Willows is my employee.” Sydney shot him a look of surprise. “I’m pleased to introduce my new Director of Security. She’s in charge of my Philadelphia operations and arrived yesterday to learn from you about security operations in New Orleans. She is known to accompany me to events. After introductions to Miguel, no one will touch her.”
“But how will she fit in? They’ll sense she does not belong. It’ll be bad enough that we have no business that would even call us there.”
“What if we were there for some kind of inspection? If it's true that Kade approves all activities in this town, could we tell Miguel we were there because of a complaint? Cops do it all the time for other businesses when we suspect criminal activity. Or, we could just say I was there to see New Orleans. Lord knows there are plenty of freaky things going on in this city. What’s a little S&M in this town? Seriously you two…have you ever been to Bourbon Street on Halloween? Everyone lets their freak flag fly.”
Kade burst out laughing. A hearty, sexy laugh that made Sydney want to let her freak flag fly right there, right then, on the floor with him.
“You bring up a good point. But going in under the guise of an inspection will only put people off. You must understand that the people who frequent this club, go there for privacy. Any complaints would be handled directly by Miguel. We don’t want people on the defensive. But if we go in as mere patrons? A date even? Now that would work, and I am more than willing to get freaky with you.” Kade smiled at Luca who he could tell had resigned himself to the fact that they were taking the human. He knew that Luca felt indifferent towards her, having learned long ago that humans simply could not be trusted. They both knew that Simone was dangerous. If she went after Sydney, it would put them all at risk. He didn’t like the fact that Voodoo and magic were involved either. They needed Ilsbeth.
“Kade, I need to get out tomorrow. And before you say no, which I know is coming, I need clothes and shoes. This has got to be believable. I need to look like the kind of girl who is looking for a little adventure, if you know what I mean. These sweats aren’t going to cut it.”
“Okay, you’ll go shopping in the morning,” he began. Kade knew she was correct, but she could not go alone. Unfortunately, he had a few meetings that he must attend. “But you go with someone. I will send Xavier with you. Even though vampires have weakened powers during daylight, Simone could be out looking for you, or have human minions spying about.”
“I'll need a few weapons too: stakes, crossbow. Tristan is bringing my gear, but he may not be down before we leave tomorrow night.”
“They will not allow weapons into the club. For your shopping trip tomorrow, Luca will give you a gun with silver bullets and a few stakes that you can easily stash in your purse.” Kade approached her and sat on the ottoman. “Tomorrow night, we’ll need to give you a few special accessories before we leave…undetectable weapons that you can wear into the club. You should be safe with us, but should you have any issues, you’ll have the protection you need.”
After Luca had left them alone, Kade’s eyes met Sydney’s. She’d gone silent, yet had adjusted her legs so that they were inches from his. For several seconds, they gazed upon each other. His hand touched her knee. When she didn’t protest, his palm glided up her thigh until he’d captured her hand. Standing, he brought her up to him, so that they stood close, his hand on her waist.
“Sydney, I know you’re mad that I called your boss. But if you want to stay on the case, we need to do this my way. I’m sorry I have to put so many restrictions in place. We’ll go downtown tomorrow night and get more information about Simone’s whereabouts. I promise that this will be over soon.”
Sydney’s body came alive as she felt the strength of his hands on her. She didn’t want to forgive him so quickly for bossing her around, but my God, she yearned for his touch. Although she’d questioned what he’d done, she found herself justifying it. Deep down, she believed that he’d meant what he’d said; he’d keep her safe too. For so long, she’d had no one, but for now, it felt like she had him. Her body responded to his as she allowed the palms of her hands to lie flat on his chest. She wanted to know what it would be like to be flesh to flesh with him, tasting him.
He leaned into her and held her tight against his chest. She breathed in his clean masculine scent, allowing herself to imagine what it would be like to have him inside her. A rush of heat caused her sex to ache. He looked down at her wantonly, searching her eyes for permission.
“Kade, this thing between us…I don’t know what to think…” She didn’t get a chance to finish her thoughts.
“Don’t think, Sydney, just feel.” Kade brought his mouth to hers and she opened for him, allowing him to sweep his tongue into, over and around hers. He was demanding, passionate.
Kade was tired of waiting. He wanted this human woman so badly, and he was finding it difficult to make excuses for why he shouldn’t just take her. Sydney moaned and kept pace with him as she ran her fingers through his hair, possessively pulling his head down to meet hers.
Refusing her the control she sought, Kade slowly pushed her back up against the wall and held her hands above her head with one of his. With the other, he pushed up her shirt, feeling the soft skin of her belly, and then slid his hand up, slowly cupping her breast. Shoving up her bra, he freed her breast from its confines. Kade’s breath quickened, overwhelmed with excitement that he’d finally touched her silky peaks. He tore his mouth away from hers, lowered his head to her ripe flesh and licked her rosy tip.
Sydney shivered and groaned under his touch, submitting to his need to dominate. She wanted to be dominated by him; he was so strong, intoxicating.
“Kade, yes, please,” Sydney begged, unable to keep silent in the throes of their passion.
Kade sucked the nipple harder until Sydney felt a twinge of pain, then pleasure. She couldn’t believe she was letting him do this to her, but she felt helpless to stop him. The desire she felt overrode any sense of logic she had. He pushed up the other side of her bra and gave her other hardened peak equal attention. As he released her hands, she held onto his shoulders for dear life as he made love to her breasts.
“I want you so much, Kade,” she confessed. “Please, don’t stop.”
The sound of clicking heels on the floor broke her concentration. Dazed and swollen-lipped, she opened her eyes to see the redheaded vampire watching her and Kade. Voyeur much? Refusing to be intimidated, Sydney glared at her. Interrupted by the intrusion, Kade slowly lowered Sydney’s shirt.
“Dominique, you must learn to knock,” he growled. Irritated, he blew out a breath. “This is my home, not the office. And as you can see, I am quite busy. What do you want?”
“Kade darling, I just came by to see how things were going with your lovely human.”
“As you can see, she is quite well. Now it’s getting late, anything else?”
“Yes, Ilsbeth contacted Luca. He asked me to tell you. She’s coming in to see you tomorrow night before we go to the club. She’s nervous about coming here, so Luca and I will go to her coven, secure her and bring her in safely. We should be here around seven. I would like to discuss the details, if you have time.”
Sydney felt oddly out of place during this discussion. Instead of getting pushed out of the conversation, she decided to remove herself. She was tired again anyway and needed a break from the vampires who seemed to be crawling everywhere in this house.
“Kade, uh, I think I am going to head upstairs. I wanna give Ada a call.” She placed a kiss to his cheek and pulled away from him.
“Okay, love. Oh and Sydney, remember our discussion earlier. No running off without me,” he warned.
Sydney smiled without necessarily agreeing and began to leave. As she passed Dominique, she purposefully avoided eye contact. She wasn’t sure what kind of relationship Kade had with her, but that woman irritated Sydney. Dominique had made it appare
nt that she wasn’t going to go out of her way to make Sydney comfortable. If anything, Sydney suspected that she’d interrupted them on purpose. As she rounded the corner, she caught Kade’s warm smile. Unconsciously, she brought her fingers to her lips, his kiss still seared on them. She closed her eyes briefly, leaving the room. Sydney wasn’t sure how she and Kade would ever have a relationship. It seemed impossible. Yet, with the sweet taste of him fresh in her mind, she could feel her heart melting.
Chapter Eleven
Sydney locked the door to her bedroom and began searching for her phone. Logically, she knew a locked door was not enough to keep a vampire out of her room, but it gave her a small comfort knowing she wouldn’t make it easy for them. Even though no one had tried to bite her yet, strange vampires milling about the house made her a little nervous. Finally locating her cell in her purse, she dialed Adalee at the lab. Sydney wanted to get the latest autopsy results and hoped they’d get an additional clue to help stop the killings.
“Hi ya, Sydney girl,” Adalee said cheerfully as she picked up on the other end.
“Hey, Ada, sorry I didn’t make it into the station last night.”
“Yes, I heard all about it. And are you just gonna act like you aren’t down in New Orleans with that fine piece of vampire who you’ve been working with? I mean really…do tell. I heard from the captain that you're down there with him. And what did he call it? Oh yeah, consulting? Is that what they call it these days? I’d like a consulting job in a romantic city with a hot hunk of vampire goodness.” Sydney could hear Adalee laughing hard on the other end of the line.
“Very funny. But seriously, I nearly got killed back in my condo, and Kade brought me down here to…ugh…help him. I'm the detective on this case. So yeah, I am consulting, that’s it.”
“Whatever you say, Syd. You just keep telling yourself that, okay?” Adalee chuckled. “Now listen, I’m glad you finally called in. Got some new information on the second girl. Same cause of death, exsanguination. Again, no marks indicating fangs. No sexual assault either. This girl was tortured though. Looks like someone was using her for a pincushion, and I’m not talking tiny push pins either.” There was a pregnant pause before she continued. “Syd, I've never seen anything like this. I can’t be sure what made these holes, but I'm guessing right now maybe knitting needles or possibly large surgical needles. There are two holes in the chest region, two in the stomach, and one behind the ear. It looks like these were inflicted antemortem.”
“The girl was alive during it. Anything else?”
“Yeah, we found traces of lemongrass oil again on the head and also on the wrists. Also, there were traces of human hair and hemp embedded in her wrists. Syd, I'm not sure what's going on down there but the person who's doing this…it’s downright disturbing.” Adalee sounded disgusted.
“I know, Ada. Isn’t this some shit? Kade thinks he knows who's doing this. We're following a lead tomorrow night, so hopefully that will yield some good results. In the meantime, text or call me with any updates. Thanks.”
“You take care, Syd. Talk to you soon. And hope you enjoy your…um…consulting gig,” Adalee teased.
Sydney considered getting some more sleep after the call, but then she thought she’d better go tell Kade about what Adalee had discovered. Why the hell did the killer use needles on the girl? It had to be related to Voodoo. Was Simone making some kind of human Voodoo doll? Sydney didn’t know the least bit about Voodoo dolls except for the fact they sold the little trinkets in the tourist shops. She knew a little bit about the background of Marie Laveau, the renowned Voodoo priestess of New Orleans. Sydney and a friend had once taken a walking “Voodoo tour” on one of her many vacations to the Big Easy, and they’d toured a Voodoo museum, even visited the mausoleum where Marie Laveau was buried. But aside from the legends, she was no expert on the subject and suspected Kade would have answers.
Leaving her room and quietly descending the large, spiral staircase, Sydney heard familiar voices in the great room. As she entered, Kade, Luca, Xavier, Etienne, and Dominique were sitting around discussing the witch. No time like the present to interrupt the family fun. She thought about being serious, all vampire-like, but then decided that flippant was more her style.
“Hey guys. Forget to invite the human to the party?” They all looked up at her at once as if she had three heads. Maybe serious would have been the best approach, grumpy vampires.
“Okay, guess the party is over. I have some news, if you're interested.” Not waiting for an invitation, Sydney deliberately sat next to Luca, knowing it would irritate him. He seemed to have a stick up his ass, and she was about to dislodge it. “Hey, Luca, how’s it shaking? What, no big hello for me?” She smiled up at him, knowing he was itching to remove her from his side.
Kade grinned in response to her antics.
“Sydney love, please refrain from poking the bear.” Both Xavier and Dominique laughed.
Okay, things were loosening up a bit…at least with a couple of these vamps. Sydney decided to keep pushing.
“Let’s play a game, Luca. You show me yours, I’ll show you mine.”
As Luca lifted one corner of his mouth, suppressing a grin, Sydney sensed that his hard exterior was showing a few cracks.
“I guess as long as Kade doesn’t mind, I have no problem showing you mine,” he replied, eyeing his friend.
“As if half this town hasn’t seen it,” Dominique snorted.
“We were just discussing Ilsbeth. It appears that instead of Luca and Dominique escorting her tomorrow night, she will be arriving within the hour with her own escort. Ilsbeth said she has important information for us, and feels it is a bit of an emergency. I would like you to meet her so you can review the evidence that was found on the two victims. She should be here soon,” Kade told her. He gave her a smile. “And Sydney…”
“Yes?”
“Just so we’re clear we understand each other. In my home, should you decide to share, you will only be showing yours to me.”
Sydney’s cheeks heated, and she resisted bringing her hands to her face. Kade's words were not lost on her. Possessive? Jealous? Maybe I’ve misread what he said? Definitely not. She had almost made love to him earlier in the sunroom, and he knew damn well that she wanted to show him…well, everything. But he’d had no problem dismissing her upstairs in lieu of Dominique and business.
“Kade, you had the opportunity a few hours ago to see all of mine, and if you recall, you chose business,” she said, referring to Dominque. “Luca on the other hand, needs some loosening up.”
Sydney patted Luca’s thigh and stood up. She considered pretending like she was going to remove her clothes just to tease him a bit more, but thought better of it. Kade did not look amused. She glanced at Luca to find him actually smiling at her.
“Okay, here it is.” With one hand on her hip, she rubbed her forehead with the other hand, pushing a stray hair out of her face. “Ada said the last vic had the same hemp and human hair fibers and same lemongrass oil on her. This time, there were no whip marks on the body. But what is really sick is that someone was playing human Voodoo doll with this girl. She had five holes in her. Ada thinks they were made with knitting or surgical needles. To be honest, they are not really sure yet what made the holes. And to top off the shit sandwich, all the needles were inserted antemortem.”
As Sydney observed their expressions, she could tell the vampires appeared to know something she didn’t. Before she got a chance to ask and insist that they get a Voodoo expert in on the case, the doorbell rang. The witch was here.
As Ilsbeth entered the room, the air lightened; it was almost dizzying. Sydney was surprised by the witch’s nearly ethereal arrival, her escort trailing behind. Ilsbeth’s long, platinum hair flowed well below her waist, accentuating her petite figure. She was dressed in a purple velvet blouse that was complemented by a fitted, black leather jacket and pants. Ilsbeth took Kade’s hand as they headed toward the dining room. She seated hersel
f at the head of the table, as if she’d been there before, gesturing to Sydney to sit beside her.
Not sure about witch etiquette, Sydney followed Ilsbeth’s nonverbal cue and sat down next to her. She couldn’t help but admire the woman’s deep violet eyes. Sydney was not sure what she’d thought a witch would look like, but she certainly wasn’t expecting this. Maybe a green nose and a broomstick? No, but she was expecting someone a little scarier looking, certainly older. But Ilsbeth was anything but scary, or old. She looked barely twenty-one years old, with an angelic face.
Once everyone was seated at the table, Ilsbeth spoke a protection prayer. Sydney guessed it was your basic, ‘keep evil spirits out of this house’ prayer, from what she could tell. Hell, she wasn’t even sure she believed in witchcraft mojo, but in order to catch the killer, she would give angel girl the benefit of the doubt. Sydney was getting anxious, but could tell that the witch was running the show. All the vampires at the table stayed silent as they listened to Ilsbeth finish her prayer.
Sydney nearly jumped out of her seat as Ilsbeth’s eyes flew open and all the candles on the table and along the shelves in the room flared to life. Okay, nice trick. She glanced at Sydney and then to Kade.
“My dearest friends, there is a great evil in our city. She may have initially come for you, Kade, but now she is here for all of us. I felt it a week ago when I was working. It was a rumbling at first, but now there is a constant state of unease. The wind of evil has blown throughout our streets. Something bad is coming for all of us…something that wants to take over this city. I will help if I can, Kade, but I must know why this evil woman is here for you.”
Kade recounted the story of Simone to Ilsbeth, including her banishment and the recent killings in Philadelphia. Sydney filled in the missing pieces with regards to the oil, the rope fibers, and needle marks. Ilsbeth listened carefully before speaking with great seriousness.