by Cynthia Eden
His steps quickened as he headed to the morgue. He’d be waiting on Ginny to arrive.
When he entered the morgue, the place was cold. Icy. And there was some big, fat asshole who roused at his approach. “What’s happening?” The guy asked, frowning. “Where’s your ID badge?”
Johnny reached under the edge of his borrowed scrub even as he flashed a smile at the fellow. “Right here.” Then he moved fast, bringing up his knife and shoving it right into the guy’s throat before the fellow could make a single sound.
The guy’s thick, big fingers tried to rise up and fight him, but Johnny just jerked the knife hard to the right. Then he let the dumbass fall. Blood poured from the wound. He stared at it a moment, thinking. Maybe Ginny would like that blood, once she woke up.
He grabbed the guy’s legs and started dragging him. The man grunted, still alive. Well, he wouldn’t be alive for long. Johnny dumped him behind the desk. Then he just sat down in the man’s chair, the wheels rolled back beneath his weight, and he made himself comfortable. Soon enough, Ginny would be coming right to him.
He couldn’t wait to see her again.
***
When Aidan stalked down the hospital corridor, Jane watched him with desperate eyes. The victim was dead. She knew that—but, killing her again? No way did that seem right.
Her breath eased out slowly. She had to stop Aidan. To do that, she’d have to buy herself some time. How much time, well, that just depended on how good Aidan was with his mind control routine. “Stop that man!”
Everyone in the hospital turned to glance at her—everyone, including the security guard and the two uniformed cops who were near the emergency room exit.
Even Aidan glanced over at her.
She lifted her badge, like they needed the reminder of who she was. “Stop him!” She stared straight at Aidan. “That man needs to be taken down to the police station for questioning.”
There was a roomful of people watching them. Surely he couldn’t do that mind control mojo on them all at the same time?
The uniformed cops hurried toward him.
“Take him in your patrol car,” Jane instructed. “Get him out of here.”
One guy locked a hand on Aidan’s shoulder. When Aidan tensed, so did Jane. Don’t pull out your claws. Don’t.
He didn’t. He did glare at her. “This isn’t what you want to do.”
No, it wasn’t, but she didn’t have too many options and just stopping the guy at that moment was right at the top of her list. Stop him, distract him, and then she could try and handle their victim/vamp-to-be. Jane nodded curtly. “Take him.” Though she didn’t know how far they’d actually get with him. Aidan wasn’t turning on his beast mode right then, so that was good. Maybe he’d save the mind control bit for later, but to be safe…
She hurried away from him. She wanted to get to the victim. She needed to see her. Jane pushed through those swinging emergency room doors. “The victim! Where is—”
“They’ve already taken her down,” the nurse told her, sympathy on her face. “You’ll get a full report, don’t worry. But that is going to take time.”
Time wasn’t something she had and the report wasn’t something she wanted right then. So she rushed by the nurse, running for the stairwell that she saw on the right. Jane knew the bodies were kept below in the morgue, and she had to get down there.
Before Aidan does.
***
Aidan didn’t put up a fight, at least, not with every eye in that ER on him. He had to hand it to Jane, she’d played him well.
Just not well enough.
As soon as he was outside and the only eyes on him belonged to the two cops, he whirled around. He grabbed the cop on his right and slammed him back against the side of the hospital. The cop on his left fumbled for his gun.
Aidan caught his hand. “You don’t need that.”
The man stared into his eyes.
“Go back on patrol. Forget me.”
The fellow nodded. And his partner…well, he was rising.
“Kenny, you crazy? Attack that asshole!”
Aidan sighed. He let go of cop number one, and turned to fellow number two. “Kenny isn’t crazy.” And that guy had lifted his gun, too. “You don’t want to do that…”
“Get on your knees!”
Ah, now, he didn’t do that for anyone.
Aidan flew forward and slammed the guy into the wall once more. He felt the power of the beast bursting inside of him. “Don’t piss me off.”
The young cop shuddered.
“Go out on patrol,” he gritted. “Forget me.”
He waited for that message to be received, and then, when the guy’s eyes glazed over, Aidan stepped back.
Jane, why the hell are you doing this? He’d gone over the rules of the paranormal world with her. And now she was going to play games? Fuck, no, that couldn’t happen.
He wouldn’t let it happen.
***
Jane shoved open the swinging doors of the morgue. “I need to see the woman who was just brought in!”
Silence.
“Um, hello?” Jane advanced toward the desk. An empty desk. Oh, jeez, but the place reeked. It smelled of antiseptic and, well, death. “A body was just transferred down here!” She called out. “I need to see her, now.” Aidan had said she had a few hours, but Jane didn’t want to push things. The sooner she got the victim, the better.
But no one was in the morgue. The place was icy and…
Was that blood on the floor?
Jane peered down, and, hell, yes, it was. She followed the trail. It looked as if someone had been dragged…and—
Jesus.
A body was crumpled far behind the desk. An older man, wearing blue scrubs, and with an ID badge that identified him as Dr. Ken Loft.
His throat had been cut wide open.
I am so tired of that sight.
The doors squeaked behind her as they opened. She spun and found Aidan standing right there. His face was tight with fury as he reached for her. “You can’t trick me, Jane.”
Um, she could. She had. But right then, they had a bigger problem on their hands. “The guy who runs the morgue is dead.”
His nostrils flared. “Yeah, I smelled that.”
Right. Werewolves. Sharp noses. Blood. Whatever. “Did…did she do it?”
He glanced over her shoulder. “The vamp won’t be awake yet. I told you that.”
She wasn’t awake. She wasn’t there. She should have been. “Where is she?”
A muscle flexed in his jaw.
“Can you track her?” Jane asked him. “Can you find her?”
“Now you want my help? Ten minutes ago, you were trying to get the cops to lock me up.” But he’d already pulled away from her and headed back for the door.
“Aidan!’
He paused. His hands were clenched at his sides. “I’ve got her scent. Let’s see where it leads.”
Her breath heaved out as she rushed to catch him. Just as she reached for the door, he captured her hand in his and held tight. “You owe me, Jane.”
“I—”
“And never, ever betray me again.”
“It wasn’t a betrayal.” Not really. Someone needed to relax. They’d address that whole betrayal business later. Right then… “Find me the body.”
***
Johnny shoved his foot down hard on the accelerator. How fucking convenient. Someone had just left an ambulance out for him to use at the back of that hospital. The perfect getaway vehicle.
“Don’t you worry, baby!” he called back to Ginny. “I’ll get you someplace nice and safe for you to wake up. I’m going to take care of everything.” She’d wake up, change him, and they would fucking be invincible. “Don’t you worry,” he said again as he drove faster. “I’ve got you.” And he would never let her go.
Chapter Nine
It was nearing four a.m. when Jane stormed into her apartment. They hadn’t found the victim. Dammit. Aidan
had lost the trail once the victim—and the guy who’d taken her body—had apparently high-tailed it away in an ambulance. Video footage had shown her the guy’s face—and it had been the same bozo who’d attacked Jane behind the cathedral. Stocky, long hair, gaunt face.
Aidan told her that the fellow they were after had disguised his scent, that they weren’t looking for some kind of paranormal amateur.
Like she was supposed to tell her captain that crap. “No, captain, you see…we’re dealing with a man who really understands beasts. Real beasts. And so he took the body and managed to elude the werewolf that I have on his trail.”
Her captain would have sent her in for a psych evaluation. Since she wasn’t in the mood to go down that particular path again, she’d kept out the details about beasts and vampires. Now her captain believed they were looking for some guy who either had a serious issue with necrophilia or—more likely in her captain’s book—had taken the body because he believed evidence was on it that would incriminate him in the victim’s murder.
Either way, Jane was still missing a body.
And she had to deal with a very pissed off werewolf.
She knew Aidan was pissed, all right. He’d still been muttering about betrayal when he left her at the hospital. Then she’d had to calm down her captain and talk with the other cops and try and create some kind of protected crime scene in the morgue.
But at least the poor guy who’d been killed in there wasn’t going to turn into a vampire. According to Aidan, no vamp scents had been detected in the morgue. Dr. Ken Loft’s death was a simple case of murder—the kind she could deal with.
She yanked off her jacket. Tossed it aside. Kicked away her shoes and felt every ache in her body. Jane knew she needed to crash and crash hard. She’d need to hit the streets running in just a few hours. Since she apparently had some kind of Master Vampire after her, it made sense to hunt for him during the day, if he was weaker then. It made sense—
A fierce pounding shook her door. She whipped around, her heart racing.
The pounding came again, even harder than before. She inched forward, already pulling out her gun. Jane put her eye to the peephole and saw Aidan’s still pissed visage staring back at her. No, glaring back.
“Open the damn door,” he snarled. “I know you’re right there. I can hear you.”
Someone was a bossy werewolf. She put the gun down on a nearby table. She took her time about it—
He pounded again. “Mary Jane!”
Her hand flew over the lock and she quickly opened the door. “I have neighbors. Nice, normal people who like to sleep at four a.m. in the morning. They don’t need you shaking the whole building with your angry fists.”
His blue eyes glinted. Jane thought she caught a hint of fang. Was she supposed to be scared? Her chin notched up. “And didn’t I tell you? It’s Jane. Just Jane. Not Mary Jane.” She only let one person in the world call her Mary Jane, and Aidan wasn’t that guy. Not that she’d seen that particular man in a very, very long time. Because it’s safer that way.
Aidan crossed the threshold and stalked way too close into her personal space. She backed up, but only because she didn’t want him touching her. When he touched her, her body got all hot and achy, and, okay, turned on—all responses that she shouldn’t have to the guy.
He kicked the door shut behind him, but didn’t look back.
Shaking her head, she slid around him and locked the door. As if just closing it was going to do any good. “I thought you guys had to be given invitations to enter a home.” She’d seen that on a TV show.
“Vampires,” he said, shaking his head in disgust. “That’s some vampire BS on TV. Not real. I can go anywhere. Vamps can go anywhere.” He tossed a glare over his shoulder as his gaze dropped down to the lock she’d just flipped. “And that flimsy ass lock is not going to keep out a Master Vampire. All it would have taken was one good kick from me, and your door would be on the floor.”
“Um, yeah, you say that as if I’m supposed to thank you for not destroying my door.” She marched around him, heading for her balcony because suddenly, it was hard to breathe in the apartment. Why did the guy seem to take up so much space?
Before she could reach that sliding glass door, his fingers snagged her wrist. Sure enough, heat pulsed through her at his touch.
“You didn’t stay at the hospital. You didn’t stay with the other cops.” He made those words sound like an accusation.
She swung toward him. “You have got to relax. I’m a big girl. I can manage to go across town and back to my own home just fine.”
“Master. Vampire.” Aidan gritted out the words.
“Homicide. Detective,” Jane gritted right back. “That means I don’t get the luxury of hiding and pretending that bad shit isn’t happening. I have a job to do, and I’m going to do it.”
“This isn’t about some human job—”
“You’re right,” she cut him off. “It’s about human lives. Justice. You say you take care of your pack? Well, I take care of the people here, and that’s what I’m going to keep doing. I’m going to keep right on protecting them.”
“She died because of you.”
Her heart stopped beating. “Wh-what?” And the past was there, surging toward her. A woman’s scream. A man’s broken voice, begging.
For you. All for you, little one.
His hold tightened on her. “She was bait, don’t you see that? The Master Vamp asshole was trying to lure you out. He wanted to take you. He knows that I’m protecting you, and he tried to separate us so that he could get to you.”
She died because of you.
A dull ringing filled her ears. The past wasn’t leaving her alone. And the pain from the present was suddenly ripping into her. Not again. Not. Again.
“He’s going to keep coming,” Aidan growled. “He knows what you can become, and he isn’t going to stop.”
She jerked free of him. “You need to leave.”
“Mary Jane—”
“Jane!” Her voice was a yell. Great. Now she was the one waking the neighbors, but he’d pushed her too far. She died because of you. “Get the hell out.”
He blinked. “You’re…hurting?”
What did he think? That she was celebrating?
He reached for her hand again, but she stepped back in a fast move. His brows shot up and she could see the confusion in his eyes. “I didn’t mean to hold you too hard…” His words came awkwardly. “Sometimes, I forget how strong I am. I don’t usually spend a lot of time with female humans.”
“Your touch didn’t hurt me. Your jackass words did.” She drew in a deep breath. “Thanks for adding more guilt onto my soul, exactly what I always wanted.” Jane pointed toward the door. “Like I said, leave.”
“Guilt?” He blinked. “I didn’t…my words were to warn you. Not to make you feel guilty.”
He was making her want to scream, again. “How did you think it would make me feel to learn she died…oh, wait, what were you words? Because of me. I want to help people, not get them killed!”
He stepped toward her. Stopped. Looked helpless. “I…misspoke.”
His words were low, guttural.
Her eyes narrowed on him. “Want to try that again?”
“I. Am. Sorry!” Now he was back to angry. Or, gruff. Or something. “I just wanted you safe. I wanted you to understand your peril.”
“Consider the peril understood.” She was still pointing to the door.
“He killed her. She meant nothing to him. Human life means nothing. He won’t stop. He will just keep coming until he gets what he wants.”
Her mouth had gone dry. “And I’m what he wants.” Because he thought she was some kind of born vampire creature. Ready to sprout fangs and drink blood once she’d gotten the pesky matter of her violent death out of the way.
“You are what he wants.” Aidan’s hands clenched. “And you are what he cannot have.” He drew in a deep breath. “She didn’t die because of y
ou. I-I didn’t mean that. My words with you…they aren’t the best.”
So she’d noticed.
“She died because he was trying to get to you. And he’ll keep trying. You aren’t safe on your own.”
Her hand lowered. Not because she didn’t want him to leave, she did. Really. But…her hand couldn’t stay up forever. “So what are you proposing? I already have a basic plan, you know. I’m going to find him. Hunt him. Stop him. I’ll see that he pays for what he’s done.”
Aidan shook his head. “Human justice—”
“Right. I know. We’ve been through this before.” She still planned to find the vamp. “But being a sitting duck isn’t my idea of a good time.”
His gaze swept over her. “I won’t let him have you.”
“I won’t let him have me.” She had silver bullets and even a wooden stake at the ready. There was no way she’d go down without a fight.
“You aren’t safe with him out there. He can make more vampires. Can send them after you. A trusted friend can become a predator.”
How had life gotten so out of control? She strode away from him. Opened her sliding glass door and stepped out onto the balcony.
“I’m staying with you.”
Of course, he’d followed her.
Her spine was so stiff and straight that it hurt. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
She could feel him behind her. Heat and power. Her hands curled around the balcony’s wooden railing. Then his hands were there, too. Not touching hers but…resting right beside hers. Curling along the railing, too. His hands were so much bigger and darker than her own.
“Why not?”
When he asked that question, his breath blew lightly over the curve of her ear. Jane shivered. What was happening? One moment, she was screaming at him, and the next, her body was far to primed. It wasn’t normal and it wasn’t right. “You’re lying to me.”
Behind her, she felt him stiffen. She exhaled slowly and fought to keep her voice level. “You think I didn’t realize it? You’re doling out information to me so carefully. I’m not a fool, Aidan. I get that you’ve been manipulating the people in this city for years.” Cops. Government officials. Every-damn-body. She pulled her hands away from the railing and turned to face him. His hands stayed up, still holding tight to the wood behind her, so she was trapped in his embrace. “I’m not going to let you manipulate me.”