That much he knew. The first victim was what set him on a path for this part of the country. Victim number two was killed just hours before he rolled into town. And number three, and a very interesting number three, had him sitting in a truck stop with the beautiful county coroner.
“How did you find out about our evil dark predators?”
“They’re not all evil or predators.” Fire danced in her eyes again, and though he didn’t understand why, he liked the fact that it wiped the despair from her face.
“I would respectfully disagree.” He’d followed enough bodies over the years to know what he spoke of. Regardless of what Ivy thought, vampires were an abhorrence of nature. No, not of nature—of something far darker and more evil.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” She started to push up and away from the table. Her voice had risen, catching the attention of a few nearby diners.
Colin put his hand on hers. Very quietly he said, “I’ll tell you why I think of vampires the way I do, and you can tell me why you disagree. Deal?”
She paused and seemed to mull his proposition over. Then, she nodded and slid back into the booth. “You first.”
He finally took a drink of the coffee, not that he was thirsty; he just needed a minute to organize his thoughts. “All right, here it is, down and dirty. I’m a vampire hunter with the requisite tools of the trade. I work for the church and began to train when I was fourteen years old. I’ve been an active hunter since I was eighteen. As you can tell, I’m a little older now, so suffice it to say, I’ve been at this a long time. I’ve destroyed so many of these creatures I lost count a long time ago. Not one, and I do mean not one, has been anything but a blood-sucking monster. There are two left we’re aware of. One, right here in your little burg. The other, I’m not sure. We lost her trail some thirty-odd years ago. We don’t know if she’s still alive but we believe she is. Once I’ve destroyed the killer in your midst, I’ll find the last one and take her down.” He paused and took a deep breath. “Your turn.”
“You’re certain the one who killed Jorge is a woman?”
He nodded. “I’m very sure.”
She shook her head and sighed. “Stupid son of a bitch. If just this once he hadn’t been thinking with his dick, he might still be alive.”
Chapter Six
“What on earth is going on?” Riah muttered as she stared down at the phone in her hand. Ivy had called with the stunning message that Jorge was dead, and not just dead, but toast, as in their latest blood-letting victim. Now, instead of Ivy picking up the call, the phone went to voice mail. It didn’t make sense. Ivy should answer. She always carried her cell phone.
Riah glanced up at the clock and sighed. More than anything, she’d love to jump in her car and drive the hundred-odd miles to Moses Lake. She couldn’t. Despite her immortality and tolerance to daylight, she still needed rest. Right now, she was running on fumes, and that wouldn’t help anyone.
Inside the darkened interior of her house, she moved comfortably. Outside in the daylight, she’d wear down quickly. Too much sunshine and she’d be a literal wreck. It’d take days to recover if she allowed that to happen. The best choice was to stay here, rest and recharge so she’d be a hundred percent come sundown. Ivy would need her at full strength.
She jumped when the phone in her hand rang. Had to be Ivy. She flipped it open without looking at the display.
“Yes,” she barked into it.
“Hey, gorgeous.”
She was surprised, and pleased, to hear Adriana’s voice. “Hey to you too.”
“I can’t believe you left without waking me.” There was a hint of reproach in Adriana’s voice.
Riah smiled as she recalled how beautiful Adriana looked as she slept, her hair curling around her face, her body smooth and naked. Her own body flushed with excitement.
“You needed your beauty sleep.”
Adriana’s laugh was light. “I can sleep any time. I’d have much rather kissed your body all over one more time before you ran off in the night, naughty girl.”
“It was morning when I left.”
“Dawn.”
“Semantics.”
Adriana laughed again. “Will I see you tonight?”
Riah grew serious. “I don’t know.”
“Did I do something wrong?”
“No.” Riah hurried to explain. “I got another call from Ivy.”
“Oh, no.” The dread in Adriana’s voice echoed what Riah felt.
“Oh, yes. I’m waiting to hear back, but from the sound of her message, it’s bad.”
“Well, then, you’ll need to see me tonight. I’m just sorry it won’t be for more fun and games. I’ll meet you at your office as soon as it gets dark.” Adriana’s tone had gone from teasing to serious.
Riah was sorry too. A taste of Adriana was all it took to make her want more. It also made her wonder why she’d resisted for so long. None of that mattered at the moment. Tonight, it would have to be all business. “Perfect.”
“Riah?”
“Yes…” Riah was already mulling over what would happen later when Ivy arrived with the body of her ex-husband.
“I love you.”
The three words snapped her attention away from thoughts of the murder and back to the woman on the other end of the line. Except Riah didn’t have the chance to respond. Adriana had already hung up.
She replaced the phone in the charger and glanced up again at the portrait over the fireplace. She could almost swear that the eyes staring back at her were disapproving.
*
Ivy rubbed her face with both hands. It was a good thing she didn’t wear much makeup or she’d be an ungodly mess. As it was, she felt like crap and was pretty damn sure she looked it too. Oh, well, some things couldn’t be helped, and why it would even occur to her after everything this morning was a complete mystery.
Except she found something about the man who sat across from her unsettling. And not in a bad way. Oh, no, it was more in the does-my-hair-look-good way. Fucking insane.
The air was warm and filled with the smell of hash browns, brewed coffee, and maple syrup. In an odd way, the familiar scents comforted her. Something normal in a world that was far from it.
She was far from normal. Her ex-husband was downtown, locked away in her cooler, and here she sat drinking coffee with a guy she should probably run in the opposite direction of. Instead, she was fascinated. Hard not to be––even if he might be certifiable. The man was a looker. Six feet three, if he was an inch, with sandy hair and the greenest eyes she’d ever seen. And his ass? It made her hands itch. Oh, yeah, he was hot all right…smoking hot.
“Ivy?” He interrupted her thoughts.
“Sorry,” she murmured, and blinked hard. Get it together, chica.
He squeezed her hand lightly, the same hand he’d now been holding for too long to qualify as a comforting gesture from a complete stranger. She didn’t pull away.
“Tell me how you know about the vampire.”
It wouldn’t do her any good to try to sidestep the issue. He might be volcano hot, but he was also more than a pretty face. A mind like a steel trap, as her mother was so fond of saying. He’d shared with her, now it was her turn to spill. His eyes were steady on her face as he waited. She sensed he’d wait for hours if that’s what it would take to get her to talk.
No time like the present. Ivy took a deep breath and plunged in. “I trained under a very skilled and knowledgeable medical examiner. She had an uncanny gift for the field and always a huge list of students waiting for her to pick them as an intern.” Ivy looked directly into his beautiful green eyes. “She always taught at night.”
His fingers tightened their grip and he nodded slightly. “She was a vampire.”
“She is a vampire,” Ivy said.
He cocked his head and studied her face. “The ME in Spokane?”
“Yes.”
His green eyes darkened and his grip on her hand was almost
painful. “What’s her name?”
“She’s not one of your monsters.” She tugged at his painful grip, and although his fingers loosened a little, they still clung tight to her hand.
“What’s her name?” Colin’s voice was very low and the green of his eyes seemed to grow dark as forest moss.
Ivy managed to pull her hand away and began to rub her fingers. She’d have to add “strong” to his list of attributes. “Riah Preston. Doctor Riah Preston.”
His brow wrinkled and he cocked his head. “That can’t be.”
“Of course it can. I’m telling you, I’ve known her for at least fifteen years, and her name is Riah Preston.” So what was his deal? Was he calling her a liar?
He seemed to read her expression. “I’m not saying you’re making it up or telling me a lie. It’s just that if her name really is Riah Preston, then she’s managed to keep off the radar and, more important, it means three vampires are left instead of two.”
“You’re not going to hurt her.” Ivy already regretted telling him. It was a terrible mistake. She was usually a much better judge of character.
As if he sensed her alarm, the expression on his face softened. “I’m sorry,” he said. “It’s a bit of a shock. You have to understand, my entire life has been focused on stopping these creatures. I’ve always known what my path in this world was to be and, through much training and education, was armed with the information and tools necessary to do my job. To suddenly discover the playing field has changed is a little difficult to absorb.”
“Your playing field hasn’t changed an iota. The fact Riah is a vampire doesn’t change the fact that she’s one of the good guys. Make no mistake, Colin, she’s on our side. This isn’t a gray area for me, it’s very black-and-white.”
“You don’t really know what these things can do,” he stated.
She narrowed her eyes as the flush of temper rose in her cheeks. “You’re so full of shit.”
He had the good grace to look shocked. “Excuse me?”
She stared at him, hating the way her lips trembled. “I now have three bodies…three fucking bodies, in my morgue, all victims of a vampire, and you have the nerve to sit there and tell me I don’t know what they can do?”
“I didn’t mean––”
“Oh, stuff it, mister vampire hunter. I’m not the one who doesn’t know. You’re the one so narrow-minded you can’t see the truth.” The cell phone in her pocket began to ring and she ignored it. Whoever it was could just call back. She wasn’t ready to let go of her rage just yet.
“And that is?” His voice was quiet and calm.
She didn’t try for either. She gave her fury full rein. “That you elected yourself judge, jury, and executioner. I don’t doubt you have the best of intentions for saving the world from the big, bad vampires, but maybe before you run off half-cocked, you should have all your facts.”
“I have all the facts I need.”
“Bull.”
“Look, I didn’t come here to pick a fight with you.”
Ivy leaned back against the booth and crossed her arms over her chest. “Then enlighten me, what did you come here for?”
“I came to help.”
Of course he did. “You can’t help if you don’t have an open mind. You need to know all the facts before you pull out your holy water and wooden stake.”
She thought he’d continue to argue and was surprised when, instead, he began to laugh. At the sound, her shoulders tensed even more. The guy was certifiable. It had to be a full moon, because every head case within a hundred miles was showing up on her doorstep. She obviously has some real bad juju going.
“I like you, Ivy Hernandez,” he said when his laughter subsided. His green eyes were soft and seemed sincere.
Despite the desire to embrace her anger like a shield, his words made her shoulders relax just a touch. Maybe she was a sucker for a pretty face. “Yeah, well the jury’s still out on you, Colin Jamison.”
He took both her hands this time. His touch was gentle, warm as his thumbs stroked her skin. “Tell me what I need to know about your friend, and I promise to keep an open mind.”
She raised an eyebrow and tilted her head. “An open mind? You swear?”
“On a stack of Bibles. Now, tell me what I should know.”
So she did.
*
It was like a rewind from the night before. Riah stood in the loading area under the artificial light and waited as Ivy backed up the coroner’s van to the double doors. At least it was a repeat until the passenger’s door flew open at the same time Ivy jumped out of the driver’s side. A pair of long jean-covered legs came out first, followed by the rest of a tall, lean, and handsome man. The same man who’d barged in last night. Now, he stood at the back of the van and returned Riah’s stare. With a chance to really study him, Riah finally recognized him for what he was.
Riah jumped back as if a blowtorch had burned her, the reflex sudden and instinctive. She couldn’t have stopped if she tried. “Ivy,” she sputtered. “What are you thinking? Would you care to explain?”
“Soon,” Ivy told her as she popped open the back of the van and began to slide the gurney out. “Let’s get Jorge inside first. The clock’s ticking, chica.”
Riah didn’t like it. On the other hand, Ivy did have a point. She shot the man a last hard look, then hurried to the doors to hold them open. “You know the way,” she snapped. She didn’t direct her comment solely to Ivy.
At the same time, she glanced toward the guard office. Who was on tonight? Hopefully it wasn’t Brett. Things wouldn’t go easy or simple if he saw who accompanied Ivy in the van. Brett really could be difficult, which was only one reason he wasn’t among her favorite guards.
She didn’t have to wait long for her question to be answered. A few seconds after the trio passed the guard office, a young man, tall and lean, rounded the corner and nodded to her. Thank goodness. It was Andrew Schneider, the newest of the security crew, and a recent return to the city after a four-year stint in the navy. Things were bound to be easier without Brett. Besides, Andrew seemed like a nice kid. She’d always had a soft spot for sailors.
“Everything okay, Doc?”
She smiled and nodded. “Fine, Andrew, thank you.”
Without pausing, Ivy and Colin pushed past with the gurney.
“You let me know if you have any problems like last night. Heard about the assault on Officer Barton.” His thumbs hooked in his belt, his eyes moved as he surveyed his surroundings and the two people who hurried down the hall to the autopsy suite.
“You’ll be the first one I call.” She started to follow Ivy and Colin.
“Doc?”
She stopped. “Yes, Andrew?” Now wasn’t the time to chit-chat. Ivy wasn’t kidding when she said the clock was ticking.
“You can call me A.J., everybody does.” The corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly.
She looked at him and the smile vanished as quickly as it appeared. He was a very serious young man. “A.J. it is.”
He gave her a slight nod and then continued down the corridor in the opposite direction. She rushed to follow Ivy. Inside the autopsy room, she had already transferred Jorge’s body, still inside the sealed black bag, from the gurney to the stainless table. Riah stopped just inside with her back to the door. With her foot, she pushed the door open a crack and took one final glance just to make certain A.J. was gone. The hallway was empty.
Satisfied they were alone, she snapped the door shut, turned the knob to engage the lock, and stood with her back to it. They wouldn’t have any surprise guests tonight.
“Somebody want to tell me what’s going on here?”
Ivy pushed the empty gurney toward the door. “It’s a long story and you won’t believe it. Or even like it, for that matter.”
“Give me a try.” Riah folded her arms across her chest and stayed in front of the door. Ivy stopped just short of her, the gurney between them.
“I’m
a vampire hunter,” the man announced from across the room.
Riah turned her gaze away from Ivy to study the man. Her chest tightened. She’d seen his kind before. Not once. Not twice. In fact, she’d lost count of the number of zealous vampire hunters she’d dispatched over the years. Each time she took one down, the church sent in another. The resolve of those who waited in the wings never seemed to diminish. It was an old and tiresome battle. Heavy on the tiresome.
When she stopped taking human blood several centuries ago, she stopped looking over her shoulder for the never-ending hunters. She’d hoped that part of her life was over. Not for the first time, she was wrong.
Things were dangerous enough without this newest complication. She couldn’t deal with a rogue vampire and a hunter at the same time. She looked him square in the eye. “Get out.”
Ivy jumped in and held up a hand. “Wait, Riah. Listen to what he has to say before you send him away.”
She didn’t even look at Ivy. “I don’t need anything from his kind. He should be grateful I didn’t kill him the second he stepped out of the van.”
She might have given up her old way of life, but her memories were a hundred percent intact. Hunters had destroyed too many of her friends through the years. Technically children of the church, these hunters certainly failed to grasp the concept of redemption or forgiveness.
“Jesus Christ,” Ivy blurted loudly. “You’re as bad as Colin.”
The hunter had the nerve to smile. “I said get out.” Riah pointed to the door.
Ivy touched Riah on the arm. “Do you honestly believe, after all this time, I’d bring someone here who might harm you?” Her question was whisper-soft.
Riah paused. She wanted to disagree with Ivy, yet she couldn’t. What she said was true. Not once in all the years they’d known each other had Ivy done one single thing to jeopardize either Riah’s secret or their friendship.
“Do you?” Ivy demanded of her, fingers firm on Riah’s arm.
She stared at her for a long moment, then sighed. “No.”
Crimson Vengeance Page 6