In a Dark Embrace

by Simone Bern

  “Yeah, I know. Not that you’ve got high moral standards or anything.”

  Eric chuckled. “No. Just a real strong sense of self-preservation. Unlike that little firecracker you picked up. You really into this one, huh?”

  “I… She’s driving me crazy.”

  “I can see that. I knew she was just playing, figured you did too until you started growling. I’m s—”

  “Don’t apologize. I overreacted.”

  “Gotta watch that temper of yours, buddy. You don’t flip out often but when it happens…scares the shit out of me. You and Lee…work things out okay?”

  Jeremy took a deep breath. “Yeah, we talked. Then tore the clothes off each other.”

  “I’ll bet. A real wildcat. Suits you.”

  “I know. I want to keep this one. Well, good night. See ya at work tomorrow.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to have tomorrow off?”

  “Big case—missing girl.”

  “Heard about that. Any leads?”

  “Dark blue pickup truck, no license plate number.”

  “Not much to go on.”

  “Nope.”

  “Talk to you tomorrow—coffee maybe?”

  “Sure.”

  With that Jeremy hung up. They’d have coffee tomorrow, talk about work and neither of them would mention the incident in the parking lot. Everything would be just like normal between them. But it would be a while before he brought Lee and Eric together again.

  Chapter Twelve

  Jeremy woke up to the sound of the phone’s incessant ringing. It was one a.m. on a Monday night. Who the hell would be calling Lee at this hour?

  She picked it up.

  “Hello… It’s okay, Brian. What’s up? Yeah, I can be there in twenty minutes… No, don’t send a car.” She put the phone down and started dressing.

  “I have to get to St. Paul’s. Can you drive?”

  “Of course,” he said and grabbed his jeans. “What happened? Someone you know hurt?”

  Lee shook her head. “A rape case. They can’t get her to talk. I help out sometimes.”

  Jeremy looked at her keenly. “Help out how? With your…gifts?”

  “Yes. I can get the information the police need and help the girl at the same time. It’s win-win.”

  He nodded. That made a lot of sense. Lee could read the woman’s mind and counsel her at the same time. They were out the door in five minutes and at the hospital in fifteen. One thing about living downtown, less distance to cover. Jeremy followed Lee down the hospital corridors, trying not to shudder. He hated hospitals. They stank of fear and death and disinfectant.

  A slender black-haired man in the uniform of the Vancouver Police Department turned at their approach and Jeremy saw his face light up when he recognized Lee. Then the brown eyes fixed on him and narrowed.

  “We didn’t call for the RCMP,” Brian Danford said. There was no welcome in his voice.

  Jeremy shrugged. “I’m not here officially. Just the driver.”

  Brian’s eyes flicked to Lee and back to him. “Oh. I see.”

  “She say anything?” Lee asked.

  “No. Stopped crying some time ago but won’t talk.”

  “Anyone with her right now?”

  “We just kicked her mother out.”

  Lee nodded. “Good. No one comes in. Not a nurse, not the doctor and certainly not her mother.”

  “I know, Lee. Good luck.” Brian reached out and brushed her arm as she went past. Lee threw him a small smile and continued on. The door shut.

  Jeremy stuck his hands into his pockets and eyed the other police officer curiously. “How old is the victim?”

  “Fifteen.”

  “Shit.”

  “Lee has a knack for this sort of thing. Can get them to talk when no one else can.”

  “I believe it.”

  “You known her long?”

  “Long enough.”

  Brian glanced at him, then away. “She can usually give us a good description. We’ll go to the station, run the mug shots, get in a sketch artist.”

  Jeremy nodded.

  Another sideways glance. Brian was clearly nervous around him. “Lee’s very professional. But afterward…it’ll hit her hard. She’ll need to talk…a shoulder to cry on.”

  “I see. And you’ve been that shoulder in the past.” Jeremy tried to restrain the menace in his voice but it was clear he didn’t succeed by the way Brian backed up a step. Jeremy thought for a moment then said, “In the future, you call Lee, you call me…if I’m not already at her place. Got that?”

  “What if you’re on duty?”

  “I’ll come anyway. There’s always a reason to visit our good friends at the VPD.”

  Jeremy smiled and knew that it probably didn’t look like a friendly expression. His nerves, already shot by being in a hospital, were stretched to the breaking point by having to put up with one of Lee’s ex-lovers. He wanted to slam the small Asian man into the wall to make sure he knew Lee was off-limits from now on. Jeremy scanned the other man’s face and realized that the message had been conveyed. Forcing his shoulders to drop, Jeremy offered, “I’m going to find some coffee. Want one?”

  Brian nodded. “Lots of cream, no sugar.”

  Jeremy brought back three cups of coffee—one for Lee in case she came out soon. He and Brian engaged in sporadic conversation while they waited. Jeremy could hear Lee’s voice murmuring in the other room, a steady stream of soothing chatter. He was about to take a sip when a screamed “No!” ripped through the air. Coffee splashed his jeans and his head snapped up. He took a step toward the door.

  Brian stepped in front of him. “She said no one goes inside. That includes you.”

  Jeremy glared down at him. The smaller man swallowed but didn’t move away from the door. Jeremy nodded and backed away. It hadn’t been Lee’s voice. He could wait. If Lee had been the one who’d screamed he would have gone in no matter what. The soothing voice started up again and Jeremy took a sip of coffee.

  Lee came out a few minutes later looking drawn and worn. “She’d like to see her mom now.”

  “I’ll go get her,” Brian said.

  Lee laid her head on Jeremy’s chest. He put his arms around her. “Are you okay?”

  “No.”

  “Bad one, huh?”

  She nodded against his chest. “I can’t talk about it yet,” she said softly.

  “I got you a coffee. Might still be warm enough to drink.”

  Lee lifted her head and smiled wanly up at him. “My hero.”

  Jeremy could hear approaching footsteps. He bent down and brushed her lips with his. Then fetched her coffee from the spot by the wall where he’d set it down earlier.

  “I guess you don’t need a lift to the station?” Brian was saying to Lee.

  Jeremy glared at him. She shook her head, took the coffee and slipped her free hand into his. “We’ll be right behind you. I’m sure Jeremy knows where it is.”

  * * * * *

  They drove to the station in silence. Jeremy pulled into a spot marked “Police Only”. Lee held his hand going into the station. She seemed to know where she was going. He released her hand. “You go on ahead. I have to talk to the pit bull at the front desk about my parking violation or I’ll get towed.”

  She nodded and walked off.

  After dealing with the parking issue he got waylaid by some familiar faces who were wondering what he was doing there in jeans at two in the morning. By the time he found Lee, Brian had photos up on his screen and a sketch guy was filling in a face with a nose and mouth.

  “No. The nose is longer and the mouth…thinner,” Lee said. “And he had a cleft in his chin.”

  “How tall?” Brian asked.

  “She thinks very tall but I wouldn’t rely on that. Put in six feet, or even five-eleven.”

  “Distinguishing marks?”

  “None. No tattoos, scars or anything. He was wearing a silver chain and a ring on his left pinky fin
ger, also silver.”

  Jeremy looked down on the sketch that was starting to form. “Clean-cut kid. Got the feeling this one isn’t going to show up on the mug shots.”

  “He was high on something. Crack, meth, she didn’t know but the behavior she described seems to indicate a trip gone bad. He had no…restraints.”

  Jeremy put a hand on her shoulder and she leaned back against him for a minute and closed her eyes. Knowing she read his emotions, he tried to project solid support and soothing calm. He noticed her lips twitch up in a small smile. Lee straightened and looked at the sketch again.

  “The ears were closer to the head and his hair was longer.” Then she scanned some photos on Brian’s computer and shook her head.

  “It’s amazing how you can do this. It’s like you see him in your head,” Brian said.

  “I do see him. It isn’t always perfect but…”

  “No one else can do it nearly as well. You ever want a job…”

  “Thanks but I couldn’t handle this all the time. Just the occasional situation when you guys hit a wall is enough for me.” She critiqued the sketch one more time.

  “Are we almost finished here?” Jeremy asked.

  “I think so. There isn’t anything else I can tell you,” Lee said.

  “Then let’s go home,” he said. Brian shot him a penetrating glance but didn’t say anything.

  Lee collapsed in the seat of the SUV and closed her eyes. Jeremy drove. He thought she’d fallen asleep when she spoke.

  “Brian’s a really sweet guy. Too sweet for me. We slept together a couple of times but he’s not competition.”

  “He wants to be.”

  “He wishes he were. There’s a difference. He knew he wasn’t my type before. Now it’s glaringly obvious who my type is.”

  Jeremy shot her a smile. “Tall, dark and handsome.”

  She smiled faintly back at him. “Big, strong and dangerous. I could have cut the tension between the two of you with a knife. You made your point. Marked your territory. Now ease off on the poor guy, okay?”

  “Sure. I wasn’t planning any additional threats. He got the message.”

  Lee raised an eyebrow. “You threatened him?”

  “No. Not really.” Not verbally in any case. “I just told him to call me as well the next time they needed you.”

  “You’re planning on coming into town every time I get one of these cases? Sometimes it’s twice a month.”

  “I didn’t know you worked with the VPD.”

  “I asked them to keep quiet about it. Didn’t want word to spread about what I can do. I don’t want to turn this into a full-time job. It’s too hard.”

  Jeremy glanced at her. Her lips were set in a tight line and pain showed in her eyes. He pulled into the visitor parking spot at her place and turned off the engine. “Let’s go inside and you can tell me about it.”

  * * * * *

  Lee lay in the circle of his arms. They hadn’t gotten around to closing the blinds and distant city lights poured shadows into the room. Jeremy lifted his head to look into her face. She was childlike in sleep, too innocent to be the same woman who had left bite marks and scratches on his body.

  The events of the night had hit her hard. She had talked, sobbed and raged. Then she had launched herself at him. It hadn’t been easy to stay calm under the assault. Part of him had wanted to hit back or walk out the door. Instead he had let her take her anger out on him, had not even attempted to restrain her violence because he knew it was more than that. Lee had gone into the mind of a fifteen-year-old girl who had been brutally assaulted by a man so drugged-up he no longer knew the limits of what a human body could endure. She needed to reaffirm that sex was not awful and that men were not beasts.

  The irony of the situation hit him. He was a beast. And yet he was not.

  Jeremy reached out and stroked her hair. His brave, strong witch. He wished he could shield her from all the evil in the world. He fell asleep thinking about wounded girls and hoping that his eleven-year-old was still alive out there somewhere. He’d find her. And if some bastard had hurt her…he’d pay.

  * * * * *

  Lee’s arm reached over and whacked her alarm. “Oh fuck,” she muttered. It was way too early to get up, especially after last night. She found herself being pulled back toward a hard lumpy body. Hands reached around to cup her breasts.

  “We haven’t the time, Jeremy,” she protested. “You said you wanted to be at work by nine.”

  “A quickie,” he mumbled into her hair. “I can’t leave here like this.” The hard prong of his erection was pressing into her back.

  “Take care of it in the shower,” she grumbled.

  “How about you come in and do it for me?”

  “It’s Tuesday. I don’t have to go to work until noon.”

  He stopped. “Sorry, Lee. I forgot. I should have let you sleep.” He sat up and started moving away from her.

  As soon as he withdrew she felt cold and alone. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held him to the bed. “On second thought…get back here, you lazy wolf.”

  Last night had been awful. She’d been a basket case and he had held her and let her babble through her tears. Then she’d attacked him in her need to confront the fear, pain and shame that victims of sexual assault always seemed to carry. It had been a nasty, angry fuck on her part and she had held none of it back. She had trusted Jeremy to be able to take it. And he had answered with a fierce gentleness that had eased her anger and distracted her from the pain. He deserved a good morning fuck.

  Jeremy responded to her invitation by crawling on top of her and noisily kissing her throat. She parted her legs and invited him inside. He entered her eagerly, his clear blue eyes locked on hers. She crossed her legs behind his back and urged him to roll onto his side. He moved willingly with her.

  “Hmmm, yes. That’s better. I can feel your thrusts all the way inside now,” she said as she raised her arms to brace herself against the headboard.

  “Not a traditionalist, are you?”

  “No. How the hell did missionaries ever set the standard for Western sexual practice? People should read the Kama Sutra—now there’s a worthy tradition to follow.”

  “It’s East Indian, isn’t it? I’ll have to pick that up.” His hips were moving more quickly now.

  She moaned and pushed against him, urging him on. “I have a copy lying around somewhere.”

  “Should be…interesting…bedtime reading.” He was grunting now. “Can you help me…with the homework?”

  “Oh god…yes.” She gasped. Then she lost all ability for rational conversation as he plunged into her again. He took her over the edge into a fast, hard climax then shuddered and clasped her hips to his. He let out a hissing breath.

  “That didn’t last nearly long enough,” he said mournfully.

  “You’re late for work. We can do tantric sex some other time. Besides, I like quickies.” She kissed his nose and pushed him away.

  She watched him walk into the bathroom and once again admired the lithe grace of his body. He was the most beautiful man she had ever known. And he would age slowly…just like her. Earth witches in particular stayed youthful for many long decades. They were well-suited in so many ways. Lee got up and went into the kitchen to make coffee and toast.

  Jeremy came up behind her, already dressed in his uniform. A hand reached around and cupped a naked breast. “You shouldn’t do this to me, tempting me with your gorgeous body. My cock is thickening again.”

  “Much as I would love to fuck you in full uniform, you have an important job to do. How’s it going by the way?”

  He sighed and pulled away. “Not good.”

  “Bring me something of hers. A strand of hair from a brush works well.”

  “You think you can find her?”

  She hesitated. “If I can it probably isn’t good news. It means she’s touching the earth.”

  “As in…a buried body?”

  “Ye
s. Or naked on the ground.”

  There was a moment of silence as he digested that. “Can I come over tomorrow night?”

  “Sure. I’ll even cook for once.”

  “I’d like that.” He picked up a piece of toast she had just finished buttering.

  She poured coffee into a travel mug and handed it to him. “Take all the toast. I’ll eat later.”

  He nodded and grabbed the stack. “Thanks.” A quick kiss and he was out the door.

  Lee poured herself a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter. She felt a strange mix of emotions. There was so much she hadn’t had time to process. Her ordeal of the other night, mixed with Jeremy’s fears for the missing girl, put a layer of darkness into her soul. But at the same time Jeremy had really been there for her last night, had seemed to understand perfectly what she needed from him. Maybe because he also saw and felt the dark side of human nature. No one else understood her like that. His simple kiss goodbye had released a newfound loneliness inside her.

  She took her coffee into the bedroom and curled up on the messy bed, wishing Jeremy’s arms were there to hold her. At the same time she couldn’t suppress the resentment she felt because of the ache created by that unfulfilled wish.

  * * * * *

  Lee walked home from work feeling like a train wreck. She hadn’t been able to get back to sleep and working until seven challenged her sleep-deprived state. Her last two clients had also been very draining. One was a woman torn up over the recent death of her child and the other was a man who had reluctantly agreed to enter therapy for his anger issues. Grief and rage had raked claws through her already fragile emotional fabric.

  She sank into the sofa and closed her eyes. A knock at the door woke her. Lee glanced at her watch. It was almost ten. She must have dozed off. She opened the door to see Alicia, a vision of perfection in an elegant pale blue suit.

  Lee leaned against the doorframe. “Hi. Just get off work?”

  “Yeah. I was wondering if you’d like to have a drink. But you can say no,” Alicia hurried on. “You look tired.”

  “I was at the hospital last night. Another rape case. And today has been hell…well, except for Jeremy this morning.”

  Alicia scanned her face. “Want to talk about it?”