My experience of sitting at the police station was like having one of those dreams about being in high school again, the one where no one talks to you and everyone walks wide circles around you while they stare, point, and laugh.
None of the cops was laughing, but anyone who got within ten feet of me cringed, recoiled, and rebounded away, giving me a wide berth. They were shocked to find their nostrils assailed by smells better suited to battlefields than to a psychologist whose face had evidently been on television all morning.
As one officer so succinctly put it, ‘There just aren’t words for that smell.’
It didn’t take long for me to give my statement, because all I could remember was the last couple of hours. I didn’t know what’d happened prior to my waking up and I had no clue about who’d brought me there.
As it turned out, I didn’t have to worry about getting out of there quickly. In fact, taking my statement in the close quarters of the badly ventilated station proved to be such a challenge that my hosts eagerly arranged for me to finish up at the lab.
I’d expected to be headed off to the shower and outfitted with one of those delightful orange garments, but that didn’t happen. In fact, ever since I’d arrived at the police station things had been strange. I’d been the focus of several whispered conversations, each containing the words ‘the chief’.
Officers had escorted me to the lab and while I was waiting for a blood sample to be taken the double doors burst open and a heavyset, white-haired, fifty-something male strode into the room. Everyone around me froze in mid-action and came to attention. The new arrival signalled to the other officers, who scurried over to him immediately.
I would have just stared out the window, waiting for the bureaucratic huddle to end, if it hadn’t been for the fact that various faces kept turning in my direction. It was entirely possible that I was still in shock, but I wasn’t a complete vegetable. Clearly those people were talking about me.
For a brief moment before the older man left, all the eyes in the group turned to me.
What the hell was going on? What weren’t they telling me? I hadn’t had much experience with the police, but being treated like a leper wasn’t anywhere in my expectations.
The lab technician who’d been preparing my arm for the blood sample before the older guy arrived came back and I said, ‘Who was that?’
He kept his eyes riveted on his task and said, ‘Chief Cassidy.’
‘Why was he talking about me?’
‘There, all finished. The officer will take you back now,’ he said, ignoring my question completely. He wrote my name on the samples, gathered up his materials, and nodded to a uniformed officer standing by the door.
A different officer led me back to the detectives’ bullpen. I figured I was going there to answer more questions – not that I had any answers – and I mentally steeled myself for a long stay. I was surprised when they quickly said I was free to go. It appeared they were taking me home and that someone would come to my house later to pick up my contaminated clothing.
That piece of information drew several incredulous ‘What?’ responses from various detectives. I overheard one say, ‘She must have powerful friends. Nobody rousts the chief out before the crack of dawn to start a search for a missing person, much less persuades him to postpone an interrogation and override all the proper procedures.’
Powerful friends? I was sure they had me confused with someone else, but that didn’t matter. As long as this ordeal was over and I was being taken home, I’d claim to know the Queen of England. Hell, I’d claim to be the Queen of England.
In addition to everything else this situation was, it was humbling.
The pleasure of driving me home once again fell to the policewoman who’d brought me to the station, no doubt because the backseat of her unit was already tainted. I half-expected her to put down newspaper for me to sit on and, frankly, that wouldn’t have been a bad idea.
‘You’re Dr Knight, right? I’m Officer Colletta. I saw your advertisement in the paper. The one they were talking about on TV this morning. The one that says you’re the Vampire Psychologist.’ She examined me in her rearview mirror.
‘Yes. I’m Kismet Knight. I’m afraid to know what they were saying about me on TV, so I’m not even going to ask.’
She didn’t volunteer the information. Instead she said, ‘That must be an interesting job, being the Vampire Psychologist. I mean, what do you do, exactly? Are there really people who think they’re vampires?’ She lowered her voice and gave me serious eyes in the mirror. ‘Are there really vampires?’
I shrugged and shook my head. ‘If you’d asked me that question a week ago, I’d have said there are people who are disturbed enough to believe they’re vampires, and that it’s all mental illness and acting out. Now, after the things I’ve seen, all bets are off.’
‘We’ve had murders lately.’ She appeared almost magically able to keep the car on the road and watch me in the mirror at the same time. ‘Murders where the victims were drained of blood. Do you know about those?’
‘I heard something about that.’
‘Maybe the murderer is one of your clients?’
One of my clients? Well, thank you for raising a horrible possibility I hadn’t considered. ‘I sincerely hope not.’
She made a wrong turn so I gave her directions and we rode in silence the rest of the way to my house. As we pulled up in front, Officer Colletta said, ‘I’m surprised the cameras aren’t here yet. The media’s got your therapy office surrounded, as well as an apartment building listed as your home address. Maybe they don’t know about this place yet.’
‘I just moved recently.’ I thought about my old neighbours and felt bad that they were being subjected to the paparazzi, but happy for my own brief reprieve. Apparently, not everyone had seduced an APA employee – yet.
‘Yeah, well I don’t think that’s going to save you for long. Reporters are pretty resourceful. You’d better prepare yourself for a media blitz. You probably won’t have much privacy for a while.’
‘I’m afraid you’re right.’ I sighed. ‘Thanks for everything.’ She met my eyes again and saluted, touching two fingers to the visor of her hat. I hauled myself out of the cruiser and she pulled away.
I’d just stumbled up to my front door when I heard the screech of tyres and the slam of a car door. I assumed the news vans had caught up with me and was surprised to hear a familiar voice.
‘Where the fuck have you been?’ Alan demanded, bounding towards me. His face was red, deep frown lines etched the skin between his eyes, and the veins in his forehead bulged. ‘I’ve been out all night searching for you. I told you to wait in front of the club. Where did you go? You look terrible. What’s that stuff all over you? And what’s that gross smell?’
He lurched away from me as if he’d received an electric shock.
As he yelled at me, the psychic numbness that had kept me from feeling the depth of the hideous experience receded, and I stood there trembling. The inner dam broke. Tears raced down my cheeks. I slumped onto the porch, tumbled over on my side, and started sobbing loudly.
Alan cursed under his breath.
‘Geez, don’t cry.’ He knelt down next to me. ‘I’m sorry, Kismet. I didn’t mean to be a jerk. I was just so worried. I heard on the police scanner that they’d found you, and then something about dead bodies. I guess I added up the numbers wrong and overreacted. I felt responsible for taking you to that club and for whatever happened to you. And now you stroll up to your front door, obviously in one piece, and I’m so relieved to see you and so pissed off at myself for putting you in danger.’
‘You didn’t put me in danger,’ I mumbled.
He sniffed the air. ‘We need to get you into the house and out of those clothes, because I never thought I’d say this to you, but you stink worse than anything I’ve ever smelled. Plus the media vultures will be here any minute.’
The professional part of me knew that I was sobb
ing because it was a natural physical reaction to the kind of trauma I’d experienced, but the little girl part was simply crying because it had been a terrible night and she wanted to be held on someone’s lap and rocked to sleep. She wanted to feel safe again. To feel normal again.
‘Let’s take these boots off out here, okay?’ He slid them off my feet and tossed them next to the porch. Then he pulled me up, put his arm around me, asked for my alarm code and opened the door.
I still couldn’t stop crying long enough to speak in full sentences, so I was grateful he was intent on helping me. Now that reality had melted through the defences I’d created to weather the nightmare, I was hanging by very thin threads and was happy to have someone running underneath me with a net. Hopefully the net wasn’t accompanied by men in white coats.
Still holding on to me, he helped me up the stairs to the bathroom and propped me against the sink while he turned on the water for my shower.
‘I’m going to leave the door open, if that’s all right with you, because after you’ve undressed and stepped into the shower, I’m going to take these clothes and bag them up for the forensics team. They’ll want to analyse all the various . . . substances.’ He shook his head. ‘I can’t believe the chief made them let you wear the clothes home.’
He really did look like he’d been up all night, and I was touched by the concern in his eyes.
‘Sure.’ I gave a limp shrug. ‘Leave the door open. That’s fine.’ I sniffled as I started to peel off my clothes without waiting for him to leave the room.
‘Uh, er, uh, yeah, go ahead and get undressed. I’m gonna go find that bag. I’ll be right back.’ He flew down the stairs.
Sometimes life gets very simple. Standing under that stream of hot water was the best thing I’d ever experienced. At that moment, not even chocolate or orgasms could top it on the list of wonderful things.
I washed my hair several times and used every good-smelling soap product I owned. I scrubbed my nails and finally just stretched out in the tub and let the water beat down on me. Bliss.
‘Kismet? Are you okay?’ Alan yanked back the shower curtain.
I stared up at him, unable to move even one muscle in response.
‘I’m sorry.’ He shifted his eyes to the side for a moment. ‘I didn’t mean to burst in on you like that. I couldn’t see you in the shower and I thought you might have fallen down or something.’
I didn’t seem to have any opinions about him opening the shower curtain or seeing me lying naked in the tub. Nothing was more important than continuing to enjoy feeling like a warm, limp noodle. I couldn’t get worked up about my nudity or anything else. I was so happy to be home – to be safe, clean. It would have taken an earthquake to jar me out of my Zen tranquillity.
Now that I smelled better, I realised I’d shared my aromatic carry-out with Alan, and he was less than springtime-fresh himself. Whatever had been on my clothes was now on his.
I raised my arm. ‘Give me a hand, would you?’
He pulled me to my feet, his eyes tracking slowly down my body.
I pinched my nose closed. ‘Anything strike you about your state of hygiene since you helped me upstairs?’
He glanced down at himself, half-grinned and scrunched up his nose.
‘I think you’d better add your clothes to the bag for the forensics team and step into the shower with me. That smell doesn’t work any better on you than it did on me.’
Really? Did I just say that? Since when am I so bold? What’s up with me? I must still be in shock.
His eyebrows shot up and then he shrugged. ‘How can I refuse such an enticing invitation?’ He sloughed off the fouled clothing and gingerly stepped into the tub, making sure he kept his back to me.
He had an astoundingly nice ass, firm, round, and begging to be palmed. I stood at the far end of the shower and watched the muscles in his back ripple as he soaped his arms.
After he’d washed everything he wanted to without turning around, he finally shifted his body and faced me, his compass enthusiastically pointing true north. My eyes feasted on the impressive erection and he stared at me as he lathered himself there.
I felt an earthquake.
‘Oh my,’ I uttered without thinking. I fought the urge to reach out and touch someone.
We admired each other in silence, eyes caressing where hands wished to be.
He turned off the water and ran his fingers through his wet hair, pushing the strands back from his face. His lovely purple-blue eyes sparkled mischievously and his cheeks were flushed. Moisture beaded on the muscles of his chest.
He stepped forwards, brushing my arm as he reached for the towels on the rack outside the shower. My skin tingled where he’d touched me and became the epicentre for waves of pleasure sensations. He handed me a towel, then slowly dried himself off and stepped out of the tub.
I stole another quick peek at his admirable erection and argued with myself about what I was thinking. I followed him, tucking the towel around me above my breasts, and moved over to the sink. I wiped off the mirror with my hand, leaned in and stared at my reflection. None the worse for wear, if you didn’t notice my spacey, glazed-over eyes. The normally clear-sky blue didn’t look so vibrant right then.
Alan made use of the extra toothbrush I produced and we stood side by side, silently gazing at each other in the mirror. I don’t let just anyone watch me take care of dental business.
I brushed my teeth, flossed and used every kind of mouth-wash I had in my medicine cabinet before I finally felt seminormal.
‘What do you need now?’ he asked.
Knowing exactly what I needed, I turned to him and met his kind eyes. ‘I want to curl up in my bed, under my covers, and I want you to hold me.’
The corners of his lips quirked up in an amused grin, which I interpreted as an affirmative. I grabbed his hand, led us into my bedroom, and pulled down the bed covers. I dropped my towel and slid between the sheets. Giving him my best ‘come hither’ smile, I patted the mattress next to me and sent a clear message. I wasn’t sure the Brazen Hussy part of my personality had ever had a chance to come out and play. She’d always been locked in the closet by Nerd Woman.
Wait. Do I have a Brazen Hussy part? Something has definitely juiced up my sexuality. Should I worry about that? Am I totally whacked? This is Devereux’s fault, I just know it.
He stood and gazed down at me, hesitating only a few seconds before he joined me.
Pushing thoughts of Devereux aside, I wrapped myself around Alan, finally feeling safe, and sighed. ‘Thank you for being here with me. You’re a good friend.’
‘A friend? You’re giving me way too much credit. I’m not having very friend-like thoughts at the moment.’
I met his eyes. ‘What kind of thoughts are you having?’ As if I didn’t know, even without the compass to point the way.
‘I’m-in-bed-with-a-beautiful-woman thoughts. But I know this isn’t the right time to be romantic because you need to rest and recuperate.’
‘It’s very sweet of you to take care of me.’
I didn’t want to think about where I’d been all night, or what might have happened, or the media frenzy that was waiting for me. I absolutely didn’t want to consider the probability that there really were vampires. And I especially didn’t want to think about what it meant for the world if there were hidden monsters everywhere. All I wanted was to be held, touched, connected to someone who wasn’t constantly probing my mind, without any expectations or rules or complications.
I brushed his lips lightly with mine and slid my hand down the muscled plane of his belly and along the warm, firm length of his erection. He moaned, grabbed a handful of my wet hair and pulled me tight against him as he closed his lips over mine with hungry need.
‘I haven’t even begun to take care of you yet,’ he breathed against my mouth.
Our bodies melted into each other as we took the kiss deeper, allowing all the emotions and tensions of the previous hours
to find release through the firestorm of our mutual attraction. We kissed until every nerve in my body sizzled and burned.
He pulled away, his breathing ragged and his voice husky. ‘I don’t want to take advantage of this situation. Tell me to stop and I will.’
All I could think about was how good he felt next to me, how warm and sweet his mouth was on mine. And after the freak circus I’d experienced the night before, the pleasure of being with a normal male felt overwhelmingly right. Safe. Pure, primitive desire with no insanity attached to it. No fear.
‘Don’t stop.’ I ran my hands over his smooth chest.
He rolled me over onto my back and began to lick and suck my nipples as he trailed his hand down my stomach. His body was fever hot and his touch like liquid fire.
He brought his face up to mine. ‘Your body is beautiful. I’ve imagined this since the first moment I saw you.’
‘I’ve had some naughty thoughts about you, too.’
We kissed each other wildly, hands exploring. His erection rubbed against my leg rhythmically as he slid his finger into the hot wetness between my thighs. I arched my back and opened myself to him as a wave of ecstasy built inside me. He straddled me and licked his way down my body until his tongue finished what his finger had started. I screamed and dug my fingernails into his shoulders as he laved me over the edge. Quivering, I grabbed his hair and pulled him up onto me, aching for him to fill me, longing to be joined in that primal way. Wanting to give him what he’d given me.
Then there was loud pounding downstairs on my front door.
‘Dr Knight? Denver PD. Your door was unlocked. We heard a scream. Are you all right? Do you need help?’
Alan leaped up and ran into the bathroom.
I sat up in the bed and yelled, ‘No – everything’s fine. Stay where you are. I’ll be right down.’
The Vampire Shrink kk-1 Page 19