Her head lowered and she exhaled. “I’m not sure I like the sound of that.”
“Neither do I,” he said in a low voice. “I did manage to get a grip, though.”
Jess cringed when she realized she might have made him feel like an uncontrollable freak. Whereas, she had that market cornered, not him. “How does he do it?”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph! I wish I knew. Don’t you think I’d do it for you, if I could?” She knew he still felt responsible that he couldn’t make her human again.
“It’s Fisk we’re discussing, not me.” She stared into his eyes and tried to make him understand. Carrying this burden could cost him his life. He needed to be on target and have a clear head at all times in their line of work.
“What do you think about Jane? Could she be addicted?” he asked.
“That’s another good reason for her to see Sampson tonight. If anyone can help her through this, it’s him.” She yanked out her cell phone and made a quick call, directing Sampson to keep Jane with him until he was sure she’d recovered from whatever Fisk had done to her.
“But I’m helping Regent … ,” Sampson protested.
“I know. But this is important to me, too,” Jess said. She waited for Sampson to argue again. For a couple of seconds, there was nothing but silence. She waited.
“Okay, that’s good enough for me,” he said finally. “Send her over.”
“Thanks.”
It was obvious Britt wasn’t happy about the situation with Jane, and he’d most likely want to take a strip off someone, namely Fisk.
Britt walked past his vehicle and she glanced at it on the way by. “You forget something?”
“Not at all.” He inhaled the night air. “Jane reminded me that vampires, in this state, don’t drive cars. I thought I’d come back tomorrow for my car, after I’ve removed the makeup.”
Jess moved ahead and spun around to face him. She stopped him in his tracks. If his gaze told her anything right now, it was that he was remembering her naked in her apartment. “I have to admit, you make a handsome vampire,” she said.
His Adam’s apple bobbed and his jaw clenched. “Think so?”
“Uh-huh,” she said, pressing against him. Moving just enough to get him hot and bothered. It usually didn’t take much. Dirty pool, she knew, but she wanted him back.
The muscles in his jaw clenched while she ran her nose along the strong column of his neck, flicked her tongue out and tasted his saltiness.
“Jess.”
“Don’t say no. I’m only verifying that you really do hate me enough to torture me this way.” Her voice came out colder and less emotional than she wanted.
It was soon obvious she’d gone too far. Suddenly, his hands circled her upper arms and he pushed her against the nearest brick wall. “I don’t hate you and you damned well know it.”
She narrowed her gaze on him. “Prove it.”
“I am proving it. Right now, I’m proving it.” He grated out the last bit. “Every time I abstain from making love to you, I’m proving it.”
Her stomach literally ached.
She felt like a monster all over again. She let her head sag forward, her hair falling over her shoulders. “You’re right. I’m sorry to torment you. You know what I am. Not exactly the thoughtful type.” She pushed past him and planted her hands on her hips. “Let’s face it, I’m a self-centered bitch who doesn’t deserve you.”
He sighed. “Let’s go,” he said, in a voice that carried the weight of the world.
“You don’t have to walk me home,” she said. “I’m quite able to look after myself, as you know.”
Even, as she said it, she thought of being staked in the chest and nearly dying just nights ago. She’d let her guard down that time. It wouldn’t happen again. But that incident also told her that Britt would be afraid for her. He wouldn’t take a risk with her life, even though she wasn’t worthy of his love.
Britt ignored her and kept walking. His hands were shoved in his jeans pockets and his shoulders were hunched. “Where’d you go earlier tonight, Jess?”
She might as well tell him. It wasn’t that big a deal. “I went to see Regent.”
“Why didn’t you tell me? I’d have come with you.”
She thought he’d try to talk her out of it. Instead, he sounded pleased.
“How’s he doing?” he asked.
“I think he’s worried. He’s been put in charge of healing a very important man who’s become a vampire. According to Regent, the odds of helping this person are slim to none. And the guy’s very dangerous.”
“Crap.”
“Regent has already got Sampson on the case, but he thinks he might need my help too at some point. I hate that my brother is in the middle of all this. I have to help him in any way I can.”
“I agree. You know I’ll help too, if he needs me.”
“Regent would be thrilled to hear that. I think he’s feeling abandoned, even though he knows it’s not our fault.”
Britt grabbed her hand, and she let him. It irked her beyond reason that Fisk was like him. But was he really? Just because a monk had said it, that didn’t make it true. As far as she could see, Fisk showed no signed of being like Britt.
Partially healing vampires. Britt wasn’t able to do that. Or, if he did have that ability, she was pretty sure he didn’t have a clue how to use it.
“Uh, Jess …”
Deep in her own thoughts, she pulled herself back at Britt’s tone. “What’s wrong?”
He pointed. “There’s a body on the sidewalk ahead, and from here, it looks suspiciously familiar.”
Jess narrowed her gaze on the prone corpse under a street light. He’d been deliberately displayed, and viciously bled out.
“It’s Roland,” Britt said through gritted teeth.
Sometimes an older vampire dissipated into molecules, but often the body of a younger one remained. That was why they had a special section of her unit whose job it was to retrieve corpses and take them to Sampson.
She made a quick call on her cell. “Poor bastard. Since I was staked not that long ago, I know how it must’ve felt.”
“This wasn’t a random killing,” Britt said, with muscles clenching in his jaw.
Jess nodded. Most citizens didn’t even know vampires existed in the city, let alone thrived. “Someone must have followed him from Jane’s place. But were they following him … or you?” She looked at the dead vampire. His flesh had desiccated, and his cheeks had sunken in. He looked gray and mummy-like, but he was virtually intact.
She scanned the tops of the buildings. No vampires up there. She glanced at Roland again. They’d wait for the team to arrive to take him away.
“Do you think Fisk knew Roland was different?” she asked, as much to herself as to Britt. “Maybe,” Britt said, bending over and picking up a coin-like object from the sidewalk near the body. He turned it over his hand. “It’s not a coin, but I’m not sure what it is. Just an odd little icon. I don’t think it’d be Fisk’s style.”
She reached out to take it, but her flesh started to burn on contact. “Crap! It must be silver.” She tossed it back.
“Damn, Jess, I’m sorry. I had no idea that would burn you.”
She examined the item in the palm of Britt’s hand. “I don’t think it’s silver. It looks more like pewter.” She looked at it more closely. “It’s a Saint Anthony medal for lost souls. Silver or not, religious iconography is like acid on my skin.”
“I should have thought of that. I remember what my cross did to you two years ago.”
“It’s not like it’ll damage me permanently. I’m sure I’ll survive.”
The team arrived and quickly put the desiccated body into a van. Jess and Britt seldom hung around for the cleanup. They were usually the ones who left the bodies behind.
“You know,” she said. “I don’t think this was done to keep Roland quiet.”
Britt scanned the surrounding buildings.
“No?”
“I think it was a message for us.”
Chapter Thirteen
THE NEXT EVENING, Britt went straight to Fisk’s building. He rounded the block and had fifty feet to go to the entrance when Jess stepped out of an alley.
“I thought you might come here tonight,” she said.
“Very intuitive.” He looked her up and down, noticing she once again wore that sexy leather outfit that sent his heart thudding on sight. “Why are you here, though?”
“Same reason as you, silly. And I’m not about to let you go in there all angry and uptight and get yourself in trouble without me.” She grinned. “I don’t want to miss the fun. Let’s go.”
Given that the city ran at half-speed on Sunday evening, the Lumination Building was lit up and buzzing with activity. Front doors opened and closed as people, most likely vampires, entered and exited at regular intervals.
“This’d be a good place for our team to set up shop,” Britt said under his breath. “We could pick them off as they neared the building.”
“You don’t mean that,” she said, adjusting her jacket. “Not John Brittain, cop with a heart. You’d never wipe out a vampire who might show a hint of wanting to be human again.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and paced around him in a circle.
Since crossing her arms pushed up her cleavage, Britt was practically salivating. Holy hell, she made his libido go from zero to ninety in ten seconds. And she did it on purpose. He swallowed hard, trying to use biofeedback to slow his heart rate so she wouldn’t know what he was going through.
Strangely, it seemed to work. He managed to take his mind off what he’d rather be doing right now—for about two seconds.
Meanwhile, she stood in front of him, legs apart, leather outfit clinging to her curves and accentuating her femininity in ways he dared not think about right now. He inhaled slowly. Three deep breaths … and he’d have his need conquered again, right?
She grinned at him. That didn’t happen often, and her eyes lit from inside. Her inner virtue shone through and he wanted to kiss her.
“You might look big and tough, but you should be wearing a sign that says ‘I’m soft and gooey on the inside’,” she said.
“Gee, thanks,” he grumbled. Yeah, she knew him too damned well.
“What are you going to say—or do—to Fisk?” she asked.
“I’m just going to talk,” he said. He’d decided that in the last ten seconds. “I need his knowledge. I can’t afford to piss him off right now.” He looked at the icon in his hand again. “And, we really can’t connect him to Roland’s death.”
She pursed her luscious, red lips and nodded. “Let’s go, then.”
“You’re not going in, are you? You should wait out here.”
“Why?”
“He might gain control over you. I don’t want him to hurt you.”
She looked instantly angry. “I’ve prepared myself better this time. And, you’re not the only one who wants to find out exactly what he’s up to. Besides, Fisk needs to know that we’re a team. If we’re doing this, we’re going in together. No more of this going off alone shit.”
His gaze narrowed on her and he stepped a fraction closer. “You mean it? That goes for you, too, you know.”
She squirmed ever so slightly. Yeah, he figured she hadn’t thought of that.
“Deal?” he asked, keeping his gaze locked with hers. He had to, or he’d be staring at her lips, or elsewhere, and then his thought processes would be fractured again. He’d only be able to think about how good it felt to hold her in his arms. To make love to her.
Damn.
“I guess so,” she said, reluctantly.
He nodded. “There’s something I should tell you first, then,” he said. “Fisk asked me to meet him here tonight. He’s up to something.”
That little crease between her eyes formed and she frowned. “Hmmm. Should be interesting then. He told me he needed a favor from you, when I met with him a couple of days ago. Since we hadn’t heard from him, I thought he’d changed his mind. Especially since he lost his bargaining chip when his blue light couldn’t connect with me.”
Britt looked at the building again. “I’m still ticked that he tried that on you. He sounded extremely stressed when I talked to him on the phone. Maybe a little desperate.”
“Good. I hope he’s wearing his carpet out waiting for you.”
“I doubt he’s doing that, but let’s find out,” he said.
They entered the building. The candy-faced receptionists looked as effervescent as always. Teenyboppers, male and female alike, worked the desk with makeup caked on and eyelashes way too long to be real. They turned and smiled at Britt and Jess immediately.
“I have an appointment with Fisk,” Britt said, grinning inwardly at the dull-witted reaction on the teenybopper’s face in front of him.
“Are you Mr. Brittain?” she asked, looking at her sign-in sheet.
“I am.” He’d swear her lips were lacquered with shellac.
“And this … person?” She pointed rudely at Jess.
“You can tell Fisk that either she comes with me, or I leave.”
Jess was giving the receptionist her most sincere, calm look, but he’d guess she was seething inside.
The receptionist sighed dramatically and picked up the phone. She used her inch-long, highly decorated fingernail, to tap the buttons. “Leader, Mr. Brittain is here.” She paused and glanced suspiciously at Jess. “Yes, sir. But, the thing is, he’s not alone. He’s bringing a guest.”
Britt heard whirring from the corner of the station’s overhead oval structure and spotted the camera shifting to their location. He waved up at Fisk, then stepped aside so the “leader” could get a good look at Jess.
The receptionist’s spiderlike eyelashes flashed with irritation and those sticky-looking lips thinned. He could hear Fisk’s voice droning into her ear.
“Go right up,” she said at last, setting the phone back in its cradle and pointing in the direction of the private elevator.
“Thank you,” Britt said, without a backward glance.
He and Jess entered the elevator. Before the doors closed, they spotted several more vampires entering the building and immediately going to Elevator B on the opposite side of the grand foyer.
“Looks like healing sessions are on again tonight,” Jess said.
His jaw clenched and tension built at the back of his neck. Even if he couldn’t make Jess human again, being more human than vampire couldn’t be a bad thing, could it? Maybe he could accomplish that for her without the addictive side effects?
A few moments later, the elevator doors opened and Fisk waited on the other side. Britt glanced around. No Brewster in sight.
“Come in, come in …”
THE FACT THAT Fisk wore robes like those worn by priests initiated a feeling of disgust in Jess. The bastard hadn’t earned those robes.
As if he could read her thoughts, he turned his attention to her. His mouth pursed, and she wondered if he would stop her from speaking tonight. Not if she could help it.
“Fisk,” she said, trying her tongue to see if it would work.
“Captain Vandermire.” He’d obviously been doing his homework. He knew what her occupation was. “I hope you’re not here to injure my clientele,” he said, specifically to her. As if Britt wasn’t on the same team.
“Not tonight,” she said, eyeing him with cold tensile strength building in her spine, and fighting an itch to carve two new orifices into his neck. Hmmm. She didn’t often have that feeling. She was as vegan as a vampire could get. She only drank prepackaged human blood. No fresh bodies for her. But this man … he needed to be taught a lesson.
Turning away, Fisk clapped his hands together and then rubbed them vigorously. He’d grown a huge crocodile smile that made her edgy.
“I have a proposition for you, Mr. Brittain,” he said. “I admit, I thought we’d be alone when we had this
discussion …” He deliberately let the words linger so Jess would get the hint and leave. Not happening.
Finally, Fisk shrugged. “Okay, it’ll be the two of you, then,” he said.
“We are a team,” Britt said, a hint of irritation in his voice. “If that’s a problem for you, we can leave.”
Fisk made an irritated face. “I’m not sure if you can help me. I need a latent Grigoroi, another of my kind, to help me with a very difficult task.”
“A what?” Britt asked.
Fisk smirked as if he had one over on Britt. “It’s what we are, didn’t you know?”
“No.”
“What do you know?” Fisk asked, in a way that sounded like Britt’s lack of knowledge could work very well to his benefit. She didn’t like the sound of that.
“Why don’t you tell me,” Britt said, an edge of irritation in his voice.
Fisk showed nearly all his teeth in that fake smile again. “Wish I could, but it would be against the rules.”
“What rules?” Jess asked.
Fisk shrugged. “Sorry?”
“How can Britt help you?” she asked in a louder voice. She didn’t think he was deaf, but she was going to make sure he knew who he was dealing with.
Body language was an art that she’d been studying for decades. She could tell Fisk didn’t like the fact that she’d asked the question and not Britt.
“If you must know, I’d like Britt to help me with two or three healing sessions,” he said tightly.
Britt stiffened considerably at that comment. “What kind of healings?”
“Vampire, of course,” Fisk said. “Your inside knowledge might come in handy.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to be a lot more specific,” Britt said. “Before we decide, of course.”
Jess loved the way he’d said we, and she especially enjoyed how it obviously ticked Fisk off.
“I’m attempting to help vampires regain their humanity.”
“Common knowledge,” Jess said, in a voice that deliberately sounded uninterested.
He glared at her. “It’s relatively easy to affect most vampires,” he said. “I think I’ve proved that much to you.”
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