Blood Lily (Lilith Adams Vampire Series Book 1)

by Jenny Allen

  Chance leaned forward and pressed a quick kiss to her forehead before settling back into his seat. “Off to the precinct then.” Lilith stared at the half smile quirking his lips and couldn’t help but smile softly. The whole world was going to hell, but somehow, the quirk in his lips made it all seem inconsequential. Okay, well maybe not inconsequential, but at least a little less terrifying.

  The churning growl of Chance’s stomach interrupted her peaceful thoughts. “Uh, perhaps we need to hit a drive thru joint on the way. I can’t even remember the last time I’ve eaten.” His eyes narrowed at her in sudden thought, studying her. “Aren’t you ravenous?”

  Lilith looked off through the windshield and honestly couldn’t remember when she’d last eaten either. Croissants and coffee, first thing in the morning. She should be starving, but somehow, she didn’t even feel vaguely hungry. It had to be the damn blood. She wanted to be angry with Cohen, furious even, but it was either deal with this side effect or be dead and buried in the ground. She didn’t really remember exactly what had happened, but from everything Chance and Cohen told her, she was seconds from dying.

  When she looked back at Chance, she couldn’t bear to see that fear in his eyes again, so she lied. “You know, I really am starving for a big huge burger. I’ve been running on adrenaline for too long. Must be the survivor instinct or something.”

  There was a slight look of suspicion in his eyes, but he shifted back into the driver’s seat and put the car in gear. “Well, let’s see what 24-hour places are near the precinct. We can eat and grill Cohen at the same time.”

  Half an hour later, Chance and Lilith were jogging into the Police station with an armful of greasy drive-thru burgers. It wasn’t until Lilith saw the shocked face of the desk clerk that she realized that her clothes were soaked in Spencer’s blood. Chance hurried her past the desk clerk and stormed through the bull pen, heading straight for Cohen’s office. He didn’t bother knocking. He just burst in with Lilith trailing behind him.

  Cohen looked up in surprise which quickly turned to concern when he saw Lilith. Whitmore surged to his feet, and stalked right up to Chance. The difference in height made it a little less intimidating than the Detective wanted it to be.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “Whitmore.” Cohen’s voice boomed with cool authority. “Give us a minute.”

  The stocky detective turned to his partner with an exasperated look. “Cohen, you don’t owe these two anything. They can’t just barge in here…”

  “A minute.” Cohen cut him off with a weighted look. Whitmore just stared at his partner for a tense moment. Neither Chance nor Lilith dared even move. With a final death glare at Chance, he stormed out of the office, slamming the door behind him.

  “Sorry about that. He’s really starting to crack.” His grey eyes lingered on the closed door with a twinge of sadness.

  “Have you been working with him long?” Lilith hadn’t really considered the possibility that Cohen might actually view Whitmore as a partner. She just assumed that since Whitmore was human and Cohen was whatever he was, that he’d just treat him as someone to be careful around. Guess that said more about her than Cohen that it was her first assumption.

  “A few months now. He’s not a bad cop. He just isn’t very patient or open-minded.” Cohen stood and walked around his desk. He looked Lilith over carefully and finally rested his cool grey eyes on Chance. “I’m assuming things aren’t going well?”

  “You could say that.” Lilith could feel the anger rolling off Chance and by the bristled look on Cohen’s face so could he. Before she started drowning in testosterone, Lilith slid into an empty chair.

  “Where’s Alvarez?” It suddenly occurred to her that he was supposed to be here with Cohen, leaving Gregor alone in the hotel.

  “He left about forty minutes ago. Whitmore and Alvarez are like oil and water. He was doing more harm than good so I sent him back to the hotel. As I said, Whitmore is not a very open-minded man. Immigration is a rather sensitive issue in these parts.”

  Lilith just shook her head. Whitmore probably assumed that Alvarez was Mexican, not Spanish. Hell he probably wouldn’t know the difference even if someone told him.

  “I’m sure you didn’t come all the way down here just to look for Alvarez. As I remember, you definitely know how to use your cell phone. So what do you need from me that you didn’t want to discuss on the phone? Something to do with the blood you’re covered in I assume.” There was definitely an edge to his voice. He obviously didn’t appreciate them busting in on him.

  Lilith ignored his last comment and just cut right to the heart of the matter. “Look, I just need some straight answers from you and we’ll be out of your hair.”

  Cohen looked genuinely confused and a touch offended as he leaned back against the desk. “I have been straight with you. I understand that we all need to talk right now, but I need to go clear things with Whitmore. We don’t want to be on his bad side any more than we already are. We were just about to discuss what he found out about the Phipps Bend property when you burst through the door. I have a sweat suit in the bottom drawer of that file cabinet. I suggest you change out of those bloody clothes. If you intend to keep whatever happened at Goditha a secret, you might want to pay attention to the fact that you are in a building full of cops that typical want to know why a woman is covered in blood.”

  He gave her a significant look, curtly nodded at Chance, and slipped out of the room.

  “Have I mentioned that I really do not like that guy?” Chance finally dropped into the chair next to Lilith, and snatched a burger out of the bag. He tore into it like he hadn’t eaten in a week.

  “I think you’ve made that quite clear.”

  “Look, I know the guy saved your life, and believe me, I’m grateful, but if he hadn’t kept me in the interrogation tank, he wouldn’t have had to feed you his blood.”

  “Hindsight is always 20/20, Chance.”

  “I’m just saying. If he really knew about Duncan’s disappearance, then after Miriah’s body was discovered he had to know that someone was after the family. So what does he do? He makes sure you’re isolated, making him your only lifeline. What better way to get you in his debt?”

  “Chance, you’re being paranoid. He’s balancing power with Whitmore to keep him under control. Whitmore didn’t want to let you go, therefore, you stayed in the tank. Not everything is a conspiracy.” Lilith’s voice came out more clipped and irritable than she intended. She understood how Chance felt, but she had real problems to solve.

  “Fine.” He turned his attention back to his burger with a purpose.

  She couldn’t deal with anything else. No more sulking teenagers, no more pissed off assholes, no more thin-skinned egos she had to tip toe around.

  Lilith pushed out of the chair and rummaged through the bottom drawer of the filing cabinet, pulling out a dark blue track suit emblazoned with KPD. Thankfully, Cohen was a fairly lean man and only a little taller than her. She tossed the track suit on the desk and was just about to pull off her now ruined AC/DC tshirt when she caught a glimpse of Chance. He paused in mid-bite to stare at her.

  Chance slowly finished taking his bite, chewed and quickly swallowed. “What?”

  Lilith spread her palms out and glared at him like the answer should be obvious. She wanted to be angry, but his auburn-flecked hair, his hazel eyes, his chiseled jaw, his lean muscled body, more importantly, the way he made her want to smile in spite of everything, just irritated the piss out of her right now. “Do you mind?”

  “Of course not.” He nodded for her to continue whatever she was doing and took another bite.

  She flashed a tight, sarcastic smile. “Cute.” After motioning for him to turn the hell around she ended with a parting shot of her middle finger.

  Chance held up his hands in surrender, but an amused smile stretched his lips. Reluctantly, he turned around while Lilith pulled off her blood soaked clothes and shimmied int
o Cohen’s track suit.

  She wasn’t used to depending on people. She sure as hell wasn’t used to having someone that affected her so much. Chance made her feel incredible, but he also threw her off balance. She thought back to what Gregor said. Chance couldn’t do his job with her around. He felt too much. It affected his judgment. With a glance at Chance’s back, she realized that he wasn’t the only one that couldn’t focus on the job. How could she be surefooted investigating something this extreme when she didn’t feel surefooted around the man glued to her side?

  She was dragging her messy auburn curls up into a ponytail, trying to clear her mind, when Chance turned back around. “Now you just need some handcuffs and a nightstick.” One eyebrow arched in an amused, leering grin.

  “Keep your bizarro fantasies to yourself.” She rolled her eyes and piled her bloody clothes in a heap on the floor.

  “And here I thought you wanted to know about my ‘bizzaro’ fantasies.” The wounded look on his face was meant to be humorous, but she saw the slight flinch around his hazel eyes.

  “Can we just be serious for a minute?” Usually she loved the banter, even more now that there was actually weight behind it, but she was a mess right now. Lilith rubbed her hands over her cheeks and started to pace the room. She was so lost in her own unraveling thoughts that she didn’t notice Chance at all until his hands were on her shoulders.

  Lilith looked up at him, expecting to be irritated with yet another wounded look. She couldn’t deal with her own crap right now and babysit his emotions too. He was supposed to be the strong one. He was a damn bodyguard, her bodyguard. But there was no wounded look on his chiseled face. He simply pulled her against him and wrapped his strong, warm arms around her. He said nothing, did nothing but hug her close and rest his chin on her head, and it was perfect. All her jangled nerves quieted, her mind quit spinning like some maniac top and she just breathed, feeling warm and safe for the first time that night.

  They just stayed like that for a long time. She didn’t feel any surge of emotions from him. Everything was just still and comfortable. She had no idea how much time had passed and when Chance finally said something, it startled her. “Come sit down. Eat some food. You are going to drive yourself insane if you don’t calm down. So much has happened to you, but you can’t keep running on fumes.”

  Lilith nodded softly and let him lead her over to a chair. When she finally sank into the seat, Chance placed a burger in her hands and silently sat down in the chair next to her. Once she managed to get a burger down, Chance slid his fingers through hers, his thumb rubbing her skin in soft circles. She leaned her head against his shoulder and they waited in comfortable, relaxing silence for Cohen to return. She let her mind go blank, forgetting about psycho killers that seemed impossible to stop, murderous revenge plots, fathers killing off family lines, even creatures that fed off emotions like a suckerfish.

  Chapter 19

  The sound of a door opening and closing startled Lilith out of her sleep. She must have drifted off against Chance’s shoulder while waiting for Cohen to return. Speaking of the Detective, he crossed the room and perched on the corner of his desk. There was a lot of weight on his almost handsome face. She was betting things hadn’t gone very well with Whitmore. He hadn’t even glanced at Chance and Lilith when he first came in. Now that he was perched in a comfortable place, he finally looked over at them. His already light complexion looked pale and tired, even his close-clipped, sandy blonde hair looked a few shades lighter.

  “Well ain’t you two cute.” The sickly sweet southern accent didn’t suit him anymore. His natural, slightly European accent definitely suited him better. It was mostly tired humor, but there was a slight undercurrent that irritated her and she wasn’t the only one.

  She felt the tension instantly race down Chance’s arm. She squeezed his hand a little tighter and turned her attention back to Cohen. “Everything settled with your partner?”

  Cohen cocked his head to the side and narrowed his eyes. “Tell me something. I realize that lying is kind of par for the course with being…nonhuman. You two aren’t actually engaged are you?”

  Lilith just stared at him. “What?”

  Cohen smirked and shifted his weight. “Well you aren’t wearing a ring and you two are a volcano of unsatisfied tension, so I’m assuming that you lied about the engagement.”

  Chance gripped the arm of the chair and forced his voice through gritted teeth. “Do you think we could focus on something that, I don’t know, might keep us all from fucking dying? What happens in our personal lives is none of your fucking concern.”

  Cohen held up his hands in a show of surrender but he was far from intimidated. “I was just curious. No need to get all bent out of shape. Lilith’s an intelligent, gorgeous woman. I don’t blame you.”

  Chance tensed to surge to his feet and Lilith just squeezed his hand really tight. “Are you seriously picking a fight right now?”

  That caught Cohen’s attention. He shrugged effortlessly and tried to look modestly ashamed. “I suppose there are some slightly more pressing matters.”

  Lilith narrowed her eyes at him and for a moment she wanted to believe Chance about Cohen. “Slightly? If you want a prayer of getting my help with your little family quest you better start playing ball with us.”

  Cohen’s smooth brow furrowed into a frown. “My apologies.” His cool grey eyes reluctantly slid from Lilith to Chance. The hostility slowly leeked out of his face. “Things have not been going as well as I hoped with Whitmore. I shouldn’t be picking fights with my tentative allies.” There was still a hint of humor in his face that Lilith didn’t quite understand.

  “Things are going that well, huh?”

  The humor drained from his face leaving behind a blank mask. “Not precisely.” Apparently sarcasm was lost on him. “We’ll get to that. Now you wanted to ask me some questions?”

  “Yes. We need to know more about your race and its abilities.”

  Cohen crossed his arms over his chest and frowned at her. It marred his boyish good looks making him look ten years older. “I’ve already taken an enormous risk telling you what I have. I have put my life on the line to save yours, Ms. Adams. I don’t see how any further information about my ‘race’ is relevant to the case.” Definitely defensive. Suddenly they were back to a last name basis. Wait. Did she even know his first name? Hell, Cohen probably wasn’t even his real last name.

  “I understand the risks you’ve taken. This information won’t go beyond us, but there are two very real reasons that I need to know everything. First of all, it’s relevant to me. I need to know precisely what is happening to me. I don’t particularly like being the emotional lint trap for everyone that touches me. Second of all, I think it might be extremely relevant to this case. If I’m right, it’s definitely something your family would want to know about.”

  That piqued his interest. Cohen’s head tilted slightly to one side. “I’m listening.”

  “How does it all work? I need to know how you feed on emotions, how you heal, what else you can do, everything you can.”

  “Lilith,” He huffed and actually sat down on his desk. “I told you earlier. You draw on emotions. Emotions are just energy. You know how thousands of songs and poems refer to “electricity” between two people? They’re ‘attracted like magnets’. Well, it’s just a more pure source than the energy you find in food. In people that receive our blood, it’s a rare side effect, but in most cases it passes.”

  “Is there a history of feeding vampires? You said you’ve never donated your blood to one before, but do you know of others?”

  His cool grey eyes tightened with a suspicious look. “We don’t typically socialize with vampires. It’s not like we feel the need to join the Coalition of Non-Human Species.”

  This time it was Chance that squeezed her fingers to keep her calm. “Detective, I’m not playing games here. I’m trying to keep the rest of my family from being sliced up like Julianne fries.
I just want straight answers.”

  Cohen looked humbled and shifted uncomfortably on the desk. His light blue eyes stared at the linoleum floor. Before she really had time to think about his eye color, he finally spoke up. “My apologies. Again.” He let out a slow breath. “Look, these things, about my family… I am not joking about how seriously they take their secrecy. They have resources. You do not know what you are asking me to do here. What you know already…not to mention me feeding you my blood…” There was a haunted look in his eyes that Lilith had never seen before. He was well and truly scared of his family. She could sympathize but she still needed to know everything, regardless of the risks.

  “Cohen, I know you’re stressed, but I promise, these questions are important. Do you think that perhaps the side effects happened because I’m a vampire?”

  “It’s certainly possible. Only one or two humans have ever shown the symptoms…even then, I honestly can’t be sure that they were truly human.”

  “I need to know more about the abilities. Is there anything besides healing and the emotional feeding?”

  “I’ve told you a hundred times. It should pass. How is any of this relevant?”

  “I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about you and it could be extremely relevant. Please, just bear with me.”

  Cohen hung his head in thought for a long moment. “What specifically do you need to know? I’ll answer what I can, but I can’t sum up everything in a few sentences. Why are you asking?”

  Chance spoke up for the first time since Cohen returned. “We ran into Ashcroft tonight. He performed one hell of a magic trick.”

  Cohen looked genuinely confused. “How does…”

  “That pertain to you?” Lilith interrupted him. She was getting a little tired of the party line. “Chance blew half his head off and he crawled over to Dr. Nichols and started slicing him up while we watched his skull reforming. Now your race is the only thing I know that heals faster than ours, so I need to know from you what is possible and what isn’t.”