by Carina Cook
He waited for her to continue. Jin had a gift for words, especially when she was insulting people. She’d tear this cop up one side and down the other, and he wouldn’t know what hit him. Vincent had to restrain a smile when he thought about it.
But it didn’t happen. Instead of one of her patented rants, Jin clutched at her stomach, winced, and fell over.
“Jin!” Vincent exclaimed, falling to his knees by her side. “Jin, are you okay?”
The detective came around the counter as he was trying desperately to figure out what he should do. The portly man already had his cell phone out and was dialing.
“Looks like a heart attack,” he said, not unkindly. “I’ve got 911. Can you do CPR?”
Vincent nodded numbly and tried to compose himself enough to begin. He could do this. Of course he could. And Jin would be okay. She had to be.
“A lot of people seem to have heart attacks around you, Mr. Malone,” observed the detective mildly, and then the 911 operator answered, pulling his attention elsewhere.
Although this particular heart attack wasn’t directly Vincent’s fault, he felt guilty anyway. He brushed angrily at his wet eyes and began chest compressions.
CHAPTER 9
As she left Ignazio Balma’s apartment building, Lara tried to figure out what to do next. She couldn’t consult Annamarie about the succubus question, so that was a dead end. But she had other contacts. Who might know about the possible presence of a succubus in Las Vegas? Generally speaking, if a succubus came to the attention of the supernatural community, they’d take steps to eliminate it. So this wasn’t going to be an easy thing where she asked, “Hey, who’s the local succubus?” and they said, “Oh, you mean Jim?”
But if she went to someone with a question about a succubus somewhere in Tanith Q’s entourage, she might get some bites. At this point, she’d take anything to go on.
Feeling inspired, she dialed up her friend Audra. They’d met when Audra’s asshat ex-boyfriend had taken Lara out on a date. Lara hadn’t known that Chad was involved with anyone, and when she’d found out, the two of them had united to make him feel like the asshat he was. They’d also taken his pants, which had felt like a good idea at the time, although in retrospect, Lara wished she hadn’t done it. Anger sometimes brought out the worst in her, which was why she tried her best not to get angry in the first place. A cool and capable calm often led to the best revenge.
She dialed Audra’s work number as she got back into her car, turning on the ignition to get a little air circulation going. The day had turned abnormally muggy, and the inside of the car felt a bit like standing over a bowl of hot soup. The phone rang and rang, and she’d just resigned herself to voice mail when Audra answered.
“Hey, stranger!” she said brightly. She’d gotten incredibly chipper in the months since Lara had met her. The new boyfriend was definitely keeping her happy—and not inviting other women into her place of business for sex. He’d set the bar low for sure. “Are you in town?”
“I am, but I’m working. Hopefully we can get together for waffles and wine after I’m done. You got a second? I have a business question for you. Uh…the private kind of business.”
It had surprised Lara to find out that Audra wasn’t 100% normal human either. It had taken a while before they’d discovered it. But at one point, Audra had brought up a shifter detective from the area that Lara had worked with in the past, and they’d kind of danced around the topic a bit before they each individually consulted the detective in question and found out that they had more in common than they’d originally thought. Audra was an elemental mage. Not exactly the kind of person you’d expect to be an expert on succubi, but a lot of artifacts—and information—passed through her pawn shop. If she didn’t know anything useful, Derek the detective might.
“Sure thing. Gimme a sec, and I’ll go to my office. I’ll have to put you on hold.”
“No problem,” said Lara.
She sat there for a few moments, listening to the thrashy guitar of the unidentifiable hold music. The air conditioner wasn’t doing nearly enough to cool off the car. She adjusted the blowers and turned up the fan as high as it would go, but it wasn’t enough. For a luxury car, this thing sure didn’t get the job done.
Audra picked back up, huffing slightly. “Sorry for the wait. What’s up?”
“I have some suspicion that there might be a succubus in Las Vegas,” said Lara.
It wasn’t the most tactful way to break the news, but bluntness seemed like the only option in this case. There really wasn’t a tactful way to say that a monster was feeding on the citizens of your city via kinky sex, anyway.
Audra began to swear and didn’t stop with a single word. It was a long, drawn out string of expletives. Lara waited for her to get it all out.
“Damn,” Audra finally concluded. “Are you sure?”
“No, which is why I’m calling you. Have you heard anything in general?”
“No, it’s been pretty quiet lately. We had a run of demon corrupted love charms last month, but we traced those to a newbie witch with no idea what she was really doing. That’s about it. What do you know?”
“I can’t say much, but I’ve got suspicions about Tanith Q’s people. A Vegas show would be a good place for a succubus to hide. Lots of pretty young things looking for a good time.”
“Tanith Q…” Audra paused thoughtfully. “Isn’t she the one with the new single that sounds like it was composed by Yoko Ono’s emo grandchild?”
Lara burst out into laughter. “I hadn’t really thought of it that way, but yeah.”
“I thought so. Sadly, I don’t know anything useful. Want me to ask around or do you want me to keep this under wraps?”
The phone beeped in Lara’s ear, and she glanced at it to see Vincent’s name on her caller ID.
“I’ve got another call that I need to take,” she said hurriedly. “I’m sorry to cut this short, but if you could ask around very hush-hush, I’d appreciate it.”
“Well, I’m not going to announce to the succubus that we’re on its trail,” snarked Audra. “Talk to you later.”
“Waffles and wine,” said Lara before clicking over. It was their favorite meal, even if the two things didn’t really go together.
“Hello?” she said, hoping that she hadn’t taken too long and missed Vincent’s call. “Are you there?”
“Lara.”
Vincent’s voice sounded funny. Choked up, somehow. Like he’d just gotten into a fight, or caught a cold in the few hours since she’d seen him last.
“Are you okay?” she asked cautiously.
“I know we don’t know each other well, but my…my boss just had a heart attack. She’s the only friend I’ve got besides you,” said Vincent, his voice thick with what she now recognized as tears.
“Where are you? What can I do to help?”
“Sunrise Hospital. Could you come? I could use some company. And we could talk about the…that thing we were working on earlier.” He stumbled over the words.
“I’ll be there in just a few,” she promised.
He thanked her with a level of gratitude that almost broke her heart, and Lara wasn’t much of an emotional pushover. Something about him really tugged at her heartstrings, though. She didn’t know what it was, but he needed her, and she would be there. Right now, that was all that she needed to know.
It took her a while to find a parking space at the hospital. Of course half of the lot was torn up and under construction, and someone had parked their RV across four spots, and then another dipwad in an SUV had taken up one and a third out of sheer lack of parking skill. When she finally found someone coming out of the building, she tailed them closely, not wanting to lose their spot to someone else. They got into their car and just sat there, like they hadn’t noticed her eagerness to park. After a few minutes of steadily swearing at them like maybe it might make them move, they finally decided to leave. On the way out, they had the nerve to shoot her an angry g
lance.
She parked and hurried into the building before realizing that she had no idea who she was here to see. She hadn’t met Vincent’s boss. She tried to call his cell, but it went straight to voice mail; probably he’d turned it off in accordance with hospital policy.
Okay, she’d just have to figure this out herself. He’d most likely be waiting in the Emergency Department, since he wasn’t family and they probably hadn’t been able to find the boss a room yet. That took time, Lara knew. So she’d try the ED, and if that didn’t pan out, perhaps one of the nurses there could help her.
When she went to the emergency waiting room, with its uncomfortable looking beige chairs, a quick glance was enough to confirm that Vincent wasn’t there. It actually wasn’t as busy as she’d expected, either. A few people sat in clumps around the room, but none of them had the chiseled features of a broody Hollywood action star. Damn. She frowned and took her place in line at the registration desk behind a woman with a hacking cough, who kept lifting her Kleenex to her mouth just a moment too late to avoid spraying the room with whatever germs she was carrying. Lara wasn’t a germaphobe, but even she had limits. Ick.
Luckily, before she waited more than three coughing fits, she spotted Vincent coming out of the men’s room in the corner. Gratefully, she stepped out of line and helped herself to a nice heap of antibacterial form from the dispenser mounted on the wall before she walked over to him.
He spotted her as she approached and visibly relaxed, like her presence took some kind of spiritual load off his shoulders. Of course he could have handled this himself; after everything he’d been through, it wouldn’t be too difficult. Or maybe it would. For as long as he could remember, he’d only had to worry about himself. But now, he cared about other people. Now he had something to lose. It must be an overwhelming feeling.
Without so much as pausing, he walked to meet her and threw his arms around her. It wasn’t the most graceful of hugs, since he was quite a bit taller than her, and it took a little readjusting to figure out how to make things fit.
“I feel so helpless,” he said into her shoulder, confirming her suspicions. “Thank you for coming. I just don’t know what to do with myself.”
“How is he? Or she? It?” asked Lara, and then she immediately felt bad. It wasn’t cool to call his injured boss an “it.”
“She. Her name is Jin.”
Vincent pulled out of the embrace and ran a hand over his face. He looked haggard. Lara couldn’t help herself; she laced an arm around his waist and gave him a hug that way, trying to offer whatever comfort she could.
“I can tell she means a lot to you,” she said gently.
He nodded. “Yeah. She’s like the only family I’ve got. Her son lives in town, but they never see each other. He’s always too busy and too important to come see her. I kind of hate the bastard, but I guess I ought to try and call him, shouldn’t I? Or does the hospital do that? I imagine they do.”
“I think so too, but if you have his number, I think it would be a nice gesture. Maybe you could see if you could get an update and try to contact him with that. Like an olive branch of sorts.”
“Is that a thing people do?” Vincent seemed thoughtful. “I don’t really have much experience with people. Or I do, but I can’t remember it.” His laugh was without mirth.
Lara tilted her head. She’d intended to say something supportive, but that last comment was a bit too far. Without thinking about it first, she said, “Now that’s enough feeling sorry for yourself for one day.”
Her voice was firm and to the point, the same tones she’d used with her mother when she was being a bit too melodramatic. Vincent gave her the same double take response that her mom had always done, like neither of them could quite believe she’d said it. Lara wasn’t sure she could blame them.
“You’re right,” he said, and that was where the similarity ended. Lara’s mother had always taken offense when her daughter called her out. “I’ll stop. It could be worse. You could be hurt too.”
She shook her head in wonderment. “You barely know me,” she said, even though she’d been having exactly the same kind of protective thoughts.
“I know. But I feel like I’ve known you forever,” he said. “Isn’t that strange?”
His eyes locked on hers, and she felt pinned beneath them. Torn between urges to stand up on her tiptoes and kiss him, or to back off before she got carried away. Because it would be. She had no problem with a fun night spent between two consenting, safe, single adults. But when emotions got involved—especially love—things could get sticky fast. She out of all people should know that. And she had to admit it. Her emotions were involved. His sheer vulnerability combined with the immense power he quite literally held in his hands somehow managed to undo her. She, who guarded her heart so carefully, was falling for him.
He took the decision out of her hands. While she was standing there frozen, he closed the space between them with one long stride. His hands cupped her face, and he looked a question into her eyes. She found herself without words, but her eyes must have communicated everything she wanted to say, because his head dipped down to hers, and his lips ever so lightly brushed against her own.
Normally, tentative kisses like this just exasperated Lara. She wanted to quit with the teasing games and get on with what they both knew was going to happen. But for the first time, the feather light touch made her belly thrum with excitement. It felt new and real on a level she’d never experienced. She’d thought she’d been in love many times before, but now she was beginning to suspect that she hadn’t even been close. That was infatuation. This was love, and she barely knew him, and if she said the wrong thing to the wrong person, she could be sent away from him forever.
In fact, once this job was over, she’d likely be sent on to another city. Usually, hunters only did a single job in one place before they moved on elsewhere. That way, they avoided gaining too much unwanted attention, and overtaxing their contacts in each place. She’d already done two in a row here, which was already over the norm. There was no way Annamarie would authorize a third, especially if she had any hint of the fact that there was a man involved.
Lara didn’t want to let that happen. She couldn’t. She wrapped her arms tight around Vincent as if someone might try to tear them apart at any moment.
CHAPTER 10
When the wizened old doctor came toward him in her oversized white coat, Vincent’s heart leaped into his throat. He’d heard that phrase many times before, and of course he’d been nervous once or twice, but it was nothing like this. Suddenly, he found it hard to swallow over the lump that lodged itself in his esophagus. His palms began to sweat. If not for the comforting presence of Lara at his side, he might have broken down altogether. But he knew that whatever happened, she would be there for him. He wouldn’t be alone. And he would do whatever was needed to make sure that Jin was okay. She just had to be.
The doctor wrinkled her nose as she walked toward them, like what she had to say was distasteful.
“Are you Miss Wang’s son?” she asked skeptically.
“Not legally,” he answered. “Why?”
She frowned. “Miss Wang is conscious, and she wants to see you, but ICU rules are relatives only.”
“She’s conscious?!” Relief made his limbs strangely heavy, like stress was the only thing that had been holding him up for the past couple of hours. Then again, that might be true of his whole life—or the part he could remember, anyway. “Oh, thank god.”
Lara squeezed his shoulder gently, and he smiled at her. It was one thing to say repeatedly to one’s self that everything would be okay, and another thing entirely to get the news that everything would be okay.
The doctor smiled a little, her eyes keen behind her thick glasses. “Not a son, but like one, eh?”
“Beg pardon?” Vincent paused as the meaning of what she’d said caught up to him. “Oh, you mean Jin? Yeah. Neither of us really have family. I mean, she’s got a son,
but he never comes to see her even though she tries. I was thinking I should call him, but I wasn’t sure what to say.”
“So whatever she says to you will be repeated to the son?” asked the doctor.
“Within reason. If she calls him a no good idiot, I probably shouldn’t repeat that.”
The doctor tittered daintily behind one hand. “Yes, I can see that. Okay, we’ll make an exception this one time, but if anyone asks, you’re her adopted son, and I didn’t know any different, yes? Stupid hospital policy, anyway. Chosen family is just as valid as blood family. Sometimes even more.”
Vincent smiled gratefully at her. “I completely agree.”
Lara stayed behind in the waiting room, although she did caution him that she might head down to the cafeteria for some snacks. Then she grilled him on his culinary likes and dislikes, promising to get him something too. It was such a small thing, but it felt huge to Vincent. Of course Jin did that kind of thing for him. Sometimes she even baked for him, and she claimed to hate baking. But she didn’t know what he was, or what he’d done. Lara did, and she didn’t care. Maybe he should stop hiding too. Because he could admit that he hid from the world out of guilt. All the time.
Maybe he’d tell her that. Something told him that Lara of all people would understand. She seemed better adjusted than he was, but she still moved from place to place for her job from what he understood. That had to make her feel like an outsider, kind of like he did. The knowledge that one could touch someone and end their life, or make them fall in love with a gesture, kind of set a person apart whether they liked it or not. He would have to talk about this with Lara. Maybe she felt lonely sometimes too, and it would be good for them both to have someone to share that with.
But in the meantime, he needed to see Jin, and he turned his attention to that as he walked through the doors into the cardiac ICU. The doctor led him into the unit, with all of its beeping monitors and sunken, bedridden figures covered in blankets and wires. Vincent dealt with death all the time, but he didn’t think he would have been able to stand day after day working in a place like this. His department was dealing with people who deserved to die, and he wasn’t sure anyone deserved to die like this.