Gabriel shook his head. “I’ve left messages for Brigid. If anyone can help my wife, she can.”
“Well, if you need anything . . .”
“You’re doing plenty to help,” said Gabriel. “Thank you.”
There was really not much else to say, so I gave him a quick hug, said good-bye to Damian, and then Tez and I left.
When we got outside, I stopped on the flower-lined sidewalk and took a moment to enjoy the crisp air and the beauty of the night. So much had happened, and there was so much to do yet. I knew the philosophy well enough: The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. I had a feeling it would take all of us working together to defeat whatever terrible thing was unfolding. It wasn’t like we didn’t know how to handle trouble. Over the years, we’d defeated rogue vampires, Ancients gone bad, a secret military group, and, as I’ve mentioned, demon attacks. However, this new threat was more insidious because it came from the inside. We didn’t know our enemy—and worse, our enemy could wear our faces, and that would make it difficult to fight.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” asked Tez. He took my hand and led me to the Honda.
“Just thinking about how to solve this mystery.”
“Okay, Velma.”
I looked at him. “As in, Scooby-Doo?” Even I was familiar with the cartoon. I blinked. “You think I’m the smart one?”
“I always figured Fred had it all wrong,” he said, grinning. “I like girls with really big . . . brains.”
“I look terrible in orange,” I said, giving him the snooty-bitch look.
“Will you at least wear the knee-length socks and Mary Janes?”
“Tez!” I lightly slapped his shoulder while he guffawed. “I’m not sure how I feel about you fantasizing about a cartoon character.”
“Don’t get your panties in a twist, princess. Completely naked is okay, too.” He was still smiling, his hazel eyes twinkling, and I realized he was doing a good job of alleviating my tension. “You like it, don’t you?”
“Like what?”
“Puzzling out all the pieces, seeing how they fit together.”
Tez’s perception surprised me yet again. I did like to work my way through problems. It was always very satisfying to figure out the appropriate solutions. I’d never thought of myself of the Scooby-Doo and the Gang sort of mystery solver, though.
“You’d make a good cop,” said Tez.
“I’m not fond of firearms.”
He leaned against the trunk of his car and drew me into his embrace. Until I met Tez, I didn’t realize how much excitement my life had lacked. I’d been content to fulfill the role of matron, hostess, and wise old woman. If I felt the creeping tendrils of boredom, I looked to my jewelry making or meeting a friend for lunch or logging on to eBay to see what treasures I could find. It was only at that moment that I realized I had been “living” my unlife the same way had lived my human life. I couldn’t have what I wanted, so I made do with what I had.
What a terribly sad way to spend eternity.
And so, when Tez held me close, his hazel eyes glittering with sensual intent, I didn’t pull away or protest. He was the sexiest man I’d ever met, and I’d once hosted a party that included among its guests Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, and Gerard Butler.
“You got a thing against all guns?” he asked, his tone smoky.
I swear, I felt my womb clench. It had been a really long time since I’d flirted; I was much more a woman of action. I never really enjoyed the dance of courtship, which may have been another reason I so easily acquiesced to my parents’ choice of husband.
Tez tugged my arms up and slipped them around his neck. I happily accepted this hint, and snuggled closer. Excitement pulsed through me. How was it that Tez could make me feel as though I was the only woman in the world?
Tez pressed his warm, soft lips against my mouth.
The shock of the gentle contact froze me for a second. It had been such a very long time since I’d been kissed. I needn’t have worried about my slow response. Tez seemed to understand I needed wooing.
He did not demand, but coaxed. With every sweet parting and return of his mouth, a fire built within me. I wasn’t ashamed to admit that I clung to him, accepting his gift with selfish indulgence, greedy—so greedy—for his touch.
I had not realized that I’d missed being wanted. When was the last time I’d been thought of as a woman with needs, desires? I hadn’t dated, but no one had asked me out, either. How easily I fell into the trap of fulfilling the role that was needed by others rather than exploring what I might need for myself—and from those who shared my life. I allowed myself to feel what I had denied for so long: the need to be loved and cherished.
“Elizabeth.” Tez pulled back, just a little. I saw in his eyes all that I’d ever wanted—if not forever, then for the moment. Here was a man who wanted me, whose desire for me made my undead heart want to beat again.
Tez pressed his mouth at the hollow of my throat.
“Oh,” I managed. “Oh, my.”
My neck was very sensitive, rather an irony for a vampire. Tez nipped kisses, flicking his tongue against my skin. Every light touch drove me crazy; tingles traveled to my breasts, to my belly. Desire twisted inside me, heat and need that threatened my self-control.
One of Tez’s hands cupped the back of my skull, and then, once again, he lowered his head toward mine.
He stopped a breath away. His mouth curved into a half smile—and I knew as much as he that, as much as he tortured me, he was doing worse to himself.
His tongue flicked out: first to taste each corner of my mouth, and then to trace the inner curve of my lower lip.
Longing pierced me to the core. Oh, how I wanted him to plunder, to take. But he chose to torment me with mere flashes of wicked sensation.
And then . . . finally, finally he claimed my mouth fully. He deepened the kiss, pulled me closer still, and slipped his tongue through the seam of my lips.
I felt as though I might be melting away. From the heat. From the passion. I met each delicious stroke of his tongue with my own and couldn’t resist sifting my fingers through his hair. I was pressed so tightly against him, I was sure he could feel the taut beads of my nipples against his chest; I could certainly feel the hard length of shaft against my belly.
Had I not been a vampire with a hundred-year-marriage curse, I would happily indulge in my first sexual quickie. Followed by a very long night of lovemaking.
Tez pulled away. He was breathing hard, his eyes glazed with passion. For me. It gave me such a thrill to know I inspired such lust. He was a handsome man who’d no doubt had his share of women. And he wanted me.
“Elizabeth,” he said in a jagged voice. He cupped my face and feathered kisses along my jaw. Relentless, he again took my lips in a fierce possession, showing me with his mouth what he wanted to do with my body. “God, I want you.”
“I want you, too,” I managed. “But we can’t act like irresponsible hormonal teenagers.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Tez. We’ve known each other not quite two days. I hardly think that enough time to determine one hundred years of marriage.”
“I’m not the one with the issue.”
“That makes no sense.”
“I know what I know,” he said.
“Well, I know what I know,” I said as I unglued myself from his very fine, muscled form. “Lust is not love.”
Tez frowned. “You don’t think I have feelings for you?”
I wasn’t sure how to respond to his question. I knew that I had feelings for him—something that certainly went beyond the obvious physical need. I liked him. He was funny, irreverent, sexy, protective; he understood me, and what I wanted. I couldn’t accuse him of not caring about me when I knew I already cared about him.
And yet, I still found it hard to believe.
“I want you,” he said. “Not just with my body, but with my heart. You make me laugh, you ma
ke me think, you make me crazy. My world feels brighter because you’re in it. I’m not giving you up because of vampire rules. Or shifter rules. I’ll take you however I can have you.” Tez caught my hand to prevent me from completely moving away. “Whatever you want to give me, princess. Whatever you want from me.” He pressed my knuckles against his lips.
His words just made me want him more. He was sincere, and I’d already figured out he was persistent. Okay, stubborn. Still. Was there a chance for us? Could we have love?
“I’ll have to think about this,” I said.
“Okay.” He rubbed my knuckles with his thumb, and then he let my hand go. He grasped my shoulders and planted a kiss on my forehead. “C’mon, princess. We have a mystery to solve.”
I think I was more shaken by his tender regard than his lusty advances. I had no idea what to do about Tez. However, I had very clear ideas about what I wanted to do to him.
I supposed that would be a start.
It was only after we drove through the gates to the Consortium’s compound that I thought to ask Tez about the jewelry box.
“I left it in the evil room,” he said. “I figure doing the opposite of what our creep wants is a good way to start fighting back. With your friends working all that mojo, it’s probably the safest place for it. All we have to do is find the other four objects. I don’t like knowing the shadow has those tokens—or worse, that he’s actually already given them to his new victims.”
“We should have a bonfire,” I said. “If none of those things existed, then maybe the shadow would burn away, too.”
“I keep wanting to intone ‘only the shadow knows,’ ” said Tez.
“What?”
“You know, that movie with Alec Baldwin? Only the shadow knows the darkness in men’s hearts?”
“What does that have to do with a demon?”
Tez sighed. “Don’t tell me. You love watching movies like The English Patient and Sense and Sensibility.”
“I adored both those movies.”
“Crap.” He glanced at me. “We’ll have to work on bridging the gap between our film preferences.”
“Hmm. Oh, go right here. The lab is on the left side of the road.” I had refused to let Tez turn on the porno GPS. I just couldn’t take listening to that breathy female make even innocuous phrases into sexual innuendo. Tez accused me of being jealous of an inanimate object. Being the lady I was, I declined to answer such a ridiculous supposition.
Tez pulled the car into a front parking space, and we exited the car. He retrieved the skull from the trunk, and we headed into the building.
“Why is everything here white?”
I laughed. “I don’t know. But it’s a theme carried on through every construction project the Consortium has completed.”
“I’d settle for some beige,” said Tez as we crossed the lobby. The chairs were white and chrome; the wall decor included only paintings of black lines and splashes. Tez paused by one and said, “That’s art?”
“In the eye of some beholder,” I said. “C’mon. Stan’s office is down the hallway.”
Lucky for us, Dr. Stan Michaels, the premiere scientist for the Consortium, was at his desk scribbling copious notes. The office walls were the expected white, with floor-to-ceiling shelves overflowing with books and papers. His large desk held the same kind of chaos. Even the two chairs positioned in front of the desk had files and books piled on them.
I rapped gently against the frosted glass of the opened door. “Stan?”
He looked up; his fingers reached up for glasses he no longer wore. About three years ago, Dr. Michaels had been human. After a ceiling collapsed (from a dragon attack) on him and mortally wounded him, he was Turned by none other than his now wife, Linda Beauchamp. She was one of the original victims of Lorcan, too. Her daughter was MaryBeth, who’d been killed by Wraiths—nasty vampires with world-domination issues. Linda had begged for her daughter’s life. Lorcan, who’d been cured by then, took the responsibility of Turning MaryBeth. After watching that experience, Linda had sworn she would never Turn a soul.
There’s a reason the saying “never say never” had merit. Linda was the only Broken Heart Turn-blood to ever make another vampire. She’d broken her own vow to save the man she loved.
We’d been told that only the Masters had the magic and energy necessary to do a Turning. Even then, only one in ten humans survived the process. It always struck everyone as strange that all eleven of Lorcan’s victims had survived the process. If the statistics had been correct, then only one of us should’ve made it.
The theory had been that Lorcan’s warped DNA had somehow contributed to the success of our Turnings. I wondered now, though, if it had been the paranormal elements that had obviously existed in Broken Heart before the vampires ever arrived.
“You brought the skull?” asked Stan. His gaze moved to the hatbox in Tez’s hands. “Excellent.”
“This is Tez Jones,” I said as we crossed to the doctor’s desk and Tez put down the cargo. “And this is Elizabeth.”
Stan blinked. “You named the bones after yourself?”
“I feel certain that they belong to another woman named Elizabeth.”
“I see.” He stood up and leaned over to lift off the lid. He peered down. “It’s in decent condition. That’s good. Very good.”
“Damian told us you’d confirmed the bones were female, and old,” I said.
Stan nodded. “Female. In her twenties. And she’d borne children. And the bones appear to be about a hundred and ten years old.”
“That’s accurate?” Tez asked. “I thought tests for bone age were iffy.”
“We have much better equipment,” said Stan, only sounding slightly arrogant. The man really was unaware of how he sometimes came across as pompous. Stan removed the skull and studied it. “Some of our technology is years beyond what’s currently available to the human world.”
“That’s great. So you can tell us the cause of death,” said Tez.
“The hyoid bone was fractured.”
“Strangulation.”
The doctor jerked his gaze away from the cranium and stared at Tez. “Who are you again?”
“A cop on sabbatical.”
“And a were-jaguar,” I added.
Stan’s expression brightened. “I thought jag shifters were extinct. I’d love to examine you sometime.”
“Sure,” said Tez. “Just as soon as hell freezes over.”
“Don’t say that,” I said. “We know the kind of demons that could make it happen.” I turned toward Stan. “She was strangled?”
“Possibly.” He returned the skull to the box. He seemed unconcerned by Tez’s sarcasm. Of course, Stan was used to it. After all he was friends with Jessica, and she was the queen of sarcasm. “The hyoid bone doesn’t fuse until about the age of thirty. The fact that this woman’s was not is another indication she was in her twenties. She had some rib fractures, too.”
“It’s like you said, Ellie Bee. Her assailant sat on her and choked the life out of her,” said Tez.
“It’s the most likely scenario.”
“Murder in Broken Heart,” I said.
Tez nodded. “The question now is, was it the only one committed?”
Chapter 9
By the time we returned to my house, I realized that in a few short hours, it would be time for vampire sleep. I was itching to get to my parents’ house so I could dig through my great-grandfather’s treasures. Too bad leaving tonight wasn’t the wisest course of action. It would be better to stay here the rest of the evening and leave first thing after I awoke.
I discussed this with Tez as we pulled up to the Victorian, and he agreed.
I have to admit to feeling uncomfortable about returning to my home. I had no intention of allowing the demon or the ghost to scare me out of my own house. However, I was glad that Tez would be staying with me for a while. It was such a girly reaction, and here I was, a big, bad vampire. But I’d been ineffective p
rotecting myself. How did one fight a phantasm? Not to mention an ancient demon’s shadow. I shivered. Ugh.
“Crap.”
Tez’s outburst startled me out of my thoughts. I glanced at him. “What?”
“My fan club,” he muttered.
We got out of the car, and that’s when I noticed that a sporty little red car had pulled up behind us. The doors opened and out spilled Tawny and Serri.
“Tez!” Tawny waved so hard, her substantial assets shook like palm trees in a hurricane.
Tez gave a halfhearted wave back; I was relieved to note he’d managed not to glue his gaze to her chest, a commendable act. Instead, he looked irritated. I, on the other hand, was fine. Certainly not jealous of Tez receiving the attention of these two nubile young were-cats. Not. At. All.
“I’ll just go inside,” I said.
“The hell,” Tez said under his breath. “You stay right here.”
“Scared?” I murmured.
“Terrified. Don’t leave me alone with them.”
Tawny and Serri had retrieved packages from the trunk of the car and were headed in our direction. Serri’s friendly smile encompassed both of us; Tawny’s calculating gaze and curved lips were only for Tez.
“What a surprise,” I said. “I haven’t checked for messages. Did you call to say you were dropping by?”
Insinuating rude behavior was the first weapon in a good hostess’s arsenal. I laid a proprietary hand on Tez’s arm. “Did you know they were going to visit?”
Tez’s gaze glinted with amusement and, if I wasn’t mistaken, a smidge of admiration.
“Nope,” he drawled.
Serri flushed. “We apologize,” she said. “The entire pride is excited about Tez’s arrival. Several members have offerings for you.”
“And the alpha wished for us to bring them right way,” said Tawny. Her narrowed gaze flicked to mine, and I got the distinct impression that she felt her alpha trumped my idea about good manners any day of the week.
Tez seemed taken aback. “Offerings?”
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