Tall, Dark and Paranormal: 10 Thrilling Tales of Sexy Alpha Bad Boys

by Opal Carew

  “I was on the computer,” Drake said. He frowned as he took in the dark bruise that covered one side of Beck’s angular jaw. “What happened to your face? Trying to make me feel better by looking worse than I do?”

  His friend smirked. “Good one. I got this when I was down in the islands last week. Ran into this nasty, mean-ass bastard who tried to bash my head in when I started asking him some questions he thought were too personal.”

  Drake clenched his jaw. “Dammit, Beck. I’ve told you a hundred times to stop looking for that Voodoo woman.”

  Beck snorted. “Get over yourself. You aren’t the only client I have, you know. I was down there with Ken and Vince, tracking down a really nasty pack of rat-human hybrids who’d stowed away on a cruise ship.”

  Drake looked at him closely for a second. He knew Beck had worked with Ken Shipley and Vince Macki on a lot of strange jobs over the last few years. The two men were even more deeply involved in the occult and paranormal than Beck had become. But sometimes it was tough to know if all the stuff he claimed to be up to was real. Sure, you’d think a man who’d been turned into a part-time zombie would be open to just about any freaky thing…but…wererats? That was a tough one to swallow.

  “Are you serious?”

  Beck pointed at his face. “Does this look like the face of a man who could make up something like that?”

  “Yeah, it does.”

  Beck looked hurt. “Well, I’m not. These things have been living in the sewers of our fair city, slipping out at night for the last year or so to carry out a little B&E. Mostly jewelry and other stuff that’s easy to fence, but sometimes they even took out safes and vaults. They had a nice racket going. Probably wouldn’t have gotten caught if they hadn’t gotten greedy and grabbed something way out of their league.”

  Drake raised an eyebrow. If this was a bullshit story, it was a good one. “Well, don’t leave me hanging. What did they grab?”

  His friend smiled. The man loved to tell a good story. “A kid.”

  Drake thought it was possible his jaw actually dropped. “They grabbed a kid? Why the hell were you and hunter pals going after them and not the regular police. Or the FBI? Isn’t kidnapping a across state lines a federal offense?”

  “It would be if the kid they’d grabbed hadn’t been the child of a vampire couple.”

  Now his jaw did drop. “A vampire kid?” Damn, he knew Ken and Vince got involved in some bizarre crap, but…

  “Not a vampire kid—vampire parents. Completely normal kid. The rat pack thought they could grab the kid and hold her hostage down in the islands, but they didn’t count on my incredible tracking skills. We found them pretty easy. Well, it wasn’t that easy. But we got the kid back home to mommy and daddy bloodsucker.” Beck shook his head. “Got to tell you. It was weird turning a little girl over to a pair of vampires, but they were the nicest people you’d ever want to meet, and they were so emotional when they got her back that even I got a tear in my eye.”

  ““Vampire parents…normal kid…how is that even possible?” Drake asked.

  Beck shrugged. “No idea. Vince told me it’s as rare as hen’s teeth. Like once a millennium kind of thing.”

  Drake was still trying to get his head around how strange both of their worlds had become in the last eight years, when Beck thumped him on the shoulder.

  “But while I was down there, I did get a lead on where this old woman of yours might be. It’ll probably be a dead end like the rest of them, but I figure it can’t hurt to check it out anyway.”

  Drake groaned inwardly. He’d stopped getting his hopes up about Beck’s leads years ago. The woman didn’t want to be found, it was as simple as that. But his friend hadn’t given up the search after all these years, regardless of how many times Drake tried to dissuade him. He wasn’t going to try again. He’d just be wasting his breath.

  “What movie do you want to watch first?” He held a DVD up in each hand. “Co-ed Zombies or Night of the Zombie King?”

  Drake shook his head at the titles. Beck went out of his way to find the cheesiest, most low-budget movies he could and they all happened to have zombies in them. Beck must be channeling his inner Dr. Phil, figuring watching these crappy movies was some kind of exposure therapy or something. It wasn’t working. Drake was never going to be one with his inner zombie. But at least the movies were always good for a laugh. He wondered what Dr. Phil would say about a zombie thinking zombie movies were funny. Considering the zombies in the movies never seemed to have a happily ever after, he’d probably think Drake was in need of some serious therapy.

  “You pick.”

  Beck grinned. “Co-ed Zombies it is then.”

  “How come I’ve never heard of any of these movies you bring over?” Drake asked as he went into the kitchen.

  The other man looked up from loading the disc into the DVD player. “Because you haven’t been to the video store in eight years.”

  There was that. Drake grabbed two bottles of beer from the fridge before walking back into the living room. “So, who plays in this one?”

  Beck flipped the DVD case over to read the back. “Some guy named John.”

  Drake unscrewed the cap from one of the bottles and took a swallow. “John who?”

  Beck looked at the DVD case again. “I don’t know. He just goes by John. You know, like Madonna.”

  Oh, yeah. This was going to be good.

  Actually, Drake thought as he reached for a second slice of pizza ten minutes into Co-ed Zombies, it wasn’t as bad as some of the movies Beck picked out. Not that he was paying much attention. While the cute, half-naked college girls ran from the zombies chasing them through their dorm, all he could think about was Simone Kent. He couldn’t get her invitation to have coffee out of his head.

  “What’s up with you tonight?” Beck asked.

  Drake glanced at the other man as he took a long swig of beer. “Nothing. Why?”

  “Because you haven’t made a crack about the movie the whole time we’ve been watching it. That’s not like you.”

  Drake shrugged. “That’s because it’s not as stupid as the movies you usually get.”

  His friend snorted. “Yeah, right. This is Academy Award winning stuff.” He grabbed the remote from the coffee table and hit pause. “Okay, let’s have it. What the hell’s eating you?”

  Drake stared at the image of the ghoulish-looking zombie lumbering after the scantily clad girl on the screen. He supposed he could lie, but why bother? Beck was the only friend he had. If he couldn’t talk to him, who could he talk to? And he really needed to talk.

  “Remember that romance author I told you about last night?” he asked.

  Beck nodded. “Yeah. And what? You’re bummed because she didn’t like your ideas?”

  Drake set his bottle of beer down on the table. “No. We work great together.”

  When he didn’t elaborate, his friend gestured in frustration. “Okay, so what’s the problem?”

  Drake ran his hand through his hair, then got to his feet and walked over to stand in front of the built-in bookcase. He stared at Simone’s books for several long seconds before turning to look at Beck. “I think she asked me out on a date.”

  The other man frowned. “What do you mean, you think she asked you out? She did or she didn’t.”

  “Well, then I guess she did. She realized I live in Manhattan like she does and she asked me to have coffee with her.”

  He expected Beck to make some sarcastic remark about a woman being desperate if she wanted to have coffee with a zombie, but instead, his friend grinned so widely Drake thought he might hurt himself.

  “It’s about damn time,” he said. “So, when are you going out with her?”

  Drake lifted a brow. Surely his friend wasn’t serious. “What are you talking about? I’m not going out with her.”

  “Why the hell not? It’s not as if you have other plans that I know of.”

  Drake looked at him incredulously. “You’re
joking, right? If not, let me give you a clue in case you don’t remember.”

  Lifting his arms straight out in front of him, Drake let his hands hang limp, tipped his head to one side and let out a long, low moan as he stared blankly ahead.

  Beck laughed. “You’re pretty good at that. You should be in movies.”

  Drake straightened up and dropped his arms. “Exactly. Zombie movies. You seem to have forgotten what I am. Hell, a couple hours after I got off the phone with you last night the whole right side of my body turned the most disgusting shade of gray I’ve ever seen. Not what most women find attractive in a man.”

  “Granted, but when was the last time you had an outbreak before that?”

  “Outbreak?” Drake frowned. “What the hell am I? An infected monkey?”

  Beck gave him an impatient look. “Episode, fit, condition—whatever the hell you call it. When was the last time?”

  He didn’t see what that had to do with anything. “I don’t know. Three or four days, I think.”

  The other man arched a brow. “You think? What? You just forget turning into the walking dead?”

  Drake ground his jaw. “It was late Sunday night. I remember distinctly because I was watching a show on the food channel and I couldn’t help making a connection between the blackened tuna they were cooking and my—”

  Beck made a face and held up a hand. “Okay, thanks for the visual, Z-Man. I don’t need to hear the rest. But you’ve made my point. Sunday night makes it a little over three days since your last attack. And if I had to hazard a guess, I’d bet it was about three days between that one and the previous one. Am I right?’

  Drake shrugged. “I suppose. But it can come on any time.”

  “I know, but they seem to be pretty regular these days,” Beck pointed out. “And didn’t you say you can usually feel when you’re starting to turn?”

  “Yeah, I suppose so,” Drake agreed. “What are you getting at?”

  “I’m saying that since you just went zombie last night, you should have at least two or three days free and clear.”

  “So?”

  Beck gave him an exasperated look. “Shit, Drake. You aren’t usually this slow. I’m suggesting you get off your occasionally dead ass and go have coffee with this writer chick of yours while you’re in between episodes.”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  Drake scowled. “Because there’d be no point. It’s not as if I could have a relationship with her. I might be able to hide what I am in the beginning, but sooner or later she’d find out I’m a zombie.”

  Beck picked up his beer and sat back, legs outstretched out in front of him. “Damn, Drake. I said you should have coffee with her, not pick out wedding invitations. As nice as this apartment is, you need to get out of here once in a while.”

  “I go out,” he protested.

  “Going out on the terrace doesn’t count. And neither does going for a walk in Central Park in the middle of the night. Hell, you’re practically a hermit. I mean, I know I’m a great listener, but don’t you ever want to talk to another human being besides me once in a while? It’s okay if you say you do, by the way. You won’t hurt my feelings.”

  Despite his dark mood, Drake chuckled. “Sometimes.”

  “Then why don’t you stop feeling sorry for yourself and go have coffee with her?”

  Drake was silent. He wanted to go out with Simone, he really did, but fear held him back. “Because when it goes to crap, and it will at some point, I’ll be back in that same dark place I was all those years ago when that Voodoo priestess first cursed me. I don’t want to go there again.”

  Beck sighed. “Look, I understand your concern, but you’re overthinking this. For all you know, you and this writer chick might not even hit it off. She could think you’re dry, boring and emotionally unavailable, and never want to see you again. Why don’t you just take it one step at a time and have coffee with her?”

  “Emotionally unavailable?” Drake frowned. “What the hell does that mean?”

  “Damned if I know,” the other man admitted. “I read it in Cosmo.”

  Drake lifted a brow. “You read Cosmo?”

  “Hell, no. Someone left a copy on the plane. I didn’t have anything else to read.” When Drake gave Beck a skeptical look, he added, “Hey, you can only read the safety cards so many times. It’s not as if I have a subscription to it or anything.” He took a swig of beer, then gestured with the bottle. “Back to you and this writer chick. Are you going to take my advice or not?”

  Beck made it sound so simple. But even something as normal as having a cup of coffee with Simone could be risky. He’d gotten better at recognizing when he was about to turn, but what if an episode came on suddenly, brought on by the stress of being out on a date with a woman for the first time in eight years? What if he went zombie right there in front of her? God, that was a terrifying thought.

  When he pointed that out to Beck, his friend waved away his concerns.

  “Easy,” the other man said. “It’s warm out, so you can wear a short-sleeve shirt, which means you’ll be able to see if anything funky is going on with your arms, and you can bring a shaving mirror to check out your face. Just keep it in your pocket and discreetly pull it out every once in a while. If you see you’re turning an unsettling shade of gray, you can bail before it gets too bad.”

  Drake clenched his jaw. The PI had an answer for everything. “I don’t have a shaving mirror.”

  “I’ll get you one.”

  Damn, Drake thought. The guy just wouldn’t give up. He folded his arms across his chest and fixed Beck with a hard look. “Okay. Let’s say I do this. What happens if I pull out the mirror to check my face and realize I’m starting to turn that charming shade of gray you mentioned? It might be a little difficult to get a cab looking like that.”

  Beck pondered that for a little while, then shrugged. “I’ll drive you.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Relax, Z-Man. I don’t mean I’m going to tag along on your date.”

  “It’s coffee, not a date,” Drake corrected.

  “Whatever,” Beck said. “I’ll just park around the corner from the restaurant so you can make a quick getaway if you need to.”

  Drake was silent as he considered that. Shit. This might actually work. It was still risky, but it might be worth it for a chance to spend an hour or two in the company of a woman as beautiful as Simone Kent. And like Beck said, his zombie episodes were pretty regular these days. He weighed his options, trying to think of things rationally, calculating the risk against the reward. Okay, there was still a chance he could go all living dead, but Beck would be just around the corner to get him out of there if he did. That had to count for something. Ultimately, though, it was the image of Simone Kent sitting across from him that decided it. A reward like that would definitely be worth some risk.

  “Okay, I’ll do it,” he said. “I’ll email her later and tell her I’ll have coffee with her.”

  “Why don’t you email her now?” Beck suggested. “It’s not as if the movie’s going anywhere.”

  Drake threw his friend an annoyed look as Beck gestured at the laptop. “When did you become the Dr. Phil of the zombie world?”

  Beck chuckled. “I’m just trying to help you out, Z-Man.”

  Drake let out a snort as he sat down, then pulled up his email.

  “That’s her name, Simone Kent?”

  Drake looked up to discover Beck had abandoned his seat on the leather sectional and was now hovering beside the desk.

  “You said she was well known,” Beck said when Drake turned his attention back to the computer instead of answering him. “I never heard of her.”

  “That’s not surprising, considering you don’t read romance. But she’s had more than a few books on the bestseller list.”

  “Really? Do you have any of them?”

  Drake glanced at him. “If I say yes, will you stop hovering?”

  “
I’m not hovering. I’m making conversation.”

  Drake let out another snort. “Fourth shelf down.”

  To Drake’s relief, the other man walked over to check out Simone’s books. From the corner of his eye, Drake saw him pick one at random and flip through it.

  “Damn,” Beck said. “You didn’t tell me she was so hot. If you’re having second thoughts about running the risk of going all zombie in front of her, let me know and I’ll have coffee with her in your place.”

  Drake looked up from the email he was typing to give his friend a wry look. “Right. As if I’d subject her to your company.”

  Beck put the book back on the shelf with a chuckle. “At least she wouldn’t have to worry about body parts falling off if we jumped in the sack.”

  “Funny,” Drake said dryly.

  The other man just laughed again and walked over to sit down on the couch. Ignoring him, Drake went back to his email. He kept it simple, telling Simone he cleared some room in his schedule and that he’d love to have coffee with her, then suggesting they get together the following day around three at a restaurant on the corner of Broadway and 85th if that was good for her. When he was done, he stared at what he’d written, wondering if he really wanted to go through with his crazy plan. He took a deep breath and clicked the send button. There, it was done.

  Getting to his feet, Drake walked over to the couch and sat down, then picked up his bottle of beer. As he took a long swallow, something Beck said earlier popped into his head.

  He looked at his friend. “You really don’t think I’m emotionally unavailable, do you?”

  Beck didn’t respond. Instead, he shook his head, grabbed the remote off the coffee table and hit the play button. Drake barely heard the girls’ shrieks as the zombies in the movie lumbered toward them. All he could think about was that he was going to go on a date with a beautiful woman for the first time in eight years.

  Chapter Four

  Simone was staring at the huge pile of clothes on her bed in frustration when the doorbell rang. Tossing the flirty little slip dress she was holding on the stack of other clothing, she rushed into the living room. She was about to yank the door open when she abruptly remembered she was naked except for a satin bra and a skimpy pair of panties. She could just imagine opening the door and finding her neighbor Emily Holden on the other side. The woman would probably lecture her for an hour on how inappropriate and unladylike her choice of undergarments were. No doubt she wore thermal underwear just in case the ice age made a sudden reappearance. Cringing at the thought, Simone put her eye to the peephole and sagged with relief to see Megan standing there. Thank God.