Shiela Stewart - [Darkness 07]

by Consuming the Darkness (epub)

  She clamped onto the squirming vamp a little tighter as she gave her location. She slipped her phone back into her shirt pocket when she was through and gave the vamp a hard shove against the dumpster. “Right, you were only skulking in the dark because you needed a smoke, right?”

  “It’s a free world last time I looked.”

  “Sure, except when you’re attempting to drink someone dry. Save it for the judge; I’m done listening.”

  “You can’t prove anything. I’m innocent,” he continued to justify.

  “Do you know what I am?” she asked as she leaned in real close. “I’m a Tejakkan which means I have precog abilities. I saw you moments before you jumped out and I saw just what you planned to do, so save your ‘I’m innocent’ act for someone who gives a damn.”

  “Bitch!”

  “That’s right and remember it.” She shoved him good and hard against the dumpster.

  “You’ve got a cute dog there, and obedient,” Detective Powers remarked as he crouched down to pet Daisy.

  “Thanks.” And because Daisy was sitting so obediently and waiting for her, Sienna decided she deserved a treat later. “You in town for a job, Detective?”

  “No. I’m on vacation.”

  She laughed, keeping the vamp pinned to the dumpster with no effort whatsoever as she turned to the detective. “Why the hell would you want to vacation in Jacob’s Cove?”

  “Actually, I’m passing through. What happened to this place?” He scratched Daisy between the ears which of course, the dog was loving.

  “A war between the good and the bad, and if you knew nothing of vampires beforehand, me telling you what really went down will blow your mind. But I don’t have time to go into it right now.” With her free hand, she waved at the patrol car as it inched into the alley.

  “You’re serious about this vampire thing?”

  Still holding the vamp against the dumpster, doing her best to ignore his whining about police brutality, Sienna responded as calmly as possible. “No, I’m pulling your leg.”

  “I thought so. I mean, shit, vampires,” he laughed with a deep hardiness, running a hand across his stubble-lined face. “I knew he had to be some druggy who decided to play vampire or something with the teeth.”

  If he was a real detective she would eat her badge. “Let me see some ID.”

  “What for?”

  “You’re too stupid to be a cop.” This time his eyes narrowed. He slid his hand into his jean jacket and she whipped out her stunner. “Keep your hands where I can see them.”

  “I thought you wanted to see my ID?” he remarked snidely.

  Her jaw tightened. “Nice and slow, and trust me, I’ll know before you pull something stupid. You’ll be lying on the ground writhing in agony before you have a chance to blink. Take him off my hands, Officer,” she added to the cop who stepped up, then passed the vamp on to him. She eyeballed the supposed detective while he slid his hand under his jacket. When she didn’t get a flash forward of the situation, she deduced he wasn’t going to do her harm.

  The detective pulled out his wallet and flipped it open to reveal his badge.

  “Huh, I’ll be damned!” He really was a detective. “You’re a long way from home, Detective.” In the background she could hear the vamp still screaming about his rights and about police brutality. He could scream all he liked; it would do him no good.

  “Like I said, I’m on vacation.” He tucked the badge back into his jacket.

  “I’d suggest you get yourself on the road and away from here before you get hurt. Come on, Daisy, I’ve gotta take you back home, then head into the cop shop.” She walked off, Daisy on her heels looking back at the detective as they headed home.

  He must have passed the detective’s exam because of his looks.

  ***

  “Vampires,” Nathan snorted while watching the hot woman walk off with her dog. “Do I look that gullible?” The cop car pulled out of the alley and as it passed by him, Nathan glanced into the rear seat at the junkie. What some people wouldn’t do to look different.

  Wait…had the blood on his shoulder been gray? Nah, must have been the dim light. Shoving his hands into his pockets, Nathan headed in the direction the hot lieutenant had gone. She was something, and those tight leather pants she wore didn’t hide much. Nice ass, long legs, thin waist. He was a leg man and she definitely qualified as having some pretty damn nice legs in those leather pants, but the rest of her hadn’t been all bad either. He especially liked her eyes. He wasn’t sure what shade they were—too hard to tell in the dark, but it was the strength he saw in them that he found particularly appealing.

  Yet he couldn’t help but notice the softer side of her when she looked at her dog. And what a cutie she was with fur white as snow and patches black as night. Who could resist big, dark, puppy eyes like the ones the lieutenant’s dog had?

  He saw her run out of an apartment building up the block, hop in a police cruiser, and speed off.

  It might not be such a bad idea to get to know the law in town. Might be nice to see what they had on the Heartless Killer.

  Hands in his pockets, Nathan strolled down the street toward his hotel.

  Chapter Five

  There were parts of the city that actually looked as if someone had made an effort to take care of it. Then there was the destruction where houses were charred, cars sat by the curb or in driveways, torn apart, windows boarded up and graffiti scrawled on any open spot available. It looked even worse in the daytime than it had the night before. But the overall look of the city was as if something had come in and killed off all the plant-life. It was weird.

  What had the sexy cop said about it? A war between good and bad? What had she meant by that? And why had he even believed her when she’d told him the druggy she’d caught was a vampire? If she didn’t want to tell him the truth, then he supposed he would have to find out for himself.

  Nathan drove the streets of Jacob’s Cove downtown sector and wondered why it was so dead. Where was everyone? Why were the shops closed up? The place was a ghost town. It was ten in the morning and there wasn’t a soul to be seen.

  He actually jumped when his cell phone rang in his pocket. Laughing at himself, he answered it with a cheery, “You got me. Have your way with me.”

  “Good lord, son. I really wish you would learn to answer a telephone properly.”

  Actually, what he needed to do was check the caller ID before answering. “Sorry, Mom. What’s up?”

  “I’m planning a family dinner for this coming Sunday. Jenny and Paul will be here with the kids and so will Sara and Dell. Dinner will be at six and it would be nice if you brought a girlfriend.”

  His mother was forever on his case about bringing his girlfriends home. But it was his belief that the only time a guy brought a girl home to meet his family was if he planned to marry her. Nathan had no plans of marriage any time soon.

  “I won’t be able to make it, Mom.” He cringed, waiting for the rebuttal. He could actually picture the disappointment on his mother’s face.

  “Nathaniel.”

  Here it comes…

  “Your mother invites you to dinner with the rest of your family only twice a month. Is it so difficult for you to try to make at least one?”

  Nathan cringed again. This guilt trip was not going to be a smooth one.

  “I’m sorry, Mom, but I won’t be back by then. But I promise, I’ll make it to the next one.” Why did he say that? Now he’d have to keep the promise and if he hadn’t caught the Heartless Killer by then, he wouldn’t be able to make it back.

  “I’m going to hold you to it, Nathaniel. Kisses.”

  “Back at you.” He blew her a kiss through the phone before disconnecting. “Damn it!” Him and his big mouth.

  Spotting the pol
ice station up ahead to his left, Nathan pulled up in front. He clicked the remote security locks on his car, then pulled out some change from his pocket to plug the meter. Nathan took a look around at the vacant streets, and decided not to even bother. Who was going to ticket him anyway?

  The sign on the front door read, Office hours, nine to noon, one to five. After hours, call Detective Dante Vega, Lieutenant Storm, or Police Chief Basil Hawthorn, along with their numbers. How on earth was this city run when the cop house shut down at five?

  Pushing through the front door, Nathan spotted the receptionist behind her steel desk busy clicking away on the keyboard in front of her. She was a pretty thing, with dark hair and dark eyes and a slender build. When she spoke, Nathan knew she was a woman who preferred to get right to the point.

  “Welcome to Jacob’s Cove Police Department. How may I help you today?”

  Narrowing in on the name plate over her left breast, he responded, “Hello, Lexi. My name is Detective Nathan Powers. I was wondering if I could speak to the person in charge of homicide.”

  “Lieutenant Storm isn’t available at this time, but I could take a message for her.”

  “What about a detective in homicide?”

  “May I inquire as to why you need to see a detective in homicide?”

  She was a thorough one. “I would like to discuss a case. I may have some information that the homicide department might find valuable.”

  “One minute, I’ll check and see if he’s in.”

  Nate examined the lobby area while she punched in a number. It looked clean, in pretty decent shape, but like the streets, it was vacant. Seemed the crime rate in Jacob’s Cove was pretty low.

  “Someone here to talk to you, says he might have some information you might need. Of course I asked his name. I’m not a moron, Dante, and just remember I’m only doing this job as a favor. Detective Powers. Get your butt out here and see for yourself.” She slammed the phone down with a snap. “Detective Vega will be with you shortly,” she stated with a fake smile.

  Nathan had a fleeting thought to turn around and leave. Apparently the woman was in a bad mood. He wandered the lobby while he waited.

  “Detective Powers?”

  Nathan gave his attention to the gentleman who approached him with his hand held out. He had the same dark hair as the woman behind the desk, same facial structure as well. “Yes?”

  “Detective Dante Vega. How may I help you?”

  Same yellow eyes as the perp in the alley. How weird. “Is there somewhere we could talk?” He eyeballed the woman behind the desk with an eager-to-listen look on her face.

  “Don’t mind my sister. She’s harmless…at a distance. We can use my office. Right this way.”

  Nathan followed him, glancing back at the woman, understanding the similarities now. “It’s pretty quiet here today.”

  “It is on most days. It’s the nights that get crazy.”

  They entered an office of substantial size and Nathan couldn’t help but feel a little jealous over it. Back home his office consisted of a cubical seven feet wide and eight feet long. No door, not even a window. Detective Vega’s office had it all, including a sofa.

  The detective held his hand out to a chair at the front of the steel desk. “So what do you have for me, Detective?”

  Nathan sat down while the detective took his chair behind the desk. “Have you had any strange murders in the past few weeks involving victims with their heart ripped out of their chest?”

  Detective Vega sat forward, resting his arms on his desk. “He’s done this somewhere else then?”

  “Boston. He killed five and before that it was three in Denver.”

  “The boy gets around.”

  Nathan nodded. “He was my case in Boston and I’d like to find out any information you have on him now—his victims’ reports and so forth so I can take him down.”

  “Well…” Detective Vega said in a slow easy tone as he leaned back in his chair. “You’ll have to take that up with Lieutenant Storm. She’s in charge of the case and she’s out at the moment.”

  “So I was told. I thought while I waited for her I could go over the files you have on the Heartless Killer.”

  Detective Vega’s dark eyebrows shot up. “Is that what you’re calling him?”

  “It’s the name the media gave him, but we can both agree it’s appropriate.” For a guy who ripped the hearts out of his victims while they still breathed.

  “Gotta love the media. I can’t give you access to those files until the lieutenant comes back in. You’re welcome to wait in the lobby, if you like.”

  That wasn’t the response he was hoping for. “I’ll come back later. Thanks for your time, Detective.” Nathan stood, holding his hand out and hoping his disappointment didn’t show too much. *

  “Hey, you got me away from paperwork for which I am eternally grateful. When you’ve discussed it with the lieutenant, let me know if you need anything from me. I’d be happy to assist.”

  “Will do. Mind if I ask about the eyes? It’s not a common shade.”

  “It is around these parts. I’ll let the lieutenant know you were in.”

  Nathan left the office, baffled by the detective’s statement in regards to his eye color. Jacob’s Cove was proving to be an interesting city.

  Since he hadn’t had breakfast yet, Nathan decided to look for the closest coffee shop. Several blocks down he found a quaint-looking spot that boasted the city’s best coffee. Willing to give it a try, Nathan took a seat at a booth and opened the menu on the table. He thought it was a little odd that all the shades in the place were drawn on such a sunny day.

  “My name is Gypsy Dawn and I’ll be your waitress this morning. Coffee?”

  He looked up, did a double-take at the woman standing by the table wearing the same yellow contacts as the detective and the junkie in the alley and sporting an interesting hair color of lime green.

  “Am I breathing?” He shoved his coffee cup toward the woman. “Interesting eyes. Where’d you get them?”

  Her brow curled as she filled his cup. “That’s an interesting way of putting it. They’re courtesy of my brother in-law who wasn’t my brother in-law at the time but actually a bad guy. Would you like a few more moments before ordering?”

  Nathan blinked at her rapid fire chatter, amused by it. He had no idea what she was talking about. “No, I’m ready. I’ll have the special, eggs over easy, bacon crisp, and white toast.”

  “It’ll be about ten minutes.”

  As she walked off he noticed it wasn’t just her hair that was an odd shade. Her clothes were rather odd as well. The jeans she wore were definitely tight and accented her nice ass, but dyed in several vibrant shades of red, yellow, and green. The black leather boots she wore came to her knees, Apparently it was a fad in Jacob’s Cove to wear yellow contacts.

  As Nathan glanced around the coffee shop, he wondered why the place was so dead. That seemed to be a running theme here and he couldn’t help but wonder why. When the funky green-haired, yellow-eyed waitress brought him his food, he thanked her with a smile, then dug into his breakfast.

  This was the strangest city he’d ever been in. But they sure knew how to make great coffee and eggs.

  Chapter Six

  The day had worn on her, and Sienna realized that if she was going to do her job properly, she would need to get some sleep real soon. The two hours she’d grabbed in her office after writing up her report on the alley vamp, Barry Johnson, had not been enough. Add in the factor that all she’d eaten in the past twelve hours was a stale bag of chips and she was in sorry shape.

  Because she’d been curious about the detective, she’d had him researched and found that he had quite the history. Aside from being a dutiful officer, he was tenacious and tended to ignore commands. An
d…he’d recently been put on medical stress leave after his partner had been killed and he’d been injured trying to save him. And now he was here, most likely trying to find the killer.

  Well she certainly wasn’t going to give in to him because he’d suffered a loss. This was her city and her case.

  Rolling the windows down as she drove did little good to wake her up considering the air was warm and still. She really did need to get some sleep. Pulling into the parking lot, she climbed out of her pathetic excuse of a car and headed to the bar.

  She yawned just as she reached for the door handle.

  Giving her head a shake and slapping her cheeks, Sienna took a deep breath before entering The Demon’s Lair, Jacob’s Cove’s one and only vamp/human nightclub. Just as soon as she was done asking some questions she was going to go home and crawl into bed. She was looking forward to it.

  Stepping inside, Sienna was quite surprised at the atmosphere. It had the usual nightclub atmosphere, complete with the loud pumping rave/techno music, dim lighting, flashing colors and smoky air. And half-drunk patrons bumping and grinding on the dance floor. She’d been given the stats on the place and knew it was run by a shape shifter by the name of Zachary Adams who happened to be somewhat of a mogul in the business world. The place was a safe haven for the unusual, ranging from vampires to demons, werewolves, shape shifters and dozens of other creatures. Humans who dared to enter The Demon’s Lair were informed of its not-so-relaxing atmosphere before being allowed in. And though the owner stuck to the rules, it was still a place that was on every cop’s radar in Jacob’s Cove.

  “You need to read the disclaimer before I allow you any further, pretty lady.”

  Sienna trailed a glance over the burly vampire guard at the door as he held out a clipboard. She flipped open her ID, showing her badge before responding.

  “I just need to ask a few questions. Your boss around?”

  “Wait by the bar. I’ll notify him you’re here.”

  Sienna had a feeling the guy had an aversion to cops by the way his friendly demeanor changed the instant he saw her badge. Stay on her good side and they’d have no problems. She took a stool by the bar and had a look around. She knew the back room was used for many things, including an area for blood drinkers and the humans who came here to have their blood sucked by a vampire. She didn’t understand the thrill, but apparently the combination of being drunk and having your blood sucked was a high. Not that she was ever willing to find out. She liked her blood right where it was. In her veins.