by Powell, C. G. ; Lavender, Cait; Rayns, Lisa; Hardin, Olivia; Nelson, Stephanie; Schulte, Liz
He leaned back against the seat the best he could with his hands cuffed behind him and closed his eyes. “I do take you seriously. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, just stop wasting time.”
“I find it hard to focus around you, but I’ll try.” He glanced in my direction then looked straight ahead. “I know Ambrose didn’t take those children because he’s been in Germany for the past few months. He just got back two days ago.”
“Well, that should be easy enough to prove. Why was he accused?”
“I don’t know. Why are any of us accused? Haven’t you noticed vampires are public enemy number one? Every day someone’s taken away or has to go into hiding for crimes they didn’t commit. Now people are missing and all the focus and blame is shoved on us. I’m not saying vampires aren’t behind it. I’m just saying it isn’t the ones taking the blame.” Sincerity laced every word he spoke and relaxed me for a moment.
“And why did you come to me tonight? You said you needed help finding your friend?”
He sighed. “She’s not really a friend.”
My heart sank a little. My attraction to this vampire was unprofessional—and undeniable. I waited for him to continue.
“She’s my youngest living relative. A witch named Abby Scott.”
I released my breath suddenly relieved I wasn’t supposed to find some long lost love.
“She was taken three weeks ago.”
Things still weren’t adding up in my mind. “You could have just hired me. Why do you have to be involved?”
“I want to kill them. No trial.” He looked at me with eyes so dark they could have been chunks of coal.
I nodded. I believed his story; I even believed Ambrose probably didn’t take those children, but what did he hope to gain from any of this? “If we turn Ambrose in, we can at least find out more information about Neru and who they are. Without that, I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“It’s time they pay for what they are doing. If we hit a wall and need to turn in Ambrose, we’ll always have him, but for now, please help me hide him.” He placed his hand on my leg and tingles waltzed across my skin in an intoxicating manner. “Help me find Abby.” His fingers rubbed in a small circular pattern that turned my brain to mush.
My head nodded before my brain could catch up. He smiled and folded his hands in his lap, cuffs dangling from his right wrist. “Wait, how did you—”
His laughter filled the night air as I came to a stop on the side of the highway. “I let you put them on me so you would feel safe enough to listen. Now that we’re on the same side, there’s no need for illusions, is there?”
Feeling foolish, I no longer wanted to help him. “Look, I don’t even know you, and Sehkmet don’t take sides. I’m sorry, but I’m not the person you need.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt horrible. It was true, we didn’t get involved. A conflict had to be of enormous proportions for the Priestess to even consider taking a side—which was one of the main reasons my race was forgotten and not well liked. We always sided with the winner; good and evil, right and wrong had very little to do with it.
“I didn’t ask you to take our side. I asked you to find Abby and leave the rest to me.” He turned to face me full on, eyes glittering with promise of retribution and lips pressed into a firm line.
The urge to brush my hand across his cheek crept up inside of me, but I shoved it away. It was a thin line he asked me to walk. I wasn’t sure I could maintain indifference towards the situation or him. If I were smart, I’d walk away while I still could.
“Please, I need this.” My resolve disintegrated.
“Why are they focused on you?”
His fingers lightly traced my jaw; my eyes threatened to flutter shut. “I have no idea,” he whispered.
His voice echoed in my mind and encased me in a prison of lust. I dug my fingernails into the palm of my hand and snapped out of the trance-like state. “Damn it! I told you to stop that.”
“Sorry.” He snapped his head away from mine, but a flash of a smile brightened his face.
Sorry my foot. Irritation shoved lust to the side. I wasn’t a prude and the thought of tasting his lips might keep me up tonight, but it’d be on my terms and not because the bastard charmed me. Vampires weren’t dangerous because they wanted my blood—common misconception. They had fangs, but they weren’t for bloodletting. The fangs administered venom to render their victim helpless, so they could drain their life force. The real danger with vampires was their gaze. Once caught in their web, they injected their prey with venom and slowly drained the life away. Thomas was strong, and the fact he had almost tangled me twice royally pissed me off. “One more time and I walk.”
“I thought you were already walking. You don’t get involved,” he mocked me.
The sky brightened with each passing moment, and the first traces a pink started to show. It was nearly morning, I needed to make a decision. My tires spun in the loose gravel as I pulled back on the road. “I suck at not getting involved.”
*
There was some debate on where we were going to stay. I wouldn’t take two vampires back to my apartment, nor was I going to either of their homes—or should I say lairs. We finally agreed on a janky motel that had a by-the-hour option and didn’t ask questions. I let Thomas heave Ambrose from the trunk as I unlocked the door. The musty odor assaulted my senses as I closed the curtains and inspected the two double beds with burgundy and brown comforters. They had seen their better days twenty years ago, but it was a place to sleep. I threw my coat on the chair and flopped down on bed closest to the door, tucking my hands behind my head. Thomas and Ambrose lumbered in behind me. “You guys can have that bed,” I told them not bothering to open my eyes. I was still on high alert. I knew exactly where they were and could feel every twitch they made in my bones, but I didn’t need to look at them.
“Are you going to undo my cuffs?” Ambrose asked.
“No.” If he was going to try to escape, I wouldn’t make it easy on him. Thomas’ chuckle caressed my ears like he was lying next to me. My eyes popped open, my brain panicked about how I could’ve been so far off from his location. He leaned against the wall across the room, exactly where I thought he was. Hmph, tricky vampire.
“Thomas,” Ambrose whined.
“Up to her. She’s doing us a favor.” He smiled at me which I returned with a frown.
I stretched across my bed and felt inside my jacket until my hand curled around my Glock .40 and hooked the keys to Ambrose’s cuffs on my pinkie finger. Laying the gun next to me on the bed, I jingled his escape in the air. “Don’t make me shoot you.” I pitched the keys across the room and resumed my position on the bed, gun in hand. “Cuff one of his arms to the post. Anyone who comes near me or the door gets a couple extra holes.”
When Ambrose was secured, I flipped the light switch and only the glow of the morning sunshine through the curtain lit the room. Ambrose went still and his breathing stopped—asleep almost instantly. Thomas’ gaze stayed locked on me. I could feel him and the goosebumps he left running over my skin. I aimed the gun in his direction, holding it steady.
“Don’t you trust me?” He voiced sounded a little hurt.
“No, you keep trying to ensnare me.”
“I can’t help that any more than you can help the flush you get every time we talk. I can even see it now and hear your heart speeding up. You’re intoxicating.”
I lowered my gun and rolled over so I could see him. He faced me, only the three foot gap in the beds separated us. “You’re attractive, but not enough for me to become dinner.”
His smile grew. “How about just a tasty snack?”
I laughed. “Dream on, Dracula.”
“Oh, so is that how it’s going to be?”
I nodded. “Aren’t your kind supposed to be sleeping?”
“Ambrose is a bed hog, and I’d rather watch you.”
My cheeks flamed, then burned hotter because I knew he co
uld see them. Damn it. “Save your lines for someone who’s biting.” I rolled so my back was facing him. I didn’t get involved with clients. My heart barely began to slow when my bed creaked under someone else’s weight and a cold body spooned against mine. I pointed the gun over my shoulder. “I’ll give you to the count of five.”
“You’re not going to shoot me,” he whispered.
“Four…” I cocked the gun. “Five.” My finger went to the trigger and started to squeeze when his hand folded over mine stopping me.
“Point taken.” His lips touched my cheek lighter than a feather, and he was gone in the next instant.
I kept my back towards him until he drifted off. I couldn’t sleep in a room with two vampires—one who was particularly hot—in the next bed. I slipped out of the room. If I couldn’t rest, then I could work. I sat on the curb next to my car in the bright morning light and considered the case. We had no leads and nowhere to start looking for Abby. I retrieved the bounty file from my glove compartment hoping I missed something before. The words on the pages about the three suspected victims blurred together as I stared into the eyes of the missing kids. They called to me, begged for help with their innocent stares. What did they all have in common? Why was Ambrose, of all people, framed? Nothing was random, experience taught me that.
I dug out my cell phone and called the only person I could think of to help. “Sy, I need you.”
“Hey, pretty lady. Just a sec.” I could hear him talking to someone else then moving. “So you need me? I thought you’d never ask.”
“Yeah, I need you now, baby, real bad.” I chuckled and Sy groaned. “Tobias was out there, huh?”
“Yeah, he’s still a little bent about being beat up by a girl.” Before I could even grumble about Tobias’ sexism, Sy continued. “I told him not to worry too much about it. You could beat up three quarters of the bar and everyone knows it.”
A pleased smile tilted my mouth, damn right I could. “I love it when you sweet talk me,” I told him in a throaty voice.
“Someday you’re going to let me take you out, Femi, and I’ll do a lot more than sweet talk you.”
I laughed. “Someday I’ll hold you to that, but that’s not why I called.” I still wasn’t comfortable asking other hunters for help; it was a sign of weakness. Sy was different though. He wasn’t a hunter, and I trusted him. “How many people have gone missing in the last three months?”
“Um, I’m not sure. I’d have to flip through the bounties. Why?”
“I’m working on the bounty I took from Tobias. I think there’s more to it. I’m having a tip of the iceberg feeling about it.”
“I can look for you. It might take a little while, are you in a rush?”
“The sooner the better. Would you also tell me who the bounty was for on each of them?”
“Sure.” He paused for a few seconds before he continued. “You’re about to kick a hornet’s nest, aren’t you.”
“We’ll see.”
“Does this have to do with the vampire who came to see you?”
“Maybe.”
“Be careful, Femi, nothing is ever as it seems with them.”
“Thank you and I know. But this isn’t about him, it’s about the kids. I have to help them.”
“I’ll get you the information as soon as I can. Watch your back and call me if you need anything.”
“Aye aye, captain.” I hung up the phone and paced around the parking lot.
Ambrose had to know something. If there was some evil mastermind out there, he or she chose him for a reason. How did he connect with these children? It was time he talked. I’d take him to Neru first, but after that, I’d squeeze every last drop of information out of him, and Thomas couldn’t stop me.
*
We couldn’t agree on how to go about the fake exchange with Neru. I wanted to run it like a normal bounty to keep suspicions low. I could call the number and take Ambrose in just like I would with anyone else. That way I could judge if they were nefarious or if they were on the up and up. If Ambrose was innocent, he and I could escape, and if he turned out to be guilty, I’d watch the bastard fry. Thomas didn’t like my plan. He wanted to take him in. I told him there was no way in hell I was letting him take Ambrose anywhere without me. We fought until there were no more words left to say then stared at each other with a stubborn refusal to concede. This was my job, and we were going to do it my way.
“You hired me to find Abby. Are you going stand in my way?”
“What if the two of you get stuck or need help? I’ll be too far away, and you’ll be on your own.” Thomas attempted to use a patient voice, but failed to hide his frustration.
“I can take care of myself—and Ambrose. This is the only way I do this.”
Thomas shook his head, his blue eyes worried. “Fine.”
I called the number on the cover sheet of the bounty. A man with a deep voice answered the phone after the first ring with a gruff hello.
“I’m calling for the bounty on Ambrose Sullivan. I have him in my possession.”
“Where are you now?”
“Where are you?” I countered. Any hunter worth their weight would never give away their location. Neutral exchanges were always chosen. It was the only way to assure everyone’s safety.
Muffled chatter came from the other end. “Where would you like to make the exchange?”
“Millennium Park near the Bean in one hour.” I chose a popular tourist destination because even at night, it would be well lit and there was a good chance to have bystanders nearby. Thomas would come separately and would be close, but not close enough to be seen. I’d have Ambrose just like it was a regular exchange.
I re-cuffed Ambrose and walked him back to the car. “In the trunk,” I directed.
“What? No, come on! Can’t I at least sit in the front?”
“No. I never let my bounties ride in the front. In the trunk.”
“You know, a trunk wouldn’t hold a vampire who wanted to escape.” Thomas offered from the peanut gallery.
I glanced back. “My trunk would.” I beckoned him forward and showed him the trunk. “It’s reinforced with steel.” I peeled back the carpet on the floor to show him the blocking and binding runes scorched into the metal and activated for me by a witch I helped once. “These are all over the inside plus for the extra strong vampires I have an extra surprise.”
“What?” he asked.
“Would you like to get in and find out?”
“Don’t do it, man. It is horrible in there.” Ambrose shook his head emphatically.
Thomas raised an eyebrow, and I shrugged waving my hand towards the trunk. Thomas hopped in the small space, and I slammed the trunk shut. A few minutes later I opened it back up, and Thomas opened his eyes and climbed out. He flagged. “What in the hell have you done to me? I feel weak.”
“I’ll never tell.” I laughed. “You’ll feel better soon.” I patted him on the shoulder. “We have to go. Ambrose, in the trunk.” I pointed and scowled.
He grumbled but folded his too tall frame into the small space. I shut the trunk and went to my door.
“We’ll be in the open area by the Bean. You’ll be in the south trees, out of sight.” I looked back at Thomas.
“Be careful out there.” His voice was low and his face close to mine.
I avoided his eyes, though my mouth still went dry. His fingers brushed my chin, and a moment later his cool lips found mine. This was wrong. There was a reason I should stop, but I couldn’t make my body obey as I pressed against him. His tongue traced the outline of my lips asking for entrance. His hands trailed down the sides of my body and settled on my hips pulling me tight. A gasp escaped my lips, and his tongue seized the opportunity. My fingers curled into his hair and my body threatened to melt as the heat inside of me exploded. The side of my shirt lifted as his hands inched underneath. Our kisses grew more urgent and deeper, until a steady thumping came from the truck of my car.
“Come
on, let’s go already,” Ambrose’s muffled voice called from the trunk.
I released Thomas’ hair and let my arms fall back to my sides, panting. “I’ll see you later,” I told him as I slipped into the car.
Thomas gave me a cocky half smile and shook his head. “This isn’t finished, little tiger.”
I brought the engine to life and threw the car in gear. I needed to put as much distance between Thomas and me as I could before I changed my mind and hauled him back into the motel room. My mind needed to be clear for tonight’s business. If those children were still alive, I’d bet they wouldn’t be for very long. We didn’t have time to waste. The thought worked like a bucket of cold water. I steeled myself for the mission before me: discover the bad guy and kick his ass.
*
Ambrose and I paced around the Bean; well, at least I paced and dragged him with me. Anticipation flowed through my skin and readied me for whatever monster would show up to collect Ambrose. My skin tingled with sensation as nearly invisible sensory hairs on my body sprang into action. Every shift in movement or air around me vibrated through my body in warning.
“Why do you think you were framed?” I asked Ambrose, stopping so I could better focus on my surroundings.
“I have no idea. I stepped foot in this country for the first time in months and suddenly I’m Jeffrey Dahmer.”
“Yeah, but why you?”
He shrugged.
“Ambrose, I’m getting really tired of you not telling me everything.”
“Well, I don’t want to die. You’re on your own.” He laughed bitterly. “Better yet ask—”
The shift in wind and the sound of footsteps approaching made me jerk Ambrose to attention. I turned to see a man in corduroys, a button up plaid shirt, and glasses walking up nervously with a briefcase in his hand. This was the monster I’d been waiting for? He looked like a high school history teacher.