Slayer's Kiss: Shadow Slayer, Book 1

by Cassi Carver

  “I guess that’s true, but you’re still lucky a place became available. I would have thought in the three months since Gavin applied, you might’ve had to find another apartment.”

  “We were considering it, but then you called.” He smiled as if she’d done him a great personal favor.

  “I can’t take credit. It’s just plain old timing. The woman who lived next to me seemed like she wanted to live here forever. She was a sweet old lady, everybody loved her. But then one day, she knocks on my door and tells me she can’t stand living here anymore and she’d rather be with her grandkids on the East Coast. She was literally gone by that night. It was so strange, I had to call her kids to make sure she made it there safely and dementia wasn’t involved.”

  Julian’s brows rose. “You really do keep an eye on your tenants, don’t you? Maybe we should hire you to do investigations.”

  Kara laughed. “I’m not a stalker, I promise. You won’t find me peeping through your windows or anything.”

  “You can stalk me anytime. Just give me warning and I’ll leave the door unlocked.”

  His sizzling stare made Kara shift in her seat. “So…what made you go into security?”

  “Oh no you don’t, Detective Reed.” Julian chuckled. “You’re letting the food get cold.” He cut a piece of the filet and raised it to her lips.

  “Oooh, delicious.” Her nipples were as hard as diamonds under her yellow sundress, and it had nothing to do with the temperature in the apartment or the tender meat on his fork.

  Kara never would have thought she’d like someone feeding her, but she couldn’t resist Julian’s smile or the sparkle of his obsidian eyes in the candlelight. With his dashing good looks, swarthy complexion and roguish smile, he looked like her pirate fantasy come to life. She suddenly had visions of him tying her to the mast of his vessel and having his way with her. She blushed as he spooned another bite onto her tongue.

  He made a little small-talk but mostly seemed content to watch her eat while he fed her, as though it were the most interesting thing in the world. When she drained her glass of red wine, he ran his thumb along her chin to catch a drip. She should have been uncomfortable, but she didn’t have the time. He fed her until she didn’t think she could eat another bite.

  Just as she was going to tell him she was stuffed, her cell phone rang. She glanced down and bit her lip. Tray never called to shoot the breeze. “I’m sorry. I have to take this.”

  “Of course.”

  She turned slightly away in her chair, as though it were less rude to take a call during dinner if she couldn’t see her date’s face. “Yeah?” she said quietly, hoping Tray would get the hint she was busy.

  “You said you wanted to help. Well, I need you.”

  “Tonight?”

  “Now, actually. I can pick you up.”

  “Now doesn’t really work for me.” She glanced at Julian. “I’m kind of busy.”

  “I’m at SD General, Kara. In the room of the woman you found.”

  She worked hard to keep her voice level. “How is she?”

  “The doctors thought she’d be fine at first, but they’re having trouble staunching the bleeding from her wounds. With all the transfusions they’ve given her, they’re out of her blood type now and are using O-neg.”

  “You’re kidding me. Do they need donations?”

  “No, that’s not the kind of help I’m asking for.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Julian shift in his seat. He was watching her conversation with laser-guided interest. She gave him an apologetic smile and held up a finger, mouthing, “Just a minute.”

  “She’s been unconscious since they brought her in, and we don’t have enough physical evidence to catch this guy. If rape was involved, he must have been wearing protection. I thought maybe you could…see what you pick up.”

  Her cheeks flushed. “I can’t really talk right now, but honestly, I don’t think I can help with that.”

  “What the hell, Kara? You’re always saying you want to work with the police and the first time I ask, you’re really gonna tell me no? Is this about Abbey?”

  Kara almost snorted. Everything always led back to Abbey. “No, Tray, listen—”

  “Kara,” Julian said, taking her hand in his. “Let me drive you.”

  “What?” She met his eyes in surprise, wishing Tray wasn’t so damn loud. “No, Julian. You don’t have to do that.”

  “Hello?” Tray called into the phone. “Who are you talking to? What’s going on?”

  After a moment of indecision, she replied, “Okay, Tray. I have a ride, and I’ll see you at SD General in fifteen minutes. Don’t get your hopes up.”

  When Kara saw Julian’s shiny rental car, it occurred to her all over again that she really didn’t know him or Gavin at all. Unfortunately, that realization didn’t seem to bother her libido one little bit.

  Once she was in the small confines of the car with Julian’s scent wrapping around her, she didn’t know if she’d be able to make it to the hospital without forcing him to pull over so she could lick every exposed inch of his fragrant skin. His essence was like catnip, and her body was purring just sitting next to him.

  She rolled her window down and took a few deep breaths. “Make a left at the next street. Thanks again for doing this.”

  He smiled. “I wasn’t going to let you get away from me that easily. We haven’t even had dessert yet.”

  She almost chocked on her saliva. Blood rushed to her core and made her reply a breathy sigh. “Yeah?”

  “It’s chocolate layer cake. It looked amazing in the window.”

  “Oh.” He meant real dessert. Great. “That sounds nice.”

  He turned on the next street and glanced over at her. “So, you’re the one who found the woman?”

  She nodded.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. When you live downtown, every once in a while you stumble upon something you wish you hadn’t seen. It comes hand in hand with the tourists and the ocean view. But this time…it was worse.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  She wrapped her hands around her arms and shivered. It could have been from the chilly air blowing in through the open window or from the memory of seeing the woman, unconscious and bleeding in the alley. “So am I. She didn’t deserve that.”

  Julian placed his hand over her cold fingers, as if to warm them. “It looks like I picked a bad night to invite you to dinner.”

  She smiled and squeezed his hand. “Hey, I’m still planning on dessert. I love chocolate.”

  “So what does Tray expect you to do with the woman you found? It seems if you were able to identify her, you already would have.”

  She stiffened slightly, then consciously relaxed her muscles. “You’re right. That’s what I’m trying to tell him.” She gestured out the window. “Turn here. It’s just down the street.”

  “Do you want me to come up with you?”

  “No, no, that’s okay,” Kara said quickly. “You know how the police are about these things.”

  “Ah.” He nodded.

  Why had she even allowed him to drive her here? “Thanks for the ride. I shouldn’t be long.”

  The glow of the walkway lamps speckled his irises with stars. He leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. “Go save the world.”

  Tray met Kara in the hallway outside the victim’s room. He looked her up and down, his arms crossed over his chest. “What was so important tonight that you didn’t think you could make it?”

  She returned his hard stare. “None of your business.”

  “Did you have someone over? A party, maybe?”

  “Tray, you don’t give a flying fig if I have someone over. What you’re really asking is if Abbey was there with another man.” He raised his brows, waiting. “I’m not getting in the middle of this. Call her and ask her yourself.”

  His jaw flexed so hard, Kara was scared he’d shatter his teeth. “I’ll take that as a
yes. She’s not the type to refuse a party if men are on the invite list.”

  She rubbed her hands across her eyes. “Listen. I’m not going to play this game. Just because I’m sick of the drama, I’ll tell you that I was having dinner with a man, by myself. He’s waiting outside for me. But you know damn well that what Abbey does, or doesn’t do, isn’t any of your business anymore.”

  He looked away, pain flashing in his eyes. “I just want to know she’s safe. That’s all.”

  She nodded. “I’ll keep her safe.”

  Tray laughed, but it was a low and full of bitterness. He stepped closer, his voice almost a whisper, and gestured to the room beyond. “Take another look in that room, Kara. Some sick motherfucker sliced that woman open and left her to die—and he may have raped her first. That’s what you’re exposing Abbey to out there.”

  Kara swallowed down her hurt. “We’re trying to right wrongs. Same as you. Can we go in now so I can get the hell out of here?”

  Tray turned and opened the door. Kara followed him in. “Take a walk,” he said to a uniformed officer reading a magazine in the corner.

  “Sure,” the man replied, but the expression on his face looked like he wanted to tell Tray just where he could shove his walk.

  Kara’s gaze wandered around the room, finally settling on the arsenal of machines surrounding the woman’s bed. A nurse finished replacing an IV and a new bag of blood, then glanced at Tray. “I’ll be back to check on her in a minute, Detective.”

  “Thanks.” He nodded as she made her way out the door, carrying a tray of syringes and vials.

  The smell of blood and antiseptic went straight from Kara’s nostrils to the pit of her stomach, leaving a sickening weight there. Kara hated hospitals. Hated them. But this hospital most of all. Here she’d lost the only woman, besides Abbey, who’d ever loved her. She pushed away the memories, buried them deep down where they belonged. “Well, what do you want me to do?”

  His eyebrows almost disappeared into his short blond hairline. “You’re asking me?”

  “I told you I’ve never done anything like this before.”

  “Shit. Just do what you do when you’re with Abbey. That thing.”

  “What thing? It’s not like I have visions.”

  “Come on, Kara. Man up. Hold her hand or something and focus.”

  Kara could barely contain her frustrated growl. “Sure.”

  She approached the bed, regret twisting up her spine with every step. The woman was so pale, if it weren’t for the slow blip of the monitor, Kara would have thought she was already dead.

  She reached for the woman’s limp hand resting at her side. Her index finger was saddled with something around the tip with a wire coming from it. For her pulse, if Kara remembered correctly.

  With her other hand, Kara gently pressed her palm against the woman’s forehead. The weak energy radiating from her barely made Kara’s palm tingle. Not good. “Do you know her name?”

  “No. She didn’t have any ID on her. We think she probably lives alone and doesn’t have family in the area, and that’s why nobody’s reported her missing. Why, do you need a name?”

  She gave him a look over her shoulder. He really didn’t get that she’d never done this before, did he?

  The woman’s hospital gown was already beginning to soak through with blood just below her navel. Kara took the victim’s cool hand in both of hers and closed her eyes, willing an image into her mind, calling out for the sake of justice. Who did this?

  “Well?” Tray asked.

  Kara squinted harder, feeling the veins in her temples begin to throb. “Come on,” she said to whoever was listening, the great witch in the sky, giver of psychic gifts. Maybe a spell would help.

  After several long minutes, she finally opened her eyes. “I’m not picking up anything.”

  “What?”

  “Sorry.”

  “Shit!” Tray swiped the magazines to the floor then turned his back to catch his breath. He bent and gathered the stack, then returned it to where the other officer had been camped out reading.

  Kara tucked the woman’s hand once again to her side, feeling like a complete failure. “I want to come back and try again tomor—”

  “No, no. It’s fine.” He waved his hands in dismissal. “It was stupid anyway.” His disappointment was thick in air, like moldering fruit. “You can go now.”

  She rarely glimpsed this Tray, the man who shouldered the burden of protecting the community, instead of just the man pining for Abbey. “Tray…”

  “Don’t worry about it, Kare-bear.” With a forced smile, he patted her shoulder and walked her to the door. “Don’t leave your man waiting.”

  Chapter Seven

  It was hard for Kara to keep up polite conversation on the way back to the apartment. Part of her felt better just being close to Julian and soaking in his presence. The other part wanted to pull her Lord of the Rings battleaxe out of the closet and put the replica to the test in the skull of the man who’d committed the atrocity.

  Julian’s hand was warm and strong around Kara’s when they stepped out of the elevator. He walked her to her door, his brow puckered in concern. “You’re hurting. Can I do anything?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “I wanted to help. It kills me that I couldn’t.”

  He brought his hand to her face and tucked her hair behind her ear. “You’re different than I thought you would be, Kara.”

  Her brows rose in surprise. “Different how?”

  He pressed his hand over her heart. “You feel.”

  “I’m not sure how to take that.”

  He smiled. “As praise of the highest order. The women I’ve spent time with have been beautiful on the outside, but they were empty shells. No warmth in their hearts, if they had hearts at all.”

  “Ouch. Sounds like you were dating the wrong women.”

  “The right one hadn’t come along yet.” He stared into her eyes for a long moment then kissed her forehead. “Good night.”

  When he started to pull away, she captured his hand to her chest. “Hey, what happened to dessert?”

  His gaze tangled with hers. “Are you sure? You’ve had a difficult night.”

  She couldn’t get rid of the chill that had invaded her bones in the hospital tonight, and Julian’s warmth called out to her. “Nothing a little chocolate couldn’t cure.”

  Julian’s grin lit his face from within. “Then let the healing begin.”

  Minutes later, he sat her on his brown leather sofa and placed a huge slice of cake in front of her and another glass of wine. Her eyes widened. “You weren’t kidding. That cake looks delicious.”

  What started as eating morphed into touching, just the lightest pressure from his fingertips gliding over her cheeks and neck. The feel of his hands stroking gently over her skin had her trembling with need. When her glass was empty and she didn’t think she could hold the plate any longer from the weakness in her bones, she set it on the coffee table in front of her. If she’d ever needed what a man could offer, she needed it tonight.

  “You didn’t finish,” he said, gesturing to the plate and the mound of frosting there.

  Kara put her hand to her stomach. “I don’t have any room left.”

  He frowned. “You don’t eat enough. You’ll need to do better than that to keep up your strength.”

  Kara almost laughed. Anyone could see she ate plenty. “Strength for what?”

  “For me.”

  He placed a small bite of frosting in Kara’s mouth then leaned in to kiss her. As soon as she swallowed, his tongue breached her lips. He pulled Kara closer to him, his tongue exploring her depths. Finally, he pulled back, his breathing shallow and his eyes heavy lidded. “Mmmm. I thought that cake looked nice in the window.”

  Holy shit. Her clitoris throbbed like it had a heartbeat of its own. “Julian…” she murmured, searching for something to say besides take off your pants. “You hardly ate.”

  “There�
�s only one thing I’m hungry for tonight.”

  Her nipples ached. Her voice was a breathy whisper. “What’s that?”

  He stood from the sofa, pulled Kara to her feet and kissed her slowly, nipping her bottom lip with his teeth before running his tongue over the spot to soothe it. “You.”

  He tasted like mint and honey, and Kara’s senses ignited. She grasped his collar and pulled him to her, opening her mouth for him as his tongue darted inside. Her brain warned her to stop, but her body told it to shut the hell up. He pressed against her, his pants taut and straining. She tilted her pelvis to allow his bulge to rub her aching mound.

  With his hand fisted in her long brown hair, Julian gently pulled her head back an inch to look into her eyes. “Tell me about Gavin. What did he do to you?”

  Kara gasped and pushed at his chest. She should have known. There was no reason two such handsome men would be pursuing a woman like her. And Julian, acting like he cared, driving her to the hospital when he was nothing but a perverted wolf in sheep’s clothing. “Is that what you two are into? Swapping stories? Sharing?”

  “Never,” he growled. “I don’t want to share you. I want to erase any trace of him until I’m all that remains.”

  He pressed his mouth to hers and kissed her until her knees buckled, then caught her in his arms and held her to his chest. “Tell me what he did and I’ll do it better. I understand you, Kara. I know what you need more than Gavin ever will.”

  His declaration eased something inside her, but she still couldn’t do it…couldn’t say it. “It doesn’t matter.”

  He reached under her sundress and traced a firm path from her thigh to the edge of her panties. There, his hand gentled and delved underneath, his long fingers testing her wetness and trailing through her slick crease. “Oh, hellfire, woman,” he groaned. “You’re so ready for me.”

  Kara moved against his hand, praying he would give her more. She wanted to tell him she was ready for him, but she felt a twinge of regret he wasn’t golden-haired Gavin. And worse yet, what if he rejected her as his friend had?