“Yeah, but he’s a psycho on our side, Mal.”
Chapter Nineteen
However safe it might feel to spend the night at Jakob’s place, it was always good to get back to my own perfectly matching modern apartment. I’d bought it furnished, so I couldn’t take credit for the way it looked. But as girl who’d grown up with cast off furniture, I loved the way everything matched. I dug a box of mac and cheese out of the cabinet. I’d grown up eating frozen dinners and Happy Meals while my mother worked or later struggled to get through her battle with cancer.
No one had bothered to teach me how to cook, so to me anything beyond boiling or microwaving felt like too much work. Besides, mac and cheese was the kind of horrible but great-tasting comfort food Jakob would never understand.
I heard the phone ring and checked the caller I.D. before I picked up. I didn’t need another threatening phone call. It turned out to be Anna. I grinned as I answered.
“How did the new clothes work out?” she asked.
“I interviewed psycho werewolves, then a guy in shock, and I dealt with a heartless corpse. None of them noticed.”
“Bastards.” She shook her head hard enough that I could hear her earrings beating against the phone. “You try so hard to be a sexy woman, and all they see is cop, cop, cop. It’s maddening.”
I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I didn’t care either way. There was only one man in the world I worried about seeing me as sexy, and he was already on his way over. Looking sexy was Anna’s obsession, not mine.
“Did you really call me to ask if the clothes got noticed?” I asked.
“No, I called to ask which outfit you were going to wear for tomorrow night.”
“Tomorrow night?” I parroted dumbly.
“The last Tuesday of the month! You know, Ladies Night?”
I smacked my forehead with my hand remembering our monthly night out dancing. We’d tried doing dinner a few times, but it never worked out. As a practicing Pagan, Phoebe didn’t eat ‘dead animals.’ Isaura was a Jewitch and tried to keep Kosher. Anna preferred meat, grilled over a flame if she could get it. Dancing always went better than picking a place to eat. “I totally spaced girl’s night out. I swear this case is taking over my life.”
“I promise not to tell Phoebe. So what are you wearing?”
“Ummm,” I stammered hoping she would tell me. After all Anna had bought most of my wardrobe. “I’ll have to come from work, see I have this crazy new schedule…”
“How crazy?”
“Like I don’t have to be in work tomorrow at 7:30, but I have no idea when I will be in work or if I’ll be able to come home and change.”
“If you don’t have to go into work, why don’t I come by tomorrow and we’ll pick something out?”
“That would be amazing.”
We chatted for a bit about Phoebe’s tiny attempts to get over the married man. We both suspected she would be looking for something casual tomorrow night. Rhythm, with her usual lack of morals, had started a pool on what kind of witch Phoebe would go home with. Anna had five dollars on a fire witch. Isaura had five on an air or water witch. There weren’t any death witches in town except me, so my only option was earth. Phoebe was not the crunchy granola type.
I was eating the mac and cheese out of the pot before I realized I could put my money on anything that wasn’t a witch. Anna congratulated me on my logic, and we said our goodbyes. A few minutes after I started cleaning up, Jakob arrived. I greeted him at the door with a kiss.
“You had something terribly bad for you for dinner, didn’t you?” he asked with a laugh.
“You can tell?” I covered my mouth with my hand.
My reflex made him laugh even harder. He pointed to the kitchen counter where the empty blue box was still on standing. I felt myself blush, caught in my epicurean sin.
“All right, smart ass, for that I’m making you dry dishes!”
I washed while he dried. Jakob asked about my day, and I told him all the exciting details, deliberately saving my time with Mark for the end. I didn’t want to attack his best friend, but there were things I wanted to talk about. I hid my head in a cabinet as I put away the last of the dishes, hoping he would miss the hesitation in my voice. “Can I ask you something, er, delicate?”
“I’ve slept beside you. There’s nothing too delicate for you to ask me.” He was waiting for me when I emerged from the cabinet with a smile that melted my heart.
I suddenly didn’t care about Mark or his interpersonal skills. I wanted to make the most of the hour or so before Jakob had to be at work. I reached over and kissed him. After the first kiss I couldn’t stop. My tongue explored his mouth while I ran my hands through his short blond hair. I was ruining the way it looked, but it was so soft I couldn’t help myself.
“This isn’t really a question, is it?” he asked when we finally came up for air.
“Oh, no, the question wasn’t all that important,” I said. I stood on the balls of my feet to reach his earlobe. I nibbled softly, wondering how much longer it would be before we went upstairs.
“It seemed important at the time.”
“It was something about Mark, really, I can handle it on my own.”
Jakob stepped back from me.
“Ask me what you need to know, so we can get back to more important things without being distracted.”
I frowned. Damn his practicality. I could have happily put the whole thing out of my mind with a few more kisses.
“He seems so stiff. It’s like he doesn’t know how people act. But last night, he was fine. I’m worried it’s something about me or,” I took a deep breath and said it, “does he want to annoy people? I mean, has he always been a trouble maker?”
“Always.”
“Well, as long as it’s nothing new because of me.” I walked forward, happy to move on, but he stopped me.
“It is and it isn’t. Mark…” He ran his hand through his hair, making it look even worse than I had. I knew that gesture. Jakob did it when he couldn’t think of how to say something. I wondered if the habit was older than America. “Mark hasn’t been around decent people much since he changed.”
“But he was around you. I’m betting that the two of you didn’t live on deserted island. There were people around or other vampires or whatever.”
“We were around other people, but not other people he considered important. He’s always hunting, so there isn’t any way for him to stay in one place. He’s out of practice being part of society.” He shook his head. “No, it’s more than that. He hasn’t held conversations, hasn’t started friendships. In a lot of ways he’s like a new vampire, still learning how to deal with the difference in who they were and who they are. He drives people away because he hasn’t learned how to balance what he can do with what he should do.”
“The way you have?” I leaned on the counter and watched him. “Like the way you never talk about what you feed on so I don’t leave you?”
“Yes,” he answered before he caught himself. I couldn’t stand the tortured look on his face.
“I wouldn’t leave you.” I wrapped my arms around him. “Not if you dined on the flesh of nuns and children.” He started to protest but I stopped him. “I know you’re a good person, what you eat and how you eat it doesn’t change that. Knowing you so well, I know it can’t be all that terrible. Tell me or don’t tell me, it’s not going to change how much I love you.” I kissed him, trying to stop him from protesting my words. My kisses started in the kitchen but didn’t end until much later in the bedroom.
My body tingled with the pleasure we shared, but my mind kept coming back to the crime scene I’d been at only hours before. I searched for something to distract me.
“What did you do to Rick on the night we met?” I asked, drowsy from our lovemaking.
“You don’t want to know.”
“Is he still alive?” My morbid curiosity wouldn’t let it alone.
He laughed. “Eric
was alive when I left him.”
“Why don’t you call him Rick?”
“Because it’s not his name.”
“You call Woldemar ‘Mark’, and that’s not his name,” I countered.
He laughed again, “I respect Mark. I don’t respect Eric.”
“Really? Why not?”
“He’s arrogant and stupid. I’ll be surprised if he lives to be one hundred.”
“But you didn’t kill him?”
“No.”
“Would you?”
“Why are you asking so many questions you don’t want to know the answers to?”
“Just curious?” I tried, but his look told me he didn’t believe it. “I’d like something to think about other than what I saw today.”
“Ah.” He pulled me closer to him. “Did I ever tell you the story of my youngest daughter and the fox?”
“No,” I said eagerly. Jakob rarely mentioned his family. I was curious to hear any stories about them he was willing to share.
“The spring Hedda was five she became infatuated with the wild strawberries that grew in the wood,” he began, but I fell asleep before the fox even made his appearance. Jakob must have left and gone to work, but in my mind, his voice filtered into my dreams. He certainly wasn’t telling me stories then. My mind reviewed his body and the times he had touched me. I woke up from the dream aroused. By then, Jakob had made it back into bed next to me. I smiled but then stopped, cursing the sun that must be rising outside. With a heavy sigh, I snuggled back against his sleeping form.
After a minute, I felt his hand move over my breast, his finger gently circling my nipple. My body responded without my permission, forming it into a tight peak.
“You’re supposed to be dead during the day.” My tone was light, even if my words weren’t.
“Technically I’m dead all the time.” He rolled me over, pulling my body under him. His face was inches above me. “That doesn’t make me want you any less.”
I kissed him, hard and full, on the lips. I’d seen too many bad things to pass up this chance at pleasure, no matter how small. He kissed me back, matching my passion but adding his own gentleness. I ran my hands up and down his back, the smooth skin calling to my touch. My hands cupped his backside, sliding up from there to his narrow waist, pulling him closer to me. He kissed my neck gently.
“What were you dreaming of, my love?” His voice was thick. When he spoke, I felt his lips brush my skin. I laughed into his neck, then grabbed his free hand and moved it between my legs.
“What do you think?” I teased.
He felt the warm wetness there and moaned. His body responded against me. His hand found the swollen bud between my legs and rubbed it gently. I arched my back, pushing myself onto him. My dream was foreplay enough. My body was ready for him. I called out, begging him. He was gentle, slowly sinking into me. I moved with him, encouraging. My breath came in rapid pants as waves of pleasure came over me. His body spread that blissful agony through me. I felt him push deeper into me with each sweet thrust, but it wasn’t enough. I grabbed onto his hips and pulled him into me as our bodies erupted in shared release.
“What did I ever do to deserve such paradise on earth?” he whispered, looking down at me. Half a dozen pithy replies sprang to my lips, but instead I kissed him. I cuddled with him for a few minutes then finally had to ask.
“What are you doing awake?”
“I can stay awake after dawn. It just takes a good bit of effort.” He looked away, but not before I saw the guilt on his face.
“What are you looking so guilty about, hmmm?”
“There have been other times that I could have woken up but didn’t.”
“What you’re saying is that when I wake up wanton and ready, you’re willing to spend the energy to stay awake?”
His guilt deepened.
“But you’re happy to sleep through the dishes or saying hello to my friends?”
He looked so mortified that I couldn’t help but laugh.
Chapter Twenty
There’s something decadent about taking a shower that lasts more than ten minutes. I reveled in the feeling. Mark might strike me as cold and prickly but working with him meant I could savor the simple parts of my morning. Thanks to that alone, he earned a second chance.
I dried my hair while watching Jakob sleep. At rest, his high Teutonic cheekbones made his face look chiseled. My adoration was rudely interrupted by the phone.
“Chica? What are you doing home? You’re supposed to be out catching the bad guys.” It was a good thing Jakob was a vampire, her voice carried enough to wake any sleeping human in this room and the next.
“Good morning, Phoebe. I’m officially an FBI liaison now, so I have a new schedule.”
“Oh my, and who are you liaising with? Is he cute?”
Cute? Was Mark cute? I hadn’t really thought about it. Sure, the huge scars ruined the modern idea of beauty, but he must have been pretty stunning before he got them. “I’d say he’s above average,” I decided. “Good looking with a few points knocked off here and there.”
“And I bet he has a badge and handcuffs too,” she swooned.
“I didn’t know you were into handcuffs,” I said, then wished I hadn’t.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” She didn’t give me a chance to say no. “What time are we getting together tonight?”
“I have no idea. Actually, you guys should leave without me. I don’t know what I’m going to be doing.”
“Right, you never know when you’ll be liaising.” She made it sound like a dirty word, which in her mind, it was. “We’ll meet you there. Eightish, don’t be late unless you’re saving the city.”
“I won’t,” I promised. Downstairs, the doorbell rang. I was still holding the phone when I let Anna in. She looked me up and down with frank appraisal. I raised my eyebrows not sure what I was getting the once-over for, but I was glad my bath towels were extra-large.
“Oh, good, you’re naked. That will make the dressing part easier.”
I laughed and led the way upstairs. We went into my closet. It was another perk of luxury living that the two of us fit with room to spare. We spent entirely too much time with me wiggling into and out of clothes. She even made me try on different bras with each shirt.
“I’m never, never going to be a fashion model,” I said, exasperated with all the changes. We finally agreed on an outfit and emerged into my bedroom.
“You’ll always be model perfect to me,” Anna said. After the bright light of the closet, I couldn’t see her face to tell if she was teasing me. I couldn’t see much really. I practically walked into her. “Why don’t you open the shutters?” she asked.
“Jakob’s asleep. Didn’t you see him?” I gestured to the completely still lump in the bed.
“I’m not used to bodies that don’t breathe,” she said. “Can we get out of here?”
“The temptation is too much for you, huh?”
“Something like that…” she let her voice trail off enough for me to wonder if I was right. “Why don’t you let me cook you lunch?”
Like most people who can’t cook, I was all too happy to let Anna cook for me. I warned her on the way that she might have to drive me to some hideous crime scene. “I’ll drive you wherever you want to go,” she said with a grin. We turned into a neat development of larger than life homes.
“You live in one of these?” I stared at the two- and three-story brick facades. They were all up-scale versions of the traditional ranch home, wide porches and granite entryways. I was more of a modern architecture kind of girl; give me lines and angles, building materials that meant something. But being unimpressed didn’t mean I missed the obvious, this neighborhood was worth more than any I’d ever lived in.
“Yup.” She pointed to a red brick house with a perfectly manicured lawn. “My parents live in this one,” we drove to the end of the block and turned into a driveway. “and this one is mine.”
It
was one of the smaller homes, which meant it was only two stories tall with at least four times as much space as my apartment. I swallowed hard. “I had no idea you were this rich.”
“Not me, this is all Daddy’s money. He was afraid I’d move too far away, so he bought me this.”
“He bought you a house? Like as a present?”
“Indeed. Don’t just sit there. Come in.” She went up the brick path without checking to make sure I followed. The entry way showed a curving staircase going up to the next floor; a dining room, a living room, and a kitchen that would make Jakob weep. I found her there, digging in the fridge. “How do grilled steaks sound? I picked some up yesterday.”
“Sounds great.”
She led me to the back patio and turned on the built in gas grill. From outside the house looked even larger.
“Are you ever going to use all this space?” I asked.
“Personally, I don’t think so, but if Daddy has his way, I’ll fill the house with babies in another few years.” She threw the steaks on the grill as we talked. I told her all about the fun I was having with Mark and my new position.
When the steaks were done, I offered to help with the rest of lunch. She knew how bad I was in the kitchen so the only thing she would let me do was open a bag of pre-washed salad. I searched her enormous kitchen for a knife to open the bag when I found a bulletin board of news clippings about the recent killings. All of them featured pictures of me. I guess I really was the media darling.
We finished lunch and went inside to do the dishes. I couldn’t miss the chance to comment on my photo gallery.
“You stalking me?” Anna went white, then quickly recovered as I laughed.
“You know I’m worried about you, right? All this werewolf stuff…” her voice trailed off. “Why don’t you go into the living room, I have to get something from upstairs.” I followed the way she pointed and found a soft leather couch set in front of the largest fireplace I had ever seen. I was trying to decide if it was taller than I was when she walked in, holding a small box.
“I’m worried about these wolves,” she started. “I don’t think you realize how dangerous your work gets. Anyway, I’m worried and I…” her voice trailed off again. The living room had windows on every wall. When she walked toward me on the couch, she came in and out of shafts of bright afternoon sunlight. She sat close to me, holding out the box. “Well, here.”
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