Ripper

by Lexi Blake

  “Helen’s going to be devastated,” Liv whispered.

  I hated that I couldn’t be more positive, but I knew that girl was gone. I also knew the possibility of finding a corpse was small. Supernatural creatures deteriorate quickly after death. It was one of the ways they hid from humans. Vampires turned to ash and wolves and shifters decomposed at an accelerated rate. After a few days, there wouldn’t be much left.

  “I need to talk to someone about getting into that club.”

  Liv went a pasty white. “Oh, no, Kelsey. They don’t let humans in that club. You have to have a vampire escort to get past the front door and I wouldn’t try sneaking into the back if I were you. The club would be trapped. It should have weird charms and wards all over it.”

  “Then get me a meeting with the king,” I said simply. “He can get me in.”

  “Yeah, I’ll get right on that,” Liv said. “Kelsey, I think going into that club is a bad idea.”

  “Oh, nice car,” I commented as a black Bentley purred up the street and stopped in front of the club. I got behind the lens and took a good look at the vampire who gracefully got out of the beautiful beast he’d been driving. He was immaculately dressed in a three-piece suit that had to have been made for him. The pinstriped suit hugged his body perfectly and he moved with a predatory grace. I pegged his height at right around five ten. Not the tallest man, but he had presence. He was old.

  I pushed the button on the front of the camera to get a close-up of him. His face was slightly hawk-like. His dark eyes were fringed by some really spectacular lashes any girl would have been proud of, but there was no question about his masculinity. He screamed male and I responded to it. His sensual mouth was turned down and he was controlled, emotionless. He smoothed back the black silk of his hair and made sure his jacket was perfect, but I knew it was just a habit. I almost felt as if an odd connection formed between us in that moment. I could practically sense what he was feeling. He wasn’t meeting anyone. This whole thing was routine for him, and he was bored with it all. He needed something. He needed someone to shake him up a bit.

  Lonely. He was lonely.

  The vampire handed his keys to the valet politely and I saw him sigh as he walked up the steps. It was like he was forcing himself to do something that had become dull for him. His ennui was evident in the slump of his shoulders once the valet was gone and he thought he was alone.

  Something in him called to me. I knew him. Not in any real sense, but I understood the man standing there, wondering if it was even worth it. I probably looked that way a hundred times a day. The inanities of life were an anathema to me and yet they were, at times, the only things that kept me going. I wondered what it would be like to touch him. Would he view sex as something boring, as well? Would it be a mere physical function that needed to be attended to, or was what he needed a lover? Did he long for a woman in his bed he could share more than an orgasm with?

  I prayed Liv hadn’t caught my bald interest in the vampire. I didn’t want to have to explain why I was imagining all manner of dirty play with the handsome nightwalker.

  I didn’t take my eye off him, enjoying the view of his nice backside as he made it to the top of the steps. I was about to get a picture of that hot ass when he turned. It took everything I had to stay as still as possible because he was looking my way, his eyes taking in the building I was in. He smiled suddenly and I caught my breath. That smile was honest and revealed white, even teeth. He stared directly at me and put his right hand over his heart. The vampire bowed, a courtly gesture, as though he was a knight and I a lady he wished to greet. He cocked a single eyebrow.

  He was inviting me to join him.

  I let the camera drop from my face. I was both scared shitless and completely fascinated at the idea of running down the ramp, taking his hand, and walking into that club with him. I could ask my questions about Joanne. I could find out who she’d been seeing and how long she’d been on the game.

  I could find out how good a vampire’s bite felt.

  “Kelsey, I think that vampire can see you,” Liv said quietly. “Maybe we should go.”

  I stood up, not taking my eyes off him. I let him see me. He wouldn’t hurt me. Somehow I knew it. His lips curled up in the sexiest smile. He would be my escort, my guide. “You go. I’m going in that club. I think I just got a date.”

  “Nice,” a low voice growled behind me and I was something I almost never am—startled. “If I’d known I needed fangs to get you to go out with me I would have shown you mine.”

  I actually squealed a little bit as Grayson Sloane closed in on me. Where the hell had he come from? He bore down on me and I saw Liv take a step back. Sloane put a big arm around my shoulder and faced the street. He shot the vampire the finger.

  “Try again, Vorenus,” he shouted.

  Even without the telephoto lens, I could see the vampire’s face fall briefly and then that mask he’d been wearing slipped back into place. Whatever odd connection we’d had shut down entirely, and I felt its loss. He turned without a backward glance and walked into the club.

  I slapped at Sloane’s big chest. “That was rude. That might have been my only chance to get in that club.”

  Sloane’s blue eyes were hard as flint. “You aren’t going anywhere. Consider yourself in protective custody, sweetheart.”

  “What?” I practically screeched the question.

  Sloane held up an eight by ten black and white photo. It was a picture of me walking across the SMU campus earlier today. It was lovingly captioned in red ink with the words “Keep that bitch out of our game, Sloane.”

  I sighed. It wasn’t ink, I guessed. It was more than likely blood.

  “So you mentioned something about dinner?” I asked because if I was about to get my ass hauled into protective custody, I was at least going to get dinner out of it.

  Chapter Five

  I stared across the elegant table at my captor. I thought of Grayson Sloane that way since I’d been told in no uncertain terms that I was off my case and I wouldn’t be going home. Liv had been told to take a hike. Sloane used kinder words than that, but it was basically the same thing. After he informed me of my sad state, I’d been hauled to an expensive steakhouse on Lemmon Avenue. I felt underdressed, but it was the kind of place where if you walked in they expected you had money. Texans with money didn’t take kindly to being told how to dress. The hostess at the front acted like Sloane had planned the evening out. Despite the full waiting area and bar, she greeted him by name, immediately showing us to a private dining room.

  “How did you find me?” I asked the question calmly because I wasn’t one to turn down a meal. If I’d gone home, I likely would have stopped at some fast food place and gotten the el cheapo special of the day. “I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. Liv used a locator spell. Do they train the Rangers in the dark arts?”

  The light in the room was low and there was a candle on the table between us. It was a romantic setting complete with elegant glasses and china. This place didn’t scream “working dinner” to me. It kinda whispered “get your lover in bed.” My eyes got big as I checked out the price tags on the menu.

  “Nothing so exotic.” The hulking Texas Ranger who had, only an hour ago, verbally shot down a vampire and taken me into custody, radiated uncertainty as he watched me. “I turned on the GPS locator in your phone.”

  “You can do that?” Maybe I should check into doing that to Joanne Taylor’s cell phone. It would make missing person cases so much easier to deal with.

  He shrugged. “Yes, when the occasion warrants it, law enforcement is allowed to work with the phone company to track down missing people.”

  I nodded and decided on the petite filet. It was reasonable. The price wasn’t. The price was ridiculous, but considering the rest of the menu it was reasonable. Besides, petite sounded dainty and feminine. It probably wouldn’t fill me up. I set the menu down. “You could have called. It might have been simpler.”

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nbsp; His eyes gleamed in the low light, and I was struck again by how hot the man was. “You wouldn’t have answered. You would have taken one look at the number and ignored the call. I would have gotten your voice mail all night long. You’re scared of me.”

  I snorted. I couldn’t have him thinking he had the upper hand like that. “Yeah, I’m real scared of you.” Except, I kind of was scared of him, though not in a physical sense. Being around him made me antsy in a boy/girl, he’ll never like me the way I’ll like him way, and I really hated that. I really hate feeling vulnerable. “I’m annoyed by you, but you’re not exactly terrifying.”

  “Look, Kelsey, we got off on the wrong foot.” His eyes were coaxing and his hand started to reach for mine before he realized what he was doing and pulled back.

  “Which foot is that, Sloane?” I will admit that I enjoyed having him on the ropes for a change. He was being so careful with me that it was easy to needle him. “Is that the foot you put in your mouth when you tried to tempt me away from my alcoholic lifestyle, or the one you shoved up my ass when you threatened to toss me in jail if I didn’t come with you?”

  He stared blankly at me for a moment and I think I had shocked him. Then he threw back his head and laughter filled the small private dining room. He laughed for a good long time and even the waitress was smiling as she brought the wine Sloane had ordered.

  “Lieutenant Sloane, your wine.” She poured a small amount into a glass and he was grinning as he took a deep whiff and then tasted it.

  “Excellent,” he pronounced and she proceeded to pour each of us a glass. “Try this, sweetheart. I’m finding this pinot pairs well with the taste of my foot in my mouth.”

  He ordered the center cut filet, a loaded potato, and a glazed carrot. I gave the waitress my order. It was the ladies filet with broccoli and I hoped it filled me up. Despite my tacos from earlier, I was already hungry again. I’ve always had a ridiculously high metabolism. Liv keeps telling me it’s going to catch up to me, but twenty-six years in I can still eat whatever I want and maintain my size six. I was kind of worried about looking like a total pig in front of the hot guy across from me. It tends to weird the guy out when I eat twice what they eat, and I won’t even go into how much I can drink. Guys really get intimidated on my fifth beer. Any dates I had usually ended up being spectacular failures. Not that this was a date because it totally wasn’t. It was more like a kidnapping, but I still didn’t want to look bad in front of him. I smoothed down my T-shirt and wished it was at least new. It was an old concert T-shirt from my college days with the name of a punk band splashed across it.

  He shook his head when I finished my order and had the waitress stop. “Why don’t you bring us a couple of lobsters, too?”

  She nodded and walked off.

  He stared at me seriously. “What was that about?”

  “Dinner. I thought.” Had I burped and not noticed it? That could happen.

  “Kelsey, I’ve been friends with your brother for a couple of years. Do you seriously believe I haven’t heard stories of your legendary appetite?”

  “I don’t eat that much.” I was going to kick Jamie’s ass the next time I saw him. What did he do? Did he go around advertising that his sister was a complete freak? Did he have a stand-up routine focused on how weird I was?

  “Hey,” Gray said softly and this time he let his hand find mine. He covered it with his big one and squeezed a little. I should have pulled away, but I enjoyed his warmth too much. “I wasn’t insulting you. You’re different. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. It’s one of the reasons I’m interested in you.”

  “Did you really ask Jamie to set us up?” Not that I was going to go out with him on a date that didn’t involve some form of kidnapping. I was simply curious. In our last year of high school and the first two of college, I tended to date friends of guys who wanted to date Liv. Since then the pickings had been slim.

  He smiled and it lit up his face. It took him from brooding to gorgeous with one little tug of his lips. “I’ve been bugging your brother to give me your number for about a year and a half.”

  I whistled because that was a long time to wait. “And it never occurred to you to look me up in the phone book? I’m pretty sure if you can turn on the GPS in my phone you can find my number.”

  “I respect your brother, Kelsey. He said you weren’t ready so I backed off. You should know, though, that I had planned to require your investigative services in a couple of weeks if I couldn’t get Jamie to come around. I was tired of waiting.”

  “What was I going to help you with?”

  His smile turned rueful and he looked younger than his thirty years. It softened the hard lines of his face and made my heart melt a little. “I don’t know. I was going to come up with something. I was going to show up on your doorstep sooner or later, Kelsey Atwood.”

  He took a drink of his wine and sat back. I tried the ruby-red liquid. I was really more a beer girl, but I wasn’t going to let it go to waste. It tasted rich on my tongue and I vowed to expand my horizons. “Well, now you can really use my services. Tell me about the missing girls.”

  And just like that he clammed up.

  “Kelsey, it’s an ongoing case,” he tried smoothly. “I’m not at liberty to talk about it.”

  I huffed a little and sat back. I wondered briefly if Jamie was forever going to be the only man who believed I could get a damn thing right. I should have taken my chances with the vampire. At least he would have been honest about what he wanted. Sloane tried to tell me he was interested in me, but then didn’t want to talk about my work or his work. We were single people in our late twenties/early thirties. We were our work. I took another long drink of the wine and focused on something other than the man across from me.

  I needed to find a vampire, possibly one named Alexander. I wondered if I showed up at the club at sundown tomorrow night, if this Vorenus person would be there. He’d seemed willing enough to talk with me. At least he’d seemed flattered by my attention. I wondered if it proved once and for all that I had a death wish that I was a little excited at the thought of meeting a strange vampire.

  “I don’t like that look,” Gray said quietly.

  I drummed my fingers on the table. “It really doesn’t matter, Sloane. You won’t have to put up with it for long. So, are you going to call Jamie or do you want me to?”

  His handsome face was a mask of confusion. “Why would we call Jamie?”

  “To come get me. Did you expect me to walk home? You made me leave my car.” I had been willing to come with him because I thought we were going to discuss the case and that photograph of me. I was not willing to buy whatever he was selling without some sort of explanation.

  His jaw tensed, forming a stubborn line. “I told you you’re not going home. He knows who you are.”

  “Then I’ll stay with Jamie. You can’t expect me to sleep in some fleabag motel until you solve this case. That’s completely unrealistic.” Jamie could protect me when I couldn’t protect myself. I wasn’t planning on mentioning anything at all to Nate. He would have me in a jail cell with a phalanx of armed guards, and then he might sleep well for the first time in over a decade.

  He swallowed once and then decided to plow through. “You’re staying with me. My house is secure.”

  “Yeah, I bet it is.” Now I knew his game and I wondered briefly if he’d set this whole thing up himself. He must be really hard up if he had to go through all of this just to get laid. He should do what I did. He should prowl a skanky bar, get really plastered, and lower his expectations. It worked every time.

  “I have a room for you.” Gray frowned my way. “I’m not going to jump you the minute I get you home. If it would make you feel better, you can ask your mother to join us, or your friend Olivia.”

  Both of whom would be shoving me into the Ranger’s arms as fast as they could. No, thank you. “I’m not staying with you. You can’t force me to. If you insist, then I’ll take the motel.”
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  “Why?” He was looking down at his hands. They were big hands. His voice was grave and when his eyes finally found mine, I saw a wealth of pain in his deep blue eyes. It made me stop my sarcastic inner commentary. “I wouldn’t hurt you, Kelsey. I would try hard to never change around you. I have excellent control over my form. You wouldn’t have to see that…side of me.”

  Now I was confused. “I didn’t think you would hurt me physically, Sloane.”

  “My name is Gray,” he insisted.

  “What do you change into, Gray? Why would you be afraid of hurting me?” I was really interested and on more than a personal level. I have excellent instincts and, while I knew that Gray wasn’t entirely human, I couldn’t tell what he was. It bugged me.

  Gray’s eyes went stubborn as though he knew he’d made the wrong move and wasn’t sure how to take it back. “I thought Jamie told you and that was why you didn’t want to be alone with me.”

  I gazed deeply into his eyes. He wasn’t a vampire, obviously, but he also wasn’t a werewolf or shifter. He didn’t have the right energy. I couldn’t put my finger on it. If he was a witch then he wouldn’t have talked about changing. Hags could change, but they were exclusively female. Fae creatures didn’t shift form, either. They used magic to affect glamours, but they didn’t change their essential forms. I could only think of one other species with the power to change forms and the very real potential to hurt someone they liked. The room turned cold around me as I realized the truth.

  “Please tell me you’re only half demon.”

  He seemed to retreat, everything about him becoming smaller somehow. His shoulders hunched, his head drooping a bit and his eyes slid away from mine. “My father was a demon. My mother was an ambitious human. I’m a halfling. I seem to be more human than demon, though. I have the physical strength of a demon and I can change my form, but I don’t want to kill everyone I see or cause chaos for no reason. No one ever believes me on that so don’t even try to pretend. I know the spiel. A demon’s a demon. We’re evil.”