by C. D. Hussey
"I'll go after her," she offered. "I'll explain everything."
He shook his head. "Don't do that." Angel chasing after Julia would not make things better. If anyone should be chasing after her it was him. But confronting her now was a bad idea. She didn't deserve to be exposed to his anger, and he wasn't having much success controlling it. He needed to calm down before he faced his wife.
Calm. What a novel idea. He hadn't been calm since Darus stepped through Luxure's front door two days ago.
Pulling enough oxygen to fill up a hot air balloon into his lungs, he managed to regain enough composure to face the beauty behind him.
She looked like a china doll about to shatter. The sadness and vulnerability twisting her perfect features stirred a protection instinct buried deep within him. This wasn't her normal game of emotional manipulation either. She was truly hurting.
"Don't worry about Julia," he reassured, trying to keep the tension from his tone. It wasn't Angel's fault he was an idiot. "She's angry with me about something else. Rightfully so, I should add. I'll explain everything to her later. She is nothing if not logical. It'll be okay."
She gave a teary nod.
As he passed her on his way back to the bar, he placed a hand on her shoulder. "This shit with Lohr is horrifying, I know. For all of us."
He left her standing in the courtyard and returned to the bar. Kindle was scheduled to work in less than thirty minutes. If he didn't split his skin before he was relieved of his bar duties it would be a miracle.
* * * *
"Detective McCoy?"
Pressing the phone tightly to his ear, Kevin stepped from the interrogation room where Darus was writing down the names of everyone he knew involved in Lohr's coven.
"Speaking."
"This is Janet Land, the nurse at Tulane. I know it's late, but you asked me to notify you the moment Mr. Varius came to. He is awake now."
Finally. The burly bartender, Slade, had really done a number on Lohr. The self-proclaimed king of the vampires had been unconscious for two days now.
"Thank you, Ms. Land. I'll come right down." He turned off the phone and returned it to its holder.
He glanced at the monitor wired to the room Darus occupied. He had finished writing and now leaned back in his chair, fingers locked behind his head, looking far too smug. Kevin couldn't arrest him, not yet anyway. Talking to Lohr might change that. And if not, an hour sweating it out in the interrogation room might help wipe some of the smugness from Darus' angular face.
Turning to the police officer nearest the interrogation room door, he said, "I'm going to step out for a moment. Make sure Mr. Jones doesn't leave before I get back."
The cop nodded. He couldn't remember her name and strained to make it out on her badge. "What should I tell him if he wants to leave?" she asked. "Do you have enough to hold him?"
"No." Grabbing his blazer from where it hung from a peg on the wall, Kevin grinned. "If he really wants to leave, let him. Tell him I'll meet him at his house."
* * * *
Angel didn't realize how alone she could feel until the door closed behind Armand. Standing in the center of his courtyard, the empty air surrounding her felt like the infinity of space instead of a couple cubic yards of oxygen. She could hear people walking on Royal, but the brick walls separating them from her made them feel a million miles away.
She shouldn't have come here. The friendship she shared with Julia had been jeopardized, and she had caused trouble in a marriage perfect without her interference. She had no business crying on Armand's shoulder. She shouldn't have let him comfort her. And she sure as hell shouldn't have enjoyed it so much. But she'd wanted it, craved it. God, had she even caused it? She knew the power she had over people. Subconsciously had she manipulated her way into his arms?
What Julia must be feeling… How could she have done that to her?
Pulling her coat tightly closed, she pushed through the wrought iron gate separating the courtyard from the passing world and stepped onto Royal. She was too emotionally drained to head back to Velvet, the venue she'd performed at earlier. Home was her destination. Her apartment wasn't far, but she had to cross Bourbon to get there and dealing with drunk tourists did not appeal to her. Pausing to fish her phone from her coat pocket so she could call a cab, she brushed against a business card and pulled it out with the phone.
It was Detective McCoy's.
If she wasn't such an emotional wreck, she'd call him. She'd screwed everything else up, helping him understand what his body needed was one good deed she could do.
It wouldn't be easy to convince him the fatigue creating circles under his eyes and the trembling of his hands could be cured by consuming a little blood. But she did have one advantage that would help her succeed. His attraction to her had been obvious, and she was a master at exploiting sexual energy. She would use that attraction to get through to him. Tomorrow.
As she called a cab, Ash's name popped up on the phone screen. She cringed. He was probably at Velvet and wondering where she was. She let the voicemail answer as she told the cab company where to pick her up. She'd call him when she got home, but right now she couldn't face anyone, especially not Ash. It was unlikely he knew about Satin, and she needed time to prepare herself to break that news to him.
She fell back against the brick courtyard wall and tried to push away the fresh wave of sadness washing through her. Poor Satin. She'd been such a lost soul, desperate to find acceptance. And Melanie? Angel remembered the cutter scars on her forearms and couldn't keep the tears from filling her eyes.
Two women dead. For what? Lohr's sick perversion? She'd give anything to go back and help them. She should have tried harder to reach out to Satin. She should have recognized Melanie's troubled heart.
The honking cab pulled her out of the regrets. She wiped her eyes and straightened her coat, and then climbed into the back seat. After giving the cab driver her address, she retrieved her phone. Talking to Ash was out of the question; she sent him a text instead.
Not feeling well so heading home. Call you in the morning.
The responding text was almost immediate.
Want me to come by? I'll make you tea and rub your shoulders.
With a sigh, she turned off the phone. It made her feel incredibly guilty, but his constant, I'll do anything for you sometimes drove her crazy. Especially since she didn't deserve it. Unending adoration, professions of love, being put on a pedestal so high it gave her vertigo … it was exhausting. She tried to be grateful, tried to accept his love with humility, but sometimes she just wanted to shake him and scream, "I'm not perfect!"
Closing her eyes, she let the gentle rocking of the car relax her. In a few more minutes, she'd be home, alone, and hopefully better prepared to process the horrors she'd been told. And hopefully, tomorrow she'd be able to start coming to terms with it all. She'd deal with Ash early in the afternoon, before he started his shift at the studio, and then make her way down to the police station and begin working on getting through to Detective McCoy.
* * * *
Julia didn't know where she was going, but she had to get away from the bar, from the house, from Armand. She wandered the streets for a while, aimlessly weaving through the short French Quarter blocks and trying to get a handle on her emotions.
Jealously might be a rational response, but it was an irrational emotion. No person possessed another, and there was no controlling another person's actions or emotions.
Well, she couldn't. Angel seemed quite adept at it.
She clenched her teeth as a fresh wave of jealously shot through her.
"You're overreacting," she said out loud, willing the muscles in her jaw to release. Until this afternoon when he'd been distant in the weight room and then dismissed her when the detective stopped by, Armand had never given her a reason to doubt him or his love. Nor had he shown any interest in Angel that wasn't platonic or professional. Plain and simple.
Hugs did not count as infidelity
. Angel was probably just upset about Satin or Lohr or maybe even Melanie. It wasn't her fault Julia was as insecure as a twelve-year-old girl. Just because she had run directly into Armand's arms for emotional support instead of Ash's or Hail's, or one of the dozens of men dying to have a chance at her shouldn't make her angry.
Okay, it definitely should. Irrational or not, she was not okay with Angel's perfect body pressed against her husband's. She didn't care who had died.
Standing at the corner of Decatur and Governor Nicholls, she scanned the busy street trying to decide what to do. There was no way she was going home; she wasn't ready to face Armand yet.
A cute dress hanging in the boutique shop window on the opposite corner caught her eye. Perfect. A little retail therapy was just what she needed. Thank God the shop was open late and thank God she frequented it so much she had an account with them—since she didn't have a drop of cash on her. Maybe after she blew money on clothes she didn't need she'd be ready to deal with the issues waiting for her at Luxure.
Chapter Five
The hospital was eerily quiet at this late hour. The lighting was dim, the nurses scarce. He nodded to the sleepy looking police officer stationed outside Lohr's hospital room as he pulled open the door.
The right half of Lohr's face was swollen and bruised, but Kevin was surprised by how quickly the man was healing. He already looked one hundred times better than he had the other day.
When he stopped at the foot of the bed, Lohr opened his left eye, the lids peeling slowly apart. "Hello Detective."
He flashed his badge. "Good guess. My name is Detective McCoy. I'm with the NOPD. I'd like to ask you some questions."
"Of course."
"Slade sure did a number on you," he said, gesturing over Lohr's battered face. "Doesn't bode well for your vampire claims. I thought vampires were indestructible."
"How little you know about Real Vampires, Detective. I'm disappointed. I assumed you'd have done more research."
"I couldn't seem to get past the bullshit."
"Pity." Lohr's one functioning eye was focused on Kevin's hands. When he realized the tremble was visible, he tucked them into his pants pockets. The good eye then lifted to his face, seemed to take in every detail and then swept over his body. He had to shake off the creeps the scrutiny was giving him.
Finally, Lohr's single eye gaze settled back on his. "Human Vampires are living, breathing creatures. We can still be injured."
"I thought you were supposed to be immortal."
"I may have evolved beyond the average Vampire, but as you can clearly see, my body is not indestructible."
"Kind of like Melanie Young wasn't indestructible."
"Is poor Melanie no longer with us?"
"No."
"Pity," Lohr repeated.
His soft voice grated heavily on Kevin's nerves. He hadn't spoken to the man for five minutes and already despised him.
"I thought she was consuming too much alcohol," Lohr continued. "It is unfortunate when people do not know when to refrain." He did not have an ounce of remorse in his quiet voice.
"So it had nothing to do with the puddle of blood she was lying in?"
"Doubtful." He shrugged, the movement tiny and stiff. "If you are implying I somehow killed her, I did not."
"And Tina Spalling? I guess you didn't blow her brains out either."
"No. She did that to herself. It was quite tragic. Satin was one my favorite children. I'm certain your forensic officers have already told you only her fingerprints were on the gun."
They had, but Kevin wasn't going to divulge that information. Nor was he going to divulge Kate Miller was an eyewitness to the entire event.
"And the other victim? Was her death a tragic accident?"
"What victim?"
He leaned close. "Don't fuck with me, bloodsucker. The woman in your paintings. Where'd you stash her body? You left Tina splattered all over the floor and Melanie bleeding in a corner. Where'd you leave the other one?"
"If there is no body, how can there be a victim?"
The self-satisfaction in Lohr's tone sent Kevin's self control over the edge. He actually felt it physically snap as he pulled out his gun and pressed the barrel to Lohr's pale forehead. "So let me get this straight. If I pulled the trigger right now, you wouldn't be any more alive than Tina. You'd bleed vampire blood all over this room, but your cold vampire heart would cease to beat, wouldn't it?"
Lohr laughed. It sounded more like wheezing, but Kevin was pretty sure it was a laugh.
"You mock me, Detective, but I think you shall soon see we are very similar."
"You're making it real hard not to pull this trigger." The picture of Tina's body flashed like a strobe light in his mind. He could see Lohr forcing the gun to her head and then forcing the trigger.
"Your threat is empty. I know it. You know it. You cannot kill me, not when you're dying to know what we have in common."
"I have nothing in common with you, bloodsucker. Nothing." Or did he? The image suddenly changed and Kevin was the one putting a bullet in Tina's brain. Maybe he hadn't killed Tina, but he was responsible for one woman's death. Even if he hadn't actually discharged the gun that killed her.
"You may remove the gun from my head now."
He would rather pistol whip the son-of-a-bitch, but he needed to get a cap on his anger. Fast. It had been out of control lately, along with the rest of his life.
Assaulting a restrained prisoner probably wasn't going to help him establish a career with the NOPD, either.
Reluctantly, he holstered his gun and tried his damnedest to cool his temper. Letting his anger get the best of him put Lohr in control. He also needed to find out information about Darus.
"I'm curious, Detective. How did Angel react when she met you?"
"How do you figure we've met?"
"I can smell her on you. Just like I can smell Darus."
Okay. "Is Angel one of your children?"
"No. I imagine she will try to help you soon." Help him? Help him what? "It is her nature, after all. Will you let her, Detective? She is a difficult woman for most men to resist."
No shit. "Just like you weren't able to resist Kate Miller," he said instead, ignoring his brain as it tried to shift his thoughts to the blond beauty.
Lohr moaned approvingly. "Kate was a wonderful Donor. It's a pity I wasn't able to complete her transformation. She would have made a lovely Queen. I imagine she's quite saddened by the ordeal."
It was like talking to a character from a book. Nothing from his research prepared him for Lohr. Even Darus was normal next to this guy, and Lohr made Armand seem like a square. Darus was right. Lohr was crazy.
"Queen. Right, because you are the king of the vampires. So, how do you become king?" A scene from a Monty Python movie suddenly popped into his head. Peasants harassing King Arthur as he rides by on an imaginary horse. It was only slightly more ridiculous than this conversation.
"I am the oldest of our kind. By default that makes me King."
Right.
King Arthur rides away while his servant bangs coconuts halves together.
He needed to figure out if Darus was telling the truth. The easiest way to achieve that would be to watch Lohr's reactions when goaded. "You must've been very angry to find out one of your subjects betrayed you."
"I am not sure of what you refer."
"Darus."
Lohr didn't reply, but for a split second, his expression turned icy. "Darus is no longer one of my children."
"No? Why not? Wouldn't he help you get your queen?"
Lohr's expression went cold. It was quickly wiped away. Well, Kevin had his answer. Darus was telling the truth.
"Do you know why you are tired all the time?" Lohr asked suddenly.
The comment caught him off guard. Angel had said the same thing. "I don't know what you're talking about."
Lohr smiled. When only half his face responded, he looked a little like a stroke victim. "And why your
hands shake and you can never get enough sleep? A Human Vampire, Detective. Angel, Slade … Darus." Lohr's voice dropped two octaves when he said Darus' name. "And you."
This was preposterous. Kevin was ready to push the conversation forward, but Lohr's next words stopped his heart. "The recent tragedy in your life has only robbed you further of your Prana. You're even more tired now, aren't you, Detective?"
Because his sleep was cluttered with memories and images he couldn't forget. And guilt he refused to forget. It sure as hell wasn't because he was some Human Vampire and his Prana—whatever the hell that was—had been stolen.
"No matter," Lohr said dismissively. "You will either accept your condition or not. I cannot help you." He tugged at the handcuffs locking him to the bed rails. "Since I am obviously under arrest, I will need to consult my lawyer before speaking with you further."
Fuck.
"Of course." Now that Lohr had played the lawyer card, there was nothing more Kevin could accomplish. He headed for the door.
"And Detective," Lohr said as he pulled open the door. "I will forgive your little indiscretion with the gun earlier only because we are Family and I am curious to see how your saga unfolds. I will not be so forgiving in the future."
Chapter Six
Screaming guitar riffs poured through the closed door to her apartment. Loud enough Julia could clearly tell which album it was as she climbed the stairs to the balcony overlooking the central courtyard. As she stepped inside, it was like walking into a solid wall of noise.
Armand was sitting in the armchair, eyes closed, lips drawn into a tight thin line. He clutched at the chair arms like they were the only things keeping him in place.
She crossed the room with quiet feet, but his eyes still flew open as she passed him. As she turned down the volume on the stereo, he rose and approached her. Taking her by the shoulders, he bent to kiss her.