Whiskey, Vamps, and Thieves (Southern Vampire Detective #1)

by Selene Charles

  Blanca twitched, the sound instantly dying as she convulsed upon his hand and scrambled with her own to try to pull him out of her. But he was an enraged shifter and far too powerful. I was just working my way back to my feet when she slumped forward.

  I doubted she was dead; it took much more than an evisceration to kill a fae. James flicked his wrist, pulling out of her and dumping her to the floor. She lay still as a pool of blood spread out from beneath her.

  I thought he’d leave. He’d done as the Alpha had required and had delivered the message. But he stood there, panting and dripping blood from his claws as he towered over her prostrate body. His face was contorted, a frightful mask full of rage and hate, and I couldn’t move. Couldn’t blink. Because I knew something more was coming.

  His lip curled into a snarl as he slowly, slowly dropped to his knees and straddled her from behind.

  Blanca didn’t move.

  James moved so fast I didn’t have time to stop it. He stabbed her again from behind.

  I knew then that he meant to kill her.

  With a cry, I sailed to my feet, tapped out the sequence, and opened the door just as he stabbed her a third time.

  More blood pooled beneath her. Her beautiful nut-brown hair, so similar to my own, was soaked in blood.

  “Stop!” I gave a violent hiss whisper. I was still in shadow, but the wolf would have no problem hearing me.

  James froze, his hand in midswing as he turned to look unerringly in my direction. His eyes burned with the same kind of madness I’d witnessed the other night in the Alpha’s own.

  If that had been Mercer, I’d have run to him, tossed my arms around his neck, and nuzzled the madness out of him, trusting that those deadly fangs wouldn’t try to latch around my throat.

  But this was James, a shifter I barely trusted. I held out my hand to him, a reflex I’d learned to use to my advantage. A way of letting a shifter cast my scent into his lungs, a way to snap the wolf away from the man to bring back his reason.

  “It’s me, James. It’s Scarlett.”

  He did exactly as I’d expected him to. His nostrils flared as he scented me deep inside. I didn’t know if it would work, but I was hoping like hell that the ghost of Isobel might be on my side tonight.

  His shoulders slumped, his hand dropped, and I almost sighed with relief that somehow I’d managed a miracle until his entire body tensed up on me again, and his eyes burst with silver flame.

  “Oh, shit” was all I had time to mutter. Suddenly James pounced, shifting midjump from that half-man, half-beast monstrosity into his massive black wolf. He shouldn’t have found me bathed in shadow as I was, but he had. Then he was inside the circle of it, shielded as I was from the prying eyes of others.

  I was knocked flat on my ass, and my head bounced against the floor. A three-hundred-pound monster landing on me was never gentle or fun. I saw stars and cringed but held absolutely still beneath his weight. If I fought him, he might take it as struggling prey.

  Horrible flashbacks of the other night assaulted my vision, and it was all I could do not to stab my own claws through his heart and rip it free. But something in me couldn’t do it.

  James was whimpering. His tail had gone down and was lying across my trapped legs. He was sniffing hard, and at first I couldn’t understand why he was acting as he was.

  He continued to whimper, then leaned in and ran his wet nose along my neck, giving me tiny licks interspersed with heavy growls.

  And then I remembered that I’d just made out with Talix to cover myself in his scent. The wolf was picking up not only my scent but also that of another fae, confusing the beast.

  “GD it,” I snapped. “James, it’s me. It’s me. Not a fae.” Daring to be brave, I worked my arms out from beneath his heavy weight.

  The wolf didn’t like that; he peeled back his upper lip, exposing his long canines and flicking spittle at me.

  But I knew that unless I established some sort of tether to him, he’d eventually come to the conclusion that I was prey after all and rip my neck out. I’d recover, eventually, but it would hurt like a sonofagun.

  “Eff my life,” I whispered, and then I just went for it.

  Digging my fingers into the thick scruff of his fur, which was surprisingly silky for a wolf, I forced his face to mine, so that his eyes and mine met. Beneath the wolf still lurked the man; I had to reach the man if I had any hope of getting out of here in one piece.

  “Look at me, wolf man. Look at me,” I singsonged over and over, a soft lilting tune that I’d hoped would ease his anxiousness.

  Eventually the stupid song began to work, because the glow started to lessen. The only time it was ever safe to approach a wild wolf was when someone was mate bonded. Then and only then could a shifter never harm you. He or she would be physically incapable of it. Whether human or animal, the wolf would recognize its mate and heel.

  What I did next was the epitome of dumb, but...

  “Shh, shh,” I cajoled as James began to whimper again, louder, and struggle in my grasp because my stupid fingers were covered in Talix’s scent. It was driving the animal half mad.

  “Damn you, James, if you fucking kill me tonight, I’ll come back and haunt your ass, do you hear me? Now snap the hell out of it.”

  Then I blew into his sensitive nose. That was about as much scent as I could get into him.

  I wasn’t sure why it worked, but it did. Immediately I felt the threat leave, but then the wolf was running his big, shaggy head along the sides of my cheeks and neck, licking me as he went. Attempting to mark me in his scent the same way Mercer would whenever Blue showed up.

  I punched him lightly in the jaw. “Stop that. Shift, damn you. We have to get out of here.”

  No sooner had I said it than I heard a sound down the hall that made me still completely.

  “Where’s my daughter? Where’s Blanca!”

  With no more time to waste, I yanked on his fur, bringing his eyes close to mine until his muzzle bumped my nose.

  “I will leave your ass here. Because somehow I don’t think you were supposed to be here tonight, were you, Scooby-Doo? So you’ve got one of two choices. Either shift now or stay and face Diane’s wrath.”

  I saw the man, knew he heard me. We had five seconds, ten tops. Then I was out of here. My shadow wouldn’t last forever. I couldn’t be found back here, and frankly, neither could he.

  There was a low growl and then a roll of magick that pulsed like electric waves over my skin, making me tingle and burn. James’s big body straddled my own much the way he had Blanca’s.

  The door I’d come through burst open, and I smelled Diane. She was a thing of beauty. I knew she was over a thousand years old, but she didn’t look a day past thirty. She was tall, with skin so porcelain fair it didn’t seem real. Her eyes were the violet of a flower’s petal, and her hair a brilliant shade of UnSeelie red. She screeched, and guards rushed through the door behind her like ants. We were as good as dead if we were caught.

  I shook my head, telling him in no uncertain terms not to say a word. He already knew. He got to his feet and held out his hand. I stood with his help.

  Fuck, I mouthed as the room filled with bodies, pressing against us on all sides.

  The only thing working in our favor was the fact that there were so many of them. No one questioned the fact that they were bumping into air.

  “Find who did this!” Diane screamed again, dropping to her knees at Blanca’s side and gathering her daughter up. Angry, mournful tears spilled down her cheeks, and my nonexistent heart bled raw for her.

  I wanted to kill James myself. I should have just left him to the murderous bunch of faes, but I couldn’t.

  Jerking my chin in the direction of the door, I began walking. James had one of two choices, stay or follow.

  He followed, keeping close on my heels to remain within the fold of shadow. But already I could feel the shadow weakening and fracturing apart. Soon it would shatter, and if we were an
ywhere near here, we’d be caught.

  Hugging the walls as best I could, I bumped into someone only once. The tall female fae with long braids of raven-black hair twirled, looking at me with suspicion in her blazing cerulean eyes. Gesturing at James to kneel, I dropped to my knees just as she reached for the space where I’d been. Her hand hit nothing but air. We were already duck crawling away.

  We reached the door with seconds to spare, passing through and moving down the hallway as the shadow finally broke free.

  Pounding footsteps, like running feet, came at us from the opposite direction. I had only one choice. Calling an audible, I used the private rooms to our advantage.

  I reached for the first knob and shoved it open. Two men were already inside—a fae and a fae-touched. The fae was beautiful—as they always were—with light-green hair and startled amber eyes.

  The fae-touched was an older man with graying hair but still solidly built. Both their cocks were hard and glistening at the tips. They hadn’t wasted any time. And neither would I.

  “What the hell is going on he—” The fae stood up from the bed, working at the scarlet bindings on his wrist.

  I flicked my wrist and poured my compulsion down his throat. The silver fox wouldn’t say a word, and I could tell from the look in his eyes that he was further gone than most. A being that existed for sex and sex alone. The cries and shouts of people suddenly rang out as door after door was tossed open. The guards were coming for blood.

  I gripped James’s hand tight.

  “Nothing you don’t want. This is an orgy. We’ve been with you for the past half hour.”

  “You’ve been with us the past half hour,” the fae replied in monotone, and I cringed.

  Because that wasn’t the sexually charged tone I was going for, he sounded compulsed.

  “Sound sexy, you asshole. And you”—I looked at the human, who was quivering and running his hands hotly across the fae’s body, pressing himself lengthwise against him—“keep your mouth shut or I swear you’ll get none tonight.”

  He cried out mournfully, which sounded a lot like a sex moan. Fancy that.

  The guards were just two doors down.

  “Unzip me,” I barked at James, who twirled me on my heels and jerked with all his might, which wasn’t inconsiderable.

  He tore my dress, and I cringed. The thing had cost me a mini-fortune.

  “Screw his brains out,” I hissed at the fae, who was by then well under my spell.

  He jumped the man’s bones, tossing him down onto the bed as he plunged his cock deep into his ass. The silver fox cried out in pain mingled with the addiction of obsession.

  I grimaced, realizing my poor choice of words. But it was too late to take them back.

  And then James was there, giving a hungry growl and yanking me to his chest. He was already nude. It happened anytime a shifter switched forms. He kissed me. Hungrily. Powerfully. Nipping at my lower mouth and sucking on it greedily.

  The fae wasn’t the only one sporting a raging boner.

  Revving my own beast up at the ferocity of his touch, I took my frustrations out on James, shoving him against the wall as I drove my nails deep into his chest and bit down on his bottom lip, sucking in the warm, delicious blood.

  He growled and spread his palm against the base of my spine in a claiming pose.

  The door was tossed open. Fae guards dressed in gold-plated armor spilled inside.

  I jerked back from James and gasped.

  “What’s going on here?” I demanded in my haughtiest tone, making sure that when I’d moved, the dress had slipped down just enough to expose the tiny disks of my shell-pink nipples.

  The lead guard, with robin’s-blue hair that spilled gloriously down his back like a wave, stared fixedly at my breasts. Another guard, with spiky silver-black hair, glanced at everyone else.

  After yanking my hand out of James’s chest, I slowly licked my fingertips as though I were a kitten with a bowl of cream. The guards looked repulsed and excited all at once.

  Turning on my charm, I whispered closer to them and gave them a heated grin as I ran the other hand along my bare ivory skin.

  Fae loved vampire flesh.

  Wetting my lips, I whispered, “Want to play, sidhe?”

  James growled behind me, sounding none too pleased with my teasing, but I didn’t give a rat’s ass. It was his fault we were in this mess, and if he was smart, he’d shut up and let me get us out of it.

  Skunk—as that was how I’d begun to think of the black-and-silver-haired fae—swallowed hard.

  “Did you? Have you all?” He swallowed again.

  Robin shook his head, blinking rapidly as though trying to fight off my compulsion. But I really wasn’t using any. I was simply using their innate desire for me against them.

  “Did anyone come in here? Recently?” Robin stumbled and looked toward the still-humping men.

  Greenie, who was still pounding the brains out of the silver fox, groaned deeply, his face twisted up into a tight scowl. I knew an “o” face when I saw one. So did the guards, apparently, because they quickly realized they’d be getting nothing out of those two.

  I had worried about the Silver Fox, but his desperation for fae flesh was as powerful as I’d thought it might be. He wasn’t saying a word.

  Sticking the tip of my finger into my mouth, I decided it was time to leave. Right now. I shoved as much compulsion into them as I’d ever dared before, making them want me. Need me. Making them so desperate for me that they would almost forget the orders of their boss.

  “Haven’t seen a soul, other than my three boys. But if you’d like to make it five, I wouldn’t cry wolf.” I winked.

  And James growled furiously then. He’d also come up behind me, splaying his hand wide on my back, an action of claiming, and everyone knew it.

  Robin closed his eyes and slowly turned away, shaking his head. Skunk was breathing heavily and gulping repetitively. I was starting to worry that I might have given them too much compulsion, that Skunk would pounce on me.

  He was practically vibrating with desire. His pupils had swelled, and his fingers were clenching and unclenching rhythmically.

  I heard more footsteps outside the door, and other guards crying that the perpetrator had been spotted rushing out. Two other guards came into the room and yanked on Skunk and Robin’s collars, forcefully shoving them out the door with orders to follow.

  I wasn’t sure why or who had told him the perp was outside, but I was grateful.

  I heaved a sigh of relief. And didn’t bother to tell James to follow, I was so pissed at him. Pissed and confused. I walked out. He trailed me.

  Only once I’d gone out of the room did I see why the guards had run as they had. Talix stood leaning against the wall, staring at me intently. I’d given him my oath. But here I stood, clearly up to my neck in shit and he knew it. But I’d broken no vow.

  I notched my chin. “I did nothing.”

  His arctic-blue eyes were glacial, but finally he nodded and said nothing, either, as I walked past. I felt him tense up when James brought up the rear, but again, Talix didn’t speak a word.

  His ass would be on the chopping block same as mine if he did.

  I’d burned bridges tonight. Faes had long lives and even longer memories. I said nothing to James as we walked out the front door.

  We’d gotten a few feet past Bruce when James grabbed for my elbow. “Lass, I—”

  Twirling on him, I slapped him in the face with all my might, knocking him back several steps. He growled, and his eyes glowed, his face twisted into one of anger, but I shook my head.

  “Not now, James. Don’t you dare try a pissing match with me. You’ll lose.”

  Bruce chuckled, and I walked away.

  ~*~

  Two hours later, I got a phone call.

  “Scarlett?”

  “Carter?” My breath caught in the back of my throat.

  “We found what was left of Matilda Hicks.”
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  Chapter 15

  Scarlett

  By the time I finally returned home, the sun was already peeking up over the tree line.

  Matilda, or the skin that was left of her, had been dumped on the side of the road. The bogeyman was still at large, and I had a headache the size of Texas.

  Walking up to my steps, I eyed my brother unflinchingly.

  Mercer had purple bags under his eyes.

  “You look like hell,” I finally said, moving past him as I trudged my weary bones up the steps.

  He jumped to his feet and followed at my heels. “I could say the same to you. Where were you tonight?”

  I shook my head. “Don’t ask.”

  His hand landed on my shoulder, squeezing gently, and it was all I could do not to turn in his arms and make him hold me. But I was tired of being weak. Tired of trying to find my strength in others, in people that just continued to disappoint me.

  “Scar, we need to—”

  “Did Clarence shun me?” It’s all I really wanted to know. Nothing else mattered right now. If he had, I’d pack what few meager belongings I still had and go.

  Mercer dropped his hand. “No. But it’s close, Scarlett.”

  I looked at him. Studied the face I loved with all my heart. Where Mercer was concerned, I was one giant ball of confusion. All I knew, the only thing I knew, was that he was all I had left anymore.

  His blue-green eyes grew shadowed and haunted. “Don’t do that, Scar.”

  I blinked. “Do what?”

  “Look at me like that. Don’t do that, okay? It’s not fair.”

  “Why did you kiss me like that?” It’d been bothering me and hadn’t stopped bothering me. “The other night. Why? Why did you do it?”

  He clenched his jaw but said nothing. And just as I was ready to write him off and do what we always did and pretend our problems away, he yanked me into his chest and squeezed me tight.

  And I squeezed him back just as tight because I hadn’t realized how much I’d needed this. Needed him.

  I tipped my face up toward his, instinctively reaching for that unnamed emotion simmering between us. I’d always called Mercer my brother but only because he’d never seemed to want to let me call him more.