When I got there?
He was dead.
He had been for a while, bled out from wounds in his neck, and the police were quick to attribute that to my sister. An act committed prior to her being arrested. They assumed she’d gotten wind of him contacting them and had decided to make sure he couldn’t testify. I guess, if it had been another vampire, then that would have been a fair conclusion, but not Layla.
Even at that point, I don't think I was that worried, I knew that Layla was innocent and, while it can be difficult for a vamp to get a fair trial - what with people's old prejudices - I felt sure there wouldn’t be enough evidence to convict her. All they had was a bucket full of hunches and suppositions. But, of course, she never got to trial.
And I needed to find out why.
So far, I was doing a really bad job of it. All I was doing was getting myself on the police's 'Most Wanted Vampire' list. If they found out I'd killed their driver, then that would be that.
"What did you do with Wambach?" asked Max, seeming to read my mind. "I mean, after you did what you did to him."
"Weighed him down and dumped him in the river."
"You think there'll be a fuss over his disappearance?"
I shook my head with more confidence than I actually felt.
"He was on 'administrative leave' following his harrowing experience. Which is code for 'keeping him out of the way because he's clearly on the take and we can't prove it'. Who goes on administrative leave for six months? I'm hoping they'll just be glad he's gone. That way they don't have to address the reality of a crooked cop. Course, if he floats back up, then they'll have to address it."
"Problem for another day."
"Let's hope." I shook my head, grinding my teeth in frustrated anguish. "But with him gone and us no closer... I don't know what our next step is. Someone else killed Gray, someone who framed Layla and then made her vanish. I don't know who and I don't know why. I'll bleed every man in this city if it leads me to the truth but... I don't even know where to start looking. Nothing but dead ends."
Max squeezed my hand. "Something will break soon."
"What makes you so sure?"
"Basic optimism?"
I couldn't help laughing. That was the great thing about Max, she was always fun to be around, carrying into undeath the sense of humor she had carried in life.
"I'll head down to Lawkeepers' Central tomorrow night and kick up a fuss. See if there're any new leads."
The Lawkeepers were the special branch of the police who dealt with vampire crime - both that committed by vampires and against. They were genetically tweaked to make them stronger, faster and tougher than the average human, though still less than a vampire. Technology hasn't caught up to us quite yet, though no doubt it will with time.
They were investigating Layla's disappearance and, to my mind, making a hash of it. It didn't help that she had been in their care when she had been taken, so I didn't have a lot of faith in them to start with. Unfortunately, I had let my disappointment in them get the better of me a couple of times and I was now banned from Central after I had expressed my disappointment by kicking over a few desks, smashing a few computers, breaking one arm. The fuss people make over this sort of thing is unreal.
"Thanks," I nodded to Max. I yawned. "It's been a long night."
"Yeah?" Max frowned. "It can't have taken that long to bleed Michael Wambach and dump him in the river. What else have you been up to?"
I shrugged, not keen to share the details of the rest of my night. "I went for a drink."
"Did you have sex?"
In some areas, vampires have a distinct disadvantage when it comes to secret keeping. Our eyes change color with our emotions. Long experience and blank detachment enables me to keep mine, for the most part, uniformly black, but when Max asked about what I had done that night, a delicious memory of Kael - dammit, I had remembered his name - vigorously shafting me against the wall, had flashed first through my mind then quickly onto other parts. The thought had made my eyes flash green, telling Max that sex was on my mind.
"I'm three hundred years old, Max, I don't need anyone telling me when I can and can't get laid. You're not my mom."
"Well, I hope you at least used protection," Max carried on the joke.
"I'm a vampire - he's the one who needed protection."
"Does Trojan have a garlic flavor?"
I nearly gagged at the thought. "I really hope not. Look, it wasn't a big deal, I just needed to work off some steam."
Max nodded. "Good."
"Good?"
"Absolutely. I think you, of all people, should work off as much steam as you can before it starts coming out of your ears. Letting yourself get stressed isn't going to help Layla any."
That was true, but having casual sex while she was still missing made me feel bad.
"In future," Max continued, "maybe you could get your rocks off before you confront people like Wambach and we won’t be worrying about floaters.”
There was a kernel of truth in that, too.
Had I killed Wambach out of pent-up frustration? Would it have made a difference if I had had a good working over from Kael beforehand? It might at least be worth a try. It was too late for Wambach, but one thing about this search was that it seemed to throw up an unending stream of total assholes.
"Think you can find the guy again?" asked Max. "Must be quite a guy if you're still going green hours after the event." I usually had more self-control where my lovers were concerned - they came and went. Kael had made an impression.
"I don't think that would be a good idea. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm going to bed."
"Doesn't have to be him," pointed out Max, calling at my retreating back, clearly now enjoying herself. "Any man will do to scratch that itch."
If only that were true, but in this case, I felt that my body would accept no substitutes.
My bedroom had large windows, which gave splendid views out onto the river, but I had had them blocked up when I moved in. First rule of being a vampire - don't make it easy for them. If all an intruder has to do is pull the curtains to let in the daylight to kill you, then you won't last long. I settled down in my bed, cushioned by black silk sheets - there was that taste for luxury again - and tried to clear my mind of everything.
Tonight, I could figure out my next step.
As I drifted into sleep, an image swam before me of deep brown eyes and rough stubble, accompanied by the keen memory of sharp pleasure. Even in my dreams, I couldn't get away from Kael, and even with my eyes closed I knew they were vibrantly green.
Damn him.
Chapter 4
It was a measure of how tired I must have been that I slept a comparatively dreamless sleep through the day.
Of late, my days had been spent tossing and turning my way through nightmares, torturing me with visions of Layla and what might be happening to her while I was flailing around for a solid lead.
I was woken by the sound of my phone going off. The number was unknown, which was odd, as I didn't make a habit of giving out my phone number to people.
"Hello?"
"Good evening."
"Who is this?"
"Who's this?"
I frowned. "What do you mean; who's this? You called me."
"I was just hoping to get a name out of you."
It couldn't be. Could it? He’d haunted my dreams…
"Kael?"
"You remembered."
I could hear the smug pride in his voice and wished that I had pretended to have forgotten his name.
"Well, it's hard to forget a dumb name like Kael. Sounds like something you'd find in a salad."
He laughed, a pleasantly deep, rough sound that made me tingle all on its own. "I was wondering if you wanted to hook up later?"
"How did you get this number?"
"That's not an answer to my question. I was thinking a drink and then see where it goes."
"How about I answer your question when y
ou answer mine,” I shot back, rubbing the sleep from my eyes and stretching. “How did you get this number?"
"I have a way with numbers, Sonja."
If he was trying to catch me off-guard with that one, then he had succeeded. Presumably, he had hoped to get me to say my name so he could pretend that was how he got it, but since that had failed, he had decided to use it as a weapon. And an effective one - I was temporarily knocked back on my heels. I was also, albeit unwillingly, pretty impressed - finding out my name was not an easy thing to do.
"With names, too?"
"You looked like a Sonja to me."
"And you guessed my number, as well?"
"I won't tell you how many strangers I called before you picked up. Now, how about that drink?"
I was about to refuse but then thought again. He could be useful…
"You know The Dark Bar?"
"I've heard of it. Never been."
"Now's your chance. I'll be there at nine." I hung up.
A few things had made me change my mind.
Firstly, if Kael had been doggedly determined enough to get hold of my name and number, that was good. If he had connections that had given him the info? That was even better. I could use all the connections I could get to help me find Layla.
Secondly, having slept on the problem, I had decided that a man named Colt Harris was my next port of call in finding Layla. He had been an acquaintance of hers rather than a friend, but I had a vague memory of seeing him and Tyler Gray chatting secretly one time when we were all out at a club a week before Layla’s disappearance. I’d sidled over, and they’d abruptly stopped talking. At the time, I’d assumed he was kissing and telling and was embarrassed at having almost gotten caught. Now, though, when everything seemed like an unexplored clue, it seemed fishy.
It wasn't much to go on, but then I didn't have much to go on. Harris was a well-known vamp lover and The Dark Bar would be a good place to look - having Kael there would give me cover, like I was just out on a date.
I will admit that Max's suggestion the night before was also in my mind; that I ought to have sex before tracking down my next lead. And if Kael was there then... Well, it wasn't my goal, but if it were to happen then so be it.
When I arrived, Kael was already there.
The Dark Bar was the hardcore end of vampire bars, a place where vampires go to drink and humans go because they get off on very real danger. For that reason, the large majority of the drinkers were vamps, and the humans stuck out like sore thumbs as they stood there, nervously twiddling their thumbs, surrounded by people who could snap their neck before they could blink. And yet, Kael exuded a self-assuredness that was almost vampiric. He fit in disturbingly well. True, he was breathing, his heart was beating and his smell was all human - and all man, I noted - but compared to other humans, he seemed to belong here. It was like hearing someone fluent in a second language - occasionally the accent will let them down, but it's still impressive.
"You're here," he said, grinning as I approached.
"You thought I wouldn't come?"
"Wasn't sure. I still don't know what you think of me."
"I don't think anything of you," I said, helpfully. "You're just blank. There. Another human."
"Thanks, that's the nicest thing a vampire has ever said to me,” he said solemnly. I could see the flash of wicked humor in his dark gaze and I had to admit, I was charmed. A man who could laugh at himself was something I admired.
"You didn't let me finish,” I added. “I was going to say that however little I think of you, in your blankness, I have to admit that you do know your way around an alleyway."
His mouth kicked up again and his eyes went hot at the memory. "Right back at you. It's nice not to have to hold back."
"Right back at you."
"Yeah? That's a relief."
"How so?" I asked.
"Well, if last night was you holding back, I'm not sure I'd survive tonight. Can I get you a drink?"
"Bulbous."
He turned to the bartender and ordered the alcohol substitute for me and Bourbon for himself - predictable, but still kind of cool.
"Why'd they have to call the vamp drink Bulbous? It's not a pleasant name."
"We're not a pleasant species,” I admitted.
He smiled provocatively at me over his glass. "Some of you have your plus points."
The conversation thus far had been pretty sexually charged. Which I liked, but it was making me wonder, was that really what he had come for? Had he gone to what must have been a lot of trouble to track down my name and number just for sex?
I had a pretty high opinion of how good I was but even so, that seemed unlikely. Even still, if he was playing me for some reason yet to be discovered, I was enjoying it. Which did not mean that I wasn’t going to keep my guard up.
"So why did you ask me here?" I asked.
"You picked this place, not me."
"I mean, why did you ask me for a drink?"
He shrugged. "I had fun last night. Didn't you?"
There was little sense in denying it. "Yeah. I'm not sure something like that can be replicated."
"I wasn't hoping to replicate it, I thought we might try to improve upon it."
I cocked an eyebrow as a low ache tugged at my belly. Lord, this man was sexy. "I like your ambition, but I'm not sure how."
He finished his drink and indicated two more to the barman. "Well, for one thing, I like to get to know a person."
"How disappointing,” I murmured with a snick of my tongue.
"Sex is better with someone you know and like."
"That's just propaganda."
"If you think that then you've been with the wrong men."
I'd hold up my hand to often being with the wrong men, largely because the right ones have an irritating habit of talking like this. I'm not looking for something long-term, partly because the longer you give someone the greater the chance that they will eventually let you down, and partly because long-term for someone over three hundred years old takes on frightening new meaning.
Normally, in this sort of situation, I wait for the guy to go to the bathroom then I finish my drink and leave. Today, I couldn't do that because I was hoping to catch sight of Harris, but even had that constraint not existed, I still wouldn't have been minded to leave. There was something about Kael. Sure, he was handsome, built like a Greek god, and the sex had been all kinds of awesome; and sure, I wanted to know what he was up to - and I was still certain that he was up to something - but there was more than that. I wanted to know where this was going. Maybe part of me thought, or hoped, that he was on the level. Guys like Kael don't come along every century. I speak as one who knows.
"How about you tell me something about yourself?" Kael suggested.
"Why?"
"Well, it would beat sitting here in silence and drinking."
"Are you sure?”
Kael laughed. "Okay, fair enough, you don't want to open up. You don't want to be on a 'date' with the person you agreed to go for a drink with. That's your issue. So, seems like we've got a choice, and I'm going to be generous and leave it up to you. We can leave and never see each other again; we can step out into the alley and I can ball you into the stratosphere again; or we can sit here and drink, which I refuse to do in silence. Then, we step out into the alley. What’ll it be?"
I couldn't help laughing. There was a cockiness to Kael that I did not normally find attractive in men, but he combined it with a likable charm. Men who looked like Kael were usually either incurable narcissists who could talk about nothing but gunning their lats and blasting their quads, or they were... well, like me; didn't care about anything much and didn't want to spoil sex with anything as complex as conversation. It was nice to meet a man who looked like Kael, who seemed to have a brain and emotions.
Did it sound like the only thing stopping me from having a serious relationship was the lack of a man who looked like Kael and could pound me to satisfaction? W
ell, maybe it was. I never claimed to be any better than I am.
I turned to the barman. "Same again." I turned back to Kael. "I am three hundred and forty-eight years old."
"Yeah?"
"You asked me to tell you something about myself. I did."
Kael raised his glass as the barman handed it to him. "And I appreciate it. And you don't look a day over three hundred and forty-five."
I shrugged with a chuckle. "Lovely. There are days when I feel three hundred and fifty."
That seemed to open a door and from there on, chatter came easy. We sat exchanging facts about each other, learning a lot, none of which meant anything, always talking and managing to remain comparative strangers, which was exactly what I wanted. It was fun, it was easy, and, to my horror, it made me feel good.
That came as a nasty shock. I had not experienced more than fleeting moments of passing happiness since Layla had been taken, now I was positively enjoying an evening. I had barely thought of her since I sat down and the thought made me feel instantly guilty.
How dare I be happy when Layla was in danger?
How dare I not think about her when I should be dedicating each moment of my life to getting her back?
I needed to refocus on my reason for coming here.
Finding Colt Harris and seeing if he could give me any insight into Layla’s disappearance. Kael was nothing to me but a cover who happened to be a good lay.
I would do well to remember that.
Chapter 5
Just as I decided to keep my focus on Layla and my hunt for Colt Harris, Kael suddenly seemed distracted, looking at something behind me. Despite the fact that this rather suited my new focus, I could not help feeling a little irritable and, maybe, even a little jealous. What the hell was there in this room that was more interesting than me? If a hotter, cuter vampire had just walked in, then I was not above playing the power card and sending her scurrying back out the door with one look. Or potentially ripping her head off.
Her Deadly Harem Page 3