Vampire's Shade 1 (Vampire's Shade Collection)

by Vivienne Neas

  Chapter 7

  “It’s not rocket science. If he’s a vampire already, kill him. If he’s still human, Ruben can’t have him taken out no matter how badly someone wants him. That’s just wrong.”

  Joel sipped his coffee. He’d made us each a cup after I’d kicked over a chair. So, I wasn’t great at anger management. The last twenty-four hours had made me edgy.

  The coffee was bitter and it tasted like he had brewed it through a sock, but I sipped mine to be polite.

  “It’s not like my moral standards have been very high lately,” I said.

  “True, but you have your reasons.”

  He let those words hang in the air for a while. He knew a bit of what had happened, but he didn’t know everything. I pushed away the fact that he was giving me a reason for my less-than-acceptable behavior.

  “Besides, you can refuse on legal grounds. Ruben can’t say anything about it if it’s illegal.”

  “You know him, Joel. He will say something. And with that reporter sniffing around, I don’t want to look for trouble.”

  “Reporter?”

  “Some woman is trying to stick her nose into Ruben’s business, and by that I don’t mean his front.”

  “Well, that makes it pretty easy, then. If it’s a human, get out.”

  “There’s something about this reporter that feels wrong. She’s too pushy.”

  “Aren’t they always?”

  “Only when they know something. And the fact that she does know something that she really shouldn’t, makes me wonder if she has a better reason than just a story. Something tells me Connor’s not human anymore, not if he popped up on our radar.”

  “You think it’s connected?”

  I shook my head and gave up on the coffee. “I doubt it, but it’s happening at the same time. Worth noticing. Pity the photo is of him as a human. Without a smell to go with it, he’ll be hard to recognize.”

  Joel chuckled. “It’ll be good for you to have a challenge for a change.”

  I got up and put the half-empty cup of coffee on the table. “I have to get to the office. I promised Ruben an hour after sundown, and I’m already running late.”

  I rolled out of the garage and started the bike. It came to life with a growl.

  “I’ll keep you posted,” I said, my voice muffled through the helmet, then I turned and opened the throttle.

  “You’re late,” Ruben said when I walked into his office.

  I had my helmet under my arm. I hadn’t dropped it on Sonya’s desk, which meant her mood wasn’t fouler than usual. Who said I didn’t have my generous moments?

  “I’m heading out again,” I said without answering his accusation.

  “You’ve got paperwork to look at.”

  “Not tonight. I have other things on my plate.”

  Ruben blinked at me. “Did you just tell me you were too busy to work for me on my time?”

  “You sent Jennifer Lawson to my apartment, Ruben. You can’t have your cake and eat it too.”

  I turned and left his office. His grumbling followed me all the way to the stairwell before it stopped.

  The Mulberry Street neighborhood was just what I’d expected it to be. Inconspicuous. The houses were average-sized, with nothing that made any of them stand out from the others. They all had medium-sized gardens wrapped round them, and I guessed that if the occupants weren’t vampires, they would each have standard nine-to-five jobs and two-point-five children.

  Number thirteen was a neat house with white wooden walls and a picket fence. It looked like something from a real estate ad. The windows had green shutters on either side, and the garden was in full bloom.

  A medley of scents hung in the air. I smelled jasmine and lilies, and to the side I spotted an archway covered in white wisteria that led to the back garden. These were all night flowers, the first sign of a vampire house. I closed my eyes and reached into the night, searching for people. Some of the houses nearby were occupied, but this one was definitely empty. I couldn’t sense a thing – no bodies in the house, no smell of blood in the air.

  I walked around to the back of the house, through the archway and onto a well-manicured lawn, which surprised me. Vampires didn’t often take care of their yards like this. I inspected the windows, but found no visible changes, no shutters installed. It could be that the owner of this house was just someone who loved gardening.

  I pushed my knife underneath a window and slid it open. It creaked a bit, but it didn’t stick. I slipped in, and my lace-ups sank into a plush carpet.

  Someone hissed loudly in my ear. I had my Smith & Wesson out in a flash, but I was aiming it at a grey cat with its back arched and its claws out. I dared to breathe again, and yellow eyes glared at me.

  “You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you,” I said.

  I tried to calm my hammering heart. After the night before, hissing wasn’t my favorite sound, and I had almost overreacted to it. If I’d blown the cat’s head off, I would have had to worry about blood all over everything, and that would have been a real pain in the ass.

  The cat hissed at me again. This animal obviously didn’t like my vampire blood – another sign that this house might not belong to vampires after all, not if Kitty Galore had a say. The conflicting signs annoyed me.

  The house was tidy, and it smelled of detergent. I breathed in deeply, trying to find a lead, but there was nothing out of the ordinary.

  I’d never come across a vampire that smelled like almost nothing. Humans doused themselves in perfumes and deodorant, and it usually irritated my nose. I couldn’t tell what I was smelling, and the fact that I was being messed with bothered me even more.

  In the bedroom I finally found a scent on the sheets. It was very faint, but it was there. No deodorant had been used to cover it up. I could understand why. It would take someone a long time to track a smell this faint, and the deodorant would give it away more than the natural scent at this point.

  But it still smelled like vampire, however faint.

  The only explanation I could think of was that whatever slept here hadn’t been here for a while. It was better than admitting I couldn’t do everything perfectly.

  I walked to the kitchen. The cat was sitting on the counter, watching. It made a low moaning sound at the back of its throat.

  “It’s not too late for me to shoot you,” I said. It was sitting next to two bowls, both empty and dry. “Your master hasn’t been here in a while, has he?” I asked. The cat answered with a warning moan. “Get off it,” I said.

  I opened cabinet doors until the scent of cat food wafted out. I poured some into one bowl and filled the other up with water. The cat jumped up next to me, ignoring my presence, and dove into the food. From the looks of things, it was hungry. I didn’t reach out to stroke it; it would only try to scratch me anyway. But it was kind of nice seeing something alive be grateful for something I’d done, not dead or resentful.

  Maybe I should get myself a pet.

  The front door clicked, and the sound traveled through my bones. I stepped back, melting into the darkness. I pushed myself up against a tall cabinet and took out my Smith & Wesson. With my other hand I felt for the stake at my hip. If this guy was a vampire, the one I was looking for, he was going to get it. Nothing like a surprise attack at home.

  “Hey, Clyde,” a deep voice said. It was husky and silky, and it was like music to listen to. It sent shivers down my spine in a warm way, not the foreboding sensation I usually felt. I wondered vaguely what had happened to Bonnie if this cat was Clyde.

  “Sorry I disappeared for a while.”

  The cat answered with soft mewing sounds.

  I couldn’t see the guy, but I heard him move towards the kitchen. Then the movement stopped.

  “Who fed you?” he asked, alarm in his voice. He was close enough for me to smell, and I took a deep breath, letting the smell into my lungs, my mind racing to place it. Definitely vampire. Warm blood, mutated cells. I w
as betting on fangs. With it came a strong pull, lacing all the signals. I didn’t usually feel this drawn to something. I took two seconds to puzzle over it, then I pushed it away. There was one way to break a magnetic pull – eliminate the source.

  I stepped out from behind the cabinet, pointing my S&W right at his face. He was shocked. I could feel it in the air. But, strangely, there was no fear. Usually it dominated, but there wasn’t even a trace. In the dim light I could see his hands lift up, a surrender.

  His hair was a pale blond in the light falling in through the window. He looked a lot like the photo I’d seen, save for the ghostly pale skin and the elongated limbs.

  “Mr. O’Neill,” I said. It wasn’t a question.

  “What do you want?” he asked.

  He didn’t try to fight or run. But the smell of vampire became stronger. It was almost as if he had hidden it, and he was letting up now. Was that possible? I’d never met a vampire that could pretend to be human.

  I heard him take a long, slow breath. He was smelling me, too. It was a predator thing; we weren’t two people, facing off – we were animals. But this wasn’t going to be a fight for dominance, as if we were part of the animal world. With a gun like mine, we both knew who was boss. My finger curled around the trigger. If I couldn’t get in close enough to use a stake, I was going to shoot.

  “I know you,” he said.

  The words caught me off guard, and I let go of the trigger. He’d been about one squeeze away from death. I stepped to the side, gun still pointing at his face, and turned on a lamp.

  Yellowish light flooded the room, brightening the white tiles to a glare. My eyes adjusted quickly, but he held up his arms over his eyes to shield them. Vampire eyes were sensitive even to manmade light. He grimaced, and I spotted fangs touching his bottom lip.

  “What do you know about me?” I demanded.

  “Your smell,” he said. His voice was trembling a little, and it made me wonder if he really wasn’t scared, or if he’d managed to mask his fear as well. “Your scent. I’ve smelled it before.”

  He slowly dropped his arms, and I realized that the vampire I’d saved that morning in the alley was standing in front of me. His neck wounds had healed up, and he didn’t have the dark circles under his eyes anymore, but it was definitely him. Something in my body shifted, and I silently scolded my weakness. The attraction was ridiculous.

  “Connor?” I asked, just to be sure.

  He nodded.

  In a flash I had him up against the wall, with my forearm against his throat. He gasped and squirmed underneath my grip. I didn’t have my chain on me; I’d left it with the bike. Dammit. I hadn’t expected to catch him at home. If he dematerialized now, I’d lose him.

  “What are you?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

  Despite his strong ability to disguise himself, his naivety showed through. He didn’t know a half-breed when he saw one. I’d moved in a blur like him; I was strong like him. But I knew he had noticed my blunt teeth. His eyes were on my mouth.

  I let my gaze trail down to his mouth. His fangs were sharp, resting lightly on his bottom lip. His lips were smooth and full, but not too thick for a man. I forced my eyes back to his.

  “There’s a warrant out for you,” I said.

  “Dead or alive?”

  “Dead.”

  I positioned the stake underneath his ribs, then looked up into his eyes. They were dark blue, deep, like the ocean. I could fall into them if I wasn’t careful.

  I swallowed hard. We were frozen like that, with me half-choking him, and time stood still. I felt something around us – not the mist I’d expected, but a shift in the atmosphere. It became so thick I was sure I could run my fingers through it. I frowned and slowly released him, letting him stand on his own two feet.

  He didn’t run or fight or try to dematerialize. Instead, he stood there looking at me while I was gaping at him.

  He lifted his hand slowly, and I flinched when he brought it closer to my face, but I didn’t move away. His fingers touched the skin above my right eyebrow, and he brushed my hair out of my face. A warm surge of electricity raced through my body. My blood hummed in my veins.

  “You’re bruised,” he said, and I remembered what I must look like.

  “It happens,” I said, and regretted justifying it. Who was he?

  “I woke up in a garage with your scent hanging around me like a fog,” Connor said.

  His fingers were still in my hair. I had to step away. Actually, I had to stake a vampire. I was aware of the tips of his teeth, visible when he spoke. But the way he combed the tips of his fingers through my hair was nice. It made me feel warm. When had I last felt warm? And his eyes – I couldn’t look into his eyes and kill him. They hypnotized me, and I wanted to keep staring into them.

  “You were in the alley,” I said, and my voice was husky, not my own. “The sun was coming up.”

  “You saved me then just so you could kill me now?”

  “It’s my job,” I said, and looked away so his eyes wouldn’t make me betray myself even further.

  “What’s stopping you?”

  “You,” I whispered before I could stop myself.

  Something changed in Connor’s eyes. Emotion flickered across his face, too fast for me to read. I became aware of the cat, purring on the counter like a tractor. This one liked vampires, apparently. It was reveling in Connor’s presence.

  So, it was just me it hated. Nice to know.

  A sound outside ripped us out of the spell we were caught in. Connor cocked his head and listened. I was almost grateful for that; even with my half-breed ears I was going to miss sounds a vampire could hear.

  “Something tells me I’m not the only person who’s after you,” I said.

  He shook his head. If the security he had set up around his information online was anything to go by, he had much more on his plate than I did.

  “You’re not safe if you stay here, either,” he told me. “At the moment I’m just using this house as a distraction.”

  “And you’re leaving your cat behind to fend for itself?”

  He frowned at me. “Coming from someone who kills people, that’s a very judgmental statement.”

  His words were sharp, and I felt my insides cringe away as if he’d physically done something to me. I shook my head. Who the hell was he? I didn’t care what he thought. I wouldn’t.

  “So, you want to tell me who’s out to kill you?”

  “Are you planning on eliminating the competition? Because that would be swell.”

  He moved around the kitchen, turning his head to catch the sounds of the night. Twice he sniffed the air. Half the time he looked like he didn’t know what was going on, and the other half he looked like he’d been a vampire for years.

  “You’ve been spending a lot of time with vampires,” I said, suddenly realizing what I was seeing.

  He nodded slowly. “I had a couple of them working with me, until I found out they were dealing with illegal things behind my back. When I fired them, things turned ugly, so I turned vampire.”

  “You chose to turn?” I was appalled. I couldn’t imagine giving up something as perfect as humanity for something as raw and emotionless as being a vampire.

  “It’s a question of survival. You know better than anyone that a vampire is difficult to kill, while a human can just be taken out. It wasn’t my time to go.”

  “Your fiancée is looking for you,” I said.

  The atmosphere changed again. It suddenly became ice-cold, as if someone had just switched off the heat.

  “You know Jennifer?” he asked.

  “She’s the one who hired me.”

  “To kill me?” He looked confused.

  “Not if you were human. Being a vampire puts you on my kill list.”

  Connor looked like he was thinking about it for a moment. I could see cogs turning behind his eyes, but his face was carefully blank.

  “You�
��re fun,” he said in a dull voice, and I figured he’d finally come to a conclusion. It was the right one, too, if he was being sarcastic with me. People weren’t nice to me once they understood what I did.

  I opened my mouth to say something, but he held up his hand, listening.

  “I have to go. Trouble’s coming,” he said, and then he disappeared.

  It was almost like he’d dissolved at record speed. The feel of him lingered for a while after he’d dematerialized. I took a deep breath and tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry and my throat felt like sandpaper. The words I’d wanted to speak were still rolling around on my tongue as I stood alone in the kitchen, trying to decide which way was up in my life.

  “Oh, you’re in trouble now,” I said to myself.

  This was the first mark that had gotten away from me, not because it had outsmarted me, but because I’d been rendered dumb. I felt like a fool. Anger bubbled up in my throat, and my blood heated up beneath my skin. Damn vampires. Damn Connor. Damn my stupid life. I hated all the killing, hated that I needed it to survive. And at the same time, I hated myself for letting my target get away.

  Clyde hissed at me, mouth open and teeth bare. I didn’t have fangs, but I could hold my own in a cat fight. I hissed right back. The cat arched its back and squealed, then disappeared down the hallway.

  I left the house before Connor’s troubles could catch up to me, too.